ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


5 3 0 /C&RL News

other. Educom president Robert Heterick ob­
served that “continuing maturation of the in­
formation technologies has greatly diminished 
the differences between administrative and aca­
demic computing, the original reason for two 
separate organizations, and the rise of network­
ing has amplified the transformational poten­
tial of information resources throughout every 
nook and cranny of the higher education en­
terprise.”

According to CAUSE president Jane Ryland, 
“CAUSE has developed great strength in mem­
b er services and professional developm ent 
through its management institutes and regional 
conferences, while Educom is well known in 
Washington policy circles though its advocacy 
roles featured in the Networking and Telecom­
munications Task Force (NTTF) and the Na­
tional Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII).”

The two organizations have worked closely 
for more than a decade, and prior to the an­
nouncement both Heterick and Ryland had an­
nounced their intention of retiring within the 
next few years. The dissolution of both organi­
zations remains to be approved by the respec­
tive memberships, but if the members approve,

the two organizations plan to begin operating 
under the aegis of a new corporation on or 
about January 1, 1998.

Dates changed for ACRL's 9th 
Conference
ACRL has changed the dates of its 9th National 
Conference in Detroit. The new  dates are April 
8-11, 1999.

The one-day shift in dates will enable the 
conference to end Sunday, allowing participants 
to return to work on 
Monday morning. The 
theme of this confer­
ence is “Racing To­
ward Tomorrow.” 
The conference 
program is be­
ing planned by 
the ACRL N a­
tional C onfer­
ence Executive 
C o m m i t t e e  
chaired by Charles Beard, director of uni­
versity libraries, State University of West Geor­
gia.

A s ia n  stu d ies s y lla b i o n lin e
In July 1995, 16 librarians from the U.S. and 
Asia met in a special workshop for librarians 
at the annual Asian Studies Summer Institute 
at the East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu. 
Their discovery of the EWC’s large collection 
of Asian studies course syllabi led to the cre­
ation of an Internet resource that now fosters 
Asian studies worldwide and exemplifies a 
new vision for librarianship.

After the institute, librarians at Kapiolani 
College in Honolulu converted hundreds of 
s y llab i in to  a W eb site ( h t tp : //li b r a r y . 
kcc.hawaii.edu/asdp/) that was unveiled at the 
1996 annual conference of the Association for 
Asian Studies, held in Honolulu. On the Web, 
the syllabus collection can better prom ote 
Asian studies and attract more syllabi from 
scholars and instructors worldwide. The site’s 
value will increase as interest in Asian studies 
grows internationally.

The Kapiolani Library has launched several 
other Web sites since then, including another EWC 
database of course syllabi in Pacific Island studies. 
Each site is a joint project between the library

and a partner agency with important infor­
mation to disseminate. The library handles 
the technical matters of the sites. The part­
ners perform editorial functions and help find 
funding for the projects.

We now  believe m odern librarianship 
must include the online publication of sig­
nificant information that would otherwise 
have limited accessibility. “Hidden” informa­
tion abounds in research centers, archives, 
professional associations, ethnic organiza­
tions, local history groups, and many other 
types of agencies, and can be put online by 
all types of libraries—academic, public, and 
special.

Much of this local information could be 
vital to the right audiences if it were more 
widely known and accessible. Partnering with 
agencies that can supply the right informa­
tion, share expenses, and help maintain the 
sites makes creation of local online resources 
a feasible and valuable library activity.— Teiry 
D. Webb, University o f Hawaii, Kapiolani Com­
munity College

http://library
kcc.hawaii.edu/asdp/