Library Newsletter - December 2007
Vol. 12, No. 2
- Word from the Director
- TexShare Participation Summary Report, November 2007
- Road Trip Report, Texas Tech University
- Library Newsletter Options: Email, News Feeds, or Status Quo
- "Francisco 'Pancho' Villa and the Battle of Ojinaga" Exhibit: Friends of the Library's Annual Meeting
- Revenge of the Red Raiders Author Presents Copies to ASU and Tech
- Excellence in West Texas History Post-Doctoral Fellowship
- Interlibrary Loan Over the Holidays
- World War II Exhibit
- "Best Sellers" in the Library - Fall 2007
Word from the Director
Maurice G. Fortin, Library Director
I hope everyone enjoyed the brief appearance of snow, which put me in a mood for the holidays. I would imagine, just like your students, you are looking forward to the end of the semester and the holiday break with all the bowl games, good eating, and cheer.
Please remember the Library has a collection of "Best Sellers" for holiday reading. The collection is located on the Second Floor just above the front entrance. (A list of new best sellers added this fall can be found on the last page.) This area also contains the "New Books" collection as well. Generally, the Library places new books in this area for about a month before they migrate to their designated call number locations.
Be sure to look for the new Quiet Study Room and Student Art Gallery on the east side of the Second Floor. The Library will host rotating exhibits from the Art and Music Department’s students and faculty members. Currently, an exhibit entitled "A4 Show" presents the work of four graduating seniors: sculpture major, Ruben Arispe, Jr., painting/drawing major, Healther Pokrant, and graphic design majors, Fallon Walker and Jenise Grottis. The exhibit opened November 30 and will remain through the holidays. Everyone is invited to stop by and view the students’ work.
Suzanne Campbell and the West Texas Collection staff have been very busy this semester. This issue of the Newsletter contains several items about the exhibits and activities they have been involved in, including the annual Friends of the Porter Henderson Library and West Texas Collection meeting, the "World War II" exhibit, and the Excellence in West Texas History Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
Five members of the Library staff traveled to Lubbock on November 27 to visit staff at the Texas Tech University Library. ASU faculty should be interested in some of the information they presented on their return to San Angelo. You can read their "Road Trip Report" on page 2.
This issue also includes some statistical information on the Library’s TexShare participation and a look at the options being investigated for the Library Newsletter’s future. We invite you to let us know about any suggestions and comments you may have about the Newsletter’s format and distribution.
TexShare Participation Summary Report,
November 2007Road Trip Report, Texas Tech University
The Texas Tech University Libraries (TTUL) have a new 3D Animation Computer Lab which is "open use." (Reservations are required.) Angelo State University faculty would be welcome to utilize this facility. Associate Dean, Robert Sweet, invites ASU faculty members to call him at 806-742-2238 and schedule a time to come to Lubbock to discuss the possibilities of 3D animation for their courses, research, or presentations. (Read the Lab's Mission Statement below.)
Currently in the Lab there are eight very robust stations, running both Mac OSX and Windows, and hosting 23 different programs. Funding is in place to double the size of the facility within the next five to seven months. A search is also under way to hire two professional animators. More information about the 3D Animation Lab can be found on the TTUL web site at http://www.library.ttu.edu/3dlab/.
TTUL has provided the ASU Library with an Excel report showing which online databases each institution subscribes to, and clearly showing overlap, or where one library has a subscription that the other library does not carry. The workbook also contains information on the various ejournal and database subscription packages for both universities. This file is now available on the R drive for interested faculty to review. Go to R:\Library\TTU_Angelo.xls.
The TTU Libraries' administration has expressed interest in partnering with the ASU Library in any way that is financially advantageous to us, and we will be exploring those options in the coming months. Possible areas that will be studied include Interlibrary Loan and access to additional databases.
"The 3D Animation Lab is a learning and resource center for 3D art, animation, graphics, modeling and rendering. It places a wealth of educational offerings into an environment which encourages collaborative learning, individual study, creativity and research. The Lab reaches to all sides of the Texas Tech University campus and provides a center where imagination and inquiry work together."
(Mission Statement of the 3D Animation Lab, http://www.library.ttu.edu/3dlab/learn.htm#_mission_stmt)
Library Newsletter Options:
Email, News Feeds, or Status Quo
Over a decade ago, the Library started a newsletter to keep faculty apprised of happenings and new services. Appropriately named Faculty Newsletter, this initial incarnation appeared monthly, each fall and spring, in paper, in faculty and staff mail boxes. Changes began to happen in August 2004 when the Faculty Newsletter became the Library Newsletter with the first issue of volume 9. Because an online newsletter is available to a wider audience and costs less than printing, the Library Newsletter's distribution changed from paper to online-only. To have a printer-friendly version available, however, a PDF version is still produced, in addition to the HTML version.
During the summer of 2007, the current newsletter editor suggested that the Library might want to re-visit the publication and distribution of the Newsletter. She put forth the following options for consideration:
- Produce a separate publication, Guide to Library Services, unrelated to the Library Newsletter. Much of the information in this "Guide" every August has not changed for a number of years. The Library could produce this in a smaller format booklet every few years instead of repeating the same information in the first issue of the Newsletter, year after year.
- Follow the lead of a few other offices on campus and use an "email newsletter" format.
- Investigate the possibility of distributing the Newsletter via an RSS feed – a "news feed"– instead of an "Everyone" e-mail message announcement.
- Produce fewer issues of the Newsletter. Between issues, distribute news such as new or trial databases, new government publications of current interest, displays, etc. using a "news feed" and other options.
- Use a combination of several of these options.
- Continue the status quo.
We have already begun a test of option 4 above. This academic year we are producing only three issues, instead of the usual six.
An email newsletter (option 2) is a good way to stay in touch with the university community. An email arrives from the Library on a semi-regular basis. If people aren't busy it is a welcome diversion and, if they are busy, they will read it later or delete it. Most of us already receive at least one of these each month in our email boxes: Your ASU Link, from the Office of University Relations and Development.
In an email newsletter, readers are presented with information that's laid out like a web page, in a way that's more visually appealing, and much easier to scan and navigate, than plain text email.
Many people who receive email prefer HTML over text for a number of reasons. For programmers, though, the task of creating an HTML email that will display consistently appears both simple and horribly complex.
When researchers asked users why they liked email newsletters, more than one-third highlighted the following three benefits:
- Email newsletters are informative and keep users up-to-date (mentioned by two-thirds of the users).
- Email newsletters are convenient and are delivered straight to the user's information central; they then require no further action beyond a simple click.
- Email newsletters have timely information and real-time delivery.
Comparing email newsletters with other media, one user said: "Bottom line, I'd rather have it in an email newsletter than in the regular mail. I can click Delete if I don’t want it; I don't have to throw anything away ..."
If you read "RSS feed" in option 3 and wondered what that meant, here is a very short explanation. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary (of course, the acronym can be explained in many other creative ways), and it allows 
you to "syndicate" news summaries from web sites. You may have noticed this orange-colored icon (image on the left) on many of the news web sites, as well as others. You can use these syndicated RSS "feeds" to display the latest news from major newspapers, for example, on your own web site or read them on other sites collecting these feeds.
However, someone had this to say about using RSS: "The first, and strongest, guideline about news feeds is to stop calling them RSS … 82% of users had no idea what this term referred to."
What is relevant about news feeds to newsletters is that you can also display them on your desktop and use them like email newsletters. There are special programs and web-based services called "RSS feed readers" or "RSS aggregators" that, given the URL of an RSS feed will fetch the latest headlines periodically and let you read them comfortably and efficiently (avoiding the information glut so common today). The image to the left is the Open CRS news feed from the Free Government Information web site's aggregated news feed. (This one lists only the headlines, but other feeds might include part of the first paragraph, for instance, or all of a story, depending on its length.)
The best thing about RSS is that if you subscribe to a news feed, you only get what you want. If you tell the feed reader to stop collecting a site's feed, it will stop.
In some studies, users exhibit mixed feelings about news feeds. Some like scanning a list of headlines without seeing any content that they didn't request. Another benefit some users appreciated was the ability to determine when they would view their news items. This is in contrast with newsletter arrival times, which users can't control.
However, if you are one of those many users who subscribed to a Yahoo or CNN or other news feed, but now no longer look at the headlines, you are not alone. People who are already suffering from information overload resent having to go to yet another source of information.
Another consideration is the use of, or the non-use of, news feeds on the ASU web site. A quick (and, admittedly, dirty) search of the site did not uncover any other department, school, or office using this method of "distributing" news to the university community. Is it a sign that the time for the use of this method has not, yet, arrived on this campus – or that the time has come … and gone?
If you have any strong feelings one way or the other about the Library Newsletter – number of issues, length of issues, format, types of information presented, method of distribution, or method of announcing a new issue’s availability – please contact Maurice Fortin at 942-2222 or Maurice.Fortin@angelo.edu.
"Francisco 'Pancho' Villa and the Battle of Ojinaga" Exhibit:
Friends of the Library's Annual Meeting
The Friends of the Library started the semester with a bang hosting approximately 125 people for their annual meeting and the opening of the exhibit, "Francisco 'Pancho' Villa and the Battle of Ojinaga." Along with handling the regular business of electing new board members and saying fond farewells to members rotating off the board, the Friends showed their support for the ASU student body.
The board recognized the recipients of the Joe Bill Lee and Dr. Henry Ricci Scholarships, funded each semester by the Friends. The Joe Bill Lee Scholarship, awarded to Maria LaVoy, student assistant at the West Texas Collection, goes to a Library or West Texas Collection student assistant who has shown outstanding commitment to his or her work responsibilities, as well as studies. B.J. Mayer, President of the Friends, Joe Bill Lee and Mark Allan presented the certificate. The Dr. Henry Ricci Scholarship, awarded to Karen Yerger, was set up to assist a deserving nursing student recommended by the Department of Nursing. Martha Tafoya assisted Mayer with the presentation of the certificate.
Following the short board meeting, the attendees were treated to a presentation by John Klingemann, Latin Americanist from the Department of History, as an introduction to the display. Klingemann spoke on the social conditions that were prevalent in Mexico during the revolutionary period of 1910-1920 as well as giving background information concerning the development of the traveling portion of the display that is on loan from Sul Ross State University and the Museum of the Big Bend. The exhibit, he reported, has traveled extensively in the U.S. and Mexico as well as abroad. Most recently, it appeared as a part of a larger exhibit at the National Museum of Australia.
The exhibit attracted attention from the campus and Concho Valley communities as well as across the state. Distinguished guests included Dr. Joseph C. Rallo, President of Angelo State University, the Honorable Ricardo Ahuja, Mexican Consul serving in Del Rio, and his Deputy Consul, Inés Maxaira Baltazar Gutiérrez.
[Photographs by Shannon Sturm.]
Scholarship Recipients and Distinguished Guests at the Friends Annual Meeting
Joe Bill Lee Scholarship recipient, Maria LaVoy, and Joe Bill Lee, former director of the Porter Henderson Library.
Martha Tafoya (l), Professional Specialist, Nursing, and Karen Yerger, the Dr. Henry Ricci Scholarship recipient.
John Klingemann, Latin Americanist, History, speaker.
The Honorable Ricardo Ahuja, Consul of Mexico.
Dr. Joseph Rallo, ASU president.
Revenge of the Red Raiders Author Presents Copies to ASU and Tech
On Family Day, Saturday September 29, Leroy Olsak presented copies of his book, Revenge of the Red Raiders, to Chancellor Kent Hance for the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech and to Dr. Joseph Rallo for the West Texas Collection at Angelo State University.
Mr. Olsak, who served as a B-24 bomber pilot in World War II, attended San Angelo College in 1941 and then went on to Texas Tech to finish his bachelor's degree. World War II interrupted his college and he flew 20 combat missions in the South Pacific with the Fifth Air Force in a bomber group known as the Red Raiders. After the War he returned to Texas Tech to complete his bachelor's degree in 1947.
Author Leroy Olsak presents a copy of his book, Revenge of the Red Raiders, to ASU President, Dr. Joseph Rallo. (Photo by Danny Meyer.)
Excellence in West Texas History Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Suzanne Campbell is working with six other universities in West Texas on the Excellence in West Texas History Post-Doctoral Fellowship. One fellowship has been funded and the institutions are working to secure funding for a second one. They hope to have the first fellowships awarded in the spring of 2009.
She is also contacting libraries, archives and museums in West Texas to produce a survey to locate research sources for use by the Fellows, as well as the general public. This is a pilot program for the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board (THRAB) in Austin. THRAB will survey the rest of the state once the pilot project is completed.
Interlibrary Loan Over the Holidays
Because of the upcoming Christmas break period, the Library's Interlibrary Loan Unit will stop processing any submissions for new interlibrary loans via any method (including RamCat, database, and web forms) from December 14, 2007, through January 1, 2008. Any submission dated OR received during this time period will not be processed until the Library reopens on January 2, 2008. However, submissions made prior to December 14th will be received and processed in the normal course of business before the Library closes for the holidays beginning December 21st, and will resume upon the Library reopening on January 2nd. The Library appreciates your patience and understanding.
World War II Exhibit
The West Texas Collection (WTC), Angelo State University’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 847, and the Robert G. Carr Squadron of the Arnold Air Society are working together to honor the men and women from San Angelo College (SAC) and the San Angelo area who served in World War II.
The new exhibit at the WTC, "World War II," opened Friday, November 9, following the annual Flag Retreat and Candlelight Vigil Ceremony held in the Memorial Oak Grove. The Oak Grove honors 29 men from SAC who died in the war. A new live oak tree has been planted in the Grove, in memory of San Angelo College (SAC) World War II veteran Jay Arthur Ryan, inadvertently omitted from the list of men from SAC who died in the war. At the Flag Retreat, Roger Dolliver represented the local Kiwanis Club, which helped fund the original purchase of trees and construction of the monument in 1949.
An Army first lieutenant, Ryan died as a prisoner of war on a Japanese transport bombed by Allied planes in Manila Bay on December 13, 1944. His fate was unknown to SAC students and the supporters of Memorial Oak Grove when the trees were planted and the monument was originally dedicated on Armistice Day in 1949. The WTC research staff uncovered Lt. Ryan's story, then worked with the ASU ROTC detachment to honor the former student and gold star veteran. Ryan's name will be added to the monument in Memorial Oak Grove, joining those of his fellow classmates who died in service to their country during World War II.
The exhibit honoring Ryan and the 29 other SAC fatalities of World War II, also features a look at SAC and West Texas during the war years. Using of a variety of photographs, documents, letters and artifacts from the WTC's holdings as well as from the collections of several local families, the exhibit provides vignettes of how World War II touched the lives of all West Texans.
"World War II" is available for viewing at the WTC in the University Center, 2nd Floor, through January 31, 2008. Collection hours are weekdays (Monday-Wednesday and Friday), 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. For more information, contact the WTC at (325) 942-2164.
(Information from the Office of Communications and Marketing's November 5 news release, "Saving Lieutenant Ryan's World War II Memory at ASU," http://www.angelo.edu/services/communications_marketing/07nov/11-05b-07.html.)
"Best Sellers" in the Library - Fall 2007
BD431 .F875 2007 -- What on earth have I done? Stories, observations, and affirmations / Robert Fulghum.
BR1725.D738 A3 2007 -- Quiet strength: a memoir / Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker.
BX4406.5.Z8 T46 2007 -- Mother Teresa: come be my light: the private writings of the "Saint of Calcutta" / edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk.
D763.I8 A85 2007 -- Day of battle: the war in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 / Rick Atkinson.
D769 .W345 2007 -- War: an intimate history, 1941-1945 / by Geoffrey C. Ward ; with an introduction by Ken Burns.
DS79.76 .B4465 2007 -- House to house: an epic memoir of war / David Bellavia with John R. Bruning.
DS919 .H35 2007 -- Coldest winter: America and the Korean War / David Halberstam.
E902 .D73 2007 -- Dead certain: the presidency of George W. Bush / Robert Draper.
HB119.G74 A3 2007 -- Age of turbulence: adventures in a new world / Alan Greenspan.
HN18 .C477 2007 -- Giving: how each of us can change the world / Bill Clinton.
HV6252 .F37 2007 -- Merchant of death: money, guns, planes, and the man who makes war possible / Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun.
HV6568.D87 T39 2007 -- Until proven innocent: political correctness and the shameful injustices of the Duke lacrosse rape case / Stuart Taylor, Jr. and K.C. Johnson.
JK468.I6 W54 2007 -- Fair game / Valerie Plame Wilson ; with an afterword by Laura Rozen.
KF8745.T48 A3 2007 -- My grandfather's son: a memoir / Clarence Thomas.
KF8748 .T66 2007-- Nine: inside the secret world of the Supreme Court / Jeffrey Toobin.
PN1992.77.C58 I26 2007 -- I am America (and so can you!) / written and edited by Stephen Colbert.
PR6056.O45 W67 2007 -- World without end / Ken Follett.
PS3552.R6596 E48 2007 -- Elves of Cintra / Terry Brooks.
PS3552.R718 P55 2007 -- Play dirty / Sandra Brown.
PS3557.R5355 P56 2007 -- Playing for pizza / John Grisham.
PS3562.I51175 D47 2007 -- Dexter in the dark: a novel / Jeff Lindsay.
PS3566.A822 Y56 2007 -- You've been warned: a novel / by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.
PS3568.E476345 B66 2007 -- Bones to ashes / Kathy Reichs.
PS3569.A516 D37 2007 -- Dark of the moon / John Sandford.
PS3573.O642 S55 2007 -- Shoot him if he runs / Stuart Woods.
RJ506.A9 M4253 2007 -- Louder than words: a mother's journey in healing autism / Jenny McCarthy.
"… And, finally, the question with ongoing relevance: 'What will I think of next?' is a way of asking if my mind is a stagnant cesspool of worn-out notions or if I am mentally active – still replacing archaic information with fresh and better ideas? Am I still thinking – still asking – still learning?" – What on Earth Have I Done?, p. 3-4.