| Spring, 1998 | PreviousIssues |
Found In The Archives!
Lisa C. LongHave you ever wondered if the letters between Albert Einstein and the BrandeisBoard of Trustees still exist? Have you ever wanted to see a pictureof the Brandeis University campus in 1948? Has a student ever askedyou about Natan Schransky’s visit to Brandeis in 1987? The answerto all of these questions can be found in the Robert D. Farber UniversityArchives. The Robert D. Farber University Archives formally opened its doors onMarch 25th. The Mission of the University Archives is to serve asthe central repository for information and records created by, for andabout the University. To fulfill this mission the Archives staffwill identify, collect, preserve, and make available permanent recordsof historical, legal, fiscal, and/or administrative value to the Brandeiscommunity. Through its professional and service-related activities,the Archives aims to advance the educational and research mission of theUniversity as an institution and to promote knowledge and understandingof the origins, aims, programs, and goals of the University. There are three major parts in the Archive program: collection processing,records management, and outreach. Collection processing involvesthe arrangement, description, and preservation of the collections thathave been gathered. The records management program over the nextfew years will attempt to survey all records being produced and storedby all departments and then design a university-wide schedule for recordsretention and disposition. The third part of the program, the Archive’s outreach activities, includesexhibits, reference, and class demonstrations. Outreach activitiesare where we can showcase the collections and tell the story of BrandeisUniversity to students, faculty, and visitors. Exhibits are the mostdirect tool for reaching our audience. The Archive will display threeexhibits per year, each relying on current holdings to highlight BrandeisUniversity activities, personalities, and events. The current exhibitdisplays materials produced for or about commencement from 1952 to 1997. In the fall the Archive will begin a series of exhibits for the 50th Anniversaryof the University. The most important aspect of outreach is to provide access to the collectionsin our holdings. We do this through individual research requestsand through group study. For example, when a student has an interestin Natan Schransky’s visit they call or come by the Archives to make anappointment to view the video tape of Schransky’s presentation and lookat the news releases surrounding his visit. If a class is focusingon the architectural planning of the Brandeis University campus, the professormay arrange for a block of time in the Archive’s reading room and the staffwill present the collections which provide insight into the developmentof the architectural landscape. Through these outreach activities the University Archive becomes anextremely useful primary resource for student and faculty research. It should be stated, however, that the collections are not comprehensive.While there has been some gathering of historic materials in the past itis the mission of the records management and collection processing activitiesto identify and organize additional materials that would be of interestto future research requests. As the program progresses the collectionwill become even more valuable as a primary resource. Stay tuned! The Archive staff welcomes the comments and requests of the
Brandeiscommunity and hopes that you will call if we can be of
service. Themain phone number is 736-4701. The hours are
Monday through Friday,9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
Off-Campus Access To Library Resources
Ivy AndersonHow often have you said --to us or to yourself-- When will I be able toaccess Lexis/Nexis (or FirstSearch/Web, or the Libraries’ electronic journals)from home? Or, Why can't I search the Libraries’ CD databasesfrom my own department without coming to the Library?
As the Libraries' electronic resources have expanded in recent years, moreand more students and faculty have asked us to make these databases availableoutside the library and off-campus. By September, this goal willbe a reality! Two initiatives have combined to make this possible. Thanks toUnet and the Libraries’ partnership with Computing Services, a proxy serveris being installed this summer which will allow registered library usersto access Internet resources on the Library web page from off-campus. Theproxy server will act as an intermediary between a Library user and a givenresource on the network. The proxy server will identify a registeredlibrary user as a member of the Brandeis community thereby allowing theuser access to online Library resources. What do you need to do? First, contact the Main or Science
LibraryCirculation Desk to attain your Library PIN (Personal
Identification Number).For more information on PINs, check out our web
page: http://www.library.brandeis.edu/ The second new initiative that will extend access to library resourcesis an upgrade to the Libraries' network of CD-ROM databases. A newand much faster server will greatly improve response time for our CD-ROMdatabases. And for the first time, some of the most frequently useddatabases will be accessible outside the Libraries through a web browser.To access our CD databases from outside of the Libraries, you will simplydownload from the web a small piece of software to install as a plug-into your Internet browser. Remote access to Library web resources and CD-ROM databases
representa major milestone in creating the virtual library. Watch
for morecomplete information and instructions for using these new
services in thefall. |
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Electronic
Reserves (ERES) Service An Overview and UpdateElectronic Reserves (ERes - http://www.brandeis.edu/eres)is a world-wide-web-based service through which users can view, downloador print assigned course readings, problem sets and solutions, practiceexams and other course materials. In addition to easy access to coursereadings, they can also send email to their professors and/or teachingassistants, and visit course-related WWW sites, all from a page createdfor each course participating in the program. Each ERes course pageis password-protected, in order to ensure compliance with copyright guidelines.In order to access ERes, a user needs a computer, an internet connection,a graphical browser, such as Netscape, and the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in,in order to view the .pdf files. (Documents in .pdf - portable documentformat - are designed to be read online, across several platforms.) The ERes service, available at both the Main and Science
Libraries,was first offered during the Spring 1997 semester as a pilot
project, andincluded four participating courses. The number of
participatingcourses jumped to 20 for the Fall 1997 semester, during
which 1,265 studentswere enrolled in at least one ERes course.
427 assigned readingswere available online (4,490 pages in total - an
average of 235 pages percourse). Nineteen courses participated
during the Spring 1998 semester.The service continues to be extremely
popular with both students and facultymembers, who appreciate the
24-hour access to assigned course readings,as well as the convenience
of accessing this material from their dorm rooms,offices, campus
computer clusters, and off-campus. |
Electronic Reserves continued Each semester, participating students and faculty membershave been asked to complete surveys about various aspects of the ERes service.Their thoughtful and candid comments and suggestions have been extremelyhelpful to library staff members in improving the quality and efficiencyof this service. The Libraries are now planning ERes services for the Fall 1998 semester.In order to include as many courses as possible, reserve staff membersrequest that, as you prepare copies of your assigned course reading materialsfor ERes processing, you consider the following:
If your readings are made available to your students at the
ScienceLibrary, please contact Anne Muchoney, Reference Librarian
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FAIR-FUJITSU LIBRARY
PROGRAM Foundation for Advanced Information and Research Library Program Mark AlpertThe Foundation for Advanced Information and Research Program (FAIR), Japan,is a private non-profit research institute in Tokyo which promotes theAsia-Pacific cooperation through research activities such as internationalconferences and publications. As part of FAIR's activities, a programentitled FAIR-Fujitsu Library Program was established. The programattempts to meet requests made by universities, research institutes andlibraries around the world to obtain information and updated publicationson Japan. To participate in the program, an institution must completean application to FAIR, which includes a request for monographic materialson Japan published in Japan and commercially available. The total monetary value an institution may request from FAIR is upto 300,000 yen each year. The amount allocated to the institutiondepends upon the number of requests received by FAIR. This year about80 applications from 27 countries were received by FAIR. The BrandeisLibraries is delighted to announce that for the third year in a row wehave been selected by the committee for the FAIR-Fujitsu Library Programto receive materials published in Japan. Because of this recognition,many unique titles have been added to the Libraries to enhance our existingcollections. A selective list of recently received titles includes: |
FAIR-Fujitsu continued In order to make an application for FAIR, an institutionmust be sponsored by an Associate Member of the organization. TheLibraries are indebted to Professor Peter Petri, Carl Shapiro Professorof International Finance and Dean, Graduate School of International Economicsand Finance, who as an Associate member has so willingly endorsed our applicationsto FAIR. We are very grateful for his support. 
MON-WED MON-THURS Please call for Holiday hours. |