ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries October 1 9 9 3 / 4 9 9 G u a m e a rth q u a k e topples 9 0 ,0 0 0 books An earthquake w ith a m ag­ nitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale rocked G uam on Au­ gust 9, 1993- At th e Univer­ sity o f G u a m ’s R o b e rt F. K en n ed y M em orial Library about 90,000 books a n d p e ­ riodicals— 90% of the collec­ tion—vibrated off the shelves and hit the floors. Stress frac­ tures w ere observed in sev­ eral locations a n d dam age to air handling ducts, electrical lighting fixtures, and flooring w as sustained. The library w as in the process of occupying its $9 million renovation and addition w hen the earth­ q uake hit. This is the second major disaster the library has faced in less than a year. In August 1992 Supertyphoon O m ar hit G uam a n d the heavy rains caused the library’s roof to flood, clogged drain pipes, and sent w ater cascading d o w n the em ergency stairwells, flooding both floors of the building. Staff had b e e n planning a grand open in g festivity for October. C&RL N e w s N e t debuts C&RL NewsNet, an abridged electronic edition of C&RL News accessible on the Internet through the G opher server at the University of Illinois at Chicago, m ade its deb u t Septem ber 10, 1993- C&RL NewsNet contains all of the items in the p rin te d C&RL N e w s’s “N ew s from th e F ield” colum n a n d all of the classified advertising, i.e., th e job p o stin g s. T he inform ation in C&RL NewsNet will preced e publication of the printed copy by 2-3 w eeks. For exam ple, the N ovem ­ b er “News from the Field” a n d classified adver­ tising will be u p lo ad e d to the Internet aro u n d O ctober 15- The p rinted edition of the N ovem ­ b er issue of C&RL News will be m ailed on No­ v em ber 5. C&RL NewsNet will carry current in­ form ation only; uploading the new inform ation will replace the information in the previous issue. To reach C&RL NewsNet you can locate the University of Illinois at Chicago in the m enu of all servers m aintained on go p h er at the U niver­ sity of Minnesota. Alternatively, you can c o n ­ nect your favorite g o p h e r client directly to host “g o pher.uic.edu 70”. Select “The Library” from the m enu and th en select “C&RL NewsNet” from the next m enu. N e w s from the f i e l d Y ou will b e p re se n te d w ith a m e n u of choices: W elcome to C&RL NewsNet, News from the Field; Job Postings by Jo b Title; and G eneral Editorial, Subscrip­ tion, and Advertising Infor­ m a tio n . E ach n e w s item a n d each job listing will be p o s te d se p ara te ly so you can easily scan to find the inform ation you need. Cur­ re n tly th e in fo rm a tio n is p o ste d as plain text files; w ithin the next few m onths w e will be m aking the inform ation available as a searchable database. Note: UIC’s G opher is registered at the Uni­ versity of M innesota a n d is accessible from any g o p h e r client. If you have technical questions or trouble reaching C&RL NewsNet check with your com puting support staff or com puter cen­ ter. If you have suggestions or com m ents about C&RL NewsNet content or form at send them to th e e d ito r M ary E lle n D av is at In te r n e t: U 38398@ uicvm .uic.edu or bitnet: U38398@ uicvm .bitnet. N Y U a n d The N e w -Y o r k Historical Society te a m up The New-York Historical Society and New York University have joined in an innovative part­ nership, through w hich D ean of NYU Librar- Much ado about education Students and educators are being offered dis­ cou n t tickets for selected show ings of the current film “Much Ado About N othing,” di­ rected by K enneth Branagh. The offer comes from the Samuel G oldw yn Com pany and the National Association of Theatre Ow ners. In addition to the film, free study guides and posters will b e available locally from par­ ticipating theatres. W.W. Norton, the p u b ­ lisher of B ranagh’s b o o k about the making o f the film, is offering the b o o k at half-price during the m onth of O ctober to students and educators w ho, with p ro o f o f seeing the film, se n d for it by mail. For inform ation on how to participate call Robert Faust at (800) 6- GOLDWYN. %e2%80%9cgopher.uic.edu mailto:U38398@uicvm.uic.edu 500 /C& RL News Assessing student dissatisfaction: No quality w ithout accessibility A formal evaluation study of our children’s literature collection revealed that stu d en ts’ perceived dissatisfaction with the quality and extent of the collection was primarily due to problem s with access. The small-scale study consisted of three parts: Quality w as determ ined by com paring a sam ple of titles against several review jour­ nals. Extent or breadth of the collection was m easured by com paring our titles against sev­ eral “b e s t” lists. Access w as evaluated by m eans of a user survey in questionnaire for­ mat, as well as a close exam ination of the classification system used for this collection and searching of problem titles in the online catalog. The survey also exam ined the users’ perception of the quality and extent of our collection. W hereas quality a n d extent adequately m easured u p to the standards w e had estab­ lished at the outset of the study, w e found ies Carlton C. Rochell will oversee m anagem ent of the Society’s library services to the public and develop joint program m ing for both insti­ tutions such as a centralized com puter catalog system, b ook acquisitions and educational and public outreach programs. Among the enhance­ m ents planned to the Society’s Library during the one-year agreem ent are: increasing library access from three days p e r w eek to five; load­ ing the Society’s database in to the NYU online system, establishing an affiliates program for scholars, m ounting exhibits of the Society’s collections at NYU, and having NYU oversee all current acquisitions, processing and cata­ loguing for the Historical Society; the resources of both institutions will be used for b ook pres­ ervation. This is not the first formal relation­ ship b etw een the tw o institutions; from 1841 to 1857, the Society was in residence in NYU’s original Main Building on W ashington Square. Do the standard s m eet y o u r needs? ACRL’s University Libraries Section (ULS) is considering w h eth er to revise the Standards f o r University Libraries, approved by the ACRL Board of Directors and the ALA Standards Com­ m ittee in 1989- These standards are not pre­ scriptive or quantitative, b u t focus on setting that problem s w ith access w ere th e major cause for students’ dissatisfaction: e.g., prox­ imity of the collection to the com puter lab; inconsistent cataloging and classification prac­ tices; inadequate subject headings; the lack of cross-references (authority control) in the online catalog; but also students’ inept use of the online catalog (typos, incorrect search strategies, unfamiliarity with limiting keyword searches, etc.). A pathfinder to the collection with help­ ful hints how to search children’s books in the online catalog; reclassification of som e titles; addition of subject headings with the appropriate subdivision “juvenile literature” or “juvenile fiction”; and providing better physical access w ere am ong the immediate steps w e took to m aking access to the col­ lection a m ore satisfying experience for our s t u d e n t s . — S u s a n n e N e v in , G u s ta v u s A dolphus College ■ goals and objectives and m easuring the degree to w hich library perform ance m eets these goals and objectives. As such, the standards may be d u rab le e v e n in th e face o f fairly dram atic changes occurring in university libraries. ULS w ould like your com m ents on the standards and is especially interested in hearing how in­ dividuals have used the standards. Comments on how developm ents since 1989 and those on the horizon might affect the stability o f these standards are also requested. {Note: The Stan­ dards are printed in the Septem ber 1989 issue of C&RL News, pages 679-691.) Send your com ­ m ents to: ULS member-at-large Beverlee French by D ecem ber 31, 1993, at Library Administra­ tion, Shields Library, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; e-mail: bafrench@ucdavis.edu; tel: (916) 752-2110; fax: (916) 752-6899. EBSS listserv address change The Education and Behavioral Sciences Section of ACRL has changed the location of its elec­ tronic discussion forum. EBSS-ALA is n ow avail­ able to EBSS m em bers courtesy of the Univer­ sity of Maine. To subscribe, e-mail a request that includes your electronic address and full nam e to Deborah Rollins at rollins@maine.bitnet or rollins@ m aine.m aine.edu. ■ mailto:bafrench@ucdavis.edu mailto:rollins@maine.maine.edu Pick a system. Any system. A t EBSCO we th in k one of the most im portant decisions you’ll make for your library is th a t of choosing quality subscription service. Equally im portant is choosing the autom ated system th a t best fits your library’s needs. W h en you choose EBSCO for subscription ser­ vice, we respect your library autom ation decision and provide an array of electronic services th a t complements your system’s capabili­ ties. Our services are compatible w ith most major systems — so you can have superior subscription service and your system of choice, too. Call us today to learn more about our independence-oriented library autom ation services. P.O. Box 1943 • Birmingham, AL 35201 (205) 991-6600 • Fax: (205) 995-1636 Where library automation is a liberating experience. October 1993/501