New Home for Reference at Newman Library

Early next week (around June 22 or June 23), you will want to keep your eyes open for a message in your email inbox inviting you to join the Reference at Newman Library blog. Over the past month, I have been setting up our reference blog on a different blogging platform. Instead of using Blogger, as has been the case for nearly five years, we will be using WordPress. Our blog will be locally hosted here at Baruch, which will give us much greater control over the look and feel of the site and end our being at the mercy of Google, which owns Blogger.

As soon as you have clicked the link in the email to accept the invite and set up your WordPress account, you may want to customize your profile in WordPress so your real name and not your user name appears on the blog posts:

1. While logged in to WordPress, click on your name in the top right corner where it says, "Howdy, [your name]."
2. The page that opens will be the "Profile" page where you can type in your first and last name and select from various name display options where it says "Display name publicly as."
3. Click the "Update Profile" button on the bottom of that page to save your changes.

The old site will not be taken down or altered in any way. The new site will still have an index of blog posts; from this point on, that index will list posts by topic from both sites. There is also be a search feature on the new blog that will search both sites at the same time.

If you'd like to take a peak at the new blog, you can find it at:

http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/newmanreference/

There are still some areas on the new site that are being developed. The pages for "Baruch Blogs" and "LIS Blogs" will feature headlines from notable blogs. I'm still working with Luke Waltzer from the Schwartz Communication Institute to figure out the best way to present republished blog posts (I have something in mind that looks like what Factiva does with its "News Pages.")

Please let me know if you have any questions.

guest login down

The guest login was down starting 7:30pm, Thursday, June 18.

Key for Cabinets in Printing Room

I'm working the 6-9 shift and the key for the paper supply cabinets is not in the drawer, Cabinet #1. (It is 8:20pm now.)

Does anyone know where it is? Can we make sure it is always in the drawer?

[June 18 Update] The key is now on a small, silver, metal key chain. (It is no longer on the large wooden block.) It was found underneath the drawer organizer.

If the key is not in the locked cabinet #1, look in the unlocked drawer to the right. If you still don't see it, perhaps it is underneath the organizer.

FASB announces free webcast about upcoming Codification transition

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has announced a free webcast on June 22, that will be archived, to help prepare for the upcoming transition July 1 to the Codification. This is a very major change. I would encourage you to watch it, either live or the archived version.

Elevators

A patron told me that the elevators will not stop on the 4th floor. I went and checked and was able to enter the elevator on the 4th floor (someone was exiting). But once inside, the elevator would stop at every floor except the fourth. It also stops at the third floor of the library, regardless of whether or not someone has pushed the button. Jennifer put in a work order so someone will come to look at it.

In the meantime, patrons unable to use the stairs might not be able to get to the fourth floor. They can be directed to circulation and can use their elevator.

Printing in the Summer

The BCTC Help Desk just assisted me in answering a question I wasn't sure about. A student taking a class only in the first summer session and not the second session asked if her printing account would still be available to her in the second session. The answer is no, it will end when the first summer session ends.

GIS Intern for the Summer

We have a GIS intern for the summer session. Originally from West Texas, Clint Newsom is currently working on his M.S. in Information at the University of Michigan and will be spending his summer here working on some census-related GIS projects. He took some GIS courses as part of his degree program and wanted the chance to test and expand his skills. He has a Master's in Anthropology, lots of web development experience, and some library experience working at the University of Austin in Texas.

Clint will be here all day on Mondays and Tuesdays and on Wednesday mornings - he's spending the other half of his week as an intern at the American Museum of Natural History. He'll be stationed in the Chief Librarians office suite on the 4th floor, and will be putting in a few hours a week at the reference desk. Please welcome Clint to Baruch!

Every Nasdaq Firm Gets a Report

That was the title of a story in today's Wall Street Journal. Nasdaq is teaming up with Morningstar to provide research profiles of every Nasdaq-listed company regardless of size. That means more than 3,600 companies. The reports will be 4 to 5 pages and consist of a company profile and data sheet. Morningstar will not provide earnings forecasts or make a buy/sell/hold recommendation.

Marc Antony's speech from Julius Caesar

A student came to the desk confused as she said her communications professor had said "Just Google It" for Marc Antony's speech. She knew it was Act 3, Scene 2 but she didn't know it is from Julius Caesar. It's quite famous...we did find print versions and we found it on Youtube.com.

What LibGuides Look Like

If you haven't heard yet, we are looking into using LibGuides to create subject guides. Here's a seven-minute video that gives an overview of the product.

LibGuides Intro from Springshare on Vimeo.

Elevators Out of Order

The elevators are not working this morning. Jerry said that the problem is being worked on and they may be back in service in a couple of hours. In the meantime, patrons unable to use the stairs should be referred to the circulation desk and can be escorted by their elevator upstairs.

Guest Login System Down This Morning

The guest login system has been mostly down all morning. As of 11:57 am, it's still down. The Help Desk gave me a ticket number for this: 116568.