Perhaps most importantly, we have a number of new staff in the library that I am pleased to introduce. Our staff members are our most important resource. Please take a moment to read about them. They are engaged in a variety of activities…ordering books, managing collections, developing reliable technology, cataloging materials to make them easily accessible, teaching students how to find information, answering questions at the Research Help Desk, making course materials easily accessible on reserve, processing interlibrary loan requests, developing outreach programs, and managing archival collections. Our new staff members, joining those of us who have served the University for many years, look forward to working with faculty to advance the library’s mission…supporting the University community by providing a variety of information resources and services to encourage open inquiry, learning, and scholarship.

Stop by, give us a call, send us an email, but by all means let us know how we can meet your research and information needs.

Dalva by Jim Harrison

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Clear Springs: A Family Story by Bobbie Ann Mason

A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

 Wireless is here!

The wireless network of UW-River Falls, FalconAir, was launched by IT Services in August, 2006. Wireless access is now available throughout the Chalmer Davee Library, parts of South Hall, and the Centennial Science building. Additional access across campus will become available as IT Services increases deployment of the network.

Access to the FalconAir network requires a valid university Falcon ID and password. Temporary guest access is available but it must be arranged in advance with the IT Services department.

To learn more about FalconAir, visit the IT Services FalconAir information page.

MINDS@UW: Multi-disciplinary Institutional Networked Digital Storage

MINDS@UW is a digital, institutional repository service offered by the Chalmer Davee Library, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin System, for all current students, faculty members, and staff of UW-River Falls.  The purpose of MINDS@UW is to create a sustainable infrastructure for the dissemination of digitally conceived scholarly research materials in an ever-evolving, technology based environment.

The project has several aims, including:

• Providing a safe haven for scholarly research materials for assured future retrieval.  Materials are stored in a managed, secure location in a sustainable format.
• Increasing scholarly communication and the impact of scholarly efforts by building an extensive body of centralized, publicly accessible research materials
• Enhancing the university’s institutional prestige by preserving and showcasing the intellectual output of UW-River Falls’ students, faculty, and staff

Discover what MINDS@UW can do for you and your students!

Visit MINDS@UW or contact Heidi Southworth for more information.

New Semester Loan Policy for Faculty & Staff

Beginning in the fall 2006 semester, UW-River Falls faculty and staff will receive extended loan periods for most regularly circulating library items as well as items requested through Universal Borrowing. Previously, faculty and staff received 28-day check-out periods for regularly circulating materials. Due to a system-wide agreement among library directors, all UW campuses have implemented a semester loan policy for faculty and staff. Items checked out this semester will be due December 30, 2006 and are allowed one renewal. Multimedia items such as DVD's, videocassettes, and CMC textbooks will continue to circulate for 14-days. Due dates for Interlibrary Loan materials will continue to be set by the lending institution. Inquire at the Circulation Department for more information (715/425-3321).

Three new group study rooms are now available in the library’s AV area on the main level. Four additional group study rooms are already available on the top floor of the library (Rooms # 327A-C and #328). Group Study Room 328 is equipped with a pc and projection equipment to practice group presentations and can be reserved for two-hour periods. Inquire at the Circulation Desk. 715/425-3321.

View a floor map of the Library.

Library Inventory

The Chalmer Davee Library recently completed its first comprehensive inventory in over fifteen years. The project, which required shelf reading then hand scanning each item individually, began in March and lasted through July. The main book stacks including all items in the AV room, as well as the Government Documents, Reference and Area Research Center stacks were scanned — about 400,000 items in total.

A special thank you goes out to Heidi, Toni, and the student employees who worked on this project!

More eJournals Available in Academic Search Premier

Thanks to funding from the Student Technology Fee, the library has recently upgraded from EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Elite to the Academic Search Premier database. Academic Search Premier provides students with immediate access to over 4,700 high quality, full-text, scholarly journals in a wide variety of disciplines including computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts and literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more. Premier offers almost twice the number of titles as did Academic Search Elite as well as offering indexing and abstracts for all 8,176 journals in the collection.  

The Student Technology Fee fund is a special fund that supports information technology initiatives on campus. Our students recognize the value of readily accessible scholarly materials and chose to fund this proposal because of the benefits it will provide to individuals in all areas of study. We are proud to provide the Academic Search Premier database and other quality resources as part of our continued commitment to undergraduate research and scholarship.  

Questions about Academic Search Premier or any of the library’s resources can be directed to the Research Help Desk (715/425-3343).

Jane Betz accepted a half-time position in the Acquisitions Department in September, 2005. Jane had been working as an LTE in the same department since December, 2004.  Prior to coming to UWRF Jane had taken accounting classes at WITC-New Richmond and worked in the accounting departments of Erickson's Diversified, Inc. and SuperValu.  Jane is also the proud mom of Dan, a UW-Stout graduate, and Michael, a graduate of UW-Madison.

Lisa Pillow began in December of 2005 as the new Collection Development Librarian. Lisa has a BA from Ohio State University and an MLS from Kent State University. Most recently Lisa was the Head of Information, Research, and Instruction Services at the University of Minnesota. Lisa has worn many hats in the academic library world including working as a government documents librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Head of the Black Studies Library and Reference Librarian at Ohio State University but is happy to now be wearing her favorite hat, that of collection development.  

Helen Spasojevich, who has been employed in the library for seventeen years, transferred from Government Documents to the Cataloging Department in December, 2005.

Tom Smisek joined the staff as a Reference Librarian in August, 2005.  Tom was previously employed at the Minneapolis Public Library.

Maureen Olle-LaJoie began as the Head of Library Technology and Circulation in June of 2006. Most recently Maureen was employed at Louisiana State University as a Government Information Librarian and Regional Federal Depository Librarian for Louisiana. She holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Detroit Mercy and an MLIS from Wayne State University.

Toni Canfield, who has worked at the library for 13 years in various departments, transferred into a full-time classified position in the Circulation Department in July, 2006. Toni will divide her time between Stacks Maintenance and Reserve.

Cate Dodson, who has worked at the library as an LTE in the Archives and Reference Department for several years, began a new position in August, 2006.  Cate will provide assistance at the Research Help Desk and Interlibrary Loan Department, as well as coordinating the library's online newsletter and exhibits.

Alyson Jones began as the new University Archivist September 1st. Alyson holds a BA in History from Gettysburg College and an MLS with an Archives Management concentration from Simmons College. She has also completed the coursework and is completing her thesis for an MA in History, also from Simmons. Most recently, she was the Interim Assistant Director of the Leonard Bernstein Center at Gettysburg College. She's also been a project archivist for the Houghton Library at Harvard University and a processing archivist at Harvard's medical school.