ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 536 / C&R L News Three terminals, a telefax, and one dictionary By Doris R . Brown D irecto r o f L ibraries D eP aul University E lectro n ic library service as a solution f o r an external L e a rn in g C enter. T h e term “elec tro n ic lib ra ry ” has been used for o ver a decade to d escrib e th e book-less lib ra ry of th e future w h ich w ill rely on telecom m un ications and com p uters to provide users w ith w h atever in­ fo rm a tio n they need. H ow den an d B o y ce1 h ave ex­ p an d ed on th a t term w ith th e ir re ce n tly proposed D E L T A C en ter co ncep t as a m eans fo r research li­ b ra rie s, p articu la rly L ou isia n a S ta te U n iversity, to p ro v id e access to in fo rm a tio n in a D is trib u te d E le c tr o n ic L ib r a ry w ith T erm in a l Assistance. D e- P a u l U n iv ersity L ib r a ry in C h ica g o h as im p le ­ m en ted th e id ea b eh in d th e e le c tr o n ic library/ D E L T A C en ter to provide lib ra ry services a t its ex­ tend ed cam p us fa c ility in D esPlaines, a no rth w est sub u rb o f C h icag o . D eP a u l’s O ’H a re Cam pus (form erly N orthw est C e n te r), lo ca ted in an o ffice complex ju st m inutes from O ’H a re A irp o rt, offers undergradu ate and grad u ate classes in th e School of C o m m erce, L i b ­ era l A rts an d Scien ces, and th e School fo r N ew L e a rn in g w ith classes concen trated in th e evening an d on w eekends. M ost students a t O ’H are C a m ­ pus fit th e d escrip tion o f “ adult lea rn ers,” adu lt 1No rm a n H o w d e n an d B e r t R . B o y ce , “ T h e D E L T A C en ter C o n ce p t: A Modest Proposal for th e Im p ro vem en t o f R esearch L ib ra ry In fra stru c­ t u r e ,” I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y a n d L i b r a r i e s 4 (S ep tem b er 1 9 8 5 ):2 3 6 -3 9 . students over 21 years o f age, and m ost are em ­ ployed fu ll-tim e. Students in th e School fo r N ew L e a rn in g are unique in th a t all students are adults 24 years o f age o r o lder, and they c a n ea rn degree credits fo r w ork accom plishm ents and o th er lea rn ­ ing exp erience. A pproxim ately 5 0 0 students atten d th e O ’H are C am pus every qu arter for regularly schedu led classes, and an a d d itio n a l 2 0 p ro fes­ sional developm ent workshops and sem inars are held in th e School o f C o m m erce every q uarter. T o provide lib ra ry service a t th e O ’H are C a m ­ pus, D eP a u l U niversity L ib ra ry used th e A C R L G u id e lin e s f o r E x t e n d e d C a m p u s L i b r a r y S e rv ic es 2 as th e foundation fo r determ in ing and assessing needs. R estrictions on th e availa b ility o f sp ace for books and oth er lib ra ry m aterials a t O ’H a re C a m ­ pus and an already tig ht lib ra ry m aterials budget w ere m a jo r considerations in p lan nin g for effectiv e lib ra ry service. D eP a u l’s solution to b o th problem s w as to focus on providing access to m aterials and to supply lib ra ry m aterials as th ey w ere needed by students and faculty. O n line access to th e holdings of all D eP a u l lib ra ry collections and th e lib ra ries o f 2 6 o th er academ ic institutions in Illinois through tw o L C S (L ib ra ry C om puter System) term inals gives students and faculty a t O ’H a re C am p us ready 2C o l l e g e & R e s e a r c h L ib r a r i e s N e w s 4 3 (M arch 1 9 8 2 ):8 6 -8 8 . N ovem ber 1985 / 537 A D eP aul student checks f o r book locations on O C L C . inform ation for fin din g m aterials by author and ti­ tle. Users can n o t w alk to th e stacks to brow se or to retrieve m aterials im m ediately , but receip t o f D e- Paul m aterials is delayed only until th e next deliv­ ery from th e U niversity L ib ra ry locations in the Loop and L in co ln P ark to th e O ’H a re C am pus. M aterials fo r th e O ’H are C am pus from th e other L C S lib raries are shipped to D eP a u l’s L in co ln P ark C am pus b y th e Sta te L ib r a ry ’s Illinois L ib r a ry D e ­ livery System (IL D S ) and then trans-shipped by D eP au l co u rier to O ’H are C am pus. R eserve m a te­ ria ls, w h eth e r books or jo u rn a l a rticle s, a re re ­ quested by th e facu lty m em b er and sent from ei­ ther campus lib ra ry to O 'H a re C am pus for th e tim e in d ica ted by th e re q u ester. M icro fo rm reels or fich e are sent to O ’H are C am pus for student/fa- culty use on a m icroform reader/printer th ere. No lib ra ry m aterials are kept perm anen tly a t O ’H are C am p us— except fo r one dictionary. W h ile th e D eP au l U niversity L ib r a ry endorses the assumptions in th e G u id e lin e s w hich p la ce p ri­ m a ry re sp o n s ib ility fo r s a tisfy in g in fo rm a tio n needs on th e p aren t aca d em ic lib ra ry and its insti­ tu tio n , th e thrust in Illinois has been to provide b ro ad access and to share resources am ong all types o f lib r a r ie s . A p u b lic O C L C te rm in a l w as in ­ stalled, th erefo re, to give lib ra ry users access to se­ rial holdings in th e Serials o f Illinois L ib raries O n ­ lin e (S IL O ) u n io n lis t group o f O C L C w h ich includes p u b lic, sp ecial, and acad em ic lib raries. Sin ce m any o f th e excellent p u blic lib raries in the C h icago suburbs also use O C L C for catalo gin g and retrosp ective conversion, D eP au l students and fa c ­ ulty w ho reside in those suburbs c a n lo ca te needed m ateria l on O C L C and th en use th e copy from their ow n p u b lic lib ra ry . Su b ject access to business jo u rn a l articles is a v a ilab le in th e C O M -fich e ver­ sion o f B u sin es s I n d e x fro m In fo rm a tio n Access C om p any. W h ile a crud e su b ject search by classifi­ c a t i o n c a n b e d o n e o n L C S , th e B R S “ E a s i- R eferen ce In d ex” w ill expand su b ject access for r e ­ c e n t lib r a r y m a te r ia ls in th e O C L C d a ta b a s e ; referen ce lib rarian s at any o f D eP a u l’s th re e lo c a ­ tions do s u b ject d atab ase search in g for D eP a u l stu­ dents and fa c u lt y , b u t in s tru c tio n in en d -u ser search in g to b e im plem ented at O ’H are C am pus in the 1 9 8 5 -8 6 acad em ic year is needed to increase read y su b ject access. P ro vid in g ele c tro n ic access to hold ings, h o w ­ ever, does n o t g u aran tee a satisfied lib ra ry user; in ­ deed H aw o rth ’s3 description of a “dau nting exp eri­ en ce, p articu la rly fo r th e inexperienced or tim id lib ra ry user” is very accu ra te w hen applied to stu­ dents un fa m ilia r w ith a trad itio n al aca d em ic li­ b rary. Professional lib rarian s and a user ed ucation program h elp to overcom e such inexp erience and tim idity. At D eP a u l’s O ’H are C am pus a fu ll-tim e lib ra ria n w ho is based p rim arily at th e L o o p C a m ­ pus oversees th e extended cam p us lib ra ry services w h ich are staffed b y p a rt-tim e lib rarian s; th e su­ pervising lib ra ria n works a t least one n ig h t per 3D . E la in e H aw orth , “L ib r a ry Services to the O ff-cam p u s and Ind epend en t L e a rn er: A Review o f th e L i t e r a t u r e ,” J o u r n a l o f L i b r a r i a n s h i p 14 (July 1 982): 157. 538 / C &RL News w eek a t O ’H are C am pus. T h is arrang em en t works well fo r scheduling and fo r coordin atin g lib rary services, policies and procedures am ong all three locations, b u t th e p art-tim e lib rarian s a t O ’H are C am pus do not have the sam e fa m ilia rity w ith L i ­ b ra ry collections and services as fu ll-tim e sta ff at th e o th er tw o locations. F u ll-tim e lib rarian s, th erefo re, give orientation T h e r e a r e n o p e r m a n e n t lib r a r y b o o k s , e x c e p t f o r o n e d ic tio n a r y . sessions and instruction lectures on specific sub­ je cts . A lthough m a n y fu ll-tim e lib ra ria n s h ave filled in at O 'H a re C am pus, plans call for m ore ex­ chan ge o f duties to b e effected during th e 1 9 8 5 -8 6 a cad em ic year so th e p art-tim e O ’H are Cam pus li­ b ra ria n s c a n be m ore k n o w led geab le a b o u t L i ­ b rary collections and services a t th e oth er tw o ca m ­ p u ses. L i b r a r y - p r o d u c e d b i b l io g r a p h i e s an d research guides h ave focused on th e tra d itio n a l stu­ dent a t th e tw o C h icago cam puses; w hile these pu blications a re distributed at O ’H are Cam pus, they w ould perhap s b e m ore useful if they w ere custom ized for th e student a t th e external learning center. L ib ra ria n s or students at O ’H are Cam pus have quick access to fu ll-tim e sta ff at th e m ain locations w ith an auto-dial phone w hich links th e O ’H are C am pus to th e R eferen ce and C ircu la tion d ep art­ m ents at both the Loop C am pus and L in co ln Park C am pus. W h ile th e auto-dial phone is used to fo r­ w ard circu latio n and ready reference questions to the cen tra l lib raries’ staff, a telefacsim ile m ach in e serves as th e real link betw een th e jo u rn a l co llec­ tions a t th e m ain lib ra ry lo catio n s and O ’H a re C am pus. Students and facu lty at O ’H are Cam pus com p lete a request form w hich is telefaxed to the cam pus w here th e h ard-cop y jo u rn a l is located . R eferen ce d ep artm ent sta ff photocopy the article and telefax it to O ’H are C am pus. L ib ra ry policy indicates th a t a request m ade from O ’H are C a m ­ pus b efo re th e beginning of a class w ill be telefaxed in tim e for th e student to pick up th e a rticle at the end o f class. T h e D eP au l telefax is also used to sup­ ply O ’H are Cam pus students, fa cu lty , or librarian s w ith needed inform ation from an a b stra ct or in­ dex. T h e L ib r a r y supplies th e firs t th re e pages gratis and for larger item s the student pays the sam e copy charge they would pay if they p h o to ­ copied th e m aterial a t either C h icago cam pus. B e ­ cause existing telefax m achines are sheet copiers, the system is lab o r intensive since m aterial from a book o r jo u rn a l must be photocopied before it can b e transm itted by th e telefax m ach in e. O th er transm ission problem s result from static on th e phone lines, too m uch w h ite space in a ch a r­ acter as w ith a dot-m atrix p rin ter, and original copy too dark or too reduced to tran sm it legible copy. Som e o f these p roblem s should b e reduced w hen copying m achines w ith telefacsim ile c a p a b il­ ity are introduced. T h e “electro n ic lib ra ry ” at D eP a u l U niversity’s O ’H are C am pus is in no w ay paperless, nor does it p retend to b e th e fin al answ er to lib ra ry service at every extended learn in g cen ter. In addition to the problem s m entioned above, a w ell-organized out­ reach program needs to b e included in D eP a u l’s li­ b ra ry program since students a t the extern al lea rn ­ ing c en ter are not as oriented to lib ra ry services as students a t th e tra d itio n a l campuses. T h e A C R L G u id e lin e s , how ever, do provide a good basis to analyze lib ra ry needs for an extended cam pus situ­ ation and are easily adap ted for the p a rticu la r situ­ atio n of any instutution. As Johnson suggests after h er W y o m in g e x p erien c e,4 p erhap s th e D eP a u l m odel is m ore e ffective in an u rb a n area w here stu­ dents h ave ready access to lo cal p u blic lib raries and often to special lib raries in th eir w orkplaces. As a c ­ cep tan ce o f rem ote lib ra ry access grows, how ever, and as telecom m un ications cap ab ilities increase, th e model could b e adapted for oth er environm ents and should b e a satisfactory solution for th e p ro b ­ lem o f providing lib ra ry service in sites aw ay from cen tra l lib ra ry facilities. ■ ■ 4Je a n S. Johnson, “T h e W yo m in g Ex p erien ce w ith th e A C R L ‘G uidelines for Extended Cam pus Services’, ” C o l l e g e & R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s N e w s 45 (F eb ru a ry 1 9 8 4 ):7 6 -8 2 . Student paper award T h e Art L ib ra ries Society o f N orth A m erica (A RLIS/N A ) h as an n o u n ced its 1 9 8 5 G erd M uehsam A w ard, given an nu ally to a student in a graduate program of lib ra ry science for the m ost ou tstan d in g p ap er on a rt or visual re ­ source lib rarian sh ip . E n tra n ts m ust b e enrolled in an accredited institution during the calend ar year 1985. Su ita b le papers done in conjunction w ith course assignm ents a re ad m issab le and should be no less th a n 2 ,0 0 0 words in length, with an a b stra ct o f 2 5 0 words. E n tries must be received by D ecem b er 15 , 1985. T h e w in n er receives a on e-year m em bership in ARLIS/NA, a cash aw ard of $ 1 0 0 , plus an additional $ 150 for travel reim bu rsem ent to a t­ tend the Fe b ru a ry 1986 ARLIS/NA national conference in New York C ity . Su b m it entries to: Je a n n e tte D . D ow ning, C h a ir , G erd M u ehsam A w ard C o m m itte e , ARLIS/NA, P .O . Box 9 4 4 0 , F o rt W o rth , T X 76 1 0 7 ; (817) 3 3 2 -8 4 5 1 .