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The UMUC Information and Library Services Newsletter
Spring 2009 • Volume 9, Issue 1
Previous Issues
Contents
From Stephen Miller
Associate Provost, Information and Library Services
Along with my colleagues at Information and Library Services, I extend a warm welcome to all new and returning students, faculty, and staff as we begin the spring semester at UMUC! This semester, we are especially excited to introduce our updated library Web site.
As always, we at ILS are available to assist you in locating and using the information resources you require to fulfill your professional and personal goals. The library provides a wide array of resources and services, available to faculty, students, and staff. Research assistance is available 24/7 via chat and email. In-person and telephone assistance are available during regularly-scheduled business hours at our Adelphi location. We also offer both walk-in and telephone research assistance on Saturday and Sunday at our office at McKeldin Library on the University of Maryland College Park campus.
I also encourage all faculty to take advantage of the library's liaison program and library instruction program.
Meeting your information needs is the highest priority at ILS. We welcome all comments or suggestions - please do not hesitate to contact us!
All the best in the spring semester!
ILS Rolls Out New Library Web site!
In keeping with our ongoing efforts to provide our users with convenient access to all their information needs, ILS is proud to announce our newly-updated library Web site! The home page of the site is designed with an easy-to-navigate interface that patrons can use to quickly locate library resources; includes clearer labeling so resources are easily identified; and provides patrons with a user-friendly layout that affords a more pleasant and rewarding virtual library experience!
In addition to the home page, the rest of the library Web site will be moved to a new template that will be wider and include a new sidebar to allow for easier navigation. The changeover will include a period of transition during which some pages will appear using the new template and some using the old. We anticipate completing the transition by March. We hope our users enjoy the new look and as always, we encourage any suggestions or comments you have!
This is the first step in our process to totally redesign the library Web site to make it more user-friendly. The current change has been made to more immediately address issues that were identified as part of the usability study ILS conducted. In the second phase of this process, ILS will be taking the feedback received through the Web surveys and focus groups and incorporating this information into a major revision of the Web site. Stay tuned for updates as this process moves along!
Electronic Resources News
Project Muse Has a New Interface
Project MUSE, an excellent resource containing full text articles from over 400 prestigious publications in the social sciences and humanities, boasts a new web interface with many additional features to help you find the wealth of scholarly content offered.
New IEEE Computer Society Digital Library Site
IEEE Computer Society Digital Library subscription just moved to a new IEEE platform. Our subscription has been enhanced with more access to the IEEE media center – try it out!
A New Resource Is Available – GeoREF in Process
Our EBSCOHost interface offers a new resource: GeoREF In Process! This resource contains unedited records that are still in the process of being indexed prior to their integration into the main GeoRef database. The database is considered a supplement to the main GeoREF database.
Clio Notes Added to America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts
CLIO Notes for America: History & Life will guide you through subjects in United States history by allowing you to browse through chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes in American history. CLIO Notes for Historical Abstracts will guide you through subjects in World History since 1450 (excluding the United States and Canada), by allowing you to browse through chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes in modern history. You can find the link to Clio Notes in the blue EBSCOHost banner at the top of the screen for both America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts.
EBSCO Enhancements
The interface for Academic Search Premier, Business Source Complete, and other EBSCO resources have undergone some recent enhancements.
- The databases include a new Image Quick View limiter as well as options to limit by image types, such as charts, photos, or diagrams in the Limit your results section of the main advanced search page.
- Using the Date Slider, you can refine your result list to include articles published within a specified date range. After executing your search, the date slider feature will be found under Limit your results to the right of the result list. To set a start date for your results, simply drag the left slider bar towards the middle of the bar. Then to set an end date, just drag the right slider towards the middle. Click Update Results. Your results list will be filtered by your selected date range and refreshed. The original dates will be displayed above the slider bar.
ILS to Present at Catholic University Library Symposium
Information and Library Services librarians will present a poster session and briefings at “Bridging the Spectrum: A Symposium on Scholarship and Practice in Library and Information Science,” sponsored by the School of Library and Information Science at Catholic University. The symposium, held on January 30, 2009, will serve as a forum for those in library and information services to exchange knowledge and ideas, and will showcase a wide variety of innovative practices, projects, and research activities.
Reference and Instruction and Regional Services Librarian Megan A. Davis and Advanced Technologies Librarian Kee-Young Moon are presenting a poster session entitled Creating an Interactive Learning Tutorial on a Budget, in which they will provide an understanding of the process in creating and implementing the library's new research tutorial Secrets of My Research Success. Reference and Instruction Librarian Ed O'Donnell is presenting on Google Universe: How to Make the Most of Your Students' Favorite Resource, the popular online workshop designed to show faculty how to explain to their students the benefits and drawbacks of using Google for academic research. In the briefing, Mr. O’Donnell will exhibit the modules used in Google Universe, discuss topics and issues that arose during the workshop, provide examples of deliverables faculty were required to complete, and address faculty responses to the issues raised in the workshop.
Barb Mann, Assistant Director for Public Services, and Julie Arnold, Course Manager for UCSP 611, are presenting Beyond IM, Email, and Texting: Real-Time Global Interactions without Leaving Home. This presentation discusses how ILS librarians and UCSP 611 adjunct faculty used Adobe Acrobat Connect and Wimba to provide synchronous instruction sessions--both individual and group--to Doctor of Management Taiwan students, and group course content to UCSP 611 students. Included in the discussion are the "nuts and bolts," assessment, and lessons learned.
ILS Participates in Employee Learning Week
In support of Employee Learning Week, Information and Library Services hosted an online training session, “Beyond Google: Finding Information on the Job.” The session was hosted by Reference and Instruction Librarians Megan Davis, Robert Miller, Ed O’Donnell, and Library Associate Renee Brown.
Conducted via Wimba—interactive voice technology software that allows for teaching and learning over the Internet—and attended by UMUC staff members, the presentation featured library services and resources that employees can use when researching a topic for work, school, or their personal lives. Using “distance education” as a sample research topic, UMUC librarians gave a guided tour of library resources, including:
- Ask a Librarian
How to get research help 24/7
- Citation help
How to cite sources in APA and other styles
- Library subject guides
How to find recommended databases, Web sites, books, and other resources using one of the library’s discipline-specific guides
- Article databases
How to find and evaluate journal, magazine, and other articles
- Print books and e-books
How to find traditional, hard-copy books as well as full-text, online e-books
The presentation also covered best practices in using Web sites beyond the UMUC library: Evaluating Information on the Web, using Google Advanced Search, and accessing government information through usa.gov. Participants had the opportunity to ask librarians questions about various resources. The session was an excellent example of library collaboration with the wider UMUC community.
For Your Information...
Expanded Instructions for Turnitin
ILS has expanded its instructions for using Turnitin for both faculty and students. Faculty can get tips for working with Turnitin's new interface from Faculty Guidelines for Using Turnitin. Tips include how faculty can set up assignments so that students can submit their own papers, view their own originality reports, and work with multiple drafts in order to lower their percentage of textual match.
Students can also get tips on how to work with Turnitin if they have never done so before, as well as how to work with Turnitin if they have already set up their own profiles. The expanded tips for students are on the FAQ page, How Do Students Get Started?
McKeldin Library Office Hours
Research continues to be available to UMUC students, faculty, and staff in the ILS office in McKeldin Library, Room 6259. Normal hours are:
- Saturday: 10am-6pm
- Sunday: Noon-8pm
Need to find us? Please visit Locations and Hours for more information.
Appointments
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 Request an Appointment form.
Library Staff News
- Fanuel Chirombo has joined ILS as Library Technician III. Mr. Chirombo assists with circulation and document delivery. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Adult Education from the University of Zimbabwe, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Library and Information Science from Harare Polytechnic, also located in Zimbabwe.
- Pam Luckett has joined ILS in the role of Academic Program Specialist. Ms. Luckett's duties include serving as human resources liaison and providing backup for ILS financial operations. She graduated with a BS in psychology from Illinois State University.
- Jungheui Moon has joined ILS as a Library Technician III in Document Management. Ms. Moon received her BA in Library Science from Sung Kyun Kwan University in South Korea and was the Serials Librarian at the Seoul National University. She most recently worked at the Library of Congress.
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
GSMT: Information and Technology Systems, Teacher Education
- Cynthia Thomes
GSMT: Business and Executive Programs; Management, Accounting, and Finance
SUS
- Robert Miller
SUS: Department of Social, Behavioral, Natural, and Mathematical Sciences (SCIP)
- Ed O'Donnell
SUS: Department of Business and Professional Programs (BUSN)
- Ryan Shepard
SUS: Department of Computer Information Systems and Technology (CITE); areas that were formerly Department of Professional Practice: Criminal Justice, Fire Science, Legal Studies (Note: These are now under BUSN, but Ryan Shepard still covers them.)
In addition, Elizabeth Mulherrin, SUS Academic Director, LIBS150, is liaison to Department of Communication, Arts, and Humanities (COMM)
Instruction
As the Spring 2009 semester begins, Information and Library Services librarians look forward to working with you and your classes, either via WebTycho or on-site, 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!
Hot Sites... Environmental Management
Whether you are researching the environmental impact of national legislation or need background information on environmentally protected areas, these Web sites are excellent resources for environmental management students—or simply for those who love the great outdoors!
Ecolex: The Gateway to Environmental Law
Sponsored by the United Nations, the ECOLEX database includes information on treaties, international soft-law, and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, as well as law and policy literature. Users have direct access to the abstracts and indexing information, and full text of most of the documents is provided.
National Environmental Directory
This is the most complete and most comprehensive environmental directory in the United States. It includes more than 13,000 organizations in the United States dealing with environmental issues and environmental education.
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club has been instrumental in preserving wilderness, wildlife, and nature's most splendid wild places for over 100 years — Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, the Florida Everglades and the Sequoia National Monument to name just a few — helping protect over 150 million acres of wild lands and wildlife habitat.
Terms of Environment: Glossary, Abbreviations, and Acronyms
Terms of Environment defines in non-technical language the more commonly used environmental terms appearing in EPA publications, news releases, and other Agency documents available to the general public, students, the media, and Agency employees.
United Nations Environment Programme
This site from the United Nations brings together authoritative and comprehensive environmental information from a variety of remote and specialized environmental communities. Find country and regional profiles, an atlas of environmentally protected areas, nuclear power sites worldwide, global coastal statistics, greenhouse gas emissions and projections, a digital map plotting coral reefs worldwide, nationally designated protected areas, global forest and wildfire status reports, and more.