Submitted by:
Susan Adkins
UAF Manager of User Services
Computing Services Department
University of Arkansas
155 Razorback Road Administrative Services ADSB 220
Fayettville, AR 72701 USA
v: (501) 575-2905
f: (501) 575-4753
e: sadkins@comp.uark.edu
Categories:
Education, higher; Research, academic; Library
Keywords:
Innovative or improved ways of doing things ; More equitable access to technology or electronic information ; Creation of new ideas, products, or services ; Local commitment to network-based activities ; Leverage of public funding
Supporting Documentation (contact author for more information):
Software
The Story:
Since 1991, the University of Arkansas has successfully applied for two grants that have utterly transformed the library resources of the state. First, the University received a two-year National Science Foundation grant to build ARKnet, Arkansas’ statewide network linking colleges and universities to the Internet. Then, with leverage from the initial grant, the University was able to obtain a U.S. Department of Education grant to enhance and expand the library resources of nineteen ARKnet-attached academic and research libraries. Now, ninety percent of academic library patrons — from students at the smallest community college to those at the largest university — have access to the Internet and other network-based services.
Stephen Perry of the University of Arkansas libraries explains what this access means for state residents. Suppose, Perry says, a student has been told that Yale houses a preeminent collection pertaining to medieval Christianity. “Using their (Yale’s) on-line public access catalog is like walking through the gothic courtyard of the New Haven campus and into the Sterling Memorial Library.” If the student finds materials that he or she wishes to use, then the student can look at the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center Database), a collection of the holdings of over 15,000 libraries, to find the nearest library from which an interlibrary loan request can be made. In short, says Perry, the Internet “expands the menu of bibliographic possibilities.”
The ARKnet Library Project (funded by the U.S. Department of Education) helps students and others make full use of the Internet’s “bibliographic possibilities.” It does this by providing for workstations to be placed in the reference department of each library. The workstations furnish access to on-line library card catalogs; to library and reference databases; to other Telnet and FTP sites; to CD- ROM resources; and to document scanning and transmission services. Each library has a representative, working in conjunction with the project coordinators, to help implement this project.
The network connection will soon provide for another reference source — an ARKnet-attached CD-ROM tower at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. From this source, ARKnet libraries will be able to access:
- Biological Abstracts, which contains bibliographic citations and abstracts of current research in biological and biomedical literature;
- PAIS International, which covers economic, political, and social issues on the local, regional, national, and international level from 1972 to present;
- SEC-10K, which is a full-text database containing the financial statements filed annually by 4,000 NYSE, AMEX, and selected NMS/NASDAQ companies with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
An added research benefit is the network’s document transmission process. Rather than using a fax machine to transfer documents through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) programs, Arkansas academic libraries are now using Ariel, a software product that scans a document, sends it to another personal computer (provided the personal computer is on the network and using Ariel) and then prints it on a laser printer. This transmission process takes approximately ten seconds and produces sharp laser prints, rather than faxed, thermal paper copies. The process also saves the library money by reducing fax charges. Another benefit to using Ariel for document transfer is that the document can be sent to a file, rather than a printer — an advantage if you want to manipulate the text for inclusion in a paper. Debra Cochran, grant project coordinator from UA libraries and former head of ILL, says, “Statewide, we are using Ariel on a daily basis for sending and receiving ILL requests and journal articles.” Additionally, she has recommended that the ARKnet libraries use Ariel “as the preferred mode of document transmission for the fulfillment of routine and rush requests, bypassing U.S. mail and fax if possible.”
Benefits of the U.S. Department of Education grant are being felt in every level of the state’s educational system. While work is starting in higher education, a K-12 network is being built with funding from the state legislature. Once it is completed, all the students in the state will have a chance to become global scholars.
For additional information contact:
Susan Cromwell
Associate Director for Academic Support
Computing Services Department
University of Arkansas
155 Razorback Road
Administrative Services ADSB 220
Fayettville, Arkansas 72701
v: (501) 575-2905
f: (501) 575-4753
e: susanc@comp.uark.edu