Thursday, March 03, 2011
Children's literature resources
New resources for discovering good children's and young adult literature are now available through WilsonWeb. You can link to WilsonWeb in the "Database Quicklinks" dropdown menu at the top of the Library's home page to select any of these 4 resources. The items in each collection are selected by educators and librarians, so all are recommended.
Children's Core Collection - For collection development, readers’ advisory, curriculum support, and selection and purchasing, here is working data on fiction and nonfiction works, story collections, picture books and magazines recommended for readers from preschool through sixth grade. Listings include sources of reviews and complete bibliographic data, price, subject headings, a descriptive annotation, and evaluative quotations from a review when available.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection - For collection development, readers’ advisory, curriculum support, and selection and purchasing, here are thousands of entries for nonfiction works, fiction and collections for children and adolescents, plus review sources and other professional aids. Entries provide complete bibliographic data, price, subject headings, a descriptive annotation, and evaluative quotations from a review when available. Items in this collection are recommended for grades five through nine.
Senior High Core Collection -- Similar in purpose and design to the previous two collections, this one contains items recommended for grades 9 through 12.
Graphic Novels Core Collection -- The Graphic Novels Core Collection addresses the growing popularity of this literary form. It highlights approximately 2,000 recommended titles with descriptive and evaluative annotations (including review excerpts and awards the title has won), plus cover art. Standards for rating material by age appropriateness are strictly applied, plus all titles are searchable by author, title, subject, genre, and grade level.
For additional resources, select the Mundt Library's "Children's Literature" link in the "Course and Subject Research Guides" dropdown menu at the top of the library's home page. Send any questions about these resources to Ask a Librarian, and a DSU librarian will respond.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
New video tutorials about software packages
New video tutorials about software packages are available through the Library's lynda.com subscription. They include Excel 2010 - Managing Multiple Worksheets and Workbooks, Outlook 2010 Power Shortcuts, eBay for Buyers, Web Fonts First Look, Foundations of Photography - Exposure, and more.
You must access lynda.com through the library web site, not through the lynda.com home page, in order to access the library's subscription to lynda.com tutorials. You'll find a link to the Library's lynda.com subscription in the "Database Quicklinks" dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the library's home page.
Monday, December 06, 2010
What is plagiarism?
"What is plagiarism?" Grammar Girl answers the question to help you avoid suffering the consequences of committing academic dishonesty. Read or listen to episode 252 (December 2, 2010) of "Grammar Girl: Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing."
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Library Catalog has a new look!
The Library Catalog has a new look that includes word clouds, more obvious refine options, the ability for users to tag, review and rate items using “My Discoveries,” and more. The traditional catalog is still available by clicking on the link to “Traditional Catalog” in the black bar near the top of the new Library Catalog window.
Access: Link to the Library Catalog in the “Database Quicklinks” dropdown menu on the upper right side of the Library homepage, or click on the “Library Catalog” link in the top middle area of the library homepage. Direct link to the new Library Catalog is http://searchsdln.aquabrowser.com/?c_profile=DSU
Try a search and explore these features:
Tags, reviews and ratings.
-----To tag, review, rate, and create lists, link to “My Discoveries” on the upper right side of the Library Catalog window. The first time, click “register” to create a new account.
-----After logging in, every item in your search results will have a "Save or tag..." link.
-----Click on the “Save or tag” link to tag an item with your own keywords, make a new list, add an item to a list you've already made, rate the item, or write a review.
-----My Discoveries connects all AquaBrowser systems world-wide, creating an open global library community. All of this community contributed content -- tags, ratings, and reviews -- is then automatically reused by all libraries in the global community.
Search.
-----Like the traditional catalog, by default the new catalog will search for only items that include all of your search terms. You do not need to include 'AND' between terms. For example, these two searches would produce the same result:
humans AND zombies
humans zombies
-----You can use 'OR' between terms to indicate that items in the results can have either of the terms; for example: truth OR honesty
-----However, you must CAPITALIZE all search operators used such as AND, OR, NOT; for example:
humans AND zombies [will find items that have both words]
mammals NOT birds [will find any items with the word “mammals” and then eliminate any of the mammal items that include the word “birds”]
flu OR influenza [will find any items that use either of the words]
Results.
-----Results are displayed in “relevance” order by default. Use the “sorted by” dropdown menu at the top of the results to switch to “year” order and display items with the most recently published ones at the top. (This is a change from the traditional catalog that by default displays items in year order, most recent first.)
-----Clicking on a Refine option on the right side of the results screen will take your original search and apply the additional condition to it, thus reducing the number of results. Refine options allow you to narrow your search results by author, year range, topic, geographic region, library collection, etc.
-----Any refine options you use appear in a breadcrumb trail above the results and you can use the breadcrumbs to back up to earlier search results.
-----Clicking on a word in the “word cloud” in the Discover area on the left side of the results screen will do an *entirely new search* using the new word instead of your original search word(s). The “word cloud” shows related terms and is intended to help you find other words to describe your search topic.
Questions?
-----Use the “Ask a DSU Librarian” link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window to ask any questions. Mary Francis or Risë Smith will respond.
Enjoy!
Friday, November 05, 2010
Start research with overview articles
Start research by finding articles in specialized encyclopedias online in the databases Credo Reference and Gale Virtual Reference Library. Encyclopedia articles help you understand the big picture -- by providing an overview of terminology, background and issues -- before you delve into details of your research topic in journal articles.
Credo Reference and Gale Virtual Reference Library provide access to articles in many different encyclopedias and across a broad range of topics. The Mundt Library also subscribes to AccessScience, an encyclopedia devoted specifically to science topics. Links to all of these databases are in the "Database Quicklinks" dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the Mundt Library homepage. Additional print and electronic encyclopedias may be found by searching the Library Catalog and combining "encyclopedia" or "encyclopedias" with the broad subject; for example: encyclopedia* and comics
Just a few examples of the numerous encyclopedias found in Credo Reference are Encyclopedia of North American Indians, The Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, Cambridge World History of Food, The Elgar Companion to Consumer Research and Economic Psychology, and Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications. Examples from Gale Virtual Reference Library include Chemical Compounds, Dictionary of American History, Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, Encyclopedia of School Psychology, and U*X*L Encyclopedia of World Mythology.
Searching the Library Catalog will find such print encyclopedias as Encyclopedia of Cybercrime, Encyclopedia of Sports in America, Encyclopedia of Decision Making and Decision Support Technologies, and Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body. The Library Catalog also provides links to encyclopedic ebooks; for example, Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena.
If you're having trouble finding what you need for your research, stop by the library or use the Ask a Librarian link on the Library's home homepage to contact us. We're happy to help!
Friday, October 15, 2010
New Lynda tutorials released
Photoshop, Joomla, Google Analytics, Maya, Publisher, Drupal, Fireworks, Designing a CD Cover Hands-On Workshop .... These new or updated software tutorials are now available in Lynda.com.
To access lynda.com with the Library's license, select lynda.com from the "Database Quicklinks" drop-down menu found at the top of library webpages. When off-campus, you will be required to login with your library ID and password when you link to Lynda.
The library's license is for 5 simultaneous users. If you get a message that all "seats" are in use when you try to connect, and it happens more than once, we want to know. Specifically, when were you attempting to access lynda (day of week and time)? Use the "Ask a Librarian" link or the "Suggestions" link at the top of library web pages to let us know that you were turned away from using lynda.com.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Lynda.com
Video tutorials about many software packages are available online from Lynda.com -- tutorials about Web Design, Audio, Motion Graphics, Adobe, Microsoft Office, Illustrator, Apple, Creative Inspirations, Avid, 3D Graphics, Dreamweaver, ActionScript, Final Cut Pro, Digital Photography, Web Development, and much, much more. The Library pays for a subscription to lynda.com so that DSU students/staff/faculty can use the tutorials.
To access lynda.com with the Library's license, select it from the "Database Quicklinks" drop-down menu found at the top of library webpages. When off-campus, you will be required to login with your library ID and password when you link to Lynda.
The tutorials are excellent. The only downside is that our license is for 5 simultaneous users. If you get a message that all "seats" are in use when you try to connect, and it happens more than once, we want to know. Specifically, when were you attempting to access lynda (day of week and time)? Use the "Ask a Librarian" link or the "Suggestions" link at the top of library web pages to let us know that you were turned away from using lynda.com.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Summer Hours:
Summer Library hours are Monday through Thursday from 7:30a.m. to 5p.m. and on Friday from 7:30a.m. to 4:30p.m. The building is CLOSED on weekends, but online research resources are accessible 24/7 through the Library's home page. Librarians are on duty, when the building is open, to answer your questions. Use the Ask a Librarian link at the top of library web pages to send your question by instant message or email, but please remember that it is unlikely you will receive an answer when the Library is closed.
Monday, May 03, 2010
"I Am Not an Open Book"
This week marks the inaugural Choose Privacy Week, a celebration of our right to privacy and an opportunity to focus on the importance of this issue in our increasingly public world. Sponsored by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, Choose Privacy Week is made possible in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute. A 20-minute video featuring Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, ALA President Camila Alire, University of Chicago professor Geoffrey Stone, and others is on the Mundt Library's home page and is also available at http://vimeo.com/11399383.
For more information about the American Library Association's privacy initiative, visit www.privacyrevolution.org. You can also show your support by becoming a fan at www.facebook.com/chooseprivacyweek and by following at www.twitter.com/privacyala. (If you're tweeting about the week, please use the #chooseprivacy hashtag!).
In an information age, it’s vital to protect the impulse to be curious, read, and learn. Yet people seem resigned to the loss of their privacy rights because they see no recourse. We aim to spark a national conversation on privacy.