CUNY Office of Library Services

Library News Archives


October, 2005

Plagiarism ConferenceNEWS: Plagiarism Conference

Read the Press Release by clicking above.

February, 2005

LibQual SurveyNEWS: LibQual Survey

Read about LibQual by clicking above.

January 22, 2003

The New CUNYPlus is Launched: (http://temp-apps.appl.cuny.edu:80/F)

The Office of Library Services, Computing and Information Services (CIS) and the 19 campus libraries have implemented a new CUNYPlus. The new web-based library catalog, book ordering and cataloging system became available on December 16, 2002 when conversion was completed on more than 5 million cataloging records and holdings files. On January 13, 2003 circulation functions became available with the conversion of patron files.

The project started more than 4 years ago with the search for a new system and the upgrading of the campus library infrastructures. An agreement was signed with Ex Libris-USA to license its Aleph 500 product in the fall of 2000. Implementation planning began in January 2001. The effort of converting all data, designing the public catalog and training all library staff was enormous. Based on our experience with the old system and the experience of other universities implementing the Aleph 500 software, we expect a shake down period of about a year while kinks are worked out and new capabilities fully exploited.

Look at the new catalog at: http://temp-apps.appl.cuny.edu:80/F

Marsha Ra
Office of Library Services

marsha.ra@mail.cuny.edu

February 1, 2002

Online Library Tutorials Now Available: (http://ols.cuny.edu/tutorial/)

The Office of Library services is pleased to announce that a series of library tutorials is now available of the web for use by all CUNY students.

These tutorials are based on the software developed by the California State University as part of their Information Competence Project. Modification for the CUNY environment was accomplished by a group of campus librarians led by Prof. Mariana Regalado (Brooklyn College) and included Katherine Killoran (John Jay College), Sandra Marcus (Queensborough Community College) and Linda Roccos (College of Staten Island.) Support was provided by the Council of Chief Librarians, Kalvin Lee (Brooklyn College), Leo Kleinert (Baruch College) and staff of the Office of Library Services.

Faculty are encouraged faculty to look over the tutorials and to recommend them to students. Feedback is especially welcome!

Marsha Ra
Office of Library Services

marsha.ra@mail.cuny.edu

September 4, 2001

CUNY Adds Gale Literature Resource Center to CUNY Digital Library Collection

The Office of Library Services is pleased to announce the latest addition to the CUNY Digital Library Collection, the Gale Literature Resource Center (LRC) with the Modern Language Association (MLA) Bibliography.

The Literature Resource Center/MLA is a complete literature reference database designed for both undergraduate and graduate students. It provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline, and covers more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, including in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors.

The LRC is built on the Gale Group's three author databases: Contemporary Authors Online, offering biographical coverage of more than 120,000 writers; Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, featuring entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of the 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95; and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, containing more than 10,000 biocritical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars. In addition, users can access current, full-text critical essays on major authors via the Literature Resource Center's link to more than 130 prominent literary journals. CUNY has elected to add the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation database to its LRC subscription, providing CUNY researchers with access to 1.4 million citations from the MLA International Bibliography.

The CUNY digital library collection is a group of university-wide licenses to electronic journals, monographs, index and abstract databases and other reference works accessible from any CUNY campus IP address. Most of these resources are also available to students and faculty from home computers through a system of remote patron authentication. The collection is selected by a university-wide committee of librarians and the Council of Chief Librarians. We hope you will make your students aware of these resources and use them in your own research. Your feedback is welcome.

Marsha Ra
Director of Library Services

marsha.ra@mail.cuny.edu

July 5, 2001

ALEPH 500: A New Version of CUNY+ in the Wings!

The Office of Library Services and the CUNY librarians are preparing the way for a new version of CUNY+, the University's Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) and library management system (LMS). The new version will run on software called Aleph 500, a product of Ex Libris. We estimate that the new and improved CUNY+ will become available during the spring semester, 2002.

The new Aleph 500 version of CUNY+ will provide the University community with many new features while maintaining the functionality found in the current system. Moreover, Aleph 500 will provide a stable platform for future enhancements that would not be possible with the old software now in use. A state-of-the-art Internet-based catalog will provide access to both electronic and library housed resources and will offer an electronic reserves service. Searching will be easier, more flexible and more focused. You will be able to search the entire range of CUNY library holdings or just the holdings of individual campus libraries, and you will be able to limit your searches easily by publication type or format. Other new functions include the ability to place holds, renew items, and to set up and modify a personal searching profile.

Aleph 500 is a very flexible system and no two implementations look exactly alike. However, to get a feel for the system there are several OPACS already up and running in North America which you might want to check out:

Many other Aleph library links throughout the world are listed on the ExLibris USA site: http://www.exlibris-usa.com

The selection of ALEPH 500 was made after two years of rigorous vendor evaluation, which involved all campus libraries. The choice of Aleph 500 was unanimously endorsed by the CUNY Council of Chief Librarians and mirrored the selection of Aleph 500 by the State University of New York.

Aleph was originally developed by Hebrew University and is now in use at over six hundred (primarily university) libraries worldwide. In North America Aleph 500 has been licensed by Boston College, Brandeis, Harvard, McGill, MIT, Notre Dame, and the University of California, among others. Aleph 500 is well known for its ability to support systems serving large groups of libraries like CUNY and SUNY.

Implementing Aleph 500 is an enormous team effort. Systems and operations staff at CUNY's Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS) are responsible for managing the large Sun server which houses the new software and CUNY+ database. Librarians and programmers in the Office of Library Services must master the new application and tailor it to CUNY's needs. Librarians and staff at all 19 campus libraries must be trained in using the system for ordering books, cataloging, circulation, reference, etc. The task of introducing the system to CUNY students and faculty is one of the most important if the new system is to be successfully adopted. Watch this space for news of developments as we move forward in our Aleph 500 implementation.

If you have questions, feel free to contact:

Marsha Ra
Director of Library Services

marsha.ra@mail.cuny.edu

June 15, 2001

EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier to Replace Gale’s Expanded Academic Index

The Office of Library Services is pleased to announce the CUNY-wide availability of EBSCO Academic Search Premier -- the world’s largest scholarly, multi-discipline, full text database designed specifically for academic institutions.

Academic Search Premier contains:

  • full text for nearly 3,180 scholarly publications
  • abstracts and indexing for nearly 4,150 scholarly journals with many dating back to 1984
  • full-page images, as well as color embedded images
  • a scholarly collection providing full text journal coverage for nearly all academic areas of study - including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

EBSCO also offers access to Business Source Premier, Master File Premier (a general interest full-text database), and Health Source/Nursing Academic.

The decision to replace Gale’s Expanded Academic Index (EAI) with Academic Search Premier was not made lightly. The University’s librarians carefully tested and compared both products over several months. The decision to move to EBSCO was overwhelmingly endorsed by the colleges’ chief librarians. There were three distinct reasons for the decision. First, EBSCO has licensed more full-text data than Gale and has more exclusive agreements with more journal publishers. Second, EBSCO provides access to a variety of products that CUNY has been licensing from several other companies with a resulting proliferation of user interfaces. Through EBSCOHost, CUNY will be offering its students and faculty access to CINAHL, ERIC, Medline, PsycINFO and Sociological Abstracts through the same easy to use interface. Third, EBSCO has the ability to link to full text in Academic and Business Search Premier from third party databases (i.e., CINAHL, ERIC, Medline, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts) making these index and abstracting services partially full text.

The EBSCO product is available immediately. To ease the transition Gale’s Expanded Academic Index will be available through September 30.

We welcome your suggestions and feedback.

Marsha Ra
Director of Library Services

marsha.ra@mail.cuny.edu
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