ILA/ACRL Newsletter, vol. 12, no. 2, July 2002
Contents
President's
Piece
You continue to energize and inspire me!
On June 4, I received an email from Linda Kopecky, ACRL Chapters Council chair, inviting
us to participate in the "Best of Chapters" session at ALA. She stated,
"Your chapter was one of the standouts in the latest issue of Chapter Topics."
Linda wanted us to highlight our recent activities and show how we support ACRL at the
local level. At late notice, John Pollitz graciously volunteered to give the presentation.
But without the work of Linda Scarth who submitted our chapter update for publication in
the Chapters Topics, (http://www.ala.org/acrl/ct/ctv23n1.html)
we would not have been noticed. Thanks John and Linda! But most importantly, thanks to
each and every one of you the ILA/ACRL chapter makes a difference. You should be proud!
One of the most active groups in our chapter is the Spring Conference Committee. Many,
many thanks go to Sandra Keist, chair, Mary Heinzman, Gail Bonath, Corey Williams Green,
Lisa Stock and Jennifer Davis, who put together an excellent program. We welcomed Bob Rose
back to Iowa and his keynote presentation "Blurring the Lines: Partnering across
Organizational Boundaries to Achieve Results" gave us many ideas and questions to
ponder. (For those of you who missed it, the PowerPoint is available: http://www.iowaacrl.org/conference/2002/BlurringtheLines.ppt.)
The sessions also received rave reviews. I only wish I could have seen them all.
Everything was terrific-even the food got high marks!
Even though we are halfway through the year, and we have accomplished so much, there are a
few opportunities and activities still to come. The 2002 Iowa Library Association
Conference (Successful Libraries: It's All About Us!) will be held October 9-11 in Des
Moines. ILA/ACRL will be sponsoring a session with Julia Blixrud, Director of Information
Services, Association of Research Libraries. Her presentation is entitled, "Where's
the Evidence? Discovering the Measures that Make Up a Library's Contribution to Student
Learning Outcomes." A panel session will follow. Mark your calendars, as this will be
another great conference.
I hope that you are as proud as I am to be a member of ILA/ACRL. If you haven't joined
yet, it is not too late! If you have joined and want to be more involved, fill out our
volunteer form: http://www.iowaacrl.org/organization/volunteer.html.
John Pollitz, Vice-President/President Elect will be looking for volunteers this summer to
serve on committees. I can't say enough what a joy it is to be a member with all of you.
-Rachel Crowley, Morningside College, ILA/ACRL president
ILA/ACRL Scholarship Recipient
Each spring ILA/ACRL provides a scholarship to attend our spring conference to a new
librarian. This year's recipient was Ericka Raber from the University of
Iowa Libraries. Her comments are below.
The ILA/ACRL Conference was a wonderful opportunity for me to attend educational sessions,
and I enjoyed visiting with colleagues from across the state. This event provides an
excellent forum for the discussion of issues important to the field of academic
librarianship. I was particularly inspired by discussions about the typical one-shot
instructional sessions and what should be taught when you have the students for such a
brief period of time. I left the conference feeling pleased with my decision to become an
academic librarian, and I look forward to expanding my involvement in professional
activities in the future.
ILA Fall Conference
Visit the ILA web site (http://www.iowalibraryassociation.org/)
for the latest information on the Fall Conference, to be held October 9-11 in Des Moines.
This year's theme is "Successful Libraries: It's All About Us!" Speakers include
· John W. Berry, ALA immediate past president, speaking on "The
Shock of the New: the Future of Libraries and Library and Information Workers"
· Michael Michalko, author of Thinkertoys and Cracking
Creativity, speaking on "Breakthrough Creative Thinking"
· Carla Stoffle, Dean of Libraries, University of Arizona
· Debra Marquart, Professor of English, Iowa State University
Blixrud to Speak at ILA Fall Conference
How does the library contribute to student learning? What is the librarian's role in this
process? How can we know what our contributions to student learning are? These are some of
the important questions that Julia Blixrud will address in her talk "Where's the
Evidence? Discovering the Measures that Make Up a Library's Contribution to Student
Learning Outcomes."
Julia's talk promises to be informative and stimulating. She will use a detective theme to
see how we ferret out information from our campuses about student learning, and what
libraries can do with that information to develop programs that engage the faculty and
also allow us to evaluate our contributions to the learning process. Julia will suggest
ways that librarians can become involved with campus assessment activities to ensure that
we are included in campus efforts to define learning outcomes. There will be some
discussion of information literacy and information technology fluency as examples of
evidence.
Julia Blixrud has been with the Association of Research Libraries since December 1996,
serving now as Director of Information Services. Her responsibilities include shared
planning and development for ARL's New Measures Initiative, and planning for publications
and communications activities for ARL. Julia is also the Assistant Director for Public
Programs for SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. Serving in
that capacity since August 1999, she is implementing a grassroots educational program
aimed at scientists, librarians, and society publishers. She also holds an adjunct faculty
appointment at the University of Kansas where she is assisting the Chief Information
Office with quality service projects. Julia's 25-year career in the library community has
included positions at CAPCON and MINITEX library networks, the Council on Library
Resources, and the Library of Congress. Her interests and professional activities include
technical standards, cooperative programs, intellectual property, and scholarly
communication.
Report to ACRL Chapters Council
ILA/ACRL was invited to participate in a "Best of Chapters" session at the
Chapters Council meeting during the ALA Conference in Atlanta this June. ACRL Chapters
Council Chair, Linda Kopecky, invited "standouts" from the latest "Chapter
Topics" newsletter to show how chapters are representing and promoting ACRL at the
local level, highlighting the variety and quality of activities. Along with
representatives from two other chapters, Delaware Valley and New England, Vice
President/President-elect John Pollitz provided a brief report on the highlights of our
recent activities. John focused on the ILA/ACRL web site and our past two conferences. He
reported that we had created an information literacy "Best Practices" page that
served as a clearinghouse to share resources created by different Iowa information
literacy programs. Members of Chapters Council were given the URL for the ILA/ACRL web
site. He also reported on recent support from the ILA/ACRL for the State Library's efforts
to broker a statewide contract for EBSCOhost. The short presentation also highlighted our
recent spring conference and participation in the ILA fall conference, noting our ability
to bring in nationally respected speakers.
The "Chapter Topics" newsletter is available at the national ACRL web site: http://www.ala.org/acrl/ct/. ACRL president Helen
Spalding hopes for a strong representation from the national membership at the ALA Annual
Conference in Toronto, June 2003.
Community College News
Hawkeye Community College
Robert Chittenden has a new position at HCC, beginning July 1. His new job title is
Executive Director of Research, Planning and Instruction Services. Jan Dellinger, Services
and Systems Librarian, has assumed the library director responsibilities.
News of the Iowa Private Academic Libraries
Loras College
Following a year and a half of construction, the 90,000 sq. foot, $18,000,000 Loras
College Academic Resource Center opened its doors July 8. Loras has scheduled a dedication
ceremony on September 4, 2002. In addition to the Loras Library, and the 3,500 sq. ft.
Barnes and Noble College Bookstore, the Academic Resource Center will be the site for key
academic support offices, including
· The Loras Archives
· Center for Dubuque History
· Writing Lab
· Math Lab
· Learning Disabilities Center
· Honors Program Center
· Tutorial Areas (peer tutoring in all subjects)
· Two electronic multi-purpose classrooms
· One electronic bibliographic classroom
· Three seminar classrooms
The facility will offer seating for 511. The library portion of the building will consume
65,540 sq. feet.
Kaplan College, Davenport
Kaplan began a new quarter July 15, with 511 students and two new associate degree
programs, Paralegal and Criminal Justice. The college is preparing for an NCA
visit/evaluation in February of 2003. Graduation was held July 13 and, for the first time,
students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Management program received degrees.
St. Ambrose University
In April Dorothy and Gwen Hennessey came to O'Keefe Library to talk about their
experiences during the six months they spent in federal prison for trespassing on
government lands while protesting the School of the Americas in Georgia. On July 10,
O'Keefe Library sponsored an evening with Marcos McPeek Villatoro. Villatoro is a graduate
of the University of Iowa Writers Workshop and holds the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair in
Writing at Mount St. Mary's College. His latest novel, Home Killings, won the 2002 Latino
Literary Hall of Fame Book Award at Book Expo America and a silver medal in the Foreword
Magazine Best Books of 2001.
Jennifer Davis, with assistance from the rest of the library staff, has been busy working
on the development of an RFP for the QuadLINC integrated library system. Jennifer is
working closely with other local librarians to draft the language describing the
functional requirements for a third generation automation system.
Barb Kuttler represented St. Ambrose University in the Quad City Libraries Bookin' It
Precision Book Cart Drill Team. The spectacular drill team participated in the Quad City
St. Patrick's Day Parade where they won the award for "Most Unique," the Colona,
IL. Memorial Day Parade, and the East Moline, IL. Fourth of July Parade.
News of the Iowa Public Academic Libraries
Iowa State University
ISU has an opening for an Instruction Coordinator/Social Sciences & Humanities
Librarian. This faculty position includes working reference in the ISU Library as well as
coordinating library instruction. A position description can be found at http://www.iastate.edu/~hrs_info/jobs/4academic.htm#023290.
The ISU Library has outsourced public photocopying to the ISU Printing Services effective
July 1. Old photocopy machines have been replaced with new machines featuring
digital-photocopying technology. The new Library photocopy machines will take bills,
change, and ISU ID cards in payment.
As part of the campus-wide effort to provide students, faculty, and staff with wireless
Ethernet technology, 22 wireless access points have been installed in the ISU Library,
completing the project of providing access to wireless laptop computing in the ISU
Library.
A five-year project is now underway to equip 100 ISU academic and administration buildings
with high-speed communications wiring. In this project, approximately 6000 miles of new
wiring will be installed and approx. 9000 miles of old wiring will be removed. Parks
Library is currently being rewired, one of the first buildings to be upgraded.
Professional Staff Changes
Collin Hobert, Head of Monograph Copy Cataloging, has elected to take
early retirement on July 1, 2002, after 33 years of service in the ISU Library.
Service awards were issued to the following ISU Library faculty and staff
· 30 years - Ivan Hanthorn, Chris Kading, Jerie Schwartz
· 25 years - Karen Craft, Debbie Kester, Joan Mueller
· 15 years - Barbara Brown, Corinne Brown, Marlene Matthewson, Gerry
McKiernan, Kathy Christian
· 10 years - Norma Dowell, Edward Goedeken, Janet Richardson, William
Wiese
University of Iowa
This spring UI Libraries implemented its InfoLink service, a means of accessing full-text
journals from within subscription databases and soon, within the online catalog
(InfoHawk). InfoLink enables access to roughly 8,000 full-text journals directly from
citations in such online services as EBSCOhost, Web of Knowledge, Ovid-Online, ProQuest
and OCLC FirstSearch. Article-level access is available with most electronic journals, in
some cases access is to the journal home page, and where there is no full text available
InfoLink defaults to a search of the library catalog for print and microform holdings.
Access via additional online services will become available as database vendors and
journal publishers embrace the OpenURL standard upon which InfoLink is based.
Professional Staff Changes
Departures
Ellen Hammond, Librarian III, Bibliography, effective June 3, 2002
Charmaine Henriques, Librarian II, Government Publications, effective May
24, 2002
Retirements
Charlene Lehman, Librarian II, Reference, effective April 30, 2002
Dick Eimas, Librarian III, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences,
effective May 31, 2002
Promotions, Transfers, etc.
Lisa Martincik, Information Arcade, Librarian I to Librarian II,
effective July 1, 2002
Paul Soderdahl, Information Systems Support Team, Librarian II to
Librarian III, effective July 1, 2002
Sandy Ballasch, Librarian III, appointed Interim Head of Access Services,
effective May 1, 2002
Steve Ostrem, Librarian II, Government Publications, transfer to
Reference, effective August 15, 2002
Dan Stout, Instructional Technologist, RIS, transfer to the Information
Arcade, effective April 1, 2002
University of Northern Iowa
In May, Dean of Library Services Marilyn Mercado and I participated in an ongoing academic
exchange program that exists between the University of Northern Iowa and the Herzen State
Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia. During our 18-day visit we presented a
series of five seminars on different aspects of American librarianship to librarians from
around the city. We also presented "Creating an Impression: Integrating the Academic
Library into Campus Life in the United States" at the plenary session of the 5th
Annual Russian-American Scientific and Practical Conference on Modern Concepts of
University Education, which was hosted by Herzen.
We had the opportunity to visit numerous libraries during our visit, including the Russian
National Library, the Mayakovsky Public Library, the Library of the University of Finance
and Economics, and the Library of the Academy of Sciences. During each library visit we
were given an extensive tour and had the opportunity to discuss issues in librarianship
with staff. Several of the libraries we visited hold extensive collections of rare books,
which we were honored to be able to view. A highlight was being able to access books from
Voltaire's personal collection, complete with his notes in the margins, at the Russian
National Library.
It was interesting to be able to observe how Russian libraries operate, and to have the
opportunity to discuss their practices. Although the poor economy hampers their ability
for growth and innovation, several of the libraries we visited are implementing some
impressive changes, mainly through assistance from the Soros Foundation. However, nearly
all of the libraries we visited exhibited room for growth in the areas of preservation and
automation/technology.
Since we plan on continuing the exchange of faculty and ideas between Herzen and UNI, we
hope to be able to work with the Russian librarians to identify methods for improving
library services within the budgetary constraints they face. And undoubtedly, being
exposed to Russian library practices will continue to cause us to reflect on the
effectiveness of our own methods as well.
Our Russian hosts were incredibly hospitable, and we enjoyed having the opportunity to
meet the numerous Russian students who were kind enough to serve as guides and
interpreters during our visit. Although the trip involved a great deal of work, we luckily
had the opportunity to participate in many of the fabulous cultural attractions that St.
Petersburg offers.
-Becky Lutkenhaus, Documents and Maps Librarian, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
Professional Staff Changes
Marilyn Mercado has been appointed Dean of Library Services at UNI,
effective July 1.
Alan Asher is Art & Music Librarian and joins UNI from Sam Houston
State University (Texas) where he served as Music Librarian.
Tim Bryant is Reference Librarian and Bibliographer and joins UNI as a
recent graduate of the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science.
Newsletter Committee
Steve Ostrem (Chair), University of Iowa
Jan Dellinger, Hawkeye Community College
Steve Johns, Iowa State University
Susan Lerdal, Drake University
Marlene Metzgar, Kaplan College
Linda Nelson, Scott Community College
Colleen Valente, University of Northern Iowa
Arron Wings, Kirkwood Community College