Director's Memo
November 28, 2000 2000/2001-No. 4
Director's Memo / LOC Archive Beginning with this issue of the Director's Memo, we will develop an archive of the memos in the Staff Handbook. We will still issue a printed memo, but we'll try to keep printing costs under control by linking to any attachments that are available electronically. Likewise, the Library Operations Committee minutes will be archived on the Web in the Staff Handbook. Look for the agenda and minutes of the November 22 meeting (http://staff.lib.ipfw.edu/handbook/loc/).
Building As you may have heard or read, the $10 million library addition has been removed from the university's budget request by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The general consensus on campus is that the area legislators will add it back in. (Apparently this is not an unusual process.) So, we'll proceed with our planning efforts.
North Central Accreditation Although specifics are not available, the North Central Accreditation Team who were on campus November 13-15 were impressed with what they saw. Their preliminary report is due in mid-December.
Mail Conversion Library staff are on target for conversion to the new Groupwise mail system on the evening of December 12. I don't think there is any "good time" to deal with this, so I figured that sooner is better than later and finals week is better than any time in the middle of a semester. So, be working on archiving your mail and saving your Internet addresses to a folder. Amy has copies of the Groupwise worksheet if you didn't pick one up at the I.T. Services demonstrations.
Special Needs Funds There continues to be some confusion regarding special needs funds items. Any item that appears to be a classroom teaching item for one department is not likely to be looked upon with favor by the Library Subcommittee unless it could easily be checked out and used by a student as supplementary instructional material. Any item purchased by the library becomes the property of the library and is subject to any and all circulation policies including recall. Some faculty have asked about purchasing research materials. Again, the Library Subcommittee is not likely to accept a proposal that appears to support personal research use. Research materials required for student seminars or faculty/student research projects are more likely to be received favorably. Special needs proposals are due January 26 (Arts & Sciences departments only).
Science Information Center My thanks to everyone for your contributions to a successful opening of the Science Information Center. I have a copy of the Mobley presentation / panel discussion to view if you missed it.
Congratulations to Pamela Sandstrom The November 11, 2000 issue of New Scientist features an interview with Pamela Sandstrom "In Search of Pastures New" as part of a larger article entitled "Surf Like a Bushman." The article focuses on information foraging.
Wiley InterScience The Library has agreed to join other IU libraries in subscribing to the journals available online through Wiley InterScience. We currently subscribe to 10 Wiley titles. For an additional $171 we will have access to all journals that participating CIC members currently subscribe to (up to 300 additional titles, mostly in life sciences and medicine).
JSTOR The LOC has agreed to the purchase of the basic Arts & Sciences (117 titles) and the General Science (7 titles) Collections in JSTOR. Included in the set are the complete runs (in some cases holdings extend back to the 1700's) of some of the most prestigious academic titles. No current issues are included. For a preview of how JSTOR works, go to http://www.jstor.org and try the demo.
The Calendar
December 1 Departmental book orders due
December4 Announcement of IUCAT on the Web to appear on Library Home Page
December 12 Move to Groupwise mail system
December 15 Holiday party, 12:00 - 3:00
December 20 LOC, 1:30 Reserves for Spring Semester due
December 22-26 University Closed. Happy Holidays.
December 27-29 Library building closed. Staff should report.
December 30-January 1 University Closed
January 2, 2001 IUCAT on the Web unveiled
January 2-5 Wiring on 1st, 2nd & 3rd floors
January 26 Special needs grant proposals due