Iowa State University









3-25-96

Contacts:
John Anderson, University Relations, (515) 294-6136
Nancy Eaton, Library Services, (515) 294-1442


ISU LIBRARY ADDS PRO-LIFE NEWSLETTER

AND PRO-CHOICE NEWSLETTER

AMES, Iowa -- The Iowa State University Library will add two newsletters -- one pro-life and one pro-choice -- to its current events collection.

Nancy Eaton, dean of Library Services, announced the decision following a review of an earlier decision not to accept the pro-life newsletter "National Right to Life News," which was donated to the ISU Library by library staff member Robert Sickles.

"Because of questions raised by the community about the decision not to accept 'National Right to Life News,' I requested an additional review by the library's new bibliographer for the social sciences," Eaton said. Based on that assessment, the pro-life newsletter and a counterpart pro-choice newsletter, "National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League," are being added to its current events collection.

Eaton said the original decision not to accept the newsletter was consistent with the library gift policy because the library already offered a wide variety of materials on both sides of the abortion issue, because of a lack of demand for additional materials on the issue by ISU instructional and research faculty and because of its non-research orientation.

However, the new review, conducted during February and March, identified additional factors that led Eaton to accept the newsletter and add another. Among the factors were: heavy use of pro-choice and pro-life materials by students for independent study projects and campus faculty support for including materials on current issues.

Both newsletters will be retained for two years, due to "limited current awareness value, space limitations and lack of faculty interest for long-term research and curriculum needs," Eaton said.

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Diana Pounds
(dpounds@iastate.edu)
University Relations
 Copyright © 1996
Iowa State University
All rights reserved
 URL: http://www.iastate.edu/
general/releases/nsl.html
Revised 3/25/96
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