Reference Services Round-Up

Year in Review
What a year we have had in the newly formed Reference Services Department. Last Spring we started a major renovation of the Library. The project was completed just in time for the Fall 2003 semester.

There are so many people to thank. Let's start with the campus and university administration for their financial support. Our campus facilities department played a pivotal role in the timely completion of the project - kudos for their incredible work.

We also want to offer thanks to Dean Ungarelli, who had a vision, and the consultants who helped his vision become a reality. However, it is the Library faculty, staff, and our dedicated student assistants that made it happen!

To acknowledge all of the hard work, weeding, multiple moves, and creative inspiration, our Opening Celebration was held on April 16th.

What a crowd we had, with enlightening speeches, tours, demos, a raffle, and scones! It was a great day, ushering in a whole new year with all sorts of contemporary and innovative programming and services on the horizon.

C.W. Post students now have access to 30 computer workstations in our Reference Commons, wireless hubs, plug-ins for laptops, a Quiet Study Lounge, and a collaborative workspace.

For faculty and staff we've introduced a new program, and held four Library Brown Bags. The T-Time for Technology series continued with two more sessions this past year.

Interlibrary Loan has become even more efficient in its new space, with statistics reflecting 5185 books and periodicals loaned and 2226 borrowed this past year.

Students and faculty returned scores of books this past April during our Library Amnesty Week. No fines! No Questions! No Guilt! These were the watchwords as students cleared their records and returned many needed books.

Coming this Fall
This Fall, we will implement Live-Person, an interactive, real-time reference service that enables librarians to communicate with online users and "push" the needed information to their home computers.

We anticipate the opening of our cafe, Java City, this coming Fall!

Please visit our new space and remember to check in with us by consulting our website for upcoming events. Bookmark the address at: http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/libhome.htm

We look forward to seeing you!

Martha Cooney
Jackie Elsas

On the Shelf

Below is a sampling of some of the latest additions to the Reference collection:

• Carpenito-Moyet L.J. (2004). Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis. NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. RT48.6.C385 2004

• Kohl, George C. (2001). The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal. NY: Checkmark. E179.N53 2001

• Parish, J.R. (2003). The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups in Hollywood. NY: Facts on File. PN1995.9.M56M85 2003

• Partnow, E.T. (2001). Quotable Woman: The First 5,000 Years. N.Y: Facts on File. PN6081.5.Q65 2001

• Sifakis, C. (2003). The Encyclopedia of American Prisons. NY: Facts on File. HV9471.S54 2003

• Di Stefano, A. (2004). Encyclopedia of Distributed Learning. Thousand Oaks: Sage. LC5211.E52 2004

Latest Links for Virtual Reference

We've recently added a number of web sites to our Virtual Reference Collection (VRC).

• Famous Trials. This website presents the unbiased events and outcomes of 33 trials including Socrates' in 399 B.C. and O.J. Simpson's 1995 double murder trial. It is an invaluable resource for novices and experienced researchers interested in criminal justice issues.

• Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded to promote the study and love of American history. A portal to American history on the Web. the site offers high-quality electronic educational material for teachers, students, and historians.

• WebElements. WebElements is a comprehensive and in-depth source for information on the chemical elements. The entries are extensive and offer the basics, such as atomic number and weight, as well as links to physical properties, common compounds, and photographs.

• Racial Profiling Data Collection Resource Center. The Institute on Race and Justice is an interdisciplinary research institute at Northeastern University and utilizes strategic social science research methodologies to assist government agencies, educational institutions, and others in developing policy to advance the cause of social justice.

Faculty Plagiarism Workshops

One of our reference librarians, Amrita Madray, has been collaborating with the Director of the Faculty Technology Resource Center, Belle Gironda, in establishing procedures for addressing plagiarism issues here at the C.W. Post Campus. Their partnership has already resulted in a number of university-wide workshops entitled, Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism.

These seminars aim to educate fellow faculty members on methods of identifying plagiarism, as well as to provide them with information on how to construct coursework and other assignments that will help prevent plagiarism from occurring.

Ms. Madray has also worked closely with our webmaster, Robert Delaney, to develop links at the Library's website. These can be found under Library Services on the homepage or visited directly.

She is also preparing a web-based guide for students to educate them on ways to avoid plagiarism. For information, please contact Amrita Madray at 299-2833 or by email to amadray@liu.edu.

Library Instruction

The Library Instruction Lab was hopping during the 2003-2004 academic year. In all, we instructed 2,522 students in 185 classes.

Instructional sessions covered any or all of the following: LIUCAT - the online library catalog, print reference materials, online databases, Internet resources, citation styles, and evaluation of web sites.

Librarians also taught 56 classes on library research to 21 sections of the freshman English course, Reading and Interpretation. In addition, five sessions of the Library Competency Workshop were held.

The Library Competency Workshop is a seven-week course that helps students identify, locate, evaluate, and use library resources in an ethical and legal manner.

To schedule a library instruction session for your class, call Dona McDermott, Instructional Services Librarian, at 299-4147 or by e-mail to dona.mcdermott@liu.edu.

Provost's Recognition of Service Award

On June 23, 2004 four members of the Department will be recognized for their outstanding service and their tireless efforts in assisting us during the renovation and throughout the entire year.

Our congratulations go out to those dedicated individuals: Pat Bruckner, Anna Giuga, Josephine Grella, and our Webmaster extraordinaire, Robert Delaney.

Congratulations Christina!

Congratulations go out to Christina Tumminello, Library Assistant at the Reserve Desk in Circulation. She was recently accepted to study at the Sorbonne in France.

We wish her well and look forward to hearing all about her travels and research endeavors as an international scholar when she returns home.

Bonne Chance and Adieu!

Libraries - How They Stack Up

The following fast facts are excerpted from OCLC's 2003 report, Libraries: How they stack up. This report outlines the economic impact of libraries worldwide.

According to ACRL (2001):

• Academic libraries circulate approximately 122 million items a year. An additional 14.1 million requests are received through Interlibrary Loan.

• U.S. libraries circulate 5.4 million items per day, as compared to FedEx which ships 5.3 million items during that same time period.

• Library cardholders outnumber Amazon customers by 5 to 1.

• Libraries continue to be valued as destinations. In fact, "five times more people visit U.S. libraries each year than attend professional and college football, baseball and hockey games," with 1 out of every 6 people in the world being a card carrying library user.