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University of Iowa

University Libraries

Sep 7 2010

Create a bibliography with a touch of a button. . .

The University of Iowa Libraries will offer two introductory workshops on RefWorks. RefWorks is a web-based service that enables you to save bibliographic citations from the library catalog and other library databases.

Thursday, Sept 9, noon-1:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept 10, noon-1:30 p.m.
Main Library, room 1015 (1st floor, northwest corner of Main Library)

In this workshop you will learn to: 

  • Create a RefWorks account and access it from on- and off-campus
  • Create, edit, and delete citations in RefWorks
  • Organize your citations and share them with colleagues at UIowa and beyond
  • Use RefWorks to easily create and format bibliographies

Librarians will show you how to use RefWorks, and then give you the opportunity to practice with it at the end of the workshop. No registration is required, but seating is limited, so latecomers may be turned away.

For additional RefWorks training options, including workshops held at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, see http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/find/refworks/workshops.html.

Sep 2 2010

Get to Know Iowa City, Flex Your Creative Muscles, Win Fame and Prizes!

So you’ve had some time to get your bearings on campus and in Iowa City. Do you think you can identify places around town from photos taken 50 years ago? Can you put your photography skills to work and re-create that image? Your photo creation could earn you fame and prizes (like tickets to Hancher)!

The Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes collection or the UI Physical Education for Women collection in the Iowa Digital Library are great places to start.

Check our contest website (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/events/then_now) for complete details about entering and uploading your photo. All members of the UI community (faculty, staff and students) are encouraged to participate, but only students are eligible to win prizes. Deadline for submission is October 1, 2010 at 5 p.m.

Good luck !

Sep 1 2010

Love Your Librarian? Nominate Him/Her Before Sept 20

Librarians in our nation’s 123,000 libraries make a difference in the lives of millions of people every day.  If a librarian has made a difference in your life, now is the chance to tell your story.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.

Nominations will be open from August 2 to September 20. 

Up to 10 librarians in public, school and college, community college and university libraries will be selected to win $5,000 and will be honored at a ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library. Winners will be announced in December 2010.

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.  Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

For more information and to nominate a librarian, visit www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.

The award is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times.

It is administered by The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world, and The Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign about the value of libraries and librarians.

Sep 1 2010

City of Literature in the UI Main Library

When Iowa City was named a City of Literature in 2008, it joined Edinburgh and Melbourne to become the third city worldwide to receive this designation (Dublin, Ireland was named fourth city in July 2010)–a recognition of a century and a half of activity in a small university city that has played a role in the world of literature far out of proportion with its size. Iowa City has long been host to a lively literary scene that has extended beyond the university’s campus to inform the spirit of the community.

An exhibit in The University Main Library, “City of Literature: Literary Life in Iowa City” highlights diverse aspects of literary life both at the University of Iowa and throughout Iowa City.

Literary artifacts such as Dr. Alphabet’s suit and top hat, the application to UNESCO City of Literature and images of the Iowa City Literary Walk poems are part of the exhibit. As well as works by a few of the myriad writers who have called Iowa City home.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library hours.

Sep 1 2010

Iowa City Book Festival Publicity and Marketing Interns Wanted

Marketing interns will assist in all aspects of the marketing and publicity work for promotion of the 2011 Iowa City Book Festival. Interns must be in Iowa City for the summer of 2011.

ICBF 2010 intern, Katelyn McBride says “The internship gave me experience in many different areas: event planning, community outreach, media relations, public relations, creative projects, writing and editing… you meet a lot of different people and do a lot of different things. I felt like a valuable asset to the planning committee. It’s a fun group to work with and a rewarding process to see all your hard work pay off with a successful weekend event.”

Some duties will be based on experience and skills of the interns, others on the needs of the committee. Scope of responsibilities is to assist in planning and organizing promotional plans for the Iowa City Book Festival; also to serve as primary tacticians in the execution of distribution of promotional materials, research, and social media management.

Specific Duties to include, but not limited to:

  1. Attending committee meetings with Kristi Bontrager and Allison Means
  2. Writing articles and conducting interviews about and with authors
  3. Working to schedule interviews and planning for authors
  4. Continuing development of potential partner list of local and regional businesses to be utilized as possible sponsors and/or partners in “A Day in the City of Literature,” and purveyors of event information
  5. Maintaining and updating social media pages and platforms appropriate to publicize the ICBF (www.facebook.com/iowacitybookfestival)
  6. Distributing promotional materials to all participating sites in the Iowa City Area
  7. Creating logistical planning itineraries with regional potential partners for publicity and information distribution
  8. Helping support and publicize upcoming fundraisers in the fall and spring semesters
  9. Researching other events, festivals and area venues appropriate for material posting or physical presence in promoting the event
  10. Assisting in Volunteer orientation prior to ICBF (weekend and weekdays)
  11. Being available throughout the festival for duties as assigned, from set-up to tear down. ** Please keep in mind that from Friday, July 1 through the weekend of July 15 – 17, a schedule of longer hours will be required.

Applicants should be aware that not all duties will be equally challenging, but all will be duties that are regularly performed by committee members during the process of publicizing the ICBF. Upon completion of the 2011 ICBF, the confident and successful intern will be able to receive letters of recommendation from the ICBF planning committee.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Current enrollment or acceptance at the University of Iowa
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Photoshop, InDesign, Powerpoint, and Microsoft Suite experience desired

HOURS

Start date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
End date: Monday, July 18, 2011

Fall 2010 Semester (Sept. 23 – Nov. 30): 2-5 hours/week
Spring 2011 Semester (Jan. 19 – May 2): 10-15 hours/week
Summer 2011 (June 1 – June 30): 15-20 hours/week
July 1 – the Festival: 20+ hours

APPLICATION

Please answer question below and return via email only to kristi-r-bontrager@uiowa.edu before September 13.

Name

Address

Phone

Student ID

E-mail

Describe any course work or job experience that involved any aspects of publicity, marketing or public relations.

What skills make you a good candidate for this position?

What are your career goals? Be specific as possible.

Describe your computer skills.

Aug 27 2010

Sciences Library Open House, Aug 31

Please join us for a special Sciences Library Open House.  This is your chance to see all that the Sciences Library has to offer, while enjoying some sweet treats and refreshments!

Sciences Library Open House
Tuesday, August 31
1:00 – 3:00pm
Sciences Library – 120 Iowa Ave (across from Joe’s Place)

Specifically, come check out the Books, Journals, Reference and Reserve for Biological Sciences, Geosciences, Physics & Astronomy AND Reference and Reserve for Chemistry and Psychology! 

Please contact Kari Kozak (kari-kozak@uiowa.edu or 5-3024) or Leo Clougherty (leo-clougherty@uiowa.edu or 5-3083) for more information and/or view the attached flyer.  Hope to see you there!

Aug 26 2010

Celebrate 90 years of “Votes for Women”, Aug 26

August 26, 1920 marks the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote.  But the campaign for women’s suffrage began long before that and the story of Iowa women reflects the stories of women across the country.

As we celebrate 90 years of equal suffrage, the Iowa Women’s Archives (IWA) is undertaking a project to make these valuable and unique items of local and state history available online. IWA has received a grant from the State Historical Society, Inc. to digitize important documents pertaining to the women’s suffrage movement in Iowa and create a resource page linking Iowa suffrage materials across the state.

For a brief history of the women’s suffrage movement in Iowa and examples of the resources that will be available through the Iowa Digital Library in summer 2011, take a look at Women’s Suffrage in Iowa: A Sneak Peek of a New Digital Collection.

Aug 26 2010

Vascular Plants of Iowa is newest addition to the Iowa Digital Library

When anyone who works with the vascular plants of Iowa—researchers, conservationists, teachers, agricultural specialists, horticulturists, gardeners—have needed information about the state’s plants, they have turned to Lawrence Eiler and Dean Roosa’s The Vascular Plants of Iowa: An Annotated Checklist and Natural History. This meticulously researched volume was first published by the University of Iowa Press in 1994.

Today, through a collaborative project with The University of Iowa Libraries, Vascular Plants has been digitized and pulled together in an easily searchable online research tool (digital.lib.uiowa.edu/uipress/vpi). Like the printed book, the digital version consists of an extended essay on the natural history of the vascular plants of Iowa, a discussion of their origins, a description of the state’s natural regions, and a painstakingly annotated checklist of Iowa vascular plants.

All known vascular plants that grow and persist in Iowa without cultivation are included in the checklist. These are native plants, primarily, but a large number of introduced species have become established throughout the state. Also included are Iowa’s major crop plants and some of its common garden plants. The lengthy checklist provides an accurate and comprehensive listing of species names and common names, synonyms, distribution, habitat, abundance, and origin; county names are given for very rare species, and the most complete information has been provided for all rare plants and troublesome species.

The wealth of information in this well-organized, practical volume describes more than two thousand species from Adiantum pedatum, the northern maidenhair fern of moist woods and rocky slopes, to Zannichellia palustris, the horned pondweed of shallow marshes and coldwater streams—makes it possible to identify Iowa plants correctly.

The print version of the book is available for purchase on the UI Press website .