Databases are working again

Friends, EBSCO seems to be back in business this morning, and you should now be able to access all of our research databases, including the ATLA-RDB and ATLAS.

We do apologize for this failure.  Please let us know if you detect any problems!

Paula

EBSCO databases unavailable

We are having trouble connecting to our Library databases that are supplied by the vendor known as EBSCO.  These include the ATLA Religion Database and ATLAS.

All databases from other vendors seem to be working fine.

Our Systems Librarian has contacted EBSCO and we are awaiting a response from them.  We apologize for this inconvenience!

And yes, it is ironic that this embarrassing failure took place just as we distributed our WSML Public Services User Survey.  I guess this is the kind of thing that will seem funny someday.

Paula

UPDATE : EBSCO has replied that they performed some "maintenance" on their systems this morning and as a result several of their customers have lost access.  They are reportedly "working on it" (!).

It's time for the LIBRARY SURVEY !

PLEASE NOTE : If you are at BTSR and you have not yet received the survey link by email, please contact us.  Some of our email messages were returned undelivered, so we must have the wrong email address for you.

I know you've been looking forward to this moment for the past two years.  It's time to fill in your William Smith Morton Library Public Services User Survey!

We use this important information to improve Library services, so please do take just a few minutes to answer our questions carefully.  We really do need your valuable input.

When you complete your form on SurveyMonkey, you will get a "Thank You" page from us.  You may print this page, write your name and email address on it, and bring it to the Library's Circulation Desk.  Our helpful desk person will give you 10 free copies on your copy card!  Also, your page will enter you into our random drawing to win one of several great prizes :

1)  A new iMainGo2 portable speaker for your iPhone, iPod or Zune

2)  A 9-vol set of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Eerdmans 1964, good condition)

3)  A 5-vol set of the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon 1980, very good condition).  We've got two sets to give away!

4)  Strong's concordance (reprint of the B&H revised edition, like new)

5)  A Macmillan Bible Atlas (2nd edition 1977, good condition)

6)  Cross & Livingstone's Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd revised edition 2005, like new)

You need to complete your survey and redeem your copy coupon by April 14th.  The link to the survey will be sent to you by email.  Thank you so much for your help!

Paula

More than just books

Patrons of the William Smith Morton Library are well aware of its wealth of resources in Theology, Bible, and Church History. Indeed, the library houses over 300,000 volumes!  Did you know, though, that the library has more to offer than its large collection of books?

The Instructional Resource Center (IRC), located on the second floor of Morton Library, brings together a large collection of multimedia and curricular resources for use in the academic community and the church. Its collection includes audio media, curriculum kits, and over 1000 DVD and VHS titles. The IRC is also an authorized distributor of the Paul Tillich/Reinhold Niebuhr Audio Collection.

The IRC has a wealth of curriculum for all ages on a variety of subjects. The curriculum collection includes recent resources from several denominations, including Presbyterian (USA), United Methodist, Lutheran (ELCA), and the United Church of Christ. Many of the resources are based on the Revised Common Lectionary.  Others are organized and planned by topic. This is the season of preparation for this summer’s Vacation Bible School, and the IRC has several VBS resources available to peruse, as well!

The video collection houses both educational videos as well as feature films.  Some of the most popular titles are on display on the shelves as you enter the IRC.  Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo, and the Notebook are just some of the movies available to be checked out.

The Instructional Resource Center is staffed weekdays until 4:30pm, but patrons can access the collection whenever the library is open. Print curricula and audio media are housed on public shelving and are accessible during all open hours. Videos and DVDs are in locked storage, but Circulation Desk workers can assist you after normal business hours.

To learn more about using the library catalog to find resources in the Instructional Resource Center, please see this helpful online tutorial: http://gargoyle.upsem.edu/tutorial/CATALEARN/Pages/PageG.html

TJ Remaley
MDiv/MACE

Circulation Desk Student Worker

Four years of info and feedback

I realized today that this is our 400th blog post.  We began this blog in 2008, after that year's WSML Public Services User Survey.  The survey was an attempt to gather information more systematically about our user's wants and needs, and whether they feel we are meeting them.

It became clear through the 2008 Survey that we needed a simple way to get announcements out to our users quickly, especially in case of an unexpected closure, technology fail or other problem.  Also, we needed to interpret better the ongoing work we do to update and improve our collections and services, so people could understand what goes on here and state their reactions if they wished.  So, the 2008 Survey led directly to the founding of this blog.  Now, it gets 350-500 visits every month, so apparently it is doing its job!

The 2010 Survey revealed a strong opinion in favor of Sunday open hours.  So, we began Sunday hours on a trial basis, worked out the staffing issues and continued the policy throughout the academic year.  Again, the Survey had a direct impact on services.

It's almost time for the 2012 Survey -- we will distribute it next week.  There will be photocopy coupons and nice prizes again, as a thank-you to those who take the time to fill it in and return it.  Also, this year it will move to SurveyMonkey, so we can ask more specific questions of particular user groups and collect better information.

I expect that the 2012 Survey will lead us to new policy changes and improvements.

Paula

Closed for Spring Recess, Fri-Sun

The Library (and the rest of our campus offices) will be closed for an abbreviated Spring Recess from Friday March 16th through the weekend.  We will reopen with normal Spring Term hours on Monday March 19th.

Paula

Water shutoff in the Library on Thursday

UPDATE : Plumbing work is finished ... you may come and use our restrooms now!

On Thursday, March 15, the physical plant team will shut off all the water in the Library from 9:00 am until 10:30 am to repair a valve.

If you need to use a restroom or water fountain on Thursday morning, you will need to go elsewhere.  Richmond Hall, the Advancement and Thompson buildings will be available for use of their facilities during that time.

Rachel

Weeding the collection -- part three

So, at the end of Part Two, we stated that we do not intend to remove works pertinent to our intensive collection areas.  That just leads to the next question : "What are our intensive collection areas?"

This question makes it clear that weeding is just one part of the overall Collection Development process.  We have a written CD policy, including guidelines for the subject areas in which we will buy heavily and keep an in-depth collection of materials over time.  Some of our most intensive subject areas are :

• Biblical studies, analysis, criticism and interpretation
• Patristics, early and medieval church history
• Reformation history and theology
• Denominational history, especially Presbyterian and Reformed
• History and development of doctrine; systematic theology
• Modern theology and ethics
• Christian education of all ages
• Mission and World Christianity
• Doctrine and structure of the church; polity, creeds and confessions
• Worship and sacraments
• Pastoral ministry, counseling, homiletics

And what does it mean to collect intensively in a certain subject area, anyway?  What kind of materials are needed in a research-level collection?  Here is a simple summary :

• An extensive selection of general and specialized monographs, reference works and periodicals
• Appropriate non-print media in the subject area
• Pertinent foreign language materials (both ancient and modern languages)
• Complete works by major authors and extensive collections of lesser authors
• Defined access to an extensive selection of local or remotely-accessed electronic indexes and databases
• Archival holdings of rare books and unpublished manuscript materials

Note that one of the criteria in establishing an intensive collection is that older materials are systematically preserved to meet the needs of historical research.  That is why we don't discard things that seem old or obsolete if they can be used to demonstrate the history of a given field or discipline.

Paula

Weeding the collection -- part two

Last week we described the broad outlines of the weeding project.  This week I'll share with you some of the more detailed criteria we use to assess materials.

TO  BE  REMOVED

1) Outdated college textbooks, almanacs, yearbooks or directories

2) Superseded editions of support material (such as no-longer-current Chicago Manual of Style editions, modern language dictionaries, etc)

3) Duplicate copies of material that no longer circulates

4) Obsolete practical guides or instructional material (eg, “How to Get Your Book Published” from 1962, or a GRE study manual from 1980)

5) Dated popular/non-scholarly material, such as travel information or data on student loans & scholarships

6) Reprints of articles published in standard periodicals

7) Books in very poor condition that are readily available in other local collections

8) Works outside our core subject areas that are readily available elsewhere

DO  NOT  REMOVE

1) Works indicative of the history of scholarly work in a given field (old does not mean irrelevant!)

2) Works with any Presbyterian connection – such as a dictionary of colloquial Arabic published by the Nile Mission Press, or materials published by Westminster John Knox or other church-related entity 

3) Works pertinent to our intensive collection areas

Weeding the collection -- part one

Some of you have seen me in the stacks with a book truck, spending hours doing some mysterious task.  We are undertaking a weeding project aimed first at the most overcrowded portions of the collection.  We do this on a 10-year cycle.

When we start removing things from the collection, people get a little anxious.  They are sure that we will somehow zero in on the books they like best and get rid of them!  I can assure you that this is very unlikely to happen.  We use a set of assessment criteria that I will explain in a series of blog posts, to let you know exactly how we are going about it.

For starters, let me identify the three groups of things most often removed :

1)  Excess copies.  The Library may buy several copies of a certain book to facilitate circulation & access.  But years later, that book may be seldom used, as times change and new materials come along that are of current interest.  If we own three or four copies (or more!) of a book and none of them has been borrowed in the past five years, probably that is way too many.  Two copies will probably suffice.  We will keep the ones in the best condition and remove the rest.  There are exceptions to this rule: e.g., works published by our own faculty or books that are scarce and would be difficult to replace.

2)  Old college textbooks and "how to" manuals.  We have on our shelves an embarrassing array of introductions intended for undergraduate college courses in communications, sociology, education, etc.  These were never germane to our collection, but especially so when they are 35-40 years out of date.  We also have many "how to" guides that were once helpful but are now absurdly dated, such as The Church Library Handbook from 1972, or Using Computers in the Classroom from 1995.  We actually do keep a few of these to document the changes in technology over time.  But the rest of them are unlikely to be missed.

3)  Books in terminal condition.  Books that have reached the end of their physical life span are assessed.  Some that are still in demand -- such as the novels of CS Lewis -- are replaced with new copies.  We also check to see whether the title is readily available nearby through ILL or consortium borrowing.  Often, we find that books now in the public domain are available in free digital versions online, through Google Books or the Hathi Trust.  If the item belongs to the core collecting categories of our collection -- Reformation theology, for example, or biblical exegesis -- we check to see if it is still in print or if we can replace it with a used copy in better condition.

In following posts, I'll be more specific about the process of grooming a research collection.  If we do it well, we'll have a stronger, better collection with growth space for a few more years to come.

Paula