New in Staley Library! Millikin University

Library services: It's been a noisy summer in the library what with all the construction downstairs, but we have continued to be productive in spite of that. And our library users have been mostly tolerant too.

For the second year in a row, the librarians provided a set of three well-attended sessions during the Opening Faculty Workshop. These repeated sessions were designed to provide updates about some of the Staley Library's new or changed services; and this newsletter hopes to accomplish the same. (By the way, we note with pride that the librarians were recognized for "outstanding innovation" at the Opening Faculty Workshop's concluding session.)

New for off-campus users: Millikin students, staff, and faculty now have access to more library resources from off campus, and through an easier new login procedure too. From off-campus, when you click on a library database, you will be prompted for your Millikin network user id and password. (Previously, off- campus users needed to use their library ID numbers.) What about ON-campus users? Nothing new there: as long as you are on-campus somewhere, you will have the same access to electronic library resources as if you were in the library.

New databases

The library is able to stretch its resource budget in a number of ways, chief of which is through our state-wide consortial collaborations that give us preferential pricing on many of our database subscriptions. Another approach is through acquisitions shared with Millikin's academic programs or departments.

Chronicle of Higher Education, the premier weekly higher education newspaper, was available on a trial basis for the last half of the 06/07 school year from our state library consortium, CARLI; and now we have purchased our own online subscription (at a discount through CARLI). And with our new off-campus authentication, you can also access it from off-campus using your Millikin network user ID and password.

Access World News is a resource that provides full text (though no images) of over 700 newspapers and news wire services around the globe. You can make selections from lists of world regions or can click on helpful maps to select the area for which you want to search for news. Access World News is provided by the same company that produces America's Newspapers, so the interface is the same familiar format.

Through a partnership with the Masters in Nursing program, we have initiated a subscription to the Cochrane Library, a collection of evidence-based healthcare databases "explor[ing] the evidence for and against the effectiveness and appropriateness of treatments (medications, surgery, education, etc) in specific circumstances." We are grateful to the Nursing Department for making this important resource available through the library.

Also through a partnership, this time with the Chemistry Department, we are now able to provide access to the SciFinder Scholar 2007 program on our library computers. SciFinder Scholar covers "references from nearly 9,500 currently published journals and patents from more than 50 active patent issuing authorities" as well as "the world's largest collection of organic and inorganic substance information." Thank you to the Chemistry Department for facilitating access to this crucial resource.

Search more than one database at the same time with Multi-Search!

Staley Library has implemented a new federated search engine (WebFeat) we are calling Multi-Search. This will enable users to search in more than one of our many databases at a time. You can choose a category of pre-selected (by the librarians) databases, or check specific databases of your own choosing to search with one click. To try it out, use the Multi-Search link in the Featured Resources section of the library home page.

WebFeat is a premium service provided through CARLI at a discounted price, though each library needs to implement and configure it to its own specifications. Cindy Fuller accomplished this work for us.

Research Assistance: The research librarians are testing a new instant messaging (IM) service this year, Meebo. Though we will continue to provide research assistance to patrons through various separate IM services such as AIM, Yahoo!, and MSN, our instant messaging page now makes it possible (through the use of a Meebo "widget") for you to ask us a question without being signed in to any particular IM service, by typing questions directly into a text box on our IM page. Meebo was implemented for us by Amanda Pippitt.

Leisure reading and new titles

Our new small low-cost (to the library) collection of leisure reading books (best sellers not specifically intended for support of the University’s curriculum) is now ready for your pleasure! The books are shelved near the new books shelves. (Similar programs are being offered by other academic libraries in Illinois, and are proving popular with library users.)

As to new titles, even though we still want you to come to the library, you can now peruse a listing of new titles added to our catalog without leaving the comfort of your own home or office. Use "sort by call number" for a subject-based list.

Earlier newsletters

READ posters: The library staff (on left) and some Millikin faculty now have their own READ posters, an off-shoot of a longtime American Library Association campaign to encourage literacy. Here are Millikin's so far. Would you like yours to be next? If you are faculty or staff, contact Debbie Myers (whose idea it was to create Millikin posters) for a photo session!

(Click on poster for larger version)

Research instruction (IN150/151) Over the summer, Joe Hardenbrook revised the library's web-based Millikin Information Literacy Tutorial (MILT). The result? An eight-minute multimedia presentation complete with audio and screen shots. The new MILT tutorial introduces students in IN150 to the concepts of information literacy, scholarly research tools, and strategies for citing sources and avoiding plagiarism. The new MILT was designed in collaboration with the Critical Writing, Reading and Research (CWRR) faculty. Joe and Carmella Braniger, CWRR Director, authored the script and provided narration; and professors Judi Crowe and Mike George also lent their voices to the tutorial.

MILT was produced using TechSmith's Camtasia Studio product, which was provided as part of the library's membership in CARLI, the statewide library consortium. All freshmen will be required to complete the tutorial and accompanying quiz as part of their IN150 coursework. New tutorials for IN151 will be implemented for spring semester.

In addition, the library's instruction program this year will play an integral role in testing Moodle, the new Blackboard-like course management system being incrementally implemented on campus. The library instruction program will utilize Moodle in IN150 and IN151 to deliver MILT, assignments and quizzes. In this way, all freshmen will gain experience using the Moodle system; and this will also provide the university with its first large-scale population sample of the new system in use. Joe Hardenbrook, in his second job as Educational Technologist, designed this test of Moodle.

Archives This semester the Millikin University Archives and Special Collections unit is serving as a service learning partner for two sections of University Seminar. Amanda Pippitt and Todd Rudat look forward to working with the students from seminar sections taught by Mandi and RJ Podeschi.

Also be on the lookout for new exhibits in the library from the Archives and Special Collections holdings during the fall 2007 semester. These displays are the creation of Todd Rudat, Archives Associate.

Millikin During the Second World War: Ken Burns highly anticipated documentary, The War, debuts on PBS this fall in which Burns will tell the story of the Second World War through the lens of four American communities. Our archives' exhibit will tell that story from the perspective of Millikin, using photographs and other uniquely Millikin source materials.
A Railroad Runs Through It: a look at the relationship between Millikin and the railroads that not only cut through the campus landscape, but also cut through much of Millikin's past.
Judging a Book By Its Cover: a display of distinctive book covers & bindings from among the University's Special Collections.

Library staff: After saying goodbye to our graduating student workers in May, we now welcome many new student workers to the library family. Please make them feel welcome when you stop by the front desk to check out items or drop off reserves. (The summer library newsletter contains more library staff news.)

During the summer our two student workers, Matt and Rachel, worked very hard inventorying the book stacks and processing interlibrary loan requests, new books, and new periodicals. Thanks Matt and Rachel!

16 students are spending their Fall 2007 semester earning academic credit in various parts of the world, including London, Amsterdam, France, Italy, Argentina, and Australia. Looking ahead, 19 students have signed up to spend the Spring 2008 semester in Thailand with Millikin professors Kevin Murphy and Jo Ellen Jacobs. The deadline for applying to my office for all Spring semester 2008 semester study abroad is October 1, 2007.

In late August, I spent three days in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, taking part in the concluding festivities for the Performing Arts Residency immersion. The weather and the location were gorgeous, my hosts were extremely gracious, and the student performances were terrific! This program has interesting possibilities for continuation and expansion in future years.

September at Millikin is International Month, featuring a series of events sponsored by the new Center for International Education.

Karin Borei
University Librarian
and Director of International Programs

kborei@millikin.edu

Staley Library Millikin University 1184 West Main, Decatur, IL 62522 phone 217-424-6214 fax 217-424-3992		©2001+ by Millikin University Board of Trustees MU web disclaimer Comments? Send us a message
The library has been publishing electronic newsletters since September 1999.