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Tuesday, November 25, 2008 (MJS)

New Publicly-Available Archive (digital): The Golf Course

The Golf Course was launched with great intentions as a monthly technical service bulletin aimed at "the Green Committees of America". It was issued beginning in January, 1916, by Peterson, Sinclaire & Miller, Inc., of New York, "in conjunction with Carter's Tested Seeds, Inc.", the UK firm which dominated much of the turf-service industry of Britain through the first half of the 20th century.

The Golf Course hoped to fill a growing technical information need, launched as it was just prior to Piper & Oakley's groundbreaking 1917 book Turf for Golf Courses, and as well in advance of the USGA Green Section's eventual launch in February of 1921 of the Bulletin of the Green Section of the US Golf Association.

The Golf Course attracted writers and topics well beyond the perhaps-expected domain of a typical commercial house organ. Architect A. W. Tillinghast contributed regularly to the early issues, as did builder/greenkeeper (and writer) Peter Lees. Several other firms placed advertisements. All supported Peterson, Sinclare & Miller's golf course construction business in one way or another.

The Golf Course was completely 'about the timing'; launched just prior to the entry by the USA into the First World War, its initial predictable publication became spotty in mid-1917. We know of one subsequent issue in 1918, and an attempt to re-launch it in 1921, but it then appears to have disappeared, once again, and perhaps, forever.

This historic content has now been made available through the cooperative efforts of TIC, the Center for Research Libraries and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.  We thank those organizations for making originals of this material available for digitization purposes.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 (MJS)

Millions of People have Access to TGIF?

The TGIF database, the most comprehensive database of turfgrass and its maintenance, is available to literally millions of people worldwide!  All residents of the state of Michigan have access via the Michigan eLibrary; patrons at over 50 colleges and universities across the world; members of ASGCA, CGSA, GCSAA Class A or SM, MAGCS, STA, STMA, and TPI; the staff of several corporations, and many individual subscribers.

Not only does access to TGIF give access to searching the over 140,000 citation-based records, it also provides access to an ever-increasing number of electronic resources.  Several of these electronic resources are even publicly-available, requiring no subscription to TGIF to use.

Interested in becoming an individual subscriber or getting your membership/staff/patronage access to TGIF?  Check out the subscription options available at http://tic.msu.edu/subscribe.html.  Interested in finding out how to work with the Turfgrass Information Center in creating a new electronic resource?  Take a look at the digitization prospectus at http://tic.msu.edu/digitization-prospectus.doc.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (MJS)

TGIF Breaks the 140,000 Record Mark!

The Turfgrass Information File database surpassed 140,000 records recently.  So far almost 10,000 records have been created this year, and with over two months to go TIC is on track to meet or exceed last year’s 12,000+ new records!  These 10,000 records represent over 6,500 articles from periodicals, 1,100 monographic (book or book-like) pieces, and almost 1,800 articles from websites.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 (MJS)

New URL Structure for TIC-Hosted Materials

The Turfgrass Information Center has implemented a streamlined URL structure for much of the archive material hosted by TIC.  This involves changing almost 20,000 links within the TGIF database as well as the hundreds of HTML pages that support the archive sites’ browsing structures.  During the change-over, there may be times when certain content is unavailable.  All content is scheduled to be fully-functioning by Monday, October 13.  We offer our apologies for any inconveniences this may cause.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 (LMB)

Friends of MSU Libraries’ Fall Gathering 2008

This year the annual fall gathering is being held at the Main Library building on Sunday, October 5. Three key areas are being highlighted: the Africana collection, the Turfgrass Information Center and the Maps Library. This will be the first official function held in the renovated Turfgrass Information Center.

Friday, September 19, 2008 (LMB)

Turf Topics

"Turf Topics" emphasize current and more widely-available publications on a specific issue in turf culture or turf facility management. Subscribers can use the "Turf Topics" browse alternative in TGIF to easily print or download each topic.

• A S G C A Architect Videos
• Artificial Vs. Natural Turf Surfaces
• Bermudagrasses - New Ultradwarf Cultivars
• Biostimulants
• Breeding For Drought
• Buffer Zones
• Bunker Renovation
• Classic Reads In Turf
• Crumb Rubber As A Soil Amendment
• Disasters - Floods
• Disasters - Storms
• Dissertations & Theses -- Full-text
• Effluent Water Use
• Fairy Rings
• Fine Fescue Fairways
• Foliar Feeding & Uptake
• Golf Cart Damage
• Golf Course Design Books (Recent)
• Golf Course Turf & Maintenance Books (Recent)
• Golf Green Speed
• Golfer Expectation Management
• Hydraulic Spills!
• Land Area In Turf
• Lawn Care Books (Recent)
• M S M A
• Mole Control
• Moss Control
• Noer/MMSD Image Collection Test Images
• P C N B - Quintozene
• P G Rs 1997-2006
• Pull-carts Vs. Golf Carts
• Salinity Management For Cool Season Grasses
• Seashore Paspalum - Since 2000
• Sod Shelf Life
• Soil Salinity
• Sports Turf Construction & Maintenance Books (Recent)
• Summertime Blues
• Turf Books Online
• Turf Science & Management Books (Recent)
• Turfgrass Industry Economics
• U S G A Animations & Video Clips
• Wetting Agents
• Wildlife Society Bulletin Golf Course Research - Summer 2005

Remember that any subject not listed as a Turf Topic can be searched in TGIF itself.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 (MJS)

Dr. Hawes Volunteers for a Week in TIC

This summer TIC was fortunate enough to again have Dr. Douglas Hawes, consultant and former USGA agronomist, volunteer a week of his time.  During this year’s stay, he created several new Turf Topics, including “Soil Salinity” and the closely-related “Salinity Management for Cool Season Grasses”.  Additionally, “Effluent Water Use” was updated.

To access Turf Topics, subscribers would log in to TGIF and choose “Browse Turf Topics” from the left-hand menu.  This will display the list of available Topics.  Simply click on the desired one and the results will be displayed!

Monday, September 8, 2008 (LMB)

Did you Know You can Find Humor in TGIF?

As of Sept 8, 2008, there are 325 records in TGIF that have some type of humor or cartoon in them. To find these records, login to TGIF and select Guided Search. In the three fields, type in cartoon, humor, and cartoons. Be sure to change the AND to OR. Click on the Search button to see the results.

Click to see a larger image.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 (LMB)

Summer 2008 Issue of The Sward

The summer issue of The Sward is now available from the TIC home page.
http://tic.msu.edu/e-sward/swardv8n3.pdf

Monday, August 18, 2008 (MJS)

ITS Journal/Proceedings Archive Site - Continuous Construction Update

In May 2007, the Turfgrass Information Center (TIC) announced the availability of an archive site for the International Turfgrass Society Journal and Proceedings, a publication occurring every four years following the International Turfgrass Society Research Conferences since 1969.  Because of copyright clearance challenges, TIC was unable to load all articles for entire issues.  Instead, individual author permissions have to be secured for all authors on each article before that article can be loaded.  Considering the international scope of the conferences and the time period that they cover, it’s easy to see the size of this challenge!

Here is an update on the completeness of this project and the site:

-of a total 1,736 authors, 731 have granted permission, leaving 1,005 remaining
-of a total 1,268 articles with TGIF records, 385 are linked, leaving 883 remaining

These numbers are for the period 1969-2005 (there is a “moving wall” of two years from publication where articles, regardless of copyright permission, are not permitted to be linked).

YOU can help with this project!  If you are a named author on any articles published in the International Turfgrass Society Journal or Proceedings and haven’t signed the copyright permission form, please see http://tic.msu.edu/itspermission.html to do so!  Please note that this copyright permission form does not transfer any copyright ownership.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 (MJS)

“Hot” Columns and Sections

TIC has implemented another new feature in the TGIF database that users should find of interest: “hot” columns and sections.  These are links within TGIF records that perform another search for the same column or section name from the same source.  For instance, TGIF Record # 131791 from the USGA Green Section Record has the column name “On course with nature”.  After the column name in the record there is a link which says “Records with this column”.  By clicking on this link, all 41 records in this instance are displayed.  This also works for sections; check out TGIF Record #133536, which has a link to all articles from The National Greenkeeper with from the section “Around the office desk”.  Sometimes these links will only bring up one record – the record from which the hot column/section was clicked; this occurs when that record is the only one with the same source and column/section name.

Thursday, July 31, 2008 (MJS)

MAGCS signs TGIF access agreement

Members of the Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents (MAGCS) join an ever-growing list of groups, organizations, academic institutions, corporations, and individuals who have access to the TGIF database produced by the Turfgrass Information Center (TIC).  Through this latest agreement, over eight hundred individuals from nearly three hundred golf courses in greater Chicago are able to access the sizeable TGIF database and through it any of the restricted-access electronic resources.

Speaking of electronic resources, MAGCS’s publication On Course is in the process of being digitized and made available full-text by TIC.  This publication spans back to 1948!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 (MJS)

TIC-produced content being added to Wikipedia

In addition to creating the TGIF database, the Turfgrass Information Center co-produces a number of electronic resources.  For example, TIC produces with ASGCA the ASGCA Architect’s Gallery.  Full Gallery entries for architects can include philosophies of design, biographical sketches, newly-constructed and revised courses, as well as digitized master plans.

Recently TIC began adding links to some of this great content into relevant Wikipedia entries.  For example, since Wikipedia already had entries for several golf course architects with partial lists of newly-constructed and revised courses, the addition of an external link to the full gallery of an architect in ASGCA Architect’s Gallery provides another useful link to gain a more complete understanding of an architect and their work.  Examples of Wikipedia entries with Gallery links can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hills and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rees_Jones.

Thursday, June 26, 2008 (LMB)

Interesting Use of the "By or About" Fastlink Generator

Free fastlinks can now be generated for any material by or about (“bora”) a particular person through the new Fastlink Generator available from the "Conditions and Terms of Use" page when searching TGIF. In the search box, type in as much of the person’s name as desired; beneath the search box there are examples of how to format the name. Click on “Go get it!” and a list of TGIF records by or about the person will display. The fastlink will be the URL that appears at the top of the results page.

An interesting use of the "By or About" Fastlink is to have one on your web page that links to your publications that are included in TGIF. See any of the faculty in the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology at Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey such as Dr. Bruce Clarke or Dr. Joseph Heckman.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 (LMB)

Most Recent Current TGIF Feature: Flooding

With the recent disastrous weather occurring, there has been a great deal of floods and flooding. Some of this has affected golf courses. The TIC has created a current feature of references in TGIF that relate to floods and flooding. Hope you will find it useful if your course or turf is unfortunate to be under water.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 (LMB)

Lawn Exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Museum

The Peggy Notebaert Museum at the Chicago Academy of Sciences, Chicago, Illinois has a new exhibit which opened May 23. It is called "Lawn Nation: The Art and Science of the American Lawn" and runs through Sept 7. From the webpage:

• "Learn that lawn is a choice and not an ecological inevitability. Alternatives to lawn can be just as beautiful, sustainable, and can make a difference on our planet.
• Get an idea of what the lawn of tomorrow will look like as well as what positive steps you can take to reduce your impact.  
• See how much water is used on American lawns and try your hand at a game of indoor croquet."

In addition, there are many activities that can be done such as Gnome Hunt, Seed and Read, Take Home Lawns, and Grazin' in the Grass

The last museum exhibit TIC is aware of related to turfgrass was at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)'s exhibit on the North American Lawn which was seen in Montreal and in Cincinnati in 1998.

Friday, June 6, 2008 (LMB)

Testimonials Sought - Let us Know how TGIF has Helped You

Over the years, the TGIF database has been utilized for everything from academic research to finding tips on sprucing up a lawn. At TIC, we would like to hear from you about how TGIF has helped you in your endeavors! User testimonials may be featured on the website, in promotional brochures, and to promote varying ways to use the database. To help us spread the news about the benefits of using TGIF, please email your testimonial to tgif@msu.edu.

Friday, May 23, 2008 (MJS)

New Public Archive (digital) The National Greenkeeper Archive

The National Greenkeeper was launched as the National Association of Greenkeepers of America's (NAGA) official organ, beginning in January of 1927. Publication of The National Greenkeeper continued through the beginnings of the Great Depression, but in October of 1933, The National Greenkeeper apparently folded. The National Association of Greenkeepers of America was the predecessor of the Golf Course Superindendents Assocation of America (GCSAA).

Content within The National Greenkeeper includes wonderful period advertisements, early history of the NAGA, golf course photographs from the 1920s, and even some golf course poetry.

These archived issues are available through the Turfgrass Information Center's " Browse Full-Text Resources" as well as from the Turfgrass Information File's “Browse Full-Text Journals (Logs Out)” option. Use the search feature there to locate items about specific individuals, golf courses, or early turf cultural practices. In addition, all such content can be identified and viewed by searching TGIF itself. Or you can click on The National Greenkeeper in this blog item and go directly to the publication.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 (LMB)

Spring 2008 Issue of The Sward

The Spring issue of The Sward is now available from the TIC home page.
http://tic.msu.edu/e-sward/swardv8n2.pdf

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 (MJS)

RSS Feed for Refereed Content for Subscribers and Users

Over the years, we have several times heard requests to somehow develop the means to routinely 'push' content out from within TGIF --(unlike the 'pulled' content which requires a user to go to TGIF and do a search or browse to find something).

We are thus pleased to announce a new RSS feed which, once a user registers to receive it, will automatically deliver soon after the first of the month a listing of all (recently published) refereed turf materials added to TGIF in the previous month. What is delivered is a table listing all recent TGIF records added for turf-related articles from all the journals we monitor, and which we classify as peer-reviewed. This link is available to all TGIF subscribers and users – i.e. from inside TGIF; logon to TGIF as you regularly do, and note the new RSS feed labeled "Recent Refereed Added" on the left navigation bar of the "Conditions and Terms of Use" page.

Special thanks to Dr. Aaron Patton of the University of Arkansas for his considered ideation regarding this concept.

Let us know if you find this kind of delivery useful, and suggestions for other kinds/types/audiences for RSS feeds from TGIFare welcomed.

Thursday, April 24, 2008 (LMB)

Two newly available digitized items now online

TIC is pleased to announce the availability of the full-text versions of two very different but each influential works in the history of turf science; a book from 1912 and a booklet  from 1978.  They are:

The Book of the Links:  A Symposium on Golf.  1912.  Sutton, Martin Hubert Foquett (ed.) . London, England: W.H. Smith & Son. 234 pp.  This important early work, which ranges widely over golf and golf course issues, includes not only a pantheon of early, well-known writers on things-golf, such as Bernard Darwin and H. S. Colt, but also includes some extraordinary cartoons about course issues.  A certain pre-war innocence characterizes this effort, which sees course management, including turf mangement, as a fully integrated, well appreciated, and important part of the essence of the game.  TGIF includes separate records for each of the 11 chapters present.
http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flink.pl?recno=33326

Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua L.):  Description, Adaptation, Culture and Control.  1978.   Beard, J. B, Rieke, P. E., Turgeon, A. L., and Vargas, J. M..    East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, Agricultural Experiment Station.  32 pp. The state of knowledge on things-poa is documented, synthesized, and recommended is this benchmark Extension publication by an all-star team of researchers.  This is what we knew, then, about the ever-wiley nemesis of so many turf managers throughout wide parts of the world.
http://www.lib.msu.edu/cgi-bin/flink.pl?recno=2214

Thursday, April 17, 2008 (LMB)

TIC exhibiting at USAIN (United States Agricultural Information Network) Conference

This year the USAIN conference is being held in Wooster, OH - April 27-30. If you attending the conference, please stop by the TIC booth and visit with us. See what is going on with TGIF if you are a subscriber and if not, find out about TGIF and why it is an important resource for your institution.

Monday, April 7, 2008 (MJS)

Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America) Archive Now Available

The Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference (published by: Golf Course Superintendents Association of America) can now be accessed through the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF), thanks to the agreement between GCSAA and the Turfgrass Information Center! These archived issues can be easily located through the Turfgrass Information File’s “Browse Full-Text Journals (Logs Out)” option. From there, select Proceedings of the GCSAA Conference from the list of available electronic journals. The Proceedings of the GCSAA conference as published from 1927-1998 are available with the exception of the issues TIC does not have.

Please note that there may be additional volumes or documents relating to the Conference over the years, particularly in the earliest years, which can be a made a part of this archive and which we don't yet own or have access to.  We need your help to identify any such items, and enable us to digitize them if possible.  Thank you for your cooperation to help improve the digital archive!"

Monday, April 7, 2008 (LMB)

RSS Feed for TERO Website

The USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (TERO) website now features an RSS Feed . RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a popular technology for notifying users of updates to content in a website or a blog. With the RSS feed for the TERO Website, you will be notified when there is an addition or change in the website.

Friday, March 14, 2008 (LMB)

TIC is operational though not unpacked totally

The walls are up, the offices and student workstations are built. We are still unpacking but are back in business.

The old entrance to TIC - sort of plain and humdrum.

The new entrance to TIC, slicker than the old one.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (LMB)

TIC Renovation and Services until 10/March

The public areas of the Turfgrass Information Center, including the Beard Collection,  will be closed to public use until 10/March.

All physical collection holdings within TIC (including location 'Turfgrass', the Beard Collection, and vertical file materials) will be available by contacting us via phone, fax, or email until 10/March. TIC online services, including TGIF, and content will be unaffected and will operate normally.

Monday, February 18, 2008 (MJS)

Theses and Dissertations from Purdue University

Special thanks to Ms. Jennifer Biehl and Dr. Cale Bigelow of Purdue University for their donation of Masters Theses and doctoral Dissertations to TIC. These physical materials were, until now, missing from TIC’s collection and now have complete records with in TGIF, click here for list. Additionally, Ms. Biehl and Dr. Bigelow have taken steps to contact the authors to gain copyright permission for TIC.  When copyright permission is granted, the theses and dissertations will be digitized and made available online in a full-text format. 

We hope that this initiative will be repeated at other academic institutions. We would be pleased to cooperate in this way to insure that your institution's graduate research is fully represented within TGIF. let us know if you are prepared to take this on: tgif@msu.edu. To grant copyright permission for your thesis or dissertation, please complete the form at http://tic.msu.edu/copyrightpermissions.html

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 (LMB)

O. J. Noer Collection acquisitions -- 2007

The O. J. Noer Memorial Collection continues to grow steadily, built by both donations and purchases.  Each year we report to the Noer Research Foundation how the Collection has grown.  Here are some highlights for 2007:

            Purchases of 'historic items' :  see a list here: 
            Purchases of new/recent materials:  see a selected list here: 

The complete report for 2007 to the Noer Foundation is here: 
Our continuing thanks to the Noer Foundation for ongoing engagement for over 40 years now, and their continuing commitment to the TIC Endowment Campaign!

Thursday, February 7, 2008 (MJS)

Non-English 'About TIC' Webpages

In addition to the already available Spanish, French, and German language webpages which briefly describe TIC and TGIF, we are now pleased to announce the availability of a Chinese language page to do the same, as well as a Chinese 'TGIF Database Description' page linked from there.  Special thanks for these to Wu Di, a student from the MSU-China Turfgrass Education Program working in TIC during Fall term, and Wen-ying Lu, a MSU Librarian, for producing these pages.  

See: http://tic.msu.edu/about-chinese.html

Monday, February 4, 2008 (LMB)

TIC is on the Move

Well, not quite but we will be getting new walls (real ones - floor-to-ceiling) , some additional space, and a rearrangement of work stations. The project time for the construction is February 28 - March 7, 2008.  During that time TIC will have limited functionality. Phone will be answered when possible.  Walk-in service will be difficult but accommodated as staff is able. Email will be answered except when staff computers are being moved. All this means for the first time in TIC's history the student workstations area will be designed for database construction effectiveness.

Thursday, January 31, 2008 (LMB)

In Memoriam: Dr. Gene C. Nutter (1923-2008), The TGIF Legacy

In memory of Gene Nutter, Ph.D., (85) former executive director of GCSAA, TIC has posted a link to material in TGIF by or about (“bora”) Dr. Nutter.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (LMB)

TIC Annual Report 2007

The first formal annual report of the Turfgrass Information Center is now available. The report is called TIC Annual Report 2007 and is linked from the TIC Public Website

Friday, January 25, 2008 (LMB)

Getting Started with TGIF Guide

This guide is the first in a new series of guides and tutorials that will be created over the next year on how to use TGIF. This Getting Started with TGIF is a two page handout that provides a quick overview of the basic search, guided search, where to find more information on power searching, and the ways you can connect to TGIF depending on your institution's access or your own personal access. Please feel free to copy and use in classes or in any other way you would find it helpful.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 (MJS)

Library of Congress Subject Heading Added to TGIF Display

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are the subject terms used by most academic libraries to classify the books and other materials in their collections. In terms of turfgrass materials, they are much more general than the TGIF subject terms. Hence, they are good for looking for related tangential materials.  At the present time, about 28% of the monographic TGIF records have the LC headings added to them.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 (LMB)

Winter 2008 Issue of The Sward

The winter issue of The Sward is now available from the TIC home page.
http://tic.msu.edu/e-sward/swardv8n1.pdf