ILA/ACRL Newsletter, vol. 8, no. 1, March 1998

PRESIDENT'S PIECE

As I begin my year as President of ILA/ACRL I feel that I am really reaping the rewards of the hard work done by my predecessors. Mary McInroy, 1997 ILA/ACRL President, laid the groundwork for our joint Spring conference with the Nebraska Library Association, College & University Library Section. Mary was also responsible for obtaining the ACRL Initiative Fund grant which has helped fund our Thursday, May 7 half-day conference on paraprofessionals in libraries. We hope that as many library support staff members as possible will be able to attend. In order to encourage attendance, the Scholarship Committee (chaired by Mary McInroy!) has decided to use a portion of its funds to provide scholarships for attendance by paraprofessionals. See the article later in this newsletter for details.

Joining forces with our Nebraska colleagues will also give us a larger pool of expertise to draw from for our regular Friday conference on May 8 when nine contributed-paper sessions will offer the accumulated wisdom of librarians from two states. The keynote speaker on Friday is Clifford Lynch of the ARL's, Coalition for Networked Information. A dinner is planned on Thursday night for all who plan to stay over and this will be a wonderful chance to socialize and chat with new people. I attended Nebraska's College & University Library Section's Spring meeting last year and I know that they excited about joining us. For more information about the conference see the article and registration form included in this issue.

I am also very grateful to all the dedicated people who agreed to serve as chairs of ILA/ACRL committees this year. I continue to be impressed by the hard work and dedicated service which committee chairs and other members of the Executive Board do and they are a great group of people to work with.

Another project which was begun by my predecessors was revision of our Chapter's bylaws. Bylaws revision is not a topic which excites most people but it is a necessary activity in order to insure that our organizational structures respond to changes in our environment. The Ad Hoc Bylaws Committee has now finished its work and if our revisions clear the ILA approval process they should be ready for a vote by the membership of ILA/ACRL after the Spring meeting. One of the proposed changes in the bylaws is the establishment of a standing Electronic Communications Committee which will work with both the ILA/ACRL web page and the listserv. Bob Rose, 1996 ILA/ACRL President, first created the ad hoc ia-acrl web committee. When our listserv was created a new ad hoc Electronic Information Committe was formed which took on responsibility for the list as well as the web page. For the past two years this committee, chaired by Barbara Allen, have brought us these invaluable services.

Although we are still far from achieving the "paperless society", the fact that you are reading this newsletter online is indicative of how important electronic communications have become to us. The savings which we hope to achieve by reducing the number of paper copies of this newsletter should allow us to plan even better programing opportunities for the membership. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, (CD?), I would also like to urge you again to subscribe to the ia-acrl listserv (ia-acrl@list.uiowa.edu) if you haven't already done so. As a subscriber you can be assured or receiving all the latest news in your electronic mailbox. If you are already are a subscriber, please help us to share the news about Iowa academic and research libraries by forwarding appropriate messages to your co-workers.

Finally, now that you have paid off your holiday bills, don't forget to renew your membership in ILA and be sure to check off ACRL. Otherwise you may not be seeing future editions of this newsletter!

Mary Beveridge --- 1998 ILA/ACRL Pesident

ACRL CHAPTERS COUNCIL AT MIDWINTER

Mary McInroy and I attended the Chapters Council meeting at ALA Mid-Winter in New Orleans. One of the most important agenda items at this meeting was the Draft Report of the ACRL Chapters Relations Task Force. For several years there has been concern at both ends about the relationship between the national organization and ACRL Chapters. As a result of this concern the ACRL Board appointed the Task Force at the 1996 ALA Annual Conference in New York. Their Draft Report has been temporarily posted at the ILA/ACRL website under "News and Newsletters" and I would encourage you to look at it.

Among the issues addressed by the report are communication between ACRL and chapters, the autonomy of chapters, funding and recruitment of members. Its recommendations include an increase in the funding of each chapter from $0.75 to $1.00 per national ACRL member living in the chapter's geographic area plus $10 for each new member during a fiscal year. For their part, chapters must take a more active role in encouraging membership in national ACRL and provide an annual report of their activities. Fortunately, some concerns such as chapter incorporation and liability, are not a concern for ILA/ACRL as we are incorporated as a division under the Iowa Library Association.

The Task Force would very much like feedback on the Draft Report. Comments are due back by April 1, 1998 and may be sent to Barbara Baxter Jenkins, Chapters Council President (jenkins@oregon.uoregon.edu) or John Collins, Co-Chair of the Task Force (john_collins@harvard.edu).

The meeting also offered a preview of ACRL's 9th National Conference to be held April 8-11, 1999 in Detroit, Michigan. It promises to be as excellent as the conference in Nashville last year, so mark your calendars and watch for more information.

Mary Beveridge

1998 SPRING CONFERENCE

May 7 & 8 - Drake University

"Creating New Connections" is the theme for the first joint conference of the ILA/ACRL and the Nebraska Library Association /College & University Section. Creating a new bi-state connection and combining the resources of the two state associations made it possible to bring in two great keynote speakers. The half-day session on May 7 which will focus on another kind of connection - that between various staff members in libraries. Larry Oberg, University Librarian at Willamette University, will be the keynote speaker, speaking on "Library Support Staff in an Age of Change: The Challenges of Tomorrow".

Conference attendees who choose to stay over for both days will be able to meet their colleagues from Iowa and Nebraska at a dinner on Thursday evening. On Friday, May 8 the usual format of ILA/ACRL conferences will include Clifford Lynch, Executive Director of ARL's Coalition for Networked Information as keynote speaker. His address will be on "Networked Information and New Communities." The two state associations will split up for business meetings but otherwise will share programming and papers.

For those viewing this electronically, this link will take you to registration forms and other information. Those receiving a paper copy will find a registration form attached.

THE ACADEMIC LIBRARIAN'S CALENDAR

April 19-25 -- National Library Week
May 7-8 -- Iowa/Nebraska ACRL Spring Conference - Drake University
June 5 -- GODORT Workshop - ISU - Ames
June 25-July 2 -- ALA Annual Conference - Washington D.C.
June 24-25 -- ACRL Preconference at ALA - Advocacy Training for Academic Librarians: FRom Ivory Towers to Halls of Power
June 28 -- ACRL program at ALA - When Education Becomes a Business, What Happens to Traditional Library Values
October 14-16 --ILA Fall Conference - Waterloo Convention Center

NEWS NOTES*

ILA/ACRL

* The 1998 Iowa Academic and Research Libraries Directory is now on the ILA/ACRL web page at http: //www.iren.net/acrl. There is an institution index with a personal name index planned. Please report errors and updates to: Barbara Allen at UNI.
* Also posted of the ACRL Website is the Draft Report of the ACRL Chapters Relations Task Force. Comments are requested on this report which deals with the relationship of ACRL and its affiliate chapters. See the report and send your comments to Barbara Allen at UNI or Barbara Jenkins at the University of Oregon.

IOWA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

* ILA now has a website at http: //www.iren.net/ila/web/.
* There will be an "Innovation Fair" at the ILA Fall Conference in Waterloo. If you have recently created something or some service that it creative, innovative, or just out-of-the-ordinary consider contacting Mike Dargon at darganm@maple.iren.net for details on entering your contribution.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF COMMERCE

* American Institute of Commerce, Davenport and Cedar Falls, received five-year accreditation from NCA in 1997.
* The Davenport Institute celebrated its 60th anniversary in 1997. Founded in 1937, AIC offers 10 associate of applied science degree programs and 11 diploma programs.
* AIC, Davenport, is offering Distance Education on the Internet. Check our Virtual College Library on: AIC or http://www.aicedu.com

DRAKE UNIVERSITY

* Erin Fink has joined the Cowles Library staff in the Systems Department. Her responsibilities include maintaining applications on Cowles' PCs, the Macintosh platform and the CD-ROM databases. Her background includes extensive experience in application software both instructing users in sovftware use, and helping users find solutions in their specific application need. She has taught classes in academic and corporate environments in many commercial DOS and Windows products.
*Drake University's Cowles Library has instituted a new web-based service, Compass, to provide easy "one stop" access to all its electronic resources. Services available at the Compass gateway include both Internet and networked CD-ROM databases, the Britannica Online, Project Muse and WorldCat. Compass also points to the Library's catalog, its document delivery services utilzing Uncover's Reveal and Gateway services and information about library instruction and services.

GRAND VIEW COLLEGE

* Donna Kelly is new as our Circulation/InterLibrary Loan Assistant.
* Sheila Hainlin is our new Serials Assistant.
* We gave one hour workshops for faculty in each academic department during fall semester, introducing them to our automated system, and the new online databases including some full text databases.

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

* Mary Jane Vakili, Science and Technology Department Acting Head retired January 31, 1998. Eleanor Mathews has returned from retirement part time to serve as the Department's temporary Acting Head until a permanent appointment is made.
* Jerry Caswell, Assistant Director for Automated Systems, left February 28, 1998 to assume the position of Associate University Librarian for Information Technology at Cornell University.
* ISU Library's new Development Officer is Joni Campanilli, who began work on February 8.
* ISU has a number of vacant positions that we are in the process of filling. Candidates for Dean of Library Services will be interviewed in the spring months. Candidates for Collections Archivist are being interviewed in February. Ads have been posted for a Collections Officer and permanent heads of the Social Sciences and Humanities Department and the Science and Technology Department; ads for a Physical Sciences Librarian should appear shortly. Anyone wishing more information about a position or a copy of a job ad may contact Jeanne Vogel at the Iowa State University Library (515/294-1442).
* Library staff computers are being migrated to Windows 95 and several staff are working on the profiling/functionality issues for the new Horizon system.
* A new mural, "Unlimited Possibilities", has been installed in ISU's Parks Library outside the Periodical Room. Designed by Iowa native, Doug Shelton, the mural is painted in the Grant Wood style and depicts Iowa's future.

MOUNT MERCY COLLEGE

* BLIS, the Busse Library Information System, got a new look in time for fall semester. All reference computers operate under Windows 95 and most of the services are web-based. All electronic periodical indexes and other databases are on the Busse Library webpages along with several virtual library collections of websites to support instruction and serve as an online reference section when the library is closed. The campus was networked over the summer and all faculty and staff have access to all library webpages and the WWW on their desktops. Students may also connect to this network from dorm rooms.
* We developed a virtual library for the new ADVANCE program, a joint project of Kirkwood CC and MMC. This is a project to enable working adults to take courses in a series of 5 to 10 week terms.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

* Staff changes:

Retired January 1998, David Aamodt, Cataloger, and Loren Forbes, Film Librarian.
Planned retirement in May 1998: Earl Rogers, University Archivist.

* Active searches:

Head, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
International Studies Bibliographer
Japanese Studies Librarian
2 Minority Librarians (3-year residencies)

* The Engineering Library has moved to the Main Library building for 2-3 years while the Engineering Building is being remodeled.
* The Biology Library will move to a nearby building, now being remodeled.
* Scholarly Digital Resources Center has recently been formed by the Libraries to advance the creation and use of digitized materials of interest to the University of Iowa community.
* The Libraries' TWIST Project (Teaching With Innovative Style and Technology) has teamed librarians with faculty to create Web course pages; there are more than 30 such pages now.
* Hardin Library is working on Phase II of a grant from Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) to propose comprehensive access to and integration of health information at the Health Sciences Center.
* The CIC VEL (Committee on Institutional Cooperation Virtual Electronic Library) is available through the Libraries' Gateway page (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/gw/) under Organizations, Associations, and Agencies, CIC/Big Ten Institutions.
* The Library Explorer, a computer-aided instruction program for the OASIS database, is available at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/libexp/.
* A committee continues to investigate and evaluate databases for future migration from NOTIS LMS to a different integrated library system.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA SCHOOL OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE

* New faculty member: Dr. David Eichmann joined the faculty August 19, 1997. He holds a joint appointment in the UI Department of Computer Science, with all teaching responsibilities in the School of Library & Information Science. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Iowa.
* New curriculum: Effective August 1998, the school will offer a new curriculum, organized around four functional clusters: Foundations/Applications, Conceptual Structures/Systems, Resources/Services, and Policy/Planning. The program remains 36 hours in length. Students will complete 13 hours of core courses, and select 23 hours from the four clusters. See the school's website (http://www.uiowa.edu/~libsci) for a table listing the courses and clusters.
* ICN courses: The school offered two courses over the ICN last fall and is offering two other courses this spring. Enrollment in each course is split approximately equally between students taking the course on campus and students taking the course at the various remote sites. A list of Distance Learning FAQs is available on our website.

WILLIAM PENN COLLEGE

* WPC received two grants for a joint library automation system with the public library in Oskaloosa.

SOME USEFUL ILA/ACRL WEB SITES

THE HOME PAGE --- http://www.iowaacrl.org/
THE DIRECTORY --- http://www.iowaacrl.org/97/diram.html
THE NEWSLETTERS --- http://www.iowaacrl.org/iacrldir/News.html
ILA/ACRL LIST SERV

TO SUBSCRIBE: Send message to: majordomo@list.uiowa.edu

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THE EDITORS

Editorial comment should be directed to: Linda L. Scarth, Busse Center Library, Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-4794, phone 319-363-8213 x1246, e-mail lscarth@mmc.mtmercy.edu

The Newsletter is produced by the ILA/ACRL Communication Committee:

Ann Ford (University of Iowa)
Kristin Gerhard (Iowa State University)
Sandra Keist (Grand View College)
Jim Knutson (William Penn College)
Joan Leysen (Iowa State University)
Marilyn Metzger (American Institute of Commerce)
Linda Scarth, Chair 1998 (Mount Mercy College)
John Wynstra (University of Northern Iowa)

Full addresses for Committee members may be found in the 1998 Iowa Academic and Research Libraries Directory.

The print edition of this newsletter is a replica of the web edition.