Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2012
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University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn UConn Libraries Newsletter UConn Library Spring 5-2012 Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2012 Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/libr_news Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation "Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2012" (2012). UConn Libraries Newsletter. 54. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/libr_news/54 UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT YourLIBRARIES Information CONNection www.lib.uconn.edu Spring 2012 Historical Aerial Photos of Connecticut’s Coast Now Online Result of MAGIC and DEEP Collaboration In August 2011, Tropical Storm Irene coast, major waterways, and natural resources Long Island Sound Programs (OLISP) of took a hard swipe at Connecticut’s are much easier to understand now that his- the Connecticut Department of Energy and 350 miles of coastline, eroding dunes torical aerial photographs of the state’s coast Environmental Protection (DEEP). and redistributing sand to the extent covering the past 40 years are available online. Since 1974, OLISP has conducted aerial that the state’s coastline appeared to The new resource is the result of collaboration surveys of the state’s coastline approxi- be altered. The consequences of such between UConn Libraries Map and Geographic major weather events on Connecticut’s taken in color infrared, a format that pres- mately every five years. The photos are ents vegetation as shades of red and water Information Center (MAGIC) and the Office of in black, making it easier to identify natural Aerial views of Griswold resources and the demarcation between Point, Old Lyme, CT, water and land. They are widely used for a barrier beach at the site reviews and assessments that sup- mouth of the Connecticut port permitting and planning activities, to River, taken more than 25 years apart, are now 1974 2000 available online. define and delineate theContinued locations on of pagecoastal 7 WHAt’s InsIDE Information Easier and Quicker to Find with 2 The Vice Provost explores the Libraries’ New Search Capability inevitability of change and the With the largest public research collection in the state, the University Libraries’ innovative responses to it. of Connecticut Libraries is the campus community’s primary source 3 A documentary about veterans, produced by two students, features maps, sound and video recordings, musical scores, or an ever-growing for scholarly information, whether it be in books, journals, microfilm, the Waterbury Library. array of electronic resources, including e-journals, e-books, data- 4 Staff maintain a welcoming green bases, and streaming audio and video collections. University Libraries oasis in Homer Babbidge Library. 5 Archives & Special Collections resources they need more easily and quickly from this ever-increasing opens writer Michael Rumaker’s have introduced a new search tool that will enable users to find the Papers to researchers. universe of information. 6 An anthropologist contends ethno- The new tool is called a “web scale discovery service,” because it graphic methods will help libraries. enables users to quickly discover content from the Libraries’ held and hosted collections as well 7 Therapy dogs ease frayed nerves as remotely hosted content. Introduced in January, the initiative expands the Libraries’ single of students facing finals at Homer search box capabilities and consolidates what previously were multiple searches by functioning Babbidge Library in the popular as a library catalog, a journal locator, a database locator, and a large full-text article database. The Paws to Relax program. technology behind the new search tool is called Summon, and is provided by Serials Solutions, a 8 Library friend UConn Emeritus business unit of ProQuest. Professor of Art Roger Crossgrove celebrates his 90th birthday. “The goal in implementing Summon is to enable our users to discover relevant information on 9 Lisa Laplante named Interim Direc- any topic from the UConn Libraries collections and beyond more quickly and easily,” according to tor of the Dodd Research Center. Brinley Franklin, vice provost for University Libraries. “Summon provides a broader capability as 10 Anna Kijas, Music and Dramatic - Arts Librarian, is awarded a grant ing either scholarly journal and newspaper articles, books, videos, maps, manuscript collections, users begin their research, and then, if they wish, permits them to refine their search by target for a research project on Venezu- music scores, and more. From the search results, it’s one step to view the full text of electronic elan pianist and composer Teresa resources or to see if physical materials are available.” Carreño. Continued on page 6 F R O M T H E V I C E P R O V O S T Undergraduate Education from any UConn library collection that Another are then held for pick-up at the circulation Virtual Reference Service desk of their choice. Innovative In recognition of how contemporary students do their work, virtual reference Center for Research Library (CRL) Year Holdings service is now offered through phone, e- CRL’s five million largely international I understand that Heraclitus mail, text-messaging and chat service and newspapers, journals, dissertations, was a fifth century B.C. Greek philoso- surpasses in-person reference questions. pher who was known for his doctrine of archives, and government publications Improving Course Reserve Services change being central to the universe. supporting advanced research and teach- New software that facilitates faculty mem- Twenty-five hundred years later, the sci- ing in the humanities, sciences, and social bers’ ability to place digital materials on ence fiction writer Isaac Asimov reflected sciences were loaded as UConn holdings, reserve became fully operational for the that: making it easier for UConn faculty and start of the fall semester and the Librar- It is change, continuing change, students to discover and request them ies offered PowerPoint and video training inevitable change, that is the through interlibrary loan. modules for faculty. dominant factor in society today. No Collaborative Digital Projects UConn vPC sensible decision can be made any For the fifth consecutive year, the UConn The introduction of Virtual Personal Com- longer without taking into account not Libraries contributed 500,000 pages of puting (vPC), a collaboration between the only the world as it is, but the world unique digitized material in the public Libraries and the Schools of Business as it will be.... This, in turn, means domain to the Open Content Alliance. The and Engineering, now allows students to that our statesmen, our business- Libraries also joined the HathiTrust Digital connect from anywhere in the world to men, our everyman must take on a Library, offering more than 10 million software such as MS Office and SPSS science fictional way of thinking. digitized volumes. All of UConn’s digitized offered on library workstations. books are resident in the HathiTrust, pro- The University of Connecticut Librar- Stamford Learning Commons viding benefits to researchers worldwide. ies’ staff has learned to embrace change, Stamford dedicated its new Learning These are just some of the innovative and this academic year we were able to Commons in January, 2012. The campus improvements initiated by our talented initiate the following innovative learning microcomputer lab, Writing Center, and and hardworking staff this year. Their services and spaces in support of the the Source for Active Learning (tutoring) efforts were validated by a campus-wide University’s faculty and students. were relocated to the Library and a variety user survey in the spring of 2012 that of new learning spaces were created. reflected increases in overall user satis- faction for faculty, graduate students, and Graduate and Professional undergraduate students in comparison Education/Research, Scholarship to previous user studies. We know that VOLUME 18 NUMBER 1 and Creative Activity SPRING 2012 change is constant and we never stop re- Web-scale Discovery and Delivery sponding to it, and improving our services University of Connecticut Libraries The Libraries began to offer a single to users. is published twice a year to provide search box “Google-like” electronic current information about the discovery and delivery service in January, Libraries’ collections, services, and 2012 covering the full breadth of content activities. If you do not wish to receive available from the UConn Libraries as the newsletter, please contact Ann well as from sources worldwide. Galonska at ann.galonska@uconn. Purchase on Demand edu or 860-486-6882. When users place an interlibrary loan request for a book, they may now recom- mend online that we add the item to the Editor: Suzanne Zack Libraries’ collections and interlibrary loan Contributors: Melissa Watterworth staff determine if it is cost effective to pur- Batt, Susanna Cowan, Christopher chase the book rather than borrow it. Crossgrove, Jeremy Crossgrove, Enhanced Request Service The staff of Homer Babbidge Library participated Brinley Franklin, Shelley Goldstein, in national “Love Your Library” month in Febru- To make access to library materials ary by wearing bright pink T-shirts, emblazoned Kathy Labadorf, Jill Livingston, Jean owned by another UConn library easier with “Hugs from Homer.” For the event, students Nelson, Philip Poggiali, Laura Smith. for faculty and students, users can place were treated to sweets by staff members Kathy Labadorf and Gail Hill at the iDesk. an online request to have items