Check out CalCat

CalCat is a new database from the California State library that shows the holdings of books, videos, audio, maps, and other materials held by libraries in California.

Some background:

The libraries of California have been sharing cataloging records, books and other library materials through interlibrary loan for many years. Using central storage and software available through OCLC, libraries have been able to copy catalog cards and share digital records. This central storage of data has become the basis of WorldCat, a "union list" or database showing the holding of many libraries throughout the world.

In 2005, the California State Library announced a new project that provides every California public library access to WorldCat, and gathers the data from the libraries of all California libraries into a sub-group known as the "California Libraries Catalog". A federal grant allows every public library access to both of these databases and provides each library the ability to update their holdings with OCLC.

Nifty new feature if you're looking for ejournals

Courtesy of Serials Solutions: Serials Citation Linker! This new feature allows you to input a citation (name of the article and the journal title are needed) to see if it is available through an electronic subscription.

New SCELC database trial

A Blackwell Synergy trial is now available to all SCELC member institutions. Current SCELC trials can be found here.

ArticleLinker Webinar on January 31, 2006

For those of you that want to learn more about USC's OpenURL resolver, Article Linker, Serials Solutions is offering a Webinar: Article Linker - a hosted OpenURL link resolver. From their description:

Find out how Article Linker integrates a library's disparate resources into a single system and enables patrons of all experience levels to quickly, and easily find and then access desired content - electronic, print or microform.

Session Date/Time: January 31, 2006 @ 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT. You can sign up for the Webinar here.

What's in Serials Solutions?

If you would like to see a current (as of January 2006) list of USC holdings (databases and ejournals) currently in Serials Solutions, download this PDF file (2.8MB). The listings are by title, and include the URLs.

Serials Solutions @ ALA Midwinter

Serials Solutions will be at Booth #1424 at ALA Midwinter in San Antonio. Learn about some of their new projects like clustering technology and COUNTERcounter. There will also be a daily drawing for an iPod nano.

Also on tap: LITA selected two Serials Solutions proposals for the 2006 ALA Midwinter Technology Showcase, on Monday, January 23.

"Discovering your collection through Google Scholar and the OpenURL," at 10:00 am

"What librarians really need from ERM applications," at noon

These presentations will be held in the Convention Center's Yellow Rose Theatre, on the exhibit floor. To find its location, visit http://www.serialssolutions.com/promotion/techshowcase.pdf. Attend either session and enter a drawing for an iPod shuffle!

Focus groups and product updates: On Sunday, January 22, they will host product-specific focus groups. Product managers will be available to discuss ways they can improve services. Each session will be in room 530, at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter.

ERMS/AMS, 10:30 am - noon
Full MARC Records, 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Central Search, 2:30 - 3:30 pm
Article Linker, 3:30 - 4:30 pm

RLG's recent USC visit

RLG rep Merrilee Proffitt spoke at USC on RLG services this past Monday, January 9. Here is the Powerpoint presentation from the day (it's also available as a PDF file).

New database available for trial

At ALA, a new Alexander Street resource was announced - and it's FREE! It's called In the First Person: Index to Letters, Diaries, Oral Histories, and Other Personal Narratives. You can start using it right now at www.inthefirstperson.com.

In the First Person is a new library index that lets users perform in-depth field and keyword searches across all letters, diaries, oral histories, memoirs, and autobiographies within scholarly materials that are freely available on the Web and Alexander Street databases. With a single search, users can access thousands of personal narratives in English from archives and repositories everywhere. The search returns citation information and links to full text, audio, and video whenever available.

Every imaginable topic, historical event, and person is covered, from World War I and II to popular culture, music to medicine, Hitler to John Wayne, gay rights to September 11th. It's the most comprehensive archive of social memory yet created - a one-stop starting point for historians, sociologists, genealogists, linguists, and psychologists who want to find, explore, and analyze human experiences. And it will be updated quarterly.

The first release of In the First Person indexes more than 2,500 collections of oral history from around the world. With upcoming releases, the index will broaden to cover other formats (letters, diaries, autobiographies, and so forth) and the proprietary content in the Alexander Street collections. By the end of 2005, the index will point to 350,000 pages of full text and 3,500 collections-more than a million pages of editorially selected materials spanning 400 years. (If you own or subscribe to any Alexander Street databases that contain first-person content indexed by In the First Person, the citations will link to the full text with one click.)

RLG site visit

If yyou're on campus Monday January 9 and would like to learn about RLG's new services and products, there will be a presentation in Leavey Auditorium from 9:30-10:30AM.

RLG system maintenance alert

Due to system maintenance, the RLG corporate web site, Chicano Database, CAMIO, RLG Cultural Materials and Redlightgreen.com will be unavailable on January 5, 2006 from 7:00pm - 8:00pm PST (19:00-20:00) (UTC-8).