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5 CONTENTS Reée Vaillacourt McGrath Feature Editor Kathlee M. Hughes Maagig Editor May/Jue 2003 Vol. 42, No Stories i the Workplace Martha L. Hale 172 Collectios ad Services for the Spaish-Speakig Accessibility Solia Kaste Marquis 178 Persoalized Iformatio Eviromets Do Public Libraries Wat a Slice of the PIE? Lea Worcester 184 College Access Programs ad Services Jue Eiselstei 188 Web Site Awards As a Selectio Tool for Librarias Shedrick T. Pittma-Hassett IN EVERY ISSUE 138 Editor s Note Reée Vaillacourt McGrath 139 From the Presidet Jo A Pider 139 O the Ageda 146 Tales from the Frot Jeifer T. Ries-Taggart 148 Perspectives Hampto (Skip) Auld 159 Iteret Spotlight Steve M. Cohe 162 Tech Talk Paula Wilso 194 News from PLA Kathlee Hughes 196 By the Book Jeifer Schatz 200 New Product News Vicki Nestig PLUS Readers Respod 141 Verso Tee Library Voluteers Lesley Farmer 144 Verso A Passio for Cultural Uderstadig Makes Let s Talk Eglish a Success Diae Nevill 154 IterViews Public to Academic: Reflectios for Librarias Who Are Cosiderig the Switch Matthew L. Hall 157 Book Talk Stories That Have Heart: A Iterview with James Lee Burke Pey Feder 199 Idex to Advertisers The Public Library Associatio is a divisio of the America Library Associatio, 50 E. Huro St., Chicago, IL 60611; Cover desig by Jim Lage, Jim Lage Desig, Chicago Iterior desig by Diae M. Rooey, America Library Associatio, Chicago

6 EDITORIAL FEATURE EDITOR: Reée Vaillacourt McGrath MANAGING EDITOR: Kathlee M. Hughes CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Hampto (Skip) Auld, Steve Cohe, Rochelle Hartma, Na Blaie Hilyard, Vicki Nestig, Jeifer Ries-Taggart, Paula Wilso, Natalie Ziarik EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Breda Dowlig ADVISORY COMMITTEE Library Recruitmet through Procreatio Just a ote i respose to Reée Vaillacourt s Editor s Note, Why Do You Love Your Job, i the September/October 2002 issue. I offer aother model for public libraria recruitmet based o the successful model of Mother Nature: procreatio. I the least, each of us should strive to replace ourselves, to pass o our public library gees to the ext geeratio. Some of us may abstai, some may be promiscuous, but i the ed we ca keep the bloodlie goig oe by oe by oe. It s a oble lieage, ad we should proudly pass it o. [Although I do t have ay childre,] I claim to have doe my part by ecouragig a youg woma who worked with us as a studet. She wet o to get a radiology degree, the a busiess degree, ad the... a library degree. She s just graduated from UT-Austi. But, I m youg, so I ll keep workig at it... Jeffrey Dola, Director, Salida Regioal Library, Salida, Colorado Praise for the Pooches I m writig because I loved Kathlee Hughes article See Spot Read i the November/December 2002 issue. I was so happy to see it provide such soud advice as tryig out a pilot program, gettig liability coverage, ad rememberig that quality is more importat tha quatity. Cheers to you! I am a full-time library assistat for the Pleasato Public Library ( i the south Bay Area i Califoria. I am also the voluteer director of humae educatio for the Valley Humae Society ( which coducts a pet therapy program. Three years ago, I was ivited by Best Frieds Aimal Sactuary to do a humae educatio presetatio i Salt Lake City. There I met members of Itermoutai Therapy Aimals o the very day they were to try out READ i a local bookstore that eveig! I brought the idea to my library, ad i time, ad with icredible support ad ethusiasm from my supervisor ad our library director, we just started Paws to Read this past fall! For me, seeig this [program] successfully i actio was like scratchig a three-year itch! It s bee a icredible experiece. As cute as the photo ops ad the great kids stories have bee, oe other particularly gratifyig aspect of all this has bee how it has affected the hadlers. I have bee hearig stories from them o what a emotioal experiece it is for them, how they feel they are witesses to somethig magical betwee their dogs ad kids, how thrillig it is for them to see their kids improvig i cofidece ad readig. This [program] has become far more for the hadlers tha just showig up with a sweet dog ad meetig kids. This has bee a wi-wi-wi-wi-i-could-go-o program for everyoe ivolved! Ayway, thak you very much for your feature article.... I wish I could see this [type of program] i every library everywhere! Sue Joes, Pleasato Public Library Childre s Services, ad Valley Humae Society Director of Humae Educatio, Pleasato, Califoria cotiued o page 140 Public Libraries ecourages letters to the editor. Letters are used o a space-available basis ad may be excerpted. Preferece will be give to letters that address issues raised by the magazie. Acceptace is at the editor s discretio. Sed to Reée Vaillacourt McGrath, 248A N. Higgis Ave. #145, Missoula, MT 59802; publiclibraries@aol.com. Victor Kralisz, Chair, Dallas, TX; Nacy Charee, New York, NY; Mary Cosper-LeBouef, Houma, LA; Isabel Dale Silver, Champaig, IL; Lure E. Dickiso, Jackso, MI; Patricia Duitma, Vacouver, WA; Ly Lockwood, Towso, MD; Cidy Lombardo, Orrville, OH. EX OFFICIO: Toi Garvey, Phoeix Public Library, 1221 N. Cetral, Phoeix, AZ 85004; (602) ; toi.garvey@phoeix.gov PLA PRESIDENT: Jo A Pider, Gwiett Couty Public Library, 1001 Lawreceville Hwy., Lawreceville, GA ; jap@gwiettpl.org PUBLIC LIBRARIES (ISSN ) is published bimothly at 50 E. Huro St., Chicago, IL It is the official publicatio of the Public Library Associatio, a divisio of the America Library Associatio. Subscriptio price: to members of PLA, $25 a year, icluded i membership dues; to omembers: U.S. $50; Caada $60; all other coutries $60. Sigle copies, $10. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, ad at additioal mailig offices. POST- MASTER: sed address chages to Public Libraries, 50 E. Huro St., Chicago, IL SUBSCRIPTIONS Nomember subscriptios, orders, chages of address, ad iquiries should be set to Public Libraries, Subscriptio Departmet, America Library Associatio, 50 E. Huro St., Chicago, IL 60611; , press 5; fax: (312) ; subscriptios@ ala.org. ADVERTISING William N. Coffee, c/o Beso, Coffee & Associates, 1411 Peterso Ave., Park Ridge, IL 60068; (847) ; fax (847) PRODUCTION ALA PRODUCTION SERVICES: Troy D. Liker, Kevi Heubusch; Ellie Barta-Mora, Agela Hashaw, Kriste McKulski, ad Kare Sheets. MANUSCRIPTS Uless otherwise oted, all submissios should be set to the feature editor, Reée Vaillacourt McGrath, 248A N. Higgis Ave. #145, Missoula, MT 59802; publiclibraries@ aol.com. See the Jauary/February issue or for submissio istructios. INDEXING/ABSTRACTING Public Libraries is idexed i Library Literature ad Curret Idex to Jourals i Educatio (CIJE), i additio to a umber of olie services. Cotets are abstracted i Library ad Iformatio Sciece Abstracts. MICROFILM COPIES Microfilm copies are available from Uiversity Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., A Arbor, MI The paper used i this publicatio meets the miimum requiremets of America Natioal Stadard for Iformatio Scieces Permaece of Paper for Prited Library Materials, ANSI Z by the America Library Associatio All materials i this joural are subject to copyright by the America Library Associatio ad may be photocopied for the ocommercial purpose of scietific or educatioal advacemet grated by Sectios 107 ad 108 of the Copyright Revisio Act of For other repritig, photocopyig, or traslatig, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights ad Permissios, 50 E. Huro St., Chicago, IL

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8 EDITOR S NOTE Last fall, whe the Mauree ad Mike Masfield Library at the Uiversity of Motaa i Missoula foud themselves uexpectedly short-staffed, they ivited me to fill i o the referece desk for a semester. I was hired as a adjuct visitig istructor, which, I gather, is a glorified way of sayig referece libraria. Havig worked i public libraries for my etire career, I was excited about the opportuity to explore a differet work eviromet. While there were may thigs I ejoyed about workig i a academic settig, it also made me appreciate some of the uique aspects of workig i a public library. The most sigificat differece, of course, was the focus o research at the uiversity. I was itroduced to may subjectspecific databases that oe would oly be likely to fid i the largest ad wealthiest public libraries. I was excited about havig access to so may differet sources of iformatio. But without a itegrated iterface, searchig several differet databases as well as prit sources ofte took loger tha workig with the resources I was accustomed to i public libraries. Although the Uiversity of Motaa library does have a small recreatioal readig sectio, studets seekig popular fictio ad maistream ofictio titles were ofte out of luck. I foud my public library backgroud came i hady o several occasios whe studets were seekig items that could t be foud i the uiversity library. Checkig the public library catalog olie or callig the referece or childre s departmet at the Missoula Public Library sometimes saved the patro the wait of requestig a item through iterlibrary loa. The patros themselves were aother major differece from the public library. Although the uiversity library is ope to the geeral public, most of its patros are studets. This is a de facto Public libraries of all sizes ca lear a few thigs from our frieds i academia. prescreeed group, ad most of the people who approached the referece desk were polite ad had at least miimal skills i techology ad iformatio retrieval. Noetheless, I still ecoutered oe fight, oe flasher, ad oe rude patro durig my semester of part-time work at the uiversity. Also, sice may referece questios are related to coursework, academic librarias are ofte dealig with secodary or imposed queries i which the patro is seekig iformatio to satisfy a third party (the istructor). While may studets develop a deep ivestmet i their academic research, their Our Frieds i Academia Reée Vaillacourt McGrath Feature Editor questios ted to be less of a persoal ature tha those that are ofte received i a public library. Ad while college studets are ofte grateful for the help that they receive, I did t feel that there was as much potetial for the kid of life-chagig iteractios that sometimes occur i the public library. The faculty-staff hierarchy i a academic library was also differet tha what I was accustomed to. The MLS positios at the uiversity are faculty positios, which iclude teachig ad research resposibilities. While most faculty work at the referece desk for a few hours each week, the desk is geerally staffed by library workers who do t have a MLS. Durig my first few weeks o the job, several people asked me whether I was faculty or staff. This distictio made me ucomfortable, sice, i my case, I was doig the same work as my staff colleagues. The Masfield Library also uses studets as techology assistats to help with troubleshootig computer termials. A techology assistat is statioed at the referece desk early all hours that the library is ope. This allows the referece staff to focus o research-related questios without beig iterrupted by software ad hardware cocers. Sice all items prited from public computer termials were set to the copy ceter, librarias also did t have to deal with replacig paper ad fixig priter jams. Each faculty libraria i this academic library is a subject specialist skilled i fidig iformatio i a particular field. Studets ca schedule a appoitmet for help with i-depth research i their subject area if they require more assistace tha what ca be provided at the referece desk. Geeralists staffig the referece desk ca also call upo subject specialists for help with search strategies. While may of these features ca be foud i larger public libraries, I thik public libraries of all sizes ca lear a few thigs from our frieds i academia. First of all, academic librarias seem to kow how to approach ay questio i a systematic maer. That is ot to say that public librarias do t, but as evideced by the discussio lists, we ofte tur to our colleagues first for advice about topics that much has bee writte about. I would love to see public librarias do more research about the topics that we re iterested i (as well as those that our patros ask us about), cosultig idexes such as Library Literature for professioal books ad articles, as well as surveyig our frieds. Academic librarias also ofte have a greater icetive to publish what they lear through their research, sice publishig is ofte required to achieve teure. There is o doubt i my mid that public librarias have every bit as much kowledge about the professio as academics ad others, yet Public Libraries receives fewer acceptable feature submissios from practicig public librarias tha from others i the library world. cotiued o page

9 FROM THE PRESIDENT Most people associated with libraries like to read. I fact, may of us were first attracted to the professio because we love books. So it is oly atural that whe someoe fids out you work i a library, they ask if you have read such ad such or if you ca recommed a good book. My coversatios with my eleve-year-old ephew always start with his askig my opiio of the latest book he is readig. It would ever occur to him that I might ot have read this or ay other book. (It is times like these that I wish I had started out i the childre s room or at least had take oe kiddie lit course!) Aother fried, slightly older ad a retired lawyer, is always askig me what I am readig, hopig to get some good recommedatios. He has yet to realize that I get may more good reads from him tha he has ever gotte from me. The reality is that my readig time has decreased as my professioal career has advaced. I do feel obliged to have several have you tried titles ad the latest bestseller to recommed i various social situatios. I read reviews ad, like may of us, ask frieds to keep me curret o good reads. My book group always has a few suggestios, as well. Aother great source of ew author fids is professioal cofereces, which always have authors i attedace. Not oly do you get to hear the author talk about his or her writig, but you ca also sag a autographed copy Jue ALA Aual Coferece Toroto, Caada 2004 Jauary 9 14 ALA Midwiter Meetig Sa Diego, Calif. February PLA 2004 Natioal Coferece Seattle Read Aythig Good Lately? Jo A Pider There is a ew emphasis o readig that probably started with Oprah ad has cotiued with the help of the media, bookstores, ad libraries. The Oe Book, Oe Commuity cocept started by Nacy Pearl ad the Washigto Ceter for the Book has spread the joy of readig ad discussig books to may commuities. My book group brigs together te wome oce a moth to discuss Souther literature. These educators, scietists, egieers, moms, librarias, ad supervisors are divorced, happily married, youg, ageig, Souther, Yakee, British readers with oe very importat thig i commo: a passio for readig books ad sharig their reactios to them. Buildig o that passio, the ALA Public Programs Office has plaed a ew program, Oe Coferece, Oe Book, which will take place at Aual Coferece i Toroto. The program will serve as a model for librarias iterested i hostig similar programs ad will provide a opportuity to brig all coferece attedees together for readig ad discussio. What a great additio this will be to Aual Coferece, ad oe i which PLA plays a major part. First, all attedees are ecouraged to read Margaret Atwood s The Hadmaid s Tale before comig to coferece. O Saturday, Jue 21; Suday, Jue 22; ad Moday, Jue 23, a series of facilitated discussios of the book will be held. Librarias with extesive readig ad discussio series experiece will host these programs. Fially, the highlight of the program, ad the oe that ivolves PLA, is Margaret Atwood s presetatio at the PLA Presidet s Program o Moday afteroo. Margaret Atwood was my first choice as speaker for the program, which will mark the ed of my year as PLA presidet. Through the hard work of staff ad the Presidet s Evet Committee, she will also mark the fiale of what should be a great additio to the coferece. I hope may of you ca joi me i discussig this thought-provokig ovel ad hearig from its author i Toroto. It has bee a pleasure servig as your presidet. Thak you for givig me the opportuity. Jo A Pider, Gwiett Couty Public Library, 1001 Lawreceville Hwy., Lawreceville, GA ; jap@gwiettpl.org. 139

10 READERS RESPOND cotiued from page 136 Public Libraries Has Goe to the Dogs I was very iterested to read See Spot Read i the November/December 2002 issue because we have started a program similar to it at my library. I am the head of the Youth Services departmet at the Acor Public Library District i Oak Forest, Illiois. As far as I kow, we are the oly library i Illiois that curretly rus this program. I was approached by a woma from my commuity, Debbie Tomasik, who had a traied therapy dog ad was iterested i usig her i this way. Sice the ame of her dog was Mattie, we called it Read with Mattie. The program ra for eight weeks with two to three childre readig at each twetymiute sessio. After the childre had read books to Mattie, they were able to help her with her tricks. Mattie is a Golde Retriever ad she is two years old. She is a traied therapy dog as well as a dog scout ad is fully isured. Durig the witer, sice Mattie s ower is a special educatio teacher, we are havig her come i oe Saturday a moth. Our program has bee featured i the local ewspaper as well i the Chicago Tribue. From my poit of view there are o drawbacks to this program. The childre gai cofidece i readig ad become friedly with a fellow creature. We try to iclude some iformatio about dogs i the program so that childre will kow how to hadle a dog ad what is ivolved i the care of a dog. Hopefully this will make them aware of the resposibilities ad pleasures of owig a dog. Julia Churchill, Head of Youth Services, Acor Public Library District, Oak Forest, Illiois Aother Use for Dogs i Libraries I really ejoyed the article about the readig therapy dogs! I am the childre s libraria at the Uplad Public Library i Uplad, Califoria, ad my husbad ad I are raisig a guide dog puppy-i-traiig amed Amelia who accompaies me to work every day. We ve had her ow for three moths, ad it s worked out really well. She speds the morig with me at work most days, ad o Wedesdays she s there all day because we started Amelia s Afterschool Advetures story time for the afterschool crowd. The puppy accompaies me to story time ad listes to stories, the visits with the kids. We ll have Amelia with us util she is betwee eightee ad twety-two moths old, the she will retur to Guide Dogs of America for formal guide dog traiig. The experiece of havig her at the library has, so far, bee very positive. We call the program PAWPALS Providig Access to the World: Puppies ad Libraries. I feel it s a logical extesio for a library; after all, our missio is to provide access to iformatio... these dogs provide access to the world for a blid perso. I m fortuate that my director ad staff share my passio ad have bee very supportive of this idea. Little by little, as Amelia becomes more socially polite ad mature, she will be more visible i the library ad at library fuctios. She already atteds all meetigs ad workshops I atted. I hope other librarias might cosider doig the same. The library is a great place to raise a puppy, ad people really ejoy seeig her ad learig about guide dogs. A-Marie Bide, Childre s Libraria, Uplad Public Library, Califoria Our Trusty Trustees Jo A Pider is right o the mark with her astute ad comprehesive uderstadig of the partership betwee trustees ad directors ( From the Presidet, Jauary/February 2003). Whe directors ad trustees have awareess ad uderstadig of each other s role ad resposibility, the library beefits. Trustees, whether appoited or elected, voluteer to be trustees because we care about our libraries. We assert our fiduciary resposibility whe we advocate for adequate fudig; we uderstad that our resposibility for the library s policies meas that we may sometimes have to deal with cotroversial ad difficult issues. However, well-developed policies are essetial to the well-beig of the library. Whe trustees ad directors uderstad oe aother ad work together, good thigs will happe. Pider s approach to trustee educatio should be copied by every public library director. It is a formula for relatioship success. There is aother route to trustee educatio, ad that is to have your trustees joi ad atted the Associatio of Library Trustees ad Advocates [ALTA]. Oe of ALTA s fuctios is to be resposible for cotiuig ad comprehesive educatioal programs for library trustees. We do this at ALA Aual Cofereces, ad we make available may writte materials o all aspects of trusteeship. These are extraordiary times for libraries. Whe trustees ad directors uderstad oe aother ad work together, good thigs will happe. Let s make it happe ow. Shirley Lag, Presidet, Board of Trustees, Syosset Public Library, New York Access-ability As chair of the ADA Assembly, I am writig to cogratulate Public Libraries o a excellet issue o accessibility (Jauary/February 2003). You have doe a terrific service by providig librarias with much-eeded examples o how to provide services to people with disabilities. Rhea Joyce Rubi, Oaklad, Califoria People First Feature Editor Reée Vaillacourt McGrath was right to place a disclaimer about laguage at the begiig of the Jauary/ February special issue Servig People with Disabilities. Sice the passage of the Americas with Disabilities Act, more members of the disability commuity i the Uited States are showig a preferece for Perso First laguage. There are people who prefer other laguage, who have become accustomed to cotiued o page

11 Tee Library Voluteers Lesley Farmer Do you get these requests from tees: Ca I do service hours with you? ad I wat to voluteer for the library? Do you sometimes wish they did t ask, because they re more trouble tha they re worth? Maybe you re swamped with all this good will. Yet, o the other had, the majority of youg people idetify their career choice by the time they graduate from high school, so urturig a teeage libraria waabe makes good sese. Havig bee a high school libraria ad a YA public libraria, I ve worked with tees i several capacities (I led a Girl Scout troop of middle schoolers, too). I also started voluteerig i libraries i grade school. I ve foud that the major factor that esures success is a soud ifrastructure supported by solid traiig ad ogoig commuicatio. First, why are these teeagers voluteerig? May reasos exist: Somethig to do Persoal reasos (their best fried said it would be fu; romatic etworkig; safety...) Persoal career iterest Career exploratio activity as part of school or youth group Commuity service hours requiremet as part of school or youth group Detetio-based commuity service hours (really, this does happe, sometimes without the library beig otified) Whe a school or youth agecy is ivolved, the public libraria is wise to establish a formal partership with these istitutios. The easiest approach is to wait for the voluteer to metio the affiliatio ad a possible cotact perso; the more proactive method is to idetify ad approach key commuity stakeholders (e.g., Scouts, churches, ad recreatio ceters). Withi a school, several etities might be the source of voluteer coectios: career ceter, academic couselor, activity clubs, admiistrator, ad school libraria. The last ame o this list should be the public libraria s first cotact perso, because the school libraria will likely kow the voluteer scee i the school ad ca act as a liaiso betwee the public library ad the rest of the school commuity. Clear expectatios at this level betwee istitutios lay the groudwork for success with the teeagers themselves. As with other services, the public library should have a policy for voluteers, which ca be adjusted for teeagers. The tee policy should detail a applicatio process that icludes a formal applicatio form ad requires a iterview. A adult, such as the teacher assigig the commuity service hours or a paret or guardia, should refer the voluteer or approve the activity. This step helps the public libraria get i cotact with aother adult i order to gai more iformatio about the teeager or to get advice i case of problems. It also sigals to the teeager that the libraria takes the teeager ad the service seriously. Both the libraria ad the teeager should discuss their expectatios. Fially, the library ad the voluteer should sig a cotract of voluteer service that covers cotact iformatio, timeframe, agreed-upo tasks ad resposibilities, traiig, ad the beefits to the studet ad the library. Oe mai challege that public libraries face is what do we do with these tees? Agai, preparatio is vital librarias must decide what tasks are appropriate for tees. Oe approach is to list possible tasks, the traiig eeded, ad a rage of hours ecessary for completig the task. For istace, lickig evelopes requires five miutes of traiig ad ca be doe with a studet who wats oe hour of service. O the other had, storytellig may require te hours of traiig ad a upfrot commitmet of fifty hours of service. Particularly for those studets who wat a quick job, the library might post a ruig list of likely jobs (e.g., pickig up uatteded ewspapers or books, tidyig, ad performig simple clerical tasks). Ideed, studets who show more serious iterest i library voluteerig could be traied for more sophisticated fuctios that match their iterests ad skills (the pay-off for sustaied voluteer effort). It should be oted that some tees like to do the same task repeatedly, thereby developig a sese of owership for that resposibility (such as maitaiig a sectio of the library shelvig), while others like to explore a variety of jobs. The libraria s resposibility is to fid the right match ad task balace for each teeager which is usually predicated o the degree of voluteer commitmet. Regardless of the task, however, it should be commuicated to the tees that their work is importat ad useful. Tees will work hard if the job is meaigful ad purposeful, but they may be isulted if the task is cosidered demeaig or uimportat. For tees, the task equals their status. I ay case, tees do eed supervisio, especially as they start, to esure that they ca do the job well ad, ultimately, idepedetly. After the tee shows competecy, spot-checkig their work helps to show that the libraria cares ad ca recogize their efforts positively or correct mistakes before they affect others. As with other relatioships betwee tees ad adults, a fie Tees will work hard if the job is meaigful ad purposeful, but they may be isulted if the task is cosidered demeaig or uimportat. lie eeds to be draw so teeagers do t thik that the adult is loomig over them. Tees eed to kow that the adult respects them eough to give them room, but they also eed to kow that the adult is available whe eeded ad cares for them. It s a good 141

12 idea to have a poit perso for tee voluteers at each library site. Ad eve those librarias who do ot work directly with tee voluteers should maitai a respectful relatioship with teeagers that fosters a safe ad carig eviromet. The libraria has the right to expect a specified level of effort ad results. Whe a teeager does ot meet those expectatios, the two parties ca agree that the fit is t right. The timig may be off, the persoalities may clash, the tasks might ot be appropriate (a tee who is dyslexic would ot be a good choice for shelvig books, for istace). Both the tee ad adult are allocatig precious time ad effort, so the goal is for both parties to have a successful experiece. If doe thoughtfully, the library ca gai eeded help ad burgeoig support ad maybe a future libraria. Lesley Farmer is the Library Media Teacher Services Credetial Program Coordiator at Califoria State Uiversity, Log Beach; lfarmer@csulb.edu. READERS RESPOND cotiued from page 140 other laguage, ad so it is correct to respect each idividual s choice of address. Libraries, because they experiece so much direct cotact, are i a good positio to read the teor of the local commuity ad choose laguage from face-to-face experiece, a real advatage. Missig from this issue were articles about people like myself who have psychiatric disabilities. Sice most people with psychiatric disabilities iteract as would ay other patro of a library, most of us will eed little more tha the geeral public i the way of attetio. But occasioally our eeds make themselves kow, ad geerally a carig iteractio is sufficiet to calm whatever fears we are experiecig. With the closure of may state metal istitutios, most of which had refuges called libraries, where we could experiece a semblace of ormalcy ad acceptace, public librarias may well ecouter us i greater umbers. I wet to my local library to lear how to access the Iteret. I lasted about three miutes before the tears came. It was far too frustratig for me the first time, ad the libraria, who fortuately kew me, did ot press me to do more. After about five attempts, five differet times, I was up ad ruig. Now I have my ow computer, ad though I will ever be a hacker, I do all right. I am grateful that my libraria pulled back whe I started to show emotios. Harold Maio, advocate for people with disabilities, Lee Couty, Florida More tha Meets the Eye at the Library of Cogress Web Site I just fiished readig Steve Cohe s Iteret Spotlight colum The Library of Cogress Olie: Part 1 i the March/April 2003 issue of Public Libraries. I d like to thak Mr. Cohe for writig this article. Although I have visited the Library of Cogress Web site several times to look at their Exhibitios sectio, I was t aware of all of the other thigs that are available. I m really lookig forward to part 2 of this article. Joh Kieser, Libraria, Bellaire Public Library, Ohio Thak you for the timely article o buildig collectios for our Spaish-speakig commuities ( Collectios ad Services for the Spaish-Speakig: Issues ad Resources by Solia Kaste Marquis i the March/April issue). I my few moths of workig at the public library referece desk I have see a icrease i the umber of Spaish-speakig people lookig for materials i their ative laguage. Eve i times of limited budgets whe we may ot be able to purchase the materials, so may are grateful eve for assistace i locatig sources for purchasig the materials o their ow. The refereces i the article ad the help of orgaizatios like REFORMA will help make sure these patros eeds are met. I am lookig forward to the secod article of the series ad hopefully cotiued coverage o ways to make the library the commuity resource for all our patros! Michelle Speight, Providece (R.I.) Public Library [Editor s ote: part 2 of this series appears o p. 172 of this issue.] EDITOR S NOTE cotiued from page 138 I a attempt to address this, PLA offers a aual award for the best articles writte by at least oe public libraria ad published i Public Libraries. Cash prizes of $500 ad $300 are awarded to the wiig authors. The articles are evaluated ad wiers selected by members of the Public Libraries Advisory Subcommittee. This group makes policy for the joural ad advises the maagig editor ad feature editor. See page 153 for more iformatio about the award ad our wiers from Public librarias are ecouraged to parter with academics ad others i submittig articles to be cosidered for the award. The skills of public ad academic librarias complemet each other well, ad each side has much to gai through a closer relatioship that will ultimately beefit our shared patros. [Editor s ote: part 2 of this series appears o p. 159 of this issue.] Gracias! Writte February Cotact the feature editor at 248A N. Higgis Ave. #145, Missoula, MT 59802; publiclibraries@aol.com. [Editor s ote: see Matthew Hall s article i the IterViews colum o p. 154 of this issue for aother perspective o a public libraria s experiece i the academic world.] 142

13 AWE 4c page 143

14 the rest is history! The first class bega Jauary 9, 2002, with eleve participats. The Cocept A Passio for Cultural Uderstadig Makes Let s Talk Eglish a Success Diae Nevill Take oe committed youg ma eager to use his extesive cross-cultural experiece, add forty ethusiastic atioals from other lads watig to commuicate better with Americas, ad what do you get? At Gledale (Ariz.) Public Library, the commuity was the wier with Let s Talk Eglish, a twety-oe-week series of weekly, free, oe-hour Eglish coversatio classes for adults. Gledale, a city with a populatio of 240,000 people, is situated i the Phoeix metropolita area. Oe expects a high cocetratio of Spaish-speakers, give the city s proximity to Mexico. However, the Phoeix area is also a draw for people from all over the world, with studets i the classes comig from Vietam, Peru, Japa, Hog Kog, Cuba, Italy, Romaia, Turkey, Lithuaia, Nigeria, Colombia, South Korea, Chia, Taiwa, the Philippies, ad Thailad, as well as Mexico. Mark Reiswig, a twety-four-year-old, part-time page at the library, had recetly graduated from Hope Iteratioal Uiversity i Fullerto, Califoria, with a BA i itercultural studies. He came to the library kowig that i eightee moths he would be headig to Thailad to teach Eglish. He decided to put his skills to work right away by voluteerig to start a Eglish-laguage class i the library. Mark had already acquired quite a bit of experiece workig with other cultures. He had take five separate trips to Tijuaa to build houses with AMOR Miistries, goe o shortterm missio joureys to Hoduras ad Peru, lived with a Filipio family for two moths, plus hoed his skills doig private tutorig. Gledale Public Library had ever offered this type of service, but whe Mark explaied his cocept, a immediate yes was the aswer. He got busy arragig room space, outliig the cocept ad activities for each class, ad desigig a flier for publicity. The plaig took place i November A ews release wet out to the media ad Mark kew that people from other coutries eeded to uderstad the America culture as well as speak Eglish. He devised a program that icluded iformatio about daily life: shoppig, holidays, friedship, family life, school, food, politics, gettig help with directios, feeligs, ad idioms. He used a variety of methods to keep the class ivolved: short video clips followed by discussios ad questios, games, Q&A, short articles from ews magazies, ad clips from televisio ewscasts. Mark was cocered that the classes might become too crowded, so he cosidered limitig the umber of studets who could atted by havig them preregister. But he recosidered, realizig that some people would be reluctat to call ad sig up. The resultig registratio ot required feature tured out to be a good choice. Eve though a total of forty people took part i the series, each class averaged aroud twelve people. Oly oe ews release was set out. Word-of-mouth was extremely effective oce the series bega. There are two schools of higher learig i Gledale that have foreig studets. Approximately half of the studets at the America Graduate School of Iteratioal Maagemet, or Thuderbird, come from foreig coutries. May of these studets have spouses. Twelve of the Let s Talk Eglish class members were Thuderbird wives. Next door to the library is Gledale Commuity College, which has a active foreig studet program. Five studets came from the college. Other class members were retired, housewives, or i the coutry for a limited time with a workig spouse. Some of the class members came to almost every sessio; others came oly a few times. The fial sessio o May 29 was a time of celebratio with participats receivig a certificate of achievemet. It was also a opportuity to show off treats from aroud the world, with everyoe brigig somethig to share. The Good ad the Bad What worked ad what did ot? Mark discovered that a oehour class is too short. I the secod series, each class lasted iety miutes. The level of Eglish spoke by class participats varies greatly; hece, Mark developed some extra challegig activities for the more fluet studets. I the secod sessio, he did ot talk as fast, or use as may idioms as he did i the first sessio. Ad, fially, he did ot ask yes-or-o questios, sice there is o discussio after the aswer! But the positives far outweighed the egatives. Each class bega with a questio writte o the board. Examples icluded: What did you do o New Year s Day? How would you describe yourself usig te adjectives? How may brothers ad sisters do you have? Do you like pizza? What is your favorite America food? How is Valetie s Day celebrated i your home coutry? What is difficult for you whe you grocery shop? What do you like to do with your frieds? 144

15 What is most differet about America culture compared to your home culture? These questios paved the way for iteractive discussio i small groups ad large groups. I each class, participats were paired with a differet parter to discuss the day s questio ad other topics. Mark foud that visual objects worked best i gettig discussio goig. For the first day, he brought a favorite object from home ad talked about why he liked it. The followig week everyoe else was asked to brig a object from home that represeted him or her. A youg woma from Hog Kog brought her favorite bathig suit to class! As it got close to Valetie s Day, Mark brought i symbols of the holiday for discussio. Movie clips were aother popular visual. Mark showed a short clip from a movie, the asked true-or-false questios. Besides movies, Mark showed sectios from a Livig Laguage video, Eglish for New Americas: Everyday Life. 1 The hourlog video cotais exercises i makig itroductios; askig the time, date, ad directios; shoppig for food; fidig a apartmet; opeig a bak accout; ad usig a telephoe. The Livig Laguage self-study package also icludes a hour-log audiocassette ad a 128-page book. Oe activity that got everyoe movig aroud the room was the Hot ad Cold game. Mark explaied that everyoe i the Uited States has opiios, ad a part of freedom of speech is the ability to express oe s opiio. He declared that the east wall i the room was hot ad the west wall was cold. He would the ask a questio, ad each perso was to take a place o a imagiary lie accordig to how they felt about the questio. For istace, Do you like pizza? bega the game. People who loved pizza wet to stad ext to the east wall, while those who oly liked it somewhat stood i the middle of the room. Those who did ot like pizza at all were alog the west wall. Mark the took a imagiary microphoe ad iterviewed several people to let them share their opiio about the topic. He wet through a series of questios, edig with Will the Uited States ever fid Osama Bi Lade? There was ot eough time to cover everythig i class, so Mark assiged Iteret homework through the use of ESL Web sites. The topics usually cocered grammar. At the begiig of Start a Eglish Coversatio Class at Your Library Are you iterested i startig Eglish coversatio classes at your library? Mark Reiswig has put together a packet of iformatio o the topics ad issues covered i each class, alog with helpful Web sites. Cotact Diae Nevill at (623) or devill@ci.gledale.az.us to receive a copy. Mark Reiswig, top row, far left, with the graduates of the first Eglish coversatio class. class, he would quickly review the aswers. Mark s favorite Web sites are Webster ( ad ESL Café ( Grammar ad writig are the focus of the Webster Web site. It covers every facet of writig, from the elemets of seteces to developig paragraphs ad uderstadig the writig process. The site also provides a quick grammar review for ative Eglish speakers. ESL Café cotais quizzes o geography, grammar, history, idioms, slag ad words, people, readig comprehesio, sciece, world culture, ad writig. The idea cookbook sectio provides a corucopia of suggestios for teachers dealig with diverse topics such as busiess Eglish, usig food i classes, holiday ideas, ice breakers, activities for groups, prouciatio, ad Eglish spellig. Future classes will iclude more time for questios about life i America, a suggestio box, a weekly recipe, a class syllabus, creative homework, ad some readig ad writig assigmets. Because everyoe ejoys eatig, a sack sig-up list will be available. Mark is ow i Thailad teachig Eglish. He has plated the seed of holdig Eglish coversatio classes i our library ad has left behid a blueprit to cotiue what he started. A class member from Italy, Atoella Maetti, leared eough i the classes to take Mark s place whe he left ad is curretly leadig the Eglish coversatio classes at the library. Diae Nevill is the Public Iformatio Officer at Gledale Public Library i Arizoa; devill@ci.gledale.az.us. Refereces 1. Eglish for New Americas: Everyday Life. Producer Raquel Ortiz, Director Adrei Campeau. Videocassette. Livig Laguage,

16 Magazie Sposorships The Newberg (Ore.) Public Library subscribes to more tha 200 magazies, with a bill that totals more tha $6,000. To help offset the costs, library patros are steppig up as magazie sposors. Sposors pick the magazie of their choice from the library s subscriptio list. They ca pay for the subscriptio with cash, check, or charge right at the library s mai desk. I retur, the sposor s ame, busiess ame, or the ame of someoe they wish to hoor appears o the magazie s display cover. It s a great way for patros to show their support of the library. The display plate remais for oe year, whe the magazie s subscriptio comes up for reewal. Sposors are give first choice to reew their sposorship. For more iformatio, see or.us. Source: Library Admiistrator s Digest, Nov Appetizers for the Brai The first course o the meu at two New Jersey restaurats these days is t exactly edible uless you cout it as food for thought. While awaitig their oodle soup, diers perusig their placemats at the Motclair Char-Broil Restaurat ad the Veroa Dier are learig to call whe they eed aswers from a libraria after their local libraries have closed for the day. The toll-free umber coects patros to New Jersey Nightlie, a late-ight telephoe referece service available free of charge to all state residets. The cotact umber is colorfully displayed o the placemats, alog with examples of actual questios that are sure to ispire mealtime coversatio, such as Which three movies wo all four top Oscar categories? What are the twety-oe couties of New Jersey? ad Who was the last presidet bor i the ieteeth cetury? New Jersey Nightlie maager Cheryl McBride worked with New Jersey advertisig agecy Placemats Plus to arrage a discout rate for the ew ads, set to expad to six restaurats i Essex ad Huterdo couties. Now thousads of people who drop by for a meal or a quick bite ca feed their curiosity as well, said McBride, who was istrumetal i New Jersey Nightlie s creatio eleve years ago. It s a ice, relaxed way to lear about such a helpful service. Callers Tales from the Frot is a collectio of ews items ad iovative ideas from libraries atiowide. Sed submissios to the cotributig editor, Jeifer T. Ries-Taggart, Libraria, MCLS Office, Cetral Library of Rochester ad Moroe Couty, 115 South Ave., Rochester, NY 14604; jtaggart@ mcls.rochester.lib.y.us. are always tellig us how they appreciate beig able to coverse, oe o oe, with real professioals who kow how to fid iformatio quickly. The more people who kow about Nightlie, the better, Based at the East Bruswick Public Library, the service is staffed by referece librarias who field thousads of telephoe questios each moth o virtually ay topic. Callers ca also request to have up to five pages of iformatio faxed or ed to them each ight. New Jersey Nightlie is supported by the New Jersey Library Network, admiistered by the New Jersey State Library ad fuded by state tax dollars. For more iformatio about the program, please call Cheryl McBride at (732) or her at cmcbride@ebpl.org. Starbucks Staff Storytellers Traied by Fort Worth PL Staff The Fort Worth (Tex.) Public Library (FWPL) Foudatio has received a $5,754 grat from the Starbucks Foudatio to trai Starbucks employees i the Mother Goose method of storytellig. The FWPL Commuity Outreach Departmet will iitiate a oe-year pilot program at oe Starbucks locatio, with the goal of icorporatig the family literacy storytellig method at all Starbucks locatios citywide. Library staff will trai Starbucks persoel i the Mother Goose Asks Why? method, a literacy ad sciece series that itegrates math ad sciece cocepts through various readig techiques. The program was first created by the Vermot Ceter for the Book ad was fuded by the Natioal Sciece Foudatio to expad the program s geographic reach. Traiees will receive program books, family activity guides, ad a sciece ad math activity kit. The program will be implemeted with regular story times already held at the store. I additio to storytellig, employees will trai caregivers i skills that will improve childre s coceptual ad laguage developmet through readig. For more iformatio, see Source: Library Hotlie, Nov. 25, 2002 Speakers Ready to Tell the Library Story Commuity groups lookig for a iterestig meetig presetatio will be pleased to lear about the ew speakers bureau at the Jefferso Couty (Colo.) Public Library i Lakewood. Speakers discuss library resources, addressig meetigs coutywide ad tailorig the emphasis to audiece iterests. Potetial audieces iclude paret groups, busiess orgaizatios, older adults, service clubs, ad oprofit groups. Speakers receive traiig to explai library resources that may i the commuity may ot be aware of, such as books o tape, videos, CDs, ad DVDs. Speakers also address the variety of iformatio available aroud the clock through the Olie Library, icludig databases for busiess ad household use, help with homework, ad liks to libraria-recommeded Web sites. As part of their presetatios, speakers provide audiece members with forms to obtai a library card, request a mailed copy of the mothly ewsletter, or joi the Frieds of the Library. Speakers also make available iformatio o classes, childre s activities, ad adult programs. Approximately thirty voluteers comprise the bureau. They iclude members of the library staff ad voluteers 146

17 from the trustees, foudatio, ad frieds groups. For more iformatio, call Jaell Kerski at (303) or Solvig the Mystery behid the Mystery Bottle Followig Hurricae Floyd i 1999, Williamsburg (Va.) Regioal Library Foudatio board member Martha (Marty) DeWelt foud o her property a remarkable thig a message i a bottle. A former castig aget, film producer, radio show hostess, ad busiess woma, Marty recogized a opportuity whe it fell ito her law. This past February Marty DeWelt delivers the message i the bottle to Ash Naraya, the aoymous bidder s represetative. her visio trasformed a ote sealed i a bottle ito support for several of Marty s most cherished causes. I December 2002 Marty decided to auctio off her bottle o ebay, with proceeds goig to support the Williamsburg Regioal Library Foudatio, Williamsburg s Relay for Life, the Providece Classical School, Lakewood Elemetary School i Wiscosi, ad families affected by the torado that devastated Mossy Grove, Teessee, i November Promotig the auctio o atioal televisio, i atioal ad local ewspapers, ad o radio programs across the coutry, Marty created iterest eough to see the bottle sell for $15,000 to a bidder kow oly as I love a good mystery. Marty ad her husbad were flow to Hollywood, with all expeses paid by the aoymous bidder. They ejoyed the comforts of a chauffeured limousie ad a top floor suite i Merv Griffith s Beverly Hilto. O Valetie s Day, Marty delivered the bottle to the mystery bidder s represetative, Ash Naraya, a pricipal at RGT Capital Maagemet. Naraya s cliet list is a who s who of Hollywood persoalities ad professioal athletes. Exchagig the bottle for a $15,000 check, Marty retured to Williamsburg to persoally help distribute the proceeds. True to her ature, however, Marty did take a brief detour before leavig the glitz ad glitter of Hollywood. She visited the Beverly Hills Public Library. For more iformatio about Williamsburg Regioal Library, visit Howard Couty Library at Techology s Cuttig Edge Howard Couty (Md.) Library is pleased to offer a excitig ew wireless etwork service at its cetral library. Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) allows electroic coectios without computer termials or etwork jacks. With this service, ayoe who has a laptop or PDA eabled with Wi-Fi ca have high-speed access to library ad Iteret resources eve if other customers are usig all the high-speed workstatios. Associate director Bria Auger commets, We already add value to usig the Iteret through our growig collectio of subscriptio databases, ad ow that they ca be available to you o your ow equipmet while you are i the library adds eve more value. Those who are iterested eed to apply at the cetral library for a free Wi-Fi accout, which takes about five workig days to activate. After receivig a accout, customers ca access the Iteret from aywhere i the library itself or eve just outside the buildig. Howard Couty Library is the first Marylad library to offer Wi- Fi. Ay questios about the service ca be directed to Wireless@HCLibrary.org. Libraries Sig Up for Mutual Aid Several Vermot public libraries have siged up to participate i the Departmet of Libraries ew Mutual Aid program, a volutary metorig program. The libraries are paired o the basis of iterest ad eed, offerig support ad guidace i whatever form the librarias ad board of trustees feel is eeded. The program may ivolve visits ad meetigs betwee libraries, or the parters ca work together o a o-call basis. Cotact betwee libraries is iteded to be at least oce a moth for a year, which may be reewed by mutual agreemet. The first libraries to take part i the program are the Platt Memorial Library (Shoreham) ad Brow Public Library (Northfield). Shoreham trustees ad staff hope to expad the library s space, perhaps i cooperatio with oe or more commuity orgaizatios. The Northfield Library did just that oly a few years ago ad ow hopes to broade its childre s programmig ad other services, which is a stregth of the Platt Memorial s offerigs. Two icorporated public libraries Mark Skier Library (Machester) ad Brado Free Public Library will support each other durig the automatio process ad i developig a rage of commuity support. Cotact Mariae Kotch at (802) for more iformatio. Youg Adult Advisory Board How do you attract youg adults to the library? The Lawrece (Kas.) Public Library has a way. Get them ivolved i the Youg Adult Advisory Board (YAAB)! A group of teeage library patros who love the library ad books make up YAAB. Sice tees are busy, the library tries to keep time requiremets to a miimum. The board meets mothly o Suday afteroos for a geeral meetig ad book discussio, usually from 2 to 4 P.M. The library requests that board members also sped time voluteerig at the library. There are umerous jobs available, icludig shelvig books, puttig carts i order, filig, ad helpig with the ewsletter. As a YAAB member, tees have iput ito the selectio of the youg adult collectio. They also help pla programmig. YAAB is ope to all youg adults betwee the ages of eleve ad eightee years. For more iformatio, cotact Kim Patto at (785) , ext

18 Cuttig-Edge Techologies ad Services Hampto (Skip) Auld e re ot o the cuttig edge. We re o the bleedig edge, WDeputy Director Gail Griffith would ofte say with a gleam i her eye whe I was a brach maager with Carroll Couty (Md.) Public Library i the 1990s. Recogizig that implemetig the ew sometimes meat uaticipated difficulties ad paiful struggles, her statemet reflected pride i beig free of bureaucratic lethargy ad the ability to move quickly to deploy ew services ad techologies. This colum highlights projects of several libraries that staff members feel are cuttig edge. Takig the Wireless Pluge i Kasas City library ad systemwide. Each task force member was supplied with a Compaq ipaq persoal digital assistat (PDA). The library also purchased wireless access poits that were placed aroud public service floors of our mai library ad also i a smaller brach library. The task force s mai objective was to test hardware, software applicatios, ad implemetatio methods of wireless techology before the library decided o full-scale deploymet. To do that, the task force is curretly testig a umber of PDA fuctioalities, both for staff use ad for use with library customers. These fuctioalities iclude: accessig the library catalog; commuicatig with staff via istat messeger software; placig library catalog requests for customers; accessig customer records; testig e-book use; trackig i-house use of library-related materials; remote updatig ad processig of library catalog records; circulatio fuctios; bar-code scaig; ad ivetory ad weedig. Task force members are also testig fuctioality usually related to traditioal PDA activities, like appoitmet settig, ote takig fuctios, maagig , ad sychroizig basic fuctioality to both the PDA ad to the staff member s PC. The experimet was slated for completio i early The secod phase is full-scale deploymet of wireless techology throughout the library system. For the ew buildig projects, a full wireless commuicatio system is beig plaed. Staff members will use wireless etwork devices, icludig PCs with wireless coectivity ad wireless PDAs ad hadhelds, for both back-office ad public service work. Staff will also use wireless IP-based phoes (Voice-over-IP techology, or VOIP) that ca be carried throughout the ew buildigs. Wireless access will be available o all floors for staff ad public. Library customers will be able to coect wirelessly i a variety of ways. Meetig rooms will be desiged for video coferecig sessios, ad the library will provide sixty wireless laptops for use durig meetigs. David Kig IT/Web Project Maager, Kasas City (Mo.) Public Library; DavidKig@kclibrary.org Kasas City Public Library, a large urba public library, will be movig its curret dowtow facility ito a larger reovated facility i early This ew cetral library will feature more floor space tha the curret dowtow buildig ad will also have ustaffed floors i the upper levels of the buildig. I additio to this project, the library system is buildig a larger brach library i Kasas City s midtow Plaza area. Because of these two projects, the library decided to take the pluge ito the world of wireless techology, both for library staff ad for library customers. This is beig doe i two phases: phase 1 is a testig phase with the library s Wireless Task Force; phase 2 builds o the experiece of the task force, icorporatig wireless techology ito the ew cetral library ad the ew Plaza library. Durig phase 1, the library is testig wireless hadheld devices via a specially formed library committee, the Wireless Task Force. The task force is charged with researchig, developig, ad testig wireless applicatios ad coectivity to the library s computer etwork ad associated databases ad to exteral fuctios ad databases through the Iteret ad makig recommedatios for use of this techology i the cetral My Florida Web Portal Debra Sears Chief, Bureau of Library ad Network Services, State Library of Florida; dsears@mail.dos.state.fl.us The State Library of Florida, i partership with the State Techology Office ad the Florida Public Service Commissio, ow provides a olie service that is both a database of frequetly asked Florida-related questios ad a expaded aska-libraria service. The State Library is charged with day-to-day admiistratio of the service. Visitors to the state Web portal, ca search a database of aswered questios. If they do ot fid the aswer they eed, they ca submit a questio olie. The questio is directed to the State Library s referece staff for a idividual respose. As of late 2002, there were close to oe thousad questios ad aswers i the database, ad the State Library plas to double that umber withi a year. Usig a software product produced by RightNow Techologies, the library offers a resource that is useful to patros ad especially helpful to referece staff of public libraries. With a sigle click, for example, staff members ad patros ca choose to be otified if the aswer to a questio is 148

19 updated. Additioally, ay aswer i the database ca be copied to a patro, hyperliks itact, a aspect that is appreciated by those staff members who aswer questios via or live chat. Fairfax Couty: Gateway to the E Lois M. Kirkpatrick Marketig ad Public Relatios Maager, Fairfax Couty (Va.) Public Library; lois.kirkpatrick@fairfaxcouty.gov Fairfax Couty, Virgiia, is oe of the most wired commuities i the world. More tha 80 percet of couty residets have access to the Iteret from home or work. With Iteret compaies headquartered i the area, 40 percet of the world s Iteret traffic passes through Fairfax. The Fairfax Couty Public Library (FCPL) is oe of the leadig govermet agecies usig techology to serve people who work, live, ad lear i Fairfax Couty. FCPL lauched its Web site i 1995 ( gov/library). I the followig years, the library: started referece service i 1998; lauched a ewsletter i 1999; helped the couty govermet redesig its site i 2000; bega offerig e-books i 2000; lauched a ewsletter for agecy directors i 2001; ad opeed a e-gov ceter ad uveiled a ew catalog system, through which we pla to offer both holds ad overdue otices via , i The public ewsletter is FCPLEASE (the Fairfax Couty Public Library Evets, Activities ad Services E-Letter (sig up at Although FCPL offers access to thousads of titles through etlibrary, e-books have ot igited the public s iterest to the degree iitially hyped. While our overall e-book circulatio has remaied steady, the most popular category with users cotiues to be computer-related titles. FCPL s collectio maagemet coordiator, Julie Prigle, otes that e-book circulatio has bee flatteig out i terms of public library use, but is becomig a accepted way to provide referece material. She otes that prited referece material takes up precious space i public libraries, ad that vedors are movig towards providig more referece material olie by parterig with etlibrary. I 1999 FCPL director Edwi S. Clay III bega plaig maagemet semiars that would brig i well-kow experts to discuss techological, ecoomic, demographic, ad cultural treds affectig couty operatios. Although origially desiged as a Year 2000 evet, the NACo award-wiig Milleium Forum has bee exteded idefiitely because of attedee respose. More tha 2,200 staff members have atteded a forum to hear such speakers as Thomas Friedma, Pulitzer Prize-wiig author of the bestsellig book The Lexus ad the Olive Tree; sydicated columist Judith Miss Maers Marti, who spoke o civility amog govermet staff i a post-9/11 eviromet; ad futurist Gio Va Remortel of the Istitute for Alterative Futures, which was cofouded by Future Shock author Alvi Toffler. Access Fairfax is Fairfax Couty s ew e-gov ceter, a joit effort betwee FCPL ad the Fairfax Couty Departmet of Iformatio Techology. The program offers residets free use of twelve computer termials to fid iformatio about couty services ad to coduct olie trasactios with couty agecies. Access Fairfax allows users to pay for vehicle decals; check real estate records; get iformatio o buildig permits; pay Couty taxes olie; fid bus fare, schedule, ad trasfer iformatio; ad perform other trasactios through the couty s Web site. Access Fairfax also offers telecommutig offices to couty staff. Fairfax Couty is the largest suburb of the Washigto, D.C., area, which is oe of the most diverse commuities i the coutry oe i five residets was bor i aother atio. I Fairfax Couty, more tha oe-third of our residets speak aother laguage at home. Such diversity requires a great deal of social savvy, patiece, ad sesitivity by library staff members. I a era whe techology sometimes meas the loss of huma iteractio, FCPL strives to remai both high-tech ad high-touch. Wi-Fi Iteret Access at the Stauto Public Library David Steiberg ad Kare Pifher David Steiberg is Adult Services Libraria (SteibergDL@ci.stauto.va.us), ad Kare Pifher (PifherKL@ci.stauto.va.us) is Head of Techical Services, Stauto (Va.) Public Library. Sice December of 1996, Iteret access has bee oe of the Stauto (Va.) Public Library s most popular services. But although demad for access cotiues to grow, the library, like may others across the coutry, has little space for additioal public-access computers or the moey for more wirig ad hardware. The library s solutio has bee to go wireless. Wi-Fi is the ame give to the Istitute of Electrical ad Electroics Egieers b stadard for wireless etworkig. Wi-Fi coectios ca be made withi approximately 300 feet of the access poit, or hot spot, which is coected to the library s Iteret service. The Iteret coectio ca be ay speed from DSL to T3 ad ca be shared with wired PCs. I a wireless etwork, computers commuicate with the etwork much like a cordless phoe. For the cost of oe computer (approximately $1,800), the wireless system allows the the Stauto Public Library to make the Iteret available to may users simultaeously. Wireless access allows ulimited time olie for patros with their ow laptops ad PDAs, ad because access is available throughout the buildig, these users are ot cofied to the crowded computer sectio but ca use seatig areas i other parts of the facility. Wi-Fi makes Iteret access easily available i two meetig rooms that are used by both staff ad the public ad i a third room used primarily for childre s programs. This beefits both staff ad patro traiig, library programmig for adults ad childre, ad presetatios by commuity groups. The library does ot provide patros with either the ecessary wireless cards or wireless-capable hardware, but this may be a optio for the future. To go wireless curretly, a patro requires a Wi-Fi-certified b card ad a laptop computer, 149

20 a otebook, or a PDA (such as Palm or Hadsprig). May of these products purchased today come equipped with Wi-Fi cards; those that do t ca be adapted via Wi-Fi coectivity PC cards, which ca be purchased for less tha $100 at most stores sellig computer hardware. The library provides users with istructios for cofigurig the wireless device with the Wi-Fi etwork. These istructios cover various operatig systems, both Widows ad Macitosh. The average user eeds little or o assistace from library staff members to access the service, who are further saved the time of registerig ad trackig loaed computers. As the umber of Wi-Fi users icreases atioally, the library expects that more ad more local residets ad visitors will take advatage of the service. The system provides broadbad access, allowig patros to surf at up to 11 mbps. Sice this coectio is faster tha most home Iteret services i the area, eve patros Despite the fact that libraries have bee itroducig the public to computers for the last two decades, libraries have ot always bee cosidered techology leaders. with home coectios may fid it advatageous to use the library to dowload legthy programs or documets. All users share the badwidth o the access poit, thus the more cliets o the access poit, the more cogested the etwork ad the slower the overall performace. Whe overall demad begis to bog dow the system, a secod access poit easily ca be added. Despite the fact that libraries have bee itroducig the public to computers for the last two decades, libraries have ot always bee cosidered techology leaders. This has bee true for the Stauto Public Library, which automated i 1986 early for a small public library but fiacially has ot bee able to keep up with may techological advacemets. Wi-Fi at the Stauto Public Library has caught the iterest of the techologically kowledgeable i the area, such as members of the Sheadoah Valley Techology Coucil. Coucil members have bee surprised that their small-tow public library is at the forefrot i implemetig this state-of-the-art techology. MHL-Mail, a opt-i alertig service, started i February To jump-start the service, the library set a message to the approximately 1,200 addresses of Adover residets i our patro database. We asked if the perso would like to receive oe or two alerts about library services each moth ad icluded istructios for usubscribig ad a assurace that we do ot share patro iformatio with ayoe. A few people usubscribed, obody complaied, ad 600 s bouced back. We were ot surprised by the bouce-backs, as there had bee o reaso for people to keep us iformed of address chages. So we were left with 600 subscribers, ad the rest, as they say, is history! Usig our home page, library card applicatio forms, ad articles i the local ewspaper, we bega a cocerted campaig to sig people up for the alerts. The biggest boost came whe we bega otificatio of reserves ad otices, ad people siged up for the alerts as well as otificatio. We use MHL-Mail to tell people about ew services, programs, holiday hours, ad additios to the collectio. We keep the alerts short ad sweet. We geerally feature three or four items i a alert oly a setece or two about the item ad a lik to a Web page with complete iformatio. It s easy for the patro to see quickly if there is a item of iterest without wadig through rivers of arrative. You ca see a example of MHL- Mail at We geerally sed out oe alert a moth, ever more tha two. We use a Access database ad Campaig 5 mass-mailig software to create ad sed out the s. It takes oly a few miutes to sed out the etire batch of text-oly s. We sped about two hours a week maagig bouce-backs ad eterig subscribers ito the database ad aggressively try to get correct addresses for the bouce-backs. MHL-Mail is our most productive ad cost-effective way to promote our services, ad we do t wat to lose eve oe subscriber. Stumblig blocks have bee few. We did have some techical problems sedig the alerts before we wet to Campaig 5. Ad whe our biggest local Iteret provider, MediaOe, was bought by AT&T Broadbad, we had to deal with hudreds of bouce-backs ad address chages. But that s life i the twety-first cetury. We kow the alerts work. Withi hours of sedig out MHL-Mail about our ew digital audiobook service ( we had twety reserves for the devices, people swarmed the referece ad circulatio desks with questios, ad the phoes were rigig off the hook. I the first day, we had sixty olie requests. We have ever had such buzz about a ew service, ad we owe it all to MHL-Mail. MHL-Mail: Alert Newsletter Beth Mazi ad Eleaor Satha Beth Mazi is Assistat Director (bmazi@mhl.org), ad Eleaor Satha is Regioal Referece Libraria (esatha@mhl.org), Memorial Hall Library, Adover, Mass. Memorial Hall Library (MHL) is the public library of Adover, Massachusetts, servig a populatio of approximately 31,000. MHL also serves as the regioal referece ceter for ortheaster Massachusetts. The library has bee very successful i usig techology to deliver both traditioal ad ew services to its local ad its regioal patros. Electroic Orderig: We Did It Our Way Bret Ferguso ad Diaa Gill Bret Ferguso is Webmaster ad Youg Adult Libraria (bferguso@elkhart.lib.i.us), ad Diaa Gill is Referece Libraria (dgill@elkhart.lib.i.us), Elkhart (Id.) Public Library. I November 2000 the Electroic Acquisitios Study Team (EAST) was established at the Elkhart Public Library (EPL) to brig electroic orderig to the library. EAST had three basic goals: to review what other libraries were doig, to evaluate the 150

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22 types of techology that were curretly i use, ad to see how well these techologies could be adapted for electroic orderig at EPL. EPL wated may specific features i a electroic orderig system, such as the ability to order from multiple vedors ad to icorporate specific codes that would streamlie book processig. It was decided that a custom-writte, i-house software solutio would best take ito accout the quirks of the EPL orderig system. The EAST team chose to develop their system usig opesource software. MySQL was chose as the database ad Perl as the computer code that would lik the Web browser ad the database. The overall goal was to automate the orderig ad selectio processes as much as possible. I some ways, the ew digital purchase order form (POF) was a duplicate of the paper form. The mai differece was that most of the orderig iformatio that had bee origially hadwritte was ow filled i automatically. This digital versio was dubbed the epof. Oe uaticipated problem was the lack of uiformity i the library s selectio procedures. May procedures had to be revised to esure bibliographic cotiuity withi the orderig records. The ew program successfully itegrated three existig software packages that ra o two differet operatig systems across EPL s locatios. Eough attetio was paid to the eeds of the selector so that the trasitio from a paper-based system to a automated electroic orderig system was made smoothly ad efficietly. The epof orderig system has bee i operatio sice 2001 ad has prove to be a stable ad robust system. As of November 2002, electroic orderig became the primary method of orderig both prit ad oprit material at all EPL locatios. Selectors are so pleased with electroic orderig that they speak up at meetigs sayig how much they love it. Kasas City Public Library s New Digital Local History Database David Kig IT ad Web Project Maager, Kasas City Public Library; DavidKig@kclibrary.org Kasas City Public Library s Special Collectios Departmet collects, preserves, ad provides access to umerous types of resources pertaiig to the history of the Kasas City metropolita area, geealogy, the Civil War, ad Wester Americaa. I recet years, some of this rich iformatio has bee represeted i Microsoft Access databases, the library s catalog, ad i static HTML pages o the library s Web site. I 2002 the library merged these disparate collectios ito a oe-stop-shop database. The library outsourced the creatio of a digital metadata repository for all of its archival items, icludig photographs, oral histories, postcards, letters, maps, diaries, citatios, ad books. This database ad the ewly redesiged local history Web site were scheduled to go live i early The database was created usig Microsoft SQL, ad the codig for both the back-ed data etry side ad the frot-ed customer side was created usig Macromedia s ColdFusio MX. Images are viewed usig Zoomify, a product that allows users to zoom i ad out of a image, pa left ad right, ad drag the image. The database is stadards-based, adherig to Missouri s Digitizatio Metadata Guidelies, the Ecoded Archival Descriptio guidelies, ad Dubli Core stadards. The ew digital local history database is desiged to represet multiple versios, collectios, aggregatios, ad hierarchies of digital objects. For example, some archival photographs have two sides, both of which could have useful iformatio. I this database, both sides ca be represeted as part of a sigle record. The library s ultimate goal for the database is that it represet ad search all our local history materials usig a sigle search iterface, a catalog for our library s digital collectios. For customers, searchig ca be either basic or advaced. Simple keyword searchig gives results that ca be divided ito media types (i.e., photos, soud, video, archival material, or citatios). Advaced searchig adds field-specific search optios as well as Boolea search capabilities. Patros ca also search by subject over a wide variety of media type ad collectio types somethig that could t be doe withi our collectios before this database was created. The library s ultimate goal for the database is that it represet ad search all our local history materials usig a sigle search iterface, a catalog for our library s digital collectios. Oce all curret digital material is placed ito the database, the library plas o addig other collectios, util all special collectios are represeted digitally ad are searchable usig the database. Two other goals are to create a regioal Virtual Local History Ceter, to be housed i the ew cetral library facility, ad to actively pursue other istitutios digital collectios for the database. These istitutios would either become digital cosortium members, who physically add their iformatio to Kasas City s database, or would create a seamless search lik to both databases, so they ca be searched together rather tha idividually. Embracig Techology at PLCMC Robi Brya, Susa Herzog, ad Bob Peaseley Robi Brya is Brarydog Coordiator (rbrya@plcmc.org), Susa Herzog is Iformatio Services Maager (sherzog@plcmc.org), ad Bob Peaseley is Maager of the Virtual Village Commuicatio Ceter (bpeaseley@plcmc.org), Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleburg Couty (N.C.) The top two iovatios that give patros of the Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleburg Couty (N.C.) (PLCMC) the biggest bag for their collective buck are the library s te service Web sites ad the Virtual Village. The Web Services Departmet cosists of a staff of six: a director of Web services, 152

23 two web developers, a web graphic artist, a library staff techology traier, ad the studet portal coordiator. This departmet provides iteral customer support to more tha 150 frot-lie public service staff members who are actively ivolved i the developmet of the cotet of our Web sites. I 2002 the PLCMC family of eleve Web sites garered 18.5 millio page views (i.e., the total umber of idividual pages accessed) from more tha 4.5 millio users. Assigig each site its ow domai allows broad visibility ad allows the sites to be located more easily i subject searches. The etire family of sites ca also be easily accessed from the library home page ( Idividual cotet maagemet systems allow cotet teams to update the sites themselves. A example of this is the digitizatio of local history iformatio foud o our CMStory site ( Some sites have bee totally redesiged for a curret look ad the additio of fresh cotet ad ew features, such as ewsletters ad video. Brarydog.et ( is a studet portal that allows access to multiple databases without idividual autheticatio. A user s library card umber, stored i a database, provides autheticatio via a log-i. The desig, geared for middle school studets, icludes customizatio of backgroud colors, resources displayed, choice of Iteret search tool, ad the ability to add liks to favorite Web sites. The Brarydog coordiator helps studets ad teachers utilize the resources to research homework ad support curriculum. The Virtual Village, made possible through a 1999 couty bod issue, opeed to the public i 11,000 square feet of ewly reovated space i August Two oprofit parters, the Program for Accessible Livig ad the Carolia Computer Access Ceter, urged the couty board to support the fudig, helped desig the facility, ad provided staff traiig. Ope sevety-oe hours over a seve-day week, the ceter serves more tha 8,000 patros each moth. A brightly colored computer lab offers desktop publishig, résumé writig, video editig, plus teacher-led ad self-directed computer traiig o iety Macitosh ad Widows workstatios, which have high-speed T1 Iteret coectios ad geeral office-productivity software. More specialized statios have MIDI keyboards, video-editig equipmet, smart media readers, ad a host of assistive hardware devices ad software applicatios. Sixtee computers are equipped with assistive hardware ad software beyod what is available o the geeral Iteret machies. These devices rage from a Braille embosser ad keyboard to foot mice ad jellied wrist ad arm supports. There is voice-recogitio software (the Eye Gaze system, which allows patros to cotrol a cursor by movig their eyes) ad the Cyberlik headbad, which picks up erve sigals to allow hads-free cotrol of a mouse. Several professioal-grade applicatios give buddig artists, programmers, musicias, ad video producers the chace to lear ad create without spedig $500 ad more per program for this software. There is a digital darkroom, ad prit graphics statios feature desktop publishig programs icludig QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, ad Freehad. I additio, web graphics statios have Web-developmet applicatios like Dreamweaver, GoLive, ad Flash. The Virtual Village also has hads-o learig statios equipped with Liux, BeOS, Mac OS X, ad various versios of Widows. A full-time library resources traier positio was created i 1996 to develop workshops that improve PC skills ad teach staff about the may electroic products. PLCMC looks for opportuities to offer ew techologies to our patros. It is truly the staff members icludig admiistratio who iitiate ad support ideas, frot-lie staff who develop cotet, ad support staff who make it work who are the key to PLCMC s ability to utilize ew techologies for our patros. Coclusio If you believe a service or techology at your library is as good or valuable as, or eve better tha, the oes you ve read about here, please write to us. We would very much like to highlight your experimets with the bold, ew, ad visioary. Your stories of either triumph or tragedy are welcome as you pursue efforts to improve library services i your commuity. The purpose of this colum is to offer varied perspectives o subjects of iterest to the public library professio. All correspodece should be directed to the cotributig editors. Hampto (Skip) Auld is Assistat Director, Chesterfield Couty Public Library, 9501 Lori Rd., Chesterfield, VA , (804) ; auldh@chesterfield.gov. Na Blaie Hilyard is Director, Zio-Beto Public Library, 2400 Gabriel Ave., Zio, IL 60099; bhilyard@zblibrary.org. Public Librarias Wi Cash for Tellig Their Stories i Public Libraries! The Public Library Associatio is pleased to aouce the 2002 wiers of its aual article cotest. The cotest awards cash prizes to the authors of the best feature articles by public librarias published i the previous year s issues of Public Libraries. The first prize award of $500 goes to Edward Elser, director of the Crawford Couty Library i Graylig, Michiga, for his article The Evolutio of PLA s Plaig Model, which appeared i the July/August 2002 issue. Secod prize of $300 goes to Robi Brya, Brarydog Coordiator at the Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleberg Couty, for her article Brarydog.et: A Homework Assistace Portal for Studets, published i the March/April 2002 issue. Cotest wiers are selected by members of the Public Libraries Advisory Committee. The prizes will be awarded at the 2003 ALA Aual Coferece i Toroto. Public librarias iterested i beig cosidered for the 2003 prizes, should visit the PLA Web site at for submissio guidelies or publiclibraries@aol.com for more iformatio. 153

24 of popular fictio, etc.). But checkout patters for research do ot mirror checkouts for casual readig; it is extremely rare for a commuity college studet to come ito the library every three or four weeks to check out dozes of books. I had to quickly give up the otio that pumpig up circulatio umbers carried as much weight i the academic library as i the public library. Public to Academic Reflectios for Librarias Who Are Cosiderig the Switch Matthew L. Hall Accordig to cesus data, more tha 30,000 of the roughly 125,000 school, public, ad academic librarias i the Uited States are expected to reach retiremet age by This possible mass exodus of talet presets the professioal library commuity with may challeges, but it also creates a myriad of opportuities for librarias who wat to explore ew areas i our extremely diverse field. No doubt may of these upcomig vacacies will be supervisory positios filled by iteral cadidates movig up ito leadership roles; however, may of these retiremets will be filled by librarias who choose to move betwee work eviromets, movig, for example, from the public library world ito academia. Havig recetly made the jump from brach maager i a large public library system to a director at a small commuity college, I have had the opportuity to experiece the workplace shift that may people may choose to explore i the ear future. Whe I was preparig to move ito the academic sector I had a pretty good idea that some thigs were goig to be differet my patro base, for example but I quickly discovered after arrivig that may of my precoceived otios were far off-base. The followig list is a samplig of the chages maagers face whe trasferrig from a public library to a academic library. By o meas do I imagie that these situatios apply everywhere, but the suggestios may help supervisors who are cosiderig movig get i the right frame of mid. Circulatio Oe of my goals whe I arrived at my commuity college was to icrease circulatio. This was a pereial goal of mie i the public library, but I quickly leared that high circ stats do ot matter early as much i a academic library. Public libraries frequetly rely o circulatio statistics, ad rightfully so, because escalatig circulatio idicates that the collectio is servig the commuity well. I additio, it was ot ucommo that a patro i the public library would check out thirty or forty books at a time (picture books for childre, armloads Quatifyig Success As oted above, oe of the mai measuremets of success i a public library is high circulatio statistics. High circ traslates ito a well-used collectio, which should make ay supervisor i a public library happy. Success i the commuity college library is assessed quite differetly. Two mai bechmarks are: (1) do the studets graduate with iformatio literacy ad researchig skills? ad (2) are those skills trasferable to future academic ad professioal edeavors? Sice success is ot as visible o a day-to-day basis i the commuity college, I am gettig accustomed to log-term payoffs as opposed to daily or immediate successes. Collectio Developmet I the public library, I cast a wide et to serve the may disparate elemets i my surroudig commuity. Now I ve had to arrow my focus to cocetrate o purchasig materials that support the college s curriculum, alterig my defiitio of a well-rouded collectio. Alog with material selectio, aother added wrikle to my ew collectio developmet trai of thought was ackowledgig the huge role that faculty play i the collectio developmet process. It is rare i a public library that such a small umber of people ifluece collectio developmet o a cosistet basis. I had to quickly get comfortable with the fact that a relatively small percetage of my service populatio has such a large impact o the collectio. Fud-raisig ad Commuity Relatios Whe you raise fuds for your library at a public library, the library is the orgaizatio that you are supportig. At a commuity college, the library is oly part of the orgaizatio, so you have to be careful that your goals i the library match the goals of the college as a whole. Similarly, whe you speak or perform ay advocacy, you eed to keep i mid that as a commuity college libraria your audiece perceives you as speakig for the etire college, ot just the library. Referece Services I the public library, it was a goal of mie to teach my patros how to fid the iformatio themselves. Ufortuately it was a goal that seldom came to fruitio. Log lies meat quick aswers, so time was at a premium. I additio, the majority of my questios were ready referece, so the teachig aspect was ot as practical. I the smaller commuity college settig, I get fewer questios, but those questios are usually research orieted. I am ow able to walk through the research process 154

25 Fid it. Faster. You just got a request for a list of grocery stores i a three-state area with more tha 20 employees. You could search through dozes of referece sources to create that list. Or, you could call RefereceUSA, a divisio of ifousa. We offer the coutry s most extesive databases of busiess ad residetial iformatio. Ad, you choose the format you wat: prit, CD-ROM or via the Iteret. Wat more iformatio? Call us today at or referece@ifousa.com. Your search is over. RefereceUSA offers superb depth, breadth, ad currecy i a very well-desiged web iterface. Recommeded for all libraries servig busiess eeds S. 86th Circle P.O. Box Omaha, NE Phoe: (402) Fax: (402) Library Joural October 1, Visit us at: IfoTODAY Booth #150 New York City May 6-8 SLA Booth #628 New York City Jue 9-11 ALA Booth #311 Toroto Jue 21-24

26 with studets ad teach them how to locate ad iterpret the iformatio. Sice it is part of my library s missio to make studets iformatio literate, I ow have the opportuity to implemet this missio durig the referece process. Committees Whe you work i the public library, you do ot have to worry about the library beig overlooked or the opiios of the librarias goig uheard. I the commuity college you compete for attetio with other departmets that may ot uderstad the value of the library or, worse, thik the library is ot importat. Servig o committees with other members of the college commuity ca help educate your colleagues o library-related issues, brig a libraria s perspective o college matters to the group, ad geerally help i weavig the library ito the fabric of the istitutio. Patro Base As metioed earlier, the patro base is a obvious differece betwee academic ad public libraries; i a college it is maily faculty, staff, ad studets, ad i a public library it is the commuity at large. I a commuity college, where studets graduate or tur over every couple of years, you are costatly seeig ew faces. I the public library you are apt to see the same faces for may years. I fact, may of your favorite patros will probably be visitig your library log after you have moved o. The stability of our patro base is importat to ote because i the eyes of our patros we are ofte more tha just people who aswer questios. Sice we are by ature ad professio a group who listes, we are frequetly looked upo as cofidats, couselors, ad advisors; ad may people seek out the opiios of supervisors because of the positio s authority. As a result, we develop close relatioships with may of our patros, ad I have had to come to grips with the fact that may of the studets who I ejoy iteractig with will leave after a short period of time.... i the public library I ever had to worry about a outside group of people assessig my library... Teure Although this is maily a issue at larger college ad uiversity libraries, where roughly half of libraries employ teure-track librarias, 2 it is relevat at commuity colleges as well. Whe you are hired ito a teure-track positio i academia, you are frequetly held to the same stadards as the istructioal faculty, which ca iclude writig articles for publicatio i your area of expertise. Be aware that i additio to your regular supervisory duties, the added expectatio of publishig is somethig you have to cosider whe you are budgetig your time. Library Istructio Whe I taught library istructio i the public library, the classes were ot usually tied to ay particular topic. The workshops were almost always about geeral Iteret searchig, but they were very adequate for what we were tryig to accomplish, which usually cosisted of helpig the public lear how to avigate cyberspace. Library istructio i the commuity college is quite differet. We have a formal program, ad attedace is required for certai classes. We tailor the istructio to meet the eeds of specific classes ad class assigmets, ad we have discovered it is much more beeficial tha a geeral overview because studets ca apply the lessos leared durig their research. We also desig classes with iput from the istructor, which gives us a opportuity to demostrate to the faculty that the library is a itegral part of the istitutio. Although there are may differeces betwee supervisig i a public ad academic library, we must ot forget that the core priciples of librariaship still remai the same. We will always be a source of iformatio for our commuities. We defed the basic right of itellectual freedom. We esure equitable access to our service populatios. Supervisors who make the switch ca take comfort i kowig that these fudametal values hold true throughout the professio. Accreditatio I the public library I had my fair share of patros comig i ad critiquig my library, ad occasioally a studet will do it ow; however, i the public library I ever had to worry about a outside group of people assessig my library as a area that might determie accreditatio for the istitutio as a whole. For example, what if the library does ot provide adequate resources to support the curriculum? Will the accreditatio or re-accreditatio process be affected if the library is woefully illequipped? I eed to keep i mid that other departmets, as well as the uiterrupted academic careers of some studets, deped o me to fulfill my obligatios to the college. Matthew L. Hall is the Director of Library Services at Quiebaug Valley Commuity College i Daielso, Coecticut; mhall@ qvcc.commet.edu. Refereces 1. America Library Associatio, Need for Librarias o the Rise: With Retiremet Loomig for 1 i 4 of America s Librarias, Libraries Face Major Shortages, November 11, Accessed cited Jauary 10, 2003, librarias.html. 2. W. Bede Mitchell ad Mary Reichel, Publish or Perish: A Dilemma for Academic Librarias? College & Research Libraries 60 (May 1999):

27 Book Talk provides authors perspectives o libraries, books, techology, ad iformatio. Stories That Have Heart A Iterview with James Lee Burke Pey Feder Bor i 1936 i Housto, Texas, James Lee Burke grew up o the Texas-Louisiaa Gulf coast. Over the years, Burke has worked i the oil fields ad o a pipelie, taught at several colleges, bee a social worker o skid row i Los Ageles, a ewspaper reporter i Louisiaa, a ladma for Siclair Oil Compay, a lad surveyor i Colorado, ad a employee of the U.S. Forest Service i easter Ketucky. Burke is the author of twety-oe ovels, icludig Cimarro Rose (which wo a Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel i 1998), Cadillac Jukebox, Burig Agel, Dixie City Jam, the New York Times bestsellig Suset Limited, Heartwood, Purple Cae Road, Bitterroot, ad Jolie Blo s Bouce. Black Cherry Blues is also a Edgar wier; Burke is the oly author to have wo the award twice. Burke ad his wife split their time betwee Missoula, Motaa, ad New Iberia, Louisiaa. They have four childre. Pey Feder iterviewed Burke at the Pacific Northwest Library Associatio coferece i August After readig a favorable review of I the Electric Mist with the Cofederate Dead i the Dever Post, Feder called her daughter, Bette Ammo, director of the Missoula (Mot.) Public Library, to fid out if she kew Burke. As it tured out, Ammo had just aswered a referece questio for him. Feder asked her daughter for a autographed copy of the book for her birthday, ad that was her itroductio to Burke s work. PL: I Jolie Blo s Bouce [Burke s twelfth book i his Caju cop Dave Robicheaux series], Robicheaux s wife, Bootsie, says, Evil always cosumes itself. Do you really feel that? JLB: I thik so. If it caot feed off of others, if we dey it susteace, if we dey it a host, it evetually has to tur upo itself. Evil is a egative force; it s like a black hole that evetually collapses upo itself. PL: Your cosummate bad guy i Jolie Blo s Bouce is a violet former platatio overseer, Legio Guidry. Do you thik the evil i Legio tured back o himself? JLB: Well, I made use of the story from the New Testamet whe Jesus performs a exorcism o what appears to be a afflicted ma. I m sure the meaig of the story is figurative, but i the Biblical accout Jesus calls the demo out of the afflicted ma, ad He asks, What is your ame? ad the demo says, My ame is Legio. Well, i the parable Jesus casts the demo ito a herd of hogs, which rushes ito the Sea of Galilee. It s kid of a low ret thig to do I stole the plot from the Bible. [laughs] PL: I m sure you re ot the first oe to do that. JLB: It s kid of like stealig out of the church plate. PL: At least you embroidered o it. Bootsie has lupus i your ovels. What is the status of that? JLB: Well, of course, it s a very dagerous illess. It s bee preset i the books for several years. PL: I have t oticed you metioig it i the last book or two. JLB: It is featured more promietly i the sequel to Jolie Blo s Bouce, which is i progress ow. PL: Do you have a title for that oe? JLB: It has a workig title. I wo t be fiished with it util sprig. I have to be fiished with it by Jue PL: You have uusual titles. Where do you get them? JLB: They are all i the book someplace. I very seldom have a title i mid whe I start the story. The title teds to preset itself i the arratio at some poit. PL: Ad Alafair [Robicheaux s adopted daughter] is ow grow up. JLB: Yes. That s the ame of our ow yougest daughter. Her first ovel looks like it s goig to be accepted by a publisher. PL: She s writig? I thought she was a lawyer. JLB: She is. She teaches law at Hofstra o Log Islad. But she was a prosecutor for four years i Portlad, Orego, ad she s writte a ovel arrated by a prosecutig attorey i Portlad s DA office. It s quite a book. PL: What are you workig o ow? JLB: I have a ovel that came out i November 2002 titled White Doves at Morig, set durig the Civil War. It takes place betwee the years 1837 ad 1868, ad it s based o a couple of my acestors ad a umber of historical figures. 157

28 PL: It deals with Recostructio? JLB: Yes, it deals with Recostructio ad the White League ad the Kights of the White Camellia i particular terrorist orgaizatios. PL: I always wodered about my great-great-gradfather. He was a captai i the Cofederate army. He ad my great-great-gradmother wet to Texas, ad I ve ofte wodered if they were i that backwash of the Recostructio i Alabama where they came from. JLB: They were called GTTs Goe to Texas. I thik everybody who moved to Texas i that era was lookig over his shoulder, icludig my acestors. [laughs] PL: Is this a part of the Billy Bob series? JLB: No, this is a historical ovel. It s set etirely i the Atebellum era durig the War betwee the States with James Lee Burke Stoewall Jackso, Sheadoah campaig, the Battle of Shiloh, ad the Recostructio. The two strogest characters i it, however, are wome a black slave by the ame of Flower Jameso, who is the illegitimate child of the ma who fouded Agola Priso i Louisiaa. Origially that was a platatio. The other woma is amed Abigail Dowlig. She is a Massachusetts abolitioist who came to Louisiaa durig the yellow-fever epidemic ad was istrumetal i the udergroud railway. It s quite a book. I have a bias, but it s quite a book. PL: For people like me it will be of iterest because I grew up with some of that. I saw some iterviews that you did years ago here i Missoula, ad I realized that we have a lot i commo with relatioship to Africa Americas. My mother was a uusually idepedet woma for the South i the 1920s, ad she respected black people ad taught us to respect them as idividuals. I liked what you had to say about the ma who did t wat his childre goig to school with Africa America childre but did t wat ayoe but black wome takig care of his childre. JLB: That s a commo attitude i the South i which I grew up. PL: Oh yes, for me, too. JLB: The people who were the most adamat i their segregatio views would ever hire a white perso to work i their home. They would ever trust a white perso. [laughs] Whe recetly asked by his publisher about his writig career, Burke explaied, Freshma year I had a epiphay. A Eglish professor amed Lyle Williams gave me a D- o a paper. I wet ad asked her why. She said, Your spellig is a assault upo the eyeballs. Your pemaship makes me wish the Phoeicias had ot developed the alphabet. But I could t give you a F because you have so much heart. Every Saturday I wet with her ad rewrote the essay for the week. I got a B ad made the dea s list. Lyle Williams chaged my life. Durig a pael discussio at the Pacific Northwest Library Associatio Coferece, Burke stated that he writes oe thousad words a day (seve days a week), rewrites the secod day, the proceeds. He writes from true evets that he has ecoutered. Pey Feder is a avid reader ad library coferece attedee, ad a former lab techicia, libraria, reporter, rural mail carrier, ad library board member. She lives i Delta, Colorado. PUBLIB Best Books, 2002: Public Librarias Select Their Favorite Fictio The PUBLIB electroic discussio list is for issues relatig to public librariaship. Oce a year, members discuss the best books they ve read durig the precedig year. The followig list of 2002 favorites was compiled by Vicki Nestig ad David Faulker from messages posted i December The first two books received two votes each. For iformatio about PUBLIB, visit The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde The Lovely Boes, Alice Sebold Best America Short Stories 2002 I Revere, i Those Days, Rolad Merullo Crow Lake, Mary Lawso The Dive from Clause s Pier, A Packer You ve Got Murder, Doa Adrews Still She Hauts Me, Katie Roiphe Death of Riley, Rhys Bowe Nie, Ja Burke Visios of Sugar Plums, Jaet Evaovich Hard Eight, Jaet Evaovich Justice Hall, Laurie R. Kig Stay, Nicola Griffith Wet Grave, Barbara Hambly Diplomatic Immuity, Lois McMaster Bujold Cosciousess Plague, Paul Leviso Roscoe, William Keedy The Gates of Sleep, Mercedes Lackey Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugeides The Glorious Cause, Jeff Shaara Pictures from a Expeditio, Diae Smith The Crimso Petal ad the White, Michel Faber The House of the Seve Mabels, Jill Churchill The Clerk s Tale, Margaret Frazer The Number Oe Ladies Detective Agecy, Alexader McCall Smith Tears of the Giraffe, Alexader McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls, Alexader McCall Smith cotiued o page

29 Iteret Spotlight explores Iteret ad Web topics relevat to librarias i the public library sector. Your iput is welcome. The Library of Cogress Olie Part 2 Steve M. Cohe This is the secod i a two-part series that explores the ewly updated Library of Cogress Web site. The first istallmet appeared i the March/April 2003 issue of Public Libraries. My last Iteret Spotlight colum focused o the major sectios of the Library of Cogress (LC) Web site ( This colum will complete our virtual tour of the largest library i our atio. I have chose to use two colums to describe i detail the various aspects of the LC site for two reasos. First, there are hidde pages withi the LC server that may ot be accessed o a regular basis but could be of use to librarias ad patros performig research. Secod, for those readers who do ot visit the LC site o a cosistet basis, this is the perfect opportuity to get acquaited (or reacquaited) with the site. While the myth that the LC has every book ever published has bee prove false, it does house more tha fourtee millio volumes that ca be searched from various olie catalogs ( This page cotais the two mai search possibilities, either via a basic search query or a guided search, a advaced feature i which the user is assisted i formig a query for the catalog. There is a extesive help sectio ( which addresses questios that may arise durig the search process, such as why a coectio caot be made to a catalog (ot a rare occurrece depedig o the time of day that the search takes place). This sectio is filled with iformatio about how the catalog works, tips o how to search, ad other possible issues that may arise. For those who aticipate high use of the LC catalog, it may be worthwhile to bookmark this page for ready referece. The olie catalog sectio also liks to the Prits ad Photographs Olie Catalog ( html) ad the Soud Olie Ivetory ad Catalog (www. loc.gov/rr/record/soiccot.html). There is also a Gateway to Library Catalogs site ( i which the user ca search the holdigs from orgaizatios ad academic istitutios from all over the coutry. With all of the iformatio available o the LC site, searchers will be delighted to discover the advaced search page ( where oe ca search all of the pages withi the site. Here, there are also liks to other LC catalogs ot icluded i the mai catalog sectio, icludig the olie presece for the Natioal Academy for the Blid ( There is also a master list of the Web databases available throughout the LC site ( This page, too, should be bookmarked as a ready-referece tool. The Library Today ( provides a daily sapshot of what is happeig both o the LC site itself ad at the physical buildigs i Washigto, D.C. Notable sectios iclude Curret Press Releases ( recet ad archived press releases, ad the Caledar of Evets ( which allows visitors to see LC happeigs for the curret ad the past moth. There are a few sectios that are t updated frequetly, although they are beeficial to the LC commuity. CyberLC ( today/cyberlc) provides webcasts o a variety of topics. The Iformatio Bulleti ( is a prit ewsletter whose cotet is also published olie, but (as of this writig) o issues have bee added i early a year. The LC also offers Ask a Libraria ( askalib), i which librarias from specific departmets aswer referece questios via ad, sice Jue 2002, are available to help via olie chat. The uses a system called Questio Poit ( a collaborative referece service created by LC ad OCLC Olie Computer Library Ceter ( Questio Poit directs olie referece questios to the best possible resource. LC guaratees that a reply will be set withi five busiess days. My library has first-had experiece with the chat aspect of Ask a Libraria. We were havig difficulty locatig a copy of a obscure joural article, ad, accordig to OCLC, LC carried the volume. We were ot able to fid the article i the olie catalog, ad we decided that our best bet would be to chat with a libraria to avoid the possible delay i gettig a respose. Customers ca oly chat with a libraria at the LC durig a few hours out of the day, so we had to wait util help was available. But oce we had our virtual discussio with the referece libraria ad were assured that our article would be foud ad shipped off at o cost, we were thrilled. I just wish 159

30 forms page ( provides access to the umerous applicatios for gaiig copyright. There is also licesig ( ad registerig ( iformatio. Copyrightig a work ca be tricky, ad this site goes a log way toward assistig users i protectig their origial material. Copyrighted material is searchable i several databases. Users ca search registratios ad documets for owership from 1978 to the preset at www. Weiss Ratigs bw islad 160 that they would icrease the umber of hours i the day that the service is available. The U.S. Copyright Office ( was established to protect the works of authors from outside ifluece ad theft. The Web site is filled with useful iformatio for authors as well as the geeral public. Those with limited kowledge of how copyright works ca visit the Copyright Basics page ( or see the Frequetly Asked Questios ( Circulars ad brochures ( distributed by the office also explai aspects of the copyright system. The Especially for Researchers... brigs all LC research aspects ito oe page. copyright.gov/records. Books, music, ad other registered works may be searched at cohm.html; serials, records/cohs.html; ad copyright documets at cohd.html, which iclude ame chages or trasfers. Each search iterface has multiple fields i which to form search queries. Take a miute to search for your favorite musicia or author to see what sogs or books they have copyrighted that you may ot kow are theirs. For those iterested i ew material published by the U.S. Copyright Office, see the electroic ewsletter NewsNet ( Listed here are press releases ( gov/pr/idex.html), a caledar of effective dates for various rules ad regulatios promulgated by the office, ad liks to past issues of the publicatio. You ca also subscribe to a electroic mailig list ( Researchers who ited to use LC (both olie ad off) should cosider visitig Especially for Researchers ( a subportal of the LC site that brigs all LC research aspects ito oe page. The page is divided ito three sectios: oe that lists the geeral resources available (collectios overview, special collectios, iteratioal collectios, etc.), a secod that is specific to research i the LC Web site (virtual programs ad services, digital collectios, searchig the catalogs), ad a third that pertais to performig research at the physical library (travel iformatio, maps ad floor plas, research ceters). It would behoove researchers to take a look at this page before arrivig at the LC for research purposes. I metioed i part 1 of this colum that I had spet more 160

31 tha a hour i the gift shop while visitig LC i early If readers are ot able to get to the buildig itself, the Sales Shop is also available olie ( The store is broke dow ito may sectios, icludig books, music, posters, ad gift items. The store is searchable ( search.html), which makes it easy to fid materials, however I foud that browsig the store was more fulfillig. A word of cautio: Do ot have your credit card withi 20 feet of you while perusig the LC store or you may buy everythig you see. The last site to visit before closig out this LC series is the Jobs ad Fellowships sectio ( This sectio highlights available jobs at LC, icludig at the Cogressioal Research Service ( ad provides iformatio o Federal Career Beefits ( gov/hr/employmet/jobs-beefits.html). Liks also lead to iformatio o the various fellowship opportuities available, icludig the Witter Byer Fellowships for poetry ( lcweb.loc.gov/poetry/byer.html) ad those dealig with preservatio ( This sectio also advertises voluteer positios available i the America Folk Life Ceter ( the Docet ad Iformatio Desk ( ad may other places withi LC. Whe I visited, the tour guide that brought us through the various halls of the buildigs was very kowledgeable ad was able to aswer ay questio with detail ad ethusiasm. I hope that your two-colum olie tour was just as pleasurable. Oe more ote: if you do go to the Library of Cogress, make sure to get a library card. They are give out free to ay Uited States citize. Ad they make for a fabulous souveir. Steve M. Cohe is Assistat Libraria at the law firm of Rivki Radler, LLP. He ca be reached at Steve.Cohe@Rivki.com. Resources Library of Cogress Ask a Libraria Caledar of Evets CyberLC Frequetly Asked Questios Gateway to Library Catalogs The Iformatio Bulleti Jobs ad Fellowships America Folklife Ceter Cogressioal Research Service Curret LC opeigs Docet ad Iformatio Desk Federal career beefits Preservatio Witter Byer Fellowships The Library Today Natioal Academy for the Blid OCLC Olie Computer Library Ceter Olie Catalogs Olie Catalog Help Sectio Prits ad Photographs Olie Catalog Soud Olie Ivetory ad Catalog Press Releases Questio Poit The Sales Shop Search Search, master Advaced search U.S. Copyright Office Books, music, ad other registered work Circulars ad brochures Copyright basics Copyright documets Forms Licesig Mailig list NewsNet Press releases Registerig Registratios ad documets Serials 161

32 Tech Talk explores issues that public librarias face whe they offer electroic services ad etwork cotet. It aims to create a bridge betwee the practical ad theoretical issues related to techology. Resource Maagemet Systems Paula Wilso Public libraries iitially provided computers so that their patros could access iformatio o floppy disks ad CD- ROMs. Library patros also used programs like Lotus 1 2 3, WordStar, WordPerfect, ad Microsoft Office applicatios. The came the Iteret. Fast forward to FY2000, ad Uited States public libraries foud themselves sigig up patros for a whoppig 99,453 Iteret termials at 9,074 public libraries. 1 As libraries bega addig more termials, software, ad priters, staff demads icreased. Patros bega brigig i résumé paper, trasparecies, ad evelopes ad asked staff to feed them ito the priters. Scaers ad speakers were added as peripherals, ad librarias foud themselves assistig users i fidig the best resolutio for their images ad, at the same time, hadig out headphoes. The icreased workload has pulled library staff away from their referece ad reader services resposibilities, leavig less time to aswer a dwidlig umber of referece questios. Librarias, iformatio professioals accustomed to helpig people fid iformatio, ow sped their time sigig people up to use computers. The most frequetly asked questio, at some libraries, is: Am I ext? or How log util I get o the Iteret? Computer-use guidelies were created i hopes that ew rules would ease the workload or at least give staff the guidace eeded whe dealig with this ew clietele. Staff cotiues to tweak procedures for Iteret use as librarias use clipboards, sigs, spreadsheets, desigated waitig tables, ad shared files to distribute the workload amog staff. I additio to sigig patros o to termials, librarias sped much of their day askig for idetificatio, verifyig iformatio from miors, distributig pritouts, ad tellig patros their time is up. It is frustratig for both staff ad admiistratio that librarias sped the majority of their time uderutilized ad employers are payig a salary level disproportioate to their performed tasks, oes best performed by a computer moitor. Additioal staff cocers iclude prit jobs upaid for ad left behid, cosumig paper ad valuable toer, icreasig hostility betwee staff ad users regardig time ad sessio limitatios, the amout of time eeded to log o to termials to clear the cache ad protect patro privacy, the use of a cash register at the referece desk, ad, i some cases, olocals use of tax-payer resources. Software compaies have stepped up to the plate ad created products to relieve staff of their role as computer cop. May libraries have implemeted this type of software, kow as a resource maagemet system (RMS). The systems will hadle patro autheticatio, time cotrol, reservatios (via the Web or telephoe), prit maagemet, access security, reportig ad statistics, ad e-commerce capability. Some systems ca eve hadle class registratios, room bookig, book sales, ad voluteer maagemet Essetially the software works like this: Patros approach a master termial ad iput their user idetificatio or library card umber. The moitor displays the ext available time slot ad locatio for a ope Iteret termial. Whe patros approach the Iteret termial they iput their idetificatio umber ad, if they are scheduled for the termial at that locatio ad time, they are allowed to log i to the sessio. The patros the use the termials ad may sed prit jobs to the pritig maagemet statio. Whe the users are earig the ed of their sessios, otices are displayed o their termials statig that the sessio is about to expire ad patros should begi savig their work. After patros have completed their sessios they proceed to the pritig statio, where they type i their idetificatio umber ad ca view, delete, ad prit their documets. The patro ca either pay i cash or use their debit card. There are, of course, a great deal of variatios to this sceario. How does the system hadle a visitor, for istace? Ca the visitor get a guest pass or purchase oe-time access, or must they apply for a library card? Other cosideratios iclude access poits for makig reservatios. Ca customers call i via the telephoe ad make a reservatio, or must this be staff mediated? Ca they access the reservatio system via the Web ad make a reservatio from their work or school termial? Whe users autheticate as they log i to the system, ca they use their curret PIN, which they also use to log ito their accout iformatio i the library catalog? Ca debit amouts be placed o their library accouts via the itegrated library system (ILS), or does the RMS maitai this iformatio i a separate database? Will your library purchase the software ad hardware or pay a aual subscriptio to the compay who will host the system o their servers? What are the costs ivolved ad what type of a oe-time or recurrig ivestmet must the library make? For as may scearios that there are, there are questios ad aswers. Libraries should begi the process by reviewig their Iteret policies ad procedures. Ca the system be cofigured to support the curret Iteret policy? Therei lies the key. First ad foremost, systems must be made cofigurable so that, should library policy chage, the system ca chage with it. I additio, the system should be scalable so that, if you add more termials, the system will allow for that. The system should also be modular. Each part should operate aloe or 162

33 together. Libraries may wat to first start with the computer maagemet system, ad later add o the prit maagemet module or debit card system. There are three groups of people who have a vested iterest i how the software works: public service staff, patros, ad admiistratio. Each group must be satisfied that their eeds May libraries wat to desigate certai termials express statios, or oe- ad two-hour termials, ad chage the cofiguratio automatically after school lets out. are met by the system. Public service staff ca create myriad requiremets i additio to those madated by policy. Examples iclude a easy way to hadle oresidets, oshows, ad bumpig (where the patro who has bee o the logest is asked to ed their sessio) with little or o staff itervetio. May libraries wat to desigate certai termials express statios, or oe- ad two-hour termials, ad chage the cofiguratio automatically after school lets out. I additio, staff eed the ability to block termials from the reservatio system durig traiig sessios. Staff members wat the system to recogize the patro by logi, ad, if a mior, log them ito the appropriate profile, liftig the burde off of staff. It is o surprise that staff favor the least amout of itervetio o their part, ad may be cocered that RMS istallatio may oly trasfer the workload. However, Joe Ford, a library cosultat who has worked with libraries i assistig them i acquirig RMSs, says, A well-fuctioig PC reservatio system ca take a big burde off of public services staff. The staff does t have to adjudicate disputes, time keep or referee usage, double-check idetificatio, or maage queues of patros watig Iteret access. 2 Library staff kow what they wat the software to do for them, but how are patro cocers addressed? What would a patro wat the system to do for them? They would probably wat multiple access poits for reservatios either by the telephoe or Web. They would wat to kow exactly whe ad where the termial they are usig is located ad to receive cofirmatio of the reservatio o scree or through . Patros would also wat a easy way to delete their reservatio may libraries pealize patros for o-shows. I most situatios, patros wat to kow the rules ad kow that they are uiformly eforced. RMS should support those rules. If patros ca oly have oe two-hour sessio per day the the system should ot allow them to log i ay loger. Patros wat to kow how much time they have left, icludig a warig message askig them to save or prit their work. These capabilities are just some that are available. If your library is goig to purchase a system, ask some of your regular computer users to jot dow otes o what they thik is importat. Lastly, admiistratio has requiremets of the system. First ad foremost, the system must support the curret computeruse policy ad be cofigurable so that ay chage i library or board policy ca be supported. I thik admiistratio is lookig for a combiatio of accoutability ad recovery of staff time. That is, admiistrators wat eve-haded policies that boards, patros, ad staff ca uderstad, eforce, ad live with, while returig staff from moitorig PCs to coductig their real jobs, explais Ford. 3 Reportig ad statistics are importat to maagers who are required to report this iformatio; the reports will probably play a major role i resource allocatio ad future termial placemet. More techical cocers would iclude the ability of the system to use stadard idustry protocol so that it is compatible with the ILS ad existig hardware ad software. The author would like to ackowledge fellow members of the Techology Selectio Team of the Las Vegas/Clark Couty Library District, ad Joe Ford of Joe Ford ad Associates i assistig with the research for this article. Paula Wilso is the Virtual Library Maager at the Las Vegas Clark Couty Library District, Nevada; wilsop@lvccld.org. The metio of systems ad vedors i this colum does ot costitute a evaluatio or a edorsemet of the products or services by the Public Library Associatio or the editors of this magazie. The cotributig editor of this colum welcomes ay commets or questios at the above. Refereces 1. Adriee Chute et al., Public Libraries i the Uited States: Fiscal Year 2000 (NCES ) (Washigto, D.C.: U.S. Departmet of Educatio, Natioal Ceter for Educatio Statistics, 2002). 2. Joe Ford, to author, Ja. 9, Ibid. Resource Richard W. Boss, PC Reservatio ad Prit Maagemet Software, Compay Directory Comprise Techologies, Ic. Smart Access Maager (SAM) Computers By Desig CybraryN THE-TOWN Evisioware GuardiaNet Systems LibraryGuardia Pharos Systems Telus Eterprise Solutios (formerly SRI)

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36 FEATURE Stories i the Workplace Martha L. Hale Stories provide a huma face to library advocacy, orietatio, ad discovery. This article will help you determie which stories about patros will teach legislators about your library s value, how to use stories to welcome ew staff members, ad how to discover what is most importat i your orgaizatio. Matthew ad his mother ad sister had bee comig ito the library frequetly. This day Matt told his mom to go get her books, he wated to choose his ow without her help. After helpig her daughter fid ageappropriate books, the mother glaced over to see if Matt was ready to leave. He was still pullig books off the shelves, glacig at them, ad leavig them o the table. After slowly choosig her ow books she heard Matt declie the libraria s offer of help, so she ad her daughter wadered off to look at magazies, go to the bathroom, ad talk to the libraria. Still Matt was ot fiished. O the way home she asked him if he had foud what he wated. No, he said rather sadly. I was lookig for some books about a boy like me. I wated to fid books about boys whose daddy had moved out. What happeed whe you read this story? Did it make a poit or help you thik of somethig i a differet way? Did you remember a child like Matthew? Did you woder what kids of books about divorce are available i your library ad how easy they might be for a child to fid or ask about? Did you remember similar icidets? Did you wat to add a story that s eve better? Whatever your reactio to this story, you will probably still remember it whe you reach the ed of this article, because stories help us remember ad iterpret evets, comprehed ideas, ad create ew thoughts. They also help us uderstad how evets fit together. Stories ca be used i three ways: to effectively itroduce real people ad real situatios, to help ewcomers build experiece i a orgaizatio, ad to discover ad commuicate workplace kowledge. Stories Itroduce Real People Do you remember Roald Reaga s State of the Uio messages? He itroduced us to real people. Presidets before ad sice have also told stories, but whether you liked his policies or ot, we call Reaga a great commuicator, i part because we related to his people. Whe librarias market library services or advocate for fudig, they use stories about the people who will beefit from the services or who will be eglected if the programs are ot available. A Wylie is oe of may authors who writes about usig stories as commuicatio devices. 1 The eed to commuicate comes at may times, but stories about people are particularly valuable for advocacy. Martha L. Hale is a Professor at Emporia State Uiversity School of Library ad Iformatio Maagemet i Kasas. The author exteds sicere thaks to Catherie Hoy for assistace ad ecouragemet. Stories ecourage coversatio, so if you would like to cotribute a workplace story to a Web site that will be up i summer 2003, sed it to halemart@emporia.edu. From time to time, for example, librarias are called o to testify before legislative subcommittees for state fudig, defed a local tax icrease before a group of taxpayers, or advocate staff salary icreases at board meetigs. We ca t ofte drag customers to political offices for coversatios, but stories itroduce decisio makers to the library s staff members ad customers. Librarias from Seattle to Tampa have discovered that politicias like to hear about their costituets, people who resemble the oes they kow (or should kow). Libraries are ofte bricks ad mortar, paper ad problems, util leaders meet the eighbors who make daily use of them. Stories make the ukow familiar for the listeers; busy people ca remember a story better tha facts. You ca use stories to itroduce stakeholders to Keith, a triplet who became a egieer with the ecouragemet of a libraria; to Aut Millie, who voluteers to brig mysteries to residets of the local cotiuig care ceter; to Oscar, who came to lear how to sed a to his gradchild, a loely college freshma; to Suzy, a sixty-six-yearold who came dashig i to tell the jaitor that she could ow read a library book to her eighbor s childre; or to Robert, the ower of a ew small busiess who eeded a copy of a recet state statute. Other times, librarias have a opportuity to promote libraries i frot of civic orgaizatios ad alumi clubs or o admiistrative retreats. Sometimes we would do well to heed the advice of a Comfort I employee i a recet televisio ad to Cut the slides. Just talk to them. Presetatio software has made it easier for speakers to desig charts ad graphs. May library admiistrators erich speeches with circulatio figures or charts that compare their libraries favorably to libraries i earby settigs. Audiece attetio slips to woder how did they get the colors to chage like that? Cocetratio durig the presetatio too ofte is o whether you chaged the slide at the right time or what will happe if the electricity fails. The software reflects the aalytical approach we ve bee taught will impress itelliget listeers. Stephe Deig, the former World Bak program director of kowledge maagemet, urges speak- 166

37 ers to risk throwig away itellectual scaffoldig whe the goal of the speech is to ecourage listeers to ow the ideas. 2 Our job with decisio makers is ot to demostrate kowledge or to trasmit detailed data. Whe we wat politicias to rearrage what they already kow, make ew coectios, or grasp a ew view of library service, stories about real people will catch their attetio. The best stories will ecourage listeers to respod with a story of their ow, or, as Deig writes, the listeers ivet aalogous stories. 3 Stories prompt ideas, ad Stories Build Experiece Daw came ito my office frowig. I just do t get it, she said. Ad the she paused, takig measure of whether or ot I was goig to be receptive. She read from the pages i her had, Prior experiece preferred... three years public library experiece... experiece i providig referece assistace... two or more years recet library experiece... experiece workig i a academic settig. How am I supposed to get experiece before I get my first job? I ve held resposible positios i corporatios; I ve It s easier for legislators to explai their votes with a story. politicias ideas are worth their ow support. It s also easier for legislators to explai their votes with a story. Other times stories serve as a prelude to a few facts; the faces you pait with your stories or the photos you isert ito your presetatio may support figures or charts. Library director Sue Blechl ofte asks commuity groups to estimate how may of the 28,000 people i Emporia, Kasas, use the public library. Their eyes wide whe she tells them ot fifty to oe hudred, but five hudred to six hudred residets use the library o a average day. Stories make the ukow familiar for listeers. If the Rotarias have t bee i the library as grow-ups they ca oly imagie it was like the buildig they kew as childre. The politicias who backed the remodelig of the Topeka (Kas.) Shawee Couty Public Library will be glad to kow about the wide-eyed sixyear-old boy who tured to his dad ad said, Wow, Dad, thaks for brigig me to this library. The staff will gladly quote the rather gruff-lookig retired ma who asked that the importat people be told that he was ever goig to worry about my library taxes agai. As Deig writes, such tales might eve tur resistace ito ethusiasm. 4 juggled work, school, ad beig a sigle paret. I kow a lot about beig resposible, about multitaskig, about life does that experiece ever cout for aythig? Shortly thereafter I wrote to local library admiistrators ad asked what experiece required meat to them. Accordig to Patti Butcher, icomig presidet of the Kasas Library Associatio, techically, experiece is evidece of havig doe thigs explicitly appropriate to the job beig filled. But iterviews allow employers to assess applicats experieces that do t show up i a formal résumé or traditioal cover letter: We wat them to tell us how they work with people. We usually ask them to describe beig resposible for a project from begiig to ed. Was it successful or ot, ad why? We ask what kid of teachig or traiig experieces they have. We ask them to tell us about teamwork experieces. We ask how a difficult professioal experiece tured out. 5 I other words, the applicat tells stories to reveal the itagibles, the attitudes, people skills, perhaps a sese of humor or a customer-service orietatio as well as experiece. GPO bw islad

38 Resources for Future Readig Articles Nacy L. Breuer, The Power of Storytellig, Workforce 77, (Dec. 1998): Available o IfoTrac Web: Busiess ad Compay ASAP. Breuer tells brief stories as she writes about the uses of storytellig i the workplace. She focuses o the use of stories to empower (do t groa) employees by teachig them how the orgaizatio s core values affect outcomes. The article cocludes with three brief compoets of a good story: First, the teller describes a situatio... Secod, he or she describes the actio... Third, the teller describes a memorable resolutio. Joh Seely Brow ad Paul Duguid, Orgaizatioal Learig ad Commuities-of-Practice: Toward a Uified View of Workig, Learig, ad Iovatio, Orgaizatio Sciece 2, o. 1 (Feb. 1991). Accessed Ja. 8, 2003, www2. parc.com/ops/members/brow/papers/orglearig.html The subtitle summarizes the article. Withi the article, the authors describe the use of stories to diagose work problems ad to preserve ad share accumulated kowledge. A ofttold story that comes from Julia Orr s study of Xerox service techicias i traiig ad at work ca be foud i this article ad is illustrative of how a story ca be of more use tha the details of a research report. Books David M. Armstrog, Maagig by Storyig Aroud: A New Method of Leadership (Three Rivers, Mich.: Armstrog Iteratioal, 1999). This book is a collectio of stories from oe corporatio. Its stregth is that the stories might help you to recall your ow experieces. The book icludes a sectio o how to write a story ad, by example, teaches the importace of the begiigs of stories. Two pieces of how-to advice from this book: (1) keep the stories short; ad (2) do t worry about all the details. Doald Davis, Tellig Your Ow Stories: For Family ad Classroom Storytellig, Public Speakig, ad Persoal Jouralig (Little Rock, Ark.: August House, 1993). May resources are available to aid i the tellig of stories. This little book ot oly does that but also has some advice about gatherig ad sharig stories. The author distiguishes betwee portraits ad stories. A story ca be cetered o ay evet or happeig that takes a part of the world we have grow comfortable livig with ad turs it upside dow. Good stories may iclude uvoluteered-for evets, sometimes called a crisis. It is helpful to those who wat to write stories by remidig us that simple trascriptio does t work. Sectio 2 icludes ideas o how to liste. Stephe Deig, The Sprigboard: How Storytellig Igites Actio i Kowledge-era Orgaizatios (Bosto: Butterworth-Heiema, 2001). Imagie you worked for a iteratioal orgaizatio with 183 member coutries, 10,000 employees, ad close to 60 years of experiece. Thik of all the kowledge cotaied i the heads of these employees. Surely the questios beig asked today are related to what is kow. But how ca so much kowledge be gathered, orgaized, ad shared? Stephe Deig tells how the World Bak kowledge maagemet Supervisors frequetly urge ew employees to get up to speed to demostrate that they kow how ad why the library works as it does but some kowledgeable persoel forget that ewcomers ca t act i accordace with kowledge ot shared. Others assume begiers catch what is implied betwee the lies at meetigs or revealed by raised eyebrows. Ala Wilkis poits out that, Stories are the experiece of others which ca potetially fill i the gaps i our experiece. 6 I the hallways, at luch, or via , shared stories about past ad curret evets are easily grasped ad repeated, ad are used more frequetly tha formal directios. Stories about actual evets also give reality to abstract missio statemets ad credibility to official claims. 7 Vetera persoel use stories to explai whe formal procedure mauals are eeded or whe ways to avoid formal procedures, ofte called work arouds, are more useful to describe their ow experiece. Stories at the drikig foutai, i the louge, or durig a meetig also explai why somethig works by revealig the causes as uderstood by the teller. At Hewlett-Packard, the graybeards tell ewcomers the stories that help them see the big picture ad give them perspective about how the compay works. 8 Experiece i the orgaizatio also icludes uderstadig how values, traditios, ad people i the orgaizatio ifluece daily activities. Tellig stories that have bee aroud the orgaizatio log eough to be called classics draws employees ito the workgroup. As time exteds from the evets i the tale, the facts may wither or expad ad the iterpretatios may vary, but they still represet commoly held values ad traditios that eed to be examied. Furthermore, tellig stories reveals the vocabulary that people i the orgaizatio accept ad uderstad. Becomig experieced icludes learig the subjective words of the orgaizatio as well as the toe. Stories ad culture mold each other. Has ayoe told you about the retired employee whose ame keeps comig up? Is there a story that explais why staff meetigs always begi i the same maer? What stories might war about chages that will upset the public? Research has show that ew workers proactively seek iformatio. Orietatio programs desiged to help employees get their bearigs usually iclude itroductios, tours, speeches, ad exhortatios to ask what they eed to kow. 9 Give ew employees time to seek stories durig orietatio programs ad they will get iformatio they thik most importat ad will lear whom to query i the future. The veteras who use a story about themselves to share their orgaizatioal kowledge demostrate a opeess to queries from ewcomers. Newcomers lear shortcuts ad subtleties from experieced workers that traiig courses ever teach because the official orgaizatio does ot kow them. 10 Stories are cocrete expressios of commo kowledge, ad ewcomers wat to kow what is commoly kow. It s hard to lecture about the orgaiza- 168

39 system came to be cetered o stories. Here s oe 30-word excerpt from The Sprigboard (p.81): I Jue 1995, a health worker i Kamaa, Zambia, logged o to the CDC Web site i Atlata ad got the aswer to a questio o how to treat malaria. This book ispires you to focus o stories but is ot a guide o how to record, orgaize, or preserve these resources i your orgaizatio. It oly makes you wat to do so ad might help you to persuade others to use stories to share kowledge or build a kowledge maagemet system. Read The Sprigboard, stay tued to what appears o the Web site stevedeig.com, ad ejoy forthcomig books by Deig, icludig oe o the seve highest value forms of orgaizatioal storytellig. Aette Simmos, The Story Factor: Ispiratio, Ifluece, ad Persuasio through the Art of Storytellig (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2001). I the teth chapter of the book Simmos briefly lists seve memory joggers to help you gather stories: 1. Look for patters 2. Look for cosequeces 3. Look for lessos 4. Look for utility 5. Look for vulerability 6. Look for future experiece 7. Look for story recollectios The rest of Simmos book is close to ispiratioal as its author ecourages the use of stories i orgaizatios. Stories from literature or experiece are icluded as examples of how stories ca stimulate chage i ay orgaizatio. Web Sites MakigStories.et The cotet of this site chages. It briefly reviews books, repackages articles, ad advertises for cosultig services related to stories. You ca get ideas related to stories by skimmig the page preseted by the America Society for Traiig ad Developmet, a orgaizatio-developmet compay. Story Dyamics Doug Lipma s focus is o tellig stories, but the Web site does provide occasioal refereces ad suggestios that are useful to ayoe iterested i usig stories i a orgaizatio. You ca also subscribe to a mothly ewsletter ad igore the sales pitches. The Storytellig Orgaizatio Game David M. Boje is oe of the leaders i writig readable academic articles about stories. Storytellig: Passport to Success i the 21st Cetury This Web site stems from a successful semiar at the Smithsoia i The otes of the speakers, Joh Seely Brow, Larry Prusak, Kataria Groh, ad Steve Deig give a broad sese of the values of stories i the workplace. Give ew employees time to seek stories durig orietatio programs... tio (eve with PowerPoit presetatios) without braggig, borig the listeers, or givig partial iformatio, yet employers wat ewcomers to be quickly assimilated ito the local library, commuity, ad staff. Stories provide the ecessary iformatio i a iterestig ad direct maer. Stories also help to build a commuity of practice. I writig about commuity buildig, Wedell Berry asks, How ca [people] kow oe aother if they have forgotte or have ever leared oe aother s stories? If they do ot kow oe aother s stories, how ca they kow whether or ot to trust oe aother? 11 Add to that what Cohe ad Prusak write, Stories are basic to how we kow ad trust oe aother, ad how groups create ad maitai coherece. 12 Let the ew recruits tell their experieces as stories from other work settigs, stories about workig with people, supervisig others, maagig a project, or overcomig difficulties. Experieces from their past activities or their recet learig ofte spaw related stories from other attedees. Tellig stories ca be a safe way for ew people to express ideas as they eter a orgaizatio. Newcomers ca discover patters accepted by veteras by listeig to stories. Furthermore, attetive listeig is a excellet way for veteras to welcome ewcomers ad lear more about them. Here s a accout of oe usuccessful orietatio for ew studets: Ufortuately we got behid schedule ad abadoed the pla to give studets time to itroduce themselves. As we d doe for years, we did parade faculty ad staff to routiely give their ames ad idetify their primary jobs or research iterests, all of which souded like a obscure secret code. A few hours later studets were desperate eough to ask for time to meet each other. Orietatio facts had t focused o them, they had ot felt importat. They were t ready to absorb all the carefully prepared, valuable, borig, detailed iformatio we gave them o techology, the library, schedules, etc. They had t bee asked to tell their stories to each other. What they wated to figure out durig orietatio was how they compared to the others i the room. New studets more quickly grasped the ecessary facts from the stories of last year s recruits tha from formal presetatio. Studets eed to hear a story or two about faculty i order to decide whether to share cocers ad questios. Ad, whether we told them our stories or other studets filled them i, they were goig to get that iformatio! 169

40 Stories Reveal Discoveries Stories are also a discovery tool. They are a meas to discer somethig old ad forgotte or to reveal ew isights ito the orgaizatio. Oe way to discover the values ad thoughts of the people i the orgaizatio is to ecourage employees ad stakeholders to tell stories about the orgaizatio. Start a durig coversatios or whe deliverig a speech. Some storytellers give away the fact that they are vested i the status quo. Others iadvertetly ecourage improvisatio i the ukow, or thik of a experiece i a totally ew way because of the way they tell the story. Stories reveal prove processes ad geeral priciples. New ideas emerge durig daily experieces, yet whe a We ofte thik of listeers as the people who lear from stories, so we use stories as illustratios to teach values, orms, ad feeligs. of stories truth is what rigs true. 18 Aette Simmos puts it this way: Selectig the facts, sequecig them, ad pickig a place to begi ad ed always alters the meaigs of the facts. Your story creates meaig, ad meaig is by ature subjective. History is merely a sequece of stories we tell ourselves that helps us build assumptios about cause ad effect. We figure out how the world works through the stories we choose to believe. 19 Refereces iformal luch gatherig or a staff meetig with, Who do others say that we are? Whe people correct each other s stories, collaborate, or iterpret evets i story form, both the listeers ad the speakers make discoveries. You discover that you share the same memories, ad that memories provide frameworks for iterpretatio or reactios to curret evets. David Boje writes, The process of collective storytellig occurs as a multitude of tellers relate bits of storylies that covey storylies that oe perso may ot kow i detail, but i aggregate the full tale is collectively created, told, revised, ad maitaied. 13 Thik about the rich summary that could be told by askig residets ad staff to tell a little story that sums up what s best about the library. We ofte thik of listeers as the people who lear from stories, so we use stories as illustratios to teach values, orms, ad feeligs. A listeer ca also recast the discovery by tellig a related story. 14 I fact, what Deig calls a sprigboard story is very useful: I effect, it ivites them to see aalogies from their ow backgrouds, their ow cotexts, their ow fields of expertise. 15 The listeer may lear ot from what the storyteller says, but because she remembers her ow story ad coects it to the evet at had. But storytellers also make discoveries. Karl Weick s well-kow axiom says it well: How do I kow what I thik til I hear what I say? 16 This rigs true to may speakers who liste to themselves maager stares with raised eyebrows, workers feel guilty listeig to a whole story from aother staff member. Guilt icreases if we stad at the drikig foutai or i doorways log eough to exchage the stories of the day. We cut short the libraria who rehashes stories at the staff meetig, or become impatiet i the parkig lot because we have to get o to the real work of the day. Few have leared to share stories via . All this decreases the shared discoveries i the kowledge of the workplace. Alla Webber, cofouder of Fast Compay, emphasized the eed to Start Talkig ad Get to Work! 17 The kee-jerk reactio to someoe s query, Why do we do it this way? is ofte a story. Despite groas whe the questio occurs, storytellers ad listeers ca discover that portios of the orgaizatio s history are revealed i its stories. This may eable them to dig behid the resistace to chage or rework a pla, makig it easier for people to accept by likig the ew with the kow. Discoverig what we kow requires time to share meaigs ad uderstadigs. Whe we tell a story we ot oly look back o a evet, but add aalysis, meaig, ad uderstadig i the words ad sequece of the story. I retellig the tale, the meaig sometimes becomes the focal poit ad the facts fade. The story wo t last if it becomes too fictioal or too aalytical to rig true. I other words, a story must appear to the listeer to be a reasoable ad believable accout; withi the cotext 1. A Wylie, Storytellig: A Powerful Form of Commuicatio, Commuicatio World (Feb./Mar. 1998): Stephe Deig, The Sprigboard: How Storytellig Igites Actio i Kowledge-Era Orgaizatios (Bosto: Butterworth-Heiema, 2001): Ibid, Ibid, xx. 5. Persoal correspodece, Mar. 13, Ala L. Wilkis, The Creatio of Compay Cultures: The Role of Stories ad Huma Resource Systems, Huma Resource Maagemet 23, o. 1 (sprig 1984): Ala Wilkis, Developig Corporate Character (Sa Fracisco: Jossey-Bass, 1989). 8. Ibid., Elizabeth Wolfe Morriso, Newcomer Iformatio Seekig: Explorig Types, Modes, Sources, ad Outcomes, Academy of Maagemet Joural 36, o. 3 (Jue 1993): Da Cohe ad Larry Prusak, I Good Compay: How Social Capital Makes Orgaizatios Work (Bosto: Harvard Busiess School Pr., 2001): Wedell Berry, What Are People For? (Sa Fracisco: North Poit, 1990): Cohe ad Prusak, I Good Compay, David M. Boje, Cosultig ad Chage i the Storytellig Orgaizatio, Joural of Orgaizatioal Chage Maagemet 4, o. 3 (1991): Cohe ad Prusak, I Good Compay. 15. Deig, The Sprigboard, xix. 16. Karl Weick, The Social Psychology of Orgaizig, 2d ed. (Readig, Mass.: Addiso-Wesley, 1979): Cohe ad Prusak, I Good Compay, Deig, The Sprigboard, Aette Simmos, The Story Factor: Secrets of Ifluece from the Art of Storytellig (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2001):

41 Books o Tape bw page 171

42 FEATURE Collectios ad Services for the Spaish-Speakig Accessibility Several elemets key to improvig library accessibility will be explored i this article, icludig liguistically appropriate catalogig of Spaish-laguage, biligual, ad Latio-focused resources; Spaish-laguage bibliographic ad Iteret istructio; laguage ad cultural awareess ad sesitivity traiig; ad ogoig professioal support for staff. For the purpose of this article, the term Latio will refer to users who are domiatly Spaish speakig. Solia Kaste Marquis Public librarias who acquire materials ad implemet services for Spaish-speakig commuities must also make these assets visible ad useful. This article describes the cosequeces that ca result from iattetio to liguistic ad cultural accessibility, ad it recommeds techical services strategies ad tools ad educatioal ad commuicatio resources that ca improve public library accessibility for Latio patros. This article is the secod i a two-part series o collectios ad services for the Spaish-speakig. The first article appeared i the March/April issue. Librarias across the Uited States are experiecig firsthad the eed to acquire resources for their Latio residets, a populatio that the Cesus Bureau predicts will almost double to 59 millio by I the late 1990s it was estimated that 25 percet of Hispaics i Uited States read oly i Spaish, ad that about 45 percet are somewhat or fully biligual, percetages that have remaied fairly costat over the past two decades. 2 Various studies show that approximately half of the Uited States Latio populatio is Spaish-domiat i coversatio. 3 May public libraries have respoded to this commuity s eeds by developig Spaish-laguage ad Latio-focused collectios ad services. However, fudig ad developig such resources should be oly the first step i servig the Spaish-speakig. Librarias must devote attetio to ehacig the accessibility of their collectios ad services: The delivery of Spaish laguage library services icludes plaig for ad providig access to resources. This icludes providig access to both collectios ad library facilities. It is all too easy to simply ackowledge the eed for a Spaishlaguage collectio, set oe up somewhere i the library (maybe i the back), watch ad evaluate the collectio ad its usage or lack of usage for a few moths or years, ad come to the coclusio that maybe there was less eed tha staff thought, ad move o to other tasks. 4 Solia Kaste Marquis is a Graduate Studet at the School of Library ad Iformatio Studies, Texas Woma s Uiversity; solia-marquis@attbi.com. She would like to thak Ly Aki ad members of REFORMA for their support ad ecouragemet. Catalogig Issues ad Solutios Historically, researchers have paid little attetio to the techical aspects of makig Uited States public library catalogig records truly visible to o-eglishspeakig library users, yet the quality of a library s techical services work, icludig the sophisticatio of its catalogig, may greatly ifluece such users ability to access a library s resources. Bruce Jese, a west coast libraria who has created two Web sites to assist librarias workig with Latio commuities, decries the tedecy of libraries to opt for purchasig more materials i lieu of costructig useful catalog records for the materials they already ow. He labels this acceptace of substadard records a form of robbery, oe that deprives patros of the resources they are seekig. 5 REFORMA s Iformatio Techology Committee (ITC) has also criticized the cotiued use of subject headigs that are geeral, biased, or o-specific to the topics covered by the materials i the descriptive catalogig of Latio digital materials. 6 May would agree with Jese ad ITC, icludig Florida Library ad Iformatio Sciece professor Elaie Yotz, who commets, Needed materials which caot be foud by patros or by the librarias who help them represet a waste of valuable resources ad do ot, for practical purposes, eve exist. 7 I the late 1990s Yotz examied two of her state s bibliographic databases that library media specialists might use to locate the works of oted Latia author Pat Mora. After discoverig a multitude of accessibility problems durig her search, Yotz urged biblio- 172

43 graphic utilities ad vedors to strive to develop catalogig that reflects greater cosistecy ad sesitivity to special populatios. She also ecouraged local catalogers to add ad ehace access poits i their system s records to produce a more useful catalog for their uique user commuities. 8 Although may smaller libraries lack the resources eeded to ehace MARC records for Spaish-laguage materials, larger systems may be able to upgrade such records by addig details that ca improve Latio patros access to collectios. Because may olie catalogs do ot look at all MARC record fields durig a keyword search, catalogers must pay special attetio to their ow library system s electroic search process whe decidig where i the record to place Spaish-laguage terms. 9 The sidebar o this page summarizes commo catalogig ehacemet guidelies, suggested by experieced professioals workig i this field, that ca improve accessibility to Spaish-laguage ad biligual materials. 10 Bilidex, origially developed uder the Library Services ad Costructio Act (LSCA) i the early 1980s by a group of Califoria librarias, is curretly the most readily available ad widely used Spaish-laguage subject headig guide based o the Library of Cogress s Eglish-laguage terms. Floricato Press, which curretly markets this product i prit ad CD-ROM form, has combied the origial editio with its six supplemets ito oe alphabetized list. The compay also sells Bilidex 2002, a subject headig thesaurus that focuses o expadig the ew high tech cocepts ad lexicological developmets i the computer idustry, commuicatios, ad library sciece. 11 Because such catalogig tools are expesive, smaller libraries may eed to purchase these cooperatively or access them through a cosortium as eeded. The Sa Fracisco ad Oaklad public libraries have together created a Spaish-laguage subject headigs resource to supplemet Bilidex, as well as to make their catalogig records match local usage more closely. Their Spaish Subject Headigs list cotais a estimated 1,500 terms that are readily accessible to other libraries o the Web site maitaied by Bibliotecas para la Gete (Libraries for the People), the Norther Califoria chapter of REFORMA ( htm). Ufortuately, the program used to MARC Record Ehacemets for Spaish-Laguage Materials MARC Field: Number ad Name Suggested MARC record ehacemets 008 Fixed-legth field spa to idicate books writte i Spaish 04 Laguage Specify Spaish 240 Uiform Title, subfield L Spaish, Biligual Spaish-Eglish as appropriate 246 Alterate Title Titles of biligual items 505 Formatted Cotets Spaish-laguage descriptive copy such as tables of cotets, idividual short story titles, or titles of volumes i a set 520 Summary Notes Spaish-laguage descriptors, possibly take from the table of cotets, for materials o ewer subject areas, especially those that lack a stadardized vocabulary 521 Target Audiece Note, idicator 3 for special audiece characteristics Importat particularly for juveile fictio: Idicate items of particular iterest to Latio readers 546 Laguage Note (Alteratively, some libraries use the 250 field) For subtitled ad dubbed audiovisual items, idicate laguage, especially for items that display oly the origial Eglish title o packagig. Examples: Spaish laguage ed., Ed. e español, Doblado(a) (dubbed) e español, or Subtitulado(a) e español (Subtitled i Spaish) as appropriate 586 Awards Note Iformatio about Childre s, YA, ad adult literature awards 650 Subject Headigs Spaish-laguage subject headigs take from Bilidex or other source that follows LC form Biligual Eglish ad Spaish, alog with its Spaish equivalet Biligüe iglés y español, as a subject headig, especially for materials that are part of small collectios. (Though this does ot follow LC form, this may be useful for some collectios.) create this database did ot accommodate such diacritical marks as accets, tildes, ad umlauts, whose omissio ca create liguistic cofusio. Because the database does ot cotai the subject headigs the two libraries have added sice the list was iitially posted, Vivia Pisao ad her staff at the Sa Fracisco Public Library are ow creatig a file of all uique Spaish subject headigs used i the library s catalog. 12 The Web site for NISC s LEER: Libros e Español Repertorio (Repertory: Books i Spaish) ( com) liks to Spaish-laguage materials ad ca be searched by title, author, ad Eglish or Spaish keyword. Because LEER typically provides extesive bibliographic iformatio oce a item is foud icludig ISBN, publisher, copyright date, Eglish traslatio of title, ad Spaish ad Eglish subject its resources 173

44 ca be useful for completig or ehacig catalogig records. The Agecia Española del ISBN (Spaish ISBN Agecy), part of Spai s Miisterio de Educació, Cultura, y Deporte (Miistry of Educatio, Culture, ad Sports) ca supply basic data o books published i that coutry ( ISBN.html). A additioal tool for iterpretig the title ad verso page data of Spaish-laguage books ca be foud i Sharo Chickerig Moller s Library Services to Spaish-Speakig Patros. 13 After Catalogig: Hads-o Methods of Improvig Access May smaller library systems caot afford extesive catalogig ehacemets, but most ca implemet less expesive, yet ofte highly effective, accessibility tools, such as Spaish shelf labels ad sigage ad thoughtful orgaizatio ad display of materials. Selected Exemplary Public Library Web Sites for the Spaish-Speakig Atlata-Fulto Public Library System Los Ageles Public Library Multomah Couty (Ore.) Public Library New Castle-Hery Couty (Id.) Public Library New Have (Co.) Free Public Library Phoeix (Ariz.) Public Library Quees Borough (N.Y.) Public Library Salt Lake City (Utah) Public Library Sa Atoio (Tex.) Public Library Sa Fracisco Public Library Labelig Special spie labels that idetify Spaish ad biligual materials help shelf searchers locate these quickly ad icrease the likelihood that shelvers will retur them to their proper place i the collectio. Sa Atoio libraria Daelle Crowley poits out, though, that proper Spaish labelig terms ca cause cofusio because may cogates mislead those ot well-versed i the laguage. For example, though the correct Spaish adjective to describe items i a childre s collectio is ifatil, may would suggest alterate descriptors for these materials because of the term s babyish toe. Similar problems occur with other words similar to Eglish: juveil, ( juveile ) may carry egative cootatios; ovela meas all fictio i Spaish; referecia is a broad term used for much more tha library referece service; ad a biligual or biligüe label may provide little clarificatio i multiligual collectios. 14 For these reasos, may libraries prefer labels such as Libros e Español para Niños ( Books i Spaish for Childre ). Moller recommeds solicitig iput from a variety of users, as well as staff from various departmets, to develop labelig systems that make sese to all ivolved, ad also make the collectio more available to users. 15 ALA Graphics markets Pura Belpré Award labels for these prize-wiig childre s books, as well as library promotioal posters ad sigs. Shelvig A carefully thought-out shelvig pla ca partially compesate for MARC record ad OPAC shortcomigs. May librarias advocate placig Spaish-laguage materials i their ow sectio to facilitate shelf browsig. New users ufamiliar with Uited States library orgaizatio ad uaccustomed to utilizig a library catalog, as well as staff ot fluet i Spaish, may especially appreciate this arragemet. Others believe that Spaish-laguage materials should be itegrated with Eglish-laguage collectios to make all users more aware of the library s holdigs i other laguages, to beefit multiligual cliets, ad to avoid siglig out those who are ot fluet i Eglish. 16 Some librarias couter that a small Spaish-laguage collectio becomes lost if filed amog other materials, ad may ot have the same impact o the iteded audiece. Some libraries choose to purchase two copies of may biligual books so that oe may be shelved i the Spaish collectio ad the other i the Eglish sectio. Larger istitutios ofte maitai Latio-focused collectios i a separate area to draw attetio to these specialized resources. Ultimately, major decisios regardig the shelvig scheme eed to be based o users familiarity with the library, their liguistic skills, ad the size of the collectio. Sigage Opiios vary o the shelvig system most likely to get materials ito patros hads, but librarias uiversally agree that arragig materials for high visibility is the first step. Promiet ad welcomig biligual or Spaish-laguage sigage ca help ewer visitors locate areas of iterest. Suggested wordig for shelf sigs, prepared by Teresa Pacheco at the Hall Couty Library, Gaiesville, Georgia, ca be foud i the Spaish i Our Libraries archives ( After Catalogig: Electroic Methods of Improvig Access May larger libraries across most of the Uited States, especially those servig sizeable Latio commuities, have attempted to make their collectios more accessible by developig Web pages ad OPAC iterfaces i Spaish. Though most library automatio vedors ow offer multiligual optios that are frequetly customizable, because of the 174

45 Spaish-Laguage Sites That Ca Aid Spaish-Speakig Web Learers Apreda la Red (Lear the Iteret) Well-defied ad orgaized explaatios of Iteret terms i several laguages, icludig Spaish ad Eglish; learig modules about Iteret cocepts, from the most fudametal to the very advaced Aprediedo a Usar la Iteret (Learig to Use the Iteret) (See Recursos e español ) Aotated guide to Iteret learig tools. Ocea Couty Public Library Spaish tool bar ad browser tutorials ad Mousercise practice exercises i Spaish Mágica Red (Magic Net) Spaish ad Eglish terms, syoyms for Iteret terms, ad traslatios ad clear defiitios; istructios for usig Outlook Express El Iteret: Ua Guía para Padres de Familia (Iteret: A Guide for Parets) or Iteret_sp.pdf Comprehesive guide ot just for parets to umerous aspects of Iteret use Guía para Padres a la Supercarretera de Iformació (Parets Guide to the Iformatio Superhighway) Childre s Partership documet posted o Lear the Iteret Web site Ciber-Léxico Comparativo (Comparative Cyber-Lexico) Comprehesive Iteret glossary Glosario Básico Iglés-Español para Usuarios de Iteret (Basic Eglish- Spaish Glossary for Iteret Users) Aother comprehesive vocabulary resource El CyberSpaGlish (Cyber Spaglish) Quick referece list of Eglish-laguage computer ad Iteret terms with both Spaglish ad Spaish equivalets expese ad time ivolved i implemetig ad maitaiig such electroic ehacemets, the majority of public library systems have ot yet arrived at this aspect of customer service. Moller ivestigated umerous libraries that have expaded their OPAC s liguistic capabilities ad determied that, though progress has bee made,... o matter how well a library does with iitial screes, at some poit most patros arrive at screes with Eglish oly. 17 Sa Atoio referece libraria Wada Reiford, who researched hudreds of public library Web sites to compile a extesive olie aotated directory of U.S. Public Library Web Sites with Iformatio i Spaish (www. reforma.org/spaishwebsites.htm), has also oted that Web liks i Spaish that coect to Eglish-oly pages fail to provide the expected istructio or service. I a ReformaNet postig regardig her ew resource, Reiford suggests these additioal strategies to icrease the value of library Web site pages for Spaishspeakig users: Orgaize all of the library s Spaishlaguage Web liks uder oe easily-accessible headig (i Spaish!) ear the top of the library s site. Avoid itermiglig liks to Eglish-laguage Web resources of possible iterest to Latios with liks to Spaish-laguage Web pages. Use Spaish or biligual lik ames whe directig searchers to Spaishlaguage Web sites. Ask several biligual staff members or other qualified idividuals to write ad review your Spaish Web pages. Do ot traslate your site s files by machie. At best, your istitutio ad its goverig body will be mildly embarrassed, at worst you may totally cofuse (ad perhaps amuse) your iteded audiece. 18 The sidebar o the previous page lists selected exemplary public library sites that offer good library user bibliographic guidace or iformatio i Spaish ad liks to resources i Spaish. These sites demostrate how libraries ca provide catalog searchig guidace, service iformatio, ad categorized Iteret liks for their Spaish-speakig patros. Because the complexity of desigig ad maitaiig such sites requires a ogoig commitmet from biligual staff who are highly skilled i techology, the maiteace of such resources may declie whe key persoel leave a library system. Util a library is able to make its catalog iterface more usable for Latio library customers, Moller suggests placig biligual prited sigs ext to the OPAC screes to explai commo searchig ad computer terms. 19 Such liguistic augmetatio of a library s catalog iterface will ot, of course, assist the remote searcher, but ca help ihouse users overcome commo electroic liguistic gaps. Public libraries are also scramblig to bridge the digital divide for their diverse commuities through Iteret orietatio ad istructio i laguages other tha Eglish. The sidebar o this page lists Spaish-laguage sites that ca aid Spaish-speakig Web learers. Spaish Laguage Traiig for Staff The ogoig shortage of biligual ad bicultural librarias multiplies the challege of servig Latio commuities effectively. Soia Ramírez Wohlmuth, assistat director of the Uiversity of South Florida s School of Library ad Iformatio Sciece, is oe of the atio s top experts i laguage ad other cotiuig educatio programs for library staff. She makes a strog case for preservice ad i-service laguage ad cultural sesitivity traiig, statig that potetial library users may react to laguage ad cultural barriers by avoidig the library 175

46 altogether, preferrig to seek out alterative sources to meet their recreatioal ad iformatioal eeds. Or, out of politeess, they may accept Eglish-laguage materials ad iformatio that they do t really uderstad. 20 Larger library systems with the fiacial meas to make a ivestmet i Spaish-laguage staff traiig may wish to cosider The Learig Light Educatioal Materials ad Services program Spaish That Works... i the Library ( Prepared by a experieced Spaish teacher workig with a public libraria, ad test-drive i two public library systems, the sixtee-hour course package icludes a studet text, pull-out phrase sheets, flashcard templates, a facilitator s guide, ad cosultatio with the program s author. Purchase gives the buyer licese to make thirty copies of the studet maual for oe caledar year. The sidebar o this page lists additioal olie glossaries ad dictioaries that ca help librarias commuicate with their Spaish-speakig patros. Additioal Commuicatio Tools Moller s Library Service to Spaish Speakig Patros (Libraries Ulimited, 2001) ad Camila Alire ad Orlado Archibeque s Servig Latio Commuities: A How-to-Do-It Maual for Librarias (Neal-Schuma, 1998) are rich i vocabulary lists ad biligual forms ad flyers. The Quees Borough Public Library offers a olie Dewey decimal classificatio (DDC) guide titled Ua Guía Rápida para el Sistema Decimal Dewey (www. queeslibrary.org/spaish/dewey-sp.asp). Jese has also posted comprehesive Spaish-laguage DDC guides as well as pritable basic library sigage ad customizable public library commuicatio documets o his Public Libraries Usig Spaish PLUS Web site ( gseis.ucla.edu/studets/bjese/html/plus/ liks.htm#2). This libraria s biligual explaatio of the terms librería (bookstore) ad biblioteca (library) ca clarify, both for staff members ad patros, the importat differeces betwee these two frequetly cofused words. Itercultural Commuicatio May librarias recogize that commuicatio is more tha a matter of learig a laguage or cosultig a dictioary. Improvig the quality ad breadth of Spaish-laguage collectios ad accessibility tools will do little to beefit a populatio if the supposed beeficiaries feel uwelcome or itimidated by a library s staff or eviromet. Truly effective iformatio service to ethically diverse populatios requires cultural as well as liguistic competece, ad libraries must strive to develop their awareess of how culture affects people s verbal ad overbal iformatioseekig behaviors. Although a deep uderstadig of aother culture takes years of ivolvemet ad sustaied iterest, libraries ca facilitate improved customer relatios with their Latio patros if maagemet prioritizes ogoig cultural awareess ad sesitivity educatio for staff members. Yolada Cuesta, a atioally recogized public library cosultat ad traier, offers a series of short workshops to assist library systems i developig their services to Latio ad other commuities that have ot traditioally bee public library customers. She provides traiig o such broad topics as celebratig diversity ad o more arrowly focused subjects, such as how to gather iput from diverse commuities. 21 A umber of other agecies, foudatios, ad idividuals offer cultural awareess resources, some specifically for library staff. These iclude ALA s Ethic ad Multicultural Iformatio Exchage Roud Table (EMIERT) ( emie-l.html); the relatively ew orgaizatio A Libraria at Every Table, which sposors a Web site ad a electroic commuicatio forum to promote library ivolvemet i commuity-buildig ( ad the olie cross-cultural resources available from the Mid-Atlatic Equity Ceter ( Library Spaish Olie Glossaries ad Guides Sí, hablo español, u poquito! (Yes, I speak Spaish, a little bit) Appedixes from Texas Library Associatio Coferece sessio cotai extesive library glossary LIS Dictioary Shows traslated items used i cotext Survival Spaish: Staff Library Guide to Assist the Spaish-Speakig Patro Glossaries, basic, ad advaced library phrases Library Jargo i Spaish Two lists of basic library terms Spaish Laguage Resources at Globe-Gate Specialized dictioary Diccioarios.com Frequetly supplies illustratios of proper use Cotiuig Professioal Support The ability to address the chagig eeds of a diverse user commuity improves whe librarias ca commuicate regularly ad easily with colleagues to idetify possible solutios ad resources. A umber of LIS studets ad specialists have desiged electroic areas to support librarias workig with Latio commuities. Bruce Jese regularly publishes a fully archived olie ewsletter, Spaish i Our Libraries SOL ( gseis.ucla.edu/studets/bjese/html/sol.ht m), a effort begu as part of his graduate work at UCLA. While erolled i the Uiversity of Illiois Urbaa-Champaig s School of Library ad Iformatio Sciece, Yaira Vegerao ad Heather Booth developed A Libraria s Guide to Latio Services ( seworkspace/latioservice/collecte.htm), 176

47 a Web resource that liks to sites that discuss collectio developmet, programs, ad cultural isights, ad also liks searchers to related library orgaizatios, Iteret pathfiders, discussio lists, ad idexes. Librarias workig with Latio commuities ca also beefit from the hard work ad talets of the members of REFORMA, a ALA affiliate established i 1971 to develop ad promote library ad iformatio services to Latios ad the Spaish-Speakig ( edu/library/reforma). Members of REFORMA s twety-oe chapters provide the local ad atioal library commuity with myriad resources o a daily basis, icludig REFORMANet, the orgaizatio s electroic commuicatios etwork. This Iteret discussio group ca quickly provide librarias ad iformatio specialists with iput from other professioals i the field regardig publishers ad vedors, traslatios, Latio Web sites, Spaish-laguage techical services issues, ad outreach ad political issues. This collegial forum also affords librarias support ad recogitio ( reformaet). The olie REFORMA ewsletter archives serve as a iformatio storehouse for those iterested i the history ad developmet of Latio library issues as well as cotiuig educatio, scholarship, ad metorig opportuities ( ma/ewsletter.html). REFORMA has orgaized two atioal cofereces ad has writte documetatio to dissemiate their results (See The power of laguage/el poder de la palabra [Libraries Ulimited, 2001]). Over the ext two years REFORMA will parter with other library associatios to produce two major cotiuig educatio efforts: a joit coferece with the Nevada ad Moutai Plais Library Associatios i Lake Tahoe, November 3 7, 2003, ad the first-ever Joit Coferece of Librarias of Color i 2005, a evet that will ivolve all ALA affiliates that focus o cocers specific to Uited States ethic ad racial miority groups. REFORMA fouder Arulfo Trejo, recogizig the eed to educate librarias i traiig ad those ivolved i their professioal preparatio, established the Trejo Foster Foudatio for Hispaic Library Educatio. Sice 1993, this group has sposored five cotiuig educatio istitutes across the Uited States. Much of the work ad research examied ad discussed durig the 1999 program has bee compiled i the book Library Services to Youth of Hispaic Heritage, edited by Barbara Immroth ad Kathlee de la Peña McCook (McFarlad, 2000). The Uiversity of Califoria will host the sixth Trejo- Foster istitute, Memoria, Voz y Patrimoio: The First Coferece o Latio/Hispaic Film, Prit, ad Soud Archives, from August 15 17, 2003, at its Los Ageles campus. Coclusio Public librarias realize that acquirig liguistically ad culturally appropriate materials is of little value if the iteded audiece remais uaware of these resources. Collectig Spaish-laguage materials is oly half the job. Makig these same resources available to their iteded users is the other half of the puzzle that public librarias must put i place to complete the collectio developmet picture. Ehaced catalogig, icreased collectio visibility, ad improved bibliographic istructio all play a importat role i achievig public library service to uderserved populatios. Ivestmet i Spaish-laguage tools ad liguistic ad cultural awareess traiig for staff will ope the door to a eve greater retur for Latio patros ad the commuities i which they live. Refereces 1. Sharo C. Moller, Library Service to Spaish Speakig Patros: A Practical Guide (Eglewood, Colo.: Libraries Ulimited, 2001), xvii. 2. Sally Taylor, Books across the Border: I Search of the Spaish Market, Publishers Weekly 244 (Aug. 25, 1997): S Salvador Güereña ad Vivia M. Pisao, Latio Periodicals: A Selectio Guide (Jefferso, N.C.: McFarlad, 1998), Califoria State Library Task Force o Servig Spaish-Speakig Commuities, Adelate: Recommedatios for Effective Library Service to the Spaish- Speakig, Sept Accessed Feb. 20, 2002, acrobat/adelate_1-41.pdf. 5. Bruce Jese, The Mooligual Catalogig Moolith: A Barrier to Access for Readers of Spaish, Public Libraries Usig Spaish, Accessed Feb. 4, 2002, catalogig.htm. 6. REFORMA Iformatio Techology Committee, REFORMA s Iformatio Techology Ageda, i The Power of Laguage / El poder de la palabra: Selected Papers from the Secod REFORMA Natioal Coferece, Lillia Castillo-Speed ad the REFORMA Natioal Coferece Publicatios Committee, ed. (Eglewood, Colo.: Libraries Ulimited, 2001), Elaie Yotz, Subject Access to Fictio: A Case Study Based o the Works of Pat Mora, i Library Services to Youth of Hispaic Heritage, Barbara Immroth ad Kathlee de la Peña McCook, ed. (Jefferso, N.C.: McFarlad, 2000), Ibid., Daelle Crowley, persoal commuicatio, Mar Daelle Crowley, Use of the Spaish Laguage i Orgaizig Library Materials for Latios, i Library Services to Latios: A Athology, Salvador Güereña, ed. (Jefferso, N.C.: McFarlad, 2000), 66 70; Gleda Roberts, olie postig o REFORMANet, May 14, 2001, ad persoal commuicatios, May 2002; Jese, The Mooligual Catalogig Moolith ; Vivia Pisao, persoal commuicatio, Mar. 2002; Yotz, Subject Access to Fictio, Susa Burke, persoal commuicatios, Apr. ad May 2002; Ae Sheldo, persoal commuicatios, Mar. Jue Floricato Press, Bilidex Accessed Sept. 9, 2002, bx2002tx.htm. 12. Vivia Pisao, persoal commuicatios, Mar. ad Dec., Sharo C. Moller, Library Service to Spaish Speakig Patros: A Practical Guide (Eglewood, Colo.: Libraries Ulimited, 2001), Crowley, Use of the Spaish Laguage i Orgaizig Library Materials for Latios, Moller, Library Services to Spaish- Speakig Patros, Salvador Güereña ad Edward Erazo, Latios ad Librariaship, Library Treds 49, o. 1 (summer 2000): Moller, Library Service to Spaish Speakig Patros, Wada Reiford, REFORMANet postig, Nov. 13, 2002, archived at lmri.ucsb.edu/pipermail/reformaet/ 2002-November/ html, ad persoal commuicatio, Dec. 11, Moller, Library Service to Spaish Speakig Patros, Soia Ramírez Wohlmuth, Breakig through the Liguistic Barrier: A Challege for Iitial Professioal Educatio ad Cotiuig Educatio of Librarias, i Library Services to Latios: A Athology, Salvador Güereña, ed. (Jefferso, N.C.: McFarlad, 2000), Yolada J. Cuesta, persoal commuicatio, Mar. 21,

48 FEATURE Persoalized Iformatio Eviromets Do Public Libraries Wat a Slice of the PIE? Lea Worcester Persoalized iformatio eviromets, or persoalized iterfaces, offer user-cetered, customizable access to a collectio of iformatio resources ad a solutio for users swamped by iformatio. This article reviews the developmet of library persoalized iterfaces; explores i detail the Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleburg s persoalized iterface, brarydog.et; icludes observatios from experts Robi Brya ad Eric Lease Morga; ad cocludes with a discussio of the opportuities ad challeges persoalized iterfaces offer public libraries. Library patros ad staff members strive to fid, sort, aalyze, ad use the vast variety of electroic resources that reside i a bewilderig tagle of etworked CD-ROMs, subscriptio databases, ad Iteret liks. Free access to extesive collectios of subscriptio databases selected by their state library compouds the problem for may public libraries. I additio, access to iformatio has chaged due to the rapid evolutio of ew techologies, which led to the developmet of virtual libraries available at all times ad i all places. User complaits ad staff stress serve as sigals that public libraries caot cotiue to desig ad deliver services based upo traditioal methods; istead they must look for alterative models. Oe system, My Yahoo! ( eables users to select cotet from a choice of features, icludig ews, stock updates, ad weather reports, arrage them o the scree, ad determie update frequecy. Usig My Yahoo! ad other commercial Web portals as guides, libraries are begiig to create their ow versio, a persoalized iformatio eviromet (PIE), which eables them to implemet ew, value-added services. These ew services allow olie users to customize their Web iformatio o the basis of their persoal requiremets ad iterests. A PIE is a user-cetered, customizable iterface that provides users with the tools to compose collectios from a variety of iformatio resources. Each user ca orga- Lea Worcester is a Doctoral Studet at Texas Wome s Uiversity, Deto; lworcester@oebox.com. ize it accordig to his or her ow iterests ad persoal eeds by selectig from lists of databases ad iformatio resources, addig their favorite Iteret liks, ad choosig their iterface s colors. The ed result is a idividualized page with all of the user s preferred electroic resources i oe place. PIE History I 1945 Vaevar Bush described a ever-icreasig flood of iformatio that overwhelmed iformatio seekers usig outdated methods of trasmittig ad reviewig research. He evisioed a tool called Memex that would allow users to orgaize iformatio i ways meaigful to them. 1 The eed for his visio remais as the mechaisms to geerate iformatio i a variety of formats cotiue to grow faster tha methods for filterig ad orgaizatio. I the late 1990s, commercial sites, respodig to the user s eed for a way to limit ad filter the flood of iformatio, quickly bega to leverage techology ad expad customer bases by creatig PIEs. Services such as My Excite ( My Yahoo!, ad My Netscape (my.etscape.com) offered the user a persoal iterface with customizatio optios. As a result, Web users bega to expect customizatio ad iteractivity whe usig Iteret services. 2 Recogizig that library-cetered approaches have become icreasigly irrelevat to sophisticated users, the Library Iformatio ad Techology Associatio idetified user-focused systems as a future tred at the 1999 ALA Midwiter Meetig. 3 Durig the late 1990s the uiversity commuity had several projects i developmet i respose to the complaits of patros overwhelmed by iformatio excess ad the expectatios of Web-savvy patros. I 1998, Eric Lease Morga first publicly coceptualized MyLibraries i MyLibrary i Your Library Could Make for Satisfied Patros ad was the drivig force behid MyLibrary@NCState ( edu) at North Carolia State Uiversity (NCSU). 4 NCSU distributes MyLibrary@ NCState as ope source software, which has bee adopted by other libraries. 5 Because MyLibrary@NCState is a istitute-specific term, the developers recetly 178

49 Glossary of Terms Techical literature ofte cotais ew ad coflictig terms. The followig defiitios reflectig commo usage provide a basis for uderstadig the accompayig article. Customizatio. The user may cofigure the iterface maually, addig ad removig liks ad resources as desired. Despite the use of the word persoalized, PIEs essetially offer patros customizatio optios. Popular commercial sites such as My Yahoo! eable the user to fill out a profile ad select optios. Persoalizatio. Users idividualize pages based upo a model developed through a aalysis of their avigatio of a Web site. Users do ot create profiles themselves ad may ot eve kow that profiles have bee created for them. A well-kow example is Amazo.com, which records a patro s searches ad selectios upo his or her first visit to the site ad the, durig followig visits, suggests titles based upo previous choices. bega searchig for a ew ame that could be used by all the libraries adaptig the program. 6 Other uiversities were producig parallel projects, ad academic library PIEs ow exist uder a variety of ames, icludig My Gateway at the Uiversity of Washigto ( resource/logi.asp), Virgiia Commowealth Uiversity s (VCU) My Library ( ad Corell s MyLibrary@Corell (mylibrary. corell.edu). Based upo traditioal library service goals of collectig, evaluatig, orgaizig, ad dissemiatig sets of iformatio, the uiversities use the Iteret to preset covetioal iformatio ad services. The library s cotet of licesed research databases ad ability to meet the research eeds of their users distiguishes it from commercial, persoalized olie services. Academic libraries, motivated by their missio statemet, service populatio, ad higher expeditures per capita for library materials ad computer techology, explored iovative techology ad implemeted PIEs. I cotrast, public libraries have bee slow to adopt persoalized iterfaces, ad as uiversity libraries begi revisios o their systems ad cosider secod desig stages, oly three public libraries offer a persoalized iterface. Heepi Couty Public Library s My Referece Tools (www. heepi.lib.m.us/pub/search/ referece.cfm) service eables users to select titles from approximately sixty databases for display o their persoal page. 7 Toroto Public Library offers a uique service called Career Bookmarks (careerbookmarks.tpl.toroto.o.ca) orgaized accordig to the career plaig ad job search process where users develop their ow customized list of resources. 8 Because Career Bookmarks essetially serves as a temporary list that is ot preserved withi a persoal page, it will ot be evaluated for this article. The Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleburg Couty (PLCMC) created brarydog.et ( as a studet homework help ad Web compaio i September Brarydog.et serves as a prototype for public libraries because it most closely approximates the academic ad commercial models. Despite the limited sample, iformatio from iterviews with brarydog coordiator Robi Brya ad MyLibrary@NCState s desiger Eric Lease Morga provide some isight ito developmet, usage, ad techology issues for public libraries. Workig PIEs PIEs i libraries have may commo features, icludig user autheticatio ad iformatio customizatio ad selectio. User autheticatio esures that the iformatio users choose to eter ito the system remais private. Validatio also restricts access to subscriptio databases to the library s patros ad thus protects the vedor s digital rights. Typically the system prompts the user to eter a user ame (frequetly their library card umber) ad password. After users eter their persoal pages, they ca proceed to customize its look. Most academic systems offer a limited choice of colors for fots ad subject headig bars ad a few optios for cotet placemet or iclusio of images. Brarydog.et appeals to a youger audiece with a selectio of footprits, zigzags, stars, or solid backgrouds. Users select from lists of subscriptio databases cosistig of electroic jourals, dictioaries, mauals, atlases, bibliographic databases, ad bibliographies ad Iteret liks selected by the library. Users typically place selected resources ito modules or folders orgaized accordig to format. They ca remove or add liks ad databases to suit their research ad persoal iterests. May libraries offer a alert service that iforms readers ad researchers of ew resources. Ulike the Amazo.com model, which suggests titles based upo the user s avigatio of the site ad purchasig habits, library alert services are iitiated ad cotrolled by the user. 9 The user ca add or reject ew resources suggested by the alert service ad modify their research profile as their iterests chage. Library PIEs offer liks to services provided by the library, such as referece, iterlibrary loa, ad circulatio, as well as a lik to the istitutio s home page. Ufortuately itegratio with other library services, such as borrowig records, material reewal, ad iterlibrary loa services, remais a problem due to the sheer umber of differet systems that caot commuicate with each other. 10 Because of this problem, users may have to provide a userame ad password agai whe they wish to access their library records. Brarydog.et Teal-blue ad defiitely cool, brarydog.et offers coveiet access to a wide variety of expertly selected materials with zest ad gusto to the tue of a brarydog rap. The fuky rhythm ca be played from the Web page ad adds to the attractio of the site for North Carolia studets. Situated betwee the Appalachia Moutais ad the Atlatic Ocea i the atio s fifth largest urba regio, PLCMC s twety-two locatios serve 746,427 residets. While adults ca use the service, the library desiged brarydog.et as a studet portal page ad homework assistace site for middle ad high school studets. New users oly have to choose a uique user ame ad password, eter i their zip code, ad type i their ame to create a ew accout. Library patros have the optio of eterig their library 179

50 Brarydog research tips list examples ad suggestios for citig olie resources i MLA, APA, ad Turabia formats. Oe-click access from the library s home page ad a straightforward, userfriedly desig make brarydog.et accessible for ayoe iterested i explorig ad usig a persoal iformatio eviromet. Brya remarked that PLCMC cotiues to develop brarydog.et i respose to user feedback. Whe asked what she would like to do ext, she commeted that the library wated to make the cotets more curriculum-specific ad iclude a study break feature so that studets have access to etertaimet resources. Plas for promotio iclude a brarydog.et ewsletter. 12 As part of their ogoig improvemets to the site, the library cotiues developig cotet ad simplifyig the iitial page. Makig, Promotig, ad Evaluatig PIEs Screeshot of Brarydog.et patro s persoal page. card umber for access to premium subscriptio databases. Oce they logi, they ca select their favorite resources ad place them i the oe of five folders called desks. The Referece Desk serves as a research tool, with familiar resources such as Electric Library ad Ecyclopedia Americaa, ad makes a excellet compaio to the Reader s Desk, which offers NoveList ad a lik to the olie card catalog. The News Desk cotais liks to atioal ad iteratioal ewspapers. The Childre s Desk ot oly offers subscriptio databases, but also has liks to iteractive resources developed by library staff, such as Hads o Crafts, StoryPlace, ad Book Hive. My Desk eables studets to collect ad use persoal Web liks. I additio to the features commo to most academic library PIEs, brarydog.et offers services desiged to attract ad istruct studets. Ask Brarydog, a referece service staffed by the referece departmet, provides research assistace ad guidace o where to search o brarydog.et. Live homework help gives studets access to chat sessios with subject experts from Tutor. com. Brya otes that studets foud math assistace helpful because that subject is poorly represeted olie. 11 Libraries iterested i explorig the feasibility of creatig a PIE for their library have access to a variety of resources. I 1999 Morga created a guide for libraries to follow for researchig, desigig, istallig, ad maitaiig a PIE ad described may of the followig service issues that must be addressed as part of the implemetatio process. 13 Morga otes that research should begi with visitig existig olie PIEs ad becomig familiar with how they work. Prelimiary studies should also iclude a iteral review of staffig levels because costat updatig of cotet will place a icreased demad upo their time. Durig this phase, iitial aalysis should icorporate a meetig with techical support to determie whether they ca istall, back up, ad maitai the free NCSU source code or write i-house script. After the decisio to implemet a PIE, the plaig stage cosists of creatig a collectio developmet policy alog with cotrolled vocabulary that addresses audiece, quality ad umber of resources, ad liks to the library ad goverig body. Durig this stage, plaers idetify which staff members will add ad delete iformatio resources, sed messages, ad maitai user accouts. Makig the PIE begis with the istallatio of a SQL database server, which holds the data for user profiles, ad a HTTP server supportig CGI 180

51 scripts so that the program ca iteract dyamically with users. May libraries already have the ecessary hardware, which costs betwee $2,000 ad $5,000. Scriptig laguage, offered for free by NCSU or developed i-house with a free programmig laguage such as Perl, liks the two servers. The timeframe for developig a PIE varies from three moths for VCU s My Library, to approximately eightee moths for PLCMC s brarydog.et. 14 As with most library services, developmet cotiues through the evaluatio process ad redesig phases to isure success ad sustaiability. The redesig phase i may academic libraries icludes explorig the feasibility of itegratig their PIEs ito the emergig persoalizatio features of the library system ad thus allowig users access to their library records, while others ivestigate the possibility of developig iteractive features such as message spaces or persoalized bulleti boards. 15 I additio, several libraries are cosiderig push techology, which seds users alert iformatio ad ewsletters through or withi their customized Web page. Academic libraries rely upo traditioal prit advertisemets ad olie promotio. Iitial promotio for VCU s My Library cosisted of a aoucemet o discussio lists. More tha five hudred people from all aroud the world logged o to test ad explore the ew service. After determiig that the system hadled heavy traffic, the library advertised with traditioal methods ad placed a lik o the library home page, which has prove to be the best marketig tool for VCU. 16 Librarias ad staff members also promote the service whe usig it as part of their traiig programs. Because public libraries serve diverse populatios, their PIEs require aggressive ad creative promotio, ad PLCMC s brarydog.et respoded to the challege with pizazz. Patros i braches were tatalized with posters featurig the teal blue prairie dog wearig seakers ad cool glasses as well as giat footprits leadig to the computers; throughout the commuity people could see his excited face o billboards ad T-shirts. The mayor declared September 13, 2000, as Brarydog Day, ad brarydog could be foud everywhere greetig his fas ad visitig local schools. Live demostratios ad traiig classes helped local studets ad adults become familiar with the ew service. 17 Recogizig that cotiued success depeded upo promotio, PLCMC hired a full-time Brarydog coordiator resposible for commuicatig with schools, commuity orgaizatios, ad adults that work with childre. Curretly academic ad public libraries do ot have access to automated tools for evaluatig their PIEs. Cosequetly, they rely upo a combiatio of server log file aalysis, which couts the umber of times users log i; user accout assessmet; ad database statistics. Traditioal methods of evaluatig library services, such as formal patro surveys ad user commets, also serve as tools for program evaluatio ad revisio. Most libraries refer to the umber of active accouts ad umber of times that users access their services. Reports based upo server log records after the first few years of use idicate that istead of the aticipated geeral audiece of Web users, VCU serves two classes of specialized users. The first group used the service as part of the library istructio programs ad classes they atteded. Betwee October 1999 ad March 2000 studets logged o 2,070 times i accouts set up i library istructio sessios ad ietee class accouts. Library ad uiversity classes represeted 28 percet of the use durig that time. 18 The secod class of uique users cosists of researchers with a greater eed for a specialized research portal tha the average studet. 19 Public libraries also use server logs to measure access ad, like academic libraries, keep statistics o the profiles of users. For istace, recetly Brya measured the success of promotio ad marketig i 2002 by comparig the icrease i page views from 6,100 i April to 9,400 i May ad reviewig user profiles to determie that 65 percet of brarydog.et users had a PLCMC library card. 20 Do Public Libraries Wat a Slice of the PIE? Public librarias have a opportuity to reduce patro iformatio overload ad staff stress through a sythesis of their traditioal collectio developmet ad referece skills ad techology. 21 PIEs eable libraries to cotiue providig core services to users aytime ad ayplace i a icreasigly complex ad chaotic eviromet. Olie users have access to quality resources, aswers to referece questios, ad ews about library programs ad ew products as well as a ogoig, positive relatioship with their library. NCSU s ope source code has the essetial quality of PIEs customizatio ad iformatio orgaizatio ad offers a ready-made resource for public libraries. Morga oted that it ca be either adapted as writte or easily modified to support additioal features, such as alert services, ewsletters, or itegratio with the library s circulatio system. 22 The challege for public libraries cosists i servig diverse populatios with a wide rage of iterests. This meas that each library must evaluate MyLibrary Developmet ad Implemetatio Resources for Librarias Issues to Be Addressed by MyLibrary Adopters A guide for adopters of MyLibrary. MyLibrary Liks to the curret versio of MyLibrary@NCState, admiistrative iterface, ad istallatio iformatio. Mylib-dev Mailig List Mylib-dev mailig list supports a commuity of people discussig the techical ad policy issues to cosider whe developig PIEs. Portal Vedors Aotated liks to vedors who provide fee-based portal applicatios or services. 181

52 their user eeds ad staffig levels as part of a prelimiary assessmet survey. Brya suggests that they look at all of the possibilities ad be clear about the service populatio ad the ways a PIE could help them. 23 For istace, basic assistace for childre could cosist of Web sites because their research ad iformatio eeds are relatively simple. I cotrast, support for researchers may eed to iclude olie alert ad referece services. While oly a small fractio of the user populatio may utilize this resource, Morga does ot cosider it a problem for public libraries. Just as a relatively small percetage of people use the library by checkig out a book or askig a referece questio, oly a few olie users would require a persoalized iterface. 24 Libraries have always icluded ew formats ad services while cotiuig to support traditioal oes. The sidebar o this page has liks to several examples of workig PIES for idividuals iterested i explorig ad ivestigatig how they work. Most offer guest or free accouts to omembers. Each public library must determie whether PIEs fit their commuity s eeds, library s budget, ad staff s ability to support the ew techology. Early adopters tolerate immature techologies i retur for the promise of improvemet ad the chace to ifluece its evolutio. Late adopters prefer mature, easy-to-use techology without bugs ad the guaratee of beefits for their users. The future of PIEs ca take libraries beyod the curret limitatios of electroic resources i may differet, ad perhaps uexpected, directios. Refereces 1. Vaevar Bush, As We May Thik, Atlatic Mothly 176, o. 1 (July 1945): Eric Lease Morga, Persoalized Library Iterfaces, Exploit Iteractive 6 (Jue 2000). Accessed July 17, 2002, 3. Library Iformatio ad Techology Associatio, Techology ad Library Users: LITA Experts Idetify Treds to Watch, ALA Midwiter Meetig, Ja Accessed July 17, 2002, www. lita.org/committe/toptech/mw99.htm. 4. Eric Lease Morga, MyLibrary i Your Library Could Make for Satisfied Patros, Computers i Libraries 18, o. 5 (May 1998): Da Marmio, Editorial: The Ope Source Movemet ad Libraries, Selected Web Sites With PIEs Library PIEs brarydog.et, Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleburg Couty brarydog.et My Gateway, Uiversity of Washigto Uiversity Libraries My Library, Virgiia Commowealth Uiversity My Referece Tools, Heepi Couty Library MyLibrary@Corell, Corell Uiversity mylibrary.corell.edu MyLibrary@NCState, North Carolia State Uiversity my.lib.csu.edu Amazo.com amazo.com My Excite My Netscape my.etscape.com My Yahoo! my.yahoo.com Iformatio Techology ad Libraries 20, o. 4 (Dec. 2001): Eric Lease Morga, to author, July 2, Heepi Couty Public Library, My Referece Tools. Accessed July 17, 2002, referece.cfm. 8. Toroto Public Library, Career Bookmarks. Accessed July 17, 2002, careerbookmarks.tpl.toroto.o.ca. 9. Moica Boett, Persoalizatio of Web Services: Opportuities ad Challeges, Ariade 28 (Jue 2001). Accessed July 17, 2002, persoalizatio. 10. Jimmy Ghaphery, Marti Kesselma, ad Sarah Barbara Watstei, Persoalized Iformatio Cliets: Short Aswers to Simple Questios about My Library Services, Referece Services Review 29, o. 4 (2001): Robi Brya, Brarydog.et: A Homework Assistace Portal for Studets, Public Libraries 41, o. 2 (Mar./Apr. 2002): Robi Brya, telephoe coversatio with author, Jue 27, Eric Lease Morga, Issues to Be Addressed by MyLibrary Adopters, Nov Accessed July 17, 2002, dewey.library.d.edu/mylibrary/ librarias-guide.shtml. Commercial PIEs Note: Puctuatio ad capitalizatio of the ames of PIEs ad library services withi this article are as writte o the orgaizatio s Web pages ad publicatios. 14. Jimmy Ghaphery ad Da Ream, VCU s My Library: Librarias Love it... Users? Well, Maybe, Iformatio Techology ad Libraries 19, o. 4 (Dec. 2000): ; Robi Brya, Brarydog.et. 15. Ghaphery ad Ream, VCU s My Library ; Suzae Cohe et al., MyLibrary: Persoalized Electroic Services i the Corell Uiversity Library, D-Lib Magazie 6, o. 4 (Apr. 2000). Accessed July 17, 2002, mistlebauer/04mistlebauer.html. 16. Ghaphery et al., Persoalized Iformatio Cliets. 17. Brya, Brarydog.et. 18. Ghaphery ad Ream, VCU s My Library. 19. Ghaphery et al., Persoalized Iformatio Cliets. 20. Brya, telephoe coversatio, Jue 27, Jose Ortega y Gasset, The Missio of the Libraria, Atioch Review 21, o. 2 (summer 1961): Eric Lease Morga, telephoe coversatio with author, July 15, Robi Brya, telephoe coversatio with author, July 15, Morga,

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54 FEATURE College Access Programs ad Services Jue Eiselstei College access services at public libraries brig together programs desiged to spark studet iterest i postsecodary educatio ad help parets pla for academic support ad fiacig. Resources cover a wide variety of topics, from early college awareess activities for middle school studets to resources for adult learers. Networkig ad collaboratios with local ad state colleges ad uiversities are key to the success of these edeavors. The Higher Educatio Iformatio Ceter (HEIC) at the Bosto Public Library (BPL) started i 1984 ad serves thousads of studets ad adults aually. HEIC provides free advisig ad referral services regardig high school course selectio, scholarship ad other fiacial aid assistace, college admissios, ad educatioal requiremets of various careers. The services are provided to assist people of all ages ad backgrouds who are iterested i furtherig their educatio, ad the ceter is oe of the most appreciated services provided to youg adults ad their parets at BPL. However, the ceter s focus of attetio is o low-icome ad uderserved studets ad those who are the first geeratio i their families to atted postsecodary educatio. I additio, HEIC provides early awareess programs for studets i grades six through twelve, such as Talet Search, Gaiig Early Awareess ad Readiess for Udergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), ad Kids to College, sposored by Sallie Mae. HEIC users acquire iformatio through may aveues, icludig prited resources, olie iformatio, oeto-oe advisig, ad workshops o a variety of topics. Services are offered throughout the city at BPL ad its braches, the public schools, commuity-based sites, ad olie. The olie services, available through the HEIC Web site ( iclude college advisig as well as a iteractive feature that allows users to iteract with ceter educatioal advisors. I additio, a statewide hotlie, supported by a cotract with the Massachusetts Departmet of Higher Educatio, allows studets ad their families to make direct cotact o issues related to college access ad fiacial aid. HEIC Staffig HEIC is staffed with four full-time ad fiftee part-time advisors who provide admissios, fiacial aid, ad career advisig to studets ad adults. They also help users uderstad how to complete fiacial aid applicatios. All advisors have college degrees, ad they Jue Eiselstei is the former Supervisor of Geeral Library Services at the Bosto Public Library. She is curretly the Assistat Admiistrator at the Easter Shore Regioal Library i Salisbury, Md.; juee@esrl.lib.md.us. provide services i seve differet laguages. I additio to paid staff, the ceter also has a dedicated group of voluteers who offer fiacial ad career couselig to adults ad assistace for families fillig out fiacial-aid applicatios. Although HEIC is ot a part of BPL, the library geerously provides free space for the ceter. It is ot staffed with library persoel, although there is a close workig relatioship betwee the maagemet of the ceter ad of the library. It is staffed with traied guidace couselors, admiistrators, fiacial aid advisers, academic advisers, ad voluteers advocates who help thousads of idividuals who ever expected to cotiue their educatio. HEIC is ope seve days a week from October through May, ad six days a week durig the rest of the year, followig the BPL geeral library s operatig schedule. Who Visits HEIC ad Uses Its Services? Services are offered to the traditioal college applicat just graduatig from high school as well as to returig studets. Idividuals come from all walks of life. Some of those who are helped by the ceter iclude middle ad high school studets, particularly those who are low-icome ad uderserved, welfare mothers, wome who are recetly divorced or widowed, doctoral cadidates, dowsized maagers, career chagers, ad seior citizes. If visitors desire to cotiue their educatio after high school or obtai a advaced degree, HEIC ca help them achieve their dream. HEIC staff help users with all aspects of the admissio ad fiacial aid process, icludig the completio ad filig of the Free Applicatio for Federal Studet Aid (FAFSA), which is the gateway to federal grats ad loas for udergraduate ad graduate studets. All federal fiacial aid is based o fiacial eed. Collaboratio Is Key Collaboratio with area colleges ad uiversities has bee a key igrediet to the success of these ceters i reachig studets ad parets. For example, thirty- 184

55 two higher educatio istitutios participate as members of HEIC (see figure 1), ad they help support the ceter through aual dues. By providig speakers for educatioal awareess workshops, opeig their campuses to umerous studet groups, ad commuicatig with HEIC about their college s offerigs to studets, the member colleges cotribute sigificatly to the ceter s efforts. HEIC Resources Some of the resources offered through HEIC are: college ad fiacial aid advisig; career exploratio; idetificatio of appropriate higher educatio istitutios ad programs; idetificatio of possible fiacial aid sources; ad completio of applicatio ad fee waiver forms. HEIC Member Colleges Babso College Bay State College Bejami Frakli Istitute of Techology Betley College Bosto College Bosto Uiversity Bradeis Uiversity Buker Hill Commuity College Cambridge College Curry College Emerso College Emmauel College Fisher College Harvard Uiversity Lesley Uiversity Massachusetts College of Pharmacy ad Allied Health Scieces Mout Ida College Newbury College Northeaster Uiversity Pie Maor College Regis College Roxbury Commuity College Simmos College Stoehill College Suffolk Uiversity Uiversity of Massachusetts at Bosto Urba College of Bosto, ABCD Wellesley College Wetworth Istitute of Techology Wheato College Wheelock College FIGURE 1 Advisors are also available to preset workshops for commuity agecies, ceters, ad orgaizatios throughout the greater Bosto area. Some of the workshops iclude: orietatio to the ceter; adults goig to college; fiacial aid; techology i higher educatio; debt maagemet; careers of the future; ad admissios for high school studets. I additio, workshops ca be provided at remote locatios free of charge. Computerized Resources Ceter visitors may use computerized academic, career guidace, ad fiacial aid programs o a first-come, first-served basis. At BPL s mai locatio, more tha four hudred college ad career videotapes are also available for viewig. I additio, the Massachusetts Career Iformatio System (CIS) provides comprehesive career iformatio for career plaers of all ages. Maitaied by the Massachusetts Divisio of Employmet ad Traiig, CIS has iformatio o hudreds of occupatios, programs of study ad traiig, schools atiowide, job search ad self-employmet, ad fiacial aid optios. Prit Resources While much of the iformatio is high tech, the ceter still maitais prit resources. These iclude: more tha 3,500 college catalogs from aroud the Uited States; more tha four hudred books o college ad career plaig, icludig educatioal programs ad fiacial aid iformatio; fiacial aid brochures ad applicatio forms; admissios test applicatios, such as ACT, SAT, TOEFL, ad GRE; admissios applicatios for Massachusetts colleges ad uiversities; ad HEIC home page, publicatios for middle ad high school studets ad their parets. These are some of the services available through HEIC. If you are iterested i more iformatio about HEIC, please visit their Web site at The Educatio Resources Istitute (TERI) HEIC is a divisio of The Educatio Resources Istitute (TERI), a private, otfor-profit orgaizatio promotig access to educatio at all levels for studets of all ages ad backgrouds. TERI pursues this missio through educatio loa programs, college access iformatio programs, ad sposorship ad participatio i commuity activities ecouragig educatioal opportuities for all. TERI is the oldest ad largest guarator of alterative, or private, studet loas. Its purpose is to provide studets with ecoomic alteratives for attaiig their educatios ad to assist uiversities i providig educatio i a cost-effective maer. TERI offers may differet loa programs that reach udergraduate, graduate, ad professioal studets, as well as parets of studets i elemetary ad secodary school. TERI also offers a series of loas for studets erolled i specialized programs of study. 185

56 parets ad families of studets about precollege plaig, the college admissio process, fiacial aid, ad college services; ehacig the services ad opportuities provided to youth by commuity orgaizatios ad programs that serve them; ad icreasig collaboratio amog area K 12 schools, commuity service providers, ad colleges ad uiversities. TERI home page, Replicable Models Because of HEIC s success, the Wallace Reader s Digest Fud awarded TERI two separate grats, totalig $2.6 millio, i order to replicate the Bosto ceter i six additioal cities: Louisville, Ky.; St. Louis, Mo.; Sa Fracisco; Milwaukee, Wisc.; Charlotte, N.C.; ad Washigto, D.C. The ceters i Charlotte, Sa Fracisco, ad Washigto are located i public libraries. Each ceter provides free admissios, fiacial aid, ad career advisig services to low-icome ad uderserved studets ad those who are the first geeratio i their families to atted college. Greater Washigto College Iformatio Ceter, Washigto, D.C. Fouded i 1995, the Greater Washigto College Iformatio Ceter (GWCIC) is located i the Marti Luther Kig Jr. Memorial Library. It has as its missio icreasig the umber of low-icome, miority, ad immigrat studets ad families i the Washigto, D.C., metropolita area who eroll i postsecodary educatio by providig iformatio ad assistace regardig educatioal opportuities ad fiacial aid. Resources iclude books, fact sheets, catalogs, ad computerized guidace programs. Advisers help studets ad adults use the materials ad complete admissio ad fiacial aid applicatios, providig free guidace throughout the process. Curret programs ad services iclude: iformatio ad advisig o college, career, ad fiacial aid issues; workshops o college ad fiacial aid topics i commuity settigs; prit ad electroic resources; ad resources ad traiig for staff from commuity orgaizatios, colleges, schools, libraries, ad others ivolved i college plaig for studets ad families. The ceter also operates a federally fuded Talet Search project. GWCIC is a program of the Cosortium of Uiversities of the Washigto Metropolita Area supported by the U.S. Departmet of Educatio, Sallie Mae, the Philip M. Graham Fud, Faie Mae, ad the Meyer Foudatio. ThikCOLLEGE ad Career Ceter, Charlotte, N.C. Fouded i 2001, the ThikCOLLEGE ad Career Ceter is a commuity-based college iformatio ad advisig ceter created through a partership of Commuities i Schools, the Public Library of Charlotte ad Meckleburg Couty, Charlotte-Meckleburg schools, Foudatio for the Carolias, ad local higher educatio istitutios. The ceter is a expasio of Commuities i Schools ThikCOLLEGE program, which curretly provides school-based college advisig services to area studets. The ceter will exted ThikCOLLEGE s services to iclude all studets i the Charlotte-Meckleburg commuity. Services at the ceter iclude: assistig studets through oe-o-oe advisig, prited ad electroic iformatio, workshops, ad outreach; educatig COMPASS Guide, Milwaukee, Wisc. Fouded i 2001, COMPASS Guide is a program desiged to icrease access to colleges, techical schools, ad trades ad appreticeships for Milwaukee couty residets, particularly for lowicome ad miority youth. COMPASS Guide offers a Web site ( with postsecodary educatio iformatio ad liks as well as the city s first olie searchable database of local scholarships. The iformatio is free to the public, ad people without home Iteret access ca visit a Milwaukee public library for assistace. COMPASS Guide is also a key compoet of the Milwaukee public schools college advisig services. I additio to a local Web site, COMPASS Guide also icludes a atioal, licesed, Iteret-based system called ECOS that allows people to search, save, ad retrieve postsecodary iformatio through their ow virtual locker. Users ca set up a accout for free at ay Milwaukee public library. Oce the accout is created, it is the available from ay Iteret-coected computer (for example, from home, work, or school). Sa Fracisco College Access Ceter Fouded i 2001, the Sa Fracisco College Access Ceter (SFCAC) has as its missio providig culturally relevat, comprehesive college preparatio iformatio ad assistace. Although ope to the commuity, the program targets studets who are low-icome ad the first geeratio i their family to atted postsecodary educatio. SFCAC is a collaborative program focusig o service coordiatio, ehacemet, ad expasio. It is a cetralized resource usig three modalities to serve studets: (1) a cetral walk-i site; (2) satellite sites at which targeted services are offered, icludig brach libraries, commuity ceters, Beaco Ceters, eigh- 186

57 borhood orgaizatios, schools; ad (3) a virtual site that provides iformatio over the Iteret. The Ketuckiaa College Access Ceter, Louisville Fouded i 1995, the Ketuckiaa College Access Ceter (KCAC) promotes postsecodary access ad success for the youth ad adults of the Ketuckiaa regio ad the state of Ketucky. KCAC helps studets ad adults idetify ad achieve their educatioal goals, eablig them to eter viable careers, prepare for a chagig workforce, attai fiacial ad persoal success, ad become productive citizes. All KCAC services are free, ad they iclude: assistace i completig fiacial aid ad admissio forms for college; educatioal advisig; career couselig, icludig career assessmets; scholarship searches; field trips to postsecodary istitutios; summer youth educatioal programs; tutorig; resource materials; ad college plaig ad testtakig ad study skills workshops. Services also iclude federally fuded Talet Search ad EOC projects. Accordig to Judy Alle, Natioal Programs Cosultat at TERI: the purpose of the Wallace-Reader s Digest/TERI replicatio project is to promote college-goig amog lowicome studets ad those who are the first geeratio i their families to atted college. Obstacles seemigly formidable to studets from low-icome families iclude iadequate academic preparatio, limited fiacial resources, lack of college, career, ad fiacial aid iformatio ad advisig, as well as the scarcity of strog role models ad low expectatios for themselves. Because of these hurdles, lowicome studets lag behid middlead upper-icome studets i college erollmet ad graduatio rates. I 1997, for example, oly 50 percet of eightee to twety-fouryear-olds with family icomes below $20,000 atteded college, as compared with 89 percet from families with icomes above $75,000. Studets from high-icome families are fiftee times more likely to have completed a bachelor s degree tha those from low-icome families. The good ews, however, accordig to Alle, is that low-icome studets who do get iformatio o college admissio ad fiacial aid, see a adviser for help with college plaig ad academic preparatio, ad aticipate receivig some type of grat aid are more likely tha their peers to atted college. Fudig College Access Ceters I order for a college access ceter to ot oly be lauched successfully but also be sustaied over time, it must be able to attract fudig ad i-kid support from diverse sources. Some of those fuds may iclude the followig: i-kid staff ad ifrastructure support from the host istitutio ad the parters; private philathropic support, especially those with college scholarship programs, icludig foudatio ad corporate grats, corporate sposorships, ad idividual doors, Uited Way, ad other federated fuds; cotracts with employers to provide services to their employees; college ad uiversity support; govermet support; federal ad state college access programs, such as TRIO ad GEAR- UP; grats from quasi-public higher educatio fiace etities, usually at the statewide level; state boards of higher educatio ad departmets of educatio (K 12); school system support, most ofte from staff developmet ad studet services lie items; ad tax-based ad grat fuds that flow through local muicipalities ad school districts. Accessig a sufficietly wide array of fudig opportuities requires broadbased commuity parters ad leaders servig as active members of a ceter s advisory board. Resource Materials for Commuities Iterested i Establishig College Access Ceters or Programs With fudig assistace from the Wallace Reader s Digest Fud, TERI has developed tools that are helpful to commuities iterested i establishig college access ceters or programs. They iclude: 1. A Guide to Establishig Commuity-Based College Access Ceters, which serves as a blueprit for other commuities iterested i startig ceters. The guide describes what a college access ceter is ad the steps that are ecessary i order to establish ad sustai a ceter. 2. The Web-based toolkit at which provides umerous examples of forms ad reports, such as job descriptios, budgets, ad busiess plas that are used to pla ad start a ceter. 3. Goig to College: Iformatio ad Guidace, a research paper that summarizes fidigs documetig the importace of college plaig iformatio ad advisig, particularly for uderserved ad lowicome studets ad families. 4. The College Access Ceter Impact Study, which aalyzes the satisfactio of ceter users with the services they received ad the ifluece of the services o their college plaig ad erollmet at four of the college iformatio ceters. The study ivolves college access ceters i Bosto, Louisville, Philadelphia, ad Washigto, D.C. If you are iterested i receivig ay of these materials or i learig more about establishig a college access ceter i your library, please cotact Judy Alle, atioal programs cosultat, at alle@teri.org, or Jue Eiselstei at juee@esrl.lib.md.us. 187

58 FEATURE Web Site Awards As a Selectio Tool for Librarias Shedrick T. Pittma-Hassett With the evaluative processes of prit ad Web-based materials beig aalogous, ca idustry-drive Web site awards represet the same bechmarks of quality as similar hoors give to prited works? The criteria of eleve elite Web site awards programs are evaluated, with a focus o the weight give to issues of cotet. This assessmet demostrates that while Web site awards criteria have show progress i regards to cotet, there are several aspects i which such awards fall short as selectio tools for the evaluator-libraria. The Iteret is the ultimate i iformatioal democracy sites dissemiatig iformatio i ew ad creative ways share the same cyberspace with the uorgaized, the uverified, ad the uexamied. The expoetial growth of the medium coupled with the glut of misiformatio ad flash o the Web compels iformatio professioals to take the lead i evaluatig these sites for their patros. I order to do so, it is imperative for librarias to develop bechmarks to aid i selectio ad recommedatio. Librarias have developed may stadard procedures for the evaluatio ad selectio of material for their collectios. Web site evaluatio is aalogous to these traditioal processes. 1 As with other reviewed materials, award-wiig works are ofte give greater cosideratio such awards serve as bechmarks of excellece ad authority. If awards ca be used as a bechmark of quality i the realm of prit, ca their couterparts i cyberspace be used i the same capacity? I both realms, awards play two roles as idicators of excellece by deferrig judgmet via a review process ad by impartig value to the works thus hoored. Awards As Review Oe respose to the icredible proliferatio of Web iformatio ivolves the defermet of judgmet. 2 This defermet occurs i the use of review jourals as selectio tools. Established book selectio procedures set the precedet for the use of such Shedrick T. Pittma-Hassett is a Graduate Studet i the School of Library ad Iformatio Studies at Texas Woma s Uiversity i Deto ad a Library Techicia i Access Services at the William T. Cozby Public Library i Coppell, Texas; spittma@ci.coppell.tx.us. reviews. 3 Librarias must ascertai the stregths ad weakesses of curret Web review resources. 4 The very ature of a award implies review ad critique. Natural fasciatio with awards ofte gives them credece beyod the safety of our lists ad criteria. How may librarias would dream of ot selectig wiers of the Pulitzer, the Caldecott, or the Newbery for their collectios? These hoors are the highest awards of their respective idustries ad would obviously weigh heavily i ay decisio ivolvig material selectio. Impartig Value Professioals who use awards to weigh their judgmets about a product (be it a widget or a Web site) bestow value upo that award. 5 Thus, it is atural for people to take them ito accout, especially whe professioals withi that idustry bestow the award. For Web site awards, it is imperative that the evaluator-libraria closely examie the criteria used for selectig the award wier; as i the selectio of more traditioal materials, the iclusio of the site ito the collectio of resources available to library patros imparts further value o the product ad, by proxy, the award itself. 6 Cotet-Based Evaluatio A evaluatio of elite Web site awards is essetial to assist the moder libraria i assessig the weight such awards should be give i the selectio process. There are awards for early ay category of Web site available o the Iteret. 7 I cosiderig Web sites for referral to patros or for iclusio i webliographies, librarias examie the meas by which such sites fulfill iformatio eeds ad istitutioal goals. As a result, cotet must be the first cosideratio i assessig these awards. 8 This research examies curret Web site awards, payig particular attetio to cotet issues. How much weight is give to issues such as accuracy, level of research, or origial cotet i proportio to issues of desig, such as style, flair, or techical expertise? This article explores the awards cosidered the elite of the elite i order to ascertai which 188

59 hoors should be cosidered bechmarks of quality from the cotet-orieted poit of view of librariaship. Limitatios The awards examied were the top hoors give to Web sites by their peers i the idustry. This study icludes oly Eglish laguage awards sites based i the Uited States. Subject specific or arrow iche-drive awards were ot cosidered; oly geeral awards. For example, the Web Marketig Awards were excluded from the pool of awards programs as their awards committee oly evaluates corporate Web sites. All programs were assessed accordig to their posted selectio criteria, with a emphasis o their evaluatio of site cotet. Fially, the awards were evaluated accordig to their usefuless as selectio tools for Web-based materials. World s Top Awards The Web Awards Commuity has defied a elite award as Ay Web award that is top-rated or desigated world-class. 9 The World s Top Awards serves as a shortlist of world-class awards programs. Do Chisholm, webmaster of Website Awards, maitais the list ad serves as head of the review team. The hoorees have bee desigated as elite awards by beig widely recogized by webmasters as the best awards i their coutry of origi ad by havig very high stadards. 10 The review team evaluates the selected awards i order to substatiate claims of beig elite. This team of judges icludes experieced awards evaluators ad expert webmasters. These evaluators esure that the omiated programs are widely recogized by webmasters as beig world-class awards programs, that the award itself exemplifies high stadards of Web desig, ad that the program s origiator is qualified to judge high stadards of Web desig ad developmet. 11 The reviewers cosider the ratigs provided by other prestigious ratigs services, such as Award Sites!, the most recogized award ratig service i the world by defiitio, a elite award i itself. 12 I fact, the miimum qualificatio for a Worlds Top Award is that it has bee give a 5.0 ratig by Award Sites! 13 By makig the receipt of a accepted elite award the miimum requiremet for acceptace, ad by submittig these sites to further evaluatio by multiple reviewers, the World s Top Awards distiguishes itself as a truly elite list of quality Web site awards. Eleve awards were culled from this list to form the research sample for the study. Each program is listed with its supportig Web site ad the level of award recogized by the World s Top Awards listig: 42d Street Awards ( com): 42d Street purports to recogize the best that the Web has to offer with its elite Gold ad Desig Awards. The program is affiliated with both CEM/CEMA ad APEX, orgaizatios dedicated to ethical Web site evaluatio ad awards practices. A Arete Wave of a Site (www. aretesurf.com): The Arete Awards seek to reward sites that cotribute to the pool of huma kowledge. The site also offers resources i literature, philosophy, pelicas, eagles, ad surfig. Beelie ( Based i south cetral Idiaa, the Beehive serves as a regioal search egie ad directory for local Web sites o a variety of topics. The Beehive program awards elite Beehive Awards, as well as the rarely bestowed Golde Hive Award. Iteratioal Web Page (IWP) Awards ( IWP Awards focus o iteractive desig ad creativity. The program s iteratioal scope makes it oe of the most recogized awards o the Web. Mesweet s Award Site (www. mesweet.et/awards.html): This program offers Gold ad Platium awards for sites with exceptioal site cotet. Mesweet also provides resources to assist webmasters i attaiig Web site awards. Nem5 Awards Program (www. webmaggic.com): The Nem5 program bega i 1999 ad has bee earig awards i its ow right sice its iceptio. Nem5 offers elite Silver ad Gold Maggic Awards. The program also distributes studet aid fuds based o studet Web site desig. PeaceWork Certified Sites (www. peacework.com): Gold Award (or better). Jef Peace, desiger ad director of services for PeaceWork, cotributes to umerous other awards programs ad committees dedicated to ethical Web site award practices. Gold ad Diamod Certified Awards recogize Web sites that are aesthetic, useful, ad digified. StarSite Award Program ( starsiteaward.com/msie4.html): The StarSite program focuses o the evaluatio of Web site layout ad creative desig priciples. Surreal Graphics ad Awards (www. surrealaward.com): The Surreal site offers both a Web site awards program ad a olie gallery of origial digital ad traditioal art. Their Masterpiece Award purports to recogize artists expressig their talets through the use of the Iteret. Ultraweb Award Program (www. ultrawebaward.com): The Ultraweb program offers four levels of awards. Levels 3 ad 4 are cosidered elite, symbolizig sites high i techical precisio, deep cotet, ad beautiful professioal desig. Webby Awards ( com): The Webbies are perhaps the most recogized Web site awards i the world. I desig ad prestige, the program serves as the Academy Award of Web desig. It is importat to ote that the Webby Awards ad the Iteratioal Webpage Awards do ot meet the miimum requiremet of havig bee desigated 5.0 by Award Sites!. The World s Top Awards excuses this oversight by ackowledgig the atioal prestige associated with these programs. 14 Their absece would make the listig icomplete, despite their failure to meet miimum qualificatios. Geeral Awards Qualifiers Each of the awards programs listed above has bee examied accordig to its posted guidelies, rules, or criteria. Tables 1 ad 2 idicate the geeral qualifiers ad criteria poits preset i these awards programs. Table 1 idicates geeral qualifiers applied to sites by these awards programs that do ot directly pertai to cotet criteria, but are vital i determiig the quality of the judgig process. Fees Most of the examied awards do ot charge etry fees of ay sort. The 189

60 otable exceptios are the IWP Awards ad the Webbies. IWP charges $125 per etry, while the Webby Awards charge $150 per etry. 15 The Webbies distiguish themselves by offerig a discout for oprofit groups their etry fee is oly $95. This fee is for the paymet of evaluators ad guaratees that the etered site is evaluated. Sites that do ot eter may be judged if omiated idepedetly by oe of the judges. 16 The sigificace regardig the decisio of a awards program to charge fees lies i the fact that this act arbitrarily reduces the pool of excellet Web sites based o their ability or willigess to pay a substatial sum. By chargig etry fees, these awards seriously ihibit their ability to judge a site solely o its merits. By defiitio, these awards wish oly to recogize quality Web sites with the wherewithal or willigess to pay. Judgig I table 1, a pael of judges cosists of at least two idividuals. Three of the eleve TABLE 1 evaluated awards are judged by a sigle idividual. The Mesweet Award Site, while judged by a idividual, relies o a team of fairess ad itegrity site evaluators to judge sites i which the primary judge feels there would be a coflict of iterest. 17 It is self-evidet that a pael of judges would be preferable to a idividual. The objectivity of the judgig process is much more secure with a team of idividuals tha with a sigle evaluator. With a clear view to the objectivity iheret i a award s judgig process, the libraria ca better assess the credibility of the award. Geeral Award Qualifiers Pael vs. Copyright Award Fees? Idividual Judge Cosideratios? Site Age? 42d Street Awards p x Arete Wave of a Site i x Beelie i x Iteratioal Web Page Awards x p x Mesweet s Award Site i x Nem5 Awards Program p x PeaceWork Certified Sites p x StarSite Award Program p x Surreal Graphics ad Awards p x Ultraweb Award Program p x Webby Awards x p x Leged: i (idividual judge); p (pael judgig); x (cotais idicated qualifier) Copyright Cosideratios The majority of the elite awards make clear statemets regardig the copyright requiremets for the sites they hoor. These statemets ca be as simple as We will ot accept or cosider sites with obvious copyright ifrigemets. 18 The Beelie site, while makig o formal statemet regardig copyright, does require that sites make refereces or citatios regardig oorigial work. 19 Librarias address copyright cocers every day. These cocers play a cetral role i the work of the public library ad are of equal importace i cotet-based evaluatio. A awards program must demostrate regard to issues of copyright i order to be cosidered elite by a evaluator-libraria. Site Age Site age is a qualifier based o how log the awarded site has bee i existece previous to the judgig process. Oly three of the elite awards take the age of the site ito cosideratio. Two of these, the Webbies ad IWP, oly require that the site be live by the date of the judgig or etry deadlies, respectively. 20 The Beehive Awards require that the site be live for at least six moths. 21 The age of a site gives a idicatio to the evaluator of the site s stability. I a medium i which here today, goe tomorrow is a familiar refrai, elite awards should oly be awarded to sites with stayig power. That these awards, for the most part, do ot take this factor ito accout raises serious cocers for their reliability as bechmarks of quality. Table 2 idicates the cotet criteria poits preset i the evaluated awards programs. These guidelies are at the heart of what is importat to the evaluator-libraria. Cotet Qualifiers All but oe of the awards evaluated iclude provisios for the disqualificatio of sites accordig to certai cotet- TABLE 2 Cotet Criteria Poits Cotet Cotet Cotet Criteria Origial Award Qualifiers vs. Desig Statemet Listed Currecy Accuracy Cotet Grammar Orgaizatio 42d Street Awards x = x x x x x Arete Wave of a Site x /a x x x x x x Beelie x c x x x x x x Iteratioal Web Page Awards /a x x Mesweet s Award Site x c x x x Nem5 Awards Program x d x x x x x Peacework Certified Sites x /a x x x x x x StarSite Awards Program x /a x x x Surreal Graphics ad Awards x /a x x Ultraweb Award Program x = x x x x x x Webby Awards x varies x Leged: x (cotais idicated qualifier); /a (uable to calculate weight); c (cotet weighed over desig); d (desig weighed over cotet); = (cotet ad desig equally weighed) 190

61 based criteria. These cotet qualifiers usually idicate that sites cotaiig porography or udity, advocacy of illegal activities, profaity, ad racist themes or hate-speech will be istatly disqualified from wiig the award. Some of the more iterestig caveats disallow sites that iclude cotet pertaiig to the Occult, Wicca, or Pagaism, political sites that espouse dagerous ideas, or sites cotaiig cotroversial material of ay kid. 22 Some programs rule out sites for havig ay other cotet we fid usuitable. 23 Oe program ot oly prohibits sites with racist, profae, or hateful cotet, but also sites with liks to similar subject matter. 24 Evaluatio based o cotet is rooted i the cocepts of authority, style, ad professioal practice, ot o the level of distaste that the evaluator holds for the subject matter. These awards purport to be elite, a selectio of the best the Web has to offer so log as the evaluators are ot offeded by the subject matter. A excellet site o a cotroversial topic would be swept uder the rug due to may of these caveats. Eve if a site met these guidelies, it could be disqualified if it offered its visitors liks to sites with opposig viewpoits. This style of blaket disqualificatio based o cotet rus cotrary to the evaluative practices of librariaship. Cotet versus Desig A few of the programs utilize a scorig system posted alogside their criteria. Scorig systems allow for the quatificatio of the weight of cotet i compariso to desig. Of the eleve selected awards, five have posted scorig systems. Two programs, 42d Street Awards ad Ultraweb, score cotet ad desig i equal proportios. 25 The Nem5 program clearly weighs desig cosideratios over cotet. 26 Of those regardig cotet over desig, the Mesweet Awards cosider cotet issues to be 60 percet of the total score, while the Beehive Awards score cotet as thirty poits out of a possible oe hudred the highest amout tallied for ay sigle Beehive category. 27 Iterestigly, the Webby Awards did ot post their scorig systems. Each category of this award weighs aspects differetly accordig to the cocepts preseted. 28 Those awards that post their scorig methods ted either to equate cotet with desig, or eve give cotet a higher promiece i their evaluatio. This focus represets a step i the right directio. However, this tred holds true oly with those sites that post their scorig method. The focus o cotet must be ascertaied through direct metio or the postig of criteria cetered o such issues. Cotet Statemets ad Criteria Most of the evaluated elite awards sites cotai a statemet i regard to their attitude toward cotet. Some of these programs, however, do ot support their statemets by postig their criteria. Surreal Graphics makes o metio of cotet cocers, through either statemet or criteria, other tha statig that all graphics preseted must be 100% origial. 29 The StarSite awards program eglected postig ay cotet criteria, but did specifically state that cotet is secodary. 30 By far the most impressive statemet for cotet comes 191

62 from Mic Miller, reviewer for the Beehive Awards. Miller evaluates based o cotet first, lookig for useful, iterestig, ad accurate iformatio o a specific topic with cotet beig the primary cocer. For Miller, there is a additioal cardial si i the Iformatio Age ad that is premeditated misiformatio. 31 The most revealig aspects of these criteria appear to be their statemets regardig cotet ad the postig of supportig criteria. While early all of the evaluated programs offer statemets regardig cotet, oly seve of those actually list the criteria used to evaluate it. Aother iterestig fact is that either of the fee-based awards posts their cotet criteria. A coectio would oly be speculative, but the coicidece is certaily provocative. Awards that are uwillig to address cotet, either by statemet or posted guidelies are, at best, dubious bechmarks of quality. Currecy Withi the criteria of these awards, oly oe site, Ultraweb, addressed the importace of maitaiig the iformatio posted o a Web site. 32 I cotrast, Ultraweb does ot have ay provisios for the age of a site i their criteria. How ca the evaluators determie if a site is keepig curret if they fail to specify the miimum time for the site to have bee i existece? There are o idicatios that the evaluators check up o sites i this regard. The omissio of currecy weakes the evaluative processes of these elite awards. For most Web sites (at least those ot archival i ature), old iformatio is bad iformatio. Updatig ad keepig curret stabilize a Web site. Stability o the Web is a rare feat; a feat worthy of a elite award. Accuracy Five of the eleve evaluated awards issue statemets regardig the accuracy of the iformatio preseted by the sites they judge. Two sites clearly state this requiremet i their criteria. 33 The others metio completeess, precisio, ad credibility. 34 All emphasize the eed to refer to sources ad establish authority o the topic preseted, as well as the importace of textual depth. Accuracy ecapsulates what the libraria-evaluator assesses i evaluatig Web iformatio. A badly researched yet well-desiged site holds little value to librarias or their patros. Less tha half of the elite Web site awards list accuracy as a criterio i their evaluatio. This fact speaks agaist their usefuless as selectio aids. Igorig the importace of credibility ad accuracy i iformatio esures the triumph of style over substace. Origial Cotet Nearly all of the awards programs emphasize the amout of origial cotet eeded to wi their prize. Oe cites a requiremet of 75 percet origial cotet. 35 Some refer to a umber of pages, such as five pages of quality cotet or three pages of real cotet. 36 The Arete program suggests that at least five pages of Web cotet teaches the user somethig about the covered topic. 37 Other programs make statemets cocerig the value of origial cotet without ay quatificatio i regard to their criteria. The Webby Awards guidelies fail to metio origial cotet, but do stress creativity. 38 However, these terms are ot ecessarily syoymous. The importace of origial cotet should be a give for a elite award. Eve programs that have ot specified how much origial work is required stress the importace of research ad citatio of oorigial ideas. All of the awards make a cocerted effort ot to reward derivative, uorigial Web sites. This demostrates a great deal of growth from the cool-site-of-the-day approach to Web site awards. Grammar Cocers about grammar appear i more tha half of the criteria examied. Most simply state a eed to practice proper spellig ad sytax. Others cite more specific guidelies, such as usig homoyms where the cotractio was iteded (for example, substitutig your for you re ) or prohibitig the use of slag. 39 Ay Web site that caot demostrate mastery of spellig or grammar should ot be cosidered a elite site. This fudametal requiremet applies to materials preseted i ay medium that wish to be take seriously. Curiously, with the exceptio of Mesweet, sites that did ot specifically address the use of grammar were also those that did ot post cotet-based criteria of ay kid. This patter aptly demostrates the piecemeal ature of much of the cotet criteria preseted. Orgaizatio Oly five of the eleve awards require orgaizatio of cotet i their guidelies. These evaluators urge webmasters to esure their cotet is categorized ad preseted logically, or to orgaize cotet ito meaigful groups. 40 Iterestigly, the sites that fail to cosider grammar also fail to cosider orgaizatio. All of the awards examied have provisios for the layout or avigatio of the site. Arguably, this costitutes a cocer for orgaizatio. However, the layout of the pages of a Web site is far differet tha the orgaizatio of the webmaster s thoughts. While similar ad symbiotic, the differece lies i the emphasis of presetatio over commuicatio. Awards that emphasize cotet orgaizatio are cogizat of this distictio. Coclusio Librarias desperately eed bechmarks with which to judge the expoetial growth of Iteret cotet. The potetial use of elite Web site awards grows from a ackowledgemet of traditioal practices of collectio developmet ad a atural eed for the defermet of judgmet. Bechmarks used by the evaluator-libraria must demostrate a awareess of the importace of cotet. Elite Web site awards attempt to demostrate this awareess through cotet statemets. However, these statemets lack the support of posted poits of evaluatio. The few sites that do post criteria focus o the origiality of the cotet, ot o authority or accuracy. The disregard to the importace of curret Web iformatio demostrates a lack of uderstadig of the medium s shortcomigs. The extesive use of cotet qualifiers, iimical to the traditioal evaluative processes of librariaship, esures that oly the ideologically tame Web site ca be cosidered elite. Cotet-based evaluatio is crucial i a ope medium such as the Iteret. These awards purport to be elite, but all fall short o key aspects of cotet evaluatio. For ow, librarias must cotiue to rely o other resources, such as reviewed directories ad peerreviewed articles, to assist them i recommedig quality sources of olie iformatio. 192

63 Refereces 1. G. Edward Evas ad Margaret R. Zarosky, Developig Library ad Iformatio Ceter Collectios (Eglewood, Colo.: Libraries Ulimited, 2000), 232; Boyd R. Collis, Beyod Cruisig: Reviewig, Library Joural 121, o. 3 (Feb. 15, 1996): ; Hope N. Tillma, Evaluatig Quality o the Net, May 30, Accessed Jue 23, 2002, html. 2. Nicholas Burbules, Paradoxes of the Web: The Ethical Dimesios of Credibility, Library Treds 49, o. 3 (witer 2001): Evas ad Zarosky, Developig Library ad Iformatio Ceter Collectios, Alastair G. Smith, Criteria for Evaluatig Iteret Iformatio Resources, Mar. 2, Accessed Jue 4, 2002, htm. 5. Taja S. Schweizer, Erasmus Research Istitute of Maagemet, Maagig Iteractios betwee Techological ad Stylistic Iovatio i the Media Idustries: Isights from the Itroductio of ebook Techology i the Publishig Idustry, Feb Accessed Jue 26, 2002, erimrs pdf. 6. Joyce M. Latham, To Lik, or Not to Lik, School Library Joural 48, o. 5 (sprig 2002): Laura Gordo-Murae, Evaluatig Net Evaluators, Searcher 7, o. 2 (Feb. 1999): Evas ad Zarosky, Developig Library ad Iformatio Ceter Collectios, Web Awards Commuity, Terms ad Defiitios, Accessed July 27, 2002, terms.html. 10. Do Chisholm, Website Awards, World s Top Awards: Selectio Process, Accessed Jue 23, 2002, websiteawards.xe.et/topawards2.htm. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 13. Chisholm, Website Awards, World s Top Awards: Selectio Process. 14. Ibid. 15. Iteratioal Webpage Awards, Rules, Accessed July 21, 2002, Webby Awards, FAQ, Accessed July 29, 2002, mai/submit/faq.html. 16. Webby Awards, FAQ. 17. Debra Kay Sharp, Award Evaluatig My Experiece As a Award Evaluator, Accessed July 21, 2002, www. mesweet.et/judgig.html. 18. Jey Goellitz, A Arete Wave of a Site Award Program, Program Geeral Criteria, Accessed July 21, 2002, Mic Miller, the Beelie Awards, Guidelies, Accessed July 29, 2002, Webby Awards, FAQ ; Iteratioal Webpage Awards, Rules. 21. Miller, the Beelie Awards, Guidelies. 22. Nikki S., 42d Street, Criteria, Accessed July 21, 2002, com; Jey Goellitz, A Arete Wave of a Site Award Program, Program Criteria FAQ, Accessed July 21, AiRex ad PDPBProductios, The StarSite Award: Criteria Rules Regulatios Tips, Accessed July 29, 2002, Surreal Graphics ad Awards, Disqualificatios 1 of 3, Accessed July 29, 2002, surrealframe.shtml. 24. Ultraweb Award Program, Requiremets, Accessed Mar. 20, 2003, Nikki S., 42d Street, Scorig, Accessed July 21, 2002, com; Ultraweb Award Program, Evaluatio, Accessed Mar. 20, 2003, htm. 26. Nem5 Web Maggic, Awards Program Criteria, Accessed July 21, 2002, Debra Kay Sharp, Criteria, Accessed July 21, 2002, criteria.html; Mic Miller, the Beelie Awards, How Reviews Are Scored, Accessed July 29, 2002, www. bto.com/tb4/scorig.html. 28. Webby Awards, Criteria, Accessed July 29, 2002, com/mai/webby_awards/criteria.html. 29. Surreal Graphics ad Awards, Criteria 1 of 3, Accessed July 29, 2002, surrealframe.shtml. 30. AiRex ad PDPBProductios, The StarSite Award: Criteria Rules Regulatios Tips. 31. Miller, the Beelie Awards, Guidelies. 32. Ultraweb Award Program, Ultraweb Award Program Evaluatio. 33. Miller, the Beelie Awards, Guidelies ; Nem5 Web Maggic, Awards Program Criteria. 34. Ultraweb Award Program, Evaluatio ; Jey Goellitz, A Arete Wave of a Site Award Program, Program Cotet Criteria, Accessed July 21, 2002, Jef Peace, PeaceWork Certified Site Award for Web Desig ad/or Cotet Excellece, Accessed July 21, 2002, www. peacework.com/pwcs/bigcriteria.htm. 35. Nikki S., 42d Street, Scorig. 36. Nem5 Web Maggic, Awards Program Criteria Basics, Accessed July 21, 2002, html; Sharp, Criteria. 37. Goellitz, A Arete Wave of a Site Award Program, Program Criteria FAQ. 38. Webby Awards, Criteria. 39. Peace, PeaceWork Certified Site Award for Web Desig ad/or Cotet Excellece ; AiRex ad PDPBProductios, The StarSite Award: Criteria Rules Regulatios Tips. 40. Peace, PeaceWork Certified Site Award for Web Desig ad/or Cotet Excellece ; Mic Miller, the Beelie Awards, Criteria, Accessed July 29, 2002, INDEX TO ADVERTISERS AWE , 201, 204 Baker & Taylor cover 2 Books o Tape Book Wholesalers Ic cover 3 Dyix cover 4 EBSCO GPO Igram Library Neal-Schuma OCLC , 151 Public Library Associatio , isert Poisoed Pe Press Referece USA SIRS Madari Sirsi TLC Weiss Ratigs

64 Early Literacy Project Update PLA s Early Literacy Project, which bega i 2000, cotiues to educate public librarias about research-based preschool programmig ad readig developmet i America s childre. At the 2003 PLA Sprig Symposium, Susa Burs, researcher ad author, George Maso Uiversity, ad Gilda Martiez, Ceter for Readig Excellece at the Johs Hopkis Uiversity, brought ew iformatio o the public library s role i establishig the foudatio for learig i preschool childre. PLA has plaed aother program o this topic, which will be held o Moday, Jue 23, at the ALA Aual Coferece i Toroto. To read more about this critical iitiative, visit the PLA Web page, ad click o the projects tab. Put It o Your Caledar! Pla to atted PLA s Teth Natioal Coferece, PLA The coferece, which is focused exclusively o public librariaship, will be held February 24 28, 2004, i Seattle, Washigto. Visit for coferece updates ad registratio iformatio or call , ext. 5PLA with questios Sprig Symposium Wrap-Up Nearly 800 library professioals gathered i Chicago for PLA s Nith Sprig Symposium, held March 6 8, 2003, at the Palmer House Hilto Hotel i Chicago. The attedace figure was o par with registratio figures from the associatio s last sprig symposium, which was held i March Begiig with the opeig keyote presetatio, through the workshops, the author lucheo, ad other orgaized evets, the symposium was a tremedous success. We left equipped with lots of ew iformatio, ideas, ad professioal cotacts to take back to our libraries, stated PLA Presidet Jo A Pider. Commets from participats raged from fasciatig ad challegig to a excellet learig experiece. The symposium bega with a opeig geeral sessio featurig oted childre s author ad educator, Mem Fox. Fox discussed her career ad her books while emphasizig her belief i the absolute importace of readig to babies. She also read aloud, i character, from her bestseller, Koala Lou. Followig her talk, the colorful author siged books ad chatted with attedees. The eveig culmiated i a well-atteded dessert receptio. Programmig bega o Friday morig, with the workshops Buildig the Perfect Library ; Emotioal Itelligece ad Leadership Effectiveess ; Power up with Prit: Coectig Tees ad Readig i a Digital Age ; Emerget Literacy, Part 2: Research ad Preschool Services ; ad Staffig for Results. The 2003 symposium also featured a author lucheo with writer Chris Bohjalia, who amused the crowd by describig his life as a writer ad as a bookish perso. Bohjalia (whose presece was sposored by Radom House) also siged books followig his presetatio. A PLA bookstore, cotietal breakfasts, ad a umber of tours rouded out this year s symposium. I additio, PLA Gold Parter ad symposium sposor Gaylord ad Gaylord Iformatio Systems was o had to showcase its products ad services for attedees. PLA s ext cotiuig educatio opportuity (outside of programmig at ALA cofereces) is the upcomig Teth Natioal Coferece, PLA 2004, which will be held February 24 28, 2004, i Seattle, Washigto. Visit the PLA Web page at for photos ad highlights from the 2003 Sprig Symposium ad for atioal coferece ews ad updates. PLA thaks Gaylord ad Gaylord Iformatio Systems for their sposorship of the Sprig Symposium ad Radom House for their sposorship of the author lucheo. PLA Presidet s Program ad Award Receptio at ALA Aual Coferece Moday, Jue 23, 4 7 p.m. PLA Presidet Jo A Pider ivites you to atted PLA s premiere evet at the ALA/CLA Aual Coferece featurig keyote speaker Margaret Atwood. Atwood, who was bor i Ottawa i 1939 ad grew up i orther Quebec ad Otario, is the author of more tha thirty books of poetry, fictio, ad ofictio. Her upcomig book, Oryx ad Crake, is due to be released i May Atwood s presetatio will be the culmiatio of the first-ever associatiowide readig ad discussio program hosted by the ALA Public Programs Office, i collaboratio with PLA. Oe Book, Oe Coferece aims to egage ALA, PLA, ad Caadia Library Associatio (CLA) members ad attedees at the ALA/CLA Aual Coferece i readig ad discussig Atwood s The Hadmaid s Tale. Keyote speaker Mem Fox, PLA presidet Jo A Pider, ad presidet of Gaylord Iformatio Systems Katherie Blauer at the 2003 Sprig Symposium Opeig Geeral Sessio. 194

65 EBSCO 2c page 195

66 Cosumer Health Iformatio for Public Librarias By Lyda M. Baker ad Virgiia Mabeck. Laham, Md.: Scarecrow, p. $45 (ISBN ) LC Public librarias workig i ay size library will fid this title, writte by Baker, associate professor of library ad iformatio sciece, Waye State Uiversity, ad Mabeck, project cosultat for the New York Public Library, a sesible ad practical guide. Public librarias have take o a essetial role as a adjuct to the healthcare team, as more ad more cosumers seek out iformatio to aid i the prevetio ad treatmet of their medical coditios. I this area, it is vital for the libraria to evaluate what type of iformatio the patro is askig for, determie ad provide the best source of that iformatio, ad ofte, provide istructio i the use of resources. This book aims to assist librarias who are developig comprehesive cosumer health iformatio services withi their facilities. The authors stress the importace of a thorough kowledge of the eeds of oe s library commuity as a first step i plaig the focus of cosumer health services. They ote that a importat cosideratio may be that those seekig healthcare iformatio, whether ill themselves or carig for a loved oe, may have differet eeds tha the geeral demographics of a commuity suggest. Who comes to the library seekig medical iformatio? What kids of iformatio do they eed? As idividuals cope with the stress ad role chages brought about by diagosis or illess, they respod i a variety of ways ad may require differet types of iformatio. Kowledge of the commuity ad the idividuals seekig cosumer health iformatio will aturally help determie the scope of the library collectio. I order to select the types of materials that patros most request, the authors recommed such activities as coductig periodic surveys of the health-related questios received, perhaps by recordig such requests at the referece desk, ad readig professioal literature about iformatio eeds of patiets ad their loved oes to provide additioal helpful guidelies. Much of the libraria s ability to meet customer health iformatio eeds is depedet If you are iterested i reviewig or submittig materials for By the Book, cotact the cotributig editor, Je Schatz, 213 Waterfield Library, Murray State Uiversity, Murray, KY 42071; jeschatz@earthlik.et. By the Book reviews professioal developmet materials of potetial iterest to public librarias, trustees, ad others ivolved i library service. PLA policy dictates that publicatios of the Public Library Associatio ot be reviewed i this colum. Notice of ew publicatios from PLA will geerally be foud i the News from PLA sectio of Public Libraries. A descriptio of books writte by the editors or cotributig editors of Public Libraries may appear i this colum but o evaluative review will be icluded for these titles. o havig available a selectio of high-quality, timely, relevat materials that provide the types of iformatio most sought by patros. The authors address a variety of related collectio developmet issues. There is tremedous advatage to havig a writte materials selectio ad collectio developmet policy for the healthcare collectio based o goals ad objectives specifically tailored to the istitutio. Focus groups ad user surveys ca provide the libraria with additioal evaluative measures. Ogoig staff traiig ad awareess is also critically importat. To supplemet resources provided i house, the libraria must develop his or her awareess of available commuity ad olie resources. Library collectios should be desiged to reflect ad complemet what is available locally ad avoid eedless duplicatio. I additio, librarias ca use their kowledge of area health agecies as they refer library customers to commuity health programs, ursig homes, ad support groups. Parterships with local healthcare providers are a excellet way to provide curret medical iformatio i the library, as well as to promote to those offsite the healthcare iformatio services available at the library. The authors poit out that members of the public may ot view the library as a potetial resource of cosumer healthcare iformatio, or may they kow that librarias are available to assist i locatig ad usig medical resources. A discussio of the Iteret s potetial as a health resource is also icluded. As librarias kow, although ideal for some types of patro iquiries, the Iteret may ot always be the best optio. By coductig a thorough referece iterview, the libraria should evaluate potetial resources ad make her selectio based o the type ad amout of iformatio sought. As with much iformatio techology, the libraria must remai curret i her kowledge ad serve as a itermediary, perhaps by bookmarkig selected quality sites or by providig customers with iformatio about how to evaluate a Web site for reputable iformatio. Cosumer Health Iformatio for Public Librarias is highly recommeded for its sesible advice ad thorough coverage of this subject. Carla S. Roberts, Muskigum Couty Library System, Zaesville, Ohio [Editor s ote: PLA also publishes a helpful moograph o cosumer health iformatio. The Public Libraria s Guide to Providig Cosumer Health Iformatio ( X, $32), by Barbara Palmer Casii ad Adrea Keyo, is available from the ALA Order Departmet; tel.: Shop ALA ( ); olie: www. ala.org.] Helpig the Difficult Library Patro New Approaches to Examiig ad Resolvig a Log-Stadig ad Ogoig Problem Edited by Kwasi Sarkodie-Mesah. New York: Haworth, p. $49.95 (ISBN ) LC Library public service staff members are regularly challeged by the tesio betwee their value of decorum ad civility ad their resposibility to give impartial professioal service eve i troublig patro situatios. Stress or falterig self-cofidece may lead to a overreliace o impersoal rule eforcemet i such situatios. Most staff kow, however, that riskig a geuie perso-to-perso iteractio, despite the upleasatess, is ultimately a more effective ad rewardig approach. I this ew moographic collectio (published simultaeously as the joural The Referece Libraria, os. 75/76, 2002), editor Sarkodie-Mesah gathers twety-five articles that propose ways to idetify, aticipate, ad deal with difficult public service situatios. With some overlap, he sorts the e- 196

67 tries ito three sectios: traditioal problem situatios; problems arisig from library access to electroic resources; ad solutios from iside ad outside the professio. The selectio is ueve; about a quarter of the articles are primarily rehashes of discussio i the professioal literature. Most of them, though, offer useful iformatio, ad the best third reframe core issues to reveal valuable isights ad promisig opportuities for ehacig customer services. While several articles i the first sectio are preoccupied with categorizig problem patros ad behaviors, the most useful offer ew perspectives o professioal practice. Currie ad several others shift the focus from patros to staff, arguig that perceived difficulties ofte represet real patro eeds for which staff have ot adequately plaed ad traied. Chelto, for example, examies the habitual mislabelig of ormal adolescet behavior as problematic ad describes costructive library strategies that support youg adult learig as a social process. Ford similarly addresses the service eeds of metally ill patros. Redfer adds a brief yet valuable aotated survey of the literature. I the secod sectio, Baro cosiders those patros left behid by the olie revolutio, dividig the blame betwee users techophobia ad librarias faulty assumptios about users. She proposes a cyclical model of learig iformatio techology ad provides relevat tips for teachig users i each phase of the cycle. Taylor ad Porter describe a academic library s effective aticipatio of ad preparatio for the major challeges created by addig a virtual referece desk. Cubbage tells how her library used Iteret trackig software to study patters of patro use ad adjust service procedures. The fial sectio cotiues the emphasis o staff developmet, sometimes from ovel perspectives. Qui applies the psychotherapist s model of difficult cliets to the library settig. Though Qui s mai topic ivolves victims of abusive relatioships, the model ad its remedies geeralize well to ay patros who expect ad therefore create ad draw staff ito coflict situatios. Jackso shares the busiess world s awareess that 96 percet of dissatisfied customers complai to acquaitaces but ot to staff. She stresses systematic complait maagemet as a key to customer satisfactio ad loyalty. Several articles address staff traiig ad self-care, otably Fescemyer s discussio of agry customer situatios ad the steps for staff recovery over the followig hours ad days. Overall this collectio is skewed toward academic libraries, yet oe ca traslate the best ideas ito the public settig more readily tha the authors themselves suspect. The least useful pieces are preoccupied with satisfyig the scholarly article paradigm ad fail to offer the ew approaches promised i the book s subtitle. Noetheless, the iovativeess of the strogest pieces, together with the articulateess with which several others restate accepted practice, make this book a worthwhile read. Michael Austi Shell, Itegrated Library Services Libraria, Jacksoville (Fla.) Public Library Iterior Desig for Libraries Drawig o Fuctio ad Appeal By Carol R. Brow. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $45, $40.50 ALA members (ISBN ). LC Libraries Desiged for Users A Twety-First Cetury Guide By Nola Lushigto. New York: Neal-Schuma, p. paper, $99.95 (ISBN ) LC Every libraria is usually ivolved i plaig for a ew library buildig or major reovatio at least oce i a career, but most librarias do ot have the opportuity to take courses i this area. Ufortuately, research has show that whe librarias are hesitat or silet durig the plaig process, they are sidelied by more cofidet architects ad city or campus plaers who kow little about library customers ad eve less about library fuctios. I this situatio, the resultig buildig is usually a malfuctioig moumet that the library staff must edure for years util moey is foud to reovate. Help is o the way, however, i these ew books by established authors o this subject. Brow is a public library maager ad former library plaig cosultat who has writte two previous books o the selectio of library furishigs. Lushigto has bee a library cosultat for more tha thirty years ad has also writte two previous library plaig books. Brow s ew book o iterior desig will be useful to firsttime library plaers, but will be of greatest value to those ufamiliar with library fuctios ad services, especially such ew developmets as self-checkout machies. It will be a treasure for librarias workig with iexperieced board members, architects, ad iterior desigers: The libraria ca had them this readable book that explais i lay terms the basic library fuctios ad how best to desig iteriors to facilitate those fuctios. The book should also be a key resource i all courses o library architecture ad plaig. Major topics icluded i Brow s book iclude library furishigs, sigage, floor ad wall coverigs, color selectio, lightig ad acoustics, ad a special sectio o child ad tee areas. Readers will fid particularly iterestig the four library floorplas that Brow recommeds ad explais i detail, givig reasos for adjacecies, traffic patters, ad furiture cofiguratios. Aother gem i the book is a appedix titled Iterview Questios for Obtaiig Iformatio from Library Staff. These questios could be used to guide library staff as they decide o prefereces for a ew buildig, ad should be required readig for all library architects ad iterior desigers as the questios highlight the complexity of library service poits, materials hadlig, ad people flow. Although all color photos i Brow s book are uiformly superb, some black ad white photos are of ueve quality. Aother mior criticism is that paragraphs are overly full of short bits of very valuable iformatio: greater use of lists ad tables would have helped with iformatio digestio. Lushigto s ew book is a complete revisio of his 1979 bestseller; this ew title has a much stroger emphasis o maagig the plaig process, techology, ad overall ergoomic desig for both customers ad staff. Although useful to architects ad board members, the book s first audiece is public librarias. Both experieced ad eophyte plaers will beefit from Lushigto s guidace o what to do before the architect is hired: the diagrams, lists, ad tables i the eeds assessmet chapter are exceptioally good. How to choose ad work effectively with a architect are topics also covered very well. But Lushigto gives his most valuable advice i his te short chapters o such problematic fuctioal areas as meetig rooms, referece services, browsig ad magazie storage, public computer workstatios, ad staff work rooms. Numerous checklists, diagrams, ad floorplas are sprikled throughout the very iformative text. The chapter cotaiig model templates for specificatios of various library areas is a goldmie. Librarias plaig such areas as the youg adult sectio, the audio-visual area, or the director s office ca cosult these templates for ideas regardig major desig features, proximity requiremets, ad furiture ad equipmet eeds. The moutai of details ivolved i ay library plaig project egeders great fear that a feature or piece of furiture will be forgotte. These templates will help still that fear. As a Caregie library aficioado, I have to recommed 197

68 Books i Brief Aotatios of Books Received but Not Reviewed Bioterrorism ad Political Violece Web Resources. Edited by M. Sadra Wood. Bighamto, N.Y.: Haworth, p. $34.95 (ISBN ); paper, $19.95 (ISBN ). LC Valuable guide to Web sites ad search tips dealig with such post-september 11 topics as athrax, disaster preparedess, ad terrorism. Creatig a Wiig Olie Exhibitio: A Guide for Libraries, Archives, ad Museums. By Marti R. Kalfatovic. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $40, $36 ALA members (ISBN ). LC This practical guide covers proposals, desig, staffig, techical issues, ad more. Icludes umerous illustratios, examples, ad refereces. Jourals of the Cetury. Edited by Toy Stakus. Bighamto, N.Y.: Haworth, p. $49.95 (ISBN ); paper, $29.95 (ISBN ). LC Backgroud ad aotated lists of ifluetial jourals of the past oe hudred years orgaized by subject area. The Libraria s Guide to Itellectual Property i the Digital Age: Copyrights, Patets, ad Trademarks. By Timothy Lee Wherry. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $38, $34.20 ALA members (ISBN X). LC A uderstadable, etertaiig discussio of copyright, trademarks, ad patets geared toward librarias chagig resposibilities. The text is supplemeted by useful illustratios, charts, scree shots, ad URLs. Magic ad Hypersystems: Costructig the Iformatio- Sharig Library. By Harold Billigs. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $38, $34.20 ALA members (ISBN ). LC A collectio of essays about the iformatio techology explosio ad the creatio ad developmet of the relatioal library. Olie Commuity Iformatio: Creatig a Nexus at Your Library. By Joa C. Durrace ad Kare E. Pettigrew. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $42, $37.80 ALA members (ISBN ). LC Istructio ad best practices from libraries providig olie commuity iformatio to their local citizes. Super Searcher Author Scribe: Successful Writers Share Their Iteret Research Secrets. By Loraie Page; edited by Reva Basch. Medford, N.J.: Cyberage, p. paper, $24.95 (ISBN ). LC This title i the popular Super Searcher series icludes research tips from authors of may geres, icludig Ridley Pearso, Catherie Coulter, ad David A. Fryxell. that the author check the ame of Caregie s library cosultat, who strogly iflueced the look of public libraries throughout the Uited States ad Caada by supplyig sample floor plas. His ame was James (ot Richard) Bertram. If my library board voted for a ew public library buildig, I would purchase both Brow s ad Lushigto s books to shore up my kowledge base, guide my plaig processes, ad give me icreased cofidece whe dealig with architects ad muicipal plaig officials. But if I had to choose just oe resource to cosult, Lushigto would get my vote. A Curry, Associate Professor, School of Library, Archival, ad Iformatio Studies, Uiversity of British Columbia, Vacouver The Sciece Fictio ad Fatasy Readers Advisory The Libraria s Guide to Cyborgs, Alies, ad Sorcerers By Derek M. Buker. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $38, $34.20 ALA members (ISBN ). LC The Sciece Fictio ad Fatasy Readers Advisory provides a i-depth look at the sciece fictio ad fatasy geres. The author divides sciece fictio ito sevetee subgeres ad fatasy ito sixtee subgeres. Beyod amig these subgeres, he explais the uderlyig premises of each. For istace, he explais oe fatasy subgere by sayig, Quest fatasy comes i three flavors: locate ad/or rescue a perso, locate ad/or retrieve a item, or jourey to destroy a item.... Most frequetly it ivolves a party of disparate adveturers armed with both sword ad spell (123). After a relatively brief explaatio of the subgere, Buker goes o to provide a aotated bibliography for five books ad titles of te to twety other books that fall ito the subgere. The aotatios, while ot geerally revealig too much of the plot, are egagig ad ecourage the reader to try some of these books. At the ed of each sectio, the author provides two recommedatios, titled Derek s Pick ad Best Pick for the Reluctat Reader respectively. A appedix eumerates wiers of major sciece fictio ad fatasy awards. This source is a good compaio for Diaa Tixier Herald s Gereflectig (Eglewood, Colo.: Libraries Ulimited, 2000). Gereflectig provides a brief explaatio of the subgere ad a list of books that fall ito that category, but Buker s aotatio of selected works adds depth to the discussio of speculative fictio. The aotatios, combied with a coversatioal toe, make The Sciece Fictio ad Fatasy Readers Advisory accessible to most readers. At times, the toe desceds ito flippacy, but this is relatively ifrequet. Public librarias who wat to lear more about the appeal of sciece fictio or fatasy subgeres would beefit from readig The Sciece Fictio ad Fatasy Readers Advisory. The book is highly recommeded for public libraries with strog sciece fictio ad fatasy collectios, ad for public libraries wishig to develop those collectios. Academic libraries which collect gere fictio may also beefit from this book. Deice Adkis, Assistat Professor, School of Iformatio Sciece ad Learig Techologies, Uiversity of Missouri, Columbia Usability Testig for Library Web Sites A Hads-o Guide By Elaia Norli ad CM! Witers. Chicago: ALA, p. paper, $32, $28.80 ALA members (ISBN ). LC Have you ever had difficulty avigatig a library Web site? Ever looked for somethig as simple as a public library s hours of operatio ad could ot fid them? Beig a libraria, you will soldier o, searchig the site util you ve foud the hours, perhaps uder a lik titled policies or services, but how log will a typical user search before givig up? The purpose of Usability Testig for Library Web Sites is to make libraries aware of the beefits of Web usability. The book is ot a guide to Web desig flaws, but rather a guide to assist librarias i creatig ad implemetig a test that ca determie what parts of a library s Web page users are havig diffi- cotiued o page

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70 Baker ad Taylor Offers ebook Solutio for Public, Academic, ad School Libraries Baker ad Taylor, supplier of books, videos, music, ad services to libraries, lauched ED, its itegrated circulatio ad maagemet solutio for ebooks. The ED system is a Web-based iteractive digital library solutio that allows libraries to preset ad distribute ebooks to their etwork of locatios ad patros. ED is uiquely braded for each library s site ad ca be costructed ad brought olie quickly. ED maages the library s ebook ivetory ad makes cotet available for secure olie viewig ad browsig as well as providig time-based, off-lie checkout to a patro s ow computer usig Adobe s Cotet Server fuctioality. Full reportig ad admiistrative fuctios roud out this uique solutio that replicates the etire book distributio process i a virtual settig. The ED digital library of ebooks ca be selected usig the same collectio developmet tools that Baker ad Taylor customers curretly use for their traditioal collectios, icludig stadig order, approval, ad olie services, ad ca be added to their ED system for availability to patros i a fractio of the time required for prited materials. Customized MARC records are also available for ED titles to facilitate easy itegratio with existig catalogs. Gale ad Oceao Offer New Spaish-Laguage Olie Referece Gale has partered with Spaish-laguage referece publisher Oceao Grupo Editorial to provide users with Cosulta, a ew Spaish-laguage referece source for patros i Uited States public, academic, ad school libraries. There are more tha 100 Gale ad Oceao referece titles i Cosulta, alog with more tha 60 fulltext jourals ad 1,600 primary source documets. Cosulta maitais the scope ad fuctioality users have come to expect from Gale Resource Ceters, providig basic, advaced, ame, timelie ad chroology, ad image gallery search paths. I additio, Cosulta icludes several biligual Spaish dictioaries. Cosulta gathers referece material, primary sources, joural articles, ad more tha 6,200 full-color photographs, maps, ad artwork i oe Web-based product for Spaish-speakig ad biligual studets ad geeral researchers. H. W. Wilso Lauches New Versio of WilsoWeb H. W. Wilso has lauched a etirely ew versio of its WilsoWeb database service. Completely redesiged usig state-of-theart techology, the ew WilsoWeb offers: extesive itegratio with existig web-based cotet ad services; multiple search ad display optios; database-specific subject thesauruses; a wealth of customizatio optios, for both admiistrators ad users; ad a simpler yet more capable iterface. Uique to the ew WilsoWeb is WilsoLik, SFX-powered software that provides access to full-text articles i additio to the extesive full text delivered by Wilso databases. If the full text of a cited article is t available o WilsoWeb, users simply click the WilsoLik ico for a automatic search of the library s other ope-url compliat databases (o matter what the vedor). There s o additioal cost, ad o additioal hardware is ecessary WilsoWeb subscribers ca take advatage of their etire full-text collectio without ivestig thousads of dollars i their ow SFX server. WilsoWeb hosts more tha fifty referece databases for public, academic, school, ad special libraries. The WilsoWeb service is used by researchers worldwide. The 1930 Cesus: A Referece ad Research Guide Tom Kemp, of the Godfrey Memorial Library i Middletow, Cocticut, is the author of The 1930 Cesus: A Referece ad Research Guide published by ProQuest. This book describes how the cesus was take, details the records that are ow available, ad offers umerous tips for researchers. The book gives examples of the hadwritig, abbreviatios, ad key terms used i the cesus to make it easier for geealogists to iterpret the records. I additio to the Cesus of Populatio, the Fifteeth Deceial Cesus icluded special cesuses o agriculture; merchat seame; religious bodies; cosular schedules; special muicipal schedules, ad the bureau s special reports o birth, marriage, ad death statistics for that year. There are detailed govermet descriptios ad defiitios of the Native America tribes ad groups as they existed i 1930 as well as a idex to all military bases, istallatios, ad vetera s facilities. Also icluded are more tha iety maps produced by the Cesus Bureau that show the major metropolita areas. There is a large foldout sample page from the 1930 cesus i the back of the book. The cotributig editor of this colum is Vicki Nestig, Regioal Brach Libraria at the St. Charles Parish Library, Louisiaa. Submissios may be set to her at 21 River Park Dr., Hahville, LA 70057; vesti@ bellsouth.et. The above are extracted from press releases ad vedor aoucemets ad are iteded for reader iformatio oly. The appearace of such otices herei does ot costitute a evaluatio or a edorsemet of the products or services by the Public Library Associatio or the editors of this magazie. Digital Library Reserve Eables Circulatig ebook ad Digital Magazie Collectios OverDrive aouced Digital Library Reserve, a library applicatio service for developig ad maagig circulatig collectios of e-books, e-magazies, e-ews- 200

71 Early Literacy StatioTM Opeig the door to a lifetime of learig Packed with developmetally appropriate software selected by Early Literacy Specialists Completely locked dow ad guarateed to be stable every time Priter icluded Grat assistace available Arts Referece Math & Problem Solvig Sciece Readig & Writig Social Studies Computer Skills Call AWE for details (888) ifo@awe-libraries.com papers, jourals, audio books, ad other dowloadable media for ledig to patros. Libraries usig Digital Library Reserve services will be able to itegrate digital media ito their existig collectio from a variety of sources as well as licese titles from OverDrive s Cotet Reserve, a collectio of digital books ad periodicals from leadig publishers icludig more tha 35,000 ebook products from 400 publishers. The Digital Library Reserve cosists of a series of Web services for the library to establish ad maage its digital media collectio. OverDrive has bee workig closely with Adobe Systems to take advatage of the library support ad ledig models available for ebooks ad electroic magazies formatted i Adobe Acrobat (PDF) ad secured usig Adobe Cotet Server. Digital Library Reserve will also take advatage of the Digital Rights Maagemet services available to other media formats to eable libraries to expad their digital media collectios to iclude audio books ad PDA titles. Exclusive Pricig Offer o Discovery Chael Home Videos Follett Media Distributio (FMD) has aouced a uique program to provide libraries with Discovery Chael Home Videos at 40 percet off list price. Through a special vedor arragemet, FMD ca offer its exclusive pricig to librarias who wat to provide their patros with highquality materials while operatig uder tighteig budgets. Discovery Chael Home Videos, available i VHS ad DVD, iclude programs from the Discovery Chael, the Aimal Plaet, ad The Learig Chael. I additio, FMD is ow the exclusive distributor of Discovery Chael Home videos i Spaish, which are also available at 40 percet off list price. EBSCOhost Now Compatible with AGet Thaks to a ew partership betwee EBSCOhost ad Auto-Graphics, the AGet system ca ow be used to access a library s EBSCOhost resources, providig powerful searchig ad coveiece to the ed user. Not to be cofused with commercial likig servers, AGet is a tool that allows librarias to simultaeously search multiple databases ad other subscriptios ad retrieve ituitively displayed results from those resources. AGet creates a sigle etry poit to all of these electroic materials ad automatically validates a researcher for access to these items. It also eables users to lauch a search across databases ad other referece sources, yet view results i their ative result scree ad format, esurig copyright compliace. Thus, researchers usig AGet would retrieve results from EBSCOhost databases, complete with EBSCOhost ative avigatio tools ad display pages, while still withi the realm of the AGet system. I additio, AGet supports a variety of delivery formats, icludig EBSCOhost Z39.50 MARC format, SUTRS format, ad its ative format. AGet is desiged to be simple to admiister ad offers four differet search types for researchers. The system offers flexibility, allowig libraries to icrease fuctioality where appropriate. or New Referece Works for Studets Learig Eglish The editors of The America Heritage lie of dictioaries have developed a set of referece works especially desiged to suit the eeds of studets learig Eglish: The America Heritage Dictioary for Learers of Eglish ad The America Heritage Thesaurus for Learers of Eglish. 201