CITATIONS:

The Newsletter of the New Mexico State University Library

Vol. 12, No. 3
October 1997

Researchers at Work : Dr. William C. Eamon

Gwen Gregory, Head of Post-Cataloging
ggregory@lib.nmsu.edu

Dr William C. Eamon, director of the Honors Program, is an active 
researcher in the history of science and medicine and the history of 
Renaissance Italy.  He is interested in the philosophical and academic 
tradition in science and medicine, especially in medieval and early modern 
Italy.  He is currently researching the 16th century Italian surgeon 
Leonardo Fioravanti, who was an important figure in the popular medicine 
of his time.  We spoke with Eamon in August, to learn about his research 
and how he uses scholarly information.  

Eamon's Fioravanti project focuses on this lesser-known medical figure and 
how he influenced popular views of medicine.  Eamon has visited 
government-run archives in Florence, Venice, Rome, and other Italian 
cities in search of original source materials relating to Fioravanti.  He 
has created a database containing the names of over 500 contemporaries 
Fioravanti mentions in his writings, and he searches for information by or 
about these people.  He has also traveled to the National Library of 
Medicine in Washington, DC, to study some of their manuscripts and rare 
16th century medical books.  For more general background reading and 
current awareness, he uses the NMSU Library's books and journals.  He is 
also a heavy user of our interlibrary loan services.

Since joining the NMSU faculty in 1976, Eamon has seen definite changes in 
his research methods.  In the beginning, he did not have funds to travel.  
Thus, his research was limited to what he could conduct locally.  He 
confined himself to the "more conventional questions in the history of 
science" that could be researched using readily-available books and 
journals.  He used interlibrary loan to obtain items from other libraries.  
As he has become successful in getting grant funding, he is able to travel 
and use the primary source materials in the U.S. and other countries.  
This has enabled his research to move to new topics, which have not been 
explored by others.  He advises junior faculty to begin writing grant 
proposals as soon as possible: "getting research grants gives you a lot 
more flexibility".  

UMI Dissertation Express Now Available
		
Deanna Valdez, Interlibrary Loan
dvaldez@lib.nmsu.edu

The Interlibrary Loan Office has a new pilot program for all dissertation 
requests.  Dissertations will be obtained through UMI Dissertation Express, 
if available.  The dissertation will be delivered to the library via 
express carrier within a few days.  

It will be loaned to the patron for one month.  After the loan, the 
dissertation will be added to the library's collection for future use.  If 
you want a copy of a dissertation to keep, you should indicate it on your 
ILL request form; cost is $24.50.  A copy of most dissertations can be 
obtained within a few days for this amount.  

To aid in locating pertinent dissertations, First Search now has the
database Dissertation Abstracts available for searching.

A dissertation which is not available through UMI Dissertation Express 
will be borrowed from another library.  There will occasionally be a 
dissertation that is not obtainable, even directly from the university 
involved. Requests can be placed three ways: in person at the
Interlibrary Loan Office in New Library; through the interlibrary loan 
option on the Cafe Ole menu through telnet; or through the interlibrary 
loan Web form.  For additional information , please call the Interlibrary 
Loan Office at 646-4737.

FirstSearch Offers 60 Databases on the Web
Donnelyn Curtis, Interim Head of Collection Management
dcurtis@lib.nmsu.edu

The World Wide Web continues to improve as a resource for scholarly
information. Beginning this semester, the NMSU Library's home page 
provides access to 47 additional bibliographic and full-text databases for 
the NMSU community through the FirstSearch service. Last spring semester 
the library provided access to only 13 FirstSearch databases. Some of the 
new databases available are: Dissertation Abstracts,  Book Review Digest, 
Disclosure, EconLit, INSPAC, GeoRef, Public Affairs Information Service 
(PAIS), and  RILM (music).

The FirstSearch package covers a wide range of academic disciplines as well 
as areas of general interest. Some of the databases are being provided to 
NMSU users electronically for the first time, while others have been 
available in the library in CD-ROM format. Access to the 60 FirstSearch 
databases is made possible through the library's participation in a 
consortium of academic libraries in New Mexico and Texas and through the 
cancellation of the print and CD-ROM versions of some of the databases. 

Faculty, staff, and students at NMSU can access FirstSearch on the CafeOLE 
web page at http://lib.nmsu.edu/article.html.
Select FirstSearch from this page. Text-only access is available
through the telnet version of Cafe OLE at lib.nmsu.edu. For help in using 
FirstSearch contact a reference librarian in either library (646-5800).

New Web Pages for Interlibrary Loan
Jivonna Stewart, Interlibrary Loan
jstewart@lib.nmsu.edu

In an effort to provide better service and to respond to the interest 
shown by our patrons, the Library has created an Interlibrary Loan area 
on our web page at http://lib.nmsu.edu/depts/illdds/index.html.
Through this site, NMSU faculty, staff and students can fill out request 
forms for needed materials or find answers to questions about the 
interlibrary loan process.  Browsers from other libraries can access our 
lending policies. 

Visit our site and let us know what you think!  As always, your comments 
and suggestions are valued.

Sun News Index Available on the Web
Cheryl Wilson, Head of Special Collections
chwilson@lib.nmsu.edu

The Special Collections staff is pleased to announce the availability of 
the Las Cruces Sun News Index on the web. The Las Cruces Sun-News Index 
currently provides researchers access to the articles appearing in the 
newspaper from January 1, 1995 through April 30, 1997. Please note that 
this is an index to articles. Full text of the articles is not available 
online. The address is http://lib.nmsu.edu/resources/sunnews/index.html. 


The scope of the index includes all news and feature articles relating to 
Las Cruces and Dona Ana County. Editorials and Letters to the Editor 
concerning only local issues are included. Sports stories relating to
NMSU, Las Cruces and Dona Ana County high schools, and other local teams 
and athletes are indexed, but elementary and middle school sports stories 
are not. Obituaries and death notices are indexed. Birth, engagement, 
wedding, and anniversary announcements are not indexed. Club and 
organization meeting announcements, the Police Blotter, Sound Off and 
advertorials are also excluded. 

The Las Cruces Sun-News is available on microfilm at the NMSU New Library. 
Current issues are retained at the Periodicals Desks in New Library and in 
Branson Hall. Current issues and microfilm are also available at the 
Thomas Branigan Memorial Library in Las Cruces.

Special Collections staff members began indexing the newspaper in September 
1986 and eventually all of the database will be available on the web. If 
you are trying to locate articles in the September 1986 - 1994 issues
of the Las Cruces Sun News, please call 646-6122 for assistance.  

Special Collections Extends Hours
Cheryl Wilson, Head of Special Collections
chwilson@lib.nmsu.edu

The NMSU Library Special Collections research room will be open Thursday 
evenings from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. during the 1997 fall semester.  These 
hours are in addition to the regular hours of 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 
1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.  Special Collections is located 
on the 2nd floor east in Branson Hall.  For more information or
reference assistance please call 646-6122.

Special Collections collects, preserves and makes available for research 
published materials related to the history and culture of New Mexico and 
the Southwest. We also have several collections which support specific 
NMSU programs.

Anna H. Gardiner Library Endowment
Charles Townley, Library Dean
ctownley@lib.nmsu.edu		

The NMSU Library recently received a gift of $270,000 from the estate of 
Anna H. Gardiner.  Income from this endowment will be used to support 
library services and collections in the interest of the university,
with emphasis in the sciences.  

Anna Gardiner held a master's degree in mathematics from Yale University.  
She began teaching mathematics part-time at NMSU in 1946.  She also worked 
as a mathematician at the Physical Science Laboratory.  She later served 
as head of the Physical Science Laboratory's Ballistic Data Reduction 
Section.  The late widow of George W. Gardiner, first head of the NMSU 
Physics Department and founder of PSL, Mrs. Gardiner also established an 
endowed professorship in the physics department as part of her bequest.

Library endowments are very important to help extend library services, to 
take advantage of new technologies, and to provide access to scholarly 
information in this time of dramatic price increases.  If you are 
interested in establishing a bequest for the University Library, please
contact Dean Charles Townley at 646-1508. 

Library Web Page Usage Up
Gwen Gregory
ggregory@lib.nmsu.edu

The Library's web page is used more every month.  In 1996/97, total use of 
the web pages was up 275% from the previous year.  

We now have information about many library services available on the web, 
including reserves, renewals, interlibrary loan, reference, and Pegasus 
document delivery.  We have recently added access to web-based indexes and 
full-text journal articles.  

See our web site at http://lib.nmsu.edu.
Please let us know if you have any comments or questions!

Library Plays Vital Role in General Education Program
Jeanette Smith 
jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu

NMSU's General Education Program, first created in 1991, requires 
undergraduate students to take 38 credits of general education courses.  
The general education requirement is intended to broaden students' 
educational horizon beyond the requirements of their major fields.  As the 
information center of the university, it is the goal of the University 
Library to serve the research needs of general education coursework as 
well as to support all other university curricula. 
 
As set forth in the NMSU Undergraduate Catalog, general education attempts 
to foster intelligent inquiry, abstract logical thinking, critical 
analysis, and the integration and synthesis of knowledge.  It strives for 
literacy in writing, reading, speaking, and listening; it teaches 
mathematical structures, acquainting students with precise abstract 
thought about numbers and space.  General education encourages an 
understanding of science and scientific inquiry; it provides an historical 
consciousness, including an understanding of one's own heritage as well as 
respect for other peoples and cultures.  General education includes an
examination of values and stresses the importance of a carefully
considered values system; it fosters an appreciation of the arts, and 
provides the breadth necessary to have a familiarity with the various 
branches of human understanding.  
           
Courses are included in one of three parts of the general education 
program: Part I, Developing Critical Thinking and Modes of Expression; 
Part II, Establishing a Common Background; or Part III, Viewing a Wider 
World.  An orientation tour of the library is included among the Part I 
requirements.  In addition, Part III courses must include a library
"literature search."  In order to better serve the university community, 
the library now offers multiple options on how this search may be 
conducted.  For the most extensive range of resources and assistance, the 
library literature search may be conducted in person at Branson Library or 
New Library with the help of reference librarians in using library 
information resources in a variety of traditional and electronic formats. 

Instructors may also wish to have their students use the "Resources by 
Subject" section of the library home page
(http://lib.nmsu.edu/subject/subj.html)
as a gateway to Internet information resources on a wide variety of
subjects.  This option is especially useful for distance education courses.  
The links to online information in "Resources by Subject" are selected and 
evaluated by librarians, and suggestions for new links are welcomed.  
Please contact Education Librarian Edward Erazo at
ederazo@lib.nmsu.edu or 
at 505-646-6930.                                         

The library has also developed its own Part III, Viewing a Wider World 
course,  LSC-311G, "Information Literacy."  This popular 3 credit course 
is designed to help students become full participants in today's 
information society.  Both practical and theoretical in scope, it uses a 
mixture of lecture, hands-on assignments, and written research projects
to enable students to develop the technological skills and critical
thinking abilities needed to use the printed and electronic information 
resources found in libraries and on the Internet.  Any student who 
successfully completes this course will be able to locate, critically 
evaluate, and apply information in his/her academic courses and 
professional and personal life.  Several library faculty have taught the 
course.  Additional information on L SC-311G, including a current 
syllabus, may be found on the library home page at 
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/lsc311.html 

During the routine recertification process every four years, the adherence 
of each general education course to all general education requirements, 
including the library component, is examined.  The library is happy to 
play a vital role in general education at NMSU, and eager to work with all 
instructors of general education courses to ensure that their classes' 
contact with the library is a positive and successful experience.                          

Journal Cancellation Update
Donnelyn Curtis, Collection Management


Last spring, every department at NMSU had the unpleasant task of deciding 
which library journals could be canceled. The state bond money that had 
been helping the library cover the cost of journal inflation (10-15% per 
year) was almost gone, and it looked as though in order to balance our
budget for 1997-98, the library would have to cancel subscriptions for
1998 totalling $400,000 (about 32% of this year's journal budget). In one 
of his last administrative acts, President Orenduff re-directed
$250,000 of university funds to the library to maintain crucial 
subscriptions and develop some alternatives that would help control the 
problem in the future. President Conroy has honored that financial 
commitment. 

Immediately before the spring semester ended, we were able to give 
departments the good news that we would retain some of the subscriptions 
they had identified as possibilities for cancellation. The new target is 
close to $200,000. We now have a revised list of titles that has been sent 
to departments along with their original list of cancellation
possibilities. Some departments will want the library to keep a journal 
another department has targeted for cancellation. Each journal is coded to 
only one department, but that doesn't mean that only faculty and students 
in that department use it. We can re-code a journal to a department
that doesn't want to lose it as long as that department can give us the 
title of another journal of equivalent value that we could cancel instead.

The final list of canceled journals has been compiled and posted on the web 
at http://lib.nmsu.edu/depts/collserv/cancel.html

In keeping with administrative directives and our own planning, we are 
using some of the $250,000 supplemental university funds and what is left 
of the 3-year bond to develop our document delivery program and increase 
access to electronic information. With the loss of journals for browsing, 
it is increasingly important to provide the tools to help researchers
find out what is being published and to get individual articles on
demand.

PAN is Dead - Long Live PAN!
Donnelyn Curtis
dcurtis@lib.nmsu.edu

Library users accustomed to finding citations to articles using the index 
PAN may have noticed that it isn't in its familiar place when you go 
through the library's OLE system and type /lib. The library had been 
providing access to this general index for more than two years.  What
was good about it was that you could search it the same way you search the 
online catalog; you could use it outside the library in your home or 
office; and it let you know if the library owned the journal and gave its 
call number (if you could figure out the strange way to get that 
information).  Bad things about it were that it gave the oldest
listings first; and the listings were never very up-to-date. As of
July, this index was no longer available in its OLE-compatible format.

But there's good news! A database that is similar in coverage but which 
also provides the full text of many of the articles has been available 
since February on the library's CafeOLE homepage on the web.  We call it 
PAN Plus.  It was a newly developed product and had some problems, but a 
recent improvement of the software makes it an excellent resource.
Students and faculty who have used it love it. 

It is available to any NMSU user who logs in through a university e-mail 
account. A web browser such as Netscape allows you to take advantage of 
its easy-to-use graphical interface, but there is also text-only access 
for those who telnet to lib.nmsu.edu. 

Users who are out of town, using an outside internet provider, or use 
telnet will be asked to enter their NMSU PIN numbers.

To use PAN Plus on the web, go to http://lib.nmsu.edu/article.html.

Rio Grande Historical Collections Celebrates Twenty-Fifth Year

By Tim Blevins and Marah deMeule, University Archives/RGHC
tblevins@lib.nmsu.edu and
marahde@lib.nmsu.edu 

1997 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rio Grande Historical 
Collections, created to support advanced scholarship at NMSU and to aid 
New Mexico's preservation of its cultural heritage.

Interest in developing a manuscript repository within the University 
Library had begun in the early 1960s.  Dr. Laiten Camien, a professor of 
sociology, served as Chairman of NMSU's Museum Committee.  During his 
chairmanship he highlighted the need to collect not merely the artifacts 
but also the unpublished materials illuminating the history of both the 
university and the region.  Early areas of concern included development of 
agriculture in New Mexico, and development of the academic disciplines and 
the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.

University President Roger B. Corbett, supportive of the Museum Committee's 
recommendations, established the University Archives in 1965.  Dr. Camien; 
Chester Linscheid, university librarian; and Dr. Ira Clark, professor of 
history and government, served on the newly created Archives Committee, 
providing oversight and advocacy.  The committee reported the need to
aggressively collect research materials and make them available.  They
offered three reasons justifying the creation of such a repository:  the 
university required the support of a large archives to do graduate work at 
the doctorate level in the social sciences; no central agency had been 
charged with the task of collecting archival materials from southern New 
Mexico; and southern New Mexico's documentary heritage was disappearing.  

When Gerald W. Thomas became president in 1970, he provided the support 
and commitment needed to create a successful manuscript repository in 
addition to the University Archives. Thomas appreciated the need to 
preserve the documentary history of southern New Mexico, and quickly threw 
his support behind the proposed unit.  Other campus leaders, including 
former university president Gen. Hugh M. Milton II, history professor Dr. 
Monroe Billington, and new library director Dr. James Dyke, rallied 
support both within and outside of the university. Civic leaders such as 
J. Paul and Mary Taylor, Opal Lee Priestly, and Mrs. A. E. Huntsinger 
agreed to serve on the Rio Grande Historical Collections' first Board of 
Directors. The Rio Grande Historical Collections was formally chartered on 
January 29, 1972.

During its initial year, the Board hired an archivist, Dennis Rowley, and 
solicited a number of important collections focused on ranching and 
agriculture.  The board celebrated the RGHC's success at its second annual 
meeting in 1973, then adjourned and "enjoyed a buffet supper and the 
hospitality of President and Mrs. Thomas at the basketball game afterward."

Austin Hoover, who succeeded Rowley in 1974, was able to offer the 
fledgling repository stability and greater visibility.  He began engaging 
in extensive fieldwork, traveling throughout the state to meet with 
potential donors and offering presentations on the repository to local 
organizations.  The RGHC also benefitted from the continued support of
its Board and friends group.  Through ties to the community, the RGHC
and its friends were able to acquire significant documentary materials for 
the repository.  State Representatives J. Paul Taylor and David Townsend 
offered crucial support.  They secured appropriations from the legislature 
which allowed the RGHC to greatly improve both its services to researchers 
and the facilities for preserving and housing its materials.  

In 1991, one of the most ambitious and most successful RGHC efforts, the 
Durango Microfilming Project, began.  The goal of this cooperative effort 
with the Archdiocese of Durango, Mexico, is to microfilm and preserve the 
entire contents of the Archivos Historicos del Arzobispado de Durango.  
Founded in 1563, Durango was the seat of the diocese which, from 1620
through the early 1850s, contained much of northern Mexico and parts of
New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and southern Colorado.  These unique records have 
attracted researchers to the RGHC from across the United States, Mexico 
and Europe.

Also in 1991, the Rittenhouse Photographic Survey of New Mexico was 
introduced as a project to enlist volunteers to photograph the settled 
localities of New Mexico.  The original idea was the plan of prominent 
Western American bookman Jack D. Rittenhouse, whose vision was to make 
available photographs of the significant sites and structures which were 
disappearing each year.  In November, 1993, RGHC launched a traveling 
exhibition of Jack Rittenhouse's photographs documenting the changing 
appearance of buildings and towns in New Mexico.  In addition to the 
Rittenhouse images, many of the RGHC's 500,000 photographs can be seen
in local exhibitions, scholarly and popular publications, and even in
documentaries such as Ken Burn's Baseball.  Exhibitions created by the 
RGHC have traveled to twenty-four sites throughout the state for public 
display.

During the 1994 session, the NM State Legislature appropriated funds which 
made possible the purchase of darkroom equipment and a digital 
reformatting lab.  This allowed reproduction of historic photographic 
images for research use, exhibition, and publication.  The funds also 
provided for the purchase of document preservation equipment used in the 
preservation laboratory, constructed in 1996, which was built with a 
generous gift from the Stockman family of Albuquerque.

Since 1995 the RGHC offices and Search Room have been located on the 
fourth floor of Branson Hall.  Currently, the RGHC holds over 5,000 cubic 
feet of materials which place primary emphasis on topics of special 
interest to a land-grant university.  These subjects include early 
settlement, ranching, irrigated and dry-land farming, the management
and use of natural resources including water, literature and cultural 
affairs,  social affairs and conditions, and other topics deemed important 
to the education, research, and public service programs of NMSU.  
Formats of these documentary materials include diaries, correspondence, 
financial records, literary manuscripts, printed materials such as 
newsletters, and photographic materials such as negatives, prints, 
and movie film.

The collections continue to grow, supporting increased usage and a wider 
audience.  If you have or know of others who have documentary materials 
suitable for inclusion in the Collections, please contact the Rio Grande 
Historical Collections,  Box 30006, Las Cruces, N.M. 88003, 
telephone (505)646-4727.

Pegasus Service Available For Doctoral Candidates
By Cindy Watkins, Research Support Services
cwatkins@lib.nmsu.edu

Pegasus, the University library's document delivery program, has once 
again expanded its scope.  This new phase continues to support the 
University's research needs.  In addition to serving the faculty, 
professional staff, and students and staff with disabilities, the Pegasus 
service will begin service to Ph.D. Candidates.

All items are first searched for in the NMSU Library's own collection.  If 
the material is located in the library we will copy the articles or check 
out the books and deliver them to your office.  If the items are now owned 
byour library, Pegasus staff will access an outside document supplier, 
which enables us to fill most requests.  Books, journal articles, 
government documents, conference proceedings -- all delivered to your 
office! 

You will received most items within 2-3 days.  Photocopies of journal 
articles and our own library books are delivered to you by Pegasus student 
employees.  You may retain the photocopies, assuring the copyright "fair 
use" restrictions are observed as to its use and dissemination.  Please 
read the statement on U.S. copyright law which appears during your online 
session as you complete your electronic request.  To return books to the 
library simply contact our office and we will be by your departmental office 
to pick them up.

Document delivery has become popular on many campuses because it provides 
primary information essential to research, articles needed for classroom 
use, or outside readings to be placed in the library's reserve collection, 
freeing faculty to fulfill other obligations. 

To make a request notify the Research Support Services office of the 
University Library by any one of the following methods:
	e-mail:		pegasus@lib.nmsu.edu
	web page:  	http://lib.nmsu.edu/circulation 
	phone:  	Cindy Watkins at (505) 646-7676 or Dora Morales at (505) 646-1854
	fax:  		(505) 646-2288

Please include the following information: 
	Your name, building, department and room number
		A.  For an article:	
			periodical title 			
			volume, issue number, date, page numbers
			article title and author of the article.

		B.  For a book:
			title
			author
			date		


for more information about Pegasus, contact: pegasus@lib.nmsu.edu
Cindy Watkins at 646-7676 or Dora Morales at 646-1854

Library Initiates Fees for Printing
Susan E. Beck, Instruction Co-ordinator
susabeck@lib.nmsu.edu

This fall, the NMSU Library will begin charging 8¢ per page to print from 
its electronic databases. This was by no means an easy decision. The 
Library is committed to offering the highest quality services at the 
lowest cost. However, the high prices for paper and laser printer toner 
are eating a very large hole in the Library's budget. Each month close to 
50,000 pages are printed off the Library's electronic database network. 
Sadly enough, many of these printed pages end up in the scrap paper bin. 
Our alternatives were either to quit offering printing altogether or to 
start charging a modest fee for each page  printed. 

Patrons will pay only for printouts from the Library's electronic networked 
databases, including all of our web-based databases. If the computer is a 
stand-alone workstation with its own printer, patrons will not be charged. 
One benefit in our switch to charging for printouts is higher quality
print. Up to this point, print quality has been light and difficult to 
read because the all laser printers were set on "draft" mode to save money. 

The three laser printers are located in Branson Hall Reference and 
Government Documents and in New Library Reference. New, computer-driven 
charging stations will be attached to each of the three laser printers. In 
order to keep things simple, the charging stations will only accept 
copycards as the method of payment. These are the same copycards used by 
the Library's photocopiers. Copycards can be purchased at the circulation 
desks in both Branson Hall and New Library. 

For those that would rather not spend their money on printouts, there is 
an alternative: downloading. You can download your search results to a 
floppy disk for free. Downloading is a fast, easy and environmentally 
friendly method of transporting information. Almost all of the electronic 
databases allow you to download your search to a 3½ inch diskette.
What's more, all the First Search databases let you e-mail your search 
results to yourself. 

If you do decide to download your search results to a diskette, it's easy 
to view, edit and print the data because downloaded files are generally 
plain text files. You can import plain text files to most word processing 
programs. Finding a diskette for downloading shouldn't be a problem either. 
You can buy them at the NMSU Bookstore and at the Copy Center in the New 
Library.

Federal Funding Opportunities for the NMSU Campus
Jeanette Smith, Head, Government Documents
jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu

In these days of tight budgets it is more important than ever to be 
aggressive in seeking federal grant funding for campus programs and 
activities.  The NMSU Library can provide crucial information to help you 
in this effort.  Campus grant writers can apply for available federal 
dollars through many opportunities announced in the "Bible" of grant 
writing, the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.  The catalog is a 
government-wide compendium of federal programs, projects, services, and 
activities which provide benefits to the American public.  It contains 
listings of approximately 1,300 financial and nonfinancial assistance 
programs administered by over 50 U.S. agencies, as well as complete 
information needed for application. 
 
Usually published each June and updated in December, the catalog is located 
in the Documents collection on the second floor of Branson Library under 
the call number Doc Ref PrEx 2.20.  A copy is also available at the New 
Library reference desk.  For those who prefer the convenience of a 
computer keyword search, the catalog may be accessed through the Documents 
home page on the library's web site (http://lib.nmsu.edu).  Click on "The 
NMSU Library," then "Services," then "U.S. Government Documents,"  then 
"U.S. Government Information Online." You can also call up the catalog 
directly on the World Wide Web at http://www.gsa.gov/fdac/

As current as the catalog is, there is a way to find even more up-to-date 
federal grant opportunities through the Federal Register, the "daily 
newspaper" of the U.S. government. In this publication, grant availability 
notices are published on a daily basis.  It is located in the Documents 
collection under the call number AE 2.106.  The Federal Register may also 
be found online on GPO Access through the Documents home page, or may be 
called up directly on the World Wide Web through GPO Access at 
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/

The Library as a Utility for Delivering Scholarly Information
Charles Townley, Library Dean
ctownley@lib.nmsu.edu

Scholarly information is the lifeblood of any university.  Scholarly 
information and the knowledge it transmits guides teaching and learning, 
informs research, and assures effective service at New Mexico State 
University.  Without a constant supply of scholarly information, teaching 
and learning lose their creativity, research becomes repetitive, and 
service becomes derivative.

The NMSU Library's job is to make sure that appropriate scholarly 
information is organized and made available in a user friendly manner, to 
guide users to scholarly information and knowledge, and to teach people 
how to identify, access, and evaluate scholarly information.  We do this 
in an environment where growing demand and evolving technology are changing 
the way we look at delivering scholarly information.  It is no longer 
enough that the library acquire and organize a collection of physical, 
usually printed, objects.  We must organize and provide access to the most 
needed information, regardless of its location or format.

To provide access to scholarly information in today's world, the NMSU 
Library needs to change from a philosophy of collecting and holding 
scholarly information for possible use in the future to a philosophy of 
organizing and accessing information that is actually used regardless of 
its location or format.  By making this change we will be better able to 
prove library effectiveness and be in a stronger position to attract 
support and funding.

Experience this year indicates our current collect and hold philosophy is 
broken and will not work.  The University administration and state 
government operate in a poor state.  Some decision-makers see the Library 
as a bottomless pit rather than the primary source of knowledge.  The NMSU 
Library has never had equitable funding compared with our peer 
institutions.  With publishing costs currently inflating at ten percent 
annually, we are losing purchasing power and we keep falling further 
behind in our already inadequate holdings.  Recently, some have begun to 
think that libraries are unnecessary because everything is findable (and 
free) on the  Internet.  This is as fallacious as the argument that 
educational television will replace classrooms.  Instead, the data indicate 
that different media supplement rather than replace each other.  
Personally, I believe electronic information is a great new resource which 
represents a significant commitment of University resources and needs to 
be organized through libraries just as books and journals are.  To succeed 
at this, the Library must change its funding model to assure that the 
University community has access to this growing electronic collection of 
scholarly information.

To focus this discussion at NMSU, I wish to propose a utility model for 
evaluating NMSU's access and information organization activities.  Simply 
put, I argue that we should treat scholarly information and the knowledge 
it contains as a common good, needed throughout the University, just like 
water or electricity.  Under this model, the NMSU Library's job is to make 
sure that our users can access and retrieve a ready supply of appropriate, 
authenticated, and organized scholarly information.  The Library then 
becomes a utility for delivering scholarly information and knowledge.  I 
hope this model will change our thinking on several fronts:

-Rather than basing the strength of scholarly information available at
NMSU solely on the size of the collection and the supporting services we 
provide, we base strength on the Library's ability to organize and deliver 
useful information to our users, regardless of its location or format.

-By taking a user focused approach, the Library can do a much better
job in justifying our budget with the University and the state.  We can 
assure that the NMSU community has access to appropriate information for 
teaching and learning, research, and service.  We can effectively argue 
for access, through purchase, lease or any other method, appropriate to 
the information that is being used.

-As the information utility, we owe it to our rate payers (the users)
to provide scholarly information in the most cost effective manner 
possible consistent with delivery.  This makes it necessary to change our 
service paradigm to take advantage of opportunities in the structure of 
scholarly information and in technology.  For example, an electronic 
reserve room may offer some real advantages for both distance and local 
instruction.  We must also be prepared to quickly address changing user 
information needs.  For example, many of the CD-ROM databases that looked 
so promising for reference only three years ago now seem terribly limited.  

My crystal ball sees three areas of focus in organizing and delivering 
information:  frequent use; less frequent use; and capital development.  
In terms of heavily used information, I think we need to focus, as the new 
Library strategic plan dictates, on providing a core collection in many 
formats, located both in the Library and elsewhere, to meet current 
instructional and research needs.  The goal of the core collection should 
be to meet the majority of people's information needs through a 
comparatively small, tightly defined core collection.  This means that we 
collect or contract for information resources that have a proven pattern 
of use.  For example, a recent study of periodicals indicates that only 
about 2,000 of our 7,000 current subscriptions are used on a frequent 
basis, usually for instruction.  What if we accessed these frequently used 
titles through electronic indexes, often at home or in the office, and 
delivered them, regardless of the format, directly to the user?  That 
would constitute a radical improvement in terms of how most of us use the 
Library most of the time.  The UMI, Academic Press, and J-STOR projects 
offer opportunities in this area.  While they cost more on a per title 
basis, their centrality to our University mission and the heavy usage they 
generate will put more high quality information in the hands of more 
students and faculty more quickly and at a lower unit price.  

At the other end of the spectrum, I believe we will increasingly obtain 
less frequently used material at the time it is needed.  The Library and 
the University simply do not have the financial ability to support the 
exhaustive research collections that most disciplines need to access.  We 
should recognize this reality and begin to organize our access tools to 
facilitate delivery of lesser used research materials on a demand basis.  
We will need to structure our collection management and cataloging areas 
to organize these materials and make them easily accessible.  With careful 
planning on our part and no further erosion of copyright law, many will be 
available from other libraries.  Others will be available electronically 
by subscription.  We will go to the commercial sector to purchase some on 
demand.  In all cases, our goal should be to describe potential 
information sources well (what libraries call catalog data and computer 
centers call metadata) and deliver it with little or no delay.

Finally, in order to assure access to esoteric information, the University 
Library should focus its capital resources on five to seven disciplines or 
sub-disciplines where we try to develop exhaustive regional and 
international collections.  These areas should be carefully chosen based 
on user needs and the strategic directions of this University.  If we were 
to select (the border, rhetoric, or astronomy, to cite three of the many 
possibilities), we would invest capital funds to develop regional or 
national collections in all formats.  These collections would then serve 
as our bargaining chips in negotiations with other libraries and 
commercial vendors to assure on demand access to all the research 
information needed by students and faculty at NMSU.

In terms of our ability to justify and attract funding, we would develop 
state support for the core collection on the basis of its frequent use 
and economic savings to the University as a whole.  We would use arguments 
such as, "Every dollar spent on the core collection generates $10 worth of 
use."  It also makes it easier to argue for increases in the materials 
budget to keep pace with inflation when there is no fat in the design.  
Further, items in this category are heavily used and would cost more to 
repeatedly buy on demand.  Less frequently used items would consist of a 
definable expense that could be fine-tuned on an ongoing basis.  
Information that becomes frequently used is purchased for the core 
collection and vice versa.  To develop this program, we will have to 
develop a much improved effort to gather statistics on demand for 
information in specific subject areas.  Exhaustive collection efforts 
would be funded, just like other capital development in New Mexico, 
through one-time bonds and continuing general funds.  In addition, we will 
work closely with our colleagues in the colleges to include the Library 
in research funding efforts.  This will put our information in areas where 
user demand will permit us to be flexible.

From a collection point of view, we will likely have a slower growth in 
our core collection of physical objects, a few areas of real strength in 
research, and many more items purchased at the time of need.  Library 
users would seek information and browse differently, relying less on 
visits to the periodicals collection and the stacks and more on vastly 
improved electronic indexing and abstracting that permits virtual scanning 
in the classroom, office, or at home.  All of this will take more money, 
user training, and Library personnel.  It certainly will change what we do 
and how we do it.  But it will also generate additional support, expand 
access, and improve delivery.  Our goal , as a user focused organization, 
will be to lead and support users better and better.

This summarizes my initial thoughts on a utility model for collection 
development at NMSU.  As you can tell, much of this proposal is tentative 
and needs further elaboration and testing.  I ask your help in discussing 
the strengths and weaknesses of this and other models.  In the end, 
students, faculty, library personnel, University administration, and 
state powers must be convinced that the utility model is an efficient and 
effective user-based approach to providing scholarly information needed 
for teaching and learning, research and service.

NMSU Library News Briefs
	

In February, the library launched its first large full text database.  
800 journals are available in text-only form.  In the first five months 
more than 27,000 articles have been downloaded.  See the indexes at 
http://lib.nmsu.edu/article.html

In 1996/97, the library had over 850,000 hits on its web pages 
(http://lib.nmsu.edu).  One of the
most heavily used pages was Border and Latin American Information, with 
67,860 hits.  Other popular sections were the Shortcuts library
tutorial, Searching the Internet, and the Internet Gateway.

This fall, the Office of University Advancement will conduct a fundraising 
phone-a-thon of graduates from each college.  Most of the colleges offer 
their graduates the opportunity to contribute to the library.  Last year, 
more than $3,500 was raised.  Several of the colleges use these funds to 
provide new faculty with money for library materials supporting research 
and instruction.  We encourage all Aggie graduates to consider making a 
contribution in this important area.  Your gift to the library supports 
not only your college but also the entire university. 

The updated version of the Shortcuts library tutorial is now available on 
the library web site, at http://lib.nmsu.edu/projects/tutorial/ 
This tutorial gives the user a virtual tour of the NMSU Library and its 
research facilities, including tips on using the online catalog.

The Library has installed a new phone routing system.  To reach the 
library, you should now dial (505) 646-5800.  This number will lead you 
to hours information, reference assistance, reserves, and all other library 
functions.

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