ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries May 1 9 9 4 /3 0 1 The Michigan Research Libraries Triangle (MRLT), a consortium o f Michigan State University, the Uni­ versity o f Michigan, and Wayne State University li­ braries, has been awarded a three-y ear grant from the U .S. D e p a r tm e n t o f Education’s Title II-A pro­ gram to electronically link its online catalogs and related files. The $300,000 grant will allow th e MRLT to build upon the links among the three research libraries to provide library ser­ vices to other Michigan residents and businesses via dial access, and to other libraries through statewide library networking. Oberlin College Library has been aw ard­ ed a $ 1 5 0 ,0 0 0 g ran t from th e C h arles E. Culpeper Foundation to support new collec­ tion preservation initiatives. The funds will be used over a three-year period to select books and other materials that are acidic to b e sent for deacidification treatment or reformatting. The State University of New York (SUNY) Council o f Library Directors has been awarded a grant o f $147,730 from the SUNY Office o f Educational T ech n olog y . A pilot test using SUNYNet and the NOTIS X39.50 interface at the University o f Buffalo will provide online access to Wilson periodicals index/abstract da­ tabases, the ERIC database, and the m on o­ graphic collections o f three university centers using NOTIS. The project is expected to lay the groundw ork for substantial SUNY-wide shared collection management and for future document delivery studies. Also at SUNY, the State University College at G e n e s e o , in c o n ju n c t i o n w ith SUN Y Plattsburgh, the State University Institute o f Technology at Utica/Rome, Monroe Commu­ nity College, and SUNY New Paltz, has received $27,750 from the SUNY Office o f Educational Technology to purchase ARIEL software to be used in improving the interlibrary loan system. The new system will provide for docum ent transmission over the Internet, and will result in cost reduction, more efficient use o f staff, increased access to information, faster deliv­ ery, and higher-quality docu­ ments. The University of Michi­ gan has been awarded a two- year grant from the U.S. D e­ partment o f Education under the Foreign Periodicals Pro­ gram to develop a nationally p rom in ent and a c ce s sib le collection o f periodicals that chronicles the worldwide re­ surgence o f Islam. The bud­ get for the first year o f the grant is $74,000. The project will allow the university library to extend the scope o f its current collections relating to Is­ lam through purchasing scarcely held journals, new spapers, new sletters, and underground political publications in both Western and ver­ nacular languages. The University o f Michigan Library has also been awarded a second year o f funding from the U.S. Department o f Education’s Title II-C program for a project to catalog 5,500 retro­ spective serial titles from the Labadie Collec­ tion in the Special Collections Library. The bud­ get for year two o f this project is $81,850. The L abadie C o llec tio n , a gift from Jo s e p h A. Labadie, w ho was known as Detroit’s “gentle anarchist,” is known for its extensive materials on radical history in the U.S. In recent years, the collection has expanded to include sub­ stantial holdings in civil rights, the student pro­ test and anti-war movements o f the turbulent sixties, modern anarchist and Trotskyist litera­ ture, as well as material on gay liberation, radi­ cal feminism, pacifism, amnesty, and the anti- nuclear movements. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Li­ braries and the Nebraska State Historical So­ ciety have b een funded by the National En­ d o w m en t fo r th e H u m an ities D iv isio n o f Preservation and Access to participate in the Ed. note: Entries in this column are taken from library newsletters, press releases, and other sources. To ensure that your grant and acquisition news is considered fo r publication, write to: Grants & Acquisitions, C&RL News, 5 0 E. Huron St., Chi­ cago, IL 60611-2795. Grants and Acquisitions Hugh Thompson 302/C&RL News U.S. Newspaper Program to preserve and pro­ vide access to all newspapers ever published in the U.S. Funding for the three-year project totals $498,631. The grant w ill be used to cata­ log the significant newspaper collections o f the tw o agencies, including most newspapers pub­ lished in Nebraska from its territorial days to the present as w ell as a unique collection ol Czech-American newspapers. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Libraries have been granted $46,883 by the Na­ tional Endowment for the Humanities to sur­ v e y Tennessee newspapers in preparation foi a subsequent catalo gin g and preservation project. The addition o f Tennessee brings tc 47 the number o f states, and tw o territories, participating in the U.S. New spaper Program. Acquisitions The papers of Dr. Horace J. McMillan, a local area physician, community leader, and civil rights advocate, have recently been deposited w ith the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives at the University o f California, Santa Barbara, as part o f its Africana component. The materials are an important record o f Santa Barbara’s first African American m edical gen eral practitioner and local civil rights advocate w h o made an enduring impact on civic affairs in Santa Barbara. As a community leader and ac­ tivist, McMillan was a champion o f affordable housing for low - incom e and minority p eo p le and was a primary m over in improving the quality o f health services, housing, employment, and education in the Santa Bar­ bara community. The papers of Nobel Prize- winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer have been acquired by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the Univer­ sity o f Texas at Austin from the author’s w idow , Alma Singer, and a group o f individual Texas donors. The archive con­ tains correspondence, photographs, clippings, Isaac Bashevis Singer c. 1974 and notes, as w ell as manuscripts for much o f Singer’s published works and several unpub­ lished and untranslated works o f fiction and drama. A lso am ong the materials are page proofs, manuscripts, and other prepublication materials for Meshugah, Singer’s new ly discov­ ered posthumous n o vel that was published serially in 1981-83. There are also many per­ sonal photographs. An extensive collection of news clippings about the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska is n o w available in the Research Library o f the Mariner’s Museum in N ew port New s, Vir­ ginia. The materials from Michael Coumbe, a resident o f Alaska— nearly 8,000 clippings taken mostly from Alaska newspapers— have been photocopied onto acid-free paper and bound into 55 volumes arranged chronologically from March 1989 to August 1990. The library has also acquired monographs on the oil spill to broaden its holdings on the disaster. The archives of PEN American Center have been acquired by the Department o f Rare Books and Special Collections o f Princeton Univer­ sity Libraries. Since its founding in 1922 to pro­ m ote friendship and cooperation among p o ­ ets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists, the center has become very active in the struggle for freedom o f expression and a free press, and against arbitrary censorship and imprisonment o f writers. A m on g the archives are let­ ters fro m w rite rs Th o m as Mann, Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, Pearl Buck, John O ’Hara, and H en ry M ille r dealing with everything from defense o f intellectual free­ dom to applications for mem­ bership. O f particular interest are files pertaining to the p o ­ Photo litical problems o f writers un­ der Nazi Germany, communist regimes, and military dictator­ sh ip s in G r e e c e , Latin credit: America, and other places. Nancy Crampton O v e r 1,000 b o o k s on games and gaming have been acquired from a private collector by the Uni­ versity o f Nevada, Las Vegas (U NLV). The collection, which includes many European im- May 1994/303 prints dating from the 16th century, greatly ex­ tends the university’s holdings in this area. The purchase was funded by the UNLV Foundation, the College o f Hotel Administration, and the Library’s Endowments. Materials relating to the Los Angeles riots o f 1992 are being archived at the Univer­ sity o f Southern California’s Doheny M e­ morial Library by librarian Anthony Anderson. The material includes the Christopher Commis­ sion Report o f 1991, along with 67 boxes o f materials relating to the commission’s investi­ gation o f the Los Angeles Police Department follow in g the 1991 beating o f motorist Rodney King. Also included are the Webster Commis­ sion archives, 58 boxes o f materials on the city’s handling o f the riots, plus more than 40 addi­ tional reports, books, and related government and privately printed documents. The collec­ tion even includes transcripts o f sermons given from Los Angeles pulpits follow ing the riots. ■ (Liaison cont.from page 254) • Participate in university orientation pro­ grams for teaching assistants, research assistants, and international and graduate students. Train students w h o assist faculty with their research. • Provide current bibliographic services for special research needs such as Selected Dis­ semination Information, table o f contents, and current awareness services. II. Integrate the faculty into all stages of the collection development process. • A dvise faculty about how they can par­ ticipate in the selection process. • Ensure faculty are aware o f the library collection’s strengths and weaknesses. Compile and distribute appropriate journal lists, new acquisitions lists, and library research hand­ books and topic guides when appropriate. • Inform faculty about budgetary and allo­ cation issues. • Encourage faculty to participate in deci­ sions on materials acquisition, retrospective purchasing, conversion o f materials into other formats, and replacement o f missing materials. Obtain advice from departmental liaisons on the acquisition o f expensive titles. Send infor­ mation on n ew ly published journal titles to appropriate faculty for purchase evaluation. • Consult with departmental liaisons and other appropriate faculty on cancellation and evaluation o f serials originally recommended by them or in their subject area. K eep faculty informed throughout the cancellation process. III. Become familiar with the curricu­ lum, reading requirements o f undergradu­ ate students, thesis topics o f graduate stu­ dents, and the research interests o f faculty. • Obtain information about academic pri­ orities within departments. Supplement data from catalogs and other institutional sources with information obtained from questionnaires. • D evelop a standardized form to gather information about the department(s) for which you are responsible. The form may include items such as: 1) faculty size, 2) size o f student population: undergraduate and graduate stu­ dents, 3) n ew programs, 4) n ew courses, 5) n ew faculty members, 6) n ew research inter­ ests, 7) n ew research centers or labs. • D evelo p a standardized questionnaire form to gather information about individual faculty.- Use the questionnaire to set up pro­ files o f faculty research interests. The fo llo w ­ ing items may be included: 1) professional sub­ ject interests, 2) current research projects, 3) courses being taught, 4) other responsibilities, 5) foreign languages read, 6) academic rank. IV. Develop subject expertise and keep current in your fields. • Attend lectures and symposia. • Read current works in your field. • Talk to faculty about research, teaching, and service activities. V. Cooperate with other librarians and library units in liaison relationships. • Share information with subject special­ ists and public services librarians with respon­ sibilities in similar academic areas. • Regularly communicate with subject spe­ cialists w orking in overlapping or interdiscipli­ nary areas. • Exchange information with librarians in­ volved in user education and bibliographic in­ struction. • Bring users’ comments or suggestions about library online information systems and concerns on library technical issues to techni­ cal services librarians. • Elicit the support o f library administra­ tors in stressing the importance o f liaison rela­ tionships. ■ 304 / C&RL News