Library Office Notes

The deadline for submitting items for publication is Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.
Send items to L.O.N., 230 Library, MC-522, E-mail: trinkle@uiuc.edu
FAX: 217-244-4358

Student Appointments

As a result of the University of Illinois converting from a paper form of processing to an electronic format, the individual hiring department, i.e., the University Library, must now clear all of its own new hires. In order to accommodate this new process, the Library Personnel Office will be clearing all student appointments for the University Library. Consequently, no students can be asked to report to work until each has completed the necessary employment process through the Library Personnel Office. The ORANGE CARD supplied to the student by the Library Personnel Office will indicate the effective date of the student appointment.

Thank you for your attention and consideration. Please remember that we need to follow the appropriate employment procedures as established by the University of Illinois Administration covering student appointments.

(Frances O'Brien and Al Dries)

SUBJECT: New database offers search access to Question Board questions and answers from 1989-present.

The staff of the Undergraduate Library at UIUC is excited to introduce the Question Board Archives, a new database that allows users to search the archives of Question Board questions and answers from the last nine years. The "QB Archives" is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ugl/qb/qbsearch.htm. Users need simply type in the keyword(s) that describe their query, and the search results of relevant questions and answers, complete with sources consulted and date of the answer, are returned to their web browser. This database offers the option to search by keyword(s) specifically in the titles of sources cited for Question Board answers, and will soon allow users to limit their search by year. The Question Board Archives contains nearly 3,000 questions and answers dating back to 1989, and is the result of collaborative work of several people. Jon Ritterbush, an Undergraduate Library Graduate Assistant, successfully completed the data conversion from WordPerfect 5.1 and Notebook to Microsoft Access. David Ward, Graduate Assistant, and Wei Ma, Assistant Undergraduate Librarian, also assisted in this difficult endeavor. Tim Cole, Systems Librarian, created the ASP script which permits access to this database via the World Wide Web and a browser. Many thanks also go to Joyce Wright and other UGL librarians for their support of this project and to Janice Johnson for many years of faithfully typing QB questions and answers into the computer.

The Question Board Archives compliments the existing Question Board Online, which allows users to submit new questions and check current answers via the World Wide Web. This site, established during the summer of 1997, is located at http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ugl/qb/default.asp. The original Question Board, established in 1970, is a cork bulletin board located on the lower level of the Undergraduate Library. Affectionately nicknamed "QB," it provides an outlet for patrons to anonymously pose questions on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the trivial to the sensitive. The Question Board is an extension of the Undergraduate Library's Reference Desk, where students typically pose research questions.

The Question Board Archives provide an engaging sociological perspective on the questions, interests, and issues that were prominent during a given year. Users of the database may also benefit by learning how to utilize library and reference sources on their own. The answers, as provided by the Undergraduate Library's Graduate Assistants, provide for entertaining reading.

Please take a few minutes to explore this new web site and send your ideas and suggestions to Wei Ma, Undergraduate Librarian (weima@uiuc.edu).

Coordinator of UGL Reference Service and Graduate Assistants, and Assistant Professor of Library Administration