ACRL National Conference: A Great Time to Be in Detroit!
Rhonda J. McGinnis
Introduction
With six preconferences and more than 225 invited/contributed papers, panel sessions, poster sessions,and roundtables, attendees of the 1999 ACRL National Conference, held in Detroit, Michigan, from Thursday April 8 to Sunday April 11, 1999, were assured of finding something of interest. In fact, many conference goers remarked on the difficulty of choosing among three or four pertinent or interesting events during each of the four daily session periods. As no one person could cover the entire conference, this article provides a mere sample of the sessions and events occurring each day.
An Open Forum on Copyright/Fair Use
On Friday evening two active participants in recent copyright debates met to discuss the implications of networked information and distance education on the concept of fair use. The differing backgrounds and perspectives of the panelists led to lively debate on the issue but no easy answers or solutions. Throughout the forum, James Neal,Director of Libraries at Johns Hopkins University, argued that the principles of access and fair use should be interpreted and applied more broadly than did Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers and a past state representative from Colorado.
On the issue of distance education, Ms Schroeder noted that there is no single definition of distance education. Without such a definition, publishers fear that everyone could find some way to designate themselves as engaged in lifelong learning and thereby obtain access to published materials without payment. Mr Neal asserted that such a scenario was highly unlikely and, in fact, called for the distance education exemption to the copyright statutes to be extended to cover broadcast media as well as traditional print materials.
Toward the close of the forum, Ms Schroeder acknowledged the experience of librarians in the application of the copyright and fair use laws and urged them to agree to reconvene the Conference on Fair Use (held from 1994 to 1996 to develop fair use guidelines for material on the Internet) as a forum for ongoing discussion/negotiation on intellectual property rights and fair use. Mr Neal argued that librarians may be reluctant to do so because of bad experiences with similar dialogs in 1976 and recent unannounced visits to college libraries by representatives of the Copyright Clearance Center and the Association of American Publishers to assess the libraries' copyright compliance measures. Schroeder, as president of the AAP, refused to apologize for these visits, explaining that they were originally intended to provide campuses with guidance on copyright compliance. She also stated that the program was set to end this June and that its continuation will be reconsidered at that time.
Factors that Influence Online Database Use
This presentation by Carol Tenopir, Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee,discussed how much, when, and why students use online databases. It was based on an extensive study of over 1,000 library users at 96 academic libraries across the USA and Canada. Database usage statistics for these libraries were extracted from a dataset provided by the vendor of a large multi-type, multi-index database. These statistics provided the number of users logged on each hour to each database at each library for a six-month period from July through December.
According to Ms Tenopir,peak database usage closely paralleled common observed library usage patterns. Daily peak usage occurred from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time. Usage is highest on Mondays and lowest on Fridays. November shows substantially higher usage while August exhibits particularly low usage figures.
Ms Tenopir also presented her finding on simultaneous database use. This study determined that, across all databases and all libraries, a one-simultaneous user license would satisfy 100 percent of demand 94.2 percent of the time, a five-user license would satisfy demand 99.2 percent of the time, and a 15-user license would satisfy it 99.99 percent of the time. These results do, however, vary somewhat from database to database. Demand was also somewhat less likely to be satisfied at each licensing level as the size of the college/university and as the level of research and graduate instruction, as measured by Carnegie class, increased.
This study also sought to identify factors influencing students' choice of databases. Librarians surveyed at the 96 libraries studied stated that students select databases based on content, convenience, ease of use, prior success, peer/instructor/librarian recommendation, and full-text availability. This last factor is particularly significant for undergraduates, often outweighing even consideration of the database's content.
The UCSC NetTrail: Academic Partnerships for Online Literacy
This presentation, by Deborah Murphy and Ann Hubble, both of the University of California at Santa Cruz, reported on a joint effort by the faculty, librarians, and staff of the computer and academic success centers at the University of California at Santa Cruz to create a Web-based computer literacy course. This project, initiated during the Spring of 1997 and completed in time for the Fall Semester that year,sought to achieve three goals: create a product to provide some remedial instruction for students with little or no familiarity with computers or the Internet, raise the computer literacy "baseline" for students in content-area courses, and get this tutorial incorporated into one of the freshman core courses.
After preliminary discussion, the NetTrail project team decided to focus first on computer literacy and address the need for teaching information literacy in later releases of the product. The team also determined that the finished product should contain four self-paced modules (Web Browsing, Using Email, Library Resources, Newsgroups) which have a uniform look and feel and a self-administered final exercise. These Web-based tutorials were to be administrated in the computer center's labs where the lab staff could assist students in accessing the modules. In addition, the four modules were designed to be completed within two hours, provide statistical completion reports to participating faculty, and be skills based rather than theoretical.
Preliminary testing indicated that the modules should use less text and more illustrations. In the two years of use at University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), the Library Resources module and the Web Browsing modules have been the most used. Unexpectedly, upper level undergraduates were the principal users of the NetTrail, not the freshmen for which it was designed. This result highlighted the need to encourage instructors of the Freshman Core classes to make its use required for students in their classes. It also emphasized the need for an Instructors Guide to using the NetTrail and its statistical reports.
Overall, Ms Murphy and Ms Hubble observed that the NetTrail project was a moderate success on the UCSC campus, at least in part because faculty were involved in the process from the beginning. They cited the diversity of the project team as a real advantage because of the differing skills and perspectives. They also stated that keeping the modules up-to-date with the campus' software, Web site, and library catalog interfaces was one of the greatest ongoing challenges
In the future, the NetTrail team will be working on increasing the product's usage in the Freshman Core courses and developing new modules related to information literacy and using electronic indexes. One final challenge will be identifying and recruiting new faculty and staff to replace several of the original members who are no longer available to work on this project.
The UCSC NetTrail may be viewed at http://nettrail.ucsc.edu
New Genres of Scholarly Communication and the Role of the Research Library
In this invited paper session, Clifford Lynch, executive director of Coalition for Networked Information, described several new forms of scholarly communication and considered how these new forms might affect libraries. According to Mr Lynch,libraries are currently functioning according to a print canon and collection,access and archiving decisions are grounded in this doctrine. While electronic journals introduced new issues and practices, they were still based heavily on this canon. Many of the emerging forms of scholarly communication no longer fit the print model, so new precepts will have to be developed to manage these new forms of scholarship. Mr Lynch noted that these new forms would likely supplement and enhance the more traditional varieties rather than supplant them.
Among the new types of scholarly communication mentioned in this presentation were mutable scientific databases, networked video seminars or workshops, collaboratories (electronic spaces where scholars can perform joint research), and certain scholarly Web sites, such as the Perseus Project. For the most part, Mr Lynch observed, future scholarly communication will become increasingly digital, dynamic, and distributed. Unfortunately for libraries, acquisition, cataloging and archiving procedures developed under the print canon are poorly suited to these new realities.
Mr Lynch speculated that librarians will increasingly need to actively seek out materials to acquire. Selectors will need to identify and evaluate materials independently of one another as core library lists and traditional selection aids become outmoded. Library technical services will need to develop improved methods for cataloging/describing dynamic and media-intensive resources. It is also likely that the institution-specific nature of many of the new formats collected will reduce libraries' ability to enjoy the cost savings of shared copy cataloging. Lastly,libraries will have to address the questions of what to archive and for how long.
To cope with these new forms of communication, Mr Lynch suggests that librarians return to the fundamentals of the profession. They must first determine what it is they wish to achieve with regard to this new material and then apply the principles of the profession to develop new mechanisms for acquiring, organizing, accessing and archiving the next generation of scholarly communication.
The Future of Library Research
The first panelist of this session, Don Riggs, shared his observations on the state of current library research based on his experiences as the editor of College & Research Libraries. In his opinion, few papers submitted recently to C&RLare truly research-oriented. He argued that without continuing levels of high quality research, librarianship is in danger of losing its theoretical foundations and becoming a trade rather than a profession.
In characterizing recent papers submitted to C&RL, Mr Riggs noted that few broke new theoretical ground or tested new hypotheses. He also noted that quantitative research is increasingly emphasized over qualitative methods. Within this quantitative research, descriptive statistics were employed more often than inferential ones and data were most frequently collected using surveys or questionnaires. Lastly, he characterized much of the research received in recent years as fragmentary, non-cumulative and increasingly technological in focus.
Mr Riggs concluded his portion of the panel discussion by suggesting at least two potential causes for the decline in library research quality. First, he noted that few librarians have been trained in fundamental research skills. The primary responsibility for this training should rest with library and information science programs but librarians should also seek opportunities for supplementary instruction in these skills. Quality research also requires a commitment on the part of employers in terms of support, release time, and travel/study resources.
The second panelist, Peter Hernon, editor of the Journal of Academic Librarianship, echoed many of the first panelist's observations on the state of current library research and issued a challenge to authors and editors to improve the quality of research articles and journals. The remainder of his presentation identified specific weaknesses and suggested improvements in current research articles.
First and foremost, Mr Hernon stated that research must be problem-driven and the articles based on this research must clearly specify why the research is important and how it will benefit libraries. Authors also must clearly indicate the relationship between their research and that which has occurred in the past and in other parts of the world. Alternative methods of data collection must be employed and proper techniques of data analysis applied. Lastly, authors must improve their writing style to follow the guidelines of the particular journals to which their articles are to be submitted.
Michael Seadle, editor of Library Hi Tech, focused his presentation on research as a conversation across space, time and disciplines. In the context of this metaphor, reading the literature is a critical part of participating in the conversation. Each researcher must "listen" to those preceding him or her in the conversation before contributing fresh observations on the topic.
Developing this metaphor further, Seadle noted that the theoretical literature of the discipline is the intellectual framework enabling the conversation. The theoretical literature first furnishes a set of common themes, assumptions, and vocabularies. It also provides reasons for making particular observations and for creating connections between them.
According to Seadle,librarians must obtain the knowledge and skills to publish in fields outside of librarianship. To this end he observed that librarians must become more familiar with the literature and methodologies of engineering and the social sciences. In conclusion, he expressed the concern that the library research dialog must continue to include the voices of both library/ information science academics and library practitioners.
Ilene Rockman acted as the moderator for this lively and inspiring panel discussion. Her observations, as editor for Reference Services Review, reinforced those of the panel members that authors need to move beyond surveys as data collections tools,improve their understanding and application of statistical processing, and better follow journal submission guidelines.
Students versus the Research Paper: What Can We Learn?
In this session, Barbara Valentine, reference and systems librarian, Linfield College, reported on long-term qualitative research currently under way to examine the effect of the institution, its attitudes, and its expectations on the research processes of students. Basing her questions on Carol Kuhlthau's research into this subject,Ms Valentine interviewed students enrolled in particular courses at a small college and a larger university about their research for the courses' assigned papers. To date she has used the results to identify the most commonly used library/research strategies, the environmental factors affecting the overall process, and the most common sources for help.
According to this research, students apparently viewed the research and information-gathering process much like a trip to the store. They came into the library seeking specific items of information and expected to obtain them within a set period of time. Facilitating this process, the students often chose topics with which they were already familiar and on which they already had some information. They also gravitated to familiar sources, databases and libraries regardless of their appropriateness for their new topics. When the students were faced with unfamiliar territory, Ms Valentine observed, they often proceeded to undertake their research in a chaotic manner.
This research also identified several environmental factors that affected the time and interest invested in the research process. These factors included familiarity with the professor, clear guidelines for the assignment and its grading, relationship of assignment to career plans or other personal interests, and the class standing of the students.
Libraries and the Internet were often considered too overwhelming as sources of information. Library instruction sessions had only mixed results in overcoming this opinion. For many students such sessions came too late in the process and presented too much or irrelevant information. The students in this study rarely sought help from librarians or the course instructor, preferring to seek assistance from more informal sources such as friends or classmates.
Ms Valentine concluded her presentation with several suggestions of what libraries might do to facilitate the student research process. These included simplifying database selection and searching, interacting with students informally outside of the library,improving collaboration with faculty, and connecting with students on their terms. This last might involve providing e-mail reference, peer information counselors and roving librarians.
Exhibits and Entertainment
The Exhibit Hall at this year's ACRL conference contained booths from more than 200 exhibitors representing a wide array of academic publishers, database producers, online catalog vendors, and furniture, equipment, and binding/preservation service providers. Access to the exhibits was enhanced by several blocks of time set aside in the program schedule to view the exhibits without meeting/session conflicts.
An All Conference Reception at the Museum of African-American History, held on Friday evening,gave the attendees a chance to converse with colleagues and visit the dramatic and informative exhibits chronicling the African-American experience in this country. Entertainment included an African stiltwalker, traditional drummers and an excellent Kalimba (African thumb piano) player.
After-Hours with ACRL, a party at the Henry Ford Museum, offered an additional opportunity to meet and converse with colleagues informally. Attendees sampled the delicious fruits and desserts while listening to the music provided by an upbeat combo and viewing the exhibits located throughout the Museum's main hall.
Overall, the 1999 ACRL National Conference in Detroit was a well-run and stimulating experience for participants, speakers and exhibitors alike. All in all, the vast majority of those attending ACRL this year would probably agree that April 8-11, 1999 was indeed a great time to be in Detroit.
Rhonda J. McGinnisis Business and Economics Librarian, Purdy Library, Wayne State University;Detroit, Michigan. aa4207@wayne.edu
