Month: October 2010

2010-10-26

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Library Society of China (LSC) signed an amendment on September 9, 2010, to extend the China-U.S. Librarians Professional Exchange Project with additional funding of $250,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  During the extension period, which ends on August 31, 2011, the project will continue its educational programs in the two countries and concentrate on further development of a web portal of Chinese resources.

The project, the first government cooperation project between the library community in China and the United States, is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and IMLS, and organized by LSC, the International and Area Studies Library and the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA).  It is part of the 2008 “Think Globally, Act Globally” agreement which established a cooperative and cultural exchange between U.S. and Chinese librarians.

The China-U.S. Librarians Professional Exchange Project promotes the exchange of personnel and information between the library community in China and the United States.  As of August 31, 2010, it has included 29 provinces and municipalities in China and 16 cities in 11 states in the United States.  More than 3,000 U.S./Chinese librarians have directly participated in this project, communicating on topics such as library management, education, and technology.

In addition, the project has developed a pilot Web-based portal at Suzhou Library and Northeast Normal University Library—both in China.  Local culture and history are the focus of the Web portal and more than ten databases have been identified by the two Chinese partner libraries.

For more information about the “Think Globally, Act Globally” project, please visit www.library.illinois.edu/china/ .

Tang Gengsheng (Secretary General, Library Society of China) and Shuyong Jiang (Associate Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library) exchange signed agreements at the opening of the 5th China-North American Library Conference on 9/9/2010.
Photo provided by LSC.

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

2010-10-22

ARTstor is collaborating with the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to share approximately 9,100 images from a variety of special collections in the ARTstor Digital Library. The collection in ARTstor will consist of images digitized from visual materials held in the University Library, which are relevant to a variety of fields, including Irish political history, theater and costume history, and campus architecture and design. The University Library’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library is the principal repository for early manuscripts and rare books, including three special collections that will be shared in the ARTstor Digital Library.

Read more in the complete news release from ARTstor.

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

2010-10-21

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library will play an integral role in a newly announced National Science Foundation (NSF) five-year, $5 million grant awarded to Illinois for the development of the National Center for Professional and Research Ethics, an online portal for research and professional ethics in science, mathematics, and engineering.

The new center will develop, gather, preserve, and provide comprehensive access to resources related to ethics for teachers, students, researchers, administrators, and other audiences. A multidisciplinary research team will gather existing information, generate new innovative curricula materials, and create interactive collaboration tools that will help scientists and engineers incorporate ethical issues and reasoning into their pedagogy, research, and practice. The grant also funds several other partner institutions and organizations around the country who will contribute content and expertise to the project. A detailed news release on the center is available at http://go.illinois.edu/NCPRE .

The principal investigators on the grant are C. K. Gunsalus (Director and lead PI, University of Illinois, Business), Taft Broome (Howard University, Civil Engineering), Michael Loui (University of Illinois, Electrical and Computer Engineering), Nicholas Burbules (University of Illinois, Education), and William Mischo (University of Illinois, University Library).  In addition to Mischo, other University of Illinois Library personnel participating on the project are Mary Schlembach, Tom Habing, Sarah Shreeves, and Tim Cole. The grant will also support several research programmers and a metadata/content librarian.

The National Ethics Center will be headquartered in the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center at Illinois and will be built around the HUBZero e-learning and collaboration platform. The grant work will feature the development of HUBZero extensions that will allow the integration of custom-federated search applications, extended content harvesting and database technologies, and true preservation and archiving repository technologies. Under earlier grant support, the Library has developed and deployed a suite of federated search tools and user interface, archiving and database technologies. The technology development will be advised by a Technical Committee comprised of individuals from the University of Illinois and other institutions.

“We are very excited by the opportunities this grant provides. It will allow us to work collaboratively with other colleges and departments here on campus and with individuals and groups from around the country,” said William Mischo, head, Grainger Engineering Library Information Center.  “A key focus of the grant is to explore the merging of several important digital library technologies. It is our hope that this work will serve as a model for all other online resource centers.”

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…”  With an annual budget of about $6.9 billion (FY 2010), it is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities.  In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.  For more information, visit www.nsf.gov .

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

2010-10-20

We will be celebrating the John K. Bouseman INHS Library Endowment. There will be door prizes, treats,  and a silent auction of 3 botanical prints. Come Join Us Thursday, October 28, 2010 5:00-7:00 pm at the Forbes Natural History Building, 1816 South Oak Street Chapaign, IL. 61820.For More Information call 244-4907.

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

2010-10-13

In preparation for their merger into the new Literatures and Languages Library, the English Library and the Modern Languages and Linguistics Library will be closed from Friday, December 17, 2010 to Monday, January 18, 2011, when the new library opens in room 225 in the Main Library building.

Core Library services will remain available to English Library and Modern Languages and Linguistics Library users over Winter Break.  Faculty from both will be available for consultation during the move and many related print materials will be accessible through the Main Stacks, The Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and other locations.

Building on the long tradition of excellent service in the English Library and Modern Languages and Linguistics Library, the Literatures and Languages Library will support research, teaching, and learning in disciplines related to the study of English and Western European literatures and languages, comparative literature, cinema studies, linguistics, and translation studies.

Throughout the spring semester, the Literatures and Languages Library will also share space with the Slavic and East European Library in the south end of the Reading Room in 200 Library.  After the Slavic and East European Library closes and becomes part of the new International and Area Studies Library planned for 321 Library, the south end of 200 Library will become a periodicals reading area for the Literatures and Languages Library.

Details about these projects are available on the Library’s New Service Models website .  If you have any questions about the Literatures and Languages Library, please contact Paula Carns , Head, Literatures and Languages Library. If you have any other questions about Library services, please contact Scott Walter , Associate University Librarian for Services and Associate Dean of Libraries.

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

2010-10-08

McKinley Health Center will be administering flu shots at the Undergraduate Library on two days this semester:

Tuesday, October 26
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, November 3
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Vaccines will be given behind the Research Desk area on the Upper Level.

Eligible students, state employees, and retirees may receive the flu shot at no charge with proper identification.  Students must show their i-card.  Faculty and staff must show their i-card and their state health insurance card.  Please visit www.mckinley.illinois.edu/General/News/flu_vaccine.htm for additional information.

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

2010-10-05

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

2010-10-01

The University Library has acquired an important collection of online Elsevier books and is a partner in a worldwide study on the usage of online Elsevier books on ScienceDirect.

Would you like to participate in this study?  Participation will require 1.0-1.5 hours of your time, spread out over a few weeks.  As compensation, researchers (including Ph.D. students) and University teachers will receive an Amazon voucher of $100 and graduate students (Master’s) will receive an Amazon voucher of $25. Interested?

If you are a researcher, Ph.D. student, or teacher, please visit www.pleiadesurvey.nl/cgi-bin/webSurvey.cgi?LOGIN_CODE=jebuqaxi for more information.

If you are a graduate student (Master’s), please visit www.pleiadesurvey.nl/cgi-bin/webSurvey.cgi?LOGIN_CODE=pohagege for more information.

This is a completely voluntary research survey, and full confidentiality is assured.  No identifying information is linked to your responses unless you provide specific consent.  You may choose not to participate, or discontinue participation at any time with no consequences.  There are no risks associated with participating in this study, other than those found in daily life. If you agree to participate, you will be providing the Library with valuable information that will help us to measure ebook value and usability.

Questions about the survey can be addressed to Maurits van der Graaf ( m.vdgraaf@pleiade.nl ); local questions about access to the survey can be addressed to Tina Chrzastowski ( chrz@illinois.edu ).

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

2010-10-01

The Library now has two public catalogs for searching its Voyager database: the traditional or ‘classic’ Voyager and VuFind. Both search the same Voyager bibliographic and holdings data; however VuFind is the only catalog for searching the I-Share catalog. To requests items through VuFind, users must create a VuFind account.

For more information and to create a VuFind account, please visit www.library.illinois.edu/it/helpdesk/vufindaccts.html .

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