Great tips for making shortcuts in all things library. Check them out here.
Be sure to check out the section on building an “invisible bookshelf.” Great idea!
Learn How to Hack Your Library (in a Good Way)
July 30, 2008 by kulibraries1Open House
July 30, 2008 by kulibraries1Join us for a
PRESERVATION
DEPARTMENT
OPEN HOUSE
Watson Library, 1st Floor
Tuesday, August 5
1-4 PM
Learn about:
Handling and care of collections
Evaluating damaged books
Repairing and rebinding books in the conservation lab
Commercial binding news and services
Reformatting brittle books
Reformatting and digitizing audio recordings
Monitoring environments to preserve collections
and more.
Come and go as you wish.
The Numbers
July 30, 2008 by kulibraries1
Here is an update on the use of the KU Libraries’ online catalog. The following are the number of searches each fiscal year since the Voyager catalog came up on Friday the 13th of August, 1999:
FY2000 (10 ∏ months) 2,022,858
FY2001 2,318,257
FY2002 2,082,674
FY2003 2,743,737
FY2004 2,411,738
FY2005 2,223,239
FY2006 2,104,846
FY2007 2,153,400
FY2008 2,029,587
There are a couple extenuating circumstances: (1) some search categories were blanked out during an upgrade in December, 2000, so the FY2001 figure is slightly deflated; and (2) during late FY2002 and during FY2003, there was a separate ejounals catalog (rather than their being integrated into the main OPAC) that produced 128,723 searches in FY2002 and 586,227 in FY2003;
The grand total so far thus is 20,090,336 searches in 8 years, 10 ∏ months (plus some of the missing ones from the 2000 upgrade). The current year’s total is about 74% of the highest year (FY2003), but not much different from FY2002 and the past three years have been fairly consistent. There seems to be a very gradual downward trend overall, but even competing with the multitude of databases and other resources that we have added in the past 8 years, catalog use still seems fairly strong.
As historical perspective, back in calendar 1988, the full first year of our first online catalog (pre-Voyager), there were approximately half as many searches. But the catalog database then contained only about 500,000 bibliographic records and did not yet include serial holdings. It now contains well over 3.3 million bib records of all types and full serial holdings.
One added item that might be of interest. Of the 20+ million searches, the most frequent, in terms of percentage of all searches, have been the following:
Keyword 30.80 % (combo of Keyword Relevance + Keyword Boolean)
Title 25.54 %
Journal Title 14.53 %
Author 12.10 %
Subject 6.60 %
Call Number 2.52 %
ISSN 2.14 %
Title keyword 1.47 %
Author keyword 1.10 %
All others are under 1 %.
As a clarification, these statistics are only for searches performed within the online catalog, not those within the other Voyager modules. Going along with the 20+ million OPAC searches are 427,630 searches within the acq/serials module, 515,248 within the circ module, and 5,401,985 within the cataloging module.
Crit Stuart Lecture
July 18, 2008 by kulibraries1
New Face
July 18, 2008 by kulibraries1
We are pleased to announce Letha Johnson as our newest KU Libraries employee. She has accepted the Assistant Archivist position and will be reporting to Becky Schulte.
Letha is from Topeka and comes to us with extensive Archivist work experience from the Kansas State Historical Society . Letha received a bachelor’s degree from Washburn in American History and has a an MLIS degree from Emporia State University. Letha’s first day will be this Monday, July 21st. Be sure to stop in at Spencer and say “hi.”
July 18, 2008 by kulibraries1
The IS Diversity Committee is proud to present:
“Under the Rainbow: An Oral History Project” by our very own Tami Albin!
“Save the Date” for this very special event!
More information (including a brief synopsis and short bio) will be available next week.
Please mark your calendars because you do not want to miss this amazing event!
When: Wednesday, July 30 from 1:30-3:00 pm
Where: The Computer Center Auditorium
Thank you and we hope to see you there!
July 14, 2008 by kulibraries1
Reminder to save the date:
Please plan to attend a special All Staff meeting on Wednesday, July 16 from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. in the Big 12 Room of the Kansas Union. Our special guest speaker will be Crit Stuart, an Association of Research Libraries consultant who will talk to us about perspectives and trends about Library as Academic Center following a day of engagement with library leaders and potential campus partners. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.
Refreshments will be served.
It Came from the Stacks!
July 14, 2008 by kulibraries1In spite of rain and campus parking challenges, Jeromy Horkman tells us that people turned out in good
numbers for Saturday’s Sci-Fi book sale. We began with 17 full book trucks and it appears we cleared at least 6 full trucks. The remaining books will be placed back to additional Sci-Fi book sales to be held in the Fall and Spring semesters.
Proceeds from the sale will support processing and development for the science fiction collection at KU Libraries. Unsold books will be donated to a non-profit organization dedicated to literacy programs
July 10, 2008 by kulibraries1
Colleagues,
The recent announcements regarding the state budget shortfall and Denise Stephen’s memo have undoubtedly raised questions from staff throughout the Libraries. While much information is yet to be determined, I can assure you that we are committed to supporting our primary operational mission and core programs to advance research, teaching and learning on campus. Rest assured that despite budgetary adversities, we will continue basic operations while pursuing new strategic initiatives. I am also pleased to report that the recent merit increases are secure.
We are fortunate to approach this challenge from a very positive position. We have, for the most part, solid staffing resources in all units, creating a very stable environment for continued quality in service delivery. Additionally, we have a commitment from the Vice Provost’s office to protect existing funding for our collections. We believe that with careful financial planning and continued efforts to build new campus partnerships and strengthen existing ones, we can still move forward.
Your fiscal year 2009 library budget requests will be reviewed with the new budget directives in mind. In the meantime, we are aggressively pursuing other avenues for income, including expanded private support. We will also continue to explore grant opportunities. As always, we must be responsible stewards of the Libraries’ budget, constantly evaluating the most prudent use of funds.
We know there will be questions about the Libraries’ role in the assessment process identified by the Provost. I am committed to providing you with regular, transparent communication and input opportunities.
I am confident that we are well equipped to handle this challenge. Thank you all for your continuing hard work and dedication to KU Libraries.
I encourage you to attend the Concept Review scheduled this morning, Thursday, July 10, 10:30-noon in the Computer Center Auditorium to hear more about the IS Budget Reallocation.
Lorraine
7/10/08
July 10, 2008 by kulibraries1
ELI 2009 Annual Meeting-Call for Proposals
Participation and Collaboration: Social Learning for the 21st Century
January 20-22, 2009 Orlando, Florida
I would like to personally invite you to join us at the EDUCAUSE Learning
Initiative 2009 Annual Meeting
<http://educause.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0xMTY0NjUmcD0xJnU9MTAwMDAyOTQyNCZsa
T0zMDcwMDI/index.html> , January 20-22 in Orlando.
The meeting offers a setting for interactive, hands-on learning and
networking, with a variety of presentations, discussions, learning
innovations, and workshops. Supporting the meeting’s theme, “Participation
and Collaboration: Social Learning for the 21st Century,” we are seeking
proposals for presentation sessions, project briefings, and poster sessions.
Proposal focus areas for 2009 include: research-based, innovative practice,
learning technology, and learner showcase.
Submit Your Proposal Online
<http://educause.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0xMTY0NjUmcD0xJnU9MTAwMDAyOTQyNCZsa
T0zMDcwMDM/index.html> We invite you to submit a presentation proposal
online through September 9, 2008.
Sincerely,
Julie K. Little
ELI Interim Director
