Comings and Goings

Dennis Davenport, Library Technician in the Science Library, Research & Education Division, has resigned and has accepted a position off campus. In his 22 years with the Libraries, Dennis has worked in numerous locations, including technical services, the Agriculture Library, Mathematical Sciences Library, Facilities, and the Science Library. His last day with the University will be Monday, November 30. We wish him much success in his new position.

Michael Brewster has been hired into the Library Technician Sr. position in the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library, Research & Education Division. Currently employed in a STEPS position with Fine Arts, Michael will begin his regular position on Monday, November 23.

Zachary Young, currently a Library Technician in the Medical Center Library, has been offered and has accepted a Library Technician Sr. position in the Medical Center Library. His promotion will become effective December 7, 2009.

Spot Bonus for Michael Slone

Michael Slone has been awarded a spot bonus award for his recent work in Digital Programs. Michael works for Library IT, but is located in Digital Programs in order to support several projects currently under development including the National Digital Newspaper Program and the Daily Racing Form Archive. In the last three months, Michael has been key in developing a number of crucial technological advancements to better serve our digital library users.

• Created a program that enables Google to index our digital content. This has increased our stats by a factor of five. Where before we would receive 15,000 – 20,000 users a month, we are now achieving close to that on a weekly basis.
• Took over development of the Daily Racing Form/National Digital Newspaper Program microfilm evaluation and digitization tracking software which enable national release of the site in January 2010

Congratulations Michael!

Lyman T. Johnson Awards

Distinguished University of Kentucky students and alumni were honored with the Torch Bearer and Torch of Excellence Awards during the recent 19th annual Lyman T. Johnson. The recipients are honored for significant contributions to the university and the community. In an ongoing partnership with the School of Library and Information Studies, the UK Libraries selected James O’Rourke Sr. to receive the Special Torch Bearer Award O’Rourke (1913-1999) was the first African American graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science in 1957. You can see the full press release at http://uknow.uky.edu/content/torch-awards-given-alumni-association

Quarterly Reports Available

The division quarterly reports for the First Quarter (July through September 2009) are now available in SharePoint under Office of the Dean, Quarterly Reports, 1st Quarter. These are also posted on the Staff Information page.

ARL Statistics for 2008-2009

Judy Wiza has completed the ARL statistics submission. Here are a few details:

• volumes held – 3,784,382 – better start planning that 4 millionth volume celebration as celebrated the 3 millionth volume in 2003
• number of print serials was declined to 3,579 (down about 300 titles from last year)
• our total expenditures for last year (from all sources) were $21.7 million
• reference questions answered increased to 38,347 (the first time we’ve have a increase in a very long time)
• Circulation – both initial and renewal – continues to decline

Little/Gaines Artist Series Highlighted in ACE Weekly

The Little/Gaines Artist Series, planned and coordinated by Gail Kennedy and Lisa Broom-Price (Gaines Center), has been featured in a cover story in ACE Weekly. This new series has been very well received by the local arts community. Gail also notes that with two Louisville-based artists included this fall, we’ve been building some buzz up the road too. See the story at http://www.aceweekly.com/pdfs/uploads/s_Little-Gaines_Series.pdf

NDIIPP Named a Great Government IT Project

From American Libraries Direct

NDIIPP named a Great Government IT Project

Government Computer News named the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program October 22 as one of the top federal information technology projects of 2009. The award cited its success in working with universities and libraries to model distributed preservation practices, working with state consortia to help in the preservation of state digital information, and working with commercial content providers to develop standards for digital preservation....Library of Congress, Oct. 23; Government Computer News, Oct. 12

HP / University of Michigan to Reprint Rare Books

From American Libraries Direct

HP, University of Michigan to reprint rare books

In a retro twist on the Google Books idea, Hewlett-Packard has announced a partnership with the University of Michigan library to sell physical copies of over 500,000 rare and out-of-print works, while making the digital versions available online for free. HP’s BookPrep service will take in raw scans of books, clean them up to prepare them for reprinting, and then offer print-on-demand copies for sale via normal online book distribution channels like Amazon....Ars Technica, Oct. 25; Hewlett-Packard, Oct. 21

New Students and Technology Study

From American Libraries Direct

New students and technology study

Barbara Fister writes: “A new Educause Center for Applied Research study on students and technology has just come out and as usual, there are interesting findings. Nearly 90% of students come to college with a laptop now, and the percentage of students who reported using the library website daily has more than doubled—from 7.1% in 2006 to 16.9% in 2009.”...ACRLog, Oct. 25; Educause, Oct. 22

Rental Service for Research Articles

From American Libraries Direct

Rental service for research articles

Frederic Lardinois writes: “Buying a single article from a scientific journal is usually prohibitively expensive if you are not a student or teacher at a school that subscribes to the journal. Most academic journals are available only behind paywalls, but DeepDyve announced a new product October 27 that could radically change the marketplace for scientific, technical, and medical articles. Accounts start with a pay-as-you-go account, by which users are charged $0.99 to keep an article for one day, and go up to an unlimited account for $19.99 per month.” Article access is view-only, and printing is not supported....ReadWriteWeb, Oct. 27

Alexander Street's Streaming Music and Video to go Mobile

From American Libraries Direct

Alexander Street’s streaming music and video to go mobile

Electronic publisher Alexander Street Press will release a free iPhone application in early 2010 that will make its complete line of online music collections—including Classical Music Library, Jazz Music Library, and Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries—fully accessible on iPhone and iPod Touch handheld devices. With subsequent releases, patrons of subscribing libraries will also be able to access all Alexander Street video collections, such as American History in Video, Theatre in Video, and Ethnographic Video Online....Alexander Street Press, Nov. 9