Association of College & Research Libraries and Bowker Launch RCLweb version 2.0
At the American Library Association’s annual conference, Bowker, a member of the ProQuest® family of companies, and Choice, a publishing unit of the Association of College and Research Libraries, will debut RCLweb version 2.0, updating the popular collection development tool’s user interface and adding new online features. Introduced in 2006 as Resources for College Libraries (RCL), this suite of works is based on the American Library Association’s classic reference, Books for College Libraries. Today, RCL’s web-based tools enable academic libraries to access recommended titles and create a core collection of print and electronic titles that are fundamental to successful academic libraries.
"The new 2.0 version takes RCL – a resource that librarians rely on for effective collection development -- to a new level of service," said Sharon Lubrano, ProQuest vice president and general manager of Bowker. "It’s simpler to navigate, saving users time, and takes advantage of social networking innovations that allow librarians to interact with the content."
RCL is an editorially selected comprehensive list of essential bibliographic resources that allows libraries to confidently assess the strength of their collections and select core titles to support both two- and four-year undergraduate programs. In their 2.0 versions, RCL as well as RCL: Career Resources (CR) and RCL Plus feature all-new, intuitive interfaces and a variety of new end-user features, including commenting and tagging, that enable librarians to share their perspectives.
Regularly updated since its initial launch, RCL now includes more than 75,000 monographs, reference works, and textbooks, as well as electronic resources across 117 subject areas -- all hand-picked by an expert team of subject editors selected and supervised by Choice. RCL is a core list for the traditional liberal arts and sciences curriculum; RCL:Career Resources (CR) is designed to support vocational and technical programs typically found at two-year institutions, and RCL Plus is a deluxe database offering access to all RCL and CR content. Each of the products is accessed through the RCLweb database which enables easy searching by a variety of criteria, including author, subject, title, format, audience, and LC Classification Number, and also matches works to Choice’s renowned, in-depth reviews.
Time-saving tools include a look-up feature that tracks items to the library’s catalog, using Bowker’s Hooks to Holdings feature. The content, which is consistently updated, can be manipulated by users enabling them to create, edit, and save lists that can then be emailed or downloaded and printed.
To learn more visit www.bowker.com.
About Choice
More than 35,000 academic librarians, faculty, and key decision makers rely on Choice magazine and Choice Reviews Online for collection development and scholarly research. Choice, a publication of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), reaches almost every undergraduate college and university library in the United States as well as major academic and research libraries around the world. For more information, visit www.ala.org/acrl/choice.
About ACRL
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching, and research. ACRL is the largest division of the American Library Association (ALA). ACRL currently has a membership of approximately 12,600 members, accounting for nearly 20% of the total ALA membership. ACRL provides a broad range of professional services and programs for a diverse membership. For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/acrl.
About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)
ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world's knowledge — from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information.
ProQuest's massive information pool is accessible through the all-new ProQuest® platform, which moves beyond navigation to empower researchers to use, create, and share content—accelerating research productivity.
This energetic, fast-growing organization includes the Summon™ web-scale discovery service, the new ProQuest Dialog™ service, and business units ebrary®, Serials Solutions®, RefWorks-COS™, and Bowker®.