Upgrade to system

On Wednesday, March 25, from 8 - 8:30 am, LOUIS in Baton Rouge will upgrade our system for off campus access to ULM Library Journals.

Federal Trade Commission and "Free" Credit Reports

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The FCRA promotes the accuracy and privacy of information in the files of the nation’s consumer reporting companies. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the FCRA with respect to consumer reporting companies.

The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have set up a central website, a toll-free telephone number, and a mailing address through which you can order your free annual report: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.

Warning: Only one website is authorized to fill orders for the free annual credit report you are entitled to under law — annualcreditreport.com. Other websites that claim to offer “free credit reports,” “free credit scores,” or “free credit monitoring” are not part of the legally mandated free annual credit report program. In some cases, the “free” product comes with strings attached. For example, some sites sign you up for a supposedly “free” service that converts to one you have to pay for after a trial period. If you don’t cancel during the trial period, you may be unwittingly agreeing to let the company start charging fees to your credit card.

For more information on how and why you might want to obtain your credit report(s), visit the FTC page, visit "Facts for Consumers: Your Access to Free Credit Reports," at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm.

Federal Consumer Information Center Warning

"Beware!" says the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB has seen a considerable spike in both complaints and inquiries from consumers who state that they received misleading mailers or high-pressure telemarketing calls claiming their auto warranty was about to expire.

“As an outgrowth of our country’s economic troubles, and to some extent problems in the auto industry, BBB is hearing from consumers nationwide who are being bombarded by telemarketers and mailers trying to scare them into thinking their auto warranty is about to expire and if they don’t sign-up now the offer expires,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson. “Not only are these telemarketers lying about the consumer’s coverage, they are potentially ignoring federal laws such as the Do-Not-Call registry.”

For the full story on this and other consumer alerts, visit the Federal Consumer Information News & Notes site at http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/newsnote.htm.

Special Mardi Gras Hours

You are diligent and noble, right? So you'll be working on something instead of partying this weekend, right? Of course you are. That's why ULM has special hours for the Student Success Center and the Library. We'll be open 12-8 on the 24th. Here's a complete list:

	Student Success Center	University Library
Saturday, February 21	12:00 - 5:00 PM	Closed
Sunday, February 22	4:00 - 8:00 PM	Closed
Monday, February 23	12:00 - 5:00 PM	Closed
Tuesday, February 24	Closed	12:00 - 8:00 PM
Wednesday, February 25	Regular hours	Regular hours

Is it cold in here?

Physical Plant has informed us that they will be working on a leak in the heating system piping on the 5^th fl. This entails taking the heating system down for the entire building and could possibly take the rest of the week to make the repair and restore the heating system.

Friday the 13th: EBSCOhost Interruption

Don't procrastinate on your research if something is due on Friday the 13th.

Due to scheduled network maintenance, EBSCOhost will be unavailable on Friday, 13 February 2009 at 10:00 p.m. Central time (14 February 2009 at 04:00 GMT) for approximately one hour. Users attempting to access the site during the maintenance period may be redirected to a “network maintenance” page.

New Web interface for SciFinder Scholar

Exciting news for anyone who uses SciFinder Scholar! The database, which was previously accessed through a local client that required downloading and installation on users' computer(s), is making the switch to a Web-based interface. This means that you will be able to access SciFinder in your Web browser of choice and will be able to log in from any computer once you create your username and password. UPDATE 2/11/09: Technical difficulties are currently preventing off-campus access. We are working hard to resolve the problem and will keep you informed on the situation. NEW UPDATE 2/26/09: See end of this post.

What is SciFinder?
According to its website, SciFinder is "a research discovery tool that allows you to explore the CAS databases that contain literature from many scientific disciplines, including biomedical sciences, chemistry, engineering, materials science, agricultural science, and more." For help navigating the database, try the Support & Training pages or contact me (mawilliams@ulm.edu, 342-1065).

When?
From now until April 17, 2009, you will be able to access SciFinder either through the old downloaded client or through the new Web-based version. After April 17, the desktop client will cease to work and you will need to use the Web interface.

How do I register?
If you would like to register for the SciFinder Web version, I can supply you with ULM's registration URL. The terms of our license prevent me from posting it publicly here, but if you email me at mawilliams@ulm.edu I will send it promptly. All faculty and staff in the departments of Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Toxicology should shortly receive an email containing this URL from me (Maren Williams) . All ULM students, faculty, and staff are welcome to register if interested. Please note that you will need to (1) register from an on-campus computer and (2) use an @ulm.edu email address in your registration.

NEW UPDATE 2/26/09:

Thanks to Mike Magee, the Library’s Computer Services Technician, you should now be able to access the Web version of SciFinder off-campus. Mike has tirelessly negotiated between CAS’s very strict security and our state library network’s servers to make them play well together.

In order to use SciFinder off-campus, you will now need to pass through two authentications. When you try to navigate to http://scifinder.cas.org from off-campus, you will first be redirected to a LOUIS (state library network) database login page as shown here. Enter your CWID and PIN (birth month and year with two digits in each), select ULM from the drop-down box, and click Authenticate*. That should get you to the SciFinder login page, where you will enter the username and password that you chose when you registered.

*At this point you will probably get a pop-up warning mentioning an “untrusted certificate.” Your computer may not trust us, but you can—click “Ignore” to continue on to the database.

Once again, we are very sorry for this delay. If you have any more questions or continue to have problems logging in, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Inauguration Got Your Attention?

Did you know that President Obama took the oath of office on the same Bible used by President Abraham Lincoln?

If you would like to know more about this, or what other Presidents had to say at their inaugurations, or if you really want to know more about where the President and his family live, or about that beautiful room in the U.S. Capitol where the VIPs had lunch after the inauguration ... Come to the University Library. There are new displays on the 1st and 2nd floors to satisfy your curiousity.

On a more serious note, the new bulletin board display in the 2nd floor Government Documents Reading Area shows how federal laws are made, and just how you can keep on top of what laws and regulations are being passed.

Wall Street Journal-Folks Flocking to Libraries

I found this to an interesting trend.

Link below to Wall Street Journal article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123197709459483585.html

New Library Website Has Arrived

This week, the new library web site was unveiled!

http://www.ulm.edu/library/

We are still working on it. Feel free to ask us any questions or give us comments and suggestions.

Copyright and "Fair Use" in Education

Students and faculty may benefit from the following document prepared by Temple University's Media Education lab: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.

The authors state that the document is intended to help "educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances — especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant."

What Do YOU Want? Louisiana Technology Survey

LALINC (Louisiana Academic Library Information Network Consortium) is conducting a brief survey to gather feedback on what features are really important to you in an online library catalog. The survey answers will help Louisiana's academic libraries select and configure the catalogs to best meet your preferences and expectations.

Click here to take the survey.

Thank you for your time!

New ULM Government Documents Blog

There is a new University Library blog: "Government Information Resources at ULM Library." The URL for the blog is http://govdocs-at-ulm.blogspot.com/.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Thefts in the Library

Hello everyone!

Just today, two different students who left their belongings unattended in the Library for a short time have had their textbooks stolen. We're thrilled that you feel at home here, really we are--but you should all be aware that we cannot guarantee the security of your possessions. Please keep everything of value with you at all times while you're in the building, even if you're just getting up for a minute to use the restroom or find a book on the shelves.

ULMPD officers are investigating the thefts, but they and we (the Library staff) would much prefer to prevent crime rather than deal with the aftermath. Thanks!

Register Your Phone with FTC "Do Not Call" Center

Tired of annoying calls from telemarketers?

Want them to STOP?

Just call 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236), from the number you wish to register, or register online at WWW.DONOTCALL.GOV. It just takes a few seconds.

READ posters are up!

Remember waaay back in March when we asked you to vote in our poll about which Celebrity READ posters we should get to decorate the Library? Well...it's taken a while due to ordering issues, but the posters are finally here and displayed throughout the building! These are our ten poll winners, along with their locations in the Library:

1. Orlando Bloom/Lord of the Rings--1st floor, near computers west of Circulation
2. Keira Knightley/Pride and Prejudice--1st floor, above McNaughton Collection (leisure reading books)
3. Denzel Washington/Green Eggs and Ham--2nd floor elevator hallway
4. Kelly Ripa/The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe--near entrance to Government Documents/Media Services
5. Hilary Swank/The Freedom Writers Diary--3rd floor elevator hallway
6. Trace Adkins/Gods and Generals--3rd floor west of stairs
7. Anthony Hopkins/The Great Gatsby--4th floor elevator hallway
8. Renee Fleming/Anthology of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales--4th floor near Curriculum and Juvenile Collection
9. Dakota Fanning/Charlotte's Web--5th floor near Monroe Garden Study Room
10. Ewan McGregor/Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales--5th floor elevator hallway

Be sure to look out for your favorite! And in case you're wondering...yes, we do have all of these books except for Beatrix Potter and The Freedom Writers Diary in the Library. If you'd like to read them, you can look them up in the Library Catalog or just ask us at the Reference Desk.

Complete results of the poll with all 51 posters can be viewed here.

Learn about saving the Environment with EBSCO!

EBSCOHost's GreenFile has recently been made accessible at ULM! It has articles about humanity's complicated relationship with the Environment.

It can also be accessed here:
http://www.greeninfoonline.com

Voter Registration Deadline: October 6th

For information on how to register to vote in Louisiana, visit www.geauxvote.com .

Louisiana rules for student voter registration:

"Students may use their home residence address within the state or their school address for voter registration purposes. Out of state students are allowed to use their school address in Louisiana if they want to be a voter in this state." (R.S. 18:101(C))

Voter registration forms available online at http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/457/Default.aspx

Give Us a Piece of Your Mind!

Really ...

We want to know what you think about us.

If you are part of the ULM community, the University Library faculty and staff want to provide you with the best possible facilities, materials, and services that do not merely meet your needs, but actually exceed your expectations.

But, we can't do it alone: we need your help! Tell us:

What do you think we are doing right?
What are could we do better?
What aren't we doing that you would like us to do?

Please click here to take our survey!

We thank you for your time!

Ebrary

Ebrary can now be used off campus.