ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 32 / C&R L News C&RL News g u id elin es fo r subm ission o f articles or colu m n s A statement of purpose and content fo r College & Research Libraries News. P u r pose of C&RL News College & Research Libraries News is the official news magazine of the Association of College & Re search Libraries, a division of the American Li brary Association. Its purpose is to record signifi cant activities of ACRL and to report news about academic and research libraries. As the official ACRL news magazine, C&RL News maintains a record of selected actions and policy statements of the Association and publishes timely reports on the activities of ACRL and its sections, committees, discussion groups, councils, task forces, and chap ters. As a vehicle for communication among college and research libraries, C&RL News reports news items pertinent to academic and research librari- anship, including information on bibliographic in struction, continuing education, appointm ents, acquisition of special collections, grants to li braries, new technology, and publications (brief notices). The editor bears responsibility for the contents of each issue of C&RL News. Materials selected by the editor must be newsworthy, timely, and of practical value to people in the field. The editor has authority to decide w hat material is appropriate for publication, based on the following guidelines. The editor also reserves the right to make appropri ate revisions in m aterial selected for publication in order to standardize style or improve clarity (ex cept official ACRL documents, president’s letters, and similar m aterial). Formal, theoretical, or research-oriented arti cles inappropriate for C& RL News will be for w arded to the editor of College & Research L i braries for review. I. Length Articles and columns should be no more than 3,000 words and no less than 500 words. II. Style C&RL News style is informal, but informative and accurate. III. Content Materials selected should fall into one of the fol lowing categories: a. Reports on a project, program, or research un derway or recently completed dealing with a topic relevant to academ ic lib rarian sh ip . Footnotes should be minimal and charts or tables avoided. These reports may be preliminary descriptions of programs or research to be published formally at a later date in library literature (e.g., “Creating a Traditional Reference Tool in the Age of Electron ics,” December 1987). b. Reports on a recent conference or workshop of interest to academic or research librarians (e.g., “The First International Conference on Japanese Inform ation,” January 1988). c. Reasoned and informed speculation or com ment on a relevant topic, especially if solicited by the editor or an official ACRL group (e.g., “The Im portance of Poetry in American Libraries,” De cember 1987). d. State-of-the-art reports on a relevant topic (e.g., “Libraries and Computer Centers,” Septem ber 1987). e. Standards, guidelines, or recommendations of an ACRL committee or other official ACRL group (e.g., “Guidelines for Audiovisual Services in Aca demic Libraries,” October 1987). A vailable in 1988! B o o k s fo r C o lle g e L ib ra rie s , t h i r d e d itio n With an estimated 50,000 titles in all academic fields of study, chosen by more than 600 American and Canadian college faculty and collection development librarians, the third edition of Books for College Libraries is the most comprehensive and authoritative buying and collection measurement tool available. The high percentage of new material (between 30% and 50% of each section) assures that coverage is fully updated even for rapidly-changing fields. In addition to the print version, ACRL and ALA Publishing are re searching alternative electronic formats for the BCL3 database that will make automated collection evaluation possible. Reviews of the second edition: "The thoroughness of its revision, the careful and authoritative selection of its titles, its excellent indexes, and its full LC card entries all contribute to its importance and usefulness... recommended to all academic libraries as a necessary purchase." Booklist "...another ALA landmark publication that will help—often rescue— anyone who uses it." Library Journal To receive additional information as it becomes available, please write to: Ruth Ann Jones, Publishing Services/Marketing, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. American Library Association • 50 East Huron Street • Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 944-6780 34 / C&RL News IV. M anuscript A uthors should su b m it tw o copies, d o u b le spaced, following either the Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian. Printing output to be avoided: low-resolution dot matrix, proportional spacing, and hyphenated word breaks. V. Requests for Donations C& RL News may occasionally print requests for the donation of books or materials to libraries, es pecially foreign libraries, which have suffered ex tensive loss through fire, hurricane, or other n atu ral disaster. O ther libraries soliciting contributions for other reasons will be referred to the rates for classified advertising in C&RL News. E ditor’s Note: These guidelines were adopted by the C&RL News Editorial Board at the Denver M idw inter Meeting on January 25, 1982. ■ ■ ACRL staff profile Elaine Opalka joined ALA in February 1984, working part-tim e in the Public Inform ation Of fice, Reprographics, and sending out ballots for the ALA electio n s. She joined ACRL in April 1984 and worked part- time on the RBMS Pre conference. E laine be came a full-time ACRL s ta ff m e m b e r in Ju ly 1984. F o r alm ost tw o years she was adm inis tr a tiv e s e c re ta ry for C a th le e n B o u rd o n , A C R L’s deputy execu tiv e d ire c to r. In M ay 1986 she was promoted Elaine Opalkato A C R L office m a n ager. Elaine coordinates the flow and organization of day-to-day office operations. Her other responsi bilities at ACRL include keeping trac k of our budget matters. She attends and keeps the minutes of all meetings of the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee. Elaine is now in the process of assimilating prac tical information concerning ACRL’s new autom a tion software and equipm ent so th a t she can be come the resource person for the PC systems now in use and those th a t will be introduced in the future. Last spring Elaine completed intensive training to qualify her as the facilitator of the ACRL Q ual ity Circle pilot program. Prior to coming to ALA, Elaine worked for the New York Life Insurance Company, was a gram m ar school teacher’s aide, and worked for a florist. Her ALA career is her first after the hiatus created by raising her two sons. ■ ■ ARL launches project to convert Microform Masters files The Association of Research Libraries has un dertaken a new project to enhance research li braries’ preservation efforts and increase access to a significant file of research m aterial. In partnership w ith the Library of Congress, ARL has signed a contract w ith The C om puter Company of Rich mond, Virginia, to convert the National Register of Microform Masters into m achine-readable form. The project is funded by grants from the National Endow m ent for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. D uring the next two years, The Com puter Com pany will convert about 460,000 bibliographic rec ords, 30-40 % of them not previously in machine- readable form. Staff in L C ’s MARC Editorial and Cataloging M anagement and Publications Divi sions will review converted records to see th a t they conform to guidelines established by ARL and LC based on A R L ’s Guidelines fo r Retrospective Con version o f Bibliographic Records fo r Monographs. The LC Cataloging Distribution Service will com pile tapes containing the records and distribute them w ith no constraints on further reproduction or distribution to libraries, networks, and other or ganizations. Preservation m icrofilm ing is currently recog nized as an extremely effective m ethod for repro ducing brittle books, one of the most difficult pres ervation problems. Preventing costly duplication of effort by improving the means to locate existing masters is an im portant step. Conversion of mono graphic reports in the NRMM M aster File and widespread distribution of the resulting machine- readable records will be a major step tow ard ensur ing th a t searches for existing microform masters are as efficient and inexpensive as possible. ■ ■