Winter '07 News
Dean of Library Services Retires
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LaSSAL News
The purpose of LaSSAL (Louisiana Support Staff Association of Libraries) is to provide a network of continuing education for library support staff, promote ideas and communication among our members, and encourage professional development, thus enhancing their effectiveness in the library.
Several of the Prescott Library’s Support Staff have been active in the organization. During this past year, Mrs. Mary Shively served as Vice-Chair and Ms. Leah Clark served as Secretary-Treasurer. |
Mary Shively, Charlotte Lee and
Leah Clark (standing) |
In her role as Vice-Chair, Mrs. Shively planned and coordinated the Annual LaSSAL Conference in Ruston on September 20-21, 2007. It was a successful and well-attended event!
Recently, it was announced that the new Chair for the coming year will be our very own Mary Shively! Leah Clark will remain on the governing Executive Board and will be joined by Mrs. Charlotte Lee who was recently appointed to the position.
We are proud of their involvement and achievements in this worthwhile organization.
The Oral History of Mr. Edgar Lancaster
New to the SCMA department is a DVD, photographs and oral history transcript of the life experiences of Mr. Edgar Lancaster. Edgar Lancaster is a Louisiana Tech University Alumnus who played football as a student at Louisiana Tech. After completing his studies at Louisiana Tech University, he served in the military, earned a Law degree at Louisiana State University and served in the State Legislature as a Representative for 16 years.
Ms. Peggy Carter, the Head of Special Collections, had the opportunity to accompany Mr. Lancaster as a guest to the twentieth anniversary of the Louisiana State Archives along with his grandson, Will Lancaster. It was during this trip to Baton Rouge that she realized the contributions of Mr. Edgar Lancaster to our state in the course of his career in government and as an attorney in family law. Ms. Carter recalled, “When we arrived at the State Archives on November 28, 2007, Mr. Lancaster was more than just an invited guest, he was the distinguished guest received with honor by the Secretary of State Jay Dardenne; the State Archivist Dr. Florent Hardy along with other state officials.” In 1956 Representative Edgar Lancaster served as a State Representative when the State Archives and Records Act, Act 337 of the 1956 Regular session signed by Governor Earl Kemp Long, established the State Archives and Records Services as an independent agency under the aegis of the State Archives and Records Commission which is composed of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the State Auditor.
On January 14, 2008, Mr. Edgar Lancaster sworn in the new Attorney General of Louisiana, Phillip J. Caldwell, in the Inaugural ceremonies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
To learn more about Edgar Lancaster's accomplishments as a Tech Alumnus, his years in public service, his family, interests and the law practice he established and continues to practice today, check out the SCMA web page. A copy of the oral history along with photographs during his career is featured.
“Letters to a Revolutionary” . . . The Collected Letters of Colonel Israel Shreve
Special Collections, Manuscripts and Archives announces the Israel Shreve Revolutionary War Letters exhibit going on now until the end of April.
This collection contains the original writings of Colonel Israel Shreve, as well as his 1777 journal, an almanac from 1788, personal hand-drawn maps and other family items. The collection was donated to Special Collections by the great, great, great, grandson of Shreve, Mr. Coburn Allen Buxton, in 1971.
Shreve was born in 1739 in New Jersey and worked as a farmer in Burlington County before rising to the position of Colonel in the Continental Army.
On October 31, 1775, Shreve was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Regiment of the New Jersey Troops. A little over a year later, on November 28, 1776, he was promoted to Colonel for the reorganized line, now known as the Second New Jersey Regiment. Shreve and his troops fought several battles, including the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown. They also spent the harsh winter at Valley Forge with George Washington's troops.
This exhibit is shown in conjunction with the Alexander Hamilton exhibit currently underway at the Lincoln Parish Library.
The department of Special Collections, Manuscripts and Archives is located on the fourth floor of Wiley Tower.The department’s operating hours are from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
February Displays
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The library commemorated Engineers Week , February 17-23, 2008 with displays such as the one at left. |
Several February exhibits have been connected to the observance of Black History Month. Books and display boards with photos and names of notable Black Americans have been placed near the Library entrance to attract interest. Two websites that offer enlightening information on this important celebration are InfoPlease and The History Channel.
Fall '07 News
New Faculty News
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Meet our new Library Employees
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Searchpath Research Tutorial
Searchpath, an online research tutorial, is now available for use by Tech students. It is easily located from the “Tutorials” link under Library Instruction on the library homepage. It is an ideal resource for classes with introductory research components or individuals wanting to know more about how to use library resources for research.
The tutorial is comprised of 6 modules covering research-related topics. At the end of each module, a short online quiz is available to test the student’s recall of the material. The quiz is automatically scored and posted to a database, so Tech instructors can access the quiz scores online.
Any instructor interested in knowing more about how to use this tutorial with a class, please contact Rebecca Brantley at ext. 2992 or brantley@library.latech.edu. Instructors must be issued a password to access the database of quiz results.
The Winters Collection
A new book collection has been established in memory of two well-known former Louisiana Tech faculty members, Dr. John D. Winters and Mrs. Frances Locke Winters.
Mrs. Frances Winters served as Acquisitions Librarian for Prescott Memorial Library during the years of 1948-1984. She also held the position of Coordinator of Technical Services for a number of years and is responsible for providing much of the foundation for the library collection as it has evolved through the years.
Dr. John Winters held the position of Professor of History at Louisiana Tech University during the years of 1948-1984. He is well-known for his outstanding book, The Civil War in Louisiana, written in 1963.
Dr. and Mrs. Winters made significant contributions to the University. Both were enthusiastic supporters of the Lady Techster’s basketball team and the Drama Club. After Dr. Winters’ death, his widow established an Endowed Scholarship for the Department of Theatre in his name.
Books purchased as part of the Winters Collection will cover such subject areas as:history, drama, music, and literature. These books will be identified with a specially-designed book plate to honor Dr. and Mrs. Winters’ memory. This bookplate was created by Adrienne Hooker, a new member of the Communication Design faculty at Tech.
If youwould like to contribute to this collection, please contact the Office of the Library Director (ext. 2577) for more information.
The Acquisition of Scopus
After a year as a trial database, the Prescott Memorial Library is pleased to announce the acquisition of Scopus, a scholarly multi-faceted article index.
Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database. It was designed and developed with researchers and librarians for use by all levels of the research community.
It is updated daily and covers more than 15,000 titles from more than 4,000 international publishers and includes coverage of 535 Open Access journal, 750 conference proceedings, and 600 trade publications. The database offers 27 million abstract records dating back to 1966 and 245 million references added to the abstracts dating back to 1996.
Subject areas covered:
Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, and Engineering – 4500 titles
Life & Health Sciences – 5900 titles
Social Sciences, Psychology & Economics – 2700 titles
Biological, Agricultural & Environmental Sciences – 2500 titles
General Sciences – 50 titles
Scopus also covers 200 million quality web sources, including 12.7 million patents. Web sources are searched using Scirus and include homepages, university sites and other resources.
For online assistance in using Scopus visit their tutorials at http://help.scopus.com/robo/projects/schelp/tutorials/sc_menu.html
A brief PDF guide to using Scopus can be found at http://www.info.scopus.com/setup/promo/promo_material/docs/scopus_qrg_english.pdf
A Resource from the Department of Defense - STINET
STINET, the Scientific and Technical Information Network, is one of the Department of Defense’s largest source of scientific, research, and engineering information.
Public STINET provides access to citations of unclassified unlimited documents that have been entered into DTIC's Technical Reports Collection, as well as the electronic full-text of many of these documents. It also provides access to the Air University Library Index to Military Periodicals, Staff College Automated Military Periodical Index, DoD Index to Specifications and Standards, and Research and Development Descriptive Summaries. Full-text coverage generally begins in 1996.
The STINET homepage http://stinet.dtic.mil/ can provide you with more information on their resources or go directly to the STINET MultiSearch platform http://multisearch.dtic.mil/ to access military periodicals and other government databases.
NetLibrary VI Collection Purchased
The most recent NetLibrary collection has been purchased by Prescott Memorial Library. This is the sixth collection of e-books offered by Solinet based in Atlanta. The collection is projected to contain over 3,000 electronic book titles and should be available for use sometime in the Spring Quarter of 2007. This purchase will bring the number of electronic books available via the library to approximately 55,000 titles accessible both on and off campus.
Spring '07 News
Faculty Newsletter, Spring 2007
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Faculty Asked to Promote Library Survey
Prescott Memorial Library currently has a “Library Survey” posted on the homepage of the library website. In order to assess student needs and improve library services, all students and faculty are encouraged to participate in the online survey. Just click on the Library Survey link located under “Library News.”
Update on Searchpath Tutorial
The online library research tutorial, Searchpath, was operational during the Winter Quarter. Statistics on student and class use are encouraging as they indicate that over 450 students visited the site and 8 university instructors utilized some portions of it as a class assignment.The user survey attached to the tutorial indicates that 84% felt that the registration process was easy and 64% responded with “absolutely” to an inquiry concerning the user’s increased knowledge in locating research resources. When asked their preference in learning about research resources, over 50% prefer online tutorials alone, while 20% prefer a combination of online and librarian-led instruction.For more information about the Searchpath online tutorial, please contact Mrs. Rebecca Brantley, Head, User Services, Prescott Memorial Library, Phone 257-2992 or e-mail: brantley@library.latech.edu
GIS Software Available from Library
Prescott Library has links to Lincoln Parish GIS Online Maps as well as Landview VI, an electronic geographic reference tool which displays a detailed network of roads, rivers, railroads, and other key geographic features of the U.S. provided by the U.S. Geological Survey and other Federal agencies. Landview VI DVD can be checked out or used within the library. Lincoln Parish GIS Online Maps are provided by the Lincoln Parish GIS Office. These maps retrieve and view spatial data about Lincoln Parish, including school districts and soil types. Links to this software can be found under the heading “Maps” listed on the Prescott Library home page.
Library Supports "Focus on China" Series
As part of the university's quarter-long series, Shaping the 21st Century: Focus on China, the library had a window display during the months of March and April. Currently, there is a table display in the entrance of the library. The window display housed books and mementos from Caroline Leung Wai-Man, a Research Analyst and Demographer in the College of Business.
Check out Library Displays
May 6-13, 2007 is National Nurses Week, and the library has devoted the display windows to the celebration of the Nursing Profession. Books, photos and memorabilia have been gathered that focus on the past and present of this profession. Led by Norlyn Hyde, Tech Professor, local nurses are currently collecting care items for military nurses serving in Iraq in conjunction with this week.
Throughout the year, New Books are displayed on shelving near the Reference Desk.
