dec04a.indd N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d Stephanie Orphan ILCSO celebrates 25 years The Illinois Library Computer Systems Orga­ nization (ILCSO) is celebrating its 25th anni­ versary. ILCSO is one of the pioneers of auto­ mated resource sharing. It supports ILLINET Online, which serves as a local integrated system for its 65 member libraries, as well as a union catalog and resource sharing system. ILCSO member libraries have initiated more than 9 million resource sharing transactions over the past 25 years. As part of the 25th­an­ niversary celebration, the ILCSO Public Rela­ tions Committee has put together a brief his­ tory of ILCSO, available at offi ce.ilcso.illinois. edu/Reports/prcom/brfhist.html. Univ. of Washington library featured in library calendar The 2005 Renaissance Library Calender fea­ tures 12 libraries deemed the most beautiful and historic libraries in the world. Among three American libraries selected for inclu­ sion is the University of Washington’s Suzzal­ lo Library, a 1926 building described as being designed in the collegiate gothic style. Other American libraries included are the Boston Athenaeum and the St. Louis Public Library. WilsonWeb offers COUNTER reports The WilsonWeb reference database service has successfully passed an audit of its us­ age statistics reports by Project COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources). Project COUNTER is an international initiative designed to facilitate the recording and exchange of online usage statistics among librarians. COUNTER reports are standard to the WilsonWeb statistical interface. Statistics reports include database usage, session usage, peak usage, journal usage, IP us­ age, and turnaways. Univ. of Minnesota hosts workshop for librarians of color The University of Minnesota Libraries hosted 24 early­career librarians of col­ or at its biennial Minnesota Institute for Early­Career Librarians. The weeklong train­ ing institute gives librarians in the fi rst three years of their careers hands­on professional training and professional networking oppor­ tunities. The program is designed for librar­ ians from racial and ethnic groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the library profession. JISC joins Digital Library Federation as first non-U.S. ally The Digital Library Federation (DLF) has an­ nounced that the U.K.’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has joined DLF as its first ally from outside the United States. JISC is a joint committee of the U.K. further and higher education funding bodies. DLF is made up of 33 member libraries and fi ve allies (including JISC). It was created to pro­ vide leadership to libraries in areas related to technology. Thomson to add 45 years of backfi les to Web of Science Beginning with the first quarter of 2005, Thomson Corporation will begin adding backfiles and cited reference data and navi­ gation from 1900 to 1944 to Web of Science. The project is part of the company’s Century of Science initiative, and will add approxi­ mately 850,000 articles to the database. C&RL News  December 2004 / 643 Univ. of Hawaii library devastated by fl ash flood, working towards recovery On October 30, the University of Hawaii­ Manoa’s Hamilton Library was severely damaged by a fl ash flood when heavy rainstorms hit the Manoa Valley. The library suffered considerable losses. The ground floor of the library building was destroyed, including the library and information science (LIS) program and the acquisitions, catalog­ ing, government documents, and map collections departments. All of the library file servers were also lost in the fl ood. No staff were injured, but an LIS class in progress at the time was forced to evacu­ ate through a window. Roughly 230,000 rare maps and aerial photographs, more than 100 computers, and thousands of government documents and books were affected. The high­water mark of 12 feet occurred in technical ser­ vices, destroying the cataloging backlog and all recent receipts. BMS CAT, a global disaster recovery con­ tractor, was been retained by the university to assist in the cleanup and recovery of the library and three other buildings that were the most heavily damaged on the campus. The company estimated that more than 200 workers will be used on the project, which is expected to take 30 to 45 days to complete. Emphasis on the library cleanup is being Hamilton Library’s acquisitions department, shown here, is where the water first rushed in, hitting the ten-foot-high ceiling. Photo courtesy of Susan Murata Seven days after the flood, mold can be seen growing on materials from the government documents collection. Photo courtesy of Susan Murata placed on saving rare and unique documents and maps of Hawaii and the Pacifi c. Donations to Hamilton Library’s disaster relief fund are being accepted through a li­ brary enrichment fund with the University of Hawaii Foundation. Donations can be made online at www.uhf.hawaii.edu/libraryrelief. Innovative provides link between Millennium and Amazon.com Innovative Interfaces has added a Web services link between its Millennium product and Amazon. com through Inventory Express. The service allows library staff to search Amazon.com for a title, check the catalog for duplicates, download pricing and availabil­ ity information, and obtain in­ formation with which to create a database record. Web Services uses XML technology to facilitate application­to­application com­ munication between disparate sites on the Internet. Inventory Express also connects to Baker & Taylor and BWI using the Web Services framework. Innovative is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. 644 / C&RL News  December 2004 http:Amazon.com http:Amazon.com www.uhf.hawaii.edu/libraryrelief Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship winner explores differences between face-to-face and computer-mediated reference interactions Ed. note: Each year ACRL awards the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. Recipients are awarded $1,500 cash and a citation donated by Thomson Scientific. Below is a synopsis of the completed dissertation of Charlotte E. Ford, the 2002 fellowship winner. An exploratory study of the differences between face-to-face and computer-mediated reference interactions (dissertation, Indiana University, 2003) This research aimed to further our under­ standing of reference service in the net­ worked, digital library by addressing the question: How do face­to­face reference interactions differ from computer­mediated reference interactions? An academic library was identifi ed which offered face­to­face, e­mail, and chat reference service. In the spring of 2001, 12 librarians were observed as they provided all three types of service, for a period of three weeks. One hundred and fourteen face­to­face interactions were tape­re­ corded and transcribed. One hundred and twenty­four e­mail and 102 chat reference interactions from roughly the same time pe­ riod were captured and stripped of identi­ fying information. The data were then en­ tered into a QSR database. Content analysis and discourse analysis techniques were used to determine how the types of questions asked by users varied across media; how the types of responses varied across media; and how interactivity varied across media. Observations and brief interviews were also used to document these differences. While library users in face­to­face inter­ actions asked significantly more questions than those engaged in computer­mediated interactions, interesting similarities were found in the types of substantive questions asked across media. The percentages of “holdings” questions (about obtaining a source or access to a source) and “research” questions (about finding sources on a sub­ ject, by an author, or of a certain genre), as well as requests made for evaluation or opinion, were similar across media. Also, the likelihood that a “research” question, a “factual” question, a request for evalua­ tion or opinion, or a request for instruction would be posed in a given interaction did not vary significantly across media. Librarian responses, however, were quite different across media. The sheer number of librarian utterances was much higher in face­to­face responses than in computer­me­ diated responses. Interpersonal dimensions were found in e­mail, chat, and face­to­face responses, but different dimensions were emphasized in different media. Instruction patterns varied greatly across media, with much more instruction in the use of sources, search terms, and search techniques occur­ ring in face­to­face interactions. Librarians were more likely to ask questions of their users in face­to­face interactions; however, the percentage of chat utterances devoted to librarian ques­ tions was very similar to the face­to­face figure. Observations revealed that librarians engaged in face­to­face interactions were significantly more likely to use print sources; they were less likely to use online sources (though not signifi cantly so). Computer­mediated interactions were more time consuming and fewer words were exchanged, but the ratio of librarian­ to­patron words was much more balanced than in face­to­face interactions. While interactivity in e­mail reference interactions was quite low, many elements of online interactivity were present in the chat in­ teractions. Overall, face­to­face reference interac­ tions were found to be “richer” than com­ puter­mediated reference interactions. It was suggested that librarians will have to make creative use of an array of strategies and media in order to help users fi nd infor­ mation, particularly when they feel the need to instruct and negotiate questions with remote users.—Charlotte E. Ford, Birming­ ham­Southern College, cford@bsc.edu C&RL News  December 2004 / 645 mailto:cford@bsc.edu Columbia Univ. librarians develop special collections inventory tool Librarians at Columbia University have de­ veloped a new tool to inventory partially or not­yet­processed special collections materi­ als, using a methodology developed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Mi­ crosoft Access. The tool makes it possible to access items in special collections, generate reports, and compare and combine informa­ tion from a variety of collections. After test­ ing the instrument and database through a survey of 550 collections, Columbia adopted it as the primary accession database for new collections. The instrument is available free of charge on CD to interested institutions. The survey package, including the template and database, instruction manual, and defi ­ nitions of rating terms can be requested from prd­orders@libraries.cul.columbia.edu. National archives opens Public Vaults exhibit The National Archives has launched a per­ manent exhibit, Public Vaults, that provides visitors with a behind­the­scenes look at bil­ lions of unique documents, photographs, maps, films, recordings, and objects from the archive’s holdings. The exhibition com­ bines documents from the archives, inter­ active exhibits, and immersive displays to explore well­known people and historic events, as well as lesser­known events of surprising impact. Public Vaults is a key component of the National Archives Experience, a multiyear initiative that will more than triple the size of the exhibition spaces and public educational and programming facilities at the National Archives Building. All programs are free and open to the public.  ACRL Board of Directors to vote on dues increase for ballot At the June 2004 Annual Meeting, the ACRL Board of Directors passed a resolution, at the recommendation of the Budget and Finance Committee, to consider a dues in­ crease for certain categories of ACRL mem­ bership. A variety of factors contributed to the development of the resolution, including the following: • Although the “cost of doing business” has risen steadily over the past 15 years, ACRL has not raised member dues since 1991. • Advertising revenue from ACRL pub­ lications has decreased over the past few years and is not projected to rebound in the foreseeable future. Advertising revenue helps subsidize many member services, as well as recent major initiatives in the areas of scholarly communication and informa­ tion literacy. • Development of new programs and services that add value to membership will require funding. As outlined in our recently adopted strategic plan, in the coming years ACRL will be developing additional pro­ grams and services that assist members in the areas of technology, delivery of services, standards development and implementa­ tion, issues papers, and local and national advocacy as requested in the recent member survey. After reviewing several options, the Bud­ get and Finance Committee determined that a dues increase would be the best funding mechanism to provide the necessary capital to sustain ACRL’s quality programs, services, and initiatives. The proposed dues increase for personal members of ACRL is $20, bringing annual dues to $55. Student and retiree members would experience no dues increase at present. One option the Board will consider is the possibility of phasing in the increase over two years. The Board plans to vote on adopting the resolution at its Midwinter Meeting in Janu­ ary. If the motion passes, a ballot to approve the dues increase will be distributed to all members in the spring of 2005. The Board of Directors would like to hear from you as they consider this impor­ tant decision. The first Board meeting at the Midwinter Meeting will include a 30­minute question­and­answer session in which we encourage you to participate. You may also contact individual Board members at your convenience (see the roster on the Web at www.ala.org/acrl, click on “About ACRL,” then “ACRL Board of Directors,” and “ACRL Board of Directors Roster”). 646 / C&RL News  December 2004 www.ala.org/acrl mailto:prd-orders@libraries.cul.columbia.edu