ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C & R LN ew s ■ F e b ru a ry 1 9 9 9 1 91 The ICONMAL ’98 conference New missions of academic libraries in the 21st century by Lester J. Pourciau W ith a c l e a r l y d i s c e r n i b l e f o c u s , ICONMAL (In te rn atio n a l Conference o n New Missions o f Academic Libraries) brief nam e by w hich the conference becam e known, included 142 papers, of w hich 109 are in English, and 33 are in Chinese (with English abstracts). Each converged on the conference title an d them e, “New Missions o f Academic Libraries in the 21st Century” and are available at h ttp ://w w w .lib .p k u .ed u .cn /9 8 co n f/. The conference was held from October 25-28,1998, and the venue was the newly completed library building at Beida—the affectionate, shortened nam e o f Peking University, Bei(jing), Da(xue). The form at o f th e conference divided the papers into six different them e sessions, each o f w h ich sp o k e to so m e co n c ern a b o u t th e ro le o f th e acad em ic library o f th e future. T h ere w ere tw o k ey n o te p re se n ta tio n s at each them e session, follow ed b y discussions co o rd in a ted b y a m oderator. Connecting CALIS O n e o f th e keynote presentations w as m ade b y Zhu Q iang, p ro fe sso r an d d e p u ty d irec­ to r o f th e P ek in g U niversity Library. Q iang s p o k e a b o u t CALIS, th e C hinese A cadem ic Library a n d In fo rm atio n System. His d e ­ scription o f CALIS w as m ost im pressive an d h e sp o k e in so m e detail ab o u t th e efforts to establish connectivity am ong C hinese insti­ tu tio n s o f h ig h er education. , the H e s p o k e ab o u t th e cu rren t priorities o f th o se involved in im p lem en tin g CALIS, th e various facilities th at are need ed , an d the ef­ fectiv en ess e x p e c te d o f CALIS b y p ro fe s­ sional librarians in China. Managing electronic information A nother o f the keynote presenters, Carole Moore, chief librarian at the University of Toronto, spoke o f the m anagem ent o f elec­ tronic information, making the point that, “The potential of new technologies to expand access to knowledge beyond our borders brings enor­ mous new opportunities for libraries to give ser­ vice at levels previously unimagined.” She identified various questions that must be addressed and answered in order to provide such service, and stressed the im portance of standards in creating a new paradigm of library service. The challenges of distance learning Rebecca Martin, d ean o f Libraries at the Uni­ versity o f Vermont, spoke about the increas­ ingly p opular an d challenging topic o f library services to distance learning and the changing environm ent o f higher education. A b o u t th e a u th o r Lester J. Pourciau is director o f libraries a t the University o f Memphis, e-mail: pourciau@latte.memphis.edu CONFERENCE CIRCUIT http://www.lib.pku.edu.cn/98conf/ mailto:pourciau@latte.memphis.edu 92 / C&RL News ■ February 1999 S h e id e n tifie d th e c h a lle n g e as o n e o f “… h o w w e w ill m o v e in to this n e w e n v iro n ­ m en t, ch an g in g th e rules an d ch an g in g th e very n a tu re o f w h a t it m e a n s to b e a n a c a d e m ic li­ brary.” Sh e identified this n e w m ean in g in terms o f th e sh iftin g r o le o f th e in stitu tio n o f h ig h e r e d u c a tio n fro m th at o f s o le p ro v id e r o f e d u c a ­ tion al c o n te n t to o n e o f g u id a n ce to stu d en ts in th eir effo rts to a s se m b le “. . . le arn in g o p p o rtu ­ n ities, a v a ila b le a t a d is ta n c e fro m a v a rie ty o f in stitu tions,” in to a c o h e re n t ed u c a tio n a l e x p e ­ rien ce. P r o f e s s i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t a n d c o n t i n u i n g e d u c a t i o n P e te r D u re y , u n iv e rsity lib ra ria n e m e ritu s at th e U n iversity o f A u ck lan d , N ew Z e a la n d , d e ­ fin e d p ro fe s s io n a l d e v e lo p m e n t a s “. . . a p r o ­ gram w h ic h e n c o u ra g e s e m p lo y e e s to d ev elo p th e ir skills a n d ca p a b ilitie s o n a co n tin u in g b a ­ s is .” H e w a s c le a r in h is v ie w th a t s u c h a p r o ­ g ra m b e w e ll-p la n n e d , re s u ltin g fro m p e r fo r ­ m a n c e re v ie w s a n d d is c u s s io n s w ith lib rary staff. H e su g g e ste d th e u s e o f lo c a l lib r a ry r e ­ “C h e c k in g o u t . . . ’’c o n t in u e d fr o m p . 8 5 C h e c k in g o u t d ig ita l c a m e r a s n a tu ra lly e v o lv e d fro m th e ITC g o a l o f fo cu sin g o n W e b p u b lish in g a n d m u ltim ed ia. It’s th e n e x t w a v e fo r instructio n al tech n o lo g y . C h eck in g o u t digi­ tal ca m e ra s is e a sy an d c h e a p an d a great b o o st fo r lib ra ry p u b lic re la tio n s d u e to its p o p u la r ­ ity. W e h ig h ly r e c o m m e n d o ffe rin g th is s u c ­ ces s fu l s erv ic e a n d w e lc o m e a n y q u e s tio n s re ­ gardin g h o w to b eg in . N o t e s 1. h t t p : / / l i b w e b .u o r e g o n . e d u / s c i l ib/ s litc.h tm l. 2. K la s s e n , T im . “C rea tin g a n X W in d o w T e rm in a l-B a se d In fo rm a tio n T e c h n o lo g y C e n ­ ter,” R e fe r e n c e S erv ices R ev iew ( Spring 1997): 2 5 - 29. 3. F o r e x a m p le , fin e s a c c r u e if th e c a m e ra is o v e r d u e : $ 2 fo r th e first h o u r, $ .5 0 p e r h o u r a fte r th e first h o u r, w ith a m a x im u m o f $ 2 0 . T h e p a tro n is r e s p o n s ib le fo r th e c a m e r a d u r­ ing ch e ck -o u t an d is ch arg ed fo r d am age o r loss. T h e re p la c e m e n t v a lu e o f th e c a m e ra is $ 8 0 0 . 4 . M cC le lla n d , D e k e . “M id ra n g e D igital C a m era s,” M a c w o r ld (A pril 1 9 9 8 ): 3 8 - 3 9 . 5. O n e p e r s o n c h e c k e d o u t c a m e r a s 11 tim es, th e h ig h est. ■ s o u r c e s , e x p e r t i s e e l s e w h e r e in t h e u n iv e r ­ sity, an d pro g ram s o ffered b y ex tern a l so u rce s, a n d n o te d th at s u c h train in g an d d e v e lo p m e n t is o ften available in th e fo rm o f interactive v id eo o r v ia th e In te rn e t. O n th e third an d c lo s in g d ay o f th e c o n fe r­ e n c e , B e v e r ly L y n c h o f UCLA p r e s e n te d a m asterfu l su m m ary o f th e v a rio u s d is cu ss io n s th a t t o o k p la c e d u rin g e a c h o f th e s ix th e m e ses s io n s , h igh ligh tin g an d m ak in g r e fe r e n c e to s ev eral sign ifican t p a p e rs that w e re in clu d ed in e a c h o f th e s ix th em es. B y a n y m e a s u r e , ICONM AL ’9 8 m u st b e c o n s id e r e d a m a jo r s u c c e s s . T h e n e w lib rary b u ild in g a t P e k in g U n iversity is stu n n in g , a n d this c o n fe r e n c e , d es ig n e d to c e le b ra te th e c e n - te n n ial o f th e u n iv ersity an d to c o m m e m o r a te th e o p e n in g o f th e b u ild in g , w a s a m o s t fitting effo rt. Z h u Q ia n g , w a s th e p rim ary in dividu al r e s p o n s ib le fo r w h a t w e in th e U n ited S tates call “lo c a l a rr a n g e m e n ts.” Z hu an d his staff did a truly rem a rk a b le jo b , a n d th e ir e ffo rts s h o w e d c le a r ly th r o u g h o u t t h e e n tir e c o n d u c t o f th e c o n f e r e n c e . ■ In te r n e t R e s o u r c e s c o n tin u e d f r o m p . 8 1 • A LA , A C R L I n s t it u t e f o r I n f o r m a ti o n L i t e r a c y (IIL, fo rm erly N ILI). F o r m e d in 1 9 9 7 u n d e r C erise O b e r m a n ’s d irection , th e IIL aim s to train instruction librarians, p ro v id e p ro g ram ­ m in g fo r lib rary ad m in istrato rs o n in fo rm atio n lite ra c y iss u e s , a n d s u p p o rt ACRL a n d th e Na­ tio n a l F o r u m o n In fo rm a tio n L itera cy in v a ri­ o u s h ig h e r e d u c a tio n initiatives. T h is s ite p ro v id e s in fo rm a tio n o n IIL p r o ­ g ram s a n d lin ks to re la te d sites o n in fo rm atio n lite ra cy . O f s p e c ia l in te re s t is a p a g e o n th e im p o rta n t u p c o m in g IIL Im m e rs io n P ro g ram , a c o m p r e h e n s iv e fo u r-a n d -a -h a lf-d a y institute fo r in s tru c tio n lib ra ria n s to b e h e ld a t SU N Y P la ttsb u rg h in J u ly 1 9 9 9 . Last u p d ate: N o v em ­ b e r 1 9 , 1 9 9 8 . A ccess: http://www.ala.org/acrl/ nili/nilih p.h tm l. N o t e s 1. go p h er:/ / ala1.a la .o rg :70/ 00/ alag o p h iv / 5 0 4 l7 0 0 7 .d o c u m e n t. 2. Loanne Snavely an d N atasha C ooper. “T h e Information Literacy D ebate ,” J o u r n a l o f A c a d e m ic L ib r a r ia n s h ip , Ja n . 1997, V 23(N 1): 9 - 1 4 , and Kasm an, J o y c e Valenza. “Inform ation Literacy is M ore T h an Com puter Literacy,” T h e P h ila d e lp h ia In q u ire r, 16 April 1998, sec. F3, colu m n 2. ■ http://libweb.uoregon.edu/sciIib/ http://www.ala.org/acrl/ gopher://ala C&RL N ew s • Feb ru ary 7999 / 93 94 / C&RL News ■ February 1999