WAC: Home > About WAC > Activities & News > Nov 23, 2004

Web Advisory Committee News

What's new with UTA Libraries Online

23 November 2004
Sarah Jones

It's been a while, so I thought I'd send out an email to let you know about some of the recent changes on UTA Libraries Online.

Some of these things you may already know about, even if only because you stumbled across them while you were using the web site.

• Site Index -- there is now a single page that provides access to all major sections of the web site, to selected minor sections of the web site, and to all service requests (aka, web forms). A link to the Site Index appears on all pages in the site, near the top right together with the links to "Ask a Librarian", "Help", and "Contact Us"
  
• Hours -- hours for the DMC, GIS Computing Facility, Xerox, and JavaCity are now included on the main Hours page, where there is now also a link to the Reference Hours page. The Reference Hours page also has a link to the main Hours page
  
• Today's Hours -- the DMC is now included in the "Today's Hours" panel on the UTALO home page
  
• Programs and Events -- there is now a section highlighting and providing access to information and web sites for library programs and events, including Friends of the Libraries meetings, Focus on Faculty, and the Tech Fair (with links to future events to appear as they become available). This section appears in addition to News announcements
  
• Trial Databases -- there is now a standing announcement of database trials in progress on the UTALO home page with a link to the page with the current trials listings
  
• RefWorks -- information for RefWorks users has been revised. Still in progress are database-specific guides to using RefWorks
  
• Research guides --  a new research guide, "Crime Scene Investigation and Forensic Science Research Resources" is now available
  
• New electronic resources -- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Library Literature and Information Science, DTIC Public STINET, and Columbia Earthscape. New electronic resources are announced on the UTALO home page
  

In case you have been wondering (or, in case library users have asked you), the "Coming Soon" site login is something we're now projecting for later on in the spring semester. Since, as I'm sure you would agree, "Coming Soon" is no longer really an accurate statement, we are currently in the process of rethinking how to present this future web site service.

Also, I'd like to let you know that the Web Advisory Committee (WAC) has started having its regular meetings this month. At the moment, minutes, reports, the committee charge, and other documents are located on the Q drive at Q:\MIS\Web Advisory Committee (WAC)\ . We also plan to have a web site to make our documents and other information available -- I'll let you know when the web site is ready.

Look for more about WAC and its activities soon, including opportunities for you, as library staff, to provide comments on various aspects of UTA Libraries Online.

WAC membership includes: Gerald Alvarez, Suzanne Beckett, Barbara Howser, Marie Irwin, Mary Jo Lyons, Josie Murdock, Cathy Spitzenberger, Jim Wellvang, and myself (I am the chair). You can email WAC at library-wac@listserv.uta.edu