January – 2012 – St. Thomas Libraries Blog - Page 2
Monthly Archives

January 2012

Charles J. Keffer Library, Libraries, News & Events

Keffer 2.0 – Under Construction!

For those of you who haven’t heard, in the next few months Keffer library will be undergoing some renovations.  Later this spring, we will be reopening as “Keffer 2.0.”

Keffer staff have been working hard to prepare for this change.  Throughout it all, our main goal is to keep library services and staff available as usual. This has meant moving books, the circulation desk, reference desk, reference collection, and more to temporary locations within the library.

But most importantly, we’re still open!  Library access  is still available through elevators moving between the first and second levels. Once you reach the lower level, we are ready and waiting as usual to help you with whatever research or other help you may need.  We’re extremely grateful for your flexibility as all the construction goes on around us!

To satisfy your curiosity about what’s going on as you work around us, this week has been the start of the more major moving and demolition.  Carpets have been lifted up, walls knocked down, and in general, the space is being prepped for Keffer 2.0.

You may also have noticed how the reference desk has been relocated to room 130.  It and many other materials have moved into nooks and crannies around the library; feel free to ask any library staff if you are having troubles finding anything.   

When construction is finished, we will reopen with the majority of library services located on the second, skyway level. Plans are underway for the lower level to contain the book and periodical stacks as well as a quiet reading area.

Again, we’re  extremely grateful for your flexibility and patience as we stay open for business throughout construction!  Despite all of the change, our focus continues to be providing quality services and research help to the UST community, and we at Keffer are happy to help you with whatever you need.

In the meantime, please feel free to stay tuned for future construction updates; we’ll try to post updated photos to our Facebook page as they’re available.

We look forward to reopen as the “new” Keffer library later this spring!

Database Highlights & Trials

New Year’s Edition

Happy New Year y’all.  January 1 always comes with a few surprises and 2012 blew in with no exceptions.  We are experiencing a few glitches with a few resources, but all in all, none of it is a big deal.

The following resources are currently unavailable:

  • Academic Search Premier
  • Alt Health Watch
  • Business Source Premier
  • Health Source Complete
  • ERIC
  • Health Source
  • Masterfile
  • Megafile
  • Points of View
  • Professional Development
  • Regional Business News
  • Science Reference Center

The common denominator of these resources is that they are the ones that we get free from the state of Minnesota through the ELM (Electronic Library of Minnesota) agreement.   The state currently pays for these for all Minnesota residents and as a library, we are able to link to them from our websites.  With the budget crunch, we are in danger of losing this type of state government support. These resources are incredibly valuable to us as information consumers.  If you are currently bummed that these are not available at this time, think of the possibility of losing these resources altogether. Right now we only lost them temporarily because of a Jan 1 computer glitch.  But this could be a glimpse of the future.  Please contact your state representative to encourage them to support ELM.

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON 1/5/12 at 9:01.  Access to the above resources has been reestablished.

Gale Virtual Reference Library is not working in Internet Explorer, but other browsers are handling the changes just fine.

Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Coffee Bene in the Library this week as test

Coffee Bene will open in the O’Shaughness-Frey Library each day this week, January 2 through January 6, from 8:30am until 2:00pm.  If there is enough interest, the coffee shop will continue these hours through the end of J-term. 

If not enough customers stop in to warrant keeping open, the library’s coffee shop will close until first day of Spring Semester.   

If you find the coffee shop closed, you can always visit the main store on Cleveland Avenue next to Davannis.

Happy New Year to all!

Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Food For Fines program reports results

Nathan Wunrow, circulation supervisor,  reports that the UST Libraries and the English Department would like to thank everyone who participated in this fall’s ‘Food for Fines’ drive.

We were able to donate 462.5 lbs. of food and $227.00 in cash to the Francis Basket Food Shelf.

This fall’s food drive was in collaboration with the English Department Common Context Program theme of Hunger.