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[July] [August] [September] [October]Fall Issue of The Sward Now Available
The Fall 2009 issue of The Sward, TIC's periodic newsletter, is now available. Click here to view it or check out the newsletter archive to see all issues.
Bug Swatting in TGIF
Although we try most dilligently while building TGIF to eliminate errors within the database, users sometimes will see typographical or other kinds of errors within TGIF record content. When you do, please help us out (and all other and future users of TGIF as well...) by pressing the link in the line towards the bottom of each full TGIF record which says "If there are problems with this record, send us feedback. click here" . Then just briefly explain in the box what you saw -- and it is fine if it is pretty cryptic, too. For example, "typo in abstract -- 'drainege'" would be plenty. Since the message already has the TGIF record # with it, there's no need need to tell us what record the feedback refers to.
The process should only take a few seconds -- but it will make that record better for all. And we do appreciate your help!
TGIF Passes Another Milestone - or - Some Interesting Numbers...
"How many different words are there in TGIF?"
While this question has no significance or consequence for TGIF users, it does have an answer! As at 12 November, 2009 (2 am EST (-5 GMT), to be precise), there were: 2,011,151 different words in TGIF. Those words are contained in the 155,982 TGIF records that existed at that point.
Why do we know this, you might ask. It is because the database software needs to know which records each word occurs in. Furthermore, the software also needs to know where each word occurs relative to other words around it, in order to do some of the more sophisticated searching that can be done in TGIF. To do that, it has to keep track of 114, 557,435 data points (again, as at the same time specified above). Makes my head sore to think about.
One could also argue that the 2 million+ "words" number above is inflated, because it also includes the typos. Sad, but true.....
(poc)
Help Us Increase Full-Text Access: See the Revised TIC "Digitization Prospectus"
We have recently revised, and tried to simplify, the document which outlines the rationale, technical issues, and decision-points associated with TIC digitization projects. This item is designed to help organizations and publishers of turf-related periodicals or annual reports understand how we undertake these co-branded projects, and what is necessary to bring them to completion. If you produce or sponsor such material, please look it over and let us know if you'd like to talk further about doing such a project together. In the end, such efforts will truly help "bring a turfgrass library to the desktop" of turfgrass researchers, practitioners, and students. See please: http://tic.msu.edu/digitization-prospectus.doc. To see the list of completed and "under-construction" projects, see: http://tic.msu.edu/pubjrnlbrowse.htm.
Managing "Turf Topics" Search Content within TGIF
The "Turf Topics" series of pre-searched sets of TGIF results emphasize current and more widely-available publications on a specific issue in turf culture or turf facility management. They basically permit TGIF users to find selected results using only their mouse. Up to this point in time, users could not manipulate the presented results further, except by using the "Mark" check-box to select specific items within the search set. In order to permit further limiting (say, by type and/or year of publication), "Turf Topics" now appears as a listed field under the "as a" drop box adjacent to each of the 3 possible search lines available on the "Guided Search" screen. This makes it possible to not only place limiters on the content within each Turf Topic, it also makes it possible to combine or cross Topics.
To use this feature, select "Browse Index" (far right of any search line) from the Guided Search screen, then change the drop box showing on the Index screen to "Turf Topics", then press the "Display Index" button to get the first screen of the "Turf Topics" list.
Check the box or boxes for the Topic or Topics you wish to review, the press "Paste" on the left sidebar, which will add the Topic(s)' names to your search line, then change the "as a" drop box to "Turf Topics".
At that point, a searcher can press the Search button to display the results, or can use the limiting drop boxes to narrow further the contents of the Topic(s) chosen.
TIC Welcomes Nora Carr
Nora Carr has recently joined the TIC team from the MSU Libraries’ Wallace Conservation Lab where she had worked for the past 10 years. At the Conservation Lab Nora worked to repair and rebind old and rare books. Prior to the Conservation Lab Nora has worked in various other departments within the library, including serials receiving, information reference and agricultural economics. Altogether she has been a part of the MSU library for the past 27 years, bringing a variety of different experiences to the department.
Here at TIC, Nora will be responsible for Serials production and the supervision of student employees working within serials. Currently she is learning the basic construction of a TGIF record and is “excited to be learning from the ground-up.”
Outside of the library Nora is an avid traveler and has been to Europe five times. She has two daughters, one who is a sophomore at Davenport University and the other who is a sophomore at Holt High School. She also enjoys spending time with her cats and quilting.
Nora will be learning a lot about TGIF processing and turfgrass in the coming months. However, when questioned, Nora was already able to confidently name Poa annua as her favorite turfgrass. Welcome to TIC Nora!
TIC Staffing Changes
Several recent operational and staffing changes involving TIC have taken place over the past 3 months, and as a result there are some new faces involved with TIC!
Nora Carr has joined us as a Library Assistant beginning about 2 weeks ago. Nora comes to us from the Libraries' Preservation unit. Sue Depoorter and Nora in effect swapped jobs, so Sue is now working in Preservation. Leslie Behm has now joined the Libraries' Special Collections unit. In addition, Mike Schury has now assumed expanded supervisory responsibilities within TIC. On top of all that, TIC has administratively moved from the Libraries' Public Services Division to a new unit, Digital Information Services, headed by Assistant Director Shawn Nicholson. Please help us welcome both Shawn and Nora to the turfgrass world, and congratulations to Mike on his promotion!
A special thanks is in order to Sue, who during an almost ten year span working in TIC was in continuing contact with many of our users and supporters. Her involvements, in particular, with the steady growth of the Noer Collection monographic holdings over that period, and work associated with the likewise steady improvement in the Center's physical facility, are contributions that will be valued on into the future by all users of TIC and TGIF.
(poc)
Beards Work Session in TIC
Over the past two weeks, Dr. James and Harriet Beard have been working within TIC, with efforts focused on the 'final push' to move their, 'History and Literature of Turfgrass -- Golf, Lawns and Sports' book closer to release. This work will include extensive descriptive and evaluative annotations of the monographic (ie. 'book-like) portion of the literature, as well as biographical sketches of nearly every author who has written a turf book, extracts from items, and photographs. It will define, for the first time, the development of the turfgrass literature, internationally. We very much look forward to the increased awareness of the true richness of the turfgrass literature that we are certain this major work of long-term scholarship work will bring to light.
In addition, Dr. Beard gave several lectures during his visit, one of which will be repeated as the Martin and Ruth Massengale Lectureship during the upcoming Tri-Societies annual meeting in Pittsburgh. This talk, on the history of sod production research and practice, will be presented on Monday, November 2 from 6:15 -7:10 pm, on the third floor of the Convention Center, Room 301-302.
Reptiles and Amphibians In and Around Your Turf...
A recent book -- almost a tome, really, at 619 pages - has been published called Urban Herpetology. A collection of mostly scholarly articles about the relationship between the built environment and the changing habitats of salamanders, snakes, and other reptiles and amphibians -- there are a number of articles relating directly to urban grasslands of various kinds, including parks and golf courses. Check out the chapter articles which we have selectively indexed within TGIF: http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flinkss.pl?srch=MCODEURHER . The first record showing in that set is our record for the book itself, from which you can link to WorldCat to see what other libraries also own the item.
'Continually Updated Resources' - A New Tag for Some Web Documents in TGIF
As electronic versions of extension fact sheets and similar types of materials have increasingly taken advantage of the many benefits of the electronic publication process, so too have we at TIC had to evolve how we handle and tag these kinds of materials within TGIF. In the 'old days', we would create a separate TGIF record for each edition of a fact sheet-like item, and cross link them together. This made sense when items were infrequently revised and reissued, just as books generally still are. All of that nice, tidy, edition tracking is now changing, of course, as electronic versions of materials increasingly change on very unpredictable and often short timelines, more directly reflecting the ongoing changes in the marketplace, regulatory, and research worlds. So what have we done to respond to this evolution? TGIF records for these ever-changing materials will start to show up as a "Continually Updated Resource" in the left hand column of TGIF's default search display ("Item is a:"). This means that we will create a single TGIF record for an item like this, which will reflect processing at the point at which we processed it, and if minor and evolutionary changes are subsequently made to the item we'll convert it to a "Continually Updated Resource". Here's a few examples: http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flinkss.pl?srch=gmdcur0909
Beard Giving Wilke Lecture
On Thursday, October 1, from 4:10 - 5:00 pm, Dr. James B Beard will be on the Michigan State University campus to give a Walter Wilkie Seminar Presentation titled: Prof. William Beal and the Subsequent Evolution of the Turfgrass Education and Research Program at Michigan State University. The program will be in Room 101 of the Crop & Soil Sciences Building on the MSU campus, and is open to the public.
Fred Garbin, 1928-2009
Golf Course Architect Ferdinand (Fred) Garbin, passed away September 6, at 81. Garbin, a past-President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA), trained early as a turf agronomist under H. Burton Musser at Penn State. Garbin designed and remodeled more than 100 golf courses, primarily in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and Ohio. He is particularly well known for his careful remodeling of Donald Ross courses. Learn more about the work of this architect from his entry in the ASGCA Architect's Gallery, at: http://golfarchitects.lib.msu.edu/garbinf/index.html.
Within TIC itself, Garbin is most closely associated with the Pennsylvania Super Roller Mower (see: http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flink.pl?recno=110177) by our front entrance, which he donated to us.
On Course Articles Feature TGIF Links
The most recent issue of On Course, monthly publication of the Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents, features an innovative use of TGIF to help readers find additional information relating to feature articles. Two articles in the August issue, linked off the public archive site for On Course here, have a box called "TGIF Searchable Topic" at the end of the articles. In it is included "Want to know more about this subject?", with suggested keywords to search TGIF, and the number of results. In addition, three selected articles are highlighted by title. In the online version of the magazine, clicking on the top half of the box executes the actual TGIF search and displays the results, while the highlighted articles link to the selected TGIF records, from which a user can link to the full-text of the articles themselves.
This is a great way to make use of TGIF and provide a connection to additional resources for further reading. It is nice is see this kind of integration between print and electronic resources and we'd be delighted to see more innovation like this.
GreenMaster Incorporates 'Dig Deeper' Feature!
What is 'Dig Deeper'? It is a search feature within several of the TIC-hosted digital archive sites that allows for searching articles' complete text, as opposed to only the TGIF record's citation, abstract and assigned keywords.
For example, a search in the GreenMaster archive for "winterkill" would normally produce a search result of 21 records. By clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, however, the result increases to 34 articles. The additional 13 records are from articles where the terms appear within the actual article, but not in its TGIF record.
Other archives that currently utilize the 'Dig Deeper' box include USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (USGA TERO), USGA Green Section Record, and The National Greenkeeper. Golf Course Management and Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference also feature the checkbox, but are restricted and must be entered via TGIF.
TIC Welcomes New Academic Subscribers
Students, faculty, and staff at the following academic institutions now can have campus-wide access to TGIF: Auburn University (Alabama); University of Hawaii at Manoa (Hawaii); University of Alaska Fairbanks (Alaska); Georgian College (Ontario, Canada); University of Western Australia (Australia). We are glad that these users can now take advantage of all that TGIF has to offer.
If your schools -- 2-year, 4-year, professional or trade, whatever -- don't yet provide access to TGIF, please get them 'on-board'! Check the list of institutions that do have access here and then encourage any others with turf interests to become involved. To help faculty, alumni, supporters, students, etc. rally support for doing this, here is information on how to get started.
We'd like to see all turfgrass researchers, teachers, and students have easy, widespread, and rapid access to TGIF!
Watson & Rieke -- Turfgrass Giants Recognized
TIC was delighted to note that Dr. James R. Watson and Dr. Paul E. Rieke, both stalwart turfgrass leaders, teachers, experts, innovators, TIC supporters, and just outright, good people, have received the USGA's Ike Grainger Award, which recognizes USGA committee volunteers for over 25 years of service. These gentleman -- and they both really are exactly that -- have worked long and hard as charter members of the USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Committee, providing guidance for that program's efforts in support of turfgrass research.
And in case there's curiosity about what else they've done 'along the way', here are TGIF searches which detail their prodigious written contributions and interests:
TGIF material by or about Jim Watson:
http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flinkss.pl?srch=watson0809TGIF material by or about Paul Rieke:
http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flinkbora.pl?name=riekeBoth are previous recipients of both the USGA Green Section Award, as well as the USGA's Piper and Oakley Award. No one else has ever received all three of these awards before.
We salute both these wonderful individuals, and their contributions, and this award; and with great thanks for their ongoing engagement with and support of our work, as well. It is so very much appreciated!
On Course Incorporates 'Dig Deeper' Feature!
What is 'Dig Deeper'? It is a search feature within several of the TIC-hosted digital archive sites that allows for searching articles' complete text, as opposed to only the TGIF record's citation, abstract and assigned keywords.
For example, a search in the On Course (formerly known as The Bull Sheet) archive for "Medinah" would normally produce a search result of 22 records. By clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, however, the result increases to 143 articles. The additional 121 records are from articles where the terms appear within the actual article, but not in its TGIF record.
Other archives that currently utilize the 'Dig Deeper' box include USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (USGA TERO), USGA Green Section Record, and The National Greenkeeper. Golf Course Management and Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference also feature the checkbox, but are restricted and must be entered via TGIF.
Redesigned and Expanded Proceedings of the Michigan Turfgrass Conference Now Available
The publicly-available archive site for the Proceedings of the Michigan Turfgrass Conference has been redesigned and greatly expanded. Previously representing 2001 and newer material, the new site contains all print/CD versions of the conference from 1972-2003 with links to MSU Turfgrass Science's pages for 2004 and 2005 content. This site also is able to be searched using the "Dig Deeper" function, enabling full-text searching of almost 1,700 records. The site is available at http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/mitgc/
Summer Issue of The Sward Now Available
The Summer 2009 issue of The Sward, TIC's periodic newsletter, is now available. Click here to view it or check out the newsletter archive to see all issues.
Using the TGIF Guided Search
The Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) Guided Search enables users to search very efficiently. It allows the use of Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and limits search results based on year, sector, and what kind of item users are looking for.
For Guided Search, in the first "Search for" box, type the most important word or phrase pertaining to a specific topic. If the word or phrase is a type listed in the drop-down list (Keyword, Author, Cultivar, etc.), and results returned must apply to the word or phrase as that specific type of information, highlight the appropriate field in the list.Additionally, it is possible to browse selected indices by clicking "Browse index". Browsing is useful when words or phrases are too broad or too specific for effective search. From the “Browse index” section, select an index and page through it (or use the "list near" tool to jump to a certain area), marking the terms needed to search. When done marking terms, use Paste to return to the Guided Search screen.
To learn more about using Guided Search, please click here.
Richard Chapin, 1925-2009
Dick Chapin, Director emeritus of the Michigan State University Libraries, first Project Director of the Turfgrass Information Center (TIC), and primary facilitator of the MSU Libraries' turfgrass-related efforts beginning in the early 1960's, passed away July 30.
Dr. Chapin was MSU Library Director from 1959 to 1989. The initial beginnings of serious turf collection development began early in his leadership, at the behest of then-faculty member Dr. James B Beard. The arrival of the O. J. Noer Memorial Turfgrass Collection in the late 60's spurred external support and gift acquisitions, both of which continue actively to this day.
In the early 1980's, the United States Golf Association (USGA) approached Chapin about using the Noer Collection as the basis for developing an electronic index to the turfgrass science literature, in support of the USGA's ongoing interest in turfgrass research. Thus was born, in 1984, the Turfgrass Information Center (TIC), dedicated to not only continue to build what had already become the world's strongest public turfgrass library -- but then also to index, abstract, and provide access online to identify that material, via the USGA Turfgrass Information File (TGIF). It was intended to tackle an example of 'the full circle' of what he considered 'documentary librarianship's' work as it then existed, but which was not widely practiced within academic libraries in North America, and Chapin always considered it a bit of an experiment.
Here is an early USGA Green Section Record article, about those initial efforts: http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flink.pl?recno=3154. What is most striking there, in retrospect, is the very solid theoretical foundation for the work of the Center, and its positioning to harness the still-evolving technology in support of the mission. So much has not changed, even as some of the tools and workflows have.
Chapin received the Distinguished Service Award of the O.J. Noer Research Foundation in 1990, for his cooperative leadership in both creating and nurturing the Noer Collection, and his contributions in service to turfgrass science and management.
By the time of his retirement, besides being the Director of Libraries and the TIC, he had also served as director of the MSU Press, a faculty member in the School of Journalism, president of the Michigan Library Association, a founding member of the Michigan Library Consortium, and a member of the boards of directors of the Association of Research Libraries and the Center for Research Libraries, as well as his significant local volunteer engagement on a range of educational and social justice issues. He received MSU's Distinguished Faculty Award in 1988.
"When I proposed that the Noer Collection be cataloged and preserved at the Michigan State University Library, it was Dr. Richard Chapin who held the yes or no decision. He said yes! Neither of us could then envision what has evolved from this first momentus step," says Dr. Beard.
Dr. Beard also reports Dr. Chapin had begun to require his librarians to all have a 'special collection project' to work on as a part of their activity, and since Dr. Chapin needed one himself he would do turfgrass. Even today one can find Chapin annotations on lists and within items; residual evidence of that 'project'.
In short, it is almost inconceivable that the 'turfgrass library' work that is done today would exist without Dick Chapin. That would include the historic components, the Noer Collection and the Turfgrass Information File database, which directly led into the more recent initiatives, including the Beard Collection, digitization efforts to fully deliver to users the actual content that TGIF can identify, the physical facility that the Center has become, and the TIC Endowment Campaign. All of it is so very, very, unlikely to have happened without him. And the moniker of the database itself, TGIF, is a Chapin pun - for 'turfgrass' is, of course, and despite what your spell-checker says, a single word. We'll always have to explain why TIC is 'TIC' and TGIF is 'TGIF'; and that will give us a chance to think about Dick once again, and thank him for all that he did to make this happen.
For myself, I know that I wouldn't be here, either. I came to MSU because Dick's vision of unified service to a discipline, based on providing _both_ intellectual and physical access, within a land-grant context, without geographic bias, and intended to become as self-service as possible, meshed perfectly with my own interests, frustrations, expectations, and intentions. And it is all still a bit experimental.......
Let us then remember Dr. Richard Chapin well, and salute a leader who did make a difference, and without whom none of what you see here, in this form, would exist.
(poc)
International Turfgrass Bulletin incorporates 'Dig Deeper' feature!
What is 'Dig Deeper'? It is a search feature within several of the TIC-hosted digital archive sites that allows for searching articles' complete text, as opposed to only the TGIF record's citation, abstract and assigned keywords.
For example, a search in the International Turfgrass Bulletin archive for "mowing" would normally produce a search result of 240 records. By clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, however, the result increases to 553 articles. The additional 313 records are from articles where the terms appear within the actual article, but not in its TGIF record.
Other archives that currently utilize the ‘Dig Deeper’ box include The Golf Course, USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (USGA TERO), USGA Green Section Record, and The National Greenkeeper. Golf Course Management and Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference also feature the checkbox, but are restricted and must be entered via TGIF.
New TGIF Turf Topic available -- What Good is Turf?
TIC has added a new Turf Topic to the list of those available to TGIF users. "What Good is Turf?" includes a wide range of materials about the values, uses, and benefits associated with natural turfgrass surfaces, in a wide variety of settings. Find it listed under "Browse Turf Topics" off any of the TGIF Search screens, or for awhile it will be featured off TIC's public website, at: http://tic.msu.edu.
TIC Abstractor Reaches Milestone
Former Lead Abstractor Jessica Hagen has reached a milestone: As of this month, she has written a monumental 6,000 abstracts for the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) since she began work at the Turfgrass Information Center (TIC) in March 2006. Hers is by far the largest abstract contribution of anyone who has ever worked for TIC. In fact, of the records with abstracts written by TIC staff, 3 out of every 10 are by Jessica. Though she will be leaving the Center toward the end of August, she has taken some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions:
What is your favorite part of working at Turfgrass Information Center?
I really like the people I work with. They make for a good work environment, and we also have fun outside of work. Last semester we had a TIC basketball tournament and year-end barbecue.
Do you feel fonder of turfgrass now than when you first started writing about it?
I wasn't even aware of turfgrass before I started working at TIC, and I've certainly learned some interesting facts about turfgrass from writing about it.
Has so much abstracting affected your writing style outside of TGIF?
It's made my writing a lot more concise, so overall, I think that's good.
What are your post-TIC plans?
I start student teaching at Clarkston High School (Michigan) in September, and I'll be there for a full school year. After that, I want to go back to Germany.
We at TIC are extremely grateful to Jessica for the years of consistently diligent work she has put toward expanding the database. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.
2009 TPI Summer Convention Field Days
The 2009 Turfgrass Producers International (TPI) Summer Convention Field Days will be held in East Lansing, Michigan July 27-31.
Attendees will register at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center before participating in the Golf Calcutta Auction, touring the Michigan State University campus and attending the Lawn Institute Memorial Golf Tournament during the first two days of the convention. TPI members will be able to tour the TIC facility and learn more about TGIF Monday afternoon during the Farm Tour event. We look forward to seeing TPI members at the Center then, but all should feel free to stop by anytime Monday - Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The complete TPI event schedule can be found here.
TGIF Surpasses 150,000 Records!
In July, the Turfgrass Information File surpassed 150,000 records in the database and continues to grow. So far in 2009, TIC has created 6,505 serial (periodical) records; 391 monograph (book-like) records; and 2,058 records for articles from Web sites. Additionally, over 55% of the records from 2009 are linked to the full-text of the item.
This major milestone reflects our commitment to our users to keep this unique resource, TGIF, the most current and comprehensive database of turfgrass educational materials in the world.
Assistant Superintendents Now Have Access to TGIF
Class C members (Assistant Superintendents) of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) have now joined Class A and SM members (Superintendents) in being able to access TGIF via GCSAA's website, at: http://www.gcsaa.org. Many assistants have used TGIF during their degree programs in school, and this will now provide ongoing access to TGIF's many resources in support of their continuing professional development.
(poc)The 'Dig Deeper' check box is now within Golf Course Management Archive
"Dig Deeper (Search full text)” is now available within Golf Course Management (restricted access -- enter via TGIF) archives. What is 'Dig Deeper'? It is a search feature within several of the TIC-hosted digital archive sites that allows for searching the complete text of the articles; not just the TGIF record's citation, abstract, and assigned keywords. For example, a search for "golf shoe spikes" (without the quotes), not clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, will produce a search result of 12 records. By clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, the result increases to 66 articles. The additional 54 records are from articles where the terms appear within the article, but not in the TGIF record for it.
(lmb)We will need your help!
TIC has begun a systematic process to attempt to ‘complete’ the holdings of both the O.J. Noer and James B Beard Collections. In the past we have identified some materials that we needed to acquire for the Noer Collection, and have made some of those needs known via our website, at: http://tic.msu.edu/needs.html -- but now we will be expanding & updating those listings. So if we think you might have some specific items which we’re looking for, we may approach you to help us out! Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.
(lmb)More Display Formats of TGIF Search Results in Basic Search
The results display in Brief Table - Default format unless you change it. So how is it changed?
Still in Basic Search, there is a down arrow next to the window with Default format showing. Clicking the down arrow will provide a drop down menu with the following choices:
- Brief Table -- New to Old
- Brief Table -- Old to New
- Brief Table -- 1st Author A to Z
- Brief Table -- 1st Author Z to A
Again, the first entry(ies) might be from Beard’s Turfgrass Encyclopedia for Golf Courses – Grounds – Lawns – Sports Fields. However you can select to sort by the oldest, the newest, or by first author in ascending or descending order. Results from full-text resources will not appear at the beginning of the list of results followed by non full-text but in the order selected for sorting.
(lmb)Display of TGIF Search Results
Did you know there are six different ways to display your results when searching TGIF?
The results display in Brief Table - Default format unless you change it. What does that mean in terms of what is shown?
In Basic Search, the first entry(ies) might be from Beard’s Turfgrass Encyclopedia for Golf Courses – Grounds – Lawns – Sports Fields. In fact, about 12% of searches in Basic Search will have a Beard record.
In all default display formats results from full-text sources will appear chronologically from most recent to oldest. After that there will be the non full-text sources, arranged from most recent to oldest.
Next blog entry will discuss another way to display your results.
(lmb)New Digital Archive Site - On Course/The Bull Sheet
On Course, created in 1948 and originally named The Bull Sheet, is the official publication of the Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents (MAGCS).
MAGCS was founded in 1926 by a small group of Chicago area "Greenkeepers" and has progressed over time to include a membership of 800 individuals, representing close to 300 golf courses in the greater Chicago metropolitan area.
The organization’s award winning monthly magazine, On Course, is mailed to over 950 paid and controlled subscribers and features current golf course management topics and association activities. On Course is dedicated to disseminating scientific and practical knowledge pertaining to golf turf maintenance, documenting the activities of the association, and enhancing the professional stature of the association’s members.
Furthermore, the magazine features articles penned by golf course superintendents for superintendents. Readers receive the latest information about integrated pest and plant management, problem solving techniques, safety regulations, equipment maintenance, new products, innovative practices, employee relations, and environmental stewardship projects.
On Course also features a section on equipment for the growing equipment technician class, not to mention contributions by many other industry professionals. Each issue provides the reader the opportunity to learn about MAGCS, current events, individual members, and the golf course profession.
This archive, an ongoing cooperative project of MAGCS and the Michigan State University Libraries, features On Course / The Bull Sheet content from 1948 to the present. The current and prior calendar year publications are publicly-accessible however, all previous years are available to only MAGCS members and TGIF users.
(mjs)Another Means of Narrowing a Search in Basic Search
It is possible to select an industry sector to narrow a search to a more manageable set of records, provided a sector has been assigned to any given article during TGIF processing. On the Basic Search page, click the drop down box next to:
Limit by Industry Sector (if Available):
and highlight the one of interest. The default is All sectors. Other sectors to select from are: Breeding and Genetics, Golf courses, Landscape, Lawn care, Parks and grounds, Roadside, Seed, Sod, Sports turf, Utility turf, or Independent or Unassigned.At present about 50% of TGIF items have Sector tagging, and some items have more than one relevant sector assigned. While it is currently not possible to limit a search to more than one sector at a time in Basic Search -- it is possible to do this in TGIF's Power Search option.
(lmb)The second Annual Report of the Turfgrass Information Center is now available. The report is called TIC Annual Report 2008 and is linked from the TIC Public Website
(lmb)Noer Foundation Celebrates 50th Anniversary!
TIC extends congratulations to the O.J. Noer Research Foundation upon the 50th Anniversary of its establishment. During that time the Foundation has supported turfgrass research and graduate education at academic institutions throughout the USA. Created in 1958 by O.J. Noer's colleagues and friends, the Foundation is dedicated to financial support of scientific research in turfgrass. One early project of the Foundation was the establishment of the O. J. Noer Memorial Turfgrass Collection at Michigan State University, a project which continues to grow forty years later! We salute this all-volunteer organization that continues to work in support of better turf management, and thank them for their foresight in dedicating the Noer Collection to the public good.
For further information about the Noer Foundation, see: http://www.ojnoerfoundation.org/; for further information about the O. J. Noer Collection see: http://tic.msu.edu/noer.html.
(poc)TGIF Now Available at USGA Museum
TGIF is now available to scholars and other users from within the USGA Museum Research Center, located in the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History, in Far Hills, New Jersey, the home to the world's most comprehensive golf library and research collections. The Research Center is open to visitors Monday through Friday, and by appointment.
For more information about the Research Center,click here.
For additional information, or to schedule an appointment, please contact Nancy Stulack, Librarian, at 908-234-2300, ext. 1107; or by email at NStulack@usga.org
(poc)TIC Separates TGIF Sessions
A "TGIF session" is the set of screens a user sees when logged in to the TGIF database. TIC has now implemented a separation of TGIF sessions: “group” users (including people at academic institutions and organizations) versus individuals logging in with their own user name and password. This enables customization of features for these two types of TGIF users. For instance, group users will now see information directing them to utilize their local Interlibrary Loan Service to request items instead of TIC’s Document Delivery service. TGIF sessions by individual users and designated sub-accounts at academic institutions and corporate subscribers will continue to have a link to utilize extra-cost services via TIC.
(mjs)More instruction on using Basic Search
The last blog entry discussed how to search for topics such that they all appear in the search results. What if you want to get information on for instance two different diseases in your turf or two or more different turfgrasses. How can you do that?
The use of the " ;" between phrases or words will OR them together and find all records containing one or the other word/phrase. For example: brown patch; dollar spot will find all the records on both diseases. Searching Cynodon dactylon; Paspalum notatum; Zoysia japonica will find all records on all three grasses.
(lmb)Using Basic Search
Once logged into TGIF, you will be at the Basic Search Screen. There is one box to type what you are looking for, then press Search.
There are a few things to remember when typing in words:
Do not use quotations marks
Do not use natural language phrases
Do not use +/-
Words are not case sensitive
Try to avoid common 'stop' words such as turfgrass, turf, grassThese types of formats are used in web search engines such as Google.
Type in the important words you are looking for such as dollar spot control
The results you will get will be the number of records that have all of the words some where in the record, be it in the title, in the journal title, author, in the abstract, or in the keywords.
(lmb)The 'Dig Deeper' check box
"Dig Deeper (Search full text)” is now available within both the The National Greenkeeper and Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference (restricted access -- enter via TGIF) archives. What is 'Dig Deeper'? It is a search feature within several of the TIC-hosted digital archive sites that allows for searching the complete text of the articles; not just the TGIF record's citation, abstract, and assigned keywords. For example, a search in The National Greenkeeper archive for "compost topdressing" (without the quotes), not clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, will produce a search result of 23 records. By clicking the 'Dig Deeper' box, the result increases to 69 articles. The additional 46 records are from articles where the terms appear within the article, but not in the TGIF record for it.
The 'Dig Deeper' box now appears in four 'limiting interfaces' within TIC-hosted digital archive sites; besides the two new ones those include The Golf Course, and USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (USGA TERO). It will continue to debut in additional limiting interfaces as we load the text of such publications into the TGIF search engine (with publisher permission, of course). As you might imagine, this is also a substantial amount of additional work in the TGIF workflows -- but it certainly does increase the power and reach of the search engine substantially.
It is also worth noting that there is currently no 'Dig Deeper' box within TGIF itself. Because the four periodicals with such content so far, and others with such content 'under construction' (such as the USGA Green Section Record) represent a small part of the total records within TGIF, we don't want to introduce it until we are past some point of 'critical mass', where the differences across a very wide range of searches are visible and significant. We do, however, very much look forward to that day..........
(poc)More Turfgrass Science Students Working in TIC
This semester the Turfgrass Information Center has the good fortune of 4 turfgrass science majors working in the Center. In addition, another student, majoring in systems management, had been doing research for a turfgrass professor here at MSU. It is great to have so many students with a background in turfgrass helping with TGIF.
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