ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


S ep tem b er 1 9 9 4 / 4 6 7

News
f r o m  th e

Field

M ary Ellen Davis

Applications/ 
nominations invited for 
C&RL editor
Applications and nom ina­
tions are invited for the posi­
tion o f editor o f C ollege &
R e s e a r c h  L ib raries, the bi­
monthly, scholarly research 
journal of ACRL. The editor 
is appointed for a three-year 
term which may be renewed 
for an additional three years.
Applicants must be members 
of ALA and ACRL. Qualifica­
tions include professional 
experience in academic libraries, a record of 
scholarly publication, editing experience, an 
understanding o f the scholarly communication 

support services fo
mnew Library Syste

brary— academic (
public (formerly Dynix), K-12 school (former­
ly Scholar), and special (formerly Marquis). 
Enhancements to the main product line, e.g., 
WinPac, retrospective conversion, and Vista, 
will continue to be offered and developed by a 
new Information Services group.

Alfred University holds “ ca rdbecue”
Alfred University (AU) held a “cardbecue” to 
burn the 100,000 cards from its closed, 1,140- 
drawer card catalog. Using metal half-drums 
often used at pig-roasts, AU’s Herrick Memori­
al Library staff held the “cardbecue” ceremony 
to acknowledge symbolically the end of its pa­
per path and the beginning o f a new comput­
erized road. This ceremony follows a tradition

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Steve C randall (le ft), asso ciate d ir e c to r o f  H errick  
M emorial Lib ra ry  a t Alfred U niversity, feeds catalog 
ca rd s in to  th e  flam es w hile th re e  m em b ers o f  the 
v o lu n te e r H ook & Ladder Co. look  on .

process, and a broad knowledge of the issue
confronting academic libraries.

Some funding for editorial assistance is avai
able, and there is a small honorarium for th
editor.

Appointment will be made by the ACR
Board of Directors at the 1995 Annual Confer
ence, upon the recommendation o f the searc
committee and o f the ACRL Publications Com
mittee. The incoming editor will assume fu
responsibility for C&RL in July 1996, after a yea
of working with the outgoing editor.

Nominations, or resumes and letters of ap
plication including the names of three refer
ences, should be sent to: C&RL Search Com
mittee, c/o Hugh Thompson, Program Officer
ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 
606 11. The deadline for receipt of applica­
tions is December 15. Finalists will be inter­
viewed at the Midwinter Meeting in Phila­
delphia in February 1995.

Dynix and NOTIS Systems 
consolidated
Ameritech Library Services (ALS) announced 
just prior to the ALA Annual Conference in 
Miami Beach that Dynix and NOTIS Systems 
divisions were combining development ef­
forts to form a single client/server product. 
The consolidated client/server product, based 
on the Marquis system, is available to all 
current Marquis and NOTIS Horizon custom­
ers without additional licensing costs. Release 
4.0 o f this software will be available in early 
1995. Paul Sybrowsky, formerly Dynix pres­

s 

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e 

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­

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­
ll 
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­
­
­
, 

ident, was named president 
o f ALS; Jane Burke, presi­
dent of NOTIS Systems, is 
no longer with the compa­
ny. ALS will continue to de­
velop and offer three differ­
ent software products: a 
consolidated client/server 
product based on Marquis, 
a Unix host-based product 
c a lle d  D y n ix  o r D y nix 
Scholar, and NOTIS’ main­
frame products. The newly 
c o n s o lid a te d  co m p a n y  
eventually plans to offer 
r these products under the 

s Division by type o f li­
the former NOTIS office), 



4 6 8 /C& RL News

Reinventing lib raries: The Stephen F. Austin 
experience

Stephen F. Austin State University’s efforts 
to give students a taste of the scholar’s work­
station has paid big dividends.

Rather than installing separate CD-ROM and 
microcomputer labs, the university’s Steen Li­
brary elected to create 
an integrated environ­
m ent in w hich stu­
dents can select from 
their workstations ev­
erything from word 
p rocessing, spread­
s h e et, and g raphic 
applications to the li­
brary catalog, databas­
es, electronic reserve 
materials, an online 
b u ild in g  d irecto ry , Students are busy in t
and Internet access. environm ent at Stephen
C o n seq u e n tly , stu ­
dents can conveniently conduct library re­
search and cut and paste from a variety of 
sources in the formulation of reports and term 
papers. Menus are standardized across the 
workstations, facilitating management and pro­
moting ease of use for the students.

The approach made possible the justifica­
tion of a large laboratory (130 stations, in­
cluding a large networked classroom) which 
is almost always fully occupied. Known as the 
Library Information Network Center, or LINC, 
the lab opened in the fall of 1992 and quickly 
became the campus' most popular student lab. 
While it is predominantly used for traditional

microlab applications, library applications rep­
resent about one-sixth of total activity. Stu­
dent assistants, called lab attendants, are on 
duty within LINC at all times to provide basic 
assistance. Reference assistance is provided 

through ten addition­
al stations dedicated 
solely to library appli­
cations which are lo­
cated adjacent to the 
reference desk.

The scale of this 
operation also justi­
fied the development 
of a substantial tech­
nical staff which, in 
turn, has permitted 

e new integrated work the development and 
 F. Austin State University. m aintenance o f an 

extensive administra­
tive LAN. At present, the staff supports about 
150 separate applications librarywide, more 
than 100 o f them across the network.

The library is now in the forefront of cam­
pus computing activities and enjoys broad sup­
port for its automation efforts. This spring the 
board of regents approved acquisition of a 
client/server-based Integrated Library System, 
a logical growth path for the library. The next 
major challenge facing the library is expan­
sion of its bibliographic instruction efforts to 
insure user competence in the new technolo­
gies.— Alvin C. Cage, Stephen F. Austin State 
University

h

started in 1987 when, to mark the change from 
the Dewey to the Library of Congress system 
of classification, the library burned the cards 
with the Dewey numbers on them.

Let's talk about ACRL
ACRL-Forum, an unmoderated listserv open to 
all for discussion of issues pertinent to ACRL, 
academic librarianship, and higher education, 
has been established by ACRL. Ray Metz, di­
rector of library information technology at Case 
Western Reserve University, has accepted a 
two-year appointment as the listserv “owner.”

To subscribe send the message “Sub ACRL-FRM 
your name” to “listserv@uicvm” for bitnet users 
and “listserv@uicvm.uic.edu” for Internet users.

Questions? Contact Ray Metz at: metz® 
po.cwru.edu or Mary Ellen K. Davis (co-owner 
of the list) at mary.ellen.davis@ala.org.

Promotion/tenure documents sought
ACRL’s Academic Status Committee seeks doc­
uments stating the criteria for promotion and 
tenure for librarians with faculty status. Send 
sample documents to: Gemma DeVinney, Co­
ordinator of Reference & Instructional Servic-

mailto:mary.ellen.davis@ala.org


S ep tem ber 1 9 9 4 / 4 6 9

es, Lockwood Library, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffa­
lo, NY 14260; e-mail: lolgem m a@ubvm .cc. 
buffalo.edu.

Cartoonist wanted for C&RL News
Do you have a flair for drawing and an ability 
to express ideas in cartoons? Can you capture 
the humorous side of library issues in a single 
cartoon? C&RL News is seeking cartoonists/il­
lustrators to prepare original material for its 
monthly publication.

If you are interested send a cover letter ex­
pressing your interest and experience along 
with three to five samples o f your work to: 
Mary Ellen K. Davis, Editor, C&RL News, 50 E. 
Huron St., Chicago, IL 606 l l .

Librarians win Pittsburgh prizes
Thirty-five librarians who stopped by ACRL’s 
booth during the ALA Annual Conference in 
Miami won prizes from Pittsburgh, site of ACRL’s 
7th National Conference. Prizes included free 
admissions to local museums, free drinks, free 
meals, and free lodging in Pittsburgh hotels. 
More prizes— including a free airline ticket to 
Pittsburgh— will be available at the ALA Mid­
winter Meeting in Philadelphia, February 3-9, 
1995. ACRL’s 7th National Conference will be 
held March 29-April 1, 1995. ACRL members 
will be mailed a registration packet in mid-No­
vember. (Ed. note: See Marcia Lowry’s article 
on Pittsburgh on page 480).

Ca l Poly Library participates in 
Electronic Village conference
The Kennedy Library of California Polytechnic 
State University, San Luis Obispo, participated 
in the first annual Electronic Village conference 
sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Chamber of 
Commerce. The library exhibited its touch­
screen electronic information kiosk to the 400 
attendees representing the business, education, 
library, government, and nonprofit sectors of 
the community. Users accessed an alphabet­
ized list o f subjects by pressing the color touch 
screen. The kiosk then displayed text, graph­
ics, animation, QuickTime full motion video, 
still photographs, sound, and a floor plan pin­
pointing the exact location of the materials with­
in the library’s 200,000-square-foot building.

Univ. of Alabam a and Washington & 
Lee dedicate libraries
The University of Alabama recently celebrated 
the opening of the Angelo Bruno Business Li­

brary and Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. Computer Cen­
ter with a dedication ceremony. The $9 million

A view  o f th e  stacks fro m  inside th e B run o  
Business L ib rary at th e U niversity o f  Alabama.

state-of-the-art facility was funded through pri­
vate gifts— primarily a $4 million gift from the 
Angelo Bruno family for the library and a $3 
million gift from Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. for the 
computer center.

Washington & Lee University’s Board of 
Trustees voted to name the University Library 
posthumously for Jam es Graham Leyburn, a 
former dean and professor who retired in 1972 
after 25 years of un­
paralleled academ ic 
service to the univer­
sity. It is only the sec­
ond building on cam­
pus in modern history 
to be named honorifi­
cally. A poster com ­
memorating the event 
(right) was com mis­
sioned and is available 
for $15 from Barbara 
Brown, University Li­
brarian, Leyburn Li­
brary, Washington and 
Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450; phone: 
(703) 463-8640. ■

mailto:lolgemma@ubvm.cc


4 7 0 /C & R L News