Ohio University Libraries News and Events

The libraries currently have access to a database called National Newspapers (formerly Newspaper Abstracts) until 7/31/04. This database provides indexing for 27 major newspapers, including the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Coverage varies, but generally goes back to the 1980s, with the exception of the Chicago Tribune, with coverage dating to 1974.

To access the trial:
1. Point your browser to http://proquest.umi.com/login
2. Click on the “Databases selected” link near the top left part of the page
3. Uncheck all boxes except the one for National Newspapers
4. Click on the “Continue” button at the bottom of the screen

NOTE: During this trial period, accessing the Wall Street Journal Online database from InfoTree will require the same database selection process.

Please email your comments to Diana Nichols at nicholsd@ohio.edu

Many books come back to the Library’s shelves at the end of each quarter. At the end of the Spring quarter all borrowed books, if not renewed, will be due for return.

As a convenience to borrowers, Alden Library offers a Book Return slot near the fourth floor entrance which may be used at any time. However, due to the current renovation construction, a Book Return at the second floor is not available.

As a special service this quarter, the staff at the Library Annex will be accepting returned library books from Tuesday, June 1 until Friday, June 11. The hours for returning books at the Annex are 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily, including Saturday and Sunday. The Library Annex is located at 205 Columbus Road; it is a two-story brick building on the north side of the street. Parking is readily available.

The Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University presented eight awards and announced three scholarship recipients at the organization’s 25th Annual Meeting on May 26, 2004.

Life memberships, the group’s highest honor, were awarded to Ohio University President Robert Glidden and Rene Glidden, librarian Anne Braxton (the group’s first Executive Secretary), and library benefactors Sydney and Sonya Buck of Newport Beach, CA. Awards for individual support were presented to Joe and Lynda Berman, Jean Fieler, and Ruth Nybakken, all of Athens County. Awards for group support were given to the Residents Action Council (tRAC) and the Akron Association of Ohio University Women.

Three student assistants in Alden Library received Friends Scholarships for the upcoming school year. The recipients, announced at the meeting, are Breanne Grooms, Courtney Karikas, and Rudi Sukandar. Grooms, from Delaware, OH who works in the Administrative Office, is a freshman majoring in Sociology/Criminology. Karikas, a junior majoring in Hearing and Speech, is from Columbus and works in the Alden Library stacks. Sukandar, a graduate student in Communication Studies from Indonesia, works in the Center for International Collections.

In other business the Friends of the Libraries elected Lois Gerig to a two-year term as president, Arthur Marinelli to a two-year term as vice president, and Tere Frost, Judge Robert W. Stewart, and Prof. Emeritus Arthur Wooley to three-year terms as directors. Prof. Joan McMath, College of Education, and Prof. Betty Pytlik, English, completed terms as directors. The Friends also announced a final installment payment of $10,000 for a Friends Study Room in the new Learning Commons in Alden Library as this year’s annual gift to the Libraries. The Friends group has contributed $18,500 toward the project and has raised a grand total of nearly $25,000 with additional private donations.

The Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University was formed in 1979 with the purpose of strengthening the Libraries, enhancing their collections, and promoting their usefulness. The group has raised more than $250,000 for operations, gifts, and scholarships in support of the Ohio University Libraries since its establishment.

The Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University will present eight awards, announce three scholarship recipients, and present the group’s annual gift to the Libraries at the organization’s 25th Annual Meeting on Wednesday, May 26, 2004. The meeting will begin at 3:15 in the Friends of the Library Room (Alden Room 319).

The awards will include Life Memberships, the group’s highest award, to three recipients, plus three awards for Individual Support and two awards for Group Support. The Friends Scholarships will go to three students currently working as student library assistants. This year’s gift will complete installments toward payment for a Friends of the Libraries group study room in the new Learning Commons on the second floor of Alden Library scheduled to open this fall.

The Friends will also elect two officers and three directors for the Friends board of directors. Foillowing the business meeting Betty Hollow, author of Ohio University, 1804-2004: The Spirit of a Singular Place, will give a talk on “Creating a Bicentennial Book.”

The Libraries currently have access to a database called HeinOnline on a trial basis. HeinOnline consists of four collections:

Law Journal Library Collection

Comprenhensive coverage of law journals, some dating back three centuries

Federal Register Library Collection

Covers the U.S. Federal Register back to its inception in 1936.

Treaties and Agreements Library Collection

Provides full-text searching of treaties, including the official United States Treaties and Other InternationalAgreements (blue set), Treaties and International Acts Series (TIAS), and other treaties obtained through Freedom of Information Act as well as many historic compilations such as Bevans’s, Malloy’s, and Miller’s.

U.S. Supreme Court Library Collection

Includes all preliminary print vols and slip opinions (for Depository
Libraries, distribution of the preliminary vols and slip opinions have
been discontinued, but are available in this set).

You can connect to the site at heinonline.org.

The trial period for this database ends on June 15. Please send your comments on this databse to Kent Mulliner at mulliner@ohio.edu or Eileen Theodore-Shusta theodore@ohio.edu by that date.

The Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University will hold a Spring Book Sale on Friday- Saturday, May 14-15, with a pre-sale beginning Thursday evening May 13. The event is open to the public and will be held in the Friends of the Library Room (Alden Library Room 319).

The hours on Friday are from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; the Saturday hours are are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Most books in the sale are $1 each. After 1 p.m. on Saturday there is a “bargain bag” feature where prices are reduced to $3 per plastic bag

The pre-sale will run from 7 – 9 p.m. Thursday. During the pre-sale the price on items is doubled and there is a limit of 50 items.

For more information call George Bain at 593-2713.

Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee, Director of the Library of Congress Asian Collections, will present a lecture on the research materials on Asia available at the Library of Congress.

The talk is entitled “The Rich Resources for Area Studies in the Asian Collections of the Library of Congress”. The lecture will be held in the Friends of the Library Room, 3rd floor, in Alden Library on Monday May 10 at 4pm.

Dr. Lee served as Dean of the Ohio University Libraries from 1978 until 1999.

The Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University are sponsoring the 7th annual Readathon on Tuesday-Wednesday, May 11-12. The two-day event will be held at the Howard Park site east of Baker Center.

The kick-off for May 11 will be a reading of the US Supreme Court opinion in the historic Brown vs. Board of Education case, done by Carolyn Bailey Lewis, the director of the Telecommunications Center. Her reading will start at 8:45 on Tuesday morning.

“This is an event the Friends hold annually to celebrate the importance reading has in the university and the role the Libraries have in providing reading resources,” states Lois Gerig, president of the Friends. “We are excited about the exposure the new Howard Park location will give the event this year.”

“We welcome a number of new groups who will be joining many returning groups,” states event coordinator Professor Greg Kremer, of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. “We enjoy the manner by which academic and community groups join together during these two days.”

Kremer expects approximately 75 readers will participate. New campus groups will include the Arnold Air Society and the Collegiate Middle Level Association (CMLA). New community groups include the Athens Near Northside Neighborhood Association and the Athens County Court Appointed Special Advocates office. Monies raised through donations in support of readers goes into the Friends of the Libraries Scholarship Fund.

Athens Mayor Ric Abel will kick off the second day, Wednesday, May 12, at 9 a.m. The concluding reader at 5:45 on Wednesday will be library student assistant Jillian Lewis, one of this year’s recipients of the Friends of the Libraries Scholarships. Here is the schedule of groups and readers.

The event will be under a tent at the Howard Park site. Refreshments will be provided and participants and readers may register for door prizes. The program is open to the public.

The event is supported by donations from the Ohio University Credit Union, Laughlin Vending Service, Pepsi Cola Bottling Co. of Athens, and the Hayes Family/Bedrock Rental.

Students working part-time are integral to the University Libraries’ operations. They do a variety of tasks, such as tracking materials ordered and received, scanning journal articles for electronic use, answering information queries, creating web pages, repairing damaged items, planning book displays, book check-out, and shelving of materials.

The Libraries recently honored its student employees during a cookout held on the north terrace of Alden Library, with seating in Wolfe Gardens. Many of the student employees in attendance also received door prizes.

“The Library’s ‘Student Employee Recognition Day’ is held annually to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of student employees,” said Annette Talbert, who works in circulation and stacks management. “We cannot reward them with money and we all know food is the next best thing for college students on a limited budget,” Talbert said.

The time clocked by student employees enables the Libraries to operate 100 hours a week, to maintain collections, and to provide their many services. Student employees play a vital role in the library. “We do not have the full-time staff to accommodate these services without the assistance of our student employees,” Talbert said.

The day of recognition is an opportunity for all library staff to acknowledge and say “thank you” for the service of student employees. ##