From the University Librarian

The Bingham Poetry Room has been renovated and is open for public use. It will be rededicated in April.

The Web of Science allowing access to the Science, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Citation Indexes is now available through the Research Center and very much appreciated by faculty. Faculty are sending comments regularly about how pleased they are to have access to this new resource.

PsycInfo is now available through the OVID system. Also available on the Research Center web page is the Grove Dictionary of Art.

The CVL (Commonwealth Virtual Library) electronic databases will not be available until sometime in July. The CVL Information Literacy Committee is now working with a consultant from COLLEGIS to prepare web-based information literacy modules for the Commonwealth Virtual University (CVU) pilot programs. The courseware selected for training faculty to teach web courses is COLLEGIS and intensive training for that has taken place. U of L has also signed a separate contract for use of this software on campus.

Staff evaluations are now in progress as are budget preparations and a review of our assessment plan. After that is completed we will update the strategic plan, due in early March.

The Libraries’ two-year progress report is being sent to administrators, faculty and staff representatives, library staff, friends and donors. Much progress has been made in the Libraries and the report documents the staff’s many achievements. A report on the Libraries’ achievements was presented to the Board of Trustees on February 22.

The Faculty/Staff Annual Fund campaign is now in progress and this year it is designated for the University Libraries. (Editor’s note: The Faculty/Staff Annual Fund campaign's focus is on "Building for Books," which asks faculty and staff to make donations to the University Libraries, a unit which has no alumni/ae but which serves all other units. The campaign is not meant to take the place of the Faculty Senate's continued efforts to secure for the Libraries a percentage of all donations to the University. The Athletic Department is also supporting the “Building for Books" campaign.)

Here is a short report from the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, January 29 - February 3, 1999. More than 13,500 persons attended the meetings and exhibits. The Newberry and Caldecott Award winners were announced as Louis Sachar for Holes and Mary Azarin for Snowflake Bentley.

The ALA Council meetings were marred by the death of long-time Councilor and friend Marvin Scilkins (the Unabashed Librarian).

The Council passed many resolutions such as “Libraries: An American Value” and another one clarifying ALA’s relations with external organizations, including the Boy Scouts. Other resolutions and recommendations were concerned with outsourcing, privatization and library services to poor people. Many discussions were held regarding ALA’s endowments, fee structures for conferences and better management of ALA Council meetings.

I spent much time with vendors discussing future purchases and price breaks, especially in the electronic arena. I also participated in several sessions on licensing, copyright and intellectual property rights.

--Hannelore Rader