University Libraries > News > Sundial > Kudos
 

Karen Taylor and Brice Austin have written the following 2 articles, reporting on results of their 2003 electronic reserves survey:

"Assessment of Electronic Reserves Services at the University of Colorado, Boulder"

is scheduled for publication in Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery, & Electronic Reserve, v.17, nos 1-2, in 2007.

 

"Is Digital Different? Reserves, Electronic Reserves and Student Copying Practices at the University of Colorado, Boulder" has been accepted for future publication by the same journal.

 

Chris Cronin, Katie Lage, and Holley Long have published two articles on the development and assessment of the Aerial Photographs of Colorado digitization project. The first of these articles recently received an Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence as being one of the Outstanding Papers of 2005:

Cronin, Christopher, Kathryn Lage, & Holley Long. "The Flight Plan of a Digital Initiatives Project: Providing Remote Access to Aerial Photographs of Colorado.” OCLC Systems & Services: International Digital Library Perspectives, 2005, 21(2), pp. 114-130.

 

Long, Holley, Kathryn Lage, & Christopher Cronin. "The Flight Plan of a Digital Initiatives Project, Part 2: Usability Testing in the Context of User- Centered Design.” OCLC Systems & Services: International Digital Library Perspectives, 2005, 21(4), pp. 324-345.

 

Charlene Kellsey published an article, "Travels to Arles" in the Spring 2006 (Vol. 29, no. 2) WESS Newsletter about the research she did in France during a sabbatical last fall. . The WESS Newsletter is the publication of WESS: The Western European Studies Section, part of the Association of College and Research Libraries. WESS is professionally involved in the acquisition, organization, and use of information sources originating in or related to Western European countries.

Cataloger Anna M. Ferris had an article published in Library Resources & Technical Services v. 50 no. 2 (April 2006)--entitled "If You Buy It, Will They Use It? A Case Study on the Use of Classification Web." The paper presents a study she conducted to asses the extent to which CU-Boulder catalogers were using Class Web, the online subscription-based product from LC used to formulate classification numbers and subject headings. The paper also explores the possible reasons for our lower-than-expected usage and recommends ways to promote more efficient and cost-effective use of the product at other institutions similar to CU-Boulder.

Tim Byrne, Head of Government Publications, was among five new members appointed to the Depository Library Council, as recently announced by the Public Printer of the United States. The Depository Library Council, composed of 15 members each of whom serve three year terms, advises the Public Printer on policy matters relating to the Federal Depository Library Program.

Government Publications nominates Carly Lang for Student Employee of the Month

One (one) of Carly's assignments is to classify international documents, validate records in OCLC, find full-text versions on the Web and attach to them, copy (or type) in publisher summaries and tables of contents, bring them into Chinook and item-convert them. This is complicated further because the classification is different for each organization (and she is actually setting up hierarchical numbers). With the online links, she is also providing more access than regular cataloging usually does. Since she started last fall, Carly has brought hundreds of records into Chinook, with such good access points that the publications are requested before they get off the revisor truck (she's way, way ahead of her revisor).

There has been a large backlog of orphan United Nations publications for as long as anyone here can remember. They didn't have classification numbers, it wasn't clear which body put them out, they raised difficult cataloging questions, or they were on topics no one could spell let alone understand how they fit in with the rest. Since there was always a fire-hose influx of newer, more straightforward titles, with more rewarding effort-to-usefulness ratios, they kept sliding to the back and taking over more shelves.

Carly came in and wiped out the current shelves in a couple of months; then she took on the ugly ones, and like a buzz saw went through them, too. There is no more UN backlog--it's impossible, but it's true--there is no UN backlog. With some people, if they don't know a task is considered too difficult, they assume it's well within their capabilities, and just do it. Carly's sailed right through this one, and we're going to wait until she's cleared out the other backlogs (hmm, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons comes to mind) to make it clear what a remarkable feat it was. In the meantime, we think a little reward is in order.

Feedback from the Campus: Kudos to the Business Library!

The Business Library hosted a business writing class last semester and the students loved it. Their professor wrote:

To: carol.krismann@colorado.edu
Subject: Thanks!

Hi Carol:

Thanks so much for showing my students the ropes yesterday. They really seemed to take the information you gave them and then fly with it. I also appreciated the tone you set in making our sessions casual and fun, effectively countering the impression some students have of stodgy and strict librarians. Several of my students said that they regretted not taking advantage of the B-lib's databases before this.