april06a.indd


N e w s  f r o m  t h e  F i e l d  Stephanie Orphan 

RLG launches ArchiveGrid 
RLG has debuted a new historical archive 
Web site, ArchiveGrid, which offers a 
worldwide database of collection descrip­
tions from hundreds of libraries, museums, 
and archives. ArchiveGrid provides direct 
search access to dispersed collections and 
an easy way to gather primary source in­
formation. Of special use to genealogists 
are links to locations for birth and death 
records, ship logs, and cemetery records, 
along with other historical documents. In 
1998, RLG, an international not­for­profi t 
membership organization, introduced Ar­
chival Resources to give unifi ed access 
to archival collections descriptions of all 
kinds. Over the past eight years, archives, 
libraries, and museums around the world 
have added descriptions of their holdings 
to this database, which forms the core for 
ArchiveGrid. Institutions wishing to contrib­
ute to ArchiveGrid should go to archivegrid. 
org/contribute. To access ArchiveGrid, visit 
to archivegrid.org. 

ACRL seeks comments on revised 
security guidelines 
ACRL invites comments from interested 
parties on the revision of the “Guide­
lines for the security of rare books, 
manuscripts, and other special collec­
tions” (1999). A draft of the revision, 
prepared by the Security Committee of 
the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sec­
tion, can be accessed at www.ala.org/ 
ala/acrl/acrlstandards/securityrarebooks. 
htm. Comments may be sent to the revi­
sion committee chair, Everett Wilkie, at 
ewilkie@ix.netcom.com. 

Free access to Women and Social Move­
ments available through April 15 
Alexander Street Press, in partnership 
with the State University of New York­
Binghamton’s Center for the Historical 
Study of Women and Gender, has made 
its online resources, Women and Social 
Movements in the United States 1600–2000 
freely accessible from March 15 to April 
15. Librarians, students, instructors, and 

scholars can log on without passwords or 
fees during this time. Women and Social 
Movements brings together books, imag­
es, documents, scholarly essays, commen­
taries, and bibliographies documenting 
the history of women’s activism in pub­
lic life. To access the resource, visit www. 
alexanderstreet2.com/wasmlive. 

University of Pittsburgh search engine 
wins WebFeat innovation award 
The University of Pittsburgh Library Sys­
tem’s (ULS) online library search engine 
has been awarded the 2006 WebFeat Presi­
dent’s Award for Innovation. Zoom!, which 
was launched in 2004, allows users to 
search using keywords in a simple search 
box on the ULS homepage, with search re­
sults coming from a wide range of sourc­
es, including databases, e­journals, online 
books, and online newspapers. Users do 
not need to know the exact titles of the da­
tabases they wish to search. In 2005, Zoom! 
was used to access 5.5 million databases. 
WebFeat, which produced the software, 
praised ULS staff for its creativity and dem­
onstrating that “libraries are not restricted 
to one­size­fi ts­all solutions.” 

Morgan Library to reopen following 
major expansion project 
The Morgan Library, which has been closed 
for almost three years while undergoing a 
major expansion, will reopen to the public 
on April 29. The $102 million building proj­
ect is the largest in the library’s history and 
is Pritzker Prize­winning architect Renzo 
Piano’s first completed commission in New 
York. The expansion provides the museum 
and center for scholarly research with dou­
ble the exhibition space for its collections. 
In addition, the project includes a dramatic 
new entrance on Madison Avenue, a spa­
cious central court, a 280­seat performance 
hall, a naturally lit reading room, storage 
space for the collections, and visitor ame­
nities, such as two cafes and a gift shop. 
The Morgan will make the occasion with 
a week­long series of special activities, 
capped by the public opening. 

216C&RL News April 2006

http:ewilkie@ix.netcom.com
http:www.ala.org
http:archivegrid.org


Blackwell introduces online reviews 
journals in the humanities 
Blackwell Publishing has launched a series 
of new online reviews journals designed 
for researchers, students, and teaching fac­
ulty in the humanities. History Compass, 
Literature Compass, and Philosophy Com­
pass are available and will be joined by six 
additional titles over the next two years. 
Each Compass journal publishes 100 peer­
reviewed survey articles from across its 
discipline each year. The articles provide 
overviews of current research in the fi eld 
and fresh thinking on key issues. Informa­
tion about the journals is available at www. 
blackwell­compass.com. 

Webcast of University of Michigan 
digitization symposium available 
On March 10 and 11, the University of 
Michigan University Library and the U.S. 
National Commission on Libraries and In­
formation Science cosponsored a sympo­
sium entitled “Scholarship and Libraries in 
Transition: A Dialogue about the Impacts of 
Mass Digitization.” The five panel discus­
sions and four keynote speakers discussed 
the transformative issues and implications 
that emerge from mass digitization initia­
tives. More than 500 onsite attendees and 
150 Webcast viewers participated in discus­
sions about the challenges and opportuni­
ties of mass digitization initiatives. A full 
list of presenters and the Webcast (in Real­
Media and Windows Media Player formats) 
is available at www.lib.umich.edu/mdp 
/symposium. 

St. Olaf and Carleton College libraries 
file one­millionth entry 
St. Olaf and Carleton College’s libraries are 
celebrating the entry of the one­millionth 
bibliographic record into their joint catalog, 
the Bridge. The milestone was made pos­
sible by the colleges’ 2004 merger of their 
separate catalogs, through a grant from 
the Mellon Foundation. The joint catalog 
gives students and faculty quick access to 
resources from both institutions and allows 
the libraries to collaborate on collection 
development. The millionth record was an 
electronic document from the National Re­
newable Energy Laboratory titled “Facility 
Microgrids.” 

EBSCO announces live integration of 
SUSHI 
EBSCO has announced that SUSHI (stan­
dardized usage statistics harvesting initia­
tive) is now in production within EBSCO­
host Electronic Journals Service (EJS). As a 
result, customers of Innovative’s Millennium 
platform will be able to automate the trans­
fer of journal usage data from EJS for use 
within Millennium’s ERM module. SUSHI 
builds on the work of Project Counter by 
allowing completely automated request and 
delivery of COUNTER reports. SUSHI will 
be released by NISO (National Information 
Standards Organization) as a draft standard 
for trial use in 2006. 

Community of Scholars available 
through CSA 
The Community of Scholars database, which 
provides direct access to more than 1 mil­
lion active researchers working in more than 
200 disciplines in 8 countries, is now avail­
able through the CSA platform. Searches in 
the database provide exposure to the com­
munity currently studying a topic of interest, 

C&RL News
seeks


Job
of
a
Lifetime
editor



C&RL News is looking for a new editor for 
its “Job of a Lifetime” column, which fea­
tures interviews with librarians in innova­
tive and unusual positions in academic 
and research librarianship. The editor 
may conduct interviews him­ or herself 
or coordinate interviews of librarians by 
colleagues and associates.The column is 
expected to run three­to­four times a year, 
be 1,000 words in length, and include a 
photograph of the interviewee. 

If you would like to apply, send an 
e­mail or letter outlining your interest 
and experience and a sample interview 
by May 10 to: Stephanie Orphan, C&RL 
News, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611, 
e­mail: sorphan@ala.org. 

Selected applicants will be invited 
to discuss their ideas with the C&RL 
News Editorial Board over the phone or 
in person at Annual Conference, New 
Orleans. 

April 2006  217 C&RL News 

mailto:sorphan@ala.org
www.lib.umich.edu/mdp
http:blackwell-compass.com


and users are directly connected 
to a comprehensive, richly linked 
guide to scholars refl ecting the 
community behind the content. 
CSA specializes in publishing and 
distributing in print and electroni­
cally 100 bibliographic and full­
text databases and journals in 
four primary editorial areas: natu­
ral sciences, social sciences, arts 
and humanities, and technology. 

Columbia University launches 
“Notable New Yorkers” site 
The Columbia University Librar­
ies Oral History Research Offi ce 
and the Libraries’ Digital Program 
Division have launched “Notable 
New Yorkers,” an innovative Web 
site with new and unpublished 
source material on ten key fi grues 
in publishing, politics, philanthro­
py, and the cultural life of New 
York City. The site offers digital 
audio recordings and transcripts of 
interviews drawn from the collec­
tions of the Libraries’ Oral History 
Office. Each oral history is accom­
panied by three background es­
says and a briefer methodological 
introduction. The site is available 
at www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb 
/digital/collections/nny/. 

ACRL participated in a joint program with REFORMA, the 
National Association to Promote Library and Information 
Services to Latinos and the Spanish­Speaking, at Catholic 
University in February. The purpose of the program was 
to talk about academic librarianship to LIS students from 
Catholic University and University of Maryland. Speakers 
were, front row (l­r), Camila Alire (ACRL president and dean 
of University Libraries, University of New Mexico), Johnni­
eque Love (coordinator of personnel programs, University of 
Maryland Libraries); back row (l­r), Mario Ascencio (treasurer, 
REFORMA DC Metro Chapter and visual arts liaison librarian, 
George Mason University), Laura Maldonado (president, 
REFORMA DC Metro Chapter and reference and instruction 
librarian, George Washington University), Jack Siggins (uni­
versity librarian, George Washington University). 

ACRL
National
Conference
paper,
panel,
workshop,
and

preconference
proposals
due
May
10,
2006


Proposal submissions for contributed paper, 
panel session, workshop, and preconfer­
ences for the ACRL 13th National Confer­
ence,“Sailing into the Future—Charting Our 
Destiny,” are due May 10, 2006. The ACRL 
13th National Conference will be held in 
Baltimore, March 29—April 1, 2007, and of­
fers a forum for an exciting and energizing 
exchange of ideas on research, practices, 
developments, and visions in the fi eld of 
academic and research librarianship. 

Submitters are encouraged to investigate 
the issues and topics described as part of 
the conference tracks and themes, and to 
think about both the future for academic 
librarianship and the practices that will 

help librarians get there. Conference track 
and theme descriptions are available at 
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlevents/baltimore 
/program07/trackdescriptions.htm. 

T h e  c o m p l e t e  C a l l  fo r  Pa r t i c i p a ­
tion is online at www.ala.org/ala/acrl 
/ a c r l e v e n t s / b a l t i m o r e / p r o g r a m 0 7  
/program07.htm.  Proposals must be sub­
mitted via the online proposal form, avail­
able at www.eshow2000.com/acrl/2007 
/program_proposal_submission.cfm. 

Questions about the Call for Presenta­
tion should be directed to msutton@ala.org, 
(312) 280­2522.  Complete details about the 
Baltimore conference are online at www. 
acrl.org/baltimore. 

218C&RL News April 2006

mailto:msutton@ala.org
www.eshow2000.com/acrl/2007
www.ala.org/ala/acrl
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlevents/baltimore
www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb