Month: June 2012

2012-06-27

Beginning July 1, 2012, Cazoodle, Inc., will host and manage an improved version of the University of Illinois IRIS grant search service. The new platform, called GrantForward , will feature enhanced search and user account interfaces. Try out the GrantForward service now at www.grantforward.com .

GrantForward, formerly  IRIS, will remain available free of charge to the University of Illinois community. For more information on the transition, please visit www.library.illinois.edu/news/iris.html .

For questions regarding the transition, please contact:

GrantForward
www.grantforward.com/contact
(217) 864-8378

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

2012-06-18

Barbara J. Ford, director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs and Mortenson Distinguished Professor at the University Library, has been named a recipient of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) 2012 CALA Distinguished Service Award.

The CALA Distinguished Service Award is given annually to individuals who consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership and achievement in library and information services at the national and/or international level.

CALA is an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA).  The news release from CALA is located online at http://cala-web.org/node/1506 .

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

2012-06-01

What is happening:
During the last year, the University Library has been making changes to how patrons search and find e-journal, e-books, and database subscriptions.

Why the Library is making a change:
The Library is making this change to improve the accuracy of the information about its e-journals and other electronic resources. Patrons should encounter fewer errors where the Library no longer subscribes to a journal or the title has been dropped by the vendor but still appears on the website.  It will also make newly acquired e-journals, as well as information about e-books and databases, more quickly available through the Library’s website since the new system involves less processing time by Library staff.

What the change will look like:
The Library is phasing out the “Online Research Resources” Journals search as of June 8th.  Instead, patrons will now search for journals through the Journals tab on the Library’s homepage or the Online Journals and Databases link from the Library homepage .

Patrons can also find e-journals through the Library’s online catalog.  However, the Journals tab on the homepage and the Online Journals and Databases search will be the most accurate reflection of the Library’s electronic journal holdings.  The results lists will look different and, in some cases, will require a couple of steps to get into the e-journal.  This is particularly true when the Library has more than one vendor from which it receives the journal. More information about learning to use Online Journals and Databases may be found at “How to Use the Online Journals and Databases Tool” at www.library.illinois.edu/learn/find/onlinejnd.html .

For more information:
For the most up to date information regarding these changes, consult the Library Help Desk ORR/SFX Migration documentation .

For questions about finding journals, contact the Main Library Information Desk at (217)333-2290, or use the Ask A Librarian service ( www.library.illinois.edu/askus ).

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

2012-06-01

A gift from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign alumna, M. Christine Wicklein Schwartz, through the T & C Schwartz Family Foundation, has made it possible to digitize issues of Farmer’s Weekly Review (Joliet, IL) from 1929 to 2010.  This collection of historic agricultural newspapers is now accessible through Farm, Field and Fireside, a digital repository created and hosted by the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library at Illinois.

Schwartz was five when her father, Andrew A. Wicklein (1920 – 1985), was appointed Will County Farm Adviser to the Farmer’s Weekly Review and the family made their new home in Joliet in 1953.  During his 34-year career with the Will County Extension Service, Andy wrote a weekly column, “Extension Comments,” for the paper.

While looking for a way to share copies of his columns with her siblings and her father’s grandchildren, Schwartz discovered Farm, Field and Fireside and decided to fund the digitization of the entire run of available copies of the Review in memory of her father.  Preserving this aspect of Will County history offers a unique glimpse into rural life thriving in the same neighborhood vicinity as a major metropolis—Chicago.

“The Farmer’s Weekly Review provides rich source material for our understanding of the social, commercial, and cultural lives of Illinois farmers, as well as a wealth of information on the history of farming practices, the environment, agricultural technology, farm journalism, and rural education,” said Mary Stuart, head of the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library.  “The issues of Farmer’s Weekly Review digitized for this project, spanning more than 80 years, clearly document the role played by the state of Illinois in the transformation of rural life in America in the 20th century.”

Andrew A. Wicklein had a strong connection to the University and to Will County.  He graduated from Illinois in 1943 with a degree in agriculture.   Except for a year in Colorado and a tour of duty with the United States Air Force during World War II, his entire career was spent working with extension services in the State of Illinois.  He won many awards, including the Distinguished Service Award of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, the top honor of its kind in the country, and was recognized by the governor of Illinois in 1964 for his contributions.

The first seven years of Farmer’s Weekly Review are missing (1922-1928).  Unfortunately, no copies of these issues are known to have survived.  They will be added to the Farm, Field and Fireside database if issues can be located.  The Farm, Field and Fireside Collection is accessible at www.library.illinois.edu/dnc/fff/ .

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