Free Workshop Series for the Spring Semester Starts Soon

January 19th, 2012 by

Knowledge Center a la Carte begins February 13. KC a la Carte is something that we do here once a semester–it is a series of free workshops focusing on research skills and productivity, but includes instruction in software use as well as advice on such topics as presentations. For a full schedule of events and links to class registration, please see our Upcoming Workshops page. This year’s classes include:

  • Legal Research with Westlaw
  • Copyright and Educational Use
  • Prezi: A Dynamic Alternative to PowerPoint
  • GIS Basics
  • Video Production 101
  • How to Build a Data Visualization
  • Get Organized! An Introduction to Evernote and OneNote

As well as others. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to share them below, or contact Ann Medaille.

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ProQuest Products Migrating to a New Platform

December 21st, 2011 by

Beginning at noon on December 21, ProQuest will be migrating to a new platform. The total migration is expected to require about 72 hours, during which time you will not be able to access your “My Research” account. Once the migration is completed, if you wish to continue using the “My Research” service, ProQuest will require you to create a new account, into which you should be able to export your old saved searches by entering your associated e-mail address.

The migration will affect the following products:

  • Alt-PressWatch
  • American Periodicals Series Online, 1740-1900
  • CJPI: Criminal Justice Periodical Index
  • Ethnic Newswatch
  • GenderWatch
  • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times
  • Wall Street Journal — Eastern Edititon

As well as the following databases migrating from CSA Illumina:

  • Cambridge Scientific Abstracts: Materials Science
  • Cambridge Scientific Abstracts: NTIS
  • Conference Papers Index
  • Copper Technical Reference Library
  • Corrosion Abstracts
  • Earthquake Engineering Abstracts
  • EconLit
  • Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management
  • GeoRef
  • LLBA
  • Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts
  • PAIS International
  • Social Services Abstracts
  • Sociological Abstracts
  • TOXLINE
  • Water Resources Abstracts

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Books 24×7 Discontinued

December 20th, 2011 by

While we always prefer to inform you about acquisitions, sometimes we do have to talk about what we are discontinuing.

The UNR Libraries subscription to Books 24×7 will expire on the last day of December, and all links and accounts will cease to work thereafter. This decision was based largely upon usage, as we had watched the access statistics dip dramatically over the past year, possibly as a result of the fact that we now provide access to many other sources for e-books. The upshot is that the cancellation of this product frees up funding that can hopefully be put toward materials that will be better used and will better serve the needs of you, the faculty, staff, and students of UNR.

If you have any questions or comments about this decision, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact Mike Simons.

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Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center Holiday Book Tree

December 15th, 2011 by

The soaring atrium of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center has an unconventional tree on display this holiday season. Some would call it a green tree, not just in color, but because of its recycled nature. The tree is made entirely of books. National Union Catalog books to be precise, pre-1950 imprints. The rarely used reference books make an ideal book tree as they are a beautiful evergreen color with gold lettering on the spine.

The mastermind behind the project was Knowledge Center librarian Erin Fisher. Erin took her idea to Alden Kamaunu manager of building operations, in order to make the tree a reality.

Alden then recruited library technician Larry Smith to help put together the masterpiece. Alden and Larry built two prototypes before they came up with a final design. “It had to be perfect” said Alden, “it may look simple enough, but most book trees look like pyramids. We wanted ours to look like a real tree. There was a lot of trial and error.” The final design took three hours and 348 books.

The tree had to be large in order to be noticed in the spacious four-story atrium of the Knowledge Center. It stands over 9-feet high and is 5-feet wide. In fact, according to online research conducted by Alden and Erin, it appears to be the biggest book tree ever built. The base of the tree is made up of 10 books placed in a circle, as the tree grows in height the number of books decrease down to one final book. Although the tree has not been weighed, Alden estimates it to be over 400 lbs. The unconventional nature of the tree doesn’t end with the books, Wolfie, the university mascot is seated atop donning a Santa Claus hat.

Todd Borman, an IT Specialist working at the Help Desk located directly in front of the tree had a few insights to share: “If you think of it, we’re returning the books to their original state. We had trees, which we turned into books and now we’re returning them back to their original form–a tree. It’s also very “green” tree, in that we’re recycling books. Maybe the term “learning tree” would suit it well.”

The tree is located in the atrium inside the main entrance of the Knowledge Center. Knowledge Center hours can be found at: http://www.knowledgecenter.unr.edu/. The tree will remain up until early January, 2012.

Check out the time lapse video of the tree’s construction.

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Exhibit Honors Manzanita Lake Centennial

December 2nd, 2011 by

Manzanita Lake celebrated its centennial anniversary in November. To mark the occasion, Special Collections is hosting an exhibit comprised of a timeline and historic photographs of the lake from University Archives.

Located in the breezeway and second floor of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, the exhibit runs through February 2012. Exhibit hours vary according to the Knowledge Center schedule. For more information contact Betty Glass.

Read more on Nevada Today.

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Library Play Time

October 31st, 2011 by

Come play in the library! On Wednesday, November 2nd, from 10 a.m.–2 p.m., we will have a variety of activities available in the main breezeway of the building for people to play as they pass through.

Activities include: a Nerf gun target range, paper airplane contest, bean bag toss, Rock Band, and more.

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Upcoming Endnote Workshops

October 20th, 2011 by

For those of you who missed this one during the last Knowledge Center à la Carte event, librarian Amy Shannon will again be teaching our popular workshop on Endnote Web and Cite While You Write. You have four opportunities to partake of her knowledge on the topic.

  • Thursday, October 27, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 1, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 10, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 22, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

All workshops are in the Knowledge Center, Room 414 (Instructional Design Lab). Contact Amy to reserve a space or for further information.

Endnote Web is a powerful citation management product, while Cite While You Write is a companion product for quickly inserting citations within Word documents.

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Online Catalog (Encore) Updated

September 26th, 2011 by

Beginning today, you might notice that the user interface for Encore has undergone a bit of a facelift. To break down some of the cosmetic differences:

The layout has gone from three-column to two-column, with most of the features that existed in the old right-hand sidebar now moved into the left-hand sidebar. It is worth noting that the old tag cloud has turned into a more standard list format. “Related Searches” has also moved just beneath the Link+ option.

This new version of Encore boasts at least a couple of exciting new features, as well.

First, at the bottom of the page, beneath the results list, you will discover a “Recent Searches” heading, beneath which are (perhaps obviously) your most recent search terms. And beneath that, another heading: “Recently Viewed”. This section displays the vital information from specific records on which you have clicked.

The second is something that many of us librarians have been dreaming about, and if you’re a person who to this day prefers the Classic Catalog, this may finally convince you to give Encore a second chance. I’m talking here about the “Advanced Search” option, which will allow you to do some boolean-based searching (ANDs, ORs, and NOTs), search only specific record fields (e.g. Title), as well as scope your records to certain formats, collections, languages, and so on. You could kind of do some of this in older versions of Encore, but the purely facet-based interface (clicking the limiters in the sidebar) was restrictive in the amount of complexity you could build into your queries. Power users are going to be quite satisfied with the new Advanced Search.

As always, we welcome any feedback you may have, and we hope that you find the user experience in this latest Encore version to be more pleasing.

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2011 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame and Silver Pen Awards

September 23rd, 2011 by

The 2011 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame and the Silver Pen recipients have been announced. Cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell will be honored on November 17 with the 2011 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame award. David Philip Mullins and Matthew O’Brien will be this year’s Silver Pen recipients. Congratulations to all the honorees!

About the Writers Hall of Fame and Silver Pen

The Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Award Ceremony is an annual event now in its 24th year designed to honor Nevada’s finest authors by acknowledging their accomplished careers. The names of the 46 authors who have been inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame are prominently displayed on a wall of honor in the Tower Entrance and Reception Gallery of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center.

The first Silver Pen award was given out in 1996 as a means to encourage excellence among emerging writers in the Silver State. It recognizes writers who are in mid-career, but have already shown substantial achievement.

About This Year’s Award Winners

Waddie Mitchell is Nevada’s most famous and beloved cowboy poet, noted by the Reno Gazette-Journal as one of the Top 20 Artists, Authors and Entertainers to Influence Nevada in the 20th Century. Clearly a prominent figure, he has been recognized by the Cowboy Hall of Fame, made guest appearances on The Tonight Show and Larry King Live, among others, and has been featured in People, National Geographic, and even the Official Program for Super Bowl XXX. He is the first cowboy poet to be inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.
David Philip Mullins‘s short story collection, Greetings from Below, won both the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction and the international Walter Scott Prize for Short Stories. His work has appeared in The Yale Review and the anthology Just to Watch Him Die: Stories of Johnny Cash’s Reno, amongst many other locations.
Matthew O’Brien is an author and journalist whose first book, Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas, chronicles his adventures in the city’s underground flood channels, while his second book, My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas, is a creative-nonfiction collection set in off-the beaten path Vegas.

Please see the Award Ceremony flier for additional details.

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Current Job Opportunities at the Knowledge Center

September 20th, 2011 by

The Knowledge Center is currently looking to fill two open positions. The first is a Librarian II position as a Reference and Instruction Librarian serving under the Director of Information Services. This is a tenure-track position and requires an MLS or equivalent from an ALA-accredited program. The second is a full-time staff position, Library Technician I, fulfilling the role of processing and monitoring the UNR Libraries’ electronic subscription-based resources.

For more information, please visit our Job Announcements Page, or follow the links below:

 

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