LIBRARY NEWS

~ UW-Madison Libraries ranked fifth highest worldwide contributor of original cataloging records to OCLC
~ End of the semester calls for 24/7 service
~ Google search added to the libraries Web site
~ New feature in Primate Lit database
~ White Elephant Drawing Event gives gifts, showcases staff talent
~ Turning Points in Wisconsin's History collection now available online
~ Kohler Library receives grant for collections
~ Xreferplus added to reference databases
~ Long-distance cataloging help

NOTABLES

~ Nancy Kunde receives fellowship
~ Linda Balsiger retires from Ebling
~ CIMC bids Peter Cupery farewell

FEATURES AND EVENTS

~ Zine Fest and Book Festival at College Library
~ Geography Library turns 75
~ Memorial Library helps food drive
~ WWLW raffles "Drama Queens" quilt

IN THE NEWS

~ Wisconsin State Journal visits Allied Drive story hour
~ Wisconsin Week publishes article on Allied Drive story hour
~ The Capital Times quotes Abbie Loomis about Rufus the dog

FYI: national library news

~ A librarian's account: the changing functions of a library
~ Students using Google as a research tool
~ Google makes an agreement with five top research libraries
~ New York Times editorial on Google's agreement

SNAPSHOTS

PUBLISHED

IN PASSING

25 YEARS AGO IN THE LIBRARIES

LIBRARY NEWS

• OCLC ranks the UW-Madison Libraries as the fifth highest worldwide contributor of original cataloging to WorldCat. Last year staff in the UW-Madison Libraries generated 24,073 original records for the database. OCLC's 2003-2004 annual report notes that WorldCat, the world's largest virtual catalog, holds more than 55 million records for materials dating from 2150 B.C. to the present.
  For more information, see the full annual report in a PDF format.
  
  
• College Library was open 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week for the last three weeks of the semester while students prepared for the end of classes and for exams. The library remained open continuously until 4:45 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 23. Starting Saturday, Dec. 11, Memorial Library's west corridor and the adjoining study halls in rooms 116 and 124 also remained open 24 hours-a-day through Tuesday, Dec. 21.
  Read more about College Library and Memorial Library's extended hours
  
  
• Google™ has been added as a search engine to the UW-Madison Libraries Web site as part of an ongoing redesign project and in response to user feedback.
  
  According to Web Development Librarian Tony Krier, "We are examining our current practices of Web site and publicly-accessible server maintenance. The result of implementing the new search feature highlights problems in our current Web sites. It is important to address these problems with the goal of enhancing our Web presence."
  
  The Library Technology Group and Krier have offered to work with libraries seeking solutions ranging from securing information to obtaining virtual host names to moving into the library.wisc.edu domain.
  
  
• The Wisconsin Primate Research Center Library & Information Service announced an upgrade to the PrimateLit database in November. Searchers can now use citation programs like EndNote and ProCite to gather information while they search the database.
  
  
• Library staff members were invited to attend a White Elephant Drawing Nov. 30 to highlight the Partners in Giving Campaign. The event also showcased the talent of three staffers. Peter Gorman of the Library Technology Group played his fiddle, Victor Gorodinsky of CTS performed magic tricks and Sue Dentinger of LTG read a humorous poem about the help desk.
  Read more about the White Elephant Drawing and Partners in Giving Campaign
  
  
• The Wisconsin Historical Society Library-Archives has been working on a digital collection project called Turning Points in Wisconsin History. Last spring, they collected more than 100,000 votes on the top 10 interesting events in Wisconsin History and since May they have been assembling the collections and digitizing items. The collection was launched Dec. 1, and new items will be added on a continual basis. Currently, Turning Points focuses on early Wisconsin history, but the collection should contain items through the 20th century by the end of winter.
  
  The resource includes letters, diaries, newspaper stories, memoirs, photographs, posters, engravings and images of museum objects that all share a story about Wisconsin's history. The items can be printed, copied and downloaded for educational use at any time.
  Read about Turning Points voting in a previous newsletter
  
  
• Kohler Art Library received a $2,000 grant from the Kohler Foundation. This grant is intended to build the collection on self-taught artists. Kohler Library Director Lyn Korenic reported that this category of art is a specialty for the Kohler Foundation as they work toward preserving the work of the "outsider" or self-taught artists throughout Wisconsin.
  
  
• Library staff have access to a new reference database, Xreferplus, a collection of 100 reference tools that may be searched collectively or individually. Resources included in Xreferplus range from encyclopedias to audio files. Xreferplus also includes a "Research Mapper" that visually displays the connections between search results and topics.
  
  
• The UW-Madison Libraries not only support the UW-Madison campus, but also assist other libraries across the nation. Recently, Jill Rosenshield of Special Collections used her expertise in Czech literature to help the Broward County Library System in Florida catalog materials
  
  
  A Czech version of the Ant and the Grasshopper from Aesop's Fables.
  

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NOTABLES

• Nancy Kunde, UW Archives and Records Management Service, received a fellowship sponsored by the National Historical Records and Publication Commission. The NHRPC is a federally funded grant program and one of the primary funding sources for archives and records management research in the United States. The NHRPC is administered through the National Archives and Records Administration. The particular NHPRC program from which Nancy received her fellowshop focuses on
  electronic records research.  This fellowship program is administered by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Library and Information Science.
  
  The goal of Nancy’s fellowship is to develop a set of conversion criteria that will ensure records will keep their integrity, trustworthiness and reliability as they are converted from one medium to another.
  
  

• Linda Balsiger retired from her position as public services coordinator at Ebling Library. Patrick O'Toole has been appointed interim public services coordinator, in addition to his responsibilities as document delivery coordinator. Ebling Library Director Terry Burton expressed thanks for all of Balsiger's "efforts in taking on the difficult job of coordinating the merger of the three health sciences public service operations into the Ebling Library." Burton continued, "We knew it was going to be a challenge and Linda tackled it with grace and good humor."
  
  
• Peter Cupery will retire after 13 years at the Center for Instructional Materials and Computing and the School of Education. The CIMC held a retirement open house in his honor Dec. 17. Peter formally retires Jan. 3.

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FEATURES AND EVENTS

• In October, College Library hosted the Zine Fest and parts of the Wisconsin Book Festival, as reported in our previous newsletter. The Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries helped host the Festival of Fiction portion of the Wisconsin Book Festival and the UW Women's Studies Librarians and the School of Library and Information Studies helped sponsor Zine Fest.
  Eliot Finkelstein of College Library reported on the events and shared his pictures with Libraries@UW-Madison.
  
  
• The Geography Library celebrated its 75th anniversary the week of Nov. 14, coinciding with Geography Awareness Week. In honor of the occasion, Dr. John Herbert, chief of the Geography and Map Division at the Library of Congress, gave a presentation titled "Mapping of the Louisiana Purchase."
  
  
• Memorial Library took part in the "Share your holidays to eliminate hunger” food drive again this year from Nov. 22 to Dec. 7. Two large barrels in the front lobby served as the collection point and Debi Doyle, coordinator of the drive for the library, reported that Memorial Library collected 258 lbs. of non-perishable food which breaks down to 206 meals. This was a 15 percent improvement over last year’s contribution.
  
  
• The Wisconsin Women Library Workers is raffling off a quilt again this year. This year’s quilt, “Drama Queens,” will be displayed in the Madison Public Library Friendshop through the end of January. The quilt includes 12 squares, each representing a different drama queen from actress Whoopi Goldberg to broadway queen Ethel Merman. Squares were made by WWLW members Jocelyne Bodden, Kathryn Leide, Jane Pearlmutter, Sylvia Brown, Nancy McClements of Memorial Library, Sue Searing, Maureen Welch, Kathy Rohde, Kathleen Weibel, Jessica Brooks, Jennie Vano and Christine Jenkins.

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IN THE NEWS

• The Wisconsin State Journal showcased the Allied Drive story hour program on the front page of the local section Dec. 21. The story hour was coordinated this month by Jean Phillips, Schwerdtfeger Space Science & Engineering Library. The children learned about snowflakes and Wilson Bentley, the first man to produce microscopic photographs of snowflakes. The Schwerdtfeger Library holds a collection of Bentley's photomicrographs and Phillips showed some of these pictures to the children.
  
  
• The Dec. 8 issue of Wisconsin Week also highlighted the Water Resources Library's efforts to start a story hour program in the Allied Drive neighborhood. The story was also covered in the previous issue of this newsletter.
  
  
• The Capital Times published an article about a dog named Rufus who captured many hearts during his stay at the Dane County Humane Society. One of the many volunteers quoted is Abbie Loomis, Library & Information Literacy Instruction Program coordinator. Loomis walked Rufus two to three times a week and said, "Rufus was just an ordinary dog, but he had a heart of gold."

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FYI: national library news

This new section of Libraries@UW-Madison will showcase national news stories about library topics. A flurry of news coverage in recent weeks prompted its creation. "FYI: National Library News" will appear as needed.


• The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article Dec. 10 by Dennis Dillon, associate director for research services at the University of Texas at Austin. Dillon's article, titled "College Libraries: the Long Goodbye" gives a firsthand account of the changes a library has made in response to budget constraints, space issues and the digital age.
  
  
• CNN.com published an article Dec. 9 which discussed concerns about students using Google as a research tool instead of resources like those available at libraries.
  
  
• The Chronicle of Higher Education released information Dec. 14 regarding Google's new agreement with five leading research libraries to provide research material. Google plans to digitize many of the libraries' print materials accessible with the Google search engine.
  
  
• The New York Times published an editorial regarding the Google agreement Dec. 21 which explained that "The library is the heart of every university..." and "The Google project will enhance the usefulness of the books it encompasses, but it in no way will render them obsolete."

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SNAPSHOTS

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PUBLISHED

• In Virgin on the Rocks, the latest poetry chapbook from Parallel Press, Karla Huston gives readers a chance to ponder a wide array of topics relating to love, loss, intimacy and thoughts about life through her personal experiences and sometimes humorous stories.
  
  While many of Huston's poems focus on intimate experiences, a few are written from the perspective of another person or thing. "Mona Lisa Imagines" is from the perspective of Mona Lisa as she ponders Leonardo Da Vinci's odd habits and his reasons for painting her as he does.
  Read more about Virgins on the Rocks
  
  
• The winter 2004-'05 Friends News is now posted online. Among other news items, this issue includes upcoming spring events, an introduction to the "Paragraphs on Typography" exhibit coming in January and a feature on the historic Gutenberg type acquired by the Silver Buckle Press.
  
  
• The UW-Madison Libraries holiday card highlights an image taken from the Octopus, a humor magazine published on campus. The outside image of the card shows four men, like the one shown here, dashing through a Wisconsin winter holding books. Holiday cards are available annually during the holiday season for staff to send to business colleagues. Two versions are available. One with a message inside "Best Wishes in the New Year From the Staff of UW-Madison Libraries." The other is blank. Printing costs were paid by private donations to the UW-Madison Libraries.
  
  
• The annual list of "Books We Like" is also available for library staff to send out or place on information desks. It was designed to be used as an insert with the holiday card. This year's list includes 32 books recommended by the Librarian's Assembly last winter. Titles recommended range from the children's book "Walter the Farting Dog" to "Diaries, 1898-1902" which gives an intimate account of Alma Mahler's life as a young woman.

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IN PASSING

• Professor Margaret E. Monroe, director of the Wisconsin Library School from 1963 to 1971, passed away Dec. 17. She was 90 years old. Monroe is credited with starting the doctoral program in the Library School as well as many other accomplishments that mirrored her commitment to library outreach services to adults and under served groups. An obituary was published Dec. 22. on http://www.madison.com.

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25 YEARS AGO IN THE LIBRARIES

• The Dec. 21, 1979 issue of Added Entries included an article titled "Three-mile camera" which noted the recent achievements of the Collection Maintenance Department.
  
  "Since beginning systematic filming in early April, the Collection Maintenance Department has shot three miles of microfilm. In the past several months we have been able to catch up on our dissertation backlog and are now current. Other accomplishments include establishing an interlibrary loan filming policy and doing interlibrary loan filming on a routine basis. Mixed in with routine work have been a number of special projects, ranging from African archives to personnel records. Work is currently progressing on establishing a 'preservation' filming policy."
  
  A second paragraph of the article details new equipment for the department that was made possible by a grant. The article was written by Dennis Lemanczyk of the Collection Maintenance Office.

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Quotation

"Two forces are successfully influencing the education of a cultivated man: art and science. Both are united in the book."

—Maksim Gorky, (1868-1936), Russian Author

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