LJ Names U of U's Kenning Arlitsch as 2009 "Mover and Shaker"

Kenning Arlitsch, Associate Director for Information Technology Services at the University of Utah Marriott Library, was named one of the "Movers & Shakers 2009" in the March 15, 2009 issue of Library Journal. Since 2002, Library Journal has selected top library leaders who are "shaping the future of libraries," particularly in the area of technology. Arlitsch was the driving force behind the Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL), which laid the groundwork for other digital collections such as the Western Waters Digital Library (WWDL) and the Utah Digital Newspapers (UDN). The LJ article can be viewed at http://www.libraryjournal.com/MS2009Inductee/2140336020.html

Pioneer Committee Meets at U of U

Members of the Pioneer Committee met March 11, 2009 at the University of Utah Marriott Library to strategize future improvements to the online resources across the state, especially in light of the current budget cuts. Agenda items included budget issues, database pricing, and promotion.

While details from the stimulus package for libraries are still forthcoming, LSTA grant money will likely be fully funded. Subscription prices for the major electronic resources will stay stable for the next year. The EBSCO sole source has been approved for one year, with a one year renewal and SIRS pricing will remain the same this year.

Future promotional activities will include involvement at the upcoming ULA Conference and possible improvements to the Pioneer web site. Since November, a campaign has been in place with FrontRunner riders, giving them easy access to all Pioneer databases on the train. The committee brainstormed ways of getting Pioneer more exposure in the press.

The Pioneer Committee is made up of representatives from the Utah State Library, Utah Education Network, academic libraries, K-12 school libraries and public libraries. The EBSCO databases and some others used by Utah colleges and universities, are part of Academic Pioneer, the portion of Pioneer that is targeted to higher education.

MWDL Site Shows Increase in Visits

The Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL) is showing a marked increase in site visits. The last 30 days has shown an increase of about 500 visits, bringing the total number of visits last month to 3,440. MWDL had been getting approximately 100-200 new visits each month, but has recently seen a peak in new users, possibly due to MWDL being mentioned as the American Library Association's "Digital Library of the Week," and then being highlighted in The Scout Report.

Latest Legislative Budget Update

David Buhler, Associate Commissioner for Public Affairs, Utah System of Higher Education, published the last weekly legislative report for March 2-6, 2009. Buhler states that "significant progress has been made in advancing Higher Education’s agenda. Budget cuts, while deep, are half of what had been projected, several higher education buildings have been funded, and all legislative priorities have either passed or are on track to passing in the final four days."
Budget details can be viewed in the report at:
http://www.utahsbr.edu/LegRpt/2009/Weekly%20Report%202009-6.pdf

Mountain West Digital Library Highlighted in Internet Resource Magazine

The Mountain West Digital Library was featured in the February 27, 2009 issue of The Scout Report. The Scout Report is the flagship publication of the Internet Scout Project. It provides a fast, convenient way to stay informed of valuable resources on the Internet. A team of professional librarians and subject matter experts select, research, and annotate each resource. The Scout Report can be viewed at:
https://www.umail.utah.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=97cef29b23694624b8c08a13b28a7924&URL=http%3a%2f%2fscout.wisc.edu%2fReports%2fScoutReport%2f2009%2fscout-090227.php

2008 NetLibrary eBook Use Announced

March 5, 2009 -- UALC's shared collection of ebooks, NetLibrary, is being used by patrons across the state. In 2008 NetLibrary was used a total of 18,101 times. Of the shared 2,299 titles, 1,985 titles were accessed. Since purchasing NetLibrary, 2,292 of the books have been opened a total of 121,844 times. Median uses is about 38.

Most used books in UALC shared netLibrary collection in 2008.

• A Child Called "It" : An Abused Child's Journey From Victim to Victor
• Fast Food Nation : The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
• Jewel of the Desert : Japanese American Internment At Topaz
• CliffsTestPrep GRE 2000
• Nova's GRE Prep Course 2004
• Fighting for Your Marriage : Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Preserving a Lasting Love
• A Companion to the American West
• Fed Up! : Winning the War against Childhood Obesity
• Crucial Conversations : Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
• Nova's GMAT Prep Course 2004

Professional Development Annual Retreat Announced

February 17, 2009 -- The UALC Professional Development Committee announced plans to host its annual retreat on Friday, August 14, 2009 at the University of Utah. This year's retreat is titled "Incorporating Outcomes into Library Measurement and Assessment" and will be presented by the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA).

UALC Council Meets at BYU

February 6, 2009 --The quarterly UALC Council Meeting was held on Friday, February 6, 2009 at the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library in Provo, Utah. Agenda items included a budget discussion, product demonstrations and committee reports.

UALC Presents to Legislature

February 5, 2009 -- The Utah Academic Library Consortium reported to the Utah Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Mike Freeman, Council Director, and Sandra McIntyre, Program Director for the Mountain West Digital Library, showed an introductory video of UALC and requested funding to continue the digitization of Utah’s historical newspapers for the latest UALC project, Utah Digital Newspapers.

Mountain West Digital Library is "Digital Library of the Week"

February 5, 2009 -- The Mountain West Digital Library was selected as Digital Library of the Week on ALA's ilovelibraries.org site for the first week of February. The web site can be found at:
https://www.umail.utah.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0af1d881048949a1988f30c2a00d5cab&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ilovelibraries.ala.org%2fdiglibweekly%2f

New UALC Promotional Video Released

February 3, 2009 -- A five-minute promotional video has been produced by UALC and focuses on the benefits of the organization and its three major projects--Pioneer, the Mountain West Digital Library and the Utah Digital Newspapers. The video was released last week and will be shown at the presentation to the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee at the Utah Legislature.

The video can be viewed on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgJCEhMcYBE

Utah Academic Libraries Award Joint ILS Contract

January 23, 2009 – The University of Utah Libraries, in partnership with the College of Eastern Utah Library, have awarded a contract to Ex Libris for the Aleph integrated library system (ILS) and the Primo search and retrieval system. The University of Utah Libraries include the J. Willard Marriott Library, the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, and the S. J. Quinney Law Library.

Aleph and Primo will be fully operational by January 2010 and will replace the University of Utah’s legacy system, which has been in use since 1997. The new systems will enable library users to conduct a unified search of collections held by all four participating libraries, including digital collections.

In announcing the contract award, Joyce Ogburn, Director and University Librarian at the Marriott Library, said “We are excited to be offering this advanced discovery system to our users. Primo integrates perfectly with Aleph and can easily be dovetailed onto our existing SFX link resolver, providing us with a unified search interface for our print, electronic, and digital collections. We are confident Primo will lay the foundations for future collaboration with other academic libraries in the region.”

New Collections, Hub Added to Mountain West Digital Library

12/22/2008 -- The Mountain West Digital Library had an unusually large net increase of over 18,000 records with 25 new digital collections. MWDL now serves users with access to over 220,000 items in 263 collections. MWDL also has a new, ninth hosting hub in the MWDL network, Utah Valley University Library. Go to http://mwdl.org/ to access these new collections:

Brigham Young University:
*Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Finding Aids

Southern Utah University:
*Allen Leigh Photographs
*Iron County Extension Office
*Southern Utah State College
*Southern Utah University Drama Slides

University of Nevada, Las Vegas:
*Welcome Home, Howard! (Howard Hughes Photograph Collection)

University of Utah:
*University of Utah Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Finding Aids
*University of Utah Photograph Archives
*University of Utah Theses and Dissertations
*University of Utah UScholar Works

Utah State Archives:
*Utah Fifth District Beaver County Case Indexes
*Utah State Archives Series Inventories

Utah State Historical Society:
*Peoples of Utah
*Utah State Historical Society Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Finding Aids

Utah State University:
*Cookery and Culture
*Elsner Sculptures and Sketchbooks
*FolkBistro
*Utah State University Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Finding Aids

Utah Valley University:
*Utah Technical College Yearbooks
*Utah Valley University Departmental Publications
*Utah Valley University Faculty Collection
*Utah Valley University Library Collection
*Utah Valley University Student Theses Collection
*Wilson W. Sorensen Photograph Collection

Weber State University:
*Utah Construction-Utah International Photographs
*Weber College Yearbook 1924-1963
*Ogden City Churches
*The Signpost - A Decade Sampling
*Weber State University Stewart Library Special Collections Registers

UALC's Mountain West Digital Library Reaches 244 Collections

October 27, 2008 -- The Utah Academic Library Consortium’s Mountain West Digital Library hit a landmark number of digitized collections this month, with more than 244 educational, civic and historical society anthologies now being made available online. The successful joint project now includes over 202,000 records and can be accessed at http://www.mwdl.org/ .

The Utah Academic Library Consortium, an organization of all Utah academic libraries and the Utah State Library, met Friday, October 24, 2008 at Weber State University to discuss their latest cooperative ventures, including future development of the MWDL.