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In this issue:
- Library Completes Major Shelving Project
- New LIRN Workstations on the Way
- BLISS on the Internet
- Collins Reviews Archival Collections
- When your new OspreyCard is not your Library card
- Staff Changes
- FirstSearch Databases Available on LIRN
- New Engineering Source Now Available
- Books & Bytes Goes Internet
- Spotlight on University Archives
Library Completes Major Shelving Project
The Christmas break was a busy time for Library staff. With the aid of three hardworking student assistants, approximately fifteen hundred new shelves were added to house our burgeoning collection. Although new shelving was installed on all floors, the fourth floor was the focus of intensive work. Old storage boxes were removed, study carrels relocated, and study spaces reorganized to add over 900 new shelves for the General Collection. Two double-faced sections of shelving were added to each range on the west end of the stacks and two new ranges installed across from the window bay. The new shelving made it necessary to compress study space more than ever. Study tables, chairs, and carrels are now con- centrated in one major study area with additional carrels and tables placed outside the group study room. Sofas and lounge chairs were scattered throughout the available space along the west wall and the stack area.
The Reference Department might be described as a "work in progress". Although some alterations were made on the second floor during the break, the bulk of the change is still to come. You may have noticed that the Index/Abstract area was consolidated and shelf ranges removed. The resulting open space will be filled by the LIRN workstations and 20 additional workstations soon to arrive. (Discussed later in the newsletter.) Existing ranges of shelving in the Reference stacks will be extended and then shifted closer together so that additional ranges may be installed. This move will mean the loss of several work surfaces used for study by library users. However, there will be additional seating space in the window bay area after the LIRN workstations are relocated.
Our challenge in making these adjustments is to accommodate the normal growth in library materials and equipment while maintaining appropriate study areas for our users. We continue to manipulate the space to meet both obligations. However, our ability to continue to play musical chairs with furniture, equipment and study areas is quite limited. The Library's space problem is serious and must be addressed before further displacement of students becomes necessary.
New LIRN Workstations on the Way
Not all is grim, though! The Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) funded the purchase of twenty new computers to add to the Library's research network. They are expected sometime during February or March and will be installed in the expanse made by compressing the index/ abstract area. The new workstations will be Pentium 133s. They'll be capable of all LIRN applications (CD-ROMs, Internet access, LUIS databases) plus they'll be much faster and have larger, easier-to-read monitors. They will also efficiently utilize the full-text LUIS databases that are in the works.
BLISS on the Internet
The Library's new course, Beginning Library and Information Systems and Strategies, has a home page on the Internet. Class members are required to get their assignments and do much of their work using LIRN. With so much Library information now in electronic form, they'll be learning new ways to do research right from the start.
Take a look at:
http://www.unf.edu/~alderman/bliss/blissful.html
Collins Reviews Archival Collections
Geraldine Collins, Associate University Librarian, reviews two recently published archival collections in the current issue of Microform Review (Fall, 1995). Blacks in the Railroad Industry, 1946-1954, offers a peripheral view of the struggle to preserve and expand the opportunities available to black workers in what was the most important transport industry of the period. The Negro Labor Committee Record Group 1925-1969 documents organizing activities among black workers during the most powerful years of unionism in America. The original materials are from the Manuscripts and Archives Collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. The microfilm editions are published by Scholarly Resources, Inc.Your new OspreyCard is not your Library card...
...when you have neglected to bring your card to the main Circulation Desk so that the new ID number can be activated in the Library's Circulation System. Sending in the application form is not sufficient. You must present the card at the Circ Desk in person before your card can be used for any library service or transaction. Contact the Circulation Department at x2615 if you have questions.Staff Changes
The Acquisitions Department lost a valuable employee when Reggie Caldwell took a job with River Region Human Services. Reggie worked in Acquisitions for eight years and was one of the first recipients of the Gabor Award for Employee Excellence. He will be sorely missed but, of course, we wish him the very best in his new career.Martha Smith, Senior LTA in Cataloging, has accepted a position with the Florida Coastal School of Law. She will be assisting in setting up and running their new library.
Senior LTA Janice Trissel-Cahill (Government Docs) is doing an internship in book preservation under Serials/Preservation Librarian Vickie Stanton's tutelage. Janice is working on her master's degree in Library Science through a Florida State extension program.
FirstSearch Databases Available on LIRN
UNF Library users will have free access to nine core FirstSearch databases for a full year. Two databases (ArticleFirst and FastDoc) have selected full-text articles. The list of databases available are:
- WorldCat.......... Books and other materials in libraries worldwide
- Article1st.......... Index of articles from 12,500 journals
- Contents1st....... Table of contents of 12,500 journals
- ERIC................. Education articles and reports
- FastDoc............ Index of articles with text online or by email
- GPO.................. U.S. Government Documents
- PapersFirst......... Index of papers presented at conferences
- Proceedings........ Index of conference publications
- Medline.............. Index to medical journals
- Article1st.......... Index of articles from 12,500 journals
Of course, we already have ERIC through LUIS and CD-ROM and Medline through LUIS.
FirstSearch is available through the LIRN menu.
New Engineering Source Now Available
The Reference Department is excited about a new kind of electronic source that will be available for a trial period through March 19. It is one of the first sources that actually selects Internet sites, evaluates them and makes them available to a specific interest group. In this case, Engineering. The URL is http://www.ei.org/village/hp.htm. It is available from any computer connected to the university backbone or from the LIRN menu in the Library.
- User ID UNF
- Password UNF
Ei Village says it is your connection to the world's technical information. We'd like your comments!
Books & Bytes Goes Internet
This issue is the second available on the Internet. Point your Web browser to:
- http://www.unf.edu/~btuck/bksbyts.html
Books & Bytes is published at least once each semester to inform UNF faculty and staff of Library activities. Direct any questions, comments, and suggestions to Barbara Tuck, Reference Department, x2616.
Spotlight on University Archives
by Eileen Brady
The words UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES conjure up in many minds an image of dusty, dull records, mounds of paper, rows of file cabinets, and long aisles of boxes. True we do have boxes and cabinets, but their contents is what makes our collection so interesting, dynamic and, yes, even fun. For instance, where else on campus can you see:
- photographs of longtime faculty members (with hair and bell-bottoms), vintage 1975;
- the first photograph taken of the UNF charter staff at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce building (1971);
- invitations, photos of the UNF groundbreaking, September 18, 1971;
- copies of all the campus newspapers, living and defunct: Halyard, Phoenix, and Spinnaker (1974-to date);
- all UNF college catalogs and course schedules, 1972-to date;
- all UNF budgets listing faculty and staff salaries;
- aerial and construction photographs of the campus, showing the dirt road leading to Building 1 in 1970;
- an extensive list of birds and plants found on our campus;
- a small piece of the gymnasium floor (not all our history is on paper!)
- the first photograph taken of the UNF charter staff at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce building (1971);
Archives has current material too!
Our emphasis is on acquiring and preserving documents that will have historical value, now or in the future. This means that the collection is dynamic and items are being added continuously as our history is being made.
Examples of recent additions:
How are materials acquired?
We have automatic deposit of many primary documents from campus offices but, for a good part of the collection (i.e., memorabilia, announcements, programs, etc.), we rely on the goodwill and assistance of college/departmental offices and members of the UNF community.
Several faculty and staff members have been especially generous with donations: Dr. Crooks donated early memoranda and minutes of the General Assembly (predecessor of the Faculty Association); Dr. Meers gave us one of two known extant UNF logo clocks; and Phyllis Haeseler, College of Education, continues to remember us whenever a major COE event is held or materials are weeded. I am hoping that more faculty and staff members will contact us when cleaning out offices and files or when planning events on campus.
Who may use the collection?
Our user policy is to make the collection accessible to anyone with a research interest. I feel very strongly that University Archival materials belong, in a broad sense, to the entire UNF community it is our collective history! That is why I publicize its existence and encourage wider use of the collection. If you want to use University Archives, please contact me.
How can users access University Archives?
University Archives is on the third floor of the library. Because it has just one part-time staff member (me), appointments are necessary. It takes a simple phone call to 646-2618, to Eileen Brady. Or send a message on OfficeVision to ebrady. I will be glad to come over and assess potential donations or you can simply drop them off at the Archives.
We cannot enrich the collection without your help!
| University of North Florida Library | Books & Bytes Archives | University of North Florida |
btuck@unf.edu
Last updated 7/22/97