ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1 9 9 3 / 6 9 Reading for fun is a novel idea B y Gary M a y h o o d a n d K aren S tabler Faculty book reviews encourage reading N ight over Water, Cold Sassy Tree, C onfed­ eracy o f D unces, B o n fire o f the Vanities, The Negotiator, a n d Lonesom e D ove are novels selected b y th e N ew Mexico State University faculty for th e library b o o k let “In C elebration o f R eading.” For th e past th ree spring sem es­ ters th e Library P ublications C om m ittee has com piled a b o o k let o f review s o f novels w rit­ ten b y o u r faculty to p ro m o te sum m er reading. Entertaining, insightful, an d significant b o o k s are th e criteria for selection. P ublishing a re v ie w b o o k le t T here are four p u rp o ses for the publication. 1) To en co u rag e students to a lifelong re a d ­ ing program that co n tin u es after form al univer­ sity training. This is especially im portant to o u r ethnically diverse stu d en t p o p u latio n . T he u n i­ versity has a stu d en t b o d y o f o v er 15,000 o f w hich 80 p ercen t are undergraduates. It is m ore ethnically diverse th an m ost universities as 68 percent are Anglo, 27 percent are Hispanic, three p ercen t are Native-Am erican, a n d tw o p ercen t rep resen t o th e r groups. Also, tw o-thirds o f th e stu d en t b o d y are from N ew Mexico, w h e re a significant p ro p o rtio n o f th e p o p u latio n o f this p red o m in an tly rural state still d o e s n o t have access to library service. 2) To stimulate students’ recreational reading. 3) T o allow students to k n o w faculty o n a m ore p erso n al basis b y seeing w h a t faculty like to read outside their field o f study. 4) To p ro m o te g o o d p u b lic relations b e ­ tw e e n the to w n a n d university b y having fac­ ulty reco m m en d g o o d books, as an alternative to o th e r activities like sports, music, o r theater. T he Library Publications C om m ittee, com ­ p o se d o f sev en m em bers o f th e library faculty an d staff, oversees an d coordinates all publica­ tions p ro d u c e d for o u r users. T he com m ittee begins th e process o f organizing “In C elebra­ tio n o f R eading” in late fall. T he m em bers m eet to d ecid e o n a them e for choosing review ers, i.e., fa c u lty -o f-th e -y e a r a w a rd re c ip ie n ts o r teaching faculty w h o serve o n library com m it­ tees. T he com m ittee th e n creates a list o f likely faculty w illing to w rite reviews, a n d th e nam es are divided b e tw e e n th e com m ittee m em bers to m ak e an initial contact b y telep h o n e. This call consists o f a d escription o f th e project, a req u est for the title o f the b o o k to b e review ed b y m id-February, a n d th e c o m p leted review b y mid-March. W e th e n se n d a follow -up letter a n d m ake gentle rem inder telep h o n e calls as d ead lin es approach. O nce the review s are in hand, w e use d esk ­ to p publishing to p ro d u ce a b o o k let using IBM, M acintosh Ilci, an d an A baton S canner 300/s hardw are; an d W ordPerfect, Microsoft W ord, PageM aker, A dobe Illustrator, an d O m niPage softw are. A com m ittee m em b er usually vo lu n ­ teers to p h o to g ra p h each o f the review ers in a perso n alized setting. Bid estim ates are th e n o b ­ tain ed from local printers. B ecause o u r b o o k ­ let is cam era-ready o u r costs for printing 1,500 o f th em — containing approxim ately seven re­ view s o n sep arate pag es w ith an introductory p ag e an d cover— h av e b e e n u n d e r $200. Publicizing s u m m e r re a d in g O n ce th e b o o k lets are printed, th e com m ittee dissem inates a n d publicizes th e sum m er read- (Novel idea cont. on page 73) Gary M ayhood is assistant catalog librarian a n d Karen Stabler is h ead o f inform ation services a t New Mexico State University, Las Cruces February 1993 / 73 n e e d e d to leam h o w to access applications from the server an d sto re files o n the n etw o rk drives. For this exercise a d o cu m en t w as created an d sto red o n the sh ared n etw o rk drive w hich is accessible to all library staff. T he trainees w ere given step-by-step instructions for loading the n e tw o rk c o p y o f W ordP erfect, o p e n in g th e d o cu m en t, a n d ad d in g inform ation to it. E x e r c is e #7: E x te r n a l c o m m u n ic a tio n . Many academ ic librarians n o w h av e access to th e In tern et th ro u g h th eir cam p u s netw orks, an d have d iscovered th e ease an d co n v en ie n ce o f c o m m u n ic a tin g e le c tro n ic a lly w ith c o l­ leagues. This exercise ta u g h t trainees h o w to se n d a n In tern et m essage. A form er em p lo y ee at an o th e r institution ag reed to b e th e recipi­ e n t o f their practice m essages. In addition, since I su b scrib ed to several library-oriented lists o n th e Internet, I b e g a n forw arding relevant m es­ sages to ap p ro p riate staff so they w o u ld b e ­ com e aw are o f the usefulness o f th e national n etw o rk for exchanging inform ation a n d ideas.3 E x e r c is e #8: M o d em c o m m u n ic a tio n . Li­ b rarians h av e p re c e d e d m ost o th e r m icrocom ­ p u te r u sers in realizing th e p o w e r o f th e m o­ d e m b e c a u s e o n lin e s e a r c h in g o f e x te rn a l d atab a ses has lo n g b e e n a stan d ard service at m ost academ ic libraries. With this exercise train­ e e s le a rn e d h o w to access th e university n e t­ w o rk by m odem . T hey w ere in tro d u ced to the basic Unix com m an d s re q u ire d to read th eir m ail an d se n d a m essage. T hey also saw h o w o u r library catalog w as u se d b y dial-in patrons. W h a t w e le a rn e d P eo p le learn at different rates a n d hav e differ­ e n t tolerances for th e n e e d to teach them selves through experim entation. T he staff b eh av ed like a typical class o f students: som e d id th e ex er­ cises regularly, others d elay e d w o rk a n d th en d id several at on ce. Individual tu to rin g w as available o n request, b u t q u estio n s d u rin g th e training exercises w ere few. M ost users w aited until th ey h a d a specific project o r n e e d before asking for help. No o n e will u se th e n etw o rk to its fullest. T h e m anuals w hich d o c u m e n t th e n etw o rk an d all its applications fill m an y shelves, b u t m ost u sers discover th e tech n iq u es th at m ake their lives easier a n d stick w ith them . W ith e n c o u r­ a g e m e n t, a d v e n tu re s o m e u s e rs c o n tin u e to e x p lo re n e w w ays to u se th e netw ork. It is difficult fo r p e o p le to c h e c k th e ir m ail each day a n d m ak e full u se o f th e n etw o rk w h en e a c h p e rs o n d o e s n o t hav e a m icrocom puter o n h e r o r his desk. But n o w it is reassuring to k n o w that th e draft o f th e library new sletter, th e dB ase file o f th e gift books, the sp re a d ­ sheets o f cataloging statistics, a n d o th er im por­ ta n t files resid e o n th e secure n etw o rk drive. T h e le a r n -th e -n e tw o rk -b y - u s in g - th e -n e t- w o rk -a p p ro a c h h as b e e n successful. Staff have a co m m o n set o f ex p erien ces th at m akes dis­ cussing individual p ro b lem s easier. T he value o f c o n tin u in g ed u catio n th ro u g h individualized instruction can n o t b e d en ied , a n d th e n etw ork exercises have sim plified o u r effort. As a p e r­ so n w h o finds c o m p u ters quite interesting an d enjoys discovering new ways to use the computer to d o old tasks, this trainer took delight as staff interest in the netw ork began to grow. And as staff members becom e more confident, they becom e motivated to make their ow n discoveries. N otes ’T he cam pus n etw ork environm ent is m ore fully d escrib ed in Shyam aia Reddy, “School m aze, n e tw o rk in g a geographically diverse university c a m p u s,” L A N 5 (May 1990): 114-22. 2PC-NFS p ro v id es a user-friendly m ail a p ­ plication called LifeLine Mail. 3For a useful overview o f th e n etw o rk s see: C aroline R. Arms, “Using the national netw orks: BITNET a n d th e In tern et,” O n lin e 14 (S eptem ­ b e r 1990): 24-29. ■ (Novel idea c o n t.fro m p age 69) ing pro g ram d u rin g N ational Library W eek in April. T h ere is a display in th e lo b b y o f th e library consisting o f th e b o o k s rev iew ed an d p h o to g ra p h s o f th e review ers. The b o o k lets are distrib u ted at various p o in ts w ithin th e library, in university colleges, th e stu d en t u n io n , an d th e b ran ch cam puses. To im prove to w n an d university relations, w e also d istrib u te these b o o k lets to th e p u b lic library, civic organiza­ tions, a n d th e cultural center. Always e a g e r to offer com m unity service spots, local radio an d television stations air interview s a n d p ro m o te o u r su m m er read in g program . In this age o f c o m p u ter technology, librar­ ies are m ore th an just bytes o f inform ation flow ­ ing th ro u g h a tan g led w e b o f netw orks. T here a re s h e lv e s o f b o o k s th a t p r o v i d e id e a s , th o u g h ts, a n d p leasu re. A positive indicator for th e pro g ram is th e increase in circulation sta­ tistics for th e b o o k s review ed. P eo p le co m e to th e library a n d ask for th e b o o k le t a n d th e fac­ ulty are very su p p o rtiv e a n d positive a b o u t the program . ■