The ERIC database overhaul is still an
incomplete project as the fall semester begins. In recent weeks,
they have begun to add newer material (2004) to the ERIC site, but
until Ebsco signs an agreement with ERIC, no articles or documents
newer than 2003 will show up in Ebsco ERIC. A quick check of the
journals currently indexed by ERIC shows that only a small percentage
of the publishers of titles previously indexed by ERIC have reached an
agreement with ERIC to allow indexing of their recent issues. For
now, advise everyone to make sure that they search Professional
Development Collection as well as ERIC to maximize the number of
current journal articles found on education topics. The good news
is that eventually, there should be much more full text available
in ERIC. When the contractor finally finishes adding the
backfile, content should be within a month of current. I have no idea
how long it will take to reach that goal.
-Renee
Librarians:
The SRG order is in (with a few
minor delays).
After looking at all the leftovers I
reduced the number ordered this year. (They end up getting recycled and costing
us money)
So, if you plan on any large
instruction sessions where you hand out large numbers of SRGs, PLEASE SEND ME AN E-MAIL that details the
quantity and type needed AT LEAST A WEEK IN
ADVANCE.
(I prefer e-mail as opposed to notes
or verbal because if I get 10 people “telling me” I’ll likely
forget.)
Finally, you may also want to consider referring your students to the Electronic SRGs as an alternative to paper.
http://www.butler.edu/library/research/srg/index.html
Thanks!
Brad
The Reference Department in the library is performing a Usage Study. We
are trying to track what materials are used from our Reference
Collection and how often they are used.
Please help us perform this study by not
reshelving books that use from the General Reference or Music Reference
collections. Instead, please leave them on a table for a librarian to
pick up. Those books will be scanned and documented before we reshelve
them.
Thanks for your help in allowing us to create a continually better and more relevant Reference section for you.
Here is the protocol for how we’ll be handling the Usage Study in the
Reference Dept. Directions on actually scanning the materials are
included at the bottom of this post.
1. All Reference Materials (including Music Reference) are to be left on tables or carts.
2. Reference Librarians will pick up books occasionally during the day and put them on the cart near the Reference Desk.
3. Whoever is working the evening shift at the Reference Desk will scan
and then shelve the books on the cart. Preferably around 9:00 pm.
4. Weekend reference staff should collect, scan, and shelve materials 1/2 before their shift is done.
5. Circulation workers do not need to shelve any Reference Materials. The reference librarians will be doing that.
6. If you only have time to shelve a few books, only scan a few books. Any books on the cart will be considered unscanned.
Directions for scanning books (pretty simple).
1. Double-click on Ref Usage Study on the Reference Desk computer’s desktop.
2. Scan the books to be shelved.
3. Close Excel (“yes” to save changes).
4. Shelve the books.
Thanks for your help in allowing us to better document the use our Reference Collection is getting!
There is another new tool available for Butler faculty and students this fall. It is called Butler WikiRef. For those unfamiliar with wikis, a wiki is a collection of web pages that can be edited by anyone. Wikipedia
is the most famous example of a wiki. The purpose of Butler WikiRef is
to create a forum for individuals using our reference materials to
comment on them.
If there is a particular database or reference book that you have found
useful, please add your comments to our wiki. If you have found a
resource that was helpful in a particular class, please share your
recommendation with the rest of us. If a particular resource was NOT
helpful or was hard to use, you are welcome to share that information
also. You can even create a new page for a book or website that has not
been reviewed yet.
It is our hope that Butler WikiRef will become a useful collaborative
tool for all of our faculty and students. The more that people
participate, the greater the value of the wiki becomes.
You can access our library wiki here: http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/butler_wikiref/
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