| SAVE THE DATE |
|  Dittman Research Paper Competition
The 9th Maria Dittman Research Paper Competition is accepting submissions until March 3. Cash prizes will be awarded to winners in three categories. More…
 RefWorks workshops: Jan. 24 (3:30); Jan. 25 (noon); Feb. 1 (noon). One-hour, hands-on training for maintaining your personal bibliography. More…
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| COLLECTION NEWS |
New E-Resources: continuing the migration to electronic resources, eight new databases were added during the fall semester, targeted for research in philosophy, theology, education, nursing, and IT, and broader, interdisciplinary interests represented by Francis and The New York Review of Books. More…
 Spotlight on ICPSR: Thanks to Marquette's membership in the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), students and faculty have access to over 450,000 data files in diverse subjects including sociology, education, criminal justice, health & aging, education, political science, and economics--ready for downloading to the desktop. An online tutorial answers most questions about using the data. More about ICPSR …
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| SPECIAL COLLECTIONS |
|  Marquette University Press will soon publish the proceedings of the October, 2004, Tolkien conference held at the Raynor Library. The volume, titled The Lord of the Rings 1954–2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder, edited by Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull, contains the twenty conference papers, as well as introductory material. The 400-page volume includes a detailed index and will be available in both hard and soft covers.
M Club Support for Archival Programs: The M Club Board recently approved a generous donation to the Marquette University Archives. The gift underwrites two significant projects: the reformatting of athletic videos to DVD (170 football games, and 220 men's basketball games), and the digitization of women's athletic photographs (1,000 images documenting women's athletics from 1975-2000). Thanks to the M Club, the University Archives continues to preserve Marquette's rich athletic tradition.
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| STUDENT LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE |
A group of undergraduate students was first appointed in 2004-05 to provide student perspective on library policies and services. During three fall semester meetings, the group suggested improvements in several areas: signage and navigating Memorial;extending mid-term and finals hours for Raynor's lower level;policies for access without IDs;and a reservation system for eight of the group study rooms on Raynor's 1st and 2nd floors. Members of this year's committee are: Sabahat Ali, Ben Banks, Shannon Gilroy, Kyle Hovanec, Ashley Kas, Katie Keefe, and Amanda Michel. Thanks, everyone!
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| FACULTY CORNER |
Turnitin reminder: Marquette has a campus license to this plagiarism detection service. During a 10-week period last fall, 57 instructors in 15 departments submitted almost 15,000 papers and lab reports to Turnitin. The Libraries' Turnitin page describes how to register for an account, create a user profile, and advise students regarding standards and sanctions. The Center for Teaching & Learning covers the service in their e-teaching certificate series. More …
Ex Libris, the Libraries' newsletter of recommended reading ( see the November issue ) continues to highlight faculty publications;please contribute your accomplishments via MU Writes to ensure the availability of archival copies.
 Students Digitizing Historical Photo Collection: Thanks to a unique partnership between the Libraries, Instructional Media, and History, students in Dr. Krugler's History 191 class are learning about public history by digitizing and cataloging a collection of 1,600 glass plate negatives and recordings made by Fr. Joseph Zimmerman, S.J., during his 1920s work with the Rosebud Lakota. More…
Mission Week: With contributions from many faculty, the Libraries' posted a resource guide covering this year's topics—Rwandan genocide, human rights, and the discernment of moral choices in our lives. More…
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| BY THE NUMBERS |
2 millionth visitor through Raynor's turnstiles—Nov. 15
2,163,898 visitors to Libraries' Web site Jan-Dec 2005
37,908 Information Desk questions (AskUs!) last year
25,793 books and AV items purchased last year
See more library Facts & Figures
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| NEW LIBRARY DEAN APPOINTED |
Following a national search, Janice Simmons-Welburn, currently associate dean at the University of Arizona Libraries, has been appointed dean of the University Library effective April 3. Since Dr. Burckel's year-end retirement, associate director Michael Pate is acting dean for the interim. More…
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| RESEARCH IQ RESULTS |
 A fall '05 survey to gauge the “research IQ” of first-year students netted 730 responses representing six Marquette colleges. The Information Literacy Assessment consisted of twenty-five questions covering five skills. The response rate of 40% was encouraged by advertised prizes, including an iPod Nano and two iPod Shuffles. The survey results are being used to create a composite profile of students' abilities, compared with two other institutions that administered the test last fall. Data will be used by librarians and teaching faculty to consider new methods of addressing performance issues and the enhancement of library services that target skill development. A full report will be released later in the semester, or inquiries should be addressed to Julie O'Keeffe.
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| TECH NEWS |
The classic mathematics software package, Maple (10), is now available on all public PCs in Raynor. SPSS, the popular statistical analysis suite, is now upgraded to v. 14.
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Laptop Availability: Thanks to student requests for the information, a new MARQCAT feature has been implemented to show checkout status and due times of the laptops. The 15 new laptops are available for 4-hour loan at the Memorial desk near the Bridge. More… |
Digital microfilm scanning: Based on the quality and popularity of the microfilm scanner which the library installed last year, we have added a new digital microfilm viewer-scanner. The new unit provides high-quality viewing and scanning for standard roll film, microfiche, and the very difficult microcards. The era of struggling to read ‘grey-on-grey' text is past! In addition, the unit can be used to produce high resolution scans of mounted 35mm slides and strip negatives. The ST-200 has a simple interface, has easy editing capability, allows direct conversion to Adobe PDF as an option, and has a variety of file saving options, including direct to a USB drive or CD. The two digital units now provide a wide range of options for dealing with formats which are not generally admired for their ease of access. Ask for assistance at Raynor's lower level Reserves/AV desk.
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| EX LIBRIS |
 Library staff continued to offer reading suggestions and other bookworld news. The November issue highlighted gift and holilday reading;the December issue highlighted books related to C. S. Lewis and his Narnia series.
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| STAFF NEWS |
 Maria Dittman: The Marquette community was saddened by the October passing of retired librarian Maria Dittman, reference librarian from 1970 until her retirement in 1996. During her tenure, she taught library research skills to thousands of students. Memorial donations ensure continuation of the research paper competition established in her honor. More…
Milly Mursec: Science librarian, Milly Mursec, retired in January after 26 years' service in the Libraries, most recently as a subject specialist for Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics.
 Interns: In 1998 the Marquette Libraries established a program for graduate students in UW-Milwaukee's School of Library and Information Studies. The one-year appointments allow on-the-job training with experienced department heads. The 2005-06 interns are Mark Lenker (MU 2003 PhD in Philosophy, Research & Outreach Services), Tiffany Wait (Outreach Librarian), Katie Blank (Bibliographic Control and Serials), and Virginia Heidenreich (Archives). Past interns' careers have taken them to such institutions as DePaul University Libraries, Dynix Corporation, Mercer University's Swilley Library, UW-Milwaukee's Golda Meir Library, the Southeast Museum of Photography, and the Clinton Presidential Library.
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| CREDITS |
Managing Editor
Susan Hopwood
Co-Editors
William D. Gagliani
Leslie A. Quade
Intern
Tiffany Wait
Graphics & Layout
Jim Lowrey
Photography
Steven W. Blackwood
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