IN THIS ISSUE * Henderson Library Receives Bequest from Alumna * Electronic Reserve Service Now Available * Renewing Your Library Loans * GALILEO Has a New Face * Extra! Extra! Read All About It! New GALILEO Newsletter * Plans for Expanding the Library are Proceeding

Georgia Southern University's Henderson Library has received a $69,894 donation from the estate of the late Ida Mae Hagin. She graduated from South Georgia Teachers College in 1936 and then worked as a librarian in Little Rock, Arkansas, for over 40 years. She passed away April 1 at the age of 86. Her gift will become an endowment for purchasing books.

The Access Services Department is introducing electronic reserves for non-copyrighted materials this semesters. Faculty are encouraged to make use of this new service for syllabi, course notes, old exams, and other non-copyrighted materials. After a document has been scanned and added to the electronic reserves area of the catalog, a student can access these materials from home, from a residence hall, or any other computer connected to the internet. This has the potential to be particularly useful to students enrolled in off campus programs. In time we intend to offer electronic reserves for most photocopied materials. Faculty should have received a mailing last week which included more details about this service and a copy of the reserves entry form. For more information, contact Peggy Miley, A-V/Reserves Staff Assistant, at pmiley@georgiasouthern.edu or 681-5482 or Fred Smith, Access Services Department Head, at fsmith@georgiasouthern.edu or 681-5647.

Last Chance! Faculty who have not returned or renewed overdue library materials will soon be stopped from checking out materials, making interlibrary loan requests, or putting materials on reserve if they do not resolve their overdues.

In July of 2002, Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO) made available to the public a new Web site design that is intended to make it easier for patrons to identify and use GALILEO's electronic databases. The homepage features subject tabs, bright colors, and multiple starting points.

The redesign project included two rounds of usability testing. Volunteers from GALILEO libraries tested prototypes of new homepages with their patrons, and their feedback helped determined which features are included in the final design. The new page reorganizes the way databases and other resources are presented through GALILEO. The database categories on the left side of the former page were replaced by tabs across the top of the new page, grouped according to more intuitive subject categories. A new feature enables experienced users to go directly to specific databases by name instead of moving through multiple pages to find databases; this "Find Databases" feature will decrease the amount of time users spend locating favorite resources. Based on recommendations from the GALILEO reference committee, GALILEO's subject menus have been revised into more hierarchical categories and include "try first" recommendations.

The EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier and ProQuest Research Library databases retain "Quick Start" links on the new home page. These links lead the new or unfamiliar user to our two large suites of databases providing a lot of full-text on most any topic. If users would like to learn more about the GALILEO system, a link on the main page leads to the GALILEO tutorial in the Online Library Learning Center.

Another new feature in GALILEO is GALILEO Express Links, a direct linking function that allows users to bookmark favorite databases. A map pin icon next to each menu entry allows users to create personal links to favorite databases; Once a link has been created in their browser's bookmarks, users are able to go directly to this database during subsequent GALILEO sessions, bypassing the homepage. However, links contain the same screening measures 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.

The summer 2002 issue of the GALILEO Planet, the official quarterly electronic newsletter of GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online, is now in production. It is available in a printable PDF version with pictures and graphics, as well as a text-only HTML version at http://www.usg.edu/galileo/news.phtml. Keep up with GALILEO's ongoing developments by following the site's easy directions for subscribing.

These are really exciting times for Henderson Library! This rendering of the "new" Library after the renovations and addition are complete was warmly received by attendees at the opening fall convocation.

Plans for these changes to the Library are proceeding rapidly. Cogdell and Mendrala Architects are scheduled to present the preliminary design for the building at the Board of Regents Office on September 23. Several representatives from the University and the Library will attend that meeting.

Information about the building plans is posted on the Library's web site at http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/building/. Questions or comments about the building plans can be submitted there or by contacting Ann Hamilton, Associate Dean of the Library and Associate University Librarian, at <ahamilton@georgiasouthern.edu> or 912 681-5115.