Library Website Now Available on PDAs and Other Handheld Devices
Patrons on the move can now stay connected with the BHSU Library. The E. Y. Berry Library-Learning Center at BHSU recently launched a new website for PDAs and other handheld devices such as Blackberry, to cater to the needs of the growing number of mobile users. Users can now search the library catalog, check their library account, and see library hours while they are on the move. Announcing the release of the new website, Ed Erickson, the director of the library, said the BHSU Library is poised to add new use cutting-edge technologies to facilitate teaching and learning at BHSU. The PDA website adds to the quality of services already being provided by the Library to students and faculty.

The PDA website is a customized version of the main website of the library. Considering bandwidth constraints and limitations of mobile devices, the PDA website uses minimum graphics and a simple presentation. The PDA website was designed thinking of mobile users who may have weaker wireless signals and slower devices.

Using a PDA equipped with Internet access and browser, a user simply goes to the BHSU Library website (http://iis.bhsu.edu/LIS/). The user is automatically shown the PDA website instead of the main website, if the request is made from a handheld device using Windows Pocket PC or Windows CE/Windows Mobile. The library plans to provide more library services, such as accessing research databases to handheld users, as mobile technology improves in the future.

Blackberry users should point their browser to http://iis.bhsu.edu/lis/pda/ to view the library website customized for handheld devices. (04/16/04)

Library Launches New Online Database Access System
BHSU Library patrons are now able to access online research databases from their home computers using simpler, yet more sophisticated system that was implemented at the begining of the Spring semester. Now off-campus users can access all databases (with the exception of the Ancestry Plus database).

In order to make off-campus access to databases simpler for users, the new system requires only the BHSU e-mail address and corresponding password for the login process. The previous system used a 14-digit barcode number from an ACE card. Now users will need to remember only one username and password to access the system from off-campus. Students will no longer be required to obtain a library-specific username and password to access EBSCOhost (a major periodical supplier) and MLA (Modern Language Association) databases from off-campus.

The new system uses the industry’s best 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology to ensure online security for all users. (01/07/04)

 

New Special Collections Librarian: Roberta (Bobbi) Sago Roberta (Bobbi) Sago joined the Special Collections Department of BHSU Library on April 21, 2003. Ms. Sago received her MLS from the Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC in May of 1997. While studying at CUA, she worked for two years in the Special Collections Department at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She also worked one summer as an Archives Intern for the Alexandria Public Library in Alexandria, Virginia. Ms. Sago spent the past five+ years as the Manuscript Librarian/Archivist for the University of Texas at El Paso Library, C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department. While in El Paso, she was very active with the Border Regional Libraries Association. Ms. Sago grew up in western Montana, where she attended the University of Montana and received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Technical Theater, Costuming. After graduating from the University of Montana, she spent two and a half years as a professional costumer in Washington, DC and Wisconsin. (04/28/03)

EBSCOhost Now Available
The library added EBSCOhost (BRIN grant database) to its collection. This new database can be accessed from the database page. (04/09/03)

New E-book Titles Added
The library added 340 new e-book titles to its collection. (03/14/03)

New Library Website Launched
The new website of the E. Y. Berry Library-Learning Center was launched to provide better online services to patrons. The new website incorporates cutting-edge technologies such as ColdFusion, XML/XSLT, RDF and Macromedia Flash to provide accessible and user-friendly services. Some of the new features of the website include seamless search of library catalogs, library portal of Internet resources, and more information about the services provided by the library. The library administration is poised to offer more user-friendly online services to patrons in the near future.(01/05/03)

Library to Get E-books
The library administration decided to offer e-books to patrons. This decision will provide several thousand titles in electronic format that can be read online. The e-books will be provided in collaboration with the South Dakota State Library and NetLibrary. These e-books will be searchable using the library catalog (SDLN catalog) and will be available in January 2003.

Chiesman Committee Foundation Sponsors America: History & Life Database
The Chiesman Committee Foundation sponsored ABC-Clio's America: History & Life research database for the library. This history database will assist in the learning and research objectives of our students and faculty. The database can be accessed from the Online Research Databases page.