Library Newsletter - September 2010
Vol. 15, No. 1
- Word from the Director
- One Place to Look for Journals: RamCat and "360 MARC"
- Tutorials Update and a New Search Strategy
- Accessible Anywhere – New E-Books
- New Database Resources
- West Texas Collection Displays Feature Mexico
- Friends of the Library Present Fall 2010 Lee and Ricci Scholarships
- Two New Staff Members
- Porter Henderson Library Calendar: 2010-2011
Word from the Director
Maurice G. Fortin
Library Director
The 2010 Fall Semester is off to a rapid start. ASU has record enrollments and new programs, and changes to the campus profile continue with several ongoing and new construction projects. Beginning with Rambunctious Weekend, our new students are quickly adapting to life away from home and the college environment. The hot topics in the Library for the first few weeks seem to center around:
- Do you have my textbooks?
- Where are the scanners?
- Does it cost to print stuff?
- Is this the Third Floor?
- How do I get out of the Library?
- How do I get to the Basement?
- How do I put money on my ID card?
Then again, many of those questions are typical of any first few weeks here at ASU. Some of those new students went straight from their first class and began work on their homework. Miracles never cease!! It is always rewarding to help new students realize the wealth of reliable information available through the Library’s online resources and the great technology available in IT’s campus labs. Many of those students have the latest i[fill in the blank], palm/notebook computers, ebook readers, and/or some other device that past sci-fi shows depicted as only being available in the distant future. I can only imagine the strain on the local electric grid when all of the chargers get plugged in each night.
Now for the question on everyone’s mind: When will the construction end at the ASU Library? The answer is: That is a good question!! Hopefully, the construction process will end in time to schedule an opening of the Learning Commons and full access to the Library’s First Floor before the end of the fall semester or the beginning of the spring semester. If the construction process goes very late in the fall semester, it will prove very difficult to reopen the First Floor before the winter break. In order to reopen the First Floor and begin operation of the Learning Commons, it will be necessary to either close the Library for a period of a few days or reduce operating hours for about a week. Library and IT staff members will need time to move service points and resources from their temporary, construction locations to their new areas on the First Floor. They will also need time to learn to use some of the new technology. As it gets later in the semester, it will not be easy or acceptable to reduce hours or even close the Library for one, two, or more days. If you have comments or ideas on the best timing for opening the Learning Commons, please let me know (942-2222 or Maurice.Fortin@angelo.edu). Watch for further updates on the projected opening from the Facilities Planning & Construction Office and/or myself.
FY 10 was another very busy year for the Library. In future issues of the Newsletter, I will share some of the usage statistics for the period. As one example of the continued change in how students and faculty access information is the growing preference for digital information access. Through the end of July, the ASU community performed over 450,000 searches in the various database services available through the Library’s RamPort tab and retrieved/viewed/downloaded/printed/etc. over 1.4 million items. (The previous high mark for item retrieval was slightly less than 600,000 set in FY 08.) As of September 22, the Library provides access to 39,676 unique online journal titles. Thanks to the work of the Library’s new e-serials Librarian, Susan Elkins, access to all of these e-serial holdings is available through the Library’s online catalog (RamCat) or from the RamPort Library Tab. (For more information on this topic, see "One Place to Look for Journals" on page 3.)
As mentioned above, the major project for the previous academic year was the planning for and beginning of the remodeling project to create the Learning Commons on the Library’s First Floor. Preparing for and coping with the construction work required many hours of work and patience on the part of Library staff members and our users. If you missed seeing the feeding frenzy in December as the Library disposed of literally hundreds of outdated/worn-out pieces of furniture, desks, fixtures, and little odds and ends, you truly missed quite a scene. By the end of the day, there were only three pieces of furniture and a stack of cardboard boxes left. Within a week, those were gone as well.
The Library’s Materials Budget remained very healthy in comparison to our counterparts across the country. In FY 10, the Library spent over $1.1 million to acquire or provide access to informational resources in all formats. Before the end of the academic year, the Library spent some of the remaining Materials Budget funds to acquire new e-books, e-serials, and additional database resources to meet the needs of expanding online programs and especially for the start of the course offerings in the Center for Security Studies.
In FY 11, the first priority for the Library is to work with IT on the opening of the Learning Commons and plan/train for the new services and use of the new technology. The Learning Commons will feature a technology-rich environment while supporting group study and individual use of information resources. Since I now have 100 coffee mugs in my collection, I, for one, can hardly wait for the opening of the coffee bar/café in the Learning Commons.
Along with other units on campus, the Library will begin preparing for the SACS reaffirmation process and the development of the QEP. In either late spring or summer, the Library will conduct a review of the SACS core requirements and comprehensive standards to insure it meets or surpasses expectations for quality services, resources, and personnel.
Currently the Library has two vacancies. One of those vacancies is in Circulation and the other is in the Technical Services unit. Department heads in those areas are in the process of filling those positions. We look forward to having a full staff once again very soon.
Finally, in FY 11 Library staff members will be working with their counterparts from the other libraries in the Texas Tech University System to explore ways to share financial resources to make joint purchases of informational resources. The first such purchase will be the Elsevier database service ScienceDirect. After a meeting in Lubbock in July and evaluation of data from Elsevier/ScienceDirect, the Library has chosen to subscribe to the Freedom Collection from ScienceDirect, beginning in January 2011. (As a member of the TTU System, we are able to subscribe to this Collection at a significantly reduced rate.) The Collection consists of more than 2,000 Elsevier journals. (For a list of titles included in the Freedom Collection 2007-2011, see http://www.info.sciverse.com/techsupport/journals/freedomcoll.htm.) Many of these are also titles subscribed to by our system counterparts at the University Libraries and the Health Sciences Center Library, thus enhancing our access to journals in medicine, nursing, and other subject areas. The System libraries will continue to look for other areas of cooperation.
The future of an academic library remains strong provided it understands and is willing to adapt to the changing needs of its users. To be successful in the second decade of the twenty-first century, academic libraries must be flexible and explore new ways to provide access to information and services to a generation quickly being molded by technology and new ways of learning. I hope the ASU Library is and will continue to be adapting and flexible to meet those needs of the new generation of college students. Library staff members are striving to provide the ASU community with the best possible access to information resources (regardless of format) and services that meet their informational needs. I do want to hear from anyone on how we can provide the resources and services that meet the needs of the ASU community. In the spring, I hope the Library will be able to run another user satisfaction survey with students and possibly faculty members. In the meantime, please feel free to call, send emails, or stop by for a cup of coffee, and we can discuss improvements needed in the Library.
Elsewhere in this issue, you will find information on new online resources (both e-books and databases), changes in RamCat search and retrieval strategies, new displays at the West Texas Collection, two new staff members, and the two latest recipients of the Joe Bill Lee and Dr. Henry N. Ricci Scholarships from the Friends of the Porter Henderson Library and West Texas Collection.
One Place to Look for Journals:
RamCat and "360 MARC"
For several years the Library and our users have dealt with confusing and conflicting ways of discovering if we had access to journal titles online. Many of these online-accessible titles are through databases; others are through online subscriptions; still others are through consortial arrangements with publishers such as Elsevier and Wiley. What’s a person to do if they need to know what they have available to them?
The first place to look for all things we have in print is RamCat. In here you’ll find all of our current subscriptions as well as any cancelled or discontinued ones. We added a "Full-text journal locator" to the Library tab in RamPort—the channel otherwise known as "Fulltext Periodicals." The data in this locator was intended to show all of our current subscriptions as well as titles we have access to through the databases. The drawback to this approach is that titles which have been cancelled or are no longer "current" for some reason or another were not included. Keeping this information up-to-date with new subscriptions and deleting cancelled titles proved to be a very time-consuming endeavor, so we looked for an alternative, some way to have "all things serial" accessible in one place. Enter "360 MARC."
360 MARC is a service from Serials Solutions, the company who handles the link resolver (360 Link), those little icons you see in the databases that help you find full-text articles in another database, as well as the database which supplies the information you see in "Fulltext Periodicals." This new service provides bibliographic records for all of those journal titles you find in "Fulltext Periodicals." These records are then loaded into RamCat.
With the arrival of the new Librarian for Electronic Serials, Susan Elkins, this project began to take shape. She loaded the initial 36,000+ records in July and has processed two monthly updates. With these records in RamCat, users now only have to look in one place to find if we have a journal in print, current or otherwise, or have access to it through a database or as an online subscription.
As is usual when a new service of this magnitude is implemented, some "gothchas" appear that were not "on the radar." This is no exception. For example, we are addressing the issue of duplicate records when we have an online-only subscription, as well as access through a database or other service. (In cases like this you see two records for a title, both of which have "[electronic resource]" in the title.)
As 360 MARC is completely implemented and integrated into our workflow over the fall semester, plans are to remove the "Fulltext Periodicals" channel from the Library tab in RamPort next spring. This action will leave RamCat as the one place to search for all things related to journals, whether access is online or by the tried and true print format in paper or microform.
If you see anything in a RamCat record that you feel should be investigated, a broken link, for example, or have a question about these records, please contact Susan Elkins or Janetta Paschal.
In the following article, Reiley Noe, Reference/Government Information Librarian, explains how these new records can be used for your search and retrieval needs.
Tutorials Update and a New Search Strategy
Reiley Noe
Reference/Government Information Librarian
Over the summer, several changes were made to RamCat and the databases.
- The Library updated RamCat to a new version.
- Several database companies, including EBSCO, changed their interfaces. You’ll notice some changes to several popular databases, including Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, Biology and Agricultural Index, and CINAHL.
- We also added bibliographic records in RamCat for all of the journals which we have online access to. The links in these records will easily send you to databases that have the full-text versions of articles available online from a particular journal or magazine.
We have updated the library tutorials to reflect what users will now see when they are looking for a book or an article. While most of the changes to the catalog and databases were somewhat cosmetic, some will affect how users retrieve articles.
Two of the more significant changes are for: 1) Users who find an interesting article in a particular database that is not available online in that database, and 2) Users who are looking for an article they have found in a bibliography.
Finding the Full-text of an Article that is Online, but is only Available in Another Database
Probably the most significant change will be with how to search for articles. It’s not too uncommon for people searching a database to come across an article that looks very good, but is not available in full-text from that database. In the past we suggested that people search for the title of the journal in which the article appeared in the Full-text Journal Locator area – this was the far right area on the library area (a channel) of RamPort.
While the Full-text journal locator still works, we would like to suggest a more streamlined approach to finding the full-text in these situations.
Let’s say that you are searching in Academic Search Complete for the article in the next screenshot. Notice that there is no full-text for this article available here. If there were a full-text copy in this database, you’d see icons for the PDF or HTML version of the full-text near the yellow bubble.
Here’s how to find this article:
- Click on the 360 Link or Find Full-Text link.
- This will send you to this screen. It tells you which issues are available in full-text online in certain databases. If the article is available, you should find it in another database by clicking either on the Article or Journal link.
If no databases appear on the screen above, then go to RamCat and search for the journal in which the article appeared as a title (in this example, Depression and anxiety). The reason for doing this is that some electronic journals in certain databases currently aren’t configured to work well with Find Full-text or 360 Link.
You will see this screen next:
- If you found a magazine or journal title that is available online in some manner, it should have "[electronic resource]" in its title.
- If you were to click on the title, it will display information about the journal.
An online copy (from a record with [electronic resource] in the title) will have a line in the item record that includes a links area. (See below.)
Finding an Article in a Bibliography
In the past, we recommended using the Full-text journal locator to search for articles from a particular citation. There you would enter the journal’s name and it would tell you which databases have which issues of the journal available in full-text online. We also recommended that you look in RamCat to locate print versions.
Now, we suggest that users begin by searching RamCat for the journal by its title. This will let you know if an online version is available through RamCat (these would have [electronic resource] in the title), or if a print version is available in the library.
If you see a version of the journal or magazine with [electronic resource] in the title, click on the title. You will then see a record for the particular journal, which contains some basic bibliographic information.
Inside that record will be a Links area that will include a link that will send you to a page with more information on which databases have the journal in full text online.
Clicking on the link will send you to a list of all databases that have the full-text of this journal online. You’ll see this screen next.
If you have any questions, feel free to call the reference desk (942-2141), e-mail a reference librarian (reference@angelo.edu), or stop by the reference desk. If you would like to schedule an instructional session with a librarian to outline these changes to your class, please contact Mark Allan at mark.allan@angelo.edu
Accessible Anywhere – New E-Books
Keeping the ASU’s distance learners in mind, the Library purchased over two hundred new e-books that are available on both the ebrary and the NetLibrary platforms. The new titles were specifically chosen to support two of the University’s Programs of Distinction, Nursing and Education, along with various business subject categories. Some other titles identified as being relevant to the University’s curriculum were also purchased. While distance learners will find these titles particularly useful, they are available to all of ASU’s residential campus library patrons as well! However, please keep in mind that the majority of these e-books are only accessible by one or two people at a time.
On the other hand, the Library also acquired access to several new Reference titles that are available through the Gale Virtual Reference Library platform. Intended for "reference" use more than extended perusal, each of these works is accessible by unlimited users simultaneously. The titles have a literature and biography bias, although various social sciences and business resources are also represented. Some of these titles replace or are updated editions of print-format resources previously held in the Library’s Reference Collection. All titles in the Gale Virtual Reference Library may be searched both simultaneously as well as by individual work.
The Library has additionally subscribed to the Europa World Online resource, which provides detailed surveys of over 250 countries and territories. This continuously updated work replaces the Europa World Yearbook, a print reference collection staple. It may be accessed by multiple simultaneous users.
All new e-book titles acquired may be browsed at http://www.angelo.edu/services/library/newbooks/index.html. All individual e-book titles are linked from within RamCat, the Library’s online catalog.
New Database Resources
The Porter Henderson Library is proud to provide access to several new databases, covering subject areas as diverse as music, national security, and information technology.
Formerly available as a print index to the music literature, the Music Index is now solely available in an online format from EBSCO. This resource is a comprehensive guide to music periodicals and literature from 1952 to present.
Over the summer break the Library purchased a subscription to the Digital National Security Archive. The Archive contains the most comprehensive set of declassified government documents available, with 34 collections of over 80,000 primary source documents. This resource will not only be relevant to the new Center for Security Studies but also contains information pertinent to ASU’s History and Political Science programs. [The Archive is also a good companion to the Homeland Security Digital Library, from the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security, which has been available in RamPort for several years.]
Lastly, Information Technology purchased a subscription to the Gartner Research database which can be accessed by ASU students and faculty. This database provides in-depth analysis and market intelligence for the information technology industry. The Library is happy to facilitate access to this resource from within the Online Resources channel of its RamPort tab.
West Texas Collection Displays Feature Mexico
On September 14 the Friends of the ASU Library and West Texas Collection and the ASU Multicultural Center sponsored an event celebrating the culture of Mexico. During the week of September 14-17, the Mexican Consulate in Del Rio brought for display thirty-two costumes from Mexico, one for each of the country’s states.
The West Texas Collection provided Mexican photographs, posters, documents and artifacts to the San Angelo Fine Arts Museum for a display covering the Mexican Independence and Mexican Revolution. The display is available for viewing September 16 through October 24 at the Museum.
During the months of October and November, the WTC and the UCPC Arts Committee will host a national exhibit entitled "Viva la Revicion." Through money and medals, the display will tell the story of the Mexican Revolution. This display, which has toured throughout the United States, will be located in two areas: the UC Gallery on the first floor and the Tucker Center on the second floor of the UC.
Friends of the Library Present Fall 2010 Lee and Ricci Scholarships
Tuesday evening, September 14, during the annual meeting of the Friends of the Library and West Texas Collection, two Angelo State students were recognized with scholarships in the amount of $400 for the fall semester.
Kelsey Van Etten, student assistant in the Acquisitions unit, and Elizabeth McWhorter, a nursing major selected by the Nursing Department, were the Fall 2010 recipients of the Joe Bill Lee Scholarship and the Dr. Henry N. Ricci Memorial Scholarship, respectively.
Joe Bill Lee (pictured with Ms. Van Etten) was the university librarian from 1963 until his retirement in 1992. During his tenure, Mr. Lee oversaw the design and construction of the Porter Henderson Library. The Friends of the Porter Henderson Library and West Texas Collection has chosen to award a scholarship in Mr. Lee’s name as a way to honor him for his many accomplishments and his many years of service to ASU. 
The Joe Bill Lee scholarship recognizes outstanding work by a student assistant in the Porter Henderson Library or the West Texas Collection. It is awarded each fall and spring semester to a student nominated by a supervisor or other full-time library staff member for outstanding work performance and a service-oriented attitude. The recipient must have a grade point average of 2.5 or higher. The very first award was given in December 2003, and was for $250.
Dr. Henry N. Ricci, ophthalmologist and retired colonel, was a friend and ardent supporter of ASU. He made many contributions across campus, including donations to the Library. You were likely to see him at almost any ASU function. He died on Friday, August 5, 2005, at the age of 89. During the 2005-2006 academic year, the Friends of the Porter Henderson Library and West Texas Collection established the Dr. Henry Ricci Memorial Scholarship, in the Nursing Department, to honor this friend of the University. This scholarship is also awarded in both the fall and spring semesters. (Dr. Susan Wilkinson (right), Head of the Nursing Department, presents Ms. McWhorter the Ricci Scholarship.)
Two New Staff Members
The Library welcomed two new staff members this summer: Taylor Macklin, Library Assistant in Media, and Cindy Belden, Library Assistant in Government Documents.
Taylor, who met her husband while on a trip to Scotland, submitted her biography in the following manner:
"On June 1st, Taylor escaped the clutches of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to be the Library Assistant for Media. It was a treacherous journey, devoid of any frogs or princesses or swords stuck in stones, but she made it safe and sound and is quite happy down in the basement of the Porter Henderson Library. When Taylor is not working on shelving DVDs or rewinding VHS cassettes, she spends her time at Angelo Civic Theatre as a Stage Manager and Scenic Artist."
Taylor is also a verified cat lover and shares her pictures of Loki (left) with the editor on a regular basis.
Cindy, who spent a year prior to becoming a full-fledged member of the staff cataloging the older Congressional hearings in print (as a volunteer, no less), took a slightly different route to her position in the Library. She wrote:
"Libraries have always been an important part of my life. My parents introduced me to books at an early age by taking me to story time at the Midland County Library. Vacations were spent with me checking out the maximum number of books allowed. I read in the back seat while my mother would be trying to get me to look at the Rocky Mountains or the pronghorn antelopes as we drove. I loved libraries but had no desire to be a librarian because I never saw librarians reading. I couldn’t imagine being surrounded by all those books and not having time to read all of them. I attended Texas A&M University where I earned a BS in Agronomy, with an emphasis in soil chemistry, then pursued a master’s degree in Animal Science at ASU in the early 90’s.
"Well, here I am years later, a librarian. It is true that I am surrounded by books I don’t have time to read, but I still love the profession. I discovered my desire to pursue my MLS when I took the job as the Library Director of the Carnegie Library of Ballinger in 1995. While at the Carnegie, I did every job from cleaning toilets to reference and cataloging. I started work on my master’s degree at UNT in 2005 and finished in 2008. I began cataloging as a volunteer at ASU in 2008. School can only teach you so much and my advisor, Dr. Miksa, always told us that the only way to learn cataloging was to do it. I am grateful to Dr. Fortin, Shirley [Richardson] and Janetta [Paschal] for allowing me the chance to improve my cataloging skills. Reiley [Noe] and Mark [Allan] have been very supportive and instructive in other aspects of academic librarianship. I am happy to be here and hope to make a positive contribution to the library, and thus to the students and faculty who use the library."
Taylor and Cindy started work at the Library on the same day. They both work in the basement, now that Government Documents has moved downstairs. And they know each other from their Ballinger connections. Taylor grew up in Ballinger and is the same age as Cindy’s son Joey. Joey and Taylor’s brother were best friends. Joey and Taylor went to their high school prom together. Cindy’s husband, Matt, as the local veterinarian in Ballinger, took care of Taylor’s family’s dogs. And now they both work at the ASU Library.
"It’s a small world after all."
Porter Henderson Library Calendar: 2010-2011
[The current Calendar, and the one that will be kept up-to-date with changes as the construction progresses, can be found on the Library and WTC Hours of Operation web page.]
