The Information Commoner: Keeping Library Staff on Common Ground, 2010 February.

              Information Commoner
February 2010
Volume 4, Issue 7
Keeping Library Staff on Common Ground
In This Issue
At Your Service 2
Department News 2
Ask the Tech Guy 6
Employee Spotlight 8
Mike’s Message
In the coming few months, we will be undergoing a
procedural audit from the business office. We will be
examining all of our practices in terms of handling
money and financial transactions. In addition, we will be
looking at our financial record keeping, making sure they
are both efficient and needed. The audit gives the
Library a perfect opportunity to look at the way we do
things, to eliminate work that isn’t needed, and perhaps add some procedures that
we are neglecting.
The audit is a classic example of the need to look at all of our procedures, and ask
why we are doing this or that. Getting too comfortable with our routines and
settling into our jobs from day to day invites stagnation. We should always be
asking ourselves how we can do our tasks better (or not at all). Emerson said that a
foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. We wouldn’t want to be accused
of that.
Announcements
Textbook Photocopying
By Lesli Baker
If a student would like to photocopy pages from a textbook, please do not send the
student to the Visual Arts Lab. Any textbook copying must be done by the student,
and the staff in the Visual Arts Lab will not be able to copy pages for them.
Who would Win
Do you remember the high school days when a highlight was voting for the “most
likely” categories in the yearbook? The Library returns to high school with the class
of 2010 for Who Would Win! A cast of 40 characters has been selected, and UVU
students, faculty and staff will vote for their favorites in six categories beginning
March 8. We hope you play along!
What’s Our Policy
2 INFORMATION COMMONER
At Your Service News from Systems
Look up - Quiet up
By Lesli Baker
The Circulation staff is playing a great new game! No, it
isn’t LibraryCraft or any of the other activities the Library
has planned for this semester. Instead, Look Up - Quiet
Up focuses on providing good customer service until
March 15.
Here is how you play:
•  Any of the supervisors or Library staff that enters the
Library and is not greeted with eye contact steps to
the desk and says look-up to the library aide.
•  If a library aide gets a look-up, report it to the
supervisor.
•  The fewer look-ups an aide receives, the more
points he or she has to qualify for an extra treat.
The rules are the similar with Quiet-up.
•  Aides are asked to whisper when working in the
stacks or other quiet areas of the Library.
•  If an aide is not whispering, give them a quiet up and
let the supervisor know for tracking.
The object of this game is to practice body language and
to promote quiet in the Library. If you notice aides who
are doing a great job on looking up and making eye
contact, report them Judy. She loves positive, upbeat
reports on our aides!
Although the prizes are for the library aides, we can all
take this game to heart and practice what we are
encouraging our library aides to do!
Remember to Look Up and Quiet Up!
By Mark Stevens
Self Checkout Unit on the Fourth Floor
The 3M self checkout unit is in service on the 4th floor. If
the unit runs out of receipt tape, please contact Alan
Stephens or Trevor Morris. We are resolving a couple of
minor glitches. Please report any problems or feedback
to Mark Stevens.
Emerging Technology Team Evaluates eReaders
The Kindle DX and Nook eReaders are being evaluated
by the Emerging Technologies Team during the next
three weeks. Other Library staff will be the next
evaluators. Some of the questions being addressed are:
1. Which eReader model is the best for the UVU
Library?
2. What policies will govern lending them?
3. How will we commit titles to an eReader (since
checking out each given unit sequesters all titles
within that machine)?
Generally speaking, the UVU Library will leverage the
advantages of eReader technology to complement our
existing suite of information services. An immediate
example: when a faculty member must urgently obtain a
book that is not yet in our collection, the eReader can
download available titles instantaneously.
Kindle DX Nook
INFORMATION COMMONER 3
By Trevor Young
The following is a list of recently added electronic
reference titles. As with all electronic titles you may
search for them in two ways: on our electronic
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias list (www.uvu.edu/
library/researchtools/electronic_ encyclopedias.
html) as well as in the catalog itself. All but one of
these new titles are from Sage Reference Online.
•  21st Century Education: A Reference Handbook
•  21st Century Management: A Reference
Handbook
•  21st Century Psychology: A Reference Handbook
•  Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
•  Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
•  Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and
Global Perspectives
•  Encyclopedia of Social Problems
•  Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention,
Treatment, and Recovery
•  Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods
•  Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural
Foundations of Education
•  Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and
Electoral Behavior
•  Encyclopedia of Libertarianism
•  Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research
Methods
•  Sage Handbook of Healthcare
•  Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and
Rome
This move introduces the Sage electronic platform to
UVU Library and since we own multiple Sage titles, it
behooves us to learn how to use the interface. As
most of it is intuitive, I won’t go into too much
detail. However, since I highly value the “search
whole database” function in Oxford, I thought I’d
see if Sage could emulate that model. It does, but
it’s not quite as simple as Oxford.
What if you want to search all of the Sage titles?
Click on the Advanced Search tab (surreptitiously
placed in the banner).
This will reveal the “Not Finding What You Want”
box on the far left.
Clicking on Go will lead you to options on widening
your search to some or all Sage titles. I prefer the
simplicity of Oxford, but this has the advantage of
specifying the exact titles you wish to search.
More electronic reference titles and platforms are
on their way, so keep your eyes peeled.
News from Reference/Instruction
E D I T O R I A L I N F O R M A T I O N
The Information Commoner is an internal
communication tool published once a
month by and for the Utah Valley
University Library staff. Input from all
library staff is encouraged.
The deadline for information submittal is
the third Friday of each month. Send
information to Lesli via email.
4 INFORMATION COMMONER
News from Serials
By Wendy Wise
Binding/Issues
Most 2009 issues in the Serials collection are now on
the compact shelving. If a patron cannot locate an
issue, there are a number of ways to help them
locate what they need.
1. Verify they understand the LC call number
classification system.
2. 2009 issues have been moved to the compact
shelving. Please check that collection.
3. Call someone in serials (Debbie x6336, Wendy
x8318 or Sarah x8313). Some issues are
temporarily being held in Technical Services as
we prepare them for binding.
4. The title/article may be available through one of
our online resources. Please check the journals
list on the Library's website.
5. If all else fails, a reference librarian can assist the
patron to locate other sources of information.
Symphony
The conversion to Symphony has, in general,
affected Serials workload and work flow, effectively
doubling the amount of time it takes for certain
processes. We have done what we can to streamline
tasks associated with the system, but have found
this tool has taken us a step backward.
As we continue to set up prediction records, which
could not be transferred during the conversion,
there will be a delay in issues being routed to
faculty/staff and issues being sent to the shelves.
There is no way around this, and we are working as
quickly as possible. Please note that it will take up to
a year to finish setting up all the received titles with
prediction records in Symphony.
Did you know?
The library aides in Serials/Technical Services are
invaluable to our work and a necessary part of the
staff, without them we would not be able to meet
the demands of essential work. They do a
tremendous amount. A part of their workload
includes the daily processing of materials, sorting
donations, sending duplicate materials to other
libraries located around the United States, book
repair, shelving, moving collections, answering
patron questions, and various large scale projects.
Thanks Heidi, Candace, and Ben!
INFORMATION COMMONER 5
By Christy Donaldson
The beginning of the year is always fabulous for film
buffs. In mid-January, there is the Sundance Film
Festival right here in Utah. In February, the Banff
Mountain Film Festival World Tour comes to
campus for two nights to show the best films of the
previous year on mountain culture and sports.
I took in six film screenings at the
Sundance Film Festival this year.
Highlights from the festival
include the Aboriginal Australian
musical Bran Nue Dae which was
extremely funny. It followed a
young man’s journey to discover
what he really wanted out of life, and throughout
cast members break out in song and dance. Then I
got to see the Documentary Spotlight, the highlight
of which was a film called Born Sweet about a
young Cambodian villager with arsenic poisoning
who becomes the star of a karaoke film to educate
other young Cambodians about arsenic poisoning.
Then I saw the film Life 2.0
which follows three individuals
in Second Life (SL). One is a
businesswoman who creates
clothes, shoes, furniture and
houses in SL and sells them to
people. Then we follow the
emotional and social stories of the other two
individuals. One is a young man who created a 12-
year-old female avatar. The other is the story of
two individuals who meet and have an affair in SL
and then in real life. It was very interesting because
even the filmmaker when he was filming had no
idea how the documentary was going to end
because he was filming as things were really
happening. The other interesting part was when
the filmmaker asked the audience, which was over
200 people, how many people already had avatars
in SL and about 30 people raised their hands. Then
the filmmaker asked how many people were going
to go out and create avatars in SL, he expected
there to be quite a few, and not a single person in
the crowd raised their hand! I will definitely be
adding this film to the UVU Library's media
collection when it becomes available.
I followed this film up with the film Catfish about a
young man who friends a family on Facebook and
falls in love with the oldest daughter. He realizes
that things aren't quite right and decides to actually
visit the family in person to find out the truth. I will
also be adding this film to the collection. Then I saw
the Irish documentary His & Hers which was a
collection of vignettes. The filmmaker shows
women of all ages from childhood through old age
talking about the men in their lives. It was a very
touching film.
The final film I saw, Leon Gast’s Smash His Camera,
won the U.S. Documentary Directing award at SFF.
It follows Ron Galella, the famous paparazzi
photographer, through the eye of his camera while
encountering and photographing hundreds of
celebrities, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
and Marlon Brando. The film looks at the rights of
the photographer and the privacy rights of
celebrities. The film asks whether or not celebrities
really do have a right to privacy, since they are
considered public figures rather than private
citizens. I will definitely be adding this to the
collection.
So for all you film buffs out there, don't miss the
Oscar Award ceremony on TV on March 7. Until
then try to catch as many films as you can that are
still in the theater or have just come out on DVD.
News From Media
ASK THE TE CH GU Y
Leopard Vs. Snow Leopard
By Carlos Alarco
Here is how to tell between the different
versions of Mac OS X. Wireless printing is not
available for Mac OS X Snow Leopard yet and
checking the version should be the first
troubleshooting step.
1. Click on the Apple logo, located on the top
left corner of the desktop.
2. Choose About This Mac.
3. From the window that appears, check the
version number under the text labeled Mac OS
X.
Version 10.5.X (Leopard) is compatible with
iPrint Version 10.6.x (Snow Leopard) is not
compatible.
On a similar note there still is no wireless
printing for Windows 7, hopefully a solution
will be available by next month.
6 INFORMATION COMMONER
By Judy Robertson
The biggest thing going for Circ seems to be the
opportunity to remodel the circ suite. We met with
Jacques Thursday to discuss the possibilities that
would work for expanding the office space and
creating new space. Holly drew up the floor plans
and most of us gave our input on how to utilize
some of our space. The main concern was to provide
an unobstructed view, if possible, for the
supervisors. The plan is to have nine cubicles in the
area, one for each supervisor, plus space for ERES,
training stations, processing, storage, and space for
student employees to keep their belongings while
on duty, and printer and copier stations. We will also
have access to the ex-mail room for storage. Now
what will the consultant say?
Some other items we want to implement are Quiet-up.
We have had several complaints that our staff is
noisy. Now, I don’t believe that is all the library staff
since other departments occupy the building,.
Nevertheless, we are committed to Quiet-up around
the Circ Desk and in the stacks. We would like to
propose that each office in the Library comply by
having a quiet-up sign in their window to encourage
all areas to participate.
Look-up project. We will be working on a game/
prize that will reward those who are caught looking
up and counting the total number of face to face
interactions they have with patrons. Please help us
accomplish this by stating the word LOOK UP every
time you pass the Circulation Desk.
Staplers are going bye-bye. We will now provide
one automatic stapler for patrons to use. The heavy
duty stapler will remain at the desk, and students
may ask for it.
Inventory is going again and progressing well. The
audit for the petty cash has helped review the
procedures and we are working on policies and
procedures to comply.
News from Access Services
INFORMATION COMMONER 7
News from Technical Services
By Keith Rowley
You might be interested in knowing that we now
have over 4,000 books in the Children’s Literature
collection. Among these books are 76 Spanish
language books that would be great for beginning
Spanish students to read. Tell your friends who are
taking beginning Spanish about these books.
With the Media Department we have outlined some
new steps for video processing which will greatly
increase our awareness of where any video is in that
process. With over 1,000 videos ordered every year,
we have had to refine our processes to keep on top
of everything.
In cataloging we recently changed the subfield e to a
subfield 4 in the author names. I know this means
nothing to most people, but when you do an author
alphabetical search you should see the name once
instead of twice with some variation, like: Smith,
John and Smith, John, editor. Editor is still in the
record but it doesn’t show up in the author index.
Occasionally you will see an author twice, with dates
and without dates behind the name. If you notice
one like that, let Keith know so he can verify the
correct format and make the changes needed in the
catalog records.
In the last two weeks we have received around 400
music CDs which will be cataloged soon and
available to our patrons. Most of these CDs are the
classics of Rock ’n Roll, Jazz, and Country; a very
eclectic collection of music for all tastes.
News from the Sutherland Archives
By Catherine McIntyre
This semester in Archives I am supervising three
history student interns, and they started this month.
Tyler Mower and Whitney Bitton are both from the
Public History class taught by Dr. Abigail Chandler,
and will be working on the papers of several past
UVU presidents. Tyler is processing the William
Sederburg Collection and Whitney is helping with
the Kerry Romesburg Collection. The third student,
Courtney Whelan, is doing an internship with history
professor William Cobb and is picking up some extra
hours processing our collection of materials relating
to the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commem-oration,
such as posters, flyers, and other publicity
materials.
Brent and I are on the advisory board for a new
student-run oral history project, the Vietnam Era
Oral History Project. Professor William Cobb has
conceived the project as a way to give students the
opportunity to interview those whose lives have
been affected in some way by the Vietnam War, and
as a way to document those experiences as a
valuable history of the time. Brent and Annie are
setting up a web page (www.uvu.edu/library/
archives/vietnam.html) and we’ve arranged for a
campus email account and telephone line devoted
to this on-going project. The Archives will be the
permanent repository for the interviews. Students
will be looking to interview military veterans of that
Continued on next page.
Background information: I was born in the People’s
Republic of China. My husband, Yingxian Zhu, works
at UVU also, in the Math Department. I have one
child, he is 25 years old and lives in San Francisco
now. Before coming to UVU, I worked at the Law
library of Arizona State University.
When did you start working at UVU? What
changes have you seen? I started working at UVU in
2003. We have a new library building now, that is
the main change I have seen.
Favorite things about job/UVU: Receiving new
books is a fun thing to do.
Job duties: Ordering and receiving books.
Where did you go to school? I went to school both
in China and in the U.S., and graduated from ASU.
Favorite things to do in your spare time or hobbies:
Watching TV, hiking and gardening.
8 INFORMATION COMMONER
Continued from previous page.
era, their family members, friends, and anyone else
who can contribute to the project. If you or anyone
you know might want to share experiences with a
student interviewer, please let Brent or me know.
The digital collections for Orem City Library and the
Orem Heritage Museum have both been harvested
into the Mountain West Digital Library
(www.mwdl.org). We worked with them on
assigning subject headings and are hosting the
collection in CONTENTdm and on our server. To see
the collections, visit the MWDL page and browse
under collection partners alphabetically under
Orem.
While you’re there, check out the Provo collections
as well! The Daily Herald ran an article on Saturday,
February 13, about the digital collections of Provo
City Library and Provo City, and our collaboration
with them on those projects. We did all the
digitization work on the Provo City Recorder’s
collection of early city council records and are
hosting the Provo Library collection of historic
photos on CONTENTdm and our server. Brent did
all the scanning and metadata for Provo Library as
his previous job! It’s an interesting article, and I
hope that it will generate interest in UVU Library’s
digitized collections and the services we offer for
potential digitization partners.
Along those lines, we are talking with American
Fork Library about the possibility of digitizing their
historic photos, as well as materials from American
Fork City and a chapter of the Daughters of Utah
Pioneers. I’ll have a progress update by the next
newsletter.
We’ve begun contributing some digitized materials
to Utah Government Publications Online, through
the State Library's Digital Library. Trevor Young has
identified some older Utah State Government
publications in our Reference Collection, such as
Utah Vital Statistics, Utah Job Outlook, and the
Statistical Abstract of Utah, which Brent will scan
and then upload to the State Library’s Digital
Library. The physical items can then be withdrawn
from the Reference Collection, but still be easily
available online at http://publications.utah.gov/
search/state.html.
Employee Spotlight: Shuyi Zhu