Reference Point

Fall 2012

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> Dean's Column Ceaseless process Updating resources to enhance users' experiences Reference Point is published biannually by University Libraries. Address questions and suggestions to: Office of the Dean Park Library 407D Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 Editorial Board Thomas J. Moore Dean of Libraries Richard Cochran Associate Dean of Libraries Megan Moreno, '06 Director of Development and Community Outreach Gerry Edgar Manager, Library Business Services Reference Point Coordinator Production CMU University Communications Writers Chelsey Colston Dan Digmann Katie Pohlman Darryll Stinson Editor Dan Digmann Designer Trevor Grabill, '10 Photographers Robert Barclay Peggy Brisbane Printing CMU Printing Services Libraries' website lib.cmich.edu Academic Year Library Hours Mon - Thurs: 7:50 a.m. - Midnight Fri: 7:50 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sat: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sun: Noon - Midnight Reference Desk 989-774-3470 libref@cmich.edu Growth and progress in libraries happen like growth and progress in other service organizations: through constant commitment to improve the service experiences and success of clientele. In the CMU Libraries this means working hard today so that students, faculty, staff, and visitors have even better library services tomorrow. It's a ceaseless process. Across the range of library collections and services that we provide – in Park Library and electronically through our websites – our librarians and staff are engaged in dozens of efforts to increase the positive impact of what we do on teaching, learning, and research at Central Michigan University. One big effort underway now is the redevelopment of our University Library, Clarke Historical Library, and Global Campus websites. In addition to converting these sites to operate under a new university-wide web software platform, we're also enriching them to provide greater ease of use and research power. Through use of a highly sophisticated "discovery layer, " a single search on a topic from the website homepage will identify the books, journal articles, videos, and other items now requiring knowledge of multiple databases and multiple separate searches. An especially gratifying aspect of this initiative for us in the Libraries is that the "discovery layer" will reveal more of the excellent resources, sometimes hard to uncover by inexperienced researchers, present in our vast print and digital collections. This will help students especially get greater academic benefit from CMU's large cumulative investment in library collections. Just about everywhere one looks in the CMU Libraries there are projects underway to review, streamline, add to, or reorganize in quest of greater results and efficiency in meeting the library needs of the CMU community. Many of them are driven by the ineluctable dynamism of technology, but all of them are directed toward achieving excellent library service for each individual library patron. An especially significant example of adding to library services is our intensifying preparations to support CMU's new College of Medicine, for which the initial class of students will arrive next summer. As you'll see in this Reference Point issue, we've recruited our first medical librarian, Bradley Long, and he and others, including medical faculty, are determining collection needs and planning purchases of a large array of digital resources. The Libraries will, of course, provide services to medical students and faculty on the Mount Pleasant campus, as well as provide them digitally to students and faculty at clinical sites elsewhere. I hope you find in this current issue of Reference Point plenty of examples of growth and progress in the CMU Libraries. Please don't hesitate to contact me or other members of the library staff if you have questions or comments. Tom Moore Dean of Libraries 2 CMU, an AA/EO institution, strongly and actively strives to increase diversity within its community (see cmich.edu, keyword: AAEO). Produced by CMU University Communications and printed by CMU Printing Services. UComm 8689-4,100 (11/12)

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