Author Archives: carol

Preview our New Website

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Over the course of the last year, Temple University developed new graphic standards for stationery and publications, and new branding and navigation standards for Temple websites.

During the past summer we prepared a new University Libraries website in order to incorporate the new University standards and to improve navigability and content.

We encourage all users to preview the new website which is slated to go live and replace the current website on Friday, Augst 25, in order to be up at the start of the fall semester.

Our prototype site is located at http://brodei.lib.temple.edu:8080 

Library staff will continue to re-assess and work on the site after it becomes live. We intend in particular to look at use patterns, conduct useability testing, and continue to gather and consider comments from users and library staff. So we encourage you to review the site, begin to work with it, and consider what works and what might be improved or added.

Comments about the redesign should go to: web@library.temple.edu

Jonathan LeBreton,
Senior Associate University Librarian

Your Library in Your Hand

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Diamond, the online catalog of the Temple University Libraries, is now available through your mobile phone, PDA, or other small screen device (SSD). Say, “goodbye,” to those scraps of paper and stop hunting for pens that write (or a free computer). Now you’ve got your library in the palm of your hand! Just enter http://diamond.temple.edu/ into the web browser on your phone or wireless PDA, and click the “Text-only / AirPAC” link to check it out. Once connected you can search the library catalog from almost anywhere. Find a reference book without leaving your stuff. Renew that novel you’re reading while you’re in the coffee shop. Save your laptop for the hard stuff because seeing what we’ve got has never been easier at your library! — Byron C. Mayes, Head of Library Systems & Technology

Library Staff Awards Presented

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Staff Recognition Awards were presented to three library staff members on June 1st during a special Temple Libraries luncheon hosted by Larry Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries.

Award recipients were Maryann Collins, Confidential Secretary, Law Library; Jeanette DiPietrantonio, Clerk, Ambler Library; and John Goodheart, Evening Supervisor, Health Sciences Center Libraries. During the luncheon, the following library staff members of Temple’s 20 Year Club were also recognized.

New inductees: Theresa Davis, Special Collections, Paley Library Penelope Myers, Access Services, Paley Library Joanne D. Rempfer, Ambler Library Reached 35 years of service: David Dillard, Reference & Instructional Services, Paley Library Reached 30 years of service: Jeanette A. Dipietrantoni, Ambler Library Stephen E. Pavlo, Law Library William H. Stout, Access Services/Interlibrary Loan, Paley Library.

Maryann-Law.jpg Maryann Collins, Law Library, receives her award from Larry Reilly, Head of Reference at the Law Library Jeanette-PaleyLibs.jpg Jeanette DiPietrantonio, Ambler Library, receives her award from Larry Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries John-HSC.jpg John Goodheart, Health Sciences Center Libraries, receives his award from Mark-Allen Taylor, Director of the Health Sciences Center Libraries

— Carol Lang

Zahn Library Closing on May 12, 2006

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Zahn Library, located on the first floor of Ritter Annex, will cease operation at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 12, 2006. Over the summer, the materials in Zahn will be distributed to Paley Library and the Library Depository. Once the items are moved, their locations will be updated in the online catalog. During the transition, if you need journal articles from Zahn, use the intra-library loan article request form. Within 24 hours of your request (Monday-Friday), the article will be delivered to your email account as a PDF. If you need books from Zahn, use the intra-library loan book request form and you will be notified by email when the book is available for you to pick up at the location you specify. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this transition. Shirley Boyd, the Clerk at Zahn, will assume new responsibilities in the Urban Archives Department in Paley Library on May 15th. Additional information about the Library Depository: FAQ Temple Times article, April 27, 2006 — Carol Lang

Library Depository

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A number of changes will be underway soon with the completion this summer of Temple’s new Library Depository, a closed-stack shelving and retrieval facility.

Over the course of the summer, thousands of lesser-used volumes will be relocated to the Depository, thus allowing Temple Libraries to centralize a number of collections, expand services, and refurbish Paley Library’s stack areas with expanded study and collaboration space. Many research libraries are already using similar closed-stack facilities to preserve their growing research collections and open up space within the library buildings to meet the varied needs and expectations of contemporary students and scholars.

Materials in the Depository will be listed in the online catalog with a conveniently linked online request form. They will be retrieved by library staff and available within a quick turn-around time.

In conjunction with these changes, several branch libraries will close over the summer, providing the opportunity to expand services and reintegrate collections that have been split for years because of limited space. The Zahn Library’s last day of operation will be Friday, May 12, 2006, the last day of spring semester. Physics Library will be next, followed by Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematical Sciences. An exact schedule has not been set, but it is expected that the closings will be completed and the library materials relocated by the end of the summer sessions.

An FAQ with full details about the Depository and related services is posted on the library website. Advisories and progress reports will be featured in the library blog as the transitions proceed.

For more details about the Library Depository and the related changes, please see the Temple Times article published on April 27, 2006.

depository.jpe

Here’s a recent view of the construction underway as moveable compact shelving carriages are assembled. New photos will be added occasionally as work progresses.

— Carol Lang

Imaging Culture – Latest Exhibit in Paley

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“Imaging Culture” is the title and visual anthropology is the subject of the current exhibit on the main floor of Paley Library, from April 10 — May 31, 2006. Photography books, cameras, stereoscope photos and other items from the library’s collections and from the Visual Communication Laboratory of the Department of Anthropology are on display. The exhibit was designed to accompany the Mediating Practices conference held at Temple University on April 11-14, 2006 and was prepared by Anabelle Rodriguez Gonzalez, a Visual Communications student, in collaboration with librarian subject specialists Jenifer Baldwin and Gregory McKinney, and Tom Whitehead and Carol Ann Harris of the library’s Special Collections department. The Mediating Practices conference sponsors are Temple University’s Graduate School, The College of Liberal Arts, the School of Communications and Theater, the Center for the Humanities, and the Philadelphia Cinema and Media Seminar (PCMS). — Carol Ann Harris

Paley’s New Leisure Reading Collection

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Are you a mystery buff or a sci fi aficionado? Do you like to keep up with the latest bestsellers, both non-fiction and fiction? Do you love biographies? How about romances, self-help, and how-to books?

Or are you simply looking for a good book to read … to get away from it all? Paley Library”s new Leisure Reading Collection has it all!

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During National Library Week, April 3 – 9, Paley Library is introducing its new Leisure Reading Collection, located on the main floor of the library.

On opening day, the collection will offer approximately 1,300 titles, from New York Times bestsellers to Harry Potter. Within a few months, some 2,000 titles will be available. Thereafter, about 100 newly-published titles will be added each month.

“This is something that students, faculty, and staff have been asking about for many years,” says Larry Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries, “and I am delighted that we are now able to do it.” He adds, “We want to provide books for pleasure as well as for scholarship, and to be the Temple community’s home library in every sense of the word.”

Alford himself will be browsing the collection. “For myself,” he says, “I’m looking forward to keeping up with the latest mysteries.”

Keeping up will be easy. The collection is easy to locate on Paley’s main floor. The books have simple call numbers and are loosely grouped in fiction, non-fiction, and biography categories. They are also fully searchable in the online catalog.

The Leisure Reading books may be checked out for 4 weeks, with one renewal of 4 weeks.

— Carol Lang

Paley computer lab closing Dec. 17

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December 17th, the last day of the semester, will be the final day of operation for the 100-seat “Scholar’s Information Center” computer lab, which has been provided by University Computing Services for more than 14 years in Paley Library. This closure is part of the preparations being made by Computing Services in anticipation of the opening of the new TECH Center in January 2006. The space currently occupied by the computer lab will be returned to library use. As a first step, over 20 new library workstations will be installed, and laser printing will continue to be available. Additional plans are under development. Another 100-seat computer lab is located in Tuttleman Learning Center, adjacent to the library’s circulation/reserve area. Its 24/5 schedule of operation will change once the TECH Center is open in January.

Study Day Coffee Breaks in Paley

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Take a break! Free coffee, tea, cookies, and danish will be available in Paley Library on Thursday and Friday, December 8th and 9th, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The study day coffee breaks are sponsored by Temple Student Government, TSG Academic Affairs Committee, and Temple Libraries. Good luck on your exams! — Carol Lang