ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES NEWS No. 1, January, 1968 ACRL News Issue (A ) of College & Research Libraries, Vol. 29, No. 1 Fifty-third Conference of Eastern College Librarians Some three hundred academic librarians made their annual post-Thanksgiving trek to Harkness Theater in the Butler library at Columbia University on November 25 for the fifty-third Conference of Eastern Col­ lege Librarians. The program, which con­ cerned “National Resources for College and Research Libraries,” was ably prepared and graciously chaired by Irlene Roemer Stephens of Richmond College. Other members of the Committee were James Govan (Swarth­ more), Robert Palmer (Barnard), and Paul Kebabian (University of Vermont). At the morning session the group heard presentations concerning federal library serv­ ices to academic libraries. Paul Berry spoke for the Library of Congress; Patricia Con­ don described the services of the National Agricultural Library, where she is assistant program coordinator; Scott Adams, deputy director of the National Library of Medicine, told of NLM; and Russell Shank, director of the Smithsonian Institution library, defined the work of his agency. Emphasizing how the new has grown naturally from the old at LC, Mr. Berry used as examples: the recent expansion of printed card service under the Title II-C acquisitions program; traditional interlibrary loan developing into modern photocopy service; the bibliography publication pro­ gram culminating after a century and a half in the current preparation for the press of the retrospective National Union Catalog. Among other new programs, he described Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC); the National Science and Technology Re­ ferral Center; and the Library of Con­ gress Automation Technique Exchange (LOCATE). Looking to the future, Mr. Berry told of three important potentialities under the amendments to the Higher Education Act. These are: (1) the acquisition of second copies of Title II-C books to be deposited in the Center for Research Libraries; (2) the extension of bibliographic services asso­ ciated with II-C acquisitions; and (3) the supplying to local libraries of assistance in acquiring books from countries lacking a developed book trade. He also described aspirations to establish a MARC-type proj­ ect for serials data and to gain better bibli­ ographical control over, and to participate in the distribution of, non-GPO documents. Miss Condon of the National Agriculture Library, answered the question “W hat is it?” by describing its history and the scope of its current services. In answering the question “W hat does it do?” she pointed out that it distributes its services to the entire agricultural-biological research com­ munity. When asked “W hat services does it offer?” she replied that it rendered inter- library loan and photocopy services, main­ tained an open-stack collection, published lists of its new acquisitions and other bibli­ ographies, and rendered mail-order refer- 2 fo r better service … Liberal Terms … send fo r o u r current discount schedule Efficient Order-Handling … alert, experienced personnel H uge Inventory … in o ur own warehouses Speedy Delivery … you r order processed without delay Taylor-Carlisle BOOKS O F ALL PUBLISHERS TECHNICAL, SCIENTIFIC, BUSINESS and MANAGEMENT SPECIALISTS • 115 EAST 23RD STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10010 • WINTER PARK MALL, WINTER PARK, FLORIDA 3 ence services. She anticipated that these services will be expanded next year follow­ ing NAL’s removal into its new $7.5 mil­ lion building. NAL, she explained has re­ cently established several clearinghouses and cooperative arrangements in certain specific areas. An extensive automation pro­ gram is now being planned for NAL’s op­ erations and services. Mr. Adams pointed out that the mission of the National Library of Medicine is “to assist in the development of the medical and health sciences.” He explained that this is interpreted currently to mean that NLM functions as a backstop to a loosely knit decentralized network of libraries serving the needs of the medical community. It furnishes interlibrary loans and photocopies, and it publishes Index Medicus and other bibliographic publications produced from the same computer base. There is also an extensive audio-visual program under the purview of NLM. Its MEDLARS search program, which is rapidly being decentral­ ized to university libraries throughout the land, is now conducting some four hundred demand searches monthly. Under provi­ sions of the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, the NLM makes construction grants, supports intern and other training programs, sponsors research and publica­ tion, and encourages regional medical li­ braries. In closing Mr. Adams described current cooperative efforts of NAL, NLM, and LC, and stated that continuing effort was being made to eliminate unnecessary duplication of services and as far as possi­ ble to maintain compatible machine sys­ tems. Dr. Shank reviewed the venerable and impressive history of library activities in the ACRL Membership, November 30, 1967 12,658 November 30, 1966 11,220 College Libraries Section, November 30, 1967 ............................................. 3,440 Junior College Libraries, November 30, 1967 ................................................... 1,480 Rare Books Section, November 30, 1967 1,474 Subject Specialists Section, November 30, 1967 ............................................ 2,251 University Libraries Section, November 30, 1967 ............................................. 4,587 COLLEGE & RESEARCH N E W S LIBRARIES A C R L News Issue of College & Research Libraries Editor, David Kaser, Joint University Li­ braries, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Publications Officer, Mary Falvey, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago 60611. ACRL Executive Secretary, George M. Bailey. A C R L Officers, 19 6 7/6 8 : President, James Hum­ phry III; College Libraries Section Chairman, Audrey North; Junior College Libraries Section, Mrs. A lice B. Griffith; Rare Books Section, Lawrence S. Thompson; Subject Specialists Section, Richard L. Snyder; A gri­ culture and Biological Sciences Subsection, Mrs. Pauline W . Jennings; Art Subsection, James K. D ick­ son; L a w and Political Science Subsection, Morris Cohen; Slavic and East European Subsection, Jerzy (G eorge) J. Maciuszko; University Libraries Section, Stuart Forth. Editorial Board: Joh n M. D a w s o n , University of D ela­ ware; G u st a v e A. H a r r e r , Boston University; Sa m ­ u e l Ro t h s t e in , University o f British Columbia; Ja m e s E. Sk i p p e r , Princeton University; N o r m a n E. T a n is, Kansas State College of Pittsburg; Ma u r ic e F. T a u b e r , Columbia University; E il e e n T h o r n to n , Oberlin College. News from the Field, Personnel profiles and notes, classified advertising, official matter of A C R L , and other material o f a timely nature is published in the News issues o f College & Research Libraries. Inclusion o f an article or advertisement in C R L does not constitute official endorsement b y A C R L or A L A . Production and Advertising and Circulation office: 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, 111. 6 0 6 11. Change o f address and orders for subscriptions should be addressed to College & Research Libraries, for receipt at the above address, at least two months before the publication date o f the effective issue. Subscription to C R L is included in membership dues to A C R L o f $6 or more; other subscriptions to C R L are $10 per year. Neither subscriptions nor memberships include miscellaneous unscheduled supplements, which are available b y purchase only. Retroactive subscrip­ tions are not accepted. Single journal copies are avail­ able at $1.50 each and News issues at $1.00 each from A L A Publishing Department. Indexed in Library Literature. Abstracted in Library Science Abstracts. Book reviews indexed in Book Re­ view Index. College & Research Libraries, is the official journal of the Association o f College and Research Libraries, a division o f the American Library Association; and is published seventeen times per year— bi-monthly as a technical journal with 1 1 monthly News issues, com­ bining July-August— at 120 1-0 5 Bluff St., Fulton, Mo. 6 5251. Second-class postage paid at Fulton, Mo. and at ad­ ditional m ailing offices. 4 Smithsonian Institution. He stated that more than a million volumes have been received in the Smithsonian library and then for­ warded, because of their inappropriate sub­ ject matter, to one of the national libraries. The Smithsonian, however, has retained some eight hundred thousand volumes, which it maintains decentrally throughout the Institution. Although it is not truly a national library, the Smithsonian keeps its books with the national collections of ob­ jects, artifacts, and specimens, which it is responsible for curating, and thereby ren­ ders a national service. There is limited li­ brary staff and control, although the librar­ ies operate much in the fashion recom­ mended in the Weinberg Report. The out­ put of the curators themselves is the major bibliographic service of the Institution, al­ though the library does render interlibrary and mail-order reference services, and it welcomes visiting scholars. Dr. Shank ob­ served that the Institution carries on a vast publications exchange program of its own in addition to operating the International Exchange Service. Following a vigorous question-and-answer period, the group adjourned for lunch and reconvened at 1:30 p m . The afternoon ses­ sion concerned “Potential Services to College and Research Libraries.” It featured Ber­ nard Fry, now dean of the graduate school of library service at Indiana University, who told of the Clearinghouse for Scien­ tific and Technical Information which he had formerly directed; Howard B. Lawson, who described the services of the De­ fense Documentation Center as chief of its Liaison Coordination Division; Monroe Free­ man, director of the Science Information Exchange, related the work of his group; and Dale B. Baker, director of Chemical Abstracts Services spoke of the national chemical information services. Dean Fry explained that the Clearing­ house is a system for supplying research and development information to a wide- ranging public which is not limited to the glamorous, space-age industries with which it is associated in many people’s minds. He indicated that need for the clearinghouse was recognized following World War II, but that it was unable to launch extensive programs until recent years. The clearing­ house operates five programs: (1) docu­ ment distribution and sales; (2) research in progress; (3) services to local systems; (4) referral; and (5) reference and bibli­ ographic services. The clearinghouse proc­ esses some sixty thousand documents an­ nually, of which about twenty thousand are technical translations, and forty thou­ sand are R & D reports. These documents are not selected but are brought together, indexed, abstracted, and listed for distri­ bution, Dean Fry explained. Mr. Lawson reminded that the Defense Documentation Center is the successor to ASTIA, which had grown out of the need to collect and organize captured German and Japanese technical literature following World War II. It now operates a computer- based data bank of basic technical and management data to indicate who is doing what, when, where, and how in order again to eliminate the unnecessary dupli­ cation of effort. The services of the DDC are furnished free to the defense establish­ ment, to its related agencies, and to their many contractors and subcontractors. Its unrestricted services are made available to others on a cost basis. I t publishes both the U.S. Government Research & Develop­ ment Reports and the Technical Abstracts Bulletin, and it supplies computer-produced bibliographies either from stock or indi­ vidually tailor-made on demand. Mr. Law- son said that the DDC is currently receiv­ ing approximately seven thousand requests daily for documents, either in microform or in hard copy. Mr. Freeman explained that the Science Information Exchange, which operates out of the Smithsonian Institution, acts pri­ marily as a clearinghouse for scientific in­ formation, and it maintains an inventory of research in progress. Some one hundred twenty thousand reports annually are sub­ mitted by a multiplicity of agencies and individuals, both in the government and in the private sector. An average of thirty units of information is identified on each, and these data are coded for machine manipulation. The rapid obsolescence of the data necessitate its prompt handling. This activity began twenty years ago based upon manual files, but it was shifted to a computer base a decade ago. Dr. Baker explained the mission of the CAS on freeing up the transfer of chemical literature so that the efficiency of chemists can be improved. CAS now employs some three thousand three hundred abstractors, (Continued on page 20) 20 University of North Carolina library, Chapel Hill. Emil Schafer has been appointed systems analyst in the University of Southern California library. D. W. Schnieder is now chief of the busi­ ness administration and social sciences division in University of North Carolina library, Chapel Hill. Louis Shores, dean emeritus of the library school, Florida State University is the newly named director of the TEX-TEC PROJECT for the Communication Service Corporation of Washington, D.C. under the terms of a con­ tract recently signed with the Texas state li­ brary. Dr. Shores will head a team of library and education consultants preparing syllabi for library technician courses to be taught in Texas Junior Colleges. Mrs. Barbara Silver has accepted the posi­ tion of cataloger at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Martin Silver was named music librarian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to take charge of the music section of the arts library scheduled to open in 1968. Robert Sivers has been serving as map li­ brarian for the past six months in the sciences- engineering library, University of California, Santa Barbara. Mrs. Juliann Skurdenis-Smercich has been named head of acquisitions in Pratt Institute library. Irving K. Smith, former serials librarian at Florida Atlantic University, has assumed the new position of science librarian at Indiana State University, Terre Haute. Sandra Smittle transferred Nov. 1 from her position as international documents librarian at the UCLA Library to the UC Santa Barbara government publications section, where she will be in charge of the federal documents depos­ itory. Mrs. Yun Song has been appointed cata­ loger and advisor to the LC reclassification project at Wichita State University. Harvey Soule is the new education librarian in Kent State University. D avid H. Stam is now head of the processing department of the Newberry library, Chicago. In Feb. Ralph E. Stirewalt, Ford Foundation consultant to the Haile Selassie I University library in Ethiopia, will become coordinator of technical services at Wichita State University. Leslie Armour Taylor is now head of tech­ nical services in Hunter College library, Park Ave., New York. Mary Lynwood Thaxton has been appoint­ ed assistant reference librarian, Earl Gregg Swem library, College of William and Mary. Ian W. Thom has been appointed associate librarian, Paul Klapper library, Queens College of the City University of New York. Mrs. Sharon C. Thomas has joined Trinity University as head of acquisitions. On Aug. 1, Donald Thompson joined the social science/business library staff in Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Marguerite Joyce Thompson has been ap­ pointed head of the cataloging department, University of Iowa libraries. Mrs. Irene Silver Topalcic is serials cata­ loger in Hunter College library, Park Ave., New York. George Toussaint was named assistant so­ cial science librarian of Southern Illinois Uni­ versity, Edwardsville, on Oct. 23. Mrs. Helen Urquhart is a new staff mem­ ber in the catalog department of University of of North Carolina library, Chapel Hill. Seymour W einstein has been appointed head of the circulation department, University of Iowa libraries. Ray Wile is supervisor of evening services in Paul Klapper library, Queens College, City University of New York. Mrs. E lizabeth W illiams is assistant docu­ ments librarian, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Ruby O. Woods has joined the staff of Sacra­ mento State College library as assistant educa­ tion & psychology reference librarian. Vincent Kuo-Chen Yu is a cataloger in Hunter College library, Park Ave., New York. FIFTY-THIRD CONFERENCE (Continued from page 4) and for each abstract it publishes CAS uses some twenty-eight index entry points. Although CAS has had grants for research and development, its production has always been self-supporting. I t has four kinds of output: (1) awareness of alerting tools; (2) search tools; (3) correlative tools; and (4) specialized custom services tailored to demand. He indicated th at CAS is anxious to improve its communication with the library community and is taking steps to accomplish it. His organization is now de­ veloping a list of the holdings of most of the large libraries of the major sources of chemical literature, including twenty-four thousand serial entries and thirty-four hun­ dred monographic entries. This union list is almost complete and will constitute a major service. Again vigorous discussion ensued, follow­ ing which the group repaired to an upper floor for a reception and refreshments be­ fore adjourning for another year.—DK ■■