ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ Ja n u a ry 2001 / 5 N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d Mary Ellen Davis AAUP endorses A CR L state m en t on intellectual freedom The American Association of University Pro­ fessors (AAUP) Council endorsed the ACRL Intellectual F reed om P rin ciples f o r A c a d em ic Libraries: An Interpretation o f the “Library Bill o f Rights." Endorsed by the ALA Council at the 2000 Annual Conference, the In tellectu al Freedom P rin ciples f o r A c a d e m ic L ib raries ( http://www.ała.org/acrl/principles.html) were developed by the ACRL Intellectual Freedom Committee in 1999. “Academic freedom . . . is indispensable to librarians, because they are trustees of knowledge with the responsibility of ensur­ ing the availability o f information and ideas, no matter how controversial, so that teach­ ers may freely teach and students may freely learn,” said Mary A. Burgan, general secretary of AAUP. The AAUP endorsed the Intellectual Freedom P rin ciples f o r A c a d e m ic L ib raries at its November 11, 2000, Council meeting. “We are pleased and honored to have the Intellectual F reed om P rin ciples f o r A c a d em ic Libraries endorsed by AAUP,” said Laurence Miller, the past chair o f the ACRL Intellectual Freedom Committee under whose leadership the principles were developed. “As the in­ formation function o f academ ic libraries within the higher education community be­ comes increasingly critical, it is important for that community to reaffirm its commitment to equality of access and to intel lectual freedom in general.” ACRL to introduce E-Books 4CRL has added its first electronic book (e-book) to its list o f publica­ tions. E-books are available for sale on the ACRL Web site’s Publications page, linked to an “E-Pubs” corner. Hugh Thompson, ACRL’s direc­ tor of publications, said, “The elec­ tronic format offers unique features such as the ability to search and display data o f special interest. These features will be tremendously helpful for readers o f our statistics titles and directories, enabling them to access and compile relevant information quickly and easily.” Thompson added that readers access ACRL's e-books by purchas­ ing a password for each title. Sample pages will also be available for review on the Web. Among the first titles to be available in electronic-only format will be In Print: P u b ­ lishin g O pportunities f o r C ollege Librarian s, edited by Alice Bahr, and the D irectory o f C u rricu lu m M aterials Centers, Fifth Edition, edited by Fred Olive. In ternet start-up Q uestia to launch th is m onth Questia*1, an Internet start-up company, plans to launch an online research service at the end o f January. Marketed directly to under­ graduate students as a research paper writ­ ing tool, the service offers subscribers the ability to search its digital collection o f 50,000 books and journals in the liberal arts by sub­ ject, including full-text and relational searches, as well as by title, author, or ISBN number. Questia hopes to grow to more than 250,000 titles in the next three years. At press time a firm subscription rate had not been set but Questia CEO Troy Williams predicted that a semester subscription would be about the cost o f a new textbook. Questia offers subscribers a suite of re­ search and writing tools, including automatic http://www.ala.org/acrl/principles.html 6 / C&RL News ■ January 2001 footnote and bibliography generator, high­ lighter, dictionary, encyclopedia, and p erson­ alization tools. T h e selection o f the Q uestia c o llection is b ein g m anaged b y form er U ni­ versity o f Iow a librarian Carol Ann Hughes, w h o w orks with an advisory group o f uni­ versity librarians and faculty. YBP and Alibris form alliance Alibris, su pplier o f out-of-print b o o k s, has be com e the sole provider o f out-of-print (O P) and out-of-stock indefinitely (O SI) materials to Y B P Library Services, a supplier o f b ook s and services to acad em ic libraries. Y B P will provide integrated a ccess to the Alibris in­ ventory o f m ore than 12 m illion hard-to-find books. Y B P will sou rce OP and O SI titles from Alibris. Alibris w ill supply the b ook s from its netw ork o f b o okselling partners, or from its o w n inventory, and will deliver the requested b o o k s to Y B P . Y B P will then in­ clude the b o o k s in the regular cu stom er or- Reichel focus for 2001-2002 ¡ Mary R eichel, ACRL vice-p resid ent/p resi­ dent-elect, has announced that “ACRL: T he Learning Com m unity for E x ce lle n ce in A cadem ic Libraries” is the focu s fo r her presidential year (2 0 0 1 -2 0 0 2 ). This them e puts em phasis o n learning in all o f its aspects. Reichel said that, “Learning is the heart o f acad em ic librarians’ efforts w ith students to ed u cate them in information literacy and critical thinking. Learning also em phasizes ACRL’s fundam ental value o f sharing ideas, research, problem s, and so­ lutions through meetings, conferen ces, or­ ganizational w ork, and publications. F o ­ c u sin g o n le a rn in g a lso se rv e s a s an umbrella fo r valuing diversity am ong our m em bers, and learning from e a ch other, as w ell as em phasizing active recruitment into the p ro fessio n .’’ In support o f vice-p resid ent R eich el’s focus, five priorities w ere identified for the 2 0 0 1 -2 0 0 2 year: valuing m em bers, e n ­ couraging continuous learning, prom ot­ ing diversity and strengthening recruit­ m ent into the p rofession, prom oting in­ form ation literacy and scholarly co m m u­ nication, influencing higher education and governmental groups, and envisioning the future. d er shipm ents, ensuring that th ese titles get Y B P review, cataloging, physical processing, and co llectio n m anagem ent services. ACRL releases "Student's Guide to Evaluating Libraries" T h e re hav e b e e n evaluative guides to the co lleges that have the best programs, the best parties, the best G reek systems, and just about any oth er fa cet o f student life that will help p rospective students select the right co lleg e or university for them . Now ACRL has p ro ­ d uced a “Student’s G uide to Evaluating Li­ braries in C olleges and Universities.” T h e guide, available o n the ACRL W eb site (http://ww w .ala.org/acrl/evalguide.htm l), is intended to help p rospective co lleg e stu­ dents and their families ch o o s e sch o o ls with library facilities that m eet their educational needs. “Inform ation is available today in an u n­ p reced en ted volu m e and variety o f formats, and the im portance o f good acad em ic librar­ ies to students entering co lleg e in the 21st cen tu ry c a n n o t b e o v e re m p h a s iz e d ,” said Althea H. Je n k in s , ACRL execu tiv e director. “B y w orking w ith w ell-trained and k now l­ ed g e a b le librarians and o th er inform ation p rofessionals, co lle g e students acqu ire the critical thinking and information literacy skills that ensure acad em ic and care er su ccess, as w ell as p repare them for lifelong learning. “We h o p e students and their fam ilies use the ‘Student’s G uide to Evaluating Libraries in College and Universities’ to m ake d eci­ sions about w hich co lleg e or university best fits their educational needs, and loo k closely at w hich institutions provide libraries bo th as places for study and as coordinates o f co n ­ nectivity o n their cam p u ses.” D ev elop ed by acad em ic librarians Larry Hardesty, David B isho p , G loriana St. Clair, C h arles P e g u e se , Su e Stroyan, and Ile n e Rockm an, the guide offers a list o f qu estions fo r students to ask regarding library facilities, resou rces, and services. Among the criteria to b e consid ered are the size o f the library’s co llection , the availability o f electron ic re­ sources, and interlibrary loan services and support for em erging techn ologies. Copies o f the evaluation broch u re have b e e n m ade available to su ch groups as the Am erican A ssociation o f Sch ool C ounselors, National Association o f Career and G uidance http://www.ala.org/acrl/evalguide.html C & RL N e w s ■ J a n u a ry 2001 / 7 IS assessment preconference— June 2001 Gain the information and skills directly re­ lated to the assessm ent n e e d s o f instruction librarians during the p re co n fe re n ce , “How to Keep From Glazing O ver W he n Y o u H ear the Word Assessment: Realistic Strategies for the Library In stm ction C om m un ity.” This program will b e held as a p re co n fe re n ce to the ALA Annual C o n feren ce in San Fran­ cisco, Friday, Ju n e 15, 2001. During this hands-on session, acquire tips from assessm ent sp ecialists and return to your institution ready to apply you r k n o w l­ edge o f assessm ent to y ou r o w n program . L earn w hat qu estion s to a sk w h en d esign­ ing assessm en t strategies, find out h o w to w rite a ssessm en t statem ents, and d iscover th e types o f too ls n e e d e d for m easuring learn in g o u tcom es. Sp ea k ers in clu d e P atricia Se n n B reiv ik , San J o s e State U niversity; D eb ra G ilchrist, P i e r c e C o l l e g e ; a n d B o n n i e G r a t c h Lindauer, City C o lle g e o f San F ra n cisco . Registration fo r the p re c o n fe r e n c e w ill start in early 2001. W atch the ACRL W eb site ( www.ala.org/ acrl) fo r details! Teachers, and the N ational A ssociation for College Admissions for distribution to their clientele and ju n io rs and s e n io rs in high schools across the U nited States. T h e b ro ­ chure is also offered as an addition to W eb sites su ch as C o lle g e b o a rd , C o lle g e L in k , C o lleg en et, P e te r s o n ’s C o lle g e q u e s t, EM ­ BARK, and USN ew s.com . G e t the bro ch u re from the ACRL W eb site at http://w w w . ala.org/acrl/evalguide.html or req u est print copies from ACRL b y co n ta ctin g M eredith Parets at (3 1 2 ) 2 8 0 -2 5 1 5 or m p arets@ ala.o rg . Pearson Higher Education partners w ith EBSCO Pearson Education a n n o u n ce d a partn ership with EBSCO Inform ation Serv ices to d evelo p custom ized o n lin e re s e a rc h c o lle c tio n s p ro ­ viding a ccess to co n ten t from s e le c te d a ca ­ demic journals and o th e r p u b lication s. B e ­ ginning in early 2001, students using P earso n Higher Education texts and C o m p an ion W e b Sites™ will b e a b le to se a rch fo r articles s p e ­ cifically relating to their d iscip lin e area. With m ore than 1 ,4 0 0 co m p a n io n W eb sites online in 2 0 0 0 and p lan s to add m ore, P earson’s allian ce w ith E BSC O is part o f its strategy to m atch its texts w ith In te rn e t-d e ­ liv ered s e r v ic e s . W ith th is p a r tn e r s h ip , EBSCO is intro du cing its C o n tent S e le c t p ro ­ gram and w ork in g w ith its p u b lish er part­ ners to build cu sto m ized c o lle c tio n s o f p eri­ odical content. For the initial lau n ch , E BSC O w ill c re a te a series o f d iscip lin e -sp e cific c o lle c tio n s in the fields o f p sy ch olo gy , e d u ca tio n , s o c io l­ ogy, history, inform ation m an ag em en t, p o ­ litical sc ie n c e , m ed ical sc ie n c e , eco no m ics/ fin a n ce , m arketing/m anagem ent, chem istry, and bio lo g y . ■ Register for ACRL Denver Conference Register by February 12, 2001, and take advantage o f red uced registra­ tio n for ACRL’s 10th National C o nferen ce, C rossing the Divide. T h e co n fe re n c e will b e held in D enver, M arch 1 5 -1 8 , 2001. T he c o n fe re n c e featu res program s addressing issu es su ch as resou rces for distance learn ­ ing, scholarly co m m unication, inform ation literacy, co llab oration s and partnerships, an d serv ices fo r users. Se lected program top ics include: • W orking in Partnership A cross Ser­ v ice Points and C y b ersp ace • Digital C ollection s: A ccep tan ce and U se in a R esearch Comm unity • Digital Librarian, Cybraian, o r Librar­ ian: W ho w ill Staff Digital Libraries? • Im proving Student Learning Through F acu lty D ev elo p m ent Visit w w w.ala.org/acrl/denver.htm l for a co m p lete program , hou sing and travel inform ation, registration form s, and the ACRL Sessio n Finder. B uild you r o w n p erson alized itinerary by using the Session Finder to identify all th e co n fe re n c e program s, p re co n feren ces, w o rk sh o p s, and exh ib its related to your sp e cific interests and needs. I f you have q u estio n s, call (8 0 0 )5 4 5 -2 4 3 3 , ext. 2 5 1 5 or e-m ail acrl@ ala.o rg . http://www mailto:mparets@ala.org http://www.ala.org/ http://www.ala.org/acrl/denver.html mailto:acrl@ala.org mailto:acrl@ala.org