ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 692 / C&R L News essential—p a r t of the library’s com m itm ent to make inform ation readily available to patrons. It shows th a t these students, like our other library employees, are capable and responsible individ­ uals, willing and enthusiastic colleagues, w orthy of our praise in recognition of their efforts, and one of the most effective and productive uses of our li­ brary personnel budget. Linking a high school with academic and public libraries By M ichael W. Loder Campus Librarian Penn State/Schuylkill Campus an d Jam es S. Fogarty Curriculum/Media Specialist Schuylkill Interm ediate Unit An electronic bulletin board, set up by the local Interm ediate U nit and involving the Schuylkill Campus of Pennsylvania State University, has be­ come a major means of communication for the li­ brarians and libraries of the county. In early 1984 the Interm ediate Unit for Schuyl­ kill County (I.U. 29), Pennsylvania, set up an elec­ tronic bulletin board for interlibrary cooperation. Twelve high school libraries, the Pottsville Free Public Library, and the Schuylkill Campus of Penn State agreed to share resources among themselves. An LSCA Title III grant provided a microcom­ puter, communications equipment, and software for each library. The I.U . sponsored training and provided a host com puter in the form of a Tandy 6000 w ith electronic mail capability. Libraries used the system by posting IL L and other requests and checking a general notice bulletin board and their individual mailboxes each day. An existing I.U . courier system delivered m aterials tw ice a week. For the high school librarians, many of whom had never before looked farther than their own lo­ cal public libraries for outside materials, the pro­ gram was a great benefit and a major learning ex­ perience. W ith no ideas as to w hat the other high school libraries had available, many early requests were subject-based fishing expeditions: “A student needs m aterials on Model–T cars. Anyone have anything?” Despite this loose approach the pro­ gram flourished, and w ithin its first year more than 500 print and non-print items were exchanged. For Penn State/Schuylkill the value of this pro­ gram was at first not apparent. The I.U . needed us because the Title III grant called for cooperation between different types of libraries. But did we need the network? The campus is p art of Pennsyl­ vania State University’s Commonwealth Campus System, and its library had always relied prim arily on Pattee Library at University Park and the other campus libraries for meeting needs for outside m a­ terial. O ur hands were already full w ith IL L re­ quests from our own faculty and students, and we were not particularly thrilled at the prospect of sev­ eral hundred high school requests piling up on our p art of the bulletin board. A nother benefit for the high schools was the availability of LIAS (Library Inform ation Access System), Penn State’s own online catalog, which the high school librarians could search by dialing a local number. W ould they bother w ith subject re­ quests to each other when Penn State’s holdings were so accessible? Anticipating many problems, w e specified some conditions for our participation in the system. First, w e w ould only respond to requests for spe­ cific items identified by call number. Second, the high schools first must check am ong their own holdings and w ith the Pottsville Free Public Li­ brary before coming to us. Third, we insisted that requesting libraries provide us w ith all the infor­ m ation we normally put on IL L forms. W e did receive a sorely needed microcomputer, modem, and printer. But “free” hardw are could not be the only justification for participating in a consortium w ith other non-academ ic libraries. However, as Hugh Atkinson has w ritten, “it is not necessary for outcomes, products, and uses of net­ works to be the results of an equal system.”1 We joined the group in order to get to know our previ­ ously anonymous associates in the county and to build a shared experience and working relation­ ships. The Schuylkill Cam pus of Penn State is the only academic institution in the county. The area is pre­ dominantly rural w ith a scattering of towns and small cities, most of which saw their fortunes dis­ appear in the 1950s w ith the dem and for anthracite coal. The county does not have a large professional or college-educated population; yet most of our students come from this area and many are the first in their families to attend college. O ur future, both as a campus and a library, is tied to this local popu­ lation. W e felt th a t getting to know the area librar­ ians could be im portant for recruitm ent, public re- 1Hugh C. Atkinson, “Atkinson on Networks,” American Libraries, June 1987, p.432. December 1987 / 693 lations, and communications. T he high school librarians w anted to know us as well. LIAS was particularly welcome because it gave the librarians a tool for teaching online ca ta­ logs and telecommunications. T he bulletin board allowed them to act on w hat they found as well as come to us for help w hen they ran into problems using LIAS. Soon the high school librarians w ere looking for a means of identifying specific m aterials in the school libraries. The arrival of ACCESS Pennsyl­ vania2 provided a solution. Now all twelve of the high schools—as well as more th a n 100 others in the state—are equipped w ith A C C E SS Pennsylva­ nia CD-ROM players and the Brodart–generated union catalog th a t lists local item holdings and all the holdings for other system participants. The program has also brought the high school li­ brarians into the m ainstream library w orld. Now all librarians in the county can com m unicate w ith each other, and this has had the effect of elim inat­ ing m any barriers and preconceptions. The public lib rary has also benefitted by sharing w ith the 2See James S. Fogarty, et al., “L ibrary Resource Sharing,” Media & M ethods, November/Decem- ber 1986, pp. 10-11. O ther materials on ACCESS Pennsylvania are available from the State Library of Pennsylvania. schools, w hich has increased m ore th a n 200 % in the first year of the program . M any materials th a t w ere once borrow ed through O CLC w ere located through the network, thereby saving tim e and dol­ lars. For Penn State/Schuylkill the results have been most satisfactory. W e have closer ties to all the area high schools. Using the bulletin bo ard w e have been able to resolve quickly m any problems th a t previously w ould have been pu t off for lack of com­ m unication channels. Recently it became the solu­ tion to the long-standing question w hether to allow local high school students to borrow m aterials di­ rectly from us. Now with access through their own school libraries, we know th a t their requests can be m onitored by the school librarian. And because they have experienced LIAS at their schools, many of our incoming freshmen arrive w ith a working knowledge of the Penn State L ibrary system. W e also discovered th a t the schools had items we needed too. In areas w here Penn State’s holdings are weak, especially children’s literature and popu­ la r reading, th e netw ork m em bers te n d to be strong. T he bulletin board and network have been a pos­ itive experience for all participants. By carefully delineating guidelines for our participation at the beginning, Penn State/Schuylkill has been able to enjoy the benefits of a multitype network. ■ ■ ACRL candidates, 1988 elections W h o ’s w h o on th e Spring ballot. The listing for each of the following candidates includes their title, institution, and institutional address. Vice-President/President-Elect W illiam A. M offett, D ire c to r of L ib ra rie s , O berlin College, O berlin, OH 44074; D avid B. W alch, D ean of Library and Audiovisual Services, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407. Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS) V ice-Chair/Chair-Elect: G. E dw ard Evans, L i­ brarian of Tozzer Library, H arvard University, 21 D iv in ity A ve., C a m b rid g e , MA 02138; J a n e t Steins, H ead, Chem istry Library, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3425. M ember-at-Large: D avid M. Hovde, Social Sci­ ences L ibrarian, Reference D epartm ent, Univer­ sity Libraries, University of Oklahom a, N orman, OK 73072; M aija M. Lutz, H ead of Technical Ser­