Date: 1/12/99
Recorder: Martha Walker
Present: Martha
Walker, chair, Deb Joseph, Marianne Hansen, Lance Heidig
The focus of
the meeting was on the revised subject searching guide and a proposed series of
handouts. Attendance by Gateway Help WG members was optional.
-
Subject Searching Handout: Lance and Martha presented a draft of the
subject searching handout (CUL Pub No. 3) they had prepared, which included
information on searching by subject in the online catalog and using the LCSH
guides or expanding a keyword search to identify appropriate subject headings.
Marianne and Deb will review the draft and contact Lance or Martha with their
comments.
- Handout series proposed: the group discussed a
proposed series of handouts, which would include Seaching the CU Library
Catalog, Searching by Keyword in the CU Library Catalog; Searching by Subject in
the CU Library Catalog, Locating Journals, Newspapers, and Other Serials in the
CU Library Catalog; Finding Course Reserve Materials in the CU Library Catalog,
and Searching Infoshare Databases. Martha also wondered if we might create a
paper guide on Connecting to the CU Library Catalog, based on the web-based
guide now available through Help. We also talked at length about including a
guide on LC classification somewhere near the subject searching guide in the
proposed series.
-We all agreed on a core group of guides (catalog,
keyword, subject, and periodical searching). We also agreed that one guide on
Infoshare Database Searching would be difficult to create given the differences
in some of the databases. There were various opinions on the other topics:
Course Reserve: OKU has a heavily used Finding Course Reserve
Materials guide. Would this be useful as a system-wide handout? The
general opinion was that different reserve systems are in place at the various
libraries so it would be difficult to develop one handout which would be useful
in all situations. We'll postpone a decision on this until Lori has returned and
has had the opportunity to review the guide. We may also want to think about
offering guides which would be useful to many libraries, but perhaps not all.
Again, this is a topic for debate at a future meeting.
LC
Classification:: OKU Reference already has this guide and the Documentation
Committee could adapt that copy to the interests of a system wide audience. If
we attempt to present these handouts in a logical sequence, reflected in the
numbering scheme, an LC classification guide could be tagged onto the end of the
sequence. We will revisit this issue at a future meeting.
Connecting
to the CU Library Catalog (in paper): there was some support. Several people
indicated that although this information is available online, a patron working
in the library might find it useful for future remote access. Again, we will
revisit this issue at a future meeting.
Gateway Handout::
someone suggested a (paper) handout explaining (defining?) the Gateway. Martha
mentioned that the Handouts Subcommittee had taken this subject up and proposed
that a handout be developed, however, with at least two revision projects in the
works, it seems reasonable to wait until the work of revision is complete. We'll
look at this again, later in the spring.
Citation format guides:
Marianne mentioned how useful it would be to have guides on citation formats
(similar to the MLA and APA guides available in OKU Reference). Martha mentioned
that she is working on a proposal for a research assistance page, which would be
available through Gateway Help and would include information and links to guides
on selecting and evaluating resources and citation formats. Martha will e-mail
committee members with this proposal prior to our next meeting.
-Gateway Help Working Group: Martha mentioned that the Gateway
Help Working Group had met last week and are planning a design marathon
later this week. Angi will have more information on the results of their efforts
in the near future.
-Making our paper documents available on the
web: we agreed that this is something we need to do asap and divided the web
work among the four of us. Lance will create a prototype we can review at the
next meeting, which will help us decide upon font and layout standards. Lance
will work on the Searching the CU Library Catalog handout, making
recommended changes where appropriate.
Martha Walker
Reference Librarian
Olin Kroch Uris Libraries
Division of Reference Services
106 Olin
Library
Ithaca, NY 14853-5301
(607) 255-4985