Faculty/Staff Library Newsletter

In this issue:

Library Renovation Updates  

 Alert! Large Reference Room books
Construction is coming to the Large Reference Room once the semester ends, and this area will be completely closed for the spring. Impact to the two book collections in this room, however, is happening sooner.

• The Earhart Collection is now unavailable. These books have been boxed up and moved to offsite storage for the remainder of construction. However, select items have been put out on display. These are listed in the catalog and Discovery as “Buhl – Display” and can be found in the new reference reading room on the lower level.
• The Reference Books in the Large Reference Room will be moved into the new reading rooms on the lower level, probably starting late this semester. These books will remain available for use.

Active construction areas
Work in the first floor stacks continues, currently focusing on electrical upgrades ahead of carpet installation in another week. Please continue to use the 1st floor stacks book paging form to request books from this floor. Work is also progressing on the new staircase, which may be open by the end of the semester. During a pause in construction library staff left their mark on the steel beams.

Another active area of construction is behind closed doors at the back of the new reference room on the lower level. This will be the future home of the library’s new neighbors: the Academic Resource Center and the Registrar’s office.

Mural
If you haven’t seen it, check out the mural brightening the library lobby that went up just before Homecoming. Located on the temporary wall by the photocopiers, the graphic incorporates several renderings of the new library spaces to come. But check it out soon, because this wall will hopefully be coming down in December!

New! Swank Digital Campus  

Exciting News! Buhl Library now offers access to 26 streaming movies through Swank Digital Campus. This collection is small but mighty. It includes some extremely popular films and documentaries—in fact, 3 of our 4 most popular DVDs now have a streaming alternative! These films have been acquired primarily to support assignments in several classes, but we all benefit; they are available to everyone in the GCC community for educational use. You can access through your GCC-issued laptop (if you are off-campus be sure to use the global VPN). Movie night back in the dorm just got better and easier!
 

Click here for more information on access and acceptable use and to visit the Swank platform in order to browse titles.

Other Database News  

IPA Source

A new resource for vocal students!

IPA Source can help you with pronunciation, diction, and understanding of a large range of foreign language musical texts. Here you will find the text, phonetic transcription, and word-for-word translation of over 15,000 arias, art songs, and liturgical texts in French, Italian, German, Spanish, English and Latin.

Passport

Updated interface!

Passport, a database useful for market research and industry profiles, recently updated its interface. It now offers a cleaner homepage with a new design that makes pathways to data and analysis easier to locate and brings dashboards together in a single location. A brief video tour demonstrating the new interface is available here..

Stockings for Veterans  

Buhl Library is excited to participate once again in efforts to support area veterans at the holiday season! 

Working with GCC Mortar Board, the library is collecting stockings filled with personal care items that will be distributed to Pittsburgh’s homeless veterans shelter. Drive organizer Rose and Black Funeral Home will provide the stockings, and it is up to us to fill them. You can help! Plus your campus organization can earn CLP credits for participating. Please click here to request stockings, find out what types of items are requested, and learn more about available CLP credits. Stockings must be returned by December 3rd. Individual items can also be donated.

In 2019 we filled enough stockings to aid 140 veterans—help us reach even more this year!

Meet Our Newest Student Workers!  

These five students joined our ace team of student workers this fall. Welcome!

Buhl Library staff is supporting the community and the profession by serving as:

• Volunteer delivery drivers bringing meals to students in isolation during the pandemic
• Reviewers for the annual Elevator Pitch competition
• Sorority mothers to Phi Sigma Chi and Gamma Chi
• Member of library software user group steering committee
• Co-advisor of the All-College Sing
• Member of the local Food For Kids Backpack program fundraising committee.

Armchair Travel  

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” – Mason Cooley

If this year finds you spending your vacations and holidays at home, here are some suggestions to inspire a little armchair travel.

Book orders

Faculty book selections are an important part of building the library collection, so here is a reminder about ordering for the fall. “Choice cards”, which cover many of the newest academic releases, have been sent to each department. You may select titles from these or from any other source.

Subject guides

Do you know that the library website features research guides tailored to specific departments and courses that help students find appropriate sources and master relevant research skills? Check out the guides pertaining to your courses, or contact library staff if you would like to coordinate on a new guide. You can also see how we promote these to students in this month’s student version of the newsletter.

Using Henry, the Library's Online Catalog  

MAKING SENSE OF YOUR HENRY SEARCH RESULTS

You tried a search in Henry the library catalog and got a bunch of results. Now what? Here are some tips to help you make sense of the information on your screen, use it to evaluate the options, and find the titles you want.

Sorting
The results matching your search are listed on your screen. By default, Henry has sorted the list based on what it thinks is most relevant, but you can change this. Look for the “Sort by” drop box at the head of the results list to change to an order that is more meaningful to you. For example, you might want to make your list A-Z by title (“Sort by Title”), or maybe you want to sort by publication date so that the newest releases are at the top (“Sort by Publication Date”).

Result entry anatomy
Each result in the list is a book, DVD, etc., that might be of interest to you, and there is basic information about each one. You will see information describing the resource, and if it is a physical item in the library, you’ll also see its status and location.

If it is an online resource, you will see description plus a direct link to the resource (the word “Downloadable” is a link).

There might be enough information here in the results list to help you decide which items you want to pursue and where to find them in the library. But if you aren’t sure, just click on the resource title. It’s a link to more information.

 
This will take you to a much fuller description of the resource, where you can see many more details. These might include:
•    Summaries
•    Tables of contents
•    Details on format
•    Additional authors and contributors
•    Status/location information on individual volumes.
This extra information might be just what you need to figure out which books or resources can help you the most!
 

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