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.