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Library News for the Faculty |
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October 1997
In This Issue:
The Library Collections Dilemma: Dealing with Declining Purchasing PowerThe 1992 Mellon Foundation report, University Libraries and Scholarly Communication, describes the state of research libraries today as one in which library collections budgets have been significantly impacted by a combination of rapid inflation in the cost of scholarly journals, especially those in the sciences, and inadequate increases in funding. As a consequence, library purchasing power has declined dramatically, and libraries find themselves having to spend more to purchase less. The state of affairs described in the above figure is much in evidence at UCLA. Between 1992/93 and 1996/97, the permanent base collections allocation to the UCLA Library remained static at approximately $6,250,000. During that same five years, the cost of books steadily rose three percent annually, while the cost of journals rose ten percent per year (and nearer fifteen percent per year in the sciences). Thus in a period when the CPI was averaging three percent, the cost of books and journals was inflating at double digit rates. The purchasing power of the Library's collections budget is estimated to have dropped almost twenty-five percent as a consequence. As have many libraries at peer institutions, the UCLA Library has responded to this difficult set of circumstances as follows:
Resource Redistribution Consortial Arrangements Collection Endowment Initiative As fruitful as all these efforts have been, and will continue to be, the fact remains that increases in the costs of library materials have far outstripped the Library's ability to keep pace with them. This fiscal year, 1997/98, the UCLA Chancellor's Office took steps to provide some relief in the form of an 11.5% permanent increase to the collections budget. While almost half this increase required a transfer of funds from redistribution of the Library's staffing budget, it is nevertheless welcome relief indeed. To assist us in allocating these and other collection funds, the Library is developing a formula intended to:
Given the rate at which costs continue to escalate, the new funds will not forestall completely the need to cancel subscriptions to lesser-used journals. They will, however, certainly ameliorate the situation this year. In addition to the permanent collections budget increase, the Chancellor's Office has allocated to the Library $100,000 in temporary funding to support for access to electronic journals in the sciences, technology, and medicine, where price increases have been, and remain, particularly steep. These digital resources will combine with those acquired in the humanities and social sciences to enhance dramatically the library's distribution of electronic text delivery the coming year. The "collections dilemma" in libraries generally, and in the UCLA Library specifically, is typified by the need for trade-offs. Librarians rely heavily on the faculty in making these decisions, via the Academic Senate Committee on Library and other groups. We look forward to continuing to work jointly to resolve our collective dilemma and are especially eager to forge active partnerships with faculty members to identify sources of private support to sustain and expand the Library's collections by establishing collection endowments. Building the Digital Science, Technology, and Industry CollectionIn its October 1996 report, the Executive Working Group for the University of California Digital Library, chaired by UCLA's Executive Vice Chancellor Charles Kennel, recommended that the Science, Technology and Industry Collection(STIC) become the first collection of the California Digital Library. The working group noted that "Much of the electronic content that we have begun to amass and is likely to be available over the next 3 years is in the areas of science, technology, and medicine; many early electronic journal experiments have concluded that a critical mass of titles is an essential ingredient of success." STIC will provide access to a wide range of materials. Plans call for both traditional published literature and research materials produced by UC faculty and students. Highest priority will be given to obtaining a critical mass of high quality scientific journals from commercial and society-based publishers in a broad range of disciplines from the life, health, and physical sciences and engineering. At the same time, in order to gain experience with other types of literature, the STIC will attempt to provide more in-depth coverage of literature in two areas: biotechnology and computer science. Licenses for STIC that begin in 1998 must necessarily be selected on a purely pragmatic basis. Not only is time very short, but funds are restricted, the number of titles available electronically from publishers of well-established research journals is small, and most publishers are not offering libraries title-by-title selection. UC is currently negotiating licenses with a number of publishers, including: Academic, Elsevier, High Wire Press, Kluwer, and Springer Verlag. Faculty input on the selection of material for STIC is most welcome. During the fall quarter UCLA science librarians will contact faculty in the health, life, and physical sciences and engineering to provide more information about STIC and obtain suggestions for the most important titles for STIC based on individual faculty needs and those of their students. Questions or suggestions about STIC can be sent to Alison Bunting, Associate University Librarian for Sciences,a member of the systemwide STIC task force. URL Seminars on Electronic Research ResourcesThe University Research Library Seminars provide faculty and graduate students an arena for learning about electronic resources in the social sciences and humanities.
Full descriptions, dates, and enrollment forms are available at the URL Reference Department and on the Library Web Pages at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/url/referenc/seminars.htm> Cancelling Overdue NoticesThe UCLA Library will no longer send overdue notices, beginning October 1, 1997. This policy change, approved by the Academic Senate Committee on Library, will save approximately $28,000 a year in postage, supplies, and staff time and help meet the Library's budget savings targets. Inventory lists of items with loan periods of a month or more will continue to be mailed to faculty borrowers, as will recall notices and replacement bills for items not returned or renewed on time. Borrowers should consult ORION through the BUS command to view their borrowing records and to renew books. For materials checked out from the few libraries which do not circulate materials on ORION, look at the due date slip in the material. URL CD-ROM Reference Collection ExpandsThe University Research Library Reference Department has added several important CD-ROM titles with sophisticated search capabilities to the reference collection. Although these titles may only be accessed on workstations in the Reference Department, search results may be downloaded for use on home or office computers. Titles include: Catálogo Colectivo de Fondo Antiguo, Siglos XV-XIX, de la Asociación de Bibliotecas Nacionales de Iberoamérica (ABINIA). The largest and most complete database available of the holdings of 23 national libraries of Iberoamerica, Spain, and Portugal, containing bibliographic records of printed monographs prior to 1850. Diccionario Biobibliográfico de Escritores de México, 1920-1970. Contains information on 750 Mexican authors born between 1920-1970. This resource complements our already strong collection of biographical sources, which includes a number of major biographical archives on microfiche. Ethnic NewsWatch, 1985 - June, 1997. Full-text database of over 140 community newspapers and other journal and magazine articles representing a broad diversity of perspectives and viewpoints. Many of the newspapers are not otherwise available at UCLA. International Medieval Bibliography, 1984-1993. The electronic version of the well known print IMB. Identifies journal articles, conference proceedings, festschriften and collected essays. The Reference Department maintains the complete run of this title in print. Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue. Series III, 1871-1919. This monumental bibliographical resource will benefit scholars studying primary documents of the 19th century. The Reference Department has the print version of Series I: 1801-1816 and Series II: 1816-1871. South African Studies, 1987- present. Continues the South Africa National Bibliography, supplemented with references to current research, government documents, theses, and dissertations. The national bibliography of a country is a record of the publishing output of the country. Women's Resources International, 1972-present. Brings together nine different sources, covering a wide range of women's studies topics. Forthcoming on CD-ROM: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, 1997-present and Database of Classical Bibliography: (DCB) L'Annee Philologique, v.47 (1976)-58 (1987). Searching the Oxford English Dictionary Now Possible on the World Wide WebWe are pleased to announce the availability of The Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) on the Web at <http://etext.library.ucla.edu/oed/>. With definitions for over half a million words, this edition of The Oxford English Dictionary is the definitive guide to the meaning, pronunciations, and history of words in the English language. Moreover, with over two million illustrative quotations, the OED provides an invaluable record of the various uses of the words in the English language through the centuries. The Library's implementation of Web access to the OED allows searching by word and phrase, quotation, and etymology. Further, depending upon the type of search, searches can be narrowed by part of speech, date, author, title of work, and/or language. Everything You Need to Know to Get a Copy Card for the Library's New SystemThe Library has implemented a new two-tiered pricing system for copies made on its public copy machines and printers. The prices remain the same for all UCLA faculty, students, and staff (7 1/2 cents per page on copy machines and printers, 27 cents per page for microform reader/printers), while off-campus users will now pay higher rates. The existing copy card vending machines now sell the non-UC rate cards only. The UC rate copy card is available for purchase at service desks in the libraries and from the Reprographic Service office located at 2081 Engineering 1. The contract & grant rate of 6 1/2 cents still applies but requires recharge forms delivered to Reprographic Services. To obtain a new UC rate card you must have your UCLA ID available. UC rate cards also can be purchased via departmental recharge through the Reprographic Service office. If you have any questions, contact Barbara Rivers, Head of Reprographic Service, at extension 59905 or by e-mail <brivers@library.ucla.edu>. IMPL: A Resource for Creating Undergraduate Media AssignmentsIncreasingly, instructors are encouraging the use of the Internet and CD-ROM for research, as well as using multimedia presentations in lectures. Most recently, they are also requiring students to create multimedia projects as part of course assignments. The Office of Instructional Development has answered the challenge to support this kind of innovation with its new Instructional Multimedia Production Lab (IMPL), a state-of-the-art multimedia production facility for undergraduates. The purpose of the IMPL is to provide consultation to faculty in the development of multimedia assignments for courses, and to provide a place where undergraduate students can complete these assignments. Multimedia assignments can range from the implementation of video in a Microsoft Word document to the creation of a CD-ROM. The IMPL offers an array of services to both faculty and students, although use of the facility is currently restricted to courses which are selected through an application and then a consultation process. The consultation, which is a key requisite in order for a course to use the facility, involves both appraisal and development phases. In the appraisal phase, according to IMPL Manager Dwayne Washington, "I determine with the faculty if the assignments are feasible, whether we have the appropriate resources, the amount of time students will have to spend in the lab, the amount of training the instructor, TAs, and students will need, and what materials will be required, in addition to ironing out administrative processes." If all criteria are met, the process moves into a development phase which involves scheduling facility use, arranging training, allocating server space, and creating user accounts. Specifically the lab provides students with the following services: multimedia technical support (documentation, consulting and training), file transfer, video transfer, video and sound digitizing, narration recording, media transfer, scanning, analog and digital video editing, CD-ROM recording and printing. Spring '97 was the first quarter the IMPL was operational. Six instructors signed on for pilot use of the facility: James Bruno, Education 91C ; Andrew Corin, Serbo Croation 103F; Candy Goodwin, Anthropology 142A; John Esaki, Asian American Studies 197G; Janice Reiff, History 148C; and Peter Tokofsky, Folklore 15. Each course presented a separate challenge for the IMPL. Education 91C students created a digital movie for use in an existing C++ program written by James Bruno. The project involved creating an educational animation, using Macromedia Director, which described pre-algebra concepts to students. Six students were provided access to the software and received assistance from the IMPL lab consultants. Serbo Croatian 103F was taught by Andrew Corin, who wanted to use video as an alternative method to teach the language by allowing seven students to interact with the pictures and sound and respond through subtitling. This project involved training students to subtitle video using Adobe Premiere, digitizing video clips, creating composite digital video with the new subtitles, and outputting the digital video to tape. After two training sessions with the IMPL staff, students were confidently using the software to subtitle digitized movie clips. Candy Goodwin's 24 students in Anthropology 142A used video to describe the effects of various methods of communication. Students shot footage, edited the footage using the analog video editing stations, and produced short videos and video clips for Microsoft Word to document their observations. In Asian American Studies 197G, 15 students began by shooting video of various cultural events. Their assignment was to evaluate the footage and create a two-hour video which combined the footage of all the students. By using the analog video editing stations in the IMPL, students were able to successfully complete the project. To ensure that the students had access to all the footage, accommodations were made to store the video tapes in the lab. The final video was presented the last day of class with great success. Janice Reiff and Peter Tokofsky each implemented a web page development assignment in a special section of each of their courses. 20 students opted for the special section in History 148C and 15 students in Folklore 15. The assignments involved not only using the Web as a research tool, but also designing a web page to replace the traditional term paper. The IMPL provided training in Adobe Pagemill for web page design to the students as well as additional training in Adobe Photoshop and Premiere for image, video and sound digitizing. For information about the IMPL please contact Dwayne Washington at <impl@ucla.edu>, call x68955 or visit the lab at 190 Powell Library or at <http://www.oid.ucla.edu/impl>. A More Perfect Union: Japanese-Americans and the United States ConstitutionA More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution is a timely and thought-provoking exhibition of photographs, documents, and interactive video that portrays the experience of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans (most of them United States citizens) who were removed from their homes and imprisoned in concentration camps in the western United States during World War II. UCLA is one of only 20 libraries throughout the United States selected to display this exhibit. Complementing the traveling exhibit are additional photographs and other materials provided courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum, an interactive CD-ROM developed by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and a sampling of UCLA Library resources. The exhibit addresses many issues surrounding the incarceration, such as infringement of constitutional rights, wartime fears and prejudices, and the court cases that sought redress. The outstanding record of the 25,000 Japanese Americans who enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II is described as well. In connection with A More Perfect Union numerous lectures, book talks, discussions, film screenings, and workshops will be presented in coordination with ASUCLA BookZone, the Gila River Reunion Committee, the Japanese American National Museum, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the UCLA School of Public Policy. Two events of particular note are: Opening Ceremony Taking place on the front steps of Powell as well as inside, the program features Nikkei Student Union Taiko Drummers and special guest speaker, actor-author George Takei-UCLA alumnus, "Sulu" from Star Trek,author of To the Stars, and former internee. Video-newsreel screenings will take place in Powell 40. K-12 Teaching Workshop Sponsored by the LAUSD and the Asian American Studies Center, these all-day workshops in Young Hall will deal with how to incorporate the World War II incarceration experience into school curricula. Designed for K-12 teachers as an in-service credit program, the 2-day workshop will be open to anyone interested on a fee basis. For titles and topics of the variety of scheduled events, location and hours, check the College Library Web site at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/nwsevnts/exhibits/jaexhibit/index.htm>. The exhibit is a project of the American Library Association and the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. |
