December 2000

Bibliographic Tools for the Alternative Press

Many librarians with collection development responsibilities who understand the importance of the Alternative Press still don\’t select from it, saying they don\’t know how to find those materials or don\’t have the time. Bibliographic Tools for the Alternative Press, a regular feature in Counterpoise, the review journal of the Alternative Press, is a bibliography of resources you can use for exactly that purpose. (Of course, the reason we need to select from the alternative press is that the mainstream press does not provide a full range of perspectives, being slanted by its corporate point of view.)

Online Schools

Former Education Secretary William Bennett is one of the folks out selling some new online schools. Bennett once gave schools\’ efforts to increase use of computers in teaching an \”F-\”. Cnet has the Full Story.


Washington Post has another story on the same thing. Sounds like a big gamble on some vaporware.

\”It\’s a back-to-basics approach,\” Bennett said. \”We\’re combining traditional learning and powerful technology.\”

Consortium Offers Unfiltered Advice on Filtering Software

The Safeguarding the Wired Schoolhouse initiative, launched by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)is offering unfiltered advice on what educators can do to safeguard students online. Complete Story at NY Times.


They do not advocate mandatory filtering, but have established the framework to give educators a \”vendor-neutral\” process by which to make decisions about the various software options available. Trying to \”filter\” out all the ads from vendors for the people making the decisions.

New Tech Standards for School Administrators

The NY Times has a Story on how Representatives from the ISTE, the National School Boards Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and others are trying to put together some sort of standards for clueless school admins.

\”Administrators need to be comfortable about not knowing everything, but they should know who knows,\” she said. \”They don\’t have to be a network administrator.\”

Term-paper citations of Internet sources no longer exist

Bob Cox sent in this press release from Cornell on a study by Cornell University librarians shows that many URLs, cited in student term-paper bibliographies often are incorrect or refer to documents that no longer exist. I\’m sure it\’s just a coincidence! Why would a student make up a URL?

They suggest that professors set guidelines for acceptable citations in course assignments. Also, they believe that collegiate libraries should create and maintain scholarly portals for authoritative web sites with a commitment to long-term access and instruct students on how to critically evaluate resources.

Bob Cox sent in this press release from Cornell on a study by Cornell University librarians shows that many URLs, cited in student term-paper bibliographies often are incorrect or refer to documents that no longer exist. I\’m sure it\’s just a coincidence! Why would a student make up a URL?

They suggest that professors set guidelines for acceptable citations in course assignments. Also, they believe that collegiate libraries should create and maintain scholarly portals for authoritative web sites with a commitment to long-term access and instruct students on how to critically evaluate resources.

The missing links: Many term-paper citations of Internet sources no longer exist, according to Cornell library study

FOR RELEASE: Dec. 15, 2000

Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
Office: 607-255-3290
E-Mail: [email protected]

ITHACA, N.Y. — Since the mid-1990s, the wiring of the U.S. college campus has had a dramatic effect on how students search for information. Much of the research that once was done in libraries now can be done in computer labs or on dorm room PCs. The result is that students increasingly cite popular Internet sites in their class papers instead of sources found in the library.

Now a study by Cornell University librarians shows that many World Wide Web addresses, known as Uniform Resource Locators (or URLs), cited in student term-paper bibliographies often are incorrect or refer to documents that no longer exist.

\”The likelihood that web citations would lead to the correct Internet document has decreased significantly,\” says Philip M. Davis, life sciences librarian at Cornell\’s Albert R. Mann Library. \”A URL that doesn\’t work means the professor has no way to check the original document for plagiarism.\”

Davis and Suzanne A. Cohen, reference service coordinator with the university\’s Martin P. Catherwood Library, studied the citation behavior of undergraduates in a large, multi-college class, Introduction to Microeconomics (Economics 101), taught by John M. Abowd, Cornell professor of labor economics in the university\’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Their research, \”The Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation Behavior 1996-1999,\” has been reviewed and accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of theJournal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS). A preprint of the article is available at http://people.cornell.edu/pages/pmd8/ .

The study, using term papers between 1996 and 1999, found that after four years, the URL reference cited in a term paper stood an 80 percent chance of no longer existing. URL references stood more than a 50 percent chance of not existing after only six months.


The researchers also discovered a significant decrease in the frequency of scholarly resources cited. Book references dropped from 30 percent to 19 percent. Newspaper citations increased from 7 percent to 19 percent, and web citations increased from 9 percent to 21 percent.

\”We are seeing a dramatic move from the use of credible, peer-reviewed materials to popular and unfiltered information,\” says Davis.

Universities with large library collections — often a measure by which research universities are compared — should be concerned if students are no longer taking the opportunity to use them, says Davis. Professors should be concerned that they are not exposing their students to academic literature in their field, he says.

The researchers noted that electronic access to information is more convenient for students, and this might be especially true for those who work on their papers the night before they are due. The researchers say that the Cornell library system, like many college libraries, has increased the number of scholarly electronic resources available to the students and faculty.

As a result of this study, Abowd requires at least one professional journal citation in a research paper\’s bibliography, and if an Internet link is used, the link must be checked. But from a professor\’s perspective, can web citations undermine academic integrity?

\”This is a very hard problem — certifying the timeliness and accuracy of Internet citations. I do not expect my Economics 101 students to bullet-proof all of their citations,\” says Abowd. \”Rather, I hope that they will be able to learn from the experience of having their citations checked and from my expectation that they use certified professional journals.\”

Davis and Cohen suggest that professors set guidelines for acceptable citations in course assignments. Also, they believe that collegiate libraries should create and maintain scholarly portals for authoritative web sites with a commitment to long-term access and instruct students on how to critically evaluate resources.

\”In the world of academic scholarship, references form a link to original works, give credit to original ideas and form a network of connections to related documents,\” says Davis. \”A viable link — whether in print or electronic form — is absolutely necessary in order to preserve scholarly communication. Without citations that pass the test of time, we have no way to proceed forward because we can no longer see the past.\”

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New Library Unites Town

Motherjones.com has a nice Story on how the Town of Johnsburg, NY put together the money and the people power to build a new library. A heart warming story on how the library has become the center of the small town.

\”When a small town set out to create a library, it took the first step toward building something far more elusive–a community.\”

Friday Updates

The last Friday updates for the year include Home Depot, eagle scouts, bookmobiles, coffee beans, updating the classics, LOC, and much much more. Have a Happy New Year!!

The last Friday updates for the year include Home Depot, eagle scouts, bookmobiles, coffee beans, updating the classics, LOC, and much much more. Have a Happy New Year!!From the Post Gazette

Home Depot volunteers provide volumes of help

\”The new Home Depot store in Hampton won\’t open for another 15 months, but it\’s already having an impact on the community.\”
Fifteen local employees of the national home-improvement chain yesterday helped the staff of the Hampton Community Library move 28,000 books, periodicals and videotapes to a new location in Shoppers Plaza. The materials were loaded into a couple dozen of the store\’s signature.\”


From JS Online

Eagle Scout\’s project adds to inmates\’ library

\”Establishing a library at the Milwaukee County House of Correction enhanced education for workhouse inmates while providing lessons for a Franklin teenager who took up the cause as an Eagle Scout project.

\”This is one of the only ways that the inmates there can learn,\” said Brian Grochowski, 17, who after 65 hours collected 1,900 usable books and 24 bookcases for the project. \”This is one way they can benefit themselves before they get out of there and benefit society, too. They can pick up a little more before they\’re out on the streets.\”

Another one from JS Online

For some, bookmobile is their library

\”For 4,200 people in Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties, their local library is 34 feet long, open only every other week (at most) for only one hour at a time (at most) and of little use for any serious research.

And it comes with wheels attached.

For people here – and Belgium, Lake Church, Little Kohler and 18 other locales in the two counties – the Eastern Shores Library System bookmobile is their local library.\”

From the Lansing State Journal

Beaner\’s to warm Lansing library

\”Beaner\’s Gourmet Coffee\’s Michael McFall likes to tell people he\’s bent on \”world domination and a hostile takeover of Starbucks.\”

It\’s a standard line meant to grab your attention by a confident but otherwise mild-mannered businessman. But like most overstatements, there is a morsel of truth to it.

McFall, Beaner\’s vice president of development, plans to double the nine-store, Lansing-based company in 2001. The expansion will start with its first out-of-state stores and a third downtown Lansing location, this one inside the public library on Lenawee Street.\”

From the State Journal Register

Library foundation aims to update classics

\”By definition, a classic novel is one whose reputation for excellence has endured the test of time.

The problem with that fact is time itself. As books are handled and read year after year, they begin to show signs of wear and tear, and the most worn books in many libraries are the treasured classics by the likes of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Henry James, Virginia Woolf and Mark Twain.

That\’s why for its annual fund-raising campaign this year the Lincoln Library Foundation has decided to target the refurbishing of the Springfield public library system\’s classics collection.\”

From the Sun Sentinel

Library of Congress lists 25 classic films for preservation

\”The librarian of Congress named 25 classic films for preservation in the National Film Registry, from Bela Lugosi\’s \”Dracula,\” a grandparent of today\’s horror movie, to the cinematic record of President William McKinley\’s inauguration in 1901.
\”Fifty percent of the films produced before 1950 and at least 90 percent made before 1920 have disappeared forever,\” librarian James Billington said in announcing the list Wednesday. \”And, ominously, more films are lost each year.\”


From Detroit News

Southfield wars over new library

\”The peace and tranquility of the Southfield Public Library offers no clues to the loud and ugly fight behind the plans to build a new facility.
Nearly everyone — the Mayor\’s Office, the city Planning Commission, the library board and the City Council — is involved in the fray over how to build the proposed $36.8-million library.
Everyone agrees a new library is needed. The current library, built in 1960 and 44,000 square feet in size, is inadequate for the city\’s population of 76,000 residents. There\’s not enough space or books, and it lacks in technology. But that\’s just about where the agreement ends.\”


From Dallas News

Determined citizens rallied around library in 1890s

\”Is a city really a city if it doesn\’t give its residents a free public library?

But that is precisely what Dallas was in 1890, when the city, with about 38,000 people, boasted the largest population in Texas. It still had no free public library.

May Dickson Exall, the president of the Shakespeare Club of Dallas in the 1890s and later the first president of the Public Library Association, began the first successful campaign for a library in 1899.\”

Vietnam Burns Books

Lee Hadden Writes:

\”The Associated Press has an article today about the Vietnamese
Cultural Inspectors, who have recently burned over six tons of books,
newspapers and other publications that were deemed \”poisonous cultural
items\”and thus unsuitable for reading by citizens of Vietnam. According to
another story about this today from Public Radio, International, among the
\”superstitious\” items burned were religious books and newspapers from
abroad, including Bibles and Catholic publications.\”

License to Link

Brian writes \”http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40850,00.html
Wired News has a story about news sites charging fees for the right to link to articles.
\”

This is a funny story, apparently iCopyright.com thinks they have the ability to get $50 from people who link to sites they \”protect\”. One of those sites, The Albuquerque Journal, when asked about the $50, says –
\”I don\’t know. We certainly wouldn\’t go after you. We link to other sites. We encourage people to link to us.\”

Libraries Need Cash

I saw this sad story from Inside Denver about cutbacks in school libraries, and I thought sharing may help ease the pain. Here are only a few frightening facts:

(1)Part-time aides replace librarians who also have been trained as teachers.

(2)Two of five public schools have either no trained librarian or one who works less than half-time, according to the state library.

(3)Since 1994, staffing relative to enrollment has dropped more than 10 percent.


As jobs disappear and librarians retire, the pipeline is drying up. By 2010, the state library predicts, there could be no new library media graduates in Colorado.\”

I saw this sad story from Inside Denver about cutbacks in school libraries, and I thought sharing may help ease the pain. Here are only a few frightening facts:

(1)Part-time aides replace librarians who also have been trained as teachers.

(2)Two of five public schools have either no trained librarian or one who works less than half-time, according to the state library.

(3)Since 1994, staffing relative to enrollment has dropped more than 10 percent.


As jobs disappear and librarians retire, the pipeline is drying up. By 2010, the state library predicts, there could be no new library media graduates in Colorado.\”



\”Ever since budget cuts in Boulder Valley Schools earlier this year, the librarian has worked part-time in a library closed one hour during every school day.\”

\”I think it\’s obvious that our kids have a tough time getting into the library and finding the books they need,\” Casey Middle Principal Ellen Miller-Brown said.\”

\”The numbers bear her out.\”

\”Statewide, per-pupil spending on print material fell 50 percent between 1994 and 1999 — to $9 per student, according to the state library. Spending in middle schools declined 25 percent during that period — to $22 per student. Spending in high schools fell 35 percent — to $12.50 per student.\”

\”Overall spending on library materials, from books to CD-ROMS, declined 50 percent during those same five years.\”

\”So goes the most recent chapter of school library history in Colorado: Funding is falling. Book collections are shrinking. Librarians are working fewer hours.\”

\”All that comes in the wake of an April report by the Colorado State Library concluding that now more than ever, in this era of high-stakes testing, books are kids\’ best friends.\”