ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries December 1 9 9 0 / 1033 Library literature in non-library publications By Becky Kornegay Reference Librarian W estern Carolina University We need to reach a larger audience. L ibrary Literature 1989 lists m ore than 700 articles about academic libraries. T hat in­ cludes only articles listed u n d er the heading “Col­ lege and University Libraries,” not those assigned related headings such as “Bibliographic Instruc­ tion” or “Junior and Com m unity College Librar­ ies.” Many o f th e articles sound worthwhile, even thought provoking: “Bibliographic Instruction and Critical Thinking,” “Teaching Academic In teg ­ rity,” “Inform ation Support for Academic Admin­ istrators.” O f course, it is impossible to judge qual­ ity from the titles, bu t one thing is unquestionable: academic librarians publish a lot o f articles about the library in the university setting. But who is reading the journals in which these articles appeared: RQ, Research Strategies, College and Research Libraries? Librarians, for the most part. Academic librarians are doing a lot o f preach­ ing to the choir. O f course, the ideas which we present in our journals are often interesting to other librarians, b u t consider how useful and effec­ tive m uch o f our writing could be if it w ere read by another academic audience— th e college teaching faculty. By working at the reference desk in a college library, librarians see students and th eir course- work from a perspective unavailable to professors. As John Lubans, Jr., p u t it in his column, “Library Literacy” (RQ, W inter 1988), librarians see the process whereas professors see only the outcome. Because o f our unique perspective, our ideas about “the process”— critical thinking, inform ation-seek­ ing skills, research assignm ents th a t work (or don’t)—would be not only valuable to teaching faculty b u t new to them as well. How can we get our ideas across to teaching faculty? ACRL past president William M offett recom m ends liaison activity, characterized by p ar­ ticipation in non-library professional and scholarly organizations. That means, in the case o f publica­ tion, subm itting our articles not only to library journals, b u t also to journals devoted to higher education and pedagogy at th e college level. T here are about fifty such journals, which can be identified through Education Index, Magazines f o r Libraries, and (most useful) Education Journals and Serials: an Analytical Guide. These journals fall into th ree categories. T he first, which includes Change and The Chronicle o f H igher Education, are issue-oriented journals which report on news and trends in higher education. T he second cate­ gory comprises journals such as College Teaching and The Teaching Professor, which focus on teach­ ing practice across the disciplines. Journals which address th e pedagogy of a specific subject (Teach­ ing o f Psychology J o u rn a l o f Geological Education) comprise the last and largest category. Some journals have particular columns or sec- 1034 / C&RL News tions which are appropriate for library-oriented articles. F or example, College Composition and Communication has “Staffroom Interchange,” es­ says 1,000-3,000 words long which, according to the journal itself, “describe a specific instructional or administrative practice, or explore broader is­ sues o f theory and practice in composition.” The Journal o f Economic Education describes its “E co­ nomic Instruction” section as including “articles, notes, and communications describing innovations in pedagogy, hardware, materials, and m ethods for treating traditional subject m atter.” O ther journals, in addition to those listed above, would include C om m unity, Technical, and Junior College Journal, Engineering Education, Journal o f Education f o r Business, Journal o f Nursing Educa­ tion, The Physical Educator, The History Teacher, Teaching Sociology, and Speech Communication Teacher. The main criteria for consideration would be that the journal be a likely vehicle for articles about the place o f the library in higher education and that it have as its target audience college teaching faculty—the audience we need to rea ■ ch ■ . Washington State Newspaper Project completed T he W ashington State Newspaper Project has achieved its major goals: to locate and preserve all newspapers published in the state, en ter informa­ tion about those 2,200 newspapers into a national database, and microfilm the newspapers for availa­ bility through interlibrary loan. Over 500 newspa­ p er titles and more than 1.5 million newspapers were preserved. Fifty-six newspapers w ere identi­ fied which were unknown before th e project b e ­ gan. The Newspaper Project was adm inistered by the Washington State Library. State librarian Nancy Zussy says it will have a m onum ental im pact on the preservation of W ashington State’s heritage and history. She points out that in many cases the only extant records o f a com munity and its heritage were its old newspapers, which were often damaged, decaying, or even unknown. Project director Gayle Palm er reports that one im portant result o f the project is the production of the W ashington State Union List o f Newspapers on Microfilm, which provides information on every W ashington State new spaper p u b lish ed since 1853. It lists which libraries in W ashington hold copies o f the newspapers and w hether the micro­ film can be borrowed. Published by the W ashing­ ton State Library, the union list is now available at cost. Microfilm is available on interlibrary loan from the W ashington State Library. Funding for the project came from all sectors of the state and from individuals, newspapers, p u b ­ lishers, and grants. Over $97,000 in local funds were raised, which were m atched by the National Endow m ent for the Humanities. Governor G ard­ n er com pleted funding for microfilming the news­ papers with $30,000 from his em ergency fund. ■ ■ OCLC announces award for reference librarianshíp A $1,000 cash prize will be given by O CLC to a librarian who best dem onstrates what it takes to serve on the front lines o f reference services. The first OCLC “On the F ront Line” award will be presented to such a librarian at the Online/CD - ROM 1991 conference. The award will be given to the individual who, during the course o f a typical work day: • makes effective use o f electronic reference products in providing reference services to pa­ trons; • best integrates electronic reference tools into the flow of traditional reference services; • best explains to patrons reference options, in­ cluding online public access catalogs (OPACS), local area networks (LANs), CD-ROM s, online databases, books, and directories; • dem onstrates knowledge, creativity, good hum or, and “goes the extra mile” for patrons. A panel o f th ree to five judges will decide the award based on information provided in the appli­ cations. Judges will be selected for th eir prom i­ nence and credibility in the electronic reference arena. T heir names will be announced in February 1991. Nomination information and applications may be obtained by writing to: OCLC, Attn: Reference Services Division, MC 236, 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, O H 43017-0702. Deadline for nom ina­ tions is July 31, 1991. ■ ■