may09a.indd


David Free N e w s  f r o m  t h e  F i e l d  

Upgraded ACRL Web site launches 
April 14, 2009, marked the launch of an 
updated, user­centered design of the ACRL 
Web site. The update is the result of an ex­
tensive planning and redesign process to 
better serve the information­seeking needs 
of the ACRL membership and general pub­
lic. The results of an ACRL membership 
survey informed the redesign process, with 
many suggestions on usability incorporat­
ed into the final design. The redesign in­
tegrates the ACRL Web presence with the 
September 2008 update of the ALA Web 
site. 

“In redesigning our Web site, we listened 
to our members and incorporated a wide 
variety of feedback in order to increase ac­
cessibility and usability,” said ACRL President 
Erika Linke. “As a result of the hard work 
of the ACRL membership and Web team, 
our new online presence provides a greatly 
enhanced user experience for all of our 
visitors.” 

The redesigned site features a variety of 
enhancements, including updated site orga­
nization for ease of navigation, direct access 
to committee and section information, and 
eye­catching highlights of upcoming events 
and services. The new site additionally 
features dynamic content updates to keep 
information current and relevant. A variety 
of RSS feeds for content, such as upcoming 
events, provide an additional means for visi­
tors to stay up­to­date with ACRL activities. 
The updated site is available at www.acrl.org. 

Harvard Project on the Soviet Social 
System now online 
For decades, the Harvard Project on the 
Soviet Social System (HPSSS) has been a 
major source of information for researchers 
analyzing the Soviet Union between World 
War I and World War II. The resource is 
now available online with digitization of 
the thousands of pages of summary inter­
view transcripts that make up the HPSSS 
and the creation of the Harvard Project on 
the Soviet Social System Online. 

The Web­based portal serves as the pri­
mary access point to the HPSSS for scholars 

studying Soviet history, culture, society, 
economics, and a multitude of other sub­
jects. It allows scholars to search interview 
transcripts online, quickly fi nding material 
that previously may have required weeks to 
locate. The site also includes links to fi nding 
aids and includes guidelines to aid scholars 
in their searches. 

As part of the digitization effort, every 
transcript page was re­keyed, according to 
Richard Lesage, technical services librarian 
for the African and Asian Unit of Harvard 
College Library (HCL) Technical Services. 
HPSSS makes it feasible for researchers to 
search the text of every transcript for any 
word or phrase. The search feature allows 
researchers in minutes to find material that 
may previously have taken days or weeks 
to fi nd. 

The two­year digitization project, 
launched in 2005, was a joint project be­
tween staff of HCL’s H. C. Fung Library 
and the Slavic Division of Widener Library, 
and was funded by the Harvard University 
Library Digital Initiative. Production of the 
digital collection was undertaken by HCL Im­
aging Services staff. The project is available 
online at hcl.harvard.edu/collections/hpsss/. 

APA lists essential planning books 
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 
American planning movement, the Ameri­
can Planning Association (APA), in con­
junction with ACRL, has created a list of 100 
books essential to planning. These essen­
tial books come from every decade starting 
in 1909, the date of the first national plan­
ning conference. 

Published books provide one lens 
through which to view the history of 
American planning. List of books by de­
cade, complete with historical context and 
brief summaries, are available on the APA 
Web site at www.planning.org/centennial 
/greatbooks/. 

Mountain Plains Library Association 
announces award winners 
The Mountain Plains Library Association 
(MPLA) announced the winners of several 

262C&RL News May 2009 

www.planning.org/centennial
http:www.acrl.org


National Library Legislative Day travel grant winners 

ACRL is pleased to announce the winners 
of the 2009 National Library Legislative 
Day (NLLD) travel grants. In light of ACRL 
President Erika Linke’s focus on legislative 
advocacy, the association awarded $250 
grants to 11 ACRL Legislative Advocates 
to attend NLLD from May 11–12, 2009, in 
Washington, D.C. 

2009 grant winners are: 
• Angela Camack, Sussex Community 

College, New Jersey 
• Luis Chaparro, El Paso Community 

College 
• Sachiko Clayton, New York Public 

Library 
• Carol Feltes, Rockefeller University, 

New York City 
• Andrew Leykam, College of Staten 

Island 
• Carol Lunce, Indiana State University 
• Sara Marcus, Queensborough Com­

munity College, New York City 

• Cristina Dominguez Ramirez, Virginia 
Commonwealth University 

• Jane Treadwell, University of Illinois at 
Springfi eld 

• Margaret Smith, New York University 
• Teri Switzer, University of Colorado 
During NLLD, librarians, library staff, and 

library supporters from around the country 
converge on Capitol Hill to meet with their 
federal representatives to advocate for the 
support of libraries and library­friendly leg­
islation. The fi rst day is a day of orientation 
to advocacy and Capitol Hill; the second day 
is reserved for visits to Congressional offi ces 
and a closing reception. 

More information on NLLD is avail­
able online at www.ala.org/ala/aboutala 
/offi ces/wo/washevents/nlld/nlld2009.cfm. 
Details on the ACRL Legislative Advocate 
program is available at www.acrl.org/ala 
/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/washingtonwatch 
/acrladvocates.cfm. 

awards at the joint conference of the Kan­
sas Library Association and MPLA, April 
2, 2009, in Wichita, Kansas. Sharon Mor­
rison, director of the Southeastern Okla­
homa State University Library, is winner 
of the MPLA 2009 Unsung Hero Award. 
The award is given for her creation of a 
program to provide checkout for required 
textbooks, saving the students thousands of 
dollars. 

Dan Chaney, social sciences librarian 
at Oklahoma State University received the 
2009 Carl Gaumer Library Champion Award. 
Chaney was honored for his contributions 
as MPLA Webmaster for the past 12 years. 
Kaijsa Calkins, reference and instruction li­
brarian at the University of Wyoming, is the 
2009 winner of the Beginning Professional 
Award. The award is given for her mature, 
professional approach and being a proactive 
and student­centered librarian. 

ACRL adopts 2009 Legislative Agenda 
Each year, the ACRL Government Relations 
Committee, in consultation with the ACRL 

Board of Directors and staff, formulates an 
ACRL Legislative Agenda. Drafted with in­
put from the ACRL Scholarly Communica­
tion and Copyright Committees, along with 
additional committees, ACRL leaders, and 
the ALA Washington Office, the legislative 
agenda is prioritized and includes objec­
tives for legislative action at the national 
level on issues that may affect the welfare 
of academic and research libraries. 

The ACRL Board of Directors recently 
approved the 2009 ACRL Legislative Agen­
da in time for the mid­May National Library 
Legislative Day in Washington, D.C. 

The 2009 Legislative Agenda focuses on 
eight priorities, including government infor­
mation, public access to federally funded re­
search, LSTA reauthorization, orphan works, 
Section 108, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, 
network neutrality, and fair use. 

The complete legislative agenda, includ­
ing details on each priority, is available 
on the ACRL Web site at www.acrl.org/ala 
/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/washingtonwatch 
/legagenda.cfm. 

May 2009 263 C&RL News 

www.acrl.org/ala


ProQuest freezes fees 
ProQuest is extending its freeze on Con­
tinuing Service Fees, ongoing product sup­
port, and access fees for perpetual archive 
agreements, through 2011. In addition, Pro­
Quest is offering discounts on Continuing 
Service Fees to libraries that make new pur­
chases within a product family. 

“Libraries are facing tremendous chal­
lenges to meet the booming use of their 
services,” said Simon Beale, senior vice 
president of global sales. “In the current 
economic environment, our role as an in­
formation partner is to ensure that we focus 
our resources on the new products and 
technologies that deliver the most value to 
libraries and their users. We are listening 
intently to our customers to find ways to 
help them weather these tough economic 
times and hope that these programs will 
offer some relief.” 

Continuing Service Fees support 24/7 
access to ProQuest content, search, and 
browse technology; storage and hosting 

costs; authentication and usage reporting; 
technical support; access to technology 
developments and interface developments 
as they happen; as well as new data for 
designated products. 

To further support those who make new 
perpetual archive license purchases, Pro­
Quest is offering a discount program that 
rewards new purchases within a product 
family. This program is available for librar­
ies with a minimum of three perpetual 
archive licenses and that are adding one or 
more new titles, with discounts starting at 
25 percent. 

Columbia partners with ARChive of 
Contemporary Music 
Columbia University has joined in a co­
operative agreement with the ARChive of 
Contemporary Music, the largest collection 
of popular music in the world, to integrate 
the resources of the archive into arts pro­
gramming at the university and other edu­
cational and scholarly activities. The part­

New ACRL publications 

Two new titles, Informing Innovation: 
Tracking Student Interest in Emerging 
Library Technologies at Ohio University 
and Library Rx: Measuring and Treating 
Library Anxiety, are now available from 
ACRL Publications. 

Informing Innovation, by Char Booth, 
examines one institution’s efforts to move 
away from “technolust” and towards a 
culture of assessment in developing and 
implementing technology initiatives. Booth 
presents findings from a study conducted 
at Ohio University investigating the con­
vergence of students and libraries with 
emerging information, communication, and 
academic tools. 

The study uses survey data to test gen­
erational and demographic assumptions 
that often guide technology development 
in academic libraries. The case study and 
its appended survey instrument template 
can be used as a model by other college 
and university libraries to conduct similar 
investigations on their campuses. 

Authored by Martina Malvasi, Catherine 
Rudowsky, and Jesus M. Valencia, Library 
Rx presents research findings on library 
anxiety in college and university students. 
There is strong evidence that library anxiety, 
the inadequate feeling students have when 
lost in overwhelming buildings that pres­
ent mountains of information in all formats 
and professionals who may seem busy and 
unapproachable, has a negative impact on 
undergraduate student performance. 

The authors review existing research 
on student reactions to the library environ­
ment, describe the finding of a research 
project on library anxiety, and present ideas 
for its treatment. 

Informing Innovation and Library Rx 
are available for purchase through the ALA 
Online Store (www.alastore.ala.org) and by 
telephone order at (866) 746­7252 in the 
United States or (770) 442­8633 for interna­
tional customers. 

Informaing Innovation is also available as 
a free digital download. 

264C&RL News May 2009 

http:www.alastore.ala.org


nership is between the archive, Columbia 
University Libraries, and the Arts Initiative 
at Columbia. Holdings of the archive in­
clude the Keith Richards Blues Collection, 
endowed by Richards, and the 50,000 disc 
World Music collection. 

“The ARChive is excited to partner with 
Columbia to create innovative academic 
initiatives and online content to help with 
the study, understanding and enjoyment of 
popular music from all over the world,” said 
Bob George, director of the archive. 

“One of the first projects under this new 
partnership will mount the ARChive’s catalog 
online, for both students and the general 
public to access. This initial database, the 
International Discography, will provide data 
on a half­million recordings in the collection 
of over 2 million sound recordings.” 

The New York­based archive is supported 
by a board of advisors, which includes David 
Bowie, Jonathan Demme, Lou Reed, and, 
Martin Scorsese. 

As part of its continuing commitment to 
engagement in the city, University Libraries 
and the Arts Initiative will work with the ar­
chive to reach out to interested communities 
to develop programs and projects that sup­
port the work of the partnership. The Arts 
Initiative will work to develop and imple­
ment public programming that highlights 
the work of the collaboration and brings 
visibility to the archive. 

For more information, visit the ARChive 
of Contemporary Music online at www. 
arcmusic.org/begin.html, Arts Initiative at 
cuarts.com, and CUL at www.columbia.edu 
/cu/lweb. 

2009 CUPA-HR academic librarian 
salary survey results 
The College and University Professional As­
sociation for Human Resources (CUPA­HR) 
has released the results of the 2009 Admin­
istrative Compensation and Mid­Level Sal­
ary surveys of academic librarian positions, 
covering salary, benefits, and other bench­
marks. 

The 2009 data represents the results of 
the first survey conducted using revised 
position descriptions developed through 
collaboration between CUPA­HR and the 
ACRL CUPA­HR Position Descriptions of 
Academic Librarians Task Force. 

The position descriptions included in 
the 2009 salary survey include revisions 
suggested by the ACRL task force, in con­
junction with CUPA­HR. The survey now 
includes descriptions for new positions, 
such as systems librarian and coordinator 
of distance education, as well as a number 
of updated descriptions, such as reference/ 
instruction librarian and catalog/metadata 
librarian. 

The new and updated descriptions more 
accurately represent job duties in today’s 
academic libraries, allowing for better 
alignment of salaries across similar types 
of tasks. 

Survey results and complete details on the 
revised position descriptions are available on 
the ACRL Web site at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps 
/divs/acrl/issues/personnel/index.cfm. 

ACRL seeks liaisons 
The ACRL Council of Liaisons (COL) has 
announced a public call for individual liai­
son applications. Three outstanding, infl u­
ential, and energetic individuals are needed 
to fulfill the role of a liaison to the National 
Center for First Year Experience and Stu­
dents in Transition, the American Anthro­
pological Association, and the Council of 
Independent Colleges. 

Formed in 1995, COL carries out a 
program of in­depth liaison activities with 
targeted professional associations. The 
council works to demonstrate the value­
added asset libraries and librarians are to 
the liaison organization’s goals and model 
effective partnerships between librarians 
and other professionals within the liaison 
organization. 

Effective partnerships are more important 
than ever. Today’s challenges are opportuni­
ties for creativity and collaboration. Please 
consider applying to become an individual 
liaison. 

Applications that indicate the supporting 
documentation requirements and additional 
information are available on the COL Web 
site at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl 
/issues/councilofl iaisons/liaisons.cfm. 

Send completed applications by the June 
5, 2009, deadline to COL Chair Susan Kroll 
at kroll.susan@gmail.com and ACRL Program 
Officer Katie Coombes at kcoombes@ala. 
org. 

May 2009 265 C&RL News 

mailto:kroll.susan@gmail.com
www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl
www.ala.org/ala/mgrps
http:www.columbia.edu
http:cuarts.com