Last fall, 83 students  accessed electronic course reserve materials for three classes a total of 435 times, including listening to sound files 98 times. Based on our experience with physical reserves in the library, this electronic access represents a higher rate of use of the materials than typically happens with the usual reserves. So far this spring, two instructors are using electronic reserves for a number of scanned articles, and we are hoping that more will sign on before the semester is over. 

The obvious advantage with electronic reserves for the students is that they can access these any time and from anywhere. For faculty, the service can be either a complement to or instead of using Blackboard, with the advantage for the faculty member being that the library staff scans and manages the resources.

I will say, however, that I have been disappointed with the low level of response from faculty for this service which, on other campuses, has proven very popular. We are trying it out for a year; and if response from faculty does not pick up, I will interpret that to mean that there is, at least at this time, not enough call for us to keep providing and paying for the service.

Don't forget to click on this link every month to see our most recent acquisitions! And then look for the titles on our New Books shelves across from the email 

Through our EBSCOhost subscription to Academic Search Elite, we will have free access to two additional databases throughout 2004. These databases expand on the resources already available through Academic Search Elite in two broad subject areas.

Communication & Mass Media Complete (CMMC) is, as the name indicates, a research and reference resource for the communication and mass media fields. CMMC provides indexing of over 400 periodicals titles as well as full text for nearly 200 of those titles. Coverage in some instances goes as far back as 1915.

American Humanities Index provides indexing of over 700 periodicals published from 1975 to the present. The scope covers articles, essays and reviews in the humanities, original creative works (poems and fiction), photographs, paintings and illustrations. 

In the context of attending a meeting of the librarians in the Capital Area Consortium, I recently had the pleasure of touring the hydrofarm greenhouses at ADM. I had no idea that this was such a huge operation! They grow a few core crops (Boston bib lettuce that is shipped with the roots still attached, and English seedless cucumbers that come unwaxed and shrink wrapped) that are sold in Schnucks stores and, in Decatur, at Cubs, under the "Rain Garden" label. Production numbers: 150,000 heads of lettuce and 20,000 cucumbers a month

They also have an aquaculture operation where they breed Tilapia , a white fish they feed soy and corn byproducts and ship live to restaurants. Most recently they are trying to breed white shrimp, primordial-looking creatures that can thrive in either salt or fresh water and that do well in the crowded conditions of breeding tanks.

The initial impetus for the hydroponic operation some twenty years ago was to recycle heat which is a by-product of the corn processing; but by now it is a money-making venture in its own right. It was a fascinating tour.

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