Note: All University Park libraries should discard the brochures from last year for:
Updated one sheet Quick Start Guides will be distributed week of 8/19. In the interim, the new Guide to the Libraries should be distributed. Questions? Contact Lana Munip
By Barbara Coopey, assistant head, Access Services
Spring 2013 was the first semester with floating collection in production at 19 campus libraries. 965,046 monographs were converted from BOOK to the BOOKFLOAT item type during the transition to a floating collection. This number will continue to increase as new books added to the general stacks areas of the campus libraries are assigned the BOOKFLOAT item type during the acquisition process.
Approximately 5,000 BOOKFLOAT items have the potential to float because they are currently checked out to users where the user’s campus library doesn’t match the item’s library. For example, Mont Alto users have 11 Hazleton books. As books are checked out and returned among the 19 libraries, the number of floating books on the shelf at a particular library is constantly changing.
Continue reading
By Tom Reinsfelder, for the Online Reference Team
The new online reference system known as Ask A Librarian will be online beginning August 20. We need to thank everyone on CMS web development team for their hard work in helping to get everything ready before the start of the fall semester.
A few important items to note:
1. Although the system will be online and operational this week it will not be fully staffed until Monday August 26.
Beginning next week we will follow this Online Reference Schedule offering nearly 24 hour live chat coverage on week days.
2. The Ask A Librarian tab will appear on the right side of every page in the CMS and LionSearch. In the future this will be added to other locations including the CAT, Get It! pages, and ILLiad.
3. In addition to live chat, users may choose to submit questions by email using the form at http://ask.libraries.psu.edu or sending a message directly to askalibrarian@psu.edu
4. At times when live chat is not being monitored users will be directed to http://ask.libraries.psu.edu where they will be able to search for their answer or submit a question by email.
5. Further information about the Online Reference Team is posted on our Intranet Page.
Any questions or feedback about this service may be directed to UL-REFERENCE-TEAM@lists.psu.edu
By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator
One of the great features I like about Dropbox is the ability to automatically upload photos and videos taken from your Android device into Dropbox. This capability, called Camera Upload, will ensure you don’t lose an important photo or video if something happens to your phone or other device.
You can turn on this capability when you first install the app or by going to the Dropbox apps settings. When setup a folder called camera uploads will appear in your Dropbox folders.
Depending on your device, you can also do this manually. For instructions on how to do this, please refer to Dropbox’s website and select the instructions for the device you have.
Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:
Part-time:
Freya Austine Decker – Commons Services
Sonya Kokus – John M. Lilley Library, Behrend College
Holly Boyle – George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library, Penn State Hershey
Amy Du – George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library, Penn State Hershey
Arrick Lanfrancki – Tombros McWhirter Knowledge Commons
Teressa Pressler – Fletcher L. Byrom Earth & Mineral Sciences Library
Full-time:
8/15/13
Stephanie Diaz – Reference and Instruction Librarian, Lee R. Glatfelter Library, Penn State York
8/19/13
Mohamed Berray – Diversity resident, Administration
Chuck Jones – Librarian and Tombros Chair for Classics and the Humanities, Arts & Humanities Library
Rachel Smith – Diversity resident, Administration
Internal Moves
8/19/13
Amy Deuink – Head librarian, Beaver Campus Library
Stephen Mattes – Monographs cataloger, Cataloging & Metadata Services
By Binky Lush, manager, Discovery, Access and Web Services
On Tuesday, August 20, the CMS Development Team and the Online Reference Team will be making the following changes to the web site:
Ask A Librarian
The new online reference service will be called “Ask a Librarian.”
Web Site Refresh
The Libraries site is getting an updated look! With some slight color changes and some changes to our fonts and styles, we are “refreshing” the Libraries web site to make it a bit more contemporary, without making any content changes at all. This is part of the effort of the Libraries Web Stakeholders Group and the CMS Development Team to make ongoing and continual enhancements to the site, while ensuring our users are not confronted with any drastic or confusing changes.
Research Guides Search
The Research Guides Search will appear on the Research Guides page and will allow our users to more effectively search for Research Guides. Results will display in a sortable table, making the guides and the subject specialists much more discoverable.
We are excited to bringing you these new web site updates and we welcome your questions and comments!
The CMS Development Team and the Online Reference Team
The 2013/2014 Guide to the Libraries have delivered and copies have been sent to all Libraries. It is also viewable at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/pram/publications.html
Please discard all old Guides. They can be recycled as mixed office paper.
If you find you need additional copies, please send a note Wertney Cox, wgc4@psu.edu
You are encouraged to use the Guides as they are a comprehensive endorsement for all of the University Libraries and cost no more than the smaller brochures we produce.
In the Survey of Best Practices in Developing Online Information Literacy Tutorials, recently published by the Primary Research Group, Penn State is one of 24 institutions worldwide cited by survey participants for excellence in tutorial development. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona Libraries and the University of Vermont Library, looks at how academic libraries create and use online information literacy tutorials. Read more about the study online.
Penn State University Sports Archives has created a special Flickr site in honor of former gymnastics coach Gene Wettstone, who died on July 30, at age 100. The site features a selection of photos from his coaching days and includes some candid snapshots of his family life.
One of the images from the Flickr site
**Note: UPLEA supplies drive for Pets Come First is being held this month**
September 10, 6:30 p.m.: The public is invited to “Meet Eyal Press, author of ‘Beautiful Souls,’” an interview by Steven Herb, in Schlow Centre Region Library, 211 S. Allen Street, State College, PA. “Beautiful Souls” was selected by the Penn State Reads series to be read and discussed by incoming freshmen.
September 11 and 12, 10:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m.: The annual open house at University Park Libraries.
September 16: The University Libraries will host Megan Oakleaf of Syracuse University for a visit focused on library assessment. Dr. Oakleaf will help us learn more about assessing library services so that we can document the value that we provide to our users. More details of her visit will be forthcoming.
September 16: Indigenous Geography Workshop
1:00 p.m. -4:00p.m., Mann Assembly Room in Paterno Library. Presented by: Dr. Douglas Herman senior geographer, National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution. More details coming soon.
11am-3pm, in the Mann Assembly Room.
Next week: Earth and Mineral Sciences Library Fall film listings, Library Learning Services fall offerings
The English Department has invited University Libraries faculty and staff to participate in the Marathon Read. Find out more here:
http://english.la.psu.edu/undergraduate/marathon-read
New University Park Campus Maps have been printed. Please discard any maps that are dated “Feb 2011” in the lower right corner. New maps have “July 2013.” Contact Sandy Hoffmaster (swf4@psu.edu) for copies.
Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:
Part-time:
Nicole Gargiulo – Fletcher L. Byrom Earth & Mineral Sciences Library
Heather Kahl – Lartz Memorial Library, Penn State Shenango
Arthur Omondi – George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library, Penn State Hershey
Emily Paulsen – Research Hub and Tombros McWhirter Knowledge Commons
Sharon Svoboda – Fletcher L. Byrom Earth & Mineral Sciences Library
Amy White – Instruction Librarian, Library Learning Services
By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator
Let’s say you go to a website and you are browsing when you decide you want to visit a different website. You go to the URL bar and start typing the address of that site, but you forgot you want to leave your previous site open and open the new one in a new tab.
Luckily you can just press Alt-Enter to open that typed URL in a new tab while preserving your original open page. No need to cut/paste. This works in most browsers.
Decorations provided for this year’s Open House will again consist of the kit containing blue and silver stars, garland, stickers, and tablecloths. If your area would like to have additional items, please notify Sandy Hoffmaster by August 10 with your requests. Please do not purchase items yourself for reimbursement; the committee will review and order the items for you.
For supervisors, please complete the following survey to order T-Shirts for your student staff members by August 10: https://surveys.libraries.psu.edu/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=l2LM37l. The shirts this year are the same design as last year, but are white with a blue logo. ** Please note: This order form is for the free student staff t-shirts ONLY. The opportunity for faculty/staff to place a shirt order will be announced at a later date. **
By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator
With Library Clean-up day and Lifecycle quickly approaching, it’s a good time to start thinking about what you can do to clean up your computer.
Here are a few ideas or tips to review:
1.) UCS – Check your current usage by reviewing your window header and your username. This will indicate your current quota usage. Review your email for large attachments and files in your briefcase that may be taking up space. Also, empty old email from the trash and email that is no longer needed.
2.) Hard Drive – Clean out old files you may have on your Desktop or Downloads folder that you no longer need.
3.) Review your Network Drives – Check your U, W or whatever letter drives you use for network storage including folders on ROO for committees and remove files that are no longer needed.
