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Grasselli Library &
Breen Learning Center
December 2008 |
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Director's Message
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Digital Media - Utilizing one of our best kept secrets By: Jeanne Somers
The library now spends 45% (approximately $500,000) of its collections budget on digital resources. Among the 50 private college members of OhioLINK, John Carroll ranks third in the number of downloads of OhioLINK content (i.e., actual uses as opposed to searches). This certainly suggests that, overall, JCU students and faculty are maximizing the investment we make in OhioLINK databases. The most heavily used research databases on our campus include the Electronic Journal Center, Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, ERIC, and PsychINFO. Resources that seem to fall into the "best kept secret" category (only 1.5% of our total downloads), however, are the images, video, and audio collections available through the Grasselli Library website. Most of these are included in the OhioLINK Digital Media Center (DMC); a few have been purchased or leased independently by JCU. All of the more than thirty collections of this type should be of interest to faculty looking for audio, video, or images to use - free from concerns about copyright infringement - in classroom instruction or as linkable content in web-based courses.
Those with the broadest appeal include the Digital Video Collection, which provides access to more than 3,000 educational films and documentaries; and the AP Images database containing over 750,000 photographs and a half-million audio clips dating from the 1880s to the present. More specialized and equally valuable resources include the ART Collection and Saskia Art History Images. Together these two databases provide access to 80,000 high-quality images required for the teaching of Western Art, examples of Native American and Inuit art, ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works, as well as Japanese and Chinese works. Foreign Language Video Instruction is a collection of video clips in which native speakers of Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish elaborate on a wide variety of topics about their culture, family, and daily life. The Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, one of the largest collections of recorded animal sounds in the world, contains more than 30,000 recordings of over 1,000 bird species.
All of this content can be temporarily stored for subsequent viewing, listening, or presentation; linked to Blackboard; put on electronic reserve; or printed to create handouts without fear of violating current fair-use guidelines. In sum, I hope that whether you are looking for an up-to-the-minute news photo, a timeless work of art, or simply longing to hear the call of the keel-billed toucan, these brief notes will inspire you to explore the "Images, Video & Audio" tab on the Grasselli Library home page. If you need help accessing or utilizing these collections, your library liaison would be happy to work with you.
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Antloga family provides library with a legacy of service
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Freshman Statistic |
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A recent poll indicated that 76% of JCU freshman have had formal instruction in avoiding plagiarism. Stay tuned for more facts on our student's academic experience and library perceptions. | |
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Spotlight on Circulation |
| By: Diane Williams
Some of the most widely recognized faces in the library are those of the circulation staff. Providing front-line service, the circulation department assists in smoothly running the library 100 hours/week. They are among the first to arrive in the morning, opening the doors to the JCU community, and the last to leave, securing the building each night. Their knowledge base and realm of responsibility stretch far beyond their primary function of managing the flow of materials in and out of the library. This is no small task.
Did you know that over 100,000 items circulate annually in the library (including laptops, scientific calculators, print reserve materials, and the like)? Grasselli library additionally provides access to a leisure reading collection, in partnership with Cleveland Heights/University Heights public library. Students are able to get a public library card at our circulation to take advantage of these resources.
Top 10 Grasselli books circulated in 2008:
- Attention deficit disorder: ADHD and ADD syndromes
- Darsan: Seeing the divine image in India
- Qualitative research and evaluation methods
- Solid state physics
- Introduction to probability models
- Frankenstein: the 1818 tests, contexts, 19th century responses, modern criticism
- Gender, race and class in media: a text reader
- Savage inequalities: children in America's schools
- Complete works of Plato
- Getting to yes - negotiating without giving in
In recent years, online access has slightly shifted the mode of book access, but our gate count has increased as students come to research, study, and utilize our group study rooms and computer lab. The circulation department's knowledge base has grown accordingly.
They also are responsible for maintaining patron records; stacks maintenance (including shelf reading and shifting); managing vending/copy machines, print reserves, and library fines (including billing and collection); library faxing; lost and found; Computer Commons lab (when lab assistants are not on duty); material relations with a commercial bindery; and miscellaneous projects that keep the library running smoothly. Some of these projects include moving furniture at the end of the day, security, re-barcoding books, and periodicals inventory.
The key factor to the department's success is providing excellent customer service to ensure Grasselli visitors a welcoming, professional atmosphere. They work well together as a team, with a goal of maintaining a calm, respectful demeanor to JCU community members and guests. The circulation team is comprised of 3 full time and 2 part time employees, along with approximately 25 work study students.
Staff member include:
Nancy Jasany, Circulation Unit Leader.  Graduating with a B.S. in Library Science from Bowling Green State University, Nancy spent over 30 years working as the school librarian at North Royalton High School. Coming to John Carroll in January 2006, Nancy brought with her a passion for libraries and commitment to excellent customer service. She gets much satisfaction working with the students and faculty in our community. Nancy is also very committed to her family and her local community. She has two children, the older of whom is a JCU freshman.
Adam Green, Circulation Associate. Adam graduated from
 JCU in 2002 with a B.A. in History and Political Science and worked at Petsmart before returning to his alma matter. Adam's love of reading and his organizational skills make him a perfect fit for the library. One of his favorite aspects of the job is shelving books. Adam especially enjoys reading science fiction, with his favorite book being Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. George Squirek, Circulation Associate. George is a 2002 CSU  graduate with a degree in Communications and previously worked in landscaping. His favorite part of the job is processing new books, as he likes being among the first to see what's new and interesting, specifically in history. He's been in rock bands for nearly 15 years and currently plays with a local band called Muttley. George has shared his musical talents with our community when he played at a library open house earlier this year.
Tia Pearson, Access Services Associate (part time). Tia is a
 2003 graduate of the University of Akron with a B.S. in Marketing and Advertising. She began work in libraries while in college, working in the law library, and currently also works at Cleveland Public Library. Tia enjoys working with our students and on special projects, such as helping incorporate the print journal holdings into the electronic in our A-Z list. Her zest for life is apparent at work and beyond, as she talks about her interests in sewing, home improvement, and theater. She is specifically a big fan of Tyler Perry plays.
Brad Negulescu, Access Services Associate (part time). Brad is the  newest member of the Circulation Department. He is a 2006 CSU graduate with a degree in Political Science and International Relations. He is currently completing his Master's Degree in History at JCU. He enjoys politics and once worked as a grassroots coordinator on a 2006 Congressional campaign. |
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Featured Resources: Where to Turn to from Word Histories to People
By: Cindy Lenox |
Graselli Library has several new resources that are authoritative and easy to use. One new offering is Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged. With more than 470,000 entries, it is the largest and most comprehensive American dictionary there is. Simply enter a word in the box. If an exact match is found, the dictionary entry will appear in this space. You can also choose from several different types of searches to find word histories, see examples of how a word is used, or solve word puzzles. Many thousands of words are at your command.
The World Book Online Reference Center is also new. It is an excellent way to start an inquiry with its easy-to-understand articles. As with the book version, there are excellent graphics that flesh out each entry. If you are looking up a person, try Biography Reference Bank, another new resource. It provides biographical information on approximately half a million people from antiquity to the present, along with thousands of images. | |
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Electronic Books
By: Ruth Fenske
Much has been written in the popular press - not all positive - about electronic books. Complaints often center on not liking to read books on a computer screen and the difference between curling up with a good book and curling up with a computer screen. This essay makes the case for using electronic books when only specific portions of a book are needed, as is often true in academe.
Let's say you want to find a dictionary of genetics. A good way to start would be to enter a keyword search in Carrolline on dictionar* and genet*. The * is truncation, which allows retrieval of all forms of the word dictionary and all forms of the word genetics. Several items come up, including the 7th edition of the Dictionary of Genetics, published by the Oxford University Press in 2006. One click provides access to a search box into which you can enter a term. The 2006 edition of this dictionary is available only in electronic form, so you would not have found it if you had browsed the reference shelves in Grasselli.
In early 2007 Grasselli librarians revised the Reference Collection Development Policy to state the following in regard to electronic reference materials:
"When everything else is equal, preference is given to the electronic form of any particular information source. In many cases, the electronic form provides anytime, anywhere access, which the paper form does not. However, if the functionality of the electronic product is inferior or if the cost is extremely high in comparison to the paper form, preference should be given to the paper form."
That means Grasselli Library is no longer buying the newer editions of some old favorites in paper form. As a consequence, browsing the shelves of the reference section in Grasselli may not be a sufficient means for identifying all reference material on any particular topic. Users now need to supplement browsing the reference shelves with the electronic equivalent of browsing the shelves.
Returning to the Carrolline entry for the Dictionary of Genetics, while in the full entry, you could click on the call number to see what other electronic and paper materials on this general topic are available through Grasselli. If there is no call number in the record, try clicking on the subject heading, which is, in this case, Genetics -- Dictionaries.
Perhaps you are a student writing a paper on women and Islam. You decide to start by looking in an encyclopedia having to do with Islam. Entering a keyword search on encycloped* and islam* in Carrolline results in 32 postings. Scanning through the results, you find there are three electronic encyclopedias having to do with Islam. One is the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. With one click, you enter the electronic text where you can view and search the table of contents, the back of the book index, and the full text of the encyclopedia. You can search Carrolline via keyword for islam* and women to get 247 results. You might decide to limit this search to just electronic materials by clicking on the Modify Search button and specifying the location as electronic resource. Twenty-eight electronic resources come up. (Please note that modifying the search to Material Type and ebooks does not work.) Some of the 28 postings are streaming videos and some are electronic books, any of which may be of use as you further define your topic and make an outline for your paper.
So, you can identify valuable electronic resource material by using Carrolline. Although OhioLINK librarians are working very hard to catalog all the electronic materials available to OhioLINK libraries, not all electronic resources are listed in Carrolline. In addition, although most electronic materials eventually will be listed in Carrolline, there are some that will never be listed. Prominent among these are the books listed in the Safari Books Online collection. Safari covers computer science, information technology, and related fields. Let's say a student is asked to do a paper about some aspect of open-source software. Entering a keyword search in Carrolline for open-source software yields 14 hits, some of which are electronic books.
After following up on these electronic books, the student could then find even more electronic book resources by going back to the Books tab on the library homepage, clicking on Grasselli Library Electronic Book Collection (under More Books on the left navigation bar), and selecting Safari Books Online. Entering "open-source software" in the search field yields 4228 results which can be further searched by subcategories presented at the left of the screen.
Checking through the other electronic book collections listed in the More Books section under the Books tab in Carrolline may also be useful for this and other searches. For instance, the Electronic Book Center lists thousands of electronic books from a number of top publishers of reference and scholarly books. Users are able to search the contents of the entire collection by subject; search for a specific book by author or title; search the table of contents, glossary, and index by subject; and browse through the entries for a broad subject area.
Yes, curling up with an electronic book is just not the same as doing that with a printed book. However, it's clear that Grasselli has many more resources than those available in print in the library. More and more, the most recent sources you find when doing a search in Carrolline will be in electronic form. Reading an entire book in electronic form still isn't the way to go, unless there is no alternative. However, quickly searching the table of contents, indexes, and even the full text of electronic books is certainly faster than paging through paper resources in the library. If you just need some quick information or you want to ferret out the detailed contents of a book, electronic is definitely the way to start.
For everyone, it is important to remember that electronic books are offered in addition to the many other resources available through Grasselli. Grasselli offers over 250 electronic databases. Many of these databases offer links to the full text of an article. Grasselli librarians are developing subject resource pages which point to paper and electronic resources for your use and to recommended Internet resources in each discipline. Reference librarians are available to help with searching for resources available through Grasselli by calling 397-4234 or by IMing JCURefDesk (our screen name is JCURefDesk in AOL, MSN, and Yahoo). For many topics, using electronic books and articles and high-quality Internet sources is an excellent way to get started. Given that I have convinced you that using electronic books is a good thing, the trick now is to remember that the best resources on any particular topic are not necessarily available electronically and that paper resources should not be ignored. A trip to the library is still worthwhile.
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| Newsletter Contributors:
Editor: Diane Williams
Proofreading: Karen Ketchaver
Photography: Chuck Zarobila
Distribution and Technology: George Leggiero
Writing staff: Ruth Fenske, Sheri Hoenig, George Leggiero, Cindy Lenox, Marcy Milota, Jeanne Somers, Diane Williams | |
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