The WML staff once again responded to support an Owen community event, by enthusiastically participating in a Halloween Party sponsored by the Owen Student Government Association. The Halloween Party provided Owen students, faculty, staff, and their families with an evening of entertainment and holiday fun.

The library provided a beautifully costumed and all-knowing fortune teller, a "shadow box," bags of popcorn, an original Halloween poem by Sylvia (who also helped to introduce children to the fun of the shadow box), two lovely medieval princesses, and a tall, gray-bearded beatnik - all focused on showing how much fun library folks can be at a party. Library staff members who could not attend the event also devoted significant time and effort to the preparation for the event, as did the student assistants who helped to s tuff the bags of popcorn. Thanks to Elaine for the idea of creating a "shadow box" and for getting the popcorn; Brent for presenting Sylvia's poem so attractively; Laura for the loan of bed sheets (carefully ironed by Rahn); and all the other staff contributions that made the Halloween Community Halloween Party such a successful event. We hope you will enjoy the photos below from the party.

Want to see additional Owen Community Halloween Party photographs? View the slide show.
(This PowerPoint presentation is 15 MB in size, so please be patient in opening it.)

For October, we received a total of 479 questions at the information services desk. This is up from the 356 questions that we had during the same time period last year. This October, we had 165 directional questions, 277 reference questions, and 37 faculty research requests. Compared to last year, we had 67 more directional questions, 37 more reference questions, and 19 more faculty requests (a 51% increase in faculty requests over last year!).

At our information services team meetings, we continued our discussion about our philosophy of reference service and how reference services should be provided to our users. We also discussed ways to advertise our reference consultation service. At one meeting, Amia provided a demonstration of our MultexNet database to the team.

Amia held reference consultations with several groups of students working on class projects and case competitions. One group of students won first place in their case competition against MBA students from other schools. The students were very appreciative afterwards and said that "the research help they received made all the difference" in them winning. They also brought their trophy into the library to show us.

The collections team decided to continue our subscription to two electronic databases: Forrester Researcher and Jupiter Research. We decided to upgrade our subscription to the Vault Online Career Guides to include their Vault GOLD content. We had trials for other databases (including OneSource and Business Monitor Online ) and had a web based demonstration of the OneSource database. Amia and Rachel met for lunch with a representative from Jupiter Research to discuss the database and the possibility of renewing our subscription.

Members of the collection committee met to discuss developing a procedure for evaluating our current electronic resources, as well as databases we may decide to purchase in the future. Members have suggested criteria to include and Rachel is working on a form. Amia is going to take the databases we have now and group them together into similar categories for evaluation.

Amia and Deborah watched the web demonstration that Mary Beth arranged for the Ulrich's Serials Analysis tool. We were very impressed by the product and discussed ways that we could implement it at Walker if the Heard Library decides to purchase it.

Members of the collections committee met to discuss how to handle archiving video of the Owen Distinguished Speaker Series. We also discussed what our role should be in retaining other items for the school. The group decided that Amia should meet with Danny Sulkin to find out how the Owen Speakers Series is currently being archived and then follow-up with a meeting with Special Collections. Amia is still trying to schedule the meeting with Danny.

Rahn and Deborah worked on a proposal to update the Career Collection. They completed an overview of a plan to update the collection and presented the proposal to the Info Services staff to gain approval to begin the project and to share what they felt this collection should represent.

Course Number	Description	Instructor	Requestor	Student Attendance	Date
	Accounting (3 sections)	Sommer	Karl Hackenbrack	198	10/17
	Business Planning Class	Sommer	Germain Boer	40	10/17
	Latin American Studies	Sommer	Paula Covington	9	10/18

In other instruction, marketing, and/or outreach activities, Deb Sommer:

• Met with Karl Hackenbrack to develop assignment for his MOD II accounting class
• Developed a handout for an accounting class
• Attended the Finance Club "How to Pick Stocks" preparation for the TVA and Max Adler Investment Management clubs competitions
• Developed a handout for librarians on analyst reports and other investment management resources
• Met with an undergraduate group from David Furse's class (twice)
• Attended the Owen Reunion Weekend Alumni Reception
• Participated in the Owen Fall Festival
• Attended the Owen Town Hall Meeting

In support of Faculty Research Services, Deb completed:

• 21 updates to the faculty research database
• 7 in-depth (1 hour or longer) faculty research requests
• 2 faculty citation searches

Rahn also provided a research consultation for MBA Business Plan.

BIS client research meetings: 2
BIS client marketing meetings: 6
BIS client research requests: 5

For BIS vendor subscriptions, Rahn explored possibilities for non academic use subscriptions with Mergent, Thomson/Gale and Ebsco.

October proved to be an extremely busy month in Access Services. It was also a month of significant change with a new Access Services Manager beginning October 1; a temporary weekend supervisor coming on board; and the search and interview process for a new evening supervisor taking place.

Brent officially assumed the role of Access Services Manager on October 1. We appreciated Brent's and Jeff Madden's flexibility and creativity in shifting and adjusting their work schedules to keep Access Services running smoothly while a search to fill Brent's former position was conducted. By mid-month a temporary employee, Charles Leek, was hired to supervise the department on weekends, allowing Brent to begin working a Monday-Friday schedule, and Jeff to work evenings on Sundays-Thursdays.

Brent and Jeff trained or shared in training two new student workers, and the new VTS employee.

With the three supervisory positions at least temporarily filled, our attention turned to the search and selection process for a new Evening Supervisor. The Search and Selection Committee (Brent Tenpenny, David Carpenter, and Amia Baker) chose two highly qualified candidates to interview on October 25-26. The Search and Selection Committee met on Friday, October 28 to discuss the candidates, and a final decision was pending at the end of this reporting period.

The library offered extended hours for MOD I exams on Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8. On those two days the library remained open until 11:30 pm. The extra hours were filled by Brent and student worker "volunteers."

VUprint was implemented in the library on Monday, October 10. The next few days proved to be quite hectic as problems with the system were addressed, as well as communication issues with the VU Card Office. Things seemed to have settled down by the next week, however, with fewer problems occurring. As has been the case in all divisions, printing by non-Owen patrons has also declined.

During the month, Jeff supervised student workers in a cleaning and organization project of the current periodicals and the circulation desk area. Charles also cleaned and organized work areas and collections.

Elaine and Laura continued to share opening responsibilities Monday through Friday. Laura conducted searches for lost materials, and performed administrative support duties such as updating notebooks with new covers/spine labels, etc. Laura also helped create the OGSM Teaching and Research Card Log for tracking the photocopies made by faculty members and their support staff for research purposes. Both Elaine and Laura filled in at the circ desk whenever student assistants were absent due to illness or school responsibilities. Elaine, as always, provided excellent administrative support for the department by making sure the printers and fax machines were working properly, and all supplies were adequately stocked.

Other activities included: creating 12 Blackboard links; converting 3 pages to PDF for Blackboard use; transferring 5 articles between Blackboard folders; placing 2 new hard copy items on reserve; and processing 4 items for document delivery.

216	Periodical issues processed
37	Reference serials processed
13	New books processed
27	Pages of loose-leaf materials filed
52	Volumes processed for the Bindery
2	Boxes of microfilm received and processed
44	Table of Contents packets compiled
25	Claims processed.  Ebsco titles claimed on Ebsconet

14	Orders placed (2-Faculty Request; 1 Patron)
1	Renewal invoice for electronic database

Rachel provided her usual tech support within the library - installing software, helping colleagues remove malware, and providing hardware support, especially with printers breaking down frequently. Rachel, David, and Barry Dombro (Director of Owen IT) continued their discussion about replacing the two major printers within the library.

Early in the month, Rachel met with the Technology Support Coordinators to discuss the implementation and turning-on of VUprint. The TSC met again later to discuss technological changes and upgrades within the Heard Library system. Rachel also met with several members of Owen IT to discuss how they can better meet the library's technology needs, including fixing Owen database access issues and improving the process for maintaining computer images.

Rachel met with the GIS Task Force to help further define the proposal for the continuation and possible expansion of a program that supports accessing and using census information and geospatial data. She continued working on the new Walker Management Library website as well as a new WML Staffweb, and wishes she had more time to commit to these highly needed websites. With all that was happening this month, Rachel only published one Friday Tech Update for October.

Amia served on the Evening Circulation Supervisor selection committee. She was also appointed to serve on the Heard Library Committee on Collections. She participated in planning, setting up, and staffing Walker's booth at the Owen Halloween festival.

Amia is a member of the BRASS membership committee. She worked with committee members on a test pilot that involves contacting library science schools to distribute fliers promoting BRASS and business librarianship as a career choice. The pilot has been mostly successful so far.

David had an article published in the Fall 2005 issue of the Acorn Chronicle : Learning Commons Is Exciting New Development in Libraries.

David was honored for his years of service to the Central Library at a luncheon hosted by his former Central Library colleagues on October 19th at Nick & Rudy's Restaurant.

October was a month of many meetings and activities, as noted below, as well as taking care of the usual administrative duties and working on ongoing projects. Thanks to Elaine for providing copies of library policies, selected spreadsheets, and other documents from the files as needed.

Brent was appointed the WML's representative on the Circulation & Access Committee. He co-chaired the search/selection committee to fill our LA IV Evening Supervisor vacancy. Brent served as the Walker Library's liaison for the United Way Campaign.

As a member of the new Staff Development Committee, Rahn developed a short reading on the concept of the Learning Organization. In continuing to support the GIS Task Force, Rahn participated in the next report phase as an editor and contributor. She completed a two-page document that described how the GIS Task Force was organized and completed its goals effectively.

Thanks to Rahn for her efforts in leading the planning for our participation in the Owen Community Halloween Party.

Deb attended the Owen Executive Program Leadership Seminar on October 24th –26th.

• OneSource Database Demonstration (10/07) - David, Amia, Rachel, Deborah, Rahn, and Deb
• WML Archive Discussion (10/08) - David, Amia, Deborah, and Rahn
• Meeting with Provost Nick Zeppos and Assoc. Provost Dennis Hall (10/11) - David (with VU Library Directors and OUL Staff Members)
• Staff Service Awards Ceremony at the University Club (10/12) - David, Brent, Rachel, and Laura
• Library Committees Structure and Strategic Plan Discussion (10/14) - Brent, Laura, Rachel
• Walker Express Meeting (10/14) - David and Brent
• LITS & Staff Development Committee's Open House for New Library Newsletter Format (10/18) - Brent, Rachel, Amia, and Rahn
• Dean McCarty's Presentation to the Central Library Staff Forum (10/27) - David
• VUprint emergency meeting (10/04) - Rachel
• Owen IT meeting (10/05) - Rachel
• WML Electronic Resources Meeting (10/18) - Rachel, Amia, David, and Deborah
• Owen Halloween Party Planning - All WML staff
• Interviews for LA IV Evening Supervisor position (10/25-10/26) - All WML staff
• Technology Support Coordinators Meeting (10/11) - Rachel
• GIS Task Force meeting (10/12) - Rachel
• Learning Commons Meeting (10/20) - David
• Communications Committee Meeting (10/27) - Deb
• Staff Development Committee Meeting (10/31) - Rachel and Rahn
• WML Weekly Information Services Meetings (Thursdays @ 10:00) - All Info Services Staff
• WML Weekly Staff Meetings (Wednesdays @ 3:30) - All WML staff
• Acquisitions and Technical Processing Weekly Meetings (Fridays @ 2:00) - Deborah and Sylvia