Tisch Library Newsletter

	BiblioTech Connections Newsletter of the Tisch Library of Tufts University Spring 2000 No. 28
Tisch Homepage Tufts Catalog Tufts Homepage	In This Issue: Strategic Planning Initiatives New E-Journal Database: ScienceDirect More New Databases	Electronic ILL Submissions Off-Campus Database Access Friends of Tufts Libraries Programs
	Strategic Planning Initiatives Underway Tisch Library, under the umbrella of strategic planning within the university, is currently formulating a five-year strategic plan. This process began in January 1999 with an examination of the library's mission statement; the expectations of constituent user groups for services and collection development; the impact of external resources such as vendors, funding sources, and trends in librarianship; the allocation of staff and other resources; and the allocation of space. To date the process has resulted in a revised mission statement, as follows, and the formation of strategic planning teams that, in the coming year, will develop approaches to six initiatives identified as centrally important for the library to undertake. Mission Statement The Tisch Library supports the mission of Tufts University in providing students with the knowledge and skills for them to grow as intellectually curious and critically involved members of society with a lifelong commitment to learning. The Library is a partner in the educational and research programs of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences: it selects, organizes, maintains, preserves, and provides access to resources in all formats necessary to the support of Tufts' educational mission. The Library acts as a gateway and contributor to networked information in and outside of Tufts. The Tisch Library educates its patrons to identify, retrieve, use and evaluate resources in an effective manner. The Library collaborates with other units at the University and participates in cooperative programs with other institutions to provide high quality resources and services to its users. The Library responds to patrons' changing needs by continually evaluating user expectations, and it actively promotes its collections and services to the Tufts community. Areas of Strategic Attention The strategic planning teams will focus on six target areas. The charge of the Digital Library Team, chaired by Gregory Colati, is to define the extent to which the Tisch Library will participate in digital library projects that contract content, create content, and reformat and distribute content and to identify partnerships for pursuit of collaborative digital library projects. The Marketing Team, chaired by Laura Walters, will 1) develop a systematic approach to identifying user needs, 2) promote new and existing services and collections, 3) explore the potential for developing and enhancing programs promoting lifelong learning, and 4) publicize library successes, particularly digital library initiatives. The Staff Training Team, led by Lyn Condron, will create a plan that educates library staff about training resources and opportunities, develops tools for ongoing analysis of skills, and develops broad-based library staff training. The Space Plan Team, led by Kathleen DiPerna, will create a comprehensive space plan with recommendations concerning the short- and long-term use of level G, collections growth in all formats, and the expansion of Archives and Special Collections. The Funding and Resources Team, led by Michael Rogan, will develop an aggressive strategy for enhancing funding that supports the strategic goals of the Tisch Library, including funding obtained through grants. Finally, the Conservation/ Preservation Team, headed by Anthony Kodzis, will develop a strategy for implementing a conservation and preservation program that supports the library and university mission and includes all material formats. The teams will also identify the funding sources and staffing requirements needed for the initiatives proposed. Look for more to follow in future newsletter issues as recommendations lead to action plans and their implementation. Return to Contents New E-Journal Database Acquired: ScienceDirect The number of electronic journals available to library patrons has just doubled with the addition of *ScienceDirect, a source providing unlimited full-text access to the more than 350 Elsevier Science titles subscribed to by all the Tufts libraries. These include core journals in the life, physical, technical, and social sciences. The ScienceDirect* search engine has a number of useful features. Patrons can browse by title or subject, set up a personal journal list that reflects their specific interests, search across all journals or a subset of journals, capture and save searches, navigate internal links to hyperlinks within articles listed in the cited references or to other articles in the ScienceDirect database, and download articles from subscribed journals in the PDF format for their personal use. ScienceDirect may be found on the Tisch Library webpage under Research Tools, on the A-Z list and under engineering and the general science and social science categories. The reference staff can assist you in getting started with this new resource. Return to Contents Two More New Databases International Index to the Performing Arts This source indexes more than 200 scholarly and popular periodicals in dance, theater, film, and television, from 1998 to the present, with expanding retrospective coverage of some titles. Witchcraft in Europe and America This collection provides full-text historical documents tracing the history of witchcraft from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries in Europe and America, including over one hundred documents in their entirety, retrievable in their original form. Look for these databases in the Research Tools A-Z list and appropriate disciplinary categories. Return to Contents Electronic Document Delivery Requests Save Time and Trouble From Within Ovid and FirstSearch Databases Users of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the MLA International Bibliography and other popular Ovid databases will be pleased to know, if they have not already discovered this timesaving feature, that they may request items needed through interlibrary loan from within these databases. Once they have selected citations of interest, they will find at the bottom of the results screen an "Order" choice that links to an electronic ILL request form. When completed and sent, the form will be received by the Tisch Document Delivery Office. The form will ask only for the requestor's personal information since the bibliographic information about each item selected will be automatically supplied. Numerous FirstSearch databases provide a similar link. If an ILL icon appears at the top of the screen in a FirstSearch database, a click there will call up a form to be filled out with the requestor's personal information. All the needed bibliographic information will be automatically transferred on submission. A word of caution however: time will be lost if the requested publications are available at Tisch or Ginn. In all cases it is wise to search the Tufts catalog first. (The Ovid databases are beginning to simplify the process through local ownership notes and catalog Web-linkage, but that process is not yet complete.) From the Tisch Homepage Even when there is no direct link from within a database, the electronic submission of requests is simplifying matters for requestors and document delivery staff alike, making paper requests a thing of the previous century. Among the service request forms accessible from the Tisch home page are document delivery request forms for books and periodical articles. With these, though the full bibliographic information must be supplied for each item requested, the personal information can be retained after the first request is sent and only the new bibliographic information supplied for any subsequent request. The efficiency gained will speed end results. Return to Contents Off-Campus Access to Restricted Databases With the number of available databases and full-text electronic resources ever growing and improving, Tufts faculty, staff and students will increasingly appreciate having off-campus access to them. Within the Tufts network, IP based access is provided to these restricted resources, but more is required for recognition of off-campus users as currently affiliated students and employees of Tufts. To surmount this difficulty, the libraries have created a proxy server a software program that checks a database of active, registered library users and makes transactions possible between their computers and the restricted electronic resources. What then is required for off-campus access? Initially, your Web browser will need to be configured to accept cookies and have JavaScript enabled. Therefore, when you first attempt remote access to a restricted resource, you will need to click on the link configure your Web browser before doing anything else. If your browser can be configured for the purpose, its name will link to directions to be followed step by step. Upon closing out and entering again, you should discover that your Tufts ID will now enable you to access the full range of restricted resources. If not, a call to the Tisch Reference Desk at 617-627-3460 will elicit help in determining the difficulty. Though time spent on campus may diminish with summer, a convenient means of access to the world of library information remains. Be sure you're set up for remote access of the databases you use! Return to Contents Friends of Tufts Libraries Continues to Grow Just four years young, the Friends of Tufts Libraries boasts a steadily growing group of members intent on enhancing the Tufts libraries' collections and information services. Primarily composed of Tufts alumni, faculty and staff, the Friends are uniting to sponsor such worthwhile events as the April 6 celebration of the Tufts libraries' one-millionth book. At this event, Lois Gibbs, author of the millionth book, Love Canal: the Story Continues..., was invited to share her personal experiences with the Tufts community. Gibbs is the nationally known environmental leader a.k.a. housewife who single-handedly succeeded in focusing the world's attention on the hazardous conditions affecting Love Canal. This year, the 437 Friends have grown in number by 3% and have contributed more than $133,000, up almost 35% from their generous contributions of last year! Library administrators will focus this interest in the Tufts libraries and increased funding on collection and technology enhancements. In addition to being able to enjoy the results of their generosity, Friends members are offered the following benefits: Friends receptions with featured speakers Friends of Tufts Libraries Website for immediate updates (shown below) Friends newsletter Invitations to special events at Tufts University Provision of a forum for those who share the belief that books are profoundly important creations. In addition, Friends are always welcome to enjoy the libraries' collections both on site and electronically through TULIPS, the libraries' online gateway, which includes many resources on the Internet. Information about becoming a Friend, along with a calendar of upcoming events, can be found at the Friends of Tufts Libraries Website at http://www.library.tufts.edu/ friends/welcome.html. Return to Contents BiblioTech Connections is published three times a year: in the fall, winter, and spring. It is also available at bibliotech.htm. Contributors to this issue: Laura Walters Stephanie St.Laurence Editor: Margaret Gooch Return to Top
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