Studying or Relaxing, the Library Offers Both

Whether you need a quiet place to study, a room to meet up with friends to work on a group project, a caffeine boost, or some relaxing downtime, the library has you covered. All this week the library will have coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate available to help you stay alert during your exams.  And if you need a break, stop by STAR Lounge 1 and play a few games on the Wii.

As a special bonus to help everyone relax, Tuesday, December 11th from 1 - 4, we will be having some of the dogs in from PAWS to spread some cheer.  Why not stop by and say hello to our furry friends?

Good luck on finals!

New items added in November

The November new materials list is now available. We added 41 books, DVDs, and other items during the last month, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list is sorted by call number, with items grouped roughly by subject area.

This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials.

Have a suggestion of something to order? Use our online request form, email one of our staff members, or drop by the library with your request at any time.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

Finals Week Refreshments at the Library

The Library will offer free coffee, tea, and hot cocoa all during finals week, starting on Monday, December 10th.  Please drop on by!  It's our way of making your last minute studying and paper/project preparation a bit more relaxing.  Thanks for being a part of our our library community!

Play Games, Win Prizes

Come down to the Gardner-Harvey Library on Monday, November 5, 2012 to celebrate International Games Day.  A variety of board games and Wii games will be available to play starting at 9am and ending at 8pm.  Don’t miss your chance to compete for prizes in our Wii Frisbee Golf Challenge from 10am – 4pm.  Snacks will be provided to help keep your gaming energy up.

New materials added in October

The October new materials list is now available. We added 75 books, DVDs, and other items during the last month, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list is sorted by call number, with items grouped roughly by subject area.

This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials.

Have a suggestion of something to order? Use our online request form, email one of our staff members, or drop by the library with your request at any time.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

Open Access Week Oct 22-26

What is Open Access?

Open Access to information is the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need.

How does this affect authors?

Check out our updated and revised Author's Rights brochure, which can be downloaded in PDF format.

How does this affect students? 

Information on open access specific to undergraduates can be found at the Right to Research site.

How does this affect the library?

Without Open Access we wouldn't be able to obtain articles from any of these great databases:

Open Access resources which appear in our Databases A to Z list

ArXiv

• Hosted by Cornell University.

• Includes open access to 707,446 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, and Statistics.

Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)

• The Directory of Open Access Books is a service of OAPEN Foundation. The OAPEN Foundation is an international initiative dedicated to Open Access monograph publishing, based at the National Library in The Hague.

• DOAB contains more than 1,000 academic peer-reviewed books from more than two dozen publishers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

• Currently includes 7,148 journal titles.

• Covers all open access scientific and scholarly journals.

• Journals must be peer reviewed or have editorial quality control.

• All content is free and full text, and none have embargo periods.

• Specific information listed under each title includes publication fees (if any), subject headings, keywords, publisher, ISSN(s), start date, language, license information (if any), and archiving information (if any).

Dissertations and Theses Open (ProQuest)

• PQDT Open provides full text (PDF) of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.  The authors of these theses and dissertations have opted to publish under the open access model.

FDSys 

• FDsys provides free online access to official Federal Government publications. You can search for documents and publications, browse for documents and publications (by collection, Congressional, committee and date), access metadata about documents and publications (in standard XML formats), and download documents and publications in multiple renditions or file formats.

National Academies Press E-Books

• In 2011, the National Academies Press made the vast majority of it's books available for free in PDF format on their website.  These e-books include reports published by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.  Subject areas include science, engineering, and health.  You will be asked to create a free account on the site at the time of your first download.

NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) Union Catalog Project

• A growing catalog of full-text electronic dissertations from a variety of participating institutions, including MIT, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, OhioLINK, and numerous European institutions.

PubMed

• The freely accessible interface to the MEDLINE bibliographic database.  Many citations connect to full-text.

Governor proclaims Information Literacy Month in Ohio!

October has been designated Information Literacy Month in Ohio by Governor John Kasich (here is the full proclamation).  The proclamation “seeks to remind all citizens of the importance of the role of all libraries and librarians—academic, public, school, and special—in teaching information literacy, which fosters educational opportunities, economic prosperity, social cohesion, democracy, and quality of life.”

The Gardner-Harvey Library provides educational resources to assist in building your information literacy.  Check out our tutorials and research guides, or talk to an information literacy expert on your library staff!

Here is a quick list of information literacy skills and how you can use some of our resources to build them up.

New materials added in July, August, and September

The July through September new materials list is now available. We added 98 books, DVDs, and other items during the first quarter of the fiscal year, thanks to your selections and suggestions.  The list is sorted by call number, with items grouped roughly by subject area.

This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials.

Have a suggestion of something to order? Use our online request form, email one of our staff members, or drop by the library with your request at any time.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

Wireless Printing

It is possible to print from your laptop to the Pay4Print (uPrint) machines using the Miami wireless network by following these IT Services Instructions, for PC and Mac users.  Print jobs will be stored for 2 hours.

NBC Learn: Video clips for all subjects

We've just added a new resource:  NBC Learn.  NBC Learn contains more than 12,000 stories from the NBC News archives—one of the largest news archives in the world, dating back to the 1920s. In addition, collections are updated with current events every day, Monday through Friday, with stories from such celebrated programs as NBC Nightly News, the TODAY show, Meet the Press, Dateline NBC, as well as the networks of MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo.

You can find information on many topics, link videos in Niihka for students to review, or share part of a video in a class presentation.

It only works on campus for the moment, but we will update this shortly.  Enjoy!

New 2012 Elections Guide

Feeling a bit confused about the upcoming elections?  So much information, so many viewpoints...

Take a few minutes to explore this new online interactive guide: 2012 Elections  created by Miami Librarian J. Presnell.  Yes, your vote counts!

Find your Butler County, OH Board of Elections voting location here!

Faculty: need to place items on reserve?

The Library is pleased to help instructors give their students access to class reading or viewing materials. We can keep books or DVDs at the InfoDesk in the Library for students to check out and use, we can encode library-owned DVDs and videos to stream online through our Video on Demand (VOD) service, or we can help you get a link to an article or e-book to place in your Niihka course site.  More explanation of these options is available on our Reserves page.

Three key points to remember:

(1) Sufficient lead time is extremely helpful to us in ensuring that items are added in a timely fashion. A minimum of two business days is needed for physical reserves, and, particularly at this point in the semester, three days for VODs.

(2) Faculty need to fill out a reserve request form to ensure that the reserve is processed correctly. The form is available online.

(3) Regarding placing course textbooks on reserve, if you have a spare copy of a textbook for one or more of your courses, we would be happy to add it to our list of textbooks on reserve.  We can also purchase copies of textbooks for courses using library funds that are budgeted to your department or academic area.  More information on that program is available here.

Please contact Chris Mull, our Circulation and Reserves Supervisor, at mullcr@muohio.edu or 513-727-3291 if you have any questions.

Embedded Librarians @ Miami Middletown

Dear Miami University Middletown Faculty:

Why should you have an LMS embedded librarian in your Niihka courses next semester?  Would your students really benefit?

Collaborating faculty have this to say:

“They (students) did appreciate having the resources laid out for them in an organized manner.  You did a lot of the ‘leg work’ for them!”

“…but the students who reached out were met with a quick response, direct answers and a supportive ‘go team’ tone.  invaluable!!”

“The embedded librarian offered many needed skills that the students did not avail themselves of.  I will rework my assignments to encourage them to use the resources available next semester.”

Students interacting with a LMS embedded librarian in Niihka said:

“I would love to see this service in a lot more other classes than what there is! I really found this service very useful!”

“I found the link in our class page helpful, especially the APA guides and databases of nursing journals.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to access this terrific resource.”

Embedded librarianship is a Gardner-Harvey Library service that has been offered 7 semesters, connecting us with 176 course sections and over 3900 students!  In Spring 2012 three librarians, collaborated with 19 instructors and embedded in 33 courses, reaching about 850 students.  Library resources, services, and information literacy instruction are customized to specific course research assignments and made readily available to students in the LMS. 

When the instructor and subject expert collaborates with an information specialist, good things happen for students in terms of online, scholarly research.  When a professor directs students to contact their named embedded librarian, already familiar with the course research assignment, rather than direct them to visit the library, it makes a world of difference.

Embedded librarians can teach your students to:

·         Search research databases

·         Format bibliographies and in-text citations

·         Conduct literature reviews and create annotated bibliographies

·         Use the online catalog and the new discovery layer

·         Evaluate online sources

·         Distinguish scholarly journals from popular periodicals

·         Find custom library content relevant to their research assignments

·         Use brainstorming charts, presentation software, project calculators, RSS alerts, etc.

If you would like to join the LMS Embedded Librarian program in Summer or Fall 2012, please provide the information below and an embedded librarian will contact you this summer.  The program is flexible enough to provide research support in ways that align with your learning outcomes.

Name:

Email:

Phone:

Courses:

Please provide a copy of the research assignments.

Emphasize information literacy instruction in these areas (see list above):

I wish my students’ research skills were stronger in these areas:

I would like the services of an embedded librarian for (Mark one.)

Beginning of the semester          A research period            Entire semester

Reply by August 15, 2012 to
John Burke burkejj@muohio.edu
Jessie Long longjh@muohio.edu
Beth Tumbleson tumbleb@muohio.edu

OneSearch: a new way to discover information.

This fall brings the launch of a new service for Miami University Libraries:  OneSearch.  OneSearch comes from the same people that bring us Academic Search Complete and a host of other databases.  It provides a single search box to find Miami-owned books, DVDs, and e-books along with articles, books, and digital media located in many other databases (e.g., Academic Search Complete, Web of Science, and JSTOR).  

If you are looking for an overview of resources on a given topic, OneSearch is the place to start.  The service also provides several ways to focus your search for better results and, we hope, improve your library research experience.  Just click on the OneSearch tab on the library website to give it a try.  If you have questions, please contact us at the InfoDesk (call 513-727-3222, text us at 513-393-9141, IM us at askghl on many different providers, or email us at midref@lib.muohio.edu).

This Week's PAWS Highlight is McFly

McFly is a big sweet cuddlebug. He is very laid back and doesn't ask for much, just someone to love him! You can find out more about McFly and other PAWS cats on their website.

Also, Don't miss out on your chance to sign up for PAWS’ GOLF OUTING!

Here’s a great opportunity to help PAWS and have a great time doing it! PAWS annual Golf Outing will take place Monday, Aug. 20 at Wildwood Golf Club, 601 Aberdeen Dr., Middletown, Ohio.

This 18-hole, shotgun, scramble event will include box lunches, a buffet dinner at the golf course, beer and beverages all day and a kennel full of prizes.  We are seeking 72 golfers as well as tee and hole sponsors. Cost to play is $125 per player. Sign up as a team or individual to play.  Tee Sponsorship is $100 and Hole Sponsorship is $50.

The PAWS Golf Committee is also seeking prizes and volunteers, so if you are interested in playing or can help in some other way, please email Ginger Shawver at director@pawsadoptioncenter.org.

This week's PAWS highlight is Brox

Brox is a Boxer mix that loves agility and running around in the big yard, but he is content to lay at your feet as well. He gets along with most of the other dogs at PAWS. He has had time in a home. Brox will need a owner that will give him lots of exercise. Go spend some time with Brox and see what a great dog he can be!

This Week's PAWS Highlight is Trumen

You like big dogs? Trumen is your guy. You want a dog that loves to fetch? Trumen is your guy. You want a dog that just loves to be with you? Trumen is your guy. He is a beautiful golden mix. Full of energy. He would be great for an active person. He loves to run and play.

Check out PAWS for more information on Trumen.

How was the library used in 2011-2012?

With the fiscal year just ending, here are the full annual stats for several of the Gardner-Harvey Library's (GHL) services. I hope you will find them useful to see how people use the library. How do you compare to the average GHL user?

These stats reflect what's happened this year, between July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. Some stats we keep locally, others we pull from university-wide or OhioLINK-wide systems, and some are provided by database vendors.

Both a Borrower and a Lender Be
- GHL patrons checked out 4,417 books, DVDs, and videos from us (2,119 from our local collection, 1,602 ordered from other MU libraries, and 696 items ordered from OhioLINK - that means that more than half of the items used by campus patrons came from libraries beyond GHL). That is a 19% decrease from 2010-2011. We also received 57 articles, books, and audiovisual items from libraries worldwide.

- The GHL collection registered 5,362 checkouts (that's the 2,119 items checked out by Middletown patrons above, plus 1787 items sent to OhioLINK users, and 1,456 sent to other MU libraries - that means that more than 60% of the uses of our materials came from libraries beyond GHL). That is a 10% decrease from 2010-2011. We also sent 264 articles, books, and audiovisual items to libraries worldwide.


- GHL patrons checked out 3,423 reserve items from us (this includes faculty-placed course reserves, textbooks on reserve, laptops, iPads, Wii games, and other equipment). That is an 18% decrease from 2010-2011.

- In addition to the printed or physical materials above, Middletown patrons have downloaded 9,047 e-books from the OhioLINK E-Book Center. That is a 10% decrease from 2010-2011.

- In terms of building up our collection, Middletown faculty and staff ordered 1,060 items to add to our collection this year. That is a 19% decrease from 2010-2011.


- We registered a total of 8,785 checkouts of items in our collection (reserves and circulating materials). The circulating items at GHL number 28,980, so each item in the collection circulated 0.33 times this year.


The Quest for Information
- Middletown patrons have performed 57,320 searches in databases provided to us by Ebsco. That is an 11.4% increase from 2010-2011.


- Middletown patrons downloaded 6,993 full-text articles from the Electronic Journal Center. That is a 77.3% decrease over 2010-2011. That is an odd turn, and not one that we've been able to diagnose with OhioLINK staff as yet. This is in addition to full-text articles found right within Ebsco or other databases.


- As part of getting to these databases, 50 people visit our web site every day. That's a total of 18,411 visits for the year, by 5,832 unique individuals. Visits and visitors are down about 1% from 2010-2011.

A Place for Work, Study, and Remove from the World
- GHL is open 65 hours per week.

- We regularly schedule the library learning lab (GRD 111) for occasional class sessions. We also had 14 classes meet there weekly during fall semester and 10 met there during this spring. With some breaks in the early parts of the fall and spring semesters, we have been scheduling COMPASS placement testing sessions in the lab on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays for incoming Middletown students since March 2009.

- Our two STAR Lounges have been checked out 290 times this year. STAR Lounge 2 was also used for several weeks in the last half of the semester by two courses for their class meetings in both the fall and spring semesters.

Helping You Find What You Need
- Inside and outside of the library, we gave library instruction presentations in 92 classes this year, reaching 1825 students (an increase of 12% over 2010-2011). The courses represented were from 18 different departments.

- Our Embedded Librarian program reached students in 62 course sections during the academic year (that is a 3% increase over 2010-2011). We reached over 1660 students through the program and helped them with their information needs. A big development this year was making the switch from Blackboard to our new LMS, Niihka.


What don't we know about how the library is used?


- One key part missing from these figures is off-campus use of library resources: all off-campus use is tallied as MU-wide use, so we do not know how many Middletown patrons are using databases from home.

- We don't have stats for all database searches - we're missing uses of Lexis-Nexis and other databases.

- We lost the use of our gate counter in early Spring, and lost the stats we had gathered for the year. That left us without a sense of how many visitors we had this year.


- We hope you'll continue to let us know what you think about the library, what you need from us, and what materials we should order for the collection.

On Average
Taking these numbers and guesstimating a total Middletown community of 2500 students, faculty and staff members (and including community patrons), here's what can be said about the average person on campus. She:

- checks three items out from the library in a year (reserves and local/MU/OhioLINK collection items)
- performs 23 database searches per year.
- accesses the library web site seven times per year.
- views three e-books each year.
- participates in a library instruction session just less than once per year (if she is a student).


Thanks to everyone for making the library and its resources a vital part of your academic lives!

PAWS Highlight for Thursday is Darby

Darby is a 4 month old Border Collie mix.  He loves playing with other dogs and would make a great family pet.  You can find out more about Darby by visiting the PAWS website or checking out his profile.

New library materials for June

The June new materials list is now available. We added 114 books, DVDs, and other items during the month,thanks to your selections and suggestions.  The list is sorted by call number, with items grouped roughly by subject area.

We’ve added a total of 1060 items to the collection in the 2011/2012 fiscal year (this tag will show you all of the prior lists).

Have a suggestion of something to order? Use our online request form, email one of our staff members, or drop by the library with your request at any time.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

PAWS highlight for Thursday is Bub

Today we highlight one of PAWS young dogs, Bub. Bub is one of the sweetest German Shepherd dogs. He loves the water, and playing ball. He is going to be a big boy and will need room to run. He needs someone that is going to put the time in to train and exercise him.


You can go here for more information about Bub.

Thanks for the PAWS support

We would like to thank everyone for their support of our Pause for PAWS program.  This week marks the end of our program and we went out with a bang on Tuesday at the Hot Diggity Dog Day.  Thanks to C.I.V.I.C for letting the library work with them to bring a whole crew of PAWS animals to greet everyone.  We will continue to highlight PAWS animals throughout the rest of the summer on both our blog and Facebook page, so keep an eye out for pictures and information about the great dogs and cats that are available for adoption.  Also, remember to check out pawsadoptioncenter.org for more information about any of the animals or to make a donation to this great organization.  Once again, thank you to everyone who stopped by to meet the dogs, play with them and make our program a success.

Tuesday's Pause for PAWS guest is Isabella

This week we will only be having one Pause for PAWS visitor so we brought one of our sweetest girls, Isabella. Isabella is a 1 ½ year old Terrier mix. She loves to spend her time playing with the other dogs or sitting in your lap and giving you kisses.

Creating Persistent Links to Articles and More

If you want your students to link directly to an article, image, or other item in one of the library’s databases, you must create for them what is called a persistent link. A persistent link is a specific URL that will link straight to the item that you want them to access. The method to create a persistent link varies somewhat among the different databases the library provides, but here are two commonly used collections of full-text articles as examples. If you need help creating a persistent link to an article in a database not listed here, or if you have any questions about this process, please contact your Gardner-Harvey Library staff.

EBSCOhost Databases

1. Locate the article by searching an EBSCO database such as Academic Search Complete.

2. When you have located an article, click on the title to access the article display page, where you can view the full citation record of the article. On the right side of the screen there will be a button labeled "Permalink." Click on this button to display the permalink. Copy the exact link that is provided.

Example: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=70245062&site=ehost-live

3. The link you just copied will work for any student who is on-campus. If you want students to have off-campus access to the article, you need to add the proxy server login to the front of that URL. Just add the following text to the link you created in Step Two: https://proxy.lib.miamioh.edu/login?url=

Using the example link in Step Two above, your link now looks like this: https://proxy.lib.miamioh.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=70245062&site=ehost-live

This link will work fine both on or off-campus (students clicking the link on-campus will not be prompted to enter their Unique IDs and passwords).

4. You can then paste this link into your Niihka course site for students to access the article.

Electronic Journal Center

1. First, find the article you want in the Electronic Journal Center: https://journals.ohiolink.edu.

2. Open the article description by clicking on the title of the article to which you wish to link.

3. Copy the link of the article description page from the address window of your internet browser.

Here’s a sample URL:  https://journals.ohiolink.edu/ejc/article.cgi?issn=02664909&issue=v28i0002&article=114_olmsapmfhe

(Do not copy the URL of the PDF or HTML full text itself, because this URL changes.)

4. The link you just copied will work for any student who is on-campus. If you want students to have off-campus access to the article, you need to add the proxy server login to the front of that URL. Just add the following text to the link you created in Step Three: http://proxy.lib.miamioh.edu/login?url=

Using the example link in Step Three above, your link now looks like this: https://proxy.lib.miamioh.edu/login?url=http://journals.ohiolink.edu/ejc/article.cgi?issn=02664909&issue=v28i0002&article=114_olmsapmfhe

This link will work fine both on or off-campus (students clicking the link on-campus will not be prompted to enter their Unique IDs and passwords).

5. You can then paste this link into your Niihka course site for students to access the article.

Thursday's Pause for PAWS guest is Walter

Walter is a 3 year old Shepherd mix. He is a great dog with kids and loves attention.

Come visit Walter in the library between 1pm and 5pm today.

Tuesday's Pause for PAWS guest is Champ

Today's Pause for PAWS visitor is Champ. Champ is a Labrador Retriever/ Border Collie Mix.  He loves to play fetch and jump around in the pool.

Thursday Pause for PAWS visitor is Simon

Today's Pause for PAWS visitor is Simon.  Simon is a Lab mix and is about 3 - 4 years old.  He is a very gentle and kind dog that likes to follow you around and relax by your feet. 

Come meet Simon in the library between 1pm - 6pm today. 

New library materials for May

The May new materials list is now available. We added 216 books, DVDs, and other items during the month,thanks to your selections and suggestions.  The list is sorted by call number, with items grouped roughly by subject area.

We’ve added a total of 943 items to the collection in this fiscal year.  We'll keep posting new item lists through the end of the fiscal year on our blog (this tag will show you all of the prior lists).

Have a suggestion of something to order? Use our online request form, email one of our staff members, or drop by the library with your request at any time.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

Tuesday's Pause for PAWS guest is Kyle

Kyle is a short hair gray tabby kitten that wants nothing more than to play with his feather toys and sit in your lap.  Come to the library and meet this delightfully playful cat.


For more information about adoptable cats, check out PAWS.

Thursday's Pause for PAWS guest is Jessie

Jessie is a 2 year old German Shepherd mix.  Jessie had a rough start as one of 375 animals kept in a hoarding house.  Since coming to PAWS Jessie has slowly begun to come out of her shell.  She is still very shy with people, but she loves to play with the other dogs and hang out by the pool. You can stop by and see this sweet girl between 1pm and 5pm today.

If you want to see more PAWS dogs outside of our Pause for PAWS visits, there will be a fundraising event this Saturday from 2pm-6pm at Hanover Winery.  The next PAWS visitor will be here on Tuesday. 

Tuesday's Pause for PAWS visitor is Jake

Jake is a 2 1/2 year old lab/husky mix.  He enjoys running around the yard and playing fetch. Come meet Jake in the library today from 1pm - 5pm.  He would love to say hello.

For more information about Jake, check out pawsadoptioncenter.org or check out his online profile. 

Our next PAWS visitor will be here on Thursday. 

Pause for PAWS visitor for Thursday is Shivers

Today's Pause for PAWS visitor is Shivers.  Shivers is a 1 year old Boxer mix.  He is a very loving and sweet dog.  Come visit Shivers in the library between 1pm and 6pm today.

Pause for PAWS Tuesday Guest is Charlie

Today's Pause for PAWS guest is Charlie. Charlie is a 1 1/2 year old boxer/lab mix who has never met a person, dog or cat he did not like. Charlie is great with children and would love to be part of your family.

Pause for PAWS

Gardner-Harvey Library is pleased to announce that this summer we will be working with PAWS Adoption Center* on our ‘Pause for PAWS’ program.

Pause for PAWS offers students, faculty and staff the opportunity to take a break from the stress of their day to visit with some friendly shelter dogs.  Every Tuesday and Thursday from May 15th through July 26th, a PAWS dog will be in the library from 1pm to 5pm to spread their unique brand of love and cheer. Why not pause your day and stop by to say hello? It is sure to put a smile on your face.

Simon from PAWS

*PAWS Adoption Center is a private, no-kill, non-profit animal shelter located in Middletown, OH dedicated to providing care and shelter for unwanted dogs and cats and placing them in loving homes. Their mission is to reduce the number of homeless pets by promoting adoption, spay/neuter, education and responsible pet ownership.  PAWS has served Middletown and surrounding communities for over 30 years.

For more information check out www.pawsadoptioncenter.org