Library News

To celebrate the upcoming Asian Pacfic Heritage Month, Special Collections has collaborated with the Asian American Coalition (AAC) to create a display of cookbooks from the Szathmary Collection.

The exhibition showcases ten Asian countries: Malaysia, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Japan, Korean, Laos, Philippines, Indonesia, and China. AAC members added their own personal momentos and souvenirs to the exhibition, as well as artifacts from the Thompson Travel and Ethnic Art Artifacts.

• Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook by Mark Robinson.
• East Meets West Cuisine: An American Chef Redefines the Foodstyles of Two Cultures by Ken Hom (China).
• Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles, Allisa Park editor.
• Simple Laotian Cooking by Penn Hongthong.
• Indonesian Regional Cooking by Sri Owen.
• Filipino Cuisine: Recipes from the Islands by Gerry G. Gelle.
• Cracking the Coconut: Classic Thai Home Cooking by Su-mei Yu.
• The Best of Nicole Routhier (Vietnam)
• Cook Malaysian by Lee Sook Ching.
• Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian food, with more than 200 recipes by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness.

Asian American Coalition (AAC) is an umbrella organization which is dedicated in building a stronger Asian American community both on and off campus. Asian Pacific Heritage Month (APAH) located in April, is a month-long event promoting and celebrating Asian awareness and culture.

Acknowledgements
Exhibition Planning: Lilly Chen and the Asian American Coalition
Installation: Lilly Chen, Chiaki Sakai, Greg Prickman and the Asian American Coalition
Special Thanks: Greg Prickman, Kathy Hodson and the Special Collections.

Did you know that you shouldn’t PAY for newspaper and magazine articles that you find on the Web?

The next time you’re asked for your credit card while doing your research online, check the UI Libraries’ resources first.

Our Resources by Type - News and Newspapers will link you to a wide range or current and historical newspapers. E-journals can link you to electronic coverage for your title.

If we don’t have the article in print or electronically, you can get it free through our Interlibrary Loan service.

The Herstory Subcommittee of the Council on the Status of Women & the Iowa Women’s Archives present

A Women’s History Month Reception
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
5 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Program begins at 5:15, refreshments served.

Join us in celebration with guest speaker(s) Prof. Linda Kerber and Prof. Leslie Schwalm in the Iowa Women’s Archives (3rd floor, UI Main Library).

March 2009
Issue 1.09

Welcome to the Spring 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 4 issues per year of this newsletter.  Please visit our web site, Transforming Scholarly Communication, to find out more about this topic.

This newsletter aims to reflect the interests of its readers so please forward comments, suggestions and entries to include to karen-fischer@uiowa.edu.

Table of Contents:

Google Books Settlement - updates

Publish in Wikipedia or Perish

Long-term Open Access Journal Ends Free Access

Study Suggests Library Dollars Spent Corrolate with Grant Income

Misunderestimating Open Science

Institutional Repositories: Thinking Beyond the Box

MacArthur Foundation Adopts a Research Access Policy

Negotiating a Creative Commons License

Framing the Open Access Debate

How the Media Frames “Open Access”

Publishing an E-journal on a Shoestring: Sustaining a low-buget OA journal

University Presses Find Strategies to Survive Economic Crisis

New Open Access Search Tool for Economics

An Open Access Resource for Women’s Health

Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab

Almost 1000 historic photographs of University women’s physical education classes - from archery and synchronized swimming to basketball and dance - are now publicly available online. In celebration of Women’s History Month, the University of Iowa Libraries has released the UI Department of Physical Education for Women digital collection: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/wpe .

The photographs, spanning almost 100 years (1906-2004), are part of a larger manuscript collection that documents the rise of women’s athletics at Iowa from the one-member Department of Physical Culture and Athletics to the dawn of women’s intercollegiate sports. The Department of Physical Education for Women at the University of Iowa was a pioneer in the development of graduate study and professional training as well as athletic opportunities for women.

“These photographs offer a fabulous window into women’s sport—and campus life—over the past century.  They’re very appealing, from the expected team portraits and sports action shots to the more surprising images of laboratory experiments, rifle enthusiasts, and slumber parties,” says Kären Mason, Curator of the Iowa Women’s Archives. “The digital collection provides easy access to these photos, and I hope it will inspire people to explore the equally fascinating records of the Department of PE for Women that are available in the archives.”

Intercollegiate athletics for women at The University of Iowa originated in the Department of Physical Education for Women in the late 1960s and early 1970s and maintained that association until 2000.  This relationship stemmed from the philosophy of the women physical educators and the value they placed on education and women-centered and -controlled sport.

“Those two key, related notions are still at the heart of the current Department of Health and Sport Studies: that sport and physical activity should be part of a liberal arts education and that they can contribute greatly to both individual well-being and the social good,” says Catriona Parratt, Associate Professor in the Department of Health & Sport Studies. “We are delighted that the Iowa Women’s Archives digital photographic collection will make it easier for many more people to appreciate this aspect of the University’s mission.”

This historic image collection is the latest edition to the Iowa Digital Library — http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu — which contains more than 225,000 digital objects, including photographs, maps, sound recordings and documents from libraries and archives at the UI and their partnering institutions as well as faculty research collections.

To explore the vast digital holdings from the Iowa Women’s Archives, a portal that allows users to browse by subject, time period or artifact type is available online at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa . It will be continually updated with new items drawn from the IWA’s 1100 manuscript collections, which have provided valuable primary source materials for books, articles, theses and class projects on women’s history.

For more information about the collection, contact Kären Mason, Curator of the Iowa Women’s Archives, at 335-5068.

Nancy E. Kraft, Head of Preservation at the UI Libraries has been selected as a 2009 recipient of the Presidents’ Award presented by the Midwest Archives Conference.

Nancy has advocated for the preservation and proper management of Iowa’s cultural treasures throughout her career.  She is a leader in the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium and has been personally involved in the development of a successful statewide preservation training program through the Consortium.  Those efforts alone would make her eligible for the Presidents’ Award but she is nominated for her extraordinary work following the historic levels of flooding that struck Iowa in the summer of 2008.

Last June when all UI employees were officially asked not to report to work, Nancy assisted repositories and archives in her hometown of Cedar Rapids. She worked late into the night during that time, even though she was under no obligation to do so. She continued performing this service for other repositories at various times on nights and weekends for the balance of the summer and into early fall.

“I simply could not have survived the flood without Nancy’s assistance,” said Susan Kuecker, curator of the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa. “Even though Nancy was off of work the week of June 16, she and I were constantly in touch.  I had an e-mail from her on Sunday evening, June 15, offering assistance.  I called her at 7 a.m. on June 16 and arranged to have a meeting with her and our director at 8 a.m.”

The Presidents’ award, established in 1986, recognizes significant contributions to the archival profession by individuals, institutions and organizations not directly involved in archival work but knowledgeable about its purpose and value. Recipients are chosen by a committee comprising the three most recent past presidents of MAC from nominations submitted by committees in each of the 13 states in the MAC region.

“Nancy’s tireless efforts following last June’s devastating floods alone merit this recognition,” said David McCartney, University Archivist and one of the nominators. “In addition, her lifelong commitment to assisting our profession is deeply appreciated. We thank her for all she has done for us in preserving and strengthening our collections.”

The Gerritsen Collection was begun by Aletta Jacobs Gerritsen in the late 1800s. The online resource delivers two million page images exactly as they appeared in the original printed works. It includes monographs, periodicals and pamphlets in fifteen languages, and is searchable by keyword and Boolean operators.

Nearly 4500 records were added to InfoHawk and Smart Search. When you search a particular topic in the library catalog, you may find pages from the Gerritsen online collection.

The next History of Medicine Society presentation will feature Dr. Blaine Houmes, Cedar Rapids Emergency Medicine Physician, who will speak on “Medical Aspects of the Lincoln Assassination.”

Dr. Houmes is known for his extensive knowledge of Abraham Lincoln and is an avid collector of Lincoln literature and artifacts.  As an emergency medical physician he has a special interest in the medical events relating to Lincoln’s assassination.  Dr. Houmes’ collection features prominently in the exhibit now on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch: “Abraham Lincoln: Three Collectors’ Perspectives”

Date:               Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Time:              5:30 - 6:30 pm
Location:        Room 2032, Main Library
As always, light refreshments will be served

Driving Directions
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Because the presentation will take place in the Main Library, you’ll also be able to take advantage of the related exhibit currently on display in the North Lobby:  “Lincoln’s Legacy in Iowa; a Bicentennial Celebration.”

Of special interest also is the University of Iowa Libraries’ new web site, Abraham Lincoln Digital Collection which showcases the University of Iowa Special Collections’ holdings of books, letters, pamphlets, and memorabilia that explore the life and legacy of Lincoln.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack (IA-02) announced the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences awarded a grant of $40,000 to develop a statewide disaster preparedness and response plan for Iowa.

“Iowa is home to many unique cultural and historical treasures,” said Congressman Loebsack.  “I am pleased to announce funding that will establish an action plan that will work to save and protect artifacts in the event of another natural disaster, like the Floods of 2008.”

The grant funding will be used by the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium in partnership with the State Historical Society of Iowa, the Iowa Museum Association, and the State Library of Iowa to marshal resources to act as first responders for cultural entities in the event of disaster. Nancy E. Kraft, University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Librarian, and Jerome Thompson, State Curator at the State Historical Society of Iowa, will serve as co-project directors.

“We learned during the Floods of 2008 that a rapid response can save a significant portion of a collection. This grant will help us put a plan in place so cultural institutions anywhere in Iowa can get prompt assistance during a disaster,” stated Nancy E. Kraft.

Specifically, the grant will fund surveys of institutional preparedness, knowledge of resources, geo-referencing location of cultural repositories, raising awareness of the need for disaster response plans, developing a strategy for establishing first responders, and developing applicable disaster response planning tools. This will ensure that in the event of an emergency situation, Iowa’s cultural entities are able to quickly respond and provide safe conditions for collections.

The switch to digital telecasts is on, and to mark the occasion the Iowa Digital Library has released a new online collection celebrating the birth of American prime-time TV more than 75 years ago.

This “birth” didn’t happen in a laboratory at AT&T, General Electric or RCA, however. Instead, regularly scheduled TV programs were launched on the University of Iowa campus, in a building at the corner of Iowa Avenue and Dubuque Street in Iowa City.

W9XK, as the experimental TV station was known, went on the air in 1933. For six years the station presented a two-nights-per-week schedule of “sight and sound” lectures, musical performances, and drama. A small but loyal audience using special receivers viewed the telecasts from as far away as Pennsylvania and Oklahoma.

Television was in its infancy in the 1930’s when the U.S. government licensed about 30 such experimental stations around the country, mostly in large cities. What set W9XK apart from the others was its pioneering schedule of programs, according to university archivist David McCartney.

“While other stations were airing test signals to prove the viability of certain types of transmission systems under development, W9XK went one step further and offered programs on a regular basis,” he said. “It was not only a technical effort of the College of Engineering but faculty from the School of Music, the Department of Speech and Theatre Arts, and other areas of campus also collaborated.”

The online collection is at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/w9xk. It features photographs, correspondence, and newspaper clippings from the University of Iowa Archives.

Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Keckley, 1868.

Elizabeth Keckley was Mary Todd Lincoln’s seamstress at the White House, and became a close confidant of the First Lady. She was born in Virginia and for thirty years was a slave, before she was able to purchase her freedom while working as a dressmaker. She met Mary Todd Lincoln on the day of Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration as President, and was hired to make dresses for her the following day.

Learn more about this item…

Did you know that you shouldn’t PAY for newspaper and magazine articles that you find on the Web?  The next time you’re asked for your credit card while doing your research online, check the UI Libraries’ resources first.  Check e-journals to find electronic coverage for your title.  If we don’t have the article in print or electronically, you can get it free through our Interlibrary Loan service.

The University of Iowa Libraries will offer two introductory workshops on Smart Search, a new resource discovery tool, in February. Smart Search makes it easy to search across all UI Libraries content, including books, digital materials and online journals, from one search box.

Both workshops take place in Main Library, Information Arcade Classroom 1. No registration is required, but seating may be limited. Dates and times:

* February 24, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
* February 27, 1:30-3:00 p.m.

For more information, contact the Main Library Reference & Library Instruction Department at 319-335-5299.

In celebration of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the University of Iowa Libraries has digitized over 1,000 artifacts related to Lincoln and his time for its new Abraham Lincoln Digital Collection that explores the life and legacy of one of the nation’s most notable presidents.

The digital collection at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/lincoln provides integrated access to a variety of Lincoln materials across three manuscript collections held in the University of Iowa Libraries’ Special Collections department.. Highlighted are two defining issues of Lincoln’s presidency—the Civil War and railroad expansion—as well as his tremendous legacy revealed in materials amassed during the last 100 years by noted Lincoln collectors.

Over 800 items drawn from the James W. Bollinger collection are are featured in the digital collection. Bollinger (1867-1951) was a lawyer and judge from Davenport who spent a lifetime amassing books, journals, letters, pamphlets and memorabilia by or about Lincoln. Upon his death, the collection was bequeathed to the UI Libraries, where it has been continually developed.

“This digital collection allows us to bring some of the many fascinating pieces collected by Judge Bollinger to a much wider audience,” says Greg Prickman, assistant head of the Libraries’ Special Collections Department. “The items Bollinger collected show how Lincoln has been depicted over the years, but rather than simply focus on this visual legacy, we decided to include items from two other collections to provide a more detailed look into Lincoln’s era.”

One example the items in the Lincoln Digital Collection is a hand-written 1856 letter by Lincoln and addressed to an abolitionist group in Muscatine:

“…It would be very pleasant to strike hands with the Fremonters of Iowa, who have led the van so splendidly, in this grand charge which we hope and believe will end in a most glorious victory — All thanks, all honor to Iowa!! But Iowa is out of all danger, and it is no time for us, when the battle still rages, to pay half-day visits to Iowa . I am sure you will excuse me for remaining in Illinois, where much hard work is still to be done .”

The collection also includes items documenting major historic events of Lincoln’s time:

• Letters and diaries featuring contemporary, first-hand accounts written by Iowans who served as soldiers, nurses, and administrators during the war.
• Photographs and documents concerning important early railroads in Illinois and Iowa, and the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad and its expansion westward from Iowa.

The Abraham Lincoln Digital Collection was made available through the generosity of Mary Calkin, in memory of Homer Calkin, in recognition of his life-long interest in Abraham Lincoln. With her support, the Libraries was able to purchase specialized equipment with which many of these fragile artifacts could be digitized.

This collection is part of the Iowa Digital Library (http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/ ), more than 225,000 digital photographs, maps, sound recordings, and documents from libraries and archives at the University of Iowa and their partnering institutions.

Did you know… you can use the e-shelf feature of Smart Search to keep track of books and articles, save useful searches, and assign tags to things you want to remember. Just log in to the e-shelf with your HawkID to get started.

Learn your way around the library on your own time and at your own pace. Use the libraries’ downloadable mp3 audio tours of all 5 floors of the Main Library. Each tour lasts 2-4 minutes, and you should be able to complete the whole tour in under 30 minutes. Knowing where the good stuff is in the library will save you time and effort when you need it.

Download tours at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/ref/librarytour.html and take them when you have the time.

For more personalized information about the library, doing research or finding the right information, Ask a Librarian!

“Disaster Preparedness and Response” Feb. 10-11, 2009
Moderated by Walter Cybulski, National Library of Medicine, and Nancy E Kraft, University of Iowa.

Largely due to the widespread impact of recent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and the recent extensive flooding in Iowa, disaster preparedness has become a priority in many of the nation’s libraries.  No repository can afford to be without a well crafted plan that addresses response and recovery options in the event of a natural disaster.  Of four major recommendations resulting from the 2005 Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections, one stated that “every collecting institution must develop an emergency plan to protect its collections and train staff to carry it out”  (see: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/HHI/index.html).

Join this e-forum to share your disaster planning and response experiences and learn more about online resources that can help you get started if you haven’t already.  Feel free to discuss problems you met along the way and how having (or not having) a plan impacted your response to a disaster, whether you encountered a building roof or pipe leak or experienced the devastation of a regional disaster.

Discussion will start Tuesday, February 10, 8 a.m. central time and conclude Wednesday, February 11, 4 p.m. central time. This will be a list-serv discussion that people can participate over the two days as their schedules permit.

Walter Cybulski is a Preservation Librarian at the National Library of Medicine, where he has served as Disaster Response Chief for over a decade.  Walter has coordinated a variety of response and recovery actions at NLM, ranging from mechanical room equipment leaks to major flooding in collection storage areas.  He serves on the Library’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) planning team for Library Operations, and has provided collection response and salvage training for regional medical librarians in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Nancy E. Kraft is the University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Librarian. Kraft has first-hand experience in disaster response and recovery. She toured Iowa after the 1993 floods as a post flood recovery assessment team member, co-directed disaster response and recovery of the State Historical Society of Iowa building flooded by water from a broken pipe on the top floor, assisted with recovery from the University of Iowa Old Capitol fire, directed several mold remediations, and is assisting with the Iowa 2008 flood response and recovery.

To register for this FREE e-forum:

Go to: http://lists.ala.org/sympa, click on ALCTS (spelled out) under the ALA Division heading, then choose alcts-eforum@ala.org.  A login and password are required to register.  Instructions for obtaining a login and password may be found on the list homepage.  Participation is free and open to anyone.

If not, you can join other University of Iowa students on a service-learning experience in Chicago. You’ll serve as role model to youth in Chicago, help organize a school library, and earn college credit all at the same time.

Thanks to a new community service-learning project offered by the UI Division of Continuing Education and the UI Chicago Center, UI students can truly make a difference in the lives of students.

“The University of Iowa has identified a wonderful project for the Alternative Spring Break in Chicago,” said Doug Lee, associate dean of the UI Division of Continuing Education. “The Chicago Iowa Club alumni chapter has recently adopted Thomas Chalmers Elementary Specialty School on the southwest side of Chicago and so this was a great opportunity to partner with them.”

The specific dates for the spring break getaways vary, but all fall within the official UI spring break, March 14 through March 23. Students can register now until the classes are full or no later than the first day the course begins.

This is the second year credit courses are being offered, though the Chicago service-learning course is a brand-new project titled “Spring Break Service Learning Course in Chicago.” This course is a six-day trip, March 15-20, to the southwest side of Chicago, where students will get hands-on experience working to improve the library system located at Thomas Chalmers Elementary Specialty School.

The course will be taught by Library and Science Information Director James Elmborg and up to 12 undergraduate students can enroll.

“Chalmers does not have a full-time librarian on staff,” said Erin Bloomquist, director of the University of Iowa Chicago Center. “The students who participate in this organization project will be able to make a tremendous and lasting impact on this vital school resource.”

Bloomquist said this is a great opportunity for UI students to get involved and learn a lot in the process.

There will be daily opportunities for our students to interact with the kids at the school,” Bloomquist said. “On the final day of the project, our students will host a ‘Grand Re-Opening’ of the newly organized library with Chalmers students.”

UI participants will also get the opportunity to share what it’s like to be a university student, hopefully inspiring them pursue their own educational dreams.

“We thought it would be rewarding for the UI students to have a panel discussion with the Chalmers students where they will answer questions about college preparation and life at the University of Iowa,” Bloomquist said.

In the evening hours, the UI students will be exposed to an array of dining, arts and entertainment offerings that make Chicago one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, Bloomquist said, adding, “It will provide them with a glimpse of what it is like to live and work here.”

The UI Chicago Center serves as a resource to prospective and current students, Iowa alumni and businesses in the Chicago area, Lee said, adding that roughly a third of the UI student body comes from Chicago and its suburbs and more than half the UI’s minority student applicants.

“This spring break project helps raise awareness of both the Chicago Center and the University of Iowa while at the same time giving back to a community that is very important to us,” Lee said.

Although this is the only brand-new project, other for-credit courses will be offered as alternatives to the stereotypical spring break retreat, Lee said.  Courses offered through UI Recreational Services include scuba instruction in Florida, mountain biking in Utah, backpacking through national and state parks, ballroom dancing, introduction to bouldering, and a new course this semester:  salsa dancing.

“These courses all carry one semester hour of credit so students can speed up their time to a degree while having a great time on spring break,” Lee said.

Lee said these opportunities provide many benefits to students. “Besides earning University of Iowa credit, students learn new skills, get to enjoy fabulous locations and all of the planning and organizing is done for them.”

For more information and a detailed listing of the spring break courses, enter keyword “spring break” on ISIS at http://isis5.uiowa.edu/isis/courses/search.page.

For more information on Thomas Chalmers Elementary Specialty School visit http://www.chalmers.cps.k12.il.us.

The UI Division of Continuing Education provides high quality credit and noncredit courses, workshops and programs to both traditional and nontraditional learners using a variety of locations, schedules and technologies. For more information visit http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu.

The Conservation Laboratory at the University of Iowa Libraries has completed restoration of 23 flood-damaged artifacts from the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa in Cedar Rapids.

The media is invited to be the lab at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, when Susan Kuecker, museum curator, comes to the Conservation Lab to accept the items, which will also be on view before packing up for safe return to the museum. Kuecker will be available to provide background information on the cleaned items.

The artifacts include a collection of buttons was from the Mason’s Dry Cleaners in Cedar Rapids owned by Elmer Smith, Jr., coins, baskets, gourds, feathered fans, and a mat woven by George Washington Carver.  

Nancy E. Kraft, head of preservation at UI Libraries, says her staff logged over 100 hours to clean the items, which were retrieved the week of June 16, 2008 after flood waters receded from the museum at 55 12th Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids. The length of time for cleaning each item ranged from 15 minutes to 35 hours, depending on the amount of damage and intricacy, Kraft said.

The return of the collection coincides with Black History Month, a popular time to visit the museum.

The Conservation Lab is also restoring flood-damaged collections from the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids and the Johnson County Historical Society.  For background on these efforts see http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2008/december/121608restoration.html

We are very pleased to announce a milestone just passed:  the thousandth letter has been added to the Leigh Hunt Online .  While we have about 600 to go, the project has already been offered a few letters held by other institutions – and even some that remain in private hands.

This project was funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and got underway a year ago.  Through June, it was headed by Nana Holtsnider, then Ruth Bywater Olson Fellow, and since July it has been headed by Juli McLoone, Robert Olson Fellow.  A highly productive group of student assistants have scanned letters and transcriptions, edited transcripts, and built CONTENTdm records.

Building & Landscape Services will be testing the fire alarms in the Main Library on Thursday, January 22, 2009. 

The testing will take approximately 8 hours and will involve testing strobes and speakers. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Lou Galante at 335-5125 or the Work Control Center at 335-5071.

Beginning this semester the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences has extended its weekend hours.

Fridays 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sundays 12:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

A 24-hour study room is also available at Hardin.

Over the winter break, the Rita Benton Music Library (RBML) was moved from Voxman Music Building to the Main Library to provide greater access to the collection for music faculty, staff and students.

Ruthann McTyre’s, head of the RBML, office is located in the Main Library, Information Arcade, Room 1015E. The rest of the RBML staff is now located at the south end of the Fifth floor of the Main Library. Course reserves, rare books, CDs and DVDs are also located at the south end of the Fifth floor. The bulk of the music collection is located on the west side of the Second floor.

Online access to materials is still available through the RBML website.

For any questions about the Music Library or it’s collection, please contact Ruthann McTyre at 319-335-6407.

The first biennial conference, Art, Fact and Artifact: The Book in Time and Place, of the College Book Art Association begins today, January 8 and runs through Saturday, January 10 and is hosted by the University of Iowa Center for the Book.

Conference activities include talks, artist presentations, exhibits, demos, professional development and tours over the three days. A complete schedule is available on the conference website.

Many of the activities including registration and the keynote address take place in the Main Library.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Graduate College, the English Department, the School of Art and Art History, the UI Main Libraries, and the School of Library and Information Sciences.

You asked for an easier method of getting access to library materials, and we were listening. Beginning for the spring semester, the UI Libraries is partnering with Central Mail Services to deliver books to your UI campus office, including Oakdale Campus and the UIHC.

Once you find a book you would like to check out, a request for delivery can be made in InfoHawk by logging in with your HawkID and password.  You will have the option to request a book to be delivered to another library or to your office on campus.  Materials will be available within five working days (excluding weekends and holidays) and an email notification will be sent when the book leaves the owning library. 

There are a few exceptions to this new service. Materials from the Curriculum Resources Laboratory in the College of Education, State Historical Society of Iowa, Law Library in the College of Law are excluded. Reserve items, media material, and materials that circulate for short time periods (7 days or less) are also excluded from this service.  However, Law Library materials and media materials from the Main Library Media Services can still be requested through the library to library delivery service.

Garrison Keillor has written an entertaining piece (search Access World News—U.S. Newspapers for “Keillor” and “Yellowstone”) about the more than 250 earthquakes that have occurred in Yellowstone National Park during the past several days recommending that, if this is the Big One, the view would be safer from a distance—say, Paris.  Although Yellowstone is an active volcano with minor tremors a common occurrence, the recent cluster of larger earthquakes is uncommon. If the Big Belch occurs, something like a nuclear winter could impact a good portion of the U.S. including Iowa.

Anyway, the Government Publications collection is a good resource for information about Yellowstone including the wolf reintroduction program;  the bison-cattle war; forest recovery from wildfires and fire ecology (Gov. Pubs. I 29.2:Y 3/16); the history of Yellowstone (Gov. Pubs. I 29.9/5:150); river rafter’s guides (Gov. Pubs. I 53.7/2:Y 3/6); maps (many!);  and, of course, geosciences studies of the world’s greatest boiling-hot geyser collection.

The UI Libraries Interlibrary Loan system will be undergoing a software upgrade, which will completely shut the system down beginning at 5 p.m., Tuesday, January 6 through Saturday, January 10.

Library users will not be able to submit new interlibrary loan or article delivery requests, ask for renewals or view already posted documents while the system is down. This will effect library users on the Main campus as well as the health science campus.

For any questions, please contact the UI Libraries Interlibrary Loan Department.

Old Capitol Museum will present an exhibition of handmade artist books from Tuesday, Jan. 6, to Sunday, Feb. 1, in the museum’s second-floor rotunda.

The exhibit, The Book in Time and Place, was organized by the University of Iowa Center for the Book in conjunction with the first College Book Art Association biennial conference, which will be hosted by the Center for the Book in Iowa City Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 8–10.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Regular hours at Old Capitol Museum are 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday; 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday and Saturday; and 1–5 p.m., Sunday. Old Capitol is closed Mondays and national holidays.

Curated by UI Libraries’ assistant conservator Kristin Baum and Center for the Book lecturers Sara Langworthy and Julia Leonard, The Book in Time and Place features 30 artist books from the UI Libraries Special Collections dating from the 1960s to the present.

An article in today’s Des Moines Register highlights the conservation and restoration work the UI Libraries Preservation Department is doing with damaged items from the Czech & Slovak Museum and the African-American Cultural Center in Cedar Rapids.

Main Library is scheduled to be open 24 hours this evening.

• Reference/Information Desk will be open until 6 pm
• South Circulation Desk and Access Services will be open until 9 pm
• North Circulation Desk will be open all night
• Food for Thought Cafe will be open until 12 am (Midnight)
• Second Floor ITC (computer lab) will be open all night

In the event that the University (and the Main Library building) loses power, our emergency procedures are to evacuate the building and close.

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences on Newton Road is scheduled to be open until 12 am (Midnight) and a 24-hour study space  is available.

Pomerantz Business Library in the Pappajohn Building will be open until 12 am (Midnight).

Biological Sciences Library on Iowa Avenue will be open until 8 pm.

Lichtenberger Engineering Library in the Seamans Center will be open until 8 pm.

Mathematical Sciences Library in MacLean Hall will be open until 8 pm.

Geoscience Library in Trowbridge Hall will be open until 8 pm.

Physics Library in Van Allen Hall will be open until 7 pm.

Psychology Library in Seashore Hall will close at 5 p.m.

Art Library and the Rita Benton Music Library remain closed.

Depending on weather delays some libraries may open late tomorrow morning. Please call ahead.

We are pleased to announce that the National Historical Publications and Records Committee (NHPRC) of the National Archives has awarded The University of Iowa Libraries $32,700 in funding to digitize the microfilm edition of the Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965) Papers to create an open-access online collection.

The 67 reels of microfilm contain approximately 67,000 frames depicting correspondence (letters, telegrams and postcards), appointment books and memoranda. Wallace was the 33rd vice president of the United States, Progressive Party candidate for President in 1948 and an Iowa native.

Official NHPRC announcement at http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2009/nr09-20.html

Winter Interim Notice:  delivery requests will continue as usual except for the week of December 22 when requests received after midnight of the 22nd will be processed on December 29.

The art library staff office will be closed on December 24-28.

For more information about how to request Art Library materials while the library is closed, check the library website.

The Rita Benton Music Library (RBML) will be moving to the Main Library over the Winter Break. To accommodate the move, RBML staff and services to the public will be suspended from Saturday, December 20, 2008 through Thursday, January 15, 2009 .

Once settled, our reference and print collections will be housed on the second floor (southwest corner) of the Main Library.  Staff, music course reserves, and all other materials will be housed on the 5th floor in the study lounge at the south end of the building.

Please use Interlibrary Loan or in the case of urgent needs, contact us at lib-mus@uiowa.edu or ruthann-mctyre@uiowa.edu

Thank you for your patience.  We look forward to returning to normal operations in our temporary home in the new year.  Please feel free to contact Ruthann McTyre, music librarian, with your questions.

Get your caffiene fix with a mug o’ joe at the Main Library.

Sunday, December 14; Monday, December 15; and Tuesday, December 16 at MIDNIGHT free coffee will be available (while it lasts) near the Food for Thought Library Cafe.

That should keep you juiced through the wee hours.

Due to popular demand, the Main Library will be open 24 hours starting Sunday, December 14  at 11 a.m. through Friday, December 19 at 10 p.m.

Computers in the ITC on the second floor will be available all night.

Research assistance will be available at the first floor information desk until MIDNIGHT.

Nite Ride has also extended hours over finals week, so if you need a ride home just give them a call (319-384-1111).

When the new version EBSCOhost 2.0, fully ADA compliant, was implemented before the start of classes in the fall, the Text Only interface was still available. But it will be fully retired this spring. 

If you are still using the old interface and have created personal links to either EBSCOhost or any of the individual databases contained within it, now may be a good time to make the switch.  The new version of EBSCOhost can be found at the following address:  http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/ebscohost

If you use the Text Only interface for accessing EBSCOhost via a handheld device, you will find EBSCOhost 2.0 equally effective. For those who continue to use the Text Only interface to minimize connectivity speed issues based on your local network providers, EBSCOhost 2.0 provides a superior alternative to Text Only.

This week’s issue of FYI, the monthly online faculty and staff newsletter, featured flood restoration work being done in the Libraries by members of the Preservation Staff.

UI Libraries preservation specialists reach out to area museums in need of restoration work.

Jonathan Koffel, education and outreach librarian, recently received special recognition from the UI College of Pharmacy for his teaching and outreach efforts.  The award was based on votes and comments from Pharmacy students and was awarded at the College’s annual reception held to honor scholarship recipients and Teacher of the Year award winners.  

Jonathan is the Library’s liaison to the College of Pharmacy and holds an adjunct faculty appointment within the College.  He teaches information use skills to students in the Pharmacy Practice Lab course sequence, creates customized resource guides on pharmacy topics, and selects pharmacy-related materials for the library’s collection.

Louise Rosenfield Noun, social activist, art collector, author, philanthropist and co-founder of the Iowa Women’s Archives, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1908. Noun became widely recognized for her leadership and commitment to a number of organizations and causes.

Please join us in a celebration of her life with cake and conversation.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Iowa Women’s Archives
Third Floor, Main Library

She served as president of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union and the Des Moines chapters of the League of Women Voters and the National Organization for Women. Noun established the Chrysalis Foundation in 1989 to provide financial assistance to Iowa women. She wrote several books, including Strong-Minded Women: The Emergence of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in Iowa; More Strong-Minded Women: Iowa Feminists Tell Their Stories; Iowa Women in the WPA; Journey to Autonomy: A Memoir; and Leader and Pariah: Annie Savery and the Campaign for Women’s Rights in Iowa, 1868-1891.

Louise Noun realized a long-term goal in 1992 with the establishment of the Louise Noun-Mary Louise Smith Iowa Women’s Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries. The Iowa Women’s Archives, which opened in October 1992, is devoted to preserving the history of women by acquiring and making available primary source material that documents the lives of Iowa women.  

Learn more about Louise Noun through the IWA Founder’s digital collection.

The University of Iowa Libraries will offer the workshop “Google U: Using Google for Academic Research” on two dates this fall:

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Thursday, Dec. 4, 10:30 a.m. - noon
Arcade Classroom 1, Main Library

This workshop is geared to the experienced Web searcher and will be especially useful for graduate students. Emphasis will be on using the Google family of search products, particularly Google Books and Google Scholar, for scholarly research. Time will be provided for practice searches and advice on particular research needs.

PREVIEW COURSE CONTENT

No registration is required but seating is limited. Latecomers may be turned away.