NASA Turns 60 – Featured Collection in the Reference Reading Room

By Stephanie Andrews, Library Assistant

ARIS invites you to check out the newest featured book display now up in the Reference Reading Room. NASA Turns 60 features publications from our MAIN, Texas Documents, and U.S. Documents collections. From its humble beginnings as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, explore our out-of-this-world resources that examine the founding and history of this exciting federal agency.

To search for these books and more, check out our catalog at www.tsl.texas.gov/catalog. If you are interested in checking out a title on our Featured Collection shelf, please visit the Reference Desk in room 109. Below is a complete list of titles you’ll find on our Featured Collection shelf for October and November.

522 EV15B
Big and bright : a history of the McDonald Observatory
Evans, David Stanley
Main

522.2919 Sc83a
Adventure in space : the flight to fix the Hubble
Scott, Elaine
Main

523 Sc83c
Close encounters : exploring the universe with the Hubble Space Telescope
Scott, Elaine
Main

629.4 B743o
Our Space Program
Bredeson, Carmen
Main

629.40973 N1
NASA factbook; guide to National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs and activities
Renetzky, Alvin
Main

629.45 K863f
Failure is not an option : mission control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and beyond
Kranz, Gene
Main

Z UA380.8 P281we
We could not fail : the first African Americans in the space program
Paul, Richard
TXD

Z UA380.8 W736La OVER-T
Last launch : Discovery, Endeavor, Atlantis
Winters, Dan
TXD

Z TA475.8 H883DE
The Development of Propulsion Technology for U.S. Space-Launch Vehicles, 1926-1991
Hunley, J. D.
TXD

Y 4.SCI 2:115-04
NASA: past, present, and future : hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifteenth Congress, first session, February 16, 2017
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
USD

NAS 1.2:K 38
Kennedy Space Center Story
Harris, Gordon L.
USD
Some items have been held behind the desk due to fragility or rareness of the item. The following items can be requested from the Information Services staff at the Reference Desk in room 109.

NAS 1.86:ST 2/DVD
Journey to the Stars
Emmart, Carter
USD

NAS 1.86:IM 1/CD
The First Forty Years: A Collection of Selected Images
Goddard Space Flight Center. Office of Public Affairs.
USD

NAS 1.86:AP 4/2/2004/CD
Remembering Apollo 11: The 35th Anniversary Data Archive CD-ROM
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. History Office.
USD

NAS 1.86:SU 7/5/DVD
Mysteries of the Sun
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
USD

NAS 1.86:P 23/DVD
NASA’s Earth Observatory presents: National Parks–from Space
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
USD

NAS 1.2:T 69/2/KIT
Space Travel Hazards [game]: How Safely Can You Travel Through Space?
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
USD

 

Out of the Stacks and into the Catalog: The Basics

By Stephanie Andrews, Library Assistant

By searching the library catalog, many of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s titles and holdings can be discovered from the comfort and convenience of home. In the library catalog, you can find publications covering topics such as: Texas history, Genealogy, United States federal documents, and much more! In fact, the State Archives’ finding aids can also be found in the library catalog. In this blog series, we will explore the features, functions, and various search strategies that you can use for navigating the library catalog.

Today, we will start with the basics. To get to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s (TSLAC) library catalog, first visit our website at www.tsl.texas.gov  and then click “Archives & Reference.”  Next, click “Library Catalog” on the following page.  To access the catalog directly, you can type www.tsl.texas.gov/catalog into the address bar of your web browser and press the Enter key. Here you can conduct multiple types of searches, access your patron account, and find contact information for the Reference staff. In this post, we’ll look specifically at the search box, search results, and how to get item details.

The TSLAC library catalog homepage.

The TSLAC library catalog is a shared catalog. It stores our titles as well as those for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) which leads us to our first few quick tips:

  • Click “Keyword”, “Browse”, or “Exact” depending on the type of search you are doing. An in-depth look on the types of searches you can do will be covered in an upcoming post.
  • Select “TX State Library & Archives Comm” under Library. This limits your search to titles in our collections. Otherwise, you may see items held by the TCEQ.
  • Pressing “Enter” on your keyboard will default your search to a “Words or Phrase” search. Try using the other search buttons, ”Author”, “Title”, “Subject”, “Series”, or “Periodical Title” to narrow your search. We will take a closer look at these search options in a future post, as well.

Let’s try a search using these new tips! I’ll do a keyword search for the word bluebirds. You can try this same search at home by typing “bluebirds” into the search field then selecting “Texas State Library & Archives Comm” and pressing Enter on your keyboard.

Once you do, you should be redirected to the same results screen as pictured below. If you searched for bluebird instead of bluebirds, you probably see a different set of results. Hint: when doing searches, try different variations of spelling(s) and/or variations on plural/singular spellings to find different titles.

A search results page, listing several results in blue.

Once the search results appear, you can click on a blue link to be redirected to more specific information about the keyword, title, subject, author, publisher, or periodical you searched for. For this search, I’ll click on the top result that appeared; “Bluebirds in Texas” by Noreen Damude and published in 2016.

The Item Details screen shows you detailed information about the title.

In the image above, we have highlighted the two main sections that you need to know. The first shows the item information which is highlighted by the purple box. Here you can see the item’s title, author, publisher, publication date, and even a physical description of the item.

The second portion shows the TSLAC holdings information which is highlighted by the green box. Here you can see the item’s call number, number of copies, type of material (book, DVD, etc.), and the item location. The first and last pieces of information here are important because the call number and location is what staff need to know to retrieve the item for you. It’s also important to note the location may say TSLAC or Liberty. TSLAC denotes that it is at our location in downtown Austin and Liberty denotes that it is at our location in Liberty, TX.

Not finding what you’re looking for? Use the Reference Desk contact information found on the right side of the catalog homepage to get in touch with a Reference staff member for assistance.

That’s all for this blog post, but stay tuned for future tips, tricks, and walkthroughs from the TSLAC Reference staff. Happy searching!