48 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1 999 



Branch librarian Janet Stanley, author of the bibliographic 

 index and principal investigatot for the grant, began to com- 

 pile the information in 1979, and she will continue adding 

 records as new litetature on African art is published. Ms. 

 Stanley's work resulted in the addition of hundteds of new 

 subject terms relating to African art and culture to the 

 Getty's Art and Architecture Thesaurus, and the addition of 

 mote than 100 new subject headings used by the Library of 

 Congress for cataloging. Since these 25,000 records of the 

 Aftican Art bibliographic index have been available with the 

 Libraries' catalog on SIRIS (www.siris.si.edu), reference and 

 interlibrary loan inquiries to the African Art Branch library 

 have more than tripled. 



The Smithsonian Institution Libraries is a key player in 

 cooperative efforts that will benefit research at the Institu- 

 tion. As a member of the Chesapeake Information and 

 Research Library Alliance, a consortium of nine libraries of 

 which SIL is a founding member, a CIRLA task force is ad- 

 dressing the complex nature of contracts and licenses for 

 access to information in a digital format and designing a 

 model for user agreements with publishers of e-journals to 

 negotiate cost savings and to expand access to published in- 

 formation. Smithsonian Libraries Director Dr. Nancy E. 

 Gwinn is serving as chair of CIRLA 1999—2000. CIRLA 

 members in addition to the Smithsonian Institution Li- 

 braries are the Library of Congress and the National 

 Agricultural Library and several universities (Georgetown 

 University, The George Washington Univetsity, Howard 

 University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of 

 Delaware, and the University of Maryland). 



Smithsonian Institution Traveling 

 Exhibition Service (SITES) 



Library Association to create exhibitions for display in li- 

 braries across the country. 



SITES' Museum on Main Street Program is designed to 

 reach underserved communities in rural areas throughout the 

 United States. In addition to providing these venues with 

 exhibitions, SITES works with the Federation of State Hu- 

 manities Councils to provide the venues with professional 

 development programs and training, as well as assisting in 

 the development of site-specific public programming. "Yes- 

 rerday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future," is 

 the third Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition and 

 will begin touring in 2001. 



America's Jazz Heritage (AJH), a pattnership of the Lila 

 Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, continues its mission to research, preserve, and present 

 the history of jazz. AJH/SITES traveling jazz exhibitions 

 have and continue to fulfill institutional visibility across the 

 nation. AJH reached diverse audiences through informative 

 and entertaining exhibitions focused on one of America's 

 most treasured legacies, its history, icons, and priceless col- 

 lections. AJH coproduced the distance learning program 

 entitled "An Ellington Experience" free of charge in collabo- 

 ration with the Cleveland Education Fund's Excellence in 

 Music Initiative during the April 1999 Duke Ellington 

 Youth Festival. AJH also coproduced "The Musical Genius 

 of Duke Ellington," an Electronic Field Trip in collaboration 

 with the Fairfax Network and the Cleveland Education 

 Fund, which was broadcast free of charge to more than 8,000 

 schools and 2.8 million students. 



Through rhe Smithsonian's growing Affiliations program, 

 AJH is afforded heightened institutional support for creat- 

 ing parrnerships and collaborations with jazz museum 

 affiliates such as the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, 

 Missouri, and the emerging National Jazz Museum in 

 Harlem. 



Anna R. Cohn, Director 



The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service 

 (SITES) is the largest traveling exhibition service in the 

 world. Its mission is to extend the Smithsonian collections, 

 research, and exhibitions to "sites" across rhe nation and 

 beyond. SITES organizes and circulares exhibitions of all 

 shapes and sizes on the arts, sciences, and humanities. Since 

 the first exhibition went on the road in 1952, SITES has 

 traveled thousands of exhibitions for the education and en- 

 joyment of museum-goers in every state and several foreign 

 countries. 



To expand the Smithsonian's outreach, SITES has contin- 

 ued to seek out alternative partners and spaces to create and 

 host exhibitions. Presented at the International Gallery un- 

 der the auspices of SITES, "Microbes: Invisible Invaders, 

 Amazing Allies," an interactive, kid-friendly traveling exhi- 

 bition that introduced the world of bacteria and germs using 

 virtual reality, 3D animation, theatrical sets, and special ef- 

 fects was sponsored by Pfizer Inc. in collaboration with the 

 National Institutes of Health and produced by BBH Ex- 

 hibits, Inc. SITES also continues to work with the American 



Smithsonian Office of Education 



Ann Bay, Director 



A yearlong strategic planning process culminated in the 

 merger of the Smithsonian Office of Education (SOE) and 

 the Center for Museum Studies (CMS). The new office inter- 

 prets the collective knowledge of the Smithsonian and serves 

 as a gateway to the Institution's education resources. It also 

 promotes the understanding and use of museums in general. 

 This expansion of mission began nearly three years ago when 

 the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education became 

 the Smithsonian Office of Education. The role of SOE broad- 

 ened to include service to educatots and parents and 

 administration of the Educational Outreach Fund and the 

 Wider Audience Developmenr Program. 



In the year leading up to the merger, SOE and CMS to- 

 gether offered professional development opporrunities and 

 services for educators. In the Washington area, summer sem- 

 inars helped elementary and secondary teachers learn how to 



