NEWS FROM THE FIELD
C&RL News, May 2009
Vol. 70, No. 5
Upgraded ACRL Web site launches
April 14, 2009, marked the launch of an updated, user-centered design of the ACRL Web site. The update is the result of an extensive planning and redesign process to better serve the information-seeking needs of the ACRL membership and general public. The results of an ACRL membership survey informed the redesign process, with many suggestions on usability incorporated into the final design. The redesign integrates the ACRL Web presence with the September 2008 update of the ALA Web site.
“In redesigning our Web site, we listened to our members and incorporated a wide variety of feedback in order to increase accessibility and usability,” said ACRL President Erika Linke. “As a result of the hard work of the ACRL membership and Web team, our new online presence provides a greatly enhanced user experience for all of our visitors.”
The redesigned site features a variety of enhancements, including updated site organization for ease of navigation, direct access to committee and section information, and eye-catching highlights of upcoming events and services. The new site additionally features dynamic content updates to keep information current and relevant. A variety of RSS feeds for content, such as upcoming events, provide an additional means for visitors to stay up-to-date with ACRL activities. The updated site is available at www.acrl.org.
Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System now online
For decades, the Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System (HPSSS) has been a major source of information for researchers analyzing the Soviet Union between World War I and World War II. The resource is now available online with digitization of the thousands of pages of summary interview transcripts that make up the HPSSS and the creation of the Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System Online.
The Web-based portal serves as the primary access point to the HPSSS for scholars studying Soviet history, culture, society, economics, and a multitude of other subjects. It allows scholars to search interview transcripts online, quickly finding material that previously may have required weeks to locate. The site also includes links to finding aids and includes guidelines to aid scholars in their searches.
As part of the digitization effort, every transcript page was re-keyed, according to Richard Lesage, technical services librarian for the African and Asian Unit of Harvard College Library (HCL) Technical Services. HPSSS makes it feasible for researchers to search the text of every transcript for any word or phrase. The search feature allows researchers in minutes to find material that may previously have taken days or weeks to find.
The two-year digitization project, launched in 2005, was a joint project between staff of HCL’s H. C. Fung Library and the Slavic Division of Widener Library, and was funded by the Harvard University Library Digital Initiative. Production of the digital collection was undertaken by HCL Imaging Services staff. The project is available online at hcl.harvard.edu/collections/hpsss/.
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National Library Legislative Day travel grant winners ACRL is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) travel grants. In light of ACRL President Erika Linke’s focus on legislative advocacy, the association awarded $250 grants to 11 ACRL Legislative Advocates to attend NLLD from May 11–12, 2009, in Washington, D.C. |
APA lists essential planning books
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American planning movement, the American Planning Association (APA), in conjunction with ACRL, has created a list of 100 books essential to planning. These essential books come from every decade starting in 1909, the date of the first national planning conference.
Published books provide one lens through which to view the history of American planning. List of books by decade, complete with historical context and brief summaries, are available on the APA Web site at www.planning.org/centennial/greatbooks/.
Mountain Plains Library Association announces award winners
The Mountain Plains Library Association (MPLA) announced the winners of several awards at the joint conference of the Kansas Library Association and MPLA, April 2, 2009, in Wichita, Kansas. Sharon Morrison, director of the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Library, is winner of the MPLA 2009 Unsung Hero Award. The award is given for her creation of a program to provide checkout for required textbooks, saving the students thousands of dollars.
Dan Chaney, social sciences librarian at Oklahoma State University received the 2009 Carl Gaumer Library Champion Award. Chaney was honored for his contributions as MPLA Webmaster for the past 12 years. Kaijsa Calkins, reference and instruction librarian at the University of Wyoming, is the 2009 winner of the Beginning Professional Award. The award is given for her mature, professional approach and being a proactive and student-centered librarian.
ACRL adopts 2009 Legislative Agenda
Each year, the ACRL Government Relations Committee, in consultation with the ACRL Board of Directors and staff, formulates an ACRL Legislative Agenda. Drafted with input from the ACRL Scholarly Communication and Copyright Committees, along with additional committees, ACRL leaders, and the ALA Washington Office, the legislative agenda is prioritized and includes objectives for legislative action at the national level on issues that may affect the welfare of academic and research libraries.
The ACRL Board of Directors recently approved the 2009 ACRL Legislative Agenda in time for the mid-May National Library Legislative Day in Washington, D.C.
The 2009 Legislative Agenda focuses on eight priorities, including government information, public access to federally funded research, LSTA reauthorization, orphan works, Section 108, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, network neutrality, and fair use.
The complete legislative agenda, including details on each priority, is available on the ACRL Web site at www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/washingtonwatch/legagenda.cfm.
ProQuest freezes fees
ProQuest is extending its freeze on Continuing Service Fees, ongoing product support, and access fees for perpetual archive agreements, through 2011. In addition, ProQuest is offering discounts on Continuing Service Fees to libraries that make new purchases within a product family.
“Libraries are facing tremendous challenges to meet the booming use of their services,” said Simon Beale, senior vice president of global sales. “In the current economic environment, our role as an information partner is to ensure that we focus our resources on the new products and technologies that deliver the most value to libraries and their users. We are listening intently to our customers to find ways to help them weather these tough economic times and hope that these programs will offer some relief.”
Continuing Service Fees support 24/7 access to ProQuest content, search, and browse technology; storage and hosting costs; authentication and usage reporting; technical support; access to technology developments and interface developments as they happen; as well as new data for designated products.
To further support those who make new perpetual archive license purchases, ProQuest is offering a discount program that rewards new purchases within a product family. This program is available for libraries with a minimum of three perpetual archive licenses and that are adding one or more new titles, with discounts starting at 25 percent.
Columbia partners with ARChive of Contemporary Music
Columbia University has joined in a cooperative agreement with the ARChive of Contemporary Music, the largest collection of popular music in the world, to integrate the resources of the archive into arts programming at the university and other educational and scholarly activities. The partnership is between the archive, Columbia University Libraries, and the Arts Initiative at Columbia. Holdings of the archive include the Keith Richards Blues Collection, endowed by Richards, and the 50,000 disc World Music collection.
“The ARChive is excited to partner with Columbia to create innovative academic initiatives and online content to help with the study, understanding and enjoyment of popular music from all over the world,” said Bob George, director of the archive.
“One of the first projects under this new partnership will mount the ARChive’s catalog online, for both students and the general public to access. This initial database, the International Discography, will provide data on a half-million recordings in the collection of over 2 million sound recordings.”
The New York-based archive is supported by a board of advisors, which includes David Bowie, Jonathan Demme, Lou Reed, and, Martin Scorsese.
As part of its continuing commitment to engagement in the city, University Libraries and the Arts Initiative will work with the archive to reach out to interested communities to develop programs and projects that support the work of the partnership. The Arts Initiative will work to develop and implement public programming that highlights the work of the collaboration and brings visibility to the archive.
For more information, visit the ARChive of Contemporary Music online at www.arcmusic.org/begin.html, Arts Initiative at cuarts.com, and CUL at www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb.
2009 CUPA-HR academic librarian salary survey results
The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) has released the results of the 2009 Administrative Compensation and Mid-Level Salary surveys of academic librarian positions, covering salary, benefits, and other benchmarks.
The 2009 data represents the results of the first survey conducted using revised position descriptions developed through collaboration between CUPA-HR and the ACRL CUPA-HR Position Descriptions of Academic Librarians Task Force.
The position descriptions included in the 2009 salary survey include revisions suggested by the ACRL task force, in conjunction with CUPA-HR. The survey now includes descriptions for new positions, such as systems librarian and coordinator of distance education, as well as a number of updated descriptions, such as reference/instruction librarian and catalog/metadata librarian.
The new and updated descriptions more accurately represent job duties in today’s academic libraries, allowing for better alignment of salaries across similar types of tasks.
Survey results and complete details on the revised position descriptions are available on the ACRL Web site at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/personnel/index.cfm.
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New ACRL publications Two new titles, Informing Innovation: Tracking Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies at Ohio University and Library Rx: Measuring and Treating Library Anxiety, are now available from ACRL Publications. |
ACRL seeks liaisons
The ACRL Council of Liaisons (COL) has announced a public call for individual liaison applications. Three outstanding, influential, and energetic individuals are needed to fulfill the role of a liaison to the National Center for First Year Experience and Students in Transition, the American Anthropological Association, and the Council of Independent Colleges.
Formed in 1995, COL carries out a program of in-depth liaison activities with targeted professional associations. The council works to demonstrate the value-added asset libraries and librarians are to the liaison organization’s goals and model effective partnerships between librarians and other professionals within the liaison organization.
Effective partnerships are more important than ever. Today’s challenges are opportunities for creativity and collaboration. Please consider applying to become an individual liaison.
Applications that indicate the supporting documentation requirements and additional information are available on the COL Web site at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/councilofliaisons/liaisons.cfm.
Send completed applications by the June 5, 2009, deadline to COL Chair Susan Kroll at kroll.susan@gmail.com and ACRL Program Officer Katie Coombes at kcoombes@ala.org.