December 2010 Archives

The Library is hosting a week of workshops to kick-off the new year and give you the research advantage. Each session is free to register and held in Walter Library.

Register for this Course

Here's the information from the University Libraries Website concerning library services and the University Closure:

While the University of Minnesota Libraries will be closed along with the rest of the campus from December 24, 2010 through January 2, 2011, some services will continue to be available. These include:

• E-resources, including article databases and online journals, will remain available to the campus community through the Libraries website.
• Users will be able to search for and request print materials in the MNCAT catalog during the closure, however GetIt and recall requests will not be processed until January 3.
• Although due dates have been set to not fall within the closure period, users will be able to view their account and renew materials using the "My Account" feature.
• Books from any U library can be returned at book drops in Magrath, Walter, and Wilson.
• Chat reference will be available, but service will be provided by staff from the national consortium of which the Libraries is a member.
• Because the Academic Health Center will keep certain clinics open during the closure period, the Bio-Med Library will have staff available to respond to questions coming in through the MedRef email service.

More information is available on the University Winter Closure site.

So Walter Library will be closed between Friday, December 24 - Sunday, January 2.

The hours for the rest of this week are:

Tuesday, December 21:  8:00AM -Midnight (Great Hall open 24 hours)
Wednesday, December 22:   8:00AM -6:00PM (Great Hall 24 Hour Access Ends at 6PM)
Thursday, December 23: 8:00AM - 6:00PM
Friday, December 24 - Sunday, January 2: UNIVERSITY CLOSURE

I will be working remotely next Wednesday and Thursday (December 29 and 30).  I'll be available to answer questions via email both of those days.

Happy Holidays and enjoy the break!

Dec. 16, 2010 to Dec. 22, 2010

2ND FLOOR GREAT HALL
Study Days/Finals Week (Dec. 16-22)
OPEN 24 HOURS/DAY from Th, 12/16 through W, 12/22, 6 pm

WALTER BUILDING

Study Days/Finals Week (Dec. 16-22)

M-F 8:00 am-12:00 am

Sa, Su 8:00 am-12:00 am

We had our semesterly CSE Library Committee meeting last week, we had a good turnout of faculty, students and librarians.  Here are the topics we discussed.  If you're interested in learning anymore about these topics feel free to send me an email or give me a call.


Notes and Handouts from the CSE Library Committee Meeting, Dec. 9, 2010

Present: 

Prof. Paul Garrett (guest, Mathematics)

Prof. Andrew Odlyzko (Mathematics)

Prof. Friedrich Srienc (Chemical Eng)

Prof. Tryphon Georgiou (Electrical and Computer Eng)

Prof. Chun Wang (Biomedical Eng)

Prof. Steven Girshik (Mechanical Eng)

Prof. Sandy Lipsky (Chemistry)

Ben Stanley (Council of Graduate Students, Geology Dept)

Janice Jaguszewski (Dir. of Science & Engineering Library)

Jon Jeffryes (Librarian for Biomedical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering)

Meghan Lafferty (Librarian for Chemistry and Chemical Eng/Materials Science)

Jody Kempf (Librarian for Instruction and Outreach)

Nancy Sims (Copyright Librarian)

1.  Collections Update (Meghan Lafferty)

• The University Libraries were asked to model budget cuts of 3% and 5%
• The collections budget is a part of that planning, with a tentative target of about $750,000
• We must also plan for inflationary increases as well, potentially another $750,000
• Planning and data gathering has just begun; subject librarians will be communicating with departments about what might be cut
• Please consider how you now use the collection; for example, are subject databases as core your library research as they once were?  Do you use alternatives such as Google Scholar or arXiv or Web of Science instead?

2.  New Libraries Web Site - http://www.lib.umn.edu (Janice Jaguszewski)

• Libraries web site includes new features for those who log in:
• Customized Library Course Pages for every course a student is taking or an instructor is teaching (can include specialized e-resources to support assignments ,and links to print and online Reserves)
• Ability for users to save databases, journals and other e-resources for easy access
• Direct link to the subject librarian's contact information through the "Ask a Librarian" tab
• Recommendations based on books checked out or articles read
• Questions raised
• Can the recommendations be "turned off"? 
• Currently, you may opt out of journal and database recommendations.  I forwarded the suggestion to be able to opt out of book recommendations to our web development staff, and they will work on it.
• How do these features relate to MyLibrary on the Portal?  
• MyLibrary combines many of the customized/personalized features on the web site into one page; however, the web site has many additional links and options.
• Do you still need a separate ID and password to request items through Interlibrary Loan?
• Yes, but web development staff are working on the authentication process for the ILL system so that your x.500 ID and password will eventually also work for ILL -- stay tuned

3.  Contract considerations when publishing a book (Nancy Sims)

• Nancy Sims, Copyright Librarian, discussed the trend of print books now being published in an electronic format and the implications for authors.  See her handout for an outline of the issues (attached).
• Prof. Paul Garrett described how he posted the contents of his textbook, Abstract Algebra, on the web (both on the University Digital Conservancy, http://udc.umn.edu, and on his own web site) and then negotiated to have a print copy sold by CRC Press.

4.  Negotiating a copyright transfer agreement when publishing a journal article (Prof. Tryphon Georgiou, Electrical Engineering)

• Prof. Georgiou described his experience negotiating with Taylor & Francis to retain some of his rights to post his article on a web site

5.  NSF requirement to include a data management plan in all grant proposals (Meghan Lafferty)

• Meghan distributed a handout (attached) describing the requirement and ways in which the Libraries can support you:

Managing Your Data

https://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement/

Bringing together tools and resources including data repositories in various disciplines, research computing tools available on campus,

 

Introduction to Data Management for Scientists and Engineers

https://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement/workshops/data101

Hour-long recorded workshop

• You can also contact  Lisa Johnston (ljohnsto@umn.edu, 624-4216) or Meghan Lafferty (mlaffert@umn.edu, 624-9399) for assistance.

6.  Other topics

• When off campus, would you like to be able to access the full text of journal articles through Google Scholar?  It's easy when you set your "scholar preferences."  For directions, seehttp://www.lib.umn.edu/faq/5344
• The physics electronic preprint server, arXiv.org, is exploring new business models.  See http://arxiv.org/help/support/arxiv_busplan_Dec2010 for an update.

(Image from Dyanna via Flickr.  CC)

...we have workshop recordings!

Here are recordings of two recent events.

EndNote Basics

Current & Future Publishing Practices

On November 11, my colleague, Kate Peterson, and I gave a Pecha Kucha Presentation on the collaboration tools that the Libraries offer and support, as part of the Office of Information Technology's 20 By 20 Event.

The format of Pecha Kucha gives the presenter 20 slides, each timed at 20 seconds.  So it's a quick (about 6.5 minutes) introduction to a lot of tools.

If you're interested take a look.  If you want to learn more about any of the tools and services mentioned in the presentation, feel free to be in touch.