Library News

New alarms on the east-side emergency doors will be tested Thursday, May 31 in the morning. The alarm will be noticeable at the North Desk as well as in areas near the east stairwell. 

Also, on Monday, June 4 the fire alarms in the Main Library will be tested. Testing could last up to 8 hours, and will involve the flashing of strobes and sounding of speakers.  Air handlers will also need to be shut down briefly.

Questions should be directed to the UI fire prevention at 335-5125 or the Work Control Center at 335-5071.

With Paul Wolfowitz’s resignation as President of the World Bank, the Bank has lately received widespread media attention. It is a good time to note that The University of Iowa Libraries has collected World Bank publications for many years, and also subscribes to a number of databases from the World Bank Group. Among those titles widely used by researchers are the World Development Indicators (a collection of statistical data sets measuring economic and social  activity in countries around the globe) and the World Bank E-Library (a collection of electronic books, reports and studies).

The Libraries’ World Bank Research Guide provides an overview of the World Bank and its information sources. Requests for assistance can be directed to Brett Cloyd (brett-cloyd@uiowa.edu) – Reference and Government Information Librarian.

Carol Johnk a member of the Acquistions staff in the UI Libraries has been appointed to a three-year term on the Council for the Status of Women. Carol believes that “diversity and women’s issues are critically important to the quality of education and the richness of life in a community.”

When Carol isn’t working, one of passions is Arts a la Carte, a non-profit movement organization in which she serves as Executive Director. Arts a la Carte works to bring diversity to the Iowa City community by providing African dance workshops, Salsa classes and queer ballroom dancing. You may have seen her on stage with the Iowa City Community Theatre recently in My Fair Lady and Seussical the Musical.

While students are in classes this summer, the UI Libraries’ staff is ready to help with research and other projects. The Main Library is open Monday - Thursday from 7:30 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fridays 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. and on the weekends. Library hours are posted at the doors of the Main Library and on the website.

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is open Monday - Thursday from 7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fridays 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. and on the weekends.

Branch libraries are open during the summer, please check the website for specifics.

If you have any questions or would like to talk to someone at the UI Libraries, just Ask a Librarian.

Again this semester, as classes are winding down and finals are around the corner, the UI Libraries is sponsoring Study Buzz @ your library.

You need a little break from the studying or a little caffeine boost? Come to the library for FREE coffee at night or FREE pop during the day.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights at 11 p.m. a self-service FREE coffee station will be set up in the Main Library’s North Exhibition Hall. It will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that free coffee is NOT available through the Food for Thought cafe in the Main Library.

Monday and Tuesday afternoons at 2 p.m. self-service FREE pop stations will be set up in branch libraries. For a complete schedule, check the Libraries’ Events.

This program is sponsored by the UI Libraries and brought to you in part by a Coca-Cola grant and donations from the IMU Food for Thought, House of Aromas, New-Pioneer Co-op and the Hamburg Inn, No. 2.

UI Libraries Conservator Gary Frost has been working with product developer Nicholas Yeager at Artifex Equipment to test a new super-absorbent paper product in disaster recovery. This paper is infused with corn-starch based powder which quickly wicks water out of damaged books and magazines.

Recently, Frost had an opportunity to put this paper to the test, when a roof leak at the Hardin Library damaged some journals. Many of those journals are printed on glossy, coated paper stock, which is generally not recoverable from water damage. Using this special paper, the Libraries conservation and preservation staff were able to save these journals.

In a May 1 article in the USDA News the Agricultural Research Service noted Frost’s amazement at Zorbix’s ability to absorb and release water, a feature he says makes the sheets easier to reuse than the aqueous poultices and blotters he has worked with. “The sheets play the same role more efficiently,” he says. Frost foresees uses for Zorbix beyond those pertaining solely to library-disaster scenarios, like flooding. “I’m confident there’s a wider market for it associated with the routine restoration of documents of all kinds.” New applications are likely to arise, he adds, as conservators become even more familiar with the product’s properties.

In an effort to provide faculty and students access to the latest resources in their disciplines, the UI Libraries periodically enrolls in trial subscriptions to online resources. During and after the trial, library staff encourages feedback from faculty and students about particular resources. Literature Resource Center will be under consideration until May 30.

The Literature Resource Center allows researchers to find up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on nearly 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world.

The easy-to-use single search box is designed to work the way people do research. Searchers can look up authors by name and link to a wealth of information about the author, works and criticism of those works. Additionally the Literature Resource Center connects searchers to the MLA International Bibliography, the premier resource for literary research.

Take an online guided tour of the Literature Resource Center.

Please send any comments about this resource to Ed Shreeves, Associate University Librarian and Director of Collections & Content Development.

May 2007
Issue 2.07

Welcome to the May issue of Transitions.

The purpose of this irregular electronic newsletter is to bring to readers’ attention some of the many new projects and developments affecting the current system of scholarly communication, with emphasis on new products and programs, the open access movement and other alternative publishing models. Scholarly communication refers to the full range of formal and informal means by which scholars and researchers communicate, from email discussion lists to peer-reviewed publication. In general authors are seeking to document and share new discoveries with their colleagues, while readers–researchers, students, librarians and others–want access to all the literature relevant to their work.

While the system of scholarly communication exists for the benefit of the world’s research and educational community and the public at large, it faces a multitude of challenges and is undergoing rapid change brought on by technology. To help interested members of the UI community keep up on these challenges and changes we plan to put out 6-8 issues per year of this newsletter.

This newsletter aims to reflect the interests of its readers so please forward comments, suggestions and entries to include to karen-fischer@uiowa.edu. Also, read the health sciences counterpart to Transitions: Hardin Scholarly Communication News.

Table of Contents:

U of Iowa Participates in Permanent Electronic Journal Archiving Service

Journal Pricing Reports Released: Shows Steep Increasing Costs for Social Science Journals and Merging Publishers

Nature: Agencies Join Forces to Share Data

Self-Archiving and Journal Subscriptions: Co-existence or Competition?

2006 BioOne Progress Report Now Available

Open Access and the Progress of Science

Eigenfactor Web Site Goes Live

University Presses Try to Straddle the Battle Lines in Open-Access Debate

Institutional Repositories: Evaluating the Reasons for Non-use of Cornell University’s Installation of DSpace

Study Shows that Scientists are Still Leary of Publishing in Open Access Journals

BioMed Central Brings Open Access Publishing to Physics and Math