ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


9 1 4 / C&RL News ■ October 2001

CONFERENCE CIRCUIT

University Libraries Section in San Francisco
Highlights from the ALA Annual Conference

E d ito r ’s  n o te : T h e ULS r e p o r t  f r o m  t h e  ALA A n ­
n u a l  C o n f e r e n c e  i n  J a n e  w a s  i n a d v e r t e n t l y  o m i t t e d  
f r o m  t h e  S e p t e m b e r  is s u e . W e a r e  p l e a s e d  to  b r i n g  it 
to  y o u  h e r e  i n  its e n t i r e t y .

The program “Outside/In: Seeing Ourselves 
As Others See Us,” sponsored by ACRL’s Univer­
sity Libraries Section (ULS) and Blackwell’s Book 
Services, was attended by more than 200 people. 

The program focused on ways in which profes­
sionals outside librarianship view information 
services today, and how understanding that per­

spective can help academic libraries plan for suc­
cess.

The first panelist, Carol Hughes (Questia Me­
dia), started the discussion by sharing her expe­
riences at Questia Media. Questia Media did a lot 
of market research, investigating both librarians’ 

views and student needs, in order to create a 
product that will have lasting value. By asking 
similar questions and understanding the role of 
the product/service offered by the library in a 
larger marketplace, academic librarians can help 
their institutions achieve greater success.

Questia Media determined that in order to 

meet the informational needs of their intended 
market, their collection needed to be searchable 
for free, have text markup tools easily accessible, 

allow unlimited simultaneous access 24 hours a 

day/7 days a week, offer automated citation and 
bibliography generation, and the service needed 

to be personalized. The lesson that can be learned 
for libraries from this research is that “one size 
does not fit all.” Students are more nontraditional 
than ever, and academic libraries need to inves­
tigate the role of personal preferences and char­
acteristics, not just rely on institutional character­
istics for success.

The second panelist, Stephanie Bangert (West­
ern Association of Schools and Colleges), also 
stressed the need for libraries to look outside 
themselves to see how they are perceived and 
use that perspective to improve and enhance their 

function within their larger institutions. Principles

of accreditation can provide a basis for the types 

of questions libraries and librarians need to be 
able to address and articulate, particularly their 
role within the institution o f turning students into 

learners.
Bangert discussed several trends in accredita­

tion that help demonstrate the changing academic 
environment. First, there is a shift from the idea 

of “student” to that of “lifelong learner.” Second, 
institutions (and libraries within larger institutions) 
need to show continuous improvement, not just 
compliance with articulated goals.

Bangert described the heart of accreditation 
as the ability to create a system that contributes 

to sustainability and program quality. The key 
researchable question for libraries is “How does 
the library in its management of academic infor­
mation contribute to student learning, education 

effectiveness, and continuous improvement for 
the university?”

The final panelist, John Seely Brown (Xerox), 

discussed the changing nature of academic in­
formation through the perspective of a social 
context of information. There has been an epis­

temological shift in the way we perceive infor­
mation. The old Cartesian view, “I think there­
fore I am,” stressed the separation of mind and 
body, and identified knowledge as a substance 

that could be transferred. The new shift to “We 
participate, therefore we are,” has led to an un­

derstanding that information is socially con­
structed.

One thing to be learned from this is that stu­
dents offered a chance for social understanding 

will achieve more than students following the 
inactive knowledge absorption pattern will. Digital 
delivery of information can have a downside, as 

“efficiency is not the same as effectiveness.” Docu­
ments are no longer defined solely as carriers of 
information, but rather as support for social in­
teraction and community formation and mainte­
nance. Libraries can therefore bring multiple 

( c o n t i n u e d  o n  p a g e  9 3 9 )



C&RL News ■ October 2001 /  939

and the unfamiliar, Fuller’s b ook chronicles 
the discovery and loss of each. $49-95. Cornell 
University. ISBN 0-9014-3954-X.

For Love o f Le arn in g (204 pages, May 2001) 
is a catalog of the special collections and pri­
mary sources available at the University of 
Louisville Libraries and Archives, which is par­
ticularly rich in the history of the Irish Liter­
ary Renaissance, th e history of books and 
printing, and pop u lar culture. Though m uch 
of the catalog is available on the library’s Web 
site at special.library.louisville.edu, the print 
version is m ore brow sable and serendipitous. 
To request a copy, contact Special Collections 
and Archives, Ekstrom Library, University of 
Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292.

G ettysburg: The First Day, by 
Harry W. Pfanz (472 pages, July 
2001), lives up to the quality of 
th e  a u th o r’s earlier w orks on 
Gettysburg’s second day and the 
b a ttle s a ro u n d  C em etery a n d  
C ulp’s hills. Pfanz, retired Na­
tional Park Service chief histo­
rian a n d  G ettysburg N ational 
Military Park historian, has writ­
ten the definitive w ork on  the 
battle of July 1, 1863, with m uch 
more detail than Warren Hassler’s 
1970 Crisis a t the Crossroads. The 
first day, often neglected by his­
torians in favor of the later engagem ents of 
Round Top and Pickett’s Charge, w as just as 
crucial, with General Buford’s cavalry delay­
ing Confederate forces sufficiently to allow 
arriving infantry to secure the high ground 
that becam e decisive later on; and Confeder­
ate General Ewell’s failure to press an attack 
by the e n d  of the day, w hich resulted in one 
of the m any controversial “w hat if  s” of the 
battle. A definitive analysis that is essential 
for Civil War collections. $34.95. University 
of North Carolina. ISBN 0-8078-2624-3.

H an d b o o k o f N orse M yth o lo g y, by John 
Lindow (365 pages, June 2001), summarizes 
the deities, them es, and concepts in the Scan­
dinavian eddic and skaldic poetry and the 
writings of Snorri Sturluson that constitute the 
bulk of w ritten Norse myth. Descriptions of 
bo th  m ajor and m inor gods and heroes are 
concise a n d  straightforw ard, w ith original

sources credited throughout. Books and ar­
ticles suggested for further reading are often 
in German, Norwegian, or Icelandic as well 
as in English. A reliable and handy reference. 
$55.00. ABC-Clio. ISBN 1-57607-217-7.

Ig n itin g  K in g  P h ilip 's War, by Yasuhide 
Kawashima (201 pages, June 2001), examines 
the background and criminal proceedings of 
one of the first landmark cases in North Ameri­
can law, the trial for the murder of Wampanoag 
Indian Jo h n  Sassamon in the Plymouth colony 
of New England in 1675. Sassamon may have 
been killed by three of his ow n people for 
threatening to reveal to the colonists that the 
W ampanoag w ere getting ready to attack; that 
certainly was the decision of the court, which 

-sen ten ced  th e three to death. 
H o w e v e r, th e  tria l w a s  th e  
flashpoint for conflict with the 
W am panoags that cam e to be 
know n as King Philip’s War. Not 
only had the Plymouth colonists 
usurped their jurisdiction in the 
case, but it was a rush to judg­
m ent beset with procedural vio­
lations and neglected forensic evi­
dence. Ultimately, it also set a pre­
cedent for treating local Native 
A m erican s n o t as c o e x is tin g  
equals, but as m arginalized vas­
sals w h o  after th e  w a r w e re  
forced to live in designated vil­

lages under the strict rule of colonial law with 
n o  o p p o rtu n ity  to particip ate as citizens. 
$29.95. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0- 
7006-1092-8.

( “University Libraries Section . . co n tin u e d  
fr o m  p a g e  914)
communities together. “While the book supports 

one particular inteipretive community, the library 

can serve to bring different disciplines together.” 
This can be done through simple peripheral clues 

such as the display of new book jackets and a 

new book shelf.
Discussion following the panelists presenta­

tions revolved around ways in which libraries 

and librarians can open these types of discussions 

in their institutions and help create a learning 
environment that takes advantage of changing 

technologies without losing a sense of place.—  

M a r y  L a sk ow sk i, U n i v e r s it y  o f  I llin o is , m k s c h n e i®  
u i u c . e d u  ■

special.library.louisville.edu
uiuc.edu