ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries March 1989 / 199 Lynch, C.A ., and E.B. Brownrigg, “The Tele­ communications Landscape: 1986,” Library Jour­ nal 111 (October 1, 1986): 40-46. McCourt, J.W ., and R.L. Robinson, “Midwest Fiber-Optic Cable Project,” Telecommunications 20 (October 1986): 116-17. McGinn, H ., ’’Information Networking and Ec­ onomic Development,” Wilson Library Bulletin 62 (November 1987): 28-32. Mak, Collette, ‘“Fax is Integral’—To Center’s Vast O peration,” American Libraries 18 (January 1988): 60-61. M azutis, J ., and J. Philiips, “ COM NET: A Broadband Voice, Video and D ata Network for the Canadian House of Commons—(1) The Require­ ments.” In J.M. Bennett and T. Pearcey (eds.), The New World o f the Information Society: Proceed­ ings o f the 7th International Conference on Com­ p u te r C o m m u n ic a tio n s, Sydney, O cto b er- November 1984. Am sterdam : N orth-H olland, 1985. pp. 364-68. Miller, R ., “Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): Telecommunications in the F uture,” On­ line 11 (March 1987): 27-38. Moore, M.Y., “Fax it to Me: A Library Love Af­ f a ir,” Am erican Libraries 18 (January 1988): 57-59. Noam, E.M ., “The Public Telecommunications Network: A Concept in Transition,” Journal o f Communication 37 (1987): 30-48. Nyren, Karl, “California Conference on Net­ working: First Steps Taken to Mobilize State’s Li­ brary Communities to Build Statewide Muititype N etw ork,” Library Journal 110 (November 15, 1985): 12-14. Ohlhaber, R., “Fiber Optics: A Technical Tuto­ rial,” Sound and Communications, May 1987, pp. 22-24. Paul, P., “21st Century Telecommunications: Cornell’s New Voice-Data Link Will Serve the 1990’s—and Beyond,” American School and Uni­ versity 58 (September 1985): 55-60. Pelton, J.N ., an d P .J. McDonegal, “Don’t Over­ look Satellites,” Telephone Engineer and Manage­ m ent 9 (March 1, 1987): 61-62. Plan fo r Funding Autom ated Resource Sharing in Illinois Libraries: Revised Draft. Springfield: Il­ linois State Library, May 1988. Portway, P., “Meetings Take on a New Look,” Modern Office Technology Magazine 32 (Septem­ ber 1987): 16-18. Rocher, E ., “Information Outlet: ULAN Versus IS D N ,” IE E E C o m m u n ica tio n s M agazine 25 (April 1987): 18-32. Rudd, S.E., “Interface Equipm ent and Systems in the Next Decade,” Telecommunications, August 1987, pp. 55 + . Scanlon, R .G ., and J.K. Patterson, “Temple University and a Telecommunications Procure­ ment Program ,” Technological Horizons in Edu­ cation 11 (April 1984): 79-81. Stephens, G .M ., “Integrate? or Separate?” Sat­ ellite Communications 10 (June 1986): 20-22. “Teleconferencing,” IT C News 1 (December/Ja- nuary 1987/88): 7-8. Trafton, D .R ., “Gain T hat Competitive Edge Strategically—Through Planning,” Communica- tionAGE, January 1987, pp. 38-41. Underwood, S., “ISDN on T rial,” Datamation 33 (February 1, 1987): 52-56. “University of Michigan Computing Organiza­ tion,” CauseEffect 8 (July 1985): 18-20. Vennison A., “Trends: Oregon Public Access C atalog,” G overnm ent Technology, April/May 1988, p p . 16-17. “Vermont Creates Statewide Information Sys­ tem ,” Wilson Library Bulletin 59 (March 1985): 441. Welter, T .R ., “Fiber Optics vs Satellites: Are They Com peting or Com plem entary Technolo­ gies?” Industry W eek 232 (February 23, 1987): 5 0 + . West, T. W ., “The Development of a Network of Telecommunications Networks: A Contagion Pe­ riod,” CauseEffect 7 (September 1984): 2-3. Wolf, M ., “ Long Distance L earning,” State Legislatures, September 1987, pp. 22-23. ■ ■ Letters The Information Fairy To the Editor: It is a bit disconcerting to read “BI as Theatre” (C&RL News, January 1989) and see the accompa­ nying photograph of the Xavier University (Cin­ cinnati) library’s head of reader services, Vicki Young, dressed as “ Ify, the Inform ation Fairy” prepared to conduct a college freshman orientation program and, in the same month, read Linda W al­ lace’s article in American Libraries, “The Image— and W hat You Can Do About It in the Year of the L ibrarian.” We have little quarrel with Young’s attem pt to refute “six major misconceptions about librarians and libraries,” and we are glad that her presenta­ tio n was “ a big h i t , ” b u t we really question w hether it is necessary for any professional aca­ demic librarian to dress as an “Information Fairy” to “reduce students’ anxiety” and to “present the li­ brary in a positive light.” It has been our experience, after over fourteen 200 / C&R L News years of public service and bibliographic instruc­ tion in academic libraries, that students’ anxiety can be reduced and the library and the librarian can be positively perceived by students and faculty if the librarian is a friendly, knowledgeable profes­ sional who respects the students and shows genuine concern for and interest in their needs. The theme of National Library Week is “Ask a Professional.” Is “Ify, the Information Fairy” a professional? W ould you ask a fairy sitting behind a reference desk at an academic library a question? If you did, would you take her answer seriously? If someone or something is iffy, does it not suggest a questionable or unknown quality? Is research sim­ ply the waving of a magic wand before an InfoTrac machine? Wallace concludes her article regarding image: “The cold truth is, no fairy godmother is going to wave a magic wand. The image of the librarian will change only if we as a profession work together to make it happen.” Exactly. We think that dressing as Information Fairies is not going to make it happen too quickly. It is not only a question of how others perceive us, but, more importantly, how we perceive ourselves. We, of course, are willing to rethink this if the marine biologists on our faculty start dressing as “Icky, the Ichthyology Fairy.”—W illiam Rober­ son, Head, Reference D epartm ent, and Robert Rattenfield, Reference Librarian, Long Island University. MAC MICRO To the Editor: I was very pleased to see in the “Innovations” section (C &R L N ew s, D e cem b er 1988, p p . 748-49) Diane Richards’s description of the Micro­ computer Applications Committee which has been established here at WSU. A reference was made in th at article to a policy on microcomputers th at was developed early in the existence of our Microcom­ puter Applications Committee. I would like to note th at our policy was structured on a model policy presented by John K . Duke and Arnold Hirshon in an article in the September 1986 issue of Inform a­ tion Technology and Libraries (“Policies for Micro­ c o m p u ters in L ib ra rie s: An A d m in istra tiv e Model”). I encourage institutions th at are inter­ ested in establishing policies for microcomputers in academic libraries to examine this article.—James J. Kopp, Systems Librarian, Washington State University. ■ ■ Image Task Force The Special Library Association’s 1988-1989 Presidential Task Force on the Enhancement of the Image of the Librarian/Inform ation Profes­ sional needs your input. One of the objectives of the Task Force, as outlined by SLA President Joe Ann Clifton and chair Kaycee Hale, is to survey memberships of various inform ation professional associations to ascertain personal and professional opinions regarding image. You may request a questionnaire from Kay­ cee Hale, Executive Director, Resource and Re­ search Center, Fashion Institute, 818 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, CA 90017. Rosary College to hold national institute on library network management A national, week-long, residential institute ad­ dressing the problems of library networks, consor­ tia, and utilities will be presented May 15-19 by the Rosary College G raduate School of Library and Information Science, River Forest, Illinois. The institute will bring together key opinion leaders in the library community who currently hold, or who are likely to hold, advisory positions in the rapidly changing library networks field. Through seminars and elaborate role-playing sce­ narios, participants will identify, analyze, and— where possible—predict the problems libraries and networks will face in the next decade in network­ ing. Faculty for the institute are W illiam Welsh, deputy director emeritus of the Library of Con­ gress; Rowland Brown, president of Online Com­ puter Library Center, Inc.; Richard Dougherty, professor at the G raduate School of Library Sci­ ence and Information Studies at the University of Michigan, and former director of the University of Michigan Library; and Pat Molholt, associate uni­ versity librarian at Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti­ tute. Molholt is the author of a recent study, “Li­ brary Networking: The Interface of Ideas and Actions,” commissioned by the D epartm ent of E d­ ucation. Institute director is Michael Koenig, dean of the G raduate School of Library and Information Sci­ ence at Rosary College. Library networking, in both the technical and nontechnical sense, is at a crossroads. Resource sharing is in danger of losing out to isolationism, according to Koenig. Every time librarians choose to purchase cataloging data from vendors and load it into stand-alone systems only without entering it into a national database, the nation loses the ability to share the item represented by such records. March 1989 / 201 Experts in the managem ent of and planning for Beverly Lynch, university librarian at the Univer­ sity of Illinois, Chicago. All interested professionals should submit an ap­ plication by April 1 to: Beverly Lynch, University Librarian, University of Illinois at Chicago, Box 8198, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60680. For a free brochure, contact the Rosary College G raduate School of L ibrary and Inform ation Sci­ ence at (312) 366-2490, ext. 302, or write: Library Network M anagem ent Institute, Rosary College G raduate School of L ibrary and Inform ation Sci­ ence, 7900 W . D ivision S t., River F o rest, IL 60305. ■ ■ networks, agree th at library networking is moving from traditional bibliographic networks to broad information delivery and access support systems, and from a national to a global focus. Because of this transition, library professionals face m ajor challenges in the 21st century. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Departm ent of Education, the institute is tuition-free, with lodg­ ing and meals at Rosary College provided from Sunday evening, May 14, through Friday after­ noon, May 19. However, participation is limited to 75 library professionals w ith relevant networking experience. The selection committee is chaired by Survey o f faculty attitudes tow ards a basic library skills course B y R a e H a w s Acting Coordinator of Library Instruction Iowa State University L o r n a P e t e r s o n Library Instruction Librarian Iowa State University a n d D ia n a S h o n r o c k Librarian Instruction Librarian Iowa State University BI vindicated by university faculty members. T he ninety-year evolution of Iowa State Univer­ sity’s required library skills course, L ibrary In ­ struction 160, is described in a feature article in the 1981 A L A Yearbook.1 Today the course is taught twice each semester and students earn one-half credit for their efforts. There are 2.5 FTE library faculty members teaching the course to over 4,000 'W a rre n B. K uhn and G e rtru d e Jacobson, “Ninety Years of L ib rary In stru ctio n at Iow a State,” ALA Yearbook, 1981, 13-18. students each year. In the course students learn the basics of using a library and about the services and resources of the Iowa State University Library. The Library Instruction faculty has written a manual which is used in the course. Supplementing the lec­ tures is a three-part video program produced with the help of the Media Resources Center. Although formal bibliographic instruction has a long trad i­ tion at ISU, the basic bibliographic instruction course has often had an uncertain future. Several times in the past it has been targeted for elimina­