Volume 9, Issue 1               September 2005               Northern State University               http://www.northern.edu/library

New Librarian Hails from the Lakes Country
Fresh from Fargo, Jennifer Jenness joins us as our new Technical Services Coordinator in charge of the processing and cataloging of the books, periodicals and other items you check out.
   Jennifer got her start in libraries at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota as a student worker. An English/Theatre major, she worked in theatre productions for several years before going back to libraries. She worked at the public library in Mankato, Minnesota for a year before pursuing her Masters degree in Theatre.
   A library career began to look like a good option when her children were born. Jennifer and her husband Jack were both working long hours on theatre productions, though not necessarily in the same place. Wanting a more stable environment for her family, she enrolled to get her Masters degree in Library Science.
   Jennifer is pleased to be here. Her extended family is nearby in the lakes country of northern Minnesota, and Aberdeen is a friendly place to live.

New Homepage Debuts
Our new Williams Library homepage makes its debut this semester. In response our annual library survey, several changes were made to make the homepage more user-friendly. Less clutter and a larger font make it easier to navigate to important links. Help functions have been included on every page, and different areas have been color coded.
   Featured prominently are Databases: by Subject and Web Pages by Subject which will help take the guess work out of where to start looking for resources. Also, if you are doing research from off campus, you can access databases from any Williams Library page that features them. Before you can start searching, you will be asked for your ID barcode number (2157…). Enter that and you are good to go.

New Databases Provide Increased Content
The American Chemical Society Publications database provides over 30 peer-reviewed publications, many of them full-text. The ACS provides searchable access to 3 million pages of original chemistry dating back to 1879.
   Over 12,000 titles are now available on NetLibrary. NetLibrary eBooks are digital full-text versions of books such as reference works, scholarly monographs, literature and fiction and 3400 publicly-accessible titles.
   In September, Sociological Abstracts will be replaced by SocIndex with Full Text. With increased content in Sociology and Criminal Justice, SocIndex has over 300 journals, 550 books and monographs and 6500 conference papers in full-text.

Welcome back to Northern!
We have a few changes at Williams Library, all for the better, including new databases, newer computers, longer check-out times for laptops, longer weekend hours and fresher faces. Come in to load your NSU ID card as a library card and bring it with you every time you come to the library.

Fall and Spring Hours
Mon-Thurs             7:30 am—11:00 pm
Friday                     7:30 am—5:00 pm
Saturday                10:00 am—5:00 pm
Sunday                   1:00 pm—11:00 pm

ERIC Announces New Database Content
ERIC is pleased to announce that the ERIC database is now being updated with new 2004 and 2005 education-related materials. ERIC has added 5,400 new bibliographic journal records (320 journal articles are available in full-text), and an additional 1,100 free full-text documents from publishers and organizations that signed new authorization agreements with ERIC this year. More agreements are in progress with previous providers to ERIC and newly identified sources of high-quality education literature. The ERIC database is updated weekly with newly acquired materials.
   The ERIC updates add more than 200 comprehensively indexed journals to the database, including titles from publishers such as Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, Baywood, and other distinguished publishers of education journals. Most of the newly added articles are peer reviewed. Peer-reviewed materials can now be easily identified by checking the new "Peer Reviewed" field in the ERIC Search Results.
   In addition to indexed journals, ERIC is recognized for its wealth of gray literature resources that are not included in other major databases. Gray literature originates from a wide variety of contributing organizations, including the U.S. Department of Education, federal, state, and private entities including: the Government Accounting Office, the Education Commission for the States, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Educational Testing Service, the Success for All Foundation, and the Southern Regional Education Board, among others. Submitted materials include research reports, conference papers, dissertations, literature reviews, and other documents in education.