nov05a.indd N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d Stephanie Orphan ALA confirms New Orleans as 2006 Annual Conference Location ALA has confirmed its original plan to hold its 2006 Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 22–28, 2006. In the aftermath of Hurri­ cane Katrina, it was not immediately known if maintaining the conference location was feasible. The association has been closely monitoring the situation and receiving al­ most daily reports from local atuhorities on the damange and reconstruction efforts. In mid­October, a delegation from ALA visited New Orelans and found that downtown, the French Quarter, and the Garden District had largely escaped flooding, and that essential services have been fully restored in those areas. In addition, major repairs to the con­ ference center and conference hotels are underway and restaurants are reopening on a daily basis. In announcing ALA’s decision, President Michael Gorman stated, “Our primary con­ cern, of course, must always be the health and safety of our members. Both the Loui­ siana Department of Public Health and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency have found no cause for concern on the part of visitors to New Orleans. By law, all of the ALA conference hotels have conducted or will soon be conducting EPA air quality audits and all restaurants must meet strict inspection requirements prior to reopening. “We realize that many sections of the city, and particularly the Ninth Ward, have suffered tragic damage, and that many New Orleans residents have lost their homes for­ ever. If we truly care about the residents of New Orleans, however, the best thing that the association and its members can do is to go to New Orleans and lead the reconstruc­ tion by example. Our conference will help to provide the jobs and tax revenues needed if residents are to reestablish their lives and for the city to fully restore services, includ­ ing library services. We speak often of how libraries build communities, and we now have chance to show the country and world that librarians build communities, too.” Early registration for Annual Conference opens December 1, and a preliminary pro­ gram is scheduled to mail with the March issue of American Libraries. The May issue of C&RL News will contain a listing of ACRL programs, meetings, and events. ACRL announces Kara Malenfant as new scholarly communications/ government relations specialist ACRL is pleased to announce the hiring of Kara Malenfant as the division’s schol­ arly communications and government re­ lations specialist. Malenfant pre­ viously worked at DePaul University in Chicago and brings six years of experi­ ence as a reference librarian and history bibliographer to her new position. She is known for her development of a university­ wide information and referral service based in DePaul’s library. Malenfant is also an active member of ACRL and has served as chair of ACRL’s International Relations Committee from 2003–05. “Kara brings practical experience to this position with her knowledge of scholarly communications issues, her work in academic librarianship, her experience in grassroots advocacy, and her understanding of higher education and ACRL,” said Mary Ellen Davis, ACRL executive director. “We are delighted to have her join the ACRL team and look forward to deepening ACRL’s scholarly communica­ tions and government relations initiatives.” Ray English, director of libraries at Ober­ lin College and chair of the ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee, added, “Kara has great energy and enthusiasm for legisla­ tive advocacy and scholarly communications reform. I look forward to working with her as we continue to build ACRL’s scholarly communications program and increase the association’s effectiveness in the legislative arena.” Prior to her experience as a librarian, Malenfant worked in Washington, D.C., for Kara Malenfant C&RL News November 2005 706 the Armenian Assembly of America as the as­ sistant director of grassroots advocacy and as a development assistant. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the fi rst group posted to the Republic of Armenia. In her new role, Malenfant will work with librarians in all types of academic libraries to foster new forms of scholarly communication that are more responsive to the needs of the academy. She will serve as an advocate for academic libraries and will work with other library and scholarly organizations to bring about positive change in the system of scholarly communication. She will coordi­ nate ACRL’s legislative initiative developing strategies to influence legislation affecting academic and research libraries. Within ACRL, she will provide staff support for the Scholarly Communications Committee, the Scholarly Communications Discussion Group, the Government Relations Committee, and the Advocacy Coordinating Committee. Malenfant received a bachelor of arts in English from Allegheny College and an MLS from the University of Illinois at Urbana­ Champaign. PAIS Archive available through CSA Illumina PAIS Archive is now available as a supple­ ment to the PAIS International database through CSA Illumina, providing access to research in the fields of global public policy and world affairs going back to 1915. Infor­ mation in PAIS International and the archive cover topical public and social issues in ad­ dition to evaluating public policy. Publica­ tions in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish dealing with public affairs are included. PAIS Archive includes more than 1.2 million records from the print PAIS Bulletin covering the years 1915 to 1976. UNC collaborates on video streaming site for documentaries Three University of North Carolina­Cha­ pel Hill (UNC­CH) organizations and Folk­ streams Inc. have collaborated to create folkstreams.net, a video­streaming Web site built as a national preserve of documentary films about American folk and roots culture. The hard­to­fi nd films available through the site give voice to the arts and experiences of diverse American groups. They are ac­ companied by background materials that provide a context for the films and their subjects. Use of the site is free, although the films are protected by copyright. The UNC­CH collaborators on the proj­ ect are ibiblio.com, a free public library of digital material on the Internet; the Southern Folklife Collection in Wilson Library; and the School of Information and Library Science. School faculty members will guide the proj­ ect. Folkstreams Inc. is a nonprofi t Virginia organization that seeks to preserve signifi cant documentaries and videos about American traditional culture. Purdue creates endowed chair for information literacy Purdue University has created the fi rst en­ dowed chair in information literacy in the nation, through a $2.5 million gift from Wayne Booker, a former vice chairman of Ford Motor Company. The person fi lling the W. Wayne Booker Endowed Chair in Infor­ mation Literacy will conduct research and launch additional initiatives to increase stu­ dents’ ability to access, assess, and integrate information literacy and make good judg­ ments about what information they choose to use. Booker said he funded the chair in large part to bolster the leadership role of Purdue Libraries, in addition to wanting to provide students with the skills to be life­ long learners. James L. Mullins, dean of libraries at Purdue commented, “This gift highlights the importance of information literacy, and we expect this person to be a national spokesper­ son who will help encourage other universi­ ties to follow our lead.” The holder of the chair will be hired after a national search. Boston Library Consortium adopts author’s rights agreement The Boston Library Consortium’s Board of Directors has approved the adoption of an “Agreement to Extend Author’s Rights,” which will give authors and their employing institutions non­exclusive rights to use, dis­ tribute, and reproduce material in electronic or print form in activities related to the au­ thor’s academic and professional activities. The amendment also supports placement of material in institutional repositories. The November 2005 707 C&RL News http:ibiblio.com http:folkstreams.net consortium is an association of 19 academic and research libraries. The agreement, which was initially developed by member MIT, is available for downloading at www.blc.org. Oxford Journals preserves content in LOCKSS Oxford Journals is now participating in Stan­ ford University’s LOCKSS Program. LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) is a com­ munity­based, open source, presistent access digital preservation program. It enables pub­ lishers to guarantee long­term perpetual ac­ cess to their content by allowing libraries to store, preserve, and provide back­up access to the content they have purchased. Oxford has released 13 titles to date for preservation through LOCKSS. The publisher’s participa­ tion in the program reflects its commitment to providing long­term accessibility, follow­ ing its archiving agreement with the Nation­ al Library of the Netherlands, Koninklijke Blbliotheek in 2004 and its backfule digitiza­ tion program. Appalachian State celebrates new library dedication Appalachian State University celebrated the opening of a new $40 million campus library and information commons in Sep­ tember with a week of events honoring the library’s history and future. The new Belk Library and Information Commons, which opened this summer, was built with fund­ ing from a bond initia­ tive passed by North Carolina voters in 2000. During the grand open­ ing and dedication on September 15, the li­ brary hosted speakers, including University of North Carolina system president Molly Broad; Appalachian State Uni­ versity chancellor Ken­ neth Peacock; Boone, North Carolina, mayor Velma Burnley, and award­winning chil­ dren’s author Gloria Houston. The library hosted an open house following the ceremo­ ny. Other events throughout the week in­ cluded a donor appreciation dinner, a staff and faculty appreciation brunch, and a stu­ dent assistant luncheon. The week conclud­ ed with a Constitution Day program and a reading series book talk. Cornell develops preservation guide in Arabic Cornell University Library’s Department of Preservation and Collections Maintenance has developed an online tutorial to guide librarians in the Middle East in the preserva­ tion of books and manuscripts. Available in both Arabic and English, the tutorial is based on Cornell’s online preservation tutorial cre­ ated some time ago for Southeast Asia, but it includes many changes to more accurately reflect the special needs of professional li­ brarians in the Middle East. The Arabic tuto­ rial offers approaches that can be carried out with limited resources. And because the Ar­ abic­speaking world represents a variety of climate zones, information on dry arid areas has been added to existing information on hot and humid areas, as this offers a more balanced view of climate in the entire re­ gion, from coastal areas to the interior. Also included are specifics on the preservation of papyrus, parchment, and clay tablets. All three tutorials were written by John Dean, preservation and conservation librarian in the Department of Preservation and Collec­ tions Maintenance at Cornell, and illustrated University of North Carolina System President Molly Broad makes a toast to dedicate the new Belk Library and Information Commons at Appalachian State University. On the right is University Librarian Mary Reichel and to Broad’s left is Appalachian State University Chancellor Kenneth Peacock. C&RL News November 2005 708 http:www.blc.org by Carla DeMello of the library’s Instruction, Research and Information Services. They are available at www.librarypreservation.org. IMLS accepting 21st Century Librarian grant applications The Institute of Museum and Library Ser­ vices (IMLS) has put out a call for applica­ tions for the Laura Bush 21st Century Li­ brarian grant program. Libraries, archives, library agencies, associations, and consortia are invited to apply for grants totaling more than $21 million to help recruit and educate librarians and strengthen graduate schools of library and information science. The pro­ gram continues its emphasis on recruiting and educating students at the master’s and doctoral levels, while also supporting efforts to recruit future librarians from the ranks of promising junior high, high school, and col­ lege students. For fiscal year 2006, IMLS encourages, applications for projects that promote col­ laboration between educators and librarians employed in educational institutions. The application deadline is December 15, 2005; more information is available at www.imls. gove/grants/library/lib_bdre.htm UC libraries partner to provide free access to digitized books The University of California (UC) libraries are participating in a partnership to build a freely accessible digital library with materi­ Correction The URL for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library at San José State University was listed incorrectly in the September 2005 Job of a Lifetime column. The cor- rect URL is www.sjlibrary.org/gateways /academic.The editors regret the error. als drawn from across the world. The librar­ ies will contribute books and resources in order to build a collection of out­of­copy­ right American literature that will include works by many great American authors. With the support of Yahoo! Inc., UC library books will be digitized by the Internet Ar­ chive using a new technology that scans books at the cost of 10 cents per page. This compares to a typical cost to scan archival photographs and documents that begins at $20 a page. The materials will be available from the Web site of the Open Content Alliance (OCA), a newly created global consortium that will build and openly distribute a comprehensive set of digitized print and multimedia content. In addition to UC and Yahoo!, the OCA’s founding contributors include the University of Toronto, the European Archive, the National Archives (UK), O’Reilly Media, Adobe, and Hewlett Packard Labs. The OCA Web site is: opencontentalliance.org. ACRL announces theme for 13th National Conference “Sailing into the Future—Charting Our Des- tiny” will be the theme of the ACRL 13th National Conference. The conference, to be held in Baltimore, March 29—April 1, 2007, will explore the changing nature and roles of academic and research librarian- ship. Mary Reichel, university librarian, Appalachian State University, chairs the conference committee. Conference programs will emphasize the need for academic and research librarians to anticipate and prepare for transforma- tions in the profession, and will encourage innovative ways to create and implement change. Conference theme tracks include: Attracting and Thriving; Collaborations; Content, Collections, and Access; Teach- ing and Learning; and the Environment for Libraries. The Call for Participation (included in this issue) invites quality proposals for presentations including: contribut- ed papers, panel sessions, workshops, preconferences, poster sessions, and roundtable discussions. The Call for Par- ticipation is also posted on ACRL’s Na- tional Conference Web site (www.acrl.org /baltimore). Questions? Contact (800) 545-2433, ext. 2522; or e-mail: msutton@ala.org. November 2005 709 C&RL News mailto:msutton@ala.org http:www.acrl.org http:opencontentalliance.org www.sjlibrary.org/gateways www.imls http:www.librarypreservation.org