Please come to our new page, at http://www.wsmlpublicservices.blogspot.com, for an interactive, searchable forum on Library issues. Post your questions, comments and complaints ... learn what we are doing to address your concerns. Hear about new materials, resources and services. An RSS feed is available to notify you of new discussions. This blog came about as a result of the many comments and suggestions we received on our recent Public Services survey. We thought you might be interested in finding out about what we learned and the changes we are making to respond to your suggestions.
We have lost off-network access to one of our very useful databases, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT). It's possible for you to use it inside the Library, including downloads of full text. But for some reason, we are not able to connect to it off-campus by login. Our IT department is working on this and we hope to have it restored soon.
Here's an announcement from John Wilson, campus IT director : Starting Monday, April 14, you will need to use your copier “debit card” to print on the printer in the library computer lab. Paper will now be provided in the lab, however you will be required to run your debit card through the card reader in the lab at a print station in order to receive your printout. Print outs remain .10 per page. This change will help us hold down supply costs and is consistent with our other campus efforts to conserve resources and promote environmental awareness. We hope that this new method will take some of the pressure off of the trouble-prone document server in the Atrium under the stairs, and increase the chances that at least one of them will be working at any given time. For more information, see the WSML Public Services blog.
ATLA has notified us that the ATLAS database may be unavailable on the evening of Monday, 5 May, about 6-7 PM. They will be conducting routine server maintenance. We regret that this very useful resource will be interrupted during this work.
The William Smith Morton Library has just conducted a public services survey of RTC students, faculty and staff. Many thanks to those who took the time to participate. Each person who returned a completed survey form received a numbered coupon worth TEN FREE PHOTOCOPIES. Just bring your coupon to the Circulation Desk and we will add $1.00 to your copy card. In addition, every respondent was entered in our DRAWING to win a bunch of nice prizes. We used a random-number generator to choose the four people who won!
The ATLA has announced the addition of several valuable new journals to the ATLAS full-text collection. These are : Estudios Eclesiásticos, published by Facultades de Teología de la Compañía de Jesus en España; Family and Community Ministries (formerly Journal of Family Ministry), published by Center for Family and Community Ministries; Kairós, published by Seminario Teológica Centroamericano; and Reformation and Renaissance Review, published by Equinox Publishing. These additions bring the total of journals in ATLAS to 117, including the most important and heavily-used current titles in biblical and theological studies.
Our catalog sent out some obsolete and erroneous email circulation notices on Thursday, 21 Feb 2008, at about 8:30 AM. This is old information that should have been erased during our catalog conversion -- but these things do happen! We apologize for the confusion. Our recent catalog maintenance went extremely well, thanks to the outstanding efforts of Leland Deeds, our Librarian for Academic Computing Support. He overcame prodigious obstacles and got the job done ahead of schedule (thank you, Leland!). But every software upgrade contains new features and details we have not encountered before, and we are still in the process of finding all of these and bringing them into conformity with Morton Library practices. If you have doubts or questions about your account, you can view your own transaction information in our catalog by following the instructions on this page : http://gargoyle.unionpsce.edu/tutorial/CATALEARN/Pages/PageL.htm or by calling our Circulation Desk at 804-278-4310.
Our new Librarian for Academic Computing Support, Leland Deeds, has graciously agreed to assist RTC students, faculty and staff with their remote login to the Library databases. He will now be helping to maintain our campus proxy server. If you are affiliated with BTSR or STVU and you are having trouble connecting to the Library's electronic resources from outside the Union-PSCE network, please check with Leland to make sure your user ID and password are entered into our campus proxy server. You can contact him at 804-278-4217 or ldeeds@union-psce.edu.
We have now added a comprehensive, searchable database of the works of theologian Karl Barth in German. A refined search interface allows you to locate specific terms or passages in Die kirchliche Dogmatik or the first 36 volumes of his Gesamtausgabe, including hundreds of letters, sermons, lectures and articles. Some treatises and personal papers are also available on the site in English translation (more in English is to be added soon). You will find the English materials under "Other Writings." To access this resource online, click HERE.
The ATLA Religion Database now offers you the option of viewing a full-text article in a high resolution PDF file. You can easily adjust the size of viewing on screen, to read the text more comfortably without any loss of image quality. You get far better legibility when you print these new PDF files, without any wasted pages. And, you can use the search capability of PDF to find a specific term in the text of the article itself, not just in the bibliographic record. You do this by clicking on the tiny icon that looks like a pair of binoculars. The ATLA-RDB interface never offered these features before. These improvements represent a substantial advance in the usability of this extremely valuable database. We encourage you to experiment with it, and if you need any asssistance, feel free to contact our Reference Librarian, Paula Skreslet, at pskreslet@union-psce.edu or 804-278-4333.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses or PQDT is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses (also known as Dissertation Abstracts). It is the database of record for graduate research, with over 2.3 million dissertations and theses included from around the world. The Morton Library now subscribes to the Humanities and Social Science subset of this database. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word searchable abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1861, and more than 60,000 new citations are added to the database every year. Use the "Advanced Search" screen to comb through this large data set efficiently. Once you have selected records you want to keep, you can email or export them already formatted according to a variety of citation styles, such as Chicago 15 or MLA. In many cases, PQDT provides previews of dissertations and theses : you can download the first 24 pages of the dissertation, look at the Table of Contents and the first few pages of the introduction, in order to determine whether the work fits your needs. Over 1.9 million dissertations and theses are available from the UMI vaults on microfilm or in hardcopy, and more than 925,000 are available for purchase as a download in PDF format. To access this resource online, please go to our Online Databases page.
Because of recent changes in the Union-PSCE website, we are having some trouble with our Interlibrary Loan online form. We are able to receive ILL requests through our online form, and if you send one, your information will reach our ILL Librarian by email. You will see an acknowledgement online, stating that your request has been sent. But you will NOT receive a copy of your request by email, as the system is supposed to do. Our system administrators are working on this problem and we hope to have this feature restored soon. The ILL form is reached through our Morton Library catalog; for instructions on accessing and using this form, click HERE. You can also use the paper forms here in the Library, found on the window ledge outside the office of our Serials and ILL Librarian, Pam Wells. If you have any questions, please contact Pam at 804-278-4325 or pam@union-psce.edu.
Gale has notified us that they are having some engineering issues with their online products. The Gale databases we subscribe to are : Academic OneFile, Biography and Genealogy Master Index, Expanded Academic ASAP, Associations Unlimited, the Literature Resource Center and MLA International Biography. These are working, but may experience interruptions.
We have had trouble lately getting access to a set of 16 electronic journals provided by a certain vendor, apparently due to a firewall problem. Three of these journals are needed for fall term classes, so we want you to know that access has been restored. You ought to be able to login for off-campus access to Religious Education, the British Journal of Religious Education, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, and all of the other journals from this vendor. If you continue to have problems with access, please contact the IT Helpdesk or the Reference Librarian. A completely new capability has just been added to the version of the American Theological Library Association Serials collection known as ATLAS for Alumni/ae. This program now includes full-text searchable PDFs, allowing you to do keyword searching in the body of the article itself, not just in the bibliographic record for the article. This means you can find, for example, all of the articles published in the journal Religion and American Culture that mention the term "ecumenism." You can combine the traditional search fields, such as Journal Title, with the new full-text keyword searching to achieve this result. You can choose to download the original scan (this is usually much faster) or the complete high-resolution PDF for printing or reading online, with zoom capability and very high image quality. Also, you can highlight the term you were searching for within the text and go straight to the places in the article where the word appears, by using the PDF "search within the document" feature (click on the button showing a little pair of binoculars on the PDF toolbar). This is an amazing breakthrough in the functionality of the ATLAS program and its ability to deliver journal articles in full text. In addition, the ATLAS database now contains over 100 theological journals in full-text digital form, comprising over 200,000 articles! These milestones are indicative of the strong commitment of the ATLA to improving and expanding this valuable product. If you need help accessing the ATLAS for Alumni/ae program, please contact Paula Skreslet, our Reference Librarian.
We have just installed a new RICOH photocopier in the atrium, under the stairs. This machine will now be the primary printer associated with the four Reference Room computers. It will no longer be necessary to send a print command to the Circulation Office, then go there and pay for these pages. You will be able to send your print command to the RICOH copier's "Document Server," then pay for them using your plastic copy card. Detailed instructions for using this new machine are provided next to each of the Reference Room computers.
We are now using a new method of providing research help anywhere, round-the-clock, with web-based instruction in the use of our Library's catalog and databases. New video tutorials offer you animated lessons with voice narration, showing how to conduct some of the most common searches and operations you need for research. We already have detailed text tutorials available to help you figure out how to use our catalog and databases. These text tutorials will continue to offer the most detailed and comprehensive information. But if you prefer to listen to audio instructions and watch a demonstration, you may benefit from viewing these short animated lessons. Click HERE to go to the Morton Library Catalog Video Tutorials page. If you have any suggestions or comments that might help us improve this service, please share them with Paula Skreslet, our Reference Librarian. Thank you!
Beginning 1 Feb 2007, drinks in covered containers with spill-proof tops will be permitted in the Library on a trial basis. This includes travel mugs or Nalgene water bottles with spouts; it does not include soda cans or water bottles with twist caps. Drinks will NOT be allowed in the Rare Book Room, the Multimedia Classroom or the Computer Lab. If there is an increase in spills or rubbish in the Library, the policy will be discontinued. Please help us by policing your own behavior. Also, please recognize that food of any kind is still prohibited anywhere in the building, with the exception of Library-sponsored and supervised events.
We have added seven new full-text resources to our Electronic Journals page. They are : Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses, Currents in Biblical Research, Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, Studies in Christian Ethics, and Theology and Sexuality. This brings the total of periodicals on our Electronic Journals page to 143. These journals are provided in addition to the full-text information available to you through the ATLA Religion Database and the ATLAS collection (another 80+ titles).
Two new searchable electronic programs have been added to several of the computers in the Reference Room and the downstairs Computer Lab in the Library. The Annotated Version of the Book of Order includes jump links to Permanent Judicial Commission Decisions 1983-2005, the advice of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution 1984-2004, General Assembly authoritative interpretations, and Earlier References (citations from predecessor churches). The Handbook for Stated Clerks is produced by staff in the Office of the General Assembly with extensive input from the staffs of several General Assembly Council Units. It is a manual for stated clerks, executives or other governing body staff with administrative responsibilities.
The American Theological Library Association has announced the addition of 10 new journals to its periodicals index, the Religion Database or RDB. They are : Ars Disputandi (Roquade), Black Theology (Equinox), Bulletin for Biblical Research (Eisenbrauns), Congregations (Alban Institute), Dao (Global), Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions (Brill), Journal of Religion & Film (University of Nebraska), Journal of Religion and Society (Creighton University), Philosophia Christi (Evangelical Philosophical Society), and St. Tikhon's Theological Journal (St. Tikhon's Seminary Press). These additions add depth in some new areas and will increase the value of this very useful research database.
The ATLA has also added nine new titles to its full-text serials resource, ATLAS. The new titles are : Biblical Interpretation (Brill), Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society, Cuadernos de Teológia (ISEDET), Journal of Religious Thought (Howard University), Lutheran Quarterly, Presbyterion (Covenant Theological Seminary), Reconstructionist (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College), Religion East & West (Institute for World Religions), and Word & World (Luther Theological Seminary). The content of these journals will now be available in full-text electronic form when you use the ATLA-RDB or when you access them through ATLAS.
A greatly expanded and updated version of the electronic exegesis tool BibleWorks is now available on several computers in the Reference Room and downstairs in the computer lab. This complex and powerful program contains the searchable Greek and Hebrew texts of Scripture in several different versions, the Septuagint, Tanakh, Peshitta and Targumim, scores of Bible translations into European languages, the full contents of several important lexicons (such as Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich and Brown-Driver-Briggs), Metzger's textual commentary, several grammars, and many related texts from the Greek apostolic fathers, Philo, Josephus, etc. For a fuller description see http://www.bibleworks.com. The program includes very extensive online help files and a "Getting Started" guide -- even animated help video tutorials with sound. Please bring your own headphones to the Library to listen to the video helps.
We are now able to offer you an alternative method for retrieving information from our Morton Library catalog and databases : a metasearching instrument called MetaLib. It provides a simple interface through which you can search any combination of information sources at once. To access the new program, choose MetaLib from our Library home page, or click HERE. To reach the new tutorial that explains how to use MetaLib, choose Tutorials from our Library home page, then choose Tutorial for the MetaLib metasearching program. Or, click HERE.
It is now possible to complete an electronic Interlibrary Loan request form and send it directly to our Serials and ILL Librarian, Pam Wells (278-4325; pam@union-psce.edu). This convenient new service is authorized for students, faculty and staff of the three RTC institutions who reside in the Richmond area. Before requesting an item, please be sure to search our catalog to determine whether the material you need is in our collection. First, login to our Morton Library Catalog. Enter the barcode number on the back of your library card, and your PIN (the first three letters of your last name). Then, click the Log On button. To reach the ILL form, click on the word ILL in the upper right corner of the search screen.
Complete the form, following the on-screen instructions. There is also a link on the form to our ILL FAQ page, providing detailed information about interlibrary loan policies and procedures. We hope this new capability in our catalog will prove useful to the RTC community.
Because of our subscription to the Minister's Annual, we are entitled to use the searchable, full-text Children's Sermon Index offered by Logos Productions. You may use this service if you are a student, alumni/ae, faculty or staff of an RTC institution. The interface allows you to search for children's sermons by season of the church year (Easter, Advent etc), keyword/theme, or Scripture passage. Go to http://www.logosproductions.com and choose Online Subscriptions from the menu on the left side of the page. They will ask you to register, and when you use the service thereafter they will ask you to login using the email address and password you give them. In addition, there is a one-time activation code. To learn the activation code, please contact our Reference Librarian.
When you do a search for materials in the Morton Library catalog, you may wish to choose some of the records to print, email to yourself, or save on a disk or PC. We have designed a new save format especially for the Morton Library, which includes the bibliographic information you are likely to want to keep. It's called OPAC Format, and it includes the call number, author, title, series title, publisher, date of publication, subject headings, and abstract or contents notes (if there are any in the record). For a detailed explanation of how to save your search results, please see our Morton Library catalog tutorial. There are step-by-step instructions, examples and illustrations to help you.
We are happy to announce that we are now able to extend the circulation privileges of RTC faculty and Ph.D. or D.Min. students. These patrons will be allowed an initial borrowing period of 120 days, and then one renewal period. For additional information about circulation, please consult our online Library Orientation Manual. |
