USF Lakeland Library Services

Faculty members, remember that you have access to rare and important primary sources from around the world with the Center for Research Libraries. From an email from Larry Heilos, Associate Director of the Tampa Library:

Center for Research Libraries (CRL) just recently announced the list of major microform collections that will be purchased through CRL’s FY2007 Purchase Proposal Program. We’re happy to report that several of USF Library’s priority picks were among the collections selected for purchase, including the two Incunabula titles, Guatemala News and Information Bureau Archive, and Bernard Shaw papers.

One of the perks of USF Libraries’ CRL membership is participation in the Center’s annual purchase program. Each year, CRL’s membership, comprising more than 100 of the nation’s premier research libraries, nominate for consideration and then vote for those titles they want the Center to purchase from its budget for major microform collections. Titles garnering the most votes are purchased by the Center for its permanent collection and made available to the membership on-site and through interlibrary loan (…)

(Tampa Library’s) Access Services Associate Director, Merilyn Burke, can assist you in acquiring these or any of CRL’s other microform resources for your research through interlibrary loan. Unlike most items borrowed through ILL, which must be returned to the lending institution in a set period generally lasting around than two weeks, materials borrowed from CRL can be retained for six months or more, with virtually unlimited renewals for as long as the materials are needed.

Merilyn can be reached at 974-4561, or by email at mburke@lib.usf.edu.

Logon to CRL’s website, which includes access to their online catalog, at http://www.crl.edu.

The list with a full description of the new collections can be found at http://www.crl.edu/PDF/pp07purchases.pdf.

• Arabic Manuscripts in the British Library - Islamic Mysticism & Philosophy
• Curzon India and Empire Pt 1: the papers of Lord Curzon 1859-1925 from the Oriental and India Office Collections at the British Library London
• Doctoral Dissertations from Israel in the subject matter of Jewish and Israel Studies
• Documenting the Peruvian Insurrection
• East India Company Factory Records: Sources from the British Library London Pt 1: China and Japan
• East India Company Factory Records: Sources from the British Library London Pt 2: China
• English Clandestine Satire 1660-1704: Popular Culture Entertainment and Information in the Early Modern Period
• German Colonial Archives Reichskolonialamt R1001. Installment 3
• Incunabula: the Printing Revolution in Europe 1455-1500. Units 63 and 64: Romances
• Incunabula: The Printing Revolution in Europe 1455-1500. Units 72, 75-77. Units 72 & 75 are on Printing in Florence. Units 76 & 77 are on Printing in Venice
• Latin American History and Culture: Series 5. Civil War Society and Political Transition in Guatemala: The Guatemala News and Information Bureau Archive 1963-2000
• Shaw: the papers of Bernard Shaw 1856-1950 from the British Library Parts 1-3

Among the programming for the USF Libraries Annual Meeting were breakout sessions on different subjects of interest to libraries. I presented a session entitled Blogs and Wikis: A Library Approach. The link will bring you to the presentation itself.

Last Friday, I attended the USF Libraries Annual Meeting. As Associate Librarian and as the Campus Librarian for Lakeland, I was asked to present a short report to the Libraries personnel assembled. Here is what I presented:

Lakeland Library Services
Engaging students

• Lakeland’s information literacy and library instruction activities hit a new high with, as of mid-December 2006, 718 library users reached in 39 orientations, classes and seminars. Students in all Divisions and Departments were reached. This is an increase of over 210% in terms of students and 320% in terms of presentations compared to 2005. Five of these classes were given to distance learners using real-time electronic classroom software Elluminate.
• Reference also increased from 83 questions answered in 2005 to more than 235 in 2006, an augmentation of over 280%.
• The Lakeland Librarian, Catherine Lavallée-Welch, manned a table at the student-led “University Awareness Day” in November to distribute information about the library services on campus. The laptop she brought to the event was used in answering impromptu reference questions.

Engaging Faculty & Researchers

• Collection development activities continued during the year. Two new collections were started: a Professional Development collection was created at the request of staff members. Accessible to all, this collection will comprised of titles that will help USF personnel develop their professional skills. The groundwork was also put in place to create a USF Lakeland Faculty Publications special collection that will be launched in the Spring.
• In August, Catherine Lavallée-Welch, was a presenter at the campus’ first “Technology Integration Institute for Faculty”. She held three sessions: Weblogs and wikis, Catalog and database searching and Resources for promotion and tenure. Nine faculty members participated in what is a year-long process to integrate more technology into teaching.

Engaging the Community

• Just in time for the Faculty and Staff Campaign, a development fund specific to the Lakeland Library Services was created. We are grateful to our Lakeland colleagues who have elected to make their donations to this fund. It shall be appear on the USF Foundation website this coming year.

The keynote speaker during lunchtime was Dr. Ray Arsenault from USF St. Petersburg. He talked about his 2006 tome, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice from the Pivotal Moments in American History series by the Oxford University Press. I can only recommend this excellent book.

Tomorrow, December 15th, I will be on the Tampa Campus all day to attend the USF Libraries Annual Meeting. Apart from my report on the Lakelnad Library Services, I will also be presenting a break-out session to my colleagues on the use of blogs and wikis in libraries.

The Annual Meeting is always a great opportunity to review and rejoice over the Libraries’ multiple accomplishments over the year. It is our pleasure to help you in your work and we’ll keep at it!

The PCC/USF Library will be partially open next week, from Monday the 18th to Wednesday the 20th, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The front desk will be operating for library account maintenance purposes.

The Library will then be closed from Thursday the 21th until Monday, January the 1st. It will reopen on Tuesday, January 2nd, at 8:00 AM.

I, the USF Librarian, will be on campus most days during the semester break. Absences will be posted on the blog.

I will absent from the campus Thursday, December 7th for a workshop. I will be back on Friday, December 8th.

If you need immediate assistance, you can contact the USF Tampa’s Ask-A-Librarian services or, for a short, factual question, use the PCC/USF Library.

USF has live video feeds for

• CNN
• CSPAN
• History Channel
• NASA
• Weather Channel
• Travel Channel
• Food Channel

These are available to students, staff and faculty through Academic Computing’s USF Netcast system. Off-campus access is possible via the VPN network.

The Libraries System is in the beta stage of launching a new website and is looking for your feedback.

Please take a few minutes to look at the new site and complete a brief questionnaire. Just click on this link:
http://www.lib.usf.edu/public/_feedback/feedback.cfm .

Thank you for your assistance!