LCSH Changes: War and the Environment, How Cheery

Though it's pretty depressing to work on these heading changes, I am still pleased to announce that the LCSH "Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975" has been changed to "Vietnam War, 1961-1975". I imagine that heading stumped many of our younger patrons. It was still going on when I was born and I don't even call it the "Vietnamese Conflict."

I've completed all of the associated changes in GGC's database. GPC has a lot more instances of this heading, many of which I have to change by hand, so you may still see the old heading here and there for a couple of days. I'm plugging away at it though. If I haven't caught everything by the end of next week, you can assume I've missed it and drop me a note.

Another sensible change that I thought you might like to hear about, "Biological diversity" has become the more recognizable "Biodiversity." I have managed to change all of these in both catalogs, GPC and GGC.

RLG to Merge with OCLC

Though I am watching this with interest, I'm not overly concerned about the how-will-it-affect-us issues. It's probably a good thing for us, if OCLC makes good use of RLG innovations like RedLightGreen. Were we RLG members, I'd be more concerned, as it sounds like they are the ones set to be "absorbed." It's not a done deal, the RLG member institutions have to vote on and approve the decision by June 7, but it sounds like it's going to go down.

RLG to Merge with OCLC (InfoToday)
RLG to combine with OCLC Press Release (OCLC)
RLG Proposal to Combine with OCLC FAQ (OCLC)

Date only search

We've been experiencing a problem when we search "on this date" in the Historical NY Times Database (with no search terms). We use this for the assignment in which students are required to find an article on the front page of the NY Times on the date that they were born. This assignment is depressing enough when we think about where we were (i.e. in college, out of college!, etc.) when these students were born, but recently we began receiving an error message and no results. Today (5/8/06) I spoke with someone at the ProQuest technical support, and he said the problem has been reported and they're working on a solution.
In the meantime, he suggested that we use the per cent (%) sign as a wild card in the search box along with the date. I tried this, and it works. Also, Carmel discovered that the date only search works in the Advance Search without anything in the search box.

Historical NY Times Printing

Does anyone else have difficulty printing articles from the NY Times database? When I try to print them, the font is so small it is barely readable. Does anyone know a way to adjust this?

Staff Development Program!

The Staff Development Committee is presenting a program entitled "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Medical Information But Were Afraid To Ask" on Monday, May 15th. Dr. Stephen Koplan of the Dunwoody Campus Library will demonstrate the PubMed database.

The program will take place from 11am-1pm in the JCLRC Instruction Room (2220) on the Clarkston Campus. The committee will provide drinks, chips and sweets but bring your own brown bag lunch!

Please let your campus Staff Development person(s) know if you will be attending by Thursday, May 11.

See you on the 15th!

Henriette D. Avram, Mom of MARC, Dies at 86

With the development of MARC, Avram revolutionized the catalog, and therefore the library. She could have made a name for herself in any field. The library community was extremely lucky to get her, and we shouldn't forget that.

NY Times Obit