ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries November 1988 / 667 N .Y.: Knowledge Industry Publications, In c., 1984. Freeman, Steve. “Apple Corps at St. Louis.” L i­ brary Journal 110 (May 1985): 110-12. Hannigan, Jane Anne. “The Evaluation of Mi­ crocomputer Software.” Library Trends 33 (Win­ ter 1985): 110-12. Intner, Sheila. “Problems and Solutions in De­ scriptive Cataloging of Microcomputer Software.” Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 5 (Spring 1985): 49-56. Jaffe, Lee David. “The Role of the Academic L i­ brary in Campus Microcomputer Services.” Small Computers in Libraries 6 (June 1986): 27-29. Lytle, Susan S., and Hal W. Hall. “Software, Libraries, and the Copyright Law .” Library Jou r­ nal 110 (July 1985): 33-39. M icrocom pu ter Softw are Policies in A RL L i­ braries. Systems and Procedure Exchange Center, SPEC Kit no. 123. Washington, D .C .: Office of Management Studies, Association of Research L i­ braries, 1986. M icrocomputers in ARL Libraries. Systems and Procedure Exchange Center, SPEC Kit no. 104, Washington, D .C .: Office of Management Stud­ ies, Association of Research Libraries, 1984. Mitchem, Terri. “The Bowker National Micro­ computer Usage Study, 1984.” In The B ow ker An­ nual o f Library and B ook Trade Inform ation, 29th ed. New York, N .Y.: R .R . Bowker Company, 1984. Piele, Linda J ., Judith Pryor, and Harold Tuck- ett. “Teaching Microcomputer Literacy: New Roles for Academic Librarians.” C ollege ò- R e­ search Libraries 60 (July 1986): 374-78. Piele, Linda J. “Selecting Software for Micro­ computer Centers.” Wilson Library Bulletin 60 (June 1986): 23-26. “Role of Computers in Sci-Tech Libraries.” Sci­ ence and Technology Libraries, vol. 6 no. 4 (Sum­ mer 1986). [entire issue] Rosenstein, Linda. “Checklist for Micro Center Policies.” Small Computers in Libraries 6 (Novem­ ber 1986): 4-5. Schack, Markham B. “Public Domain Software is a Natural for Your Library.” Small Computers in Libraries 7 (April 1987): 28-32. “Selecting Microcomputer Software and Sys­ tems.” RASD Update 7 (April/June 1986): 13-14. Smisek, Thomas. “Circulating Software: A Practical Approach.” Library Journal 110 (May 1985): 108-109. Snelson, Pamela. “Library Instruction and the Computer.” Small Computers in Libraries 5 (Sep­ tember 1985): 11-12. _ _ _ _ _ _ . “Microcomputer Centers in Academic Libraries, Part I . ” Small Computers in Libraries 5 (June 1985): 6-9; Part II, 5 (July/August 1985): 7-9. Talab, Rosemary. “Back-ups: A Controversial but Necessary Part of Software Collections.” Small Computers in Libraries 7 (March 1987): 36-39. Turner, Judith Axler. “Scholars Weigh Library’s Role in Collecting Computerized Research D ata.” The Chronicle o f Higher Education 32 (July 16, 1986): 34. Uppgard, Jeannine. “Public Access Microcom­ puters in Academic Libraries: Part I . ” Small C om ­ puters in Libraries 7 (January 1987): 28-32; Part II, 7 (February 1987): 10-11. Letters Closing a library To the Editor: Rebecca Sturm, in “When Closing a Library is Progress” (C&R L News, September 1988), seems to be asking: Does a library facility a library make? I would answer no. It is the librarian who makes the difference! Sturm mentions that the Library Referral Center consisted of a “small….book collec­ tion.…some subscriptions….staffing by student em­ ployees for 20 hours per week.” Contrast that with the far more successful and innovative efforts in small, scattered office loca­ tions in Vermont (see C &R L News, April 1987, pp. 181-83) which offered a referen ce librarian, a facsimile machine, telephone, and a small collec­ tion. This description fits well with my own experi­ ence at a small regional vocational/technical col­ lege in Indiana. It is the reference work I do, the teaching of library skills (in classrooms and in the library), the work with faculty that has brought a poorly used collection to new life as an active library—one that serves its patrons well. And it is the knowledge of information sources outside the library that the professional has which further in­ creases student and faculty access to desired infor­ mation. Perhaps the Library Referral Center was never actually a library?—D onna G agnier-C hisholm , In d ia n a V o c a tio n a l T e c h n ic a l C o lle g e , F o r t W ayne, Indiana. The Gourman Report To the Editor: The EBSS Bibliographic Instruction for Educa­ tion Committee has produced a useful addition to the literature with their “Teaching Library and In­ formation Retrieval Skills to Academic Adminis­ trators and Support Staff” in the April 1988 issue. However, in scanning the section on Reference Tools, I note that under Academic Rankings they 668 / C&RL News include two of Jack Gourman’s publications. Our Reference Department spent some time investigat­ ing these materials a few years ago, due to a com­ plaint from one of our Deans. We were led to sev­ eral very critical reviews, on the basis of which we no longer recommend the use of these publications. We even tried to contact Mr. Gourman by ordi­ nary mail and by registered mail and received no answer to either communication. —Rita Edw ards, R eferen ce L ibrarian , A delphi University, G arden City, New York. Professional communication To the Editor: At last the unmentionable has been mentioned. Jonathan D. Lauer (C & R L N ews, July/August 1988, p .441) has confessed to yawning and fuming through library meetings, partly because the speakers are inarticulate drones. But he has shown us only half of the picture. The rest of our professional communication is hardly less infuriating or soporific. Who of us does not pick up each library journal issue with a heavy heart? [Except, of course, C& RL N ew s.—Ed.] We have to open it, we have to scan the table of contents, we have to begin to read some of the pieces because they may contain factual material of importance to us; but by all means let’s skim the surface as quickly as possible, or we’ll be stuck in the quagmires of their laborious complexities and repetitions. No one goes to the library literature to enjoy a Shavian wit or a Hemingway pungency, but at least we might hope to find there sentences that are clear and moderately interesting. As Mr. Lauer says, there are classes on every campus to help us write English rather than jar­ gon. And if we will not visit the guru, at least we can invite the guru to visit us. In a recent year our campus librarians’ association arranged two pro­ grams on the two kinds of communication, ad­ dressed respectively by a lecturer from the Theatre Department and the editor of an in-house journal. At least the first speaker (I was the second) was in­ spiring. Or are Selth and Lauer way off-base on all this? Are decent writing and speaking too much to ex­ pect from a profession based on the recorded word?—Jefferson P. Selth, University o f C alifor­ nia, Riverside. Fifty-year celebration at the University of Virginia The University of Virginia Libraries, in conjunc­ tion with the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Alderman Library’s opening, have added their three millionth book, Diderot’s E n cyclopédie. The thirty-five volume edition of the E n cyclopédie was given to the University of Virginia by Douglas H. Gordon. Taking its name from the philosopher and dynamic leader of the Enlightenment, Denis Di­ derot, whose contribution to the work was perva­ sive over twenty years, the E n cyclopédie was one of the most brilliant literary enterprises of the 18th century. Accompanying the edition are a unique set of uncensored proofs with corrections in Di­ derot’s own hand, other manuscript notes, and as­ sociated documents reflecting the controversial publication (1751-1772) of this monumental work. The University’s book collections, which began in 1824 with 8,000 volumes selected chiefly by Thomas Jefferson, were housed in the University’s Rotunda until 1938. Edgar Allan Poe was among the first student class to use the Rotunda Library, and he dutifully paid a 58-cent fine for overdue books. In 1895, a fire completely gutted the Rotunda; two-thirds of the collection, then numbering 57,000 volumes, was lost. As a result, the surviving books were housed in the Brooks Museum for sev­ eral years during the construction of a new Ro­ tunda interior designed by New York architect, Stanford White. The next few years witnessed great increases in donations, however. The de­ pleted collection was soon replaced, and by 1924 overcrowding had prompted the University’s Presi­ dent, Edwin A. Alderman, to call for a million- dollar library to house the 131,422 volumes that had accumulated since the Rotunda fire. Formal planning for such a structure began soon after the arrival in 1927 of the University’s tenth li­ brarian, Harry Clemons, but economic conditions during the Depression prevented substantial prog­ ress toward actual construction. In 1935, President John Lloyd Newcomb turned to the Public Works Administration for assistance. Alumnus R .E . Lee Taylor, a partner in the architectural firm Taylor & Fisher, undertook the design, and John Kevin Peebles Jr ., supervised much of the construction. The Library, named for President Alderman, was dedicated during commencement in June of 1938, and it remains the central humanities and social sciences library of the University. The University libraries are currently ranked 25th in size among American and Canadian li­ braries in the annual Association of Research L i­ braries statistics.