Tisch Library Newsletter

	BiblioTech Connections Newsletter of the Tisch Library of Tufts University Spring 2003 No. 37
Tisch Homepage Tufts Catalog Tufts Homepage	In This Issue: RefWorks Citation Manager New Webpages Library Survey New Databases	Cataloging of Armenian Collection Government Publications Accreditation Highlights Pay-for-Print Update
	Create Your Bibliographies in Seconds! - with Tufts University provides a new online service for students, faculty, and staff. RefWorks is a web-based citation and bibliography management system that works seamlessly with many of the library's article databases. From within an article database, users can select citations relevant to their research and upload them into RefWorks. RefWorks provides a single setting for managing citations imported from a variety of library databases, as well as those added directly. Users can sort their citations in a variety of ways and can also search, annotate, organize, edit, and maintain them in multiple folders for various research projects. RefWorks can also quickly generate a bibliography formatted according to a chosen citation style, including the MLA, APA, AMA, and Chicago styles among others. In addition, RefWorks includes a "Write-N-Cite" software program that works with Microsoft Word to provide assistance with formatting in-text citations. For more information about RefWorks and how to use it, visit the RefWorks link on the Tisch Library's Databases A-Z page, where the library maintains lists of article databases compatible with RefWorks. For information about logging in and using RefWorks, please see the Quick Start Guide (PDF). Return to Contents New Tisch Webpages To Appear This Fall Tisch Library began a web redesign project in the fall of 2002, with debut of the new site slated for September 2003. Under the direction of a new web designer and usability expert, usability testing was conducted to assess our current website and enable us to better serve Tisch users with the new site. Library staff are also examining all current content and terminology to determine ways of providing clearer guidance to users. Additionally, data from web statistics have been gathered to help the designers understand users' needs and behavior on the Tisch site. Opportunities to participate in usability testing on the new site will be available over the summer. Return to Contents New User Survey Conducted As part of a continuing process of self-examination that Tisch Library undergoes to better serve the university, the library is participating this year, along with five hundred other institutions, in the LibQUAL+ survey of user satisfaction. The LibQUAL+ survey allows for comparisons to be made across libraries and will benchmark how well our library is doing with respect to peer institutions. The web-based survey, which will run through May 3rd, can be accessed by clicking on a link in an e-mail message sent to students and faculty on March 3rd. It consists of approximately twenty-five questions requiring approximately fifteen minutes to finish. The answers to these questions, when fully analyzed, will provide invaluable information on how well our library is serving its patrons. Tisch Library has conducted user satisfaction surveys of students and faculty in previous years that have yielded useful longitudinal results. The current survey builds on this data to provide cross-institutional comparisons. The survey was developed by the Association of Research Libraries and the library of Texas A&M University, and is supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education, as well as by the National Science Foundation. More information may be viewed. Return to Contents New Databases and Journals Tufts Dissertations Dissertations completed at Tufts after 1995 are available as full-text documents in this database, which may be searched by keyword in the title or abstract, by author's name, and by advisor's name. Twenty-four preview pages may be read online before deciding to download an entire dissertation. In addition, the preview pages of dissertations accepted this past year at the other universities participating in the "Current Research" program are also accessible. There are a substantial number of these universities, including six from Massachusetts, and this summer the preview pages of their dissertations will be accessible from 1996 to the present. Clearly this database can be put to good use in a variety of ways. Readers are invited to call it up from the A-Z database list and discover how it will best suit their purposes. L'Année Philologique A latecomer among the major subject bibliographies to be digitized, *L'Année Philologique* has been long awaited as an online source. Currently this prime resource for classical studies, also accessible from the A-Z database list, includes 350,000 bibliographic records from 1969-1999, with the year 2000 entries scheduled for inclusion in June. Its compilers analyze approximately 1500 periodicals each year and reference many articles in collections and conference papers as well. The database may be searched by modern author, ancient author and text, subject division, title word, full-text word, publisher, collection, and periodical. Searches may be limited by time period and also by modern language. Art, drama, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, religion, science, technology ? for any of these subjects within a time span extending from prehistory to the Middle Ages, L'Année Philologique, now made readily searchable, is an indispensable resource. E-Journals Published by Blackwell The Tufts libraries have recently subscribed to a package of over 600 electronic journals published by Blackwell Publishing Company through a program known as Blackwell Synergy. The best way to view the journals accessible through this program is through their website, where lists by title and subject mark the full-text journals available to us. These journals will be cataloged and included in the Tisch Electronic Journals list, where they will be retrievable by title. When all are cataloged, a keyword catalog search for "pu blackwell and su periodicals" will be another way of obtaining a list of them, along with other periodicals published by Blackwell. Since they do not constitute a discrete database, however, they will not appear in the A-Z Database list, unlike the other two purchases just described. Return to Contents Government Publications New government publications are now included in the New Books display. The display will feature items that have been cataloged for the Tisch book stacks and ones that will be kept in the Government Publications collection in the compact shelving area on Level 1. The Tisch Library has been a selective Federal Depository Library since 1898, receiving 42% of what is distributed by the Government Printing Office (GPO). In the past nearly all items published were received in print or in microtext, but with the advent of publishing on the Internet, many items from GPO and various agencies have become available online. Many of these are accessible from the Library's Government Information and Documents webpage. It is hoped that the display of current print documents along with newly received books will stimulate increased interest in the variety of publications we receive from the government. Help in locating government publications is available at the Tisch Reference Desk (617-627-3460). If you have in-depth research needs, please contact Connie Reik, Coordinator of Government Publications at 617-627-2073 or Connie.Reik@tufts.edu. Return to Contents Armenian Collection Cataloged Tisch Library catalogers have completed work on a collection of about 250 rare books and periodicals written in Armenian. Ara Ghazarians, a 1998 graduate of the Fletcher School, worked on the initial assessment of the materials in December 2002, bringing his linguistic and cultural expertise to the project. Funds raised by the Tufts Armenian Community Gift for the Tisch Library were used to hire Ara. The Vahram Der Parseghian Collection contains works of literature and history pertaining to the Armenian people both in their homeland and in the United States. Every book in the collection can be found by a title search in the catalog for Vahram Der Parseghian Collection. Also, the full (more detailed) record display for any one of the books, such as may be found by a keyword search for "armenia and collection," will provide an "Other Title" link to the full listing. The collection is housed in Tufts' Digital Collections and Archives (DCA). Staff there will retrieve individual titles for patrons wishing to examine them in the DCA reading area. Pictured: Ara Ghazarians at work on Armenian sources. Return to Contents Accreditation Highlights Tufts was visited March 9-12, 2003, by The New England Association of Schools & Colleges, Inc. as part of its re-accreditation process. The association reviewed Tufts libraries against its established standards. In preparation for the visit, the Tufts libraries prepared a self-study. The foreword to the report states: "There has been no greater transformation at Tufts than in its libraries. The system represents one of the best examples of University coordination and cooperation." Below are highlights from the libraries and information resources self-study: Over the last ten years, Tisch Library's collection strength has increased significantly due to strong administrative support: the materials budget has increased 320%, 47% more volumes are added annually, electronic resources went from minimal to over 500 databases and 13,000 e-journals.. Access to Tisch Library and its services has improved significantly with increased seating, many networked public PCs and wireless access throughout the building, and remote web access. In general, the materials budget has met or exceeded inflation. Currently, Tisch considers its budget sufficient to meet undergraduate needs, and a review of graduate program needs has been initiated by the new president. Staffing is adequate, and staff development and training is a high priority. In 1999 a first strategic plan was initiated, and in 2003 a second strategic planning cycle has begun. Over the last ten years, user data has been gathered showing the increasing satisfaction of students and faculty with collections, services and facilities. The one weak area is insufficient space for collections and services in the Music Library, but fund-raising for a new Music Building, including a library, is in its final stages. Return to Contents Printing Charges to be Implemented this Summer During Spring Break, the Tisch Library and Eaton Lab began a user education and training period for the new print stations at the public computers so that patrons could learn to use the system prior to the charging of fees. At these stations, each document resides in a queue until the patron sending it there decides whether or not to approve it for release. Beginning this summer, charges for printing will be instituted using the same card system used with the photocopying machines and with the same price structure. For more information, see the article entitled "Think Before You Print" in the previous issue of this newsletter. Return to Contents BiblioTech Connections is published three times a year: in the fall, winter, and spring. It is made available in print form as well as via the Web. Contributors to this issue: Anna Neatrour Lyn Condron Edward Oberholtzer Connie Reik Dana Elder Jo-Ann Michalak Beverly Gobiel (photograph) Editor: Margaret Gooch Return to Top
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