Friday, December 11, 2009

Kirkus Reviews & Another Who's Who

From my email inbox this morning, the end of a journal ...

"As part of the sale of its business to business publications, Nielsen Business Media has announced that it is closing its book review publication Kirkus Reviews as well as Editor & Publisher." - Library Journal, 12/10/09

... and a new Who's Who directory non-affiliation notification from Emerald Group Publishing.
"Please be aware that a company called Emerald Who's Who is contacting management professionals and academics around the world asking them to become a member of their Who's Who directory (Emerald Who's Who for Executives and Professionals). Emerald Group Publishing Limited is in no way affiliated with this company and does not endorse it in any way." - Mark Hindwell, External Relations, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 12/11/09

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

NCES Releases "Academic Libraries: 2008 First Look"

From the IES newsflash this morning, Academic Libraries: 2008 First Look

Academic libraries held approximately 102.5 million e-books and about 3.6 million electronic reference sources at the end of fiscal year 2008. The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Academic Libraries: 2008 First Look." This report summarizes services, staff, collections, and expenditures of academic libraries in two- and four-year, degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Findings include:

  • During FY 2008, there were about 138.1 million circulation transactions from academic libraries' general collection.
  • Academic libraries reported 93,438 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff working during the fall of 2008.
  • Academic libraries spent about $6.8 billion during FY 2008.

Monday, December 07, 2009

'Tis the season

Classes ended last Friday and accompanying the brisk pace of students finishing their independent lab by the prescribed 5:00 pm deadline, considerable time was spent simply putting "one foot in front of the other." Questions were answered, crowds were handled, and the pressure of completion was felt by one and all. It often feels things ends abruptly, even after six weeks of reminders and a large countdown sign on the IRC door.

Last week a young woman stopped in the IRC and took a few minutes to tell me how patient everyone was with her throughout the term and how much she appreciated the time taken to answer all her questions.  She gave me a thank-you card containing a gift certificate for a local pizza shop. It was a thoughtful gift that I passed along to my students this morning; each of them now has a pizza break financed during finals.

It was a very nice moment during a week filled with deadlines and revisions.