December 2000 In this issue:    Personnel Announcements    Ergo Tip of the Month    Upcoming Events    Library Announcements & Reports    News From Other Sources    Just For Fun

Photos In This Issue:
Roger Williamson's Retirement Party
Inauguration of the Lalo Guerrero Collection
Holiday Party
Peg II Group Site Visits

Farewell Roger!

December was a quiet month - at least in the comings and movings area.  We did say goodbye to Roger Williamson who, after many years of conscientious service to the Davidson Library, retired effective January
1st.  The Cataloging and Acquisitions Services Department hosted a party in Roger's honor on December 1st and photos can be seen by clicking on this photo of Roger.

  Current academic and staff recruitments can be found at the Library Personnel Office's Website:
http://www.library.ucsb.edu/depts/lpo/

Ergo Tip of the Month

The ergo tip selected for this month, from Smith College, is entitled Cheap Tips for Safe Computing.  It points out the need for a good, common-sense approach to ergonomic safety.  Please take a few minutes to read it over.  Any comments?  E-mail can be sent to
ergo@library.ucsb.edu.

The link is: http://www.smith.edu/ergonomics/tips.html

Upcoming Events

Friends Book Sale

The Friends of the UCSB Library have scheduled another Used Book Sale.  The sale will be on Wednesday, January  17th, from 8:30 to 12:30.  As always, the sale will take place on the 8th floor.  As always, prices will be great.

Library Announcements & Reports

UCITA Satellite Teleconference at UCSB

The UCSB Libraries hosted a satellite teleconference, UCITA: a Guide to Understanding and Action, on December 13th.  The teleconference was attended not only by several UCSB library personnel, but also by two UCSB professors, one UCSB information technology person, and local librarians from institutions as diverse as a medical library, corporate library, community colleges, public libraries and private institutes.  The session consisted of a two hour panel discussion via satellite, and a follow-up local discussion session, led by Eunice Schroeder, Music Librarian, and Mark Rose, Professor of English who is a copyright expert.

UCITA, the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, model legislation created by the National Commissioners of Uniform State Laws, is an attempt to create uniform national standards for state contract law related to software and online information licensing.   The legislation has passed in two states - Maryland and Virginia - and is expected to be introduced in many state legislatures this year.  UCITA would cover access and use of data, text, images, sound, and computer programs.  There is concern by libraries and others in academic information technology because the legislation supports shrink-wrap and click-through licenses, in which users agree to terms they have not been able to preview.  It could limit fair use and lending through non-negotiable contract terms, prevent reverse engineering, and limit consumer remedies.

Panelists discussed what elements UCITA covers, strategies and arguments for advocating against its passage in one's home state, and ways to organize with others that may be negatively impacted by its passage.    Further information about the legislation and advocacy efforts for libraries related to the legislation can be found at the ARL UCITA web site: http://www.arl.org/ucita.html.

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Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero, known as the Father of Chicano Music , donated his papers to the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) at a Faculty Club reception ceremony that was held on December 4, 2000. Guerrero, is a composer, musician, singer and recipient of many awards, including the prestigious National Medal of the Arts awarded to him at a White House ceremony in 1996. Photos and more information can be viewed through these links.

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The last all-library holiday party of  the century will be remembered not only as the best-attended, but also as having the most groups involved in its preparation.  The Staff Representatives Group coordinated the potluck,  LAUC members (Librarians Association of the University of California) coordinated the set-up, clean-up, white elephant gift exchange, punch and cake, and the Cultural Diversity Committee, in addition to overseeing it all, handled the publicity and decorations.  Click on the cake to see photos of this annual event.

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	Marlayna Gates, Carol Gibbens, Lynne Hayman, Claudia Jimenez, Catherine Nelson and Ginny Turner left sunny Santa Barbara late November through early December to look at other university libraries and the systems they chose.  Here they are at one of the many airports they traveled through.
They looked at Franklin Express at the University of Pennsylvania Library in Philadelphia.	And the University of Iowa at Iowa City gave the group a chance to look at their Info Hawk.

News From Other Sources

• ARL News

November 2000 E-news for ARL Directors: Part One

Oct-Nov. E-News: Part Two, Federal Relations

Other ARL news can be found at http://www.arl.org/recent.html.

• *SPARC e-news*

The monthly update on SPARC (Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) activities and a look at key publishing industry developments that have an impact on journal publishing.

• Pricing Newsletter

Published through the Office of Information Technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this newsletter covers many topics dealing with serials pricing.

• CDLINFO Newsletter

A bi-weekly electronic newsletter which provides specific updates on California Digital Library projects and initiatives.

Just For Fun

White Elephants

Since White Elephants were all around the library, some of our staff looked into them a bit more.

I read or heard recently that the term white elephant originated in East Asia, where elephants are frequently domesticated and are working animals. White elephants, however, were/are considered sacred and were not permitted to work. If you "owned" one, you had to feed it but got no work in return.
        - Anna DeVore

white elephant (hwyt EL-uh-fent) noun
1. A possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of.
2. A possession entailing great expense out of proportion to its usefulness or value to the owner.     [From a perhaps apocryphal tale that the King of Siam would award a disagreeable courtier a white elephant, the upkeep of which would ruin the courtier.]
3. An abnormally whitish or pale elephant, usually found in Thailand; an albino elephant.
        - Lydia A Emard