Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin!

Today is Darwin Day - and you can celebrate his 199th birthday. We have a small display of books at the front of the library that you are welcome to check out - and even more in the stacks.

Extra Credit

There are still a few seats open in the spring term .5 credit class, Information Fluency. This course is designed to give students who are thinking about going on to graduate or professional school (or who simply want to know more about research) an immersion in the literature of their chosen field, exposure to research tools, and an opportunity to explore where information comes from and how it can be found and used. We also will have a chance to think about information and society - tackling issues relating to ethics, policy, and culture.

The course meets Mondays from 2:30 to 4:20; if that doesn't fit with your other courses, it can also be taken by arrangement.

Read What You Love (1-28-08)

Ever find an author you love and want to read more by him or her? Ever put down a book and wish you could find more just like it? Ever wish you could easily find books that are perfect for you?

Now you can! The library is pleased to announce the debut of two new services to help you explore the world of fiction in amazing detail. They’re almost as much fun as reading itself!

NoveList

This amazing database contains a wealth of information about fiction for all ages. Search for your favorite author or title, then click Find Similar Books to explore a range of related titles. NoveList also contains reviews, book discussion guides, recommended reading, author read-alike lists, and award winners. Access NoveList from the Databases drop-down menu on the library’s homepage.

Fiction Connection

This wonderful not-so-new resource is provided through Books in Print. Search for your favorite books to explore similar titles. Fiction Connection also lets you easily search by genre, time period, character type, and setting. Our favorite setting option so far is “Human Colony Planet.” Fiction Connection also has a fantastic visual search option. Check it out for yourself! Access Books in Print from the Databases drop-down menu on the library’s homepage. Click Fiction Connection in the far right column.

Once you find books, search the MnPALS catalog to see if we own them or request titles via ILL and have them shipped directly to our library.

You can’t escape great fiction! Then again, why would you want to? Happy Reading!

Read for Fun! (12-14-07)

As the semester winds down, we can finally think ahead to break. What better way to spend break than reading for fun? In the spirit of the holidays, the library has permanently extended the loan period for all Browsing Collection books. You can now check Browsing Collection books out for 4 weeks (with an additional 4 week renewal). Plenty of time to take something fun home! The Browsing Collection is located on the main floor of the Library (near the newspapers) and contains popular fiction and nonfiction titles. Stop by and check it out today!

Spring Course Offered

Once again, the library will offer a .5 credit course, NDL 301: Information Fluency, during the spring semester. It is intended for students who plan to go on to graduate programs, or who simply want to become more conversant with research and publishing. The course covers where information comes from and how to find and use it, comparing research traditions of different disciplines and exploring future developments. Last year's syllabus provides a general idea of what's involved, though there will be some changes.

It meets Monday afternoon from 2:30 -4:20, but if an interested student has a schedule conflict the course may be taken by arrangement.

New resources for religion

With the library's migration of ATLA and ATLA Serials from CSA to EBSCOHost, three new religion databases are now available to our users.

The Old Testament Abstracts features citations and abstracts to books, journal articles, multi-author works, and software related to Old Testament studies. Indexing includes 450 journal titles and goes back to 1978.

The New Testament Abstracts contains more than 38,000 article abstracts, 1,200 review abstracts, 13,500 book abstracts, and 50 software abstracts going back to 1985.

The Catholic Periodical Literature Index covers all aspects of the Catholic faith and lifestyle, and includes over 380,000 citations to articles and reviews published in Roman Catholic periodicals, Papal documents, church promulgations, and books.

We hope you enjoy access to these important resources in the field of religion!

U of M joins Google Book Search

This just in from the University of Minnesota...

We write today to share news of an exciting new partnership in which the University of Minnesota is involved. The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) has entered into a collective agreement with Google to scan and make searchable up to 10 million public domain and in-copyright volumes from CIC libraries in a way that is consistent with copyright law. In partnering with Google in its Google Books Library Project, the CIC will join 15 other participating universities, including Harvard, Michigan, California, Oxford, Princeton, and Texas. The University of Minnesota plans to provide up to one million volumes from our University Libraries collections to the digitization effort.

The CIC is an academic consortium of 12 leading Midwest research universities: University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This project offers tremendous potential for the CIC, the broader scholarly community, and a worldwide public. Digitization facilitates  unprecedented access to these collections. With the ability to search text within volumes, research not previously possible will be enabled. Public domain works will be displayed fully; a search of in-copyright titles
will result in a small amount of text with mechanisms to purchase or secure a copy within a library. The CIC agreement is unique among the agreements Google has with other libraries in that "collections of distinction" from each institution will be included in their entirety, revealing in-depth and unique resources.

The partnership allows for library digitization at a scale and scope that would not be possible within the limited means available to the individual universities. In addition, the participating libraries intend to build a shared digital repository to house the digital copies of public domain
materials, enabling efficiencies possible only through collective action.

This groundbreaking agreement represents a major step forward for the University of Minnesota and the University Libraries during our strategic transformation. We're thrilled that our University community--students, faculty, staff--and the public will benefit for generations to come.
Another recent addition to Google Book Search - all the records in WorldCat. Whether or not the book is digitized, you will be able to find out if it's in a library near you. 

Read All About Us!

The library is the cover story of the most recent issue of Gustavus Quarterly.

Try American Periodicals Series Online

Over 1,000 full text journals and magazines published in the United States between 1740-1900 are searchable and browseable online in American Periodicals Series Online. The library has activated a 30-day trial to this amazing resource, and we'd love to know what you think! Link to the database from this blog entry, the databases drop-down on the library's home page, or the A-Z list. Then e mail your favorite librarian and let us know how you like it.

National Library Week!

Students and library workers alike had a blast at Wednesday's midday celebration of National Library Week. An abundance of cookies and punch were available, and students had the opportunity to enter a drawing to win a copy of Matthew Sandford's book Waking (congratulations to our winner, Angie Magnusson). Enjoy these pictures from the event!

	A student takes a moment to enter the book drawing.
	Student workers pose with cookies and punch behind the circulation desk.
	Librarian Julie Gilbert shares information about the library with students enjoying National Library Week.
	Julie takes a moment to bond with our own Knowing Woman, who temporarily dressed for the occasion.

Celebrate National Library Week

Happy National Library Week! Help us celebrate at our library open house on Wednesday, April 18 from 11:30-1:30. Cookies and lemonade will be served. See you there!

Always Connect

Are you leaving campus over the break? Want to use our databases, but not sure how to get to them? All you'll need is your Gustavus ID and an Internet connection. When you connect from off campus and click on one of our databases, an authentication form will appear. Simply type in the bar code number (embedded at the bottom of the bar code on your ID) and your last name to be recognized as an authentic Gustie.

Enhanced chat service now live!

You've probably noticed that the library offers chat reference service via instant messaging. Yesterday this service received an exciting makeover!

Visiting the library's Chat page now automatically connects a chat window to the reference librarian - you do not have to be signed into a chat client, such as AOL Instant Messenger, to begin a session. Icons at the bottom of this page still indicate whether or not a librarian is available.

If you haven't tried our chat reference service, now is the time! We hope this improved service will make it easier for library patrons anywhere and everywhere to connect with us.

Times Select Goes to College

The New York Times apparently is having second thoughts about its Times Select program (the one that locks selected content up unless you are a subscriber). Now students and faculty have free access to Select content whether they are subscribers or not. Sign up for an account and have at it!

The library, of course, has already been a subscriber for you - providing access to The New York Times and many more newspapers through LexisNexis and Proquest Newsstand Complete. But we won't mind if you sign up for their Web version, too.

Another new arrival!

Room 106 is now home to Helen - twin to Hector, but without a camera. Like her brother, Helen is a Mac mini with a huge flatscreen monitor, two keyboards, and a cord to hook your own laptop up to her keyboards and screen. Helen is perfect for collaborative projects!

Soon a calendar will hang on the door of room 106 so groups may reserve this room in advance (Hector's calendar was hung earlier this week). Until then, use is first-come, first-served.

Next on the horizon: for the enterprising public speaker, the library will be installing a presentation practice space with blue screen, camera, and playback methods in place.

Library is open today

The library will be open Friday, March 2, from 8am-6pm, but most services will be unavailable.

We will be open regular hours (10am-6pm) tomorrow, Saturday, March 3, with full services (reference 10-5, etc.).

Closing at 10pm today

Due to the winter weather, the library will be closing at 10pm on Thursday, March 1.

We hope to return to regular hours on Friday, March 2.

In the meantime, enjoy the snow!

Chalepa ta kala - unless they're 12,000 Greek texts!

The library now offers Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (or, TLG). This digital library serves up virtually all surviving Greek texts from Homer's time (8th century BCE) to the fall of Byzantium in 1453 CE. One could call it the EEBO of ancient Greece!

Due to the nature of this product and the cost of a campus-wide license, TLG is only accessible from three designated computers on campus - one in the Classics department office, one on the main floor of the library, and one Mac on the library's lower level. Each of these computers is marked with a blue sign indicating the availability of TLG.

Thanks to the internet, we can search and sort these texts at lightening speed. But it is still good to remember what Thales said: Ti tachiston? Nous. Dia pantos gar trechei. Enjoy.

Introducing...Hector (group computing)

Room 102 (a study room on the library's lower level, Chapel side) is now home to Hector, a Mac mini with a wide flatscreen monitor, two keyboards, a laptop hookup and an iSight camera. This flexible workspace is perfect for groups writing collaborative papers, creating Powerpoint for group presentations, or working on other computing projects.

Currently, use of this room is first-come, first-served only, but as soon as the calendar arrives, groups may also begin to sign up to reserve Hector for up to three hours at a time. More on our signup policy can be found here. We have also drafted a few guidelines for the use of the room to help our users be good citizens when they're in there.

The library partnered with GTS to create this space, and much thanks is due Jessie Twaddle for his work putting it together. GTS is also hard at work on creating a room specifically designed for practicing and taping speeches and presentations, which will be located across the hall from Hector.

While our students have been discovering and using this room already, we hope faculty members will promote its use for group projects.

Photo of Sid filming Courtney with Hector.

New anthropology resource!

The library has just set up a trial to AnthroSource, the premier online resource for anthropology. It includes the full text of 32 scholarly journals published by the American Anthropological Association (AAA), most dating back to the first issue and about half continuing to the present. Topics in physical anthropology, cultural or social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology are all covered.

Access AnthroSource from the Databases menu on our home page or from our guide to databases for anthropology, and let us know what you think.