February eBook of the Month: Science and Technology in World History

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February eBook of the Month
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February eBook of the Month:
Science and Technology in World History
by James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn
The Johns Hopkins University Press

Now in its second edition, this bestselling textbook may be the single most influential study of the historical relationship between science and technology ever published. Tracing this relationship from the dawn of civilization through the twentieth century, James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn argue that technology as "applied science" emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies.

The new edition reorganizes its treatment of Greek science and significantly expands its coverage of industrial civilization and contemporary science and technology with new and revised chapters devoted to applied science, the sociology and economics of science, globalization, and the technological systems that underpin everyday life.

Provided through the generous support of The Johns Hopkins University Press, the February eBook of the Month will be available to the Mount Aloysius College Library community Febrauary 1-29. If you have already established a NetLibrary account through Mount Aloysius College Library, visit http://www.netlibrary.org/ and log in. If you do not have a NetLibrary account, you can create an account from any computer.

For more information about NetLibrary or other services available through Mount Aloysius College Library, please contact your librarian or email askalibrarian@mtaloy.edu or check the Libray webpage:
http://library.mtaloy.edu/

Faculty/Staff Open Forum with Library Consultant

Come and share your thoughts about library services and resources!

Faculty and staff are cordially invited to attend an open forum with Dr. Scott Bennett tomorrow from 3:30 to 4:30 in the Library Reading Lounge.

Dr. Bennett is visiting Mount Aloysius College January 29-30 as a library consultant "to assess the current technological status of the Library and make recommendations for future directions, both for technology and marketing of library services." The below link should take you to Dr. Bennett's website in case you wish to learn more about his credentials:
http://www.libraryspaceplanning.com/

Thank you.

Josip Mocnik
Library Director
jmocnik@mtaloy.edu

Library Film Series

The Pursuit of Happyness will open the Spring 2008 Library Film Series on Monday, January 28, at 6:00 p.m., in the Library Classroom, 2nd floor.

Will Smith stars in the inspirational true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman who's struggling to make ends meet. When his girlfriend Linda (Thandie Newton) walks out, Chris is left to raise their 5-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Smith) on his own. Chris' determination finally pays off when he lands an unpaid internship in a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only one in twenty interns will make the cut. But without a salary, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the street, in homeless shelters and even behind the locked doors of a metro station bathroom. With self- confidence and the love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner rises above his obstacles to become a Wall Street legend.

The film will be introduced by Mr. Chris Mingyar who will also moderate a post-viewing Q & A session.

Additional films in the series are:
Monday, February 25 – Chicago, moderated by Dr. Deanne D’Emilio
Monday, March 31 – Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, moderated by Dr. Julie Smith
Monday, April 28 – Crash, moderated by Mr. Drew Tatusko

Please contact Shamim Rajpar, either at 886-6442 or srajpar@mtaloy.edu, if you need additional information.

CERIS Curriculum Development Grants Program

The Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS) is pleased to announce a new opportunity for faculty, the CERIS Curriculum Development Grants Program

The CERIS Curriculum Development Grants Program is designed to enable faculty members from CERIS institutions to pursue curricular development and enhancement projects related to Islamic Studies. Islamic Studies is understood, as expressed in the CERIS mission statement, to encompass many languages, literatures, and disciplines; and extends from the 7th century to the present, and across broad geographical areas of the world.
Full-time and part time faculty members of CERIS institutions are eligible to submit a proposal. Only one Curriculum Development Grants award is permitted per institution per fiscal year (July 1 to June 30).
To learn more about eligibility, amount of awards, grantee obligations, restrictions, and to download application form visit:
http://www.cerisnet.org/

JSTOR Announcement

We are pleased to announce that the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and JSTOR reached an agreement at the end of 2007 under which Science will continue its participation in JSTOR. Science will be available with a 5-year moving wall and new participating organizations will receive Science legacy content as part of the Health & General Sciences collection. In addition, we expect to introduce more opportunities within the JSTOR site for users to link directly to Science's website from Science legacy content located in JSTOR.

Chat Reference Services

The library is piloting a new service this spring – reference service via instant messaging. Students, faculty, and staff can ask questions anonymously and privately via the new chat box on the library’s homepage OR they can add mtaloylibrarian as their friend in AIM, Yahoo, or MSN. During the pilot period, chat reference services will be available during the following times:

Monday - Friday, 1pm - 5pm

If the pilot is successful, we will work to expand our chat reference service hours. And, don’t forget, you can also contact your reference librarians via email (askalibrarian@mtaloy.edu), phone (886-6478) or in person at the library. We hope to chat with you soon!

LibQUAL+ at Mount Aloysius College

The Mount Aloysius College Library will be conducting a survey this spring in conjunction with many other libraries across the nation and beyond. This survey attempts to evaluate library user perceptions of library service quality. Our effort here at Mount Aloysius College to better understand user perceptions is a part of an overall study being conducted by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).

This overall study is a part of the ARL New Measures Initiative projects, which seek to develop innovative ways for libraries to describe their contributions to their institutions. LibQUAL+ has as its particular goals:

• to establish a library service quality assessment program at ARL,
• to develop web-based tools for assessing library service quality,
• to develop mechanisms and protocols for evaluating libraries, and
• to identify best practices in providing library service.
  

The data we are able to gather from this study will benefit the College community as we explore ways of improving the services we offer and of ensuring that we are establishing appropriate priorities in our ongoing activities. Not only will we learn how well we measure-up to the expectations of our faculty and students, but we will also learn how we compare with other institutions in terms of user satisfaction; this information will be invaluable.

In mid-February, we'll be asking all students, faculty, and staff to complete the web-based questionnaire; completing the questionnaire should take no more than 10 minutes. As incentives to increase participation, those who complete the questionnaire and submit their e-mail address will be entered into a drawing for a prize (yet to be determined; survey responses are processed separately from the e-mail addresses, so there will be no way to tie a response to an individual. Likewise, the e-mail addresses will only be used for this incentive drawing and then the file will be deleted.)

We welcome questions and comments about the LibQual+ survey. Members of the library's committee coordinating the effort are Shamim Rajpar, Sara Loree, Sharon Markovich, and Joe Mocnik.

More information about LibQual+ study can be found at the following website:

http://www.libqual.org/

January eBook of the Month: The Three Signs of a Miserable Job

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January eBook of the Month
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The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)
By Patrick M. Lencioni
John Wiley & Sons, 2007

In his sixth fable, bestselling author Patrick Lencioni takes on a topic that almost everyone can
relate to: the causes of a miserable job. Millions of workers, even those who have carefully chosen careers based on true passions and interests, dread going to work, suffering each day as they trudge to jobs that make them cynical, weary, and frustrated.

It is a simple fact of business life that any job, from investment banker to dishwasher, can become miserable. Through the story of a CEO turned pizzeria manager, Lencioni reveals the three elements that make work miserable -- irrelevance, immeasurability, and anonymity -- and gives managers and their employees the keys to make any job more fulfilling.

Provided through the generous support of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the January eBook of the Month will be available to the Mount Aloysius College Library community January 1-31. If you have already established a NetLibrary account through Mount Aloysius College Library, visit www.netLibrary.org and log in. If you do not have a NetLibrary account, you can create an account from any computer.

For more information about NetLibrary or other services available through Mount Aloysius College Library, please contact your librarian or email askalibrarian@mtaloy.edu