Printing Unavailable, Sunday March 16th
Printing will be unavailable Sunday, March 16th, to install needed upgrades to the Libraries’ print server and release station software. Printing will be available again on Monday, March 17th.
Visitors to the Libraries on Sunday should bring a USB flash drive with them to save any created documents or located research articles. UH students and faculty can save documents to their CougarNet "H" drive.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Student E-Book Survey
If you are a UH Main Campus student and would like to share your thoughts and experience of using e-books, you are welcome to take an online survey created by an e-book vendor (ebrary). All respondents will be entered into a drawing. The survey will remain open through April 11, 2008. More information about it is available from its FAQ page.
IEEE Xplore Unavailable 9 am to 1 pm, March 15
Due to technical upgrade, IEEE Xplore will be unavailable from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday, March 15th. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The Big Shift Is Coming!
The Big Shift
With new shelving available on the 7th & 8th floors of the Blue Wing, and a very healthy start on the high-density shelving system in the basement, we are ready for The Big Shift. Beginning Monday, March 17th, we will start realigning the collections of the M.D. Anderson Library.
The project is easy to explain, but difficult to achieve. We will be arranging the entire general collection into call number order, starting with the “A”s. We will move the “A”s and “B”s to the 8th floor Blue Wing, winding our way down through the floors and wings of the entire building, finishing with the “Z”s on the 2nd floor. No more call number runs jumping from floor to floor.
At the same time, we will relocate all of the library’s bound journals to the compact shelving in the basement, again starting with the “A”s. The bound journals will begin in the far southeast corner of the basement. As this takes place, we will be affixing new labels to all bound journals, clearly identifying them now, and for ease of re-shelving. The collection will wind throughout the basement, eventually ending just to the left of the stairs.
This is a process that will take a year or more. Things will be in a constant state of motion. Once finished, we will have a library with a layout that is easy to understand and with room for growth.
Updates will be posted regularly to keep all informed of our progress. If you have any further questions about The Big Shift, feel free to contact Paul Sharpe at (713) 743-9714 or by e-mail: psharpe@uh.edu
Library Catalog Unavailable on February 28, 1-3am
Due to server maintenance, the Library Catalog will be temporarily unavailable February, 28, 2008, from 1am – 3am. We are sorry for any inconvenience.
New Interdisciplinary Research Resources Available
Two new interdisciplinary research resources are now available from the University of Houston Libraries:
Aluka
It is an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa. The site includes scholarly materials from Aluka’s partner institutions including archival documents, periodicals, books, reports, manuscripts, reference works, three-dimensional models, maps, oral histories, plant specimens, photographs, and slides.
OpinionArchives
This full-text database contains electronic archives for journals of opinion, including The Nation, Commentary, The New Republic, Commonweal, NACLA, American Spectator, National Review, Harper’s Magazine, and The New York Review of Books. The OpinionArchives metasearch tool enables users to cross-search all archives.
If you have any questions about these new resources, feel free to contact your subject librarian.
Students Needed for Library Website Usability Test
Interested in a free lunch at Chili’s and a free T-shirt? Then help us by participating on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 in a Usability Study on the UH Libraries’ Homepage. Give us 20 minutes of your time and help us to improve the usability of the site to make life easier for you! Please contact Damon Camille at 713-743-9731 or dcamille@uh.edu to set up a time.
Wikis and Blogs 101 Workshop Canceled
The Wikis and Blogs 101 Workshop originally scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19 from 4-5pm has been canceled. There are plenty of other workshops available for students, faculty, and staff this semester. For a complete listing, visit the Open Workshops Online Schedule.
New Databases for Different Subjects
These five new databases are now available from the University of Houston Libraries:
Family Studies Abstracts
It includes bibliographic citations that cover marriage, divorce, family therapy, and other areas of key relevance to family studies.
Index of Christian Art
Based on the printed work of the same title begun at Princeton University in 1917, the Index of Christian Art is a thematic and iconographic index of early Christian and medieval art objects from early apostolic times to approximately 1400 A.D. While coverage is predominantly of Christian iconography, Jewish, Islamic, and non-ecclesiastical subjects are also covered. The database contains a portion of the index’s backfiles as well as all works cataloged since 1991. Entries include descriptive information, provenance, location and ownership information, bibliographical references, and, when available, a photographic reproduction of the work of art.
Peace Research Abstracts
It includes bibliographic citations that cover conflict resolution, international affairs, peace psychology, and other areas of key relevance to peace research.
Public Administration Abstracts
It includes bibliographic citations that cover public administration research, public administration theory, and other related topics.
Urban Studies Abstracts
It includes bibliographic citations that cover urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other related topics.
If you have any questions about these databases, feel free to contact your subject librarian.
New Web of Science Interface
Web of Science and MEDLINE (ISI Web of Knowledge) will have a new interface starting Feb. 3, 2008. Recorded training of using the new interface is available online.