McMaster launches Endeca interface

Greetings!

I’m very pleased to announce that McMaster launched our new Endeca interface this week. We consider this a “soft launch” and our existing Horizon catalog will remain in place until this fall (to give our users a chance to wean themselves from Horizon). For now, the Endeca interface is a simple search box on our existing opac. You can find it at: http://library.mcmaster.ca/ Look for the NEW icon in the center of the screen.

Try “consumer health” as a search. Once you receive the first set of “hits” you can easily break it down by “new titles”, “books”, “e-books” by clicking on the “refine your search” options to the left. The interface is so much easier to navigate than a traditional library catalog!

Feel free to take it for a test drive and send me your comments. We will continue to work with Endeca to develop and improve the site. More to come! We’re thrilled to be part of the Endeca family!

Winning “The Rudy”

Last night I had the honor to accept the McMaster Student Union’s Rudy Heinzl Award of Excellence on behalf of all of those involved in the development of our new Learning Commons in the Mills Library.  The award “recognizes an outstanding one year achievement which improves the lives of McMaster students”.  The Learning Commons is a joint project involving the University Library, University Technology Services, Center for Student Development and Center for Leadership in Learning.  It is especially gratifying to receive this award since it comes from the students themselves.  Congratulations to all involved!

Presentation for McMaster Student Union - Learning Commons @ Thode

This evening I had an opportunity to present the plans for the Learning Commons @ Thode to the McMaster Student Union.  The students had a number of really interesting (and tough!) questions.  PDF of the presentation can be found at:   learning-commons-thode.pdf

Amanda Etches-Johnson a “Mover and Shaker”

McMaster University Library’s Amanda Etches-Johnson has been named a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal.  Congratulations Amanda!

Board of Governors Presentation

I had a great time presenting to our Board of Governors on Thursday.  I spoke about gaming and its impact on students today.  It was a radical departure from the type of presentation they  had received in the past.  They seemed to enjoy it and asked lots of questions.  PDF available here:    Board of Governors Presentation

McMaster University Library taking the blogosphere by storm

I am so proud!  Many of our staff are taking part in a Learning 2.0 program.  As part of the program they are creating blogs.  So many blogs that we’ve started a list.  I am so proud of the staff who organized this program and of those who are participating.  It’s exciting to see them all getting into these new tools.  Watch out world—the McMaster University Library is taking the blogosphere by storm!