Got a Quick Question? Ask Me!

A new Ask Me Help Desk has been set up in the atrium (lobby) of E. H. Butler Library to direct you to the places you need to go and the people you need to know!  An extension of the Information Commons, the Ask Me Help Desk is the first place for assistance with quick questions of all kinds. Whether you’re searching for Caudell Hall, the nearest restroom, or the Computer Help Desk, our friendly staff will assist you in finding your way. The Ask Me Help Desk is currently staffed Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Additional assistance is always available at the Information Commons Desk located in the lower lobby of the library. Please note: The Ask Me Help Desk is not intended to answer research questions. If you need help finding books or journal articles, stop at the Reference Desk and ask a librarian.

Rooftop Poetry Club Announces Earth Day Poetry Contest

The contest is closed. Thank you to all who participated and special congratulations to Irene Sipos!

Ah, the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming. Is there anything better than spring in Buffalo? It’s been a long winter, so join us in celebrating by writing a poem for our first annual Earth Day Poetry Contest. Interested in entering? Here are the contest rules:

1. The contest is open to all Rooftop Poetry Club members. If you’re not a Rooftop member, but wish to enter a poem, e-mail Lisa Forrest at forresla@buffalostate.edu (and she’ll tell you how to become a member).
2. The poem must be nature/earth themed, and preferably about Buffalo, New York.
3. Only one poem per person please. Please submit your poem via this blog post. Submission deadline is April 15th.
4. Winner will be announced on April 22nd via the E. H. Butler Blog.
5. Your entry may be put on display in the library for the month of May.

Mark your calendars for our upcoming spring themed open mic!
May 6, 2009: April Showers & May Flowers
Spring Themed Open Mic
Gather up your spring themed poems and join us for our last event of the spring semester.
International Students Reading Area, 3rd Floor, SE Quadrant, Butler Library, 4:30 p.m.
(If the weather permits, we will meet on the rooftop of the library!)

About the LibQUAL+ (TM) Library Survey

From March 30th through April 17th, E. H. Butler Library is participating in a national Web-based survey called LibQUAL+^TM. This survey, which is completely confidential, will take about 10 minutes to complete, and is accessible from both the library home page and the Information Commons home page. We encourage all students, faculty, staff, and other patrons to take part. Your responses will provide essential information for use in planning the library’s future. To participate in the random drawing for an iPod, be sure to include your e-mail address.

What is LibQUAL+^TM?

LibQUAL+^TM is a national research and development project undertaken by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to define and measure library service quality across institutions and to create useful quality assessment tools for local planning. LibQUAL+^TM measures library users’ perceptions of service quality and identifies gaps between desired, perceived, and minimum expectations of service.

How will this survey benefit the patrons of Butler Library?

Libraries participating in LibQUAL+^TM can identify where their services need improvement. They also can compare their service quality with that of peer institutions in an effort to identify best practices across institutions. The ultimate goal is to provide excellent library services that better help users reach their learning and research objectives.

How is LibQUAL+^TM conducted?

LibQUAL+^TM uses a scalable Web interface and protocol to ask library users about their library service expectations. Survey data are transmitted directly from the central LibQUAL+^TM server to a database. The data are then analyzed and reports are generated for the individual libraries.

What’s in it for me?

In addition to knowing that your answers will help shape future library services, you might win a prize! Butler Library will award an iPod to one lucky winner! Participation in the prize drawing is strictly voluntary, but if you want a chance to win, enter your email address at the end of the survey.

How can the survey results be confidential when respondents are asked to provide their email address for the incentive prize drawings?

Although the network and e-mail addresses of the respondent are captured, the respondent’s privacy is protected in two ways. First, very indirect information about the computer being used to take the survey is captured; it would be difficult to use this information to trace the individual. Second, everything possible is done to separate personal information from survey responses. E-mail addresses are separated from survey responses before the responses are tabulated. The e-mail addresses are simply put in a file that creates a random list of names for the prizes. There is no way to link an individual’s responses to his or her e-mail address. This process ensures confidentiality for those who enter the incentive drawing.

When will Butler Library be notified of the incentive prizewinners?

The automatic random sampling of email addresses for the local drawing will be performed by ARL at the close of the library’s survey. A list of fifty randomly selected e-mail addresses will be compiled by ARL and sent to each institution. Butler Library will then randomly select a winner for the local prize, an iPod.

How can I get more information about LibQUAL+^TM?

See the LibQUAL+^TM homepage at http://libqual.org

Looking for Books? New Posters Help to Simplify the Search

If you’ve been wandering the second or third floors of the library lately, you’ve most likely noticed the colorful new posters hanging in the stacks.  Designed to help you visually locate books by subject, the posters pair Library of Congress subject headings with matching illustrations.

Demonstrating what a little collaboration can accomplish, the project was a partnership between the Library and Instructional Resources.   After seeing over-priced subject posters advertised in a supply magazine, Librarian Lisa Forrest approached Computer Graphics Specialist Kaylene Waite with the idea to create their own posters for E. H. Butler Library. Kaylene was eager to help–and along with student assistants, Matt Evrard and Eddy Silverio, produced a collection of 115 unique posters. The project, which was a substantial undertaking (over 300 posters including duplicates), took over a year to complete. The Library extends their heartfelt thanks to Kaylene, Matt, and Eddy, for their dedication and hard work on the project!

When searching for books by call number, you will also want to refer to a library map to find the correct floor and quadrant where the book is located.  We’re hoping that the new posters will help you find your way around a bit easier!   If you need additional assistance, please stop by the Information Commons Desk in the main lobby area for help.

EVERGREEN Sculpture Contest

As part of EVERGREEN’s Environmental Information Fair, Evergreen is putting on a competition for the best sculpture created from recyclable items. All of the sculptures will be displayed during the Environmental Information Fair (April 21, Perry Quad during 11:30-1:30).

Rules:

1. The sculpture MUST be made from recyclable items (IE: plastic/glass bottles, metal cans, ink cartridges, paper, cds, etc.) If the artist doesn’t want to keep their sculptures, then the art work will ultimately be recycled, so the recyclable material must be easy to separate.
2. Buffalo State’s Recycling Program’s name (EVERGREEN) or logo should appear somewhere on the sculpture.
3. The sculpture shouldn’t be larger than 5 feet or smaller than 1 foot (1’x 5’ x 3’), and shouldn’t weigh more than 50 lbs.
4. Sculptures should be turned in at the Information Fair (Perry Quad) by 11:00.
5. We request that the artists keep their sculptures tasteful. Evergreen reserves the right to determine if something isn’t eligible for the contest due to inappropriate subject matter.
6. Participants should register their sculpture no later than April 17th, by calling 878-6835, so that proper arrangements can be made for displaying them.

Questions or comments? Contact us at 878-6835.

Exhibit: Have You Met Trashelle Refuse?

Trashelle Refuse

E. H. Butler Library Celebrates National Women’s History Month

Article submitted by Donna, Marsha, Mary, Marija, Lannette, Linda, Carol, Cathy, Sue, and Mary Jane: “The Ladies of Information Commons”

“Women, the Arts, and the Environment” is the theme for Women’s History Month at Buffalo State College. To help increase awareness of the ongoing Evergreen initiative on campus, the ladies of E. H. Butler Library’s Information Commons Department submitted “Butler Did It,” garbage art recreating the pregnant female form. The result: Trashelle Refuse, the product of recyclable materials gathered throughout the library.

Created by members of the Information Commons team, Donna Gesel, Cathy Hanners, Carol Henning, Sue Jaworski, Mary Jane Johnson, Marsha Jurkowski, Marija Koroncevicius, and Linda Webster, Trashelle Refuse represents the importance of recycling. Floppy disks make up the skirt. Coffee boxes serve as shoes. Shredded paper is added everywhere. Pop bottles are used to form her arms and purse. Her head is a papier-mâché model which utilizes an old map in its construction. Trashelle was constructed and deconstructed and finally began to emerge from the assortment of trash we had collected. Our future generation is symbolized by the developing fetus which is being over-crowded and smothered by our world’s buildup of accumulating trash. She is created with the concern that the generations of tomorrow will be buried under the refuse of today. For Mother Nature to continue to have room for the pitter-patter of happy feet, we must become conscious of our environmental footprint. The name “Butler Did It” was born, in honor of E. H. Butler Library and the vast amount we contribute every week to the growing epidemic of garbage.

The message is not lost. With our ongoing efforts, hopefully people will think before they throw something away. Art is in the eye of the beholder and one man’s trash is truly another woman’s treasure.

Introducing the “Find Multimedia” Page

The library’s new Find Multimedia page (available in the Research drop-down menu on the main orange navigation bar) is the place to go to find images, music, audio, or video. This page replaces the “Find Images and Sound” page. It has two sections:

In the Library

If you’re looking for a multimedia item in the library (such as a DVD or CD), use the Search Media Services search box. Note that reserve items are at the bottom of the list on the drop-down menu.

On the Web

For this section, we have collected our best multimedia subscription databases, and our favorite freely available Web sites. Use the “Legend” at the top of this list to determine whether or not a Buffalo State username and password login is required, and what media types the resource contains.

Environmental Topics Subject Guide

Are you looking for information on environmental topics?  We’ve created a subject guide just for you!  This guide will lead you to “green” related library databases, books, and more!  Check it out from the library’s home page under Subject Guides > Environmental Topics or through this direct link: http://library.buffalostate.edu/subjects/display.php?subject=ENV

Many thanks to Marianne Muha for all of her hard work with the new guide.  If you have suggestions for additions to the guide, please e-mail Marianne at muhamd@buffalostate.edu.

Exhibit: Women’s History Month – Women Taking the Lead the Save the Planet

This exhibit was on display March 2009.

In honor of the environmental theme of National Women’s History Month 2009, the BSC Women’s Studies Committee mounted two exhibits in Butler Library. One is a collection of nature-centered creative works done by BSC women faculty, staff, students and alumnae. The other is an informational display on environmental activist Lois Gibbs and her campaign to expose the toxic pollution at Love Canal, Niagara Falls in the 1970s and ‘80s.