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Treasures of Special Collections on display
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Treasures of Special Collections
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A reproduction of a scene from Bride of Frankenstein (Franz Waxman, score composer).
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The newest exhibition, "4,000 Years and Counting," features treasures that highlight the breadth of the library's special collections -- from second-century-B.C. cuneiform tablets to the papers of notable contemporary figures like Joyce Carol Oates.
The exhibition opens with the origins of special collections at SU: the 1887 purchase of the eminent German historian Leopold von Ranke's library. In support of the acquisition, University Librarian C. W. Bennett made this assessment: "For this has always been my theory, that six thousand to ten thousand well-selected volumes are sufficient for the wants of the undergraduate, but to keep the professors from mental hunger and starvation, sources, authorities and books of a very different kind must be had in large numbers and in special collections."
The exhibition, which will remain up until September 7, occupies the display case on the first floor of Bird Library and the gallery on the 6th floor. |
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Save the date!
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Introducing Summon, a new kind of library search engine
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Introducing Summon, a new kind of library search engine
 On August 2, Syracuse University Library will unveil a revolutionary new library search engine called Summon. Summon provides a familiar, Google-like searching experience that simplifies the process of finding information in the Library. Summon covers books and e-books, scholarly journals and e-journals, newspaper articles, dissertations, conference proceedings, and much more. Because Summon combines many types of resources in a single search, it's a great place to start a general or multi-disciplinary search.
Summon combines searching the SU library catalog, SU digital collections, and the SUrface repository, plus nearly 80,000 electronic journals, over 500 research databases, newspapers, images, government documents, digital audio and video, and digital repositories from colleges, universities, and other open-access archives on the web. This massive index is a work in progress and new resources are being added continuously.
Summon will replace Encore/Discover. A new databases menu will replace MetaLib.
Also debuting with Summon is a new library homepage design that highlights the new resource. Researchers can enter terms in the simple, library-branded search box or use the advanced search option to specify words in a title, publication title, author names(s), dates, and more.
Read the full press release.
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Staff meetings and presentations
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Staff meetings and presentations
 Were you unable to attend the all-staff meeting on June 20? Check out the "Staff Meetings & Presentations" section in SharePoint to view videos of past SUL staff meetings.
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On Safire
William Safire project archivist, Amber Moore, had her article on the Safire archive published in the Summer 2012 issue of Fine Books & Collections magazine. Check it out if you get a chance!
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2012 Frye Leadership Institute
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2012 Frye Leadership Institute
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, Lisa Moeckel, was selected as a participant in the 2012 Frye Leadership Institute, held June 3-8, 2012, in Washington, DC.
 The Institute is designed for leaders in higher education, including CIOs, librarians, information technology professionals, and administrators, who are interested in working collaboratively to promote and initiate change on critical issues affecting the academy.
Fellows in the 2012 Institute contemplated the current and future impact of key issues in the higher education community including new sources of competition, use of technology to support effective teaching and learning, distance learning, changing modes of scholarly communications, an increasing focus on students and, fundamentally, a transformation in the qualities necessary for leadership in today's increasingly ambiguous and rapidly-changing environment.
Moeckel was selected as one of only 41 participants from private and public institutions of all sizes.
The Frye Leadership Institute was created in 2001 through a grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and named in honor of Billy E. Frye. It is sponsored by CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources), EDUCAUSE, and Emory University. |
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LibGuides Advisory Team
The LibGuides Group has been (re)convened to help inform and effect improvements to our LibGuides implementation. The group members represent stakeholders and include members from Administration, Learning Commons, LITS, RCSC, and SCRC. Our meeting highlights and agendas can be found on our SharePoint site.
One of the first improvements you will notice is that the guide URL (friendly, if you've set it), RSS Updates and a Share button will soon appear in the page header. SUNY-ESF authors have also moved their content to a new site: http://libguides.esf.edu.
LibGuides administrators now include Cindy Barry, Julie Belle, Linda Galloway, Pam McLaughlin, Jeremy Morgan, and Nancy Turner. Please direct questions or concerns to the meeting facilitator, Linda Galloway, or any other member of the group.
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EconoMode printing on public computers
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EconoMode printing on public computers
 For Summer Session II (July 2 through August 10) the Library has enabled EconoMode as the default print quality mode on both "LC 1" and "LC 1b" black and white printers, located on the first floor of the Learning Commons.
Learning Commons staff has posted signs announcing the change, and a small pop-up browser window appears on screen when a user logs on to a Library computer.
If a patron wishes to print a darker, higher-quality print out, they will need to deselect EconoMode each time they print. The Technology Support & Loan Desk is able to assist patrons with disabling this feature. Patrons will not be refunded for print jobs printed in EconoMode.
If all goes well depending on findings and feedback, we would like to leave EconoMode enabled as the default for all black and white public printing at the Library. |
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Access & Resource Sharing news
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Access & Resource Sharing news
Kudos!
Shannon Pritting presented at NYSHEI annual meeting on the IDS Project and IDS Search. The presentation provided an overview of the open source tools for resource sharing that the IDS Project has developed since its creation. This presentation focused on IDS Search, a resource sharing focused catalog, and ALIAS, a licensing database that helps facilitate sharing of e-journals via ILL. Syracuse University has been using ALIAS and other IDS tools since it joined the Project in 2009. Shannon also chaired the IDS Project Executive Director Search Committee and serves on the IDS Project Technology Development Team.
At ALA Annual in Anaheim, Melinda Dermody moderated a panel "Riding the Publishing Rollercoaster: Practical Strategies from Research to Writing." The session, sponsored by ACRL's Publications Coordinating Committee, included panelists Char Booth, David Lankes, Wendi Arant-Kaspar, Katherine O'Clair, and ACRL Content Strategist Kathryn Deiss, and was well-attended and enthusiastically received.
Melinda Dermody has accepted an appointment to serve as Vice-Chair of ACRL's Publications Coordinating Committee.
Reports
Access & Resource Sharing connected with colleagues at the University of Rochester, when Melinda Dermody met with the Head of Access Services and toured their Access Services operations. Following that meeting, a team of University of Rochester staff visited Access & Resource Sharing in our Library the following month. Shannon Pritting also visited Upstate Medical University Interlibrary Loan department to observe best practices in article purchase on demand, and general operations.
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SU Library Facility progress
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SU Library Facility progress
We have created a new website to present information and images about the SCLF project. It is set up as a library blog at http://library-blog.syr.edu/sclf/ and includes a section for announcements and an image gallery. Special thanks to Cindy Barry and Julie Sharkey for their quick work in getting it set up and populated. Please let Pamela McLaughlin know if there is other content you would like to have added at this time.
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Know the facts inside bottled water
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Know the facts inside bottled water
During the spring semester, the SU Sustainability Division and a few student groups held blind water taste tests at a couple of events on campus to determine which water people preferred the taste of. At one event, 106 out of 151 participants preferred SU's TAP or FILTERED TAP water over the bottled water. Why does SU's water taste so good -- it comes from Skaneateles Lake. According to the Syracuse Water Department, "The high quality of the water makes it possible to utilize the lake's water without filtration. Skaneateles Lake is one of the few large system surface water supplies in the country that is approved as an unfiltered water supply."  Here are some facts about the bottled-water industry that should make you ditch the single-serve water bottles and start drinking tap water from your own re-usable bottles!
- Water bottle production uses 17 million barrels of oil a year, yes 17 million barrels a year! Hmmm, the last time the U.S. didn't have to rely on imported oil was in 1970.
- A typical bottled-water bottle holds about 16.5 ounces; it takes three times that amount of water to make the bottle itself.
- According to National Geographic, Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing a whopping 29 billion bottles every year! The recycling rate for those 29 billion bottles of water is low; only about 13 percent end up in the recycling stream. In 2005, that meant approximately 2 million tons of water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills, according to the National Resources Defense Council.
- Plastic bottles take a very, very long time to decompose. A plastic bottle will not decompose in your lifetime, or your children's lifetimes. In Syracuse, if our bottles are not recycled, they go to an incinerator which can release toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals.
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SULA 2012 voting results
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Orchid in the house
Journey down to the Map Room (Rm 358 Bird) and wander over to John Olson's office and you will see a number of strange looking plants sitting on the window sill. One of these plants is an orchid that's currently in full bloom. For those interested in these exotic plants, you will find that its foliage feels like plastic and that it thinks it's a cactus since it's growing in dry sandy soil. After eight years, it has finally grown a full flower spike that stretches 58 inches high and has more than 125 blossoms that are only 3/4 inch across. It truly is a strange plant.
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Otto spotters
Congratulations to Penelope Singer for spotting Otto at Sarah Pohley's desk. Enjoy your new Nalgene water bottle! Take a peek at the "Oh, Otto!" comic Penelope created about her recent Otto sighting.
Entering isn't hard -- if you spot our plush Otto in the Library, snap a picture and send it, along with details of where you saw him, to libcom@syr.edu for a chance to win a prize!
Otto is given to Library staff members who are making a difference and a positive contribution. Each employee keeps Otto for one week and then passes him along to another deserving co-worker.
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Staff news
Got news? Please feel free to send us any news items that you would like to share with colleagues -- graduations, weddings, new babies, travels, and such. As always, we welcome your feedback, comments, questions, or story ideas. Send your contributions to libcom@syr.edu.
Many thanks for your interest!
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The Syracuse University Library Staff Newsletter
Editors:
Pamela Whiteley McLaughlin, Julie Sharkey
Contributors: Bevan Angier, Cindy Barry, DeAnn Buss, TC Carrier, Melinda Dermody,
Linda M. Galloway, Marianne Hanley, Charlene Martin, Lisa Moeckel,
Amber Moore, John Olson, Penelope Singer
Click here to view past issues of the Library Staff Newsletter
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