News in Brief: Fondren unveils new "One Search" tool for users, Jones School changes name, Leebron signs university policies, Rice officer hit by fleeing driver

8/20/09 7:00pm

Fondren unveils new "One Search" tool for users

Fondren Library has made several changes to their system to make research easier for students and faculty. Over the summer, Fondren introduced "One Search," a comprehensive search engine similar to Google that will simultaneously pool results from Fondren's catalog and the approximately 50 different journals it subscribes to, Sara Lowman, the Vice Provost and University Librarian, said. Previously, students had to search the library catalog and journals separately. Lowman said this tool will be far more effective and convenient than searching these databases individually. She added the search has been enhanced to include results from the table of contents and book reviews.

"In our survey two years ago, we most noticed that students wanted something like a Google search for Fondren," Lowman said. She said that several universities have similar products, but the concept is fairly new; the University of Oklahoma was the first to launch such a tool, and it only did so last fall, Lowman said. Fondren has been developing the tool for a year, and it has been in testing since April in order to make the search more understandable. So far it has received positive reviews, Lowman said.

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To streamline their system, Fondren will now use Rice NetIDs in place of library pin numbers for login to Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Catalog User Services, as well as Course Reserves, Assistant University Librarian for IT Diane Butler said.

"People don't want to have to remember five different passwords every time they try to log on," Butler said. "We're really trying to make things more efficient, and in the long run, easier for us."

Butler said that the new system will tie into the main university system, allowing Fondren to more easily keep track of who is currently registered at Rice.

Fondren's Web site will also be getting an overhaul, Butler said, as the library upgraded to a new version of software that made the Web site more aesthetically appealing. Butler hopes that by next fall a mobile version of Fondren's Web site will be up and running. These changes were inspired by student and faculty opinion, Butler said.

"We're always doing surveys and listening to what people want," Butler said. "When we start hearing what features people want, we do what we can to make [our services] more user-friendly for our community."

- Michelle Phillips and Josh Rutenberg

Jones School changes name

Over the summer, the Jesse H. Jones School of Management changed its name to the Jesse H. Jones School of Business. William Glick, Dean of the Jones School and H. Joe Nelson III Professor of Management, said many positive things were happening to the school - being ranked in the top 25 business schools, based on post-graduate salary, by The Financial Times and The Economist, as well as in the top 40 business schools by U.S. News and World Report. The school will also be launching a new Web site soon. Therefore, Glick said, the school wanted to give a good message.

"Rice is re-evaluating its priorities and going through a brand change," Glick said, "We decided to ask the same questions, in order to align ourselves more with the university."

The Jones School has changed its logo to the Rice shield, but according to Glick, the name change will not cause any other changes in the Jones School's routine. He also said that the Jones School intends to do more marketing this coming year to promote their new name.

"It's only the language that has changed over time," Glick said. "Management" used to be a more popular word, but now "business" has taken that place, Glick said. After discussing the changes with the board of trustees and donors and soliciting feedback, Glick said everybody supported Jones' change to a business school. "I've not heard any negative response regarding this change," Glick said.

- Michelle Phillips

Leebron signs university policies

President David Leebron signed two new university policies this past June.

Policy Number 812 on Records Management requires departments to retain records for a specific period of time, properly destroy outdated or unnecessary records and recycle non-confidential paper records.

Policy Number 813 on Whistleblower Protection outlines the chain of command to report potential wrongdoing or misconduct and prohibits any retaliation for people acting out of good faith to report these incidents.

There were no written policies in place previously. Leebron said these policies were a matter of good governance and that no particular incidents prompted the university to write these policies.

- Cindy Dinh

Rice officer hit by fleeing driver

On the afternoon of July 17, an off-duty Rice police officer's car was hit by another car near Entrance 3 while he and two other passengers were still inside, Rice Police Captain Dianna Marshall said. The car that hit Officer Henry Cash was being chased by Houston Police down South Main Street at the time of collision. Houston Police have since arrested the suspect that hit Cash. Officer Cash and his passengers sustained minor injuries but are otherwise fine, Marshall said.

- Josh Rutenberg

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