Tag Archives: library

Updates from the Music & Performing Arts Library

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We’ve a got a few new things happening at MPAL this semester:

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  • Listening rooms 3, 4, and 5 now have upgraded equipment with new speakers, turntables, cassette decks, and CD players. Check it out in the picture to the right, or stop by the Circulation Desk to ask for a key so you can see it in person! (Don’t forget–there are also keyboards in these rooms.)
  • The upstairs service desk is now open from 1-4pm, Mon-Fri. Feel free to check out scores there, ask about the items in our Special Collections, or just say hi!
  • Planning on checking out a show at Krannert this semester? Take a look at our monthly Krannert Library Guides for library resources about the artists, genres, works, and more.
  • We’re now circulating 5 iPads for a one week loan period. Stop by the Circulation Desk to ask about borrowing one! You can also find more information in our previous blog post.
  • Minrva, the library’s Wayfinder/GPS locator tool, now has MPAL capabilities! Use it to help you find that sneaky book or score in the stacks. More information can be found in this blog post.
  • We recently procured a new microfilm/fiche reader and scanner with some pretty cool capabilities. If you run into any issues when using it, please feel free to ask a staff member for help or view the tutorials listed here.
  • There’s a new 8″x11″ scanner on the second floor near the service desk so you don’t have to wait for the ones downstairs! We still have the two 8×11″ scanners and the large format (11″x17″) scanner in the downstairs computer area as well.

Enjoy!

The top 12 things you should know about MPAL

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Whether you are new to the University of Illinois or a seasoned grad student, here are a few things you may not know about the Music and Performing Arts Library.

Print, audio/visual, online…you name it, we’ve got it
1. Our collections and resources cover all types of music, dance, and theatre from all over the world.
2. We have books, scores, CDs, and DVDs that you can check out, as well as LPs, reference materials, and journals that you can use in the library
3. Our online resources are available to you 24/7 when you login with your NetID
4. You can request things from other libraries or request that we purchase something

Technology
1. You can print from our computers or via wireless from your laptop
2. We have two scanners that are free to use
3. We will soon have iPads for loan

We have friendly and knowledgeable staff who want to help you
1. See our Ask Us page for ways to get help
2. We have online help guides for music, dance, and theatre classes and research topics
3. You can make personal research appointments with either of the librarians to get help with your paper or research project.

Extras
1. We have lots of study space at big tables near big windows
2. We make monthly guides to go with events at the Krannert Center

BONUS!
We have listening rooms and listening carrels for you to use when listening to or watching any of the media in our collections. Ask for a key at the Circulation Desk.

To keep up with MPAL news, follow us on Twitter @mpalillinois

Web Printing (Beta) @ the University of Illinois Library

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How to Print from a Laptop

Features
* Print Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and PDF files via website upload
* Choose between black and white or color printing (by way of printer selection)
* Choose number of copies

Limitations
* Cannot print image, html, text, or specific application (AutoCAD, MatLab, etc) files
(Other file types can be printed as PDF documents (see above instructions))
* File size cap of 100 MB
* Must be logged on to the wireless network IllinoisNet
* Cannot print on both sides of a page (duplex)
* Limited to personal (netid) accounts, no group or department account printing available via web print

Web printing is tested and compatible with Windows and OSX laptops, but Library IT cannot ensure compatibility with all mobile device platforms, including Android, iOS (iPhone, iPad), and BlackBerry.

New printing system–release the print jobs!

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As of yesterday we have a new printing release system.

1. When you want to print a document you can choose “Print” from the file menu, use the print icon in the task bar, or use Ctrl-P as you always have.

2. Choose the print queue you want (this is different):

* Library B&W (this is the only one that will print to the MPAL printers)
* Library Color
* UGL B&W Pay
* UGL Color Pay

You can also send your job to the Library B&W queue and release it (more on that in a bit) at any of the other campus libraries. Library Color jobs can be sent from MPAL and released at any of the campus libraries with color printers (Main, UGL, ACES, Grainger).

3. You will log in with your NetID and password as you always have.

4. You will be shown the cost of the job and asked to confirm that you want to send the print job.

5. Go to the print release station of your choice (ours is at the MPAL reference desk) and log in with your NetID and password.

6. Click “Done” at the release station when you are finished. (It will automatically log you out after about 30 seconds of inactivity.)

As mentioned above, you can send a print job from MPAL and release it at MPAL or at another campus library.

If you don’t release your print job immediately, it will stay in the print queue for 12 hours. If you don’t release your job, it will leave the queue and you will not be charged.

Here are pictures of the steps.

Here is information about how to get refunds.

Here is a link to see how to print from your laptop.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Library Guides

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Do you you know that if you are attending events at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (aka Krannert or KCPA) we’ve got guides to help you learn more about the groups and pieces being performed?

Each month we publish a guide to that month’s dance, music, and theatre performances, linking to scores, audio and video recordings, and books that will prepare you for the experience or teach you more about what you’ve already heard.

From the main KCPA Guides page, you can select a particular month from the list.

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Once you’ve selected a guide, you can choose a tab for the performance you are interested in.

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Each tab will include details of the event, a video clip if one is available, featured items in the MPAL collection, and links to more materials in our collection about the performers and art forms.

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Occasionally we will include helpful links to information outside of the Library as well.

Each monthly guide has a welcome tab that points you to logistical information about using our Library and checking things out, and also has a tab titled “Attending a Performance” that offers resources to help you increase your listening/viewing enjoyment and concert-going tips.

The goal of these Music and Performing Arts Library guides is to help you Uncover and Discover the great resources in our collections that can increase your enjoyment and understanding of the performances at KCPA.

New printing system

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Here are a few things you should know now that the Library’s printing system, LibPrint, has been replaced by PaperCut (we didn’t get to pick the name).

1. Make sure to choose “MPAL B&W” from the print dialog box as it’s not yet set as the default. This will send the job to either of MPAL’s printers.
2. When prompted, log in with your NetID and password–this will send the charge to your Bursar’s account.*
3. When printing PDFs please click “print” and then click “advanced”. After that select the option “Print as an Image.”

*If you don’t have a NetID, you’ll need to chose the UGL printer option in step one. This sends your print job to the Undergraduate Library and you will need to go there to pick it up and pay for it.

If you want to print in color, chose one of the color options such as UGL Color. This sends your print job to the Undergraduate Library and you will need to go there to pick it up and pay for it.

We will be getting double-sided printing at some point this year, but don’t yet have that option.

Please let us know if you have any questions or problems about the new printing system–we can’t fix what we don’t know about!

International Students Library Workshop

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International Students Library Workshop
March 14th at 2:30 in the Seminar Room in MPAL

This workshop is meant to provide some tips and resources for international students (or other students!) who need a little extra help doing college-level research in the perhaps unfamiliar Music and Performing Arts Library. The session will be informal, so feel free to come with specific questions or concerns you might have from your own research experiences in the library. We’ll also be able to try some example searches, so if you have a laptop you want to bring to follow along and try yourself, go ahead and bring it along.

If you can’t make it to the workshop but you could still use some tips on mastering the library, you can get additional information and resources from the following guide, created specifically for this workshop: http://uiuc.libguides.com/MPALInternationalStudents

Hope to see you there!

Two new online resource trials

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For the next month you can test out the online versions of

Richard Taruskin’s The Oxford History of Western Music

You can do a keyword search or browse by volume

> Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century
> Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
> Music in the Nineteenth Century
> Music in the Early Twentieth Century
> Music in the Late Twentieth Century
and the

Online Music Anthology from A-R Editions

“A-R Editions’ Online Music Anthology is extensive collection of examples designed expressly for music history courses.” It contains over 425 pieces from “antiquity through the romantic era, with extensive contents for the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque”with content drawn from A-R’s Recent Researches series.

If you have comments or feedback about these resources, let us know mpal@library.illinois.edu

Undergrad music students–Help out MPAL–Participate in our research project

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MPAL is doing a study on how music students find music scores and recordings for their studies (remember the survey from last semester?). Now we’d like to do someone-hour focus groups to talk to you more in depth about this.

If you want to help and are a music student, please email slsnyde2@illinois.edu with your name, major, and year in school.

Participants will receive a $10 Espresso gift card.

We really appreciate your help as this will help us improve our Library services.

Thank you,

Kirstin
Music and Performing Arts Librarian

Setting a default pickup location for library requests

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Do you know that you can set a default pickup location for any items you request from other campus libraries or through iShare?

Go to the library catalog and log in (if you haven’t created an account yet you’ll need to do that).

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Once you’ve logged in, click on “Preferences” from the menu on the right.

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Select UIUC Music Circ (or another location of your choice).

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