With the move of service desks, some collections, and staff to temporary quarters in the newly constructed area, Tisch Library is 75% complete. Library users will find directional leaflets handily available at the entrance when they return in January. The desk for Circulation and Reserves is not far from the entrance. Express TULIPS terminals -- actually new PC's being used as terminals -- have been conveniently placed for users wishing simply to locate materials in the adjacent book and periodical stacks. Terminals for more extended searching are located on the second level near the Reference Desk and reference collection.
The second level also affords a preview of things to come with the establishment of current periodicals and microforms in their permanent settings. Readers of current periodical literature will notice a clear advantage in the increase of natural light. The microforms area, augmented through incorporation of the collections from the Lufkin Engineering and Rockwell Chemistry libraries and the addition of four reader-printers, has also been made more aesthetically pleasing with newly repainted cabinets. These two collection areas join with the third-floor AV facility in exhibiting the interior style the new building will display throughout, once completed. The improved visual appeal now evident in new carpeting and lighting will be further heightened when new furniture arrives later this year.
Tisch Library patrons will observe immediately on their first visit this semester that new PC's have replaced the familiar VT 220 terminals. This equipment upgrade, worthy in itself for improved aesthetics and facility of use, is a first step to making various enhancements to TULIPS available as 1996 proceeds. New client-server software is also enhancing searching by allowing the use of familiar commands in an increasing number of databases joining the Tufts Online Catalog within the Information Gateway. With the inclusion soon of the first notable addition, the BLC Union List of Serials, catalog users can take as an easy next step the identification of area libraries holding journals not at Tufts. The catalogs of other libraries will gradually follow. Future steps include using ethernet connections and the Windows environment for multimedia enhancements to our TULIPS system, including the use of Netscape for World Wide Web resources.
Library users may now search the Tufts Library Catalog to retrieve citations for Internet resources as well as for print and audiovisual materials. With these records, the Cataloging Services Department is providing consistent, high-quality identification and description of noteworthy Internet resources, thus continuing to ensure that the catalog is comprehensive in representing available holdings selected for the library. Later in 1996, each of these catalog records will provide a direct hypertext link to the actual Internet resource.
To see catalog records for Internet resources, search by subject in the catalog for computer network resources. Titles that have catalog records include the American Music Center, AskERIC Virtual Library, Electronic Resources for Classicists, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, and the Perseus project. We hope that users will find these records useful in their research.
Four science and medical periodical databases -- MEDLINE, Biological Abstracts, CINAHL, and HEALTH -- appear as new additions or in new, expanded versions on the TULIPS menu this January 1996. Altogether, these databases strengthen our collective access to research literature in crucial areas of medicine, biology, health care and policy. MEDLINE covers the international literature of biomedicine from 1966 to the present and includes references to articles in over 3000 journals. For the life sciences, Biological Abstracts gives comprehensive coverage of the journal literature for current years, starting with 1994. CINAHL provides access to more than 900 English-language journals in the areas of nursing and allied health from 1983 to the present. HEALTH (Health Planning and Administration) deals with the non-clinical aspects of health care, including such topics as community health planning, health care reform, health insurance, and personnel planning, and covers 1975 to the present.
All the new databases will be accessible using a group account from the TULIPS menu and will employ a powerful search software called OVID. Training sessions open to all will be held in January and February. Ask at the Reference Desk, Tisch Library, for more details.
The Tisch Library is proud to announce that it now offers two full-text databases on TULIPS: Ethnic Newswatchand BNA Environment Library. With Ethnic Newswatch the library is, for the first time, providing access to the full text of newspaper articles. These articles are taken from the pages of over 130 newspapers and magazines of the ethnic and minority press in America. BNA Environment Library also offers the ability to view the full text of articles and to print that text from any site that has access to TULIPS. The BNA Environment Library includes major federal laws and regulations covering the environment, state environmental regulations, and federal laws concerning chemical regulation and hazardous material transportation. The laws and their affiliated regulations are covered in their entirety and cross-references are provided from federal to state material.
Two other electronic databases have also joined the TULIPS network: Statistical Masterfile, an index to governmental and non-governmental statistical sources, and Environment Abstracts, an index to journals, conference proceedings, newsletters, and technical reports covering environmental issues. Both Statistical Masterfile and Environment Abstracts have accompanying microfiche sets that include the full text of much of the material they index. Reference staff are glad to answer questions about these sources and assist in their use.
What institution that is not a library makes 20,400,000 volumes and 138,880 current serial titles available to a broad constituency of users, including faculty and students at Tufts? The answer: the sixteen-member cooperative association of academic, research, and special libraries that is the Boston Library Consortium.
This past November the BLC hosted its twenty-fifth Anniversary Celebration. Library staff and guests who met at Boston College for the occasion noted the achievements realized through twenty-five years of successful cooperative initiatives. The Consortium celebrated its resource sharing endeavors that work to the advantage of each member institution. The first group of five members, including Tufts, has now grown to sixteen. The latest institution to join, Brown University, was announced as a new Consortium member at the celebration.
Last year the BLC issued 4650 consortium library cards, transacted 51,100 intra-consortium interlibrary loans, and made available an improved version of its online Union List of Serials incorporating retrospective as well as currently subscribed titles for a total of more than 260,000 serial holdings.
Tisch Library patrons may be unaware of the wealth of material available in the microforms area. Home to a variety of primary source materials drawn from many disciplines, the microforms area also houses readers and reader-printers for their use. Because microform is an efficient way to preserve perishable material, many of the titles are historical in nature. These include such early American newspapers as the New England Chronicle (micro R384), the Massachusetts Centinel (micro R394), and the Albany Argus (micro R383). British primary source material is also covered with such titles as The Diplomatic Correspondence of William Paget (micro R124) and the papers of the British prime minister Sir Robert Peel (micro R124). A particularly interesting title is Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States (micro R101), a collection of interviews of former slaves undertaken in 1937-38 by the Federal Writers' Project.
Microform titles are not confined to historical material. The library also owns the Kraus Curriculum Development Laboratory (micro F177), a collection of instructional materials produced by American primary- and secondary-school educators. Students of environmental studies will be interested in Envirofiche, a full-text collection of reports and journal articles indexed in Environment Abstracts, while those studying English-language drama will find a gold mine in Three Centuries of English and American Plays (micro F201). This microtext set contains every play published in England and the United States between 1500 and 1830, in the earliest edition obtainable.
This is only a sampling of the titles available on microfilm or fiche. Future newsletter issues will highlight additional special holdings. Most microform sets are cataloged by title and subject, although individual titles contained in large sets are not always itemized and so may be missed if microtext holdings are overlooked. A reasonably comprehensive list of the larger sets is available at the Reference Desk.
Four departments in Tisch Library have seen recent changes in staff.
In Access Services, Christine Behr assumed the position of Circulation Library Assistant in September after previously working for six years as Children's Librarian at the Wayland (MA) Public Library. Kathleen Bento, who started as Reserve/ Billing Assistant in July, was promoted to Reserve/Billing Coordinator in October, filling the position vacated byDebra White. Thomas Stratton started as a Library Assistant in Circulation in October after completing seven years in the Army as an Artillery Officer, and Francis Witkus, who had previously worked for many years as a Facilities and Planning Engineer at Stone and Webster, began employment as a Circulation Library Assistant in September. Louis Marcarelli retired on October 5th after serving eight years as Security Guard at the entrance/exit of Tisch Library.
In Administrative Services, Debra Urban, who resides with her family in Medford, was appointed in October to the position of Office Assistant. Christine Corbett had resigned that position to move with her family to the island of St. Thomas.
In Reference Services, Regina Raboin was hired as a part-time Library Assistant in September after working as a Reference Intern since February. Regina will receive her M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons College in January 1996. The staff member previously holding that position, Heide Caiger, left the Library in August after working since 1992. Laurie Sabol joined the Department as Reference Librarian and Library Instruction/Outreach Coordinator in October. She comes to Tufts from Bowling Green University in Ohio, where she was the Coordinator of Library User Education. Laurie welcomes comments, questions, and requests for classes from the faculty.
A member of the Systems Department, Lydia Tilsley, resigned her position as Library Systems Administrator in December to accept a position as a middle school librarian in Derry, New Hampshire, near her home.
This is only a sampling of the titles available on microfilm or fiche. We will continue to highlight special holdings in future newsletter issues. Although the titles of microtext collections are cataloged and can be accessed by subject and title in TULIPS, not all the titles contained in the larger sets are cataloged individually. Consequently, particular items may be missed if microtext holdings are not considered. A reasonably comprehensive listing of the larger microtext sets is available at the Reference Desk.
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