Maroon Opinions

I miss Spell Check! (Also Library Barcodes)

1.The newly upgraded Word 2007 in Reg is really inconvenient to use. Most importantly, I can't find the word checking/proofing function. In Word 2003 I can see red line under misspelled words, but now nothing shows up. I press F7 to command a check but it says "cannot find proofing tool for English (US)". How can I rely on it to write a paper if it doesn't tell spelling error?? I have asked NSIT about it but it refers me to reference desk, which only says" go check out help document". It doesn't solve the problem in this way.

2. It is inconvenient to report a book that is not on shelf that you have to fill in your 7-Digit Barcode Number. Why not just student ID and email address? In a few times I am no longer interested in reporting a loss seeing the process.

Thank you for your comments. Regarding Word 2007, we are working on installing the Office Proofing Tools so that spell-check will work again. It may take us a little while, however.

On our "not on shelf" form and many other Library forms, we ask for your library barcode as way of uniquely identifying you. Many patrons have the same or similar names, thus we need the barcode.

We do use CNetIDs for identification when possible, but many Library patrons don't have a student ID or CNetID, including (for example) older alumni, visiting researchers, Northwestern students and faculty, or students from the Hyde Park seminaries. So if these patrons need to use a particular form, like the "not on shelf" form, we prefer to identify patrons via library barcode.

Emailing Results in Lens

It would be great if there were a link to email yourself search results in Lens.

Thank you for the suggestion -- we've passed it along to our Lens developers.

As an alternative, you can export selected items to RefWorks, or (using Lens's "Save or tag" feature), create a list of items within Lens. These solutions may not be ideal, but we thought them worth mentioning.

Twin Peaks and the Pilot Episode

I recently borrowed the first season of Twin Peaks that is available in the library (DVD PN1992.77.T88T951 2001).

I had no idea that this was NOT the place to start watching this show. To my surprise, this edition of Twin Peaks is missing the pilot episode, that is, the one hour show that introduces the story.

In other words, what is called the first episode is actually the second one.

I am not sure if there could be any way of letting the user, when he is searching for the movie, that the pilot episode comes first (and should be seen first).

Indeed, the Republic/Artisan version of season 1 lacks the pilot, which was released separately due to copyright issues. We do have the pilot (see PN1992.77.T88T837 2003).

According to Wikipedia, David Lynch sold the rights to the pilot episode so it could be released on video in Europe. The "European version," which is the version we have on DVD, is 20 minutes longer than the original TV pilot and apparently has a different ending than the TV version. Just FYI.

We've asked the cataloging staff if they would be willing to add a brief note to the season 1 DVD record, stating that this DVD lacks the pilot episode.

Printing Catalog Entries

It would be great if there was an easier and obvious way to print catalog entries.

To  print entries in the Library Catalog: when viewing the record, click "print" in your browser (usually CTRL+P).

Printing in Lens is more complicated. Unwary users who hit CTRL+P in Lens find that the Word Cloud generally causes the interesting text to be cut off. Happily, each brief record now has a checkbox underneath its format icon. When you select a record, an option menu appears. Choose "Print Selection" to display the brief records in a printer-friendly format.

What about printing when viewing the detailed record for an individual item? The Lens help file provides the answer:

To print an item record or page of search results:

• Firefox: Right-click in the Results area, choose Select All, then select File:Print and choose The selected frame in the Print dialog box.
• Internet Explorer:
  • [IE7+] right click in the Results frame and select Print.
  • [Older versions:] right click in the Results frame, choose Select All, then select File:Print and choose selected on the print menu.
• Safari: Click in the results frame and select File:Print Current Frame.

It's an elaborate series of steps, but it works. We hope to have a simpler print mechanism for Lens in the future.

Lens and Subject Terms

I like LENS [...] However, you could make one improvement. I searched the subject term aesthetics, then opened the approx. 3600 more subject terms, then selected "kitsch." However, one is apparently not allowed back to the list of 3600 subject terms -- instead, one is forced back to one's results list. It would be much better if one could at least have the option of returning to the extensive list of subject terms, which gives a valuable synoptic view of aesthetics-related topics.

Thank you for the suggestion -- we've passed it along to the folks working under the hood on Lens.

One way to return to the full subject list -- if you mouse over "kitsch" in the breadcrumb trail, Lens will display "Remove" and "Keep" options. If you Remove "kitsch", Lens will redisplay your original search for aesthetics, including the option to click "more" and display the many subjects associated with that term. This is admittedly cumbersome, but somewhat faster (in my experience) than doing a new search.

[READERS: If you haven't used Lens since last spring, check it out! We've added lots of new content and features.]

Problems with My List in Catalog

I have noticed that the lists I create in my library account are often deleted in much less than 365 days. In fact, sometimes, the list disappears only to return a few days later with some books missing. I guess my suggestion is that if this is an inconsistent mechanism, better to get rid of it than end up with people losing information.

The Office staff hasn't experienced this problem, although we rarely use the "My List" feature. However, there were groans (as much as one can groan through email) when we mentioned My List to our colleagues in the Library's ILS department. Apparently this feature and its underlying technology has been a can of worms for some time now.

Good news, however: over the summer we will be testing the My Discoveries module for Lens, which provides for list creation and much more. By autumn quarter we hope to have a better alternative in place for list-makers.

Catalog Down for Maintenance

The catalog of the library is not working.

As you've discovered, from 5 p.m. Saturday April 26 to 10:00 a.m. Sunday April 27, the online catalog is down for maintenance. See the announcement on our homepage.

Lens (http://www.lib.uchicago.edu) is still available for searching, although full item records and item statuses will be unavailable until the catalog comes back up.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

LC Call Numbers

we should have the clickable LC classification list somewhere on the website. If it is there, I couldn't find it.

See "How to Read a Call Number." Admittedly, this page is fairly deeply buried on the website. We're working on making it more visible.

You could also go directly to the LC classification outline. (For greater detail, see the print copies available in the reference collection on the first floor.) Note: we do have "local variations," so don't take the LC outline as an infallible guide.

My List errors?

I've been having trouble emailing myself the results list from a search from the online catalogue. The email I receive, instead of listing the books, says

There is a problem with the XSLT.  Check XSL Server for errors.<br>Error=

How can I fix this?

Hmm...when we tried emailing a list, we received it just fine. Maybe it was some temporary strangeness? If it keeps happening, please fill out our catalog error report -- this will alert our Cataloging and Systems staff to the problem.

Ismailites

The catalog lists the Ismailis as Assassins. This is a pejorative applied by the enemies of the Ismailis. In 2008 can we get rid of such usage. Imagine if the section on Jews read untermensch!!!

Our research has found that the heading "Assassins (Ismailites)" is a subject heading authorized by the Library of Congress. (See http://authorities.loc.gov) The heading is in use at Harvard, Yale, and several of our peer libraries as well.

Of course the claim "everyone else uses it" does not, by itself, provide sufficient warrant for retaining a subject heading. However, in library cataloging there is a strong presumption to conform with other libraries -- especially the Library of Congress -- as it enables us to use their catalog records. Conformity also provides consistency between multiple libraries, a great boon to visiting researchers.

Might I suggest corresponding directly with the Library of Congress's Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO; http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/queries.html)? Although I am not optimistic about a heading change, the potential impact would be much greater than our library, as many libraries in the country follow CPSO policy.