• Materials from the Geology Library continue to move to their new homes in Bird and Carnegie and a change in procedure has increased the speed of the move. Access & Resource Sharing staff in Bird are now RFID tagging all Geology books, including those designated for Carnegie. This has reduced the time needed in Carnegie for processing the books and so two more shipments of books to Carnegie per week have been scheduled.

• Service requests for the Facility include full volume requests (monographs and journals), Special Collection requests, article scans and microfilm requests. Tony Carbone at the Facility has reported a jump in service requests between August (521 requests) and September (830) of nearly 60 percent.

• Shelf-reading on the fifth floor of Bird Library has transformed into an inventory, using a process spearheaded by Dan Beckett and continued by Niki Gilman in Carnegie. The process finds books with incorrect call numbers and books with missing/lost status. Our thanks to Preservation and Cataloging for their help with correcting these issues, and so bringing the catalog more in-line with what is on our shelves.

• SUL Preservation hosted a presentation on book repair for Cornell Preservation Librarians, two librarians, one from China, one from Taiwan, and one interpreter. The visitors from overseas are going through a six-week book repair program at Cornell, and came to visit Bird Library to observe SUL preservation methods.

It's here: the 2015 United Way Campaign!

This year's theme is: Be A Game Changer. How well the United Way's theme could be our own! The entire SU campus in general, and we in the Libraries in particular, will soon be responding to major game changes under new leadership and the effects of the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program on remaining staff.

This year marks Syracuse University's 44th United Way Campaign. Since that number is so significant on campus, we've decided to use it as a participation goal--at least 44 new or increased pledges. Even a $1.00 donation or increase adds up quickly when matched by others.

By now, each of us should have our United Way paper pledge card and have seen a few weekly e-pledge opportunities. If you want to see your United Way donation at work, watch one of the videos in the e-pledge email! Please consider making a contribution--one gifts helps supports a network of health and human service programs. Giving to a favorite charity through the United Way is a win-win for both organizations.

Your friendly neighborhood Library team is gearing up for all of our annual United Way activities:

• Election Day Bake Sale on Tuesday, November 3 at 10 a.m. in the Learning Commons
• Auction Extravaganza on Friday, November 6 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons
• Libraries Day-Off Donation Giveaway

Detailed information for each of the events will be announced shortly, so stay tuned.

Thank you in advance for supporting our community through your participation in the Libraries United Way activities and by filling out your pledge card/online form.

On behalf of the Libraries United Way Team:
Pat Hunt (chair), Sarah Allis, Nancy Cohen, Kristin Neri, Annie Rauh

via oclc.org 

 

October 1, 2015--OCLC printed its last library catalog cards today, officially closing the book on what was once a familiar resource for generations of information seekers who now use computer catalogs and online search engines to access library collections around the world.

 

This final print run marked the end of a service that has steadily decreased over the past few decades as libraries have moved their catalogs online.

 

Read full article »  

Are you aware of someone at SU Libraries deserving of recognition? Now is the time to nominate that person for the 2015 Distinguished Service Award. The recipient will receive the award at the annual holiday party in December 15, 2015.

 

Nominations and letters of reference are due Wednesday, November 2.  

 

What is required?

A brief letter of nomination from you and 2-5 letters of reference, including one from the nominee's supervisor. Additional letters may be from references at SU Libraries or from Syracuse University. Reference letters from outside of Syracuse University are also accepted.

 

Who is eligible?

Any SUL employee with at least 3 years of service, excluding previous winners, the SULA Executive Committee and the DSA Selection Award Committee. Here's a list of non-eligible individuals.

 

Where do I send the nomination?

Please send nominations to dsaward@syr.edu.

 

See the FAQ for all the details.

 

Thank you!

 

On behalf of the SULA Distinguished Service Award Panel:

Tasha Cooper, Nicolette Dobrowolski, Patrick Midtlyng, Stephen Singer, Bill Vogel 

Robert Cleary (Acquisitions and Cataloging) published "The Commitment Problem: Spending to Zero to Maximize the Efficiency of the Collections Budget" in Volume 59, Number 4 of Library Resources & Technical Services, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Library Association. The article provides a methodology based on current practices in place at SU since 2006.