Gleeson Gleanings

Need a book that Gleeson Library doesn’t own and isn’t available through Link+? The Library doesn’t have a journal you’re looking for?  This doesn’t happen often, but if it does, don’t worry.  Gleeson Library/Geschke Learning Resource Center’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Department can help.

And now, all current USF students, faculty, and staff * can easily make interlibrary loan requests  on-line through ILLiad, the Library’s new InterLibrary Loan internet accessible database.

A  screenshot of the new ILLiad on-line module

To register with Gleeson Library’s ILLiad system, visit our Interlibrary Loan page here.

We’ve  also scheduled ILLiad tutorials during the following time slots: 9/29 at 12pm,9/30 at 12pm, and 10/6 at 12:30 pm. The tutorials will be held in the Electronic Classroom of Gleeson Library and will be no more than 30 minutes in length. Library staff will be on hand to answer questions.

Of course,  feel free to contact the Interlibrary Loan Department at (415) 422-5385 or ill@usfca.edu if you need help!

*Law School students, staff, and faculty are not eligible to use Gleeson Library/Geschke Learning Resource Center’s hew ILLiad system. Law School student, staff, and faculty members can request ILL materials through the Law Library’s ILL department here: http://www.usfca.edu/law_library/circ.html#interlibrary.

One can now follow the Donohue Rare Book Room on Flickr! The Rare Book Room’s Flickr account documents recent exhibitions, receptions and other Library activities. As the site continues to develop, it will also feature images of collection materials thus representing a visual archive of the Donohue Rare Book Room and special collections at the University of San Francisco. To access the Flickr account, please visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42175177@N03/sets/

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Donohue Rare Book Room

Virgil, Works (Nuremberg: Anthon Koberger, 1492)

In addition to their usual Google News, Google is trying a new way of presenting news with their Fast Flip. It comes closer to the sensation of standing at a newsstand, just browsing, looking at different articles, different publications. You can click on the arrow on the side of the page to flip through other news stories.

If you want to read more about it, they have an FAQ. It is currently in Google Labs, the part of their website where they have the things they are still experimenting with or developing.

It is an interesting way to present the news–check it out.

Did you know Gleeson Library/Geschke Center’s Interlibrary Loan Department can help you borrow books or journal articles that the library doesn’t have and that aren’t available through our Link+ service?

On Monday, September 28^th, the Gleeson’s ILL Department will be launching a new online Interlibrary Loan system called ILLiad (InterLibrary Loan internet accessible database), an electronic system used to request and manage Interlibrary Loan materials.

ILLiad is simple to use and provides a number of benefits to researchers.  If you are a currently enrolled USF student, faculty, or staff member*, you will be able to create an ILLiad account and submit requests in Gleeson’s ILLiad system. Having an ILLiad account at the Library allows you to obtain information about the status of ILL requests through the web and email at any time from any location.  Requests for photocopies of journal articles and book chapters will be delivered as PDFs to your personal ILLiad account. Through ILLiad, you will also be able to keep a history of your ILL requests.

Look for information from us about  how to set up your  ILLiad account soon. We look forward to your ILL requests!

*Law School students, staff, and faculty are not eligible to use ILLiad. Law School student, staff, and faculty members can request ILL materials through the Law Library’s ILL department here: http://www.usfca.edu/law_library/circ.html#interlibrary.

In honor of Constitution Day and The September Project, the library has created a display highlighting books and government documents from our collection on the First Amendment.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified on December 15^th, 1791. It reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

You can check-out any of the books on display. We’re also giving out free pamphlets on the Constitution and the U.S. Government, while supplies last. For online resources, see our Constitution Day Research Guide.

Hello! The USF Book Club will discuss The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson on October 13, 2009 (Tuesday) from 12-1 pm.Weather permitting we will meet in the USF Community Garden, just west of the School of Education, on the side of Lone Mountain.

The book club is an informal drop-in group of USF staff and students who meet at lunch time to discuss the pick of the month. All members of the USF Community are welcome to join us. Bring your lunch and your friends!

How to get the book through the library:

Since Gleeson’s copy is checked out, you can request the book through Link+ which is a free service. The book will be delivered to Gleeson within 4 business days. Click here to request it.

From Library Journal: Wealthy young Harriet Vanger disappeared 40 years ago, and Uncle Henrik always thought she was murdered. Now he’s drafted a hotshot journalist and a tattooed hacker to investigate. An expert on right-wing extremists, Swedish author Larsson died in 2004. This international best seller arrives here with a 100,000-copy first printing.

A version of this post is in the Fall 2009 issue of the library newsletter Global Update.

If you work at USF, one of your benefits is free access to library services and materials for personal and professional use. The library has lots of ways to help you get through these trying economic times.  It’s all provided free to USF staff. Besides books and DVDs to check out, the library gives you access to thousands of online journals, research guides, and professional assistance in getting the information you need.

Are you taking a class and have some homework to finish? Polishing up your resume for a promotion? Do you have to find some information for your job, or for a volunteer activity? Use library resources online or go to the Reference Desk on the first floor to find what you need.

Looking for some recreational reading, or a DVD for home viewing? Search Ignacio, the library catalog, or come in and browse the new book shelves on the first floor or new magazines on the second floor.

Swipe your ID card at our front door to enter the library, and then use it to check out books or DVDs for free. But if you’re too busy or rushed to spend time in the library, you can enjoy many of our offerings from your office or home computer:

• Order up a book and have it waiting for you at the library’s front desk.
• If we don’t have the book you want, find it at another library and get it delivered to Gleeson in just a few days via the popular Link+ service.
• Ask a Librarian! IM or chat 24/7, send a question via email, or make an appointment for an in-depth research assistance session.
• Look up full-text articles in thousands of electronic journals.
• Still haven’t found that elusive book, article, or dissertation? We’ll help you order it from another library.

It’s good to get away from computers once in a while. Meet colleagues and talk about books in our campus-wide, drop-in book club. The group meets monthly in the library or the beautiful campus garden on Lone Mountain. Books are chosen by the attendees and genres vary monthly from novels to memoir, from sobering history to Bay Area mystery.

Inside the library, the light and airy Monihan Atrium is a peaceful spot for reading, studying, or catching up on your email or research. Wireless Internet access is available in the Atrium as in the entire building. During the school year, the Atrium is open around the clock, even when the rest of the library’s closed.

The library website at http://www.usfca.edu/library is your gateway to library resources online, and key to more information about library hours, policies, and contacts. For more information about library services for USF staff, please see the Library Guide for USF Employees or give us a call at 422-2039.

This is just a reminder that a tour of the library will begin in the lobby this Saturday at 3 p.m. No advance signup is necessary. Tours take about 25 to 30 minutes.

Looking for some credible information on Swine Flu? EBSCO is providing free access to its Evidenced-based Information Portal for Influenza. Also, the library has a handy Swine Flu guide. Stay healthy this season!

The Donohue Rare Book Room is currently hosting Fine Designs & Artists’ Books, the 37^th Annual Members’ Exhibition of the Hand Bookbinders of California. The exhibition features over thirty-five books submitted by contemporary bookbinders from throughout the country. The books on display range from traditional design leather bindings to unusual book structures and artists’ books. Included among the many notable bindings is a signed copy of Virginia Wolff’s Street Haunting (San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1930) bound by Eleanore Ramsey. The book is bound in a full leather binding of grey Chagrin (goat skin) with tooled mosaics in six colors of grey leather forming a bouquet of flowers including pencils of yellow Morocco leather and brick colored leather erasers.

The exhibition serves as a fresh contemporary demonstration of the crucial role hand bookbinding plays in the successful overall impact of fine book design. The Donohue Rare Book Room welcomes the opportunity to showcase these extraordinary artifacts for the enrichment of the campus community and for the benefit of all Bay Area book lovers. The exhibition will be on view through October 30. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, September 10, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to which all are invited. For further information, please call (415) 422-2036.

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Donohue Rare Book Room

Check this out: it’s a new opera called “The Gonzales Cantata” based on the testimony of Alberto Gonzales, the former U.S. attorney general, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Here’s a trailer of the opera, featuring Gonzales’ quote, “I don’t recall”:

See a webcast of the actual hearing at http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=2632

For a brief interview of the composer, Melissa Dunphy, see this Wall Street Journal article.

Find out more about Gleeson Library’s government information collection by visiting our homepage or contacting Carol Spector (the Government Information Librarian) at csspectorusfca.edu.

With 131 chemistry theses available full-text online, the chemistry phase of the Master’s Thesis Project is now finished. The chemistry theses are searchable by content, using “Thesis Keyword,” under Advanced Keyword Search in Ignacio.” The image below is from Youling Zou’s 2005 thesis, Attempted identification and characterization of metallothionein in Dictyostelium discoideum, and depicts the life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum, also known as “slime mold.”

Life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum

Zou’s description of the diagram is as follows:

“The cells grow as single amoebae feeding on bacteria. When food is exhausted, the amoebae aggregate and the multicellular organism develops through distinct stages into stalk (blue) and spore (red) cells. Spore cells germinate in the presence of food and amoebae emerge again” (Zou 52).

For further reading, check out the Wikipedia article on Dictyostelium discoideum.