Librarians' Association Newsletter

April 2000     Number 169 

Table of Contents

President's Mesage: Librarian Salaries
Professional Welfare Committee Report
Looking Forward, Looking Back
Conference Questionnaire
History of Recorded Sound
Ridley Kessler: Mentor Extraordinaire!
Program Report: Out of Zimbabwe
LibraryNews/Member News
Join Now
Executive Board and Committees

President's Message

        I should leave the country more often. I arrived home--jetlagged--after a week in Ireland. The pet sitter had stacked up the newspapers (which we thought we had stopped) on the kitchen table. On the top of the pile was The Chapel Hill Herald, with the headline, "UNC Librarians Put on List for Pay Hike." What great news! By now you all know the content of the article: the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the inclusion of EPA librarians in the distribution of salary money generated by the expected tuition increase. You may not know all the people who worked to make this happen. I'm not sure that I know everyone who lent a hand on this, but I'd like to use this column to thank those persons who are known to me.
        It's hard to know how far back to go to in telling this story. The files of the LAUNC-CH Professional Welfare Committee are filled with copies of letters that the Committee wrote year-after-year to campus administrators and to members of the General Assembly. The files also contain memos and newspaper clippings detailing the efforts of the University Librarians, Dr. Govan and Dr. Hewitt, to make University administrators aware of the woeful state of librarians' salaries. The files show how very long people have been working on the salary issue. I'll stick my neck out and say that the resolution passed by Faculty Council last March might have been the point at which we turned a corner on this issue. The resolution (99-3) called for the University Administration "to work to raise librarian salaries to a level competitive with peer institutions and to insure that librarians participate fully in any salary increase provided to other faculty members, regardless of source of funds." Catharine Newbury, Chair of the Administrative Board of the Library, brought this resolution to Faculty Council and defended it during discussion. Professor Newbury deserves our thanks.
        The Faculty Council resolution gave campus-wide visibility to the issue of librarians' salaries. Chancellor Hooker was present at the Faculty Council meeting when it was adopted, and that may have had something to do with the Chancellor's positive response to the LAUNC-CH Professional Welfare Committee's letter in June. Thanks are due to Brenda Ambrose-Fortune who headed the Committee in 1998-1999. The Chancellor asked Provost Richardson to work on the problem, and he did. Throughout the fall, Provost Richardson looked for ways to make the case for improving librarians' salaries at the same time that measures were being explored to improve faculty salaries. The library directors-Joe Hewitt, Carol Jenkins, and Lolly Gasaway-provided data and ideas to Provost Richardson's staff. Acting at Dr. Hewitt's request, Mari Marsh put together several packets of information. In November, Interim Chancellor McCoy alerted the Board of Trustees to the salary situation for librarians and suggested several ways to remedy the situation. The stage was set for the resolution that the Board of Trustees adopted this month. While all this was going on, others were taking action. The 1999/2000 LAUNC-CH Professional Welfare Committee-Jean Blackwell (chair), Bernice Bergup, Linda Drake, Carol Nicholson, Tommy Nixon, and Will Owen-met regularly throughout the fall to monitor the work being done on faculty salaries and to develop data to make our case. The Committee contacted the Friends of the Library Board to solicit their support, and Jean worked with Carol Jenkins and the Library Advisory Committee of the Health Sciences Library on a letter that the Advisory Committee sent to Provost Richardson in January. A long-time friend of the Library, Professor Jaroslav Folda, wrote a letter to The Daily Tar Heel in January, and the faculty, through the Administrative Board of the Library, once again expressed its concern over librarians' salaries in their annual report to the Faculty Council on March 24. Last, but not least, among our supporters on this issue has been Joanne Marshall, the Dean of the School of Library and Information Science. Dean Marshall's remarks about the increasingly competitive market for information professionals helped turn the tide in the debate in Faculty Council last March, and she was present and eloquent in support of our cause at the Board of Trustees meeting last week. We are lucky to have friends like this.
        The tuition increase is, at this point, just a proposal, and must be approved by the General Assembly when they meet later this spring. I think that we should be prepared to write our legislators to let them know that this tuition increase will ultimately strengthen the University by enabling it to attract and retain the best teaching faculty and librarians. The money generated by the tuition increase could be a big step forward to our goal of compensation commensurate with the complex professional nature of our work. It's been a long road, and we're not there yet, but we've come this far through the work of a lot of very good people.
Eileen McGrath

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Professional Welfare Committee Report: Librarian Salaries

The LAUNC-CH Professional Welfare Committee focuses on issues relating to the clarification and improvement of the professional status and benefits of librarians at UNC-CH. Every year the committee sends letters to University administrators and state legislators, quoting results of the latest ARL (Association of Research Libraries) Salary Survey and emphasizing the comparatively low salaries of campus librarians. Indeed, figures from the 1999-2000 survey show that the average salary of librarians at UNC-CH remained 80th among the 111 member libraries — significantly lower than our regional competitors Duke (51st), NCSU (45th), and the University of Virginia (23rd).

This year the committee has been monitoring campus discussions about low faculty salaries and the solutions that are being proposed. The salary issue for librarians is equally as serious as the salary issue for faculty, and we enlisted the help of the Friends of the Library Board of Directors and the Health Sciences Library Committee in communicating the state of librarians' salaries to University administrators and faculty leaders. We are advocating for salary raises commensurate with faculty raises so that librarians can continue to provide critical collections and superlative services in support of educational excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jean C. Blackwell, Chair
Professional Welfare Committee

Note: Eileen McGrath's article summarizes the results from the hard work the Committee has been doing for many years. We will all benefit from their outstanding effort on our behalf.

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History of Recorded Sound Exhibit at Manuscripts Department

The Manuscripts Department announces the opening of From Wax to DAT: A History of Recorded Sound, a new exhibit of historical sound equipment and recordings from the Southern Historical Collection and the Southern Folklife Collection.

The exhibit explores audio recording from early dictation machines to today's multi-track recording studios and digital recorders through invention and industry. Some of the special items on exhibit include an Edison Ediphone owned by sociologist Guy Benton Johnson, a record player designed by RCA to be airlifted into Communist countries, and a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) owned by journalist Charles Kuralt. Visitors can also listen to a Compact Disc sampling some of the recordings on exhibit.
From Wax to DAT will be on view through October 2000.

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Looking Forward, Looking Back: Context for the New Millennium

        Librarians from across the state enjoyed the year 2000 Librarians' Association spring conference held on Monday March 13th at the William and Ida Friday Center. Interesting and thought-provoking presentations and sessions challenged us to look forward as we look back by assessing where we have been, were we are going and what may lie ahead.

Carol Tenopir of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's School of Information Sciences began the Conference with a lively talk entitled "Looking Back to Our Goals," in which she helped us rediscover and take a fresh look at our goals through quotes from Melville Dewey and other founders. She outlined four fundamental goals of librarianship:

u The right information at the right time. Dr. Tenopir made the analogy of the right amount of information to the right temperature: too little, and you freeze out the user; too much, and you confuse and frustrate him.
u The Librarian as a keeper of books. We still have a role to play as preservers of the intellectual record.
u Achieving personalized services for the user. Dewey's goal was that all librarians should be familiar with every book in their libraries. Our goal is currently more likely to seek the greatest use for the greatest number of people. She noted that Fred Kilgour has stated that we must recapture the humanization of the library.
u Quoting again from Dewey, she emphasized that the library is a school.

        In conclusion Dr. Tenopir noted that our pioneers set standards that were harder to achieve in their time than they are now, and that we should not loose touch with the goals that they articulated.

        Derek A. Rodriguez spoke on "Turn of the Century Trends and Opportunities in Library Automation." His presentation gave conference-goers an introductory overview of current library automation trends by presenting a brief history of library automation's past development as well as providing possibilities of its future growth. These trends have occurred in part because of the information explosion of the past decade, the wide availability of personal computers as well as changing expectations of library patrons. Derek focused on key areas of library automation including the development of integrated online systems (IOLS), with attention to standard protocols such as Z39.50, as well as the availability of electronic resource delivery and management. Finally, he stressed the importance of examining each trend in terms of larger library goals and objectives which would then lead to new opportunities for growth and better overall service for library patrons.

        "To Your Health: Medical Resources for Consumers on NC Live" was presented by Linda Collins, Education Librarian at UNC-CH Health Sciences Library. In a hands-on session utilizing workstations, Linda guided attendees through core resources for consumer health information available via NC Live, particularly EbscoHost's "Health Source Plus" and "Clinical Reference Systems," and Bell & Howell ProQuest databases. In addition to NC Live's resources, she illustrated resources available from the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINEplus system.

        Kate McGraw, Information Services Coordinator for the UNC-CH Health Sciences Library, led a lively hands-on workshop covering business and company information resources on the NC LIVE system. Kate offered many useful tips on these databases and demonstrated effective ways to answer challenging questions. Workshop attendees benefited both from her informed perspective and the wonderfully detailed documentation she provided, leaving all more confident about "taking care of business!"

        Eric Lease Morgan gave a dynamic and informative presentation of MyLibrary, a user-centered, customizable interface to their library's electronic resources. Once a MyLibrary account is set up, the Web interface allows a patron to customize his or her own HTML page by selecting a discipline chosen from a controlled thesaurus. Each chosen discipline is associated with suggested resources, and the patron may either add favorite personal links or delete resources as s/he sees fit. Patrons can log into their MyLibrary accounts from any PC with remote Web access.
        MyLibrary is more than simply a portal or portable bookmarking manager. "Global Messages" are presented on all the pages to alert patrons to things of potential interest, not unlike UNC's "Spotlight" feature. In addition, each patron is given a librarian contact that is determined by discipline. MyLibrary incorporates significant current awareness features. The Current Awareness section allows a user to search the library's OPAC for recent acquisitions in his areas of interest or may have recent acquisitions in specific areas emailed to him on a regular basis.
        MyLibrary is searchable via a guest account: http://my.lib.ncsu.edu/

        In the closing session, Joanne Marshall reflect on her first year as dean of the School of Information and Library Science, noting that SILS was ranked number one in U.S. News and World Report. She added to Carol Tenopir's list of goals that we should become "contact management experts" for patrons' encounters with technology. We are becoming intermediaries in new ways in addition to our roles as educators and systems developers, content access creators was well as content developers. She emphasized that "high touch" should go along with high tech; that is, that the human element should be integrated into technology. Other trends for the future include partnering for economic development, which is a new concept for partnership between information and technology; children and information technology, and global connections and collaborations.
        Dr. Marshall showed a video from a recent conference sponsored by the state entitled "Vision 2030: Driving the New Economy." The conference was described as an options-planning project, exploring the ways that information, science, and technology will shape the future of the state. Following the Vision conference, task forces were formed and a report will be forthcoming.

        The presentations except Dr. Marshall's are available on the conference's website:
http://www.unc.edu/lib/launcch/confsch.htm

        Contributors to this report:
Linda Collins, Roberta Engleman, Lynn Jacobson, Tommy Nixon, Jill Shires

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The Conference Committee asks your help in planning for the next conference by answering this brief questionnaire. Copy this and mail to Joan Ferguson at the North Carolina Collection, CB#3930, or email her at joanf@email.unc.edu.

1. Would you prefer the conference to be held

  a: at the Friday Center
  b: on campus
  c: other_________________________________________

2. Is price a factor in your decision to attend?    yes    no

3. Do you prefer Spring break week?   yes    no

  Other than spring break week?

  ______________________________________________

4. If you did not attend, could you comment on your decision?
(Please attach your comments to this questionnaire.)

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Library News/Memer News

Davis

Gordon Rowley and Natalia Smith, attended "Web-Wise: A Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World," sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), March 15-17, 2000, in Washington, DC. They presented a demonstration of the web site for "The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865," which is part of Documenting the American South. Kristofer Ray, history graduate assistant on the project, assisted with the demonstration. About 200 museum and library representatives, as well as several recognized technology leaders, gathered at this conference to explore the issues involved in digital library development and the digital initiatives supported by IMLS, which awarded a 1998 National Leadership award to fund "Homefront." This was IMLS's first large-scale invitational forum to gather project participants and national leaders in digital resources to discuss how museums and libraries are using technology to transform their services and collections. The IMLS is a Federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning.

At the invitation of Betty Rae McCain, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Dr. Joe Hewitt, Tim Pyatt, Bob Anthony, and Gordon Rowley attended the Leadershop Conference on Access to Special Collections in High Point on March 1 and 2. Helen Tibbo of SILS and Madeleine Grumet, Dean of the School of Education, were other attendees from this campus. Discussions and presentations at the conference were designed to result in recommendations for a statewide collaborative effort to increase access to North Carolina's cultural resources using the Internet and digital technologies.

Natalia Smith, Digitization Librarian, has been invited to take part in a working group charged with writing specifications for digital conversion and TEI/SGML encoding of the Early English Books Online (EEBO) project. The working group comprises 6 representatives from institutions actively involved in major digital libraries' programs. The first meeting, sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), took place in Washington, DC on March 2-3, 2000.

Janet Flowers attended the Ninth North Carolina Serials Conference on "Catalytic Conversions—Pinpointing Impetus for Change" on March 16 and 17..

Hsi-chu Bolick attended the NCC (National Coordinating Committee on Japanese Library Resources) Conference: "Japanese Library Resource Sharing in the Next Decade: Collection Building, Technological Innovation, and International Cooperation," March 5-6, 2000, San Diego.

Hsi-chu Bolick also attended the Chinese Studies Librarians Training Workshop, March 7, 2000, in San Diego; and the CEAL (Council on East Asian Libraries) & AAS (Association for Asian Studies) annual conference, March 8-10, 2000, also in San Diego. She was elected to the CEAL executive board as Member at Large for 2000-2003. Hsi-chu also attended the OCLC CJK Users Group meeting, March 11, 2000, in San Diego where she presented a Task Force report on the Pinyin conversion project.

Andrew Hart attended a Solinet workshop titled "Did Our Insurance Say That? Risk Management Issues For Library & Cultural Collections" at East Carolina University on March 15. On March 16 Andy co-Presented (with Winston Atkins, Duke University) a Program on Disaster Preparedness for the NC Serials Conference at the Friday Center.

Frieda Rosenberg gave a two-day CONSER Basic Serials Cataloging workshop for the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program at the Friday Center on March 17 and 18. Her partner was Tom Ray. On April 4, Frieda, along with partner Mary Ann Van Cura, presented a holdings workshop in Portland, Oregon as part of the Preconference for the Oregon Library Association Convention.

Law

Laura N. Gasaway, delivered the Thirteenth Horace S. Manges Lecture at Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at Columbia University on Tuesday, March 7, 2000. The lecture, entitled "Libraries, Fair Use and the Digital Dilemma," focused on how the core values of librarians sometimes conflict with the copyright law and often conflict with the values of publishers and producers.

National Library Week was observed April 9-15, 2000, and the theme this year was "Read! Learn! Connect! @ the Library." Sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), National Library Week promotes the services provided by all American libraries and librarians by celebrating their efforts to make printed and online learning materials available to library patrons. This year, the Law Library observed National Library Week with a display placed in the gallery located at the entrance to the library. Also, a web site with daily trivia questions provided Law School participants the opportunity to win prizes, including a daily chance to win a gift certificate to the snack bar!

North Carolina Collection

H.G. Jones gave a slide presentation on "Preserving Inuit Heritage through Art" at the Images of the North Gallery in San Francisco on March 4.

UL

Leah McGinnis presented an afternoon Breakout Session at the North Carolina DRA User's Group Meeting held March 23, 2000 at Elon College. Leah's session, "E-reserves" was attended by approximately 25 participants. Leah addressed many questions focusing on planning for and implementing electronic reserves services.

Leah McGinnis has been selected for the upcoming statewide Bus Tour to be held May 22 - 26, 2000. The Bus Tour has received rave reviews from previous participants of the week long introduction to the various diversities within North Carolina.

Wilson Library

Jan Paris served on a review panel for the Institute of Museum and Library Services Conservation Project Support grant program on February 28-29.

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Ridley Kessler: Mentor Extraordinaire!

Ridley Kessler has been named to receive the UNC Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement. The University created this award in 1997 to acknowledge the importance of activities beyond teaching and learning, particularly mentoring beyond the classroom. It rewards those who help students to develop and attain their full potential in important ways during and after their departure from campus. Dean Smith, long-time coach of the men's basketball team, was the first winner of the award and exemplifies the qualities that this award honors. The winner receives a one-time stipend of $1,000 and a framed citation. The award was announced March 1st at the UNC Men's Basketball game.

Ridley has served as the advisor to over 56 Masters Papers done in the School of Information and Library Science. John Richardson Jr. in his work Government Information: Education and Research, 1928-1986, Greenwood Press (1987), lists Ridley as "the most influential adviser" in his study of 118 faculty who have supervised graduate work in government publications since 1928. In addition, he continues to mentor many UNC graduates as they have taken library positions throughout the country.

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LAUNC-CH Program Committee Report: Out of Zimbabwe

        On February 24, 2000, Maggie Hite spoke on her trip to Zimbabwe in the summer of 1999. She led a group of librarians who went to work with community librarians in Zimbabwe. Each librarian was placed with a local librarian with whom they could share their expertise. Maggie was in charge of going from library to library lending her knowledge as well as learning about what it took to run a library in their country from the local Zimbabwean librarians.
        Maggie opened up many eyes to the level of poverty that librarians have to deal with in order to provide books and other reading material for students as well as for adults. She also spoke of the pride of communities who were able to have even the smallest of libraries, for they understood the importance of knowledge and learning.
        Throughout Maggie's speech she talked of the role that librarians from western countries can play in helping the less advantaged. One example was to support groups like the World Library Partnership, which was the organization that sponsored last year's trip to Zimbabwe and already has a trip planned for this summer. Those interested in more information about the World Library Partnerships or interested in participating in their programs can find more information at their website (http://RTPnet.org/~wlp)

Caroline Keizer
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