In the Spotlight

Library to launch new home page July 1

A prototype of the Library's new home page is available at http://www.library.northwestern.edu/prototype.html. Students and faculty are encouraged to provide feedback via our online survey.

The Library has redesigned its home page to make it easier for students and faculty to locate important information and resources. Over the past three years the Library has conducted focus groups, surveys, and other methods of research to gauge student and faculty impressions of the site. We learned that users want a cleaner, less cluttered page; information and links that are better organized; and terminology that makes sense to the average user. The home page redesign is based on this research as well as many conversations with librarians and Library staff.

The redesign also incorporates the Library’s new graphic identity, developed to ensure visual consistency in print and web-based communications. The goal of the identity program is to build recognition of the Library through communications ranging from brochures to electronic newsletters. The new graphic identity is shown in the two print communications below:

Online resources unavailable June 25-26

To strengthen the availability of University applications and protect critical data, a generator and an upgraded UPS (uninterruptible power supply) system are being installed at the central Northwestern University Information Technology (NUIT) Datacenter. This project is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, and end at noon on Sunday, June 26.

The project will result in an unaviodable interruption of online University services for up to 18 hours. This will affect all web based services coming from the sites listed below:

Voyager/NUcat
<http://nucat.library.northwestern.edu>
<http://nucat.galter.northwestern.edu>
<http://tran.library.northwestern.edu>
<http://nucat.mmlc.northwestern.edu>
<http://nucat.ahsl.northwestern.edu>

Electronic Resources
<http://er.library.northwestern.edu>

Einstein/SFX
<http://hopper.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://einstein.library.northwestern.edu>

EZproxy
<https://turing.library.northwestern.edu>

Library Web Sites
<http://2east.northwestern.edu/>
<http://annenberg.northwestern.edu/>
<http://chemhistory-chicago.org/>
<http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://digital.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://dvaction.org/>
<http://hpol.org/>
<http://keaton.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://media.northwestern.edu/>
<http://nmc.northwestern.edu/>
<https://rosebud.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://search.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://staffweb.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://ve.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://vel.library.northwestern.edu/>
<http://vesalius.northwestern.edu/>
<http://www.library.northwestern.edu/>

Additionally, blogs, electronic reserve and document delivery, mailing lists, and email accounts on library systems will all be unavailable during the outage.

More information on the Datacenter outage is available at <http://www.it.northwestern.edu/transitions/2005/datacenter_shutdown.html>

Renovation in the Main Library

Beginning June 13, 2005, the Library will begin renovation of the first floor of the Main Library. The renovation is scheduled to be complete for the fall 2005 quarter. The renovations include a redesign of the corridor, new lighting and a new project room in the Information Commons, renovation of Circulation Services, and the redesign of a new book alcove. First floor services will be available to faculty, students, and staff in temporary locations on the first floor throughout the summer. As part of the renovation, the Library will begin moving computers and seating to alternate locations during the last few days of finals. We appreciate your patience during the construction.

Code Name: Einstein

Test drive the prototype for a new service at Northwestern University Library

Einstein is a system that will make it easier for faculty and students to search scholarly resources. It provides significant new functionality for locating and searching indexes, databases, e-journals, and full-text articles.

The system is designed with special features such as “QuickStart,” which is recommended for undergraduate students at the beginning of the research process. For this feature, Northwestern librarians have preselected eight multidisciplinary databases to help students start their research. Users can search all eight databases simultaneously and quickly retrieve a list of citations to articles and other types of references.

More advanced searching is facilitated through a feature called “Metasearch.” As with “QuickStart,” this option allows the user to search across multiple databases simultaneously. The key difference with "Metasearch" is that the user's research topic guides the selection of databases to be searched. For example, a user researching human-computer interaction might choose to do one simultaneous search of three databases: PsycINFO, Internet and PC Abstracts, and Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts. The result is a combined list of citations from all three sources. Although many of the Library's databases support this functionality, some do not and the Library is working with its vendors to make their resources “Metasearch” compatible. In addition, faculty and students continue to have the ability to connect directly to a database and search using its native interface.

The “Find Database” and “Find e-journal” functions allow the researcher to locate a database or electronic journal by exact title or by title keywords. In addition, users can browse by subject area to discover database resources that are relevant to a specific discipline or topic.

Finally, the “My Space” feature allows the user, once logged in with NETid, to "collect" favorite databases, e-journals, citations (which may then be saved to Endnote or RefWorks), and search preferences. Thereafter, when the user logs in, his view will be customized based on these preferences.

Einstein is now available at http://einstein.library.northwestern.edu. The Library will use the next couple of months to optimize the user interface and tweak the system to make it work better. In the meantime, please give this research tool a test drive.