The staff of Temple University Libraries are excited about the start of the fall 2010 semester. We want to welcome all of our returning students back to campus, and we welcome all of our new students as well. Temple University Libraries has some new and exciting things in store for the fall campus, plus lots of interesting events for you to attend. Be on the lookout for our “Guide for Library Users” that will appear as an insert in the Temple Student News, and keep following our library blog throughout the semester.

You can also follow us on Twitter at /templelibraries and on Facebook.

On Friday, August 27 the Temple University Libraries held its fourth annual ceLIBration event in Paley Library as apart of all the Welcome Week festivities. The several hundred students who attended ate over 300 hot dogs, 400 cookies, 500 soft pretzels, 100 Jimmy Johns sandwiches, and more water and soda then we can count. In addition to the music and games, a highlight of ceLIBration was the Great Library Scavenger Hunt. Participants had to complete a series of tasks to find the answers to the questions, and in doing so they traveled to every corner of Paley Library.

The winners of the first hunt were Dion Trinidad (first place – shown below on the left), Dannielle Harrington (second place) and Laura Carione (third place). The winners of the second hunt were Katie Gensemer (first place), Kevin Chaya (second place) and Jennifer Cubbler (third place) – all three shown below on the right.

The Temple University Libraries thanks all the students who came out to ceLIBrate with us, and we look forward to a good fall semester. As always, we are here to help you succeed.

The Urban Archives Reading Room is undergoing improvements that require extensive renovations, scheduled to take place between May 3 and July 2. During that time, some services may be limited. Full services at the Archives will resume on Tuesday, July 6. We encourage you to contact the Archives ahead of time, at 215-204-8257 or urban@temple.edu, for the best possible research assistance. Ongoing updates about these improvements will be posted at http://library.temple.edu and http://library.temple.edu/collections/urbana, so check back for additional information.

The library offers a number of means for you to Ask a Librarian for research help and information. Besides visiting our service desks in the library, you can phone us, email us, and chat with us online. This week we introduce another way to Ask A Librarian: text messages (SMS). Now you can send us a text message with a question, and we’ll send a reply back to your phone or mobile device. Simply send your messages to:

We’ll do our best to give you as complete an answer as possible. Be aware, while you can send us messages during off-hours (late at night, early in the morning) don’t expect a reply until the morning working hours. (You probably know the drill, but: Standard text messaging fees may apply, depending on your service plan.)

Grab the October 27 issue of the Temple News, and you’ll get important information about Temple University Libraries along with your campus updates. Need to schedule a reference session with a subject specialist? Want to know how to contact librarians for immediate research advice? Need to bookmark links for journal searching versus the Diamond catalog? All of this information and much, much more is found in this concise, helpful guide. Pick up yours today!

Paley Library has 125 computers on its three floors, but up to now has had only two black & white printers on the first floor to receive all the printing requests. As a result, lines often form as students wait to print their materials. And for those on the upper levels, printing was an inconvenience. To help improve the quality of printing services in Paley Library an additional printer was added on the east side of the second floor. The printer is located near the existing photocopier and stand-up computers. Although the printer is on the second floor, any computer in Paley Library can print to any printer. So if a student finds a line for the printer on the first floor, he or she can go to the second floor to print their job. Every card swipe can release any job to a printer no matter what computer it originates from. The only exceptions are for the color printer and for those who need to pay for their printing. Color printing and paid printing may only be done on the first floor. We hope the addition of this printer will help to improve the ease of using Paley Library. If you have any concerns, complaints or suggestions about the printers please contact Steven Bell, Associate University Library for Research and Instructional Services.

Temple University Libraries’ subject specialists create guides to library resources for general subjects as well as for specific courses and assignments. Faculty should contact Subject Specialists to get more information on these. Here are the Subject Guides that are currently available.

Blackboard is a great place to make these guides available to students. View the Screencast below to see how easy it is to embed a library guide into your Blackboard course.

For more information, see Integrating the Library Into Blackboard.

Temple Libraries is pleased to announce a new service that greatly simplifies requests for library materials from other campus libraries and the Library Depository. When you search the Diamond catalog and you find a book or an article in a bound volume that is at the Ambler Library and you’re at Main Campus, for example, all you have to do is click on the request button at the top of the catalog record, login using your access net account, indicate where you want to pick the material up, and hit the submit button. It’s that easy. We’ve eliminated those cumbersome forms. Also, for articles in bound volumes, you will receive those electronically through your Temple email account. No need to come to the library to pick those up.

This service is available for all material that is currently requestable – that is bound journals from the Depository, journal articles in bound volumes, and circulating books. Books that don’t circulate such as reference books or books that are checked out or missing, may not be requested. This service covers material in the following libraries: Paley and Media Services; SEAL; Ambler; Harrisburg; and Health Sciences Libraries. If you want to request material from Paley, Media Services or SEAL your pickup location must be Ambler, Harrisburg, or the Health Sciences Libraries.

The screenshot below illustrates how Diamond now looks for books and journals that can be requested:

If you have any questions or concerns please call 215 204-0744 or email us at libcirc@temple.edu