ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL N e w s ■ Se ptem ber 2001 / 787 N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d Maureen Gleason M a r y E lle n K. D a v is n a m e d A C R L e x e c u tiv e d ire cto r ALA is pleased to announce that, effective August 1, Mary Ellen K. Davis is the execu­ tive director o f the ACRL. A veteran o f the la rg est ALA division, Davis replaces Althea H. Jenkins, who will join the Florida State Univer­ sity staff as director o f the University Libraries. Employed with ACRL since 1985, Davis has served as senior associ­ ate executive director of the division since 1993- M a ry Ellen K. Davis In this position, she has managed all aspects of ACRL’s last four biennial National Conferences, adding programming at each conference, and setting new attendance and exhibitor records at the 2001 conference. Davis also has been responsible for all pro­ fessional development programs and ACRL’s monthly news magazine, C ollege & R esearch L ib ra ries News. Under her direc­ tion, C&RL N ew s underwent a major redesign, increased adver­ tising revenue, and becam e the fir s t ALA m a g a z in e o n th e Internet in 1993- “Mary E lle n K. D avis has proven that she has outstanding abilities as an association leader. Mary Ellen’s extensive knowl­ edge and her breadth o f experi­ e n ce will serve the ACRL e x ­ tremely well,” said ACRL Presi­ dent Mary L. Reichel. “Best o f all, I have watched Mary Ellen work with members and staff in ACRL and ALA and have admired her genuine abil­ ity to get along well with others and to move forward priorities and goals. ACRL is indeed fortu­ nate to have Mary Ellen Davis as its new executive director.” Davis also has served as the director o f communications and systems and the publi­ cations program officer during her tenure with ACRL. She joined ALA in 1984 as the assistant director o f “Let’s Talk About,” a national $1.5 million reading and discussion program spon­ sored by ALA and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Davis cam e to ALA from Central Michigan University, where she worked as a reference librarian and bibliographer. She received her MLS from the University o f Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and her master’s in education from Central Michigan University. Her honors in­ clude Beta Phi Mu, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Girl Scouts Outstanding Volunteer Award. She is a member o f various professional organi­ zations, including the Professional Conven­ tion and Meeting Planners Association, the Society of Scholarly Publishing, and the Ameri­ can Society o f Association Executives. Reflecting on the search process, ACRL im­ mediate past president Betsy W ilson said, “ACRL enjoyed the superlative leadership of Althea H. Jenkins as its executive director for 788 / C&RL N ew s ■ September 2001 the past ten years. When Althea announced her resignation to becom e the director of libraries at Florida State University, the ACRL Board launched a process to find a worthy successor and leader. “We w ere delighted, but not surprised, to identify an outstanding candidate in Mary Ellen K. Davis. With Mary Ellen’s e x ­ traordinary talents, in-depth knowledge of ACRL m ember needs, record o f program innovation and effectiveness, and leader­ ship and management capacity, ACRL will continue its momentum as the premier as­ sociation o f academic librarians into the 21st century,” W ilson concluded. A C R L t o o f f e r t w o Im m e r s io n P r o g r a m s in 2002 W hether your institution is just beginning to think about implementing an informa­ tion literacy com ponent or w hether you have a program w ell underway, ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy Im mer­ Take advantage o f ACts offer conenient levrningACRLa Webcas RL’s newest profes­ sional development opportunity: Webcasts o f key presentations at the ACRL Tenth National Conference in March 2001. “Digital Reference: The Future o f Aca­ demic Reference?” is the first of a series that will cover important topics for aca­ demic librarians. Presented by R. David Lankes— w ith co n trib u tio n s by Paul Constantine, Steve Coffman, Pennie Finnie, and Linda White— access to the video pre­ sentation can be purchased by individu­ als for unlimited viewing for a period of two weeks. Institutions can purchase a four-week period o f unlimited viewing, providing a superb opportunity for staff training at very low cost. The videos are supplemented with a PowerPoint slide presentation, which appears simultaneously on screen with the video. A bibliography and dis­ cussion questions are also provided. For this latest professional development opportunity from ACRL, go to http:// acrl.telusy s.net/webcast/index.html. sion Program provides instruction librar­ ians with the intellectual tools and practi­ cal techniques needed to build o r enhance instruction programs. ACRL will offer two Immersion Programs in 2002 (dates and locations will b e an­ n ounced shortly). The Im mersion ’02 pro­ grams will b e four-and-one-half days o f in­ tensive training and education for instruc­ tion librarians and will offer two tracks— Track I: Librarian as Teacher and Track II: Librarian as Program Manager. Attendance will b e limited to 90 at each program to ensure an environm ent that fosters group interaction and active participation. Watch www.ala.org/acrl/nili/immersion.html for complete details and application materials. A p p lic a tio n s s o u g h t f o r e d ito r o f Publications in Librarianship series ACRL P u b lic a t io n s in L ib ra rian sh ip , which began in 1952 as ACRL M on og rap h s, is a series o f monographic and edited volumes that reports research and scholarly think­ ing in academic and research librarianship. Together with a four-to-seven-m em ber editorial board, the editor is charged with encouraging research and writing that is appropriate for the series, identifying top­ ics and authors for new books, refereeing submissions, and editing manuscripts for publication. The current editorial board is developing a number o f promising propos­ als, and the new editor will oversee some o f these to publication and develop oth­ ers. ACRL membership is required. Candi­ dates should have e xp erience in research and writing, the ability to evaluate submis­ sions and edit manuscripts, skills in work­ ing with authors, and an understanding of publishing. The editor is exp ected to chair two editorial board meetings a year at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Con­ ference. The new editor will serve on a volun­ teer basis and succeed Jo h n Budd, whose term ends in July 2003- Interviews o f can­ didates will take place at the 2002 Mid­ winter Meeting. Following approval by the ACRL Publications Committee and ACRL Board, the person selected will serve as associate editor from July 2002 to July 2003 before assuming the editorship. http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/immersion.html C&RL N ew s ■ Septem ber 2001 / 789 Persons who would like to b e consid­ ered for the five-year term o f editor should communicate their interest by submitting a resume, a statement o f qualifications, and names o f three references by Decem ber 1, 2001, to: Hugh Thom pson, ACRL Director o f Publications, 50 East Huron Street, Chi­ cago, IL 60611, (3 1 2 ) 280-2517, e-mail: hthom pson@ala.org. Additional information about the P u b ­ lic a tio n s in L ib r a r ia n s h ip series is avail­ able from Jo h n Budd, University o f Mis­ souri-Columbia School o f Information Sci­ e n ce and Learning Tech n ologies, 221M Townsend Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, (573) 882-3258, e-mail: BuddJ@missouri.edu. N C E S lib r a r y r e p o r ts re le a s e d NCES has just released a library report en­ titled “Academic Libraries: 1998,” based on information from the 1 9 9 8 IPEDS Academic Libraries Survey. T he tables in this publication summa­ rize library services, library staff, library col­ lections, and library expenditures for librar­ ies in degree-granting, postsecondary in­ stitutions in the 50 states and the District o f Columbia. This report can be downloaded, viewed, and printed as a pdf file by visiting http:// nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid= 2001341. R o b e r t M a r t in c o n f ir m e d a s IM L S d ire c to r The appointment o f Robert S. Martin as director o f the Institute o f Museum and Li­ brary Services (IMLS) has b een confirmed by the Senate. Directorship of the IMLS is alternately held by leaders from the museum and library com­ munities. Martin will be the first director of IMLS who comes from the library world. He is currently interim director o f the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University in Denton. R e e d E ls e v ie r s u c c e s s fu lly c o m p le te s H a r c o u r t t e n d e r o f f e r Reed Elsevier Inc. announced today the successful com pletion o f its tender offer for Harcourt General, Inc. ACRL to offer collaboration w orksh op Explore and enhance your ability to build successful collaborative relationships with faculty on your campus by participating in the workshop, “Experience the Power of Col­ laboration: Five Steps to Creating Relation­ ships with Faculty.” This one-day session will b e held in New Orleans prior to the ALA Midwinter Meeting on Friday, January 18, 2002. Collaboration experts Dane Ward (Uni­ versity Libraries, Central Michigan University) and Dick Rapsa (Interdisciplinary Studies Pro­ gram, Wayne State University) will help you transform your collaboration dreams into an institutional reality. This workshop, which grows out o f the bestselling ACRL book T he C ollaborativ e Im perative: L ibrarian s a n d F acu lty Working Together in th e In fo rm ation Universe, will expand your knowledge o f the range o f col­ laborative projects. Learn about and practice the essential components o f collaboration as you are guided through the “Five P’s o f Col­ laboration”: passion, playfulness, persistence, (having a) project, and promotion. Additional learning outcomes for this workshop include: • distinguishing between different per­ sonal styles o f collaboration, • identifying your professional passions as librarian, • generating strategies for persisting in collaborative endeavors, • examining the role of playfulness and creativity in working with faculty, and • devising plans for building collabora­ tive environments at your institution Complete details, including registration in­ formation, will be available on the ACRL Web site (www.ala.org/acrl/confhp.html). Ques­ tions? Call (800) 545-2433, ext. 2519; e-mail: acrl@ala.org. mailto:BuddJ@missouri.edu http://www.ala.org/acrl/confhp.html mailto:acrl@ala.org 790 / C&RL News ■ September 2001 Crispin Davis, chief executive officer of Reed Elsevier, said: “We are delighted to welcom e to Reed Elsevier the management and staff o f Harcourt and we will b e work­ ing closely together to com bine our busi­ nesses.” ACRL National Invitational Conference o n Inform ation Literacy Best Practices The ACRL Institute for Information Literacy's Best Practices Project will hold an invitational conference June 11-13, 2002, prior to ALAs Annual Conference in Atlanta. Teams from eight-to-ten institutions and members o f the Best Practices Project Team and Advisory Council will gather to refine the characteristics o f best practices o f information literacy programs by closely examining exist­ ing information literacy programs. The result will be in-depth descriptions of model pro­ grams. Invited participants must agree to attend the conference and read other participants’ program descriptions prior to the conference. Each team o f three-to-five people invited will receive up to $2,500 for allowable travel ex­ penses. Applications must be received by Novem­ ber 16, 2001; decisions will be made by the Best Practices Project Team in January 2002, and applicants will be notified in early Febru­ ary. Questions may be addressed to Terese Heidenwolf, heidenwt@lafayette.edu; Margit ACRL Legislative A ge n d a 2001-2002 ACRL is committed to representing academic libraries’ needs and interests in the legisla­ tive arena. In order to accomplish this, the ACRL Government Relations Committee monitors legislative efforts and issues o f in­ terest to academic libraries and higher edu­ cation. Since the legislative landscape is con­ stantly evolving, the Government Relations Committee recommends to the Board each year a legislative agenda that lists the issues ACRL will focus on during die upcoming year. Here is the ACRL Legislative Agenda 2001- 2001, approved by the ACRL Board at the 2001 Annual Conference. (For information about the current status of these issues, please visit ACRL’s Washington Watch Web site at http://www.ala.org/acrl/legalis.html.) 1. Intellectual Property and Technology • Anticircumvention. The Librarian of Congress allowed only two exceptions in the fair use proceeding involving the 1201 anticircumvention provision for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Recommendations were adopted to provide exemptions only for malfunctions and to determine which sites are blocked by filtering software. • Database Protection. Database Protec­ tion Legislation poses a threat to the free flow o f information and the public domain. For several years, Congress has tried to pass legislation that would provide what they believe is needed protection to databases. The ALA Washington Office has been a partici­ pant in meetings with two House committees to discuss possible legislation in this area. • Distance Education. As instructed in the DMCA, the Copyright Office released the “Re­ port on Copyright and Digital Distance Edu­ cation” on May 25, 1999. The report recom­ mended updating the current copyright law exemptions for distance education. Bills have been introduced in the House and the Sen­ ate to extend copyright exemption for the classroom. • First Sale. The DMCA directed the Copy­ right Office and the National Telecommuni­ cations and Information Administration to un­ dertake a study o f the effect o f the changes in the copyright law and the development of e-commerce on sections 109 and 117 of the Copyright Act. A critical element o f these sections is the “First Sale” doctrine. First Sale is a historical user protection in copyright law. The doctrine basically says that purchasers of tangible products contain­ ing copyrighted information may dispose of those works in any way they wish. It is of great concern if new technology coupled with protections contained in the DMCA and trends in licensing lead to a regime in which all access to information is tightly gated. • Uniform Computer Information Trans­ actions Act (UCITA). UCITA is a proposed state contract law developed to regulate mailto:heidenwt@lafayette.edu http://www.ala.org/acrl/legalis.html C&RL N e w s ■ Se ptem ber 2001 / 791 Misangyi Watt, watts@hawaii.edu; or Tom Kirk, kirkto@earlham.edu. B ig 12 P lu s L ib ra rie s C o n s o r t iu m a d o p t s n e w n a m e The Big 12 Plus Libraries Consortium (http:// www.bigl2plus.org) has announced that it will change its nam e to G reater W estern Library Alliance, effective O ctober 1, 2001. Founded more than a decade ago, the not-for-profit organization now consists o f 29 research libraries in 15 states stretching from Illinois to the Pacific coast, and from the G reat Plains to the G u lf coast o f T exas. Organized originally around the univer­ sities o f the old B ig Eight A thletic Confer­ e n ce in the central plains, it b ecam e the Big 12 Plus (B T P ) in 1996 after the Big Eight C onference exp an d ed to be co m e the Big 12. Since 1998, the library consortium has grow n from 17 m e m b ers to its cu rren t strength. “As we continued our expansion to the west over the past couple o f years, it becam e ap­ parent to the board o f directors that the name ‘Big 12 Plus’ no longer described who we were as a member-driven organization,” said Jam es F. Williams II, dean o f libraries at the Univer­ sity o f Colorado at Boulder and current chair o f the consortium’s board o f directors. “We needed a name that reflected the fact that w e have becom e a large consortium with members in many states west o f the Missis­ sippi Valley.” ■ transactions in intangible goods, such as com puter softw are, o nline databases, and o th er inform ation products. ALA is o p ­ p osed to UCITA b e cau se it rep laces the public law o f copyright w ith the private law o f contract. 2. G o v ern m en t In fo rm a tio n • National Technical and Information Ser­ vice (NTIS). The Commerce Department made a proposal to close the NTIS. This pro­ posal has serious implications regarding the public’s access to government scientific and technical inform ation. T h e ALA Council passed a “Resolution on Transferring the Function o f the NTIS to the GPO .” • Electronic Government Information. The “Electronic Dissemination o f Govern­ ment Publications” study report was pub­ lished on March 30 by the Government Ac­ counting Office (GAO). T he congressionally mandated study examines the impact o f pro­ viding documents solely in electronic for­ mat and assesses the feasibility o f transfer­ ring the FDLP to the Library o f Congress. A bill has been introduced in the Senate re­ garding electronic access to government in­ formation. 3. A p p ro p riatio n s • Government Printing Office/Federal De­ pository Library Program • Library o f Congress • National Agricultural Library • National Commission on Libraries & In­ formation Science • National Library o f Medicine 4 . R eau th o rizatio n • The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). The current LSTA authorization ends in 2002. A proposal developed by a broad coalition o f library groups, including ACRL, would increase the funding level, ad­ justing the base amount formula to help small states without adversely affecting large states. In order to do this, additional overall funds will be required. 5 . T elecom m u n ication s • Advanced Services and Broadband. The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal-State Join t Conference on Ad­ vanced Services are conducting an inquiry into the deployment o f advanced telecom ­ munications. ALA advocates a new legal, policy, and regulatory framework that out­ lines broadband as the new standard for Internet access. 6 . In tellectu al F re e d o m • Internet Filtering. Federal filtering man­ dates call for withholding federal funds for the purchase o f computers or to pay costs associated with Internet access from all li­ braries that do not install technology to block or filter access to material that is obscene or harmful to minors. ALA has filed suit against federal filtering mandates.■ mailto:watts@hawaii.edu mailto:kirkto@earlham.edu http://www.bigl2plus.org