Information Retrieval List Digest 340 (January 13, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-340.txt IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 January 13, 1997 Volume XIV, Number 2 Issue 340 ********************************************************** II. JOBS 1. U. Arkansas: Teaching Software-Related Courses 2. Drexel U.: Content Access Systems III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. FARNET's Washington Update 2. Sociological Research Online 3. Proceedings, 2nd International Conference on Distance Education 4. Licensing Conference Summary B. Meetings 1. ACL/EACL Workshop: Summarization 2. ACL/EACL Workshop: NLP C. Miscellaneous 1. Onion Patch(sm): New Age Public Access System 2. Web Licensing Site Announcement 3. EBSI: New Ph.D. in Information Science IV. PROJECTS C. Fellowships, Grants, & Scholarships 1. CALA Scholarships E. Miscellaneous 1. UMI's Library Technology Award ********************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Daniel J. Berleant Re: U. Arkansas: Position Teaching Software-Related Courses This is an informal request for inquiries from people interested in the tenure track position offered by our dept. starting next September. Feel free to spread the word. If you are interested in teaching two software related courses per semester (typically one undergrad, one grad) and in doing research in empirical NLP, text processing, information retrieval from full text, data/knowledge mining from full text, etc., AND you have a formal qualification in engineering (Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degree with the word "engineering" in it or issued by a dept., college, campus, or university with the word "engineering" in its name, or you are a P.E., etc.), please email me to discuss applying. If you don't think you have an engineering degree, check - maybe you'll be surprised! I am very interested in promoting applications from people in the above mentioned areas and look forward to responding forthrightly to your inquiry. Best Regards, Daniel Berleant Dept. of Computer Systems Engineering University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Phone: (501) 575-5590 Fax: (501) 575-5339 Email: djb@engr.uark.edu ********** II.2. Fr: Kate Re: Drexel U.: Content Access Systems Position CONTENT ACCESS SYSTEMS Drexel University's College of Information Science and Technology (IST) seeks applicants for a full-time position in the area of Content Access Systems. It is anticipated that the position will be filled at the assistant or associate level, on either a tenure or non-tenure track. The faculty member will have responsibility for teaching, oversight of curriculum, and leading a research and development initiative in a selection of the following areas: Organization of knowledge, classification theory, content representation, thesaurus construction, cataloging and classification systems, information systems for libraries, appropriate national and international standards, the Internet, digital libraries and hypermedia, organization of information for access and retrieval, text analysis for information retrieval, cognitive aspects of information-seeking behavior, user studies The IST view of information is broad, multidisciplinary, and practical. We offer a BS and MS in information systems, an ALA-accredited MS in library and information science, and a PhD. Under a four year grant from the Kellogg Foundation, we are reinventing education for information professionals. With a Sloan Foundation grant we have established leadership in distance education. Both master's programs are undergoing substantial redesign. The success of our programs is based on faculty teamwork, enterprise, and industry. The faculty member might teach such existing courses as: Technical Processes, Information Systems and Structures, Cataloging and Classification I and II, Content Representation, Library Automation; and-depending on demand-develop courses in: digital library systems, Internet management systems, Intranet, information visualization. The successful candidate will have an appropriate earned or nearly earned Ph.D. and will have spent substantial time in relevant practice. Please submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three references to Howard D. White, Ph.D., Chair, Search Committee, College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Applications will be considered until the position is filled. Drexel University is an equal opportunity employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. ********************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Fr: Heather Boyles Re: FARNET's Washington Update FARNET's Washington Update --- January 3, 1997 IN THIS ISSUE: o FCC issues Notice of Inquiry on whether ISPs should pay access charges >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Written from FARNET's Washington office, "FARNET's Washington Update" is a service to FARNET members and other interested subscribers. We gratefully acknowledge EDUCOM's NTTF and the Coalition for Networked Information for additional support. If you would like more information about the Update or would like to offer comments or suggestions, please contact Heather Boyles at heather@farnet.org. ********** III.A.2. Fr: Stuart Peters Re: Issue 4 Sociological Research Online Sociological Research Online http://www.socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/ is a new, high quality, fully-refereed `on line' electronic journal publishing on the World Wide Web. It has now published four issues. The final issue of 1996 was published on the 23rd December and it contains: REFEREED ARTICLES: Jane McKie: Is Democracy at the Heart of IT? Commercial Perceptions of Technology Matthew David and David Zeitlyn: What are they Doing? Dilemmas in Analyzing Bibliographic Searching: Cultural and Technical Networks in Academic Life Chanoch Jacobsen and Tamar Vanki: Violating an Occupational Sex-Stereotype: Israeli Women Earning Engineering Degrees REVIEW ARTICLE: Edith de Leeuw & William L. Nicholls II: Technological Innovations in Data Collection: Acceptance, Data Quality and Costs DEBATES: Raymond M. Lee & Nigel Fielding: Qualitative Data Analysis: Representations of a Technology: A Comment on Coffey, Holbrook and Atkinson John Rex: Contemporary Nationalism, Its Causes and Consequences for Europe - A Reply to Delanty BOOK REVIEWS RESEARCH RESOURCES OBITUARY: Anselm Strauss ACKNOWLEDGEMENT to all the referees for Volume 1 BOOKS RECEIVED I hope you will take a look at vol 1, issue 4, and also the previous issues as well if you haven't already seen the journal. Also you might be interested to know that the `turn around' period for an editorial decision is normally six weeks only; that once accepted, an article always appears in the next available issue - no one ever has to wait more than three months before their work is published; and that over 100 people are reading each and every day. So if you would like your work to appear in a high quality fully peer-reviewed sociology journal, to be published while its contents are still hot, and for it to be read by a large number of members of the sociological community, then can I encourage you to think about sending your next article to ! Articles for refereeing are submitted on disk together with a paper copy - not by email or through the Web; and they don't have to have electronic `bells and whistles' - just contain good sociology. Full information will be found on the journal's web pages: With regards from, Liz Stanley, Editor SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ONLINE Editor: Liz Stanley Book Review Editors: Victoria Alexander and Sue Heath Editorial and IT Officer: Stuart Peters Dept. of Sociology http://www.socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/ University of Surrey email: socres@soc.surrey.ac.uk Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH tel: (+44) (0)1483 259292 United Kingdom fax: (+44) (0)1483 259356 ********** III.A.3. Fr: Tatiana Moshkovskaya Re: Published: Proc. 2nd Int'l. Conference on Distance Education The Association for International Education (Russia) published the proceedings of the Second International Conference on Distance Education in Russia (ICDED'96). Proceedings were published as a book (ISBN 5-86532-013-0, soft cover, 2 volumes, 633 pages total, English) so as a CD-ROM. This is the first time for ICDED conference, and, as we know, the first time in Russia, when conference proceedings are published at CD-ROM. The CD-ROM also contains materials of the previous ICDED'94 conference and the catalogue of the Trade Fair of the Second UNESCO Congress on Education and Informatics (EdIT'96). Looking for a best way to create the digital interface for such a significant amount of educational data, we decided to use Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Among a variety of possibly equal choices, Adobe Acrobat software let us organize the book as hypertext, indexed and searchable material. Digital publishing is still at the experimental stage in Russia. We considered publishing the materials of the truly international conference, that gathered the experience of academicians from all the continents, to be the "must" first step of us. Please look for more information about the book, CD-ROM and the conference at: http://www.russianstory.com/cdrom/icded96/icded96.htm or e-mail me. Does digital publishing of such materials have a future? We are very much interested in knowing your opinion. Any comments, suggestions and reviews are welcome. Kind regards, Tatiana Moshkovskaya (taniy@aie.msk.su) Head of the Library, Association for International Education. Moscow, Russia. ********** III.A.4. Fr: Joan K Lippincott Re: Licensing Conference summary A summary of the ARL/CNI co-sponsored Licensing Electronic Resources Conference held recently in San Francisco is now available on the ARL Web site . The summary was written by George Soete, ARL/OMS Organizational Consultant. The full proceedings of the Conference will be published this spring. Planning for a series of licensing workshops is underway. Please contact Mary Case for further information. Joan K. Lippincott, Interim Executive Director Coalition for Networked Information 21 Dupont Circle, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 296-5098 FAX: (202) 872-0884 Internet: joan@cni.org http://www.cni.org/ ********** III.B.1. Fr: Dragomir R. Radev Re: ACL/EACL Workshop on Summarization ACL'97/EACL'97 Workshop on INTELLIGENT SCALABLE TEXT SUMMARIZATION (at ACL'97/EACL'97 Joint Conference) Madrid, Spain July 11 or 12, 1997 CALL FOR PAPERS (http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~radev/ists97) With the explosion in the quantity of on-line information in recent years, demand for text summarization technology appears to be growing. Commercial companies are increasingly starting to offer text summarization capabilities, often bundled with information retrieval tools. These recent developments offer opportunities as well as substantial challenges for research in text summarization. In general, such developments create a practical need for summarization systems which scale up when applied to large volumes of unrestricted text. At ACL'97/EACL'97, a particular challenge is to identify the niches where natural language processing (NLP) can make an impact. For example, there are applications which require characterizing the content of large text collections to support data mining functions, but NLP has not been used much in such applications. Traditionally, shallower techniques have been leveraged to achieve the desired levels of scalability and domain-independence, but recent advances in robust information extraction as well as approaches integrating statistical and symbolic techniques open up possibilities for more powerful yet scalable summarization techniques. With the renewed interest in text summarization, another challenge is to develop criteria to help evaluate different methodologies, in order to better advise investors and the interested public on technology choices. While there have been focused workshops in the past on text summarization, they have pre-dated the tremendous expansion of on-line information access fueled by the recent growth of the World Wide Web. This workshop would bring together researchers interested in advancing the scientific frontiers of text summarization to meet these new practical challenges and opportunities. Submissions are invited on original research in all aspects of text summarization, including, but not limited to: * Statistical, linguistic, and knowledge-based techniques in intelligent summarization * Multimodal summarization strategies * Exploiting advances in information extraction in summarization * Text generation for scalable summarization * Classification criteria for summarization systems * Evaluation methods and metrics * Summarization in operational contexts: requirements, architectures, lessons learned * Tailoring summaries to particular users, tasks, and contexts * Theoretical foundations, including cognitive models * Combining scalability with abstraction in summarization * Summarization across multiple documents/sources * Multilingual summarization Criteria for selection will include clarity, originality, relevance, and significance of results. Attendees at the workshop MUST register for the main ACL/EACL conference. SUBMISSION INFORMATION: DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: March 15, 1997 Acceptance Notification: April 28, 1997 Interested participants should submit a previously unpublished paper addressing a specific text summarization issue or reporting novel methods and results. Authors should indicate whether the paper is being submitted elsewhere. As the papers will be reviewed anonymously, please do not include author names in the body of the paper; instead provide a separate title page with title, author names and email addresses. The paper length (excluding separate title page) should be no longer than 8 pages. For email submissions, please submit postscript. (If the postscript doesn't print properly here, you may eventually have to submit a hardcopy, so please budget enough time for that.) For hardcopy submissions, please submit FIVE copies of the paper. Please send submissions to: Inderjeet Mani The MITRE Corporation, W640 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd McLean, VA 22102-3481, USA Phone: 1-703-883-6149 Fax: 1-703-883-1279 Email: imani@mitre.org ********** III.B.2. Fr: Jill C Burstein Re: ACL 97/EACL 97 Workshop CALL FOR PAPERS ACL'97/EACL'97 Workshop July 11 or 12, 1997 Madrid, Spain "From Research to Commercial Applications: Making NLP Technology Work in Practice" Success in the marketplace is one form of validation for NLP techniques and underlying theories. The broad vision of this workshop is to bring together researchers to discuss commercial or commercial-bound systems that use NLP for either text or speech. We are interested in learning about systems that show promise in re-using NLP techniques, and in the process of technology transfer for NLP applications. Another topic of interest in this workshop is industry-based practical considerations involving NLP technology. The workshop should invoke discussion about experiences and problems -- technical, logistic, or cultural -- among people working on operational and commercial NLP applications. The workshop will begin a dialogue among researchers to explore issues in technology transfer and the re-use of domain-specific systems. New applications could get leverage from using successful existing NLP technologies. The ability to re-use NLP technology for diverse applications should not only give the application a solid grounding, but should also save time and money. For example, text generation techniques are being used to build prototypes for essay analysis by Educational Testing Service. Other types of NLP technology re-use need to be identified for different applications. Closely related to the re-use of domain-specific technology is the issue of constructing general purpose tools that can be shared by the community, e.g., for tokenization, proper-noun detection, tagging, NP-identification, etc. Another purpose of the workshop is to explore industry-based practicalities that often guide the design of NLP technology. General practicalities that might be discussed are customization and trade-offs between accuracy and other requirements, such as speed, and ease of use. For example, determining the appropriate balance between reporting false positives and false negatives in information retrieval; what depth/breadth of coverage is "enough" in grammar checking; and how can adaptive systems, such as speaker-dependent speech recognizers, train themselves to the user without becoming obtrusive. Discussion of the issues above would help to create connections between both academic and industry-based research efforts to build a solid infrastructure for NLP technology re-use and lead to a deeper understanding of commercial NLP potential. WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION: Presentations will last for 20 minutes, followed by a 10 minute discussion period. Papers will be organized around themes. Ideally, we would like to include the following sessions: 1. Commercial/commercial-bound systems using NLP 2. Software re-use 3. Technology transfer SUBMISSIONS: Authors should submit a full length paper (not exceeding 3,200 words, exclusive of references) and must include a descriptive abstract of about 200 words. Electronic submissions are encouraged and should be submitted as described below. The title page should include title of the paper,names, addresses, e-mail address, telephone and fax number of all authors. Any correspondence will be addressed to the first author. FORMAT FOR SUBMISSION: Papers should be original work. Papers may be submitted either electronically or in hard copy. Electronic or hard-copy submissions must use the ACL submission style (aclsub.sty) retrievable from the ACL LISTSERV server via anonymous ftp: ftp ftp.cs.columbia.edu Name: anonymous Password: cd acl-l/ACL97 get aclsub.sty Electronic submissions should be mailed to jburstein@ets.org or ftp to: ftp clarity.princeton.edu Name: anonymous Password: cd incoming/workshop97 put Electronic submissions must either be a) plain ascii text, b) a single postscript file, or c) a single latex file following the ACL-97 submission style sheet (see ftp site above). * Please use the following naming conventions. The filename is the last name of the first author: smith.ps the .ps version of the paper smith.ascii the .ascii version of the paper (if postscript not available) smith.authorthe .ascii file of the title page (title, authors names, addresses, abstract) Hard copy submissions must be received by March 10. Send to: Jill Burstein ETS, MS 11-R Rosedale Road Princeton, NJ 08541 USA Tel: (609)734-5823 REQUIREMENTS: A paper accepted for presentation cannot be presented or have been presented at any other meeting. Please indicate in your submission if you have submitted your paper to another conference. SCHEDULE: Submissions Deadline: March 10, 1997 Notification Date: April 16, 1997 Camera-ready Copy Due: April 28, 1997 ********** III.C.1. Fr: Gerry McKiernan Re: Onion Patch(sm): New Age Public Access Systems Onion Patch(sm) New Age Public Access Systems I am pleased to announce the formal establishment of Onion Patch(sm), a Web-based clearinghouse devoted to projects research, products and services that support or demonstrate alternative approaches to Second Generation OPACs and current online public catalogs and indexes. Onion Patch(sm) also includes descriptions of novel visual interfaces that have features that potentially can enhance these access systems. The URL for Onion Patch(sm) is: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/Onion.htm Among the systems profiled in the new, experimental Web-based catalog of the Library of Congress, a system that provided direct access to all types of cataloged objects, Cheshire II, the innovative effort of Ray Larson and his team at Berkeley,and SuperPAC, the extraordinary vision of the future OPAC conceived by Trudi Jacobson and Lynne Martin that is now being realized in various WEB-PACs. I would greatly appreciate learning of similar efforts, both commercial and experimental. I will be reviewing the offered by the major library vendors over the coming weeks for possible inclusion in Onion Patch(sm) but would greatly receiving nominations for review from the vendors themselves or from satisfied customers. I am particularly interested in Web-Cats as well as those systems that provide access to mixed-media. I am particularly interested in novel systems that make use of advanced information visualization systems similar to those that I have profiled in a new and expanded version of _The Big Picture_, my clearinghouse devoted to IV and Web and non-Web resources accessible at URL: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/BigPic.htm I'd also appreciate recommendations of appropriate seminal works for inclusion in the Onion Patch(sm) General Bibliography. I am aware of the work of Larson, Hildreth, Borgman and Bates, and others, but would appreciate learning of personal favorites of these and other innovative NewPAC thinkers As always, any and all reactions, critiques or suggestions are welcome. Regards, Gerry McKiernan Curator, CyberStacks(sm) Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/ ********** III.C.2. Fr: Ann Okerson Re: Web Licensing Site Announcement WORLD WIDE WEB ELECTRONIC CONTENT LICENSING RESOURCE AVAILABLE FOR ACADEMIC LIBRARY COMMUNITY The Yale University Library, with support from the Commission on Preservation and access & the Council on Library Resources, is pleased to announce the availability of the beta version of LIBLICENSE, a World Wide Web resource intended to provide information and assistance for academic and research libraries as they read and negotiate licenses with information providers for electronic information content in a variety of formats, CD and online. The LIBLICENSE URL is: http://www.library.yale.edu/~Llicense/index.shtml The creators are requesting comments in order to enhance and improve the work. Once a more final version is achieved, the URL will be slightly changed. Currently, readers will see an annotated resource presented in much the same organizational style as an actual electronic content license, with samples of language and commentary on the suitability of that language for libraries. Readers will note that links to some sections are pretty much completed (license vocabulary, licensing terms & descriptions, examples); other sections will be further enhanced (introduction, licensing resources, bibliography). The creators welcome all your ideas, as well as suggestions for additions to links and bibliographic citations. Several individuals have been involved in creating this resource: Ann Okerson, PI for the Project, Yale University Library (Associate University Librarian for Collection Development & Management) Rod Stenlake, Esq., Consulting and authoring contract attorney (formerly in corporate practice in New York City; now a Visiting Scholar at the Yale University Law School) Georgia Harper, Esq., External consultant and author (Copyright Counsel for the University of Texas Systemwide) Alex Adelman, Web Designer (Senior English student at the University of Pennsylvania. A form is provided within the LIBLICENSE resource for your comments. A content licensing discussion list has been started to accompany this site. See separate message. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION about this work: Ann Okerson Ann.Okerson@yale.edu Fax: 203-432-8527 Ann.Okerson@yale.edu http://www.library.yale.edu/~okerson/alo.html ********** III.C.3. Fr: Legault Maryse Re: EBSI: New Ph.D. in Information Science For immediate release RELEASE Montreal, December 2, 1996 NEW Ph.D. IN INFORMATION SCIENCE The Ecole de bibliotheconomie et des sciences de l'information (EBSI) of the Universite de Montreal announces its new Ph.D. in Information Science program, as of September 1997. This program is under the responsibility of the Faculte des etudes superieures (FES) of the Universite de Montreal. The only French-language Ph.D. in Information Science, the program will aim at preparing students for research in information science, and at contributing to the development of information science and its knowledge base. The Ph.D. program offers two areas of specialization: 1) information transfer; 2) information systems and resources. Information science studies the properties of information, the forces that govern the flow of information, and the processes of managing information in order to maximize its access and use. Information science consists of the body of knowledge concerning the creation, evaluation, analysis, organization, storage, dissemination, transformation and use of recorded information and knowledge in any form. Information science is at the crossroads of many disciplines, including: library science, archival science, communications, computer science, linguistics, semiotics, cognitive sciences and management. How is information created, recorded, preserved, stored? How is information organized, analyzed, represented, modeled for fast, easy retrieval? How do information needs occur? How can searching for information be modeled, optimized? These are but a few examples of fundamental issues of interest to information science. Of course, because of the complex and intangible nature of information, such problems are very rarely solved definitively. Nevertheless, societal evolution and technological progress constantly raise new research questions. Because of this, information science is, at present, one of the richest and most fertile research areas even though it is a relatively new field. To be eligible for the program, candidates must have a master's degree in library and information science or the equivalent. Candidates will be selected on the basis of the following criteria and requirements: excellence of their academic record; aptitude for research; preliminary research proposal; appropriate computer skills; appropriate statistical knowledge; excellent knowledge of the French language; good knowledge of the English language; three (3) letters of reference (preferably from former professors). An interview with the School's Doctoral committee is required. In the case of foreign students, this interview can be done by teleconference. Doctoral students are required to complete 90 credit hours (18 credit hours of courses and 72 credit hours of research). The minimum residency requirement is 6 semesters (including three (3) consecutive semesters). Maximum length allowed to complete the program is 15 semesters (full-time) or 18 semesters (half-time). Students' academic achievements will be recorded in their "doctoral portfolio" and should include, in addition to formal for-credit activities, the following realizations: publications in scientific and professional journals, teaching experience and assistantships, research assistantships, participation in a research grant application, presentation of papers at conferences and professional meetings. The School will admit up to five (5) new students each year into the Ph.D. program. Yours truly, The director, Gilles Deschatelets For additional information and an application package, please contact: Diane Mayer Assistante a la gestion des dossiers des etudiants EBSI, Universite de Montreal C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville Montreal (Quebec) H3C 3J7 Canada Tel.: +1 514 343 6044 Fax: +1 514 343 5753 e-mail : mayerdi@ere.umontreal.ca Or visit our Web site at: http://tornade.ere.umontreal.ca/~carmellu/ebsi The deadline for applications for the fall 1997 semester is March 28, 1997. ********************************************************** IV. PROJECTS IV.C.1. Fr: Re: CALA Scholarships 1997 CALA SCHOLARSHIPS Application Deadline: Feb. 15, 1997 The Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) is happy to announce two CALA Scholarships. The Sheila Suen Lai Scholarship of Library and Information Science, established in 1989, awards US$500 to a student of Chinese heritage who is currently enrolled in an ALA-accredited library school as a full-time student. The scholarship is designed to encourage the development of leadership in Chinese American librarianship. The C. C. Seetoo/CALA Conference Travel Scholarship awards US$500 to a student to attend the annual ALA Conference and CALA program. The scholarship is designed to provide the award recipient mentoring and networking opportunities at the ALA conference. Students of Chinese heritage who are currently enrolled in ALA-accredited library and information science programs are encouraged to apply. The application deadline for both scholarships is February 15, 1997. Winners of the scholarships will be announced by April 30, 1997. The awards will be presented at the ALA annual conference in San Francisco. Copies of the full announcements and application forms have been mailed to deans and directors of graduate programs and schools in library and information science. Application forms may also be requested from the Chair of the Scholarship Committee. For further information please contact Professor Ingrid Hsieh-Yee at School of Library & Information Science Marist Hall, Room 240 Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. 20064 Phone: (202) 319-6270 Fax: (202) 319-5574 E-mail: hsiehyee@cua.edu UPDATE ON CALA SCHOLARSHIPS Thanks to the generosity of Julia Tung, the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) will be offering an additional US$500 scholarship. The two CALA scholarships are intended to promote leadership in Chinese American librarianship. Students of Chinese heritage who are currently enrolled in ALA-accredited library schools as full-time students are encouraged to apply. Winners of the scholarships will be announced by April 30, 1997. The awards will be presented at the ALA annual conference in San Francisco. For further information please contact Professor Ingrid Hsieh-Yee at School of Library & Information Science Marist Hall, Room 240 Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. 20064 Phone: (202) 319-6270 Fax: (202) 319-5574 E-mail: hsiehyee@cua.edu ********** IV.E.1. Fr: umimi@mail.xpedite.com Re: UMI Library Technology Award For more information, contact: Jerry Mastey, UMI 1-800-521-0600, ext. 3340 e-mail: jmastey@umi.com $1,500 & National Recognition for Innovative Librarian Call for Entries -- UMI's 1997 Library Technology Award ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN -- January 3, 1997 -- Librarians who have developed innovative information systems may be eligible for a cash award of $1,500 and recognition at this year's National Online conference in New York. The conference is May 13-15. The annual Library Technology award presented by UMI, a Bell & Howell Company (NYSE: BHW), honors librarians who develop systems that make it easier for patrons to find and use information. The award was established in 1991 in cooperation with Information Today, Inc., publisher of leading information industry journals and sponsor of the National Online meeting. CRITERIA: UMI is now accepting nominations for the 1997 award. Individuals may nominate themselves or someone else by writing a one- or two-page essay. The essay must include the name of the librarian and a description of his or her achievements. A special entry form is not needed. In submitting an entry, individuals must focus on any library technology, established in 1996, which directly benefits public, academic or corporate library patrons. Entries must be postmarked before March 1, 1997 and mailed to the attention of Jerry Mastey, 1997 Library Technology award, UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. '96 WINNER: Last year's winner, Twila Achterhof, a librarian at the Reed Elementary School in Lockport, Illinois, is the independent judge for this year's award. She was instrumental in reopening and updating the school's library which had been closed for 13 years. The school, about 35 miles southwest of Chicago, reopened in the fall of 1995 following an influx of new residents with school age children. Achterhof worked with a consultant to plan the library's design and also learned how to use new technology that has helped students, teachers and staff. UMI, The Answer Company(TM), and its DataTimes subsidiary, collects, organizes and delivers value-added information to customers in businesses, universities, libraries and schools in more than 160 countries. A deep and growing content base includes periodicals, newspapers, newswires, business journals, broadcast transcripts, dissertations available online through ProQuest Direct, EyeQ and DataTimes Online, as well as on CD-ROM, microform and other media. Additional information about UMI is available on the Web at http://www.umi.com. Bell & Howell, headquartered in Skokie, Illinois, is a leading worldwide provider of solutions for information access and dissemination. 1995 revenues totaled $820 million. Additional information about Bell & Howell is available on the Internet at: http://www.bellhowell.com. Editors: UMI news releases are available on the Internet at http://www.prnewswire.com or by fax. A list of releases, or a specific news release, can be obtained by fax by calling, toll-free 1-800-758-5804, extension 108291. ********************************************************** 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 set up for anonymous FTP. Using anonymous FTP via the host ftp.dla.ucop.edu, the files will be found in the directory /data/ftp/pub/irl, stored in subdirectories by year (e.g., data/ftp/pub/irl/1993). Search or browse archived IR-L Digest issues on the Web at: http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/idom/irlist/ These files are not to be sold or used for commercial purposes. Contact Nancy Gusack for more information on IRLIST. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN IRLIST DO NOT REPRESENT THOSE OF THE EDITORS OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. AUTHORS ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR