March 26, 2001: students studying with their backs to the science building construction. (Last month's cedar waxwings are now gone, having spent weeks devouring every last apple from the trees in front of the library. Instead, those trees are now finally sprouting tiny green leaves!)

 Did you hear? "Library to install keg" the April 1 print issue of the MU Decaturian informs us. 

The library staff has announced that in order to better serve students' needs, a keg pipeline will be constructed throughout the building. `We hope it will encourage some who have never been to the library to come out and visit, and overall, it might help make the library experience more pleasant for everyone," they said. Soon after the announcement, many faculty and staff in Schilling Hall posted notices that they were planning on moving their offices to the library next semester.

Well, who knows?

What we do know is that the Decaturian is indexed in the  Campus news section ("University Wire") of Lexis-Nexis.  This link you will find in the "news" section of Staley Library's Quicklinks. (Access to Lexis-Nexis is from on campus only, because of contractual stipulations from Lexis-Nexis.)  

 Library signage: in our continued incremental work to make the library more helpful (other than keg pipelines that is), we are hanging up two directional banners, one over the Circulation Desk and one over the newly re-named "Research Assistance" desk (formerly known as the "Reference Desk", a term that students have told us does not convey the purpose of that service point). We are also installing a sign that indicates where our rest rooms are.

 Some of the library computers have been acting temperamentally lately, and for that we apologize. However, these are computers that are slated for replacement this summer (2001) because of their age, and they are in fact recently out of warranty. That is, Academic Technology has done what they can with them, and will understandably not put more time or money into them.

Please let someone on the library staff know if you encounter such a workstation, and we will do what we can to troubleshoot the problem for you. In the meantime, we ask your forbearance, with the knowledge that better things are coming.

 We continue to work with the library's archival collections, finding treasures and organizing writings, photographs, and other memorabilia for future use. Media and Public Relations staff recently transferred to us several boxes of photographs that even Jason Butterick had never seen before, including one of a 1904 surprise birthday party for the first librarian, Eugenia Allin, a picture which includes most of the University's first faculty members in a casual scene. Remember that we need everyone's help in thus preserving our history for future generations. Ask us before you throw things out!  

To complement the current exhibit (April 7 - May 4, 2001) at the Birks Museum, I created a  web page showing a few of the 150 mascots (hood ornaments) on display. (Click on the logo for information about the exhibit.) More general information about Birks Museum is available at http://www.millikin.edu/Birks/

Library Web site: Have you tried these for subject-specific web sites?

Although spring has been slow in coming this year, and is short on holidays (at least on the page), you may want to take a break from your studies to explore our celebration links for the whole year. This is one of the pages of subject-specific links that we have collected, though most of the other collections are more academically oriented. 

College & Research Libraries News publishes a monthly column of internet resources for various subjects. The online version provides links to the reviewed sites. This is an excellent compilation of academically valuable internet sites.

Another source for subject-specific web sites is NetFirst, a FirstSearch database of librarian-reviewed web sites. Try the "rank by relevance" function to see first the sites that most closely match the search terms you provide.

New periodicals

In early March 2001 we received the fist issue of our subscription to International Journal of Hindu Studies (v.3, #3, Dec. 1999, the most recently published). This title is published jointly by World Heritage Press and Millikin University, and it is edited by Dr. Sushil Mittal, Department of Religion. About this title.

As we work our way through backlogged collections of gift books, we are adding a number of titles both to our regular collection (catalogued into Illinois Online) and to our sale shelves. Come add to your own collections from the books we are selling for very little!

Library staff changes (update): We have received (as of March 29) 32 applications! The quality of the pool of candidates is excellent, and we are confident that we will have the opportunity to choose three outstanding librarians from that pool to fill our vacancies.  At the end of March we held all-day interviews with two candidates, we have two more interviews scheduled for the beginning of April, and we will be scheduling still more. The whole library staff is involved in these interviews, as is the Library Advisory Committee and the Provost. In addition, the candidates are giving presentations to audiences that also include students. This extensive feedback continues to be very helpful. (http://www.millikin.edu/staley/librarian_job_description.html) 

University Librarian