Worth Anticipating:
New online system capabilities will be available in September. Work to achieve the following technological advancements will also take place over the summer:
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- Web graphics capability
Tisch library users will return to find this development a significant enhancement. Installation of Mosaic or Netscape on the TULIPS PC's will allow library explorers of the WWW access to images as well as text (even as the library continues to support text-only access to the Web).- Catalog-Web interface
Redesigned homepage and menu screens on TULIPS will allow for a closer integration of Tufts Online Catalog and WWW resources. In addition, links within the catalog to selected Web resources will connect directly to these resources.- Doubling of reference terminals
Currently thirteen TULIPS terminals are located in the reference area. In the fall that number will increase to twenty-six.- Laser printers for use
Print requests from these terminals will be sent to two laser printers near the Reference Desk, resulting in improved quality of printouts, an ability to print images, and reduced mechanical complications in printing. - Web graphics capability
The decision to reshelve bound periodicals by call number deserves special note. Changes in serial titles and in cataloging and filing rules over the years have made our present alphabetical-by-title arrangement less than consistently self-explanatory. Since all periodicals are now cataloged and searchable by title in TULIPS, a shelving arrangement by call number will simplify access. With this rearrangement, users will be able to locate all bound journals together by subject.
The last major collection move, following the merging of the science libraries into the Tisch, will be the return of Archives/ Special Collections to the Tisch Library (anticipated in early fall).
The official dedication of the Tisch Library is scheduled for October 9-10, 1996.
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Developments in Library Instruction
Faculty: Do you ever wonder how the library can assist your students to spend their time efficiently while doing research? In considering the importance of library resources for your students' education, do you think about scheduling library instruction or wonder if there is a librarian you might consult with in designing research-based assignments?
New Coordinator
Laurie Sabol is very interested to hear your opinions on these questions and to receive other instruction-related comments you have about Tisch Library. Previously coordinator of library instruction at Bowling Green (OH) State University, she arrived at Tufts in October 1995 to coordinate the Library Instruction/ Faculty Outreach program here.
"Open, informal, and ongoing communication between the library and the faculty" is Laurie's primary goal. In the past six months she has met personally with numerous faculty members, had telephone conversations or e-mail correspondence with others, and collaborated with some on instructional sessions to assist students. One of these professors, Colin Orians of the Biology Department, worked with Laurie and two other librarians, Jean McManus and Regina Raboin, to design and present an overview of the library's online (TULIPS) system in a hands-on laboratory situation. Orians, reviewing the utility of the sessions, said, "I'm convinced my students will appreciate having gained these skills and I look forward to working with you next year." Laurie welcomes professors and TA's to drop by her office in Tisch or to call her at any time, either to introduce themselves or to talk over methods for assisting students to use the library more effectively and efficiently.
New Facility Forthcoming
Next year Laurie, with other reference staff, plans to fully utilize the new instructional room/ electronic learning lab that is under construction in Tisch. Monthly Internet sessions, hands-on workshops on various electronic databases, and course-integrated instruction classes featuring both print and electronic reference sources will all be accommodated in this facility, which will house fifteen workstations and seating for between thirty-five and forty people. Watch this newsletter, the campus newspapers, your mailbox, and the tufts.announce Usenet group, for schedules of the public sessions.Don't hesitate to contact Laurie by phone (x5167) or e-mail (lsabol@emerald.tufts.edu). With the aim of offering library instruction that advances your teaching objectives, she looks forward to meeting with you!
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Reference CD-ROMs Proliferate
Tisch Library reference sources include a growing collection of CD-ROMs kept at the Reference Desk for use at nearby stand-alone workstations. Many new titles in science and social science have been added in the last year. Anthropological comparisons across many cultures in respect to family, marriage, crime, death and dying, childhood, and old age are featured in a series entitled Cross Cultural CD. Other new titles in social science include the Pennsylvania Gazette, an eighteenth century newspaper with searchable full text and facsimile pages, and Politics in America, which covers the current Congress. New science CD-ROMs range from datafiles to multimedia. A source entitled
Redshift lets the user explore the solar system. The CD-ROMs We welcome you to come and use these CD and microtext titles in the library.
Ask for the disks at the Tisch Library Reference Desk.
Michael Forney has recently joined the staff as Current Periodicals
and Microforms Coordinator in Reference Services. Michael began his library
career in a similar post at his alma mater, Canisius College in Buffalo, New
York. Since relocating to the Boston area, he has worked at the Barker Engineering
Library at MIT.
James Verrill, Library Systems Administrator, brings academic preparation
in computer information systems and diverse experience with technical research
assistance and office and database management, including work in database
development for the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, to his new
position.
Jackie Cooney, formerly with Interlibrary Loans, is now Reserve/Billing
Assistant in Access Services. A four-year veteran at Tisch and recent recipient
of an A.S. degree in Business Management, Jackie is enjoying this chance to
explore a new aspect of library operations. Patrons stopping by the ILL Office
may still meet a familiar face in Tufts alumna Jessica Bell. As good
fortune would have it, Jessica, who enjoyed her undergraduate experience as
a student worker in the office, has now returned in the capacity of Interlibrary
Loan Library Assistant.
In January Bonnie Hill Smith left her position as Head of Collections
for the attractions of a new home in Cairo, Egypt. Congratulations to Laura
Walters, recently promoted to that position, who, in addition, will continue
to carry out her responsibilities as Bibliographer for the Social Sciences.
Cataloging Library Assistant Wendy Sistrunk, who for a time served
as Acting Head of the Music Library, recently left Tufts for a new position
as Music Projects Librarian at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, a
move affording her a return to her midwestern roots. Newcomer Christine
Behr from Circulation has stepped into Wendy's shoes in Cataloging, with
appreciation for this opportunity to broaden her library experience.
The library staff congratulates Margaret Ericson, Head of the Music
Library, on the publication of Women and Music: A Selective Annotated Bibliography
on Women and Gender Issues in Music, 1987-1992 (G.K. Hall, 1995).
Our library has been a federal depository library since 1899. It now receives
approximately 39% of the documents distributed through the Depository Library
Program, including a core collection of presidential, congressional, and judicial
publications. At present, the documents that are shelved together according
to the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) classification system do not appear
as holdings in the Tufts Online Catalog. Specialized indexes and other aids
to finding them are available online in TULIPS (via the GPO Index in FirstSearch,
and on the World Wide Web) and in the Tisch reference collection. Assistance
in using these sources to locate needed documents is available at the Reference
Desk. Most of the documents may be charged out at the Circulation Desk.
In the coming year, the library will begin loading records for the government
publications it receives into the Tufts Online Catalog.
This is the first time the Consortium has managed its own delivery system.
Improved turnaround time for interlibrary loan transactions among BLC members
and support for cooperative collecting activities are key objectives. Although
a clear difference may not be evident immediately, AnnMarie Ferraro, Coordinator
of Interlibrary Loan Services, is excited about the new service. Just as facsimile
transmission has improved average turnaround time for photocopy requests,
this new initiative is expected to aid in the timely processing of an increasing
number of book requests. After a testing period of six-months, the service
will be evaluated for any needed changes.
Microtext Indexing Featured
Two of the new CD-ROMs provide links to important microform sets also in the
library. The CD-ROM Black Literature, 1827-1940 provides an index to
articles by African-American authors originally published in newspapers and
periodicals between 1827 and 1940 that are reproduced in the Black Literature
microfiche set in Tisch Microforms, F589. The National Security Archive
CD-ROM index allows users to find declassified texts on United States foreign
policy that are part of Tisch Microform sets, including texts on Afghanistan
(Micro F613), the Berlin crisis, 1958-1962 (Micro F620), Cuban missile crisis,
1962 (Micro. F622), and Iran-Contra affair (Micro. F612).
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Staff Highlights
The past months have seen some additions to the Tisch Library staff, along with
some changes in position and some farewells.
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Government Documents Relocate
The federal government documents formerly located in the Government Publications
and Maps Room have been moved into new compact shelving on Level 1 of the Tisch
Library. The shelving units are arranged side by side on carriages that can
be moved mechanically on rails, enabling users to create aisles when needed.
Safety features include locks for keeping the aisles open when in use. With
this method of mobile, high-density shelving, the storage capacity of that stack
area has been doubled.
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BLC Initiates New Delivery Service
The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) officially began a new delivery service
on February 5th. The service provider, Courier Dispatch, makes twenty-three
stops at the sixteen BLC institutions. Delivery turnaround time is daily during
Monday-Friday for twenty of these stops and every other day for the remaining
three institutions that have less traffic.
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BiblioTech Connections, is published three times a year: in the fall, winter,
and spring.
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