SPRING/ 

SUMMER 1993 

No. 74 

Information 

For Users and Benefactors of the 

Smithsonian Institution Libraries 

Database Searching Center 

A GENEROUS GRANT FROM THE JAMES SMITHSON SOCIETY permitted the 

Libraries to purchase and install its Database Searching Center. Smithsonian staff now 

ha\e current indexes to published information available in CD-ROM format. Three of the eight 

bibliographic databases include abstracts. The databases provide information in a number of 

specialized fields, from art and American history to Wildlife and Fisheries Review. Gil Taylor, 

Librarian of the Museum Support Center Branch where the center is located, reports “users are 

enthusiastic and have made considerable use of the center. Researchers are happy to save time 

when offered this more sophisticated way of searching and the center has raised expectations of 

what libraries can 

offer.” 

All eighteen branch 

libraries can access 

the center and, once 

the project is 

completed, there will 

be enhanced capabilities for remote 

connection from 

individual offices. 

One goal is to offer 

the user the ability to 

search for and 

request delivery of an 

article at the same 

workstation. Uora/rur Snrr~hiyq (_ont<,): , bissc Hr‘rrd, l.ihr‘,r;rrn Gil T”Vh md ChnrlfT 

Tumo.so of the Conrervarion Anolwic Lnh of rhe Mu.wum S,,pporr Cenw,. 

Bonita Perry, 

Assistant Director, Research Services, did the initial planning for the project; Martin Smith, 

head of the Central Research Services Department, and Gil Taylor jointly oversee operations; 

technical support is provided by the Libraries’ Systems Department. 

IN THlS lSS”E 

Systems Department 

Post-Graduate Resident 

Selected 

Coping Strategies 

Internet Lecture 

Ni,qerion onisrs 

Black History Month 

Programs 

Rare Books Program 

Dibner Library Resident 

Scholars 

DEPARTMENTS 

Lerrerfrom rke Director 

“Serving our UXTS” 

Developmrnt Watch 

SIL News Di,ysr 

End Notes: Calendar of 

Events 

In Bripf 

3 

5 

5 

6 

2 

6 

7 

8 

2 

4.5 

6 

7 
Page 2 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES Spring/Summer 1993 

GIFTS TO THE 

LIBRARIES 

Mrs. Ruth Lawson Webb of 

Athens, Georgia, gave the 

Libraries funds to purchase 

materials in the field of 

American History with attention 

to rare books and maps and 

Native American life, sixteenth 

through nineteenth centuries. 

The first purchase was a 1927 

facsimile of an early-sixteenthcentury manuscript which adds 

depth to the extensive collections 

used by Handbook of the 

American Indian staff. The 

second purchase was an 1832 

work by W. A. Graah which has 

a large fold-out map and handcolored plates. Anthropology 

Curator William C. Sturtevant 

comments “the plates are 

remarkable ethnographic and 

historical documents on East 

Greenland Eskimo culture as of 

the 182Os, when Graah was one 

of the first European visitors.” 

The Libraries thanks Mrs. Webb 

for her extremely generous gift. 

Honorap and Memorial Gifts 

With gift funds from multiple 

donors honoring the eightieth 

birthday of Lillian Saxe, the 

Libraries purchased Notes on 

Japanese Art ( 1872) for the 

Cooper-Hewitt Museum Branch; 

Japonica Magnifica ( 1992) for 

the Botany Branch; and 

Masterpieces of Japanese 

Garden Art, 3 ~01s. (1992) for 

the Horticulture Branch. 

Donations for gift acquisitions to 

honor two Smithsonian staff on 

the occasion of retirement were 

received from multiple donors: 

the gifts honored Mary Kay 

Davies, formerly Anthropology 

Branch Librarian of the 

Libraries, and Barbara Spann, 

Supervisory Editor, Series 

Section, Smithsonian Institution 

Press. 

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR 

Serving our Users 

G ETTING NEEDED INFORMATION TO RESEARCHERS in a timely fashion is at once easier and more 

difficult as we move into the middle of the last decade of the twentieth century. Commercial document delivery services can deliver copies of journal articles in twenty-four hours, but 

this relatively expensive service ($25 per request) must be reserved for very high priority use. 

Studies conducted by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) tell us that research library 

budgets are not permitting libraries to purchase the items that their users need. Certainly the 

Smiihsonian Libraries is no exception: 

The SI Libraries borrowed over 12,000 

items in fiscal year 1992 at an estimated 

total cost of over $166,800, averaging 

nearly $13 an item. Borrowing has appeal 

since the average cost of a science book 

purchased by SIL is $55.00. Purchasing 

information at less than a quarter of the 

going rate would certainly win friends in 

central administration. The professionally 

responsible solution is not that easy. SIL 

has borrowed more than it has loaned for 

a number of years and must do its share 

to be a good citizen in the interlibrary 

loan community. 

Shirley Baker, Dean of University 

Libraries at Washington University in St. 

Louis, and Mary Jackson, Head of 

Interlibrary Loan at the University of 

Pennsylvania, recently completed a study 

for the ARL Committee on Access to 

Information Resources entitled “Maxinizing Access, Minimizing Cost, A First 

,tep Toward the Information Access 

Future.” The report notes that the current 

system of interlibrary loan is reaching the 

breaking point, that present systems need 

to be updated, and that there must be a 

“rethinking of local processes . . . and 

innovative uses of technology.” As a 

newly appointed member of ARL’s 

Committee on Access to Information 

Resources, I am looking forward to 

assisting in attempts to address the issues 

raised in the report. 

Among the study’s suggestions are 

several that SIL is acting upon or 

reviewing for possible implementation. 

The Libraries recently became a member 

of the Research Libraries Group’s ShaRes 

program which has as a primary purpose 

facilitating interlibrary loan among its 

members. I am meeting with the directors of 

the libraries at the University of Maryland, 

Georgetown, Howard, and Johns Hopkins 

universities to explore greater regional 

cooperation. SIL interlibrary loan staff has 

been reviewing current procedures to offer 

improved services while keeping an eye on 

“the bottom line.” There is no doubt that 

without additional resources, it will take 

clever and innovative management to do well 

by our users with the ever-increasing 

interlibrary loan activity AND the reduced 

capacity to purchase books and journals. 

The Users Advisory Committee assisted in 

helping us develop “Coping Strategies” 

which are now being distributed through our 

branch libraries. We hope the suggested 

strategies will allow our users to help us to 

help them while they help themselves in 

assuring that somehow the materials they 

need to do their work will be available to 

them. 

Barbara J. Smith 

Recent gifts to the Libraries’ collections 

The Reed & Barton Company presented a 

copy of its trade catalog Artistic workers in 

silver and gold plate published in 1884. This 

extremely valuable and beautiful book has 

over 320 illustrated pages. 
Spring/Summer 1993 Informatioa Page 3 

Systems Department 

S ystems Administrator Tom Garnett and his staff, Marcia Adams and Anne Gifford, 

Assistant Systems Administrators, and Mimi Scharf, Computer Equipment Analyst, 

manage and coordinate all automated systems throughout the Libraries. Systems staff are 

currently working on implementing NOTIS, a” integrated library system. which includes the 

Libraries’ on-line catalog, making the Libraries’ catalog available worldwide through the 

Internet. NOTIS also supports the work of Libraries’ acquisitions, circulation, and cataloging 

staff. The Systems Department provides technical support for the Database Searching Center 

enabling branch libraries and Smithsonian staff to access the databases (seep. I). The office 

directs planning for all major SIL computer applications. The Systems staff develops and 

administers the Libraries’ 

local area network which 

provides software applications, laser printer output, 

and network communications for 100 microcomputers used by the Libraries’ 

central administration and 

cataloging and acquisitions 

services departments, and 

users in s”me branch 

libraries in the Natural 

History building. Access to 

information resources 

throughout the world from 

branch library microcomputers has been provided 

by staff in the Systems 

Department. 

The Systems Department is 

administered as part of the 

Systems and Technical 

Services Division under 

Division Manager Vija L. 

Karklins. Mrs. Karklins is 

also Deputy Director of the 

Libraries. 

Post-Graduate Resident Selected 

DEPUTY DIRECTOR Vija L. Karklins 

announced the selection of Sally Siew-Siew 

Chuah for the Post Graduate Residency in 

Library and Information Science. The James 

Smithson Society funded this one-year 

program and Ms. Chuah was selected from a 

nationwide recruitment pool. A native of 

Penang, Malaysia, Ms. Chuah will add to the 

cultural diversity of Libraries’ staff. She 

earned an MS. degree in Library and 

Information Science at the University of 

Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. 

degree at Warren Wilson College, North 

Carolina. During the one-year Residency, 

Ms. Chuah will rotate through the four 

divisions of the Libraries. 

The program is designed to 

offer the resident a diverse 

program of practical work 

experience in a research 

library. training appropriate 

for a beginning professional, 

and exposure to bibliographic 

resources in the Washington, 

DC. area. The year gives the 

Libraries a valuable opportunity to develop ideas and 

experiences for a pemlanent 
Page 4 SMITRSONIAN IN!fTITliTlRN LIRRARIRS Spring/Summer 1993 

FEATURING . . . Coping Strategies 

Professional appoinmmts 

Timothy Carr is the Branch 

Librarian for the new Postal 

History Museum branch. Can 

earned his B.A. and his M.L.S. 

at the University of Pittsburgh. 

He previously WBE Branch 

Librarian at the Anacostia 

Museum Branch of the Libraries. 

Sujata Gupta, Automation 

Librarian, Systems Department, 

received her M.L.S. from 

Catholic University and her B.A. 

from William and Mary College. 

She will be assisting SIL staff in 

microcomputer use and assisting 

in NOTIS implementation. 

T HE Ltxaas HAS PRODUCED AHANWUT called “Coping Strategies” as more limited funds are 

affecting SIL’s ability to provide its users with major sources of information. Working with 

members of the Libraries’ Uses Advisory Committee, Ronita Perry and other Libraries’ staff 

compiled the handout. The list is available in all branch libraries. Users are encouraged to take 

other suggestions to their branch librarian. 

Current members of the Libraries’ Users Advisory Committee are R&is Roth, Curator. 

Department of Social &Cultural Histmy, National Museum of American History; Charles 

Gallegos, Microbiologist/Environmental Biology, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; 

Bryan Kennedy, Editor. Smithsonian Press; and George Zug, Curator, Department of Venebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History. Members serving for a second year are 

Portia James, Historian, Anacostia Museum, and Peter Seitel, Senior Folklorist, Center for 

Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies. 

Alvin Hutchinson was selected 

Venebrate Zoology Librarian. 

Museum of Natural History 

Branch. Hutchinson earned his 

B.A. in history at the University 

of Baltimore and a M.L.S. at the 

University of Maryland, College 

Park. He previously worked as a 

librarian at the Johns Hopkins 

University. 

Internet Lecture 

Martin Kalfatovic was 

appointed lnfonnation Access 

Coordinator of the Research 

Services Division. He 

coordinates all Libraries-wide 

information access activities, 

including database searching and 

the CD-ROM Search Center 

operations. Kalfatovic 

previously worked at the Library 

of the National Museum of 

American AR and the National 

Portrait Gallery. He received his 

B.A. and M.S.L.S. degrees from 

The Catholic University of 

America. Nigerian artists 

Suzanne PIlsk. Librarian, joined 

the Systems and Technical 

Services Division in January. 

She earned her undergraduate 

degree at Trinity College, 

Hanford, Connecticut, and 

received her M.L.S. from 

Vanderbilt University in 

Nashville. She previously 

worked for the Special Libraries 

Association in Washington, DC. 

J ANET L. STANLEY AND REIZNICE Krm.~ PRFSENTED their recently published book, Nigerian 

Artists: A who’s who and bibliography (1993) at the International Symposium on Contemporary Nigerian Art in Lagos, Nigeria. Ms. Stanley presented a paper on the collection development and documentation efforts currently underway at the African Art Branch with respect to 

modem African art. The Libraries has distributed fifty copies of the pioneer reference work to 

Nigerian libraries, and ten additional copies to other African academic libraries. The Smithsonian’s Research Opportunities Fund provided partial support for the trip. 

The book, a 6CGpage illustrated comprehensive bibliography on the history of modem Nigerian 

art, was compiled over the past twelve years by Bemice Kelly, a Libraries’ volunteer at the 

African Art Branch. It contains biographical profiles and bibliographies of more than 350 

Nigerian artists as well as a comprehensive bibliography of modem Nigerian art and detailed 

indexes. 

A NN OKF.RSON, Omc~ OF Scientific and Academic 

Publishing, Association of Research Libraries. 

gave a Libraries’ lecture for all Smithsonian staff in 

November on “Internet and Scholarly Publishing - 

The Day After Tomorrow.” She outlined some of the 

trends that have led to increased reliance on electronic 

publishing, including massive increases since the 

1970s in the costs of serial publications. She concluded that important topics of the 1990s will be matters 

of ownership and of copyright, and predicted that 

before long submission guidelines for electronic 

publishing will be in place. 
SmindSummer 1993 Information Paw! 5 

Black History Month Programs 

1 SPONSORED a public 

lecture for Black History 

Month with the National 

African American Museum 

Project on February 18. 

Charles L. Blockson, 

curator of the Charles L. 

Blockson Afro-American 

Historical Collection at 

Temple University in 

Philadelphia, delivered a 

public lecture on “African 

American History, Above 

Ground and Underground.” 

dealing with his life as a 

collector, his work on the underground railroad, and his interest in family genealogy. His talk 

touched on well known African Americans, the art of collecting, and the rewards of bringing 

together scattered sources of 

African American history. 

The week before the Blockson 

lecture, the Libraries Staff Development Committee held a Brown Bag 

Lunch on “African-American 

Genealogical Research and Family 

History.“ Hollis Gentry, Automated Bibliographic Control, spoke 

about the genealogical research she 

has done to trace her AfricanAmerican and Shinnecock origins 

and the non-traditional sources she 

has consulted. Tim Can, Librarian, 

contributed an overview of reference materials available to genealogical researchers at the Anacostia 

Museum Branch and the Museum of 

Rare Books of the Smithsonian Libraries 

FEATURING . . . 

Kay Kenyon. National 

Zoological Park Branch. 

delivered a slide lecture on 

“lnfonoation Resources: Making 

Appropriate Choices for Zoos 

and Aquariums” at the 1992 

Annual Conference of the 

American Association of 

Zoological Parks and Aquariums 

in Toronto. Canada. 

Stephen Van Dyk, CooperHewitt Museum of Design 

Branch. gave a talk at the 

ARLlS/NA (An Libraries 

Society of North America) 

conference on decorative arts in 

“World‘s Fairs on the West 

Coast.” Van Dyk is the Special 

Libraries Association 

representative to ARLIS. 

Nancy E. Gwinn, Assistant 

Director. Collections 

Management. gave a paper on 

“World’s Fairs Resources at the 

Smithsonian” as part of a panel 

on Researching World’s Fairs 

and Expositions at the combined 

meeting of the Popular Culture 

Association and American 

Culture Association in New 

OdCXlS. 

Priscilla Rutledge, M.L.S. 

student at Catholic University, 

worked on practicum in the 

National Air and Space Museum 

Branch Library compiling 

hihliographies for the visitor 

resource center of the “How 

Things Fly” gallery. The pmject 

is a joint effort of the NASM 

Education Department and Sri’‘’ 

NASM Branch. 

Anthropology Branch Librarian 

Mary Kay Davies retired in 

December after nine years on the 

Libraries‘ staff. She came to the 

African Art Museum Branch as a 

volunteer in 1980. and began 

working in the Anthmpology 

Branch in 1983. 

E LLEN WELI& SPECIAL COLLE~~ONS DEPARTMENT, AND RHODA RATNER, National Museum of 

American History Branch, led a Resident Associate Program on “Rare Books of the 

Smithsonian Libraries” in January. Ms. Wells talked about the Dibner Library collections; then 

Mrs. Ratner spoke ahout how the trade catalog literature collection is used in research. 
Page 6 SWllSO~ldN INSTlTlTIllN I,Ill!URIF$ Spring/Summer 1993 

PUBLICATIONS SILlDibner Library Resident Scholars 

PP. 

~. Exhibition review. ‘Tree 

contemwrarv Ethionians.” ConP AMELA 0. LONG WAS SELE~?~FZD one of the Libraries’ 1993 Dibner Library Resident Scholars. 

She is conducting research for a book on 

openness, secrecy, authorship, and intellectual 

property, studies in pre-modem practical. technical 

and military traditions. Dr. Long has published 

seven articles and served as editor of B volume on 

science and technology in medieval society. She 

earned her Ph.D. by the University of Maryland 

and has been awarded two National Science 

Foundation grants. The second scholar appointed 

this year, W. Bernard Carlson, is researching 

“Invention as a Cognitive Process: A Study of Bell, 

Edison, Gray, and the Telephone, 1870-l X80.” Dr. 

Carlson is Associate Professor of the Humanities in Dibner Lihmp K<~.,rdr,,i .S,.lr,,ki, l’,,,,,,~,~, 0. 

the School of Engineering and Applied Science, bnl: beside the busr of Dr. km Dibnw, 

University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He was 

sculpted by his son David Dibner. 

awarded a M.A. and a Ph. D. by the University of 

Pennsylvania in the History and Sociology of Science, and has been Newcomen Fellow in 

Business and Economic Histoly at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard 

University. His book on Innovation as o Social: Process: Nihu Thomson and the Rise of 

General Electric, /R70-1900 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1991, and he has 

published extensively in late-nineteenth-century history of science and technology, 

Development Watch 

T HE LIBRARIES WAS AWARDED $11,500 from the Atherton Seidell Endowment Fund to purchase a very rare seventeenth-century first edition copy of Benjamin Bramer, Beschwibunge und Unterricht. wie al/e&i 

Tt-il~n~t~ zu den Mathematischm 

Instmmmten zu verfertipvr: neben 

dem Gebrauch eincs neuen Proportional-Instruments (Marburg 1615). 

Bnmer published nine works in this 

field, and all are extremely rare, with 

few located in American libraries. 

The book enhances the Libraries’ 

research collections on scientific and 

technical instrumentation of the 

German school of mathematical 

instruments and early seventeenthcentury works by Galileo. 

The Smithsonian Women’s 

Committee has awarded the 

Libraries $5,000 to purchase largecharacter software to make the 

online systems of the Libraries 

accessible to those with visual 

impairments. 
Spring/Summer 1993 Information 

SIL NEWS DIGEST IN BRIEF 

Etxcnto~tc RESOURCES 

DIRECTOR BARR~R~ .I. S~rm HAS APFZXNTFD a Task Force on Electronic Resources with Bonita 

Perry, Assistant Director, Research Services, and Tom Garnett, Systems Administrator, 

serving as co-chairmen. The task force is charged to develop a long range plan for the use of 

electronic information and for the implementation of access to those resources at all Libraries’ 

locations. Martin Kslfatovic, Gil Taylor, Alvin Hutchinson, and Helen Nordherg are saving 

on the task force 

NATURAL Htsrow BRANCH HOSTS OPEN 

HOUSE 

“Image, Imagination, Information” was the 

theme of the Natural History Branch open 

house held during National Library Week. 

More than I50 people attended the event on 

April 21 where Natural History Branch staff 

gave demonstrations of several multimedia 

works on CD-ROMs, electronic hook ups to 

the Database Searching Center, and other 

aspects of Project Access. The event also 

featured the display of forty-two detailed 

natural history drawings which are on longterm loan, courtesy of the artists. The loan 

was acknowledged with gratitude by Branch 

Librarian Ann Juneau. Branch staff assisting 

were Irene Anthony, Angels Hag&s, 

Carolyn Hahn, Alvin Hutchinson, Ron 

Lindsey, Ruth Schallert, Rob Skarr, David 

Steere, and David Thompson. 

DIRNER LIBRARY PHOTO 

Science magazine featured a 

photograph of books from the 

stacks in the Dihncr Library of 

the History of Science and 

Technology on the cover of its 

recent Book issue (21 May 

1993). Piolemy. Euclid, Sacro 

Bosco, and Malthus arc among 

the authors represented. The 

photograph was Published in M. 

Olmen’s The Smirhsonian Rook 

of,fxook.r (Smithsonian 

Institution Press, 1992). Science 

is the weekly journal of the 

American Association for the 

Advancement of Science. 

Smifhwhn IB8,ibtiBB 

LibrariPs 

/rVrwnrrrion is published 

semiannually to inform 

u\cr\ and benefactors about 

SlL’s scrvicc~ and 

program% and about issues 

affecting the Libraries. 

Nancy L. Matthews. Ediror 

Send all correspondence to 

the editor. SIL, 81 Natural 

History Building 22, MRC 

1.54. Smithsonian 

Institution, Washington, 

DC 20Shtl. Telephone 

(202) X7-2240. Fax (202) 

786.2866. 

Printed on recycled paper. @ 

TUE SC~UH~OXIAN I~snn~noru LIBRARIES serves the Institution and the public thmugh its support of exhibitions, education programs. 

publishing, and the administration of the Institution. In addition to providing library and information services through its eighteen branch 

libraries. the Libraries sponsors exhibitions, lectures, and a publications program, and participates in internship and stay-in-school programs 

0 Please send information on the Libraries’ Honorary and Memorial Gift program. 

0 Please send the Libraries’ User Guide 

0 I have made corrections/additions to the name and address on the reverse side. 

Mail this completed form to 

Director, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Natural History Building 22. 

MRC 154. Washington. DC 20560. 
Page 8 SIITHSRNUNIYSTITIITIRNLIRR~RIES Spring/Summer 1993 

END NOTES 

Calendar of Exhibitions 

SIL EXHIBITION GALLERY 

National Museum of American History, first floor, west wing 

IO:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily 

O/xning AuRust 27, 1993 Tunnels! A Celebration 

Ellen B. Wells (Libraries), Jeffrey Stine and Paul Forman (National Museum of American History), 

curators 

Opening Spring 1994 Balloons: The First Decade of Flight, 1783-1793 

Thomas Crouch (National Air and Space Museum), Curator 

SIL LIBRARY HALL 

National Museum of Natural History, tint floor, east hall 

Reshicted access. Call 202-357-2240 for appointment to view 

Through Summer 1993 Charles Coffin Jew&t, The Smithsonian, and the National Library: From Mud to MARC 

Tom Baker, Bridget Burke, and Leslie Overstreet, Curators 

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries as established by Secretary S. 

Dillon Ripley, SIL looks back to the Institution’s first librarian. 

Smithsonian Institution Libraries 

Natural History Building 22, MRC I54 

Washington, D. C. 20560