November 2003, Issue 23
In This Issue:
"One System, One Library" -
Phase II
Easier Access to Journals!
International Trade Administration on the Web
Library Instruction - Timing is Everything
Wisconsin Document Depository Program Celebrates Centennial
Librarians of the Living Dead
Polk Library Staff Member Wins Star Award
Teaching Ideas Collection Debuts in EMC
Popular Authors in the Browsing Room
Spotlight on Reference
Staff Highlights
"One System, One Library" - Phase II
Patrick Wilkinson
wilkinso@uwosh.edu
In 2001, the University of Wisconsin libraries created a vision of “one system, one library.” In short, UW System libraries will work in coordination to provide “students, faculty, staff and Wisconsin citizens with access to a truly great public university library collection and to a global network of electronic information resources.”
In 2001 - 2003, the campus community has benefited from the strategic directions established to fulfill this vision. One example is Universal Borrowing (UB). UB has had a major positive impact on faculty and students. The statistics for UB show that UW Oshkosh regularly is the most active comprehensive campus for total UB transactions (borrowing and lending). UB has enabled Polk Library and all UW libraries to leverage their collections for the benefit of students and faculty across System.
On September 30, the UW System library directors established strategic directions for 2003 - 2005 to further move in the direction of “one system, one library.” Some of them are:
- Evaluate “one search” software, with the goal of purchasing this type of software for all System libraries. When implemented, this will allow library users to search both the catalog and selected online databases with just one search. More information will be available soon on this potential new service.
- Implement a new interlibrary loan system that would speed-up the ILL process and enable libraries to move toward providing rapid desktop delivery of journal articles. The implementation of this system is partially complete.
- Enhance the shared electronic collection of resources available to all UW campuses. Currently, some of the electronic databases that are available to campus are purchased through a cooperatively managed fund and available to all UW faculty and students. Other databases are purchased from Polk Library’s budget and available only to UW Oshkosh faculty and students. Since it is more cost effective to purchase electronic resources collectively, it makes sense to increase the money available in the shared electronic fund.
There are many serious issues facing universities in regard to information. UW libraries have a lack of money and shortage of staff. There is a "crisis in scholarly publishing" that restricts access to research literature in the name of excess profit over public good. Traditional models of library service are breaking down and new service models are being created. In the face of these challenges, the libraries in the UW System are honestly facing these issues, trying to explain them to their campuses and administrations, and developing ways to create “one system, one library” for the benefit of all students, faculty, staff and Wisconsin citizens.
Easier Access to Journals!
Sarah Neises
neises@uwosh.edu
Polk Library has recently enhanced your ability to find journals we own – either in print or electronically! For the past few years, Polk Library has paid for a service that provides us with an alphabetical list of our electronic journal holdings. This list tells users which full text vendor (e.g. Lexis Nexis, Ebsco Academic Search Elite, Wilson Business) provides the full text of articles from specific journals. This list was an easy way for users to determine which full text vendor they need to use to find full text from a specific journal.
The down side of this list in the past was that it did not also tell users if we maintain a print subscription for a journal. In order to find out if we own a journal in print, users would also have to either do a search in our online library catalog or look through one of the print periodical lists in the library.
Now, thanks to innovations from the company that maintains our list of electronic subscriptions, we are able to produce a single, searchable list that contains both full text journals and print journals. If you visit our main library website (http://www.uwosh.edu/library/), just click on the link that says “List of print & online journals”. After clicking on this link, you can do a few different kinds of searches:
- Title Begins With – Enter search words, and the search tool will retrieve all journals that start with the word(s) that you entered. Searching “aviation” will retrieve Aviation Daily, Aviation History, etc.
- Title Equals – This search will look for the exact title of a journal. For example, if you enter “aviation week” it will return the title Aviation Week, but not the title Aviation Week & Space Technology.
- Title Contains All the Words – This will do a keyword search within the title of journals. If you enter the word “aviation” here, you will find journals such as Aviation Week, as well as titles that don’t start with the word aviation, such as Naval Aviation News, Sports Aviation, etc.
- ISSN Equals – Here you can do a search by the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) for the journal. Either include the dash in the ISSN, or run all the numbers together (e.g. 1071-0663 or 10710663). If you leave a space between each set of 4 numbers, it will return zero results.
- Please Select a Subject Category – Use the drop-down menu to choose a broad subject heading such as Business and Economics. Click Search, and you will be shown some more specific subject divisions, such as Accounting, Hotels and Restaurants, Insurance, etc. Beside each subject heading is a number that indicates how many print and/or electronic journals are available in that topic. Just click on the subject heading to display the titles.
The searches will retrieve journals that we have in print and electronically. Note that our entire print journal holdings are in this list, including journals to which we have stopped subscribing. If you click on the links for "Polk Library Collection" holdings, you will see the dates when we started getting a journal, and if applicable, the date we stopped getting a journal. We hope that this new, improved search method will give you easier access to the print and electronic holdings of Polk Library!
International Trade Administration on the Web
Mike Watkins
watkins@uwosh.edu
The International Trade Administration (ITA), a sub-agency of the United States Department of Commerce, has developed a web site to assist users with international trade development, particularly exporting. The web site, found at http://www.ita.doc.gov/, provides basic information on exporting, including tariffs and taxes, trade statistics, and compliance with foreign trade regulations. Included on the site are links to other key government web sites including "Export.gov", "BuyUSA.com", "Trade Compliance Center", and "Market Access and Compliance". The site also provides access to United States trade statistics for imports and exports that are released on a monthly basis and provides links to the web pages of foreign governments that provide similar statistics. There are also links to the most recent releases of the popular series "Country Commercial Guides".
This site should be particularly useful for those planning to do business in foreign countries and also for students studying international business. Polk Library has established a link to this site on the Government Documents web page at http://www.uwosh.edu/library/depts/docs/gov.html under the topical heading “Government Business and Economic sites.”
Library Instruction - Timing is Everything
Marisa Finkey
finkey@uwosh.edu
When planning to bring your class in for library instruction, always remember: timing is everything. Schedule your session too early and your students may not remember what to do when they start their research. Too late and some of the services such as Interlibrary Loan and Universal Borrowing will not be useful due to time constraints.
A good rule is to bring your class in after you have introduced and discussed the assignment. At this point students should have an idea of what resources you expect them to use. For freshman classes, sessions can usually be scheduled closer to the due date, since they tend to use materials physically or electronically available at Polk. Upper level sessions can be scheduled earlier to allow students to obtain materials requested from other libraries.
If you have more than one assignment that will require library research, you may also want to consider a follow-up session later on in the semester. These act as a refresher for your students and a way to introduce any additional resources and materials that may be useful for the later assignment. Also, since follow-up sessions tend to allow for more hands-on time, it also gives students a chance to ask questions and get advice from the librarians about their research.
For more information on the Library Instruction Program at Polk Library, please contact Marisa Finkey, Library Instruction Coordinator, by phone at 424-3436 or email at finkey@uwosh.edu.
Wisconsin Document Depository Program Celebrates Centennial
Mike Watkins
watkins@uwosh.edu
This year marks the centennial of the Wisconsin Document Depository Program. The program's creation was described in Chapter 238, Laws of Wisconsin, 1903, Section 363 E:
“The secretary of said commission shall designate such libraries as depositories of state documents and shall from time to time prepare lists of such depositories for the use of the superintendent of public property. The state superintendent of public property is hereby directed to furnish each library which is designated as a depository of state documents one set of public documents as they are published, and also copies of such other reports and documents printed at the expense of the state, as may be of general interest and supplied to him in sufficient numbers to meet such a demand.”
The Wisconsin Document Depository Program currently distributes documents to forty-seven Wisconsin libraries and the Library of Congress. The program is administered by the Wisconsin Reference and Loan Library (Department of Public Instruction) in Madison. There are three tiers or distribution levels for documents: State Level Depository Libraries, Regional Depository Libraries, and Depository Libraries. The Government Documents Division of Polk Library is a Regional Depository. Materials received through the program are processed, cataloged and made available for check out to patrons of the library. As a Regional Depository library, Polk Library receives approximately two-thirds of the documents distributed. The program distributed 1,938 documents last year and 1,218 documents so far this year.
In order to commemorate the centennial, the Government Information Roundtable of the Wisconsin Library Association has distributed a centennial bookmark to libraries throughout the state. A program outlining the history of the Wisconsin Document Depository Program was presented on May 30 at Government Information Day at the Historical Society auditorium in Madison by Nancy Mulhern, the Chair of the Government Information Roundtable and Documents Librarian at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.
Librarians of the Living Dead
October 25, 2003, marked Forrest R. Polk Library's second annual UW Oshkosh Homecoming Parade entry. As this year's Homecoming theme was "Nightmare on Algoma", Polk Library staff put on their best zombie makeup and marched the parade as the "Librarians of the Living Dead". Much candy was thrown to the parade-goers, and a "ghoulish" time was had by all staff members involved.
Polk Library Staff Member Wins Star Award
Lin Schrottky, Interlibrary Loan, was recently presented with the October Star Award at UW Oshkosh. The Star Award is a monthly, campus-wide honor given to "recognize performance above and beyond the expectations of their position and responsibilities for classified staff, limited-term employees and project appointment employees".
In addition to providing excellent interlibrary loan service to students and faculty on the UW Oshkosh campus, Lin has been instrumental in organizing numerous public relations events for the library, including last April's "National Library Week" activities, the annual library informational table at the "Taste of UW Oshkosh", the "Murder Mystery" event for new students held in September, and annual displays and parade entries for the campus Homecoming festivities.
As a Star Award winner, Lin was presented with a framed certificate by the chancellor. She also received a reserved parking space for the month of October and a gift from the campus bookstore. Congratulations, Lin!
Teaching Ideas Collection Debuts in EMC
Stephen Katz
katz@uwosh.edu
The Educational Media Collection (EMC) has a new collection! The Teaching Ideas Collection is a collection of books that will provide lesson plan and unit plan ideas, classroom activities, teaching strategies, and other practical information for use in the classroom. The collection covers a wide range of subject areas including social studies, language arts, science, mathematics, art, music, drama, classroom management, special education, and early childhood education. Stop by the EMC on First Floor North and check it out - you can find the Teaching Ideas Collection across from the service desk, shelved in the same area as the K-12 Textbook collection.
Popular Authors in the Browsing Room
Amanda Swaw
Student Coordinator, Browsing Room
The Browsing Room collection covers a wide range of interests and is strong in novels written by award winning and best selling authors. The collection includes mysteries, romance, science fiction, horror, westerns, biographies, and many other non-fiction titles.
Some of the most popular authors featured in the Browsing Room include:
- John Grisham
- Mitch Albom
- Stephen King
- Nicholas Sparks
- J.K. Rowling
- Danielle Steel
- James Patterson
- Dave Pelzer
- Helen Fielding
Spotlight on Reference
Renee Sengele
sengele@uwosh.edu
Latin Names Explained: A Guide to the Scientific Classification of Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals Ref. QL 9 .G67 1996
For the taxonomically challenged, Latin Names Explained describes the origins and meanings of the scientific names of selected animals. Wondering how the family Viperidae (commonly known as vipers) got their name? The term is “possibly derived from vivus (L) alive, and pario (L) I bear, bring forth, i.e. ‘born alive’”. This refers to the fact that most vipers do not lay eggs, but rather the eggs hatch within the female’s body (p.155). In addition to Latin names, the text also explains scientific names with origins in Greek. The sections of the book are grouped by taxonomic families, and the index includes both scientific names and common names.
Staff Highlights
Michael Watkins, Government Documents Librarian, presented a program entitled “The Millennial Census” at the 2003 Wisconsin Library Association Conference in Milwaukee in October. The program included information on the history and background of the Census and outlined how to assist users in accessing information from the 2000 Census.
Joshua Ranger, University Archivist, recently attended the fall meeting of the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) in Dearborn, Michigan, where he was part of a panel discussion entitled “Adventures in the Digital World”. Ranger reported on the UW Digital Collection’s pilot project the “Belgian American Research Collection” and discussed the unique challenges endemic to putting full-length oral histories on-line. Ranger is the Public Information Officer for MAC, the largest regional archives organization in the country.
Paulette Feld, Technical Services, participated on a panel discussion at the 2003 Wisconsin Library Association Conference in October. The panel discussed the process and outcomes of the American Library Association’s Congress on Professional Education, Focus on Library Support Staff. The Congress was held at the College of DuPage last May and included representatives from libraries across the United States.
For the second year, Debra Duncan, Technical Services, hosted the "Coffeetalk for Librarians" session at the 2003 Wisconsin Library Association Conference in October. This session provides a forum for academic and public librarians to talk informally about the issues and trends facing Reference and Information Services departments today. Topics that were covered included: Internet filtering in public libraries; managing change during budget crises; the changing role of the reference librarian; the impact of distance education students on local libraries; and how patrons find information resources.
Polk Library News is a publication of Forrest R. Polk Library, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Renee Sengele, editor (sengele@uwosh.edu) 920-424-7331
Patrick Wilkinson, Director, Polk Library (wilkinso@uwosh.edu) 920-424-2147