Information Commoner
March 2013
Volume 7, Issue 6
Keeping Library Staff on Common Ground
In This Issue
What’s Our Policy
2
At Your Service
2
Department News
3
Brag Box
8
Articles for Distance Education Students
9
Announcements
Extended Weekend Hours for Finals
The Library will have extended weekend hours in April. We will be open:
Saturday, April 13 8: 00 AM to 10: 00 PM
Sunday, April 14 2: 00 PM to 10: 00 PM
Saturday, April 20 8: 00 AM to 10: 00PM
Sunday, April 21 2: 00 PM to 10: 00PM
A big thank you to everyone who is covering the additional hours!
Books for Fines
The UVU Bookstore and the Library are teaming up to give books to Utah County children in need. During the month of April, students can purchase and donate a children’s book from the Bookstore to support First Book. They can then receive a fine waiver for their donation, valid through May 6.
Mike’s Message
Summertime and the living is easy. And with that easy living come vacations. Please ask for time off in advance so we can plan on coverage and coordinate with your colleagues. Though I cannot remember when we denied a vacation time requested, remember that all leave time must be approved. Don’t just announce that you are leaving tomorrow; simple professional courtesy calls for communication with and clearance from your supervisor well in advance.
On a more cheery note, kick back, read a good book ( Dickens preferably), eat lots of celery sticks, hike clear over to the nearest restaurant, deny yourself that fourth ice cream cone, use plenty of sunscreen, don’t lean over the edge, don't drive too fast, don’t talk too much, and stay away from Mickey Mouse or any part of Idaho. Otherwise, you’re on your own and have a great time. 2 INFORMATION COMMONER
What’s Our Policy?
Are You a Good Team Player?
By Lesli Baker
We have all had good and bad experiences working with members of a team. How can you make sure you are doing your part to be a good team member instead of becoming someone no one wants to work with?
Understand needs— Learn as much as you can about the Library and the university in general. This allows you to anticipate the needs of those we work with as well as provide quick service. Reading the staff newsletter and attending Fun Fridays are great ways to keep up on what’s happening!
Timeliness— No one likes waiting if it isn’t necessary. We need to be quick and efficient in completing assignments and meeting deadlines. This lets the people we are working with know that their needs are important to us.
Problem solving— We all like to work with someone who tries to make everyone’s job easier by resolving issues quickly. This skill helps us work together more efficiently and empowers us to tackle difficult situations.
Commitment to quality— How we work together impacts how students see the university and how well library employees do their jobs. If we are all committed to providing a high- quality library, we make fewer mistakes and provide better service.
Positive attitude— In my mind, attitude makes or breaks how well a team performs. We can’t always be happy, but we can make a constant effort to keep an open mind and a positive outlook. A positive attitude is vital for good teamwork and instills confidence.
Filming in the Library
By Lesli Baker
The Library can no longer grant permission for any filming in the Library. Any student, faculty, or outside group asking to film should contact Connie Bond at x8883.
EDITORIAL INFORMATION
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.
At Your Service INFORMATION COMMONER 3
Graduating Library Aides
Written by themselves
Markes Aedo
At UVU, I discovered my passion for filmmaking and journalism. With UVU's digital media program ( emphasis in Cinema Production) I've become enveloped in film and all of its makings. UVU has given me a plethora of opportunities to not only learn more about movies, but to actually make them myself. Working in such an environment can make it difficult to find a steady income. The Library has always been there to help me in my endeavors.
Joanna Killgore
After I finally graduate this year, my short term plans are to find a job! As my degree in Vocal Performance doesn’t set me up for corporate work very well, I plan to work on building a teaching studio of voice students and developing more performing opportunities. Ultimately I would like to teach voice lessons and other music classes in college, so a doctorate will probably be in my future. I have truly loved working at the Library. I could not have asked for a better job during my college experience. I am so grateful for the support and understanding of the supervisors and Judy when personal issues have come up. No one else would have been so supportive of all my choir performances and other mandatory events that made me have to miss work so I can pursue my dream of becoming a musician. Thanks everyone!
Kayla North
This April I will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Digital Media— Audio Emphasis, with a minor in music. I hope to find a digital media assistant position with a company or library. Additionally, I plan to eventually get a Master’s of Library Science. I have enjoyed working at the UVU Library, and I will miss all of the great friends I have made. My favorite thing to do was shifting.
Kyle Oram
Wait, I'm graduating? Oh shoot. No, just kidding I totally got this. Luckily I chose to study something really practical with excellent prospects of job placement after graduation: theater. That's right, I'll soon be moving to Los Angeles with my comedy troupe, and I'm sure we will quickly and easily become rich and famous. Expect to see me accepting my little golden statue at the next Oscars. Piece of cake. I'd like to thank the academy for my future Oscars, and the Library for being on awesome place to work. It's been a great couple of years with all the wonderful dorky employees and supervisors in this great educational machine. Thanks to everyone who made work a place I didn't dread going to and teaching me stuff.
Rones Saint Louis
After I graduate, I plan to transfer to the University of Utah and get a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. I hope I will able to get a
Continued on next page.
News from Access Services 4 INFORMATION COMMONER
News from Technical Services
Continued from previous page.
master’s degree in structural or environmental engineering. I am really excited to finish my studies, gain experience in the United States, and pass the national board exams in order to register here as engineer before I return to my country to start my own business. I will miss Utah Valley University. After two years working in the Library, I would like thank all of the staff. I really enjoyed working with you, and I learned a lot from you. Also, I really appreciate your patience and the way that everyone treats and understands me. Moreover, the adaptation was not easy for me because of my language. Could you imagine how you made me feel confident? One more time, I would like to say thank you to everyone. You are the best! I will miss you guys.
By Keith Rowley
The Technical Services staff has just finished their Fun Friday presentation. Hopefully it was a fun time for our audience, since some of our staff didn’t think it was very fun. All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience, and we have some good documentation to go in our Technical Services Workflows binder.
For the past five weeks we have had Emporia State University student Mindy Hale helping us out with cataloging. She has really learned a lot and has made a real contribution to our work. Now it is time for her to move on to Archives. She is leaving just in time for Merrily Cannon, our other library student intern, to join us.
Just in case you didn’t know, Shuyi is in China until April 10. Hopefully all is well for her there. She missed her 10th anniversary luncheon this last week. It seems like she started here just a couple of years ago. Christina and I were honored at a banquet for working 20 years at UVU. How time flies!
x
x
Keith and Christina,
in their younger,
more innocent days. INFORMATION COMMONER 5
COSUGI Conference Report Summary
By Mark Stevens
SirsiDynix has introduced the BLUE Cloud suite of functional browser screens for Symphony. The BLUE ( Best Library User Experience) interface will provide functionality to library staff ( ILS side), as well as our patrons ( OPAC side). Various improvements are promised. Catalogers will have a BLUE Cloud screen that will allow efficient editing and merging of OCLC and Symphony bib records. SirsiDynix is also touting a patron function that finds books ( not currently in the collection) to request immediate purchase with a “ Buy it Now” button.
Insomuch as the BLUE Cloud functionality is not yet released, little can be said ( yet) about how it might change how our Library does business. Weighing on our minds is our status quo of having the patrons start with OneSearch as their default discovery interface and drilling into the catalog OPAC if needed. BLUE Cloud would ostensibly have our users start their discovery process in BLUE Cloud’s book- centered interface, and escalate to include EBSCO and other databases as a secondary step to include articles. At this point, I might hazard a guess that we would continue using OneSearch as our default discovery interface, and replace the current OPAC with its BLUE Cloud catalog search equivalent.
News from Systems
News from Serials
By Debbie Short
In keeping with making services to our faculty members consistent and smooth, Serials has decided to adopt a check out policy similar to the one used for media.
The new policy is:
Serials and law books in sets do not circulate to students. Bound periodicals can be checked out by faculty and staff if I have given permission. Faculty and staff may check out current periodicals for three days if they have permission from me or the librarian on duty at the Reference desk. They are still limited to ten items. News from Reference/ Instruction
6 INFORMATION COMMONER
News from Media
By Trevor Young
After much ( MUCH!) deliberation, the decision has been made to apply RFID tags to the video collection. Standard tags will be applied to the backs of the video case liners. This will keep them concealed and protected.
Once the tags are in place, the Library will be able to use the recently resurrected Digital Library Assistant ( DLA) to run valuable inventory procedures as we had done in the regular stacks. Use of the DLA means we will have a much more organized collection. We’ll be able to quickly identify cataloging and item status errors. We can efficiently perform shelf reading procedures, including locating lost and missing items and identifying item records to be purged.
There are no plans to tag the recorded music collection at this time. To effectively accomplish that would require an investment in an entirely different security system. Even then, the nature of our music CD packaging would prevent us from using tags to their greatest advantage: inventory.
Tagging procedures will begin immediately with Heather heading up most of the work. Circulation is set to pitch in once we get going. The process should take two to three months.
By Annie Smith
Joanna Killgore, J O’Day, and a few other folks from the Access Services department recently helped me complete a task that will help our patrons access our reference books online. When you look for a book in the reference collection, you'll see book dummies here and there with QR codes and TinyURLs ( shortened URLs) on them. Both the QR code and the TinyURL will direct patrons to the online version of books we also have in print. QR codes require a smartphone and a QR code scanning app, but the TinyURLs can be used on any device with an Internet connection.
Even though our online reference books are listed in the OPAC, they still don’t get much traffic. It’s my hope that putting the book dummies in the reference collection itself will help increase the usage of these books, as well provide an alternative copy if the print version is off the shelf.
This QR code can take you to the OED online. Magic! News from the George Sutherland Archives
INFORMATION COMMONER 7
By Catherine McIntyre
We have been working on four brand new collections to our Digital Collections and Oral Histories! The Edison Cylinder Project ( http:// contentdm. uvu. edu/ cdm4/ browse. php? CISOROOT=/ Edison) is the brainchild of Professor Mike Wisland of the Digital Media Technology Department. He and several of his students built a machine that electrically transcribes sound from original Edison cylinders, the precursors to records. While many recordings have been made of the music from Edison cylinders, it is rare to actually digitize the sound directly from the cylinder, thus eliminating much of the crackle and hiss that one might pick up with an external recording. We currently have four jaunty tunes from 1916 to 1919 in the collection, including the number one hit of its time “ It’s a Long Way to Tipperary!” and saucy little numbers such as “ Naughty! Naughty! Naughty!” This collection will continue to grow as we digitize more of Professor Wisland’s Edison cylinders!
The second of our new digitized collections is the Vietnam Era Oral History Collection ( http:// contentdm. uvu. edu/ cdm4/ browse. php? CISOROOT=/ Vietnam). UVU History professor Dr. William Cobb has been contacting and
interviewing area Vietnam era veterans since 2010. We currently only have the transcripts of several of these reviews online, with video clips for two of them ( Lewis Downey and Daniel Lukins). We will soon be adding audio of all of the interviews, maps, photographs, and images of items that are important to the interviewees, such as their helmets, jackets, and other objects. This collection will grow in size, depth, and importance as a research resource.
The third new digital collections is the “ Utah Fire Service History Digital Archive” ( http:// contentdm. uvu. edu/ cdm4/ browse. php? CISOROOT=/ UFSH), which is a collaboration with Steve Lutz of UVU’s Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. This collection is separate from the UFRA collection we already have, as it focuses on the history of fire and rescue service throughout Utah. We have already received a few donations of images and yearbooks from Steve and his colleagues from around Utah.
For our fourth new project, we started interviewing veterans of the wars in Iraq and
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An Edison Cylinder Amberola Player
Dr. Cobb interviews Ray Hill
Continued from previous page.
Afghanistan. We interviewed a young man named Samson Folau, who graduated from West Point and served in South Korea and then Iraq. We have our next interview set up next week with Jarom Poulsen, who served in Iraq as well. We are so excited to be starting this new oral history project and capturing the experiences of these fine people.
We continue to add interviews and content to our ongoing projects. We will be interviewing L. Michael Falgoust, a retired major in the US Air Force who flew in Vietnam and other conflicts and was an instructor at UVU. He started the Honors Program here, but is best known for starting the aviation program. We are excited to add his interviews to both our oral history and Vietnam era oral history collections.
We added five Utah Fire and Rescue Academy Fire Games videos to the UFRA collection. The UFRA Fire Games take place after each semester. Graduating candidates from the day and night classes face off against each other in training games such as tug of war, mock sumo wrestling, and other tests of strength. Thanks to Debra Cloward for getting these videos for us to add to the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy Collection ( http:// contentdm. uvu. edu/ cdm4/ browse. php? CISOROOT=% 2FUVUFire).
Lastly, we will soon receive a donation of several hundred historical photographs, slides, and negatives from Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. UVRMC will soon be celebrating 75 years. We will have some of the collection digitized and made public in time for their celebration. The collection includes images of older area hospital buildings, personnel, promotional photos. We’re looking forward to making this collection available since it will be useful for so many kinds of research projects.
BRAG BOX
Award Winners
Library Aide of the Year: Heidi Cooling
Special Project of the Year: Mark Stevens and Debbie Short
Library Employee of the Year: Annie Smith
Congratulations to all the winners!
Wasatch Labeling Project
11,000 books relabeled, inventoried, faced, and weeded… Thanks to all who participated in this amazing feat last week! Major kudos to Cole and Jessie for their hard work and organization, and to Azucena for letting us have her for three days to fix problems on the fly. Thanks to Paul and Jennie for dealing with our aftermath each day. Proud to work with such dedicated folks. — Kim Rollins
American Marketing Association Award Winner
Heidi Jarvis just returned from New Orleans, where she competed at the American Marketing Association International Collegiate Conference in the sales competition against 1,300 people from universities around the world. She and her teammates took first place! — Judy Robertson
8 INFORMATION COMMONER
By Kim Rollins
With all of the Library’s online access and services, Distance Education ( DE) students can usually get their hands on articles they need. But what about those rare occasions when the article is only available in print?
Picture the following scenario: A UVU student is taking a class out of state. He finds the perfect article in the Library’s databases to cinch the “ A” on his research paper. After discovering the article is not full- text in the database, he orders it through Interlibrary Loan. But his request is rejected because the article is in print at the UVU Library. There he is… alone… scared… empty- handed… he needs that ^#$&% article! So he calls you, the all- knowing UVU Library staff member, to help him that article. What do you do?
a. Tell him to contact a college library nearby.
b. Forward the phone call to someone else, anybody else.
c. Ask him how much it’s worth to him.
d. Give him Kim’s contact information, as Distance Education is one of her new responsibilities. J will then photocopy and deliver the articles to DE students as part of the Library’s document delivery services.
If you can’t tell by the very detailed answer, the correct response is “ d.”
If you have any distance education questions, you can always find the information at “ Library Services” > “ Distance Education Student Services” on our webpage. Please let me know of any DE issues that arise as we develop and improve our online services for this rapidly growing number of students.
Getting Print Articles to Distance Education Students
INFORMATION COMMONER 9
Utah Valley University Library Collection
