The FGCU Library offers online virtual reference service to students, faculty and staff through a state of Florida sponsored reference chat service.  FGCU Library participates in the statewide Ask a Librarian service by offering reference services to citizens throughout Florida.  We also staff a “local desk“   from which FGCU librarians may respond to your questions in real time. 

The FGCU virtual reference desk is open to receive your inquiries Monday – Friday, 10:00 – 12:00, and 2:00 – 4:00 when classes are in session.  When the FGCU Desk is unavailable, your questions will forward automatically to the statewide Academic Desk, staffed with librarians from colleges and universities throughout the state. 

Use the Ask a Librarian service for questions about search strategy, selecting a research database, library policy, resources, services and anything else you would like. Go to Ask a Librarian now or access from the Help and Instruction menu of the Library home page.

March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect on the struggles that women have faced and overcome in society, as well as the challenges that remain.  This year the Library marks the occasion by spotlighting Women in Art with a display of library materials exhibiting the works of artists as diverse as Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe,  Annie Leibovitz  and Margaret Bourke White. 
There are compilations of lesser known artists along with biographical information and large picture books for casual browsing.  Be sure to catch the color and excitement of the works of these female pioneers in a male dominated arena of expression.  The display is located on the first floor of Library West, near the Reference Desk.

Just in time for Black History Month, the FGCU Library has acquired and made available the Oxford African American Studies Center research database.  The AASC has been for several years an anticipated project guided by the noted Harvard professor, and chief editor, Henry Louis Gates.  This resource was planned and created to become “the most comprehensive collection of scholarship available online to focus on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture.”

The database includes biographical reference sources, subject entries, primary sources, images, maps, charts, tables and thematic timelines to provide users with a variety of access points through which they can reach the desired information.  The database offers a feature of the month to spur users to examine new or forgotten topics, in addition to other features that support the teaching and learning needs of students and faculty. The database also offers intuitive navigation and presents a clean uncluttered look for immediate understanding.

The AASC database can help you answer questions such as: Who was Fannie Lou Hamer? Where did Barack Obama go to school? What was the effect of the Great Depression on the black population?  What was Abraham Lincoln’s response to the Dred Scott decision?

The AASC has over 7500 articles, 4,000 biographies, 1300 images, and hundreds of primary source documents that allow users to explore the answers to questions, or enhance self-directed learning. The database is continuously updated with new subjects, people, places and stories found in the Black Diaspora. Clearly this resource is not only useful for Black History Month, but is a valuable research tool for every discipline at any time.

To begin your exploration of this great reference source, start at the Library’s Home Page and select Articles & Databases under the “Find” menu.  Enter AASC in the database title search box and connect.
Begin the Journey!  The FGCU Library makes it all possible! 

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. which adds poignancy to the annual celebration of his day of birth.  In observance of “King Day” the Library staff has created a display of recent works about Dr. King and the movement that he led.

The main feature of the display however, is King’s own “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” written during his incarceration for leading protest demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.  This document is perhaps King’s most famous work, outside of his “I Have a Dream” speech.  It is an indictment of the immorality of “unjust laws” (segregation) a statement of his philosophy of “non-violent direct action” and a denouncement of religious leaders who failed to speak out in support of the movement on moral grounds.  The “Letter” most effectively states the case for the changes that needed to be made in American society and is regarded as one of King’s most inspirational works.

View the display and read excerpts from the “Letter” in Library East, 1st floor, near the Reference Desk.  The items will be on display through the end of the month.

Keep abreast of scholarship in your subject area by subscribing to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed available through the Library Online Catalog.  Your Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox browser supports RSS which makes the subscription process and storing the data in your Outlook folders nearly automatic.

It works like this. Search the online catalog using the subject or keywords of your choice.  You may use the facets at the left of the initial results page to refine the search to a specific sub-heading, format, or other limitation to pinpoint your interest.  For example, if you would like to be alerted to newly acquired materials in your subject field, add the “new titles” limit  to your search. 

When the final results list displays, you may click the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page to view the “Feed” and/or set up your subscription. Once subscribed, each time a new item is added to the library collections that match your search, you will see it at the top of your Feed list in your Outlook Feeds folder.   Try it, you will love it!   If you need assistance, contact the Reference Desk at x7630, or e-mail (libref@fgcu.edu).

As of January 1, the Library’s Research Services Department (RSD) began to offer services under its new name, The Reference, Research and Instruction Department (RRI).  We decided this change would allow the FGCU community to become more aware of all the essential services the Library offers to support academic programs at FGCU.  

The professional librarians making up the department provide more than assistance at the Reference Desk.  The RRI also offers information literacy sessions covering library basics such as: how to search the online catalog to locate books, and how to select an online database, and locate articles on a research topic. Subject-specific sessions are also available to help students navigate through the wealth of information that might be available on a subject, and identify and analyze scholarly print and electronic   resources.

The RRI librarians continue to build and expand library resources in all subject areas with print and electronic collections appropriate for the varied programs of study available at FGCU.   

We have a new name, but the enthusiasm and dedication that we have always brought to our service to you endures.  Contact RRI through your subject liaison, or the Reference Desk.  See the Library Staff Directory for contact information. 

The Library has created a New Book Shelf, displaying some of the recently purchased titles in various subject areas. The books, displayed with their colorful book jackets, are located in Library West near the Reference Desk. Users are encouraged to browse the collection and check out these books at the Circulation Desk.  Loan periods are the same as all general collection books.

Speaking of new books...  The titles displayed in the New Books Collection, are only a small fraction of all the new titles added each month to the Library collections. In order to find all new titles in your area of interest, simply conduct a subject or keyword search in the online catalog.  After the list of search results display, click on the “Limit by New Titles” link found at the top, upper left of the screen.  Newly received titles in your subject will be displayed.

Very soon you will also be able to keep abreast of new titles in your subject area automatically by utilizing the RSS feature of the catalog.  Clicking the “RSS” when it displays in a record will allow you to receive alerts whenever a new title in your subject area is added to the Library collection. When this feature is ready for use, it will be announced in Library News.

Interested in reading the latest published articles? Although there are thousands of articles in every discipline available through the online databases, and e-journals, some prefer “the real article”, so to speak.  A New Journals Browsing Area has been initiated in Library West, to satisfy that yearning for print and paper. Located near Reference Desk in Library West, users may relax in comfortable seating while paging through the most current issues of selected printed journals. If your personal favorite is not included in this small collection, let us know.  The area is open and available for use during all library operating hours.

The most asked question in the Library this semester has been “Where’s the Starbucks?” Students have been watching the initially slow, but recently rapid, progress of construction of the new Starbuck’s coffee shop with great anticipation.  The wait is over. Starbucks is open!

The newest food service on campus, housed in the Library building, will have a seating capacity of about 30, with future additional seating in the coffee shop lobby. The shop will operate 7 days per week with virtually the same regular hours as the Library. They will offer the traditional Starbucks fare of pastries, muffins, music and of course coffee galore in all its varieties.  The shop will have convenient power connections for laptops and wireless access to the campus network.

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The new online catalog is here! FGCU Library, along with all the other libraries in the State University System of Florida, will introduce the Endeca Online Catalog during this fall semester.  Endeca is seen as a revolutionary improvement over the previous online catalog in that it provides easier access to the Library’s holdings through its capabilities of narrowing broad search terms for more precise searching results.

Some of the enhancements offered by the new online catalog are:

• EFFECTIVENESS: The intent is to provide library users with a more effective searching experience by providing more guidance -- especially in narrowing initial searches that are too broad.  The new catalog exposes terms in library catalog records in ways that are much more prominent than in traditional library catalogs.
• RANKING CAPABILITIES: Traditional library catalog systems are not known for their ability to rank results. Users expect good results and they expect them on the first page. For the vast majority of requests, the new catalog improves the accuracy of results significantly, and displays additional search keys to allow intuitive search precision.
• UP-FRONT DUE DATES: Another major improvement is that due date and call number information for items appear on the Results List; for most items it will no longer be necessary to go to a different screen to see this important information.
• SUL UNION CATALOG: The new online catalog enables the creation of a Union Catalog for the State University Libraries, which has not existed for the 11 universities since 2004. One "master" record serves as the basis for all local catalogs as well as the Union Catalog view. Users can once again view the holdings of all state university libraries in one catalog.

While the catalog has been tested, debugged, and enhanced over the summer, we are always discovering new areas for improvement.  Your comments are always welcome to help us in this effort.
For more information about the Endeca Online Catalog, see the tutorial and FAQ sheet available from links directly from the catalog.  Also, you may contact the Reference Desk (590-7630) if you need help with searching the new catalog or any other of your research needs.

Do you want to provide a link to an online database article in your syllabus or research paper? Perhaps send a URL to a colleague via e-mail, or create a bibliography from your research for later use. The problem has been that the URL that you grab from an article database to access at a later time, may no longer work when you return to it.

FGCU Library has developed a means of creating durable links that do not contain session-based information so that they will remain stable over time and are therefore secure and persistent. You can access it remotely, send it to colleagues, or add to your course materials. (Note that you must be an FGCU affiliate, with valid ID number in order to access the links remotely.)

To learn how to create and use durable or persistent links, visit our Persistent Links page located under the Help and Instruction menu on the Library’s web site.

FGCU and Library Services is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The Library marks this significant milestone with a display of FGCU "firsts" from the Library's University Archives. Items in the display include the first university catalog, first planning and publicity materials, inaugural programs, and initial FGCU memorabilia. Visit the display on the third floor of Library East, and see how Florida's 10th state university began.