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February 2012 65 C&RL News

In theIn the
Welcome to the February 2012 issue of C&RL 
News. The coming of the new year means the 
return of students to campus. A new term can 
mean a perfect opportunity to evaluate ser-
vices and spaces to better serve your commu-
nity. At Norwich University in Vermont, the 
desire to make students more comfortable 
asking for assistance with research projects 
led to development of “The approachable 
reference desk.” Deborah Ahlers and Heidi 
Steiner outline the theory and practice of re-
designing their desk in this month’s issue.

The increase in digital items such as archi-
val photographs can mean a boon for special 
collections departments. But making items 
searchable for users can be a major under-
taking. In their article “MetaWHAT?” Kristy L. 
Dixon and Lisa T. Nickel of the University of 
North Carolina-Charlotte describe a collabora-
tive project to train access services staff in the 
creation of metadata for special collections 
materials. 

Archival images and collections can play 
a role in improving physical spaces, as well. 

The University of the Pacifi c used their unique 
collections to improve library aesthetics, as 
Shan C. Sutton and Robin Imhof outline in 
their article “John Muir in the study commons.”

In this months’ Scholarly Communication 
column, Heather Joseph of SPARC provides 
refl ections on the recent Berlin 9 Open Ac-
cess Conference and examines “The impact 
of open access on research and scholarship.”

With voting in the ALA/ACRL elections 
scheduled to begin March 19, Trevor A. Dawes 
and Debbie Malone, the candidates for ACRL 
vice-president/president-elect, share their 
plans for the association to help you cast an 
informed ballot. 

Make sure to check out the other features 
and columns this month, including Internet 
Resources on fi nancial literacy, an essay on the 
connections between working as a reference 
librarian and in a 911 call center, and the new 
ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards 
for Higher Education.

Thanks as always for reading the News.  
—David Free, editor-in-chief

dfree@ala.org

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