ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1994 /59 Hews fr o n t the field S a v e Pittsburgh p o stcard s a n d w in In January ACRL members received their first postcard about the ACRL 7th National C o n feren ce in Pittsburgh: “Continuity and Transforma­ tion: The Promise o f Con­ fluence,” March 29-April 1, 1995. As reported in the N o­ vember 1993 C&RL News, sav­ ing this postcard and two oth­ ers that w ill be mailed later this year makes you eligible for a drawing for free con­ ference and preconference registrations. Col­ lect all three postcards, staple them together, and bring them to the ACRL booth at the 1995 M idwinter M eet­ in g to b e in ­ c lu d e d in th e drawing. Six w in­ ners w ill be se­ lected; all post­ cards m ust b e addressed to the sam e p e rs o n . Note: If you are not attending the 1995 M id w in ter M eetin g, staple you r p ostca rd s - together and mail them to the ACRL office by January 10, 1995, to be included in the drawings. ETS tests on Internet The Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation (ERIC/AE) at the Catholic University o f Am er­ ica has made test information available on the Internet. The information includes: an alter­ native assessment database with full-text es­ says on more than 18 topics; the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Test Collection database that provides a system for searching m ore than 9,500 test descriptions; and the Büros Test Re­ v ie w Locator that identifies Büros publications that contain review s o f sp ecific tests. T h e ERIC/AE site can be accessed by gophering to g o p h er.cu a .ed u under Special Resources. ERIC/AE’s In tern et address is E R IC _A E @ cua.edu. Even B eethoven joins the N et The Beethoven Bibliogra­ phy Database, a project o f the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University, is now available according to a re­ cent listserv posting. The database, begun in 1990, in­ dexes books and articles about Ludwig van Beeth­ oven, and first and early editions o f his scores. All materials included are locat­ ed at the Beethoven Center. T o reach the da­ ta b a se, te ln e t to: s js u lib l.s js u .e d u or 130.65.100.1; login: Lib; select D on main menu; select Beethoven Bibliography Database. T o order a copy o f the instructions for using the database and a list o f subject terms, call the Beethoven Center at (408) 924-4590 or e-mail: elliot@sjsuvml .sjsu.edu. N e w d e a n off to ru n n in g start Texas A&M University’s new library dean, Fred Heath, got o ff to a running start w h en he teamed up with A ggie football coach R. C. Slocum for the annual Friends o f the Sterling C. Evans Library Fun Run. Sponsored by the H.E.B. G rocery Company, the Fun Run raises aw are­ ness and funds for the Evans library. More than 200 participants ran or w alked for the library, in c lu d in g m an y s ta ff m em bers. Participants w ere eligible for donat­ ed prizes including a trip Fred Heath to Cancún, a mountain bike, and a personal fax/copier/phone. Pro­ ceeds from the run w ill help fund the Friends o f the Library professorship, a $150,000 project that is part o f the university’s “Capturing the Spirit” campaign. A L A to b ro a d c a st n e w te le se m in a r “A chieving Breakthrough Customer Service,” a vid eo teleseminar presented by the Ameri­ can Library Association, w ill be broadcast live 60/C&RL News American labor leader Cesar Chavez and Israeli Prem ier from 1969-74 Go Ida Meir are the subjects o f the new Great Minds posters researched b y ACRL’s N ew Publications Advisory Board and produced by ALA’s Graphics Departm ent. The p osters are available for $5 each from ALA Graphics. Send order and prepaym ent to ALA Graphics o r call (800) 545-2433, press 8, w ith you r credit-card order. to more than 300 meeting sites on Thursday, May 12, 1994. James L. Heskett, UPS Foundation profes­ sor of business logistics at the Harvard Busi­ ness School, will present a powerful new model for customer service in all types o f libraries. Other presenters will be announced. The program will include opportunities for local participants to work in teams to examine how their libraries can create gains in produc­ tivity and customer value. Participants will also “visit” libraries with successful customer ser­ vice programs. Early-bird registration before March 15 is $34.95 for ALA members and $39 95 for non­ members. Group rates are $29.95 for 5-24, and $19-95 for groups of 25 or more. Add $10 after March 15. For registration information write or call ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 606l 1; phone: (800) 545-2433, ext. 5052. To organize a local meet­ ing site call Cheryl Cummings at Kathleen Gilroy Associates (KGA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at (617) 354-5204. Collection policies for your curriculum materials center A revised and expanded second edition o f the Curriculum Materials Center Collection Devel­ opment Policy has been published by ACRL. This new edition addresses ongoing collection development policy concerns while introduc­ ing new areas o f interest such as new technol­ ogies and collection evaluation. Also included for the first time are sample collection devel­ opment policies. Administrators and education librarians and faculty will find this book o f in­ terest as a clearly defined collection develop­ ment policy is highly useful in supporting bud­ get requests and in k eep in g faculty, administrators, accrediting agencies, and other interested parties informed of selection and re- evaluation processes. Curriculum Materials Center Collection Development Policy was de­ veloped by two joint subcommittees o f the Problems o f Access and Control o f Education Materials Committee and by the Curriculum Ma­ terials Committee of ACRL’s Education and Be­ havioral Sciences Section. Committee chairs and February 1994 / 61 compilers are Beth G. Anderson, Virginia Nordstrom, Karin Duran, and Allison G. K. Kaplan. The publication sells for $16.95 ($14.95 to ACRL members) and is available from ALA’s Order Department, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611 (ISBN: 0-8389-7707-3). Or call (800) 545-2433, press 7. Don’t let disaster catch you unprepared ACRL has just published CLIP Note #17, Emer­ gency and Disaster Planning f o r College Librar­ ies‚ reporting the results of a new survey of small college and university library policies on emergency and disaster plans. Several complete plans are included in the publication. Emer­ gency and Disaster Planning f o r College Librar­ ies (ISBN: 0-8389-7710-3) was compiled by Su­ san C. George, physical sciences librarian at Dartmouth College, under the auspices of the ACRL College Library Section’s CLIP Notes Com­ mittee. The 146-page publication sells for $28.95 ($25.95 to ACRL members) and is available from ALA’s Order Department, 50 E. Huron St., Chi­ cago, IL 60611. Or call (800) 545-2433, press 7. ALA developing gopher ALA staff are working with consultant Ed Valauskas to develop an ALA gopher. Plans call for the go­ pher to provide electronic access via the Internet to a wide variety of ALA and unit information. ACRL documents such as press releases, the Guide to Policies and Procedures, standards and guidelines, board actions, and awards informa­ tion will be mounted on the gopher. The go­ pher will be demonstrated for the ALA Execu­ tive Board during its spring 1994 meeting. If development stays on schedule, the gopher will be available for public use no later than the 1994 ALA Annual Conference in Miami. ■ Jurassic Park lives at Utah State University Utah State University librarians were bur­ ied in dinosaur data in June 1993 as they planned a new program for nearly 400 high school students who were being recruited by the College of Engineering. Our staff designed an assignment which was interesting, relevant and fun. Summer ’93 was the sum­ mer of the dinosaurs and this became our subject. For those who had read Juras­ sic Park, or seen the movie, topics leapt from the story. They included cloning, DNA, optic surveying, remote sens­ ing, small island irrigation, and even moats. Materials on waste re­ moval, irrigation, and DNA are available, but current information on moats? That’s when w e realized w e could teach thinking and searching skills using dinosaurs as a motiva­ tor. We used moats in the assignment and then explored with the students the correct termi­ nology (canals), zoo planning, and more. Students were given some very basic in­ struction on online searching and then sent in groups of two or three to try their skills, hands- on, using our online catalog. Each group worked together on a printed assignment with spaces provided for answers. The assignment required some writing but was designed to teach search skills throughout the exercise. Though formal evaluations are still being collated, we know this year’s visits were very successful. Our first ob­ servation was the intensity with which the students addressed the computer. They learned the commands, read the screens, and tried to “crack” the vocabulary. Working to­ gether, they shared their knowledge and skills and cre­ ativity. They also met all the librarians and simply had fun. It was a cooperative venture for li­ brarians and staff. A dinosaur image was built into the back­ ground of the students’ assignment. A bright blue-and-white dinosaur button with the state­ ment “I searched for dinosaurs in Merrill Li­ brary” was awarded to all the students. For more information on the program, con­ tact Robert Morrison, Merrill Library, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-3000 or robmor@ cc.usu.edu.— Mary I. Piette, Robert Morrison, and Betty Dance, reference librarians, Utah State University, Logan ■ 62 / C&RL News