The Official Newsletter of GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online Summer 2002 New and Improved! GALILEO Gets a Makeover by Tim Brown, GALILEO Marketing Specialist GALILEOs users will soon suggestions for improvements discover a dramatic change in will make GALILEO easier to GALILEO: a completely use. redesigned homepage and new The new page reorganizes functionalities. According to the way databases and other Judy Kelly, Director of Virtual resources are presented Library Development, the through GALILEO. The homepage redesign has been database categories on the left a priority during the past year. side of the current page are As the GALILEO project has replaced by tabs across the top evolved and more resources of the new page, grouped have been added, the according to more intuitive homepage has outgrown its subject categories. One exciting ability to easily connect users new feature enables with the right resource. The experienced users to go directly new page features subject tabs, to specific databases by name bright colors, and multiple instead of moving through starting points. multiple pages to find A prototype of GALILEOs new homepage can be viewed The new homepage databases; this Find in the demo system at http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/demo. underwent two rounds of Databases feature will usability testing. Volunteers decrease the amount of time hierarchical categories and links on the new home page; from GALILEO libraries tested users spend locating favorite include try first recom- according to Judy Kelly, these prototypes of new homepages resources. Based on mendations. links drive the new or with their patrons, and their recommend-ations from the The EBSCOhost unfamiliar user to our two large feedback has determined which GALILEO reference committee, Academic Search Premier and suites of databases providing a features are included in the final GALILEOs subject menus have ProQuest Research Library lot of full-text on most any topic. design. The testers been revised into more databases retain Quick Start If users would like to learn more about theGALILEO system, a September 2002 is Get the Password Month! link on the main page leads to the GALILEO tutorial in the Online Library Learning Center. September 2002 is Get the Password Month in GALILEO libraries! Get the Password Month is intended to increase awareness and understanding of GALILEO Another new feature in GALILEO is GALILEO Express Links, a direct linking function that allows users to bookmark favorite databases. A map pin on a local level throughout Georgia. During icon next to each menu entry July 2002, all GALILEO libraries will receive a complete publicity packet containing activities and materials designed around the theme, Get the Password to Georgias World of Information. These materials will allows users to create personal links to favorite databases; once a link has been created in their browsers bookmarks, users are able to go directly to this database during assist GALILEO librarians and media subsequent GALILEO specialists to promote password use among their patrons, and will contain ideas and suggestions for celebrating Get the Password Month throughout September. sessions, bypassing the homepage. However, links contain the same screening measures (continued, page 6) So mark your calendars now for September 2002: Get the Password Month in Georgia! GALILEO Planet Page 1 Judy and Jaynes Big Adventure by Judy Kelly, Director of Virtual Library Development When Jayne Williams, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Library and Customer Information Services for the University System of Georgia, took me aside earlier this year and asked if I would accompany her to the Carter Center to give a demo of GALILEO to Jimmy Carter, my first reaction was, I wish my parents were alive! My mother especially was a big fan of Jimmys; in other words, Yes! After much preparation, Jayne and I arrived on April 18 at the Carter Center Executive Office Building, which is on the grounds of the public Carter Library and Museum. President Carter was just descending the stairs with a small group of men. Secret Service agents took up positions behind and in front of the group as they moved, communicating with each other via headsets about the Presidents movements within the building. I believe they assessed us as no threat! We were shown into a small office with a computer on a table. President Carter came in and was introduced to us. We, of course, told him we were very honored to have this opportunityand then he thanked us for taking the time to do this! While the computer was being prepared, we examined a notebook of GALILEO screenshots that had been prepared for this visit. I showed him the current homepage and told of its options, mentioning that we were revising it to make it easier for users. I then told him about some of the many databases I thought he might be interested in. From Academic Search Premier, I showed him an article from Inc. volunteer that I had six books by or about him checked out from the University of Georgia library! Jayne told the President how GALILEO began five years ago as an initiative of the Board of Regents for the President Jimmy Carter and Jayne Williams magazine about a manufacturing business in Plains, Georgia; I also included a BioScience article on the loss of mangrove habitat, mentioning that Cuba seemed to have fared better in this regard than most other countries. Were going there next month, he said. I then showed him the compare Bibles feature of the Bible in English database; he said with a smile, I can tell youve thought a lot about me. I didnt University System institutions and how GALILEO has expanded to include private academic libraries, technical colleges, K-12 schools, and public libraries. She gave him other background information about how the project had evolved, and told him about GALILEOs national reputation as a leader in information technology and information access. GALILEO URL Change Reminder As previously announced, the GALILEO URL is changing. The use of the peachnet domain name is being gradually phased out in favor of the usg domain name in the University System Office web pages. Currently, both galileo.peachnet.edu and galileo.usg.edu resolve correctly to the GALILEO homepage, and both versions will continue to do so for the next year. Both versions of the galileo2 URL work as well. Although users will still be able to use either form of the URL, from now on, GALILEO communications will begin to refer to the URL galileo.usg.edu. GALILEO libraries may also want to change their own references to the URL; beginning on July 1, 2002, users of the old URL are redirected to an intervening page with a message regarding the change. When the computer was ready for demonstration, we showed President Carter the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), pointing out the Baldy database and Civil Unrest in Camilla, Georgia, noting that all the DLG databases are available to anyone on the Internet without a password required. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Diary database was our next stop. Choosing the date, April 18, 1979, we saw: 7:32 a.m. 8:32 a.m. The President motored from The Big House [on Sapelo Island] to Nanny Goat Beach. The President went jogging and swimming. 10:28 a.m. 2:46 p.m. The Presidential Party went sea trout fishing. I said, It looks like you had a good day. Immediately remembering the day twenty-five years earlier, he laughed. Sometimes they even kept track of how many fish I caught. Jayne mentioned our hopes to enrich the database in the future by linking associated audio and video clips to entries in the diary. As our hour was coming to a close, Jayne thanked President Carter again for letting us show him some of GALILEOs features. After he left for his office, we packed our gear with our heads in the clouds. President Carter was completely charming and an impressive individual; he was engaged and interested in what we had to show him. During the past five years, Ive taught a good many folks, of all ages and degrees of experience, about GALILEO. I have no doubt that my pupil on the afternoon of April 18, 2002 was the quickest study Ill ever encounter! As a matter of fact, after this experience, I guess I might as well retire. GALILEO Planet Page 2 Thanks for the Memories; or, How I Became a Librarian and Saw the World by Judy Kelly, Director of Virtual Library Development News of my departure has reached some parts of GALILEO-land. Some seem shocked. (Shocked! I thought youd always be here was one persons response). On July 31, 2002, I will be retiring from my position as Director of Virtual Library Development. Im movin on upwell, up North, that isto start a whole new phase of life with my fianc in Virginia. Working on the creation and development of GALILEO has been the high point of my career, a career that started over thirty years ago when I fell into librarianship. High school English teaching jobs were hard to come by in Iowa City, Iowa, where I needed to be for another year. A friend told me about the Library School. I checked it out and, well, here I am thirty years later. Cue the violins! My first professional position (pre-computer, pre- OCLC for Interlibrary Loan, pre-AACR2, pre-historic!) was in Saskatoon as Reference and Interlibrary Loan Librarian at the University of Saskatchewan. Sleuthing out obscure research on musk ox, Louis Riel, and Tibetan scriptures proved an excellent grounding in bibliographic detective work. It was a simpler time, even in the complicated environment of a research library. Topicfocused periodical indexes, subject bibliographies, and the card catalog were usually comprehensible, even if cumbersome to use. Along the way from Saskatoon to Athens, I took a bit of a detour around the world for several years, including a three-year stint at the National Library of Papua New Guinea. I began as the Acquisitions Librarian and after a year became the PNG Collection Introducing MrSID Hes a very helpful fellow. He pops up when you need him most to lend a helping hand. Hes MrSID! Who is this mysterious chap? Hes a browser plug-in from LizardTech, and if you find yourself browsing online census images in AncestryPlus youll be glad you made his acquaintance. MrSID is very easy to find. If you try to download Census images in AncestryPlus a small window will pop up prompting you to download the free plug-in. The download process is fast and easy, and once installed the plug-in makes manipulation of the online images much easier. Besides the census images, MrSID is also used to view AncestryPluss map collection, as well as many digital images found in the Digital Library of Georgia collection. And wherever he shows up, his presence is always welcome. Public libraries are encouraged to download the MrSID plug-in in advance on all public computers with AncestryPlus access. Librarian. What a collection that was! It included materials on all aspects of the country flora, fauna, discovery and exploration by the outside world, history, politics, culture, and language. The library clientele was remarkable as well. You cant judge a book by its cover, nor can you judge a library patron or worker from the quill in his nose or the tattoos on her face. (Decades passed before the number of reference desk patrons at UGA sporting tattoos and piercings surpassed those I encountered in PNG.) After I returned to the United States, I interviewed with UGA, where the librarys first automated system, MARVEL, was evolving into GALIN. I could tell this would be a place where I could learn a lot, and I accepted the position, eventually becoming Head of Reference in the University of Georgias Main Library. For the past four years I have worked with GALILEO and the Board of Regents. GALILEO has come a long way from its debut on September 21, 1995. Its resources and users have grown in number and diversity. For me, GALILEO has meant being able to participate in a revolution that has truly empowered information seekers. Those of you who make things work in the libraries of Georgia are special people; it has been my privilege to work with you, even if it may have been only in the virtual sense. For those of you Ive worked with on many committees and projects over the years, thank you for your participation and Judy Kelly and Friend contribution to making GALILEO the envy of so many outside the state of Georgia. Its not just the breadth of resources in GALILEO that people remark on, but also the cooperation between diverse user communities at which they marvel. It is now time for me to take another path. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carters book called Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life emphasizes how [later life] offers the chance to be bolder than ever before and to do worthwhile things that have been avoided or postponed for five or six decades. They have encouraged and inspired me to look forward to future opportunities. It was such an honor to meet President Carter, and showing him GALILEO was the icing on my professional cake. Its a sweet memory, but one of many of my friends and colleagues (and library users!) in Georgia that I will always cherish. Thanks for the memories. Cheers! GALILEO Planet Page 3 Baldy in The Digital Library of Georgia For over thirty years, cartoons and to make them Georgians enjoyed a special available for research both at treat with their morning coffee the repository and via the and newspaper: between 1946 Internet. In preparation for the and 1982, newspaper readers project, archivists at the encountered the wit and insight Russell Library consulted of editorial cartoonist Clifford H. institutions such as the Baldy Baldowski, one of National Archives, John F. Georgias most astute political Kennedy library, the National observers during the Cold War Archives of Canada, Ohio era. The Digital Library of State University, and the State Georgia (DLG) has recently Historical Society of announced the production of Wisconsin. Baldy Editorial Cartoons, 1946- Sheila McAlister, Digital 1982, 1997: The Clifford H. Metadata Coordinator for the Baldowski Collection at the Digital Library of Georgia, has Richard B. Russell Library, a worked extensively on the database showcasing Baldys Baldy cartoon project. editorial drawings. Based Uploading the images on the alternately at the Augusta Web is only a partial Chronicle, the Miami Herald, and consideration; preservation of the Atlanta Constitution, Baldy the collection is also a high produced thousands of cartoons priority. As this collection is during his career. Dating from unique, efforts needed to be 1946 to 1982 and 1997, Baldys made to help preserve the cartoons depict the local, cartoons themselves and also national and international news to provide continued access to of his day; his work is a valuable their intellectual content. To source of information about the lengthen the life of these Civil Rights Movement, political original works of art, the staff activities in Georgia and the houses each cartoon in a growth of Atlanta, Watergate and special acid-neutral, lignin-free other national issues as well as folder that also provides This 1949 cartoon, entitled Panhandling Each Other, the Cold War, the Vietnam enough support to prevent depicts John Q. Public and Uncle Sam. conflict, and Middle East bending and folding. An tensions. interesting fact about the software obsolescence. of the day, and access related In 1994 Clifford Baldowski cartoons is that, while the McAlister explains that each Baldy cartoons. In this way, the began to donate his cartoon images in the newspaper and digitized cartoon has a cartoons can be useful for collection to the Richard B. on the Web are small in watermark on it to hamper students of all ages, bringing to Russell Library for Political appearance, the original unauthorized usage. Although life the contemporary readers Research and Studies at the drawings are quite large researchers need permission perception of now-remote University of Georgia. By 1999, usually around 30 x 24 from the Russell Library in history. The Baldy Editorial Baldy had donated centimetersand require order to publish images from Cartoons database provides a approximately 3,000 cartoons; more storage space than might the collection, use is school rare glimpse into the cultural he willed his remaining collection be assumed. projects is permissible and and political issues of the cold of approximately 4,000 cartoons Each cartoon is encouraged. war era, both regionally and to the library. In response to this microfilmed for preservation Researchers are able to nationallyno issue of any important gift, the library began purposes because digital files enter search terms, such as the importance escaped Baldys a project to preserve the original are subject to hardware and names of politicians or issues observation. Complete documentation about the project, including technical Share Your Activities! information as well as frequently asked questions, can be found at the projects URL: http://dbs.galib.uga.edu/bald/ Help teachers use GALILEO! GALILEO is interested in knowing about classroom activities using GALILEO which have been html/bald_basic_search _default.html. developed and implemented by media specialists and teachers in your school. If you would like to share your ideas, please send an email to galileo.planet@usg.edu. GALILEO Planet Page 4 Get Smart with A Fond Farewell AccessScience by Rand Raynor, GALILEO Support Specialist Lets get something straight. Science has never been my strong point. When I was assigned a science project in eighth grade Earth Science class I panicked. For starters, I didnt even know what Earth Science meant. I assumed it had something to do with Bunsen burners and sulfur. Precipitates. I didnt know what the heck a precipitate was but it sure looked cool! When my high school science teacher asked me to explain the Big Bang theory I calmly stated, M-80s produce a much bigger bang than the average firecracker. Is it any wonder that I wasnt accepted by MIT? Things might have been much different if I could have gone to my public library, logged onto GALILEO, and gone into AccessScience. The online version of McGraw-Hills Science and Technology Encyclopedia, AccessScience is a treasure trove of scientific articles and news. A glance at the AccessScience homepage shows links to science & technology in the news, biographies, study guides, essay topics, and more. The website is built around thousands of in-depth articles that can be browsed by topic or alphabetically, all accompanied with links to other articles for further study. There is a Student Center that further organizes the articles into very logical study guides. Thousands of entries fill AcccessSciences biography section, organized alphabetically as well as by subject. There are even sections for Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners. Looking for the periodic table? Look no further than the Data, Tables and Tools section. Its colorful and its cool! You can click on each individual element for more information (all right, I admit, Im hooked on interactive tables). Thinking back to Mr. The members of the GALILEO staff recently said sad goodbyes to Rand Raynor, our former GALILEO Support Specialist and one of the most loved members of the OIIT staff. Rand began on the OIIT Customer Services helpdesk in early 1999. After a year of fielding problems ranging from accounting errors to network outages, he joined the GALILEO Support Services staff and began working with librarians, database vendors, and GALILEO users in his own energetic and charming way. He later took on the added responsibility of GALILEO training, and through his regular classes in Macon and other sessions around the state he brought out the hidden treasures in GALILEO for more users to see. Its hard for any organization to contain the kind of joie de vivre that Rand Meisners Earth Science class, this site would have made learning fun! AccessScience is one of many online versions of comprehensive text resources, along with the likes of the by Philip McArdle, GALILEO Services Coordinator Rand Raynor brought daily to our offices, and it was inevitable that Rand would move on to bigger challenges. Rand now lives in Portland, Oregon, and is the co-founder of Funland Films, a television commercial production company. Attention Oregon librarians: dont you think that brand new branch deserves a TV spot? Grove Dictionary of Art, and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Containing all of the information of their print counterparts, these databases have the added benefit of being updated regularly, sometimes on a daily basis, with timely, topical, newsworthy information. In fact, these databases make me want to go back and take another stab at high school physics! And if you believe that, I have a stockpile of Cobalt Id like to sell youatomic weight 58.9332 amu, boiling point 2927 C (5300.6 F, 3200.2 K). Man, Im smart! AccessScience is available at Georgias public libraries, technical colleges, and University System of Georgia institutions. AccessScience is also available at American Intercontinental University, Covenant College, DeVry Institute, Piedmont College, and Shorter College. GALILEO Planet Page 5 GALILEO for Kids by Karen Minton, Virtual Library Development Specialist The notion of childhood developed as recently as the seventeenth century. Before that, according to Philippe Aris in his seminal work Centuries of Childhood, children were simply little adults. Since the Middle Ages, children have become increasingly separate from adults, until today our library shelves are packed with books on child rearing and childhood education as well as childrens literature. Many GALILEO libraries have long recognized that children are not little adults and that there is a need for a GALILEO website that is attractive to kids. Therefore, planning for a new GALILEO childrens page is now underway, with expected rollout during late summer. The GALILEO childrens page is being created with input from the GALILEO K-12 Advisory Committee, Georgia Department of Education staff members, and GALILEO staff members, who are working with a Web design company that has extensive childrens interface experience. A main concern with developing a childrens site is deciding what age group to target. Children make sharp distinctions between a graphical interface appropriate for their age and one targeted for younger or older children. The GALILEO website will be geared toward children in the third through the sixth grades. In these grades, students are able to read the content in GALILEO databases and are close enough in age to accept and use the same interface. The task of a web designer will be to take the content for children in GALILEO and pour it into a graphical environment suitable for children in these grades. The content will include Searchasaurus from EBSCO and KidQuest and JuniorQuest from ProQuest, which contain over 250 full-text titles; the content will also include links to free resources. Many would-be childrens writers have made the mistake of thinking that writing for children is simply a matter of using a smaller vocabulary and shorter sentences. Librarians and media specialists know that a childrens book is more than just a simplified adult book. Web designers also make the mistake of dumbing down, according to Jakob Nielsen, web design and usability guru (Dont Dumb Them Down, Newsweek, April 22, 2002). His usability studies with children offer insights to ways children navigate and what attracts them to a website. Nielsen also found that while extensive text can be a problem for children, they are more willing than adult users to read instructions. Theyre used to being learners. A summary of the Nielsen study and a list of the websites used in the study can be found on his website at www.useit.com/ alertbox/20020414.html. As the childrens page prototypes are evolving, the development team is noting the discovery in the Nielsen study that children are willing to scrub the screen with the mouse to find clickable areas. As Marc Kaufman, Technology Consultant in Educational Technology at the Georgia Department of Education and member of the GALILEO childrens web page development team says, The hunt is part of the joy for kids. Meet the Staff! Deborah Shackelford Deborah Shackelford is the Administrative Secretary for Library Services in the Athens Office for Information and Instructional Technology (OIIT). Deborah ensures that everything runs smoothly in the Library Services office. She joined GALILEO four years ago, and has worked on various projects for both GALILEO and for GIL. Deborah enjoys working for GALILEO: The most gratifying aspect of my job is being able to work with such a great group of people in GALILEO and the ability to meet and know others in the GALILEO c o m m u n i t y. Publication Information The GALILEO Planet is published quarterly as a web-based newsletter reporting on GALILEO-related information. Suggestions and contributions are encouraged. Website: www.usg.edu/galileo/news.phtml E-mail: galileo.planet@usg.edu GALILEO is an Initiative of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia For Your Information GALILEO marketing and instructional materials: www.usg.edu/galileo/ materials/ materials_form.phtml More about the GALILEO initiative: www.usg.edu/ galileo/ GALILEO questions and technical support: 1-888-897-3697 or email: helpdesk@usg.edu To subscribe to GALILEO listserv, send an e-mail to listproc@gsu.edu with this message in the body: subscribe galileo first name last name To subscribe to the GALILEO Planet, send your email address to galileo.planet@usg.edu (GALILEO Gets a Makeover, continued from page 1) for authenticating users, and will prompt an off-site user to supply a GALILEO password. Although the GALILEO homepage has been changed in many ways since its launch in 1995, this is the third wholesale redesign for GALILEO. As noted by Judy Kelly, What people may not realize is that GALILEO has many different faces. Along with the standard version that most users see, there is also a text-only version, and a version for children is in development(please see related article). The new GALILEO homepage will go into production during July. Librarians are encouraged to view the new page in the GALILEO demo system; a link on the current homepage will take users to the demo site, which is can be viewed at http:/ /purl.galileo.usg.edu/demo. GALILEO Planet Page 6