A current change for the better is that the links near the top of the screen provide convenient access to resources not listed in the catalog, such as additional electronic journals, at any point of need. Another change enabled by the new system is the electronic delivery of all notices for holds, recalls, and overdues to users with email addresses in the Tufts white pages. Over time, the new system will open up a number of advanced capabilities. The first of these will be a feature enabling users to search the catalog and many of the library’s most popular online databases simultaneously. The number of databases included in this cross-searching option will gradually increase.

Help with the new catalog is available at the reference desk (617-627-3460), both in quick-answer form and by appointment to look more closely at the new catalog features.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to browse the display of recent faculty publications along the corridor entranceway. They are also invited to enjoy the displays of student studio artwork that will be shown there, with the first gallery show, which will feature photography, up until the end of October.

Within the café itself, they are invited to:

• Enjoy a break from study and scholarship with light refreshment.
• Engage in conversation and collaborative discussion with other members of the Tufts community.
• Pick up a magazine, newspaper, or book to read.
  (Current issues of 10-15 magazines and 3-4 newspapers will be available, in addition to a leisure reading book collection.)

Within the rest of Tisch Library, the food and beverage policy remains the same: “Food in any form or container is not allowed. Beverages in spill-proof plastic mugs or plastic bottles can be brought into the library.”

You will find the café in the Dranetz Tower on the entry level of Tisch Library. Just take your first right turn past the Reading Room as you enter. Feel free to make it one of your favorite meeting places, a relaxing and enjoyable place for “thinking, reading, and discussion… in a convivial atmosphere.”

One microforms reader has been equipped with the new software and is dedicated as a no-print and save/email-only machine. Unless and until its use should warrant otherwise, the other five readers remain print-only and continue to charge ten cents per page.

The first project, proposed by Elizabeth Ammons, Director, First-Year Writing Program; Carmen Lowe, Tufts University Writing Center; and Anna Neatrour, Tisch Library, is for the development of a Research Paper Planner. An interactive web-based planner will be produced that will help undergraduates manage their time effectively as they are guided in preparing, planning, researching, and writing their research papers. This project supports two of the primary recommendations of the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience: to emphasize communications skills, including writing skills, and to increase the opportunities for undergraduate research.

The second successful proposal, submitted by Kent Portney, Department of Political Science, and Edward Oberholtzer, Tisch Library, is for the creation of a Digital Repository for Datasets. This project addresses a major need in the social and behavioral sciences at Tufts. The creation of a digital library for social science data resources for teaching and research will enable such data, collected individually by Tufts faculty and graduate students, to be shared with other scholars. The project promotes the goals of the University to strengthen research and foster interdisciplinary approaches to learning and research.

The third project bears the title: Education in Motion: A Large Scale Implementation of Video Distribution Technology at Tisch Library. Thom Cox, Web Developer/Project Leader, Tisch Library, and Neal Hirsig, Assistant Director of Instructional Services, AS&E Information Technology Services, are collaborating with library media, reference, and collections staff to learn the use of streaming video and to explore distribution and archiving of video content within the library. Use of a state-of-the-art video camera to film library events and instructional sessions and of a high-end computer workstation for editing, followed by conversion of the video product to streaming real media for distribution, will be involved in this library staff development project.

Faculty interested in developing a Berger proposal should contact the reference librarian or bibliographer for their academic department to discuss ideas. Information on criteria and on current and past Berger projects can be found at the Berger Grant site, accessible from the Tisch home page.

Five laptops are available for lending. Tufts students with a current Tufts ID can check these out at the Circulation Desk. The laptops provide Microsoft Office software as well as wireless networking and printing options and are configured for ease of use. Upon first boot, the laptop launches a brief multimedia presentation highlighting important tips and system features.

Suggestions are welcome via comment cards located at the Circulation Desk.

Examples of the kinds of library guidance that will be offered are:

• overall research support,
• assistance with online interlibrary loan requests for books and journal articles,
• demonstrations of RefWorks, our free web-based software for collecting, storing, and organizing research results and automatically converting them into a properly formatted bibliography.

As an increasing number of library resources are electronically accessible from outside the library, time saved from visiting the building and consulting with reference librarians is taken up by navigating virtual libraries on the Internet. What seems easy may be hard. What seems quick and direct may be very time-consuming. So librarians are going beyond the library building and making themselves available where and when the chance to draw on their expertise could be welcome.

The national program “Becoming an American Writer: The Life and Works of Isaac Bashevis Singer” features a series of public readings, panels, exhibitions, and workshops exploring Singer and the immigrant literary experience. After arriving in America from Poland, Singer, who wrote solely in Yiddish, drew upon his experiences growing up in the Jewish shtetl to bring depth to his stories drawing on folklore and mystical traditions.

In celebration of Singer’s centennial birthday, Tisch Library is presenting the following programs this fall:

Lecture: October 1st, 3:30PM; Tisch Library, Austin Conference Room
University Prof. Sol Gittleman: Isaac Bashevis Singer's Place in Yiddish Literature

Film Showing (precedes lecture below): October 15th, 1:00PM; Tisch Library, Media Room 304
Enemies: A Love Story
Lecture: October 15th, 3:00PM; Tisch Library, Austin Conference Room
Prof. Jonathan Wilson: Singer's Fictional Representation of the Holocaust in "Enemies: A Love Story"

Dramatic Reading: October 29th, 3:30PM; Tisch Library, Austin Conference Room
Prof. Laurence Senelick: Gimpel the Fool

Contributors to this issue:

Charlotte Keys

Beverly Gobiel

Christine Kittle

Chao Chen

Editor: Margaret Gooch