Information Retrieval List Digest 271 (September 4, 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-271 IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 September 4, 1995 Volume XII, Number 34 Issue 271 ********************************************************** II. JOBS 1. Rutgers U.: 2 Librarian Positions 2. School of Visual Arts: Cataloger/Head, Technical Services III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. FID/ET News B. Meetings 1. ONLINE '95 Pre-Conference Seminar C. Miscellaneous 1. Gerald Salton: In Memorium 2. Gerald Salton: Also, in Memorium IV. PROJECTS D. Initiatives & Proposals 1. Copyright Awareness Initiative ********************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Sandra Troy Re: Rutgers U: 2 Librarian Positions TITLE: Information Technology/Reference Librarian (APP 114) Archibald Stevens Alexander Library Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey AVAILABLE: Immediately RESPONSIBILITIES: Reporting to the Director of the Alexander Library, works closely with department heads, particularly the head of the Scholarly Communication Center to realize and promote a state-of-the-art Scholarly Communication Center, currently under development. The activities of the Center, an extension of overall library services, will include humanities and social science data centers, an information handling lab, and a lecture hall equipped for satellite transmission and teleconferencing. Provides technical assistance in all aspects of the Center's operation, prepares grant proposals for projects using its facilities, and serves as a resource person to develop, implement, document, and maintain electronic resources. Trains librarians in proficient utilization of electronic resources; maintains technical competencies in new library automation, computer equipment, software and networking developments; evaluates appropriateness of these developments to the research library environment. Participates also in Alexander Library reference activities and other responsibilities as appropriate. Research, publication, and involvement in professional associations are expected. QUALIFICATIONS: An ALA accredited MLS degree with emphasis in information/computer technology required. Knowledge and experience in information technologies in an academic environment, including online library systems, network operating systems, software applications, CD-ROM technologies, Internet protocols. Knowledge of UNIX, HTML, WWW server development, authoring software, and the creation of front-end interfaces are desirable. Must possess excellent communication skills, both written and oral, and the ability to work effectively in a multicultural academic environment. SALARY: Dependent upon experience and qualifications, with a minimum of $32,648 for a Librarian IV tenure track appointment. STATUS/BENEFITS: Faculty status, calendar year appointment, TIAA/CREF pension, life/health insurance, prescription drug, dental and eyeglass plans, tuition remission, one month vacation. LIBRARY PROFILE: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, has three major campuses located in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick. The Archibald Stevens Alexander Library in New Brunswick, the largest library in the system, houses over one million volumes supporting instruction and research in the humanities and social sciences and also contains the East Asian Library and the University's Special Collections and Archives. Library automation systems include Geac, Innopac, RLIN, and OCLC. Rutgers University is a member of the American Association of Universities. ++++++++++ TITLE: Electronic Services Librarian (APP 115) Library of Science and Medicine AVAILABLE: Immediately RESPONSIBILITIES: Reporting to the Director, Library of Science and Medicine and Branches, provides leadership and broad support for use of information technology in the science libraries. Identifies and evaluates electronic information resources and equipment for the public service program and collections and develops policies and procedures for their use. Sets up and installs electronic resources, plans for and oversees installation of equipment, trains librarians and staff, and provides operations support. Contributes to the preparation of user documentation and instructional materials and participates in the instruction program. Serves as liaison to the library systems office and university computing. Participates also in reference activities and other responsibilities as appropriate. Research, publication, and involvement in professional associations are expected. QUALIFICATIONS: MLS from an accredited library school required. Evidence of strong technical skills; knowledge of microcomputer applications, software, and network operations; and commitment to responsive and innovative service essential. Two years professional library experience in the use of electronic resources, including CD-ROM products, online services, Internet access, microcomputer hardware/software technology, UNIX, HTML, creation of front-end interfaces, and ability to work with users of varying technical abilities highly desirable. Must possess excellent communication skills, both written and oral, and the ability to work effectively in a multicultural academic environment. SALARY: Dependent upon experience and qualifications with a minimum of $32,648 for a Librarian IV tenure track appointment. LIBRARY PROFILE: Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, has three major campuses located in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick. The Library of Science and Medicine and its five branches (Alcohol Studies, Chemistry, Entomology, Mathematical Sciences and Physics) maintain the Rutgers University Libraries collections in the sciences as well as the collections for the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and provide a full range of services to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the life and physical sciences, engineering, medicine, and the behavioral sciences. A new branch with a strong electronic component is under construction on the Cook campus. Library automation systems in use include Geac, Innopac, RLIN, and OCLC. Rutgers University is a member of the American Association of Universities. TO APPLY: RESUMES RECEIVED NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 6, 1995 WILL RECEIVE FIRST CONSIDERATION. SUBMIT RESUME, COVER LETTER, AND NAMES OF THREE REFEREES TO: Sandra Troy (APP. #) Libraries Personnel Officer Rutgers University Libraries 169 College Avenue New Brunswick, NJ 08903 FAX #908-932-7637 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey upholds a commitment to affirmative action and equal opportunity. ********** II.2. Fr: murraylc@SLSCVA.CA.SUNYCENTRAL.EDU Re: School of Visual Arts: Cataloger/Head of Technical Services PLEASE NOTE: This message is sent for Robert Lobe, Chief Librarian for the School of Visual Arts Library. Please address all correspondence to Robert via snail-mail or fax as he does not yet have an e-mail account. Thank you. (of special interest to those in the N.Y., N.J., and Ct. area!) SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS LIBRARY: Cataloger/Head of Technical Services. F/T permanent. Starting date September/October 1995. Requirements: ALA-accredited M.L.S.; working knowledge of AACR2, LC classification and subject headings, MARC formats; minimum one year original cataloging experience utilizing a bibliographic utility (OCLC experience preferred); strong educational background/interest in the history of art and design; supervisory experience; good oral and written communication skills. Responsibilities include original and copy cataloging of book and non-book materials (including audio recordings and videotapes), catalog maintenance, supervision of technical services staff, development of retrospective conversion plan, participation in overall library automation planning. Position includes some reference work, including one evening per week, and participation with other professional staff in library orientation and bibliographic instruction programs. Salary commensurate with experience, from high 20K's to low 30K's. Equal Opportunity Employer. The School of Visual Arts Library serves a community of 2,000 full-time undergraduate, 250 graduate, and 4,000 continuing education students, and an adjunct faculty of 675. The emphases of the library collection, which includes 60,000 books and 350 periodical subscriptions, are in fine arts and art history, graphic design, illustration, advertising, photography, computer graphics, film, and the humanities. Mail or fax your letter of application and resume by September 15 to: School of Visual Arts Library, 380 Second Avenue - 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10010 Attn..: Robert Lobe, Chief Librarian. Fax #: 212-592-2655. ********************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Fr: Dorthe D. Jensen Re: FID/ET News DATE: 29 August, 1995 FOR PUBLISHING PRESS RELEASE Celebrating FID+s Centennial As a part of the 100th Anniversary Celebrations of the Federation, the Education and Training Committee (FID/ET) has produced a leaflet which briefly describes FID's main achievements during the past 100 years and presents a selective bibliography about its history. The aim is to emphasise the historical aspects of our profession and to pay a tribute to the founders of FID. By promoting the international and historical perspectives of the field, the FID/ET Committee hopes to provide the "young generation" of professionals and the "newcomers" a chance to learn about the pioneers of scientific and technical documentation, as well as to see the ongoing developments in an evolutionary perspective. The leaflet is intended for distribution to major LIS schools and professional organisations globally with an appeal to their Deans and Presidents to arrange for the commemoration of FID's 100th anniversary in 1995 at their institutions and organisations. The purpose is to provide today's students and members with information about FID and its history as one of the oldest international professional organisations in the ever changing field of information. FID considers dynamism and flexibility of paramount importance to a professional federation. FID initiates, develops and facilitates global and integrated information programmes, activities and networks, recognising that information is a "critical resource" that is needed by all levels of society. In recent years FID has changed its professional programme and membership structure, adjusted the activities within the committees and the Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and is currently focusing its energies on creating new opportunities for all members. If you want to obtain more information about the revitalised FID, contact the address below. FID General Secretariat, P.O. Box 90402 2509 LK The Hague, Netherlands Tel: +31-70-314 0671 Fax: +31-70-314 0667 E-mail: Secretariat@FID.NL ********** III.B.1. Fr: Anthony Tripido Re: ONLINE '95 Pre-Conference Seminar Information Industry Overview A "Pre-Online '95 Conference " session - Sunday, Oct. 29, 1995 - 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. * Chicago, IL - Palmer House Hilton With the information industry growing at an astounding rate, it can be difficult to keep up with it. So NFAIS is holding its one-day seminar to help the newly hired, as well as the seasoned professionals, learn and talk about the history, present conditions, and future outlook of the industry. This seminar is a must for all in the online information industry. Hear from and interact with the top professionals in the industry. Find out where this industry is headed and what to expect! The expert presenters that will be leading this seminar are: Richard Kaser of NFAIS, gives us an "Historical Overview"; Ann Caputo from Knight-Ridder, talks about "The products"; Jennifer Klein of Astra Merck, discusses "Users"; and Nancy Knight from Silverplatter Information, sheds some light on "The Future." Don't miss out on this all-important event! Register NOW! Cost: $80.00 (Includes course materials) To register, please contact NFAIS Headquarters at 215-893-1561, fax: 215-893-1564 or e-mail: trip10@aol.com. ********** III.C.1. Fr: Cornell University Re: Gerald Salton: In Memorium Gerard Salton, Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University, arguably the preeminent figure in the field of Information Retrieval, died of cancer on 28 August, in Ithaca, NY. He was 68. Gerry was born in Nurnberg, Germany, on 8 March 1927, the son of Rudolf and Elizabeth Sahlmann. He spent his youth in Germany, but World War II forced his family to flee Germany. Later, at one point, he and his brother were led across a border late at night, eluding German guards. Gerry came to the U.S. in 1947 and became a U.S. citizen in 1952. He married Mary Birnbaum in 1950. He attended Brooklyn College, where he received a B.A. (1950) and an M.A. (1952) in math. He received his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1958 and stayed on as an Instructor (1958-60) and Assistant Professor (1960-1965). Gerry was the last of Howard Aiken's Ph.D. students --and also one of the first programmers for the Harvard Mark IV computer. He was interested in natural-language processing, especially information retrieval, and began the SMART information retrieval system in the 1960's (allegedly, SMART is known as "Salton's Magical Automatic Retriever of Text"). Gerry came to Ithaca in 1965 as one of the founders of the Computer Science Department, the start of 30 years of distinguished service to Information Retrieval, Computer Science, and Cornell University. With his dedication and loyalty to the field, Gerry kept information retrieval alive through the late 1960's and 1970's, in spite of the lack of interest. The SMART information retrieval system was his main research tool, and ideas in this work fundamentally changed full-text processing methods on computers and provided the field of information retrieval with solid underpinnings. Under SMART, many well-known information retrieval concepts were introduced, including the vector space model, sophisticated statistical term weighting schemes that distinguish concepts important for text representation from other more marginal concepts, and the widely-used "relevance feedback" technique for query optimization. Today, dozens of well-known commercial systems use the ideas and technology developed in SMART: Individual (a newsclippings service) licensed the technology directly. Others such as WAIS (Wide Areas Information Server) and DOWQUEST (a tool for the Dow Jones newswire) are directly derived technology. Many new systems have leveraged off the years of research, including WIN (a legal retrieval system run by the West Publishing Company) and INQUERY (another eminent research tool). Professor Salton enjoyed writing and was very profilic. Throughout his career, he published five texts on information retrieval, the latest in 1989, and over 150 research articles in the field. Professor Salton received numerous awards for his research. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1962, and two of his books and papers won awards from the ASIS. He won a prestigious German "Alexander Humboldt Senior Scientist Award" in 1988 and the ASIS Award of merit in 1989. He became an ACM Fellow in 1995. In 1983, ACM Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (SIGIR) established an Award for Outstanding Contributions. The first such award was given to Gerry, marking him as the preeminent figure in the field. Professor Salton gave a great deal of his time to the ACM. At various times, he was editor-in-chief of ACM Communications and the ACM Journal, and he was an editor of the ACM Transactions on Database Systems at the time of his death. He served on the ACM Council for 7 years and was a Northeast Regional Representative. He was active in SIGIR since its creation and served as its Chair in 1979-83. Gerry was also Chair of Section T of the AAAS for several years and was on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Information Science. Professor Salton exemplified the traditional eminent professor. He was professionally literate across a variety of subjects, from linguistics to German literature. He could express himself like a professor of English, yet he created a highly technical subject that depended heavily on computers and mathematics. He was a gifted writer, and one of his texts won an Award from the ASIS. He wrote many reviews for ACM Computing Reviews, and here too he excelled, receiving an award for the best review. Gerry upheld the highest standards of scholarship for himself, his students, and his colleagues. He was a nurturing, caring advisor. He supervised twenty Ph.D. students, who are now in both industry and academia. Recreation was an important part of Gerry's life. He was an avid concert-goer, rarely missing a Cornell concert, and spent many years on the Cornell University Faculty Committee on Music. He sailed, swam, and ice-skated regularly and was an enthusiastic supporter of Cornell ice-hockey. He skied regularly, cross-country and downhill, both in Ithaca and in Aspen, Colorado. He loved flowers and spent a great deal of time in the garden. Gerry is survived by his wife of 45 years, Mary Salton of Ithaca, NY; his daughter Mariann and her husband Richard Thompson of Cornish, NH; his son Peter and his wife Susan of Derry, NH; his brother Jean Sahlmann and his wife Agnes of Paris, France; his aunt Lotte Sahlmann of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and three grandchildren, Morgan Thompson, Kathryn Thompson, and Alex Salton. A memorial service will be held in Cornell's Anabel Taylor Hall on 29 September 1995 at 2PM. Please contact Cindy Robinson at Computer Science Department, Upson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (cindy@cs.cornell.edu, phone: 607-255-0985). Contributions may be made to the Gerard Salton Distinguished Lectureship Series in Computer Science. The contact for this fund is Marsha Pickens, Carpenter Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. ********** III.C.2. Fr: Mike McGill Re: Gerard Salton, In Memorium Gerry Salton passed away on Monday, August 28, 1995. His pioneering work with the Smart system was the foundation of much practical and theoretical work in the field of Information Retrieval. Salton was a professor of Computer Science at Cornell University where he had been since 1960. He was awarded the first ACM SIGIR Award for outstanding contributions to information retrieval, twice received the ASIS award for Best Information Science Book, and also received the ASIS Award of Merit, The Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, and recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was Editor in chief of the Communications of the ACM and the Journal of the ACM and served on numerous editorial boards and held a number of positions in professional organizations. Gerry is remembered as a passionate researcher and educator. His books were translated into several foreign languages and are often recognized as THE standard for Information Retrieval. However, his proudest achievement was the success of his students. Many of Gerry's students are now leaders in Information Retrieval research, education, and commercial ventures. Gerry had strong feelings about all information Retrieval research and often expressed his vies strongly. However, he was recognized for his kindness. He friends, especially in the information retrieval field, were countless. We all suffered a loss when Gerry passed away. ********************************************************** IV. PROJECTS IV.D.1. Fr: ARL Publications Re: Copyright Awareness Initiative The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has launched an initiative to promote copyright awareness within North American higher education and research communities. Joining ARL in the initial step of this copyright awareness initiative is the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), an organization of 53 scholarly societies. In an open letter, the leadership of ARL and ACLS call on colleagues throughout the scholarly community to come together to revisit the goals and purposes of copyright and "contribute to efforts that seek an understanding of copyright in an electronic environment." The ARL-ACLS letter is accompanied by a new publication, Copyright, Public Policy, and the Scholarly Community, published in July by ARL. The booklet contains five perspectives on the future of copyright in the electronic environment. Included are papers by a university librarian, a political scientist speaking on behalf of scholarly societies, a director of a large scholarly society with an active publishing program, and two lawyers each engaged in shaping workable policies and practices for managing university use of copyrighted works. ARL and ACLS encourage greater involvement by the scholarly community in defining how "the letter and spirit of the copyright law translate into applications in an electronic, networked environment." Copyright, Public Policy, and the Scholarly Community illustrates the range of views on this question and is a reasource to stimulate discussion within educational institutions and scholarly societies. The ARL-ACLS open letter is posted on the ARL gopher (arl.cni.org); the booklet is available from ARL Publications (arlhq@cni.org). ARL also announced a Copyright Awareness Leadership Workshop for directors and librarians in academic and research institutions. Information concerning the workshop is posted to the ARL gopher or is available on request from ARL. ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send subscription requests and submissions to: NCGUR@UCCMVSA.UCOP.EDU Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch calur@uccmvsa.ucop.edu Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.ucop.edu The IRLIST Archives is now set up for anonymous FTP, as well as via the LISTSERV. Using anonymous FTP via the host dla.ucop.edu, the files will be found in the directory pub/irl, stored in subdirectories by year (e.g., /pub/irl/1993). 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