Reffers,
The CD version of the Encyclopaedia has bitten the dust. The MNCAT record will be changed/removed and the CD will be removed (no rush to that; it just plain doesn't work though). This comes months before the online version will be launched (December 30, 2006).
Forty students in Alex Jasson's class (and likely other students) will be wanting to use this resource. Please refer them to the print version (which is listed on their CourseLib page
The Print version is in Wils Ref folio, and there is a second circulating set.
Encyclopaedia Judaica
Print edition: 1972. 16 volumes
TC Wilson Library Folio DS102.8 .E496
TC Wilson Library Reference Folio DS102.8 .E496 Non-Circulating
Consult the Wilson Library floor plan for the location of Folio books on 1st floor (for Reference) and 2nd floor (for the circulating set).
The new online second edition will be available to U of M users sometime in the near future, I think. Information about this Thomson Gale product is available at
http://www.gale.com/press_room/2006_06_22_EncyclopaediaJudaica.htm
Provostís Academic Update
October 16, 2006
E. Thomas Sullivan
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Julius E. Davis Chair in Law
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,
I announced the Class of 2010 profile and new undergraduate graduation rate goals at the Board of Regents meeting in Crookston last Friday, and would like to take this opportunity to share them with you. As Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, I will continue to send occasional progress reports on major academic initiatives and highlight the recent achievements of a few of your colleagues as exemplars of academic excellence on the Twin Cities campus.
Class of 2010 Profile
The Twin Cities campus received a record number of applicants for spaces in the Fall 2006 freshman class. Out of 24,658 applicants, 5,439 freshmen matriculated.
This yearís freshman class on the Twin Cities campus is the best prepared in the history of the University. Over 78% of freshmen graduated in the top quarter of their high school class (compared to 73.8% for incoming freshmen last year), and almost 40% were in the top 10%. Average ACT scores increased from 24.3 a decade ago to 25.2. Additionally, this yearís freshman class includes 239 valedictorians and 74 National Merit Scholars, compared to 58 in Fall 2005 and 51 in Fall 2004. Diversity within the freshman class is increasing as well: 20.2% of the class are students of color, compared to 18.5% one year ago.
Undergraduate Graduation Rate Goals
For the Twin Cities campus, the new graduation rate goals are: a 4-year rate of 60%, a 5-year rate of 75%, and a 6-year rate of 80%. The University is making improvements in undergraduate graduation rates. Last year, the 4-year graduation rate was 36.7%, the 5-year rate was 56%, and the 6-year rate was 61.2%. In 2000, the 4-year graduation rate was 26.1%, the 5-year rate was 45%, and the 6-year rate was 50.1%. Programs such as the Four-Year Graduation Plan (http://www.academic.umn.edu/fouryear/) can help students complete their degrees in a timely manner. For additional information, visit http://www.academic.umn.edu/provost/reports/fall06enroll_tc.html
It is evident to me that the University of Minnesota is forging a strong future, and is well on its way to becoming one of the top three public research universities in the world.
Sincerely,
E. Thomas Sullivan
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Julius E. Davis Chair in Law
(from Karen Williams on 10 Octboer 2006)
In our continuing efforts to reduce disruptive behavior problems in Wilson Library, we will be relocating the Open Workstations and reconfiguring some other of the other public machines. We'll be experimenting with three flavors of workstations:
* Authenticated workstations: Require x.500 account for login; once
loggin in, users can go anywhere
* Open Workstations: No login required; users can go anywhere except
to those sites on a block list -- mostly gaming sites
* Limited workstations: No login required; users can go to sites in
the .edu, .gov, .mil, .mn.state.us domains; no access to sites in
the .com, .org, or .net domains (this should allow most academic
use and eliminate most gaming sites) (Note: our computer support
staff are experimenting with a solution that would allow users to
get to our commercial databases even from the Limited
workstations. If this becomes possible, we may increase the
number of Limited stations and decrease the number of Open stations.)
We'll be making the following configuration changes:
Convert to Limited Workstations:
-- the one remaining Open Workstation computer on 3
-- the one remaining Open Workstation computer on 2
-- the four Open Workstation computers in the Periodicals Room.
-- the two computers in GovPubs currently running the older almost-limited image
Convert to Open Workstations: -- five Authenticated Workstations across from Rm 1 on basement level
-- NOTE leave one of the computers with privacy screen there an Authenticated Workstation
Redistribute computers in the Reference Room:
-- all five workstations on the RIGHT side (looking into the room) become Authenticated Workstations
-- all five workstations on the LEFT side (looking into the room) become Open Workstations
This is a little difficult to convey through email, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or message me, any of the other AULs, Brent Allison or Kay Kane. We have consulted with staff in a number of areas to arrive at this configuration and we will want your help in determining if this grouping is successful or needs modification. Thanks,
Dear RedLightGreen users: on November 5th the RedLightGreen service will end.
ubject: RedLightGreen service ending
Dear RedLightGreen user,
I am contacting you to let you know that on November 5th the
RedLightGreen service will end. RLG, RedLightGreen's parent
not-for-profit company has combined forces with another organization
that supports a similar service, WorldCat.org. We have decided to
invest all of our efforts into developing and supporting a single
product rather than continuing to support two. =20
We'd like to encourage you to update your RedLightGreen bookmarks to
point to WorldCat.org, and to try out this new service that will help
you find books and other research resources provided by nearly 12,000
libraries worldwide. Like RedLightGreen, WorldCat.org will help you
get access to research materials at your local library. WorldCat.org
is easy to use, and supports many of the same features as
RedLightGreen; the one service that WorldCat.org does not currently
support is citation formatting, but we are working on implementing
this feature in WorldCat.org in the near future.
If you saved citations in RedLightGreen, you can retrieve your
citation list from RedLightGreen until November 4th by following these
steps:
- Connect to RedLightGreen Use the Sign In link (if you aren't
automatically signed in)=20
- Click the Your List link in the upper right=20
- You can then select the E-Mail link to send your citations to your
e-mail account, or get a printer-friendly view to print or download
If you have questions or comments, use the Feedback link on any page
in RedLightGreen to let us know.
We want to take this opportunity to thank you for using RedLightGreen.
We wish you the best of luck in locating useful books and other
research resources.
The RedLightGreen Team
Gordon will be gone from Monday, Oct. 2 through Thursday, Oct. 12.
Laura DB will be out of the office for the week of Oct. 2, returning on Oct. 9.
Marcia will be gone from today until Oct. 10.
Here's a handy list showing which letters translate to which issuing departments in the US Superintendent of Documents classification system:
http://www.mesastate.edu/msclibrary/resources/sudocs.htm
The following is a partial list of issuing agencies by letter:
A ..............Agriculture Department
AE............National Archives and Records Administration
C..............Commerce Department
C3............Census
CR...........Civil Rights Commission
CS...........Civil Service Commission
D..............Defense Department
E...............Energy Department
ED............Education Department
EP............Environmental Protection Agency
FR............Federal Reserve System
FT.............Federal Trade Commission
GA............General Accounting
GP............Government Printing Office
GS............General Services Administration
HE............Health and Human Services Department
HH............Housing and Urban Development Department
I.................Interior Department
I 19...........U.S. Geological Survey
IC..............Interstate Commerce Commission
J................Justice Department
Ju..............Judiciary (Courts of the United States)
L.................Labor Department
LC..............Library of Congress
LR..............National Labor Relations Board
NA..............National Academy of Sciences
NAS...........National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NS.............National Science Foundation
P................United States Postal Service
PE..............Peace Corps
Pr................President of the United States
PrEx............Executive Office of the President
S..................State Department
SBA.............Small Business Administration
SE................Securities and Exchange Commission
SI..................Smithsonian Institution
T....................Treasury Department
T 22...............Internal Revenue Service
TD..................Transportation Department
VA...................Veterans Administration
X and Y......... Congress
Y1...................House and Senate Reports and Documents
Y4...................Congressional Committees, Hearings