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NEWS FROM THE FIELD

C&RL News, July/August 2007
Vol. 68, No. 7

by Stephanie Orphan

UT-Austin database provides access to literary copyright information
The University of Texas-Austin’s Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center and the Reading University Library have created Firms Out of Business (FOB), an online database containing the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for out-of-business printing and publishing firms, magazines, literary agencies, and similar organizations that have archives housed in libraries and archives in North America and the United Kingdom. FOB is a companion project to the Writers, Artists and Their Copyright Holders (WATCH), an online database containing the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists. The objective of both projects is to provide information to scholars and researchers about whom to contact for permission to publish text and images that have copyright protection.

FOB can be accessed at www.fob-file.com; the WATCH file is accessible at www.watch-file.com.

SPARC partners with AgEcon Search repository
SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has aligned with AgEcon Search: Research in Agricultural and Applied Economics, a free Web-based repository at the University of Minnesota that collects, indexes, and electronically distributes full-text copies of scholarly research. This SPARC Scientific Communities partnership recognizes how the creators of AgEcon Search have developed a model subject-specific repository that is innovative, collaborative, and successful as a focal resource for studies in the field. The AgEcon Search collection includes current and archival working papers, journal articles, and conference papers that focus on agricultural economics and subdisciplines.

The project is a collaboration of the University of Minnesota Libraries, the university Department of Applied Economics, and the American Agricultural Economics Association. Special projects have been funded by grants from the Farm Foundation, the USDA Economics Research Service, the American Agricultural Economics Association Foundation, and the National Agricultural Library. Although launched ten years ago as a repository for current working papers, AgEcon Search now includes 13 journals and is expected to grow in this area in the coming year. AgEcon is available online at agecon.lib.umn.edu/ .

LexisNexis, Univ. of Maryland provide access to serial set maps
LexisNexis has partnered with the University of Maryland to provide access to maps found in the U.S. Serial Set. The maps are available through LexisNexis’ U.S. Serial Set Maps Digital Collection. The U.S. Serial Set is considered by many to be the single most valuable collection of American historical documents in existence. The Serial Set maps are widely owned, but physically and bibliographically difficult to access. This new digital collection makes available government maps that will be of use to biologists, botanists, meteorologists, political scientists, and others. More than 56,000 maps are available through the service.

Harvard completes manuscript catalog conversion
Harvard University’s Houghton Library successfully completed the migration of its manuscript card catalog to electronic form in December. The library’s cataloged manuscript collections are now fully Web-accessible through Harvard’s online catalog (hollis.harvard.edu), with the finding aids available in Harvard’s finding aids database (oasis.harvard.edu) and RLG’s ArchivesGrid. The five-year project was funded by Harvard University’s Library Digital Initiative, with matching funds from the Harvard College Library. “This project was essential to bring the library into the modern digital research environment, and to provide easy access to Houghton’s unique manuscripts worldwide,” commented project director Leslie A. Morris, Houghton’s curator of modern books and manuscripts. The retrospective conversion project focused on material in Western languages, for which at least minimal descriptive information existed. For all materials, scope and content notes were added where needed; each single-item manuscript was examined and its physical description verified; old subject headings were standardized to conform to Library of Congress forms; and standard genre and form headings (such as diaries, galley proofs, seals, etc.) were added.

Brown launches digital archive of military
Brown University Library has launched a digital archive of more than 6,200 prints drawn from the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection. The resource vividly documents all aspects of military and naval history and uniforms and offers a vast array of portraits, caricatures, military genre, and posters. Ultimately, the Web-based collection will include more than 15,000 digital images. The collection, curated by Peter Harrington, is the foremost collection in North America of material devoted to the history and iconography of soldiers and soldiering and one of the world’s largest collections devoted to the study of military and naval uniforms. Formed over a period of 40 years by the late Mrs. John Nicholas Brown (1906–85), the collection contains approximately 14,000 printed books; 18,000 sketchbooks, scrapbooks, and portfolios; more than 15,000 individual prints, drawings, and watercolors; and 6,000 miniature lead soldiers. The collection is available at dl.lib.brown.edu/askb/ .

Wayne State to offer graduate certificate in information management
Wayne State University Board of Governors recently approved the establishment of a graduate certificate in information management for librarians for the Library and Information Science Program. The Information Management for Librarians Certificate Program seeks to provide students with the tools needed to use technology efficiently and effectively in gathering, storing, and disseminating information. Students completing the certificate will be information professionals who will be able to manage integrated library system implementations and radio frequency identification installations, develop Web sites containing multimedia content, and create and develop databases as well as other Web content. The certificate program is open to students with advanced degrees in related fields, students enrolled in a Wayne State graduate program, and, in certain circumstances, students with bachelor’s degrees from accredited universities who possess the appropriate background and experience.

ABC-CLIO partners with EBSCO
ABC-CLIO and EBSCO Publishing have formed a new alliance. As part of the undertaking, EBSCO has acquired two of ABC-CLIO’s databases: Historical Abstracts (HA) and America: History and Life (AHL), and will distribute eight additional award-winning history databases in addition to ABC-CLIO’s online history eBook collection, History Reference Online. The partnership leverages ABC-CLIO’s expertise in the area of history with EBSCO’s significant content licensing, digitization, and distribution capabilities. ABC-CLIO editorial staff will continue producing content for the databases, and HA and AHL will be made available via EBSCOhost. The partnership will allow libraries to work with their EBSCO representatives to consolidate orders for ABC-CLIO databases with orders for EBSCOhost databases. The databases will continue to be accessed via ABC-CLIO platforms.

Getty Trust awarded Computerworld innovation award
The 2007 Computerworld Honors Program awarded the J. Paul Getty Trust its 21st Century Award in the media, arts, and entertainment category for Getty Vocabularies, an online research tool. The Getty’s electronic resources include three vocabulary databases: the Art & Architecture Thesaurus, the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names, and the Union List of Artist Names. Collectively they contain searchable links containing information relating to one-and-a-half million people, places, objects, and concepts that span from antiquity to modern day.

The development and publication of the Getty Vocabularies required the combined expertise of the Getty Vocabulary Program’s expert team of art historians and information scientists, as well as technical, project management, and Web publishing skills from Getty Information Technology Services and the Getty Web Group.

The Getty was nominated for the award by Unisys Corporation, a member of the Computerworld Honors Program Chairman’s Committee, which identifies the organizations whose use of information technology has been especially noteworthy for the originality of its conception, the breadth of its vision, and the significance of its benefit to society. More information on the Getty Vocabularies is available at www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/ .

^{The Call for Participation for ACRL’s 14th
National Conference will be issued this fall.
Watch www.acrl.org/seattle for details!}

Trinity Univ. adopts initiative to enhance info lit and student learning
In order to help incoming students hone their skills at finding information that is both useful and relevant, Trinity University has adopted an initiative called Expanding Horizons: Using Information in the Twenty-first Century Knowledge Economy.

The concept of achieving information literacy was proposed by staff members of the Elizabeth Huth Coates Library after consulting with various professors on campus. The goal of the initiative is to develop the critical thinking skills, research capabilities, and writing proficiencies of students so that they can master learning objectives and strategies in the classroom as well as within the library’s walls. Known as the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), the initiative is a component of the reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

It has been ten years since Trinity went through the accreditation process, and the university, along with all schools seeking SACS accreditation, will now have to develop a QEP that involves trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Implementation of Trinity’s QEP plan will begin in fall 2008.

ACRL’s Global Evolution available in print and online
ACRL has recently published Global Evolution: A Chronological Annotated Bibliography of International Students in U.S. Academic Libraries by Kaetrena D. Davis of Georgia State University. This is the first of a series of publications to be offered both online and in print form. Current literature brings up new questions about what international students expect from their American academic library and what kind of library skills they have (research or otherwise). This chronological, annotated bibliography shows the evolution of the issues concerning undergraduate and graduate international students in American academic libraries and contains many possible guidelines and ideas for meeting the basic and advanced information needs of an increasingly diverse patron group.

From library orientation and information literacy to programming and outreach, the gathered information covers more than 40 years of articles, dissertations, theses, book chapters, books, other bibliographies, and multimedia.

To order a print copy, visit the ACRL Web site at www.ala.org/acrl (Click on Publications/Books and Monographs). ACRL members receive a 10 percent discount on any purchase. The book is also freely available in PDF at www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/downloadables/downloads.htm .

IMLS awards librarian recruitment and education grants
The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services announced grants of almost $28 million under the 2007 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. The multifaceted grant program supports tuition assistance, curriculum development, service expectations, job placement, recruitment of nontraditional library students, and support for doctoral candidates to teach library science and research. Forty-three awards will go to universities, libraries, and library organizations across the country today to recruit and educate librarians. The grants will benefit 29 doctoral, 689 master’s, 1,439 continuing education, and 150 pre-professional students. For a list of recipients, see www.imls.gov/news/2007/061907_list.shtm.

Mellon Foundation increases funding for HBCU leadership program
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a second grant, an additional $600,000, to the HBCU Library Alliance for the continuation of its Leadership Institute, which began with a pilot institute in 2005.

The primary objectives of the Leadership Institute are to provide theoretical and practical instruction and useful resources to encourage the development of leadership skills within the HBCU library community.

The 2007–2008 Leadership Institute, facilitated by KTA Global Partners, is scheduled for August 11-15. Eleven libraries will participate in the institute: Hinds Community College in Mississippi; Jackson State University in Mississippi; Johnson C. Smith in North Carolina; Mississippi Valley State University; Morehouse School of Medicine in Georgia; North Carolina Central; Southern University in Louisiana; St. Augustine’s College in North Carolina; Tougaloo College in Alabama; Tuskegee University in Alabama; and Wiley College in Texas.

The HBCU Library Alliance will also begin its inaugural mentor development pilot program. This program will be facilitated by The Human Resource Department–Atlanta. Six directors of HBCU libraries who have previously participated in the Leadership Institute will serve as mentors for the program during 2007–2008.

Univ. of California Libraries collaborate with OCLC on next generation Melvyl catalog
The University of California (UC) Libraries are working in collaboration with OCLC Online Computer Library Center to pilot a next generation Melvyl Catalog supported by OCLC’s WorldCat Local system. Working with OCLC gives UC the opportunity to provide users a single search and request service that begins with materials held in the UC Libraries and expands to collections in libraries around the world in the WorldCat system, as well as a selection of article citations. Other features will initially include a single search box, relevancy ranking of search results, result sets that bring multiple versions of a work together, faceted browsing, citation formatting options, and cover art.

The Melvyl Catalog has been the union catalog of the UC Libraries since 1981. The next generation Melvyl Catalog is scheduled for launch in early 2008. Through a locally branded Melvyl Catalog interface, as well as interfaces for the ten UC campuses, the service will provide libraries with the ability to search the entire WorldCat database while giving users the ability to effortlessly narrow down a search to the local level. WorldCat Local interoperates with locally maintained services like circulation, resource sharing, and resolution to full text to create a seamless experience for the end user.