Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship 000 (December 1991) URL = ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/stacks/sts/sts-000 ------------->> ---------- ---- -- ##### ####### ##### - # # # - # # # S - ##### # ##### T ELECTRONIC - # # # S COMMUNICATIONS -- # # # ---- ##### # ##### --------- ----------------------->> ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIANSHIP December 1991 Premier Issue [Number 0] __________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: WHAT WE ARE/WHAT WE WILL BE--EDITOR FROM..... RESOURCES ON WOMEN AND SCIENCE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BY SUSAN SEARING SCIENCE LITERACY AND INFORMATION SKILLS BY GREGG SAPP SYNTHESIS: A NATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION COALITION -- RADICALLY RESTRUCTURING UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING EDUCATION BY JOHN SAYLOR SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY: FOUR REPORTS BY HARRY LLULL SERIALS CANCELLATIONS--STATE OF THE ART: A REPORT ON A PRECONFERENCE HELD AT THE 1991 CHARLESTON CONFERENCE BY LYNN KACZOR COALITION FOR NETWORKED INFORMATION FALL 1991 REPORT BY CNI SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST FORM _____________________________________________________________________ WHAT WE ARE You have received the premier issue of the electronic publication Issues In Science And Technology Librarianship. It is part of the Electronic Communications program of the Science and Technology Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The STS Electronic Communications also includes two ALA Midwinter and Annual electronic updates sent out two weeks before the meetings. These updates include room assignments for meetings and other last minute information of interest to those attending ALA. STS also sends out twice a year the STS Signal newsletter to its membership. The paper newsletter has reports from the various committees of the section. Issues In Science And Technology Librarianship is the product of the Electronic Communications subcommittee of the STS Newsletter committee. The subcommittee is composed of Lynn Kaczor, Gregg Sapp, and Harry LLull. The Newsletter committee and its members, co-chaired by Kathy Wood and Martha Lyle of Clemson University, coordinate both the paper and electronic publications of STS. Issues In Science And Technology Librarianship is not meant to be an electronic bulletin board. However we do hope that as an electronic publication we will be able to address issues of concern to science and technology librarians in a timely and spontaneous way. This issue includes four articles which address various aspects of cultural diversity, scientific literacy, and undergraduate education in science and engineering. There are two reports from conferences and some short informational correspondences. And don't forget the subscription form at the end. WHAT WE WILL BE What Issues In Science And Technology Librarianship becomes will be up to the feedback we receive from our readership. The STS Newsletter committee will be discussing the Electronic Communication program at the ALA Midwinter meeting in San Antonio. The committee has discussed implementing columns on difficult reference questions and hot topics bibliographies. I hope we can encourage some of you to write up conference and workshop reports. Although the editorial board will review articles submitted to be published, we expect to implement the regular columns in a more distributed way over the internet. A regular column that I am very excited about which will be implemented in 1992 will be From The Administrators View. This column will be written by guest administrators and directors who will address science and technology librarianship from their viewpoint. We hope this column will open up more communication and dialogue between science and technology librarians and their administrators. We often still hear that engineers do not use libraries and that the sciences have their labs whereas the university library is the lab of the humanities. Science and technology librarianship is very active and concerned about more issues then just the cost of books and journals. Three ARL directors have said they are willing to do one of these columns over the next year: Barbara von Wahlde, Associate Vice President for University Libraries, State University of New York at Buffalo; Miriam A. Drake, Dean and Director of Libraries, Georgia Institute of Technology; and Sheila Creth, University Librarian, University of Iowa. Other articles to appear in future issues will include Faxon Xpress and from Connie Gould of the Research Libraries Group, Inc., an article on RLG's Information Needs in the Sciences Assessment project. I hope this introduction has given you an idea of where we are starting out. We need to know your ideas and how you would like to shape this publication so that it is useful. We hope to provide a forum that allows us to pool our intellectual resources. Send your ideas and comments to ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU. If you send them before January 21, 1992, they will be included in the discussions to be held at midwinter. Harry LLull, Editor University of New Mexico _________________________________________________________________ FROM THE STS CHAIR: I want to congratulate the enthusiastic and hard-working members of the Science and Technology Section, and Harry Llull in particular, who have produced this inaugural electronic publication--Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship. I consider this accomplishment to be a major contribution to the vitality of the section. This electronic publication provides a vehicle which I am confident will broaden member participation in the section, especially for members who do not regularly attend ALA meetings. Through subscriber contributions, this new electronic publication has the potential to become what the members want it to be. Prices of scientific periodicals are well-covered in the serials pricing electronic newsletter, but quite a number of issues of interest to science librarians which might be appropriate for this publication come to mind: Cooperative collection development and innovative resource sharing/access vs. ownership issues; decentralization issues in an increasingly automated environment; electronic journals in science and scientific communication; database provision; the value of conference proceedings; and recruitment of people with science backgrounds to librarianship. I think there are a number of areas in which the sciences are or will be in the forefront in terms of accessing and managing information. I hope that this electronic publication will provide you with a mechanism to communicate innovative ideas. Beverlee French, Chair Science and Technology Section University of California, Davis FROM THE EDITOR OF THE NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES: I am delighted that you and ACRL/STS are about to begin the electronic publication that you and I have talked about for so long. If your experience is anything like mine with the "Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues," you will find that you as editor and your newsletter as an excellent means of communication will serve as a catalyst in bringing together people who are facing similar situations (not just problems!) and are able to help one another. The recent proliferation of online communication has brought us in various of our professional and personal roles closer together, and it is certainly changing our expectations. It is in scientific research that the computer has probably had the greatest impact, something you and your readers will know far better than I. Still, there are glitches. I predict some of the same sorts of horror stories for your publication that I have for mine. Some subscribers don't get an issue; others get duplicates, or more. I hope you never have an issue caught in a loop, as one of mine once was. The more copies people got, the more messages I got, many of them sending the entire (lengthening) newsletter back to me. I wish you understanding, flexible subscribers, not the other kind. I wish you absolutely no personal messages going to your entire list. But mostly, I wish you responsive readers; that is what will make your publication a success. Marcia Tuttle Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues University of North Carolina FROM THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: A new engineering library, to be named the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center (GELIC), will soon be constructed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The new facility will support the instructional and research needs of 12 departments, 16 specialized centers, and 3 allied laboratories and will serve 5,400 undergraduate students, 2,100 graduate students, and 515 faculty members. Scheduled to open in 1994, the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center will have 90,000 square feet of public space spread over five floors. The new facility will seat 1,200 patrons, contain special rooms for group study activities, seminars, conferences, audio-visual presentations, private study, and faculty research, store the existing engineering collection of 220,000 volumes, and accommodate the 6,500 new volumes added each year. GELIC will also contain 120 computer terminals for information retrieval services and academic use by students and faculty Serving as a model for science and engineering libraries, state-of-the-art communications and information technologies will provide the College of Engineering, the campus, and the State with access to hundreds of local and remote bibliographic and numeric databases. These databases will include INSPEC, the Aerospace Database, Compendex Plus, Metadex, NTIS, and the complete text of IEEE/IEE publications. The GELIC information services will feature advanced library information workstations, expert system user interface software, advanced bibliographic instruction and multimedia facilities, and full-text electronic document transmission capabilities. An 18.7 million gift form the Grainger Foundation is financing the building, which will be named in honor of William Wallace Grainger. A 1919 UIUC graduate in electrical engineering, William Grainger founded W.W. Grainger, Inc., which distributes equipment, components, and supplies nationwide. FROM THE DISCUSSION GROUP FOR COLLEGE SCIENCE LIBRARIANS: The ACRL-STS Discussion Group for College Science Librarians will hold an informal dinner meeting on Saturday, January 25 at 6:30PM during the ALA midwinter meeting in San Antonio. Contact Robin Raquet, Science Librarian, Trinity University, Maddux Library, 715 Stadium Drive, San Antonio, TX 78284 for more information and to express interest in joining the group for dinner. Phone 512-736-7343 or Bitnet: JRAQUET@TRINITY. Alison Ricker Oberlin College ________________________________________________________________ RESOURCES ON WOMEN AND SCIENCE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN by Sue Searing, General Library System, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Women's Studies Librarian of the University of Wisconsin System provides information services to faculty, students, and administrators in the university's fourteen institutions. The office has paid special attention to the information needs of teachers and students in the emerging sub-field of Women and Science. In 1984 the Women's Studies Librarian produced a videotape titled "Women and Science: Issues and Resources." The thirty- minute program features four women scholars -- in neurophysiology, the history of medicine, biology, and the social studies of science -- who critique scientific thought and the scientific professions from a feminist perspective. The video moves beyond the issue of women IN science toward a deeper questioning of the masculine bias in scientific theory and practice. The scholars are followed on the tape by Susan Searing, then the Women's Studies Librarian, who discusses tools and strategies for finding further information on women and science. Given the number of new reference sources in this area, the library portion of the tape is now out-of-date, but the earlier sections remain of interest. The tape is available for purchase from Instructional Technology Services at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. A 1/2" VHS tape is $38.75; prices vary for other formats and discounts apply to nonprofit customers within Wisconsin. For more information, contact Instructional Technology Services, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI 54751, (715) 232-2636. In 1988 Susan Searing collaborated with Rima Apple and several other scholars within the History of Science Society on a substantial bibliography titled "The History of Women and Science, Health, and Technology: A Bibliographic Guide to the Professions and the Disciplines." Partially annotated, the bibliography covers the fields of astronomy, chemistry, geology/earth sciences, home economics, human physiology, mathematics, natural/life sciences, physics, medicine (particularly obstetrics and gynecology), and technology. It sells for $2.50. Also available, at no charge, is a 19-page unannotated listing, "Women and Science: Issues and Resources." Originally compiled to accompany the above-mentioned videotape, the bibliography was most recently revised in February 1991. Materials on women and science are also included in the Women's Studies Librarian's general publications -- the quarterly newsletter, FEMINIST COLLECTIONS, the quarterly "current contents," FEMINIST PERIODICALS, and the semiannual comprehensive bibliography, NEW BOOKS ON WOMEN AND FEMINISM. The last title features a separate section for books on sci/tech and a very thorough subject index. All three ongoing publications are available on a single calendar-year subscription. Outside the UW System, the annual subscription fee is $23.00 for individuals and non-profit women's programs or $43.00 for libraries and other organizations. There are discounted prices for persons and organizations affiliated with the University of Wisconsin and surcharges for overseas mail, so please request a subscription form before sending payment. All of the print items are available from the office of the University of Wisconsin System Women's Studies Librarian, 430 Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison, Wisconsin 53706. For more information, call Ingrid Markhardt, Program Assistant, or Phyllis Weisbard, Acting Women's Studies Librarian, at (608) 263-5754. _________________________________________________________________ SCIENCE LITERACY AND INFORMATION SKILLS Gregg Sapp, Head of Access Services Montana State University Libraries Bozeman, Montana 59717 Outside the office to the Department of Agricultural and Technology Education at my institution, Montana State University, there is a display inviting passersby to "Test Your Scientific and Technical Literacy." There are nine general categories in the test--Space, Environmental Issues, High Tech Medicine, Biotechnology, Energy, Transportation, Computer Literacy, Superconductivity, and Arms Control--and within each category there are six multiple choice questions, for a total of 54. For the most part, the questions test basic factual knowledge within each subject category. The following are fairly typical examples: Q) A breakthrough in superconductivity occurred when material was discovered that would lose all resistance at: a) temperatures above 77 degrees Kelvin b) temperatures below 77 degrees Kelvin c) room temperature d) absolute zero Q) Computers store, process, and manipulate information using just two symbols, 0 and 1. These symbols are: a) bytes b) binary digits (bits) c) ASCII codes d) base ten system Q) What is acid rain? a) rain with an acidic ph rating greater than 5.6 b) rain with an acidic ph rating less than 5.6 c) rain with an acidic ph rating greater than 7.0 d) none of the above In short, virtually all of the questions tested for knowledge of a specific term, process, or value. It is fair to ask whether possession of such knowledge is a legitimate measurement of true science literacy. Poincare' wrote that: "Science is built with facts, as a house with stones. But a collection of acts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." (1) As a librarian, it was obvious to me that the correct answers to all of the questions on this test could be looked up in one or two basic reference sources. Would it be the case, however, that a person who did not know the answers but knew how to look them up could be considered scientifically literate? In a way, yes. Science literacy is a term that has been much in the news lately. In his 1990 state of the union address, President Bush declared that "By the year 2000, U.S. students must be first in the world in math and science achievement."(2) Before this can be accomplished, however, some startling trends must be reversed. A recent report comparing science achievement of students in seventeen countries ranks the U.S. near the foot of the class in five out of five age groups, consistently behind such countries as Japan, Sweden, Hungary, Australia, and Poland. (3) Poor science literacy begins with the science education that students receive in grade school, then continues into college, where decreasing numbers of students choose to see degrees in science and engineering (4), and finally results in an adult public that lacks a basic understanding of science and technology. Polls indicate that the U.S. general adult public's understanding of basic scientific concepts is "deplorably low" (5)--indeed, Jon D. Miller of the Northern Illinois University Public Opinions Laboratory, who has done the most extensive surveys of science literacy, estimates that a mere 5% of the population qualifies as scientifically literate. (6) The need to improve American's science literacy has been cited by some as a major crisis in a democratic society faced with the complex social, political and economic problems of a high tech world. Several studies have documented the American adult population's lack of sufficient understanding and appreciation of science. Even so, an important distinction must be made between the knowledge of science facts and true science literacy. It is possible to know virtually nothing about quantum physics and still be scientifically literate. Kenneth Prewitt, president of the Social Sciences Research Council, prefers the term "science savvy" and writes of it: "My understanding of the scientifically savvy citizen is a person who understands how science and technology impinge upon public lives. Although this understanding would be enriched by a substantive knowledge of science, it is not coterminus with it." (7) Historian of science Michael Shortland puts it succinctly: "In a word, to become scientifically literate is to become an active and effective citizen." (8) Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of scientifically literate individuals is not how much they know about science, but how motivated and able they are to find out what they do not know. Miller describes science literacy as occurring within an "attentive public:" a "self-selected group that has a high level of interest in and a functional knowledge about a given issue area." (9) A basic characteristic of this attentive public in their information seeking behavior. Not only are they motivated to keep up with the progress of science and the pertinent issues of the day, they are also capable of locating and using current, topical, and comprehensible information. Science literacy has, in fact, been defined as the result of successful, specialized information seeking behavior. (10) If science literacy is built upon a foundation of information, then the quality of that information and the means by which it is disseminated are of central importance. A curious layperson wishing information on the human genome project , for example, would not benefit from reading the scores of research articles published in the primary journals or conference symposia for the fields of genetics or biomedicine. The layperson needs accurate and intelligible information that will be conveyed through secondary sources and various media. For this reason, in recent years several scientific societies and professional scientists have called for more and better science popularization. A good example is the American Association for the Advancement of Science's "Project 2061" the goal of which is the elimination of science illiteracy in that year, in which Halley's Comet returns. When scientific information is communicated in the popular media, however, its content and meaning must change in order to become accessible to the new audience. Popular science is not science- -nor should it present itself as such--but an interpretation of science. As with any interpretation, it can be more or less accurate and authoritative. Where it is less so, distortions and misunderstandings are introduced, and science literacy suffers. The ability to distinguish between the good and the bad popularizations is a fundamental prerequisite of science literacy. (11) Here there is a major potential role for librarians, who are not only qualified to evaluate the information resources but can also teach and encourage the information seeking aptitudes necessary for science literacy. Further, if popularizations are regarded as simply another type of information resource, the role would seem natural for information professionals. Thus we return to the original question: could a person who knew none of the answers on the afore-mentioned test of scientific and technical literacy, but who was savvy enough with information resources to look them up be considered scientifically literate? I would argue that few laypeople are likely to know all of the facts that are too frequently used as a litmus test of science literacy, nor should knowledge of those facts be construed as qualifying a person as scientifically literate. Even so, the ability to use information resources to find those facts and, more importantly, to learn about how science works and to follow its progress, is a necessary prerequisite for science literacy. I would think that the person able to make effective use of the information resources might, in fact, be more scientifically literate than the person with all the facts, but without the ability to add to or update them through the use of appropriate information resources. As librarians, we should accept a responsibility to make this information available and to encourage the skills and behavior of science literacy. REFERENCES 1. Jules Henri Poincare'. "La Science et l'Hypothese, 1902, as quoted in Alan L. Mackay, "The Harvest of a Quiet Eye: a Selection of Scientific Quotations (New York: Crane, Russak & Company, 1981): 121. 2. George Bush. "Address Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union, January 31, 1990," Compilation of U.S. Presidential Documents. 26: 146-151 (February 5, 1990). 3. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. "Science Achievement in Seventeen Countries: a Preliminary Report." (New York: Pergamon, 1988): 25-55. 4. Kenneth Green. "A Profile of Undergraduates in the Sciences" American Scientists. 47: 475-480 (September-October, 1989). 5. Jon Miller. "Scientific Literacy: an Empirical and Conceptual Review," Daedalus 112: 29-48 (Spring, 1983). 6. Jon Miller. "The Five Per Cent Problem," American Scientist 76: 166 (March-April, 1988) Broken down more specifically, Miller finds that 3% of high school educated individuals are scientifically literate, while 12% with college degrees are. Further, as Miller sees it, just 18% of holders of Ph.D's qualify; Jon Miller "The Scientifically Illiterates," American Demographics 9: 26-31 (June, 1987). 7. Kenneth Prewitt. "Civil Education and Science Illiteracy" Journal of Teacher Education 34: 17-20 (November, 1983). 8. Michael Shortland. "Advocating Science: Literacy and Public Understanding" Impact of Science on Society 152: 305-316 (Fall, 1988). 9. Jon Miller. "The American People and Science Policy" (New York: Pergamon, 1983): 33-55. 10. Gregg Sapp. "Science Literacy: a Discussion and Information Based Definition" College and Research Libraries 53 (January, 1992-forthcoming). 11. Gregg Sapp. "The Quest for Science Literacy" Library Journal 116: 58-64 (March 1, 1991); Gregg Sapp. "Science Literacy Through Popularization" Science and Technology Libraries (Winter 1991/92--forthcoming). _________________________________________________________________ SYNTHESIS: A NATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION COALITION -- RADICALLY RESTRUCTURING UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING EDUCATION by John Saylor, Engineering Librarian, Carpenter Hall, Cornell University,Ithaca, New York, john_saylor@qmrelay.mail.cornell.edu In this paper I will briefly introduce the two Undergraduate Engineering Education Coalitions, refer you to two more in-depth introductions, describe the SYNTHESIS Coalition structure, and detail the Standards Study Project, a separately funded attached project of which I am a Co-Principal Investigator. Officially this project was born on September 30, 1990 when the National Science Foundation awarded its first two Engineering Education Coalition grants. The goals of the NSF program are: - to increase dramatically the quality of undergraduate engineering education as well as the number of engineering baccalaureate degrees awarded, especially to women and underrepresented minorities. - to design, implement, evaluate and disseminate new structures and fresh approaches affecting all aspects of undergraduate engineering education including both curriculum content and significant new instructional delivery systems. - to create significant intellectual exchange and substantive resource linkages among major engineering baccalaureate-producing institutions and other major and smaller institutions. NSF received 10 proposals, from teams involving 104 institutions. Two groups of universities were selected and each funded for $15 million over the next five years - the Synthesis (the subject of this paper) and the ECSEL coalitions. For a more in depth introductory look at both Coalitions I recommend two articles published in the journal ASEE PRISM. The first is titled: "Synthesis: A Coalition Approach", by Robert J. Thomas, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University and Director of Cornell's coalition projects. (ASEE PRISM, pp.14-16, Preview Issue, 1991). The second which gives an introduction to the ECSEL Coalition is: "Engineering Coalitions Find Strength in Unity" by Jeff Meade. (ASEE PRISM, pp. 24-26. September, 1991). The Synthesis Coalition schools are California State University at San Luis Obispo, the University of California at Berkeley, Cornell University, Hampton University, Iowa State University, Southern University, Stanford University, and Tuskegee University. This coalition represents diversity in geographical locations as well as variety in size, mission, and institutional type. The name Synthesis comes from the groups overall theme of interdisciplinary, multilevel (pre-college through postgraduate), integration of engineering knowledge. This "synthesis" involves putting together a structure of individual parts (curriculum, supporting technologies, recruitment and retention, and linkages) to make up a complex whole. The "Curriculum" component involves projects designed to guide the way to curricular reform. "Supporting Technologies" contains projects which provide the supporting technology needed to accomplish this curricular change. "Recruitment and retention" ( known in Coalition speak as "Pipeline") refer to the need to attract and retain historically under-represented groups to engineering as a profession. "Linkage" refers to marketing methodologies to promote the value and attractiveness of engineering as a profession. A cornerstone of the project is NEEDS: A National Engineering Education Delivery System. NEEDS will be made up of: (a) a multimedia database of curricular materials consisting of data elements ranging from simple text to full motion video, connected to; (b) courseware development studios and; (c)high-technology classrooms through high speed networks, both on campus and internationally through the National Research and Education Network (NREN). The Standards Study Project is a separately funded, five year project whose purpose is to identify the technologies required for NEEDS; to identify the problem areas due to lack of standards in information storage, retrieval, transfer and manipulation; to identify the existing and developing relevant standards; and to suggest effective courses of actions to allow NEEDS to develop in concert with emerging standards and technologies. My Co-PI in this project is David Martin, Professor of Materials Science and Network Coordinator for engineering instruction laboratories at Iowa State University. With the leadership and guidance of Professor Robert Thomas, who is the Synthesis Coalitions Chair of Technical Communications, we have held three national meetings our first year. The first meeting, in April of 1991, was held at Iowa State University and included representatives from the Synthesis Coalition, the Architectures and Standards Committee of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), as well as our industrial partners from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and others. The meeting consisted of presentations by Synthesis Coalition members on proposed and ongoing projects and the responses of the industrial affiliates and representatives. The second meeting took place in August , 1991. We sponsored a talk , "Knowledge Management: Advancing and Transforming Scientific and Scholarly Communication" given by Richard E. Lucier, University Librarian and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Information Management at the University of California - San Francisco. Mr. Lucier was the co-founder and Director of the William H. Welch Medical Library's Laboratory for Applied Research in Academic Information at John's Hopkins University. Mr. Lucier has dramatically expanded the functions of the traditional library and is best known for his work in knowledge management. (For an introduction to knowledge management see his article"Knowledge Management: Refining Roles in Scientific Communication" in the Fall 1990 issue of EDUCOM REVIEW, pp.21-27) In relating his experience to the NEEDS database, he expressed the strong belief that the content of the database we are building is the key to the success of the project. The key, he argued convincingly, is that libraries in the coming online era must figure out how to play a fundamental role in the production--rather than merely the distribution--of information, because those two steps will become increasingly impossible to disentangle. He was very interested in the SYNTHESIS Coalition project because it is the first project of this kind to focus on education instead of research. Our third meeting was also held at Cornell, in October of 1991. This meeting was attended by standards experts from our industrial partners - including among others Bellcore, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, John Wiley Publishers- and other interested standards experts such as the Interactive Multimedia Association, and Clifford Lynch, Director, Division of Library Automation, University of California and Chair of CNI's Architectures and Standards Committee. The meeting was split into three focus groups each charged with identifying standards issues associated with its particular area of NEEDS: the database group, the courseware development studio group, and the high- technology classroom group. The report of this meeting will soon be available electronically for anonymous ftp from the soon to be available Synthesis Coalition server. Professor Martin and I have reported on our project at the last two (1990 and 1991) Fall meetings of the Coalition for Networked Information. _________________________________________________________________ SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY: FOUR REPORTS by Harry LLull, Centennial Science and Engineering Library, University of New Mexico, hllull@hal.unm.edu Scientific literacy and cultural diversity within the sciences and engineering are related issues. The following is a brief summary of four reports which address these issues and should be of interest to science and engineering librarians. Project 2061 Report On Literacy Goals In Science, Mathematics and Technology. Science For All Americans. Washington D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science. (A series of panel reports on specific areas are also available: Biological and Health Sciences by Mary Clark; Mathematics by David Blackwell and Leon Henkin; Physical and Information Sciences and Engineering by George Bugliarello; Social and Behavioral Sciences by Mortimer Appley and Winifred B. Maher; and Technology by James Johnson). Science for All Americans focuses on scientific literacy and presents this issue as the most urgent priority needing reform within our educational systems as it pertains to educating Americans in the areas of science, mathematics, and technology. Also called Project 2061, it is the belief of the report that our schools need to teach science and technology more effectively. "Science for All Americans is based on the belief that the scientifically literate person is one who is aware that science, mathematics, and technology are interdependent human enterprises with strengths and limitations; understands key concepts and principles of science; is familiar with the natural world and recognizes both its diversity and unity; and uses scientific knowledge and scientific ways of thinking for individual social purposes." The report is divided into three parts: 1) Education for a Changing Future 2) Recommendations of the National Council 3) Bridges to the Future. The Liberal Art of Science: Agenda For Action. Washington D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1990. This publication is the report of the Project on Liberal Education and the Sciences. The simple but primary message of this report is that science is and should be taught as one of the liberal arts. "Human survival and the quality of life depend on liberally educated citizens who are able to make informed assessments of the opportunities and risks inherent in the scientific enterprise....Without the study of science and its relationships to other domains of knowledge, neither the intrinsic value of liberal education nor the practical benefits deriving from it can be achieved." The report outlines the nature of scientific understanding as follows: 1) scientific values and ways of knowing 2) collection, organization, and classification of information 3) discovering scientific laws, devising models, and developing theories 4) the limits of scientific knowledge 5) the vocabulary and terminology of science 6) the role of mathematical concepts in understanding science. The report includes recommendations and abstracts of exemplary programs across the United States. Quality Education for Minorities Project. Education That Works: An Action Plan For the Education of Minorities. Report Summary. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Cambridge, Massachusetts. January 1990. This report focuses on the educational needs and interests of Alaska Native, American Indian, Black American, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican peoples in the United States. It is the belief of those who did this report that by the year 2000 the United States should have in place an educational system of quality for minority youth. The report outlines six goals: 1) Ensure that minority students start school prepared to learn 2) Ensure that the academic achievement of minority youth is at a level that will enable them, upon graduation from high school, to enter the workforce or college fully prepared to be successful and not in need of remediation 3) Significantly increase the participation of minority students in higher education, with a special emphasis on the study of mathematics, science and engineering 4) Strengthen and increase the number of teachers of minority students 5) Strengthen the school-to-work transition so that minority students who do not choose college leave high school prepared with the skills necessary to participate productively in the world of work and with the foundation required to upgrade their skills and advance their careers 6) Provide quality out-of-school educational experience and opportunities to supplement the schooling of minority youth and adults. Each goal is accompanied with steps required to achieve the goal. The report includes a section on "What we and others must do: family, community, public and private responsibilities." United States. Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology. Changing America: The New Face Of Science and Engineering. Final Report. Washington D.C.: GPO. Dec. 1989. This report outlines six goals for the nation: 1) Changing America: The Nation should adopt the goal that all children born today, from all backgrounds, have a quality education, including mathematics and science education, and the opportunity to participate in the science and engineering workforce to their fullest potential. 2) PreK-12 Education: The Nation should reform the preK-12 education pipeline so that our children's mathematics and science competence is better than that of students in countries with which we compete. 3) Higher Education: The Nation should increase the number and diversity of American students graduating in science and engineering. By the year 2000, we should produce enough professionals in these fields, including more from underrepresented groups, to meet the demand for faculty and for industry and Federal personnel. 4) Federal Research and Development: Federal research and development funds influence the Nation's entire science and engineering effort. They generate new knowledge, and employ and train scientists and engineers. These funds should be leveraged to help develop a more diverse world-class generation of scientific and engineering workers by the year 2000. 5) Employment: Employers should continue to develop a work environment that is accessible, equitable, and favorable to attracting and advancing young people, especially women, minorities, and people with disabilities, to careers in science and engineering. 6) Influence of Culture: Our Nation's future hinges on having an ample supply of people who achieve in mathematics and science, are science-literate, and perform technical jobs with world-class competence. The entertainment industry and the mass media--powerful forces in shaping society's values--must participate in reshaping popular attitudes toward science and engineering. These goals are followed by action plans for the President, governors, state legislators, industry, federal government, universities, school boards, PreK-12 educators, parents, professional societies, the media, and all Americans. Specific strategies are discussed for Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, People with Disabilities, and White Women. Abstracts on exemplary programs are also included. _________________________________________________________________ SERIALS CANCELLATIONS--STATE OF THE ART: A REPORT ON A PRECONFERENCE HELD AT THE 1991 CHARLESTON CONFERENCE by Lynn Kaczor, Sandia National Laboratories Technical Library, Albuquerque, New Mexico, lkaczor@hal.unm.edu. Issues in Book and Serials Acquisitions, better known as the annual Charleston Conference, was held November 7-9, 1991, in Charleston, South Carolina. This major conference brings together acquisitions and collection development librarians, vendors and publishers throughout North America. So it was quite apt to include a preconference on an ongoing problem that is consuming acquisitions budgets, time and attention--serials. The focus of this preconference was that the cancellation of serials titles is the only present solution which will allow us to stay within our budgets. Indeed, it is the only solution that is near at hand and possible to implement on an institution-by- institution basis. The past plans for great serials consortia have been greatly downscaled although actually implemented in some cases on a regional basis. These consortia have the psychological advantage of local loyalty and availability, with some limitations in scope and scale. Buzzy Basch of Basch Associates opened the preconference by giving an overview of how we have all arrived at such a difficult point with our serials budgets. The quiet but relentless recession has resulted in less money available for public institutions along with fewer university students and only slight tuition increases to offset these losses. The educational institutions in the United States have yet to realize any "peace dividend" and many have had their budgets slashed. When there is less money available to our institutions, this deficiency must be passed along to the libraries, as well as to other functions of the institutions. At the same time, serials prices have continued to increase, with an approximate doubling of prices every 6 to 7 years. There has been an increase in the number and price of foreign journals, and a corresponding dependence on the vagaries of our exchange rate with the publishing countries. There have been increases in the number of scientists, in the amount of specialization that occurs in research and in the amount of cross-disciplinary research, an enterprise that holds great promise as a rich source of cross-pollination in the research world. All of these factors mean that there is a growing amount of research conducted and a growing number of journals published to disseminate these findings. This summarizes how we arrived at our present crisis. Librarians and information managers must therefore have a "willingness to face reality and to take creative steps" to mitigate the serials crisis. We must break down some old barriers to our problem-solving and work together with our patrons, our colleagues, other information professionals and with the publishing world to solve problems with serials management that are not likely to go away or lessen in the future. Susan H. Zappen of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute delivered a talk entitled, "Making It All Right: When Publisher And Libraries Are Right." She outlined the historical background of serials and book purchasing and set the stage for the remainder of her talk with her observation: "more money might be the answer, but it is not the solution" to our serials problems. Zappen outlined the steps taken at Rensselaer to perform a series of serials cancellation projects. Their focus of successive cancellation projects moved from the examination of usage and citation studies and alternate availability within the area to an approach based on defining a "core collection" of serials, which would be maintained intact. She pointed out that it was of more value to note the serial titles frequently cited by the insitution's own researchers, rather than to accept citation studies as a whole. This approach allows you to tailor citation studies to the flavor of local research and "strategic initiatives." She also made a strong point about the "access vs. acquisition" of serials: no one has a choice now. The discussion is rather how to accomplish timely and realiable access. Connie Wu from Rutgers University focused her talk on "Engineering Journal Cancellation In An Academic Library Environment." When faced with a 30% decrease in buying power due to inflation, Rutgers initiated a serials cancellation project. >From the beginning of the project, the primary and patron- oriented goal was "to minimize the damage" from cancellations. They built a dBase III+ database with 20 searchable fields with data from their serials check-in records. They then conducted a three-month use study without informing their patrons in order to keep the results as unbiased as possible. Their shelvers placed colored dots on the volumes that were used during the study. Only a maximum of five dots were used per title since they were not measuring the highest use but only trying to eliminate the titles that were not used at all. Wu emphasized that the timing of the whole process is critical. There must be enough time allotted for planning and to do a systematic study that will yield reliable data. By planning ahead and allowing time to negotiate with the libraries' primary clientele, the librarian will be in an excellent position, particularly with scientists and technical personnel, to present quantifiable facts and to outline and analyze the pattern of price increases and local usage. She also emphasized a hidden benefit to conducting a thorough serials evaluation: it is a "good opportunity for librarians to improve their subject expertise." Deana Astle from Clemson University pointed us toward the future of serials management in her talk, "Is There Light At The End Of The Cancellation Tunnel?" She said that we are looking at a new set of challenges in serials management. We cannot count on a restoration of university and library budgets. So we must look to ourselves, as information professionals, to manage the situation that is presented to us. What is required from us is involvement, flexibility and a sense of innovation. We can use this unfortunate budget crisis in serials as an opportunity to work together in planning, sharing our resources and even sharing the information from each others' databases. Journals in paper format, with all their attendant problems, will not disappear but they may have less importance in the future. Even with the appearance of electronic journals, however, there is a downside and potential budget problems: electronic journals may be even more expensive than the traditional paper ones!! Additional speakers at this preconference included Jim Deffenbaugh of the College of William and Mary and Paul Metz of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who presented his "Thirteen Steps To Avoiding Bad Luck In A Serials Cancellation Project." He listed a series of practical procedures and factors to consider when initiating a cancellation project, but the flavor of his talk is best captured in his comment: "the task [of serials evaluation] should be allowed to mature into an obsession!!" It is interesting that the subtitle and theme of the overall Charleston Conference was "And I am Right and You are Right." This quote comes from "The Mikado" by Gilbert and Sullivan and was chosen by Katina Strauch, the founder and organizer of the Charleston Conference, with her characteristic verbal flourish. When dealing with issues as complex as serials management and cancellation, this is, perhaps the most useful attitude for all of us to take. _________________________________________________________________ COALITION FOR NETWORKED INFORMATION FALL 1991 REPORT The following report was provided by the Coalition for Networked Information. CNI is a coalition of the Association of Research Libraries, CAUSE, and EDUCOM. Their offices are located in Washington D.C and their Director is Paul Peters. Mention is made in this report concerning an issue of Serials Review which will be published in early 1992. It will be the number 1/2 issue of volume 18. This theme issue will be devoted to electronic publishing and the future of scholarly information. Science and technology librarians may want to consider purchasing this particular issue for their monographic collections if they do not have a subsription of Serials Review close by. I want to express my appreciation to CNI for providing the following report. HL FALL 1991 MEETING OF THE TASK FORCE SUMMARY REPORT Introduction The Fall 1991 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force took place on November 21-22 in Washington, D.C. Close to 300 individuals from over 200 institutions and organizations now belong to the Coalition Task Force, and 85% of them were represented at this Meeting. Eighteen institutions and organizations attended this meeting as new members of the Task Force. A special effort was made to invite representatives of the university press community to this meeting, and over a dozen were in attendance, including Peter Grenquist, Executive Director of the American Association of University Presses. Catalyzing the Flow of Networked Information The Meeting theme "Catalyzing the Flow of Networked Information" was introduced by two speakers in the opening plenary session, Richard Katz and Czeslaw Jan Gryck, both of the University of California, Office of the President. Katz's talk "Academic Information Management at the Crossroads: Time Again to Review the Economics," stressed the need for information managers to come to grips with the current economic, political, and higher education climate. He encouraged the audience to turn its attention to ways that both publishers and academic information managers could prosper by organizing a new infrastructure to lower total "life cycle" costs without hurting the publishers' ability to get a fair return on their investment. He also outlined the parameters for the "base case", a simplified economic model of the flow of information to and through academic libraries, that could be used to determine and compare the price and cost of printed and networked information more accurately. Grycz reported on continuing progress with developing and evaluating models for the flow of information in the networked environment, a Coalition priority since the meeting it sponsored in this area in Monterey earlier this year. He called special attention to a double issue of Serials Review devoted to these subjects that will appear early next year. Grycz recommended that the Coalition codify a suite of prototypes based on specific criteria designed to provide publishers, brokers, and distributors of information with factual analysis of pricing and distribution schemes. He also recommended a study of behavioral changes evidenced by end-users in the networked environment. Further elaborating the Meeting theme, a panel examined issues related to new approaches to copyright and intellectual property in the networked information environment. Paul Evan Peters, Director of the Coalition led off with an introduction of the new Rights for Electronic Access to and Delivery of Information (READI) Program, that is being developed by the Coalition to encourage thought and discussion about whether contract law, in the form of licenses and related agreements between creators and users of published works, can be employed within the context of copyright law to facilitate the flow of networked information. The goal of the proposed READI Program is the licensing of printed and electronic materials, such a scholarly journals and books, so that they can be made available over networks by and to READI Program participants. Brian Kahin, Director, Information Infrastructure Project, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University focused on non-commercial publishing by exploring how the fundamental distinction between a "work" and a "copy" of that work changes when moving from the print to the networked environment. He proposed a number of core library functions for the electronic era:for instance, aggregating the the use of hardware, pooling purchasing power, and providing in-person support and service. John Garrett described some of the findings of a forthcoming report from the Corporation for National Research Initiative (CNRI), where he is Director of Information Resources. Observing that librarians and publishers constitute mutually dependent communities, the heart of this report develops four scenarios for digital libraries, examing structures, stakeholders, and how copyright could be managed in each. The report finds that the current copyright framework is adequate for the transfer of rights in the electronic environment and that improved licensing schemes, within an international framework, are needed. He emphasized that however these issues evolve, there must be consensus and he praised the Coalition's role in bringing together the various stakeholders. Paul Gherman, University Librarian, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Chair, ARL Scholarly Communication Committee, sounded an alarm that copyright issues are control issues and asked the audience to consider who will control the production and distribution of knowledge on networks. He observed that in the networked environment, the creators, gatekeepers, disseminators, intermediaries, and archivists of scholarly information will likely all change and that this will change control structures and processes. He concluded that we will continue to have trouble imagining and building a new infrastructure for scholarly communication until all players agree upon a common set purposes for scholarly communication. Perspective of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences In a spirited and provocative address on the state and prospects for networked information resources and services in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, Douglas Greenberg, Vice President, American Council of Learned Societies, called for information technologists and publishers to focus on problems of "access" rather than those of "excess" in the current system of scholarly communication and publication, and to recognize the importance of retrospective conversion of the literature record for a wide range of scholarly and pedagogical endeavors. He also contrasted the funding fortunes and prospects of the sciences and professions with those of the humanities, arts, and social sciences to substantiate his view that in matters of technological change in Academe, we get what we pay for and reward. NREN Public Policy Framework In an address highlighting the potential economic importance of the NREN and electronic networking, Lewis Branscomb, Albert Pratt Public Service Professor and Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, advocated the view that NREN public policy focus on diffusion-oriented processes rather than on mission or producer-oriented ones. Dr. Branscomb acknowledged that the public policy framework that he recommends is not as established in the United States as those with which he contrasted it, but he noted that it is well established in Europe and Japan and that it is a most appropriate framework given the research and educational productivity objectives of the NREN. His talk had a particular sense of immediacy as the NREN legislation was being debated on the floor of the Senate as he spoke. Other Meeting Activities Meeting participants also attended sessions of the Coalition Working Groups and convened or participated in Synergy Sessions and Project Briefings. The sixteen Project Briefings sparked particular interest and enthusiasm as they demonstrated how far so many working prototypes of networked information resources and services projects have advanced since the Spring Meeting. It was widely remarked as well that all of the Working Groups are now clearly engaged in a variety of concrete projects that will yield tangible benefits. Calls for Statements of Interest and Experience Three Calls for Statement of Interest and Experience were issued at the Meeting, providing a new approach to identifying and recruiting individuals and institutions who are prepared to contribute to specific Coalition projects. o The Rights for Electronic Access to and Delivery of Information (READI) Program Call solicits institutions and organizations that have experience with licensing, print and electronic published works and who are prepared to engage in a relatively intense series of discussions and meetings. o The TopNode for networked Information Resources, Services, and Tools Call seeks individuals, institutions and organizations who are prepared to participate in the cataloging of resources for and editing of a directory of directories, catalogs, and other lists of networked information resources, services, and tools. o The Development of a Packet of Information for Use in Formulating and Addressing Institutional and Organizational Issues Arising from the Emergence of a National Networked Information Infrastructure and Environment Call searches for individuals prepared to author sections in a packet of information for use in formulating and addressing institutional and organizational issues arising from the emergence of a national networked information infrastructure and environment. Coalition Internet Server It was announced that the new Coalition Internet server, made possible by a grant from the Digital Equipment Corporation, is now operational, and Craig Summerhill, Coalition Systems Coordinator, led a Synergy Session in which he presented the proposed services that this server will support. It was also announced that BRS Software Products, a division of Maxwell Online, will provide BRS/SEARCH and related support services to the Coalition under an agreement signed in November. BRS Software Products is the fifth Task Force Member to make a special contribution to the Coalition. Information Policies Compilation Information Policies: A Compilation of Position Statements, Principles, Statutes, and Other Pertinent Statements was distributed to Meeting attendees. Compiled by Coalition Steering Committee member Susan Brynteson of the University of Delaware under the auspices of the Working Group on Legislation, Codes, Policies, and Practices, this compilation is an attempt to bring together in one convenient place the original text of official statements and laws related to information policy. The initial scope of this compilation is policy statements developed by United States-based professional associations in the library and information service and technology community, supplemented by United States laws and other relevant materials. This compilation was developed in response to an increasing need for librarians, information technologists, and administrators to address situations and questions where information policy issues are at stake, often leading to development of institutional and organizational policies related to such issues. It is intended to assist such individuals by providing a resource that they can consult while formulating such policies. 1992 Task Force Meetings It was announced that the Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force will be held in Washington, DC on March 24 and 25, immediately preceding the National Net '92 conference, and that the theme for this Meeting will be "Network Navigating and Navigators". It was also announced that the Fall 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force will be held in Washington, DC on November 19 and 20, and that the theme for this Meeting will be "Architectures for Innovative Network Communication and Publication." Further Information Additional information about the Fall 1991 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force, and the various talks presented, documents distributed, and Calls issued at this meeting, can be obtained from Joan Lippincott, Coalition Assistant Director, by phoning the Coalition office or by sending electronic mail to joan@cni.org. Director's Postscript The Fall 1991 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force was in every respect an exhilarting and gratifying event. The Coalition Steering Committee and staff came away from this meeting with a sense of accomplishment and a desire to maintain momentum. The Coalition exists to assist its member institutions and organizations in their efforts to effect a historic transformation of how information is accessed and delivered, efforts that are bing undertaken during extremely difficult economic and demographic times. The Coalition encourages individuals in the broader networking community as well as in its member institutions and organizations, to bring needs and issues to its attention and to contribute to its program of work. 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