Friday, June 11, 2010

CNS desk schedule 6/14-18

CNS students will be manning the desks from 9-5 at S&E and 12-8pm at McH from 6/14-6/28. I will have the remainder of the summer schedule published in the next few days.

Thanks,

Omar

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Map Room hours this summer

Regular summer hours for Maps will be Tuesday-Thursday, 1pm-5pm.

These are the days that the Map Room at Science & Engineering will be closed this summer:

July 5th (holiday)-July 9th

August 2nd-6th

August 23rd-27th (open by appointment only**: 459-2364)

August 30th-September 3rd (open by appointment only**: 459-2364)

September 6th (holiday)-September 10th

September 13th-17th

**Appointments must be made 24 hours in advance.


For more info: http://library.ucsc.edu/maps

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Randall's Religious Studies subject guide

Here is a permanent link which may be of help. If any links are broken, there are still references that you can look up in Cruzcat:

http://members.cruzio.com/~krstudstill/religious_studies_research_guide3.htm

Friday, June 4, 2010

McH CNS student out 3-4 today

The CNS student is being pulled for a project today (Friday June 4th) from 3-4pm. He should be back by 4:15, per Elizabeth. Call the CNS number at 9-2486 if you need computing support during this time.

Thanks,

Lucia

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Time Inc. titles no longer in LexisNexis

From: Ellen Meltzer
Date: June 3, 2010 11:48:12 AM PDT
Subject: Immediate Change: Time, Inc. Titles Removed from LexisNexis Academic

To: Users Council (for information and distribution)
CDC (for information and distribution) via Chuck Eckman

LexisNexis has informed us that Time Inc. has decided to withdraw its publications from all LexisNexis services, effective immediately. Previously, LexisNexis Academic was restricted to rolling coverage of the most recent 2 years for the titles shown below. As of June 1, 2010, these titles were removed entirely. The source directory in the LexisNexis Academic product has been automatically updated. (These titles are also available through EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Complete). LexisNexis Academic has been deleted from campus A-Z lists.

The affected titles are:
People
Fortune
Time
Entertainment Weekly
Sports Illustrated
In Style
Money
Business 2.0
Field & Stream
Time Inc. – Last 2 Years
Time Publications

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Kerry's business resources guide

Many thanks to Jess for successfully moving Kerry's invaluable Business Resources guide into Drupal. You can access it here:

http://library.ucsc.edu/help/howto/business-resources

or from the list of "How to" guides.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

2009 UCOP salary data

As previously mentioned in the email sent from the UC Office of the President, the payroll data for the calendar year of 2009 is housed in McHenry library. The data disc, which contains one large PDF, is now available for viewing. The call number for the disc is UCSC.1056. The disc has a two-hour checkout limit. You can access this material by bringing the call number to the main circulation desk. Non-affiliated library users may also access this material by providing a photo ID and contact information needed for a manual checkout. Other UC-related material can be found in CRUZCAT:

http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/search~S5?/pUCSC/pucsc/1%2C1%2C1%2CB/frameset&FF=pucsc&1%2C1%2C/indexsort=-

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact Victoria Nobles, 9-5060.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel also has an easily searchable page online:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15162421?source=most_viewed

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Emailing docs to visually-impaired student

Just in case Christian (the blind student with the seeing-eye dog) returns for more help, the following may be helpful. His computer can't read aloud from PDFs, so he needs text copied and pasted into a word doc. I found that when I click PDF full text in ACS, I can't highlight/copy but if I click "download PDF" (bottom left) and open in Acrobat, I can do this, and then paste into word. It is also important to make sure that the pasted article includes the citation information -- in one case it did not, so I grabbed that and added it to the word doc. He is also OK with a link to an HTML text, so when HTML is available that may be more convenient, although I ended up pasting most of the articles into word regardless. Paul

Laptop printing

We had a public services meeting an noon today to discuss the Personal Laptop Printing Pilot. I thought all staff would be interested in this pilot as printing from personal laptops is a question we probably all get. While it is a relatively straightforward process for PCs, it is fairly complex for Macs. Information on the pilot is available on the Library website at http://library.ucsc.edu/services/printing-computing. Thanks to Frank Dang and the CNS staff for launching this.

Elizabeth

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

RESOLVED - Problems with Request

The timeouts with the Request service have been resolved. All Requests
should proceed as normal.

Please let us know if you encounter any difficulties.

CDL staff are currently working to resolve timeouts with the Request
service. There may be a short downtime.


Please stay tuned for updates.

Please share this information with your colleagues.

CDL Alert

Melvyl down for scheduled maintenance - 5/58/10, 12:01 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.


26 May 2010

Current Melvyl (http://melvyl.cdlib.org/F/?func=file&file_name=find-b&maleph=yes) will be down from 12:01 AM - 2:00 AM (PDT) on Friday, May 28th for an operating system upgrade.  During this time, the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot (http://melvyl.worldcat.org/) along with the campus Next Gen Pilot instances will be available. 

from CDL Alert

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Public scanner update

The scanner in S&E is available again.  Another scanner is still out for repair and a third scanner has been ordered.  As soon as a second scanner (either the repaired one or the new one) is available it will be installed in the Media Center. In the meantime patrons who need access to a scanner should be referred to S&E.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Chat reference Qwidget availability

 A question came up recently about when the QuestionPoint Qwidget form is available and whether or not it is indicative of when the 24/7 QuestionPoint service is available to our patrons. I want to explain here when you can expect to see the Qwidget and how patrons can access QuestionPoint when the Qwidget isn't available. To simplify that last part I've added a new link to our Ask A Librarian page. 

The Qwidget form only displays on our Ask A Librarian page when QP is staffed by UC librarians. Currently UC librarians are staffing the service from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sunday.

Questions posted to the Qwidget are only seen by UC librarians. The other method of posting questions is via the standard QuestionPoint chat form. The chat form is monitored 24/7. That monitoring is done by librarians from other institutions around the clock accompanied by UC librarians during the hours listed above.

When the Qwidget is available the following form will be displayed:













When the Qwidget isn't available patrons need to click on either the "Ask A Librarian" logo (see below) or the new text link "UC Ask A Librarian Live Chat Service."







Laura, Peggy and I will be reviewing and revising the Ask A Librarian page next month. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or recommendations for its improvement.

New large monitor in McHenry 0345

There is now a large television monitor mounted on the wall in McHenry 0345. This monitor can be used to display data from a PC or Mac. There is a VGA cable that you may attach to a PC laptop. If you have a Mac laptop, come see me for a VGA to MiniDVI dongle that will allow you to use your Mac.

Right now, video from PC and Mac is supported. Audio is not yet supported but I am working on it.

--Greg

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Extended library hours for finals

Library hours will be extended during finals week (June 2nd through June 9th) as follows:

Wednesday, 6/2/10 10am-2am
Thursday, 6/3/10 10am-2am
Friday, 6/4/10 10am-10pm
Saturday, 6/5/10 11am-7pm
Sunday, 6/6/10 10am-2am
Monday, 6/7/10 10am-2am
Tuesday, 6/8/10 10am-2am
Wednesday, 6/9/10 10am-2am

Monday, May 17, 2010

No public scanners in either McHenry or S&E

The public scanners from both McHenry and S&E are out for repair. They are expected to be back by the end of the week. See below for more detail:

Hi all,
Below is an update thanks to Omar (via IT Request) re: the Cowell Room scanner as well as the Media Center scanner.
-Ann

05/17/10
9:25 am
Mojaddedi, Omar

Hi All,
The scanner was dropped off at Dave's computer for warranty repair to begin on or around May 13th. They will notify ITS when the work has been completed. A rough estimate would be mid to late this week--depending on the workload at Dave's computer.

For more clarification, original Cowell scanner went out of service, so ITS brought up the Media Center scanner with permission from Greg as a temporary solution. Soon after, the scanner that we had brought up to S&E had power issues. They are now both at Dave's undergoing warranty repairs.

Omar

Friday, May 14, 2010

Sulpher Smell on 2nd Floor

Hi Folks,

Tim Basquez, Senior Construction Inspector, and Thomas Lee with EH&S were in McHenry this morning investigating the sulfur smell on the 2nd Floor. After a thorough search they were unable to determine the source of the smell. The air in the affected areas tested negative for anything harmful, and now the odor seems to have dissipated. If we learn anything more we'll let you know.

-Operations

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Commencement schedule 2010

The campus commencement schedule for 2010 has been posted here.

Primer to be used in McHenry Renovation

Pending EH&S final approval this Friday, ATI will begin on Saturday treating some of the concrete in the renovation with a product that may produce some odor. EH&S has reviewed the product and the process and have put controls in place to mitigate it's impact. It will be done in contained areas and vented to the north side of the renovation. The work, which will be done in stages through next week, will be closely monitored throughout by EH&S. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Eric

--
Eric Baker
Head of Library Operations
University of California, Santa Cruz
831.459.4038

I followed up with Eric to find out what the product is. Here's his reply:

The brand name is KilZ.

http://www.kilz.com/

It's a primer that they'll spray over the concrete after they've wiped it down with chemical sponges to remove as much soot as possible, then they will paint over that. They are only doing this in areas where the concrete is above a dropped ceiling. The rest of the concrete will be cleaned by blasting with dry ice.

Material Safety Data Sheets for the product can be found here.

Reference Service - 6/14 to 6/18

Hello Ref Deskers,

I wanted to share a temporary change in reference service for the week of June 14-18th. I'm sending this message to you because you typically work on the Reference desk during the summer. If I have neglected to include anyone on this list, please let me know.

During the week of June 14-18, the week between Finals and Summer Session, Reference desk assistance provided at both McH and S&E libraries will be shifted to the Access desk. This temporary change is to allow Access Services to deploy their staff to shelf-reading and shelving in the stacks. Reference hours starting this week are 1p-5p, and again, you would work your regular reference shift(s) at the Access desk.

This means that we will provide very basic circulation assistance as well as research assistance at the Circulation desk. Access services staff will provide training, and an access staff person (most likely Molly) and a student will be available as back-up.

I understand you undoubtedly have questions about this, so I have scheduled the McH instruction room for a half-hour meeting tomorrow, Friday the 14th, from 9:30-10am. I hope to see you there.

thank you,

Lucia

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

New incident form

Dear Library Staff,

In order to make the library incident report form more stable and secure, we've moved it from the old library web server to the staff Drupal server. The new url is http://staff.library.ucsc.edu/node/add/incident-report but a redirect is in place, so you will be forwarded to the new form from the old link. It looks a little different but the information is the same as the old form.

You do need to login with your library server username and password in order to see the form. This is the same login and password used on the Edgar filesharing server and the main library webserver. If you do not to know your Edgar login, please contact IT help (at http://itrequest.ucsc.edu) and they will reset your password.

Please contact me with questions.

-- Sue Perry (for the Web Implementation Team)

Monday, May 10, 2010

Slug Copy Card Reader Tips and Hints

In the past week we have seen an increasing number of jams in the Slug Copy Card readers. Here are a few tips and hints that can help reduce jams and keep the machines operating smoothly.

1. Ensure that cards that patrons are using or that you have distributed to patrons are free of excess build-up. More specifically, tape of all varieties, dirt, dust, and anything that feels the slightest bit sticky on the card. If need be, you can clean the cards with an alcohol dampened paper towel or cloth

2. Please don't attach anything to cards like balance post-its that could be put into the reader with the card. Any tape, post-its or rubber bands will jam the reader.

3. Sometimes patrons will forcefully insert their student id's or a copy card from Fedex Kinko's. When this happens, call ITS staff before attempting to remove the card as both the reader lens and the card are susceptible to damage when removed incorrectly.


Thank you,

Omar for Library ITS

Friday, May 7, 2010

Password Reset Feature

The following was posted on the ITS News page a few months ago and might be of interest to folks working our desks. The original can be found here.


New Password Reset Feature

On February 21, 2010, ITS released a new self-service "forgot your password" feature that allows people to reset their CruzID Blue and Gold passwords online by answering security questions.

Anyone who signs in to the CruzID Manager will have the ability to set answers to security questions for their account. While it will be optional to set these answers, those who do will not need to contact the ITS Support Center to have their password reset when/if they forget their CruzID Blue or Gold passwords. Instead, they will be able to reset their password via a new "Forgot Your Password" link in CruzID Manager.

Note that this self-service password reset feature is not recommended for anyone who has administrative privileges to systems on campus. If you have admin-level access to campus systems, please evaluate whether using this new feature introduces a risk of someone guessing your security answers and gaining access to sensitive information. If it does, simply do not set answers to the security questions.

You may set up your security questions by accessing the CruzID Manager at: https://cruzid.ucsc.edu/ Once you sign in, click on the "Set/Change answers to security questions" link.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Support Center for assistance.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

2010 Oil Spill incident site

from Cynthia Moriconi in Maps:

Here is a link to the Bibliography created by a Reference Librarian at the University of South Alabama for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Incident 2010:

http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/gd/oilspill2010.html

It will be updated with the latest information.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Kerry's business guide

In case you need access to Kerry great business research guide, it's on the old server, and here is the link:

http://library2.ucsc.edu/collect/businessweb.html

I had a market research question that this was perfect in answering.

Best,

Laura

Light out log (not about sleeping in the library...)

The campus electrician has asked us to track when the lights go out,
where if occurs, and when they come back on again. Laura has made a
log at the Reference desk to track this.

I understand they suspect it may be a problem with the programming,
and they need our help to pinpoint the problem.

If the lights go out on another floor - i.e. NOT the second floor,
you can call the Ref desk to report the problem. Please understand
it is midterms, so we may not be able to answer the phone right
away. You may also email me directly (include date, time, place,
duration, etc.) and I will add it to the log.

thank you,

Lucia

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Student email: CruzMail to SlugMail

I just had a student ask me if I knew anything about the fact that he couldn't log into CruzMail. Here is the story from the ITS site:

"On April 28, 2010 from 2PM to 6PM, all student email accounts currently using CruzMail, will be automatically switched to SlugMail.

On that day between the hours of 2PM and 6PM, students will no longer be able to login to CruzMail to check and send email. Instead, they will login to SlugMail. Their UCSC email address remains the same."

SlugMail login page:
http://its.ucsc.edu/service_catalog/slugmail/

Here is the full news article:

http://its.ucsc.edu/news_and_events/view_news.php?id=523

Monday, April 19, 2010

Wiki page for McHenry services info

Hi all,

I've set up a wiki page http://ucsclibrary.pbworks.com/McHenry+fire+-+services+update, where we can share information about temporary changes in service while McHenry is closed. Folks on refall are the intended audience but the page is open to anyone. While the page is very similar to the Alternative Services page this has the benefit of being informal and oriented to what we need to know from our reference service points. Feel free to update, correct and add new information as it becomes available. If you don't want to deal with the wiki but have info that you feel should be included just send me an email and I'll add it.

thanks, Frank

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Title in Process (TIP) requests

I just wanted to send out a reminder that Title in Process (TIP) requests should be referred to the Circulation Desk. Staff at that desk can check to see where in the process the title might be and can check new book trucks, etc. or refer the request to Cataloging as necessary. Please don't send TIP requests to ejournals. The procedure for handling TIP requests is also available on the library's FAQ page
and copied below.

Thanks, Frank

Q: CRUZCAT says a book is "in process." What does that mean?

A: "In process" means the library has received the book but we're not finished cataloging and labeling it. To obtain access to these items, see the Circulation Desk staff to arrange for a “TIP" (title in process) Request. This service is available Monday-Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm only. Good news! Access Services has extended this service to whenever the Circulation Desks are open.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

16th-century engravings

Students in Allan Langdale's HAVC 137E Renaissance Prints class will be researching a mystery engraving from 16th-century Germany. BR kindly informs us that they should consult the Illustrated Bartsch (http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b1431168~S5), volume 10 of which is entitled Sixteenth-century German Artists.

Additional info from Lee:

"That helps. I had a student who insisted the engraving was Bosch, and when that didn't pan out, noticed "Barsch" somewhere on the page, but that name drew a blank as well. I pointed her to some texts about early engravers and suggested the VRC if that didn't work."

So what happened to the services offered by Xpressit!?

Here's an update on where the mini-copy center services of Xpressit! (formerly in the Bookstore plaza) have gone...

http://printing.ucsc.edu/

They are now offered by Printing Services in Baskin Engineering. From their page:

"We provide fast, cost-effective printing from black and white through four-color printing in all sizes – up to 19" x 25" (and beyond, with our large format printer). We offer free delivery on orders for customers on and off campus! In a hurry, need it now or overnight? Let us know. We can meet your needs!

Products & Services

Offset Printing Quick Copies
Electronic Pre-Press Flyers

Document Scanning

Booklets

Large Format Posters

Signage
Promotional Products Bindery Services
Professor Publishing Services Printer Paper
Copyright Clearance Services Graphic Services
Project & Data Management

Location
Basement of
Baskin Engineering
B66
Phone: 459-2925
Fax: 459-3899
Email: printing_services@ucsc.edu
Hours
Monday through Friday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Additional info: Fax service
I confirmed that they still provide a public fax service, payable by cash, debit or credit. It's $1.00 per page to receive; $2.00 for the first page to send and $1.00 for each additional page; for international, $3.00 for the first page, and $2.00 for each additional page. LM 4/15/10


Right desk Mac screen tilting problem

The ergonomic arm on the right desk Mac seems to have a missing bolt or screw that allows us to tilt it backward and forward as we need to. A call is in to Jerry to see if he can fix it for us.
It does seem to be working at the moment if you gently tilt it back away from you. But if it starts to tilt forward, it falls all the way and is unusable.

Thanks for your patience while we have it repaired. In the meantime, if you are uncomfortale using it until it's fixed, use the center computer on the back table or the left desk Mac.

Thanks,

Laura

Friday, April 9, 2010

2nd floor construction update

Per Eric's update on the Devcon 2nd Floor G-Line construction, it looks like the Gov Docs will be covered on Monday and probably inaccessible through Tuesday. So during this time, please consult with Lucia, Jan, or me about possible alternate access to government documents.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

2nd floor construction


Devcon is currently de-constructing the wall along G-line in the Reference shared work area, and will begin work in the second floor stacks area next Monday, April 12. It will take at least Monday and Tuesday to complete the work. As on the other floors, plastic will be draped from floor to ceiling by the contractor, and additional plastic sheeting will placed over the stacks by Operations and Preservation.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Eric

Operations

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

ProQuest / CSA databases down for maintenance, April 10, 7:00 p.m. to April 11, 7:00 a.m.

7 April 2010
ProQuest® will be performing infrastructure maintenance on April 10, 2010. A twelve (12) hour maintenance window will be required for this maintenance. The window will take place from Saturday, April 10, 2010, at 7:00 PM (PDT) to Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 7:00 AM (PDT).

The following products will be unavailable during these windows:

ProQuest platform products, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, American Periodicals Series
CSA products
UMI products, including ProQuest Digital Microfilm and online dissertation products
ProQuest® welcomes customer feedback. Please email your comments to platform feedback or visit www.proquest.com/go/suggestions.

Please share this information information with your colleagues.

Jayne Dickson
CDL Information Services
California Digital Library
University of California
510.987.0550
jayne.dickson@ucop.edu

PubMed indexing now available back to 1947

"With the addition of the 1947 citations, the MEDLINE/PubMed subset now contains over 20 million citations produced during 63 years of indexing of the biomedical literature."
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma10/ma10_oldmedline.html


Thanks to Christy Hightower for the alert.

Gov Docs accessibility



Due to the G-Line construction on the 2nd Floor, the Gov Docs collection will be mostly inaccessible. We’re not quite sure of the timeline for this (at least today and maybe tomorrow?). If you encounter a patron who wants one of these inaccessible government documents, please let me know. We might be able to find a work-around; the desired document might be available online (even if there is no apparent electronic copy) or even on microfiche. So please feel free to call me at 9-5654 or find me in my office (my door will probably be closed due to construction sound) and I will help in any way that I can.

Cheers,

Jess

Monday, April 5, 2010

Students asking for Plagiarism Quiz

Anna Tsing is referring her Anthropology students to a plagiarism quiz. The quiz is hosted by another institution and can be found at http://abacus.bates.edu/cbb/quiz/index.html.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Ref Desk "Not on Desk" lists posted

I have made a posted two lists of who is not on the desk on certain days, to help facilitate trades, coverage, etc. If you do not see a name listed and they are also not on the schedule, that means that are working at S&E that day or are telecommuting.

There are two versions to reflect the double-staff and single-staff schedules we are using this spring.

http://internal.library.ucsc.edu/ref/schedule/index.html

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best, Laura

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Billing questions tip

Jess had a good reminder if you encounter a billing question.

Be sure to ask the patron what the bill is for: Printing or library material

If it's printing, refer them to the central IT support line 459-4357 or help@ucsc.edu

If it's a library material fine, refer them to Access or point them to the online library billing form at http://library.ucsc.edu/services/borrowing/billing

New 2nd floor copiers: screen message

The new Ricoh copiers have been installed by Copier Services on the 2nd floor. They are no longer free and are back to the normal pricing (15¢ per page when paying with cash, 8¢ per page when using a Slug Copy Card).

The screen on the copier now displays a message (which we are trying to have changed to something more intuitive) that says:

"To use the following function(s), set Key Counter. Copier"

This means:
"The copier is ready to be used, put a Slug Copy Card in the tower to make a copy and have access to the control screen"

It also displays a tiny message at the bottom left of the screen that says:

"Cannot connect with DHCP server. (101) Contact the Administrator."

This means: "I don't have a server to connect with (and won't), so ignore this message."

We are trying to have these either removed or fixed, so stay tuned.

The 3rd floor old copier is currently out of order. The 4th floor old copier is working.

No printer at the Ref Desk

As a reminder for those that have been away from the desk and are back for Spring Quarter, there is no longer a printer at the McHenry Ref Desk. Details are below in Lucia's March 11th refall message:

"
The printer at the McH ref desk is being moved to the Ref offices to replace the dead one. This means we will not have a printer at the Ref desk until further notice.
The desk machines still print to this printer, but you will need to 
walk into the office (next to the mailbar) to retrieve anything you
print from the desk.

Let me know if you have questions.

thank you,

Lucia"


Monday, March 29, 2010

Desk stats now online

Just a reminder that we have moved to collecting Reference statistics online. The SurveyMonkey page is bookmarked on the browser toolbar on every machine at the desk.

There are only two required fields, but it would be helpful if you could fill out other fields if you have time between questions.

Many thanks to Frank Gravier for getting this project off the ground and on the computers.

thank you,

Lucia

Monday, March 22, 2010

IT support over Spring Break

Omar let Lucia know that CNS will be providing on-call service only. The students working this week are addressing maintenance issues, but will be checking machines and monitoring paper supplies. We need to call the CNS number, 459-2486, if there are problems.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Desk stats migrating to online form

We are migrating McHenry Ref Desk statistics gathering online, using SurveyMonkey. We will start using this on Monday, March 29th, the first day of Spring quarter. We will no longer be using the paper forms and clipboard. However, we do have them on hand in case the power goes out or there is some other unforeseen problem.

Here's the important things to know:

There are only two *required* fields: Shift Time and Desk Stats Category (Dir, Short, Long). The other fields are optional. It would be helpful if you could fill them out, but you don't need to if it's busy.

Category refresher:
+ Directional: Giving directions. Pointing to a resource or service point or location of materials. Directions to the bathroom, etc.

+ Short: Anything more than directional that requires explanation up to 5 minutes, such as how to read call numbers, how to look up a book, etc.

+ Lengthy: Anything longer than 5 minutes.

The form is bookmarked on the toolbars at every Ref desk machine as "MCH REF DESK STATS." If you want to take a look at it now, use this URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mchrefstats.

Keep this URL handy in case you need to enter statistics after your desk shift.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

thank you,

Lucia

Opening PDFs on public computers

If a document opens with the open source PDF viewer (not Adobe), right-click to choose "Open with...Adobe" or save it to the desktop and then drag it to Adobe in the dock. Same for the Ref Desk computers.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Printing update and clarification

From the public computers, there is no longer a second popup window (that tells the patron how much the print job will be). That changed with the new system, but some did not hear about the change. Macs didn't need the notify acknowledgment, but PCs did, to send the print job. It was a feature of the old
printing system, that we did not implement in the new version. So now all the patron needs to do is name the print job and then pick it up from one of the release stations. They will see the cost when they pick up the print job from the release station (Thanks to Frank Dang for this clarification).

Questions from the desk

-local high school student needed to find books and articles about Jack Ruby

-community member doing research for a memoir by a former UCSC student from the 1970's
(including info about minority students groups now and then; the 1975 sit-in re: EOP)

-faculty needed help doing a search in our catalog for handmade books

-community member found a book in Google books, needed to find the source of a quotation used, but could not see the page with the source in Google books (we had it and I emailed the source)

-student currently writing a policy statement on the overspending on and
overpopulated prison in California

-PhD student in Hong Kong needed help with contemporary Latin American cinema research in determining which libraries in California (Los Angeles in particular) had a particular film

-graduate student at UCB developing a resource management plan for a ranch property in southern San Benito
County and is trying to determine if it had been part of a Mexican land grant

-graduate student needed to find books, articles, or websites on pre-Christian Basque mythology, specifically a deity associated with caves

-student looking at California high school exit exam information, specifically Latino students failure rate

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Random questions at the desk, 3/3/10

Today patrons I helped were:

- Looking for paper copies of several French language periodicals.

- Looking for a poem, published as a broadside, by Charles Bukowski.

- Looking for the consensus-based criteria for establishing diagnosis of a vegetative state.

Random questions at the desk 3/1/10

History of Lent.

Opiates effect on neurotransmitters and synapses.

Research by mycologist R.J. Wesson on use of "magic mushrooms" in Mazatec ritual ceremonies in Oaxaca.

Water, logging and environmental information about Clavey River in Tuolomne County.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Writing class focused on surfing

There is a Writing section that is focused on topics related to surfing. I've helped a couple of students with this topic and have a few strategies to share:

-not using the * symbol for truncating -- too many items come up with "surface"; leaving it as keyword "surfing" worked much better

-adding "NOT internet" to the keyword search was extremely helpful in the article databases

-Encyclopedia of Surfing: McH Ref GV840.S8 W3476 2003
http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b2282202~S5

-article databases: Academic Search Complete; Historical Abs; in Illumina (surfing is a Descriptor in CSA) used Oceanic Abs, both Psych dbs, Socio Abs

-adding ideas/subject terms such as surfers, culture, subculture, counterculture, sport psychology, extreme sports, risk-taking, recreation, coastal management, environmental protection, business, marketing, etc.

Hope this is helpful.

Best,

Laura

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Film 134A -- American Cinema, 1930-60

There is a fair number (80 from what a student in the class told me) who may be coming in to research the following assignment:

Film Marketing and Reception Project
Due at the beginning of your discussion section on Week 8 [week of 22nd February]

You will choose an American film made between 1930 and 1960, one we have not studied in class, and research how the film was marketed and reviewed at the time of its original release. Materials you gather might include original movie reviews, posters, film trailers, press stories, movie star profiles, interviews, etc. You will write a short analysis of the information available from these sources and make an argument regarding how the reception and marketing of the film was influenced by historical events. Your analysis should be 5-8 pages....

Here's how it might be approached--

Reviews (and date of release):
Variety Film Reviews (McH Ref PN1995 V34)

Reviews and display advertisements:
Los Angeles Times (historical)
New York Times (historical)


Magazine articles, interviews, profiles, advertisements:
Readers' Guide Retrospective

Film criticism:
Film Indexes Online (citations only--no UC-eLinks)

Posters:
Cruzcat (subject: film posters)

Trailers:
Internet Movie Database (IMDB)


--Ken.

Class: History 30 "Making of Modern Africa"

Hi all,

Beth and I recently conducted research sessions for David Anthony's
History 30 (Making of Modern Africa) and History 137B (Africa 1800 to
Present) classes, and you will notice lots of activity around these topics
just now. Although Beth and I are happy to assist them when they have hit
research roadblocks, please be aware that they should first consult and
*use* the resources listed in the dedicated guides for each of these
classes linked on the Course Materials page (and to which we introduced
them in class) and below. They should be assured that Reference Desk staff can help
them as well as Beth and myself.

Thanks,
Ken and Beth

History 30 Guide:
http://library.ucsc.edu/course-guides/history-30-making-of-modern-africa

History 137B Guide:
http://library.ucsc.edu/course-guides/history-137b---africa-1800-to-the-present

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Reference searches

Hi all, just a reminder to please send me searches for material missing from the McHenry Reference collection. More info below.

thanks, Frank

Begin forwarded message:

From: Frank Gravier
Date: October 5, 2009 9:29:17 AM PDT
To: refall@library.ucsc.edu
Subject: McHenry Ref. Stacks

Hi all,

As you've heard Access Services has assumed responsibility for shelving and stacks maintenance for the McHenry Reference Collection. I will continue to be the selector for the collection so please send searches, record changes, reports of superseded or new editions, etc. to me. You can drop them by my office (Rm. 2368), leave them in my mailbox in Research Services or at the mailbar in Tech. Services, email them (gravier@ucsc.edu) or call me(9-3319).

Thanks, Frank

Monday, February 8, 2010

Keystrokes on Ref Desk PC workstation

The PC at the McH desk is having intermittent problems accepting keystrokes for entering the password. This seems to happen only at startup. If it happens to you:

1. Restart the machine - holding down the power button for 10 secs will do it.
2. Make sure the numlock is on to use the keypad, OR use the number bar at the top of the keyboard.

This should remedy the problem. Please enter a ticket if you try this and the problem continues.

Lucia

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Out-of-order microfilm reader/printer

Here's what's happening with the out-of-order microfilm reader/printer:

The BMI technician has been called, and will try to make it up here this afternoon. If he's not able to make it today, he'll definitely be here by Thursday the 28th.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

-- Molly

Update on 1/28/10:

Roger was able to fix the MP90 but he said that the motor on the supply side that turns the reel is not working, making it necessary for patrons to manually roll the film. He'll let us know whether or not he can find a replacement motor.

Global Books in Print cancelled

Due to systemwide budget cuts our subscription to Global Books in Print has been cancelled and the database is no longer available. If you maintain a web page that linked to this database please update it.

thanks, Frank

Thursday, January 21, 2010

CruzID Gold setup tips

Hi everyone,

I have found I have had to do a bit more explaining about what the CruzID gold is to students. Here's a list of things I always include in the explanation that seem to help the setup go smoothly and help them understand what they are doing:

-tell them that their CruzID is the first part of their UCSC email address (before @ucsc.edu), and not their student ID#
-they already have a blue password, and that is their email password
-the gold password will enable them to eventually get into other systems on campus, the first first one is charging library printing to their account (and this works at both libraries)
-this is a one-time setup process
-they may not have had to choose a secure password before so they need to read that sentence about how long the password must be and what it must contain (saves time and multiple unsuccessful attempts)
-make sure to hit "OK" or "LOGOUT" before moving on to the gold student print release station
-there is a bug that sometimes happens with the gold release station, and their new gold password won't work. CNS is working on it, and advises to try again in a couple of minutes. they may have to do that more than once. If still unsuccessful, let them know other options (print card if they have one, loan them ours, etc.), and report to CNS.

Hope this helps when you are assisting students with this process.

Best,

Laura

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Film 132B assignment

I've emailed Peter that a number of the links on the assignment page need to be changed (because of our fall server switch) and I assume he will put up a corrected version soon.

Paul


On Jan 12, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Peter Limbrick wrote:

Hi Paul,
Just a heads up for you and your research librarians that my 88-student class, Film 132B, will be doing an annotated bibliography project, as they have done in past years. You can see the assignment on our website at:
http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/~limbrick/film132b/

but I've also attached it here. Just wanted to let you all know since you may experience some increase in traffic and questions (I hope!) It's due on Jan 25, two weeks from yesterday.

Best,
Peter

Hebrew Bible

A number of students have asked about copies of the JPS Tanakh in the Library
collection. You may want to share the following
information with them.

First, they should know that most copies of Tanakh
and Torah are in the 4th floor stacks and circulate.

Second, while we have a limited number of editions
titled "Tanakh" there are many others that
essentially fit that bill. And in fact, there are
a number of editions in the collection that use
the JPS Tanakh translation that are not identified
that way (unless you look closely).

Third, there are copies of the text in many forms.
Those in English-Hebrew versions will usually
page right to left. There are also quite a few
English-only editions for those who prefer that.
They should be aware that Tanakh=Old Testament
and Torah=Five Books of Moses=Pentateuch=Chumash.
Some editions come in multiple volumes.

Finally, most of our Tanakh and Torah editions
include some commentary. Typical of the opening
of Bereisheit (Genesis), there is a lot of of
commentary, so much so that there is only one or
two lines of text per page, the rest taken up by
commentary. While this makes for halting
reading, the commentary can be helpful for
research purposes.

Here are a few examples of useful copies currently
on the shelves:

The Jewish study Bible : Jewish Publication
Society Tanakh translation
BS895 .J4 2004
http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b2376601~S5

Etz Hayim : Torah and commentary
BS1223 .L54 2001
http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b2447623~S5

Genesis : the traditional Hebrew text with new JPS
translation
BS1235.3.S325 1989
http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b1132076~S5

The Soncino Chumash : the five books of Moses with
Haphtaroth
BS704.S673 1983
http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b1260109~S5

Knowing that these will disappear quickly, I
thought I'd look for some online sources:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/jpstoc.html
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm
http://www.shamash.org/tanach/text.shtml
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=1#P1
http://tanakhml2.alacartejava.net/cocoon/tanakhml/d13.php2xml?sfr=1&prq=1&pnt=tru&acc=tru&dia=tru&enc=heb&xml=non

They can also find free copies as iPod/iPhone apps.

-- Lee

Friday, January 15, 2010

ENVS 140

Hi everyone,

ENVS140 is almost fully launched. This year the class has 90 students enrolled, which is down 10 from last year.

We have made it very clear to the students in this class that they need to ask Jan, Jess, or myself for assistance with part I of their project. Drop-in hours are posted on the class wiki at http://ucsclibrary.pbworks.com/ENVS140. Most of the drop-in hours are with Jan and Jess, although I have let them know I'm at S&E on Tuesday's 12-2pm. (They also know that if it's busy at S&E they will need to wait for my help).

If a student needs help outside the drop-in hours, please call Jan or Jess to help them. We have let them know Jan or Jess will help outside of the posted drop-in times if they are available.

To reiterate, you should NOT help them with Part I of this assignment. However, you can assist with Part II later in the quarter. I will announce when Part II begins. I will be providing a separate session for them for Part II, and information will be posted on their class page that will help you answer questions.

Let me know if you have any questions.

thanks,

Lucia

Friday, January 8, 2010

Reserve books in the Media Center


I just had two questions where it turned out that books were on reserve in the Media Center. It made sense since the classes were for music and language courses. But if you are like me and have the bad habit of assuming that if a location says "Media Center" it won't be a book I want to caution you to double check. In both cases the patrons and I initially thought the book wasn't immediately available but when we looked more closely happily discovered that, while the McHenry Reserves copy was checked out, the Media Center copy was available.

Frank

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Call numbers for Reserves


Just a reminder that students need to have call numbers when requesting reserve materials at both Circulation Desks. If you are helping a student locate an item that is on reserve be sure to encourage them to jot down the call number before they head off to the Circ. Desk.

Thanks, Frank

Monday, January 4, 2010

OCA certificate/"untrusted site" problem

If you are getting calls about "untrusted site" errors from people trying to access OCA, we are working on a permanent solution. In the meantime, people at the reference desk should tell patrons they two choices:

- you can click through and add the exception (there is no security risk)

or

- the patron can download the new root CA http://certs.ipsca.com/Support/hierarchy-ipsca.asp

--
David Meyer
CNS, McHenry Library

CNS desk staffing

CNS will be running a temporary schedule from Jan 5-Jan 10. Students will be staffing both libraries according to the attached pdf file (check your email; copy will be at the desk also) to assist the switch over to the new printing system. Students are undergoing training to assist patrons in setting up their new "CruzID gold" account passwords to accommodate the new printing system and the option of student account billing. There will be no dual coverage support on Tuesday and Thursday from 1-4pm. Please 9-2486 if you need assistance at anytime. Thank you,

Omar Mojaddedi

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Hourly parking changes

December 8, 2009

To: UCSC Community
Fr: Larry Pageler, Transportation and Parking Services Director
Re: Changes to hourly parking on January 4th

Two changes will occur for hourly parkers beginning Monday, January 4, 2010: all campus meters and paystations will require payment from 7:00 am to 8:30 pm (making them consistent with parking meters), and the paystations in the Performing Arts (PA) lot will begin operating for weekday daytime use. The eight meters currently in the PA lot will be removed, and 17 spaces will be designated for paystation parking.

The cost for all meter and paystation parking is $1.50 per hour. Meters accept nickels, dimes and quarters only; paystations accept nickels, dimes, quarters, $1 coins, $1 and $2 bills, Visa, and Mastercard. Paystations cannot provide change or refunds, but can accept early payments beginning at 5:30 am. After 4:30 pm weekdays, and all day on weekends, paystations allow a $3 flat rate for parking until 8:30 pm (in addition to smaller increments of time); the flat rate allows parking in the entire lot, not just in designated paystation spaces. Paystations can be found at the Core West Parking Structure, Hahn Student Services, East Field House, and the Performing Arts lot; all have a two-hour limit except for Hahn, which has a one-hour limit.

Because paystations offer multiple payment options, if any single payment method becomes inoperable, another method can be selected. In the event of malfunction, please call 459-4543 to report the problem. Parking is not allowed in pay stalls without payment, so if a paystation is malfunctioning please find another location to park; otherwise Parking Enforcement (Campus Police) may cite your vehicle.

McH Ref Desk hours: 12/9/09-3/18/10

Hours for December 9, 2009-January 4, 2010:
Wed, Dec. 9th: 10am-9pm

Thurs, Dec. 10th: 10am-5pm

Mon, Dec. 14th-Fri, Dec 18th: 1pm-5pm

Mon, Jan. 4, 2010: 10am-5pm

Hours for January 5-March 18, 2010 (Regular quarter hrs):
Monday-Thursday 10am-9pm

Friday 10am-5pm

Saturday Closed

Sunday 1pm-5pm

Friday, December 4, 2009

Reminder: Extended library hours until 12/8

Exceptions:
Wednesday November 11 CLOSED
Wednesday, November 25 10am - 5pm
Thursday, November 26 CLOSED
Friday, November 27 CLOSED
Tuesday, December 1 10am-2am*
Wednesday, December 2 10am-2am*
Thursday, December 3 10am-2am*
Friday, December 4 10am-10pm*
Saturday, December 5 11am-7pm*
Sunday, December 6 10am-2am*
Monday, December 7 10am-2am*
Tuesday, December 8 10am-2am*

* For Finals Week extended study hours, there will be limited services after normal Library hours.

http://library.ucsc.edu/hours

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Economist Intelligence Unit Profiles and Reports database

There is an additional step once you get into this database to be able to have access to country profiles, reports, profiles, etc. Click on "Enterprise Client Access" in the lower left part of the screen. That is the only way you get to the data. I have added this note to the database description in Drupal.

LexisNexis interface changing

Just a reminder that the LexisNexis interface is changing this month. I just checked and it's not up yet, but this announcement makes it sound like it's coming very soon.

-Lucia

The newly enhanced LexisNexis® Academic

The latest version of LexisNexis Academic
unveils enhancements – driven by student user testing – designed to make it
even easier to use:


-

Redesigned Easy Search form is the default
home page

-

Six widgets to help students conduct basic research tasks

-

Additional content added for an Environmental Studies search form

-

Navigation presents all options in a single menu

The result? Quicker access to the most commonly used content.

To learn more about the changes to LexisNexis Academic, visit our wiki… now the source of a new LexisNexis Academic Help section.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Caring for the microfilm/fiche printers at McHenry



I'm working on a procedure for handling printer cartridges and paper needs in the Microfilm/fiche printers located near the McHenry Reference desk.

What I've done so far is this:

1. I've numbered and labeled the printers so that they are easy to identify (numbered 1-3). The numbers are big and right on top of the printer...easy to see and read.
2. I created a graphic showing the location of each of these printers. I will give a copy to the McH Circ desk and one to the Ref desk.

What I'm hoping is that this will make it easier for patrons to tell us (be it Ref or Access) which printer needs help and easier for folks at the Ref desk to notify Access of any problems.

Also, printer cartridges and paper for these printers are now located (and labeled) in Amy Chirman's old office. This will make it easier for Access staff to change cartridges and add paper.

The next step is for those of us in Access to fine-tune what we do once we're notified of a problem.

Please let me know if there are any problems with this or if you have questions and please let me know if I missed something...it's a work-in-progress.

Many thanks.

-- Molly

Monday, November 23, 2009

Google scanning in the McH Ref collection

Maric reports that the last bit of scanning of material from the McHenry Reference Collection will take place over the next few weeks. Here are the dates and call number ranges.

We're going to begin pulling reference materials this week. The first batch will be sent out next Wednesday 12/02/09, to be returned on 12/16 and reshelved before the break. The second batch will be sent on 12/09/09 and return on 01/13/2010, to be reshelved by 01/15. We hope to finish our pull from the reference collection between these two shipments, so the call numbers that will be gone will range from HA to Z (excepting HT168 to ML156.5, which has already been pulled).

Please let me know if you have any questions.

thanks, Frank

Friday, November 20, 2009

Antidote to the A4 printing error problem

Frank Gravier gets a gold star for discovering the antidote to the A4 tray error printing problem. When you encounter that error and there is no staff at the IT Help Desk, press 7 (for plain letter) and then enter (next to the number 4 and a left arrow), and the job will print out. It may not stop the A4 error from occurring but at least it doesn't hold up everyone else's print job.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

"Linked full text" removed from EbscoHost

"Linked full text" as an option has been removed from EbscoHost. The reason being that it never worked.

It appeared as recently as last week, so it must have taken effect very recently.

Thanks to Tasha Keagan for following up on this. Please send any search anomalies (as she says) to ejournals@library.ucsc.edu; even is you have to wait it's totally worth it!

-Annette

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Campus publications: general catalog, schedule of classes, The Navigator, academic calendar

I asked the Registrar's publication editor to outline the print and electronic publication pattern for the four major campus publications. FYI, the information is given below. As we untangle this, Janet will attempt to amend the Cruzcat records.

-Christine

UCSC General Catalog:
Beginning with the 2004-2005 year, the General Catalog went to a biennial printing schedule. One year the catalog is printed, the next year it is updated online, with updates less encompassing than revisions for the printed year's catalog. In addition to the current General Catalog, previous year's catalogs, both online updates and printed catalogs dating back to 2003-04, are available online at http://reg.ucsc.edu/catalog/index.html. The printing status of the General Catalog for the upcoming year, 2010-11, is uncertain. No decision has been announced yet that we are or are not printing it. The current General Catalog is online athttp://reg.ucsc.edu/catalog/index.html.

Quarterly Schedule of Classes:
The Schedule of Classes was printed each quarter up to and including fall 2009. As of winter quarter 2010, the Schedule of Classes is no longer printed, but is available online at http://reg.ucsc.edu/soc.htm. In addition to not printing it, the winter 2010 Schedule of Classes includes several changes from previous quarters. One is that informational text that was duplicated in the Schedule of Classes and either the Navigator or General Catalog has been removed from the Schedule of Classes (with a few exceptions that are specific to a particular quarter). Additionally, previous Schedules included complete class listings that included all courses, sections, dates and times, locations, instructors, and requirements. That is no longer included in the Schedule of Classes as of winter 2010 because the online class search mechanism in AIS (Academic Information Systems) has been modified and greatly improved (https://pisa.ucsc.edu/class_search/). The search parameters are limited to the
current and immediately preceding quarter, however, so this is likely to impact anyone looking back to find whether a particular course was offered. The current Schedule of Classes is online at http://reg.ucsc.edu/soc.htm.

The Navigator Undergraduate Handbook:
This is a little less clear. The last officially printed copy of the Navigator we have dates to 2002-03. Subsequent year's Navigator's are not archived online since they are to be used by incoming undergraduates and are updated annually. If, however, you are missing years subsequent to 2002-03, we can get you an online address to print copies to bring your collection up to date. The current Navigator is online at http://reg.ucsc.edu/navigator/index.html.

The Academic and Administrative Calendar:
The calendar was printed through the 2008-09 academic year, but was not printed this year (2009-10). Printable PDF versions of the current and previous year's calendars dating back to 2004-05 are available online at http://reg.ucsc.edu/calendar/index.html.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Schedule of Classes will no longer be printed

FYI...

Beginning Winter 2010, the Schedule of Classes will no longer be printed.

http://reg.ucsc.edu/soc.htmhttp://reg.ucsc.edu/soc.htm

New online form for Spec Coll NRLF items

Thanks to Sue Perry Special Collections now has an online form that patrons can use to request Spec Coll books and other materials stored at NRLF. The form can be found here: http://library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/special-collections-nrlf-request-form and is also linked from our Access to Collections page (http://library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/access-to-collections) .

Feedback on the form and instructions would be appreciated.

As always, patrons can contact me directly about requesting ASK AT SPECCOLL books without using the form.

-Luisa

Error code on Info Commons printer

If the IT Desk is not yet open and the printer says "Load MBF A4 Plain" it means that the print job has a setting asking for the bypass "A4" tray. The only way around this problem is to delete that print job, because it will not let any others through. It effectively stops printing for everyone networked to that printer. You can call 9-2486 if no one is staffing the IT help desk and they can delete the print job.

Questions from weekend shift

Just a sampling of the kinds of questions we got at the desk this busy Sunday:

-need study room or space to practice Spanish
-need to find a court case and history; it was a Supreme Court case and needed to find out if it went through state court system (used Westlaw)
-how do I check out a book?
-need to find biographical info about anthropologist Michelle Habell-Pallan (her CV was online)
-what is "Request at ILL" and how do I get it?
-what is NRLF?
-the books I want are checked out, what can I do?
-just starting research on the topic of human sacrifice and offerings (used Cruzcat subject headings)
-how do I print?
-I need a pen
-need a book about prefixes and suffixes
-UC-eLinks not working (we owned the book)
-can I take Ref books to another floor?
-can't find call number RC
-need books and articles about Australian aboriginal dreams (used subject headings in Cruzcat and Ebsco)
-book checked out until December?
-where are the elevators?
-where are the HB call numbers?
-I don't understand how the moving stacks work
-I need Latin-English, Greek-English, legal, and medical dictionaries
-couldn't find book (it was on Reserve)
-having difficulty using UC-eLinks
-book is checked out, need by tomorrow (we found it at SCPL)
-where are the newspapers?
-need to do research on the history of American Sign Language
-about 5 more questions on not finding call numbers (they were looking in Ref Stacks)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Where to get change update

The Back Perch at the ARCenter is gone. According to Dining Services, the McHenry Library coffee cart is supposed to be staffed 10am-2pm, Monday-Friday.

McHenry Library change machine is gone

The McHenry Library change machine located on the second floor, near the copy machines, is gone. The costs associated with the change machine were excessive.

Thanks,
Sarah

Head of Access Services
University of California, Santa Cruz
(831) 459-3878

Other possible options for change:

-Library cafe (if you buy something you can get change)
-Hahn cashier (Window Hours: 9 am to 4 pm Monday-Friday)
-Bookstore
-Ask other students or staff

Stay tuned for an update "cash on campus" post....

Anthro 1 assignment

Anthro 1 book assignment

I wanted to alert you that students from Anthro 1 may come in looking for books located at S&E and McH respectively. The point of the assignment is to use the book as a jumping off point to explore broader themes, but they do have to be familar with the book. The instructor is encouraging students to look for these books in our libraries, local libraries and bookstores. The written assignment is due Nov. 24th, and students are looking for these items now.

As you may have guessed, most of these books are already checked out. I don't have a good solution for helping students, other than ILL. I'll see if I can catch the student I helped (and who sped off) for a copy of the assignment.

Here's a sample of some of the titles:

The old way : a story of the first people / Elizabeth Marshall Thomas McH Stacks DT1558.S38 T46 2006

Female fertility and the body fat connection / Rose E. Frisch S&E Stacks RG136 .F755 2002

Your inner fish : a journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human body / Neil Shubin S&E Reading QM26 .S58 2008

Thanks,

Lucia

XpressIt! in bookstore plaza will be moving 12/11/09

At the end of Fall 2009, XpressIt! next to the bookstore will be moving in with Print Services at the Baskin Engineering location. They will be open at their current location until 12/10/09 from 7:30am-6pm. They will re-open on 12/15/09 in their new location in the basement of Baskin Engineering B66. They will be offering new services such as a new online ordering system.

For more info: http://printing.ucsc.edu/xpressit

History 10 - primary source questions

We are getting more questions from History 10 students needing primary sources. Their assignment is to find a letter that is ideally from the time period of a historical event (ex. the Missouri Compromise), or at least not after 1877, and then write 5-7 pages about it's historical significance. I had luck with a Thomas Jefferson letter (on Library of Congress site) about the Missouri Compromise. Consult Kerry's class guide for more sources:

http://library.ucsc.edu/course-guides/history-10a-united-states-history-to-1877

Ref Desk hours during the upcoming holiday intersession

The Ref Desk hours, at both libraries, during the intersession are as follows:

December 14th - December 18th: 1-5pm
Monday, January 4, 2010: 10-5pm

Regular quarter hours resume on Tuesday, January 5th.


Friday, November 6, 2009

Online guides for Writing and Core classes

As we get used to our new website, it might be helpful to highlight a couple of ways to introduce Writing and Core students to research (thanks to Debbie and Annette):

Getting Started (linked on our home page)
-takes students step-by-step through constructing a research paper
http://library.ucsc.edu/content/constructing-your-research-paper

Writing subject guide (linked on home page under "Subjects" and "Course Materials & ERes")
-outlines research process steps with links
http://library.ucsc.edu/course-guides/writing

Class and assignment-specific guides

There are many class guides for this quarter. Take a look at either of these links when helping patrons at the desk:

Find research materials by subject
http://library.ucsc.edu/find-research-materials-by-subject

and

Course Materials & ERes
http://library.ucsc.edu/services/find-materials-for-courses

Serials review lists & letter out to faculty today


The serials review lists (titles proposed for
cancellation) and a letter to faculty announcing the
availability of the lists, have gone out to faculty.
If you get questions about where the lists are, they are available
here:http://library.ucsc.edu.oca.ucsc.edu/collections/budget-reduction-process
- Toward the bottom of the page there are links to each
division, click on those to see the title lists.
Faculty may submit comments through the survey/feedback
form on the page.

The feedback form is referenced several times on the page
but here is the link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=W_2b4gtNSaxnj9_2bJsDfypi5A_3d_3d

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll do
my best to answer them.

Thanks very much,

Kerry

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Anthro 1 assignment

Students from Anthro 1 may come in looking for books located at S&E and McH respectively. The point of the assignment is to use the book as a jumping off point to explore broader themes, but they do have to be familar with the book. The instructor is encouraging students to look for these books in our libraries, local libraries and bookstores. The written assignment is due Nov. 24th, and students are looking for these items now.

As you may have guessed, most of these books are already checked out. I don't have a good solution for helping students, other than ILL. I'll see if I can catch the student I helped (and who sped off) for a copy of the assignment.

Here's a sample of some of the titles:

The old way : a story of the first people / Elizabeth Marshall Thomas McH Stacks DT1558.S38 T46 2006

Female fertility and the body fat connection / Rose E. Frisch S&E Stacks RG136 .F755 2002

Your inner fish : a journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human body / Neil Shubin S&E Reading QM26 .S58 2008

Thanks,

Lucia

Friday, October 30, 2009

New Visitor Guides

There are new campus Visitor Guides from Admissions at the Ref Desk, on the shelf under the UCSC catalog and schedule of classes. It has a large, easy-to-read campus map, that includes up-to-date construction areas and new buildings.

San Francisco City Directories - now online - free

Subject: [calix] San Francisco City Directories - Now online - free

San Francisco City Directories are now online - free - Here are the direct links:
San Francisco City Directories
1927. http://www.archive.org/details/crockerlangleysa1927rlporich

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Word documents on public computers



A patron came to the desk before the IT desk was staffed and said her Word 2007 document wouldn't open on PC #7. I called ITS and
Frank said that the PC's do have a concerter pac installed and should automatically open Word 2007 docs. If they don't, have the patron try another PC and report that one by submitting a ticket to ITS. And that's what I did and it worked fine on another PC. So in case this happens to you on a morning watch, that's what to do.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Psych 3 class info and online guide

Hi All,

Last week I gave a talk at Cam Leapers Psyc3 class. There is a class guide at:

http://library.ucsc.edu/course-guides/psychology-3-research-methods

The guide is meant to walk students through their assignment, which requires that they find only 1 study to replicate

Cam really prefers that they use encyclopedias or textbooks to get a citation for a study. I linked students to citation linker forms, which is the most direct place to find out if we own something or to request it.

Students, however, may also try to use Psycinfo to find a paper that is about a study. If they go this route they must ONLY use peer-reviewed articles.
Hope this is useful.

Thanks,
Annette

Students accessing their home directory in Info Commons

Periodically a student will ask for help accessing their home directory, which is UCSC server storage space provided to all students, faculty, and staff. Here's how to get to one's personal directory from the PC and MAc stations in the Info Commons:

From Macs:
-go to Fetch (from the dock or finder)
-in the Host Name text box, type: unix.ic.ucsc.edu
-in the User Name text box, type your email login (without @ucsc.edu)
-select SFTP from Connect using the drop-down menu
-type in your password in the Password text box
-select Connect

From PCs:
-go to the Secure Shell page
-select the Secure File Transfer Client icon
-select Quick Connect
-in the Host Name text box, type: unix.ic.ucsc.edu
-in the User Name text box, type your email login (without @ucsc.edu)
-at the prompt, type your password
-select OK

Meeting Room Schedule link

There is now a link to "Mtg Rms/2353" on the toolbar of each Firefox browser on the Ref Desk computers. Please leave the Incident Form as the last link on the toolbar on the right so it's easy to access if we need it.

Saving docs on public computers: save often and wisely

There is not much more frustrating when a student comes up after a power outage and has lost their paper because they were only saving it to the desktop. So to help them avoid this, we've added some signage in the Info Commons to help them know how to save safely. And it's a good reminder for us to tell them. I conferred with Fish about this so here's the scoop:

Safest ways to save:
-Flash drive / memory stick
-CD
-Google docs
-Email to yourself

Unsafe:
-Desktop only
-Documents folder only

If they've only saved to the desktop or docs folder and the power suddenly goes out or flickers strongly enough, they will lose their paper and there is no way to recover it.

Alexander Street scheduled maintenance, Saturday, 10/17, 6:00 pm - 12 am


14 October 2009

Alexander Street will be doing scheduled maintenance across all collections on Saturday, October 17th from 6:00 PM TO 12:00 AM PDT.  Please be aware that you may see sporadic interruptions of up to one hour across all Alexander Street online collections on this date. In the event that downtime is prolonged for any reason, alerts will be posted to each affected collection.  Please share this information with yourcolleagues.

Contact:
Alexander Street Press
3212 Duke Street
AlexandriaVirginia 22314
USA
http://alexanderstreet.com


Jayne Dickson
CDL Information Services
California Digital Library
University of California
510.987.0550

Monday, October 12, 2009

Newspapers on reserve for American Studies 188


Please direct students in American Studies 188 to the circulation desk at S&E if they inquire about the selection of national and California newspapers from September 11, 2009 set aside for their class. We are lending them for 2 hours, like most other reserve items. I have added a note to this effect to the reserves list in Cruzcat.

--Nicole

New ILL manual forms

Hi all,

There was a time when community patrons without library accounts needed to complete a paper request form for items held at NRLF. No more! We now have online forms, which don't authenticate using library barcodes, so all those patrons who can't use Request can use these forms.

The forms are linked from the ILL pages (on the right hand side, under "Related Links"), and they live here:

books: http://library.ucsc.edu/services/borrowing/ill-manual-book-request-form
articles: http://library.ucsc.edu/services/borrowing/ill-manual-article-request-form

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Sarah

Thursday, October 1, 2009

New Hours for Library/Computing Commons Help Desk

Second Floor Computing Commons Help Desk McHenry Library

Staffed Hours:
Mon-Thu 1-9
Fri 10-5
Sunday 1-5
During these hours there will be a student on the desk, however, they do regular rounds to check on public computers throughout the day, if not present follow "contacting the help desk" procedure.

Contacting the Help Desk:
To contact the desk during the staffed hours when there is no student present or during un-staffed hours please call
459-2486 and leave a message. If there is an issue during off hours it will be addressed as soon as possible by library IT staff or by student workers.

You can also email help@ucsc.edu for issues, although if the ticket is submitted by a non-library staff it will take longer to filter to us. (hint: put "library public computing" in subject line)

Do not be alarmed if it takes 8-10 rings to get to the message, it is actually dialing our staff phone lines as well


What they do:
The Public computing help desk is there to assist with printing and computer use issues as well as best effort help for other library electronic resources such as MS office and library licensed publications.

Copying:
For card issues send the patron to the circulation desk where they can fill out a refund request.
For copier issues such as jams and toner see the Library Public Computing Help Desk.

Thanks,
Library IT
--

Frank Dang
University Library
ITS Technical Support Lead
(831) 459-1540