BJP-JDU government cites “irregularities in the process of awarding contracts” by the Public Health Engineering Department, initiates probe. RJD says NDA “scared of Tejashwi Yadav’s popularity”

At least seven districts of Arunachal Pradesh cut off due to landslides; eight persons, including two children, killed in rain-induced landslides and floods in Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura

The police had last month arrested 11 people in connection with the July 2 Hathras stampede

Tension began after the evicted people reoccupied the cleared spaces around Thursday noon and confronted the officials; security stepped up

1. Announcements
-The MSL holiday party is this Friday at 6pm
-Pat has bought popcorn for the custodial staff. See her to contribute $$

2. MSL Services
-The electronic version of Science shows up very far down in the hit list in the catalog because it is titled "Science Magazine" not "Science". Paula sent a request to have this changed. Tara will follow up to make sure there is resolution to this problem.
-Chrissy is going to the communications committee meeting this afternoon. Email her any items you would like her to bring up.
-Tara reported that the 2nd floor will be getting the old carpet back; the 5th floor will be recarpeted sometime during Spring semester with new carpet.
-Carrie asked if there would be a new reference desk schedule for Spring. Are we single staffing? We took a vote and over half the staff wanted to change their current base schedule so we will need to redo the schedule for Spring.
-Laurie asked everyone to weed out documents from their serve folder because systems is switching to new servers.
-Everyone should bring in their stuffed animals for the annual holiday display case.
-Beth reported there are 40 titles that need decisions (withdraw/keep) to determine if they should be barcoded. She will be sending the information around to selectors.
-Val is going on three IFAS center trips this Spring. She will be helping two center libraries revamp their libraries. One is undergoing a reclass project and the other is looking to change how they use the library space.
-Carrie asked if we wanted extra Princeton files from the Education library. She will ask Alex to bring one over so Christine can evaluate.
-Sara announced the Annunciator is working again. The staff voted to change the layout to full screen with a crawl.

3. Library Newsletter
-Joe B. is on the newsletter committee. Submit any ideas for Science stories to him. Two ideas submitted in the meeting were "Laptops @ MSL" and a "New Librarian" story.

4. Committee reports
-Val reported on the Web 2.0 group. They broke into several groups to explore various technologies and have now submitted a report.
-Facebook group: Will create a UF Libraries account
-Internal blogs: Tom M. is creating a template; the rest of the group is creating policies
-E-learning: This group hasn't gotten very far with it's charge to "Integrate library resources into WebCT & Moodle".
-Library games: The Bioactive game has finished testing and team members will begin incorporating results from the beta testing into the game; The guitar hero day was a sucess and the library will continue to explore similar events.
-Project management: Denise's committee will test Basecamp as a project management tool.
-Toolbar group: They created a library toolbar. No one was aware of how it will be incorporated into the library.
-Vivo: The student assistant is fantastic and has already inputted the 28 test departments. Next she will begin inputting publications.

5. Computer services
-Laptop 101: Everyone played with the laptops; we reviewed the patron policies; if you see patron having problems using the laptops send them to Chrissy, Laurie & Michael. Chrissy is creating a troubleshooting guide for staff.

6. Cataloging
-Steve F. is retiring and his party is this afternoon.

Announcements - N/A

Committee Reports

Library Council - The reorganization was announced, so most of the meeting focused on this topic. Judy will be coming to the MSL staff meeting next week to answer any questions that we may have about the chart and/or process.

PSC Meeting - The login to the public computers will be changed from the 14 digit library # to the Gatorlink account. This should be completed during the intercession between Spring and Summer A. RealPlayer will be added to the public computers.

MSL Services

Whitney Lab - They do have services through our ILL/Document Delivery department. In the ILL/DD form their department is "DISTANCE- Whitney Lab"

MSL blog & wiki - We will not be transferring them at this time

Computer Services

Laptops - Batteries and chargers still aren't here. Only 10 are currently circulating.

Cataloging Services

Coastal Archives - there is still 100 linear feet on the shelf waiting to be searched plus 12 other boxes

Database Management Librarian - this position is still a go

Selectors
Reference Email - Amy will be taking over as the primary on this

GOBI3 Training - Tara will be attending the webinar on Friday and will report back to those who were interested

Elsevier Title Swap - Please continue to look through and make decisions on the low usage titles Google Doc. Select titles from the list that Rich generated from Serials Solutions & the Incremental list and send them to Tara by this Thursday!

1. Announcements
Budget Report/Library Council - Pam
Libguides
There was a question about what it could be used for (internal vs. external). As of now, folks have flexibility (no prescribed templates or specific policies) in what they would like to use it for. Peter is going to set up training sessions soon.
Reorganization
The Faculty Senate's Infrastructure Committee approved the org chart contingent on the University Libraries Committee approving it (which they did). The chart is now slated to go through the Faculty Senate's Steering Committee then to the Faculty Senate. It should be on the agenda as an information item or an action item for the April or May meeting. Judy is meeting with the 2 groups (see Straw Poll results) that don't really support the new org chart to discuss it. Library West will now begin the process of internal reorganization which will involve coming up with various models and putting them to a vote. The new org chart will take effect July 1st.
Budget
Judy is adamant about not cutting services (e.g. cutting hours, etc). Hiring priorities are as follows: Associate Dean for Technology and Support Services, Electronic Resources Librarian, Development Librarian, Judaica Librarian, & Staff Development Librarian. A Grants Specialist position will be funded by the Provost. Library West & Marston chairs will be internal searches - possible 3 yr limited term - review process by the department at the end of the term. $400K needs to be cut out of OPS budget which would translate to a 75% cut to each library's OPS budget.
Materials Budget
$750K cut out of base budget (same amount as Provost gave the library 2 years ago to avoid cuts). Circle managers will be asked to cut 10% and prioritize the list. Foundation endowment $ will be used for funding extended hours and continuations (possibly).
Judy's main objective is no layoffs.

2. MSL Services - nothing to report

3. Computer Services - Laurie
Replacement laptops are coming. Printing is available on the laptops. LibX toolbar on all public machines now, so please install on the service desk computers so that you can assist patrons with it.

4. Cataloging Services - Jimmie - nothing to report

2008 USAIN (United States Agricultural Information Network) Conference

Tradition in Transition: Information Fueling the Future of Agbiosciences

April 27 – 30, 2008 Wooster, OH

University of Florida is an institutional member of USAIN, an organization whose primary purposes are to promote discussion of agricultural issues and trends, to develop and influence national agricultural information policy, to make recommendations to the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and to increase collaborations between member partners (http://www.usain.org/). USAIN does an excellent job communicating legislative changes to its members, and then working with members to get involved with state and national government.

The conference was hosted by Ohio State University and held at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, closely situated next to a beautiful arboretum and rose garden.

Here are a few of the most important highlights from the conference:

1. The AgNIC Born Digital Steering Committee, of which UF is a participant, met for the first time to begin phase I of the born digital initiative. Here at UF it used to be we would receive a copy of IFAS Extension resources, which we would catalog and make available in our print collection. Many Extension resources (documents, websites, etc) are now published only in digital format and while this format increases access to the current resources, many of these older resources are at risk of being permanently lost due to a lack of consistent preservation processes. This is a problem not just at UF, but at almost every land-grant throughout the nation. The goal of this steering committee is to identify digitization standards (selection, metadata, format, etc.) and to develop an infrastructure to assist the land-grants in developing their own processes at the local level. The other institutions participating are Univ. of Arizona, Ohio State, Colorado State, Texas A&M, Cornell, Univ. of Minnesota, Purdue, and potentially Michigan State and Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2. Mary Ochs (Cornell) Peter Ballantyne and Barbara Hutchinson (IAALD) spoke about Agbioscience information for the worldwide community. There is a strong need to "make research information easy to access for current and future generations" through common international standards, open applications, user friendly information & data, andlocal and global action . A large amount of agricultural information is created within the U.S., and we should do more to share that information with the international community. The result of this discussion was the creation of an International Agricultural Information Interest Group which will focus on the first steps of bringing in librarians from other countries to future USAIN conferences, as well as providing more Ag information on the USAIN website. Here is Peter Young - the Director of the National Ag Library - speaking about global collaborations: http://iaald.blip.tv/file/864317/

3. Peter gave the NAL update, mentioning the new Blueprint for Success: The National Agricultural Library 2008-2012. Many of you may have seen in the Washington Post the article, A Precious Resource at Risk, about the drastic budget cuts facing NAL in the upcoming year. I believe it was at the last USAIN that I learned that the NAL has had a flat budget for the last twenty years. Somehow I didn't write down the percentage they will have to cut, but I believe it was either 40% or 60% - both staggering cuts. This will prevent the NAL from preserving their special collections, from buying print materials, from participating in Interlibrary Loan, and more. For more information, see the USAIN website for Lobbying Congress for Support.

Additional information related to the theme of the conference:

Many of the invited speakers spoke on biofuels, bioenergy/bioproducts, and sustainable farming, including David Kline, an Amish farmer and author/editor of Farming Magazine. Without going into too much detail, here are a few of the interesting things I learned from all the speakers:

1. In the 1850’s ethanols were used for lighting, but in the 1860s-1906 an ethanol tax was enacted (making kerosene more competitive). The first ethanol fueled auto was the Ford Quadricycle (1896). The first flex-fuel car: Model-T (1908)!
2. In 2008 there were 11 billion gallons of ethanol produced from corn. Unfortunately there are a number of issues related to: water quality, soil erosion, water supply, biodiversity, loss of grasslands, increase in feed costs. Also, corn is displacing other crops -- leading to food riots.
3. The cellulosic biofuels (corn, switchgrass, MSW, forest residues, etc.) industry will grow rapidly in coming years. And will bring some very specific questions, such as how will supply chains develop (big issue), what are the implications for the food/feed/fiber markets, how will environmental issues be addressed, can we coproduce fuels and foods, and how can farmers and local communities benefit?
4. Lastly, has been shown to increase smog and cancerous benzene emissions. Also, all current biofuels increase carbon dioxide emission relative to gasoline.

There was quite a bit more information available from all the speakers. If you are interested in reading the speaker presentations, they are available for download: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/usain/downloads.html

Announcements:

• Welcome Adrian!!


• No building access after normal hours - this means do not enter the building between 1:30am & 4-5am. If you do alarms will go off and the police will come to take you away :0


• L208A conference room - Carol D's old office has been turned into a conference room. The 3rd floor conference room is now another Xerox office because they had to move from the 5th floor. There is a telephone available in the new conference room for teleconferencing


• Staff meeting time - The MSL reorg report suggested changing the meeting time to the afternoon so the evening/weekend staff could attend. Sometime in mid-July we will begin holding meetings at 3pm


• Opening time - our official opening time is 8:00am


• Circulation wall calendar will be making a comeback so circ staff can easily see who is gone/back/etc. However, make sure you put your time off on the black calendar in Pat's office. This is the "official" calendar and you must put your time off here.


• Convocation is August 13th at 2pm. Tara is compiling a list of MSL accomplishments


• July 10th is the next cross division meeting. There should be lots of reorg and other interesting information presented


• Nominations for the library excellence awards close today

MSL Services

• OPS Budget - cut by $41,000. We will have 55hrs/wk of time that needs to be filled with non-OPS students. Feel free to help shelve or shift while we are down :) Just contact Christine for directions. Also, if students come to the desk searching for a job... Ask if they are work study. If they are ask them to attach a copy of their work study permit to the application.


• Construction - movers will be here mid-July to finish the moving. The new doors will be put in sometime before that.


• Evacuation procedures - For the next fire alarm we will make an announcement on the PA for everyone to leave. The elevator is fixed now. Assignment for everyone: find all the fire extinguishers & fire pull handles in the building - Tara will conduct a quiz at the next meeting!


• MSL Reorg - Adrian came over and will combine with the serials unit to make a collection services unit which reports to Vernon. Joe will be taking over the MSL website. Circulation will report to Vernon with both Marijka and Vanessa reporting directly to Vernon so he can get updates on both days (Marijka) and nights/weekends (Vanessa). The system liaison program has been dropped. Michael and Laurie will now report to Systems.

Web Presence

We talked a little about the need for a Science Portal launch. We will wait a few weeks and talk about it again soon to decide what type of PR is best. Tara will put in a syshelp to get icons put on all the public computers for the science portal.

Computer services

Contact Laurie if you'd like to use remote desktop and she will set it up for you.

Selectors - Nature proposal

FCLA is working with Nature to get discounts on any new journals we subscribe to and a increase cap. We talked about canceling some peripheral journals to get Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Photonics and Nature Geology (?).

· Steve Williams from systems showed up to explain the new trouble ticket system.

• Anyone is allowed to access it and submit a trouble ticket. Go to http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/grover

· Library 2.0 Committee met and there is no more talk about new wikis.

• There was discussion about one massive library committee blog to house all committee minutes

• However, this is not rolled out for the public yet

· New self check out machine is here.

• The desensitizer isn’t working right and Chrissy has to fix that.

• Once functional Chrissy would like people to try it out and bring up issues during the weekly meetings

· Val talked to Barbara Hood about the brochures.

• The Map Library and Health Science brochures are used more for development.

• Possibly create a pdf for use on the website.

· Collaboration

• Health Science Center uses rolling white boards, which might be good to use here for groups

• Also the use of a large screen tv or projection screen for groups in L107

· Tara met with the directors about Advanced Directory.

• Change to using gatorlink name and password to log onto computers

• Will happen between August 8th and August 16th

• They are working with bridges to create semi permanent gatorlink id.

• One reminder. Do not log anyone onto a computer using your information.

Steve Williams from systems showed up to explain the new trouble ticket system.

Anyone is allowed to access it and submit a trouble ticket. Go to http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/grover

Library 2.0 Committee met and there is no more talk about new wikis.

There was discussion about one massive library committee blog to house all committee minutes

However, this is not rolled out for the public yet

New self check out machine is here.

The desensitizer isn’t working right and Chrissy has to fix that.

Once functional Chrissy would like people to try it out and bring up issues during the weekly meetings

Val talked to Barbara Hood about the brochures.

The Map Library and Health Science brochures are used more for development.

Possibly create a pdf for use on the website.

Collaboration

Health Science Center uses rolling white boards, which might be good to use here for groups

Also the use of a large screen tv or projection screen for groups in L107

Tara met with the directors about Advanced Directory.

Change to using gatorlink name and password to log onto computers

Will happen between August 8th and August 16th

They are working with bridges to create semi permanent gatorlink id.

One reminder. Do not log anyone onto a computer using your information.

Deepthi smashed American Breanna Clark's earlier world record of 55.12 seconds set during last year's edition of the championships in Paris

The Athletics Federation of India announced the squad on July 4 with no surprises, including all those who have either achieved the qualifying standard or made the cut through world rankings.

Over the last decade, not-for-profit organisations as well as private academies and training centres have come forward to train Indian athletes, bringing them on a par with global standards

With big names like Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky, Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon, it is expected that local favourite Léon Marchand may shine in the swimming event at Paris Olympics 2024

The lineup features 314 women and 278 men, spanning ages from 16 to 59 and with 46 states represented.

Sumit Antil along with Bhagyashree Jadhav will be Indian flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics Games to be held from August 28 to September 8.

Yogesh Kathuniya wasn't satisfied with his performance and he vowed to better the colour of his medal in the next major tournament.

The athletes will look to perform well ahead of the Asian and World championships next year.

Altogether four new meet records were set on the concluding day.

IMAGES from the 1st T20I between India and Bangladesh played in Gwalior on Sunday

India registered a thumping 86-run victory in the second T20I against Bangladesh to seal the three-match series 2-0.

Images from the Women's T20 World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka in Dubai on Wednesday.

IMAGES from the Women's T20 World Cup match between India and Australia in Sharjah on Sunday

The White Ferns, runners-up in 2009 and 2010 editions, will meet South Africa in the final on Sunday

Photos from the final of the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup

Spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin chipped away at the wickets to leave New Zealand reeling on 171/9 in their second innings at stumps on Day 2.

Sanju Samson became the first Indian to hit two consecutive hundreds in T20 Internationals to power the visitors to a thumping 60-run victory against South Africa.

England skipper Jos Buttler hammered a superb 83 off 45 balls to steer his side to a seven-wicket victory in the second Twenty20 international against West Indies.

The guidelines are aimed at ensuring that while the science is not lost, they can be applied on to the environment in specific countries, by placing patients in the middle of the care model, said Peter Schwarz, president, IDF

India is expected to stick to its stance of getting developed countries to increase climate finance, with a highly placed official saying, “We are flexible and open to different kinds of finance.” The official told The Hindu, “A key concern is that developed countries are trying to include developing countries (China and India) using new terms such as ‘major economies’ in a bid to get them to be part of NCQG.”

India’s COP29 strategy emphasises climate finance, accountability, and protection for vulnerable communities, urging developed nations to fulfill climate pledges

Countries come to Baku for the main United Nations forum for climate diplomacy after new warnings that 2024 is on track to break temperature records, adding urgency to a fractious debate over climate funding.

This year’s U.N. climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, marks the world’s 29th leadership gathering to confront global warming since the first “Conference of the Parties” in 1995.

As talks open, United Nations warns that Paris climate agreement’s goals ‘are in great peril’; re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. President has cast shadow on the summit; many world leaders have also skipped the meet where the primary focus is on increasing climate financing by wealthy nations 

It offers two pathways for countries and companies to trade carbon offsets, supporting the achievement of emission reduction targets set in their climate action plans, or nationally determined contributions

Chetan Bhattacharji, who is at Baku for the first week of negotiations and The Hindu’s Jacob Koshy, will guide us through high-stakes conversations at COP29 at 5 p.m. on November 12

Such a market would allow countries to trade carbon credits among themselves

The results from this year's survey are fairly fresh off the presses. We took a little time to sit with them and jot down some things we noticed and found interesting.

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State of CSS 2024 Results originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

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