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Library Newsletter Spring 2001 In This Issue:
Welcome to the Spring issue of the James Earl Carter Library’s Newsletter, “Check It Out!” In this issue, you will find articles illustrating several facets of the Library. The fascinating interview with Dr. Harold Isaacs in celebration of the opening of our first large special collection, “The Third World”, donated to us by Dr. Isaacs, and the article about two of our international student assistants, illustrate Georgia Southwestern’s and its Library’s traditional and on-going connection with the international community. As promised in our first issue, we are also taking our readers behind-the-scenes to acquaint them with little known and even less seen Library operations which have a major impact on user services and access to information. Ms. Lee Ann Dalzell, the Library’s Cataloger and Database Manager, has written an informative essay describing her unit’s operations. Another theme which is interwoven into all our operations is “cooperation and collaboration”. It gives me particular pleasure to announce that in December the James Earl Carter Library signed a far-reaching cooperative agreement with South Georgia Technical College and Lake Blackshear Regional Library which will provide the citizens of our community with extended and enhanced access to resources, services, and information. I also wish to thank the Library’s supporters whose donations and gifts make possible the enhancement of the Library’s collections and services. It is through their generosity that we were able to order, this past semester, several items from our “Wish List” including The Encyclopedia of Science and An Indepth Study of the Major Plays of African American Playwright August Wilson: Vernacularizing the Blues on the Stage. We hope you enjoy this issue and we appreciate your suggestions and support.
Dr. Isaacs was born in New Jersey and spent his youth in the New York Metropolitan area. He pursued his B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in History from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He came to Georgia Southwestern State University in 1965 to teach Latin American History. When I asked Dr. Isaacs about his interest in Third World Studies, his response was, "I was already studying and teaching about Latin America, one area of the Third World, and so I became interested in knowing more about Africa and Asia and how they compared and contrasted with Latin America." Dr. Isaacs believed there was a great need to promote Third World Studies. Although approximately 80% of humanity lives in the Third World, there is a lack of knowledge of the people and cultures of these countries. Unfortunately, our exposure to Third World countries has been negatively affected by news of drugs, terrorism, refugees, etc. Dr. Isaacs felt that by increasing his knowledge of the Third World, he might help eradicate myths and stereotypes resulting in increased tolerance and respect. Such knowledge would help to lessen prejudice and discrimination by Americans toward not only citizens of the underdeveloped Third World counties, but also toward African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. Why did Dr. Isaacs dedicate his time and efforts in acquiring such a vast collection? Dr. Isaacs needed these materials to teach courses on the Third World in Perspective Program Seminar Series (1981) and to organize national conferences of the Association of Third World Studies (ATWS) which was founded by him in 1983. Dr. Isaacs also created the Journal of Third World Studies in 1984. I presume that inquiring minds want to know, where in the Third World has Dr. Isaacs visited? He has visited Mexico where, with the help of the Mexican government, he organized two travel enrichment seminars. He has visited Costa Rica and Nicaragua twice. One of Dr. Isaacs's greatest satisfactions has been to see how successfully the diverse members in the Association of Third World Studies and his good friends and colleagues at Georgia Southwestern have worked together to achieve their goals and objectives to know more about the people and cultures of the Third World. We, the staff at the James Earl Carter Library, are grateful to Dr. Isaacs for donating such an invaluable collection. Long after Dr. Isaacs retires from Georgia Southwestern, we can be assured that to some extent he will continue to be involved in Third World Studies. Dr. Isaacs, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we applaud you, and we look forward to continuing to build the Third World collection in your honor. We can sum up your collection by paraphrasing part of Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong's song, WHAT A WONDERFUL THIRD WORLD.
Library Cooperative Agreement! James Earl Carter Library has entered into a cooperative agreement with two area libraries. Valid GSW users are eligible to establish borrowing privileges at Lake Blackshear Regional Library and the Library at South Georgia Technical College. Additional information is available at the Circulation Desk of the Library. New Titles/Acquisitions In January 2001: Risk & Sociocultural Theory, Lupton, Deborah (ed.) Handbook of Emerging Communication Technologies, Osso,
Rafael (ed.) International Student Assistants
Tarik El-Moussaoui is from Morocco and is majoring in Computer Science. Tarik was looking for a warm climate when choosing schools in the U.S. and although Americus is much smaller than his home town, he has adjusted to the small town environment. Tarik’s father is a colonel major in the Moroccan army and his mother is a former French teacher. He has a married sister who has a degree in business and finance. Tarik is very close to his family and visits regularly by phone. He is impressed with the library here and admires the variety of books and services such as internet research and interlibrary loans. His favorite American custom is Halloween because “everyone dresses up and has fun”. When asked about his favorite American food, it’s “burgers, burgers and burgers!” Makiko is from Japan and decided to come to GSW because of the scholarships that were offered. When she was 8 years old, her family moved from Tokyo to the mountains where they now manage a small inn. Since both she and her older brother have left their home town, her parents now live alone with their dog, who is like one of their children. Makiko enjoys the many flowers and greenery in Americus but misses having a train available. At home, there is a train service in town for commuters. Her hometown is also very conscientious about recycling bottles, cans, etc. The library here is much like the library Makiko is used to at home. However, we have more space. She also enjoys our online GALILEO system. Makiko likes the friendly way Americans call each other “honey” or “sweetheart”, even between friends. Her favorite American food is from Red Lobster. There are Red Lobster restaurants in Japan but she had never tried one until she arrived in America. When she returns home, she plans to try one there to compare. In the past, the library has enjoyed working with student assistants from Hungary, India, Japan, The Ivory Coast and England as well as the USA! All of our student workers have been wonderful and we hope we can continue to have the opportunity to experience the many cultures represented on our campus.
Did you ever wonder how all those books on the shelf are processed and organized? The procedure of getting a new book from the vendor to the shelf is a lengthy one. Our Acquisitions Department orders the book and creates a “temporary” bibliographic record in the OPAC. “OPAC” is the term used for Online Public Access Catalog. This temporary record tells patrons that the book has been ordered. When the book arrives, the record is changed to “received (date)”. The book is then prepared for cataloging. That is where I come in. I, Lee Ann Dalzell, Cataloging Librarian and Database Manager, am responsible for cataloging the book. This involves several steps. I access the OCLC system (OCLC is a system that forms several databases in GALILEO). A search is done to find an existing record that matches the book we have. In some situations no existing record is found and a new one has to be created. Once found, the record is edited to reflect information needed for our library and then it is updated and sent into the Voyager System on the Cataloging Office computer. Voyager is the name of the library system used at GSW. Updating the record tells OCLC that we own this book. This is helpful for the Interlibrary Loan System. I then create a call number label for the book. The call number is the information you need to locate the book in our library. After a series of books have been processed in the OCLC system, it is time to move on to the Voyager System. The records that were previously sent into Voyager are brought up individually and edited if necessary (sometimes involving 8-9 steps) and then permanently saved into our catalog. A “Holding” record is created to display the location and call number and an “Item” record is created to display the barcode we assign to the book. The end result is a record in our online catalog that displays the location, call number, a full description of the book and any other information useful to patrons. The book is now available to be checked out. The most challenging part of cataloging is knowing what needs to be corrected in a record, assigning the proper call number and creating a new record. This is part of what makes a Cataloger...we like the nitty-gritty technical steps needed to make our online catalog look good and let you quickly find the item you need.
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