NMSU Library receives funding for agricultural publication digitization project
Date: June 5, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Norice Lee, NMSU Library, (575) 646-1508, nlee@lib.nmsu.edu
The New Mexico State University Library has been awarded a $3,125 grant from the United States Agricultural Information Network’s Preservation and Digital Library Committee for Project Ceres, which will support the digitization of NMSU’s Extension and Experiment Station publications.
“These publications, written from 1890 to the present, were created to help improve lives by sharing practical and research-based information in the areas of agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts and affiliated fields,” said Elizabeth Titus, library dean.
The purpose of Project Ceres is to support small projects that preserve print materials essential to study the history and economics of agriculture and to make those materials accessible electronically through digitization.
The project is funded by a collaborative effort that includes the U.S. Agricultural Information Network, the Agricultural Network Information Collaborative and the Center for Research Libraries.
The digitization project includes NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station publications. The collection consists of approximately 3,200 documents including circulars, guides, handbooks, annual data reports, research reports and bulletins, technical reports and task force reports.
These publications provide unique insight into the historical development of agricultural research and technologies and also reveal changing scientific and societal perspectives over time.
Researchers and the public already have free, online and searchable access to the full text and images of many of these 3,200 CES and AES publications through the library’s website at http://lib.nmsu.edu/CES_AESPubs .
Upon completion of the project, the collection will represent the most complete, fully accessible holdings of NMSU’s Extension and Experiment Station publications.
NMSU is among 15 other universities to gain funding from the organizations for digitization purposes.
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NMSU Library Suggests Summer Reading Ideas
Date: June 10, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: goodreads@lib.nmsu.edu
Do you need ideas for a good book to read this summer? The NMSU Library has a list of cool fiction and non-fiction picks for hot summer reading at http://nmsu.libguides.com/summerreading. The list, compiled by library staff members Tiffany Schirmer, Wendy Simpson and Susan Beck, also includes links to national book reviews, best-seller lists and book awards. Do you have a good read to suggest? Please let us know at goodreads@lib.nmsu.edu
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NMSU Library Announces Digital Collections
The New Mexico State University Library announces that several of its collections have been digitized. The Library joins hundreds of libraries, archives and museums that have launched projects to place collections on the Web.
Visit the Library’s Digital Collections website at http://lib.nmsu.edu/digitalcollections.shtml. The site currently provides access to six collections of documents and/or photographs, and a number of other important collections are in various stages of processing.
- “NMSU Extension and Experiment Stations Publications” is a collection of documents dating from 1890 to the present about agriculture, health, economics, family life and natural resources. Completion of this project will offer free online access to the searchable, full text and images of the 3,200 Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station publications in the Library’s collection.
- “New Mexico Statehood Centennial” is a link to 580 historical photographs that the Library contributed to the University of New Mexico’s Centennial website.
- “NMSU Library Newsletter” contains Library newsletters from 1996 to the present. Searchable by keyword, the collection provides much information about the history of the Library’s programs and services.
- “Photographic Collections” is a collection of more than 500,000 historical photos from the Rio Grande Historical Collections that pertain to our state’s cultural heritage.
- “The Round-Up” consists of NMSU’s student newspaper The Round-Up and its predecessor The New Mexico Collegian, published since 1893. This newspaper collection, one of the most requested resources in the Archives, is an important source on the history of NMSU and regional history.
- “Zuhl Geological Collection” contains more than 2,000 images of petrified wood, fossils and minerals from the collection of Herbert and Joan Zuhl. More than 1,000 pieces from the collection can be viewed in person on campus. The majority of the pieces are at the Zuhl Museum, but don’t miss the displays in Zuhl Library as well.
We live in an increasingly digital world, and digital projects present information in new and important ways. Previously, the Library’s digitization projects were outsourced, but the Library’s new digitization lab now provides the capacity to scan materials in-house.
For more information, contact Associate Dean Norice Lee at (575) 646-1508.
Library Offers Multiple Copy Options
The NMSU Library offers multiple options when you need copying services. Self service photocopiers and scanners are available on the first floor at both Branson and Zuhl libraries. 
The Service Desk in the lobby of Zuhl Library offers additional services including faxing (sending or receiving), copying with collation and staple options, image reduction and enlargement, laminating, photocopying of personal and library materials and black, white or color transparencies. Supplies including blue books, scantrons and resume paper are also available for purchase.
Microfilm/fiche printing & scanning is available at $.10 per page with your library copy card or cash. It is free of charge if saved to your USB drive or emailed.
Copying must comply with Copyright Law, Title 17 of the U.S. Code, and is done on a first-come, first-served basis. If the copying is done by Zuhl Service Desk staff, please allow enough time for your order to be processed.
Visit http://lib.nmsu.edu/depts/accserv/copycenter.shtml to see all copy service options.
Library Offers Guides to Durango Microfilm Collection
The NMSU Library Archives & Special Collections Department now offers electronic access to guides to the Durango Microfilm Collection, as well as volumes 1 and 2 of New Mexico Prenuptial Investigations from the Archivos Históricos del Arzobispado de Durango.
The Archivos General de Notarías de Durango, Mexico, consists of documents created by notaries during both the Spanish Colonial and Mexican national periods. The earliest documents date from the early 1600s.
The Archivos Históricos del Estado de Durango, Mexico, is an index of important documents from the Historical Archive of the State of Durango.
The Archivos Históricos del Arzobispado de Durango, Mexico, is rich in information about northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. These church records include padrones, libros de fabrica, aniversarios, cuadrantes, ordenes, oficios, cartas, diligencias matrimoniales, diezmos and varios.
Links to these materials can be found on the Rio Grande Historical Collections web page at http://lib.nmsu.edu/depts/archives/rghc.shtml.
For more information, contact Archives at (575) 646-3839.
NMSU Library Announces Summer Hours
The New Mexico State University Library announces its regular hours of operation during Summer 2013.
- The Zuhl Library schedule is:
Monday through Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Thursday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday, closed. - The Branson Library schedule is:
Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday, closed.
The Archives & Special Collections desk in Branson Library will be open by appointment only beginning May 15. Researchers are requested to call (575) 646-3839 or email archives@lib.nmsu.edu to make an appointment one day in advance.
The Government Documents desk in Branson Library will be open from 1:00 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Documents phone number is (575) 646-5791.
The NMSU Library is closed on Memorial Day and Independence Day.
A listing of all Library hours is available at http://lib.nmsu.edu/aboutlib/libhours.shtml. A recording of library building hours is available at (575) 646-4749.
SciFinder is Rolling Out New Interface
The New Mexico State University Library announces that SciFinder, the world’s largest and most reliable collection of chemistry and related science information, is rolling out a new user interface. The changes will streamline the user experience and allow researchers to explore their essential content more efficiently than ever before.
The American Chemical Society, which developed SciFinder, has announced that the new interface is not compatible with Explorer 6. They recommend that “to ensure the best SciFinder experience, please update to one of the latest recommended Web browsers listed in SciFinder systems requirements.” The system requirements for SciFinder can be found at http://www.cas.org/products/scifinder/system-requirements-web.
If you have any questions, or would like a pdf overview of the new design, please contact Acquisitions Librarian John Sandstrom at jsand713@nmsu.edu or (575) 646-8093.
Jeanette Smith Receives National Award for Promoting Librarianship
The American Library Association (ALA), Chicago, has announced that Jeanette C. Smith, the Grants/University Relations Officer at the New Mexico State University Library in Las Cruces, has been selected to receive the 2013 ALA Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship. This special honor is given annually to an individual for “significant contribution to the public recognition and appreciation of librarianship through professional performance, teaching and/or writing.” 
“It is with distinct pleasure that the 2013 Award Jury recognizes Jeanette Smith for her exemplary and special achievements in the field of Library and Information Science,” said Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr., chair of the Ken Haycock Award Committee and president of the Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut. “Jeanette is well deserving of this distinguished honor and continues to work tirelessly for the advancement of our profession.”
Smith holds Master of Arts degrees from both the University of Minnesota – Duluth and the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis. Since graduating in 1973, she has spent almost four decades working in the library field and has amassed an impressive record of accomplishments and recognition. Her work in public services, technical services, public relations and grants is widely known and has benefited a broad range of organizations. She has been involved with public and academic libraries, and has reached the rank of distinguished achievement professor at New Mexico State University.
She has spent most of her library career at the New Mexico State University Library, where she has, among other positions, been head of Government Documents, and is now Grants/University Relations Officer. She has, for many years, served on the administrative council for the Southwest and Border Cultures Institute, which she helped to create in 1998. Additionally, she has been the recipient of the 1999 Edmund Lester Pearson Library Humor Award, has chaired the Zuhl Library Naming Celebration at the New Mexico State University, which received a John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, and has been named a Fellow of the Molesworth Institute for her library humor research. Smith has served the American Library Association as a member of the Advisory Committee for American Libraries.
As noted in the nomination submitted on her behalf, “Smith has given extensively to the library profession, and has now brilliantly promoted library history and librarianship through her book, The Laughing Librarian: A History of American Library Humor, which truly is the first study of its kind.” Published in 2012 by McFarland Publishing, her monograph examines the elements of humor in librarianship between 1876 and 2000. It is described as illuminating different types of librarians – the collector, the organization person, the keeper, the change agent – and explores stereotypes attributed to the field.
Members of the 2013 Ken Haycock Award Jury are: Nancy Dickinson, Hillsboro Elementary School, Hillsboro, Tenn.; Amy Nicole Roberson, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas; Teri R. Switzer, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; and Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr., (Chair), Ferguson Library, Stamford, Connecticut.
The 2013 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship will be presented to Jeanette Smith at the Award Ceremony and Reception on June 30 during the Annual ALA Conference in Chicago.
For more information, contact ALA’s Cheryl Malden at (312) 280-3247.
Petes Pick Up is Here for You
Whether you’re studying at the Library, have a late meeting, or if you’re out late on the NMSU campus for any other reason, you can always call Pete’s Pick Up for a safe escort to your car or dorm.
Call (575) 646-1111 any time between 6:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., Sunday through Thursday. Pete’s Pick Up will take you safely to your campus destination!
Barbara Hart Receives Carl Faubion Award
NMSU Library employee Barbara Hart recently received the 2013 Carl Faubion Outstanding Library Staff Employee of the Year Award in a ceremony at Zuhl Library.
Hart, the Library’s Business Manager, was commended for her excellent customer service, demonstrated innovation and creative thinking in problem solving and contributions to reduced operating costs and administrative efficiencies.
Library officials said that Barbara has an extraordinary knowledge base regarding Library operations and is always willing to share her expertise on complex fiscal operations with others, both of which serve to improve overall library efficiencies and effectiveness. She is dedicated to her work and meticulous in her practices, frequently going above and beyond what is typically expected of staff in order to save the library money and stretch our limited fiscal resources.
A consistently outstanding professional, Barbara exemplifies the qualities and spirit of the Carl Faubion award in so many ways: her commitment to the Library, her stewardship of resources, her deep knowledge of complex operations, and perhaps most notably, her ability to manage the library’s fiscal resources in a severe and changing economic environment.
The Carl Faubion Award is presented annually to an exempt or non-exempt NMSU Library employee who exemplifies excellence in customer service, exceptional contributions to the library, innovation and creative thinking in problem solving or contributions which have reduced operating costs or resulted in administrative efficiencies.
The award was made possible by former NMSU President James E. Halligan and Mrs. Ann E. Halligan, who established the Carl Faubion Memorial Endowment for the NMSU Library in 2007. The endowment was established in memory of the late Carl Faubion, Mesilla Valley farmer and former NMSU regent.
For more information, please contact the NMSU Library Administration at (575) 646-1508.
