Friday, September 7, 2007

Freshman Library Assignment

Brenda Taylor is giving this library assignment to the Freshman Seminar instructors for their students. It is a credit assignment so hopefully we will see students working on it in the library and hearing from them at the desk and via email soon. Please look over the questions that are attached so you will be familiar with the assignment. They are not all getting the same 5 activities to complete (which is why you’ll notice an OR between some of the questions). One of our main goals is to familiarize the students with asking for help at the reference desk so please be your very “nicest” and approachable self to our newbies on campus.


Name:
Date:
Instructor:
Class Section:

Homework Assignment Freshman Seminar Students
Directions: This assignment will require you to visit O’Kelly Library and perform 5 activities. Before leaving for the library, make sure you have your RAM card, a pen or pencil, this sheet and the titles of a few magazines or newspapers in mind for activity 2.

After you enter the O’Kelly Library building, stop, view and listen to the video playing on the flat panel screen in the foyer for several minutes. Write down one thing you learned:
________________________________________________________________________


Stop at the first desk you see and ask to speak to a librarian. Ask the librarian to help you find out if one of the magazines or newspapers you have in mind is online in one of the library’s databases. Write down the librarian’s name, the title of the book or newspaper and the name of the database:
Librarian’s name: _________________________________________________________

Magazine or newspaper title: ________________________________________________

Name of database: ________________________________________________________


Next, look for a computer to use on the first, second or third floor. Click on Start, then Internet to find the library’s website. Click on Library Catalog. Search the online catalog to find a book of your choice. Note the title of the book you selected and call number. Go to the shelves and find the book. Write down the call numbers of the two books on either side of your book:
Call # 1: _____________________________Call # 2: ____________________________
OR
Next, look for a computer to use on the first, second or third floor. Click on Start, then Internet to find the library’s website. Click on Library Catalog. Search the online catalog to find a book of your choice. Write down the Location, Call # and Status of the book below. Click on Book Locations. Where is your book located in the library?
Location: _____________________________ Call#: ____________________________

Status: _______________________________ Floor: ___________________________


Go back to the library’s website and browse through some of the links. Write down 2 reasons (besides using the catalog to find a book) you would use the library website:
Reason 1. ______________________________________________________________

Reason 2._______________________________________________________________
OR
Go back to the library’s website and click on the Departments link. Scroll down to the Archives link and click on it. Read the mission statement for Archives and in your own words briefly explain the purpose of the library’s Archives department:
_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________
OR
Go back to the library’s website and click on Ask a Librarian. Next, click on the Ask a WSSU Librarian link. Email a question about the library’s online databases that will help you use these tools more effectively. (Example: Which database would help me find an article for my biology class about …?) Write down the question you asked:
_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Before leaving the library, stop by the Circulation desk and register your RAM card with the library (if you haven’t already done so) and complete a laptop and pager form. Make sure to ask what library services are now available to you. List three things you can do in the library now that you are registered.
1. ____________________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________________

APA Update


For those of you who teach APA, or who are asked APA questions- hold onto your hats!
This past summer APA released a revised and updated guide to the APA Style Manual. You can buy an online copy at:
http://books.apa.org/books.cfm?id=4210509

This addendum includes examples to items we've always had to fudge, like blog postings, podcasts, and PPT presentations. That's the good news.
Now for the not-so-good:
The examples in the guide _replace_ the old way of citing online journal articles. You no longer list the library database or URL- instead, you are supposed to provide a DOI.
(You can read about APA's reasoning- and learn more about DOIs_ at
http://apastyle.apa.org/elecmedia.html)
To some of us, it makes about as much sense as listing an ISBN in a book citation. And we're not sure how we can describe to students and faculty what a DOI is, how you use it to find articles, or even how you find it (since every vendor seems to do it differently- and I haven't found it in some).
Has anyone heard how committed to this new style APA is? It seems like a rather cumbersome change, and I don't want to try and switch our campus over- and change all our handouts and such- if it's still under discussion. (And there are those of us who are advocating we pretend we don't know about this new version!)
Spreading APA joy,
Candice

Candice Benjes-Small, MLIS
Instruction Team Leader and Reference/Instruction Librarian McConnell Library, Radford University, VA
540-831-6801
cbsmall@radford.edu
IM: benjessmall

Students printing from Blackboard

An email was forwarded to me from a computer lab director on campus concerning students printing from Blackboard. Many faculty members post classnotes in PowerPoint presentations. When students print they are sometimes printing in excess of 100 or more pages. Many are not aware that they can print in handout form. The instructions for printing in handout form, which will reduce the pages of these classnotes are below. The orgininal email addressing this concern will follow this posting.

HOW TO PRINT POWERPOINT SLIDES IN HANDOUT FORMAT

1. Find the document/notes you want to print on blackboard

2. Instead of left-clicking on the document to open it, RIGHT click on it and click on “save target as”

3. This will bring up options of where to save that particular document. At the top of the dialogue box, there will be an arrow that will drop a menu and you can choose where you would like to save it. In most cases, the easiest place to save it and find it quickly is to the desktop.

4. After you have saved the document, minimize your screens, go to where you have saved it, and open it again as if you are opening a regular PowerPoint document.

5. When it opens, go to file and print. There, towards the middle of the dialogue box on the right side, it should give you the options of how you want to print the document. In the box, it will probably say “SLIDES.” Change “SLIDES” to “HANDOUTS.” Then to the right of that, it will ask how many slides you want on a page. A good number to choose is six (6) – they are small but still readable. Then press print.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Access to e-resources/Dept. of Health and Human Services

Students from all over the state who work for Department of Health and Human Services cannot access our resources due to new firewalls that they added this year. Ms. George and I are in contact with their IT department and with Serials Solutions. This is an isolated case with this particular agency.

If you get phone calls and the patron is having issues, ask them if they are at one of the DHHS agencies and inform them that we are working on it. If they do not fall into this category, then it is probably the usual issue of using the wrong username or password.

Remember that the username is the beginning of the WSSU email address and the password is the Banner ID if admitted within the past two years and their social security number if they enrolled three or more years ago. For faculty it is whatever username and password they use for checking email or signing in to their computer. (This is from the Computer Help Desk, if students are unsuccessful with these procedures, then they should contact the Help Desk @ 750-3431)