It’s Fall 2007 and time for an update/reminder about Reference Desk procedures.
We’re still keeping track of Reference Transactions and doing counts of people in the Reference Dept. (not the rest of the first floor–just those who have passed the Reference Desk) every half-past the hour. This process uses the Excel workbook called “Reference Tracking.” There is a shortcut to this workbook on the RefDesk desktop.
We have begun tracking usage of Reference books again this year. There is another Excel workbook being used for this and it has a shortcut on the RefDesk desktop called “REFERENCE USAGE STUDY.” Just make sure the active cell is in the “A” column and in the first open cell (at the bottom of the list) and then scan away. The handheld barcode scanner at the Reference Desk is used for this. Please shelve any books you scan. Better to not scan than to scan and not shelve, since the books will get unwittingly rescanned. If anything is unclear, please just leave books on tables or the Shelving Cart.
The new printers in Reference are called IL_120_K and are a little touchy. To ensure smooth operations, keep an eye on the three lights near the menu screen. The left light should always be green, since it’s the “Ready” light; if it’s not green, push the green “Go” button. The second light (“Data”) is green if the printer is processing any print jobs. The third light is “Attention” and blinks reddish orange if there’s a problem. Typically, it’s flashing because a paper tray is empty. There are four paper trays in these printers, so they’ll hold up to 2,000 pages. If one or two are empty, that’s fine. If you DO add paper to the printers, please make sure the tray is totally empty and then add one full ream. Too much paper in a tray can cause jams.
If anyone brings us a copy of an assignment, we have a blue manila folder at the Reference Desk specifically for keeping assignments.
There have also been some computer changes in Reference. There are six new iMac computers along the row by the windows. The six PCs that were there are now in IL119, which is our technology classroom and (when no class is in session) is being used for overflow when the Reference Dept. lab is full, which will usually be only in the evenings. The remaining lab-type computers around the library are now located in:
- Basement – (1) near the newspapers
- 1st floor group workstations – (1) in the back of Reference and (2) in Current Periodicals
- 2nd floor – (1) A-D, (1) HM-L, and (1) the Listening Room
- 3rd floor – (1) P-PR
Students
The library tutorials are accessed through the front page of the library website. A direct link is http://www.butler.edu/library/?pg=650. Work your way through the tutorials at your own pace.
Once
you’ve completed the tutorial, there may be a quiz available to make
sure you’ve learned what is expected. These quizzes are available in
Blackboard. Simply log into Blackboard and look under “My
Organizations” for the one called Library Tutorials. All freshmen will be added by Friday, August 31. If you do not have it listed there, please contact spfitzin@butler.edu and request to be added to the Library Tutorials organization.
Faculty
We
encourage faculty members to assign any library tutorials and quizzes
that may be relevant to their classes. The library tutorials are
accessed through the front page of the library website. A direct link
is http://www.butler.edu/library/?pg=650.
After
completing the assigned tutorial(s), students can take the
corresponding quiz in Blackboard, under the organization called Library Tutorials. If they do not have it listed under “My Organizations,” please have them contact spfitzin@butler.edu
and request to be added to the Library Tutorials organization. By
default, only freshmen are added to this organization. If you have
students that need to take the quiz(zes) and are not freshmen, please
send a list of those students to spfitzin@butler.edu and they will be added.
Students’ quiz scores can be sent to you upon request. Please see the Library Tutorials and Quizzes page for more information.
Irwin Library now has 6 iMac computers available for use in the Reference Dept. computer lab. They are located by the blue chairs in the row along the windows.
The publicly accessible computers in the Irwin Library have all been upgraded to Windows XP! This includes the computers on every floor.
Now you’ll be able to easily burn CDs and zip/unzip files right from within Windows’ “My Computer” application.
Greetings, all. For those of you who deal with citations and bibliographic formats and all, there a relatively new (June 2007) tool that I’d like you to try. It’s called BibMe and is online at http://www.bibme.org/. From what I read from the reviews of other librarians, it’s not only a free program but is good at creating bibliographies quickly and easily. Emily Chang at eHub says:
“BibMe can generate citations in MLA, APA and Chicago style (which you
can change on the fly), and I found it took half the time to create a
bibliography than any other tool I have used. Like its commercial competitors, BibMe has an extensive search function
that can find and generate a detailed citation by entering a few
keywords. Registration is simple and non-intrusive, and once you have
an account you can save and edit your bibliographies.”
I would be interested in the thoughts and opinions of OUR staff about this product. Please give it a try when you have a few minutes and then share your thoughts in the form of comments to this post.
Thanks very much.
Scott
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