may08a.indd David Free N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d What should ACRL “assume” about the future of academic libraries? Each year, the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee provides input to the Board of Directors on the “Assumptions About the Relevant Future for Research and Academic Librarians and Libraries” report. The committee would like your opinions! What do you think about the assumptions and the emergent issues identified in the 2007 Environmental Scan? What’s missing from these reports that you want ACRL to think about? “Assumptions About the Relevant Future for Research and Academic Librarians and Libraries” is available online at www.ala. org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/resourcesforwork /acrlforms/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/whatisacrl /acrlstratplan/revised_assumptions_2006 _final.pdf. The 2007 Environmental Scan is at www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers /Environmental_Scan_2.pdf. Come to the RPRC Focus Group meet­ ing at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 29 to give your feedback. Your voice counts! Google Book Search in Southern California The University of California­San Diego (UCSD) recently announced its fi rst ship­ ment of books to be digitized as part of the Google Book Search Library Project. The UCSD Libraries will contribute thousands of volumes from its East Asian language col­ lections and from its International Relations and Pacific Studies Library, in such subject areas as history, literature, public policy, and economics. UCSD is the fi rst university in Southern California to contribute books to Google’s Book Search project. The Uni­ versity of California joined the Google Book Search Library Project in 2006 and agreed to provide several million books from its uni­ versity libraries for digitization. “The preservation and provision of access to digital materials has long been a top prior­ ity for the UC San Diego Libraries,” said Brian E. C. Schottlaender, the UCSD Audrey Geisel university librarian. “The library of the 21st century must effectively deliver knowledge and information in an increasingly hybrid environment, where the physical and digital coexist. We are thrilled to be a contributor and partner with Google in this effort because it greatly expands access to our collections for faculty, students and members of the public, which is an essential part of our mission.” The digitized books will soon begin ap­ pearing in the Google Book Search index. The search engine allows anyone to search the full text of books from libraries and publishing partners. For books in the public domain, readers will be able to view, browse, and read the full texts online. For books pro­ tected by copyright, users can access basic background (such as the book’s title and the author’s name), a few lines of text related to their search, and information about where they can borrow or buy a book. Columbia goes “Beyond the Desk” The Columbia University Libraries Reference Coordinating Committee hosted the sympo­ sium, “Beyond the Desk,” March 14, 2008, in the Columbia Business School’s Uris Hall. This was the sixth “Reference in the 21st Century” symposium that Columbia Libraries have hosted since 2001. The annual sympo­ sium invites representatives of large private academic research libraries in the Northeast to share ideas, plans, and concerns about reference services. Joe Janes, associate professor and associ­ ate dean for academics at the at the University of Washington’s Information School, deliv­ ered the keynote address at the symposium. Janes discussed how research librarians can serve as technologists and scholars simulta­ neously, and encouraged reference librarians to focus on their strengths and not fi ght the Google culture. The symposium also featured three con­ tributed papers, covering such topics as pod­ casting as a reference tool, IM reference, and library outreach. A panel discussion explored generational differences between librarians and user groups. A complete program with transcripts of the presentations can be found 250C&RL News May 2008 www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers at www1.columbia.edu/sec/cu/libraries /bts/symposia/reference/2008/index. html. Joe McCarthy audio online Marquette University’s Raynor Me­ morial Libraries has released a new digital collection, “Senator Joe Mc­ Carthy: Audio Excerpts, 1950–1954.” The collection provides access to 35 streaming audio files of public re­ marks delivered by McCarthy during his controversial campaign to remove communists and communist sympa­ thizers from government. McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, was a 1935 graduate of Marquette’s Law School. The digital files were made from original analog tape recordings and represent only a small fraction of the recorded material in the Libraries’ Jo­ seph R. McCarthy Papers. The audio excerpts vary from 22 seconds to over ten minutes and are keyword search­ able via transcripts at the site. The col­ I can’t live without . . . Can you name one Web resource that you can’t live without? Is there a blog out there that blows your mind? Or a wiki that wows you ev­ ery time? Maybe you use a database or Web site that seems to answer your questions before you even ask. If there’s a Web resource that speaks to you, chances are it will speak to others in the profession. C&RL News wants to hear from you about these tools and how they help you succeed in your work. Whether it provides inspiration or information, we encourage you to share your thoughts about your favorite resource so that we can share them with our readers. Submissions should be brief, providing a snapshot of the resource and why you can’t live without it in about 100 words. Please make sure to include access information. Send your submis­ sions by e­mail to David Free, C&RL News editor, dfree@ala.org. lection is available online at digitalmarquette. feeds.muse.jhu.edu. Project MUSE also plans cdmhost.com/JRM/. to introduce a newly redesigned Web site by August 2008, with the beta version of the new News from Project Muse site available to tour by the 2008 ALA Annual Project MUSE has announced several new Conference in June. search and Web enhancements. The fi rst is a search plugin tool that allows users to Calling all instruction librarians! search MUSE content from any Web page, The ACRL Instruction Section (IS) is launch­ even when MUSE is not open in a browser ing a new mentoring program. The program window. The Project MUSE search plugin is designed to contribute to the professional can be added to any browser that supports development of academic librarians inter­ Sherlock and OpenSearch search engine ested in information literacy instruction and plugins. The plugin adds Project MUSE to improving their teaching skills by pairing li­ the list of search engines that are available brarians experienced in teaching with librar­ in the search box in the upper right corner ians new to instruction or to IS. The program on your browser. Visit muse.jhu.edu/about creates a forum for learning opportunities, /librarians/search_plugin.html to learn more networking, and the exchange of ideas be­ and install the plugin. tween paired mentors and mentees. A new MUSE RSS feed, “Upcoming Jour­ As this is the inaugural year for the pro­ nals for 2008,” which provides immediate gram, the committee seeks IS members for notification about the launch of new 2008 participation as either a mentor or mentee. titles, was recently introduced. When each Participation is primarily virtual, though there of the new titles added to the database fi rst will be opportunities to meet in person at ALA becomes available online, feed subscrib­ Annual and Midwinter conferences. Mentor­ ers receive notification that the journal has ing relationships will be guided by members launched along with a link to the table of of the committee, but flexible to allow for contents of the most current issue. Informa­ mentors and mentees to work on whatever tion about all MUSE RSS feeds is available at they wish at whatever depth works for them. May 2008 251 C&RL News http:feeds.muse.jhu.edu mailto:dfree@ala.org Apply for new Immersion Assessment Track ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy is pleased to announce a new addition to its popular Immersion program. “Assessment Immersion Track: Assessment in Practice” is intended for librarians active in teaching and learning and those with leadership roles for information literacy program develop­ ment who want to improve their knowledge and practice of both classroom and program assessment.Applications for the program, to be held December 4 ­ 7, 2008, at the Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville,Tennessee are now being accepted.The deadline to apply is June 2, 2008. The new track approaches assessment from a learning­centered perspective, building upon the philosophy of “assess­ ment­as­learning,” developed at Alverno College. Formative assessment will be em­ phasized to explore its role in instructional and curricular design, in librarian/faculty skill development, and in development of information literacy (IL) programs. Sum­ mative assessment tools will be explored along with strategies for determining their appropriate application. Participants will work individually and cooperatively to extend their conceptual Mentoring pairs will be matched after the ALA Annual Conference this summer. Interested in becoming a mentor and making a difference or being matched with an experienced mentor? Sign up and see more information about the program at www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees /webpages/mentoring/ismentoring.cfm. Please contact the committee chair, Caro­ line Barratt, at ccason@uga.edu with any questions. SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting SPARC, in partnership with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan/National Institute of In­ formatics, has announced the SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting 2008, to be held No­ vember 17–18, 2008, at the Renaissance Har­ borplace Hotel in Baltimore. Coming on the heels of two ground­ breaking U.S. developments—a recent vote understanding of assessment and to ex­ pand their toolkit of practical assessment methods. Participants in this program will emerge with a broader understanding of assessment and how to use assessment as an important tool to guide evidence­ based classroom, curriculum and program development. While the program’s content will build upon the assessment curriculum presented in the Teacher and Program Tracks of the Immersion Program, previous participation is not required. Participation is limited to 45 to ensure an environment that fosters group interaction and active participation. Preference will be given to individuals with at least five years instruction experience in an academic library. Immersion Assessment Track applica­ tions must be submitted via the online application form by Monday, June 2, 2008. The application form, instructions, and complete program details are avail­ able at www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues /acrlinfolit/professactivity/iil/immersion /assessmentimmersiona.cfm. Questions concerning the program or application process should be directed by Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences enabling the university to offer access to their articles in an institutional repository and implementation of a new National In­ stitutes of Health public access policy—as well as unprecedented advancement in the international sphere over the past year, the meeting will enable stakeholders to explore next steps for the burgeoning open archiving movement. The focus of the meeting will be on effective engagement with scholars and scientists to expand the sharing of research outputs via open repositories. The program will delve into four key areas: The Policy Environment, New Ho­ rizons, Campus Publishing Strategies, and Value­Added Services. These tracks will be supplemented with an Innovation Fair, where new technologies, strategies, and approaches will be highlighted, and a practicum on mar­ keting and advocacy. 252C&RL News May 2008 www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues mailto:ccason@uga.edu www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees The program committee is accepting pre­ sentation proposals through May 30. Meeting registration will also open in May. Details are available on the conference Web site at www. arl.org/sparc/ir08/. ProQuest adds oral histories ProQuest is adding a collection of 100 oral history videos from The HistoryMakers, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive, to its Black Studies Center. Each video is two­to­three hours in length and accompanied by complete, searchable transcripts. Videos will also be browseable by name of interviewee, occupation, sub­ ject, and theme. The interviews are of contemporary Afri­ can Americans, many of whom were the fi rst to break various barriers in business, science, medicine, education, and government, and present full accounts of the subject’s early life, family history, education, and professional work. The collection includes interviews with Barack Obama, Reverend Al Sharpton, Gordon Parks, John Lewis, John H. Johnson, Julian Bond, Nikki Giovanni, John Hope Franklin, Terry MacMillian, Isaac Hayes, and Alvin Poussaint. Black Studies Center is organized around Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, a core collection of studies summarizing the current state of research and scholarship on important themes such as African American religion, the slave trade and slavery, perform­ ing arts and popular culture, and the African American family. Extensive bibliographies, multimedia, and selected full­text, primary research materials are also included. Black Studies Center also offers the entire Chicago Defender newspaper from 1910 to 1975 and full­text, academic journals from the Inter­ national Index to Black Periodicals, with a journal index back to 1902. NYU Libraries partner with Institute for the Future of the Book The New York University (NYU) Division of Libraries and the Institute for the Future of the Book (IFB) have formed a partnership to build digital infrastructure for 21st centu­ ry scholarly communications. NYU and IFB have been awarded a start­up grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to design a set of networking tools that will serve as the membership system for Me­ diaCommons, an all­electronic scholarly publishing network in the digital humani­ ties that IFB has been instrumental in de­ veloping. For the past three years, IFB has been researching, prototyping, and sketching out models for how university presses could expand their publishing programs to include digital and networked formats. The institute is best known for its series of “networked book” experiments, which modify popular blogging technologies to create social book formats for the Web. Out of these projects, IFB developed CommentPress, an extension for the WordPress blog platform that enables paragraph­level commenting in the margins of a text. As part of the partnership, three of IFB’s leaders will work with NYU librarians, the NYU digital library team, and Monica McCor­ mick, the Libraries’ program officer for digital scholarly publishing in the development of the publishing network. Save the date: ACRL Membership Meeting/ACRL 101 All ACRL members are cordially invited to attend the ACRL Membership Meeting from 8:00–8:30 a.m., Saturday, June 28, at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. Following the membership meeting,ACRL is offering a special First­Time Attendee Orientation from 8:30–10:00 a.m. in the same room to help new members and members new to the Annual Conference get the most out of the conference (and membership). The session will help new members and fi rst­time attendees: • meet section representatives and learn how to become more involved • make the most of the exhibits • pick programs that meet your needs • meet other fi rst­time attendees • find answers to any questions you might have about the conference or ACRL Check the ACRL Insider blog (www. acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/) for more details in early June. May 2008 253 C&RL News