Library Gazette

See this post in the Professional Development blog.

On Tuesday, May 6th, the new ZSR Journal Reading Group met in the ITC Screening room not only to discuss the article “Participatory Networks: The Library as a Conversation”, but also to organize the structure of the group. After some discussion, it was decided to meet on the first Thursday of each month at 11am to avoid as many scheduling conflicts as possible. The location was set for the screening room, which had a nice casual atmosphere and flexible seating.

Once a regular day, date and time had been set, the issue of how to pick the articles was discussed by the group. It was decided to ask for a volunteer at each meeting. This volunteer would then select the article for the next meeting and send out a link to the article two weeks prior to the meeting.
The next meeting will be Thursday, June 5th at 11am in the ITC Screening Room. Megan Mulder has volunteered to select the article and facilitate the discussion. Our final order of business before discussing the article was a discussion of the goals of the ZSR Journal Reading Group. The group agreed that “sharing, learning, and keeping abreast in the field of Library and Information Studies” was a suitable goal for this group.

Below is the article we discussed at the meeting and a link: Lankes, R. D., Silverstein, J. L., Nicholson, S., & Marshall, T. (2007). “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” Information Research, 12(4) paper colis05. [Available here].

Thanks to Erik Mitchell for getting this group started again. (Bobbie Collins reminded us a similar group had existed some years ago.) The ZSR Staff Development Committee is happy to be sponsoring these events. Check out the ZSR Staff Development site to register for the meetings.

At 2pm this afternoon I placed the last of the Current Periodicals on the shelf with its shelf tag — and there was room to spare. There is still a lot of clean up and many loose ends to tie up, but at least they all have a home.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this merger a success! Mary Scanlon for being right there with me throughout the entire project; Laura for her planning help; Chris Burris and his team of Linda Z. and Jane for coordinating the new labeling process (thanks goes to Erik on that as well) and for fielding my numerous questions about the intricacies of serials; Mary Lib for lending her book trucks; all the liaisons for being willing to relocate and weed in the Reference collection; Carol for signing off on the weeds (and for keeping me honest!); Judy and Brigett for the countless relocations and weeds they processed; Charles, Scott and their students for the off-sites and recycling they did; our amazing group of student assistants who did lots of very mundane work like filling out the purple and green slips ad infinitum, dusting shelves and shifting for endless hours; and all the rest of the library for your support!

I think this will really be a good thing for our users one all the dust has settled.

Come visit!

Our total weight loss this week was 10.5 pounds — which brings us up to over 18 pounds!! And now Erik has joined us, so we’ll be raking in the lost pounds! Thanks for all the support we’re getting!! Of course we have family trips, vacations, birthdays coming up so we are not promising to continue the big numbers lost trend forever but we’re doing our best!

The location for ZSR Library’s current periodicals has changed. They are now housed in the Reference Department on the 4th floor of the Wilson Wing. In addition to their new home, the periodicals are now shelved in LC (Library of Congress) call number order. This ensures that patrons will be able to find similar subject areas in close proximity.

Check out our renovation and construction photos: ZSR Renovations 2008!

The construction season will begin in ZSR on May 9th with the emptying of the front two “24 hour” study rooms, and the simultaneous removal of the shelving from the Periodicals Room.

Once the Periodicals Room is emptied, the furniture from the 24 hour rooms, (except for the huge study carrels, which will be disposed of) is going to be moved up to the Periodicals Room to be redeployed through out the library over the next few weeks. The couches from the Rhoda’s side will end up in the new Mandelbaum Reading Room.

The coke and snack machines are being relocated to the hallway outside of room 204. The lockers will be in the Reynolds 2 hallway by the study rooms.

Beginning on Monday, May 12, the usual entrance to the library will be closed. The new entrance will be through the door closest to the parking lot in the Atrium, west side. Signage will be posted beginning Friday, May 9. The exit desk and the gate will be moved on May 12.

The six of us from ZSR who are participating in Weight Watchers at work (Heather, Roz, Mary Beth, Julia, Megan and Susan) are keeping a log of how much weight (collectively) we lose so we are accountable. This was a great week – We are 8.2 pounds lighter then we were last week!! GO US!!!