Library Employee Receives Scholarship
Date: October 15, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
Maria Del Rosario Mendoza
The NMSU Library announces that its student employee Maria Del Rosario Mendoza was awarded a $2,000 scholarship by the New Mexico Alliance for Hispanic Education.
Mendoza, a shelver in the Library’s Access Services Department, received the scholarship at a ceremony in Albuquerque. She is a sophomore majoring in Family and Child Science at NMSU.
The New Mexico Alliance for Hispanic Education works closely with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and is one of New Mexico’s largest Hispanic fundraising organizations.
For more information, contact Paula Kilgore at (575) 646-7675.
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Historical Calendar Makes Great Gift
Date: October 28, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
2011 Calendar
The NMSU Library announces availability of its new 2011 Archives & Special Collections calendar, a popular holiday gift item. The calendar, entitled “Main Streets of New Mexico – A Look at the Past,” features historical photos of Main Street scenes across the state of New Mexico along with photos of contemporary counterparts.
Proceeds from calendar sales support the NMSU Library. They can be purchased at the Dean’s Office in Zuhl Library for only $8 each.
For more information, call the Library office at (575) 646-1508.
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Library and Alumni Association Selling Pistol Pete Flash Drives
Date: October 4, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
Pistol Pete flash drive
The New Mexico State University Library and the NMSU Alumni Association have recently partnered on a fundraising initiative, selling Pistol Pete flash drives. All NMSU alumni, fans and friends now have the opportunity to own a 4GB memory stick that features the Aggie mascot for only $25!
We live in a computerized world, and who doesn’t have use for a USB memory stick? Keep all of your important business at hand while keeping NMSU on your mind.
Proceeds from the project support the NMSU Library and the NMSU Alumni Association. Carry Pete in your pocket and show your proud Aggie support!
To purchase your own Pistol Pete USB, contact Kristina Martinez at the Library at (575) 646-3642 or krismart@nmsu.edu or Vicki Morgan at the NMSU Alumni Association at (575) 646-3616.
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Trail Association Helps NMSU Library Enhance Durango Collection
Date: September 27, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
Left to right: Archivist Steve Hussman, CARTA members Jean Fulton and Claire Odenheim, and archivist Charles Stanford.
The NMSU Library has received assistance from the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association (CARTA) in building the Durango Microfilm research collection.
The Archivos Históricos del Arzobispado de Durango (Historical Archives of the Archdiocese of Durango) consists of ecclesiastical records dating back to the early 1600s. Rich in information about northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S., it includes prenuptial investigations, tithing records, official correspondence and various other documents. The NMSU Library is the only repository in the U.S. that holds these records.
The original Durango Microfilm collection was funded by the endeavors of J. Paul Taylor and his late wife, Mary Taylor, as well as funding from the New Mexico State Legislature.
CARTA Board Member Claire Odenheim and Executive Director Jean Fulton visited the NMSU Library’s Archives & Special Collections Department to do some research in the department’s microfilm collections. They noticed that the Durango collection lacked a few film rolls, which led to their assistance in obtain these missing records.
CARTA applied for a grant offered by the New Mexico Library Foundation (NMLF) to help purchase film rolls in the Serie Durango (Durango Series) microfilm collection from the Instituto Nacionál de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City. These reels of film include many documents which relate closely to the Durango records.
NMLF, a non-profit organization that supports libraries in New Mexico by allocating funds to libraries of all types and to non-profit organizations that directly benefit libraries, awarded CARTA $350 to purchase twelve additional rolls of microfilm to fill in the majority of the missing links in the collection.
CARTA was established in 2003 to help promote, educate and preserve the cultural and historic trail corridor. It serves as the official non-profit association of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail (NHT), which is administered by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. For more about CARTA and its partners, visit http://www.caminorealcarta.org.
The NMSU Library invites researchers, students, historians and genealogists to visit Archives & Special Collections to learn more about the Durango collection. For more information, call the Archives staff at (575) 646-3839.
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Library GO Bond B on November Ballot
Date: September 16, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
The NMSU Library announces that General Obligation Bond B, which includes a total of $7 million in funding for publicly funded academic, public, school and tribal libraries in New Mexico, will be on the ballot on November 2.
$2 million dollars in funding is requested for each of three groups: academic libraries, school libraries and public libraries. $1 million is requested for tribal libraries.
NMSU Library Dean Elizabeth A. Titus said that GO Bond B is an opportunity for library users to express their appreciation and support for the services provided by libraries of all types in New Mexico.
According to The Bowker Annual, the average cost of a book to support college student learning has risen 59%, going from $40.52 in 1989 to $64.52 in 2008.
GO Bond B, if passed, will enable publicly funded libraries to support students and faculty by updating book and journal collections and subscribing to electronic databases.
Libraries at NMSU-Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Grants and Doña Ana Community College will all benefit from this bond if it is approved. GO Bonds provide up to 25% of New Mexico academic library materials.
The NMSU Library is expected to receive approximately $313,223 and the Doña Ana Community College Library would receive $108,490. The NMSU-Alamogordo library would receive approximately $35,475, the NMSU-Carlsbad library would receive $20,736 and the NMSU-Grants Library would receive $14,962.
If successful, the $7 million bond issue would cost taxpayers 45 cents per $100,000 of their assessed property value.
Another general obligation bond on the ballot, GO Bond D, will provide eighteen million dollars to plan, design, construct, conduct necessary demolition, renovate, furnish, expand and equip NMSU’s Hershel Zohn Theater and Branson Library to construct the Domenici Institute for Public Policy, which will house the NMSU Library’s Senator Pete Domenici Archives.
The New Mexico State University Library, the New Mexico Library Association and libraries throughout the state encourage citizens to vote in this important election. Absentee voting begins October 5, early voting begins October 16 and the General Election is on November 2.
For more information, visit the statewide Bonds for Libraries Facebook page at http://bondsforlibraries.nmla.org/links-facebook/.
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NMSU Library Announces Materials Budget Reduction
Date: September 16, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
The NMSU Library launched a large scale materials reduction project in spring 2010. Inflation rates for journals and databases continue to increase. The funding lines used to supplement the Library’s materials budget, including indirect cost revenues and General Obligation Bond funds, have decreased. In order to balance the materials budget, a 27 per cent ($575,000) reduction of the materials budget was necessary.
The following criteria were used to guide decision-making for this project: high cost-low use titles, low cost-low use titles, titles with patterns of large cost increases over time and titles for which full-text access is available through other database subscriptions. Library staff worked together with other campus faculty to prioritize titles to minimize consequences for teaching and research.
The cancellations involve 723 print and electronic journals, databases, standing orders and microforms totaling $578,311.26 (in 2010 subscription prices). After December 2010, NMSU will no longer have access to these subscriptions. In addition, students, faculty and staff will lose access to over 1,300 journals from the Springer and Elsevier/Academic Press publishing groups. In order to make the necessary cancellations, multi-year and consortial packages with these publishers were discontinued. A list of titles from these discontinued packages is located at http://nmsu.libguides.com/BudgetCuts/.
The Library will continue to offer information delivery services such as Request It! but these services are vulnerable in a climate where the majority of academic libraries are also cutting subscriptions. Although interlibrary loan is an excellent way to provide access to infrequently-used articles, it can quickly become very expensive if large numbers of users request articles from the same journal resulting in the Library’s paying copyright clearance or other fees to obtain information. For these reasons, interlibrary loan and document delivery alone will not offset journal cancellations.
The NMSU Library is not alone in facing this problem. Other academic libraries face similar challenges. Unless fundamental changes occur in the scholarly communication market, faculty, students and staff everywhere face a future of less access to information and at higher costs.
The NMSU Library is working to strengthen its ability to access information in this challenging environment. It is investigating new partnerships with other libraries to maximize access to resources while minimizing costs. It is also exploring digital preservation services to sustain archival access to its subscribed electronic collections. The NMSU Library looks to the successful passage of General Obligation Bond B, which will help offset inflation by approximately $313,223 for FY12. It will also continue to investigate alternative revenue streams needed to offset inflation and limit future cancellations. However, it anticipates that further cancellations will be necessary in the 2011-2012 academic year.
The Library thanks the community for its support with these difficult decisions. More information is available at http://nmsu.libguides.com/BudgetCuts/. Contact Susan Beck, Collection Development Coordinator, at (575) 646-6171 or email susabeck@nmsu.edu.
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Astronomer Reta Beebe Receives NASA Award
Date: September 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
Reta Beebe (left) receives NASA award from Provost Wendy Wilkins. Photo, NMSU
New Mexico State University astronomer and professor emerita Dr. Reta Beebe has received NASA’s Exceptional Public Service medal in recognition of her many years of dedicated support archiving planetary science data so that it is accessible to the community at large.
Beebe’s friends, family and colleagues were with her when NMSU Executive Vice President and Provost Wendy K. Wilkins recently presented her with a medal and certificate for her work, which dates back more than thirty years.
Beebe and her husband, Dr. Herb Beebe, are longtime NMSU Library supporters who contributed to several important archival collections in the Library. They played major roles working with the Library to receive and process the Dr. Clyde Tombaugh Collection, the Dr. Frank Harary Collection and the Dr. Walter Lwowski Collection.
Beebe’s colleagues said that she worked tirelessly with NASA while still teaching and advising thirty master’s degree and doctorate graduates and that her knowledge and legacy in the astronomy world goes back many years.
“I’m pleased,” Beebe said when asked about her thoughts on the award. “There are an awful lot of people in my business who give a lot of effort in what they do. I’ve always been deeply impressed with how willing they are to support me on any of the efforts I have made. There is a lot of good work that has to be done and they do it willingly.”
Beebe is the principal investigator of NASA’s Planetary Data System (PDS) Atmospheres Node, which is housed at the NMSU Department of Astronomy and has the responsibility of archiving and making available to the world at large all of the atmosphere-focused data returned by spacecraft exploring planets and moons in the solar system.
She continues to work with the European Space Agency to archive data for its planetary instruments, and she also serves on the committee of the International Planetary Data Alliance, which works to get all spacefaring nations to use the standard data access and format protocols of the PDS. She has also been the chair of the Committee on Lunar and Planetary Exploration and a member of the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council.
She has worked on Voyager, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft mission data and used the Hubble Space Telescope for a Jupiter/Saturn observing program early in its mission.
Beebe is the recipient of the 2003 Harold Masursky Award by the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Association. The award recognizes and honors individuals who have rendered outstanding service to planetary science and exploration through engineering, managerial, programmatic or public service activities. She received NMSU’s prestigious Westhafer Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, or Creative Activity in 1989. In 1998, Beebe received NMSU’s Dennis W. Darnall Faculty Achievement Award, which recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated broad-based accomplishments in teaching, research and services to their profession.
Beebe was nominated for her award by James L. Green, director of the Planetary Science Division of NASA.
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Changes in Branson Library Announced
Date: September 10, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
NMSU Library officials have announced that several changes are being made to Branson Library during this academic year to better serve NMSU’s students and faculty.
Computer workstations are being installed in Branson Library to facilitate small group computer use. The new furniture matches the workstations installed in Zuhl Library last year.
The current periodicals collection/reading room has been relocated to Branson Library Room 135, and the former periodicals reading room is being repainted and recarpeted to house Government Documents. A new Documents service desk is being constructed. The Documents collection will be moved from the second floor.
In addition, the area which housed NMSU College of Education offices for the past five years will house New Mexico state documents and the Library’s map collection.
Please ask at the Branson Library Service Desk if you have any questions or call the Library Administration at (575) 646-1508.
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NMSU Library to Celebrate Banned Books Week September 25-October 2
Date: September 8, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
The NMSU Library will join libraries nationwide in the celebration of Banned Books Week from September 25 through October 2. For 28 years, Banned Books Week has been both a celebration of intellectual freedom and a campaign to raise awareness about continuing attempts at censorship.
The Library will celebrate Banned Books Week by holding a Read Out on Wednesday, September 29, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the courtyard of Zuhl Library. A Read Out is an event where community members gather to read passages from banned or challenged books. This year’s readers include NMSU Provost Wendy K. Wilkins, Carrie Hamblen from KRWG, Tom Smith and a group of students from the NMSU Theatre Arts Department and Library Dean Elizabeth Titus.
The Read Out will expand beyond banned or challenged books with presentations on information censorship, including a presentation from Mary Lamonica from NMSU’s Journalism and Mass Communications Department, a presentation on the suppression of information in Ciudad Juárez by librarian Molly Molloy and a presentation on the closure of Environmental Protection Agency libraries by librarian Dorothy Ormes.
Information on banned or challenged books will be available in both Zuhl and Branson libraries during the week, as well as displays of banned or challenged books available for check-out.
For more information, contact event organizer Ingrid Schneider at (575) 646-4707 or ingschne@lib.nmsu.edu.
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Library Announces Free Graduate Student Workshops
Date: September 3, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
The NMSU Library announces a series of helpful free graduate student workshops to be held this fall to better acquaint graduate students with resources and services available to them.
– Basic Library Tools, Wednesday, September 15, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Get acquainted with all of the Library tools you’ll want to use as a graduate student, including Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery, Librarian Subject Specialists, EndNote Web, Google Scholar Customization, Specialized Databases, Global Catalogs, Dissertation Abstracts and more!
– Citation Management: Mendeley, Wednesday, September 22, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Mendeley is a free bibliographic management program that can index a collection of pdf documents, look up and import document details from PubMed, Web of Science, DOIs, and other online information sources, cite references from your collection in a paper you’re writing and construct the reference list for you. It integrates seamlessly with CiteULike, Zotero and BibTeX, and it features a built-in pdf viewer that allows you to highlight and annotate your pdf files.
– Citation Management: EndNote Web, Thursday, September 30, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. EndNote® Web is a Web-based program that is free to those affiliated with the university. It is used to collect and organize references, manage citations in papers and create bibliographies.
– Special Topic Workshop: Researching LGBT Topics, Tuesday, October 12, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Branson Library Classroom. An interdisciplinary approach to researching issues concerning the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) population.
– Thesis/Dissertation Preparation, Friday, December 3, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. The end is in sight! Covers the process of submitting your thesis/dissertation to the Library, copyright considerations and more.
– Advanced Library Tools-Engineering, Wednesday, October 6, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Advanced database searching (including Web of Science and Engineering Village), federated searching, searching and acquiring industry codes and standards, citation searching, setting up alerts and more.
– Advanced Library Tools-Humanities, Thursday, October 21, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Advanced database searching (including Historical Abstracts, MLA Bibliography and Google Scholar), federated searching, criticism and review searching, citation searching, setting up alerts and more.
– Advanced Library Tools-Social Sciences, Wednesday, October 27, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Advanced database searching (including SOCIndex, PSYCHInfo and Google Scholar), federated searching, evidence-based practice searching, setting up alerts and more.
– Advanced Library Tools-Education, Thursday, November 4, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Advanced database searching (including ERIC and Education Research Complete), federated searching, citation searching, setting up alerts and more.
– Advanced Library Tools-Sciences, Wednesday, November 10, 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Zuhl Library Classroom. Advanced database searching (including Web of Science and Google Scholar), federated searching, citation searching, setting up alerts and more.
Visit http://lib.nmsu.edu/workshops/ for the schedule of topics, dates, places and times.
For more information, contact the Library’s Instruction Coordinator Theresa Westbrock at twestbro@lib.nmsu.edu or (575) 646-3079.
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