Library News

New “Summit” Library System

Published May 8, 2013

Big changes are in store for Willamette University. Starting in June 2013 the movement from 37 to one begins. We are moving with our Summit partner libraries from 37 stand-alone library systems to one shared system to improve the research experience for our students and faculty and to better manage our resources. The popular library system you have used to search for information and borrow library materials is being replaced by a new, improved user interface which will make it easier for you to find the information you need and get the items you are looking for both here at Willamette and through Summit.

Willamette University is a member of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a consortium of 37 academic libraries across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The Alliance is the engine behind Summit but it is not the only initiative on which the 37 libraries collaborate. As a group, we are working toward unlocking opportunities that will help us to build our collections as a single collection, share services and resources, and exploit new technologies. This move from 37 to one will help us achieve those goals. Better managing our resources and creating efficiencies in processes will enable staff to focus on value added activities that will benefit our users and our institutions.

Because this is a big migration from many systems to one, it will take 18 months to get all Alliance libraries up and running. In the meantime, you will experience a hybrid system, with many of the advantages of the new, next generation system and a few remnants of the old. All the benefits of the new system will become operational when the last group of libraries goes-live. Willamette is one of the first institutions to move to this new environment, so our services may be a bit bumpy during the transition. Information on how to use this new interface (including use of mobile apps) will be coming soon!

We appreciate your patience and good humor as we move to this better, easier to use library system.

Find out more about our new system coming in June 2013, or go to our FAQ page.

Summer Hours 2013

Published May 2, 2013

The end of Spring semester and beginning of summer are upon us! The Hatfield Library’s building hours will also transition from finals hours to commencement weekend hours and then to our summer schedule.

May 1-2: 7:45 a.m. – 3:00 a.m.
May 3-7: 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 a.m.
May 8: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
May 9-10: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
May 11: Noon – 4:00 p.m.
May 12: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
May 13: Summer Schedule begins, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., CLOSED Saturday, Sunday and holidays

For the entire schedule visit: http://library.willamette.edu/about/calendar.php

Archives & Special Collections: Robert C. Notson Papers

Published May 1, 2013

The Robert C. Notson Papers consist of the personal and professional papers of Robert C. Notson, journalist, editor and publisher of The Oregonian from 1925 to 1975 and long-time Willamette University Board of Trustee member.

While at The Oregonian, Notson also served on various committees and boards. He was director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) from 1962 to 1968 and served as president from 1966 to 1967, during which time he had occasion to meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. He was President of Willamette University’s Alumni Association in 1930 and served on the Board of Trustees from 1931 to 1971 (vice president from 1958 to 1971), later honored as a Willamette University Life Trustee. He served as a board member of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association (APMEA) from 1959 to 1965 and he was a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center (UOHSC) after his retirement from The Oregonian. In his capacity as a Mayflower descendant, Notson was an active participant in both the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (GSMD) and the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Oregon (SMDSO), serving, among other roles, as deputy governor and program chair of the latter organization.

The collection also contains materials related to his involvement in the Society of Mayflower Descendants and scrapbooks of Notson’s life as well as scrapbooks belonging to his wife, Adelia (White) Notson, and daughter, Jane (Notson) Gregg, documenting their respective experiences while students at Willamette University.

More information is available at:

http://libmedia.willamette.edu/cview/archives.html#!doc:page:eads/2876/cpd/0/16/0

Digital Field Scholarship Outcomes

Published May 1, 2013

View a Video Recording of the event.

View Slides from the event.

For the 2012-2013 academic year, students at Davidson, Lewis and Clark, Muhlenberg, and Reed Colleges have been experimenting with digital field scholarship as part of the Lewis and Clark-sponsored Digital Field Scholarship Sandbox. In this seminar, faculty and staff from those institutions will share outcomes of the experience. Projects represented include:

Davidson College, Math Maps, https://sge.lclark.edu/dfs/project/geotagged-math-maps/. Directed by Tim Chartier, Associate Professor of Math. Students create geotagged math maps as a service-learning project in a course on Finite Math.

Muhlenberg College, Documentary Research Storymapping, https://sge.lclark.edu/dfs/project/documentary-research-storymapping/. Directed by Lora Taub-Pervizpour, Associate Professor and Chair, Media and Communication. Students in a Documentary Research Course create a collaborative storymap that aims to capture the human particularity of places in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Reed College, Carbon Field Studies, https://sge.lclark.edu/dfs/project/carbon-field-studies/. Directed by Kristen Bott, Instructional Technologist, with Julie Fry, Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Environmental Studies, and Chris Koski, AssistantProfessor, Political Science and Environmental Studies. Students use smart device geolocation and collaboration to place issues of carbon sources and sinks in a spatial context via the Digital Field Scholarship WordPress site.

Lewis and Clark College, Digital Field Scholarship Seminar, https://sge.lclark.edu/dfs/project/digital-field-scholarship-seminar/. Led by Dr. Jim Proctor, director of the Sandbox. Students are participating in an upper-division seminar, cultivating skills in geospatial fieldwork, analysis, and communication, and completing a variety of semester-long digital field scholarship projects.

This panel will describe how students in various disciplines have used mobile web-mapping for applied learning experiences and undergraduate research and discuss the learning outcomes from these projects.

Finals Hours, Spring 2013

Published April 30, 2013

You can do it!!! Your last push to the semester’s end. During finals week, the Hatfield Library is open extra hours to help students studying for finals exams. We’re open 7:45 a.m. – 3 a.m. with your WU card until May 7th if you need access to the library or printers. Don’t forget our new printer in the 24hr Fish Bowl. A reference librarian is available for research help until 10pm, and we put out cookies and coffee until they run out after 10pm if you need a brain food brake!

Here are the hours:

Sun, Apr. 28: 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Mon, Apr. 29: 7:45 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Tues, Apr. 30: 7:45 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Wed, May 1: 7:45 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Thurs, May 2: 7:45 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Fri, May 3: 7 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Sat, May 4: 7 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Sun, May 5: 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Mon, May 6: 7 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Tues, May 7: 7 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Wed, May 8: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Thur, May 9: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Fri, May 10: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sat, May 11: Noon – 4 p.m.
Sun, May 12: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Mon, May 13: Summer Schedule begins: Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. CLOSED Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

World Book Night 2013 Photo

Published April 26, 2013

Here are some photos from this year’s World Book Night. We hope those who received a copy of the book Glaciers enjoy reading it, and will pass it along to someone else after they’re finished reading it. Let us know what you thought of this book, and what you thought of World Book Night by commenting on this blog post or Facebook!

Two prospective students receive copies of Glaciers while touring Willamette.

Fun in the sun and World Book Night.

By the Mill Stream on World Book Night.

We posted a code word on Facebook to receive the book Glaciers, and within minutes someone someone came up to claim their “prize.”

These two friends agreed to take turns and share the book.

Really excited to get a copy of Glaciers.

Just coming from class and I got a book!

Students receive copies of Glaciers from librarian John Repplinger on World Book Night.

At the right place and time by Goudy to get a copy of the book.

Couldn’t wait to get a copy of this book!

Students by the Mill Stream listen to Glaciers being read to them.

A student in the Quad receives his copy.

The Cat Cavern was one place we stopped to drop of a book. Most people were outside by the Mill Stream!

The last copy of Glaciers finds its way home.

Better than Printing Tip #12: Condensing Photos and Image DPI

Published April 26, 2013

Condense your images. Shrink your photos or reduce Dots per Inch (DPI).

Large images can slow down your printing and waste paper on drafts. Here are some tips to help reduce waste and speed up printing.

Use placeholders for your images until your final drafts. Not only will it save a ton of paper but it can help you focus on the flow of the words and transitions.

Crop and shrink your image to 8.5 x 11 inches which is standard page size. Inserting an image that is larger will take up unnecessary space and will ultimately slow printing. http://www.photoshopessentials.com/essentials/image-resizing/

If you have high resolution images (DPI — dots per inch), save them at lower resolution. One way is to use Photoshop to change your DPI. Copy your image, then open Photoshop, and click File and new. A box will open in which you can change your DPI. We recommend 75 DPI. Photoshop is available on all campus computer labs.

Summit Upgrade Planned

Published April 24, 2013

The Summit request button will be temporarily removed from the WU Worldcat Local Interface Tuesday, April 30th from 11:00 p.m. until around 11 a.m on Wednesday, May 1st, while a system upgrade is being performed. In the meantime, users should feel free to request materials through Interlibrary Loan. After the upgrade is complete, the Summit request button will return. Please contact a library staff member if you experience any problems during this time. Thank you for your patience.

Ultracold and Ultrafast – A Story of Atoms and Light

Published April 22, 2013

Please join us for a presentation by Michaela Kleinert (Dept. of Physics) this Friday, April 26th at 3:00 pm in Ford Hall 102 – (Kremer Board Room). The title of her talk is: “Ultracold and Ultrafast – A Story of Atoms and Light”

Ultracold atoms and molecules are very cold indeed: At only about a millonth of the temperature of outer space (a few micro Kelvin), their internal and external motion becomes essentially frozen, and high precision studies of their quantum mechanical properties become possible. This leads to exciting applications ranging from the confirmation of the standard model of particle physics to quantum computers. In this talk I will introduce you to my research lab on ultracold rubidium and calcium atoms, and their molecular dimer RbCa.

I will also give you a glimpse into a much warmer and faster place: Ultrafast industrial lasers. These lasers can be used as “brute force” cutting instruments, but also as high-precision “scissors”. My lab just recently received such a laser. We are interested in studying the behavior of different materials as they are bombarded by high-intensity ultrafast laser pulses (so called ablation studies). Results of these studies have direct consequences for industrial applications of ultrafast laser pulses.