Friday, September 28, 2007

wireless mouse & keyboard

The replacement keyboard and mouse Michael ordered have arrived and are standing by in the reference desk cabinet for some nice help desker to install.

UPDATE: It has been installed. The mouse will take a few hours to charge. If it's not working over the weekend, please alert the help desk.

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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Barnard Office Relocations

With the fall semester underway, we want to help everyone on campus to easily locate the offices and services that have been relocated during Nexus construction.

A full list of all campus relocations (including links to detailed maps) is available on the Nexus website at http://www.barnard.edu/nexus/logistics/relocations.html

A full list of student spaces during construction is available on the Nexus website at http://www.barnard.edu/nexus/logistics/studentspaces.html

Some highlights:
For ongoing information about the Nexus construction project, please visit the Nexus construction logistics page regularly: http://www.barnard.edu/nexus/logistics

Should you have any questions on construction progress or wish to register a concern, please contact Capital Planning office at x4-0250.

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Geology Library Reading Room

The Columbia University Geology Library reading room underwent a major renovation project this summer and re-opens today, Monday September 24th.

Renovation highlights include: a totally redesigned space, new furniture, study carrels, wireless access, and more! Geology Library has also expanded its hours to include Saturday hours.

Please come and visit us in our newly redesigned/renovated space!

For additional information or for reference assistance please email the Geology/Geoscience Librarian, Amanda Bielskas

Friday, September 21, 2007

archives books

Dear colleagues:

Just wanted to beg everyone to remember that, as we all agreed and subsequently recorded in the reference manual, whichever one of us is sitting at the reference desk is responsible for paging Overbury and other rare books. Yesterday a researcher was sent to the Archives for one; Astrid Cravens had to stop what she was doing to page it.

As also agreed and stated in the past, we will be glad to re-shelve rare books that live in the Archives, if they are left in my box.

Thank you very much,
Donald

Staff Newsletter, Inside CUL, Launches as a Blog

Columbia University Information Services & University Libraries NEWS

We are thrilled to announce the debut of Inside CUL.

Inside CUL
a bi-monthly staff newsletter for the Columbia Libraries community about promotions, new hires, and retires, conference participation and presentations, staff achievements, gifts and grants, renovation updates, events, and any new developments with staff in general. The first issue of Inside CUL can be found at http://tidings.cul.columbia.edu/inside-cul/.

Save the Date
for the Launch Party for Inside CUL

When: October 11, 2007, 4:00-5:00 PM
Where: 523 Butler
What: Come enjoy refreshments and learn more about the newsletter by and for Columbia Libraries staff!


Excerpt from the Editorial Mission:

Inside CUL is electronically published six times per year in January, March, May, July, September, and November.

Inside CUL provides bi-monthly communication to all staff about promotions, new hires, and retires; conference participation and presentations; staff recognition announcements; gifts and grants; renovation updates, events; and new developments with staff in general.

Inside CUL is managed by an editor (Laura Kenna - Communications Coordinator) who works with a group of core contributors. The core contributors consist of one representative from the following groups:

The Editor of Inside CUL manages the production of the newsletter. The Editor is responsible for proofreading and checking the content of the newsletter, and publishing the articles electronically.

EXPECTATIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS

We look forward to seeing you at this event!


--
Laura M. Kenna
Communications Coordinator
University Libraries and Information Services
Room 207 Butler Library, Columbia University

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Suggestion Book

Per discussion held in staff and reference meetings, we are at long last implementing the suggestion book that Lois suggested last spring, having seen something like it used successfully at Swarthmore.

It is stored next to the reference desk, where the suggestion box used to be (The box is now in the ref desk cabinet.) with a sign indicating its purpose.

All librarians are welcome to respond to comments, but are not obliged to do so. Jenna will take primary responsibility for that.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Times Select 2007-2007

Dear TimesSelect Subscriber,

We are ending TimesSelect, effective today.

The Times's Op-Ed and news columns are now available to everyone free of charge, along with Times File and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archive is now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.

Why the change?

Since we launched TimesSelect [about 5 months ago--Ed.], the Web has evolved into an increasingly open environment. Readers find more news in a greater number of places and interact with it in more meaningful ways. This decision enhances the free flow of New York Times reporting and analysis around the world. It will enable everyone, everywhere to read our news and opinion - as well as to share it, link to it and comment on it.

We thank you for your support of TimesSelect, and hope you continue to enjoy The New York Times in all its electronic and print forms.

For more information, including answers to frequently asked questions, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/marketing/ts

To contact Customer Service, please send an e-mail to ordercs@nytimes.com.

Sincerely,

Vivian Schiller
Senior Vice President & General Manager NYTimes.com

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Bunch of New E-Resources

AAPG Datapages
This is the combined search-and-retrieval website for AAPG publications and related collections. Includes full-text and abstracts.

Blackwell Reference Online
Provides full-text access to reference works in the humanities, social sciences, and business and management. It supports browsing and full-text searching.

Brill's New Pauly
The New Pauly is intended as an aid for the study of Greek and Roman culture and its multifaceted presence in all periods of European and, since the Early Modern period, world history.

Fieser and Fieser's Reagents for Organic Synthesis
Online version of the standard reference work describing reagents of use to organic chemists.

Historical New York Tribune
The New York Tribune (1900-1910) offers full page and article images with searchable full text. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

Proquest Historical Annual Reports
Database offers corporate annual reports for U.S. companies from 1884 to the present. Key data (financial, Fortune 500 ranking, industry classification, key people, geographic location, auditor, and related companies) are indexed in the citation and can be searched. Reports can be browsed by company name, industry or date. Cross-searchable to other historical periodical databases.

RSC eBook Collection
The RSC eBook Collection is a comprehensive overview of research and opinion in a multitude of areas of chemical science. Continually updated and expanded throughout the year the RSC eBook Collection provides access to new content as it is published and continuous access to the full RSC catalogue of books. The eBook Collection is fully searchable and indexed to chapter level, with all documents provided as pdfs.

Scopus
Provides indexing, abstracting of and citation linking to journals in science, technology, and medicine.

Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals
The vast majority of articles written for Victorian periodicals were published anonymously, or under pseudonyms. The Wellesley Index identifies the authors of articles within major Victorian periodicals, and provides a bibliography for each contributor. 45 important monthly and quarterly titles are included, covering the period from the beginning of the Westminster Review in 1824 to the end of the century.

Friday, September 14, 2007

pdf + CourseWorks + printer = fail

In order to more successfully print CourseWorks embedded pdfs and the like, advise students to "print as image":
  1. Open the PDF file in Acrobat [or another, less annoying pdf reader--Ed.].
  2. Choose File > Print.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. Select Print As Image near the top of the dialog box.
  5. Click OK, and then click OK again to print.
This works on the reference machines. I don't know if it works on the ref desk computer, as currently Adobe Acrobat is hanging up. (Working on it, or will install my preferred reader, FoxIt.)

An alternative (but don't confuse people by giving them more than one option; this is for you to choose and communicate) is to have patrons save CourseWorks items to the desktop and printing them from there.

PS When equipment fails, in addition to putting an out of order sign on it, please notify the help desk and also let the reference librarians know that you did so. Otherwise help is likely to get 0 calls or 4.

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naming research guides

use the section key but ignore 20073 and move the X in front of the course number
e.g. A course with the section key 20073POLS3761X004 would have the filename POLSX3761004.html.

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Lois's hours, fall 2007

M 2-6
T 9-12, 2-6
W 9-5
R 9-12
F 10-6
Su 2-10

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Monday, September 10, 2007

Julie's new job

(This is about Julie, who covered the desk on Sundays during Lois's sabbatical.)

I am pleased to announce that as of today Julie Tozer has assumed the position of Project Archivist on our 5-month grant to process photographs, papers, and drawings of Charles Platt. Julie has just graduated with her MLS from Queens College on September 1st. She may be reached at x4-4380.

We hope to hire Julie's successor as the Drawings Assistant very soon, but in the meantime, please send to me any requests normally directed to Julie.

Thanks.

Janet Parks
Curator of Drawings and Archives
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

Reception at Lehman

You are cordially invited to attend a reception in celebration of our newly renovated spaces in Lehman Library. University Librarian Jim Neal will make welcoming remarks.

Friday, September 21
3:30pm-5:30pm
West Reading Room
Lehman Library

This event also marks the opening of the exhibit "Cambodia Witness: Murder by Government 1975-79", which consists of photos from the archives of Amnesty International USA, from the collections of the Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research at CUL. The exhibit will remain on display in the West Reading Room, Lehman Library, through the end of October.

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