BiblioTech Connections
Newsletter of the Tisch Library
Tufts University
Fall, 1996, No. 17
Contents:
- Tisch Library Grand Opening
- What's Happened Since May?
- Web Catalog Version Arrives
- Library Instruction Options
- Growth in Literature Collections
- Revised Food/Drink Policy
- Staff Changes
- Library Homepages
Two years of renovation and construction are over! All students, faculty and staff are invited to the Grand Opening, September 3-13. Daily half-hour tours will start at noon. Non-spillable mugs will be given to the first 6000 tour-goers. (In an effort to keep Tisch Library looking good and to preserve the collection from damage, non-spillable mugs and water bottles will be allowed in Tisch Library, but, as explained below, food will not.)
Come celebrate with us and find out what's new! You'll discover a ready welcome waiting. Additional events are being planned to celebrate Tisch Library's first year.
Also, please explore and make use of the services and growing collections of Tisch Library. Many different environments are provided for your study, research, and general reading: attractive study nooks, quiet study rooms, lounge chairs with footstools, individual carrels, and study areas with skylights and views. Feel free to let us know your opinions, suggestions, and questions. Enjoy your new library!
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Over the summer, milestones were met as planned. New furniture and additional TULIPS workstations arrived; two laser printers were installed as well. Bound periodicals are now arranged in call number order, book collections are relocated, and the chemistry, engineering, and physics collections have been merged into Tisch. TULIPS, the library's online system, now features a Web graphics capability via Netscape, a new version of homepage and menu screens, and a Web version of the online catalog. (For more on these enhancements, please read further in this newsletter.)
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- On July 1 the Tufts library catalog became available for searching using a Web browser such as Netscape, Mosaic or Lynx. The Information Gateway version continues to be available for the benefit of people with terminals or PC's that do not have full Web capabilities. However, the Web version, which from its Netscape homepage offers Help along with the choices pictured below, presents a number of advantages.
These advantages include:
- Clarity of functions available
Types of searching are readily apparent, the ability to switch databases is also more clearly apparent, and printing is as simple, for catalog users with printers, as clicking on the "Print" button in Netscape or Mosaic.
- An easier, more efficient means of connecting directly from the catalog to actual electronic resources on the Web
Highlighted links allow direct connection. If a resource includes images or sounds, catalog users employing Netscape or Mosaic will have the ability to display the images and hear the audio.
- Hypertext links to other materials in the catalog on the same subject or by the same author
The term or name will be highlighted, indicating that additional information is available at the choice.
- Ability to check on library account information
By selecting the option "About My Account," library users can view a list of all the materials they have checked out, request renewals of books they are still reading, review any outstanding fines, and cancel their previous requests for items charged out to others. Use of this feature requires typing in the bar code number on the back of the borrower's Tufts ID and the last four digits (PIN number) of the front-side ID number.
This version of the Web catalog is only the first. This fall should see an upgrade to incorporate additional new and helpful features, including the ability to select and search multiple databases with a single search request.
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The Tisch Library offers numerous instructional methods for increasing proficiency in use of library resources.
Possibilities are:
Class-integrated sessions
Teaching instructors are encouraged to arrange for instruction related to assignments being given in class. These sessions, tailored specifically to class needs, are designed to introduce relevant titles, strategies, and shortcuts to help students spend their library time wisely. In addition to online sources, presen-tations direct attention to printed resources such as reference books, journals, paper indexes and abstracts, and government publications.
Small group sessions
Groups of any size, whether working on course assignments or other group research projects, may take advantage of the library's instructional program.
Individualized help
For personalized help, or follow-up to previous library instruction, individuals may arrange for appointments with reference staff. General orientation to library use, help in understanding particular library resources, and instruction geared to specific topics are some of the possibilities available. Individual appointments can be scheduled at the Reference Desk (x3460).
Faculty outreach
Librarians are available to assist instructors in utilizing the library more fully for their own research and in integrating library resources into their teaching plans. For example, librarians are glad to work together with instructors to compile selective bibliographies pertinent to course content and to develop library-related teaching sessions. Also, small-group learning sessions can be arranged for faculty in their offices or in the library.
Hands-on workshops featuring electronic resources
An ongoing series of workshops is scheduled this fall to orient patrons to various electronic resources, including the library catalog, databases, and Internet resources. To obtain this schedule and/or sign up for a workshop, inquire at the Reference Desk (x3460).
Most library instruction presentations and workshops will be given in-house in the Electronic Resource Center, which contains fifteen workstations for instruction in searching TULIPS and databases available locally or via the Web.
Laurie Sabol, Instruction Coordinator, is glad to answer inquiries about library instruction and/or arrange for sessions by phone (x5167) or e-mail (lsabol@library. tufts.edu). Please allow at least a week or two for a librarian to prepare your session.
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The holdings of the Tisch Library in French, German, and Spanish literature will soon be expanding. The library's collection of secondary source material has traditionally been stronger than its primary source holdings. As a result, patrons are sometimes able to find criticism pertaining to a novel without finding, in our collection, the novel itself. New purchase plans initiated by the library will begin correcting this discrepancy. The purchase plans cover both primary and secondary source material from all eras of French, German, and Spanish literature. Fiction, essays, plays, and poetry, and criticism of these works will all be in their original languages.
These programs are in response to needs identified by the library liaisons of academic departments. In addition to foreign-language literature, the library is augmenting its English-language fiction collection. Both contemporary and retrospective works of English and American fiction will be acquired.
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The Tisch Library has instituted a new policy on food and drink in the library. Food in any form, shape, or container is not allowed; however, spill-proof mugs and water bottles can be brought into the library. The reason for the distinction is important. Food poses risks to our valuable collections, the most serious problems occurring when unauthorized food residues attract pests (e.g., insects, mice) or create harmful conditions, such as mold. Such problems are highly damaging to books and sometimes difficult to eradicate. Thus, our continued ban on food in the library.On the other hand, we feel that drinks in spill-proof mugs and water bottles pose little risk to the collections, while making the hard work of research and study a bit more refreshing. We hope library users appreciate the change!
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The Tisch Library welcomes Paula McGlynn to its staff as Circulation Library Assistant. Paula, who joined the Access Services Department in May, is not new to the university, having served previously as a staff assistant at the Tufts Dental School.
Congratulations are in order for four staff members recently assuming new positions in Tisch. Lee Cornelison, formerly Tisch Systems Librarian, has assumed university-wide responsibility for library system support as University Systems Librarian. Jean McManus has moved from the Reference Services Department to assume the position of Humanities Bibliographer. (She will remain one of the staff offering assistance at the Reference Desk, however.) Regina Raboin, until recently a reference library assistant, now fills Jean's former position as Reference Librarian; managing the reference collection will be one of her new responsibilities. In Acquisitions, Joan Beley has recently been promoted to Selection Library Assistant.
We will miss three staff members who have recently moved to new positions elsewhere: Rick Block, who after nearly five years as Head of Cataloging has accepted a similar position at Boston College; Roland Samieske, formerly University Systems Librarian who is now Systems Librarian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library in New York City; and Michael Putlack, until lately the library assistant at the Lufkin Engineering Library, who will be teaching English to Korean students near Seoul for the next two years. Among other accomplishments, thanks to Rick for assuring a smooth cataloging workflow while moving our catalog into the "Web" age, to Roland for his work in implementing numerous technological enhancements to TULIPS, and to Michael for his student and staff assistance to Lufkin patrons these past several years.
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The Tisch Library homepage, which forms the "main menu" screen for TULIPS computers within the Tisch Library, offers a number of navigational routes. Newly re- designed, it continues to provide links to all the previously available resources, though in a re-packaged format. One recommended point of departure is the choice to read "About the Tisch Library." An electronic, hypertext guide to collections and services will be found there. Gradually, electronic equivalents of the information leaflets available at the Reference Desk will be added. Look there also for hypertext issues of BiblioTech Connections.
These homepages may be readily accessed (among other means) via their URLs.
These are:
Tisch Library Homepage:
http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/
Music Library Homepage:
http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/music_library.html
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BiblioTech Connections, is published three times a year: in the fall,
winter, and spring.
- Contributors to this issue:
- Bonnie Postlethwaite
- Jean McManus
- Laurie Sabol
- Laura Walters
- Jo-Ann Michalak
- Editor: Margaret Gooch
Feedback & Questions
Tisch Library, Faculty of Arts, Sciences, & Engineering, Tufts University, Medford,
MA 02155
© 2/98 Trustees of Tufts College. All rights reserved.