Liaison with academic departments is an established part of academic library service. Studies have shown that faculty members place high value on current awareness services from their library liaisons. Academic librarians continually look for new and improved ways to maintain and strengthen the library’s importance to their faculty, including improvements to their current awareness service and catalogs. While these improvements have travelled down different tracks, this presentation shows how to combine innovations in both areas to improve service for faculty. This Great Idea uses the library’s catalog database to generate dynamic lists of new library resources for each academic department on campus. The dynamic pages are compiled by using the OPAC as a platform: connecting with a Z39.50 protocol, passing keywords and phrases along via the URL query string, parsing the data with PHP, and rendering the data on the web with a combination of PHP and JavaScript. Analysis indicates the lists are used, and they have been well received. They fulfill the desire by faculty and librarians with academic liaison assignments for up-to-date lists of new library resources in their assigned areas. This method also simplifies maintenance of lists of new titles and aids academic liaison by providing a single, consistent access point to new resources. The lists are accessible at http://www.edinboro.edu/departments/library/depts.dot Barry J. Gray, Assistant Professor/Technical Services Librarian Baron-Forness Library, Edinboro University of PA

1. From Static Art to Dynamic Architecture:
Using the OPAC to Generate Real-Time
Lists of Departmental Acquisitions
Barry J. Gray
Assistant Professor/Technical Services
Baron-Forness Library, Edinboro
University of PA
Lists live at
http://www.edinboro.edu/departments/library/depts.dot