ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries O ctober 1986 / 599 WASHINGTON HOTLINE Carol C. Henderson (202) 547-4440; ALA0070 Deputy Director, ALA Washington Office N T IS privatization study. About 100 persons participated in the workshop held July 30 by the National Technical Information Service to discuss priva­ tization alternatives, ALA was well represented, including documents li­ brarians from several academic libraries. The great preponderance of com­ ments were from the library community on the usefulness of NTIS which, as a part of the Commerce Department, provides for the centralized collection, announcement, and dissemination of U.S. government-sponsored research and development reports and translations of foreign technical literature. Librarians questioned the motives of the Office of Management and Budget in requesting the privatization study, since NTIS already leases its database to commercial firms, and covers its direct costs through such leasing and the selling of reports. Other questions raised were whether agencies and foreign governments would continue to provide reports to a privatized operation, and whether NTIS, if privatized, would continue to archive and make available specialized reports which sell only a few copies. The Information Industry Association said that NTIS should continue to provide a curtailed, minimal service, but specific value-added services such as newsletters and special searches on the NTIS database should be left to the private sector. More specific explanations of what services would be curtailed and what was meant by "value-added" were requested at the meeting but not provided. The Commerce Department privatization task force will evaluate comments and make recommendations. The option of a government corporation is being considered seriously by the task force; apparently NTIS feels that the status quo is not an acceptable option to 0MB. The eventual decision on privatiza­ tion will be incorporated into the President’s budget to be submitted next January. A workshop transcript will be available at a later date. A compilation of the comments NTIS received in response to the April 28 FEDERAL REGISTER inquiry is available for $10 plus a $3 service charge from Joseph Clark, NTIS Deputy Director, Rm. 4824, D e p t . of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230. ALA commented in a June 6 letter opposing any privatization action which would impair the mission of NTIS. That position was also expressed in a resolution passed by the ALA Council on July 2. Government information coalition. A July 29 organizational meeting in Washington, D.C., of a Coalition on Government Information attracted 30 indi­ viduals representing 20 organizations with a wide range of interests— — (cont’d on p. 630) 600 / C &R L News tainly eligible) and can address a wide range of sub ject categories including: achievement and motiva tion, character education, classroom behavior and processes, early childhood education, guidance and counseling, individual differences, instruc tional leadership, learning resources, parental in volvement, school management and organization, special education, special populations, subject matter learning, and teacher quality and effective ness. 4) The finding must have a clear relationship t practice, so that thoughtful readers can readil grasp its significance for their children, family, stu dents, school, or community. ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ o y ­ All findings statements should be less than 50 words, with comment or discussion less than 300 words. Each should cite five to eight references that support the finding and provide additional background. Each submission must be accompa­ nied by one copy of each of the cited references. For more information on the project, for copies of the earlier W hat W orks volume, and to request cover sheets to attach to your submission, contact: Ann Swift, Outreach, 304E, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 555 New Jersey Ave., N .W ., Washington, DC 20208; (202) 357-6560, 357-6570. New ACRL/PLA humanities workshops The Association of College and Research L i­ braries and the Public Library Association (PLA) have been awarded a grant of $152,906 to conduct a second series of four workshops, sponsored and funded by the National Endowment for the Hu­ manities (NEH). Applications are now being ac­ cepted for these 2-day workshops. Each application for the workshop must be sub­ mitted by a librarian/humanist team. Preference will be given to teams composed of one academic librarian, one public librarian, and one humanities scholar. The workshops will be held in four regions of the United States. Fifteen teams will be accepted for each workshop. This second series of workshops will be presented in the same format as the seven highly successful workshops conducted in 1 9 8 4 -8 6 . H alf of the teams attending the workshops have subsequently applied for grants, and of those applications, two- thirds were awarded funds. The primary goal of this project is to initiate communication between public and academic li­ brarians and humanities scholars for the purpose of working together on cooperative humanities pro­ gramming projects and to stimulate them to seek funds for appropriate humanities activities. Major objectives of the workshops are: •to assist librarians from public and academic library environments in understanding the con­ straints and opportunities that affect cooperative planning efforts; •to assist librarians and humanists in working together cooperatively to program in the humani­ ties, utilizing the complementary resources each can bring to the programming effort; •to acquaint librarians and humanists with the value and potential impact of humanities pro­ grams on the library’s program of service; •to demonstrate how innovative public pro­ grams are designed and produced; •to encourage librarians to make an assessment of their humanities holdings with a view to devel­ oping program themes; •to assist librarians in preliminary proposal preparation, with particular emphasis on the solic­ itation of cost-sharing from either local funding or private philanthropy; and •to explain the particular goals and objectives of the NEH and the work funded by each of the other NEH divisions. Team applications will be selected based on the following criteria: •demonstrated philosophical interest in public programming; •ability to assess the resources and structures of the academic institutions and public librarians in terms of joint programming efforts; •interest in learning how to develop innovative methods of programming to stimulate interest in the humanities in the general adult public by using the resources of public and academic libraries; and •potential to work cooperatively. T h e m a jo r p resen ter is Ju lie V irg o , vice- president of the Carroll Group and former execu­ tive director of ACRL. Some individual consulting time will be available with Virgo, Thomas Phelps of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Joseph Parisi, editor of Poetry magazine. The first workshop in Orlando, Florida, Novem­ ber 19–21, 1986, has been filled. Applications for the next three workshops are still being accepted: February 25–27, 1987, in Oracle, Arizona (outside Tucson); April 22–24, 1987, in Boys’ Town, Ne­ braska; and October 14– 16 ,1 9 8 7 , in the Northeast. Contact Sandy Donnelly, A CRL, 50 E. Huron, Chicago, IL 60611; (312) 944-6780, for an applica­ tion form. The application deadline is seven weeks prior to each workshop. O ctober 1986 / 601 International agricultural database The University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries have completed the first phase of an extensive data­ base on international agricultural systems. From 1979 through Janu ary 1985 the UMC Small Farms Study Library was located in and ad­ ministered by the Department of Agricultural Eco­ nomics. In January 1985 it was moved to the Ellis Library under the administrative guidance of the social science librarian. In October 1985 a comput­ erized database was begun and the name of the col­ lection was changed to the International Agricul­ tural Systems Collection. The goal of the collection is to store and dissemi­ nate information on international agriculture in general, and specifically on small farming systems in developing countries. Two im p o rtan t sub­ objectives of the project are: 1) to develop a com­ puterized database of the library’s holdings; and 2) to identify fugitive materials in other locations that may be of interest to farming systems researchers both on the UMC campus and on-site in foreign countries. Resources are also collected from such related fields as agronomy, animal husbandry, communi­ cations, economics, engineering, health and nutri­ tion, rural sociology, soil science, and technology. There is also a strong emphasis on materials perti­ nent to women in development. A printout file is maintained of several active search topics. The current database was created using the R ev­ elation database applications software on an IBM- T microcomputer. As of August 1986 there were ver 3,300 records in the system containing over 0,000 keywords. The system’s indexing capabili­ es permit searching for any combination of char­ cters from any field or from any combination of elds. The structure of the database system permits ll of the data entry and searching tasks to be com­ letely menu-driven. The system also supports case-sensitive help reens, a number of which have been incorpo­ ted into this application. Each citation is re­ ricted in length to 64K bytes (about 32 pages); the umber of records in the database is limited only by e available disk space. The Revelation database ackage can transfer records or other data in either BASE II, A SCII, Lotus 1-2-3, or WordPerfect rmats. UMC is willing to lend or photocopy items from e collection through normal interlibrary loan hannels to academ ic, public, or corporate li­ raries. They encourage the use of the materials ei­ er on campus or through lending. For further information, contact: June L . De- eese, Social Science Librarian, 2D32 Ellis L i­ rary, University of Missouri, C olum bia, MO 5201; (314) 882-6661. A o 2 ti a fi a p sc ra st n th p d fo th c b th W b 6 Fulbright librarian exchange, United Kingdom The U .S .-U .K . Edu cational Commission in London is now accepting applications for an ex­ change of professional university and research li­ brary staff. The competitive award has been made available under the Fulbright program to provide an opportunity for librarians to broaden their per­ spectives and enhance cross-cultural skills and in­ sights. Applications will be accepted from librarians, li­ brary administrators, or archivists at four-year col­ leges and universities or research libraries outside of higher education. Each applicant is responsible for arranging affiliation with a university library, research library, or national library in the United Kingdom. A list of British libraries eligible for par­ ticipation in the program may be requested from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) in Washington. Applicants must hold U.S. citizenship and a full­ time library post at an academic or major research library. A minimum of five years continuous pro­ fessional experience is also required. The program i is designed for mid-career professionals who hold positions appropriate to implementing new ideas and insights gained from the exchange experience. The grant is for a minimum of three months. The grantee may begin the award in September 1987; completion is required before July 31, 1988. Travel expenses are to be deducted from a fixed sum, paid in pounds sterling, designed to be a sup­ plement to the salary maintenance provided by the home institution. The Fulbright Commission in London has established the fixed sum grant for 1987–88 at £3,250. It is expected that the grantee will be on approved leave with full or partial com­ pensation from the home institution. C IE S, which administers the American selection of grantees for the Fulbright Scholar Program, will appoint a review panel to screen and nominate candidates for the award. Final selection is made by the Board of Foreign Scholarships and the U .S.- U.K. Educational Commission in London. Appli­ cants should prepare a project statement describ­ ng the nature of the proposed exchange and its 602 / C &R L News significance to the applicant’s professional devel­ opment. At the time of application, candidates must sub­ mit evidence that arrangements have been worked out with a British university, research library, or national library to host the grantee. All applications, including references, must be eceived by C IES before January 2, 1987. For fur­ her information, contact: Steven A. Blodgett, ouncil for International Exchange of Scholars, 11 upont Circle, N .W ., Washington, DC 20036; 202) 939-5416. r t C D ( News from the Field Acquisitions •Iowa State University, Ames, has acquired the papers of Dr. Norman Borlaug (1914– ), known as the father of the “Green Revolution.” Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, Borlaug developed a disease-resistant, high-yield hybrid wheat strain that has contributed enormously to lessening severe malnutrition and starvation around the world. Borlaug’s papers span more than forty years of sci­ entific research and humanitarian service and in­ clude extensive correspondence, reports, speeches, clippings and other materials. They will be housed in the library’s Archives of American Agriculture. •Mississippi State University’s Mitchell Memo rial Library has received the papers of journalist W illia m T u rn er C atled g e (1 9 0 1 – 1 9 8 3 ), who served as managing editor (1951– 1964) and execu­ tive editor (1964– 1968) of the New York Times. The collection includes 12 cubic feet of correspon­ dence, reports, notes, and memorabilia document­ ing Catledge’s professional and personal life. The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, has designated the collection a national his­ toric site in journalism. •The Queens College Library of the City Uni versity of New York, Flushing, has received an ex­ tensive collection of early childrens’ literature illus­ trations. The gift was presented by Professor G a­ briel Laderman, former chairman of the College’s Art Department. About one-quarter of the more than 200 items, which date predominantly from the 18th and 19th centuries, are not listed in NUC or the O C LC database. The collection will be fea­ tured at the inaugural exhibit of the Benjamin Ro­ senthal Memorial Library, scheduled for comple­ tion in late 1987. •The University of Texas at Austin has acquired a major bequest of 287 classical texts printed in Venice between 1494 and 1588 by the Aldine Press. The collection is the gift of the estate of the late Giorgio Uzielli, an Italian-American stockbroker and book collector. The Aldine Press was founded in 1494 by Aldus Mantius, known as the first scholar-printer, whose dolphin-and-anchor logo ecame a familiar mark in the printing world at he turn of the 16th century when three-quarters of ll the classics made their first modern appearance nder that imprint. The Uzielli collection contains he most famous of all Aldine editions, a five- olume set of Aristotle’s works published between 1495 and 1498, the first major Greek text to be rein­ roduced in the original to the Western world by he invention of the printing press. Other volumes nclude E rotem ata, a 1495 Greek grammar by onstantine Lascaris, the first major book printed y Aldus; the H ypnerotom achia Poliphili by Fran­ esco Colonna; a 1501 edition of Virgil’s writings rinted entirely in italic type, which Aldus is cred­ ted with inventing; two 1513 volumes of Plato, the irst in the original Greek; and other unusual and are items. The collection will be housed at the University’s Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. Texas has also acquired a collection of between 7,000 and 9,000 photographs and negatives do­ nated by photographer Russell Lee shortly before is death August 28. The collection will be housed at the Barker Texas History Center at the Univer­ ity. Best known for his depression-era images of rural America as a photographer for the Farm Se­ urity Administration, Lee also worked for private orporations and national magazines during his 40- ear career. The bulk of the collection dates from the past 30 years, when Lee worked as an indepen­ dent photographer primarily in the Southwest. Im ­ ages range from 1950s political rallies in hot, dusty Texas towns to a reunion of wizened cowboys and a 1977 trip on a Mississippi riverboat. A resident of Austin since 1947, Lee taught in the University’s Art Department from 1965 to 1973. rants •Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, nd Swarthmore College, Philadelphia, recently eceived $20,000 from the Pitcairn-Crabbe Foun­ ation to organize and publish information on b t a u t v t t i C b c p i f r h s c c y G a r d