Spring 2002

"Information is the Currency of Democracy"

by Leslie Foster

That’s one of my favorite adages, one I like to think we government publications librarians try to live and work by. Recently our right to be well informed has been eroded. This is of such concern that some librarians, historians and journalists have gone so far as to claim that the public’s right to know as we understand it is under attack.

It seems to me that virtually everyone living in this post-911 era recognizes America’s need for heightened awareness, caution and concern for public safety. On the other hand, one of the essential foundations of a democracy is a well-informed and educated citizenry. With this in mind, I want list a few of the historical landmarks in public access to information, and highlight recent events that have caused concern among my colleagues.
History

1813
The federal depository library program was established to provide the people of the country with free public access to government information. The federal government began sending printed government materials to libraries free of charge. In return, 1350 participating libraries housed, took care of and allowed free access to the resources.

1970s
In response to the Watergate scandal, the Freedom of Information Act of 1974 was created to force government entities to disclose public records and documents to the public, items that were not part of the depository library program. The process established by the FOIA has been used successfully for many years. This act was followed by the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which provided open access to a president’s records after twelve years.

1980s
In reaction to calls for less government, privatization, smaller budgets and fewer federal employees, there was a reduction in the distribution of depository materials. Microfiche formats replaced some print publications, and while fiche was less convenient to use, the information was still available in libraries.

“It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently
a free people.” — James Madison

1990s
The “new technologies” made dissemination of government information simultaneously easier and more complex. CD-ROM software did not always work and data structures were not always user friendly. The development of federal government websites resulted in much more information and data available online to the public . . . if they were able to find it. The quantity of tangible, print publications decreased as websites expanded exponentially. Depository libraries and the public learned to rely on websites for Census data, trade information, environmental impact statements, federal regulations and many other government information needs.

2000
Despite what many people believe, neither the National Archives and Records Administration nor individual agencies are responsible for preserving electronic government information. Problems with the preservation of electronic information have become very apparent and with no single governmental entity assigned to guarantee continued public access to data, it may appear and disappear. A turnover in agency personnel, the redesign of a web site, a reduction in funding, election results — all can have profound effects on the availability of government information on a website. An example that attracted considerable attention was the instant disappearance of the Clinton Whitehouse Website and its replacement by the Bush Whitehouse Website.
“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. Whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.” — Thomas Jefferson
Recent Events

The Attack
The terrorist attack on 9/11/01 had a significant impact on government websites. Almost overnight federal, state and even local governments began examining and reassessing public access to data. Maps, information about dams, nuclear power plants, airport security breeches, pipelines and water supplies vanished without much consideration given to a legitimate need for it by citizens, professionals, researchers, by everyone from urban planners to individual citizens concerned about hazardous materials in their areas. Of course, in a free society there also exists the potential for abuse as well as use. The same data can be used for nefarious purposes.

Currently there are no uniform criteria being followed for removal of government information from the web, no standards, no system and no plans for permanent preservation of the information so that it will be readily retrievable at some later date.

Related Policy Changes
The National Institute of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as dozens of other agencies and divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services, have communicated directly with the public about topics viewed as their assigned responsibility. This has allowed the public to hear a variety of government voices commenting on issues, something that is part of the process of government at work. After contradictory messages were released concerning the “government” position on the anthrax terrorism and the government’s plans for stem cell research, the Secretary of Heath and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, decided to consolidate all communications for HHS and end direct communication with the public by subdivisions under his control. Now the Secretary’s Office must approve all public information prior to its dissemination.

10/12/2001-FOIA Memo
U.S. Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft, issued a memo urging federal agencies to resist vigorously most of the Freedom of Information Act requests made by American citizens.

11/1/2001-Presidential Records
Executive Order 13233: Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act substantially revised the Presidential Records Act of 1978 by adding various conditions, terms, and reviews that complicated the process. Both former and incumbent presidents were given veto power over the release of records and no time limitations were established for records review. Historians and professors argued that E.O. 13233 significantly expands the scope of executive privilege and sets new precedents related to the public’s right to view government records.

12/5/2001-Web Page Closed
In an order unrelated to the September 11 attacks, a District Court Judge ordered the Department of the Interior to disconnect all of its computers from the Internet, effective immediately. The reason for the order was his concern over security issues related to the Indian Trust Fund court case. The effect was astonishing and highly disruptive. Access to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Reclamation Bureau, the Mines Bureau, the National Parks Service, the Geographic Names Board, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Land management Bureau, the Surface Mining and Reclamation and Enforcement Office, and the Minerals Management Service websites ceased to exist. Three months later access to the essential data they provided is still problematic. Unfortunately with no extant paper formats of the data, there is no alternate source of information.

01/2002-CD-ROM Withdrawn
In 1996 the Safe Drinking Water Act directed the U.S. government to collect and distribute data about public water supplies in the United States. The data was used to help protect the nation’s drinking water from contamination and pollution caused by developmental and agricultural activities.

Federal depository libraries received a U.S. Geological Survey CD-ROM with data about the 437 largest public water supplies. As expected, urban planners and environmental groups found the CD useful — until January 2002 when the depository librarians were ordered to destroy the CD to assuage fears that terrorists might also find the data useful. It took a major effort to make that information inaccessible because it had been distributed in a tangible format to many libraries across the country. Eliminating web-based resources is so much faster and easier — perhaps, as many people claim, too much so.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin
Conclusion

These are a few examples that illustrate the actions and events that have raised concerns among librarians and other professionals interested in the workings of government, preservation issues, and access to government information and records. Balancing national security and the public’s right to know is becoming a major concern of our times. I find myself wondering how deep and how great the void will be when historians in the future try to understand the events of the late 20th and early 21st century.
It does seem ironic that in this “information age” government information and access to it seems in peril. I hope the issue receives the attention, thought and dialog it deserves.

September 11: The Library's Response to Your Need for Information

by Jill Markgraf, markgrjs@uwec.edu

Reading and research interests are among the innumerable aspects of life-as-we-knew-it that changed after September 11. Librarians are observing and responding to an increase in requests for information about topics such as terrorism, the Middle East, Islam, Osama Bin Laden, Taliban, Afghanistan, anthrax and biological warfare.

McIntyre Library provides a wealth of information on these and related topics, and its website provides tools to help you find it. 

The library has a growing collection of books, government documents, videotapes and other media in subject areas relating to the events of September 11. To find them, search the online catalog under subject headings such as:

Terrorism
Biological warfare
Jihad
Bin Laden, Osama
Islam
Taliban
Fundamentalism

These subject headings are just a sampling of possible search terms. Librarians can assist users in finding other appropriate terms or headings.

New books on these and related topics arrive daily. To find out what new books the library has received, click the RECENT ACQUISITIONS tab in the online catalog. There you can browse materials received during the past week or past month, as well as search new books by author, title, keyword or call number.

The library provides access to information resources well beyond what is represented in the library catalog: journal and newspaper articles, the Web, and a variety of online databases are other sources of valuable, relevant information. Librarians have developed tools to assist users in navigating the myriad sources.

Visit the Online Reference Shelf to find background information, factual and statistical information, or biographical information. For example, a search of one of the dictionaries in the Online Reference Shelf will provide a definition of ‘jihad.’ The online encyclopedias are good places to get brief explanations or overviews of ‘Islam.’ The biography resources offer brief factual information about Osama Bin Laden. Under ALMANACS, FACT BOOKS & MANUALS is the CIA World Factbook, a collection of country profiles and maps. It is a good source of information about Afghanistan. For the researcher looking for names of Afghani government officials, a click on Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments under DIRECTORIES will yield such information.

Students, and even seasoned researchers, are often overwhelmed by the abundance of resources and unsure of where to begin. Two recently developed online tools aim to address this problem. Build-a-Guide is a collection of online guides offering research advice on a variety of popular topics. A student interested in writing a paper on some aspect of terrorism, for example, could go to the Build-a-Guide topic “Terrorism.” A student interested in learning more about Islam could find a guide on Islam. Build-a-Guide offers suggestions for finding out how to begin researching the topic, where to find basic or background information, which subject headings to use in searching the online catalog, which databases might be appropriate to use in searching for journal articles, and which websites librarians have identified as good, reliable sources of information. New topics are regularly added to Build-a-Guide. The library invites you to browse the available topics and welcomes your suggestions for additional topics.

A similar resource, Core & More, takes a broader approach to guiding researchers to appropriate resources. Rather than leading a researcher through the steps in finding information on a specific topic, Core & More organizes resources by broad discipline. So, for example, to find journal articles on some aspect of Islam, click on the Core & Morediscipline of PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION. There you will find a list of the core databases and indexes available for that discipline. You will also get a list of more databases that touch on or include aspects of the discipline. In addition to journal article indexes and databases, Core & More suggests sources of background information and websites selected by librarians and UW-Eau Claire faculty relating to the discipline. Depending on your research interest, you may want to consult several disciplines under Core & More. For example, a researcher interested in the role of women in Islamic cultures may also want to look under the discipline of WOMEN’S STUDIES.

Core & More also includes a link to newspaper databases. A researcher interested in current or recent events will find a wealth of information from local, regional, national and international newspapers and wire services. Academic Universe, one of the news databases available, includes transcripts from radio and television news programs as well. A researcher interested in reading the CBS or NPR transcripts from broadcasts on September 11, for example, will find them here.

Another source for current information relating to September 11 and its aftermath can be found on the library’s Government Web Sites Quick List under DOCUMENTS IN THE NEWS. Clicking on TERROR ATTACK results in a list of links to news resources and sites, responses and opinions, and relief efforts.

Resources and finding aids abound for tracking down information that helps us understand the new climate in which we live. But the list of resources would be incomplete without a mention of your McIntyre library faculty and staff, always ready and willing to assist you in your quest for the information you need.

Resources mentioned in this article:
Online catalog 
Online Reference Shelf
Build-a-Guide 
Core & More
Newspaper databases
Government Web Sites

View from the Third Floor: Serials Cancellation Project Loans

During the remainder of the spring semester, McIntyre Library will undertake a serials review and cancellation project. This unfortunate circumstance is necessitated by the “double-whammy” of continued high inflation for serial titles and a flat materials budget that I described in the last issue of Off the Shelf.

What has this double-whammy meant in real terms? Say we spend $400,000 on journals in one year (and our actual journal expenditures are somewhat higher than that this year). If the average inflation rate for those titles is 8%, then we would need $432,000 to purchase the equivalent journals next year, or $440,000 if the inflation rate is 10%. In a flat budget environment, that additional $32,000 or $40,000 must come from some other materials budget — such as the one for one-time purchases, including books and videotapes. If this 8-10% inflation pattern holds — as it has been doing for some years then the following year it would cost us between $466,560-$484,000 for the same number of journals. Obviously, this is an inflationary cycle that would soon consume the materials budget if we did not reduce the number of journal subscriptions.

As we experience high inflationary price increases for journals, demand for electronic databases continues to soar. Even though we have access to the majority of our databases through centralized UW cooperative purchases, the database subscriptions specifically for our UW-Eau Claire students and faculty are eating up a considerable — and increasing — portion of our budget. From spending $8,000 in 1992 we are now spending $126,000 in the current fiscal year. The total increases to the entirety of our materials budgets in the past 5 and current budget biennia (a period of 14 years) have only been $212,000. It doesn’t take a financial genius to determine we’re in fiscal hot water.

The reality is even worse than it would appear to be from the above. Although book, standing order, and other materials prices are not increasing as rapidly as journal prices, they are increasing more rapidly than inflation. Not only do we have less money for such purchases in the above scenario, what money we do have will buy fewer titles than the equivalent amount would have bought the year before. It’s an exceedingly ugly picture. Add in the unknown budget cuts that may be coming over the next year or so and the picture becomes even uglier.

Almost every library is facing a similar situation and this is certainly true within the UW-System.

The serials review and cancellation project is a result of this unfortunate scenario. Although we will be looking primarily at cutting journal subscriptions, we will also be looking at other serials expenditures, including electronic database subscriptions. How large a cancellation project will this be? Our initial target is a rather frightening $50,000 although we hope it needn’t be that high. We could aim somewhat lower than this, but if we do we’ll no doubt be repeating this exercise a year from now.

Almost every library is facing a similar situation and this is certainly true within the UW-System. UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee together are canceling or have cancelled about $500,000 worth of subscriptions this year. To help overcome this decreasing access to physical journals, the UW libraries are continuing their efforts to find new ways to cooperate and to leverage their resources — including possible desktop delivery of articles. The saving grace in this dire situation has been the access to thousands of full-text electronic journals afforded by the cooperative efforts of the UW libraries.

How will we decide which subscriptions to cut? We will try to be as objective as possible in making these decisions and we will seek faculty input in the process, although the final decision will be the library’s. We have been keeping shelf-displacement use statistics for some years and they will prove very useful in this effort. Among other things, we will be looking at average cost per use. If a journal costs $500 but our use statistics show it was only used 10 times during the year, it will be a likelier candidate for cancellation than one that costs $1,000 but that was used 100 times. Very expensive journals will be looked at carefully as cancellation candidates as will those showing steep price increases. In some cases, we will be working with faculty to identify alternative, less expensive titles that might suit their purposes. We will look at whether journals are available in full-text databases to which we subscribe and whether they are available in full-text or full-image, which will make a difference in some disciplines. We will also be looking at how easily obtainable copies of articles will be from cancelled titles, e.g., whether or not they are held by other UW libraries. Backing up this decision-making process will be the relationship of particular titles to their support of the curriculum.

Over the past several years, several people have suggested to me that we simply cancel the popular titles to which the library subscribes. While these titles will be considered for cancellation, the fact is that the total cost for all our so-called popular titles is less than the cost of a single subscription to a number of our scholarly journals. Generally, popular titles are used relatively heavily — and not just for leisurely reading. For certain kinds of classroom assignments, use of these particular titles is entirely appropriate and may better serve the student than a scholarly journal.

More information will be forthcoming as we put together the specific framework of the cancellation project. In the meantime, we ask your patience in discussing specific titles. However, if you would like to suggest a particular title for cancellation please feel free to forward your suggestion to Janice Bogstad, Head of Collection Development, bogstajm@uwec.edu.

Guest Column-Zhang Xiaodan - What I hope to Learn from my Visit in Eau Claire

Hello, I’m Zhang Xiaodan. You can call me Tom. I’m from Yitong, a small town in Jilin province, northeastern China. I came here from Jinan University in Guangzhou, southern China where I work as a librarian. I have a B.S. in library science and I’m working on my Master’s degree in computer science. I will be here until the end of May.

While I’m here, I hope to learn three things and to perform at least one service for the library and the university.

First, I want to observe the library instruction program here. It will be very useful back home if I learn how librarians develop guides and handbooks for faculty and students and how librarians train end users here. So, I also plan to take samples back to my colleagues when I go home.

Second, I want to know how user data is collected and used to help planning budget decisions and collection management. We have no method for doing this at home. We have an online catalog and we can see if a book is checked out online. But we do not yet use circulation information to help us manage our collections.

Third, I’m also interested in library management: how the reference department works, how the automation department fits in to the plan, and how the director here manages the library as a whole.

Finally, I want to do something for this library — which is my favorite place. Right now, I am working to improve the web site, by redesigning some databases using Access, JavaScript and ASP. Hopefully, you will see my work soon!

Collaboration in Online Development

by Kathy Finder and Jill Markgraf

Online courses represent the latest phase of UW-Eau Claire distance education initiatives. Information & Technology Management services and resources in support of online education continue to improve as our experience grows, the tools evolve, and the curricular needs change. Collaboration among DE instructors, administrators and ITM support (library and instructional design) is imperative in ensuring distant learners equitable access to resources and services.

Here are some myths we have encountered.

Myth: An online course is simply a traditional course delivered via the web.

Reality: While an online course meets the same objectives of a traditional face-to-face course, the online course has unique parameters. Converting a course to the online environment takes a lot of time, effort, and resources.

Myth: If I want to teach an online course, I am solely responsible for developing and delivering the course.

Reality: Not at all! ITM staff can help you explore options, identify needs, tailor resources, assist in the production of the course, and help facilitate connections with others who can provide valuable resources and information throughout the process.

Myth: Because technology and instructional design staff may take on an increased role in an online course, I will lose some control over my course.

Reality: The faculty member remains in control — making the decisions about tools, content, structure, evaluation, student interactions, and other curricular decisions.

We recommend that the online courses be well developed prior to the beginning of the course. However, once the course has begun, you can make changes to meet the unique needs of your students and “tweak” the course. If an activity needs more structure, you can add the structure. If something isn’t working, you can substitute a new activity.

Myth: Students in an online course can’t do library research.

Reality: McIntyre Library has a full array of services for DE students, including remote access to the library catalog, journal article databases and other resources; reference assistance available electronically and via toll-free telephone; home delivery of books and journal articles; electronic delivery of journal articles; electronic reserve; and an ever-increasing bank of online instructional services and tools.

Myth: A link to the library web page is sufficient for incorporating library research into an online course.

Reality: It’s a good start, but simply making services available is not sufficient for getting students to use them or understand them. Through communication and collaboration faculty and librarians are coming up with innovative ways to incorporate library instruction into the online curriculum. Such efforts have included online research tutorials, librarian-monitored discussion threads and the development of online library research tools in support of specific courses and research projects. (See www.uwec.edu/library/Guides/sit_anal2.html for an example of such a tool developed for marketing classes). Faculty and librarians work together in the development of courses and assignments to ensure that the library can adequately support specific online endeavors.

Myth: Course packets are necessary for providing students with required readings.

Reality: While a course packet may be an efficient means of providing students with assigned readings, faculty should also be aware of the library’s electronic reserve (e-reserve) service. Required readings can be posted electronically, which may eliminate the expense of purchasing materials already available through the library.

Myth: The internet provides sufficient resources for online students to conduct research.

Myth: The internet is unacceptable as a research resource.

Reality: Yes and no. The Internet provides a wealth of valuable information as well as intellectually useless sites. Estimates still put the percentage of scholarly information available via the Internet in the single digits. Therefore, the Internet should be viewed as just one of many information resources to which students should have access.

The Internet is also a medium that delivers other types of information, such as access to our library catalog, licensed databases, electronic books, and government documents. To view as unacceptable anything found on the Web may be akin to saying that one does not believe anything heard on the telephone.

The concept of information literacy comes into play. Students need the skills to sift the wheat from the chaff. In the rapidly changing online environment it is increasingly important that ITM staff, including librarians and instructional technologists, and faculty members work together to give students the skills they need to access, find, evaluate and use information. For more information about services available to assist you in the online environment, please contact:

Kathy Finder (finderks@uwec.edu), CITI Manager & McIntyre Library, 715-836-2865

Jill Markgraf (markgrjs@uwec.edu), Distance Education Librarian, McIntyre Library, 715-836-5357 or the Reference Desk at 715-836-3858

Donna Raleigh (draleigh@uwec.edu), Instructional Design/Technology Training Coordinator, Media Development Center (MDC), 715-836-5162

Have you given an exercise to show your students all the wonderful resources available in the library, but still find the resources for their papers are from web sites? 

Have you assigned a simple project requiring library sources, but your students tell you “the library didn’t have anything on my topic”?

Do your students tell you they can’t find InfoTrac? (They’re right!)

It’s time to sit down with a librarian to develop course projects that will really teach them what you want them to know about research in your field.

The library has many new resources and ways of finding information, but we have also eliminated many older resources. Library faculty are available to assist you and your students in using McIntyre Library and Internet research resources. We will be happy to consult about new research information in your field, to custom-design in-person class presentations, or to create curriculum-based information literacy modules for use in your courses.

The information literacy curriculum includes strategies to assist your students to:

• Refine a research topic
• Develop effective research strategies
• Retrieve source citations 
• Locate and access print, microfilm, electronic, or audiovisual materials
• Critically evaluate the content of information sources
• Learn to properly cite sources

We have been developing a web site to make it easy for you to connect with the right people: go to the “Meet the Library Instructional Faculty.” There you will find a list of librarians showing their research interests, phone numbers, and email addresses. There is also a link to a new online class session request form. This form gives you the opportunity to select a particular librarian, request specific resources or topics to be discussed, and give any additional comments about your objectives for the session.

ITM Online Help Collection

by Kathy Finder

Documentation for most supported software packages is just a click away in the ITM Online Help Collection (www.uwec.edu/help). This collection has evolved from printed guides and handouts to a web-based collection of over 1100 individual pages plus supporting images. The move to web-only occurred in 1998 and provides the benefit of readily availability to all users — not just those who attend BITS or CITI workshops. Suggestions for additions to the collection are welcome and we can tailor handouts to meet specific curricular needs.

Documentation is available for: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, FrontPage, Outlook, Photoshop, PageMaker, Publisher, and more. While developed for the UW-Eau Claire audience, the collection is recognized and used around the world. Recent requests have come from Ball State University, TVF Medical Communications-United Kingdom, DHFS State of Wisconsin, and Edmonton Catholic Schools (Canada).

In addition to providing a valuable resource for the campus, the documentation provides hands-on technical writing and editing experience for our students. Kathy Finder collaborates with several of the technical writing faculty to provide class projects based on the ITM Online Help Collection and Style Guide. Many of the students who develop the collection are technical writing majors or minors. The experience that they gain working on the collection helps reinforce the knowledge gained through the classroom.

BITS & PALS

by Kathy Finder

BITS means Bringing Instruction in Technology to Students, PALS means Personalized Assistance for Learning Success. These two programs are funded by the Student Technology fee and offer free workshops to UW-Eau Claire students on computers and other technology-related tools. The current BITS schedule is located on the UW-Eau Claire website; for a customized BITS workshop to complement your course curriculum, contact BITS Coordinator Juanita Ikuta. For individual help for your students, encourage them to ask for a personalized one-on-one tutoring session with a PALS trainer.

Website:
www.uwec.edu/bits

Telephone:
715-836-5157

E-mail:
bits.training@uwec.edu

Drop in:
Old Library 1102

Library Consulting Service - You Have a Friend in the Library

by Mimi King

Most faculty are aware the library offers instruction sessions tailored for specific classes. We also offer an individual consultation service. Anyone can make an appointment to meet with a librarian to discuss a research project. Users will receive guidance on how to best proceed, which databases would be most appropriate, other resources to use, along with help tailoring a research topic to create the most effective search strategy for the resources available.

PALS = Personalized Assistance for Learning Success

You are aware of “BITS PALS”. Think of the library’s parallel consulting service as “library PALS”. The goal of the library consulting service is to help the University Community develop stronger research skills and keep abreast of new opportunities in the electronic environment. Who is library PALS for?

Faculty:
Embarking on a research project
Planning a new course
Looking for “real” library assignments to introduce students to the discipline’s literature

Students:
Wanting to gain library skills
Having difficulty beginning research for a course
Needing advice on the best resources for a specific topic

Any University Community Member:
Wanting a one-on-one session tailored to address specific needs

How is a session arranged?

Librarians at the Reference Desk offer “walk-in” or “call-in” service without an appointment. If you would like an appointment with the Special Collections or Center for Reserve and Instructional Media librarians, or if the amount of assistance necessary is more than can be given within the constraints of a public desk environment, fill out a scheduling form. There is a print copy of the form at the Reference Desk.

A librarian will contact you to set up an appointment and will gather information to help prepare appropriate materials.

Internet Librarian Picks: There's More to Core & More Than Indexes

by Betsy Richmond

Core & More, includes links to library indexes — organized by discipline. But there’s more. Core & More also links to core reference books and Internet sites recommended by librarians (Librarian Picks), plus links recommended on faculty web pages. Examples of Librarian Picks follow.

A SELECTION OF INTERNET LINKS

Environmental Studies

Committee for the National Institute for the Environment http://www.ncseonline.org/

“A universal, timely, and easy-to-use single-point entry to environmental information and data for the use of all participants in the environmental enterprise.” The site is substantive, and will require a learning curve to absorb the content. It’s a good source for the elusive Congressional Research Service reports on subjects such as climate change, energy, mining, pesticides, population, waste management, and wetlands.

Biology

Kimball’s Biology Pages http://www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/

John W. Kimball, a graduate of Harvard College, was a biology teacher until his retirement. This award-winning site is an authoritative quick reference to biology topics. The site offers several SEARCH options and a link to an online biology textbook.

Psychology

Classics in the History of Psychology http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/author.htm 

This list of full-text psychology documents is arranged by author and was developed by Christopher D. Green, York University, Toronto, Canada. This is a noble project and important source. Among the classics are:

James, William. (1890). The Principles of Psychology
Perhaps the most important English-language psychology text in history.

And my favorite, Harry Harlow’s paper on the importance of contact comfort in monkey infants, and the nature of love:

Harlow, Harry F. (1958). “The Nature of Love”. American Psychologist, 13, 573-685.

I knew Harry. He was crazy about babies. Reading this is like talking to him (it makes you laugh out loud), complete with Thurberesque sketches and doggerel:

“The crocodile"
“Here is the skin they love to touch
“It isn’t soft and it isn’t much
“But its contact comfort will beguile
“Love from the infant crocodile

“You see, all God’s chillins got skin”

Kraus Curriculum Development Library

By Cleo Powers

KRAUS CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY is a database of curricula, standards, practices and guidelines for the pre-service and practicing PreK-12 teacher and adult basic education provider. The documents accessible through KCDL have been collected from state departments of education, local and regional school districts, professional education associations, and other special education-related projects. Priorities have been placed on gathering materials in the areas of English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, Career Education, Fine Arts, Physical/health Education, and Second Languages materials are also included. Smaller portions of the collection represent the areas of Adult Basic Education, Bilingual/English (as a Second Language), Early Childhood Education, Guidance, Library, Research and Study Skills, and Special Education. URL’s to related sites are provided when available.

McIntyre Library has subscribed to the KCDL since 1988 and each year approximately 300 new titles were added to the Krause microfiche collection. In 2001, with the 20th edition of the publication, the documents became available full text on line. While the online index covers 1983 to the current year, McIntyre Library only has the cited fiche collection from 1983 to 2000. Only the 2001 collection is available online with full text documents provided in PDF format.

Access to the online index to KCDL is available from the McIntyre Library Web site; the fiche collection is located in CRIM.

Internet Ins & Outs

by Betsy Richmond

That the Internet is growing is not a surprise to anyone. Its usability in research is a mixed bag — see Collaboration in Online Education, page 6. The content is there, but the access is increasingly convoluted and difficult to explain to students. There are some relatively recent factors, which, if understood, explain a lot. Here are the caveats:

Issue One:

Pay Per Click Search Engines

Q: Why have librarian links to “good” web pages? We have excellent search engines to find resources.
A: A growing number of Internet sites are listing their sites on Pay Per Click (PPC) search engines.

Q: What do Pay Per Click (PPCs) search engines do?
A: Web sites pay PPC search engines for traffic to their sites. Sometimes the PPC search engines identify the paid sites as “sponsored listings” or “partner links”, but not usually. In other words, the top search results may be “bought and paid for”.

Q: What are some search engines I might be using that use Pay Per Click?
A: Yahoo!, AOL, AltaVista, Lycos, Netscape, InfoSpace, Ask Jeeves, CNET, Dogpile.com, NetZero, Metacrawler, Mamma.com, Google US, and FindWhat.

Issue Two:

The Deep Web and Search Engines

Q: Do the search engines I use search the “whole” web?
A: No, these search engines don’t reach the “deep web”, but merely “crawl the surface”.

Q: What is the “deep web”?
A: The “deep web” or “invisible web” consists of dynamically generated databases (like McIntyre Library’s databases) that are invisible to traditional search engines. Traditional search engines only “see” static, not dynamic pages.

Q: How big is the deep web?
A: The deep web is estimated as 500 times as large as the surface web. But size is not all that differentiates the deep Web. It is also different in a qualitative way, that is the resources are in (often proprietary) databases that are searched by “one at a time” queries.

Q: Will searching of the deep web improve?
A: Eventually, but for now, the situation reinforces teaching students to use the library’s databases — not internet “surface search engines” for research.

There are a number of current initiatives focused on searching the deep web. For further information see:

Warnick, Walter L., et al. Searching the Deep Web Directed Query Engine Applications at the Department of Energy. D-Lib Magazine January, 2001, 7 (1). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january01/warnick/01warnick.html. Accessed 2/15/02
Lynch, Clifford A., Metadata Harvesting and the Open Archives Initiative, ARL Bimonthly Report 217, August 2001. Accessed 2/15/02
BrightPlanet.com LLC. “The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value.” White Paper, July 2000. Available  http://www.brightplanet.com. Accessed 2/15/02

Finding the Databases

The simplest way to access most of the resources mentioned on these pages is to look them up by title from the library homepage Master Index at: www.uwec.edu/library

They are also linked in the alphabetical list of databases, (library homepage/Research Resources/Article Indexes & Databases/Alphabetical List), as well as under the Subject List.

New and Renewed Databases

by Mimi King

ACM Digital Library core package indexes over 25 journals and magazines, both in print and online, including up to a 15-year archive of the Association for Computing Machinery’s publications.

Alternative Press Index covers ecology, national liberation, feminism, socialism — theory and practice, gay and lesbian, and other issues. Coverage: 1991 to present.

CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online has returned! It is designed to be the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 on, that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences.

International Index to Music Periodicals IIMP Full Text draws its current content from more than 325 international music periodicals from over 20 countries with over 50 full text titles. IIMP Full Text includes retrospective coverage from over 165 periodicals dating back as far as 1874. IIMP Full Text covers nearly all aspects of the world of music, from the most scholarly studies to the latest crazes.

Physical Education Index covers dance, health, physical education, physical therapy, recreation, sports, sports medicine, kinesiology & biomechanics, coaching, facilities, measurement & evaluation, motor learning, perception, fitness, sport psychology & sociology, teaching methods, training, and individual sport activities. Formerly PEI was available only in print form. 1970-.

WISE, the Legislative Redistricting Program

by Mary Hayden

The Government Publications Department offered public access to WISE-LegRed during February and March. This application may also be used by political science, sociology, geography or other classes studying legislative redistricting and mapping.

The WISE-LegRed application allowed interested public users to create their own senate, assembly, or congressional districts. As a result of Census 2000 data Wisconsin lost a congressional district, and the Wisconsin legislature was required to redraw legislative and congressional districts. The WISE Redistricting Program was made available to give the public an opportunity to provide input to legislators.

Universal Borrowing Commendation

by Mary Hayden

McIntyre Library received the following commendation from Ed Meachen, associate Vice President, UW System, Office of Learning and Information and Technology and Paul Moriarty Chris Council of U of W Libraries.

“The Office of Learning and Information Technology and the Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries hereby recognize the staff of McIntyre Library.

Your dedication and commitment to the development and testing of Voyager’s Universal Borrowing software is acknowledged and deeply appreciated by your colleagues across UW System.”

In Brief

Library Tours

Tours of the library will be offered next year during the first month of each semester. New and transfer students have found the tours particularly helpful. Watch the library home page “what’s new @ your library” for schedules.

LIBRA Guide 12th Edition

The 12th edition of the LIBRA Self-Guided Workbook is available in the English 110 section of the University Bookstore.

Focus Groups

As part of the library’s ongoing planning process, the Strategic Planning Committee would like to schedule a number of focus groups on library issues and services. These sessions can be held anywhere on campus. Departments and committees are encouraged to contact Mimi King at kingm@uwec.edu to arrange a meeting with Strategic Planning Committee members. (If we don’t contact you first!)

Graduate Lounge Wired

Recent updates to the 5th floor graduate study lounge include ten lighted carrels, two computers, and a printer. There is one network port available for laptops that have a NIC (Network Interface card) installed. The entire room has wireless network capability for laptops with wireless adapters.

Display Cases in the Grand Corridor

Contact Beth DeRosier at 715-836-2404 or derosiba@uwec.edu if you or your students want to mount a display. Upcoming displays include: English Festival, Vets Club, and Bolton House-Sexual Awareness.

Special Collections Extended Hours

Spring Semester
Monday-Friday: 8am-5pm
Wednesday evening: 5 pm-9pm