The New Catalog Is Here!

Ladies and gentlemen, students and staff of the University of Hartford, it is our great pleasure and honor to present to you the first open source academic library catalog in Connecticut:

Koha - http://hartford.waldo.kohalibrary.com/

Go ahead! Try it out. Try a really difficult search, like Itby Stephen King or Joyce Carol Oates' book, Thema. The book you were looking for came up right at the top, even without the extra step of doing a title search or limiting by author.

That's the benefit of weighted search results, based on relevance. Just like with Google, what you are looking for gravitates towards to top. If you still need to refine your search results, you can just click on one of the limiters on the left hand side: currently available items only, just what's in a particular library, special topics, by author, or even place.

Want a more precise tool? Not a problem. Koha has an advanced search function that allows searching by multiple author formats (including conference and corporate names), subjects, language, notes, publisher, ISBN, call number, and more. You can limit your search results by item format, by location and availability, and even change the way you want your results to display. If you want to our more resent acquisitions to display first or if you just want them in call number order, it's up to you.

So bookmark the catalog; there's lots more you'll want to see here!/

New Database

PrimateLit. Research in primatology, covering ecology, biology, psychology, health sciences and other fields. Citations of artilces in journals dating since 1940. Managed by the Wisconsin Primate Research Center, with funding from the National Institute of Health.

New Catalog

Coming soon, there will be a new way of searching for books and other materials held at the University Libraries!

We have been working diligently over the past 18 months to set up and configure a new catalog system, called Koha, that we think you are really going to like. And it's almost ready for unveiling.

What makes this catalog so special? Well, here's just a few of it's features:

• Google-like searching with weighted search results, auto correction, and relevancy ranking
• Refine your search results list by availablity, topic, author, or even library location -- all without having to redo your search
• Browse nearby items of an interesting selection to see what other things might interest you
• Create private lists of books you'd like to read for later and save them to your account
• Add tags and comments to your favorite materials
• Book you want is checked out? Place a hold on it and get notified when it's ready for you
• Our new "cart" function makes it easy to keep track of just what you're interested in while you do your searches. Found something you want to come back to? Just put it in your cart for later

There will be lots more information about these and other features coming soon so watch this space!

New Database

American Chemical Society Publications: Journal Search. Search the authors, titles, or text of articles from publications of the ACS. Search a single journal form the list, or the entire collection. Selected titles available back to 1879.

Thesis and Binding Requirements

Be sure to take a look at the new Thesis and Binding Requirements. for Graduate, Doctor of Psychology, and Doctor of Education students. They have been revised to make it easier for you to submit your thesis, essay and disserations to Mortensen Library.

Win Win Win

The Circulation Departments of University Libraries recently offered patrons a wonderful alternative to paying their Library fines: Food for Fines. For every nonperishable food item they brought in during National Library Week, April 13-19, $2 was waived from their fines. The week before, individual patrons were alerted with overdue books and fines. Everyone won: the local food pantries received over 300 donations, the students had their fines waived, and the Libraries got back their books! The drive was coordinated with the Center for Community Services who distributed the food to the pantries the following week.

Allen Library Blog

Read all about the happenings at Allen Library on this site.

The Beatles: A Confluence of Musical Styles

The President's College presents The Beatles: A Confluence of Musical Styles - Three lectures by Michael Schiano. Gershwin, Elvis, doowop, the classical aesthetic: in this course, we will examine how the Beatles found a way to take from many corners of the musical world and create a body of works of such quality and variety that had never before been imagined in popular music.
Dates: Wednesdays - May 6, 13, 20, 2009. <more info>

Fridays at the Mortensen

The President's College presents Connecticut's First Prison - Old Newgate Prison, in East Granby, is one of the leading tourist attractions in Connecticut. Originally begun as a copper mine in the early 1700's, Newgate was first used to house serious criminals in 1773, when the first prisoner, John Hinson, was committed for burglary. Later Tories and Loyalists were held here during the Revolutionary War. It was the first State Prison in America. The talk will be preceded by an informal dinner.
Date: Friday, April 24, 2009. <more info>

New Database

Randi Recommends the historical Hartford Courant database

Koha is Coming

University Libraries is getting ready to host a new cataloging system. Coming on July 1, 2009!

Web Site

The University Libraries web site will be revamped with a new and exciting look!