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Library News for the Faculty |
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Spring 2003
In This Issue
Gary E. Strong Appointed as University LibrarianGary E. Strong, director of the Queens Borough Public Library in New York, has been appointed as UCLA's university librarian effective September 1. The Queens Borough Public Library is the busiest public library in America, serving the most diverse county in the nation with a central library, 62 community libraries, and six adult learning centers. Prior to going to Queens, Strong worked as the California State Librarian for 14 years, where he created the California Research Bureau, a public policy research organization. From 1973 to 1980, he served as associate director, director, and deputy state librarian at the Washington State Library. Strong is a native of Moscow, Idaho. He earned his B.S. in education from the University of Idaho in 1966 and his M.L.S. from the University of Michigan in 1967. He succeeds Gloria Werner, who retired last summer after 40 years at UCLA, the last 10 as university librarian. As the university's sixth librarian, she led the UCLA Library to national prominence and was very involved with integrating information technology into the traditional library experience. UCLA Library Participates in National Service Quality SurveyDuring Spring Quarter 2003 the UCLA Library will be one of four UC libraries participating in LibQUAL+, a national project to measure service quality in libraries. This project will enable the Library to identify areas in which users feel that services need improvement to better meet their research and instructional objectives. A random sample of UCLA faculty and students will be asked to participate in this project. Faculty members in the sample will receive four communications from the Library during the first four weeks of the quarter: first, a letter by campus mail, which will inform them that they have been randomly selected to participate and provide background on the project; second, an email invitation containing the URL of the Web-based survey; then two follow-up email reminders. The survey itself consists of 25 questions and should take less than 15 minutes to complete. Because it is Web based, it can be completed at the time and place of the respondent's choosing. The results will then be analyzed and a report issued that will enable the Library to identify areas for improvement. The national aspect of the pro- gram will also allow UCLA to compare service qualities with other similar libraries, then develop benchmarks and identify best practices. Libraries will receive their results in July, and the UCLA Library will post information about its results on the publicly accessible Web page listed below. LibQUAL+ is a three-year project co-sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries and Texas A&M University and funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education. In addition to UCLA, UC Davis, Irvine, and Santa Cruz are participating, along with more than 300 academic and research libraries across the country. For more information, visit the Web site at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/libqual> or send a message to <libqual@library.ucla.edu>. ORION2 Replacement UpdateThree systems are under consideration to replace the software that operates ORION2, the UCLA Library's online information system. The library technology firms whose systems are being considered are Endeavor, Ex Libris, and Sirsi. Faculty, students, and staff were invited to evaluate the systems during February and March through online "test drives" and in-person demos. Their comments are an important element in the evaluation process, which will continue through April. The current goal is to identify the new system during May. When it is chosen, faculty will be notified through email, and an announcement will be placed on theLibrary's news page at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/news> and in campus publications. The implementation process will begin this summer, and the new system is targeted to be online in time for the Fall Quarter 2004. Further information is available on the Web site at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/otng>, and future issues of Library News for the Faculty will contain progress reports on the implementation process. BioMed Central Open Access Day at UCLA on May 22Want to publish your research in a peer-reviewed journal, have it appear quickly, and retain copyright? Come to "Open Access Day" at UCLA on Thursday, May 22, to learn about open access publishing and how to publish in one of BioMed Central's more than 60 online journals in biology and medicine. Experts from BioMed Central will explain the process, and UCLA faculty members who have published in BMC journals will talk about their experiences. Attendees will also be encouraged to ask questions and to further explore this alternative form of scholarly communication. There will be two 90-minute sessions, one at 10 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. in the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library's Media Classroom. For further information, contact Barbara Schader, head of collection development in the Biomedical Library, by email at <bschader@library.ucla.edu> or by telephone at extension 56498. Through the California Digital Library, the UC system is an institutional member of BioMed Central, which allows publication of articles by UC faculty members free of charge. Visit the Web site at for a complete list of journals and information on manuscript submissions. California Digital Library Catalog To Be Launched this SpringThe new version of the California Digital Library's (CDL) Melvyl catalog is expected to be launched fully this spring. A prototype containing a portion of the catalog has been in operation for testing purposes since Fall 2002. The new system merges two databases, the existing Melvyl Catalog and California Periodicals databases, which will simplify searching for users. Among its features are general keyword searching, phrase and proximity searching, music searching and display, call number searching, electronic resources limits, results sorting, support for multilingual characters, and name and subject cross references. It also includes a telnet option. The test version at <http://mel-t.cdlib.org> is currently accessible; when fully implemented, the new catalog will be accessible from the CDL Web site at <http://www.cdlib.org>. The existing Melvyl catalog will continue to operate in parallel with the new system through June 2003. Information Literacy Instruction in ActionIs There Research Beyond Google? Do your students think the list of good research tools begins and ends with Google? UCLA librarians will offer other options in the GE Cluster 80 course "How I Learned to Stop Just Googling ... and Find the Really Good Stuff!" during the spring quarter. Each GE cluster has a librarian assigned to it to do library instruction for students, design resource Web pages, work with faculty on assignments, and meet with students. But at the request of the faculty for GE 80, "Frontiers in Human Aging: Biomedical, Social, and Policy Perspectives," the involvement went a step further. A search for "human aging" produces 1,200,000 results in Google and 652,577 in AltaVista This is only one example of the UCLA Library's Information Literacy Initiative in action. During the winter quarter Arts Librarian Lisa Kernan taught a for-credit course in bibliography and research methods in film and television to students in the new degree program Moving Image Archive Studies. And Biomedical Librarians Janice Contini and Cheryl Bartel taught a for-credit course in research methods in epidemiology to students in the School of Public Health. Library staff members will be conducting focus groups with faculty members during the spring quarter to discuss how to improve students' information-gathering skills for their research papers and projects. The goal is for librarians and faculty to develop ways to work collaboratively in order to increase students' ability to locate information efficiently, evaluate it, and use it effectively. Visit the Web page at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/infolit> for more information on the Information Literacy Initiative. If you would like to participate in one of the focus groups or want to discuss how information literacy can enhance your courses, contact Eleanor Mitchell, director of the Information Literacy Initiative and head of the College Library, by phone at extension 63593 or by email at <emitchel@library.ucla.edu>. Place Search Requests OnlineUsers who can't find items that the catalog says should be on library shelves can now place a search request online. The online search request form at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/services/osform.html> is available on the Library Web page and can also be found in the "Obtaining Books and Materials" section of the Services and Policies page at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/services>. The form asks for information about the missing item (author, title, call number) and the user's name and library account number. Library staff will search for the item, then notify the requester of the result of the search and hold the item at the circulation desk if it is found. Upcoming Events
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