UTA Library Launches New Website

The first day of Spring semester classes, Tuesday, January 18, 2011, marked the launch of the Library’s new website, with the official URL as http://www.uta.edu/library/. The old site will continue to be available in Spring semester during the transition to the new website.

Over two years ago, the Library began the website redesign process by surveying UT Arlington students, faculty, and staff to learn what they need in a Library website. Since then teams of library staff have worked on designing a new look for the site, revising content, and reorganizing the website’s information.

UT Arlington students, faculty, and staff have continued to participate by giving us feedback on our progress and by participating in usability testing. For more information about the new site and/or about the process, contact Karen Horsfall, Program Coordinator for Digital Library Services, at karen.horsfall@uta.edu or 817-272-7431.

The URL for the new Library Catalog is http://discover.uta.edu. This new catalog will retain its “beta” designation until we have completed the integration of the federated search function and until we have monitored use and stability of the system for a period of time. The WebVoyage catalog, http://pulse.uta.edu, will remain in service and will be re-branded as the “Classic Catalog”. The Classic Catalog will remain a critical service point as it is the venue for access to course reserves materials, the new books list, and user account activity such as renewals. For information about the new catalog, contact Bob Samson at Samson@uta.edu or 817-272-3728.

 Friends of the Library meet Feb. 4

Central Library sixth floor parlor
7:30pm

Attorney-turned-rancher-and-writer Joe G. Bax will speak to the Friends of the UT Arlington Library about his novel The General and Monaville, Texas. This is the book that won the top honor in the General Trade Book/Fiction category at the North Texas Book Festival in May 2010 and was a finalist for the National Best Book Awards in Historical Fiction.

Joe G. Bax is an author and rancher who resides in Richards, Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in history in 1970 and a doctorate of jurisprudence in 1972. He received his MA in history from Texas A&M in 2001, with an emphasis on slavery and Reconstruction in the South. Prior to ranching, Bax practiced law in Houston for twenty-five years. Joe and his wife Michele have two daughters.

A reception and book signing will follow the talk.

Mavs Book Club

February 10, 2011
5:30pm (meet and greet at 5pm)
Central Library basement

The Mavs Book Club is a monthly book discussion group open to all Mavericks - staff, faculty, and students. The club, which is sponsored by the UT Arlington Library, meets at 5:30 p.m. the 2nd Thursday of every month in the basement of the Central Library. Arrive at 5pm for the meet and greet. The next meeting is February 10, 2011, when we will discuss Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity.

Mav Book Club selections will be in stock at the UTA Bookstore with a 20% discount. For more information, call Mary Levesque, general book manager, at 817-272-7173.

The current year's book club titles are in place, but please provide your ideas for future readings. Send the title, author, description, and reason you are recommending it to Evelyn Barker (ebarker@uta.edu), Diane Shepelwich (dianec@uta.edu) or C.D. Walter (cdwalter@uta.edu).

Learn more about the books at http://blog.uta.edu/bookclub/. 

TechnoScholar

The schedule for TechnoScholar spring seminars will be up soon, but in the meantime, did you know that there are a number of seminar subjects available upon request? Send an email to Suzanne Becket (sbeckett@uta.edu) for more information.

The Old "Q & A": Social Science Tests and Measures
Are you a social science researcher with questions about scales, questionnaires and other psychosocial instruments? Get your questions answered! In this applied workshop, each attendee will leave knowing how to find the best test or scale for his or her research.

It's a Google World, We Just Live In It
Discover the depths of Google Book's contents and learn ways to effectively use Google Scholar to uncover academic articles. For both, we'll show how to customize these tools to allow you to get full-text through the UT Arlington library, even off-campus!

NOT A FEAR FACTOR: Demystifying the Search for Scholarly Impact
Are you looking to publish but not sure what journals to target? Is your tenure review coming up? Come to this workshop and learn to assess the relevance of a journal in your field for article submission. Already published? Learn how to discover who is citing your work and what your impact factor is. Looking to publish more? Learn how to identify other scholars for collaborative research.

Beyond Banality: Academic Uses for Twitter
Twitter is so much more than finding out what people had for lunch! Come to this workshop to learn how to set up a Twitter account, how to track information about conferences and other organizations, how to expand conversations within classes as well as among departments and campuses. We will also demonstrate the major applications that can expand and enhance your Twitter experience.

Professional Poster Design and Creation: Using What You Already Know
So, you've been asked to present a poster session at a conference? Don't know where to start? Learn how to present your research effectively by developing a professional poster using MS PowerPoint 2007.

Copyright & Publishing
Want to publish your research? Become informed about your copyright and the options available to you before you sign that contract with a publish!

Copyright & Theses/Dissertations
Do you want to e-publish your thesis or dissertation? What are your rights concerning electronic publishing through the University's Research Commons and ProQuest? This seminar discusses the impact of copyright for graduate students in regard to the University archive.

Search Smarter: Researching on the Web
When you use Google are you searching the whole web? Learn how to go beyond the surface and focus on what is relevant to you. We will cover searching the social web, the deep/invisible web and the archived web.

Research Newswire: Keeping Current in Your Field using RSS
Traditionally, e-mail lists, a handful of publications, and your colleagues have kept you current with what's happening in your field. Now, there are tools that will help you hear about the latest developments. These tools bring you blog entries from academic researchers, news from your field's associations, newly published research articles and more. This session will get you started using RSS for research purposes.

A Better (Web) Surfboard: Firefox
Firefox, like Internet Explorer, is a web browser; however, it differs from IE in very useful ways. Firefox users have the ability to add extensions or add-ons to their Firefox browsers to make surfing the web more useful and fun. In this session, we will introduce users to the Firefox browser and install a few awesome extensions, including LibX (which allows you to access library resources from Google Scholar or Amazon.com in one click) and Zotero (which can make bibliographies for you in a snap).

MLA: The Inside Scoop
Long the standard in the humanities, MLA style has a new bible, the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. This workshop will cover new conventions such as no more underlining, no more required URLS, new abbreviations and much much more.

In the Library, ongoing:

From Suzanne Beckett
Coordinator of Information Services

The UT Arlington Library is now providing a FAQ-style service, with the URL of http://ask.uta.edu/. Check it out! Tell all your friends and patrons about it!! Please send us questions and answers to add to it.

The Text A Librarian Service number has changed to 817-727-8395. There is no need to text the keyword ASKUTA anymore. Users can use this phone number to text us just like they would anyone else.