Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Reference Research Review 2010

The RUSA/RSS Research and Statistics committee announces the release of the Reference Research Review: 2010, a bibliography highlighting selected works in the reference literature published during 2010. Citations were selected and annotated by the 2010-2011 committee members. To view the bibliography, please visit http://bit.ly/ResearchReview2010.

The 27 articles selected range in topics from SMS reference, paraprofessionals at the reference desk, to information seeking behaviors in the digital age.

The committee uses the definition of Reference Work and Reference Transactions as approved by RUSA to define the scope of the review. For more information, see: http://bit.ly/rusa-reference.

Qiana Johnson
RSS Research and Statistics Committee, Chair 



Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Frequent PNM Researcher Wins Award

Some of you may know Kandie Adkinson, who does quite a bit of research over in our microfilm area. (She is especially fond of the Harrodburg Herald and is very complimentary of the service we provide her.)

While I was on the Kentucky Historical Society Web site, I came across an article about an award she won:
http://http://history.ky.gov/news.php?articleID=579&pageid=16&sectionid=5

Just thought it was cool that one of our researchers won a big-deal award!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

All That Yellow Crime Scene Tape

As you have no doubt guessed by now, Physical Plant custodians are cleaning Young Library's carpets. This is not a bad time to do this, given so many people being on vacation, but I know it's incredibly annoying to have entire sections of the second floor blocked off. Here's what I've been able to find out:
  • The custodians are working on the public areas first, and hope to have the second floor done by this Friday, June 24.
  • After they finish all the public areas in the building, they'll work on the staff areas (during early hours, when most of us are not here).
  • They hope to have the entire library done by July 15.
If I hear anything else, I'll let you know. Hang in there!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

LPL Database That May Be of Interest

I know we sometimes have patrons who ask if we have Rosetta Stone or Mango. Lexington Public Library now has Mango, and it can be accessed remotely. Patrons need only have a Lexington Public Library card to access it. (If people live in neighboring counties and have cards from their library they can get an LPL card as a reciprocal borrower.)

So, if you've ever wanted to learn Tamil (or Portuguese, like I do), here's your chance!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Happy Monday!

Good morning, everyone - here are some random items that you may be aware of, but just in case...

1. If you have any vacation, sick leave, or conference forms to turn in, please do that ASAP. The end of the fiscal year is fast approaching and we want to have everything wrapped up.

2. Our graduate assistants for the 2011-12 academic year are:
  • Bridget Farrell
  • Debbi Lloyd
  • Julie VanHoose
3. We now have a trial to Springshare's LibAnswers product. If you have a LibGuides account, then you have a LibAnswers account as well (if you don't, and would like access, please see me). Check it out at http://uky.libanswers.com/.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

New Printing Service

From: Young Library [mailto:YOUNGLIBRARY@LSV.UKY.EDU] On Behalf Of Crovo, Bob
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 12:26 PM
To: YOUNGLIBRARY@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: new printing service

Here’s the email Kelly threatened, er, I mean promised you late yesterday:


Hi all,
I'm sending this email to all library employees in Young Library. Some of this information will apply to you and some may not. I'm trusting that you will be able to figure out which part to pay attention to. I apologize for the general and ambiguous nature of this email but I'm not sure I can make it more specific or tightly targeted. My hope is that if you read through carefully and thoroughly and follow the recommended steps that you won’t get too awfully lost.   ;)

Note that no new printers have yet been deployed to the basement. Do not mess around with your printers yet if you are in the basement.

It’s probably a good idea for everyone in Young to save this email for later when the remainder of the printers are deployed.

Several of the new MPS printers have been installed in WTY. I want you to know which printers you should now have access to. We decided to install for every computer on a floor every printer on that floor. This is to make sure that you have a backup printer in the event that your primary (or nearest) printer is dysfunctional for any reason. That might make for a confusing array of printers on your computer -- especially since all the printers you had before are still on there -- but I hope this email will clear up the confusion.

I want you to open Start>Printers and Faxes and change to Detailed View:
















Now you can see the Names of your printers and a description of where they are located. Here’s a list of the printers you should care about. Under Location you see a more relevant description of where the printers are.
Wty1Circ1       Behind the Circulation Desk
Wty1eprt1      Just inside the double doors from Core 2
Wty1nprt1       In the Binding area
Wty1nprt2      ILL
Wty1wprt1      In the DO near the mailboxes
Wty1wprt2     DO copier room where the Lanier had been
Wty2eprt1      Serials
Wty2nprt1      Reference

Choose the one nearest you and make that your default. How to do that is detailed in http://academics.uky.edu/libraries/LT/LibTS/Shared%20Documents/IKON%20InfoPrint%20Print%20Driver%20Settings.docx.

To declutter your listing of Printers and Faxes, you can delete any printers not on the list above. However, do not delete any of the printers that are identified as “printername on libprintserv1”. Also, hedging on the side of prudence, do not delete any printers until you’ve successfully printed to one of the new printers.

Also, be sure to check any student computers for which you are responsible. Students need to print too. ;)

I already know of at least one instance where one of the new printers is listed as “not connected”.  Please let me know if you see anything like that on your computer and if so, which printer it is. Also, if you have any other difficulties with the printers or printing to them, please report them to me.

Where we’ve been able to, we have set the defaults on the new printers to include duplex printing in black and white. You should be able to change those characteristics on a per print basis as needed. Remember that it helps to save money for the Libraries if we reduce printing and print costs.

Thanks for reading (if you got this far).

Friday, June 3, 2011

Outlook Oddity

Background: We have observed a situation in which we forward email to someone, and cc lib-instruct; then, when we receive the email by virtue of being on the lib-instruct listserv, we don't see the recipient's email address anywhere on the email. So we automatically think the recipient did not receive it, but they did (which we checked by looking at Sent Items).

Here is what Bob Crovo told me regarding the Case of the Disappearing E-mail Address:

"It's an annoying thing about how Outlook handles email. If you look at the email in the menu before you open it, you can right-click the item and choose Message Options. This shows you the headers in another window. You can scroll through and find all the To: lines and you'll see that the info was included in the headers. Outlook doesn't display them to you."

Try it, it works! This is somewhat convoluted, and difficult to explain. Please post a comment if you have questions.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Changes to the SSTARS Poster Printing Service


In past years, the SSTARS poster printing operation in W.T. Young Library has provided free poster printing services to the students and faculty of the University of Kentucky. Please share our thanks for past support of those operations.

As of July 1, 2011, SSTARS poster printing operations will cease. We will no longer request funds or supplies, and we will not be able to provide free poster printing; however, UKIT’s Academic Technology Group (which is now the home of the SSTARS services), will continue to provide file conversion assistance and ordering service to students (undergraduate and graduate) and faculty who have poster presentation needs.

Academic Technology will continue to provide the following support services:

For student or faculty posters that have already been created (but not printed)
  • Convert artwork to appropriate image file for poster printing.  (Contact Dan O’Brien at dpobri2@uky.edu for guidelines and submission/production timeline.)
  • Assist in identifying potential printing problems resulting from the conversion.
  • Transmit the file to Lynn Imaging, which provides a discounted cost to UK clients. The rate for posters similar to those formerly printed by SSTARS – 36” by 60” poster with no color background and minimal images – currently cost $67.50 for non-gloss or $90 for glossy paper.  Lynn Imaging will collect payment after submission. Lynn Imaging turnaround time for posters is usually two days. (Contact Dan O’Brien for estimates of additional timeline for submission assistance.)
  • Arrange for posters to be delivered to W.T. Young Library for pickup at no charge.
For faculty who need help with the design and layout of a poster
  • Provide poster creation services to faculty on a first come, first-served basis for research presentations. (Contact Mary Lou Cahal, mlcaha00@uky.edu, for availability, guidelines and submission/production timeline.)
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dan O’Brien at dpobri2@uky.edu.

ProQuest LibGuides

ProQuest has developed a number of LibGuides to help librarians and users learn about their products; they've started with the LexisNexis resources they now own: two Congressional Guides are available, one on Calendars & History of Legislation, the other on the Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents. These guides are available for linking and copying.
See http://proquest.libguides.com/

Art in the Hub

We launched the Art in the Hub exhibit last Wednesday, with a reception at 6 pm. The object of this exhibition is to showcase artwork done by Fayette Co. high school students. All 5 public high schools contributed. We hoped for a better turnout at the launch, but everyone who did attend seemed to enjoy it. Please come down to the Hub sometime and check out the art. We will keep this exhibit up until the end of July. These are some really talented kiddoes! I am truly impressed. It's good to see that the arts are alive and well in the public schools despite the cutbacks they have been (and still are) experiencing.