News from the Field
C&RL News, January 1997
Vol. 58 No. 1
by Mary Ellen Davis
Supreme Court to review CDA challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court announced on December 6 that it will hear the government's appeal of a landmark legal challenge to the Communications Decency Act passed last February by Congress. The case, which will have a great effect on the freedom of speech in cyberspace, is expected to be heard in late March or early April. A special panel of three federal judges in Philadelphia ruled the act unconstitutional in June in a suit filed by the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition, which represents 27 organizations concerned about the future of the Internet; ALA is the lead plaintiff.
Search under way for ALA executive director
ALA's Executive Director Search Committee selected Camila Alire to chair the search for a new executive director to replace Elizabeth Martinez, who will leave ALA in August 1997. Alire was chosen by the group as chairperson during its November 2-3 initial meeting in Chicago. She is dean of Auraria Library, University of Colorado at Denver, and a member of the C&RL News Editorial Board. ACRL President William Miller is also serving on the committee as a division representative. The committee also reviewed recruitment firms and will select a firm to aid in filling the post.
The timeline calls for selecting semi-finalists by early March and holding interviews late that month. Finalists will be interviewed in early May and the new executive director will be named in June.
Lincoln Univ. opens new library
The Lincoln University of Missouri (LU) opens its new three-story library this month. The new facility has 80,000 square feet, nearly 250 reader stations, 13 group study rooms, 12 private study rooms, and a 24-hour study area. The building also houses the Ethnic Studies Center, two bibliographic instruction classrooms equipped with electronic devices, and a Teleconference Center. Designed by Booker Associates, in association with Leo A. Daly Kennedy Associates, the building features an open mall without interior walls. LU is an 1890 land-grant institution founded in 1866 through the cooperative efforts of the enlisted men and officers of the 62nd and 65th Colored Infantries, and was designed to meet the educational needs of freed African Americans.
Libraries sought to participate in Archaeological Site Reports Database
Portland State University (PSU) Library has created a database of its holdings of archaeological site reports and invites other libraries to join it to establish a multi-institutional bibliographic database of archaeological site reports that will be Internet-accessible.
PSU created an "Archaeological Site Reports" bibliographic database of the reports held by its library. Although faculty and students found the database useful, PSU found it quite labor intensive to prepare as site reports are often not identifiable through the online catalog by title words or subject headings, requiring an examination of the contents of the reports. The database was recently updated, although only a print copy alphabetized by title is available at the Social Science Reference Desk.
To enhance the value of the database, PSU plans to provide electronic access that will permit users to search all fields of the database as well as search from remote locations. The database will be mounted on the PORTALS (Portland Area Library System) Web site (www.portals.pdx.edu) for which PSU is the host institution. Each institution's name and call number would be attached to its records. Faye Powell, social sciences librarian at PSU, said, "We feel a multi-institutional, Internet-accessible database would be of enormous value to scholars, students, and other interested persons. We are therefore soliciting the participating of other libraries that would like to be included in this project." For more information, please contact Faye Powell, Portland State University, P.O. Box 1151, Portland, OR 97207; phone: (503) 725-4519; e-mail: powell@lib.pdx.edu.
More discussion topics for Midwinter
These topics have been announced since the list of meetings was published in the News last month:
ACRL Science and Technology Section's Database Discussion Group. Sunday, Feb. 16, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Topic: "Sharing the Load: The Pros and Cons of Consortial Database Use"
ACRL Instruction Section Discussion Forum. Sunday, Feb. 16, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Topic: "Learning Styles and Diverse Populations"
Library Issues is now on the Web
Mountainside Pub. has placed Library Issues, Briefings for Faculty and Academic Administrators, edited by Richard M. Dougherty, on the Web at http://www.netpubsintl.com/LI.html.
Subscribers will be able to consult and read both current and recent issues. The Web version will also publish updated versions of previously printed articles. For information about subscribing online contact Mountainside Publishing at 72263.1222@compuserve.com.
ECLSS develops data collection form
ACRL's Extended Campus Library Services Section (ECLSS) has developed a standardized form for collecting data about services provided to distant students. The form was developed after members of ECLSS's Statistics Committee collected and analyzed statistics forms already in use. The data collection form, known as the Uniform Statistics Data Collection (USDC) form, has been piloted by ECLSS members. The resulting document collects data in three parts: Materials Transactions (aspects related to students' requests and how they are filled); Information Transactions (requests information about the number of reference/referral questions handled and the number of instructional sessions taught); and Information Collected by Branch Libraries.
The data are to be collected over a one-year period and completed forms will be due to ECLSS in October 1997. The committee hopes the results will aid both current providers and those just planning off campus library services. The form is available at the ECLSS Web site:http://ecuvax.cis.ecu.edu/~lbshouse.home.htm or from the chair of the committee: Gloria Lebowitz, Extended Campus Library Services, University of Northern Colorado Library, Greeley, CO 80639; phone: (970) 351-1525; fax: (970) 351-1108.
ACRL joins national iniative on faculty roles and rewards; seeks member input
The Association of College and Research Libraries has been invited to participate in a national movement to re-examine the performance criteria by which faculty tenure and promotion are awarded. ACRL and several other discipline-based associations in higher education believe it is necessary for academia to move beyond the "publish or perish" model of assessing faculty effectiveness.
The ACRL Board of Directors has appointed a task force to represent the association in the Institutional Priorities and Faculty Rewards Project, which is being coordinated by Syracuse University's Center for Instructional Development. To date, more than fifteen professional associations (such as the American Historical Association, the American Philosophical Association, and the American Chemical Society) have participated by drafting statements that describe the range of activities appropriate for faculty in their discipline and deserving of recognition through the promotion and tenure system.
The ACRL Institutional Priorities and Faculty Rewards Task Force is charged with drafting a similar statement for academic librarianship. It is hoped that such a statement may be used on individual campuses as a basis for assessing the performance of librarians whether they have faculty status or not. An important aim of the document is to clarify and support the use of performance criteria beyond the "publish or perish" model from which other disciplines also wish to move. According to Robert M. Diamond, assistant vice-chancellor for instructional development at Syracuse University and director of the institutional priorities and faculty rewards program:
"Another premise of our efforts is that having disciplinary societies set out a full range of activities upon which tenure and promotion decisions can be based will help change the priorities for faculty members. We hope that this will free them to focus more on improving their teaching, improving curricula, and working in community activities that can benefit from their particular expertise. It also should increase the recognition of contributions which are frequently undervalued by traditional promotion and tenure criteria."
Many librarians with faculty status have argued that the classic faculty emphasis on research puts librarians at an enormous disadvantage due to the demands of full-year contracts, 40-hour work weeks, and the need to keep up with day-to-day responsibilities.
Many librarians, with and without faculty status, have been frustrated that their important roles in information organization, information evaluation, and provision of access to information are not given sufficient recognition by the typical campus reward structure.
The task force hopes to address these issues in its statement and is asking ACRL members to help identify related concerns to be considered. All ACRL members are invited to discuss the task force's charge at an open forum at ALA Midwinter on Saturday, February 15, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Ed. note: The task force is tentatively scheduled to meet in the Salon A and B of the Marriott Metro Center but check the conference program as locations may change.
Members of the task force are: W. Bede Mitchell (chair), Appalachian State University; Althea Jenkins, ACRL executive director; Brian C. Kelley, Palm Beach Community College; Rush G. Miller, University of Pittsburgh; Larry Oberg, Williamette University; Carol Parke, Syracuse University; and Glorianna St. Clair, Penn State University.--W. Bede Mitchell, associate university librarian, Appalachian State University
Related readings
Boyer, Ernest L. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities for the
Professoriate. Princeton, N.J.: Cornegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, 1990.
Diamond, Robert M. and Bronwyn E. Adam, editors. The
Disciplines Speak; Rewarding the Scholarly,
Professional, and Creative Work of Faculty. Washington,
D.C.: American Association of Higher Education, 1995.
-----. Recognizing Faculty Work: Reward Systems for the
Year 2000. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.
Newsletters that work, part 2: Content and impact
Barbara Blake, director of the Rowlett (TX) Public Library, presented the final session of her two-part workshop, "Newsletters That Work," at the ALA Annual Conference in July. The first session dealt with newsletter production and layout and took place at ALA Midwinter in February 1996 (C&RL News, May 1996). That session focused on substantive rather than technical issues, such as writing style, objectives, content, and audience impact.
Blake reviewed the unique characteristics of an organizational newsletter. It should be like a letter to the reader, personal in style and commentary, designed to communicate specific information rather than impress. It should be brief and be able to be scanned and absorbed quickly so that it provides immediate satisfaction rather than creating a burden. It should fill the void left by the decline of letter writing, presenting recipients with something fun and interesting in their daily mail.
A few writing tips
Blake offered the following newsletter tips:
• Simplicity. Use short simple declarative sentences without introductory phrases and complex clauses. Be succinct in stating what your library is trying to accomplish and how others can help; don't provide a lot of background information. Indent paragraphs, rather than using a block style; and use "you" to create an intimate feel.
• Brevity. The longer the article is, the less likely it is to be read. Aim for a series of telegraphs rather than essays. No article should be so long that it has to be continued on a following page. The reader should be able to absorb a whole article while waiting "on hold" on the telephone. Use lists. Avoid redundancy; make each word count.
• Clarity. Use the active voice and strong verbs. Avoid jargon, adjectives, and metaphors. Organize points logically, for example, chronologically or into "pros" and "cons." Double check for accuracy, correct spelling, and proper usage. Be direct, even when discussing library problems; don't attempt to hide problems or explain them away.
Blake advised beginning newsletter writers to pace themselves, taking breaks when needed; to set reasonable deadlines and start projects early; to reward themselves after completing each article; and to avoid perfectionism. Newsletter writing is a skill that requires regular practice. It is also a job that eventually leads to burnout; after you've been editing your library newsletter for a number of years, pass it on to someone else with a fresh perspective.
Five basic steps
Blake listed the five basic steps in newsletter writing: drafting, revising, typing or keying, editing, and proofreading.
She emphasized the importance and difficulty of meticulous proofreading, and advised having somebody else proofread your writing if possible, or setting an article aside and proofreading it yourself the next day. She advised paying special attention to titles, headlines, subheadings, and first lines, which are particularly likely to have undetected errors.
She distinguished among the three types of successive editing: concept, line, and copyediting. Each type should be undertaken separately, with a short waiting period between each step.
Blake finished the session by answering questions about newsletter writing. She advised ameliorating the problem of writing for multiple audiences by using several specialized columnists, bullets, and pull-out boxes. She suggested using the "let me interview you" technique to flatter tardy contributors and elicit needed information. She noted that newsletter editors need to be sensitive to internal organizational politics and may want to consider organizing issues and articles thematically rather than by department, and quoting rather than paraphrasing the ideas of difficult colleagues.
Blake's views on both content and production are described at length in her Creating Newsletters, Brochures, and Pamphlets: A How-to-Do-It Manual, coauthored with Barbara Stein (Neal-Schuman, 1992).--Margaret Gordon, University of California, Santa Cruz.