ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 398 The Electric Undergrad: An interactive library program By Dennis N orlin and Joyce C. W right A high-tech, multi-media introduction to the library A fter tw o years o f concentrated effort, the University o f Illinois at Urbana Under­ graduate Library’s new interactive orientation program was dedicated December 17, 1992. As the first step in a plan to use interactive computing as a ma­ jor mode o f providing ready ref­ erence, bibliographic instruc­ tion, and orientation, Electric Undergrad is available on two IBM workstations at informa­ tion kiosks at the entrance to the Undergraduate Library. Through digitization of im­ a g e s an d sou n d s, E le c tr ic U ndergrad provides a high- tech, multimedia introduction to the programs and services o f the Undergraduate Library. Each segment o f the program in clu d es m usic, narration, graphics, text, and im ages, com b in ed into short stories Kiosks housing the E le c tr ic U n d e r g r a d at the University o f Illinois at Urbana’s Undergraduate Library about 17 major undergraduate library areas: reference desk, reference collection, circula­ tion, print indexes, periodicals area, CD-ROM area, writers’ workshop, media center, microcomputer lab, interactive media center, college and career cen­ ter, SHIC (Self-Help Information Center), card catalog, online catalog, browsing area, reserves desk, and question board (a tim e-honored Undergrad tradition that provides answers to all kinds o f student questions). Utilizing IBM PS2/57s with rewritable opti­ cal disks and the 8516 Touch Screen Monitor, the orientation program, through the use o f digitized graphics, images, music, and voice, offers the user two major options to learn about the Undergraduate Library: 12-Minute Tourìs a self-contained 12-minute tour o f 17 different Undergrad service areas, providing a brief description and location for each. Tour Specific Areas provides the opportunity for the user to select longer descriptions and explanations o f any or all o f the 17 areas h igh ligh ted in the Short Tour. From the shortest story (Reference desk) to the longest (CD-ROM), the 17 ar­ eas provide nearly 30 minutes o f library orientation, occupy­ ing more than 120 MB on the optical disk. One o f the two kiosks hous­ ing Electric Undergrad is acces­ sible to wheelchairs, the other is designed to be used while standing. Small speakers on each side o f the kiosk provide the narration and music at a level that does not disturb pa­ trons at nearby online terminals or the infor­ mation desk. The use o f touchscreen monitors prevents corruption o f the data, and the use o f rewritable optical disks makes customization and revision o f the programs convenient. Dennis Norlin is director o f the Devereaux Library, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and Joyce C. Wright is acting head o f the Undeigraduate Library and associate professor o f library administration, University o f Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 3 99 Student reaction to the Electric U n d e rg ra d So far students have responded positively to the Electric Undergrad, but there are plans to conduct a study. It is fascinating to see how they are examining the latest “technological toy” in the Undergraduate Library. Instructors are beginning to request that students use the Elec­ tric Undergrad instead o f the library tape tour. H ow ever, it w ill not replace the audio tape tours, but presents a new alternative. As academic libraries m ove towards Com­ puter Assisted Instruction (CAI), w e believe the Electric Undergrad w ill be one o f the success­ ful programs to emulate for interactive library orientation. According to Bob Wedgeworth, interim uni­ versity librarian, “The Electric Undergrad is only the first step in an evolving series o f develop­ ments that will transform the Undergraduate Library into a multi-media laboratory for re­ search and study. Am ong the benefits w e ex­ pect to realize w ill be a more independent undergraduate student, capable o f identifying and satisfying their information needs, whether they are course-related or intended to satisfy their ow n desire to learn more.” E lectric Undergrad began tw o years ago when Media/Microcomputer Librarian Dennis Norlin (currently director o f the Devereaux Li­ brary) received one o f the first IBM Innova­ tions Grants from a campus-wide committee promoting the use o f interactive computing in undergraduate instruction. Additional funding for the program was provided by a grant from the Chancellor’s Parents’ Fund. ■ (Internet resources cont. from page 396) various net inquiries. The NAFTA document is quite long and unless you have a lot o f disk space available and facility for electronically storing and searching the document, you may not want to retrieve the files via ftp. You can however, search and retrieve relevant portions o f the text via WAIS (W ide Area In fo rm a tio n S e rv er) at < s p a rc -l.la w . columbia> . W A IS In fo rm a tio n o f In terest to Latin Americanists. T o connect to WAIS: Login: wais. The LIBS software described above provides seamless access to WAIS. WAIS Feature your collection on the cover of C&RL N ew s C&RLNews wants to feature aesthetically pleasing photos o f items from library col­ lections on its covers. If you have material in your library’s collections that you think w ould make an attractive C&RL News cover, please send us a photograph and a brief description o f the item and the collection. Photos may be either color or black and white and should be 5″ x 7″ or 8″ x 10″. Illustrations with a vertical orientation work best. Materials submitted w ill become the property o f C&RL News and cannot be ac­ knowledged. Send to: C&RL News Covers, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. allows keyw ord access to hundreds o f archived electronic files. Browse the list to see what is available. WAIS sites and search­ able files change constantly. The follow ing files and sites currently available may be o f interest to Latin Americanists: , , , an d < w o r ld - factbook(C IA) at cmns-moon.think.com > . Y ou can also search the Kovacs list o f Academic E-mail Conferences via WAIS GOPHER UT-LANIC: Latin American Network Information Center. Produced by the Uni­ versity o f Texas— Austin, Institute o f Latin American Studies. Access via telnet: Login: You can also access via any gopher server with a menu system that allows access to “all g o ­ phers in the world.” Choose North America, Texas, etc. Announced in April 1993, the experimental UT-LANIC gopher offers a menu that w ill provide access to Latin American databases, access to library catalogs and other services. W hen complete it will in­ clude a directory o f databases by subject and w ill provide automatic access through point­ ers. For more information contact: Ning Lin, LANIC Technical Director o r C a ro ly n P o a g e . ■ mailto:carolyn@emx.utexas.edu