Month: May 2010

2010-05-26

Jim Hahn, orientation services librarian in the Undergraduate Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been chosen as an Outstanding Paper Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2010.  The award is for his article entitled “On the remediation of Wikipedia to the iPod” published in the Reference Services Review (RSR) journal.  Award-winning papers are chosen following consultation amongst the journal’s Editorial Team–many of whom are eminent academics or managers.  Hahn will receive a certificate and be honored at an upcoming conference.

Emerald is a leading international publisher of LIS and management journals.  In 1996, the company was one of the first academic and professional management publishers to digitize its entire journals collection. These awards recognize the efforts of authors and editors and celebrate the outstanding contributions many have made, not only to Emerald’s journals, but to the body of knowledge itself.

The Emerald Literati Network is a global leader in publishing research. Every year, the Emerald Literati Network invites their affiliated journal’s editorial team to nominate outstanding papers and highly commended papers.  More information about the Emerald Literati Network is located at http://info.emeraldinsight.com/authors/literati/ .

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).

2010-05-21

The American Library Association (ALA) has named Kathleen Kern the 2010 Recipient of the MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section Recognition Certificate, also known as the ‘My Favorite Martian Award.’  MARS is a section of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the ALA.  It represents the interests of those concerned with attaining the highest possible quality in planning, developing, managing, teaching, or conducting all forms of computer-based reference information services in libraries.

The Recognition Certificate is given to an individual to recognize excellence in service to MARS.  Kern, associate reference librarian and associate professor of library administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, is an active member of MARS and has served on several MARS committees, including its Executive Committee.

Kern will receive the certificate on June 27, 2010, at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).

2010-05-06

On May 6, 2010, members of the 1867 Society Executive Council provided a check for $1,100 to the Undergraduate Library . The student group, which aims to increase philanthropic support at Illinois, for Illinois, started the fund in 2008 as a way for student donors to support campus projects that they cared about. They were able to raise $1,100 over two years.  As part of the process, donors were given the chance to vote on one of three campus projects that would receive the money. The Undergraduate Library won by several votes.

The Undergraduate Library will use the money toward two new projects that benefit students.  Flat-screen technology will be added to collaborative rooms within the Learning Commons.  Students can use laptops to project onto these screens allowing for better collaboration on group projects or multiple students can view class DVDs placed on reserve.  Additionally, power-assist equipment will be installed on four doors in the Undergraduate Library to give students with disabilities greater access to its services and collections.

This year, more than 700 Illinois students made a gift in support of the campus and together those gifts totaled more than $58,000. Any current undergraduate, graduate or professional student who makes a gift during the fiscal year automatically becomes a member of the 1867 Society.  For more information about the 1867 Society, visit https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ro/www/1867Society/ .

See the presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx8vU1t3tTk .

Members of the 1867 Society Executive Council present a check to the Head of the Undergraduate Library.

From left to right: Tori Frobish (Vice President of Donor Relations, 1867 Society), Caroline Cvetkovic (Vice President of Campus Relations, 1867 Society), Benjamin (B.J.) Frobish (President, 1867 Society), and Lori Mestre (Head, Undergraduate Library)

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).

2010-05-05

Abdul Alkalimat, a professor with a joint appointment in African American Studies and Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is leading a project which aims to document the history of Black Studies programs in Illinois (and beyond) by means of archival research and interviews with program leaders.  So far, the Illinois Documentary History of Black Studies project has yielded four volumes of case studies, which are available now at the University’s Library.

The volumes consist of documentary case histories from Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University, South Suburban Community College, and the University of Illinois Springfield.  Professor Alkalimat envisions working with faculty and grad students, including some librarians and archivists, at campuses across the country, and plans on having 15 volumes in place before the end of the year. His ultimate goal is to have volumes from at least 25 campuses in Illinois and close to 200 campuses nationwide.

“Our focus is on how to re-value the actual founders of Black Studies–campus by campus.  In order to liberate this history, we must go into the libraries and archives and return to the source,” said Professor Alkalimat.  “A large enough sample of detailed case studies will firmly anchor this field of study in the kind of data required to sustain serious scholarship.”

The four volumes reside in hard copy in the African American Research Center of the University’s History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library .  In addition, the bound volumes are located in the Vivian Harsh Collection at the Chicago Public Library .  Each participating institution will also house its own volume.

The Illinois Documentary History of Black Studies is available in digital form at www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/14912 via the Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS) repository.  IDEALS collects, disseminates, and provides persistent and reliable access to the research and scholarship of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty, staff, and students.  Although central to the University of Illinois, anyone can access and benefit from IDEALS collections and services.

The four Illinois Documentary History of Black Studies volumes were presented to the University Library on March 30, 2010.

Front row: Ph.D. students Tony Laing and Jonathan Hamilton
Back row: Associate Professor Sarah Shreeves, Associate Professor Sue Searing, Associate Professor Thomas Weissinger, and Professor Abdul Alkalimat
Not pictured: Ph.D. students Ruth Hoffman and Marie-Edith LeNoble

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).

2010-05-04

Effective June 1, 2010, the Library’s I-Share Union Catalog — the catalog that enables you to search the collections belonging to the University of Illinois and 74 other academic libraries around the state — will have a new user interface and a new look.  The new joint I-Share catalog interface is based on a system called VuFind.   The URL for the new catalog interface is https://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/all/vf/ .

Between now and June 1, the traditional catalog interface is still available for searching the joint I-Share catalog.  The new Vufind interface is also available.   You can use either one during this period.  Beginning on June 1, only the new interface will be available, and you will be automatically re-directed to VuFind if you try to connect to the traditional catalog.

The traditional catalog interface for local collections only will continue to be available after June 1.   You will be able to search local collections using either the traditional catalog or VuFind.

To request items from the University of Illinois Library or other I-Share libraries using VuFind, you must create a user account in the VuFind system.   You will need your 14-digit Library ID to setup a new account; however, once the account has been created, you will login with a user name and password of your own choosing.

For Library catalog help, contact the Library directly by:

Email: reflib@library.uiuc.edu
Chat: U of I Library Live Chat
IM: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/askus
Phone: 217-333-2290
In Person: visit the Information Desk or a departmental library

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).

2010-05-03

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library has announced the winners of their Book Collecting Contests.  The contests were open to University of Illinois undergraduate and graduate students.  Awards will be presented on Wednesday, May 5, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. during the meeting of The No. 44 Society , the book collecting club of Champaign-Urbana.  First Prize winners receive $1,000.

Bailey N. Pike and Ann Heinrichs, both Masters candidates in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), are co-winners of the T.W Baldwin Prize for Book Collecting for graduate students.  Pike’s collection, “The Mythology of Mozart,” documents cultural responses to the life and legend of one of the world’s great composers. Besides critical and biographical works, the collection also features children’s books that exploit the latter-day conception of Mozart as “Wunderkind,” or boy-genius, as well as works that leverage the genius motif into supporting quasi-scientific theories about learning.  Heinrich’s winning collection, “60 Years of Children’s Literature, 1888-1948,” showcases illustrated children’s books; including fables, books about pets and animals, and schoolbooks.

Caitlyn M. Reizman, double major in Anthropology and English, has won the 2010 Harris Fletcher Book Collecting Award for undergraduates.  Her collection of versions of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” entitled “Adapting Harry Potter as a Symbol of Global Interconnectivity,” features 24 select versions of this world-wide publishing phenomenon, including translations into Farsi, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Chinese, Ukrainian, Braille, and even ancient Greek and Latin.

Second Prize in the Baldwin contest goes to Jessica Knebel (GSLIS) for her collection “Books on Nature.” Honorable mention goes to Jessica Rugh Frantz (GSLIS).

Second Prize in the Fletcher contest goes to LAS student Edward Miller for his “General U.S. Military Books with an Emphasis on the U.S. Marine Corps” collection. Honorable mention is awarded to School of Molecular and Cellular Biology undergrad Riley Hoff-Larocca.

The annual contests are meant to foster the love of books and to introduce students to the pleasures of book collecting.  The Harris Fletcher award honors a professor of English at Illinois who assembled one of the finest John Milton collections in the world. T.W. Baldwin, another professor of English, put together a remarkable collection of imprints from the age of Shakespeare. Together, these collections formed the foundation of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).