September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. National Hispanic Heritage Month is a celebration of the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, the USF Polytechnic Library is highlighting the books, journals, and electronic databases in our collection that support research into Hispanic heritage.

For additional information, also see http://hispanicheritagemonth.gov/ and http://www.floridahispanicheritage.com.

There is a job opening at the USF Polytechnic Library for a FWS student to man the circulation desk during the weekdays. We’re looking for someone with a good service attitude!

For more details, search

• the Career Connection system for position #25796
• visit the USF Poly Career Center in LTB 1155

or search its Online Job Board

• or simply come talk to the Librarian, Catherine Lavallée-Welch (LTB 1119, 7-7737 or clw@poly.usf.edu)

The USF Polytechnic Library invites you to celebrate the freedom to read by participating in a READ OUT! event during Banned Books Week (September 26 to October 3).

• What: Read from a challenged or banned book for a 15 minutes period. There is no microphone, no sitting audience – you read from a passage of your choice from a book of your choice in a normal voice to passers-by. Anyone can read: students, staff or faculty members.
• When: Tuesday, September 29, from 11:30 AM to 1 PM and from 4:30 PM to 6 PM
• Where: On the LTB terrace, outside the USFP Library/Open Use Lab
• Why: Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.
• How: Sign up with the librarian, Catherine Lavallée-Welch (clw@poly.usf.edu), with your preferred time and title (if possible, readers should bring their own books since the Library has a limited selection. Please see the 2008-2009 list of challenged or banned books and the list of the 100 most challenged or banned books from 2000 to 2007 for title ideas.) We’ll do our best to accommodate your preferred time.

Don’t want to read out loud? Come listen to the readers and come to the Library during the week to check out the displays and pick up a handout. We’ll also have a door prize drawing the day of the Read Out.

Find more information about Banned Books Week and the freedom to read on the American Library Association website.

On Monday, September 7th, the Library (and the Open Use Lab) will be closed in observance of Labor Day. We will reopen Tuesday, September 8th, at 8:00 AM.

Have a great Labor Day week-end!

Over the next month, the USF Libraries has been given trial access to the following databases: FAITS, and SMP.

The first of two database trials being offered by Faulkner Information Services is FAITS (Faulkner Advisory For Information Technology Studies). FAITS reports are designed to help students, instructors, and administrators learn about and keep up with the critical issues, emerging trends, products, services, and vendors driving the IT industry. Topical coverage areas include IT infrastructure, telecommunications, wireless technology, data networking, convergence, security, enterprise systems, the internet, and technology vendors.

The second Faulkner database is SMP (Security Management Practices), in which new reports are available every month covering facility security, IT and network security, financial and legal security, business continuity, biometrics, risk and crisis management, public safety, personnel security, and security technology. Also included is CSO Digest, a weekly electronic news digest summarizing all of the major security industry news, events, and happenings.

To access the two Faulkner databases, click here. If you are off campus, make sure you log on to the Library’s web site first. These databases will be available through September 25, 2009.

Over the next month, the USF Libraries has been given trial access to the following database: Mergent InvestorEdge.

Mergent InvestorEdge provides access to the financial documents and information you need for each individual company for comprehensive investment research. Key features include:

Over 4,000 equity research reports, updated weekly, providing expert analysis and buy, sell, hold recommendations from Ford Equity Research.
Industry reports with sector level analysis covering current environment, industry profiles, performance, market trends, outlook and more.
Annual reports covering the past 10 years with over 300,000 company and financial documents in the database.

To access InvestorEdge, click here. If you are off campus, make sure you log on to the Library’s web site first. This database will be available through September 30, 2009. Your feedback is welcome.

Due to a server crash Saturday afternoon, the USF Libraries is now using a backup catalog. You can still search the catalog, but cannot put holds or renew items. Item status is also unavailable.

We will let you know when the main catalog is back on. We apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: all functions are now back in working order

ScienceDirect will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance for approximately 7.5 hours from 2:30 PM to 10:00 PM, Saturday, August 29th.

ScienceDirect is the full text database for the Elsevier journals the USF Libraries subscribe to, in multiple disciplines.

It’s official! People are now sending more text messages than they are making cell phone calls. Librarians are aware of the popularity of texting and are ready to take their professional services to cell phones.

Starting now, patrons of approximately 50 librariesfrom all over the US - including USF – will be able to text a question to (309) 222-7740 and a real, live librarian will respond within minutes. The service is free of charge, but standard text messaging rates do apply. Staffed by librarians from around the country, answers are sent to cell phones by librarians in 320 characters or less, or the equivalent of two 160-character text messages. To get more details, as well as hours and participating libraries, check out the My Info Quest page at http://www.myinfoquest.info/

More information about My Info Quest

It’s a different way of helping people get the answers they need, wherever they are at the time, with professional assistance. The service, named My Info Quest is the first collaborative text messaging reference service of its kind. Alliance Library System (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com) in East Peoria, Illinois has partnered with participating libraries, Altarama (http://www.altarama.com) and Peoplewhere (http://www.peoplewhere.com) to build this exciting new reference service. The pilot program will extend until December 31, 2009. Other partners include San Jose State University Graduate School of Library and Information Science, South Central Regional Library Council in New York, and TAP Information Services.

Hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes are available at the LTB 1115 front desk for your usage, in order to help preventing the spread of the H1N1 virus this Fall semester. You are welcome to use them to clean the computer mouse, keyboards and office tools like the stapler and paper punch before you use them. We will regularly clean the desks, tables and doorknobs.

We encourage you to follow the usual precautions as well: wash hands, cough/sneeze into your arm (not your hands), stay home if sick, etc.

Please see the USF H1N1 Information and Resources page for more information and more tips on illness prevention.