ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1988 / 79 Criteria for library handbooks Content • Essential information: full identification of th e school and library; location (street address, room num ber); days and hours of service; date of handbook’s publication (if frequent revision is not expected, this is often coded, as its usefulness is p ri­ m arily internal). • Services provided-, circulation; in terlib ra ry loan; reference; online searching; bibliographic in­ struction; regulations regarding use, including eli­ gibility. • Means o f contacting departments: telephone numbers; names, if turnover is infrequent or revi­ sion will be easy. • M ethods o f access to collections: catalogs; in­ dexes & abstracts; staff assistance (role of the li­ b rarian and encouragem ent for users to seek assist­ ance) . Useful additional inform ation • Inform ation about other related inform ation and research sources. • Floorplans or other simple directions to guide users to desired inform ation. • Table of contents or index (determ ined by size and complexity of handbook). • History of the library (also special architec­ tu ral features). • Special collections or related services. O rder of presentation • Most basic inform ation (identification, loca­ tion, etc.) m ust be given most prominence (cover, or at beginning). • Constantly needed inform ation (hours, tele­ phone num bers, etc.) should be placed to facilitate access (beginning, end, cover, or insert). • Bulk of descriptive inform ation should be a r­ ranged in order of decreasing im portance to the user (since readers are unlikely to read the h an d ­ book from cover to cover—the earlier inform ation is presented, the m ore likely the reader can absorb it). • Inform ation presented in a logical m anner; re­ lated items grouped. Style of w riting • N arrative should be brief and concise as possi­ ble. • Term inology should be explained from the rea d er’s p o in t of view ; avoid tech n ical jarg o n whenever possible. • The tone should be positive and should invite interest in reading the handbook and using the li­ brary. • Headings should be m ade w ith the reader’s in­ terest in m ind and should be w ritten to facilitate scanning. This is im portant w hen a handbook is too brief to require an index. • An index depends on the size and complexity of the guide’s contents. F orm at and design •A ttractiv e in appearance. •E asy to understand. •H a n d y to use. •E asy to obtain. •D esigned for retention. •E conom ical to revise. •T ypeface (gives character to a page, resulting in a stream lined appearance). •Illu stra tio n s: add to, not d etra ct from the guide’s attractiveness and usefulness; serve a p u r­ pose; placem ent w ith related passages of text; con­ form to limitations of the printing process; are of high quality; well produced; color (for emphasis and liveliness, ease in reading). ■ ■ Information crisis in Latin America In th e 1970s bibliographic databases offered th ro u g h such services as D IA LO G and ORBIT were m ade available to libraries in Mexico and L atin America. Since there were very few profes­ sionals trained to take advantage of these services, librarians in these countries took it upon them ­ selves to study the capabilities of the databases and convince others of the benefits th a t they offered. At the same tim e, the Mexican government was increasing its efforts to accelerate th e country’s technological grow th, and in the process discov­ ered th a t inform ation constituted the raw m aterial for developing national programs. The num ber of users of bibliographic databases grew as the value of access to international inform ation was recog­ nized. L ibraries, universities, research centers, and other inform ation agencies soon began to evaluate these services at professional neetings. Visits from system vendors becam e increasingly frequent, and have continued through the present tim e w hen al­ most all of them have local offices. U nfortunately, in 1982 Mexico was hit w ith one of its worst economic crises involving inflation, for­ eign debt, m anufacturing slumps, unem ploym ent, and a series of critical peso devaluations. The situa­ tion has been gloomy ever since and the peso con­ tinues to slide in relation to the U.S. dollar while 80 / C&RL News the country is immersed in an arduous struggle to rescue its economic stability. The cost of bibliographic searching has soared incredibly. In April 1987 a search in D IA LO G ’S chemistry database cost $178 per hour. At the ex­ change rate of 1400 Mexican pesos per dollar, such a search would cost 249,200 pesos w ithout consid­ ering any additional charges for national or inter­ national telecommunications networks. An institu­ tion w ith an annual budget of 5,000,000 pesos for database searching can perform less th an 20 hours w orth of searches for the year. Recent studies indicate th a t by the end of the first quarter of 1988 one dollar will be w orth 2000 pesos, which will make an hour’s w orth of chemis­ try searching cost 356,000 pesos. As tim e goes by it is more difficult to m aintain subscriptions to d a ta ­ base services in Mexico. The problem is not, as it once w as, a la ck of a p p r e c ia tio n fo r th e ir capabilities—professionals in Mexico are aw are of the im portance of enhanced subject access and full- text retrieval, for example—b u t it is an economic one. It was a long tim e before we realized the fact th a t scientific and humanistic bibliographic infor­ m ation was indispensable to support the social, cultural, economic, and technological develop­ m ent of our country. W e have been advancing, in spite of m any difficulties, by creating a national database and exploring new technologies, but we are dangerously close to being isolated. It is true th a t the database companies need not necessarily be concerned about our situation, be­ cause they can always recruit new clients from in­ dustrialized nations should they lose our business. But they may wish to consider w hether they have an ethical or social com m itm ent to prevent the bib­ liographic isolation of developing countries. Some a lte rn a te strategies m ight include: re ­ duced rates for different countries (perhaps based on GNP), special discounts for the databases in greatest dem and, no rate increases over a longer am ount of time, or more generous terms of pay­ ment. The m ajor suppliers should seriously study this situation. If not, the advances th a t the L atin Amer­ ican countries have m ade in inform ation technol­ ogy will be set back 20 years. It is much worse to know th a t you cannot have something you need, th a n never to realize th a t you need i t . —José Orozco Tenorio, Head Librarian, Instituto Tec- nológico Autónom o de México (ITAM ), Rio Hondo N o .l, Col. Progreso Tizapán, Del. A. Obregón, 01000 México City, D .F ., M éxico. ■ ■ Eight Library/Book Fellow positions open Applications are now being accepted for the 1988-89 Library/Book Fellows Program , jointly sponsored by ALA and the United States Inform a­ tion Agency. Funding will perm it the placem ent of U.S. citizens in approximately eight of the follow­ ing twelve institutions beginning in September 1988: University of M alawi (Zomba); Makerere University-East African School of Librarianship (K am pala, U ganda); L ib e ria n Bar Association (Monrovia); Simon Bolivar University, G raduate Program in M anagem ent of Inform ation Services (Caracas, Venezuela); Argentina N ational Com­ mission for Popular Libraries (Buenos Aires); Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok, Thailand); N a­ tional Library of the Philippines (Manila); Ameri­ can Library in Paris (Paris, France); Public Li­ b ra ry of U m ea an d th e V a ste rb o tte n C o u n ty L ibrary (Umea, Sweden); Sanaa University L i­ brary (Sanaa, North Yemen); University of K har­ toum (Khartoum, Sudan); and the Egyptian Soci­ ety for the Dissemination of University C ulture and Knowledge (Cairo). Stipends for Library/Book Fellows are $23,000 per year. Travel expenses to and from will be reim ­ bursed and health and life insurance coverage are provided. Some hosts will assist w ith housing. Eli­ gibility requirements are: U.S. citizenship; com­ m and of the language of the host country is desired; education and experience in library or inform ation science, publishing, or other fields directly related to the interests and needs of specific projects, w ith dem onstrated competency as required. For more inform ation on these positions, contact Robert P. Doyle, D irector, Library/Book Fellows Program , A m erican L ibrary Association, 50 E. H uron St., Chicago, IL 60611; (800) 545-2433 (in Illinois, (800) 545-2444). Applications for particu­ la r p o sitio n s m u st be re c e iv e d by A p ril 15, 1988. ■ ■ Ethnic papers wanted Ethnic Forum, a journal of ethnic studies and ethnic bibliography, is calling for papers pertaining to American and C anadian ethnic bibliography and ethnic historiography, in- c luding articles on individual ethnic groups, Papers on Am erican ethnic research institu ­ tions, archives, and libraries will also be consid­ ered. C ontact L ubom yr R. W ynar, E ditor, E thnic Forum, Center for Ethnic Studies, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. Submission deadline is April 29, 1988. MORE BAN K FOR THE BUCK. 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