ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 148 / C&RL News C o lle g e , public lib r a r ie s jo in tly s e e k fun d ing Mantor Library, of the University o f Maine at Farmington (UMF) and the Farmington Pub­ lic Library are in the last phase o f a successful $1.5 million joint capital campaign. The cam ­ paign, begun in March 1995, has only $250,000 more to go before it ends in June 1997. Mantor Library is using its share o f the money to re­ place the library’s HVAC system, renovate pub­ lic and staff space, buy furniture, create an electronic classroom, and replace old tech­ n o lo g y w ith s ta te -o f-th e -a r t eq u ip m en t. Farmington Public Library is using its share of the funding to reallocate space throughout its 100-year-old building, renovate the first floor, buy technology, and build a first floor addi­ tion. One of the goals o f the campaign, besides fundraising, has been to look at areas o f co ­ operation betw een the two libraries, which stand just a football field’s length apart. Some cooperative collection developm ent, esp e­ cially in the area o f current literary fiction, will be possible. The public library allows UMF students to check out materials for free, while tow’n residents have access to all o f the re­ sources available through the college library for a small fee. The university will work closely with local educators to provide training in in­ formation literacy to teachers and older stu­ dents in the new electronic classroom, sched­ uled to open this month. “The capital campaign ensures the best possible library resources for our region,” said Theodora J. Kalikow, president o f UMF. F und ing has co m e from a variety o f sources. Locally, a pool o f volunteers, called solicitors, has ventured into the communities served by both libraries and raised hundreds o f thousands o f dollars in three-year pledges, as well as pulling in larger donations from local businesses and individuals. Student or­ ganizations have raised $10,000 while the college alumni association’s request that mem­ bers give to the capital campaign and to the annual fund has been well received. Major grant support has been provided by the Kresge F o u n d a tio n , B in g h am B e tte rm e n t Fund, Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, and Davis Family Foundation.— Frank. Roberts, University o f M a in e a t F arm in g ton ’ The enhancement allows researchers to elec­ tronically transmit the text o f articles or cita­ tions to any valid e-mail address and frees them from reliances on printed documents and the availability o f a printer. W in n e r o f the A C R L / B la c k w e ll’s S tu d en t P a p e r A w a r d a n n o u n ce d To encourage leadership in research, ACRL and Blackwell’s offered a $350 cash prize award and free conference registra­ tion for a student whose research paper was se­ lected for presentation at the ACRL 8th National Conference in April. The Contributed Papers Com­ mittee is pleased to an­ nounce Ethelene Whit­ mire o f the University of Michigan is the winner of this award. W hitm ire’s Ethelene Whitmire paper, “The Campus En­ vironment for African-American and White Stu­ dents: Impact on Academic Library Experience,” will be presented at the conference in Nashville on Saturday, April 13, 2:00– 3:00 p.m. The paper describes a research project which analyzed cam­ pus influences such as interactions with peers, faculty, and administrators on academic library experiences. Whitmire is a doctoral student study­ ing higher education. She received her MLS from Rutgers in 1993. F o u n d a tio n C e n te r la u n ch e s W e b Electronic R eferen ce D e sk The Foundation Center has launched an Elec­ tronic Reference Desk at its W eb site, on which a librarian is available to answer questions sub­ mitted via e-mail about foundations, nonprofit resources, corporate giving, and the best use o f the center’s services and resources. Currently, the Electronic Reference Desk has three parts: responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs), the Online Librarian, and a directory o f links to other nonprofit sites of interest. The FAQs in­ clude responses to common questions such as “Where do I begin my foundation/grants re­ search?” and “How do I find out about grants for my subject area or field o f interest?”