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National Library Week

This week, from April 2nd to April 8th, is the National Library Week. Every day, from coast to coast, America’s libraries connect millions of people with a remarkable wealth of resources. Sixty-two percent of Americans have library cards—and are putting them to greater use online and in person. I can only invite you to take advantage of the library resources USF put to your disposition and to let me me know of any improvement to be made.

Oh, and tomorrow, April 4th, is National Library Workers Day, so, if you meet a librarian or a library staff person, don’t forget to say hi!

Absence from campus

Today, Friday March 31st, I will be absent from the campus all day.

Down time for ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect will be unavailable on Sunday, April 2nd from approximately 2:00 AM EST until 9:00 AM EDT (07:00 – 13:00 GMT) because of the beginning of US daylight savings time.

ILLiad now directly accessible from SFX

The USF Libraries try their best to provide its users with the most electronic journals possible. But, in some case, it is necessary to access a print journal.

In a past entry, I explained how to get journal articles that are not available in Lakeland or not owned by any of the USF Libraries through ILLiad, our interlibrary loan (ill) system. If you have used the article databases, you have surely used the SFX button, appearing with each of your search results. SFX gives you a list of options to access the content of the article, including a link to the electronic full-text if available.

Now, those two systems work together to make it easier for you to make a interlibrary loan request. If the full-text of an article is not available, under the catalog search option, SFX now gives you a link to ILLiad that automatically populates the fields in the ill request with the necessary information.

But, before making the ill request, please make sure you have searched the USF (and the PCC catalog) to verify that the journal is not on the shelves of the PCC/USF Library. An ILLad account is also necessary. And remember that you cannot use ILLiad to request articles in print journals housed at the main Tampa Library.

Value Line is currently down

The Value Line database, which provides investment research on stocks, mutual funds, otions and convertibles, is currently down. The issue is being investigated.

Opening hours next week

Starting tomorrow, Saturday March 25, the Polk Community College will have its Spring Break. The PCC/USF Library will have reduced hours, like so until Sunday April 2nd:

  • Saturday March 25th and April 1st – CLOSED
  • Monday-Thursday March 27th – 30th – 12:30 PM to 9:00 PM
  • Friday March 31st – 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

The Open Use Lab will follow these reduced hours in the library. During closing time though, the following instructional labs will be open to act as the Open Use Lab.

  • Saturday March 25th and April 1st – Open Use Lab moved to room 1170B (if its available) from 9am to 1pm
  • Monday-Thursday March 27th-31st – 12:30 PM to 9:00 PM – Open Use Lab moved to room 1170A from 8am -12:30
  • Friday March 30th – 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM – Open Use Lab moved to room 1170A 8-5

Upcoming class on Compendex

On Wednesday, April 5th from 10-11 am, there will be a class on Compendex in room LAC1170B. This class will showcase our new interface for the Compendex database, Engineering Village 2. Students, staff and faculty are all invited to attend.

Absence from campus

Today, Wednesday March 22, I will be absent from the campus for meetings.

Safe Zone Program

I’ve become a Safe Zone Ally last Friday; therefore my office will now be a Safe Zone for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning individuals within the University of South Florida community.

Spring Training season

It’s baseball’s Spring Training season in Florida these weeks and I hope you’ve been enjoying the Detroit Tigers’ games in Lakeland. If you are interested in baseball research, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) has made its index public in February. The Baseball Index (TBI) is a free catalog to baseball literature. It encompasses books, magazine articles, programs, pamphlets, films, recordings, songs, poems, cartoons, advertising, or anything else that may be of interest to the baseball fan or researcher.

As an index, the Baseball Index does not contain the full-text of the sources referenced. But you can use the USF catalog for books and journal titles, or the Citation Linker for articles citations, to see if we have the resource you need. If we don’t have, it may be available through interlibrary loan (ILL).