Monthly Archives: June 2011

Isn’t it fantastic? Construction of the expanded and renovated library is underway!

Construction of the expanded and renovated library is underway!

Services, collections and staff have been consolidated to floors 1-3 and a portion of the lower level. A new temporary entrance has been created on the first floor. During construction, there will be some inconvenience but we are doing everything possible to minimize it under the circumstances. There will be several phases of construction.  Services, collections and staff will be relocated during each of these phases. The end result will be a state of the art facility at the heart of the campus. Expected completion is set for Fall 2012.

Isn’t it fantastic?

Test and review the SYNTHESIS Digital Library of Electrical Engineering, Computer, And Information Science

The library is offering a trial of the Synthesis database and would like your input.  Synthesis provides access to the latest resources for electrical, computer and information engineers. Aimed at an undergraduate and beginning graduate level these fully searchable resources provide in-depth treatment on current topics in YOUR area.

Try the Synthesis Database NOW!

From the publisher:

“Synthesis content is meant to capture the best of the traditional book and journal publishing models and is perfect for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in engineering, computer and information science. We offer brief but focused book-length treatments (usually 100 pages or so) of fast-moving areas – areas that are usually too fast or too new for textbook or monograph. These topics would traditionally have found an outlet only through journals or proceedings but of course such articles are very constrained and intended only to present original research results. Our titles are instead meant to be pedagogical showing a non-expert how to begin research and design projects without wading through journal literature, textbooks or monograph/reference works.”

“We get the best authors because they, more than anyone, feel the limitations of traditional book and journal publishing (too slow and too limited, respectively). They see the need for a teaching and learning approach to these new areas, the kind that Synthesis delivers”.

Questions? Contact your Engineering Librarian Liaison, Paige Gibbs.

Asbestos abatement Project – Friday June 10th – UMassD Library Renovation and Expansion Project

The UMass Dartmouth Department of Public Safety and Environmental and Health Services would like to advise the community of  an asbestos abatement project  that will occur during  Friday , June 10, 2011. Licensed abatement contractors will be working  in the first floor hallway adjacent to the main entrance of the Library on Friday June 10, 2011. The area will be sealed off and posted preventing access to the Library from the hallway .  Work is expected to be completed by the close of business on Friday.

The Library shall remain open for normal activities.  We regret any inconvenience that t is might cause.

If you have any questions concerning this project please contact Peter  Geldmacher in Facilities at 508-999-8938 or Robert Casparius at 508-910-8176.

Information Literacy Minute Movies – An Invitation & Sneak Preview – UMassD Claire T. Carney Library

Information Literacy Minute Movies

The UMassD Claire T. Carney Library has begun a project to create several information literacy minute movies. Information literacy skills cannot be learned in one visit to the library, and ideally should be applied to all information needs, and not just a final research paper. Our minute movies can bring reinforcement throughout the semester to returning students and introduce the resources to freshmen who may not attend a library session until the end of the semester. We have started with three movies that feature different librarians in interesting scenarios. Each one is only about a minute or two. We don’t want to stop there. What would really make this an exciting project, especially to students, would be to have the next movies star faculty, staff, administration, and students. Do you have an idea for an information literacy minute? Don’t have an idea yet, but want to participate? Feedback on any or all of the minute movies? We would love to talk to you. Please contact us about ideas or if you might be interested in participating. Contact Kari Mofford at kmofford@umassd.edu or 508-999-8865.

View the first Library MinuteVideos here:

https://www.lib.umassd.edu/libraryinfo/LibraryPresentations.html#minute

All Hail Librarians! A UMassD Faculty Member Praises Librarians

As posted by UMassD Faculty Member, Lisa Maya Knauer, on the library’s Facebook page (since you can’t see her post unless you’re in her Facebook friends we’ve reposted it here):
 

All Hail Librarians!

Time to sing the praises not only of libraries but of librarians — because a library is not only an architectural structure, a physical location, or simply a collection of books and other written and audiovisual materials. While I have ample appreciation of the physical space of the library, which can be a pleasant oasis or a life-saving refuge, and the books and other materials that are contained therein, I also want to give a shout out to librarians. I am proud to count several librarians and archivists (not quite the same, but close relatives to librarians, in terms of training, breadth of knowledge, and passion for the written word) among my dear friends (although at least one is no longer working the field). For academics and researchers — especially ones like myself who are temporarily away from home — library staff (at both my own university library and other institutions) are true lifesavers. I am still in awe of interlibrary loan, and view it as a minor miracle, especially for articles: even though my university library does not subscribe to all the journals and databases I need, nor does it have all the books I’d like. But I’ve rarely requested an article or book that interlibrary loan has not SOMEHOW managed to find for me. The library staff has also been generous enough to scan some book chapters for me, as I am a few thousand miles away in a different country and not easily able to march over and sign out books.

While I am especially appreciative of my university librarians, I also have found that even in somewhat remote branches of the public libraries, a conversation with the library staff is usually productive and rewarding. If there isn’t already a “librarian’s appreciation day”, there oughta be!