Sept. 25, 2006: Obtaining A-D843 items while they are currently not accessible in Newman Library

I am a graduate student here at Tech. Last weekend I wanted to check out a book that I need for my research. I did a search on Addison and its status was 'available'. I go up to second floor where it should be, the section was closed off, so, as instructed, I put in an interlibrary loan request. This morning I got an email from ILL saying that my request was cancelled because the item was checked out and I should put a recall on it. I called the ILL and also did a search again on Addison for the item and it still is available. The ILL person said they would put it into the ILL process again.

I think some people or at least someone somewhere made a mistake. That is, what led to a whole section of the library being closed off is bad enough and then having to put in an ILL request for a book we already have and having to go through the hassles associated with requesting books we already have is perhaps a little more than what the library patrons have to endure...

Hi, this is Paul Metz, the librarian responsible for the library's collections, including the reshelving operation. Your comment was forwarded to me. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced but hope that you will appreciate that we have had to devise ad hoc procedures for an unprecedented problem we became aware of on very short notice. The Interlibrary Loan staff did not realize that we will be sequestering returned books from the problem area, and so followed their normal procedure of asking that you recall a book in use.

I understand that you called them earlier this morning and that they have already sent out your request with their typical dispatch. They have also assured me that they will keep checking the status in OCLC as to when a library has shipped the book so he can have an idea when to expect the book.

Patron comments are a very valuable, and sincerely valued, means for us to become aware of problems. Indeed they are the principal means by which we become aware of broken links to electronic journals. So thanks, and bear with us as we address this complex problem. We are already well into discussions with the Physical Plant and various contractors. We can't yet predict a time frame for solving the mold problem but will use our home page, signs, and email to keep our users up-to-date as items become available once again.

Paul Metz, Director of Collection Management

Sept. 27, 2006: Full record availability in Addison

In the browser enabled version of Addison much of the bibliographic information for books (seems to me) to be unavailable. This is sad. It makes conducting a thorough bibliography, for example, kind of pointless. I'm looking for the 'ca' call I used to be able to type in to get all this kind of information in the old VTLS - maybe I'm just not looking in the correct place. Where can I get the ISBN number and the number of pages and similar bibliographic information for books that I search on the browser enabled Addison? Is there a better way I can search the VT libraries' holdings and get this information?

I received a copy of your comments regarding our new catalog interface this evening. I appreciate your interest in the library and its resources. It is important to receive user feedback.

When searching Addison, the library catalog, the initial results screen after performing your search, called the brief display, gives you only part of the information on the material (title, author, call number, format, book jacket).

If you click on the title, you are taken to its full-display where more information is revealed (author, title, publication/publisher, call number, all holdings, description (page numbers, type of material, etc), bibliography, subject headings, ISBN/ISSN, standard numbers, availability, book jacket, etc).

Please note that each resource may have different levels of information offered depending on the cataloging of that material and how it was processed. This is the link to the help section for Addison available on our website that can answer other questions related to this library resource.

Please note, that if our cataloging record (referring to the full-display) does not contain all of the information you seek, you may want to consult

. This library database is the World Catalog offering very comprehensive bibliographic records for books, journals, sound recordings, videos and manuscript collected and catalogued by your library and libraries around the world. It includes manuscripts written as early as the 11th century.

Michelle Young, College Librarian

Sept. 28, 2006: Explanation of postcards from the library #1

Why did you send out announcement of appointments? Who really cares? Why waste the money? Stop cluttering up my mailbox with this stuff. Three in one day? Who cares?

I'm confessing that the announcement cards were from my office. We will be sending them out as we hire new people here so that the entire university community is kept in touch with those whom they might contact or work with on various information related issues. I'm sorry if they aren't useful to you.

I want to be inclusive as we communicate with the university community, so we ask central mailing to send to staff as well as to faculty. I think that assuring that staff are in the know about things happening at the university is important. This is especially true as staff visibility has taken a great step forward with the inclusion of a staff delegate to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. I'm a librarian so you can probably guess that given the choice I favor more information rather than less.

Eileen Hitchingham, Dean of the University Libraries

Sept. 28, 2006: Accessing free version of WorldCat

I have in the past used Worldcat to search [ISBN] information but am since august sometime, sadly, apparently kicked from the pool of allowed users [patron is no longer currently affiliated with Virginia Tech]. If you know of any other site through which I could access worldcat for free I'd be very happy to get that from you. Barring that though, I'll live with what I can access.

Yes, being a former student/employee will cause disruption for you when wanting to use a subscription resource like WorldCat via FirstSearch. However, I have a possible solution, try Open WorldCat. It is open to the public — note there is an advanced search link on the page if you prefer.

Michelle Young, College Librarian

Sept. 29, 2006: Explanation of postcards from the library #2

I do not have anything but good things to say about the University Library and the services you all provide. You guys do a great job. However, I'm not sure if this is the correct place to voice my opinion on the many flyers I have received informing us of the new hires that have taken place at the library. I received five flyers in the past two days. I personally think that these printings are a waste of money and resources and just end up in the trash. I would be just as useful to post a news item on the VT homepage. I apologize if this is something out of your control and an issue for University Relations or some other department.

Thanks for your good words about the Library and recognizing the great job that the staff does in providing excellent services. I do see that you didn't particularly welcome the information flyers. The cards originated from my office and are patterned after approaches a number of other major research libraries are taking to communicate with constituents. We will be sending them out as we hire new people here so that the entire university community is kept in touch with those whom they might contact or work with on various information related issues. I'm sorry if they aren't useful to you.

I want to be inclusive as we communicate with the university community, so we ask central mailing to send to staff as well as to faculty. Assuring that staff are in the know about things happening at the university is important. This is especially true as staff visibility has taken a great step forward with the inclusion of a staff delegate to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. I'm a librarian so you can probably guess that given a choice I favor erring on the side or more information rather than less. Some people read paper stuff, some people read e-mails, some people go to our web sites, some people know what RSS feeds are and prefer that, etc. We find that there is no one way to contact our users.

Eileen Hitchingham, Dean of the University Libraries

Sept. 29, 2006: Additional comments regarding library postcards #1

This morning I received several announcements on very thick paper on the new positions in the library. These announcements had photos and bios on the recent hires. Not does this contribute to the amount of junk mail I received each day from unnecessary announcements from this university, but it shows the wasteful habits of a university willing to use significant amounts of paper with information that could have easily been included within an email or within the library's website.

If a mailing is required, why not send one per department? Overall, I am very pleased with the university libraries, but this mass mailing is very wasteful and unnecessary.

Sept. 29, 2006: Additional comments regarding library postcards #2

To Whom It May Concern:
I was informed of a response from Ms. Hitchingham regarding [my colleague's] comments on the library new employee information cards. I must echo [my colleague's] comments and make you aware that at least half a dozen of my coworkers also believe that the flyers are a waste of resources and they put them directly into the recycling. For the past [x] years I have been in charge of recycling at our institute and I hate to see needless flyers in our mailboxes. This just means our next trip to the recycling dumpsters will come sooner, interrupting our day-to-day work.

I am very happy that there are new employees serving us in a highly respected part of our university, but if I need to know who they are, I can look them up on the library and/or VT websites. I think you do a wonderful job otherwise and I thank you for your service to the university. No need to respond to my comment, but I thought I should back up my coworker's sentiment and let you know that [they are] not the only one[s] who did not like these flyers. I hope your will think through the necessity of your mailings more thoroughly in the future.