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SULAIR NEWS – June 4, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Google Books Links in Socrates
- Catalog Department Eliminated
- Public Scanner at Hoover
- Workday Haiku
- ***Reference Question of the Week ***
- SULAIR Job Opportunities
1. Google Books Links in Socrates
To help Stanford scholars find interesting and relevant resources more quickly and powerfully, SULAIR has added links to Google Book Search (GBS) from Socrates.
In the detailed records for most books from the Stanford University Libraries and other Google partners, patrons will now find a link to the Google Books version of the book. Depending on the copyright status of the book, the Google Books link will take patrons to the full text of a book, a preview of the book, or a page with expanded information about the book.
Even in cases where neither the full-text nor a preview is available, patrons will often find book summaries, reviews, links to other editions of the book, popular passages, and much more. When available, the detailed record in Socrates will also show book jacket images.
Many thanks to Lynn McRae, Amy McGuire and Vitus Tang for their work in making this happen.
For more information, including examples of GBS links, see Google Books links now in Socrates.
--submitted by Chris Bourg
2. Catalog Department Eliminated
Well, not quite … Although the Department will always be in the business of being Stanford’s main interface with traditional cataloging, our mission has grown far beyond this role. Work with metadata standards such as Dublin core, ONIX, and MODS are becoming a regular part of our jobs, and projects investigating alternative access techniques an essential part of our business.
As SULAIR’s eyes look beyond Socrates as the sole means of discovery to a broader environment enriched with extended metadata such as tables of contents and reviews, images, and social tagging, the Department’s vision has expanded as well. In the context of discovery at Stanford, the name Cataloging and Metadata Services Department is redundant. Cataloging is metadata. And so to more accurately reflect our true scope, the Department’s name has been shortened to simply Metadata Department and the MARC Unit renamed to Metadata Development Unit.
Bibliographic identification, controlled subject access, and name authority control are even more important in a rapidly shifting environment than a stable one. By bringing the essence of what made our library catalogs such powerful tools to this new discovery environment, the Department can help create an ever more vibrant transformation.
--submitted by Philip Schreur
3. Public Scanner at Hoover
The Hoover Library is currently testing a new public scanner in its Reading
Room (in the Tower). Manufactured by the Zeutschel Company of Germany,
it is designed to be used by the public in the same way a photocopier
would -- except it will be a lot less harmful on our published materials while providing sharp, clear images of both text and images. It is made to be easy to use by the public.
Unlike your typical flatbed scanner, it has a built-in book cradle that will both support a bound volume while allowing the scanner's overhead cameras to obtain a better angle on the pages being scanned. It uses two cameras that help minimize the distortion caused by a bound volume's gutter. A bound volume may be placed in the cradle and the scanner will create two files (one each for the left page and one for the right), or the scanner can be instructed to create a single file if, for example, copying a map that stretches across two pages. The scanner accommodates items up to 46X60 cm. and makes digital copies in color or black and white.
We will be testing this scanner for about another two to three weeks. So we invite people to stop by with a trusty (no pre-loaded software on it) thumb-drive / flash-drive (to capture your files) and try it out.
Your comments about what you liked and what you didn't like and any problems you encountered would be greatly appreciated.
--submitted by Paul Thomas
4. Workday Haiku
I clock in at nine,
put in eight hours, but really
clock out nine oh one.
A cloudy May sky
looms, incongruous, without.
Desk lamps sun our work.
The telephone rings.
A message is recorded.
How does voicemail work?
Pencil grinder whines;
shaves down the encumbering wood--
then snaps off the lead.
Half an hour for lunch,
taken in a loud break room,
with Monday's paper.
An assignment comes.
I nod as I take the sheet.
Work somehow happens.
Hello? This is she.
In what way can I help you?
Oh. Pick up milk? Sure.
Pencil, lightly caught
between my thumb and finger--
a hummingbird thrum.
It's now five thirty.
The last line is not written
--submitted by Anonymous
5. ***Reference Question of the Week ***
Question: Where can I find book reviews of newly published and older books?
Answer: There are many great sources for book reviews:
- Book Review Digest Plus is an excellent source for published reviews of English language adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction titles. Example: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
- Google Book Search includes links to both published and user reviews of many books, as well as references, popular passages, maps and more. Example: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Powell’s Books provides synopses, excerpts and links to published reviews, and customer comments for books in their inventory. Example: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
You can find more reference questions and answers at the Information Center Web site.
To contribute to the Reference Question of the Week feature of SULAIR News, submit your question and answer through the SULAIR News online submission form at:
http://sulairnews.stanford.edu/issues/submit/submit.jsp.
--submitted by Editorial Staff
6. SULAIR Job Opportunities
SULAIR has the following new position this week:
DISCOVERY METADATA LIBRARIAN, Metadata Development Unit, Metadata Department, Stanford University Libraries
(# 30487)
For a complete description of open positions within SULAIR, go to the Stanford Jobs page and type University Libraries in the Job Search box at the bottom of the page.
--submitted by Editorial Staff
SULAIR News is an electronic publication of Stanford University
Libraries and Academic Information Resources issued weekly. Copy deadline is
12:00 NOON Friday for publication on the following Wednesday. Submit items for
publication via the online submission system.
Editor: Eleanor Brown, Eleanor.Brown@stanford.edu
