BiblioTech Connections
Newsletter of the Tisch Library
Tufts University
Fall, 1997, No. 20
Contents:
- Tisch Library Unveils New Website
- Invitation to a Virtual Tour
- Literature Without Walls
- More Full Text Databases Provided
- Library Instruction Update
- Library Satisfaction Up
- News Notes
- Changes in Staff
Library staff have been working for several months to develop an attractive, easy-to-use website. Significant developments on the new Tisch website (with homepage at http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/) include:
- subject bibliographies of print and electronic library resources ("Research Tools") that facilitate access to a wide variety of sources,
- a menu box on each page that allows for quick linkage to other sections,
- "search" links to an index server for all the Tufts libraries' websites.
- a virtual tour of the Tisch Library providing information about collections and services.
Within the "Information and Services" section, you'll find improved forms for requesting materials through document delivery, placing materials on reserve, asking reference questions, scheduling instructional sessions, and requesting that the library purchase materials.
This website will continue to be developed. We hope you will share your questions and suggestions for improvement with us. To do so, click on the mail icon found at the bottom of each page or send a message to webtisch@tufts.edu.
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An electronic tour awaits the interested Tisch Library visitor. Created and designed by Christine Behr and Regina Raboin, it offers current and prospective students, faculty and staff, alumni, and just curious web travelers an overview of the Tisch Library.
There are three ways of initiating the virtual library walk-through:
- The Tour guides the visitor to each library department, introduced photographically and descriptively, and provides information about library hours, policies, services and collections.
It also contains links to sites on the Tisch Library homepage, including the catalog and other frequently used informational resources, as well as to the Tufts University pages and numerous remote sites. Navigational help is available throughout.
- The Floorplan provides a map of the physical layout of the Tisch Library. Clicking on any point automatically takes the "tourist" to that library department or tour stop.
- The Directory is an alphabetical list of library departments. Click on any department to go directly to the one that interests you.
The virtual tour may introduce you to areas or services of the library not entirely familiar to you and provide a simple starting point for exploring informational resources as well. It starts from its link on the Tisch Library homepage or directly at http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/webtour/tourintr.html.
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If at 2 a.m. in your office or dormitory, you're completing a paper on Hamlet, want to compare two editions of the work, and only have one on hand, what is your recourse? Do you wait until morning and run to the library or go to the Tisch Library's website and connect to Chadwyck-Healey's Literature Online ? Savvy researchers will do the latter. Access to several major full-text literary databases is now offered to all members of the Tufts community, including those connecting to TULIPS from dormitories, offices, or home. All that is required is Internet access through the campus network and a browser such as Netscape.
Literature Online, also known as LION, consists of several databases. American Poetry includes the full-text of over 40,000 poems by more than two-hundred American poets from the Colonial period to the early 20th century. It is complemented by African-American Poetry, which covers nearly 3,000 poems written by African-American poets in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The Bible in English contains twenty-one versions of the Bible. Users can search across all versions, a selection of versions, or a single edition. They can compare different versions of the same text on screen at the same time or search for a single word across the editions. This same ability to search across different editions of the same text is also available in the Shakespeare database. This database consists of the complete text of eleven major editions of Shakespeare's works from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-1866, twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, and selected related works.
All the LION databases can be reached from the Tisch Library homepage through the "Research Tools," "Humanities," and "American and English Literature" links, as well as directly at http://lion.chadwyck.com. These fully searchable databases can be read online, downloaded to a disc, or printed.
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Thanks to the generosity of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), Tisch Library patrons now have access to several full-text databases containing over one million articles on topics ranging from business to health to current events. The database collection known as SearchBank is available in-house within the Tisch and Music libraries until February of 1998 on a trial basis. If reaction to SearchBank is positive, the MBLC has offered to extend the program indefinitely.
SearchBank is primarily geared to undergraduates although it does provide access to some research-level journals. It consists of five databases, four of which contain many full-text articles among the total number referenced. These four are: General Reference Center, Expanded Academic ASAP, Health Reference Center, and General Business File. National Newspaper Index is included as well. The databases are particularly strong in recent material although they also have files back to 1980. Articles called up can be read on screen, mailed to an e-mail address, or printed in the library.
The Expanded Academic ASAP, an interdisciplinary index to over 1500 journals, offers undergraduates in the social sciences and humanities especially a good place to start looking for periodical literature. General Business File provides the full-text of over 1.5 million articles on finance, international trade, investments and banking, money management, and business trends and is a great place to look for job information as well.
SearchBank can be accessed in the Tisch and Music Libraries from the "Research Tools" section of the Tisch webpage. Click on "General and Interdisciplinary Resources," followed by "Indexes and Abstracts." We hope that you will use this resource and let us know what you think of it. All comments will be passed on to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Please send comments to Laura Walters at lwalters@emerald.tufts.edu.
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This coming year the emphasis of the Tisch Library instruction program will be on improved outreach to faculty. In recognition that instructors are the most effective spokespeople for knowledgeable library use as a supplement to each student's educational experience, staff plan to visit faculty, attend department faculty meetings if invited, and promote the library's instructional workshops more actively to departments. The goal this year is to make the workshops more accessible to a wider audience by offering sessions during open blocks and lunch hours. If you have not yet received a calendar of the workshops, please visit the library lobby or reference desk to pick one up or go to http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/calendar.htm .
Suggestions for improving the sessions or the instruction program in general are always welcome. Please let us hear from you! Contact Laurie Sabol, coordinator of instruction and faculty outreach at x5167 or by e-mail at lsabol@emerald.tufts.edu .
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The 1997 User Survey reveals a significant increase in overall satisfaction with the library as reported by undergraduates.
The graph above (available in print version) compares this year's satisfaction rate with previous user surveys before the Tisch Library was constructed. Specifically, study space satisfaction increased by 45.8% from the last survey to 93.4%, collections satisfaction increased by 26.6% to 75.4%, library hours satisfaction increased by 9.1% to 75.9%, and photocopier satisfaction increased by 6% to 83.1%. A new question on electronic resources resulted in a 88.5% satisfaction rate. Another significant result is an across-the-board reduction in very dissatisfied responses, which did not exceed 4% in any category.
The 1997 survey used a random sample of undergraduates contacted by telephone, whereas previous surveys were filled out by users in the library. There is a 90% confidence level in this year's survey results.
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Sculpture Installed
Tisch patrons are invited to view the newest work of art to grace the library: a paper-like scroll draped in folds from the barrel vaulted ceiling of the entrance lobby. Inscribed in binary code to represent the range of formats in libraries, from print to electronic, is the poem "New Eyes Each Year" by Philip Larkin. A plaque bearing the text version of this selection has been included in the display. The evocative sculpture is the creation of Museum School students Sarah Hollis Perry and Rachel Perry Welty, who over the summer made final measurements and calculations for installation of the work on August 12.
Mayer Bibliography Completed
A bibliography of publications by Dr. Jean Mayer is being published by the Tisch Library. Entitled Jean Mayer: A Bibliography, 1948 - 1993, this 75-page compilation is testimony to the impressive body of nutritionist scholarship of the tenth president of Tufts. A cumulation of installments produced by various library staff over the years in cooperation with staff of the President's Office, the bibliography will be shelved in the circulating and reference stacks and in the University Archives by its call number: RA784. J4 1997. It is also electronically accessible on the Tisch Library website.
OED on Compact Disc Acquired
The Oxford English Dictionary on Compact Disc is one of a growing number of reference CDs available at the Reference Desk for in-library use. The work consists of the complete text of the 2nd edition of the Oxford English Dictionary with search capabilities for locating specific words; browsing the text; formulating complex queries using Boolean operators; limiting by date, part of speech, or section of the entry; and following up cross-references. Search results can be saved to a file, and sections of the OED2 may be pasted into a text file.
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Gregory C. Colati began as University Archivist September 2. Prior to his Tufts appointment, Greg was College Archivist at Bowdoin College, where he also served as Project Director for the George J. Mitchell Papers. Previous experience includes employment as Librarian/Archivist for the Strawbery Banke Museum and as a secondary school teacher of history, along with publishing, lecturing and consulting on current issues of archives management.
Congratulations to John Colella, who after working for many years as a library guard, has assumed the position of Circulation Security Library Assistant.
BiblioTech Connections is published three times a year: in the fall, winter, and spring. It is also available at bibliotech.htm
- Contributors to this issue:
- Laura Walters
- Laurie Sabol
- Regina Raboin
- Jo-Ann Michalak
- Stephanie St. Laurence
- Pauline Boucher (Photography)
- Editor: Margaret Gooch
Feedback & Questions
Tisch Library, Faculty of Arts, Sciences, & Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA
02155
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