Libraries@UW-Madison

Newsletter Archive | Library Communications

Issue 33

5/24/2004

News for Staff of UW-Madison Libraries

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LIBRARY NEWS

University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries now offer access to The Times, commonly known as the London Times, through an online database. The database spans 200 years from 1785 to 1985 and includes more than 7.6 million articles. For more information go to http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/news/releases/2004/20040430-times.shtml.
The School of Business, General Library System and Parents Fund provided the funds for 12 additional computers in the Business Library in the Fall of 2003, reports director Michael Enyart. These computers were an extension of the Business Computer Lab and have the Microsoft Office Suite of application. The Business Library conducted a survey during the spring 2003 semester and found that students value computer access. Eighty percent of surveyed students felt more computers would make the library more attractive and 70 percent said they felt computers with Windows applications are very important.
Adding a period could improve journal title searches in MadCat and Voyager. The Online Public Access Catalog Issues committee hopes to get approval from the Catalog Review Group to add a period before the name of highly-used journals. With this modification, entries from major journals would show up at the beginning of the search result list, instead of hidden somewhere in the middle. The period would not need to be added when searching. Current test runs are available in MadCat with the publications Science and Life by using the basic search option and searching by journal title. The OPAC Issues Committee is accepting suggestions of journals that are heavily used or are difficult to find in the long list due to common words in the journal name.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Archive and Records Management Service has now made information about former UW System presidents and UW-Madison chancellors available online. The Web sites include a complete list of all those who held the president or chancellor position since the beginning of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the UW System. A historical record of each person details their career before, during and after they held their position with UW.
The Wisconsin Historical Society is asking librarians, educators and citizens to vote on what they think are the most important events in Wisconsin history. A digital collection titled "Turning Points in Wisconsin History" currently lists 10 possible events that the Historical Society may put online. During May, anyone can vote for his or her favorite historical event by visiting the Web site. The Historical Society will announce the most popular events in June and proceed to digitize manuscripts, rare books, historic photographs and other associated artifacts throughout summer and fall. The collection's Web site will also include annotations discussing the event and the items in the digital collection.

Historical events to choose from:
1. The prehistory and the early history of Wisconsin's native people
2. Early explorers, traders and settlers to 1812
3. The transition from territory to statehood, 1787-1848
4. Immigration and settlement
5. Wisconsin's role in the Civil War, 1860-1865
6. Mining, lumber, and agriculture
7. La Follette and the Progressive Era, 1874-1914
8. The world wars and conflicts
9. Prosperity, depression, industrialization and urbanization
10. Wisconsin's response to 20th century change

NOTABLES

Assistant Director of the Health Sciences Libraries Sylvia Contreras is moving across town to Edgewood College this summer. She recently accepted a position as the director of the library. Contreras will remain at the Health Sciences Libraries until July 2.
Kate Anderson, currently an intern at the Pharmacy Library, will move over to Wendt Library June 7. As an associate academic librarian, Anderson will take on instruction and reference duties and other tasks in Wendt's services unit.
Tom Hefko, a former User Services employee and stacks management guru, is coming out of retirement this spring to provide staff training and consulting. Hefko will train General Library System staff members on stacks maintenance and assist with plans related to moving materials within and among the campus libraries. Hefko will be consulted on shifting materials from the GLS Libraries to the Middleton Health Sciences Library basement, moving works from the Memorial Library stacks to Special Collections, and moving materials within Middleton Health Sciences Library, Special Collections and the Kohler Art Library.
Former Library Communications editing intern Andy Wallmeyer will spend two months in Germany this summer in an exchange program for the Wall Street Journal. Wallmeyer received the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, named for the former U.S. ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. Through this fellowship, 10 journalists from the United States and 10 from Germany participate in an exchange program. Wallmeyer, who currently works for the Dow Jones News Wire in New York, will work in the Berlin bureau of the Wall Street Journal. In addition to his Library Communications position, Wallmeyer served as the editor-in-chief of The Daily Cardinal in 2000-'01.
After selling lettuce at the Farmer's Market for the past 10 years, David Waugh, Library Technology Group, and his partner opened their own plant nursery. Morningwood Farm Nursery is located in Mount Horeb and will be open through Sept. 21. The nursery offers various trees, grasses, shrubs, flowers and fruits. Waugh will continue to work at the library and concentrate on the nursery on the weekends.
In light of Bike-to-Work Week, Graphic Artist Dan Joe is donating his old bike to a Memorial Library staffer who would like to use it to commute to work. Those interested should write a one-page or less statement by May 26 describing why they need a bicycle and their plans for commuting to work. Joe and Ann Pollack, Reference, will judge the statements mainly on need and commitment to bike commuting.
Dee Grimsrud, a reference archivist at the Wisconsin Historical Society presented the Centennial Lecture after a reception May 5 that honored May graduates of the School of Library Information Studies. Her lecture, titled "The Charles Bunge Years," talked about Bunge, who was the SLIS director from 1971-1981.
After 34 years, Security Officer Bob Hacker will be retiring June 1. He began working security for College Library in 1972 and moved to Memorial Library in 1976. There will be a get-together June 1 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Memorial Library lounge to wish him well.

FEATURES AND EVENTS

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, in conjunction with the University of Alabama University Libraries, will explore historic decorative trade bindings in American works through an online exhibit of nearly 10,000 digital images taken from almost 5,000 books.
Read more about this project and an exhibit displaying samples
An exhibit of alebrije wood carvings from Mexico is on display on the second floor of Steenbock Library. The carvings were collected by Wisconsin Library Services librarian Bob Shaw during various trips to Mexico. Alebrije carvings are made from copal tree wood and are often whimsical and colorful animal figures. Artisans in small villages near the city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico have developed a small industry around these carvings. The exhibit will be on display through June 30.

IN THE NEWS

The Capital Times ran a feature story about the Special Collections exhibit, Layers of Knowledge, in its April 30 issue. Special Collections Curator Robin Rider and History of Medicine and Historical Collections Curator Micaela Sullivan-Fowler designed and compiled the exhibit and said they gave only brief descriptions of each piece because they "wanted the work to speak for itself." Books, photographs and other various pieces that explore the theme of layers through illustration were used to show various subjects from anatomy to landscape design. The exhibit was a collaborative effort between Special Collections and the History of Medicine Collection in the Health Sciences Library and runs until June 30.
Former Wendt academic librarian Anne Vandenburgh appeared on WISC TV3 May 5 and May 12 promoting her book Lindbergh's Badger Days. The book highlights Lindbergh's years as a student at UW-Madison in the early 1920s as well as later visits. Vandenburgh also held a book signing on the anniversary of Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, May 20 at Invest in Yourself, a bookstore in Middleton. The book is published by Goblin Fern Authors' Co-operative.

Christopher Kleinhenz, vice president of the board of directors of the Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries was included in the April 24 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal for an award in teaching excellence. Kleinhenz, who received the Chancellor's Award, is a professor of French and Italian for UW-Madison and is known for holding the attention of every student in his lecture hall from the first to the last row using his interdisciplinary pedagogical technique to catch and hold interest. An April 27 ceremony honored Kleinhenz along with nine other UW-Madison faculty members who received similar awards. All 10 award recipients also received $5,000 for their efforts.
The April 21 issue of The Capital Times previewed the May 2 kickoff of the Classic Book and Movie Club, which is a joint project with the newspaper, the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. The kickoff included a free showing of the film A Farewell to Arms, based on Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same title.
In the April 30 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal, the Daybreak section mentioned the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. The article about Rod Serling, a famous television writer most known for "The Twilight Zone," noted that the center houses the largest collection of his papers and personal correspondence.

SNAPSHOTS



	Aimee Glassel dons an artificial grass jacket to match the grass bike that visited Memorial Library Friday, May 14, in honor of Bike-to-Work Week. The bike, decorated in real grass, was part of the Art Bike Parade Saturday, May 15, in which many decorated bikes rode around the Capitol and State Street. Bike-to-Work Week is an effort to encourage people to try bicycle commuting.

PUBLISHED

Ebling News, formerly HSL News, published a special edition in the beginning of May to describe the new Ebling Library and the transition of all three Health Science Libraries into one. Power Pharmaceutical, Weston Clinical Science Center and Middleton Health Sciences libraries will be closed from May 29 to June 20, and the Ebling Library is expected to open June 21.
Mills Music Library released the spring edition of the Jongleur, highlighting new collections, new resources, information on recent publications and recordings from students and faculty, and a letter from the director.

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Steenbock Memorial Library's newsletter for April and May discussed the Health Sciences Libraries relocation, a new rush delivery service through Library Express and various journals available online.
The 2004 issue of Friends of the Libraries Magazine was released online and in print form. The issue mentions various noteworthy items such as a collection relating to bees in agriculture, the book sale, new acquisitions, the expansion of the libraries' digital collection and the names of more than 6,000 people that contributed to the libraries in 2003.

IN PASSING

Alice Grindstad, a former Memorial Library marking room employee from the early 1970s to 1990 died April 28. She was 79 years old. Before working with the libraries, she worked in the Bureau of Audio Visual Aids. Grindstad was a very independent woman who loved children, animals and flowers. Her family hopes to gather contributions in order to plant a tree in her name. Contributions can be made in her name to the University Foundation.

25 YEARS AGO IN THE LIBRARIES

The May 18, 1979, issue of Added Entries suggested new security measures: "Efforts are being made to effectively tighten the security in Memorial Library. Among the suggestions being considered are the Whistle Stop Program, increased lighting in the stacks, patrols by Protection and Security through the stacks of the building and the closing of the four front State Street doors. The latter program, suggested by the Day and Night Supervisors and the Chief of Circulation, would funnel all traffic in and out of Memorial Library through Room 139 past the circulation desk."

Correction

Quotation

Libraries@UW-Madison is written by the staff of the News and Editorial Office.
Managing Editor: Katie Gilbert
Editing Intern: Kristin Knipschild

Please send questions, comments or story ideas to:
Don Johnson, djohnson@library.wisc.edu, 608.262.0076, 330C Memorial Library, or
Kristin Knipschild, kknipschild@library.wisc.edu, 608.262.2853, 348 Memorial Library.