Library News

Faculty Focus Group

Briggs Library is looking for faculty/staff volunteers to take part in a focus group discussion on ways the library can improve. This is a continuation of questions raised from last spring's library survey. The faculty/staff focus group will take place on Wednesday, March 28 at 5:00 PM in the library's McGinnis Room. Hors d' ouevres will be served.

If interetested in participating please contact Matt Conner at 589-6227 or by email.

New Books Are a Slam Dunk!

Thanks to the Briggs Library Associates annual collection enrichment initiative, the library now includes many new books on health, wellness, sports and fitness. (See the picture above)

Each year the Associates designate $1000 to expand and deepen one subject area. These areas rotate between the four divisions in terms of general focus. Past emphases have included: Classical Music CDs (2004), African Politics, History and Culture (2005) and Paleontology (2006) bringing the toal amount given towards collection enhancement to $4000. This year's selections, as always, were chosen with coniderable and skill by former acquisitions librarian and cataloger Ardath Larson. As secretary of the Briggs Library Associates she has taken an active role in finding just the right titles.

"It's a considered list and takes quite a while to do it," Larson said.

The topics covered by the new selections are far-ranging and include boxing, the Harlem Globetrotters, medicinal plants, safe cosmetics, pharmaceutical company agendas and the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, to name a few. They are all displayed in the case across from the front desk. Stop by and browse the new selection of books and check out any that interest you.

Briggs Library Collection Grants

The Briggs Library Associates has allocated $1,000 to provide multiple grants, each up to $500, to at least one UMM student and at least one UMM staff or faculty for the purpose of enhancing and diversifying the Briggs Library collection. Items can be UMM course related, extra-curricular, or recreational.

Simply request a brief collection grant application form from Briggs Library reference desk. You will be asked to list books or any other media (please no items with continuing subscription costs) with an annotated bibliography (complete with information on ordering and prices) and a brief paragraph of why the items would benefit the Briggs Library collection. Awards will be selected by the Briggs Library Associates Board on the basis of the quality of the items, potential for wide campus interest, and the needs of the library collection. The deadline is Tuesday, April 3, 2007. Please send your application form to Lory Lemke, Humanities Division.

Winners will be announced at the April 17th , 2007 Annual Meeting of the Briggs Library Associates.

New Databases

There are two new additions to the databases Briggs Library offers in its "Article and Reference Databases" list. One is the Patrologia Latina Database and the other is the Middle English Compendium. Both are provided by the University of Michigan.

The Middle English Compendium includes an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary containing 15,000 pages offering a comprehensive analysis of usage and lexicon for the 1100-1500 period, the HyperBibliography of Middle English, a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse as well as links to digitized manuscripts containing Middle English and online catlogues of Middle English manuscript materials.

The Patrologia Latina Database contains 221 volumes and is a complete electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina.

If you have any questions about either resource please contact Peter Bremer at 589-6173 or by email.

Assignment Calculator

Have you ever stayed up all night trying to finish a research paper and wondered how you ran out of time? If only there was a way to calculate how much time is needed for the various stages of a research project...

Wonder no more, the Assignment Calculator is here! Simply input the beginning and end dates for your project, hit submit, and let the Assignment Calculator do the rest. In a flash you will see the key stages of your research mapped out with corresponding completion dates. Under each step are helpful resource links including the library, Academic Assistance Center, and the Writing Room. You can even have email reminders be sent to you so you don't fall behind. So go ahead, try it out, and catch up on some sleep next time around!

New Archaeology Database

Digging around for information on ancient history. Briggs Library has the answer in the form of the eHRAF Collection of Archaeology. This cross-cultural database, available through Fall Semester 2007, contains descriptive information on archaeological traditions of the world. This rich resource contains a variety of source documents including books, articles, and dissertations that have been indexed and organized according to HRAF's comprehensive tradition and subject classification systems, the Outline of Cultural Materials or OCM. In addition, an A-Z culture name index can be seen by clicking on "Browse" from within the database.

If you would like to learn more or have questions about this database (or its sister database, eHRAF Collection of Ethnography) please contact Peter Bremer.

New CD Cases

Next time you're looking for some music in Briggs Library you might notice that it's a lot easier to peruse the collection of CD's. You'd be right.

Two new CD cases have been added replacing the old one which was hard to search through, partly because it was so jammed full. The new cases have drawers that pull out for easier use. What's more, there is plenty of room for more CD's, something the library is committed to persuing. The new cases were purchased by the Briggs Library Associates, and built locally by Bob Schneider. Pictured above from left to right are Briggs Library Associate members Lory Lemke, Carla Riley, Jeff Wencl (student), JoAnne Hagstrom (President), and Ardath Larson (Vice-President).

Come check out the new cases and spend a while looking at the library's music selection which includes classical, jazz, and rock as well as shades in between.