Solve 3 problems using Knovel, a database of online engineering books. Enter to win a Wii, iPod Nano, or Free Music. Access the Contest Rules. Competition closes on November 7, 2008. Enter the Challenge Here: Gretchen Sneff Engineering Librarian gsneff@temple.edu
I am delighted to welcome Thomas Heverin to the Temple University Libraries. Thomas started Monday, September 22nd, in the position of Science Librarian/SEAL Instruction Coordinator. Prior to arriving at Temple, Thomas worked at the Carlson Science and Engineering Library at the University of Rochester and the Center for Natural Language Processing at Syracuse University. Additionally, he served several years as an officer in the U.S. Navy. Thomas received a MLIS from Syracuse University and a B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State. He will provide research and instructional services for science, engineering, and architecture students and faculty. Thomas will also serve as the coordinator of SEAL’s instructional program and its integration into the Libraries’ information literacy initiative. Thomas’ subject responsibilities will include mathematical sciences, earth and environmental science and physics. Please join me in welcoming Thomas to Temple Libraries. Sincerely, Larry P. Alford Dean of University Libraries
Are you registered to vote? The deadline to register in the State of Pennsylvania is Monday, October 6th! Find out how to register and more at Temple Library’s new Voter’s Information Guide – Election 2008. Easily keep up with information on the candidates, the issues, fact checkers, news feeds, commentary, election history, and political humor. Comment on positions, candidates, and resources. There’s even a guide for first-time voters. All the info that you need to make the right decision on November 4th is in one place, at the touch of your fingertips, @ your library!
A new report discusses the different ways in which scholars find articles and other materials of interest. “How Readers Navigate to Scholarly Content” is published by Simon Inger and Tracy Gardner for a consortium of scholarly publishers, including the Nature Publishing Group. It examines how scholars start their search for content and how they navigate different search resources. Current articles are extremely important to scholars in helping them keep up with the latest research in their field, and faculty use different strategies to do this. For keeping up with those journals for which they have no personal subscription many faculty rely on Table of Contents (TOC) alerts. Many faculty may not be aware that nearly every major aggregator database and e-journal collection to which the Temple University Libraries subscribe has this feature. It is fairly easy to create a TOC alert for any one of the thousands of journals accessible electronically through the Libraries.
Among the survey questions faculty were asked I found “How often do you follow links to a publisher’s e-journal web site from these starting points” of particular interest. Figure 5 (pg. 18 of 32) shows a number of strategies to get to the e-journal and TOC alerts is far and away the top starting point. 
Temple Universities librarians are well versed on the many different databases and e-journal collections that offer TOC alert services, and can advise faculty on how to efficiently register for and set up the alerts. We encourage our faculty to take advantage of this valuable feature. As the study shows, TOC alerts are not only a great way to access scholarly content, but are also the much preferred way that faculty have discovered as the starting point for their “keeping up” regimen. For more information about getting started with TOC alerts please contact Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services.
With the addition of new carpets, new furniture and new computers on the first floor west of the Paley Library, the hope is that it will all stay looking clean and well maintained for the students of today and tomorrow. To facilitate this goal a new food and beverage policy was introduced at the start of the fall semester. The new food policy allow snacks of all types, but foods that are by nature messy or aromatic (think styrofoam containers of chinese food, cheesesteaks or pizza) are no longer permitted in the library. We do make an exception for the new cafe area; the messy and/or aromatic foods are allowed there. Beverages of all types may be consumed as long as they are in a closed container.
So far Temple students are cooperatively adhering to the new policy, and we are receiving positive feedback about the changes to the first floor west of the Paley Library. We appreciate that Temple students are supporting our efforts to keep this area clean and a place that everyone on campus will want to use. More information about our new food and beverage policy is available on our website, or you may contact Steven Bell to discuss the new policy.
Paley Library has added a cafe to its newly renovated first floor computing commons. The cafe provides a library space for students to socialize and eat, and also compute since laptops can connect to the wireless network anywhere in the Library building. What the Library cafe doesn’t have is a name.
We need our students’ help to find a great name for our cafe. To encourage participation the Library and Dining Services are sponsoring a “Name the Space” contest open to all Temple University students. We are looking for the best, cleverest or otherwise catchy name that has a book, reading or library theme to it. There is a great prize for the winner of the contest – an 8 GB ipod. Submit your entry to tudining@temple.edu.
On Friday, August 29, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Paley Library’s first floor was transformed into ceLIBration headquaters. ceLIBration is the Libraries’ annual Welcome Week extravaganza, and it welcomes new students to the Temple University Libraries. ceLIBration offers a fun opportunity to learn about the Library and meet the people who work there. With plenty of food and music, as pictured below, there is plenty of activity for the new students.
This year the turnout was great, and hundreds of students visited Paley Library to participate in the festivities. In addition to video games and quizzo, the Library offered Secret Cinema, a well regarded classic film event that is popular in Philadelphia. Many prizes and gifts were given away during several raffles. The Library once again held a Guitar Hero III contest, and several students turned out to try their hand at becoming our new Guitar Hero champion. This year Derek Burton, a freshman, emerged victorious with the highest score in two rounds of competition. Derek is pictured below showing his Guitar Hero skills.
