ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ May 7 998 / 333 N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d Mary Ellen Davis Augsburg College opens new library and technology center A u g sb u rg C o lle g e in M in n e a p o lis has opened the Jam es G. Lindell Family Library. The library enhances traditional library func­ tions by acting as a gathering place for the cam pus and community. Here, library co l­ lections, information technology, archives, special collections, an art gallery, and state- of-the-art learning labs com e together in a high-tech academ ic center. T h e $12.5 m illion facility, d esign ed by BW BR A rchitects, has 7 3 ,0 0 0 square fe e t— triple the am ount o f sp ace previously avail­ ab le to the library. T he library h o u ses a co lle ctio n o f 165 ,0 0 0 b o o k s and p erio d i­ cals, 1,000 videos, 5 ,0 0 0 audio record in gs, s p e c ia l c o lle c tio n s , and CD-ROM d a ta ­ b ases. T h e four-story building also hou ses the com puter, te leco m m u ­ n ic a tio n s , and m u ltim ed ia d e p a rtm e n ts, and in clu d es s o m e 4 0 0 d a t a a c c e s s p o rts. “L in d e l l ’s a r c h ite c tu r a l blending o f masonry, wood, and glass in graceful curves and straight lines speaks to the intellectual blending o f inform ation and ideas that will take place h e re ,” said Stuart Anderson, interim di­ rector o f the Library and In­ fo rm atio n T e c h n o lo g y at Augsburg. “The intertwining A u g sb u rg C o ll h o u s e s b o th t h o f library and inform ation d a t a p o r t s a v a i technology resources under one roof, for exam ple, brings these folks together to work with faculty on creating new and exciting learning oppor­ tunities for our students.” The Lindell Library also includes a multi- media com puter developm ent lab, a class­ room equipped with satellite linking cap a­ bilities and network access, an instructional classroom that doubles as a com puter lab (with 13 PCs and 29 m ore dataports), and a multimedia curriculum library for teacher education. Participate in CLS “Dynamic Staff” swap-n-shop The ACRL College Libraries Section’s Con­ tinuing Education Committee seeks partici­ pants for its “swap-n-shop” session at the 1998 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. Entitled “Creating a Dynamic Staff: D e­ veloping and Organizing the College Library,” the event will take place from 10:00-11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 29, 1998. The session will feature discussion among participants about how college libraries are meeting in­ creased demands for service and expertise in an environment o f reduced (or stable) bud­ gets, rising costs, and rapidly changing tech­ nologies. Individuals and institutions that have suc­ cessfully implemented innovative ideas in this area (e.g., created new organizational struc­ e ’s n e w library a n d in fo rm a tio n te c h n o lo g y c e n te r lib ra ry a n d c o m p u te r fa c ilitie s a n d h a s s o m e 400 b le in t h e b u ild in g . tures, new job descriptions, continuing edu­ cation workshops, etc.), and would be will­ ing to share their experiences either by speak­ ing at the session or by allowing their names to be included on a list o f “experts” that will be available to attendees o f the program, are sought. An expert in this case is defined as a librarian who has had som e recent, signifi­ cant experience— positive or negative— in the area o f library reorganization and/or devel­ opment. To volunteer as an “exp ert” or for e g e la 334 I C&RL News ■ May 1998 H e re a r e b o o k p l a t e s t h a t a r e f a v o r i t e s o f t h e s t a f f a t W a s h in g to n a n d Lee U niversity in L ex in g to n , V irginia. To h av e y o u r b o o k p la te s c o n s id e r e d f o r p u b lic a tio n , s e n d s a m p le s t o B o o k p la te s, C&RL N ews, 50 E. H u ro n St., C h icag o , IL 60611. more information, contact: Sheri Stormes at the Irwin Library, Butler University in India­ n a p o lis; v o ic e : (3 1 7 ) 9 4 0 -9 2 1 8 ; e-m ail: sstormes@ thom as. butler, ed u . New Web journal seeks submissions Initiatives, a new peer-reviewed electronic journal dedicated to providing current, per­ tinent information on new developments in information policy, information technology, management o f information and information environments, and the information profes­ sion, seeks submissions. Initiatives, the brain­ child of Maurie Caitlin Kelly, Penn State Uni­ versity, and Maiy E. Beall, University of Illinois at Chicago, plans to highlight special projects, serve as a communication forum, and offer practical tools and recommendations for de­ veloping information initiatives. The jour­ nal will be free via Web access, and the first issue is due in June 1998. Check out the Web page (http://initiatives.libraries.psu.edu/) for specific submission information and details about the publication. Academic Libraries: 1994 now available from NCES A c a d e m ic L ibraries: 1 9 9 4 (NCES 98-275) is now available from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). It includes 27 tables of statistics describing service, collec­ tions, staff, and expenditures of 3,303 libraries in institutions of higher education at all levels. There are two tables for each of 11 basic topics plus five tables of ratios. The first table displays data by state and the second displays the same data for all 3,303 libraries by: control (public or private), level (four levels of high­ est degree awarded), size (three levels of FTE enrollment), and Carnegie Classification. The last two groupings (size, Carnegie) were not in previous reports from NCES on academic libraries. Also new this year is the sequence of tables. Instead of beginning with tables on ex­ penditures, thus calling attention to what librar­ ies cost, the report begins with tables on ser­ vices— thus calling attention to what libraries con­ tribute. An analytical report, that compares 1994 figures on several key variables to data from earlier years, is in preparation at NCES. A c a d e m ic L ibraries: 1 9 9 4 (stock number: 065-000-01120-4) is available for $4.75 from New Orders, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954; credit card orders may be faxed: (202) 512- 2250 or phoned: (888) 293-6498. A few cop­ ies o f th is re p o rt a re a v a ila b le fro m mlynch@ala.org. JSTOR usage rises 363 percent and establishes a UK site The use of the JSTOR database of academic journals has increased significantly since the beginning of the fall semester at more than 250 participating campuses. February usage topped the previous monthly high by 29 per­ cent and represented a 363 percent increase http://initiatives.libraries.psu.edu/ mailto:mlynch@ala.org 336 / C&RL News ■ May 1998 over usage from the beginning of the fall se­ mester: 26,729 articles were downloaded for printing during February and 89,174 searches were performed. In addition, 120,097 pages from 59,013 articles were viewed. JSTOR also expanded its collection by 10 percent and 250,000 pages with the February release of the back-runs of five journals. JSTOR is establishing a mirror site of its database in the United Kingdom. Through a cooperative relationship with the Joint Infor­ mation Systems Committee (JISC), the JSTOR database will now be available to universities in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ire­ land. The database will be housed at the Uni­ versity of Manchester. The UK was chosen for the first international JSTOR mirror site b e­ cause of the JISC’s unique role serving the UK higher education community and because of its advanced network infrastructure linking higher education institutions. JSTOR, accessible via standard browsers on the Web (http://www.jstor.org/), allows users to retrieve high-resolution, scanned images of each journal page as it was originally designed, printed, and illustrated. LC sponsors NSF’s Digital Libraries Initiative—Phase 2 The Library of Congress (LC) is one o f the s p o n s o r s o f th e N a tio n a l S c ie n c e Foundation’s Digital Libraries Initiative— Phase 2, which supports innovative digital- library research and applications. The o b ­ jective of the multiyear program is to provide leadership in research, fundamental to the next generation of digital libraries. During Phase I, six research projects were funded that promoted a dis­ cussion of “the importance of im proving the utility, e f fe c ­ t iv e n e s s , p e r f o r m a n c e , scalability, and sustainability of current and future digital se rv ice s and c o lle c t io n s .” Phase 2 plans to conduct r e- search with real collections and real users in mind. LC is offering many of its American Memory collections (http:// www.loc.gov), which contain a substantial body of multime­ dia content. LC hopes the research and collaborative e ffo r ts T h at e m e rg e during P h ase 2 (Icweb2.loc.gov/ammem/dli2/) will lead to new technologies, practices, and communities of collection producers, content shapers, and end- users. ACRL report on academic librarians’ scholarship available ACRL has published A c a d e m ic L ibrarian sh ip a n d R ed efin in g S cholarship Project, the results of a year-long study carried out by a task force chaired by W. Becle Mitchell, associate uni­ versity librarian at Appalachian State Univer­ sity. The report, which describes types of schol­ arship performed by academic librarians, is intended to extend the range of activities rec­ ognized as scholarly for purposes of tenure, promotion, merit, or reward system guidelines. It can serve as a guide for academic offices and faculty from other disciplines, as well as librarians. After the r eport was distributed at the American Association of Higher Education’s National Confer ence in Atlanta, Leo Lam­ bert, Provost at the University o f W isconsin at La Cr osse stated, “This r eport is ex ce p ­ tional; it will be extrem ely useful to me on my campus as we continue to addr ess ten­ ure and prom otion issues for librarians.” “Redefining Scholarship” is available in packages o f 30 for $25, or $5 for a single report, including postage and handling, fr om ACRL Publications, 50 East H u ro n Street, Chi­ cago, Illinois 6 0 6 l1; Fax: (312) 280-2520. O r­ ders must be p rep aid with checks payable to ACRL or with a c re d it car d. For further inform ation, contact Hugh Thom pson at (800) 545-2433, ext. 2517. http://www.jstor.org/ http://www.loc.gov Icweb2.loc.gov/ammem/dli2/ C&RL News ■ May 1998/337