Record
numbers

May 2005

Anyone who has used Lied Library lately knows it�s busy. For those people who�ve been wondering just how busy, the following statistics may be of interest: early-in-the-week visits average in the range of 8,500 visitors per day, with some days during study week and finals recording over 10,000 visits per day. The record high was 11,358 visits on Dec. 7.

Between the last full year in the old Dickinson Library (fiscal year 2000) and the first full year in Lied Library (fiscal year 2002) the percent increase in visits (gate count) was 103 percent � from 603,000 to nearly l,224,000. By fiscal year 2004 the gate count reached 1,460,560 � a 142 percent increase over the Dickinson�s final year. If the fall 2004 increase of 2.7 percent over the previous fall � bringing the number of visitors to 776,444 from 756,298 � is any indication, fiscal year 2005 will continue to reflect an increase in visits to Lied.

So what is it that so many people are doing in the Library? The answer: using the 300-plus Internet-accessible computers; practicing their power-point presentation in the group study rooms; using the fully-networked study booths to prepare their group project; using the media preview rooms and viewing stations; checking out laptops; studying quietly in one of the silent study rooms on the third and fourth floors; using the multimedia design studio resources to integrate a video clip into their paper; taking an instructional tour, class, or workshop; locating books from the Libraries� million-volume collection; seeking research help; or simply relaxing or studying in the Book �n� Bean Caf�. The building has something to offer everyone and that�s the story behind the stats.

Project
Seeks
UNLV
Stories

April 2005

As part of the University's 50th Anniversary year, the Oral History Research Center will conduct an oral history project of UNLV. The center is seeking stories about UNLV to demonstrate the diversity of the university. All that's needed to be interviewed is longevity, a good memory and great stories.

The interviews have begun and have generated excitement about this endeavor. History professor Dr. Tom Wright, for example, remembered the campus when he was fourteen. His father was a young professor, and there were no buildings. �Classes were taught wherever space could be found,� the younger Wright remembers.

Bruce Layne, an early UNLV student, told a story about earning such poor grades that he was asked not to return to school. But baseball coach"Chub" Drakulich believed in him. �It was as if someone turned the light back on when he told me he wanted me back and that he would give me a scholarship,� Layne said. He cites Drakulich's support as one of the major reasons that he became a successful insurance broker and is now a UNLV donor.

The interviews will be companion primary-source documents lending personal accounts to the official history that history professor Dr. Eugene Moehring is writing. The recording of all of the interviews will be completed by May 2006 when Moehring's narrative history is slated for unveiling. The project will culminate with a reception at the end of the year to honor those who have shared their memories.

While collecting these interviews, the center will continue recording sessions with some of the earliest arrivals to our city for the Boyer Early Las Vegas History Project that will contain approximatley 150 participants when complete.

The
New
CML

March 2005

The Curriculum Materials Library (CML) has been located in the Carlson Education Building since 1972 and primarily serves students in the College of Education by striving to provide materials that support and enhance their course work and to prepare them for the challenges that they will face as classroom teachers. The CML's services and collections are also available to Clark County School District teachers, many of whom double as UNLV graduate students. As a branch of the University Libraries, the CML is open to all UNLV students, staff, and faculty, as well as to the public. The CML collections include over 35,000 items of juvenile literature, curriculum guides, school district adopted textbooks, and more.

With the move of the UNLV Preschool into the Lynn Bennett Early Childhood Education Center, the CML has recently acquired some additional square footage, allowing for rearrangement and expansion of collections and services to better serve its community of users. The "new" CML features enhanced technology and designated spaces for quiet and group study have been added to its repertoire of services. The plan for improved space has allowed the library to physically and intellectually "stretch out" and addresses the enormous amount of growth and change in both the UNLV College of Education and the library field. One thing that hasn't changed is the CML's user-focused atmosphere that increasingly makes it a home away from home for many of its users. For more information about the CML's collections and services, visit http://www.library.unlv.edu/cml/

Improving
access for
UNLV
affiliates

February 2005

To better serve the growing numbers of UNLV students, faculty, and staff -- and to ensure that student technology funds are best used in the best possible manner -- UNLV Libraries has made changes in the services offered to community users and visitors not directly affiliated with UNLV.

Library patrons who are not UNLV students, faculty, or staff no longer will be able to access most Internet or web-based e-mail sites such as Yahoo! from library computers. In keeping with the Libraries' status as the only research level collection of print and electronic resources within a 250 mile radius of Las Vegas, the Libraries continue to provide community and guest users with on-site computer access to the UNLV website, federal government sites and all of our electronic collections such as the full-text online journal subscriptions and packages. It is expected that computer access for students, faculty and other UNLV-affiliated library users to the Libraries� online resources will be improved as a direct result of this change.

Make the most of Google Scholar

January, 2005
With the resources of UNLV Libraries, scholars on campus can take full advantage of a new Google tool.

The recently launched Google Scholar searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, and technical reports. It searches a variety of undisclosed academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

While Google Scholar is freely available to anyone searching the Internet, many of the linked full-text resources are not. Fortunately, some of this content is available to members of the UNLV community through databases that the Libraries subscribes to (found on the "Find A rticles & More" page of the Libraries website).

When searching Google Scholar on campus, full-text resources that are available from UNLV-subscribed databases or electronic journals will be automatically accessible without special authentication procedures.

To facilitate access to full text for off-campus UNLV-affiliated users, the Libraries has added Google Scholar to its proxy service. By using the link to Google Scholar located on the "Find Aticles & More" page and entering their UNLV barcode, affiliated users can access all the subscribed material available when using Google Scholar on campus: www.library.unlv/search/eralpha.php

Note: a Google Faq is available at: www.library.unlv.edu/help/googlescholar.html