: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
News from the University of Minnesota Libraries.
Dig Deeper @ Your Library
Did you know that Minnesota’s libraries, along with the expertise of their staff, are at your fingertips? With MnKnows (read as “Minnesota Knows”), trusted information resources are just a click away at www.mnknows.org. Minitex, an information and resource sharing program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the University of Minnesota Libraries, has launched this new portal to give Minnesotans one-stop access to statewide library services:
- Use the MnLINK Gateway at your public library to find books, CDs, DVDs, articles, and more; use your public library card to have them delivered to your local library.
- Discover photos, documents, and maps related to Minnesota history through Minnesota Reflections, an online archive of 45,000 items from more than 98 cultural heritage organizations across the state.
- Get real-time answers from a librarian 24/7 at AskMN, an online service available to all Minnesota residents and students.
- Plan sensible timelines for your student’s homework with the Research Project Calculator, a tool for students and teachers that breaks any project into manageable steps and e-mails reminders to help stay on track.
Digital Archive Marks Milestone
While the Internet may be ever changing and ephemeral, the University Digital Conservancy (UDC) is providing a permanent home for the digital works of University units, faculty, staff, and students. Launched in summer 2007 with approximately 25 collections containing over 3,000 works, the UDC recently celebrated the deposit of the 10,000th item: a dissertation by history Ph.D. student John Thomas Wing on the politics of timber access. Other recent collections include the complete run of the Alumni Association’s magazine, from 1901 to the present (seeconservancy.umn.edu/handle/48701).
While the UDC provides long-term preservation and access to institutional materials, another important University-based digital archive is capturing the worldwide work of a particular discipline. AgEcon Search, an agricultural and applied economics subject repository (ageconsearch.umn.edu), recently reached the 36,000 items mark, putting it in the number 6 spot on the internationally recognized “Top 400 Institutional Repositories” list.
The © Librarian Is In
It’s no secret that issues of copyright and intellectual property—already impenetrable to most—have grown more complicated in the digital era. With new technologies making it easy for instructors to share reading materials with their students and authors to share their work with the world, questions about copyright, fair use, and author’s rights abound. The University Libraries now have a librarian poised to help the community navigate these issues.
Nancy Sims joined the Libraries in July to lead the Copyright Education Initiative, a program promoting understanding of copyright issues in teaching, research, and scholarship. In her role as Copyright Program Librarian, Sims begins a new chapter in her work advocating for the public interest on the issues of copyright, intellectual property, and technology law and policy. Sims will provide educational consultation services and workshops to the University community.
Sims has a master’s in library science from Rutgers and experience in instructional technology at the University of Michigan Libraries. While earning a law degree focused on intellectual property at Michigan, Sims held internships with the online civil liberties advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation and Silicon Valley law firm Fenwick & West, LLP. To learn more about the copyright resources available from the Libraries, seewww.lib.umn.edu/copyright/ or contact Nancy Sims at copyinfo@umn.edu.
Need Info? Get it NOW
University of Minnesota students and faculty are accustomed to having ready access to world-class collections and reference librarians. Now the vast resources of the University Libraries are available to clients around the globe through InfoNOW, a new fee-based, confidential information service.
Created in early 2009 through the merger of the Libraries’ BIS (Biomedical Information Services) and ESTIS (Engineering, Science, and Technology Information Services), InfoNOW is not limited to medical or science subjects. Expert researchers and information professionals handle a wide range of research topics, serving primarily scientific, medical, business, marketing, and legal professionals. A new streamlined, Web-based submission and tracking system provides faster document delivery and higher quality scans. Interested clients do not need to be affiliated with the University. Find a complete list of services and rates at lib.umn.edu/infonow.
We’re Home to Holmes
The popularity of a new Sherlock Holmes movie has led to a resurgence of interest in the stories of the London-based consulting detective. Those looking for the most complete collection of Holmes artifacts need only to turn to the University of Minnesota Libraries, where the Sherlock Holmes Collections constitute the world’s largest gathering of Holmes material in the world.
From manuscripts and rare books to Holmes related toys and games, this collection of nearly 16,000 volumes and 60,000 artifacts is a must stop for any Holmes enthusiast. Learn more about the collections—and the media’s recent interest in them—at lib.umn.edu/holmes.
