ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries January 1990 / 43 viewed after th e ir first year o f operation. Judging by the low req u est rate for item s to be tran sferred back to th e main library and m odest circulation figures, th e selection o f older m aterials and item s in little d em and has b e e n successful. Having achieved re ­ lief for th e overcrow ding o f M orris Library, con­ struction o f th e storage building has provided an interim solution to th e n e e d for additional stacks. R enew al o f planning for a m ajor addition to Morris Library, however, has recently b e e n authorized, w ith h ope th a t construction will be possible w ithin th e next th re e o r four years. ■ ■ The University o f Crete Library B y Jan e K em p Circulation Librarian L u th e r College A visit to a Mediterranean academic library. W hile p rep arin g for a trip to G reece this p a st su m m er, I d e c id e d to do som e hom ew ork about academ ic libraries th a t I could visit at th e sam e tim e. Since my itinerary scheduled a w eek in C rete, a visit to an academ ic library on th a t island fitted m ost easily into my schedule. My first step was to read about G reece in th e A L A W orld Encyclopedia o f L ibrary a nd Inform a­ tion Services (ALA, 1986). H e re I learn ed th a t th e University o f C rete is relatively new (organized in 1977) and has th e only library in G reece com ­ pletely arranged on th e basis o f LC classification. My second step was to focus on th e U niversity o f C rete by reading about it in The W o rld o f Learning (E u ro p a Publications, 1988). F ro m h e re I discov­ e re d th a t th e University is divided into two cam ­ puses, one in R ethim non and th e o th e r in Iraklion. Since I w ould be visiting th e la tter for a longer p erio d o f tim e (the largest city in C rete and th e site o f Knossos), I narrow ed my options to visiting th e library on th a t cam pus. F ro m th e Lion’s F o u n tain in th e c e n te r o f Irak ­ lion, bus No. 2 o r 3 is ro u te d past th e U niversity o f C re te for th e price o f 50 drachm as (about 35 cents). Since this bus is usually packed w ith tourists on th e ir way to Knossos (located at th e term inus o f th e route), I was lucky to find a local, English-speaking stu d en t who could direct m e to th e university. L ocated at th e top o f a steep em bankm ent, it cannot be seen from th e street. A fter arriving, I was disappointed to learn th a t th e librarian, Janet Tavernaraki, was gone for th e day. H owever, Prof. Flytzanis Nikos o f th e Physics D e p a rtm e n t and m e m b er o f th e library com m it­ tee, was available to give m e a walking to u r o f th e library. H e re ite ra te d w hat I had learn ed before com ing to C rete, th a t th e Faculties o f L etters and Physical Sciences are located in two different towns, about one h o u r apart by car. T he facility I visited in Ira k lio n h o u s e d th e d e p a rtm e n ts o f physics, m athem atics, co m p u ter science, m edicine, c h em ­ istry and biology. F o u n d e d in 1979 (the o th e r cam pus started in 1977), th e Iraklion cam pus has an enrollm ent o f 2,500-3,000 students each year. T he school year is based on th e sem ester m odel and runs from S ep te m b er th ro u g h June. T h e building housing th e library also houses m any o f th e o th e r d ep artm en ts w hich com pose th e Iraklion cam pus. T h e p re se n t facilities are rapidly 4 4 / C&RL News Entrance to the main building at the University o f Crete in Iraklion. being outgrown with the result that a new campus is being designed first for the medical school and later for all departm ents. No on-campus housing is available for students. The library of the University o f C rete is also divided into two locations with the main library located on the Rethim non campus. Grigoris Tzan- odaskalakis is the head librarian responsible for both libraries with his office located at Rethimnon. Janet Tavernaraki is the only professional librarian at the Iraklion campus. Trained in the US, she holds an MLS degree. She is assisted by several aides whose positions are funded by special moneys and 10-15 student assistants. D epartm ents at Iraklion make requests for ac­ quisitions from a single library budget which is, in turn, m onitored by the librarian. As is typical else­ where, journal subscriptions are more im portant to the physical sciences than monographs so funds are primarily spent on periodicals. For example, ap­ proximately 50 books were purchased for the d e ­ partm ent of physics during 1988-89 while 110 journal subscriptions w ere maintained. The library collection at Iraklion consists of about 25,000 volumes and 600 journal titles. Text­ books are included in the library collection; many o f these also are placed on Reserve for student use. Since G reece is adm inistered on a socialized gov­ ernm ent model, education is free through the uni­ versity years. Textbooks are thus supplied for stu­ dents as a benefit o f this system. Approximately 90% o f the collection is in English although some first and second year textbooks are in Greek. A reading knowledge of English is necessary to com ­ plete a degree. As I learned before making the trip, the Univer­ sity of C rete made the decision to organize its entire library according to the LC cataloging sys­ tem when it was first formed. Journals are arranged in alphabetical order by title although back issues are cataloged and shelved among the books. The card catalog is being converted into m a­ chine readable form at the present time with about 85% of the records already converted. Journal records have not yet been converted. Plans are for it to be actively m aintained until the autom ated catalog is fully functional. Cards are ordered from Blackwell and also stencilled locally. Cards for G reek and English language books are filed in separate catalog drawers. The catalog is divided. Automation for the library was designed and developed by the university com puter center. After receiving very high bids from several vendors, the university administration decided to autom ate the libraries on both campuses using university re ­ sources. The resulting system, developed over a five-year period, uses IBM com puters and is very similar to OCLC in design. It is expected to be fully functional during the coming school year when additional com puter term inals are added (two are currently in use and four more have been ordered). At the present time, interlibrary loan is in its infancy in C rete. However, increased access to other collections is expected to be one of the major benefits o f automation. According to my guide, the January 1990 / 45 National Library, located in A thens, is starting a national database utilizing th e LC cataloging sys­ tem . H owever, it is heavily hum anities c e n te re d leaving th e physical sciences to ch art th e ir own destinies in arranging library cooperation. Security problem s are similar to those experi­ enced in m ost US academ ic libraries. Books circu­ late for a tw enty-day loan p erio d to students and for a six-month p erio d to faculty m em bers. Journals do not circulate. To discourage theft, photocopies o f library m aterials are m ade upon req u est by th e library staff w ithout charge. School year hours are also similar to those o f a U.S. college library. T h e library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m . during th e week, closing at 3:00 p.m . on Saturday w ith no hours on Sunday. H ow ­ ever, unlike m ost U.S. academ ic libraries, faculty are issued keys to th e building and may use th e library at all tim es it is not o p en for regular business. At th e conclusion o f my tour, I asked Prof. Nikos about fu tu re plans for th e library at th e University o f C rete. C om pleting th e autom ation p ro ject on b o th cam puses is a priority to create a union cata­ log. H e also m e n tio n ed th e ongoing struggle to increase funding for acquisitions and staff. Since all university staff are g o v ern m en t enployees, th e political situation in G reece will strongly influence fu tu re growth. As a consequence, th e elections this year are being observed very carefully. C&RL News guidelines for submission o f articles or columns A statement o f purpose and content fo r College & Research Libraries News. Purpose o f C&RL News College & Research Libraries N ew s is th e official news m agazine o f th e Association o f College & R esearch Libraries, a division o f th e Am erican Library Association. Its p u rp o se is to reco rd signifi­ cant activities o f A C R L and to re p o rt news about academ ic and research libraries. As th e official A CRL news m agazine, C & R L N ew s m aintains a reco rd o f selected actions and policy statem ents o f th e Association and publishes tim ely rep o rts on th e activities o f A CRL and its sections, com m ittees, discussion groups, councils, task forces, and ch a p ­ ters. As a vehicle for com m unication am ong college and research libraries, C & R L N ew s rep o rts news item s p e rtin e n t to academ ic and research librarian- ship, including inform ation on bibliographic in ­ struction, co n tin u in g ed u catio n , ap p o in tm en ts, acquisition o f special collections, grants to libraries, new technology, and publications (b rief notices). T he ed ito r bears responsibility for th e contents o f each issue o f C & R L News. M aterials selected by th e ed ito r m ust be newsworthy, timely, and o f practical value to people in th e field. T he ed ito r has authority to decide w hat m aterial is appropriate for publication, based on th e following guidelines. T he ed ito r also reserves th e right to m ake appropriate revisions in m aterial selected for publication in o rd e r to standardize style or im prove clarity (except official ACRL docum ents, p re sid e n t’s letters, and similar m aterial). Form al, th eoretical, o r research -o rien ted a r­ ticles inappropriate for C & R L N ew s will b e for­ w arded to th e ed ito r o f College & Research L ibrar­ ies for review. I. L e n g t h Articles and colum ns should be no m ore th an 3,000 words and no less th a n 500 words. I I . S ty le C & R L N ew s style is inform al, b u t inform ative and accurate. I I I . C o n t e n t M aterials selected should fall into one o f th e following categories.