ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries November 1995/687 New s from the F ield Ma ry Ellen Davis ALA under attack “What lurks in the library?” screams the September 18 headline o f an article in Citi­ zen, the publication o f Focus on the Family, a Christian organization. The article goes on to say that the ALA “be­ lieves children should have access to all material, no matter how violent or ob­ scene.” This article seems to be part o f a well-planned attack on ALA and its freedom of information policies in connection with Banned Books W eek— Celebrating the Freedom to Read, which began September 23. The attack was launched at a press confer­ ence held on September 18 by Focus on the Family, which charged ALA with falsifying re­ ports o f banned books and being antifamily. At the same time, the Family Research Council released results o f a survey that claims to show libraries are failing to collect and preserve clas­ sic materials. Judith Krug, director o f ALA’s Office for In­ tellectual Freedom (OIF), described the group’s claims as false and misleading. “Contrary to what Focus on the Family would have the public be­ lieve, ALA strongly encourages parents to moni­ tor and guide their children’s reading. W e do not believe that responsibility extends to cen­ soring what other people’s children read.” ALA issued an intellectual freedom alert, urg­ ing all who care about libraries and intellec­ tual freedom to help defend against this at­ tack. Copies o f the materials distributed by Focus on the Family are available from OIF by calling (800) 545-2433 ext. 4226 or 4220, or by e-mail: donna.reidy.pistolis@ala.org. Active learning m aterials a v a ila b le v ia ftp The Continuing Education Committee o f the ACRL Instruction Section (formerly the Biblio­ graphic Instruction Section) has made the ma­ terials from its June 1994 preconference avail­ able via ftp. Electronic text-only copies o f all the materials used at the preconference, “Inte­ grating Active Learning into Library Instruction: Practical Information for Immediate Use,” can be retrieved via ftp from: ftp://library.uncc.edu/ dist/alaa.94/active.txt. The file is fairly large (approxi­ mately 80 pages). Note. Two o f the articles were omitted due to copyright restric­ tions. ACRL launches author m entoring program Need help improving your writing skills? ACRL presi­ dent Patricia Breivik plans to create an electronic men­ toring program to help members improve writing skills for both practice and research publica­ tions. This program will offer librarians who are without a peer writing group the opportu­ nity to receive advice about their writing. Elec­ tronic mentoring is intended to strengthen a writer’s style with regard to content, grammar, interest, and readability. Where to submit ar­ ticles may also be discussed. The program sup­ ports goal one o f ACRL’s new strategic plan “to contribute to the total professional development o f academic and research librarians.” To make the program work, ACRL is look­ ing for volunteers to act as mentors. Volun­ teers should be published writers with a strong commitment to writing and a sincere willing­ ness to teach others. If you are interested, con­ tact Gloriana St. Clair, editor o f College & Re­ search Libraries‚ at gss@psulias.psu.edu. Trαnsborder ILL guidelines a v a ila b le from ARL “Transborder Interlibrary Loan: Shipping Inter- library Loan Materials from the U.S. to Canada” has been developed by the Association o f Re­ search Libraries (ARL) to guide U.S. libraries on the most effective methods o f shipping and returning materials to Canadian libraries. U.S. libraries have been known to pay customs clear­ ance and postal handling fees o f over $100 to borrow 21 reels o f microfilm. The ARL docu­ ment may be located on the ARL gopher (g o ­ pher to arl.cni.org) under the following menus: Access to Research Resources/Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery/Shipping Interlibrary Loan Materials from the U.S. to Canada. Print copies will be sent only to those without go­ pher access. Contact Mary Jackson at mary@ cni.org or (202) 296-2296. mailto:donna.reidy.pistolis@ala.org ftp://library.uncc.edu/ mailto:gss@psulias.psu.edu 688/C&RL News Web Day in Portland, Oregon On July 14, 1995, while all o f France was celebrating Bastille Day, library staff in the Portland, Oregon, area were celebrating Web Day, a full day o f workshops dealing with various aspects o f the World Wide Web. This event was sponsored by PORTALS, the Port­ land Area Library System. PORTALS was established in 1993 to pro­ vide improved library and information ser­ vices to the Portland metropolitan area. Mem­ bers include twelve academic libraries, one public library system, and the Oregon His­ torical Society. Users enjoy access to 21 data­ bases and improved access to member col­ lections. Access is available through direct Internet connections and modem dialup. The State o f Oregon and membership dues pro­ vide PORTALS’ funding. Web Day featured introductory and key­ note sessions attended by all participants, fol­ lowed by five focused breakout sessions and a lab equipped with personal computers run­ ning Netscape and staffed with volunteers. Municipal and state government representa­ tives, as well as Portland area library staff at­ tended Web Day. The introduction presented by Millard Johnson o f PORTALS, “The Web, PORTALS, and the Virtual Library,” challenged the audi­ ence to consider the implications o f a Virtual Library independent o f traditional institutional identity. Gary Sampson o f Portland State Uni­ versity delivered the keynote address, “The World Wide Web,” in which he provided an overview o f the Web’s history, its present state, and speculations about its future. Breakout sessions included “‘Cool’ Sites,” which explored selected Web sites notewor­ thy for their wide appeal and usefulness; “Home Setups,” which investigated the tech­ nological and financial issues involved in set­ ting up a Web browser on a home computer. A “Netscape/Lynx” workshop covered the es­ sential “how to” elements o f navigating the Web. There was a “Creating Web Pages” ses­ sion, as well as a “Spiders, Crawlers and Other Wondrous Things” workshop which compared various search engines. Plans are under way to repeat Web Day this winter for those unable to attend the first one.— Rhona Klein, Portland State University; e-mail: rhona@godzilla.Hb.pdx.edu ALA holds inform ation literacy hearing at M idw inter ALA’s User Instruction for Information Literacy Committee invites interested members to a hear­ ing to determine the need for the committee on Monday, January 22, 2:00–4:00 p.m., at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio. The committee stated it had difficulty carrying out its charge to “review and coordinate . . . activi­ ties within ALA regarding instruction for users in acquiring, or organizing, information . . . to encourage association-wide programming. . . Cited reasons for the difficulty include lack of formal representation from other ALA groups involved in information literacy and the fact that those other ALA units are carrying out the programmatic activities. H a rv ard an d MIT sign reciprocal access agreem ents Representatives o f the Harvard College Library and MIT Libraries signed an agreement on July 24 establishing reciprocal library privileges for many members o f the MIT and Harvard com­ munities. The agreement, which went into ef­ fect on September 1, establishes closer rela­ tions between two schools that historically have had strong connections. It also follows the trend o f academic libraries creating alliances' with peer institutions to expand their resources in a cost- effective way. Richard De Gennaro, Roy E. Larsen librar­ ian o f Harvard College, said, “I think this agree­ ment will be advantageous to both schools, and I expect it will lead to other forms o f library cooperation in the future.” “ Rettig on Reference” debuts on the Internet “Rettig on Reference,” a free service sponsored by the H. W. Wilson Co., provides reviews of new reference books and Internet-based refer­ ence sources. As was the case when Jim Rettig was the reference book reviewer for the now defunct Wilson Library Bulletin, he writes all o f the reviews. According to Rettig, “I have mailto:rhona@godzilla.Hb.pdx.edu November 1995/689 written these reviews to help fellow librarian select new reference books for their collections and decide whether or not to make local link to Internet sources.” For readers’ convenience, review headers provide hotlinks to publishers W eb sites (when such exist) and to the URLs o Internet resources reviewed. To read the first o f the planned monthl installments, point your Web browser to: http: //w w w .hwwilson.com and click on “Rettig on Reference.” Rettig welcomes comments abou the n ew service w h ich may be sent to jrrett@mail.swem.wm.edu. Among the more than dozen titles reviewed are The Fiction Dictionary, Directory o f Busi ness Periodical Issues, The Encyclopedia o f th Motorcycle‚ and Scholars’ Guide to Washington, D.C. W ho uses the Internet? Based on a recent market research study, “De fining the Internet Opportunity 1994-1995, conducted for clients such as IBM, Lotus De velopment, and Turner Broadcasting Systems CNN, O ’Reilly & Associates, a publisher o f print and electronic products, and Trish Information Services, a market research service, project tha 5.8 million U.S. adults have direct Internet ac cess and use the Net at their place o f work, home, or place o f study. A further 3.9 million use commercial online services only. s s ’ f y t ­ e ­ ” ­ / t ­ Key demographic information about the In­ ternet users found that: 67% o f individuals with Internet access are male, and over half are be­ tween the ages o f 18 and 34; a further 25% are in the 35– 44 age bracket. Median annual house­ hold income o f Internet users in 1994 was be­ tween $50,000 and $75,000. Close to half work in organizations with more than 1,000 employ­ ees. O f noneducational Internet users, the most frequent occupations are sales (19%) and engi­ neering (15%). The study used random digit dialing tech­ niques to locate 1,000 individual Internet users and 500 other online service subscribers throughout the U.S., and completed telephone surveys with them. Details o f the study are posted on O ’Reilly’s Web site at http://www.ora.com/survey/. "The Life of a Book" “The Life o f a Book: It’s in Your Hands” is the theme o f the Indiana University-Bloomington (IUB) Libraries’ Preservation Awareness Week celebrated November 6– 10, 1995. Selected to emphasize the responsibility every library user has to care for the library materials he or she handles, the theme will be reinforced through exhibits and live demonstrations o f preserva­ tion activities. “Dr. Book,” who offers a consulting clinic for sick books and makes recommendations for http://www.hwwilson.com mailto:jrrett@mail.swem.wm.edu http://www.ora.com/survey/ 690/C&RL News treatment, will make an appearance. Free post­ ers, acid-free bookmarks, and plastic book bags will be distributed. The IUB Libraries lose thousands of dollars a year in library materials through careless han­ dling, according to Lorraine Olley, head o f the IUB Libraries’ Preservation Department. “Pres­ ervation Awareness Week will help focus at­ tention on keeping our research resources in­ tact for current use and future scholarship, and for making our very limited collection funds go farther.” To order the materials or request a sample packet, contact Lorraine Olley, Preservation Dept., Main Library E050, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405; e-mail: olley@indiana. edu; phone: (812) 855-6281. Ed. note: See “Building preservation aware­ ness” on page 707 for more ideas on publiciz­ ing the importance o f preservation. Listserv on collective bargaining started COLLBARG— Collective Bargaining and Librar­ ians— is a listserv created to initiate and en­ courage discussion about collective bargaining activities and strategies. Recent topics have in­ cluded librarians’ economic status, institutional governance, and union vs. nonunion benefits comparisons. William P. Kane o f the University o f Detroit Mercy Libraries founded the listserv after con­ ducting a national survey entitled “Who Repre­ sents the Interests o f Academic Librarians?” which indicated that tenure for librarians is erod­ ing and that most librarians are not members o f the union, nor are they interested in becom­ ing members. Kane feels that the listserv— which now has over 300 subscribers from at least 10 countries— “is an electronic ‘safe house’ where librarians can freely participate in dis­ cussions about collective bargaining in a bois­ terous or nearly anonymous fashion.” To sub­ scribe to the list send the message “subscribe collbarg Firstname Lastname” to listserv@cms. cc.wayne.edu. To submit messages or questions to be broadcast to the list, address e-mail to collbarg@cms.cc.wayne.edu. USCD lib ra ry renam ed to honor Dr. Seuss Audrey S. Geisel has given a substantial gift to the University o f California, San Diego, Librar­ ies. Although the donor does not wish the full amount o f the gift to be disclosed, the San Fran­ cisco Chronicle claimed the gift was reported to be $20 million. In recognition o f the gift, UCSD’s architec­ turally unique University Library will be named Geisel Library in honor o f Audrey and her late husband, Theodor Seuss Geisel, the world-re nowned children’s book author known as Dr. Seuss. Apparently the library, which opened in 1970, intrigued Geisel. “The first time Ted saw that form o f the building he said to me, ‘If I had turned my thoughts toward designing a building, it might have looked strangely simi­ lar to this,’” explained his wife. UCSD librarian Gerald R. Lowell said, “This magnificent gift will be used to increase access to scholarly information— through both print and electronic resources. It will also enhance our information literacy program, through which students acquire the skills to access and use information successfully, while at UCSD and throughout a lifetime o f learning.” Three years ago Audrey named UCSD the beneficiary o f a $2.3 million collection o f original material from the estate o f her late husband. That donation contained b ook s, draw ings, sketches, notebooks, tapes, records, and memorabilia gener­ ally dating from the early 1970s through the early 1990s. The University Library building at the University o f California, San Diego, caught the fancy o f Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. November 1995/ 691