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The UMUC Information and Library Services Newsletter
Fall 2007 • Volume 7, Issue 3
Previous Issues
Contents:
- From Stephen Miller
- Electronic Resources - What's New!
- Hot Sites
- For Your Information...
- Faculty Corner
- ILS Hours and Locations
From Stephen Miller
Interim Associate Provost, Information and Library Services
Along with my colleagues at Information and Library Services, I welcome all new and returning UMUC faculty, students, and staff as we begin the Fall semester. As always, ILS stands at the ready to meet your research needs via the wide variety of resources and services that we provide.
Some recent staff changes have taken place at ILS. Dr. Kimberly B. Kelley, Vice Provost and Dean, Academic Resources and Services, has left UMUC and assumed her new position as Dean of the School of Library and Information Science at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. We thank Dr. Kelley for her many years of service to UMUC and wish her well in her new position.
Gloria J. Orr, Associate Provost, Academic Resources and Services, recently retired from UMUC after seventeen years of service. We are grateful to Ms. Orr for her many contributions to UMUC and wish her the very best.
We are pleased to announce the addition of Jennifer Diffin to our library staff. Ms. Diffin will serve in the capacity of Assistant Director for Systems and Access Services.
In keeping with our ongoing mission to furnish our patrons with the best possible library resources and services, we are in the process of reconfiguring the physical space of the library to add more computers and workspaces for patrons. We are also modifying our collection by placing more emphasis on electronic resources--such as Congressional Quarterly's Political Handbook of the World--in lieu of traditional print materials. Please read about these exciting new developments under library changes, below.
UMUC librarians continue to contribute to the profession of librarianship. Reference and Instruction Librarian Robert Miller presented at UMUC's 4th Annual July Writing Conference. Julie Arnold, ILS GSMT Liaison and UCSP 611 Course Manager, and Caroline Hoard, previously a Reference and Instruction Librarian at UMUC, presented at the 23rd annual Distance Teaching and Learning Conference. Congratulations to Mr. Miller, Ms. Arnold, and Ms. Hoard on their work.
Walk-in and telephone research assistance continue to be available on Saturday and Sunday at our McKeldin Office. Research assistance is available 24/7 via chat and email, and in person during regular business hours at our Adelphi and Dorsey Station locations. Telephone assistance is now available only during regular business hours. UMUC students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to take advantage of the wide variety of resources and services the library provides.
Meeting the information needs of our user community is our primary goal at ILS. We welcome any comments or suggestions for improvements. Please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to working with you.
Electronic Resources - What's New!
New Electronic Resources
In order to continue to best meet the research needs of our users, ILS has recently added these new resources:
- General Business File ASAP
Access to broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals, and company directory listings.
- Homeland Security Digital Library
Access to homeland security related U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents.
- Political Handbook of the World
Facts and analysis about government and political information on countries around the world.
- Science Resource Center
Curriculum-oriented science database for all science-related research needs.
Upgraded Electronic Resources:
The following resources have been upgraded:
- Computers & Applied Science Complete
Research and development of the computing and applied sciences.
- Education Research Complete
Scholarly research and information relating to all areas of education.
- LexisNexis Academic
The interface was recently completely upgraded. New features include:
- Shepard's Citations covering all federal and state courts
- Company Dossiers
- Searching capability across broad content such as all news or all federal and state cases
- Powerful source selection using language, geographic, topic, and other fields
- Ability to create ad hoc combined sources
- Power Search form supporting full LexisNexis query language and operators
- Results clustering feature
- SmartIndexing Technology™ available throughout the interface
- Direct linking to articles
- Export citation capability to RefWorks
Hot Sites... Adult Learners
Become familiar with the latest issues and developments concerning adult learners. These Web sites cover a wide array of topics, including career planning, job searching, the interview process, maintaining good study habits, and much more.
- American Council on Education: Resources for Adult Learners
The American Council on Education contains information about resources geared to adult learners and lifelong learning professionals. Included on the site is a link to the Center for Lifelong Learning, which offers programs and services to colleges and universities, the military, as well as business, labor, and industry. The Center addresses lifelong learning issues through national initiatives, publications, and workshops, and provides the latest news about lifelong learning alliances, projects, and programs. It also furnishes an online clearinghouse of organizations across six sectors: Business/industry, higher education, international, lifelong learning, military, and unions.
- Career Planning Guide for Adult Learners
This online book, authored by the College of the North Atlantic, addresses career planning choices, types of occupations, planning for a job change, job searching, the interview process, resumes, and more.
- Office of Vocational and Adult Education
The OVAE, a division of the U.S. Department of Education, provides information regarding research, programs, and grants in the areas of adult education, adult literacy, and career and vocational information. The site includes links to career resources and technical education preparation.
- The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
This organization publishes two of the nation's leading periodicals in adult education and learning: Adult Learning and the Adult Education Quarterly. Its mission is to provide leadership for the field of adult and continuing education by expanding opportunities for adult growth and development; unifying adult educators; fostering the development and dissemination of theory, research, information, and best practices; promoting identity and standards for the profession; and advocating relevant public policy and social change initiatives.
- Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education
ANTSHE is an international partnership of students, academic professionals, institutions, and organizations whose mission is to encourage and coordinate support, education, and advocacy for the adult learner. Scholarship information as well as resources for the non-traditional student can be found here.
- Maryland Association for Adult, Community and Continuing Education
This non-profit organization provides leadership in Maryland for those interested in advancing education as a lifelong process. MAACCE offers a central forum for a wide variety of adult, community, and continuing education groups. The association also encourages organizations and agencies in Maryland to cooperate in a broad spectrum of educational programs and activities in support of lifelong learning. Scholarship and grant information is provided as well.
For Your Information...
Library Staff Changes
Dr. Kimberly B. Kelley, Vice Provost and Dean, Academic Resources and Services has been named Dean of the School of Information and Library Studies at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. Her last day at UMUC was August 17.
Dr. Kelley was at UMUC for 16 years, serving in a variety of positions including Director, Library Services; Associate Provost, Information and Library Services; and Vice Provost and Dean, Academic Resources and Services. During her time at UMUC the library experienced a period of exceptional growth, expanding access to resources and services to meet the growing information needs of the University. Services introduced under her leadership included access to over 120 databases, most of which offer full-text coverage, as well as the successful 24/7 reference service and robust library instruction program. Always an advocate for information literacy, Dr. Kelley was instrumental in the establishment of LIBS 150 and UCSP 611 and their evolution into required courses for all UMUC students.
Dr. Kelley was the founder of the Center for Intellectual Property and her visionary leadership created the blueprint for the success that the CIP has enjoyed. In addition, as the champion of Career Services, she was responsible for revitalizing the service for UMUC students. Dr. Kelley also co-chaired the Steering Committee for the recent successful Middle States accreditation self-study and served as an adjunct faculty member for both SUS and GSMT.
Dr. Kelley held numerous positions within the University System of Maryland library community as well as serving in several leadership roles in the American Library Association, the national professional library organization, and official accreditation agency for graduate programs of library studies.
Gloria J. Orr, Associate Provost, Academic Resources and Services, retired from UMUC on August 10. Beginning as the Coordinator for Off-Campus Library Services, she held various positions over the past seventeen years with UMUC including Assistant Director, Director, and Associate Provost, overseeing library service operations to UMUC distant education students worldwide. Ms. Orr was instrumental in the creation of the UMUC University Archives. She was also involved in the American Library Association.
Stephen Miller, Director, Information and Library Services, has been named Interim Associate Provost, Information and Library Services. A national search is underway to permanently fill this position.
Jennifer Diffin has joined the ILS staff in the role of Assistant Director for Systems and Access Services. Ms. Diffin comes to UMUC from Keene State College in New Hampshire, where she was Head of Library Systems and Systems Librarian. She was also previously Technical Services Librarian and served as Interim Library Director at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire.
Cynthia Thomes has joined the ILS staff in the role of Reference and Instruction Librarian and liaison to GSMT. Ms. Thomes comes to UMUC from Sandia Laboratories in New Mexico, where she served as Technical Information Specialist.
Anne McDonough has joined the ILS staff in the role of Graduate Assistant. Ms. McDonough comes to us from the Washington Post, where she was an Editorial Aide in the Travel section.
Rachel Sutcliffe has joined the ILS staff in the role of Graduate Assistant. Ms. Sutcliffe was previously a Student Worker for ILS.
Information and Library Services is undergoing some changes in order to better meet the needs of our user community, both locally and globally.
On the local front, the physical space of the reading room has been reconfigured to provide a quiet, soft-seating area for studying and reading of the various journals and newspapers to which the library subscribes. Coming soon will be the addition of three new computer workstations as well as an upgrade of the other eight computers currently available. Following the model of the UMUC computer labs, pay-for-printing will also be instituted to off-set the cost of paper and toner.
In order to better meet the research needs of our global user community, the library will be purchasing fewer print books, which cannot be used quickly on demand by multiple users and are often already available through the University System of Maryland and affiliated institutions library consortium. Instead, we will be purchasing subscriptions to online reference books, which can serve as excellent sources of background and foundational information, and will be immediately available online to all students, faculty, and staff, regardless of their geographic location. These reference books, available from the Articles and More section of the library Web page, will complement the robust e-book collection, which is available via NetLibrary. Congressional Quarterly's Political Handbook of the World is the title chosen to pilot this initiative.
Please stop by and see the changes!
ILS Presentation at Annual Writing Conference
Reference and Instruction Librarian Robert Miller presented at UMUC's 4th Annual July Writing Conference at the Inn and Conference Center in Adelphi. The event was hosted by the Department of Communication, Arts, and Humanities in conjunction with the Writing Program.
Mr. Miller’s presentation, "Publishing Opportunities for Undergraduates," demonstrated how students can gain invaluable research and writing experience--and an outstanding entry on their resumes--by publishing in an undergraduate journal. Mr. Miller had presented a well-received seminar on this topic in three of UMUC's online student academic clubs. To review Mr. Miller’s and other presentations, please visit the Writing Conference Web site.
ILS Presentation at Distance Teaching and Learning Conference
Julie Arnold, ILS GSMT Liaison and UCSP 611 Course Manager, and Caroline Hoard, previously a Reference and Instruction Librarian at UMUC, presented "Extreme Makeover of a Library Research Skills Course" at the 23rd annual Distance Teaching and Learning Conference held in Madison, WI, on August 8th. Ms. Arnold and Ms. Hoard discussed changes to the online library research and information literacy skills course, UCSP 611 (Introduction to Graduate Library Research Skills). The course received an "extreme makeover" in fall 2005, with librarians working with a Course Development team of desktop publishers, video producers, course developers, and programmers to add more multimedia to the content that meet the increasingly varied learning styles of UMUC’s students.
The presentation was well-attended by librarians and distance education instructors, who showed interest in both the content and the multimedia aspects of the course. Considerable interest was also expressed in creating similar courses at other institutions, suggesting that UMUC continues to be ahead of the curve in information literacy instruction.
Faculty Corner
Library Liaisons
Information and Library Services provides library liaison services to UMUC faculty. We welcome the opportunity to work closely with faculty to provide tailored library services to individual classes, whether it be visiting your online or face-to-face class, assisting in adding information literacy components to specific course assignments or projects, or providing handouts or online resources customized to your discipline or current course topic. Keep the liaison librarians in mind when you have library related questions, need extra help with research, or need instruction on how to use our resources.
GSMT
Julie Arnold
Liaison to the Graduate School of Management and TechnologyCynthia Thomes
Liaison to the Graduate SchoolSUS
Robert Miller
Liaison to Social, Behavioral, Natural, and Mathematical Sciences (SCIP)Ed O'Donnell
Liaison to Business and Management Studies (BUSN)Ryan Shepard
Liaison to Computer Information Systems and Technology (CITE)In addition, Elizabeth Mulherrin, SUS Academic Director, LIBS150, is liaison to SUS Communication, Arts, and Humanities.
As the Fall 2007 semester begins, Information and Library Services librarians look forward to working with you and your classes, either face-to-face or via WebTycho, in the provision of library resources instruction. The transferable skill building and concept understanding that librarians offer in these sessions provide both a deeper comprehension and comfort level for your students in locating, evaluating, and using information relevant to their studies. This preparation and reinforcement will hold your students in good stead as they deal with the vast amount of available information during their academic careers and as productive employees and citizens. Please complete the Faculty Request for Library Instruction form to schedule one or more sessions for your classes.
Questions? Comments? Need more information? Please contact Barb Mann, Assistant Director for Public Services, or Information and Library Services.
We look forward to working with you and your classes!
ILS Hours and Locations
Beginning September 1st, research assistance will be available to UMUC students, faculty, and staff in the ILS office in McKeldin Library, Room 6259 during the following hours:
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: Noon to 8 p.m.An appointment may be made to meet with an ILS librarian in the ILS library at the Student Faculty Services Center, at McKeldin library, or at the Dorsey Station library at other times using our Appointment Request form.
Need to find us? Please visit Locations and Hours for more information.