Comments Off on Scanning for Students

By bmatthie, March 23, 2006 12:48 pm

To all:

Brad

Addendum: Scanner coming soon to a reference department near you!

Comments Off on Internal Communication

By Scott Pfitzinger, March 7, 2006 12:21 pm

Hello all. It’s been over a month since I surveyed you about an Internal Communication question. Specifically, whether we should have a regular newsletter for internal communication within the libraries or whether the blog would be a better tool for this function.

Since we were looking just at INTERNAL communication, not news to the public or the students, the majority of responses (about 80%) said that since we already had the blog in place, and since it is searchable, that the blog would be the best tool for the job. Many did say that they knew they would have to develop the habit of checking it, but that it still was the best tool.

Therefore, I will be increasing the number of categories for our posts on our internal ButlerLib blog so that topics of interest are easier to find. I will also be contacting everyone later this month to offer a training session on how to use the blog. Stay tuned for further details.

Comments Off on Creating a PDF File

By Scott Pfitzinger, February 23, 2006 12:12 pm

For those of you who have ever needed to create a PDF file, we have a program installed at the Reference Desk that I would recommend to you. It’s called PrimoPDF and it’s a terrific FREE program that allows you to create PDF files. While there are all kinds of security settings you can implement (like disabling printing, etc.), the basic function is simple.

Just print your document and select PrimoPDF as your “printer.” It will ask you for a file name and allow you to change security settings before you click OK and save the PDF file. Pretty basic.

Another nice thing is that, since this program acts as a “printer,” anything you can print you can make a PDF file. Doesn’t matter if it’s a Word document, a spreadsheet, a webpage, or a library catalog entry. If you can print it, you can make it a PDF. Just change your printer from your default to PrimoPDF.

If you’d like to see it in action, feel free to stop by the Reference Desk.

Scott

Comments Off on CHOICES III

By Scott Pfitzinger, February 21, 2006 6:32 pm

The CHOICES III database is still available on that computer in the corner of the Reference Dept. And now there’s a manual with a couple of guides that Brad discovered online.

Thanks, Brad!

P.S. Those guides can be found:

• http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/business/simmons.html
• http://www.gwu.edu/~guides/database/choices

Comments Off on IM Reference

By bmatthie, December 5, 2005 7:01 pm

For those that are curious, here are the numbers of reference transactions we’ve done over Instant Messenger since we implemented it:

August – 2
September – 4
October – 9
November – 16
December – 4 already (in the first 5 days, Thursday – Monday)

There are 20 users listed as Recent Buddies, so that means at least that many different students have used our IM services. Presumably, they’ve got us added as Buddies on their own buddy lists, so they’ll be more likely to ask again when they have questions.

Scott