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Mississippi Libraries Vol. 73, No. 3, Fall 2009 Page 73
Volume 74, No. 1 Spring 2010
Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
A Quarterly Publication of the ISSN 0194-388XMississippi Library Association©2009
EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITORTisha M. Zelner
Cook LibraryThe University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Dr. #5053Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
ASSISTANT EDITORBlair Booker
McMorrough LibraryHolmes Community College
COPY EDITORTracy Carr Seabold
Mississippi Library [email protected]
ADVERTISING EDITORMissy Murphey
The University of [email protected]
REPORTERTina Harry
The University of [email protected]
BOOK REVIEW EDITORJennifer Brannock
The University of Southern [email protected]
MLA PUBLICITYCOMMITTEE CHAIR
David SchommerWatkins Elementary School
INDEXERShirlene Stogner
The University of Southern [email protected]
FEATURESPresident’s Page ................................................................................................1Ann Branton, President, Mississippi Library Association
Editor’s Page ......................................................................................................2Tisha Zelner, Editor, Mississippi Libraries
Ask a Librarian Link: Analyzing Its Usefulness...............................................3Michael Mounce
Creating a Library Brand for Electronic Resources ........................................6Tina Harry
A Comparison Analysis of Education Databases: ...........................................9ERIC and Education Full TextKristin Finch
Tips for Conducting Citation Analysis in an Academic Setting ..................14Alex P. Watson
IN EVERY ISSUENews Briefs .........................................................................................................17People in the News ..............................................................................................22About Books........................................................................................................23MLA Executive Board Meeting Minutes .................................................................26
On the cover: “High Hopes” by Melissa Moak. The photograph “High Hopes” was taken under a large liveoak tree near the Mississippi River Bridge in Natchez, MS. The photographer, Melissa Moak, is the library mediaspecialist at the Mississippi School of the Arts in Brookhaven, MS.
Mississippi Libraries is a publication of the Mississippi Library Association (MLA). The articles, reports, and features here-in represent the viewpoints of their respective authors and are not necessarily the official opinions of the Association.
Subscription Rates: $16.00 per year ($4.00 per issue); $24.00 per year outside of the U.S.; free to MLA members.Back issues are available from University Microfilms International.
Advertising Rates: Rates are available upon request from the Advertising Editor.Advertising Deadlines: Spring: February 10; Summer: May 10; Fall: August 10; Winter: November 10Submissions: Manuscripts must be submitted in electronic format in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or ASCII text format.
Documents can be sent as an attachment via e-mail or on a CD-ROM or a 31⁄2 inch disk via surface mail.Deadlines for submission: Spring: February 2; Summer: May 2; Fall: August 2; Winter: November 2.In order to assure the widest possible audience for the work published in Mississippi Libraries, that work is added in elec-
tronic form to the Mississippi Library Association Web site and, by contractual agreement, to one or more EBSCO Publishingdatabases. Mississippi Libraries is also indexed in Library Literature and Information Sciences Abstracts.
Dues must be paid by March 15 in order to receive the Spring issue of Mississippi Libraries.
Contents
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 1
As members of the MississippiLibrary Association, we begin anew century of service thisyear, as we continue the asso-ciation’s mission to serve theprofessional developmentneeds of librarians andlibrary staff across the state.This will be a challengingyear for us as we deal withtight budgets that require us toprioritize what we can do forour local library communities, aswell as our library employees.But the worst of budget timescan also be an inspiration. We can find cre-ative ways to meet these challenges and riseto our commitments in ways that surpriseeven ourselves. I think it provides us with aunique opportunity to collaborate and shareour collective experiences and expertise.
In addition to serving our library userswith the best resources and services we canprovide, we need to be mindful that thosewho serve also need to be given opportuni-ties for training and professional develop-ment. There is constant change in our pro-fession that tests our ability to meet theexpectations of our communities of libraryusers with better resources and methods ofinformation delivery. Keeping abreast ofwhat’s new in librarianship by reading theprofessional literature, such as our ownMississippi Libraries, and taking advantageof regional and state workshops and pro-grams sponsored by the Mississippi LibraryCommission or regional organizations likeLyrasis are ways to do just that. The MLAannual conference is obviously a greatopportunity to achieve this goal and is amajor initiative sponsored by the associa-tion. The number and variety of programsand events to attend, the selection ofexhibits showcasing new products and serv-ices, and networking and discussing issueswith colleagues, all serve this purpose well.
However, only 50-60% of our member-ship is able to attend the two or three daysof annual conference each year. How do weaddress the professional developmentneeds of those who must stay home towork? I wonder if MLA can do more dur-
ing the spring and summer to pro-vide one-day workshops andprograms, sponsor a commit-tee workday a few times ayear, or offer other eventsthat are useful in promotingthe development of libraryskills and services.
In mid-January, I wasinvited to attend the Missis-sippi Association of Library
Teachers (MALT) annual meet-ing in Columbia, Mississippi.MALT is a group of schoollibrarians in south Mississippi
organized to meet the professional interestsof school librarians. Over sixty schoollibrarians were in attendance for the one-day meeting, and five speakers were invitedto present. One of the speakers was fromthe Mississippi Department of Educationand another was a representative of ABDOBooks who demonstrated a new acquisi-tions software product and sponsoredlunch, as well. I was asked to talk aboutMLA and the School Library Section ofMLA. I discussed why membership is soimportant and was able to respond to theirquestions and concerns. I was veryimpressed by their desire to have this annu-al meeting for school librarians, recogniz-ing a greater need for programs over andabove the school and children’s program-ming provided at the 2009 MLA AnnualConference. School librarians obviouslywant and need more programming to meettheir development needs. While a full dayof school librarian programming may notbe realistic at annual conference, this maybe something that the MLA School LibrarySection (SLS) can take on as a project inthe year ahead, as the section membershipgrows and the SLS leadership takes thisopportunity to organize and plan a work-shop for next spring.
Annually, the MLA Technical ServicesRoundtable (TSRT) sponsors a one-dayworkshop with two to five speakers on avariety of topics in cataloging, acquisitions,and collection development. Last spring,over sixty library employees in library
(continued on page 13)
Mississippi Library AssociationPO Box 13687Jackson, MS 39236-3687Office Hours: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. M, Tu, Th, FE-mail: [email protected] Secretary: Mary Julia AndersonMLA Web site: http://misslib.orgWebmaster: Molly Signs McManus, [email protected]
MLA EXECUTIVE BOARDAnn BrantonPresidentHead of Bibliographic ServicesUniversity of Southern [email protected]
Jennifer SmithVice President/President-electAssistant DirectorWarren County-Vicksburg Public [email protected]
Ruth Ann GibsonSecretaryHead of Technical ServicesMississippi [email protected]
Amanda PowersTreasurerReference Services LibrarianMitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State [email protected]
Jan WillisImmediate Past PresidentDirectorLee-Itawamba Library [email protected]
Sherry LaughlinALA CouncilorDirector of Libraries and Learning ResourcesWilliam Carey [email protected]
Deborah LeeSELA RepresentativeCoordinator of Library InstructionMississippi State University [email protected]
Mary Julia AndersonMLA Executive SecretaryPO Box 13687Jackson, MS 39236-3687Phone: 601-981-4586 Fax: 601-981-4501E-mail: [email protected]
Bernice RayParliamentarianLibrarianWest Bolivar District High [email protected]
2010 SECTION CHAIRSTisha ZelnerACRL Section [email protected]
Alice ShandsPublic Library Section [email protected]
Edith LegginsSchool Library Section [email protected]
Cindy YuSpecial Libraries Section [email protected]
Harriet KuykendallTrustees Section [email protected]
For additional information and a list of committeesand roundtables, see the Mississippi Library Associa-tion’s Web site at http://www.misslib.org/.
PRESIDENT’S PAGE
Ann Branton
Page 2 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
Tisha Zelner, Editor
The theme for this issue, as for previousspring issues, is technology in libraries. Inthe lead article, Michael Mounce writesabout the implementation of an Ask aLibrarian link in a subset of the subscrip-tion databases available to users of theRoberts-LaForge Library at Delta State Uni-versity, a process utilizing technology tocreate a new avenue for reference assis-tance. In the second article, Tina Harrywrites about the development of graphicalbranding for electronic resources at theUniversity of Mississippi Libraries. Harry’sdescription of the process suggests dosand don’ts for other libraries wishing toattempt a similar do-it-yourself project, aproject that both uses and promotes tech-nology in libraries. In the third article, Kris-ten Finch offers a comparative analysis oftwo education databases: Education FullText and ERIC. Finch’s article is of interestto reference and collection developmentlibrarians. The articles section wraps upwith Alex Watson’s “Tips for ConductingCitation Analysis in an Academic Setting.”Citation analysis can be a valuable tool forcollection development librarians and Wat-son offers helpful suggestions for anyoneattempting to do so for the first time. Thelatter two articles are particularly timely asthe prevalence of reduced library budgets
in the current economic climate makes thecareful selection of appropriate resourcesmore important than ever.
As each contributor to MississippiLibraries shares with readers what he orshe has learned or accomplished, theyhelp to create a community. Whether thelibrary where you work is large or small,urban or rural, academic or public orschool or special, whether your jobresponsibilities are broad or narrow, yourwork has value and you contribute to thecommunity embodied by MississippiLibraries and the Mississippi Library Asso-ciation. The broad nature of MississippiLibraries exposes readers to topics thatnormally fall outside the scope of their pro-fessional reading and that novelty mightbecome the spark that ignites your nextsuccessful project. This issue marks thebeginning of my third year as editor of Mis-sissippi Libraries and I continue to beinspired by all the wonderful things beingaccomplished in libraries throughout thestate. It is great to be a part of this commu-nity and I encourage all readers of Missis-sippi Libraries to consider making a con-tribution to the collective growth anddevelopment of libraries in Mississippi.
Continuing a tradition begun severalyears ago, each issue of MississippiLibraries published in 2010 will have atheme. The themes of the remaining threeissues are as follows:
� Marketing, Promotion, and Out-reach – What has your library done to
turn potential library users into actuallibrary users? What programs or servic-es does your library offer to members oftraditionally underserved populations?How do you measure the success ofsuch efforts?
� Library Instruction and User Edu-cation – Fall is “back to school” time.What sort of instructional programmingdoes your library offer? Do you haveclasses on information literacy or com-puter literacy? Have you developed asuccessful online tutorial? Have youwritten a guide or pathfinder that you’reparticularly proud of? We invite you toshare your successes.
� Children’s and Young Adult Col-lections and Services – How doesyour library serve children up to the ageof twelve or young adults from twelve toeighteen years old? Tell us about yourjuvenile collection, graphic novel col-lection, storytelling programs, home-work assistance service, or summerreading program. We want to knowwhat brings children and young adultsinto your library.
I hope that one of these themes willinspire you to write an article for Mississip-pi Libraries. Please contact me with yourarticle proposals and to request more infor-mation about the submission guide-lines. �
Tisha Zelner is assistant professor and head ofinformation services at the University of South-ern Mississippi; e-mail: [email protected].
Editor’s Page
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 3
Ask a Librarian Link:Analyzing Its Usefulness
Michael Mounce
AbstractThe purpose of this article is to discuss
an Ask a Librarian link and questionform, which were added to fifty-oneEBSCOhost databases at Delta State Uni-versity (DSU). The article notes the lownumber of e-mails received from DSUstudents prior to implementing these fea-tures, discusses the implementation of thefeatures in January 2008, and discussesthe resulting increase in the number ofreference questions received from DSUstudents via e-mail. Statistics are providedto show the increase in questions receivedvia e-mail from DSU students. The articleconcludes by stating that the link andquestion form have improved the refer-ence services provided to DSU students.
IntroductionDelta State University (DSU) is a medium-
sized higher education institution in Cleve-land, Mississippi, with a student enroll-ment of over 4,000 students.1 At DSU’sRoberts-LaForge Library, the referencelibrarians answer patrons’ questions in per-son, over the telephone, and via e-mail.Patrons include DSU faculty, students, andindividuals from the community. Referencelibrarians answer basic questions, how-toquestions, and research questions. Basicquestions include queries such as, “Whatare your library hours?” How-to questionsinclude inquiries such as, “How can Iaccess databases from off campus?”Research questions include those requir-ing the use of library resources, such as,“How can I find journal articles about geri-atric nursing?”
Over the last several years, the numberof questions the DSU reference librariansreceived from in-person patrons and tele-phone patrons has remained substantialand has actually increased. In the2002/03 academic year for example, thereference librarians answered a total of6,120 in-person and telephone questions.In the 2008/09 academic year, the totalnumber of in-person and telephone ques-tions had increased to 9,264. WithiPhones, text messaging, and a generationof college students who are not bestknown for interpersonal skills, one wouldthink that e-mail inquiries would far sur-pass in-person inquiries. However, thenumber of questions the reference librari-ans received via e-mail has been low. Forexample, in the six-month period July-December 2007, the reference librariansreceived only one reference question fromDSU students via e-mail.
To help increase DSU students’ ques-tions received via e-mail, the Roberts-LaForge Library implemented an Ask aLibrarian link and question form into fifty-one of the library’s EBSCOhost databases.These fifty-one EBSCOhost databases,such as Academic Search Premier, werechosen to have the Ask a Librarian link andquestion form because of the capability ofinserting them into the databases. The linkand question form in the databases givesDSU students the convenience of beingable to e-mail the reference librarians aquestion while logged into an EBSCOhostdatabase. The number of questions thelibrarians have received via e-mail fromDSU students has increased as a result ofimplementing the Ask a Librarian link. Inregard to non-DSU patrons, the link wasimplemented mainly for DSU students,since DSU students are our primarypatrons. Also, DSU students need onlinereference assistance more often than non-DSU patrons, who usually receive refer-ence assistance in the library. The purposeof this article is to discuss the implementa-
tion and use of the Ask a Librarian link andthe resulting increase in DSU referencequestions received via e-mail.
Official Library Documents and Aska Librarian
Official documents of the Association ofCollege & Research Libraries (ACRL) andthe Reference and User Services Associa-tion (RUSA) emphasize the importance ofreference librarians being available toonline patrons. In Standards for DistanceLearning Library Services, the ACRL sug-gests that “library services offered to thedistance learning community must bedesigned to meet a wide range of informa-tional, instructional, and user needs, andshould provide some form of direct useraccess to library personnel.”2 The Ask aLibrarian link in DSU databases providesonline patrons with this type of directaccess to the Roberts-LaForge Library ref-erence service, the type of service that thisACRL document lists among the essentialservices for online students.3
RUSA’s Guidelines for Behavioral Per-formance of Reference and InformationService Providers includes a section onapproachability. In this section, the impor-tance of being approachable to patrons inthe library and online is emphasized. Inregard to online environments, the docu-ment mentions “placing contact informa-tion for chat, e-mail, telephone, and otherservices in prominent locations to makethem obvious and welcoming to patrons.”4
In DSU’s case, the term “contact informa-tion” is substituted with “contact link,” anda prominent place for our Ask a Librariancontact link to DSU reference librarians isat the top of DSU databases.
Implementing the Ask a LibrarianLink
Before the Ask a Librarian link wasimplemented, DSU reference librarianswere receiving a very low number of ques-tions from DSU patrons via e-mail. Refer-
Michael Mounce is reference and instructionalservices librarian and associate professor oflibrary services at the Roberts-LaForge Library,Delta State University; e-mail: [email protected].
Page 4 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
ence e-mail links were available on theDSU library’s Web site, but were notbeing used often. To help increase thenumber of questions received via e-mailfrom DSU students, the DSU libraryimplemented an Ask a Librarian link andan Ask a Librarian question form into fifty-one of the library’s EBSCOhost databasesin January 2008. The link was placed atthe top of the databases and connected toa question form the user can fill out andsubmit. The completed question formsare sent to the DSU reference depart-ment’s e-mail address so that all of the ref-erence librarians will receive DSU stu-dents’ questions. Students can get theirquestions to reference staff quickly andeasily, especially from off campus, withouthaving to log out of the database. It shouldbe noted, however, that the Ask a Librari-an link was not intended to replace the ref-erence e-mail links on the DSU libraryWeb site. Students can still use the Website to find e-mail links.
The databases that received the Ask aLibrarian link include general and refer-ence databases and databases covering thesubject categories of science and medi-cine, education, social sciences, humani-ties, and business. Examples of these data-bases include the general and interdiscipli-nary database Academic Search Premier,the nursing-related database CINAHL, andthe education-related database ERIC. All ofthe databases containing the Ask a Librari-an link are available to DSU students fromoff campus, and most of them provide full-text access to articles. The Ask a Librarianlink is located in the upper right hand cor-ner of each of these databases, as shown infigure 1.
Whenever a DSU student clicks on theAsk a Librarian link in an EBSCOhost data-base, the Ask a Librarian question formappears on the screen. The form was creat-ed to be very simple with minimal effortrequired for completion. A student simplytypes a name, e-mail address, and ques-
tion. Most of the questions received fromstudents through the question form arehow-to questions (i.e., “How do I performa subject search?)” and research questions(i.e., “I need some articles about gendersegregation in schools and its effect on aca-demic performance.”). After typing in thequestion, the student then clicks the Sendbutton, which is located at the bottom leftcorner of the question form. The referencelibrarians receive all DSU students’ ques-tions sent via the Ask a Librarian questionform and a reference librarian responds in atimely manner. At least one reference librar-ian checks his or her e-mail every businessday to ensure that students’ e-mails areanswered on the same day or next businessday. See figure 2 for an illustration of thequestion form.
Results of Implementing the Ask aLibrarian Link
As previously stated, the number ofquestions reference librarians receivedfrom DSU students was very low prior toimplementing the Ask a Librarian link. Forexample, in the fall semester prior to hav-ing the link (July-December 2007), onlyone question was received via e-mail fromDSU students. After the link was imple-mented into fifty-one of the DSU’sEBSCOhost databases in January 2008,the number of reference questionsreceived from DSU students via e-mailincreased significantly. In the first fallsemester after implementing the link (July-December 2008), DSU reference librari-ans received a total of twenty questionsfrom DSU students via e-mail, fifteen ofwhich were submitted through the link. In
Figure 1. EBSCOhost interface showing Delta State University’s Ask a Librarian link.
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 5
the fall semester of July-December 2009,the total number of e-mailed DSU refer-ence questions received was fourteen,eight of which were from DSU students uti-lizing the Ask a Librarian link. The totalnumber of e-mailed questions from DSUstudents in the fall 2009 was lower than inthe fall 2008. However, it should be notedthat the fall 2009 numbers are higher thanthe fall 2007 numbers. Also, the referencelibrarians would have received only six e-mailed questions from DSU studentsinstead of fourteen in the fall 2009 semes-ter without the link. Table 1 provides dataregarding the total numbers of e-mailedquestions and Ask a Librarian questionsfrom 2007 to 2009.
In the spring semester prior to imple-menting the Ask a Librarian link, DSU ref-erence librarians received a total of sevenreference questions from DSU students viae-mail. In the first spring semester afterimplementing the link, eight e-mailedquestions were received from DSU stu-dents, seven of which were through thelink. While this is not a large increase, itshould also be noted that without the linkbeing available to DSU students in thespring 2008 semester, there would havebeen only one e-mailed question receivedfrom DSU students in that semester. In thesecond spring semester since implement-ing the link (January-June 2009), there
was a total of fourteen e-mailed questionsreceived, nine of which came through thelink. Without the Ask a Librarian link therewould have been only five e-mailed ques-tions from DSU students in the spring2009 semester instead of fourteen.
ConclusionThe Ask a Librarian link and question
form in fifty-one of DSU’s EBSCOhostdatabases have improved the service pro-vided by the reference department. Thepurpose of adding the link was to increasethe use of e-mail for asking reference ques-tions. The numbers of DSU e-mail ques-tions received before and after implement-ing the link and question form have shownthat, without a doubt, e-mail correspon-dence has increased. Having the e-maillink to the reference librarians in several ofDSU’s EBSCOhost databases hasincreased the number of questionsreceived, suggesting that the link makesuse of e-mail student-friendly and encour-ages DSU students to e-mail referencelibrarians questions when they might notdo so otherwise. Also, the link helps thelibrarians to better serve students.
Although the implementation of the Aska Librarian link in EBSCOhost databasesis still fairly new to DSU, incorporating it
into other DSU databases may be consid-ered. The use of the link in regard to e-mailed questions received from DSU stu-dents will continue to be monitored. Hope-fully, the statistics gathered so far are anindication that the link will continue to helpincrease reference questions received. �
NOTES1 Delta State University Office of InstitutionalResearch and Planning, “Delta State Univer-sity Factbook 2008-2009,” Delta State Uni-versity, http://www.deltastate.edu/docs/irp/DSU_Factbook_2008-2009. pdf (accessedJanuary 5, 2010).
2 The Association of College & ResearchLibraries Board of Directors, “Standards forDistance Learning Library Services,” Associ-ation of College & Research Libraries,http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/guidelinesdistancelearning.cfm(accessed January 5, 2010).
3 See note 2 above.4 Reference and User Services AssociationBoard of Directors, “Guidelines for Behav-ioral Performance of Reference and Informa-tion Services Providers,” Reference and UserServices Association, http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidel ines/guidel inesbehaviora l .c fm(accessed January 5, 2010).
TABLE 1.Number of questions received via e-mail and the subset received
via e-mail from the Ask a Librarian form in EBSCOhost.
Questions received Total questionsvia Ask a Librarian received via e-mail
January-June 2007 …. 7
July-December 2007 …. 1
January-June 2008 7 8
July-December 2008 15 20
January-June 2009 9 14
July-December 2009 8 14
Figure 2.Ask a Librarian form in EBSCOhost.
Page 6 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
Tina Harry
AbstractThe graphical branding of electronic
resources reminds users that what theyare using has been paid for by the library,and provides a visual connection betweenthe e-resource and the library. This isespecially important when the useraccesses an e-resource without first goingto the library’s Web site. At the Universityof Mississippi Libraries, there are threedifferent graphics that are being used tobrand electronic resources: the Web-Bridge button, the Research Pro logo,and the e-resources brand. This paperlooks at the creation of these graphics andwhat was learned from the process.
IntroductionAs more of the library’s resources move
online, graphical branding has becomeincreasingly important. A brand showsusers that the resources they use havebeen paid for by the library and provides avisual connection between the electronicresource and the library. This is especiallyimportant when the user accesses an elec-tronic resource without first going to thelibrary’s Web site.
At the University of MississippiLibraries, there are three different graphicsthat are being used to brand electronicresources: the WebBridge link resolverbutton, the Research Pro federated searchlogo, and the library’s e-resources brand.These graphics were created sequentially,so the lessons learned in one project couldbe applied to subsequent projects. Thispaper looks briefly at the first two graphicsand what was learned from them that aidedin making the e-resources brand. The
paper then goes into more detail on howthe e-resources brand was created.
Technical SpecificationsFrom 2005 to late 2008, the graphics
were created on a Macintosh PowerBook,with a trackpad used for drawing input. Forall the projects during this time, two pro-grams that ran on Mac Classic were used:Adobe ImageStyler 1.0 and Art Dabbler2.1. Adobe ImageStyler was produced inthe late 1990s and later replaced byAdobe LiveMotion. Its main purpose wasthe creation of Web page buttons andgraphics. Art Dabbler, made by MetaCre-ations in the late 1990s, offered differentbrush types (chalk, oil, etc.) and compati-bility with third-party Adobe Photoshopplug-ins. The current Mac OS does notsupport the Mac Classic system or pro-grams.
Two shareware programs were used:Graphic Converter by Lemke Software andSnapz Pro X by Ambrosia Software.Adobe Photoshop CS and Coral Painter 8were also used when creating the possiblee-resources brands. The more recentupdates were done on a MacBook Prousing Adobe Photoshop CS4.
Project One: The WebBridge But-ton
The WebBridge button is used to con-nect users to WebBridge, our OpenURLresolver, from various online resources.The original graphic was a plain rectanglewith a gradient background and the text“Get it!” In 2005, a library committeedecided that this graphic did not conveythat this was a link to our library, nor did itdraw the user’s attention. They wanted tokeep the same text with the new graphic,and also wanted large and small versionsof the button. The plan was that the largebutton would be used in as many databas-es as possible, and the other button wouldbe available if a smaller graphic wererequired by the vendor.
Several button designs, with both largeand small versions, were created and thenorganized on a Web page to present to thecommittee. They chose a design thatincorporated the university’s logo of awhite building with several columns on ared background. Designs not chosenincluded pictures of the library building,the university’s initials, and a series ofprinter marks used as decoration in thelibrary.
It was quickly realized that when thebuttons were shown in the database cita-tion lists, the big button (134 x 48 pixels)was too large. While it definitely caught theeye, it also overwhelmed and forced atten-tion away from the citations. The small but-ton (94 x 30 pixels) was also too large formany databases, so a new button had to bemade that was as small as possible. Thisnew button (59 x 17 pixels) was as tiny asthe building could be and still have distin-guishable columns.
Figure 1. Large “Get It!” button.
Using a single, central location to dis-play the design options worked well. TheWeb page allowed the buttons to be pre-sented in a uniform format and preventedhaving to e-mail numerous revisions to thecommittee members. Another lessonlearned was that, when designing thesetypes of graphics, it is better to start smalland increase the size as needed rather thanthe reverse. The larger sizes allowed fordetail and image clarity that could not besqueezed into a smaller button. If the com-mittee had seen the lack of detail on thesmallest design, they may have chosen dif-ferently.
The “Get It!” version of the WebBridgebutton was used until May 2009. At thattime, it was decided to change the wordingto “Find It!” and to exchange the buildinggraphic for the birds printer mark. This
Creating a Library Brandfor Electronic Resources
Tina Harry is associate professor and catalogand assistant automation librarian at the Uni-versity of Mississippi; e-mail: [email protected].
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 7
printer mark is also used on the catalog’sheader, the favorite’s icon (or favicon), andthe LibX extension. The overall shape andcolors remained the same. The smallerbutton was 72 x 22 pixels, and the largerbutton 97 x 32 pixels; both were createdwithin a day and went live shortly there-after.
Project Two: The Metafind/Research Pro Logo
During the final weeks of the Web-Bridge button project in 2005, a secondset of graphics was requested to be used asa visual link for the various portals ofMetaFind (now Research Pro), the federat-ed-search application by Innovative Inter-faces. These portals included the mainMetaFind page (which had the publicname of Library Search Engine), smallpass-through boxes found on the alphabet-ical database listing page and on severalsubject guides, and four medium-sizedsearch pages that had one tab each for arti-cles, books, subjects, and referencesearches.
Unlike the WebBridge button, thisgraphic’s design was only discussedbetween the author and the head of techni-cal services. She wanted a larger logo thatcould be placed on the main and tab pagesand a matching tiny graphic to be added tothe pass-through boxes.
The first design used a screenshot ofthe library home page and a magnifyingglass, both of which could cause potentialproblems. First, the screenshot of thehome page dated the graphic, and that ele-ment would have to be regularly changedto keep the look current. Also, a magnify-ing glass is used on several of the vendor-provided OPAC buttons, and this repetitionof a theme might be confusing to patrons.
This project was set aside until the Web-Bridge button was finished, which provid-ed much-needed time to think of a newdesign. Inspiration finally came one daywhen leaving the library and looking downat the floor. At both library entrances, thereare identical floor murals of the university’sseal. In the center of the seal is a large eye,which is a common symbol for searchingand, in this context, had the benefit ofbeing tied to the library building. Numer-ous pictures were taken of both murals,
with the best of them used to make the eyegraphics. A small eye (37 x 14 pixels)became the graphic for the pass-throughboxes. A larger eye was used to make themain logo (205 x 36 pixels).
The logo was in use for a year beforeneeding revision. During this time, thelibrary Web site went through a redesign,and the public name of the new ResearchPro interface was changed to QuickSearch. The logo was revised to use thenew name and the dark blue color com-mon on the Web site. The revision alsoreinforced the need for multiple backups,both electronic and paper, when the CDthat stored the original files developederrors. The revised logo, and subsequentproject files, had at least two electronicbackup copies made, as well as a papercopy that included notes on colors, fonts,and programs used to make the graphic.
Figure 2. Quick search logo, first revision.
In March 2009, the logo was againrevised to match the headers used in thecatalog and ILLiad. Since this stylerequired the eye to have a background,new pictures of the floor murals were takento create the graphic. The color schemeand wording remained the same, and theexisting header files were used as a tem-plate.
Figure 3. Quick search logo,second revision.
Project Three: The E-ResourcesBrand
The e-resources brand project,assigned in late May 2006, was to developa graphic for use with all the library’s data-bases subscriptions. This branding wouldhelp identify resources paid for by thelibrary, especially for users who reachedthe databases using a search engine,course packet, or other non-library link.The library’s brand at that time consisted ofa low-quality image of a single line of redtext, “The University of Mississippi
Libraries,” that was taken from an old Website header.
During the months of June and July2006, a few hours every week were setaside to work on this project. The firstweeks were spent doing some quickresearch into library logos, since thisgraphic would serve many of the samepurposes. Some articles on creating logoswere found and most of the graphics theydescribed were created by a library com-mittee working with a professional graphicdesigner. This made creating the brandseem a bit more daunting, but also provid-ed a few possible design ideas. A Googleimage search for library logos and visitinglibrary Web sites ended up being especial-ly useful in providing possible design ideasthat could be used with the brand.
After finishing the research, a sheet wasmade of recurring themes found amonglibrary logos. Not surprisingly, books,many opened with a fan of pages, werevery common, along with computers, col-lages of traditional and electronic services,columns and pillars, library buildings, andthe standard street sign. Many of thesethemes made it into the various branddesigns, which were first drawn in a sketch-book. The most promising of these doo-dles were then recreated on the Mac.
By the end of July, sixty potential e-resource brands had been completed inelectronic form. Of them, one used theWebBridge “Get It!” button and six fea-tured the printer’s marks used as decora-tion throughout the library building andWeb site. Eighteen were text that eitherread, “University of Mississippi Libraries”or “UM Libraries,” using a variety of fonts,colors, and layouts. The remaining thirty-five options were variations on the above,created by adding different graphical ele-ments. There were several pairs of brandsin this group that shared similar designs,but used a different font or other minoralterations.
Following the successful model estab-lished during design of the WebBridge“Get It!” button in 2005, a Web page wasmade with the possible brands placed intoa table and numbered. A cropped screen-shot of the current brand, as seen in a data-base, was placed above the table. Thepage also included a copy of an e-mail
Page 8 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
sent to the all-employee library listserv inearly August, asking people to look at thepotential brands and respond with theirfavorite designs and comments. The goalof this informal survey was to weed downthe list to a more manageable number.Library employees were given a little overa week to send responses.
After the week had passed, about athird of employees had replied. Theresponses were gathered and used tomake three new Web pages. One pagecontained the graphics that received no“favorite” rankings or only negative com-ments; this accounted for twenty-five(42%) of the original options. Many ofthese designs had merged or warped let-tering, odd colors, and other elementsthat, in hindsight, definitely would not haveworked well. One of these rejecteddesigns, in particular, continues to be apersonal reminder to make graphics clearand easily understood. It had a circle withwhat was supposed to represent book-shelves and study carrels around it; onerespondent gave a puzzled comment ask-ing why we would use a brand that lookedlike a makeup mirror with combs.
Figure 4. An easily misunderstood logo –book shelves and study carrelsor makeup mirror with combs?
Another page included those logosreceiving one or two favorite rankings and itrepresented twenty-two (37%) of the origi-nal options. The last page presented the fif-teen brands receiving the highest number offavorite rankings. Of those, the top sevenincluded leaving the brand as a line of text(seven favorite rankings) and all six of theprinter’s mark designs (each receiving six totwelve favorite rankings). As some respon-dents pointed out in their comments, theprinter marks have been used in associationwith the library for decades, so it was unsur-prising that many wanted the new brand toalso use them in some form. The surveyresponse also showed that, while someliked the idea of trying a new design idea for
Figure 5.Top picks for new e-resources brand.
the brand, most preferred staying with col-ors and graphical elements already in use.
Following the analysis of the surveyresults, a sample sheet was made of themost popular brand options. The sheetincluded a couple lines of text in the uni-versity colors and all six of the printer’smarks designs, some of which had the lay-outs tweaked slightly. This handout and thethree Web pages showing the number ofpicks each brand received were presentedat the next E-team meeting. (The E-team isa committee of technical services, Webservices, and IT librarians that coordinateselectronic resources maintenance.) Mem-bers used the sheets to make notes duringthe meeting about what to keep or changefor the brand and then turned them in later.However, due to changes in the E-team’smembership and the start of the libraryWeb site redesign, this project was then setaside for over a month.
When the color scheme and fonts forthe Web site redesign were finalized, the e-resources branding project was resumed.Following the redesign, the main colors forthe Web site were now a dark blue and var-ious shades of gray, so the most popular ofthe printer’s mark options (which had thefour faded marks in a row for the back-ground and the text “University of Missis-sippi Libraries” over them) were redone inthose colors. After deciding that this madethe marks impossible to see and the texthard to read, three different designs weretried. Two were very similar, with the row ofmarks to the left and the text in differentlayouts moved to the right. The thirdoption had “Libraries” above the row ofmarks and “University of Mississippi”below it.
Next, different sizes of these designswere made at 100%, 75%, 50%, and25% and placed in a Web page table thathad columns for the image, percent size,
and pixel size. This table was presented tothe E-team in November 2006. The thirdoption and the 25% sizes were removedfrom consideration, and suggestions weremade on how to best tweak the remainingchoices. The final brand was created basedon those recommendations. It is dark blueand contains the four printer’s marks onthe left half of a rectangle and the text,“University of Mississippi Libraries” on theright half of the rectangle. “University ofMississippi” is in a smaller font size, withthe larger “Libraries” below and dropshadowed. The three remaining sizes werekept in order to better accommodate vari-ous vendor requirements. The new brandwent live in mid-December 2006 in a fewdatabases and Quick Search and, sincethen, has been added to most of thelibrary’s other e-resource subscriptions.Some of the vendors required a specifical-ly sized graphic; usually making a copy ofthe smallest brand and adding white spacearound it was all that was needed to meetthe required dimensions.
Figure 6. Final e-resources brand.
A project binder organized all the origi-nal designs, comments from librarians,notes on the revision process, and detailedcopies of the final graphic. Along with theauthor’s own backups, a copy of the fin-ished Photoshop file was given to the Webservices librarian. A similar system oforganization and backups for anyoneundertaking this type of project is recom-mended.
ConclusionSince their implementation, the Web-
Bridge link resolver button, the ResearchPro federated search logo, and the library’se-resources brand have worked well inconnecting e-resources with the library.The lessons learned about keepingdetailed notes and numerous backupsfrom their creation have helped in both therevisions. Later projects have also benefit-ed from knowing to keep the graphics sim-ple, easily understandable and recogniz-ably library related. It also helps to have thecourage to try something new or silly. �
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 9
Kristin Finch
IntroductionWith each passing year, the number of
electronic resources available toresearchers continues to grow. As the avail-able options continue to multiply, itbecomes more difficult for researchers tobe aware of them all, much less under-stand and successfully navigate them.Research in the field of education hasbecome particularly unwieldy in recentyears, with dramatic changes in the long-standing resource Education ResourceInformation Center (ERIC), and theappearance of new online resources creat-ed by other information provider compa-nies. While ERIC has been the primaryresearch resource for educators fordecades, newer options such as EducationFull Text have appeared as recently as thelate 1990s.
Importance of the ResearchFor education and library and informa-
tion science professionals alike, it is crucialto successful research to examine the char-acteristics, features, subject coverage, andsearch retrieval results of competing elec-tronic resources to determine which choic-es offer the best overall benefit. The librar-ian should be able to direct student andnovice searchers to the best onlineresources, and experienced education pro-fessionals should be aware of which
sources offer the best research opportuni-ties and reliability.
Many researchers tend to rely onresources that are familiar and well-knownto them, without exploring the optionsoffered by newer, lesser known resources.As information currently accumulates inevery professional field at a geometric rate,students and professionals should be awareof available resources and their potentialbenefit, or lack thereof, to any researchendeavor.
Problem StatementThe purpose of this study is to compare
the educational databases ERIC and Edu-cation Full Text to ascertain the utility ofeach as an educational research tool. Fea-tures including size, content, and coveragewill be determined. Also, the search resultsretrieved from each database for a given setof five search terms will be compared andanalyzed.
Research Questions
R1. What are the size, coverage, andsearch features of each database?
R2. What are the results retrieved fromeach database using the identical setsof search terms?
Limitations
1. This study is limited to the databasesERIC (EBSCO) and Education FullText as provided by the University ofSouthern Mississippi Libraries.
2. Search results are limited to “peer-reviewed” and “feature article” toretrieve only major scholarly articles.
3. Searches are further limited to the timeframe between 1994-2009 forabstracting results and 1996-2009 forfull-text results.
Definitions
� Abstracting results – search resultsretrieved by conducting a search thatreturns only bibliographic informationand an abstract of the article content.
� Full-text results – search resultsreturned by conducting a search thatreturns only articles that are available infull-text, or complete, format accessibledirectly from the database or linked toan outside source for access.
� Scholarly and peer-reviewed articles –articles identified as “peer-reviewed”and/or “feature article” by the data-base; omits articles such as editorials,reviews, and conference proceedings.
AssumptionsIt is assumed that the databases used in
this study were indexed accurately andcompletely so that searches returned rele-vant results.
History and Background: ERICThe Education Resources Information
Center (ERIC) was created in 1966 as partof the U.S. Department of Education. AsKate Corby describes it, ERIC is “a freelyavailable, Internet-based, bibliographicdatabase listing journal articles, researchreports, conference papers, books, andother similar materials on education-relat-ed topics. It provides high-quality indexingand some electronic full-text for the mate-rials listed” (Corby 2009, 137). ERIC
A Comparison Analysis ofEducation Databases:
ERIC and Education Full Text
Kristin Finch is a graduate student in theSchool of Library and Information Science atthe University of Southern Mississippi; e-mail:[email protected].
Page 10 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
began as the result of a plan by the nation-al Office of Education to bring togethereducation research and information fromaround the country into a single systemthat would index and provide access toeducational resources (138). Due to firmlyingrained territorial natures of the individ-ual states concerning educational matters,the ERIC creators decided to use a decen-tralized system of information manage-ment that allocated different subject areasto clearinghouses in various parts of thecounty. Initially, the clearinghouses weredivided into twelve specific subcategories,which grew to eighteen by 1967. Corbyargues that the decision to use the clear-inghouse system and the lack of sufficientfunding have been major factors in thedevelopment of ERIC (139).
From its start, ERIC’s organizers estab-lished a document delivery service calledthe ERIC Document Reproduction Service(EDRS) to provide research reports pro-duced with government funds at cost. Ini-tially, reports were provided on microfiche,but were eventually upgraded to electronicdelivery in 1999. A few years later, ERICadministrators recognized the need for aquality index of education literature andbegan publishing the Current Index toJournals in Education to meet thatdemand. Both the document delivery serv-ice and the publishing of the index wereturned over to commercial sources, whichCorby states is another important factor inERIC’s development (139).
Corby argues that the decentralizedstructure of the clearinghouse system creat-ed centers of subject specific expertise andinvaluable contacts with those who provid-ed information in their particular area ofspecialization. She also asserts that the lackof funding faced by the organization wasactually helpful in one aspect. The hostinstitutions of the various clearinghousesnot only assisted financially by providingfunds for staff and office space, etc., butattracted dedicated and enthusiastic profes-sionals who often contributed work aboveand beyond their job requirements (140).
Lastly, the decision to partner with privatecompanies provided independent evidenceto those who doubted ERIC’s usefulness ofexactly how many copies of its products theorganization was selling (141).
In 2004, ERIC underwent a dramaticchange in structure. As Tenopir explains,the overhauled version came about as aresult of the Education Sciences ReformAct of 2002. The act eliminated the clear-inghouse system altogether and central-ized all information management into onesource. The sixteen Web sites once main-tained by each clearinghouse separatelywere taken down and one combined Website for all information was created. Thenew ERIC would be guided by a group ofcontent experts who advise the primarycontractor, Computer Sciences Corpora-tion (CSC). Further, the new system wouldsupposedly allow for the inclusion ofincreased access to full-text items, andeliminate the earlier microfiche documentdelivery system (1).
As Corby states in her 2009 assess-ment of ERIC’s development over time,the changes implemented in the 2004revision are soon approaching the five-yearmark, which ends the initial contract withCSC. This is the time that researchers andinformation professionals should seriouslyconsider the changes made over the lastfew years and decide whether they havebeen of help or harm. ERIC’s status as theprimary provider of educational resourcesshould be reevaluated in light of its owndevelopment since the overhaul in 2004,as well as against competing resources thatare vying for user business in the currentinformation marketplace (142).
History and Background: EducationFull-Text
Considering the relatively recent cre-ation of H.W. Wilson’s Education FullText database, no literature on the subjectwas found in the standard databases.According to a database description pro-vided by the company, Education FullText is “a bibliographic database that
indexes and abstracts articles of at leastone column in length from English-lan-guage periodicals and yearbooks pub-lished in the United States and elsewhere”and claims to offer “more coverage thanany competing database” (Education FullText). The database was copyrighted in1999 by the H.W. Wilson Corporation.
Literature ReviewA search of the literature was conducted
using a metasearch of appropriate databas-es accessible through the University ofSouthern Mississippi Libraries. The searchfound no comparisons of ERIC and Edu-cation Full Text, and no articles on thesubject of Education Full Text whatsoever.While there was literature available aboutERIC, most of the articles focused on thehistory of the database or described searchtechniques for use in various subject areas.Although no studies were located thatcompared ERIC to Education Full Text,there were a small number of studies thatcompared ERIC to other databases.
In 1988, Stieg and Atkinson conducteda comparative study of databases contain-ing information on library science. ERIC,Library and Information Science Abstracts(LISA), and Library Literature were evalu-ated on the coverage and indexing of eachone to ascertain the level of bibliographicalcontrol present. The results indicated prob-lems with each database, but the difficultieswith each one varied greatly. The authorsconcluded that Library Literature was thebest choice overall for library research top-ics, but that each database had its ownstrengths and weaknesses and should beevaluated on a user-need basis (58).
In another comparison study conductedin 1993, Amy Wells conducted a compar-ative analysis of ERIC and LISA andfocused on how retrieval results wereaffected by database composition andauthority control issues (2). Her study wasa comparison of search results in bothdatabases using the same search terms ona library science topic. Wells accessed thetwo databases through Dialog, which dif-
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 11
fers from the databases in this study interms of search terms and strategies. Thedatabases accessed for this study aredesigned with multiple search optionsincluding keyword searching, whereasDialog requires precise command lan-guage in searches to retrieve relevantresults. Wells examined characteristics ofthe databases including currency, acquisi-tion policy, duplication, materials, preci-sion and recall, and authority control. Theresults of her study indicated that ERIC wasthe overall best choice, even for a libraryand information science topic, despiteLISA’s focus on this subject area (6). Wellsdrew much the same conclusions as Stieg,et al., despite the five-year time difference.
In 2000, a joint venture by Jack Black,Michelle Clifford, Kate Corby, Jody BalesFoote, Sharon Naylor, Julie Tharp, andBarbara Wales was undertaken to studyand compare several education databasesin education research. The study com-pared ERIC and Education Abstracts toeight other databases outside the field ofeducation to determine the usefulness ofERIC compared to those databases on agiven topics, including affirmative action,tenure, and school-to-work. The authorsconcluded that both ERIC and EducationAbstracts should be consulted by educa-tion researchers, as both offer differenttypes of material coverage with very littleduplication of results. Further, they con-cluded that while ERIC proved itself themainstay for education information,researchers should make the effort to con-sult other databases in different subjectfields for a wider scope of topic coverage(19).
This study incorporates elements of allof the above studies, but most closelyresembles the study conducted by Wells inthat it examines two online research data-bases and evaluates coverage and searchresults.
MethodologyFor this study, the information evaluated
includes size, coverage, and search fea-
tures of two educational databases: ERICand Education Full Text. Further, thesearch results retrieved in each databaseusing an identical set of five differentsearch terms is examined and analyzed.The search terms used are gifted educa-tion, special education, advanced learner,gifted children, and gifted disabled chil-dren. Searches were conducted to retrieveboth abstracting and full-text results. InERIC, the SmartText search feature wasselected to retrieve results from all possiblefields, which is not provided by the defaultsearch mechanism in its advanced searchoption.
In Education Full Text, the defaultsearch option in the advanced searchoption automatically searches all possiblefields, and so was utilized for all the search-es performed in that database. Further, thetimeframe for the abstract only and the full-text searches were set to match the morelimited range of years offered by EducationFull Text. Abstract only searches were setto 1994-2009 and full-text searches wereset to 1996-2009 for both databases dur-ing searches. The accumulated data werecompiled using Microsoft Word tables toorganize and display results.
Results
R1. What are the size, coverage, andsearch features of each database?
ERIC: Size, Coverage, and SearchFeatures. ERIC contains more than1,282,000 records and links to more than314,000 full-text documents. Items in thedatabase are drawn from two sources, theResources in Education (RIE) file of docu-ment citations and the Current Index toJournals in Education (CIJE) file of journalarticle citations from over 750 profession-al journals. It also provides access to about850 ERIC Digest records in full-text avail-able. Also provided are indexed articlesand monographs from about 1,000 jour-nals and about 2,200 education digests.ERIC not only offers education materials,
but also information on careers, language,and information and technology. The time-frame covered by ERIC is from 1966 tothe present with monthly updates in cover-age. Of the more than three thousand jour-nals and digests included in ERIC, aboutone thousand of those are available as full-text. Full-text coverage only provides theentire journal cover-to-cover for selectedjournals. The remainder is covered selec-tively based on relevance.
ERIC provides several methods of con-ducting searches, including basic andadvanced searches with drop boxes tochoose selection fields. Users can chooseto use keywords as search terms or createBoolean searches for precise results.Another interesting and useful feature isthe visual search option, which arrangessearch results in columns or boxes thatbranch off into different search paths whilekeeping the search path visible to the user.This allows searchers to easily see whichtopic and articles have been viewed duringthe search without the need to backtrack.Also, ERIC offers the option to search innatural language using the SmartText fea-ture. This search method is based on algo-rithms that perform searches of the entiretext of an item for broad retrieval of results.In addition, ERIC provides several choicesfor limiting search results including full-text, peer-reviewed, date published byrange, educational level, intended audi-ence, availability on microfiche, journalname, ERIC number, journal or docu-ment, publication type, and language.Users may also choose to search a givenindex directly, and a thesaurus is providedto assist in search term selection. To helpsearchers manage their results, ERIC offersthe option to store saved items in a folder,which then allows the user to save, print, e-mail, or export results into a bibliographicsoftware program.
Education Full Text: Size, Coverageand Search Features. Education Full Textindexes more than 770 periodicals begin-ning in 1983 and about four hundred arepeer-reviewed. Full-text of articles is avail-
Page 12 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
able from over 350 journals starting in1996, and abstracts are provided begin-ning in 1994. Wilson provides a completesearchable listing of journals covered in thedatabase in their online Journal Directory.Education Full Text also provides over fiftyjournals emphasizing special education. Inaddition, it indexes English-languagebooks on education that were published in1995 or later. The recent acquisition offull-text of twenty-nine additional sourcesfrom Springer and twelve years of full-textfrom the library trade magazine WilsonLibrary Bulletin expands on materials inEnglish on an international basis.
The search features offered by Educa-tion Full Text provide fewer options thanthose offered by ERIC. It provides the cus-tomary basic and advanced searches usingsearch boxes with drop down menus to
select fields, and the choice to sort by rel-evance, date, author, journal issue, journalname, publication year, and title. Usersmay also choose to browse by topic. A the-saurus is provided to assist in search termselection. In addition, users may storeitems in a search history, and print, e-mail,or save results. Exporting and citing resultsis also offered. Limiters are provided forpublication date (any year, within the lasttwelve months, and by year range) and arti-cle type (full-text, PDF, peer-reviewed,non-peer-reviewed), as well as the optionto expand results by searching the full-textof documents. Drop down menus areavailable to select document type (featurearticle, review, etc.) and physical descrip-tion (charts, illustrations, etc.). In addition,links are provided to view databasedescriptions and the journal directory.
R2. What are the results retrieved fromeach database using the identicalsets of search terms?
ERIC: Search Results. In order todetermine the broadest scope of retrieveditems per search, the SmartText featurewas selected in ERIC so that all fields,including the article texts, would besearched for keywords. Users should notethat the default search boxes perform aBoolean search of the search termsentered and does not search article texts.This default search method yields up tothousands fewer results than the SmartTextfeature produces. For this study, the searchterms used were gifted education, specialeducation, advanced learner, gifted chil-dren, and gifted disabled children. Theresults were limited to peer-reviewed jour-nal articles for both the abstract-only andthe full-text results. Abstract-only resultswere limited to the timeframe 1994-2009and full-text results were limited to thetimeframe 1996-2009. This providedperiods of time to evaluate which were cov-ered by the each of the databases toachieve more relevant results for compari-son.
Education Full Text: ResultsSearches were performed using the
same set of search terms that were used inthe ERIC searches. However, in EducationFull Text, the default advanced searchoptions automatically searches every field,including full-text. As seen by the figures intables 1 and 2, ERIC returned consider-ably more results in every category thandid Education Full Text for the same time-frame.
DiscussionThe results of this study indicate that,
for the given time frame, ERIC contains amuch larger number of items than Educa-tion Full Text. ERIC also offers moresearch options and limiting choices. Giventhat ERIC has been in existence and col-lecting materials since 1966, it also con-
TABLE 1. Number of items retrieved for each search term in ERIC.
Search terms Items retrieved: Items retrieved:Abstracts Full-text
Gifted education 70,734 36,062
Special education 71,194 36,400
Advanced learner 3,486 1,760
Gifted children 20,685 11,534
Gifted disabled children 21,071 11,746
TABLE 2. Number of items retrieved foreach search term in Education Full Text.
Search terms Items retrieved: Items retrieved:Abstracts Full-text
Gifted education 1,406 1,034
Special education 16,971 8,235
Advanced learner 263 112
Gifted children 1,556 1,068
Gifted disabled children 11 9
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 13
tains a larger overall collection of items tosearch. The format of ERIC as provided byEBSCOhost also lends itself to easysearching and management of resultsthrough user-friendly interfacing.
While Education Full Text was easilynavigated, it offered fewer search optionsand far less material coverage. Result man-agement options were also more limited.Given the results of this study, ERIC is thebetter choice of databases for educationrelated research.
Suggestions for Further StudyTo gain a more comprehensive picture
of the overall value of Education Full Text,further study could be conducted to com-pare the article titles to determine theamount of material overlap between it andERIC. If little overlap were found, thenEducation Full Text would be a valuableresource to educators as a source of infor-mation not found in ERIC. Also, it wouldbe beneficial to have the search resultsreviewed by a subject specialist to ascertainthe level of precision of the search resultsas related to the education profession. �
Black, Jack, Michelle Clifford, Kate Corby, JodyBales Foote, Sharon Naylor, Julie Tharp, andBarbara Wales. 2000. Research in education:A comparison and analysis of databases. Col-lege and Research Libraries News 61.1: 16-19. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, H. W. Wilson.University of Southern Mississippi, Hatties-burg, MS. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.lynx.lib.usm.edu/.
Corby, Kate. 2009. When is ERIC useful? Abackground and current overview of the Edu-cation Resources Information Center. The Re-ference Librarian 50.2: 137-149. Library Lit& Inf Full Text, H. W. Wilson. University ofSouthern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.lynx.lib.usm.edu/.
H.W. Wilson. 2009. Education Full Text.http://www.hwwilson.com/Databases/educat.htm.
Smarte, Lynn, Reston Council for ExceptionalChildren, VA., and Reston ERIC Clearing-house on Disabilities and Gifted Education,VA. ERIC basics: How to use ERIC to searchyour special_education topic. ERIC DigestE523. ERIC, EBSCO. University of SouthernMississippi, Hattiesburg, MS. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.lynx.lib.usm.edu/.
Stieg, Margaret F. and Joan L. Atkinson. 1988.Librarianship online: Old problems, no new
solutions. Library Journal 113.16: 48-59.Academic Search Premier, EBSCO. Univer-sity of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS.http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.lynx.lib.usm.edu/.
Strayer, Jean-Jacques. 2008. ERIC databasealternatives and strategies for educationresearchers. Reference Services Review 36.1:86-96. ERIC, EBSCO. University of SouthernMississippi, Hattiesburg, MS. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.lynx.lib.usm.edu/.
Tenopir, Carol. 2004. ERIC’s extreme makeover.Library Journal 129.14: 36. Library Lit & InfFull Text, H. W. Wilson. University of South-ern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.lynx.lib.usm.edu/.
Wells, Amy Tracy. 1993. A comparative analysisof ERIC and LISA with an emphasis ondatabase composition and authority control asthey relate to retrieval. Viewpoints http://www.eric.ed.gov.
Wirkus, Kelly. 2006. School library mediaresearh: An analysis of articles found in schoollibrary media research and the ERIC database.School Library Media Research 9: 1-24.http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume9/eric.cfm.
REFERENCES
PRESIDENT’S PAGE(continued from page 1)
technical services areas from all types oflibraries attended the TSRT spring meeting;sometimes there are a few from neighboringstates Alabama and Louisiana. The speakersare typically library colleagues from within thestate who have a particular expertise and wantto share their experiences or demonstratetechniques of how-we-did-it-good throughpresentations. Not only do does the workshophave a full day of programming on topics intechnical services, there is also time for partic-ipants to visit with each other over lunch. Allagree there is too much going on at the annu-al conference to easily achieve that, but thespring meeting does include ample time toenjoy seeing other TS librarians and catch upon what’s happening in our libraries.
This spring the MLA chapter of the Asso-
ciation of College and Research Libraries(ACRL) is sponsoring a mid-day program foracademic librarians; members will have aspring meeting for the first time in manyyears, in addition to their fall conferenceluncheon. We have many common interestsand concerns this year that relate directly toour state budget crisis. Academic librarianswill be discussing what they can do to meetthis grave challenge to the educational mis-sions at our colleges and universities. I amdelighted the ACRL leadership is sponsoringa program this spring.
Since the first MLA Executive Board meet-ing this past February, I have reserved themeeting room at the Mississippi Library Com-mission (MLC) for the entire day for the ben-efit of any MLA committee that wishes tohave a business meeting to plan their activi-ties for the year. Planning takes time and dis-cussion; organizing with people in a group
setting when possible is a very productive useof time and creative energy. To date, the MLAAuthors Award Committee and the LegislativeCommittee met for this purpose, as well asthe co-chairs of the School Library Section.Other sections, roundtables, and committeeswho wish to take advantage of the meetingspace may come to MLC in Jackson duringthe afternoons of May 7 or August 6. TheMLC facility is also a perfect setting for plan-ning a conference program for the 2010MLA Annual Conference in Vicksburg.
I hope that the MLA sections and roundta-bles, in particular, will find opportunities tosponsor an annual spring or summer pro-gram in the future to provide an affordableone-day program or workshop in training orprofessional development for the MLA mem-bership as a supplement to our annual stateconference. �
Page 14 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
Alex P. Watson
IntroductionIn a time of budget cuts and funding
uncertainty, many libraries are seeking toassess how their information resources arebeing used with an eye toward potentiallycutting high-cost, low-use items. A varietyof tools exist in the information profession-al’s arsenal for assessing usage; in univer-sity libraries, citation studies have oftenserved this purpose.
By analyzing the resources that arecited in faculty and student papers, librari-ans can gauge patterns of use amongpatrons – data that is valuable not only insimple cost/benefit analyses but also indetermining needs for education, out-reach, and many other library functions.Some of the common issues and pitfallsinherent in determining methods for a cita-tion study are discussed below, with specif-ic references and examples from both pub-lished and unpublished studies.
Who to Study?In an academic setting, two major
groups will be utilizing library resources ascited references in research papers: stu-dents and faculty. As such, both are validtargets for citation studies, and both bringadvantages and disadvantages to the libraryresearcher.
A student citation study involves, by itsnature, a greater number of papers andtherefore a more robust data set. At thesame time, the level of competency withregards to proper citation formatting and
use is likely to be far lower. Student citationstudies also raise thorny privacy issues,since the papers were only intended for asmall, limited audience. Nevertheless, stu-dents are often among the first stakehold-ers at an institution to embrace new tech-nologies, and they are often the greatestusers by volume of library resources.
Faculty research generally involvesfewer papers with more exhaustive andcompetent citations. If students can betermed “basic users” of library informa-tion, faculty represent “power users,” morelikely to be familiar with less obvious anduser-friendly resources. Faculty informa-tion use may also be weighted towardmore comprehensive and more expensivesources, and therefore citation analysis canbe a decisive factor in whether or not cer-tain expensive but low-use resources aremaintained.
Ultimately, the nature of the data thelibrary researcher hopes to harvest shoulddictate whether students or faculty aretapped for a citation study. To a certainextent, the nature of the institution must betaken into account as well: a communitycollege library would naturally be morestudent-centered in its analysis, while facul-ty at such an institution may be performingresearch on their own, collecting their datawould have less import to the library. Bythe same token, a research-focused institu-tion with a large graduate population maybenefit more from a faculty-centricapproach.
Student Citation StudiesAn excellent example of a comprehen-
sive student citation study across multipleacademic departments can be found inDavid H. Mill’s “Undergraduate Informa-tion Resource Choices” (College &
Research Libraries 69(4): 342-55,2008).
Student citation studies present a num-ber of logistical problems. Privacy is animportant issue with student studies, asmost of the material involved was neverintended for wider dissemination. Approvalfrom the local Institutional Review Boardor equivalent human research protectionprogram is essential, as is permission fromthe relevant departments. In many cases,anonymizing individual students’ works,removing bibliographies from their papers,or both may be required to gain approvalor surmount privacy concerns.
The mechanics of collecting documentsfrom students to analyze are also fraughtwith potential pitfalls. While many pro-grams now use e-portfolio systems inwhich student papers are stored and fromwhich they can easily be exported, manystill rely on paper copies or informally sub-mitted electronic copies. As such, commu-nication between the researcher and thedepartment(s) in question is essential: with-out constant reminders, many faculty willforget to make their students’ works avail-able to the researcher. Without strong lead-ership in a given program, the researchermay be forced to approach instructors indi-vidually and make different accommoda-tions to privacy and efficiency for each.
As such, recordkeeping is essential.Researchers should present participantswith a detailed timeline, archive depart-ment or instructor responses to requestsfor student papers, and develop a spread-sheet or database into which metadata aswell as citations may be entered. A consid-erable amount of time should be budgetedfor collection as well, with a definite cutoffpoint at which collection will cease andanalysis will begin.
Tips for Conducting CitationAnalysis in an Academic Setting
Alex P. Watson is a reference librarian andassistant professor at the University of Missis-sippi; e-mail: [email protected].
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 15
For example, a recent student citationstudy conducted at the University of Mis-sissippi sought to measure use of Websites and Wikipedia among first-year com-position students. To this end, student bib-liographies were solicited from all first-yearwriting instructors teaching a course dur-ing the 2009 winter semester at the Uni-versity of Mississippi.
The first-year writing program furnishede-mail addresses for all instructors who hadtaught one-hundred-level writing coursesduring spring 2009, and each of theseinstructors was asked to participate in thecitation study by submitting bibliographiesfrom student papers. There were nineteeninstructors in all, split across three differentfirst-year writing courses: English Compo-sition I and II and Liberal Arts 102. Of thenineteen instructors, seven failed torespond or indicated that their courses didnot include research writing. Twelve indi-cated that they would be willing to partici-pate, and eight instructors actually con-tributed bibliographies, although one sub-mission was unusable. While a low per-centage of the whole, seven instructorswith 237 bibliographies and a total of1108 individual citations were sufficient forthe purposes of the study.
Each participant provided original stu-dent bibliographies (or copies thereof) thathad been stripped of the students’ person-al information. Students’ original paperswere not part of the requested materialsdue to privacy concerns, as many of theessays were personal in nature, and assuch, no information about student topicswas received. The citations were thencoded based on the type of resource. Thiscoding was based entirely on the informa-tion provided by students; many of themagazine and journal citations likely came
from databases provided by the universitylibrary, for example, but were not indicatedas such and therefore counted as printjournals.
That qualitative coding, alongsidequantitative data in the form of derived sta-tistics such as the percent of all citationsthat were electronic, formed the kernelfrom which useful conclusions about stu-dent citation behavior and resource usagecould be drawn.
Faculty Citation StudiesAn excellent example of a comprehen-
sive faculty citation study in a single aca-demic department can be found in Eliza-beth Choinski’s “Journal Use in Pharma-cy: A Citation Analysis of Faculty Publica-tions at a School of Pharmacy“ (Science &Technology Libraries 27(3): 53-64,2007).
Faculty citation studies offer a numberof conveniences to researchers as opposedto student studies. Lists of publications aregenerally easier to obtain than studentpapers, as many departments maintain listsof recent articles for use in tenure and pro-motion. Many individual faculty membersmaintain up to date curricula vitae, oftenavailable on institutional Web sites or byrequest, which can be used to populate alist for study. Privacy is less of an issue, aswell, since faculty publications tend to bein peer reviewed or professional publica-tions intended for dissemination.
Still, there are a number of major chal-lenges in compiling a faculty citation study,not the least of which is the need for acomplete or near-complete list of all publi-cations during a given time frame. Evenwhen, as above, faculty report newly-pub-lished articles to their department or addthem to a vita, the information can often be
frustratingly incomplete. Faculty memberswho depart midway through a study periodalso pose a problem, as do new hires whomay not be fully included in any reportingsystem.
Once a list of faculty publications hasbeen compiled, a further challenge is toprocure copies of each article and renderthe citations and other metadata into anappropriate format. Many articles will be inesoteric and unusual publications that maybe difficult to access; others may be in peri-odicals that have ceased publication. Agood working knowledge of interlibraryloan and relevant discipline-specific data-bases is essential, as are good relationswith the department, which may convincefaculty members to loan personal copiesout for study.
Database software such as MicrosoftAccess can be very useful in managinginformation at this stage by allowing datafor each citation to be entered in a consis-tent manner. The vastly higher number ofcitations per document as compared tostudent papers makes orderly data entryessential; while many articles today areborn digital, much of the data may stillneed to be typed by hand from papercopies.
As an example, a recent faculty citationstudy conducted at the University of Mis-sissippi attempted to gauge faculty use oflibrary journals by the School of BusinessAdministration. The school furnished infor-mation in the form of Web sites that collectand display information about recent facul-ty journal publications. Using that data,which was subdivided into finance, man-agement, marketing, and managementinformation systems and production/operations management (MIS/POS)facets, it was possible to gain the titles and
Page 16 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
places of publication of most faculty arti-cles within the last four to five years.
The Web site data was often incom-plete; as such, it was supplemented withinformation gleaned from other sources.Faculty vitae provided one key source ofadditional articles and were readily avail-able from the School of Business Adminis-tration or the faculty themselves. Authorsearches across key business resourcessuch as Academic Search Premier werealso used to fill in publications absent fromofficial lists and vitae. Some publications,such as conference proceedings, were notcounted.
Once a master list of recent faculty pub-lications had been gathered, the individualarticles were tracked down using a varietyof methods from database searches tointerlibrary loan. Each article’s bibliogra-phy was deconstructed and entered into aMicrosoft Access database, which allowedit to be easily sorted and parsed. This data-base enabled usage trends and otherimportant data to be coaxed from theresults and provided the basis for furtheranalysis and study.
Crunching the NumbersIn assembling a citation study,
researchers need to be aware of how qual-itative and quantitative analyses may helpthem to harvest useful material from theraw data that has been gathered. A combi-nation of qualitative and quantitative analy-ses of data in a citation study is often thebest way to proceed. For example, severalpublished studies have combined quantita-tive data on the number and type of cita-tions (with X% being electronic, X% beingbooks, etc.) with qualitative analysis of thecitations’ relative “scholarliness” (a Website might be coded as “low” while anauthoritative text might be coded as“high”).
Quantitative analysis can be greatly sim-plified through the use of statistical soft-ware such as SPSS or the free alternativePSPP, which can help remove the burdenof complex mathematics from theresearcher. In addition, such software canbe extremely useful in comparing inter-operator agreement among coders forqualitative analysis, making sure that mul-
tiple people coding the same data set arein agreement through the use of statisticalanalysis.
In designing a coding system for use inqualitative analysis, it helps to draw onexisting systems to avoid reinventing thewheel. For instance, the student citationstudy example below adapted a codingsystem designed in 1997 by Jan Alexan-der and Marsha Tate of Widener Universi-ty; that coding system was, in turn, adapt-ed by Mary Ann Gillette and Carol Videonin a later article. Aspects of the originalcode, Gillette and Videon’s revisions, andoriginal innovations were incorporated intothe coding system in the example below,which was used to sort Web sites based ontheir type and purpose, rather than theirdomain (“Seeking Quality on the Internet”
Teaching English in the Two Year Col-lege 26 (2): 189-94, 1998).
ConclusionDespite the many logistical difficulties
inherent in gathering and processing data,citation studies are nevertheless an impor-tant tool. Through knowledge of some ofthe methods above, and the problemswhich accompany them, librarians in aca-demic institutions can make importantcontributions to scholarship and their indi-vidual institutions. As technologies andresources change, and as new generationsof students enter the system, the need forcompetent and recent citation studies willlikely never disappear. �
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 17
Author David Wiesner and OthersVisit the University of SouthernMississippi
The University of Southern MississippiSchool of Library and Information Sciencehosted the forty-third annual Fay B. KaiglerChildren’s Book Festival on April 7-9,2010, at the Southern Miss Thad CochranCenter. The highlight of the festival wasthe presentation of the Southern MissMedallion, awarded to an author or illus-trator for his or her body of work. The2010 Southern Miss Medallion winner isDavid Wiesner. Illustrator of more thantwenty books for children, Wiesner is onlythe second person to have won the Calde-cott medal three times. His books includeTuesday (1992); The Three Pigs (2002);and Flotsam (2006). Two of his othertitles, Sector 7 (1999) and Free Fall(1988), were Caldecott Honor Books.
Lulu Delacre, bilingual author and illus-trator of children’s books, has won multi-ple awards for her work. Most recently shereceived a Pura Belpré honor for The Sto-ryteller’s Candle: La Velita de los Cuen-tos (2008).
Charles Ghigna (a.k.a. Father Goose)is an award-winning poet and children’sauthor of more than forty books. Hispoems for children have appeared innumerous textbooks and anthologies andin magazines such as Highlights, RangerRick, and Cricket.
Maureen Johnson is the author of sixbooks for young adults including The Keyto the Golden Firebird (2004), SuiteScarlett (2009), Thirteen Little BlueEnvelopes (2005), and Let it Snow(2008), written with Lauren Myracle andJohn Green. Her books are read world-wide and have been translated into ten lan-guages.
Dan Yaccarino is the illustrator of morethan a dozen children’s books. He is alsothe designer of the Backyardigans animat-
ed television characters and the creatorand producer of Nick Jr.’s Oswald series.His most recent children’s books includeGo Go America (2008) and The Fantas-tic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau(2009).
In his decades-long career, RichardPeck has produced dozens of fiction titlesfor children and young adults. He is thewinner of multiple awards, including theEdgar Allen Poe Award (Are You in theHouse Alone?); a Newbery Honor (ALong Way from Chicago); the NewberyAward (A Year Down Yonder); and theMargaret A. Edwards Award. He was the1991 recipient of the USM Medallion.
Frank McGarvey has been telling talesaround central and southern Ohio formore than sixteen years. He is particularlywell-known for his ghost stories.
Walter M. Mayes (a.k.a. Walter theGiant Storyteller) is a performer, writer,children’s literacy advocate, and educator,whose rally cry is “Love, food, shelter,clothing…BOOKS!” He is the first ColeenSalley Storyteller at the Fay B. KaiglerChildren’s Book Festival.
For more information, please visit www.usm.edu/bookfestor phone 601.266.4228.
– Submitted by Karen M. Rowell, assis-tant director of the Fay B. Kaigler Chil-dren’s Book Festival, University ofSouthern Mississippi
Meet the Authorsat Guyton Library,Blue MountainCollege
On January 19-20, 2010, Meet theAuthors was hostedby the staff of GuytonLibrary, Blue Moun-tain College (BMC).Members of theAmerican ChristianFiction Writers wereinvited to participate
in a series of events including a panel dis-cussion about writing. The participantsincluded: Kaye Dacus, Annalisa Daughety,Lila Guzman, Eddie Jones, Sandra Rob-bins, Martha Rogers, and Donn Taylor,and their writings include devotions, finan-cial management, romance, mystery,young adults, and poetry. The questionswere created by the student members ofthe BMC Scribblers Writing Club and Dr.Teresa Arrington, professor of modern lan-guages, moderated the discussion, whichwas held in Garrett Auditorium. After-wards, the authors were available for abook signing at the library.
Other events included visiting business,English, and education classes on cam-pus, as well as speaking at the campus’Kappa Kappa Iota and Koinonia lunch-eons. Several of the authors spoke withfourth through sixth grade students at BlueMountain Elementary School and the Eng-lish 4 class at Blue Mountain HighSchool. The authors were also invited toparticipate in brown bag lunches at theBruce Public Library and the PontotocPublic Library. The Friends of the M.R.Dye Public Library in Horn Lake hostedan afternoon authors’ signing event.
– Submitted by Sue Ann Owens, directorof library services, Blue Mountain Col-lege Guyton Library
News BriefsTina Harry, Editor
Tina Harry is associate professor/catalog andassistant automation librarian at the Universityof Mississippi; e-mail: [email protected].
Sandra Robbins, Martha Rogers, Donn Taylor, Kaye Dacus, Annalisa Daugh-ety, Eddie Jones, and Lila Guzman participate in a Meet The Authors panel dis-cussion about writing moderated by Dr. Teresa Arrington at Blue MountainCollege. Photo by Danny McKenzie.
Page 18 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
Grand Re-Opening at Bay LibraryThe wait is over for customers of the
Bay St. Louis-Hancock County Library asthe 18,000 sq. ft. headquarters branch at312 Hwy. 90 in Bay St. Louis formally re-opened Friday, January 29, 2010, at 4:00p.m. The grand re-opening ceremoniesbegan at 1:00 p.m. with a special showingof the film, Mississippi Son, which docu-ments local residents’ experiences withHurricane Katrina. At 3:20 p.m., a specialafter-school puppet show by A Abracadoo-dle, with string marionettes, was presentedin the new glassed-in children’s area. Aformal ribbon-cutting followed at 4:00p.m.
The building, which suffered wind andwater damage from Hurricane Katrina, hasundergone an extensive renovation. All ofthe damaged sheet-rock, ceiling tiles, car-pet, and flooring have been replaced, anda new roof and HVAC system wereinstalled. Many of the massive sheet glasswindows in the library were also replacedand sealed, and both the exterior and inte-rior received new paint. According tolibrary executive director Patty Furr, “Thisproject has put our building back in tip-topshape, and we hope to get many goodyears of service from the beautiful newspace.” Most of the library furniture wasdamaged by flooding and a new lightmaple design was chosen to replace it.
The floor plan of the new space is com-pletely different, as well. “This new design
is based on a bookstore model,” accord-ing to Furr. “Our library customers aretelling us that they value both comfort andconvenience in their library space. Wehave very comfortable lounge chairs, spa-cious booths where patrons can plug in awireless laptop or read the paper, and anew ‘action alley’ with all of our newestselections right up front. Customers canstop in, pick out the latest DVDs, CDbooks, and bestsellers, check them out,and be on their way.”
A library café offers different types ofcoffee, cappuccino, chilled juices, andbaked goods for the public to enjoy. Thereis also a new twenty-four-person publiccomputer center. “Our computer worksta-tions stay busy all the time,” Furr contin-ued. “We hope the new fully automatedcomputer center will help lessen or eveneliminate the wait time to use a librarycomputer.” A new print management andPC reservation system keeps track of eachcustomer’s time and logs off users as theirtime is completed. Printing in both colorand black-and-white is also available for anominal fee.
The new library space also contains theMargaret Hicks Shadoin children’s area,which has been both enlarged andglassed-in to give children a larger spaceto enjoy and adult readers a much quieterspace outside the children’s domain. “Ourcustomers’ number one request on com-munity surveys was to have a separate chil-dren’s area with sound buffering,” saidFurr. “I believe that this new division ofservices will be an advantage for each agegroup.” The new children’s room featuresa fairy tale fantasy land called, “OnceUpon a Time in Bay St. Louis” and wasfunded with a grant from the Foundationfor the Mid-South. It contains a full-size,very realistic Bay St. Louis oak tree, whichdoubles as a puppet theater; the façadefrom a typical Bay St. Louis cottage; achild-sized gingerbread house; and shelfends that feature Jack’s Beanstalk and alarger-than-life Peter Rabbit and his carrotgarden.
Library board of trustee chair Dolly
Lundberg commented, “We believe thisnew library space has something for every-one. We hope that the public will stop byand see the new space and sign up to geta library card to enjoy.”
The new library is open to the public 9a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, andThursdays; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays andFridays; and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays.
– Submitted by Mary M. Perkins, publicaffairs/development officer, HancockCounty Library System
Stride into Ragtime and Jazz at Mis-sissippi State University Libraries
Music once again floated through theair at Mississippi State University Librariesand Lee Hall Auditorium when the glori-ous sounds of ragtime returned to MSU’scampus for the fourth Annual CharlesTempleton Ragtime Jazz Festival heldMarch 26-27, 2010.
Fast becoming a one-of-a-kind musicalcelebration, this Mississippi State Universi-ty-based festival – sponsored by MSULibraries and the Charles H. Templeton,
Officials cut the ribbon re-opening the Bay St.Louis-Hancock County Library marking the com-pletion of the Hurricane Katrina Repair Project. Pic-tured from left are Carroll Gordon, Toni Larroux,Sharon Alexander, Dolly Lundberg, SharmanSmith, Steve Seymour, Rocky Pullman, JohnMoak, Patty Furr, Les Fillingame, David Maria,Suzi Lee, Tony Wayne Ladner, Lisa Cowand,Stephanie McConnell, Gene Taylor, and Ray Kidd.Photo by Mary M. Perkins.
More than forty children attended the puppet showby A Abrakadoodle at the opening festivities for thegrand re-opening celebration of the Bay St. Louis-Hancock County Library. Photo by Mary M.Perkins.
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 19
Sr. Music Museum – features some of rag-time, jazz, stride, and boogie-woogie’smost accomplished performers. Concerts,mini-concerts, and lectures center on theunique Charles H. Templeton, Sr. Collec-tion housed in the MSU Libraries. The col-lection – comprised of 22,000 pieces ofsheet music, 15,000 playable musicalitems, and almost 200 musical instru-ments ranging from the 1880s to the1930s – documents a distinctly Americanapproach to the “business of music.” Thecollection’s sheet music, phonographs,Victrolas, memorabilia, and other artifactstransport festival attendees back to the late19th and early 20th centuries.
Participants in the Fourth AnnualCharles Templeton Ragtime Jazz Festivalenjoyed high-energy concerts in MSU’shistoric Lee Hall Auditorium and experi-enced intimate artist performances and lec-tures in MSU Libraries’ John GrishamRoom. Complementing the music, the fes-tival also highlights the rollicking culture ofthe times through tours of the Charles H.Templeton, Sr. Music Museum. Noted col-lector and historian David A. Jasen, authorof definitive reference works on ragtime,put the music, the composers, and the cul-ture into lively perspective.
Those who love music – and those whosimply love a good time – consistentlyenjoy this signature musical experience.While the Charles Templeton Ragtime JazzFestival is rooted in ragtime music, thephenomenal artists perform in a wide vari-ety of styles, including jazz, stride, bluesand boogie-woogie. Participants may jointhe festival for a day’s events, for a singleevening’s concert, or for the entire two-dayfestival and its full schedule of spirit-liftingmusical performances. A gift shop offersplenty of the performers’ compact discs topurchase.
The Fourth Annual Charles TempletonRagtime Jazz Festival brought to Starkvillefive outstanding artists of the ragtime andjazz genres. Hailed by the press as one ofthe best ragtime pianists in the world, Fred-erick Hodges is sought after by today’sforemost orchestras, festivals, conductors,
and collaborative musicians. His artistry,virtuosity, and charisma have brought himto the world’s most renowned stages, leav-ing audiences around the globe captivated.One of the most highly regarded authori-ties on ragtime music, David Jasen is alsoa collector of books, recordings, pianorolls, sheet music, periodicals, and cata-logs that cover the gamut of Americanpopular music. An adviser to the CharlesTempleton Ragtime Jazz Festival since itsinception, Jasen brings an extraordinaryknowledge of ragtime and its history,enriching the festival experience and pro-viding a dimension rarely seen in other fes-tivals. British-born Carl Sonny Leyland,returning in his second Templeton Festivalappearance, is considered one of today’sgreat boogie-woogie pianists. He has lec-tured widely on the history of the blues andboogie-woogie piano and is known as oneof the few pianists able to recreate thesounds of boogie-woogie giants such asAlbert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, PeteJohnson, and Jimmy Yancey. Eighteen-year-old Adam Swanson, from Shenan-doah, Iowa, is quickly becoming known asone of the world’s foremost performers of
American ragtime music. In May 2008,Swanson became the youngest-everpianist to win Peoria, Illinois’ World-Championship Old-Time Piano PlayingContest. Terry Waldo is considered one ofAmerica’s premier performers and presen-ters of ragtime and early jazz. Known forhis virtuoso ragtime and stride piano play-ing, charming vocals, and disarming wit,Waldo is the protégé of the legendaryEubie Blake, who called Waldo “an exten-sion of my own musical self.”
The Charles Templeton Ragtime JazzFestival is sponsored in part by a grantfrom the Mississippi Arts Commission, astate agency, and the National Endowmentfor the Arts, a federal agency. For moreinformation on the annual Charles Temple-ton Ragtime Jazz Festival, please visit thefestival’s Web site at http://library.msstate.edu/ragtime/festival/ or contact Lyle Tateat 662-325-2559 or [email protected].
– Submitted by Angela M. Patton, libraryassistant, Mississippi State UniversityLibraries �
Canadian ragtime artist Mimi Blais shares musical insights with the attendees of the 2009Charles Templeton Ragtime Jazz Festival held at Mississippi State University Libraries. Photo byJim Tomlinson.
Page 20 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
President:Ann BrantonE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-4350
Vice President/President-elect:Jennifer SmithE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-636-6411
Treasurer:Molly McManusE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-974-1086
Secretary:Ruth Ann GibsonE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-925-3433
Immediate Past President:Jan WillisE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-841-9029
ALA Councilor:Sherry LaughlinE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-318-6170
SELA Representative:Deborah LeeE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-325-0810
Parliamentarian:Bernice RayE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-759-0030
ACRL Mississippi Chapter chair:Tisha ZelnerE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-6170
Public Library Section chair:Alice ShandsE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-329-5300
School Library Section chair:Edith LegginsE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-684-2038
Special Libraries Section chair:Cindy YuE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-4238
Trustees Section chair:Harriet KuykendallE-mail: [email protected]
2-Year College Roundtable chair:Maggie MoranE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-526-3268
Automation and NetworkingRoundtable chair:vacant
Black Caucus chair:Jacqueline QuinnE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-987-8123
Educational Communications andTechnology Roundtable chair:vacant
Government Documents Roundtablechair:Tracy EnglertE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-6396
Library Instruction Roundtable chair:Jorge BrownE-mail: [email protected] phone: 228-214-3455
New Members Roundtable chair:Jorge BrownE-mail: [email protected] phone: 228-214-3455
Special Collections Roundtable chair:TBA
Technical Services Roundtable chair:Linda GinnE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-6398
Young People’s Services Roundtableco-chair:Judy CardE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-429-4439 x120
Young People’s Services Roundtableco-chair:Nancy OpalkoE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-234-5751
Archives and History Committee chair:Jennifer BrannockE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-4347
Awards Committee chair:Carol GreenE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-4476
Conservation Committee chair:Peter DeanE-mail: [email protected] phone: 228-214-3461
Constitution, Bylaws, and Organization-al Review Committee chair:Jill NicholsonE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-428-4313
Continuing Education Committee chair:Diane WillardE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-384-2878
Copyright Review Committee chair:Crystal GilesE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-562-3904
Election Committee chair:Paul McCarverE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-6171
2010 Mississippi LibraryAssociation Leadership
EXECUTIVE BOARD
SECTIONS
ROUNDTABLES
COMMITTEES
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 21
Fiscal Management Committee chair:Jennifer SmithE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-636-6411
Handbook Committee chair:Kathleen WellsE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-6399
Information Literacy Committee chair:David SalineroE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-846-4451
Insurance Committee chair:Richard GreeneE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-289-5151
Intellectual Freedom Committee chair:Sheila CorkE-mail: [email protected] phone: 504-658-4117
Internal Audit Committee chair:Carol GreenE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-266-4476
Legislative Committee chair:Susan CassagneE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-445-8862
Long Range Planning for LibraryServices Committee chair:Jeff SlagellE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-846-4441
Membership Committee chair:Kimberly CorbettE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-776-3881
Mississippi Authors Awards Committeechair:Lynn ShurdenE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-843-2774
National Library Week Committeechair:TBA
Nominating Committee chair:Marsha CaseE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-968-5828
Publications Committee chair:Jeff SlagellE-mail: [email protected] phone: 662-846-4441
Publicity Committee chair:David SchommerE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-951-9091
Scholarship Committee chair:Shugana WilliamsE-mail: [email protected] phone: 228-214-3423
Web Page Committee chair:Molly McManusE-mail: [email protected] phone: 601-974-1086 �
Page 22 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
People in the NewsTina Harry, Editor
On December 31, 2009, Dr. JuanitaFlanders retired as dean of the LearningResources Center of Hinds CommunityCollege. Dr. Flanders was an active con-tributor to the college, Mississippi Elec-tronic Libraries Online (MELO), Mississip-pi Library Association (MLA), and South-ern Association of Colleges and Schools(SACS). She served as president of MLAand as chairperson of the MLA 2-YearCollege Round Table (2-YCRT) and theMississippi University Library Directors’Council. Serving as a mentor, she encour-aged her staff to further their educationsand professional endeavors. Dr. Flanders isenjoying her retirement by spending timewith her children and grandchildren andtraveling with her husband.
— � —
Nancy Patterson joined the staff ofthe National Network of Libraries of Medi-cine’s Southeastern Atlantic Region astheir new community outreach coordina-tor. She earned her MLS from the Univer-sity of Maryland in 2003 and came toNN/LM from her previous position ashead of resource sharing at the Universityof Maryland, Baltimore’s Health Sciences& Human Services Library (which alsohouses the NN/LM SE/A offices whereshe currently works). She will serve Missis-sippi by working with community andfaith-based organizations to fund theirapproved consumer health education proj-ects and to provide training on finding reli-able health information online – all free ofcharge. NN/LM also provides the sameservices for libraries and health profession-
als – information is available on theNN/LM SE/A Web site: http://nnlm.gov/sea. Contact Patterson by e-mail [email protected] or phoneat 410-706-2855.
— � —
Recently, the Jackson-George RegionalLibrary System promoted staff to new posi-tions within the administrative services tofill vacancies for assistant director, youthservices coordinator, and the position ofassistant computer trainer.
Library director Carol Hewlett said,“Since public library use goes up duringdifficult financial times, we were feeling thestress on our human resources and defi-nitely needed to fill these long-vacant posi-tions. By doing this, we will once againoffer more public computer training;establish a finer mandate to focus onlibrary services to preschoolers, school-age children, and teens; and continue toenhance facilities throughout our system.We filled all of these positions from withinby promoting three current employees.The fact that we found the talent, skills,and experience we needed right hereamong our own speaks well for our staffbecause we use the same criteria in-houseas we do when we advertise outside oursystem.”
Alisa St. Amant was selected to theassistant library director position. St.Amant was previous-ly the technical serv-ices manager/cata-loger in the adminis-tration office atPascagoula PublicLibrary. Her newduties will includefacilities mainte-nance, expansion,
furniture and equipment, safety, coordina-tion of daily delivery services, statistics,technology, and other library serviceissues.
Bethany Carlisle was selected to theyouth services coordinator position tocoordinate, plan, and implement all youthservices activities and programming in theeight-branch system. The previous youthservices coordinator,Mary Ann Louviere,retired in March2010. Carlisle waspromoted from theVancleave PublicLibrary where sheworked as the youthservices assistant forthe branch.
Leanna Simpkins will fill a position inthe library system that will enhance publiccomputer training. She will work as theassistant trainer toprovide the popular,free computer class-es within the branchlibraries. Simpkinswas promoted fromthe Ocean SpringsMunicipal Librarywhere she worked aslibrary clerk.
For more information, visit the libraryWeb site at www.jgrls.org. �
Tina Harry is associate professor and catalogand assistant automation librarian at the Uni-versity of Mississippi; e-mail: [email protected]. Alisa St. Amant
Bethany Carlisle
Leanna Simpkins
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 23
About BooksJennifer Brannock, Editor
FICTION
Black, Daniel. The Sacred Place: ANovel. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin,2008. 298 pp. $23.95 (hardcover)
In 1955, Clement Johnson, a fourteen-year-old black boy from Chicago visitinghis relatives in Money, Mississippi, walksinto a local store to simply buy a colddrink, and his life is forever changed. If thisplot line sounds familiar, it is; DanielBlack’s The Sacred Place is a fictionalizedversion of the tragic Emmett Till murder.
Clement, like Emmett Till, is accused of“disrespecting” a white woman. By refus-ing to place the nickel he had placed onthe store counter instead on the clerk’soutreached hand, the boy unleashes a warof bigotry on himself and his family.Clement is inevitably abducted by the localsheriff and his cronies and the Johnsonfamily is galvanized into action trying tosave Clement’s life. Jeremiah, the familypatriarch, gathers members of the blackcommunity together, saying, “We are hereto do something ain’t neva been donelong as I been livin’ here . . . . Bring col-ored folks together.” Decades of sufferingfrom injustice, rapes, and murder bring thecommunity together to stand in solidarityas a message to the white community ofMoney: “We jus come to talk to you‘bout how we been livin’ in Money and totell you how we gon live here from nowon.”
Daniel Black effectively weaves a pow-erful story that is painful yet hopeful. TheSacred Place teaches many lessons aboutthe power of faith and family, and theimportance of maintaining your dignityand pride even when doing so is a danger-ous choice. The Mississippi of the 1950sis effectively portrayed as a cruel and harshplace for black families, but even so, many
of the characters in the book, both blackand white, seem stereotyped. Most of theblack characters are downtrodden, and theall of the whites are portrayed as ignorant,racist, and cruel. The supernatural ele-ments in the book are sometimes distract-ing, reading more like a fairy tale than his-torical fiction. There are, however, manypowerful moments in the story, makingthis book a recommended addition forboth public and academic libraries.
Beth RichardAssistant LibrarianCopiah-Lincoln Community CollegeNatchez Campus
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Russell, Charlsie. Epico Bayou. Gulf-port, MS: Loblolly Writer’s House, 2009.310 pp. $14.95 (paperback)
Epico Bayou is a mystery, a work of his-torical fiction, and a romance novel. Themystery is the most important aspect of thebook, with the history as the backgroundfor a romance between the hero and hero-ine. The book is set on the Gulf Coastnear Handsboro and Mississippi City, Mis-sissippi in 1897, two cities that were latersubsumed by current day Gulfport. Aninteresting historical note at the beginningof the book details the history of the areaand some of the political ramifications ofthat time period.
The book is populated by a large cast ofcharacters: so many that I was frequentlyconfused, even with the assistance of the“Guide to Characters” in the front of thebook. I did not have empathy for most ofthe characters, which made it difficult forme to become deeply involved in the story.It is a complex mystery with a lot of actionand too much that is resolved too quicklyin the last few chapters. Nevertheless, themystery and the historical setting are trulyinteresting.
Public libraries and academic librarieswith extensive holdings in the history of
the Gulfport area should consider pur-chasing this book.
Sheryl StumpCatalogerDelta State University
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POETRY
Kolin, Philip C. A Parable of Women:Poems. Itta Bena, MS: Yazoo River Press,2009. 31 pp. $12.95 (paperback)
This book of poetry is a moving workthat illustrates the desires, hopes, andlaments of women. It spans the past to thepresent, with the women varying fromyouth to elderly and from the forgotten tothe blessed. Each poem delves deeply intothe hearts of these women and draws outtheir deepest emotions.
While a relatively short collection ofpoems, I was moved by the way Kolinbrought the characters’ thoughts and emo-tions to life, making me want to knowmore about them. In “The Lady of theViaduct,” he tells about a woman, home-less and alone. I can’t help wonderingwhat events led up to her being in such astate. And in “Over Coffee,” I was movedby the heartbreak the woman enduredbecause her husband had grown tired ofher. Even though many of the poems aremore melancholic, it is not a deterrentsince we all are touched by hardship at onetime or another.
Not only would this book be a greataddition to any Mississippi collection, asKolin is a professor of English at the Uni-versity of Southern Mississippi, but itwould be an asset to any library’s collec-tion because of the variety of poems andhis topic of choice.
Justine B. WilleyLibrary Media SpecialistMoss Point High School
Jennifer Brannock is associate professor andspecial collections librarian at the Universityof Southern Mississippi; e-mail: [email protected].
Page 24 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
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NONFICTION
Beckwith, David W. A New Day in theDelta: Inventing School Desegregation AsYou Go. Tuscaloosa: University of Ala-bama Press, 2009. 384 pp. $29.95(hardcover)
In the summer of 1969, the authoraccepted a teaching position with the pub-lic school system in Leland, Mississippi. Atthe young age of twenty-two, he was arecent college graduate with no experienceas a teacher and minimal interaction withthe black community. He had one semes-ter to adjust to working as one of threewhite faculty members in the all-blackschool, Lincoln Attendance Center, beforeforced integration mid-year would draweven sharper dividing lines in the alreadyseparated black and white communities inthe small Delta town.
School desegregation is not a newstory, though the author’s perspective on itis an interesting one. Beckwith did not takethe job with any social cause or goals inmind, and through his retelling, the readerlearns that many in the black communitywere as opposed to desegregation as werethose in the white community. This is ofparticular interest as the mention of schooldesegregation often calls forth images ofblack students attending white schools. Itcan leave the impression that the blackcommunity wanted to be let into whiteschools. Beckwith does not try to editorial-ize the story as he relates it, and one doesnot get the sense that he has presented arevised history. This would be a good addi-tion to any public or academic library col-lection.
Jennifer HallHead LibrarianBatesville Public Library
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Hogan, Wesley. Many Minds, OneHeart: SNCC’s Dream for a New Ameri-ca. Chapel Hill: University of North Caroli-na Press, 2007. 480 pp. $34.95 (hard-cover)
When presented with another bookabout the Civil Rights Movement, somemight cynically agree with the popular dis-tortion, “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up,and the white kids came down and savedthe day.” Yes, Wesley Hogan mentionsRosa Parks, Martin Luther King and whitekids, but in her book, Many Minds, OneHeart: SNCC’s Dream for a New Ameri-ca, she focuses on the Student NonviolentCoordinating Committee (SNCC). Sheinforms the reader upfront that ManyMinds, One Heart is not just a recollectionof events and experiences, but an investi-gation into SNCC’s conception, fruition,and dissolution, all of which basicallyoccurred from 1960 to 1965. Hoganexplores SNCC’s emphasis and experi-ences employing grassroots organization,its commitment to nonviolent action, andthe group’s influence on other civil rightsstruggles occurring throughout 1960sAmerica.
Throughout the Woolworth’s sit-ins, theFreedom Rides, the voter registration cam-paigns, and the Mississippi FreedomDemocratic Party, SNCC began andended with the idea that democratic free-dom was the outward expression of self-respect and liberty. Hogan utilizes privateand special collections, oral histories, andother secondary sources to create a time-line that demonstrates SNCC’s philosophyof nonviolence, collective reflection, livinga democratic life, and the conflicts alongthe way.
Many Minds, One Heart: SNCC’sDream for a New America is an excellentaddition for any public or academic library.Hogan’s writing style is comprehensibleand engaging. You don’t need to be a civilrights scholar to follow the SNCC storywith its successes and failures, but mostlyits remarkable, yet widely unheard of, influ-ence on its contemporaries and subse-quent civil rights organizations.
Jennifer Delaney RosePublic History CoordinatorSunflower County Library System
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Houck, Davis W. and Matthew A.Grindy. Emmett Till and the MississippiPress. Jackson: University Press of Missis-sippi, 2008. 213 pp. $40.00 (hardcover)
While the events that transpiredbetween Emmett Till and Carolyn Bryantin a small grocery store in Money, Missis-sippi in August 1955 seem to be clear tous today – Till whistled at Bryant, Bryanttold her husband, Roy Bryant, and then heand his brother J.W. Milam kidnapped andmurdered Till – as the events unfoldedacross Mississippi and national newspa-pers days later, the facts were reported withvarying accuracy. For this book, Houckand Grindy examined over seventy Missis-sippi newspapers and traced the evolutionof the Till story from a local kidnapping toa national civil rights catalyst.
The authors take the Till case day byday, comparing newspaper stories acrossthe state for variations, inaccuracies, andcontradictions. These differences stokedthe fire for white Mississippians’ attitudesabout the case. For example, in oneinstance the Clarion-Ledger reported thatEmmett’s mother Mamie Till said, “Some-one is going to pay for this. The entire stateof Mississippi is going to pay for this,”while the Delta Democrat-Times quotedher as saying, “The State of Mississippiwill have to pay for this” (24). Out of con-text, the quotes were likely to inflame Mis-sissippians; however, the authors claim thatit’s likely that Mamie Till was actually refer-ring to the $3,300 bill to bury her onlychild.
While it reads as a narrative, the bookcan also be used as a reference source,tracing the case as new facts emerge.Emmett Till and the Mississippi Press is afascinating look at how journalism workedin 1955 and how much power the writtenword has. This book is recommended forpublic and academic libraries.
Tracy Carr SeaboldReference Services DirectorMississippi Library Commission
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Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 25
Magee, David. The Education of Mr.Mayfield: An Unusual Story of SocialChange at Ole Miss. Winston-Salem, NC:John F. Blair, 2009. 224 pp. $19.95(hardcover)
Author David Magee is a native ofOxford, Mississippi, an alumnus of OleMiss, a faculty son, and former city coun-cilman, so one might wonder how hecould write an unbiased historical biogra-phy addressing black and white relations in1950s Oxford. Like many in Mississippi,Magee attended public schools only afterthey had been integrated; however,throughout his childhood, he witnessedadults’ residual tensions from decades ofstrained race relations, and he struggled tomake sense of it all. The Education of Mr.Mayfield: An Unusual Story of SocialChange at Ole Miss attempts to fill in thegaps to help people understand where ear-lier generations have been, how they lived,and the social change they worked toeither create or prevent. Magee does thissimply and elegantly by chronicling the lifeof M.B. Mayfield, a gifted black painterand sculptor who is secretly mentored byan art professor at the all-white Universityof Mississippi. From there, the storyunfolds naturally as our protagonists’friendship and working relationship devel-ops, all while maneuvering the obstaclesplaced before them by the fact that theylive in two very separate societies.
This book is an examination of therigidly segregated, pre-civil rights eraSouth, a time not frequently written aboutwhen chronicling the history of the Univer-sity of Mississippi. The story begins adecade before anyone had ever heard ofJames Meredith, when the racial integra-tion of Ole Miss was unconscionable toeven the most liberal. Rather than a treatiseon social change, as the title suggests, thisbook gives both black and white perspec-tives on segregation, both the overt andthe unknowing cruelties, but also individu-als’ acts of kindness, the quiet acknowl-edgements that their social system wasunjust.
Using very illustrative and easy-to-readlanguage, Magee accomplishes withwords what Mayfield and Dr. Purser didwith paint and sculpture: he poignantly
illustrates rural Mississippi and its peopleas they were in the mid-twentieth century.Older readers, or those more familiar withMississippi’s past, may find the bookbeleaguered by the amount of historicalexposition included, but for others, thedetails help to contextualize the memoirs.For instance, one tends to forget thatWilliam Faulkner’s Nobel acceptancespeech was, in Oxford, somewhat over-shadowed by Ole Miss’ inaugural DixieWeek, complete with lavish parties and aparade celebrating one of the last livingConfederate generals. Faulkner wasinformed that he won his prize – celebrat-ing his candid, honest writing about life inthe South – shortly after Alvin Krebs, then-editor of the Daily Mississippian, survivedthreats of expulsion and even death afterwriting an editorial supporting the integra-tion of Ole Miss. The way Magee juxtapos-es these historical events illustrates the col-lision of Old South vs. New South senti-ments, and somewhat mirrors the range ofpeople’s treatment and support of African-Americans and their quest for equal rights.
Readers will delight in the eight pagesof color plates, plus numerous black andwhite paintings and photographs inter-spersed throughout the book. Ole Missalumna will appreciate the paintings andphotos of landmarks that have since fallenby the wayside. Well-indexed, the authoralso provides exhaustive source material.This book is suitable for all high schoollibraries, public libraries, and Mississippiacademic collections.
Missy MurpheyReference LibrarianUniversity of Mississippi
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Nuwer, Deanne Stephens. PlagueAmong the Magnolias: The 1878 Yel-low Fever Epidemic in Mississippi.Tuscaloosa: University Press of Alabama,2009. 188 pp. $34.95 (hardcover)
In 1878, Mississippi had emerged outof Reconstruction hostile and suspicious ofany authority outside its state lines. Oncethe Union troops had left Mississippi soil,Mississippi reasserted itself as a sovereign
state, free of federal government restric-tions. The populace shared a general andcollective hostility toward all national inter-ference of any kind in the management ofstate affairs. The yellow fever epidemicarrived in the summer of 1878 amid polit-ical turmoil and resentment toward anyexternal influence or control. Any federalauthority, no matter how benign, was sus-pect to the citizens of Mississippi. Withouta central and cohesive state board of pub-lic health with uniform standards for sani-tation and disease control, Mississippi washelpless to stop the yellow fever plagueand the spread of this highly contagiousdisease. Well before scientific proof thatmosquitoes caused the disease, no stan-dard of public health was uniformly imple-mented in the state.
The story of the yellow fever plague isset against a backdrop of general distrustand political hostility toward anything fed-eral, including the national public healthguidelines. This resulted in a decentral-ized, disorganized public health system inMississippi that proved to be the perfectstorm for the disease to spread beyond theriver ways to the rural interior of the state.The disease raged from the port of NewOrleans to Memphis, east to Alabama andwest to Louisiana. Over 16,000 cases ofyellow fever were reported in Mississippi,of which there were 4118 known deadwith 1149 deaths in Vicksburg alone.
The first victims of the plague wereriver folk, often poor and unable to seektraditional medical care. Ironically, poorerpatients fared somewhat better, with carefrom those who practiced herbal medi-cines, than those treated by university-trained physicians, who often caused moreharm due to harsh treatments that includedblood-letting and dehydration. Only whenthe middle and upper classes were includ-ed in the number of dying were localmeasures taken to control the disease fromspreading into the rural areas of the state.Sometimes quarantines were establishedin the counties, but these were irregularlyenforced, though some had armed patrols.
As more and more citizens were infect-ed, the economy slowed to a standstill,crops were not harvested, railroad trafficdid not move in or through the state, andmass graves of whole families were filled.
Page 26 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
October 21, 2009 • 9:00 a.m.University of Southern Mississippi
Thad Cochran CenterHattiesburg, MS
President Jan Willis called the meeting toorder at 9:00 a.m.
Executive Board members present:President: Jan WillisVice President: Ann BrantonSecretary: Marsha CaseTreasurer: Amanda Clay PowersImmediate Past President: Jeff SlagellALA Councilor: Sherry LaughlinParliamentarian: Shirlene Stogner
Others present:Melissa Moak, School Section ChairHarriet Kuykendall, Trustee Section ChairJennifer A. Smith, Vice President-electMolly McManus, Treasurer-elect and WebCommittee Chair
(Secretary Marsha Case and Trustee Sec-tion Chair Harriet Kuykendall were inroute, arriving at 9:25 a.m.)
Approval of MinutesThe minutes from August 14, 2009,
were read. Sherry Laughlin made a motionthat the minutes be accepted as presented.Amanda Powers seconded the motion.Motion passed.
President’s ReportJan Willis reported that the federal gov-
ernment is asking state library associations
to assist in promoting its new Web portal,DisasterAssistance.gov, as a resource forcitizens needing help after a disaster. Theboard concurred in having the followinglanguage posted online at the MLA Website to promote this site for Mississippians,who well remember how they turned tolibraries after Katrina.
“Disaster survivors who need assistancefollowing a presidentially declared disasterthat has been designated for individualassistance can now go to DisasterAssis-tance.gov to register online. DisasterAssis-tance.gov is a user-friendly Web portal thatconsolidates information about assistanceavailable from multiple government agen-cies in one place, making it easier for sur-vivors to research and apply for disasterassistance. As a community informationand technology resource, libraries canhelp increase awareness of and provideaccess to the DisasterAssistance.gov Webportal. By raising awareness of the valu-able resources available, providing accessand encouraging survivors to access theportal, the Mississippi Library Associationis joining the effort in making it easier fordisaster survivors to learn about and applyfor the aid they need following a disaster.”
Treasurer’s ReportAmanda Powers presented the treasur-
er’s report. Shirlene Stogner made amotion to accept the report as presented.Sherry Laughlin seconded. Motionpassed. Amanda also announced that shewould be available at various times duringthe conference if needed.
Vice President’s ReportAnn Branton and Sherry Laughlin pre-
sented an update on the MLA AnnualConference. Ann offered kudos to Sherryfor the local arrangements and planning ofthe conference.
Past President’s Report: None
ALA Councilor’s Report: None
Section Reports: None
Roundtable Reports: None
Committee Reports: None
Old Business: None
New BusinessMarsha Case submitted a proposal for
changes in the eligible entries and guide-lines for the Public Relations Awards.
The proposal is to change the Entriesintroduction paragraph to read: “Entriesrepresenting Mississippi libraries will beaccepted in an organized format relevant tothe project: scrapbooks, displays, audio/video tapes, slides, DVDs, online submis-sions, etc.”
The second proposal is to change thefirst Guidelines bullet to read: “Allentries are required to have a projectabstract. Failure to submit abstract will ren-der entry invalid. Online submissionsrequire a written abstract to be submittedproviding the appropriate links to entry andthe information requested below.”
MLA Executive Board Meeting Minutes
The tragedy of the yellow fever plagueinspired heroic acts of selfless service tothe ill and dying. Family members, doc-tors, nurses, and clergy all ministered tothe sick at great risk to themselves andtheir own families. Out of this terrible epi-demic, Mississippi was humbled by its fail-ings. The yellow fever epidemic of 1878probably did much to reunite the state to
the nation, recognizing that it could notstand alone and survive. As a result, astronger public health system was createdby adopting federal guidelines for manag-ing diseases of all kinds.
Plague is a human story, as well as asocio-political and economic story that tellshow Mississippi took a difficult step for-ward to better care for its citizens. I highly
recommend this very well documentedand highly readable work for high school,public, and academic libraries, and thosespecial collections that focus on Mississip-pi history.
Ann BrantonHead of Bibliographic ServicesUniversity of Southern Mississippi �
Mississippi Libraries Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Page 27
Sherry Laughlin made a motion toapprove the changes in the Public Rela-tions Awards as presented. Ann Brantonseconded the motion. Motion carried.
The next MLA Board meeting will beDecember 11, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. atMLC.
With no further announcements, Harri-et Kuykendall made a motion to adjourn,with Jeff Slagell seconding. The meetingadjourned at 9:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,Marsha Case, MLA Secretary
Minutes approved at MLA Board meetingDecember 11, 2009.
— � —
December 11, 2009 • 10:30 a.m.Mississippi Library Commission
Jackson, MS
President Jan Willis called the meeting toorder at 10:38 a.m.
Secretary Marsha Case called the roll.
Executive Board members present:President: Jan WillisVice President: Ann BrantonTreasurer: Amanda Clay PowersSecretary: Marsha CaseParliamentarian: Shirlene StognerExecutive Secretary: Mary Julia Anderson
Others present:Judy Hilkert, ACRL Section ChairMelissa Moak, School Library SectionChairTracy Carr Seabold, Special Library Sec-tion ChairHarriet Kuykendall, Trustee Section ChairJennifer A. Smith, Vice President-electMolly McManus, Treasurer-elect and WebCommittee ChairSharman Smith, MLC Executive Director
Approval of MinutesThe minutes from October 21, 2009,
were read. Corrections were made con-
cerning who made the motions to acceptAugust 14, 2009, minutes. Also correctedwas the statement about the Treasurer’sReport and motions made. Two minortypos were corrected. Amanda Powersmade the motion to accept the minutes ascorrected and Tracy Seabold seconded.Motion passed.
President’s ReportJan Willis expressed thanks to Ann
Branton and Sherry Laughlin for all of theirhard work with the 2009 MLA AnnualConference.
Treasurer’s ReportAmanda Powers presented the current
balance sheet and profit/loss statement.Both are up-to-date and accurate. Invest-ments reported are up-to-date as well.Most conference expenses have been sub-mitted. Harriet Kuykendall made themotion to accept the treasurer’s report assubmitted and Tracy Seabold seconded.Motion passed.
Vice President’s ReportAnn Branton reported that final confer-
ence details are being completed, reportsfinished, etc. Branton also reported that theUniversity of Southern Mississippi recentlyreceived a grant from the Institute forMuseum and Library Studies (IMLS) torecruit ten minority students for its fullyaccredited, online Master of Library Sci-ence program. A letter was presented fromDr. Jenny S. Bossaller requesting thatMLA form either a committee or round-table on diversity, stating that “part of thegrant stipulates the formation of a diversitygroup within the Mississippi Library Asso-ciation so that the students can learnabout, and be part of, a group that lastsbeyond their tenure as students, and willadvocate for all minority groups in librariesacross Mississippi.” Branton stated thatshe would ask Dr. Bossaller to make a fur-ther presentation to the MLA ExecutiveBoard at its next meeting on February 5,2010.
Section ReportsACRL – Judy Hilkert reported that thegroup was pleased with the presentation atthe annual conference stating that “green-
ing” libraries extended beyond just paperrecycling. New officers were announced:Tisha Zelner, chair; Michael Mounce, vicechair/chair-elect; and Melissa Dennis,secretary/treasurer. Hilkert stated shewould like to see more participation in2010 within the group and discussed thenational ACRL rules and regulations. Shealso announced that Juanita Flanders, dis-trict dean of Learning Resources at HindsCommunity College would be retiringeffective December 31, 2009.
School Libraries – Melissa Moak, co-chair(with Edith Leggins) reported that theywould like more participation from schoollibrarians at the MLA annual conference,but it is difficult for school librarians to getoff work for more than one day. Therewere thirty-one requests for continuingeducation units (CEUs), most from schoollibrarians. Moak expressed an interest inhaving more programs for school librari-ans on Thursday. It was stated that every-one needed to know that CEUs were avail-able from other programs, not just school-related ones. She also proposed that MLAconsider waiving registration fees for pre-senters. Branton suggested that she andMoak work on a letter to principals andschool superintendents outlining the advo-cacy of school librarians and how MLAcontributes. Moak reported that she is amember of a regional librarians’ group,Mississippi Association of Library Teachers(MALT), which has been reporting goodfeedback.
Special Libraries – Tracy Seabold reportedthat she has been presenting workshopsabout Credo Reference, an online collec-tion of over four hundred reference works.This is not an Internet source. She report-ed that the Special Libraries Section pres-entation at the MLA annual conferencehad lower attendance than in previousyears. New section officers wereannounced: Cindy Yu, chair, and JoyceShaw, vice chair. Seabold expressed aneed to try to peak the interest of specialgroups.
Trustees – Harriet Kuykendall reportedthat the Trustees Section presentation atthe MLA annual conference was given by
Page 28 Vol. 74, No. 1, Spring 2010 Mississippi Libraries
Randy Sherrod and was well-attended byeighteen trustees and directors. She hasmet with Barbara Price to set up state-wideworkshops. She plans to use Jackson-Hinds Library System (JHLS) as a pilotprogram sometime after Christmas 2009.Kuykendall stated that she was currentlytaking an online trustee class.
Committee ReportsFiscal Management – Jennifer Smithreported that the fiscal management com-mittee had met and had worked on a ten-tative budget. The committee will meetbefore February 5, 2010, and have a rec-ommendation at the next meeting.
Special ReportSharman Smith, MLC executive direc-
tor, reported that she intends to recom-mend to the MLC Board to give a$20,000 grant to MLA for next year. MLChas reserved the entire rotunda floor (atState Capitol) on February 18, 2010, forLibrary Day. MLA will again sponsor PieDay on March 11, 2010, passing out Mis-sissippi products to the legislators. Smithstated that the governor’s budget recom-mendation for MLC for 2011 calls for a$3,000,000 cut. MLC is doing all it canto educate the state about libraries. MLChas to count on everyone’s help with thelegislature. She will meet with JenniferSmith about the grant for next year. Shar-man Smith would like to see MLA bring ina “name speaker” to get the blood pump-ing, to think differently. MLC/the grant’sintent is to help attract higher caliberspeakers.
New BusinessA resolution on 2009 Reauthorization
of the USA Patriot Act had previously beenapproved via e-mail on November 13,2009. The resolution was presented to beofficially ratified by the MLA ExecutiveBoard. Amanda Powers made the motionto ratify the resolution as presented andAnn Branton seconded the motion.Motion passed.
With no further announcements, Mar-sha Case made the motion to adjourn withAmanda Powers seconding. The meetingadjourned at 11:53 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,Marsha Case, MLA Secretary
Minutes approved at the MLA board meet-ing February 5, 2010.
— � —
December 11, 2009 • 11:55 a.m.Mississippi Library Commission
Jackson, MS
President Ann Branton called the meetingto order at 11:55 a.m.
Marsha Case (past secretary) called theroll.
Executive Board members present:President: Ann BrantonVice President: Jennifer SmithImmediate Past President: Jan WillisTreasurer: Molly McManusSecretary: Marsha Case (substituting)Parliamentarian: Shirlene StognerExecutive Secretary: Mary Julia Anderson
Others present:Melissa Moak, School Libraries SectionChairHarriet Kuykendall, Trustee Section ChairAmanda Clay Powers, Past Treasurer
Approval of the MinutesMinutes from the previous meeting
were not available.
Vice President’s ReportJennifer Smith reported that she is
beginning to work on plans for the 2010annual conference in Vicksburg. Herworking theme is “Outside the Lines –Mississippi Libraries Defining Ourselves.”She plans to have conference committeesin place by February 2010. It has beenreported that Horizon Casino has beenhaving difficulties and there is no otherhotel close to the Convention Center. Shewill work with the Chamber of Commerceand Visitor’s Center to get bids for hotelsand/or buses. Her intent for the confer-ence is to do something different – she’dlike to meet Rita Mae Browne and theUnshelved comic people.
President’s ReportAnn Branton stated that one of her
focuses as president would be review andrevision of the MLA Handbook. MLA hasalready found the ALA councilor, and pos-sibly SELA councilor, terms of office to beout of compliance with these organiza-tions. Kathy Wells will chair the HandbookCommittee. Branton said that she wouldlike to take road trips around the state todifferent library events and hopes that shewill be invited to special library events. Shewants to represent the library associationand give it a familiar face. Branton also dis-cussed placing a list of vendors who sup-ported the MLA conference on the MLAWeb site so that members would have easyaccess to vendors they may wish to dobusiness with. Branton wants to promoteschool librarians and queried if writing tosuperintendents and principals wouldencourage greater school librarian partici-pation in MLA and attendance to the annu-al conference. February 5, 2010, has beenreserved for the next MLA executive boardmeeting and Branton asked committees toplan to meet on that day to begin the year’splans. It was announced that Susan Cas-sagne is chairing the Legislative Commit-tee and Carol Green the NominatingCommittee. Alice Shands is chair of thePublic Libraries Section.
There were no reports from the treasur-er or immediate past president.
The next MLA Executive Board meet-ing is February 5, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. atthe Mississippi Library Commission.
With no further announcements, Jen-nifer Smith made the motion to adjournwith Jan Willis seconding. The meetingadjourned at 12:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,Marsha Case, MLA Secretary
Minutes approved at the MLA board meet-ing February 5, 2010. �
MISSISSIPPI LIBRARYASSOCIATION
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One of the primary forms of communication between MLA andits members is the MLA listserv. As a member of the MLA list-serv you will receive important announcements from MLA viaemail and be able to discuss library related issues with yourpeers. If you are not already a MLA listserv member, can we addyour email address to the listserv?� Sign me up! � I decline
A. MEMBERSHIP TYPESMembership (Any person currently working in a library orinformation center. Mark by salary range.)
$0 to $9,999 $15 per year $________$10,000 to $19,999 $25 per year $________$20,000 to $29,999 $35 per year $________$30,000 to $39,999 $45 per year $________$40,000 to $49,999 $50 per year $________$50,000 to $59,999 $55 per year $________$60,000 or above $60 per year $________Student (2 Year Limit)
Full or Part-time $10 per year $________Retired $15 per year $________Trustee $15 per year $________Friend of Library $15 per year $________Institutional Membership $45 per year $________Vendor $40 per year $________Lifetime membershipOne-time Payment $1000 $________Installment Plan
(Payable in increments of a minimum of $200 eachyear until paid in full) $________
A. MEMBERSHIP TYPES SUBTOTAL $________
http://www.misslib.org/601.981.4586 • Fax 601.981.4501
B. SECTIONSEnter “FREE” for one section membership(Enter $6.00 for Additional Sections)Academic (ACRL) $_________Public $_________School $_________Special $_________Trustee $_________B. SECTIONS SUBTOTAL $_________
C. ROUNDTABLESJoin one or more roundtables for opportunities in professionalgrowth $3.00 EACH.
ANRT $_________(Automation and Networking)
BLACK CAUCUS $_________ECTRT $_________
(Educational Communication and Tech)GODORT $_________
(Government Documents)LIRT $_________
(Library Instruction)NMRT $_________
(New Members)SCRT $_________
(Special Collections)TSRT $_________
(Technical Services)2YCRT $_________
(2 Year College)YPSRT $_________
(Young People’s Services)C. ROUNDTABLES SUBTOTAL $_________
D. SCHOLARSHIPSDonation to Peggy May Scholarship $_________Donation to Virgia Brock-Shedd Scholarship $_________D. SCHOLARSHIP SUBTOTAL $_________
GRAND MLA TOTAL(DUES GRAND TOTAL (A+B+C) ANDSCHOLARSHIP D) $_________
___ Check enclosed (Make payable to Mississippi LibraryAssociation and mail to MLA, P.O. Box 13687, Jackson MS39236-3687). All dues include subscription to MississippiLibraries.
___ Please charge my MLA dues to my:� VISA � MasterCard
Account Number _______________________________Expiration Date_________________________________Signature_____________________________________
Dues must be paid by March 15 in order to receive the Spring issue ofMississippi Libraries and for annual election of officers. MLA may at timessupply its membership list to professional organizations or library vendors.� Check the box if you do not want your name included.
(Revised 12/09)
Mississippi Library AssociationP.O. Box 13687Jackson, Mississippi 39236-3687
NON-PROFITORGANIZATIONU. S. POSTAGE
P A I DPERMIT NO. 312
HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI
