Library News – Page 64

“All we are saying … is give peace a chance”.

The lyrics of “Give Peace a Chance” express former Beatle, John Lennon’s (1940-1980) antiwar philosophy. In commemoration of his birthday on October 9th, the Libraries’ is highlighting resources that provide a documentary history of governments’ attempts to establish peace though negotiations, armistice agreements, and treaties. Supplementary documents related to peace talks, declassified diplomatic correspondence provide further accounts of diplomatic successes and failures.

The text of treaties from the earliest formation of the U.S. government to contemporary times are available in print or in digital format within the Government Publications Collection including Indian Treaties, treaties with foreign governments from the Revolutionary War, both World Wars, and the Korean and Viet Nam Wars eras. In addition, the United Nations Treaty Collection subscription resource includes multilateral treaties, many of which seek to promote peaceful relationships among countries.

Background information critical for better understanding of issues involved in negotiations, includes foreign policy statements, reprints of speeches, congressional testimony, position papers, and country geopolitical profiles.

The destruction resulting from World War II brought nations together to work on peace and security issues through the United Nations. The United Nations has worked on these issues since it was founded in 1945. As a collector of United Nations publications, the University of Iowa Libraries has an extensive collection of materials that describe and detail international efforts to maintain and promote peace in the world. A research guide for the United Nations collection is available online at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/govpubs/intl/un.html.

Researchers may begin their search in InfoHawk Catalog or contact Marianne Mason for help with U.S. government information and Brett Cloyd for assistance with the United Nations and international government information.

Scattered Seeds: Writers from China and the Chinese Diaspora

As part of the 40th Anniversary of the International Writing Program, several noted IWP alumni have returned to Iowa City. A special reading of Chinese writers is planned to celebrate. The reading will take place in the Adler Journalism Building room E105 on Thursday, October 11 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Li Rui (2002), Xi Chuan (2002), Ya Hsien (1967), and Cheng Wen-tao (1968-71), as well as IWP 2007 residents Lo Yi-chin (Taiwan), Lawrence Pun (Hong Kong) and special guest Yun He (China/The Philippines) will discuss Chinese writing and literature. Poets Xi, Ya, Cheng, and Yun will also read from their work.

The writers will also visit the Main Library to see the current exhibit “East Asia in the Midwest.”

Interlibrary Loan Delivers!

The more than four million volumes that the UI Libraries owns are just the tip of the iceberg of knowlege that UI faculty, students and staff have access to. Our Interlibrary Loan department is your connection to a world of libraries. Every year the Interlibrary Loan department fills requests for more than 20,000 items!

You can request a book, thesis, video, journal article, book chapter or other research material online. This free service is available to all University of Iowa faculty, students, and staff and is done online through the Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery website.

Generally journal articles, book chapters and other short materials that are scannable are delivered to your desktop within 2 days. Books, videos or theses can be delivered, on average in 4-10 days.

The first time you login with your HawkID and password to our online Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery system, you will have to complete a one time registration form. Here is where you choose your Home Library (Hardin or Main) and your Pick-up Library (Hardin, Main or any of the branch libraries). So for example, if you are faculty, student or staff member in the health sciences, Hardin Library is the best choice for Home Library. All other departments should choose the Main Library. The Pick-up Library is where books will be sent for you to pick up – if your office is in Seashore Hall, you can choose the Psychology Library and have your books sent there for you to check out.

Once you are registered, your Interlibrary Loan account will be the place to go to do everything – submit your requests, view scanned material that has been posted, renew your books, and track the status of your outstanding requests.

Search Smarter at the UI Libraries

Beginning this fall, UI Libraries users can search smarter. The new and improved Smart Search on the UI Libraries website provides a single search box that searches the InfoHawk Catalog, the Iowa Digital Library, E-resources, E-books, E-journals and even journal articles.

During this early release period, we want to hear about your experience using Smart Search (http://smartsearch.uiowa.edu). We will compile these responses to continue improving functionality for our library users.

Library Racers Get Creative

One of the clues in the Amazing Library Race asks racers to create an avatar. Here is a sampling of submissions.

Retirees Visit Main Library

Members of the Grayhawks (UI Retirees Association) and other retired community members will be visiting the Main Library today for “Preserving Family Photographs, Part 1” in the Conservation Lab from 2 – 3:30 p.m.

This hands-on session will be led by Nancy E. Kraft, Head of the Preservation Department and Gary Frost, University Libraries Conservator. The session will cover the various film and photo types with suggestions for handling, storage and extending the life of the image; photo album and scrapbook problems and possible solutions; how to determine the acidity or color fastness of paper; how to perform light cleaning of photos and how to display photos safely.

Future retirees sessions include “Preserving Family Photographs, Part 2” in the Information Arcade on Tuesday, October 16 from 10 – 11:30 a.m. Mark Anderson and Jennifer Wolfe from Digital Library Services department will demonstrate best practices in digitizing photos. You’ll learn the technical requirements that will make your photos usable, and you’ll add descriptors to your photos that will help you organize them.

For more information about Back to the Libraries sessions for retirees, contact Kristi Bontrager (kristi-r-bontrager@uiowa.edu or 319-335-5960).

Banned Books Week Read-Out

Join Journalism students as they read excerpts from a selection of banned or challenged books from the list of the Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century compiled by the Radcliffe Publishing Course.

Catcher in the Rye Tuesday, September 25
2:30 – 4:15 p.m.
First Floor Rotunda
Adler Journalism Building

1. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

2. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

9. 1984 by George Orwell

12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 15. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

29. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Harry Potter 97. Rabbit Run by John Updike

And Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

The numbers represent the book’s ranking on the top novels list.

Readers are students in Law, Media and Current Issues, a course taught by Carolyn Stewart Dyer, professor of journalism and mass communication. Banned Books Week is the American Library Association’s celebration of the freedom to read.

Hispanic Heritage Month Exhibit on Display

Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual event celebrating the culture and traditions of U.S. residents who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean, as well as the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States.

The Hispanic community in Iowa is experiencing an exciting time of change as it begins historic growth in the state. The Hispanic population in 2006—nearly 115,000—represents an increase of 28% since 2000. Hispanic enrollment at the University of Iowa during the spring term in 2007 was 767.

The Main Library is hosting an exhibit for the 2007 Hispanic Heritage Month. It is located across from the Information Desk, near the elevator. The display features selected items from the Iowa Women’s Archives’ “Mujeres Latinas” project and highlights University of Iowa Hispanic and Latina/o students, faculty and alumni, as well as resources available in the Main Library about the Hispanic and Latina/o experience.

For more information on the exhibit contact Rachel Garza Carreón at rachel-carreon@uiowa.edu.

Reading Tonight in Shambaugh Auditorium

Iowan Mildred Armstrong Kalish will read from Little Heathens, her memoir about growing up during the Great Depression, at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 17, in Shambaugh Auditorium of the University of Iowa Main Library.

The reading is free and open to the public. A crew from University of Iowa public radio station WSUI AM910 will be on hand to record the readings for future broadcasts. Live broadcasts will be available on The University’s Writing University web site.

Kalish, who grew up in Garrison, taught English at several colleges, including The University of Iowa. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser says of Kalish’s memoir, “This lovely book, so unaffected and so generous, opens the door to a past I knew as a child in Iowa, and I wept with joy and recognition as I read it.”

Transitions: scholarly communications news for the UI community | September 2007

September 2007
Issue 3.07

Welcome to the September 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 4-6 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:

Campaign against Open Access and Public Access to Federally Funded Research
Scholarly Publishing Out of Step with the Academy
Scholarly Publishers Issue Position Paper on Author/Publisher Rights
U.S College Book Price Study
Economic Stability of Open Access
Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Scholarly Communication
Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Joins Google’s Library Project
Do Open Access Articles Have Greater Citation Impact?
Flattening of the U.S. Output of Scientific Articles: 1988–2003
Amazon Will Digitize Universities’ Books and Sell Print-on-Demand Copies
L.A. Times Editorial: Accessing NIH research
Yale Libraries Pull Out of BioMed Central Over Cost of Publication