ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 392 / C& RL News An international library exchange in China B y M au reen P a stin e University Librarian W ashington State University cademic and research libraries in the PRC. I n August of 1984, a university librarian, Mau- university libraries and schools or departm ents of n­ library and inform ation science and large provin­ sk cial (similar to our public libraries) libraries were of visited. These included People’s University Library e and the International Relations Library College in ly Beijing; N anjing University L ibrary, the Inform a­ to tion Science D epartm ent, and the N anjing Provin­ e cial Library; W uhan University L ibrary and the of Inform ation Science College; H unan University n­ Library, Yuela Academy, the L ibrary of Science p­ and Technology’ University, and H unan Provincial se Library in Changsha; G uangzhou University L i­ ­ b r a r y a n d Z h o n g sh a n U n iv e rsity L ib r a r y in v­ Guangzhou. o­ All U.S. librarians were asked to prepare o u t­ m lines of presentations in advance even though p a r­ s­ ticipants were not alway’s asked to give formal lec­ u ­ tu re s . M ore o fte n th a n n o t, th e C h in e se s counterparts preferred inform al discussions and g question and answer periods to a more formal pre­ re sentation. e. T h ro u g h o u t th e to u r from B eijing th ro u g h e­ G uangzhou, the group had a national guide from v­ the C hina Association of Science and Technology in (CAST) and local guides for each city visited. All e were eager to discuss education and life in both countries and to practice their English language to skills. Many of the librarians th at the group inter­ g, acted w ith had an excellent com m and of the E n ­ e glish language. Interpreters were provided for the or formal presentations but m any of the inform al dis- A reen Pastine, was contacted by China-U.S. Scie tific Exchanges (now called U.S. Exchanges) to a if she w ould be interested in leading a delegation librarians to the People's Republic of C hina. Th field of library and inform ation science is current an area of high priority in C hina. In their effort cope w ith profound 20th-century changes, th Chinese government is encouraging all avenues learning. China-U.S. Scientific Exchanges, a no profit foundation, serves as a liaison between re resentatives of m any professions and the Chine Ministries of Science and Technology and E duca tion. Once approval was gained by Dr. Robert E erett, President of U.S. Exchanges, from the appr priate Ministry of C hina (based on a proposal fro the delegation chair), an invitation from the Mini try of Science and Technology was issued in Jan ary 1985. Shortly thereafter, selected librarian from academic and public libraries representin areas of the United States from East to West we contacted regarding participation in the exchang Tw enty-four persons were selected and their r sumes were then hand-carried to C hina by Dr. E erett later in the sum m er of 1985 in order to ga final approval for the exchange, which took plac in an 18-day period in October 1985. The delegation departed from San Francisco tour five major Chinese cities: Beijing, Nanjin W uhan, Changsha, and G uangzhou, ending th trip w ith three days in Hong Kong. Several maj Foreign Service. T he company you know and trust for domestic serials management is also your best choice for foreign titles. The same toll free number you call for customer assistance ties you into Faxon's global network of services. We resolve your overseas claims and adjustments fast because some of the world's largest publishers are directly online with us through PUBLINX. We also offer competitive prices by paying in 21 different currencies. And with our large foreign title database, we can be the single source for all your serials. Discover the best in international information management by enlisting Faxon's foreign service. Call 800-225-6055 or (617) 329-3350 collect. O faxon n the fron tier o f inform ation management. The Faxon Company 15 Southwest Park Westwood, MA 02090 FAXON EUROPE Amsterdam FAXON PACIFIC Tokyo FAXON CANADA Toronto Faxon’s 394 / C& RL News cussion and question-and-answ er sessions w ere conducted in English w ithout the need for in ter­ vention by an interpreter. It was clear from these sessions th a t the C ultural Revolution had been devastating to m any libraries and to academ ia and society at large. The libraries visited had all been pillaged or closed for a ten-year period during the C ultural Revolution. Few were able to continue any m onographic or serial acquisi­ tions program s during th a t tim e period, leaving large gaps in the collections betw een 1968 and 1978. Several had portions of their collections de­ stroyed and most librarians were sent off to hard la ­ bor in the countryside during the C ultural Revolu­ tion. In each of the libraries visited, the group was plied w ith statistics regarding volume count and volumes added per year, num ber of staff, budget figures, square meters of space, num ber of reading rooms, num ber of readers, student enrollm ent, reader stations, library hours, etc. L ib rarian s are paid 50-150 yuan per m onth (about $17.50-$52.50) depending on their length of service and their status, i.e., director, deputy di­ rector (second in com m and), or librarian. In most libraries the director position seemed to be a highly regarded political or public relations position. The deputy director was frequently the person actually responsible for the adm inistration of the library. None of the library directors we met were wom en, but two of the deputy directors were female. Sev­ eral of us questioned w hy so few wom en were in d i­ rectorship positions; when the question arose the subject was usually changed abruptly prior to our receiving a straightforw ard answer. A few of the female library school students acknowledged th a t there was not much of a career path for women in adm inistrative library positions, especially as d i­ rector, but more so as deputy director. Striking differences between U.S. and Chinese libraries are readily apparent. There is little tech­ nology in use in any of the libraries, although there was an IRM PC for “experim ental use” at the infor­ m ation retrieval (reference) desk at N anjing Uni­ versity Library and a theft detection gate, not yet operational, in the same library. There were only a very few libraries with photocopy facilities (at 20 fen or 7¢ per copy) for public use. Electric type­ writers were not evident in most libraries, but a very few had some listening facilities for musical recordings and language-learning tapes. However, all libraries and schools and departm ents of library science were very interested in obtaining literature and discussing the use of autom ation in libraries. A goal is to m odernize libraries through im ­ proved technology, particularly through au to m a­ tion. N owhere was this more readily apparent than in N anjing University, w here we viewed a video­ cassette program on the University (with American soap opera music in the background). They had a systems librarian, and he and his staff had created a list of the lib rary ’s audiovisual holdings in Chinese characters on the IBM PC. The library science and the com puter science departm ents at N anjing Uni­ versity have a com bined in tern atio n al program w ith an emphasis on foreign teachers in com puter sciences. The cam pus has a large com puter system w ith interactive mini-systems in departm ents, to form a cam pus network. The library school re­ cently received $300,000 to establish a model sim u­ lated autom ated library for student practice and experim entation. They have been m eeting w ith UTLAS rep resen ta tiv es re g a rd in g use of these funds for hardw are and software. Even though the Chinese governm ent and C h i­ nese librarians realize th a t rapid dissemination of inform ation is crucial to the advancem ent of the country and autom ation is a desired methodology, there are great obstacles to overcome in providing com puter technology in the Chinese language. C haracters are not as easy to alphabetize as Roman or n u m eric entries. A sizeable problem is th a t O C L C , RLIN, W LN , and MARC records cannot yet be effectively transliterated from English to Chinese characters. They cannot adequately input the inform ation th a t is required to make the C hi­ nese collections accessible online. Difficulties are com pounded because m any libraries use their own classification schemes based prim arily on two n a ­ tional systems: 1) the Chinese L ib rary System, 1958-1968, and 2) the Chinese Academic L ibrary System, 1969-date. Several also use LC for some foreign m aterial and a num ber were using Chinese tra n s la tio n s of th e D ew ey d ecim al system (a 1965-1969 edition of Dewey w ith Chinese printed on one page and English on the opposite page). Many library science students we m et had a sec­ ond degree in artificial intelligence. The difficulty w ith utilizing m odern technology was quite a p p a r­ ent to us in every library we visited. Only one li­ brary had access to a slide m achine, and it was noisy, d id n ’t focus well, and pow er surges created a rath er frustrating experience for one of our present­ ers while showing slides of a U . S. university library for our Chinese colleagues in the H unan Provincial Library. Members of the exchange delegation were privi­ leged to meet w ith a num ber of local professional associations and societies w here we learned th at the Chinese Society of L ibrary Science is m ade up of 28 associations from provinces, m unicipalities and autonom ous regions, plus tw o associations (government and research libraries and academic libraries) in Beijing. This society includes approxi­ m ately 5,000 members at the national level plus m any members at the local level only. It publishes the Bulletin of the Library Association o f China (bi-monthly) and the Library Science Quarterly. Even though there are some 300,000 public li­ braries in C hina, in addition to the university li­ braries, it is difficult for an individual to gain ac­ cess to libraries. Only one-half of one percent of the Chinese citizens of college or university age are a d ­ m itted to institutions of higher education. Most of June 1986 / 395 The old W uhan University Library. Students at N anjing University Library. VIETNAM: National Security Files, November 1 9 6 3 -June 1965 Vietnam: National Security Files, November 1 9 6 3 - June 1965 is an extraordinarily valuable collection. M ost o f the a cce p te d picture o f Am erican p o licy in this p e rio d derives from The Pentagon Papers. It is therefore the picture seen from one p a rticula r p a rt o f the Pentagon. This collection gives researchers access to w id e r and more varied perspectives. It contains m aterial for scores o f sem inar papers and m onographs, which, cumulatively, should give us a quite different understanding o f this im portant period. — Dr. Ernest R. May Charles Warren Professor of History Harvard University The National Security Council “Country File” for Vietnam is a remarkable record of the early years of Am erica’s longest war. This convenient microfilm edition makes available over 17,000 pages of important NSC briefing materials from November 1963 through June 1965— years in which the future course of American policy in Southeast Asia was debated and determined. Bringing together reports, memoranda, and correspondence from the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, MACV (Military Assistance Command: Vietnam), the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others, the “Country File” for Vietnam offers firsthand documentary testimony on the widening dimensions of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Here in extensive detail is the authoritative account of the formation of the Johnson adm inis­ tration’s Vietnam policies. Here are the working papers of the White House and NSC staffs, as well as significant correspondence to and from “the best and the brightest” : McNamara, Bundy, Colby, Lodge, Helms, Rusk, Ball, Harriman, Maxwell Taylor, and many others. And here are the intelligence reports and top-secret studies essential to understanding the basis of American intentions and plans: enemy troop and strategy assessments, economic and agricultural analyses, field appraisals, information from intelligence sources, contingency plans, minutes of high-level discussions, telegram traffic, diplomatic instructions, and many special papers and recommendations. The scope of these files is unusually broad, offering the researcher a wealth of untapped information. The wide range of data and analyses presented here reflects the complexity of the Vietnam issue and the potentially volatile impact of policy decisions. By making available this rare research source, the NSC “Country File” for Vietnam furthers the ongoing re-evaluation of Am erica’s involvement in Vietnam. We have ju s ts c ra tc h e d the surface o f docum entary m aterial on Vietnam, b u t this collection w ill take us a long way tow ard getting the facts we m ust have to understand Vietnam in all o f its aspects. — Stanley Karnow Author of Vietnam: A History Ordering Information_____________________________________________________________- Vietnam: National Security Files, November 1 9 6 3 -June 1965. 35mm microfilm (17 reels) with printed guide. Price: $1,200. ISBN 0-89093-461-4. Available now. Source note: This collection has been filmed from the holdings of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas. Kindly direct all orders and inquiries to: UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA Dept. A-CRLN586 44 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701 CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-692-6300 June 1986 / 397 the specialized re a d in g room s in u n iv e rsity li­ braries are closed stacks and only g rad u ate students and faculty have access to specialized subject and foreign language m aterials. Use is often restricted to the reading room th a t contains the subject m a t­ ter of one’s specialized field of study. Provincial lib ra ry cards are often scarce and doled out by work supervisors who decide w hich few people will have the honor of obtaining one of these highly coveted cards. But some of the provin­ cial libraries, G uangzhou in p articu lar, is a tte m p t­ ing to change w ith their slogan, “E verything for the People.” This library provides public lectures and closed circuit educational television program s to r e - e d u c a te th e p o p u la c e to a f r e e r , m o re in fo rm a tio n -lite ra te society. T hey provide la n ­ guage tapes and listening facilities to help people teach themselves, and they have scholars available to aid in this process. A few blocks aw ay a chil­ dren’s library is provided to encourage youth to learn ab o u t science an d technology. M obile li­ braries are being sent to reform atories, special preference in o b taining lib rary cards is given to the physically disabled, and books are taken to places w here veterans will have access to th em . New books and periodicals are on sale in the library. Some libraries provided group b o rro w er cards, e .g ., a com m une can charge out 25 books at a tim e in one of the m unicipal libraries, w hereas an in d i­ vidual is allowed only 4 books at once. In some li­ braries, especially the larger provincial ones, li­ brary users are so m any, they m ust reserve a seat in advance w hile lines of people w ait their tu rn . In all libraries visited, the reading rooms w ere crow ded from opening until closing tim e w ith practically every seat filled d u rin g all service hours. A surprising statistic concerned the percentage (about 30-60 %) of library m aterials in foreign la n ­ guages. A large num ber of these are serial p u b ­ lications—journals and reference m aterials. Some of the reference m aterials w ere o u td ated b u t we noted new editions of Groves and sim ilar tools in several libraries. Some of these reference books were received on an exchange contract through W orld Bank or w ith agencies of the U.S. or other foreign governm ents. Most libraries selected for­ eign m aterials from publishers’ lists provided by the Chinese Im port and Export Book C om pany. Beference books w ere from the U .S., F rance, G er­ m any, E ngland, Russia, and Japan. Most libraries had separate reading rooms for in ternational or foreign m aterials. U ndergraduates w ere seldom al­ lowed access to these rooms as their library study was often lim ited to a reserve room of textbook m a ­ terials. W e saw m any students laboriously copying from texts as photoduplication facilities are not the norm. Student and faculty loan periods differed. Stu­ dents w ere often confined to in-house use or one- m o n th c h a rg e -o u ts w h ile fa c u lty lo an periods m ight cover six weeks or up to a semester loan p e­ riod. All library collections we viewed housed a million or m ore volumes and most w ere open about 72-80 hours per week. Two libraries visited w ere of recent construction, including W u h an University L ib ra ry —thus we w ere their first official foreign delegation after the building dedication. But sev­ eral libraries w ere in disrepair in older, decrepit buildings w ith prim itive conditions existing, p a r­ ticularly in regard to m aintenance and cleanliness. The library director at one university library was em barrassed to offer a tour of the facilities, and he did not allow a com prehensive look at the entire fa­ cility. C lim ate control often consisted of open or b ro k e n w in d o w s, a lth o u g h one l i b r a r y - h a d a desktop h u m id ifie r an d a n o th e r recen tly c o n ­ structed building offered air conditioning. Preser­ vation and conservation, several Chinese librarians jokingly replied, was lim ited to “bug m edications and ra t poison—the n atu ra l w a y .’’ T heft was m en­ tioned as a problem b u t not a m ajor one. There was m uch m ore concern expressed for the need of im ­ proved space and budgeting, and im proved lib ra r­ ian salaries. O ur exchange discussion sessions often focused on th e need to establish cooperative acquisitions ex­ changes, the o p p ortunity to study in the U .S., and requests for m ore inform ation on autom ated sys­ tem s for lib ra ry operations and c u rre n t lib ra ry journal articles on any topic. Subjects raised varied widely from discussions on salaries, costs of books Guangzhou Municipal Library. 398 / C& RL News (the average cost for a book in C hina is 65¢ as op­ posed to $30-$40 for a U.S. book), differences be­ tw een professional associations and societies, li­ b rary organization and ad m in istratio n , lib rary cooperation, open versus closed stacks, preserva­ tion, budgets, space, director’s pow er and au th o r­ ity w ithin the university, privileges of librarians versus staff, how accreditation is conferred, how public libraries are funded, and how staff perfor­ m ance is evaluated. There was a grave concern expressed by m any Chinese librarians th a t the term “lib rarian ” is used for anyone who works in a library regardless of w hether or not th a t person has received any profes­ sional education. Most large university and provin­ cial libraries were composed of approxim ately one- third to one-half professionals (many w ith degrees in physics or chemistry rath er th a n library science) but m any smaller libraries have fewer, if any, staff w ith professional e d u c a tio n —often paid at the same rate as the professional—or a higher rate if they have m ore years of experience. W e m et several librarians who had not selected their position as li­ b ra ria n and w ould have chosen an o th er career path but w ere placed in library schools or given li­ b rarian positions by governm ent leaders, based on their scores on com petitive examinations. W uhan University has a School of L ibrary Sci­ ence and a School of Inform ation Science. A fac­ ulty m em ber in the School of L ibrary Science in­ form ed us th a t th e re is a d istin c tio n b etw een librarians (social scientists) and inform ation scien­ tists (persons w ith scientific an d tech n o lo g ical backgrounds). L ib rary science students are en ­ couraged to have a double degree at W uhan U ni­ versity. Students go to school for one year for a m as­ te r's degree and tw o years for a d u al degree. Because W uhan University has the oldest, largest, and still the m ajor library and inform ation science program in C hina, it graduates the largest num ber of lib rarian s for p lacem ent in jobs th ro u g h o u t C hina. There is a current shortage of librarians, so their norm al 4-year course of study, w hich requires mastery of two foreign languages, has been supple­ m ented by a tw o-year library study program and a three-year program to get graduates out sooner. M any of the current four-year graduates become W uhan University L ibrary Science instructors or instructors in other university library science p ro ­ grams (they prefer these students to have a m ath or physics background). They would like to have the opportunity to use more U.S. library school faculty on exchange to teach com puter and m anagem ent courses. The once 29 departm ents of library science in Chinese universities have expanded to 40 pro ­ grams in the past few years w ith the m ajor ones at W uhan, Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai. A n u m ­ ber of library science faculty have received supple­ m ental education or training in U.S. and A ustra­ lian libraries. The perceptions of the U.S. participants of C hi­ nese libraries and librarians were most interesting. All were impressed w ith the enthusiasm and m oti­ vation of the young library students we m et. Most w ere som ew hat surprised to learn about the simi­ larities in problem s and priorities—budget p ro b ­ lem s, space concerns (alth o u g h th e ir lib raries seemed to have m ore grow th space in shelving, their inadequate seating was a greater problem ), support and recognition needed from upper u n i­ versity a d m in istratio n , and need for im proved technology and cooperation am ong libraries. But the differences were just as interesting. The emphasis on library education, the strong support for m odernizing libraries by the governm ent, the emphasis on foreign m aterials (especially serials), and th e m arvelous collections of rare and a n ti­ quated m aterials, some dating back to the Ming Dynasty, were differences of note. W e w ere also surprised to discover th a t reference questions were usually w ritten out and responded to by librarians in w ritten form —the responses taking anyw here from several hours to a week to complete. Few li­ brarians handled m any telephone questions and if there were interlibrary loan queries, these were forw arded by mail and items loaned on a very lim ­ ited and irregular basis. Most of the libraries visited added at least 100,000 volumes to their collections each year, and few libraries' budgets exceeded one million yuan (Chinese dollars). But all the universi­ ties seem to be concentrating on developing long range plans, higher educational standards, espe­ cially in the sciences, and expectations for faculty are becoming m ore stringent. N anjing University library science faculty m entioned th a t they now are expected to publish, a new requirem ent for them . L ibrarians do have the opportunity to attend professional meetings once or twice a year to dis­ cuss com mon concerns, but if professional m eet­ ings are held far from one’s local province, funds for travel are a real problem . The highlight of our tour was a surprise recep­ tion and children's musical and dance perform ance held for us one evening at the H unan Provincial L i­ brary in Changsha. Over 150 librarians, local offi­ cials and political leaders, parents and teachers, m et us in a colorfully decorated room. Colored C hristm as lights, chrysanthem um s, and a huge welcome sign greeted us as we entered a large con­ ference room. Young singers, dancers, and musi­ cians from the ages of 4-14 had specially prepared for months prior to our scheduled visit. The event was co-sponsored by CAST and lib rary profes­ sional associations and organizations. Each of us received three special gifts from the sponsors. O ur trip was a fascinating voyage into another w o rld —cu ltu rally , linguistically, and ideologi­ cally. C hina is a land of great contrasts w ith a n ­ cient tem ples from th e 14th c e n tu ry sta n d in g against newly constructed m odern high rise build­ ings w ith handw ashed laundry flying from w in ­ dows on every floor. A few minutes aw ay from the faster-paced cities one sees hundreds of farm work- June 1986 / 399 ers toiling barefoot in rice paddies, w orking along­ side the w ater buffalo. Against th e ancient splendor of dynastic C hina, a new, m ore w esternized life is developing. W ith the rap id changes, one can only hope th a t the cul­ ture, the art treasures, and the philosophy of the past will be preserved. C h in a ’s libraries play a m a ­ jor role in dissem ination of inform ation for m od­ ernizing th e country, b u t this m ust be juxtaposed against a m ore tra d itio n a l role of p reservation. One w onders if th e governm ent recognizes the tr a ­ ditional in the race for in tern atio n al developm ent and w orld recognition. T he devastating years of the C u ltu ral Revolution seem unlikely to recur u n ­ der the present clim ate, bu t the em phasis on the new and m odern m ay m ean prom otion of technol­ gy to th e d etrim en t of preservation efforts. ditor's Note: C ontributions to this article were lso m ade b y the fo llo w in g participants in the ex­ hange: Jean Aragon, R u d y Aragon, Joyce Ball, renda D ingley, Henderson D u d m a n , M ary D ud- an, Jean Geil, Suzanne G riffiths, D onna M c­ ool, M arilyn M cD onald, A n n e M artel, M orey olan, Laurence Porter, M argaret Porter, Virginia uiring, D orothy Rice, M artha Richardson, John ecor, J u d ith Sessions, A le x S te c k e r, M a rily n e r th e im e r , M ich a e l W e r th e im e r , a n d B etsy ilson. ■ ■ o E a c B m C P Q S W W Clearinghouses for library instruction Almost every lib rarian involved in public ser­ vices and reference also finds herself involved in li­ b rary instruction, w h eth er on an inform al one-to- one basis a t th e re fe re n c e desk or in a fo rm a l classroom situation. It can be very easy for lib ra ri­ ans trying to teach lib rary skills to feel th a t they are w orking in a vacuum w ith little awareness of w h at others are doing. To help m eet the needs of these lib ra ria n s, clearinghouses for b ib lio g rap h ic in ­ struction began to be established aro u n d the coun­ try in the early 1970s. These clearinghouses w ere set up to dissem inate in fo rm a tio n ab o u t b ib lio g rap h ic in stru c tio n as well as to provide a depository collection of BI m a ­ terials. P robably the best know n clearinghouse is LO EX at E astern M ichigan U niversity in Ypsi­ lanti. LO EX is the national clearinghouse w ith m aterials and services available to all. To co m p lem en t an d su p p lem en t resources at L O E X , reg io n a l an d s ta te w id e clearin g h o u ses have also been established. Besides sponsoring p ro ­ grams and collecting m aterials from p articip atin g libraries, statew ide clearinghouses can provide op­ portunities for professional contacts and inspira­ tion. Anyone w ho is in an area served by a clearing­ house can use the collected m aterials and take a d ­ vantage of the expertise of others w ho are doing sim ilar things. E ach clearinghouse has its ow n pol­ icy as to w h eth er m aterials can be lent or m ust be used on-site. M aterials available can range from bibliographies on various subjects to form al course outlines to scripts for audiovisual program s. I t ’s also im p o rtan t to keep in m ind th a t cooperation and exchange are key elem ents in th e concept of clearinghouses. Clearinghouses will not w ork u n ­ less m em bers co n trib u te samples of th eir ow n m a ­ terials, handouts, etc., on a regular basis. To h e lp p ro m o te BI c le a rin g h o u s e use, th e ACRL B ibliographic Instruction Section’s C le ar­ inghouse C om m ittee acts as a vehicle to facilitate co o p eratio n an d exchange am ong n a tio n a l, re ­ gional, and state clearinghouses and BI groups. It also serves as a resource group for those interested in establishing a clearinghouse in their state or re­ gion. Recently the C om m ittee has m ade clearing­ house publicity one of its first priorities. A c u r r e n t d ire c to ry of L ib r a r y In s tr u c tio n Clearinghouses is available from the ALA O rder D e p a rtm e n t, 50 E. H u ro n Street, C hicago, IL 60611-2795 ($6; ACRL m em bers $5). For fu rth er inform ation on clearinghouses, contact either the clearinghouse in your area or L O E X , C arolyn K irkendall, D irector, C enter of E ducational Re­ sources, E astern M ichigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197; (313) 487-0168 (mornings). ■ ■ Canadian user surveys T he C an ad ian Association of Research L i­ braries has selected York and McGill University L ib raries to u n d e rta k e a user services study funded by a g ran t from G eac C om puters In te r­ n ational, M arkham , O ntario. T he York U ni­ versity study will focus on the identification of user needs and the organizational response re­ quired to m eet those needs. T he McGill U niver­ sity study will co ncentrate on library services to underg rad u ates and an assessment of its u n d e r­ g rad u ate library. T he survey instrum ents and m echanism s de­ veloped at York and M cGill will be useful to the academ ic lib rary com m unity at large in m oni­ toring user satisfaction, user needs, and the ef­ fects of au to m atio n on service to users. A ntici­ p a te d b e n e fits of th e tw o p ro je c ts in c lu d e increased user satisfaction, introduction and in ­ tegration of technology to im prove lib rary ser­ vices, and b etter definitions of the user com m u­ nity in term s of inform ational needs and use patterns. M AN H A S ALWAYS LONGED TO EMBRACE THE WORLD Since that dawn of October 12,1492, when Captain Columbus' crew sighted San Salvador from the bow of the “Pinta," contact with far-off realms has moved from the fantastic to the everyday. But as the world has shrunk, the quantity of available information has ex­ ploded, creating a whole new breed of explorer. When you explore new worlds of information every day, you need a crew of professionals you can count on. 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