Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sad News
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Alumni access to electronic resources
By Bill Dotson
The ProQuest Reference Library makes a variety of current and historical publications – on subjects ranging from veterinary economics to Victorian poetry – available to USC graduates.
In keeping with the university’s lifelong-learning commitment to the Trojan Family, the Alumni Association and the libraries are working together to promote essential library services that encourage continuing study and discovery and provide alumni another way to stay connected to campus life. RED MORE HERE
When the Rude Have a ’Tude
By Evelyn Jacobson
The study, conducted by Christine Porath, an assistant professor at USC and Amir Erez, a professor at the University of Florida, showed that the mere thought of being verbally abused hurts people’s ability to perform complex tasks requiring creativity, flexibility and memory recall. READ MORE HERE"
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Haworth Press Update
This update came today on the SERIALIST after a series of complains by various libraries regarding slow or no access whatsoever to online Haworth journals(e.g. Serials librarian, Acquisitions librarian, etc). It works, yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Dear Serialst,
Thank you for your continued patience whilst we resolve the issues you have
been experiencing with the Haworth Press site. Further to my email yesterday
I wanted to give you an update on how we are working to improve the site for
you.
Migration to informaworld:
Over the coming months we will be migrating all Haworth content to
informaworld and will keep everyone posted on progress. We have set up a
website at www.informaworld.com/haworth which will be updated with
information during the migration.
Site Speed:
Network technicians were able to correct a configuration problem yesterday in
the connection between Haworth's servers and the service provider. This has
resulted in site speeds which are around 40 times faster than users had been
experiencing. We are continuing to investigate other issues that might be
affecting site speed and will resolve any problems that we find as part of this
process.
Access:
If you are having difficulties accessing your institution's subscriptions, please
do continue to contact our support desk haworthpress@taylorandfrancis.com.
Those staffing the support desk are best placed to help and you should expect
a timely response to your query. Alternatively you may contact your local
sales representative who will be delighted to help you. Details of our North
American Sales Managers are below:
Canada & Mexico: Margaret.Walker@taylorandfrancis.com
USA - Eastern Region: Sharon.Murphy@taylorandfrancis.com
USA - Central Region: Carrie.Esch@taylorandfrancis.com
USA - Western Region: Mary.Nugent@taylorandfrancis.com
Please do accept my apologies and thanks for your patience whilst we work to
restore your access to the Haworth Press site.
With kind regards,
Meg Walker
Margaret Donahue Walker
Journals Sales Director - NA
Taylor & Francis
325 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: 215.625.8900, ext 346
Fax 215.625.2940
email: margaret.walker@taylorandfrancis.com
www.taylorandfrancis.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America
"OCLC was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S. The findings of this research are now available in the OCLC report, From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America. Though this study was based on data from the United States, there are findings in the report that could be applicable to any library seeking to understand the connections between public perceptions and library support.
Among the findings from the report:
- Library funding support is only marginally related to library visitation
- Perceptions of librarians are an important predictor of library funding support
- Voters who see the library as a 'transformational' force as opposed to an 'informational' source are more likely to increase taxes in its support
The report suggests that targeting marketing messages to the right segments of the voting public is key to driving increased support for U.S. public libraries.
READ MORE HERE
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Blackwell transition to the Wiley Interscience platform.
"Please note that there are still issues with some Blackwell journals and URLs. Wiley will be working on these. [The full list of missing content is listed on their transition site: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/transition - and this will be updated weekly.] "
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
University of Pittsburgh chooses AquaBrowser Library
University of Pittsburgh chooses AquaBrowser Library
Denver, CO – April 25, 2008 – AquaBrowser, the world leader in visual, independent discovery platforms for libraries, has been selected by the University of Pittsburgh’s University Library System.
The University of Pittsburgh joins the growing community of 26 academic AquaBrowser libraries in the U.S, which includes the University of Chicago, Oklahoma State University and another recent customer, Skidmore College in New York. AquaBrowser Library is the only search and discovery system exclusively dedicated to providing visual, faceted search solutions for libraries using any Integrated Library System, including open source ones.
Dr. Rush Miller, Hillman University Librarian and Director of ULS, explained their selection of AquaBrowser: “The ULS looked at several other integrated search systems before choosing AquaBrowser. Three things set AquaBrowser apart for us: first, its unparalleled ability to act as a true discovery tool, exposing users via the word cloud and facets to items they didn’t even know they wanted or knew we had. Second, AquaBrowser’s ability to elegantly bring together local and remote, print and electronic, and to present them all in an interface that is simple and usable yet extremely powerful. Finally, we are extremely impressed with AquaBrowser’s extensible and flexible platform and are looking at integrating many resources and services in AquaBrowser. Our goal is to create a system that not only meets but exceeds users’ expectations of what a modern web search environment should be, and we are confident that AquaBrowser is a ready partner in helping us achieve this goal.”
With AquaBrowser Library, faculty, students, staff, administrators, and researchers will be able to simultaneously search the library’s 5.3 million volumes, 57,000 journals, 170,000 eBooks, the University’s web site, the ULS digital repository and thousands of subscription databases. AquaBrowser Library will also integrate closely with the ULS Voyager integrated library system for patron account management functionality.
“We are delighted to add the University of Pittsburg to the growing list of academic institutions that are choosing AquaBrowser,” said Bastiaan Zwaan, CEO of Medialab Solutions. “AquaBrowser will maximize the accessibility and find-ability of the University’s content, making great use of all that the ULS offers through one search interface. It’s wonderful to see another prestigious educational organization discover the value in our product.”
Monday, June 23, 2008
Mathematicians Critique Journal Rankings
This was from the Wall Street Journal:
Mathematicians Critique Journal Rankings
Mathematicians are concerned about the academic world’s overreliance on questionable numbers.
Three international math groups joined forces to issue a report last week decrying the use of citation statistics to evaluate scientific journals, research institutions and individual scientists. These statistics, sometimes called “bibliometrics,” measure how frequently a given journal’s articles are cited by other journals. And they are used widely by libraries and universities to decide everything from which journals to subscribe to, to which scientists to hire.READ MORE HERE
Vacation Notes
I had a two week vacation during which we drove through
What I really enjoyed during my visit was: enthusiastic and considerate staff with great sense of humor and taste in food, breathtaking
What I hated: awful five minutes before landing in