Welcome back to the new academic year!

We have had another busy summer in the library, catching up on projects that the activities of the regular academic year keep us from accomplishing. For one thing, we have completed an inventory of half of the library collection, an annual project which assures that you can find on our shelves what our records say that we own. We have also paid attention to the physical environment in the library, keeping in mind as much as possible students' expressed interests in group study spaces and a quiet environment. In addition:

We have rearranged the library's Web site in various ways to make it more helpful to everyone at Millikin, whether in the library, on campus, or elsewhere.

We are offering several new databases along with our many existing resources in all formats. Three are subject-based, two are general, and one offers electronic books.

New book orders now show up in ILLINET Online Catalog the minute they have been placed, meaning that they can be monitored by anyone online.

Our reference librarians now have an office, facilitating personal consultations even while they remain available for on-the-spot reference assistance.

More personally, during the summer we have welcomed two new staff members. We also have new telephone numbers for others, so check our library staff page.

And, lest we forget, there's the Science Building rising behind Staley Library!

Our Staley Library Home Page leads you to five different groupings of library information, as represented by the navigation bar (above). That bar will be at the top of every page on the library's site. By and large, these are the same groupings we had on last year's home page.

We have newly collected our existing subject guides into categories, including Extensive topic guides (which encompass our traditional as well as our electronic resources), Course-specific pages for selected Millikin courses, and Web link collections in a wide range of subjects. These pages are meant to be used in conjunction with the Quicklinks categories (below).

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The fact that our existing list of Quicklinks on the library's old home page had gotten too long and unwieldy is a measure of Staley Library's success in providing an increasing array of electronic resources. In rearranging that list to be more useful, we have taken a two-pronged approach.
We have sorted the various resources into six categories: Books, videos, music etc, Periodicals databases (by Subject), Periodicals databases (alphabetically), Reference, News, and  Trial databases. These six categories appear as links on the left hand side of every Staley Library page. Each of the six categories in turn provides links to more resources than we could previously fit into the Quicklinks menu.
The periodicals portion of the old Quicklinks menu we have expanded in two ways, by subject and alphabetically by title. The latter is an integrated list of our periodicals databases, while the subject listing sorts by departmental majors the services to which we subscribe. 

New database offerings for the academic year 2000/2001:

netLibrary. In addition to the books available to Millikin University's library users through the ILLINET Online catalog and through WorldCat, we now also make available a select group of electronic titles through IDAL and netLibrary. 

ATLA Religion Database. (American Theological Library Association) Indexing of periodicals and books on religious and theological scholarship. 1949 to present. (An IBIS database)

SPORTDiscus: Physiology, exercise, sport training, recreation. 1949 to present. (An IBIS database)

News Illinois (1997-Current). News articles about regional and state events and issues from wire service and state newspapers. Articles of importance to Illinois from surrounding states are also included. (From NewsBank)

Chicago Tribune (1985-Current). Complete full-text content of local (Chicago) and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. (From NewsBank)

The Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS).Database of "funding opportunities in every field from agriculture to zoology." This resource will benefit faculty looking for funding to support their research, travel and sabbatical activities. Sponsored by "Millikin Grant Development", contact person Marise Robbins-Forbes.

New library staff:

Marsha Leach, Office Manager/Acquisitions Associate. x3562 
mleach@mail.millikin.edu

Marsha's professional background includes both the corporate world (including A.E.Staley) and the Hope Welty Public Library in Cerro Gordo, a combination of experience which has prepared her well to take on the responsibilities most recently shouldered by Amy Still (until May 2000). Among other things, Marsha will be processing all new library materials orders.

Jason is already familiar to many of you from his work with the Alumni & Development Center, preparing various Millikin histories including the many frames of photographs in Shilling Hall hallways. As a Millikin undergraduate, Jason worked in Staley Library helping with interlibrary loans. In his return to the library, he will be responsible for the archives and other projects, even as he continues to be a resource for the rest of the University during the Centennial celebrations.

We look forward to working with everyone again this year!

University Librarian

 

This page was created on Aug. 15, 2000 Page last modified: Aug. 23, 2000   URL:http://www.millikin.edu/staley/Annual_2000_2001/whatsnew_sept2000.html Copyright 2000+ Millikin University Board of Trustees.	Comments or questions? Send us a message!