Need Government Data? Try this Brand New Site.

For the first time starting Friday January 22, 2010, more government data from all cabinet levels will be released online as part of the Obama initiative for greater transparency in government.

All new data collections will be added to Data.gov @ http://www.data.gov/

"Required to release the three new data sets are the departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency, the offices of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the Council of Economic Advisers." Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/government-data-released_n_432632.html

Need Tax Forms?

2009 tax forms for federal, Ohio, and states in the midwest are just a click away, online.

Share video with classes using Video on Demand!

Video on Demand, a new service from Miami University Libraries, is entering its second semester of use at the Gardner-Harvey Library. Faculty members may request that Miami-owned videos and DVDs be encoded for viewing over the web. A link to the encoded video is then provided to the faculty member to place in his or her Blackboard classroom. Students may view the videos on campus or from off-campus.

Off-campus viewing requires students to install the Cisco Virtual Private Networking client on the computer on which they wish to watch the video. From that computer, students should go to https://muvpn.muohio.edu/ and login using their Unique IDs and passwords. Then follow the on-screen instructions to install the Cisco VPN Client.

They should then run the Cisco VPN Client (from the "Start-->All Programs" menu), which will prompt them to enter their UniqueID and password to connect securely from off-campus. Once this connection is made, they may enter their Blackboard classroom and click on the URL for the video to start playing. Repeated viewings of videos only requires students to run the Cisco VPN Client and login -- there is no need to install the VPN client multiple times.

Please contact the library with your questions on Video on Demand or use our online reserve form (selecting the "Video on Demand" option from the drop-down menus) to have visual materials added to Video on Demand.

What do you wish the library had?

Have a suggestion of a book, DVD, or other item you think the library should have?

Use our new online request form to make a suggestion.

We will respond to your request and order any item we do not already own or that is not already available through Miami University Libraries or OhioLINK. Thanks!

New Materials Added in October and November

The October and November new materials list is now available. We added 106 books, DVDs, and other items over those months, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

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. Thanks!

John

Blackboard Embedded Librarians in Your Course

Dear Faculty:

Would you like to collaborate with a Blackboard Embedded Librarian next semester, Spring 2010? Have you been toying with the idea, just to see what difference it might make to your students’ research efforts? Have you heard colleagues talking about this online approach to delivering library services and resources that are customized for the courses you teach?

The Gardner-Harvey Librarians have been building research tools and planning for Spring Semester 2010 with you and your students in mind. Before you close your office door for the semester on Friday December 18, 2009, please let John Burke and Beth Tumbleson know of your interest.

To recap the Pilot Program from a year ago, Gardner-Harvey librarians worked with instructors teaching upper and lower division courses across the disciplines. The purpose of the program is to develop information literacy skills in students, whether enrolled in traditional, off-campus, hybrid, or online courses. Once you express interest, we will send you a two page overview of options to determine your needs and schedule an appointment to discuss assignments and your curricular goals in terms of student research. Once you enroll the librarian as a course builder or instructor, content will be added next to the assignment, on the Embedded Librarian page, or wherever appropriate. Then students have direct access to research assistance from a librarian familiar with the course and Miami University Libraries’ collections.

Common research strategies and concepts addressed in prior semesters have included:
• a short list of the most relevant databases and online collections
a list of appropriate subject terms
help narrowing a topic
guidance finding statistics
assistance citing sources using RefWorks and other tools
methods of evaluating Websites
identifying scholarly sources.

If you think your students would benefit from such a faculty-librarian collaboration within Blackboard, please reply to this e-mail and provide the information requested below:

To Complete and Return by December 18, 2010
Name:
email:
Telephone:
Courses: Section, Time/Day, & Location

Best regards,

Beth Tumbleson, Assistant Director
John Burke, Director

New Materials Added in July, August, and September

The July, August, September new materials list is now available. We added 172 books, DVDs, and other items over those months, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

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. Thanks!

John

Clickers now available!

A cooperative effort of the Educational Technology Center, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Gardner-Harvey Library is now making an expanded collection of Turning Point clickers available to the campus.

Three sets of clickers (personal response systems) may now be checked out from the Library. Each set contains 30 clickers and a receiver. They may be checked out for 3 hours at one time. Please stop by the library at any time we are open to access the clickers or contact us at 727-3222 to reserve a set for a given class period.

Not sure what clickers are? See this brief overview of clickers from EDUCAUSE (It’s a bit dated, but still a good overview of the process.)

The CTL will sponsor a lunchtime conversation with Janet Hurn on December 2 from 12:00-1:00 in Room 136/137 JHN to share examples of how clickers are used in the classroom.

Need more information? Andrea Han is happy to provide one-on-one training and consultation on the clickers.

We greatly appreciate the work done by Technology Services to install Turning Point software in all of the mediated classrooms. Now it is easy to just set up the receiver and click away.

Andrea Han, Educational Technology Coordinator, hanan@muohio.edu
Ellenmarie Wahlrab, Center for Teaching and Learning Co-Coordinator, wahlrae@muohio.edu
John Burke, Library Director, burkejj@muohio.edu

It's National Information Literacy Awareness Month!

President Obama has declared October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month, and the Gardner-Harvey Library has some useful sources to help you increase your awareness.

The Information Literacy Instruction page on our website details our efforts to teach information literacy skills to individuals and classes. One useful area of the page is the link to research guides, which features these helpful items:

The CRAAP Test, which you can use to help you evaluate the information you find.
The Research Project Calculator, which will help you plan your research project and consider the necessary steps and strategies.
The Developing a Research Topic Brainstorming Chart, which helps you turn your topic into a more specific and efficiently-searched statement.

We hope these will be of use to you or your students. What do you find frustrating about the research process? This video shows some common complaints among college students. We'd like to hear yours and help you solve those frustrations.

Textbooks for Fall: where we stand

The Textbooks on Reserve program at the library has recently been updated. We have (starting in the summer and working through the first tow weeks of fall) added 24 new editions of existing textbooks and added 14 new books (either for existing courses or new courses). It is always a little tricky for us to get new books on our shelves right at the beginning of the semester, and we are grateful to the MUM Bookstore and to faculty members for assisting us to make this possible.

We now have books for 94 courses offered at Middletown that the library has purchased, and textbooks on hand for at least 17 other courses provided by individual faculty members or departments. The full list is available here.

We've already had 79 checkouts of these items in the first two weeks of class. If you can help further spread the word that the textbooks are available, that would be most helpful. If you want to correct information on our list, please let us know. If you have suggestions on other courses we should consider buying textbooks for, be sure to contact me.

We thank you for your use and support of this program!

The Kindle is here!

As promised in our Fall 2009 library newsletter, we now have two Kindle readers available for you to check out. You can read about the particulars of borrowing them and the current list of books available on them here. In sum, these devices check out for a week at a time, have 12 preloaded books, and offer a lightweight, enjoyable reading experience.

We are really curious to see what you think of them. Consider checking one out today. We are also maintaining a waiting list for them -- please contact the library to get your name on it.

The web site is all new!

That's right! We switched over to our new web design today. We designed the site to better integrate with the changes to the University Libraries' site and to continue our abilities to better serve you with information resources and information on our services.

Take note of the blue tabs at the top of the page. Each will lead you to a particular type of information and a suggested group of databases and other resources to help you find what you need. Research resources, service information, and other library-related facts make up the three columns below the tab areas. The upper right corner links to the various methods you can use to contact us. And the News and Notes area will feature blog posts and tweets.

The Gardner-Harvey Library staff is extremely grateful to Beth Gray who did the design and HTML programming work needed to make these changes. She also ran a usability testing program for the older site during the summer. This was all done as part of a practicum Beth is completing with the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science toward her Master of Library and Information Science degree.

Is there something you can't find on the new site that you used to use on the old one? Has our work to correctly link documents on the page oft gang aglee? If so, please contact us forthwith so that we can help you navigate and/or fix the issues with the site. We hope you will enjoy this fresh interface to information!

Wellness Book Discussion Comes to GHL

Munch a Good Lunch @Your Library!

The Gardner-Harvey Library and the Miami Middletown Wellness Committee invite all health-minded individuals to join us for a book discussion of:

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan (2008)
Thursday September 24, 2009, 12 Noon - 1 PM
Library, Main Level in the big blue chairs

In his latest book, Pollan critics the Western diet, the nutritionists' focus on foods' "chemical constituents", and the food industry's goal to produce a profit. He contends it is better to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." In the following pages, he elaborates on this simple wellness formula and points to cultural traditions and common sense as a guide to eating well.

Pick up a copy and prepare for a lively discussion facilitated by Ruth Orth and Beth Tumbleson.

Gardner-Harvey Blog RSS Feed in Twitter

The Gardner-Harvey Library News Blog is now connected to Twitter via RSS feed! If you prefer keeping up with tweets rather than blog posts, you can follow us entirely at www.twitter.com!

Think Before Googling

Researchers in quest of information, data, articles, topic overviews, and more are often tempted to turn to their favorite search engine... The key to successful searching of Google or any other search engine lies in taking the time to think. A well designed search string does wonders for removing the irrelevant or questionable. Then more critical thinking must be applied in scanning the results. As Howard Rheingold writes in "Crap Detection 101", June 30, 2009:



"Unless a great many people learn the basics of online crap detection and begin applying their critical faculties en masse and very soon, I fear for the future of the Internet as a useful source of credible news, medical advice, financial information, educational resources, scholarly and scientific research. Some critics argue that a tsunami of hogwash has already rendered the Web useless. I disagree. We are indeed inundated by online noise pollution, but the problem is soluble. The good stuff is out there if you know how to find and verify it. Basic information literacy, widely distributed, is the best protection for the knowledge commons: A sufficient portion of critical consumers among the online population can become a strong defense against the noise-death of the Internet.

The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception. Learning to be a critical consumer of Webinfo is not rocket science. It's not even algebra. Becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of web credibility testing is easier than learning the multiplication tables. The hard part, as always, is the exercise of flabby think-for-yourself muscles. "



See the complete post for helpful detection strategies of content found on the Internet. By the way, these "detection strategies" are often referred to as information literacy skills, which librarians are pleased to reveal upon request. Contact one of the Gardner-Harvey librarians for a research consultation or classroom instruction soon.

Tweet tweet! GHL is now on Twitter!

Attention all social-networkers: GHL has joined Twitter! Follow our tweets posted under the name "askghl."

What is Twitter, some of you may ask? Ellyssa Kroski explains in the Online Education Database blog, iLibrarian:

What is it
Twitter is a free communication and social networking tool which allows you to convey short messages of up to 140 characters to your circle of friends via the Twitter website, SMS, email, IM, or other Twitter client. Messages appear not only within your profile on Twitter, but are sent to your community of followers who have signed up to receive your updates. Often referred to as microblogging, this new phenomenon has caught on with over 300,000 users on Twitter alone including Barack Obama and John Edwards. Twitter recently made the cut as one of Time’s Best 50 Websites of 2007. Librarians are using it to communicate at conferences and events and to keep up with developments in the field, and libraries have begun using it to promote their services."

How to use it
Check out some of these great how-to guides which will have you twittering in no time:

The 12 Minute Definitive Guide to Twitter
WebJunction: Mobile Instant Messaging Meets Social Networking: Twitter - A Beginner’s Guide, Part 2
Newbie’s guide to Twitter
David Lee King: Twtter Explained for Librarians, or 10 ways to use Twitter

Screencasts:
David Free: Welcome To The Twitterverse
David Lee King: Twitter, part 2: the “fluff

Read more of Ellyssa's post at: http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/a-guide-to-twitter-in-libraries/


Happy Twittering! :o)
Sarah

June New Materials

The June new materials list is now available. We added 68 books, DVDs, and other items over the last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

We added a total of 1228 items to the collection this year. A few more of the items ordered this year are still working their way in, but many of that total have arrived. We hope that we'll be able to pursue a similar amount of items next year (depending on how the budget ends up).

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "Faculty" or "Students", and then "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Save Ohio's Public Libraries!

The current funding situation for Ohio's public libraries is in a fairly distressing state as our public servants strive to balance the budget. Serious reductions in state funding could close branches within library systems or even entire library systems. I encourage you to inform yourself on the issue and, if you are so moved, act to assist our public library colleagues. The Save Ohio Libraries site provides much useful information.

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries." - Anne Herbert

The secrets of Google Scholar

Have you used Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) ? Here are a few tips to make your research life a little easier:

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Keep in mind that you have access to many of these same materials in full-text through the Miami University Library system! Setting your preferences using the directions below will help you see if a given resource in Google Scholar is available through the libraries:

•Use “Scholar Preferences” --> Library Links --> enter “OhioLINK” and check the box

When you see an article in your Google Scholar search results, you may find out if the library has full-text access to the article by clicking the “Find it with OLinks” or “OhioLINK OLinks” links.

Netbooks are here!

The Library has added seven Acer Aspire One netbooks to our one-day loan laptops on reserve. The netbooks are small and lightweight (with 8.9" screens, weighing just over 2 pounds), yet powerful and capable of your web-browsing and document-creating needs (a fairly large keyboard, 6 hours of battery time, and includes the full Microsoft Office application suite).

Check one out today to enjoy easy, go-anywhere access to coursework. Netbooks, like our other laptops, check out through the time the library closes on the next day we are open. Check out a netbook on Tuesday at 10:30am, and it's due back on Wednesday at 7:00pm (our summer hours) or 9:00pm (when school starts back in August).

The Library now has 12 laptops available for students and 8 laptops for faculty and staff to check out.

April/May New Materials

The April/May new materials list is now available. We added 358 books, DVDs, and other items over the last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

More orders from this year are still appearing as we enter June. I will post an update for the academic year on our acquisitions with the July new materials list.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "Faculty" or "Students", and then "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Information Literacy Workshop, June 17, 2009

MUM Faculty and Staff are invited to participate in a Wednesday morning workshop from 9 am to 12 noon with brunch at the Gardner-Harvey Library, which will be facilitated by Sarah Frye and Beth Tumbleson. Participants will review the results from Project Information Literacy Progress Report which targets where students struggle with course-related research. We will discuss ACRL national standards and individual solutions to providing instruction in information literacy. Finally, attendees will have the opportunity to rework an assignment to incorporate one such information literacy skill. This strengthens student academic achievement.

Watch "Prometeus the Media Revolution", Part I, 5 minutes to review changes in the information world over the centuries.

Everything's working now - search at will!

Library databases and services are fully working again. Both on-campus and off-campus access are restored.

Library servers down Tues. evening - alternate route

Miami University Libraries servers will be down this evening from about 6pm until 5:30am due to an electrical outage. The Gardner-Harvey Library website will not be affected by the outage.

If you need to access our databases and electronic resources during the server outage, many of them are available through remote access at OhioLINK. Go to http://auth.ohiolink.edu/ to login and then choose your database or resource using the alphabetical or subject-oriented lists of resources.

The OhioLINK Central Catalog will also be operating while the Miami catalog is down: access it at http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search/.

The Gardner-Harvey Library closes at 5:00pm tonight and does not reopen until 8:00am on Wednesday morning. If you have any difficulties in between those times, please email us at midref@lib.muohio.edu

Beth's Beach Bag of Books

Are you headed for the beach this summer? Lake shore or seaside? Even if you remain seated by a stream in Ohio, you may still linger over leisure reading. Here are the titles I plan to stuff in my summer“beach bag”. It’s an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction by winners of the Pulitzer Prize of Fiction, authors of New York Time best-sellers, world class authors, and the spiritually attuned.

Jiles, Paulette. The Color of Lightening. William Morrow. 2009.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. Pantheon Books. 2009.

Robinson, Marilynne. Home. Farrar, Staus, & Giroux. 2008.

Strout, Elizabeth. Olive Kittredge. Random House. 2008.

Taylor, Barbara Brown. An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith. HarperOne, 2009.

Summer Offerings @ Your Library

Spring semester exams conclude the year, but don’t let that stop you from visiting the Gardner-Harvey Library throughout the summer months. Academic libraries have much to offer all year long. Job-seekers may want internet access to check job postings online and rework resumes using Microsoft Office. Readers may want to browse for good reads in the New Books collection which includes fiction and non-fiction. Film fanatics may want to scan the latest DVDs added to the IMC collection. And then there is the STAR Lounge for Wii gamers and presenters who wish to practice in private. So come by the library Monday-Thursday 8 AM to 7 PM and Friday 8 AM to 5 PM. The library staff will be on hand to guide you through the information universe.

Public scanner available in the library!

The library has just purchased (and Technology Services has installed) a scanner in the library for anyone to use. It's located on the wall with the copiers and printers, just before you get to the STAR Lounge.

It does a great job with photos, documents, and other items (even cell phones - I tried it 8-) ). You can save scans in a variety of file formats, including PDF.

There is no charge for the service, and we're happy to help you get your scanning done.

Extended open hours on Saturday

The library is open for extended hours this coming Saturday, May 2, from 11:00-5:00 if you need help or a quiet place to study. Our IM reference service will also be up and operating during this time.

Good luck on finals!

February/March New Materials

The February/March new materials list is now available. We added 210 books, DVDs, and other items over the last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

I expect that April will be a big month for new items as well - many books and DVDs are appearing in the back room each day and heading out to the shelves.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Celebrate @ Your Library!

National Library Week, April 12-18, 2009

The Gardner-Harvey Library invites you to celebrate National Library Week with us. We will hold a Wednesday Wii Tournament On April 15 for all-comers in the STAR Lounge throughout the day. Prizes will be awarded to the 3 top bowlers. We will also run a Quotations Quiz to identify the author/speaker of a number of quotes from Monday, April 13 to Thursday, April 16 at noon. Prizes will be awarded to 3 winners. Throughout the week, we will offer lifesavers, bookmarks, and pens for those who visit the Miami University Middletown Library. Join in the fun and find a good read while you are here.

EJC is back!

The good folks at OhioLINK have notified us that the Electronic Journal Center (EJC) is now up and running with all publishers' journals included. As you work through our databases and click on the Find It! link, full-text articles that are located in the EJC will now click through correctly (please let us know if you see any remaining issues). You may also search the EJC directly. Thank you so much for your patience with this situation.

GHL Librarians Go West

While some head south to bask on sunny beaches, the Gardner-Harvey Librarians will be heading west over spring break! Destination: Seattle to attend the Association of College and Research Libraries biennial meeting over four days. Why would they travel so far? "To Push the Edge: Explore, Engage, Extend!" Naturally they will return with wild, wild west ideas to implement right here at Miami University Middletown. Watch and see.

New Playaway Titles Added

Now is the time to see our new list of Playaway digital audio devices! We have added 41 more titles to our collection, taking us toward 212 titles in the collection.

Read more on what these devices are and how they work, or take a look at the new list (just click on the titles for a summary of the digital audio book and to request us to hold one for you).

EJC Restoration Update

From the good folks at OhioLINK:

While content in the Electronic Journal Center remains unavailable, OhioLINK is working diligently to provide access to the same content on each publisher's Web site. Available publishers’ sites are listed here and we continue to update this list as needed. Project Muse has been added to the list today and their content is now available. Links to the listed publisher sites work for both on and off campus users.

Over the weekend OhioLINK staff were able to restore EJC content from 2008-2009 for most publishers, except Elsevier, Springer and Blackwell. We continue to work to restore the remaining EJC content as quickly as possible, but do not have all the reload processes in place yet nor the experience to provide a useful time line for full EJC restoration. We hope to be able to share a schedule in the near future.

Since we have a growing body of available content, we restored the alphabetical title links on the EJC home page. These links show only those journals that are currently available, for other journals or issues please continue to visit the publishers’ sites.

New materials for December/January

The December/January new materials list is now available. We added 61 books, DVDs, and other items over the last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

The Ways the Publishing World Is Changing

How knowledge is organized is often overlooked or assumed, but it is foundational in terms of storing and retrieving knowledge and information throughout the centuries. This has been the challenge libraries and "keepers of the book" have faced since ancient times. (Yes, valuable books were once chained.)

We benefit from understanding how information comes to be published and how much or little editing is done before it becomes available to the public. Then we are in a better position to evaluate its worth.

Currently the world of writing, information, and publishing is undergoing upheaval. Historically we have come from handwritten scrolls, to the Gutenberg printing press, to the wide distribution of printed materials by publishers, and now self-publishing online through Web sites, wikis, and blogs. Creators of content need no longer wait for the journal editor or publishing house agent to approve, edit, and publish their work. See this thought-provoking article in Time Magazine to learn more about the ways the world of publishing is changing.
Grossman, L., & Sachs, A. (2009, February 2). Books Unbound. Time, 173(3), 71. Retrieved February 7, 2009, from MAS Ultra - School Edition database.

Electronic Journal Center problems

Important Message to the OhioLINK community of students, faculty, and staff:

Beginning Wednesday afternoon, February 4, the OhioLINK computer disk storage system suffered a widespread, and supposedly not possible, multiple component failure affecting all major services with the exception of the OhioLINK Library Catalog. We have restored all services except the Electronic Journal Center (EJC). Restoration of the EJC remains under vigorous analysis, but unfortunately we know that any solution will not be immediate. In light of this, we are taking immediate steps to provide alternative access to the resources of the EJC through the various Web sites of the EJC journal publishers.

As noted on this page, we have immediate access to many EJC publisher sites and are working to expand access to the rest as quickly as possible. While the EJC is down, we will continue to improve this site to direct you to the proper publishers. We will also work to adjust our systems that link article citations to full text in the EJC by redirecting links to the publisher sites. We are examining every possibility to keep you connected to resources you need and to improve that connectivity as quickly as possible, while the EJC is not available.

We will keep you up to date through this Web page and the “New at OhioLINK” announcements at www.ohiolink.edu.
Your local library will also always know the latest news.

The OhioLINK staff is sincerely sorry for this significant disruption in services. We remain committed, as we have since 1992, to providing high quality information resources on a consistent and reliable basis to the Ohio higher education community.

Sincerely,

Tom Sanville, Executive Director, tom@ohiolink.edu
February 8, 2009

Textbooks on Reserve: Ready for Spring!

The library's collection of Textbooks on Reserve (TOR) has been revamped for Spring 2009 courses. You can see the full list of books that we have on reserve here. We provide the main texts for 87 Miami courses, in addition to the many textbooks and additional readings placed on reserve individually by faculty members..

Last fall, the TOR program was heavily used, with 341 individuals checking out a book from the collection during the semester. The ten most popular textbooks checked out by students at MUM are the following (based on lifetime checkouts):

- ELEMENTARY AND INTERMDIATE ALGEBRA (MTH 102)
- MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN MANUFACTURING (ENT152)
- ENGINEERING MATERIALS - (ENT 151)
- HOLE'S HUMAN ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY - (ZOO 171)
- PREALGEBRA (MTH002)
- PSYCHOLOGY (PSY 111)
- New perspectives on Microsoft Office 2007 : first course (CIT 154)
- BASIC COLLEGE MATHEMATICS (MTH001)
- ART THROUGH THE AGES (ART 187)
- CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT (BTE 111)

Remember that the textbooks are available for two hour checkout during the day, but may also be taken home overnight if checked out within two hours of the time we close that day.

Blackboard Embedded Librarian Pilot Program Starting Spring Semester 2009

10 Miami University faculty members teaching 19 sections of 13 different courses will be participating in the Spring 2009 Blackboard Embedded Librarian Pilot Program through the Gardner-Harvey Library, Miami University Middletown. This faculty-librarian collaboration to address the information literacy needs of students enrolled in Blackboard courses, whether online, off-campus, or the traditional classroom is currently being implemented nationally and internationally at public, private, and for-profit colleges and universities. The pilot program represents the first Miami University partnership. Once the faculty member and librarian agree upon the specifics of their instructional collaboration, the embedded librarian has the opportunity to interact with students directly. The embedded librarian is able to offer students much more than the typical fifty minute instructional session permits by creating course-specific links to electronic reference sources, full-text databases of scholarly articles, authoritative Web sites, digital media, and promote electronic tools like RefWorks to manage bibliographic citations or Reference Universe to locate reference essays. Further, the embedded librarian will address students’ individual research concerns; suggest search terms and strategies, and appropriate electronic resources. Better research projects and papers with less frustration on the student’s part are the expected outcome. It’s a win-win approach to learning in the 21st century.

Information Literacy Forum Starting in January 2009

Participants will interact with a series of articles, podcasts, and digital videos on information literacy and its impact on teaching and learning. Reading, listening and watching will introduce key concepts in a way that mirrors the 21st century information environment. Dialogue will take place during spring semester 2009 in two face to face meetings, at the start and conclusion of the project, and on a blog in between. The intended outcome is to increase awareness of the current state of students’ information literacy and research skills. This enlarged understanding may alter expectations of students’ abilities and classroom instruction methods to better meet students at their current level and introduce them to efficient academic research methods and resources. Today’s information problem solvers benefit greatly from knowing how information is produced, organized, distributed, searched, and accessed at no charge through academic libraries as opposed to other information channels. These skills are learned and not intuitive. Miami University Middletown faculty/staff, please consider joining the Gardner-Harvey librarians by contacting either fryesm@muohio.edu or tumbleb@muohio.edu by January 20, 2009.

Get it Together in the STAR Lounge

With all our announcement of the Wii, we really haven't fully mentioned the STAR (Space for Technology, Academics, and Recreation) Lounge on its own this year.

The Lounge is equipped with:
- a 47" LCD TV
- a DVD player/VCR unit
- cable TV
- a Nintendo Wii gaming system
- a computer with a wireless keyboard and mouse
- work tables by the TV
- a small round table
- a 4' x 6' white board
- six chairs (and more are available to bring in)

The Lounge may be used to:
- watch a DVD, a videotape, or a live TV program with a group
- create a presentation of write a document or work on software with a group
- practice a presentation before giving it in class
- work with a small group for training or group review of information using the computer and TV or the white board
- have a meeting using the white board, TV, or just talking to one another
- play a game on the Wii (see the list)
- record a podcast (using one of our digital voice recorders, or a microphone and Audacity)

We have some ideas about how you can use the room. How will you use it? Take a look today and imagine how it might work with your study group or class or ?

The room may be used for two hours at a time. We are also happy to reserve it for you ahead of time. Be sure to check in at the InfoDesk before using the STAR Lounge.

Attention All Music Fans!

Have you heard of Pandora Internet Radio?
If not, keep reading!

Pandora Radio is an internet radio player which allows users to create, blend, and share stations based on the music they like. From the Pandora main page, users have the option to type in the name of a favorite song or artist; Pandora then generates an internet radio station by compiling songs with similar musical qualities. Users can create as many stations as they like for free, or browse Pandora’s selection of genre stations. While listening, users can indicate whether they like or dislike a particular song to hear it more often, less often, or never again on a specific station. By creating an account, users can listen to their stations any time or place they have internet access. Stations can be blended for more diverse listening or shared with friends through email.

Pandora is based on the Music Genome Project, “the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken.” The project studies various elements of music such as “melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... close to 400 attributes!” Using this information, Pandora connects listeners to the music they love and helps users explore a wide variety of related new and lesser-known music.

What does this have to do with the library, you ask? Librarians are always looking for ways to share good information with our users and improve the overall library experience. This site is just FUN and we thought you would enjoy it. Stop by the library for a demo, or to ask for help navigating the site. We provide headphones, so you can listen while using the library computers for homework, research, or just surfing the net!

For more information, check out http://pandora.com/

New Materials for November

The November new materials list is now available. We added 99 books, DVDs, and other items over the last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Library Services Delivered to Distance Users

If you are or will be teaching off-site, online, or VOALC courses, consider collaborating with an information specialist who will bring library resources and services to you and your students.

What?
We would like to collaborate with you to empower your students and enable them to undertake academic research effectively and efficiently. We are searching for ways to partner with you in order to provide library services to Miami students enrolled in off-site courses, at the VOA Learning Center, and in online courses.
Why?
You expect university students, upper division and graduate students, to know how to undertake research papers and projects using academic resources specific to your discipline. Librarians find students are unfamiliar with today’s electronic resources and services and do not know how to proceed:
• to locate authoritative academic resources, print and electronic

• to understand copyright issues & cite sources properly using APA or MLA

• to narrow a topic and select search terms best suited to the research topic

• to utilize full-text databases, eBook collections, and digital media

• to understand the difference between popular and scholarly sources

• to evaluate Websites

Typically most instructors assume these information literacy skills are in place and do not take class time to teach students how to search for information. Sadly, many students do not possess these essential information literacy skills, although they surf the WWW, download music, and text wonderfully well. Moreover, the information world is ever changing. New tools are released such as Reference Universe, new database interfaces are released as was the case of for all EBSCOhost databases in July 2008, and then specialized, subject-specific databases are available about which students know next to nothing.
Students become anxious and overwhelmed by research assignments, but may say little to you, the Professor. Who wants to admit such things to one’s professor? We librarians see these students at the library, wondering and wandering.
How?
Gardner-Harvey librarians are adopting a proactive approach to information literacy for students who may never walk through the doors of our Library. We are offering MUM Faculty who are teaching off-site, online, or VOA courses a suite of library services to strengthen student achievement. See the list below and determine which ones would work best in your class. Then contact one of GHL Librarians to create the services selected. Let’s work together to ensure your students have the research skills they need to succeed.

1. We will come to your classroom and provide information literacy instruction, customized to your student research project or paper. Typical sessions last from 45-75 minutes.
2. We will create research guides listing research strategies, full-text databases, and citation tools to assist students in completing research assignments for Nursing, Botany, Computer Info Tech.
3. We offer individual research consultations by appointment, using an online form
4. We have built a series of brief screencasts covering essential information literacy concepts and skills which you may link to from your Blackboard course.
For example: “The Ins and Outs of Searching for Information”
5. We will build new Captivate screencasts if one is not already available.
6. We will post reference works and authoritative Websites relevant to a specific course on Delicious.com See one example for Nursing 105
7. Pilot Program: Embedded Librarian in Blackboard, Spring Semester 2009
Because Gardner-Harvey librarians teach credit courses using Blackboard, we are able to work with students in your Blackboard course as an instructor or course builder. We will partner with you during the research component of the course or throughout the semester if you prefer, by answering students’ questions dealing with research in the discussion board, blog, announcements, or email. We will suggest sources, research tips, and new ways of working efficiently. We are eager to connect your students with the many and ever-expanding collection of electronic resources available to Miami University students.
When
To ensure January 2009 Library Services are in place for your course and students, contact the Gardner-Harvey Librarians now to discuss the most effective suite of library services for your course requirements.

Blackboard Embedded Librarian Pilot Program

What is a Blackboard embedded librarian?
An embedded librarian partners with faculty members in the Blackboard environment as an instructor or course builder. One of the Gardner-Harvey librarians will assist with your class research endeavors. These research efforts may include links to library resources, methods of narrowing a topic, explaining how to identify search terms, or using RefWorks to manage bibliographic citations. Today’s students possess technology skills, but may feel uncertain when embarking on the “Research Voyage” alone. A knowledgeable, available navigator may be welcomed to address students’ questions and concerns. Through the Discussion Forum, Blog, Email, Announcements, Library Resources Button, or FAQ the librarian will interact with individuals or the class as a whole. In this way the librarian may comment on the student’s selected research topic, suggest relevant academic resources, and provide strategies of solving information problems, explain confusing concepts like intellectual property and plagiarism, administer online information literacy quizzes, and generally encourage academic scholarship among your students. You remain the subject expert but collaborate with a professional librarian versed in current academic research methods.

Why would I want an embedded librarian turning up in my Blackboard course?
Academic librarians are passionate about instructing students in information literacy. We want to develop these essential 21st century skills in your students so they become effective, efficient researchers. These skills are learned and cannot be assumed to be in place. Sometimes students survive on a slim set of research skills. When they encounter the semester term paper, the capstone project, or the graduate thesis, which all require subject specific resources and research strategies previously unknown, they falter. So many sources of information; so many questions… Enter the librarian, proposing this joint venture with you.

How long would this relationship last?
Gardner-Harvey librarians are willing to engage your students during the research component of your Blackboard course for several weeks or throughout the entire semester. If you prefer, we will assist at start-up only to spotcheck your research assignment from a research perspective, to build a library resources page customized to the course to include reference works, databases and collections, authoritative Web sites, supply controlled vocabulary and subject headings, links to screencasts teaching core skills we have created or endorse, and our contact information. You tell us which collaborative arrangement best fits your needs.
Contact us by December 15, 2008 to set this working relation in motion so as to be ready for the January 2009 Pilot Program.
Contact:
Gardner-Harvey Library, Miami University Middletown
http://www.mid.muohio.edu/library
John Burke, Director burkejj@muohio.edu 73293
Beth Tumbleson, Assistant Director tumbleb@muohio.edu 73232
Sarah Frye, Public Services fryesm@muohio 73291

What College Faculty Say Freshmen Students Don't Do

At a recent state-wide conference for academic librarians, I was introduced to the following list titled “What College Faculty Say Freshmen Students Don’t Do.” This list highlights many skills which librarians at the Gardner-Harvey strive to teach Miami University students. Take a look at the list – if you are a student, do you think that this list accurately describes your skills abilities? If you are faculty or staff, do you think this list accurately describes your students or even yourself?

Librarians revel in sharing their knowledge on these topics and at GHL we eagerly seek opportunities to work within the campus community to debunk lists of things which students “Don’t Do.” We encourage you to challenge yourself! If you notice unfamiliar terms or concepts in this list, stop by the library and see what your librarians can do for you!

Albert Einstein said it best: “If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it? :o)


What College Faculty Say Freshmen Students Don’t Do

GENERAL
- Know what they don’t know
- Know who to ask for research help
- Understand library jargon, ex. “full text”

RESEARCH PROCESS AND QUESTIONS
- Follow research process steps, ex. information literacy model
- Estimate time required for research, ex. Interlibrary loan
- Define a research question or topic that’s not shallow or ‘pop’

SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION
- Find different formats of information
- Understand that web search engines rarely locate college-appropriate information
- Distinguish between OPACs and online databases
- Conduct effective searches using
o Keywords, alternate search terms
o Boolean terms, ex. AND, OR
o Controlled vocabulary, subject headings
o Field searching, ex. author, title

- Interpret search results
- Find full text of articles
- Find books using Library of Congress (LC) classification, not Dewey
- Use reference books in the library
- Regroup when first attempts to find resources don’t work, ex. try a different database

EVALUATING INFORMATION
- Weed through search results to find adequate and accurate information
- Evaluate information using standard evaluation criteria
- Distinguish between popular and scholarly articles
- Disregard inadequate or inaccurate information

USING INFORMATION
- Synthesize, communicate, and argue a thesis using evidence
- Analyze data and statistics
- Represent, analyze, and critique the ideas of others ethically
- Write without plagiarizing (accidentally or otherwise), ex. use in-text citations - Cite sources properly using multiple citation styles, ex. Citation Builder

P. Owen & M. OakleafUsing Evidence to Bridge the 12-13 Gap OELMA 2008

New materials for September/October

The September/October new materials list is now available. We added 123 books, DVDs, and other items over the last two months, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Watch out! Library video tutorials

The library has added a new way for you to learn about our services, discover how to search databases, and find guidance on information fluency concepts: screencasts! Screencasts are brief video tutorials that you can watch to review searching concepts or other information prior to working (or while you work) on library research.

Each screencast is fairly short (3-6 minutes). Our current list of screencasts includes several that we produced and a number that have been freely shared by OhioLINK, other academic libraries, and database producers. You can see them here.

Special thanks on the development of our screencasts goes to assistant library director Beth Tumbleson for her efforts on the project. Beth was able to take part in a faculty learning community sponsored by the Center of Online Learning (CoOL), and the work of that group toward the development of online Nursing classes provided the impetus for our screencasts. We are grateful to CoOL and the Department of Nursing for their assistance/motivation.

This is a great way to gain a quick overview of library concepts. We would be happy to have faculty members link to appropriate screencasts from their Blackboard classrooms or other sites. If there are screencasts you would like us to develop on specific resources or research areas, please let us know.

Want to create some visual interest in your classes?

Update:

If you missed the sessions, there are some extremely helpful resources for learning to use ARTstor on your own at http://help.artstor.org.proxy.lib.muohio.edu/wiki/index.php/Materials. See the PDFs of session outlines and handouts for the materials presented on the 8th. You may also find brief video tutorials for ARTstor on YouTube.

Join a representative from the database ARTstor on Wednesday morning, October 8th, for a series of training sessions on this digital library of nearly one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences. Here’s a link to the database: http://www.lib.muohio.edu/indexes/redirect/447

Thanks to our library colleagues in Oxford, the Gardner-Harvey Library will host three sessions on ARTstor between 9:00 and noon. Each session has a distinct focus on the database, but if you can only attend one the trainer is flexible about fitting each one to people’s specific needs or interests (she will be happy to give a general overview as a part of each session). Here are the times and topics:

9:00-10:00 - Introduction to ARTstor: introductory session on what ARTstor can do, basic navigation, etc

10:00-11:00 - Teaching with ARTstor: how to incorporate ARTstor into coursework. Creating image groups, instructor’s settings, etc.

11:00-12:00 - Presenting with ARTstor: how to use the offline image viewer, etc.

All sessions will be held in the library’s Learning Lab (GRD 111) so that there can be an opportunity for hands-on work.

You may wish to consider the possibilities of using this resource in courses from various disciplines. ARTstor has prepared guides for using its resources in fields such as anthropology, medieval studies, theater, women’s studies, music history, history, foreign languages, and more!: http://www.artstor.org/using-artstor/u-html/interdisciplinary.shtml.

If you’d like to see what ARTstor could provide for you and your students, please stop by one of the sessions on Wednesday. Be sure to invite interested students as well! Light refreshments will be available.

Wii want to play . . . and learn

The library has recently purchased a Nintendo Wii. It is available for your gaming pleasure in the new STAR Lounge, with a selection of games to choose from. This gaming device offers a unique combination of physical inputs (i.e., you don't sit on the couch to play it; you have to move around) and social interactions (the games encourage multiple players). You can see a list of the games and controllers we have available here. Most games are available for library use only, but a rotating selection of titles will be available for one-day checkout for those with Wiis at home.

Why a Wii? Well, we're interested in exploring this technology not only for its recreational possibilities but its potential as an educational tool. A recent Educause document details the 7 things you should know about the Wii. Our student assistants have replicated the experiments with the Wiimote controller shown here. A forthcoming study from the American Library Association will explore the possible connections between gaming and literacy. We hope that you will join us in these investigations, sharing this resource that we have purchased for all of us to use in common.

So whether you want to practice your bowling, or try out the WiiFit on your lunch hour, or experience Star Wars The Force Unleashed or MarioKart, come by the library and check out the Wii!

Library Open House

Fall semester is in full swing! The Gardner-Harvey Library staff has been hard at work creating new resources and services for the 2008-2009 academic year. We would like to invite all members of the campus community to the Library to learn more about what we have to offer – we think that you will be surprised and delighted with what you find. Meet and greet the librarians, enjoy refreshments (yes, you can eat in the library!), take part in our Nintendo Wii tournament (yes, we have a Wii!), take a break on our new outdoor terrace, attend brief information sessions highlighting our new services, and have your name entered into a drawing for a prize give-away.

Mark your calendars -

3:00-5:00 pm on Wednesday, September 24th
1:00-3:00 pm on Thursday, September 25th

We hope you'll join us! Stop by for a few minutes between classes and meetings or stick around and relax at the library for the afternoon.

Personalized Research Help

Does the information universe seem vast and mysterious? Do you find research assignments frustrating? Have you ever wished for a guide to help you search for and find information? Well, now you can request a consultation with a Gardner-Harvey librarian! Consultations are an opportunity for you to work one-on-one with a librarian who can suggest research strategies, search terms, and print and electronic resources. Librarians can also show you tools for citing sources. Learn more about this service and make an appointment by filling out the online form on the Library’s website at:

http://www.mid.muohio.edu/library/consultation.cfm

Or, stop by the Library and fill out a purple request form at the InfoDesk. A librarian will contact you within 24 hours to set up a time and you’ll be on your way to receiving unhurried, personalized help with your research questions.

Textbooks Collection Gains Donation and Grows

Thanks to a tremendous donation of funds from Robert and Nita Driscoll, the library's Textbooks on Reserve collection has expanded. Robert was an active member of the Middletown community and a patron of the Gardner-Harvey Library for many years. Mrs. Driscoll made this gift to the campus in memory and continuation of his efforts to support education. Textbooks have certainly not become cheaper, and this gift extends our reach to serve students.

We've added 38 new books to the collection, updating a number of changed editions and adding books for ten new courses: (ACC 221, ACC 222, ART 111, ART 121, ART 186, CJS 125, EDP 209, MBI 111, MKT 291, MTH 125). We now offer textbooks for more than 85 Miami courses.

Be sure to check the list at http://www.mid.muohio.edu/library/textbooks.cfm to see if textbooks are available for your course. And keep your donations of used copies or extra desk copies coming! We are always eager to extend this program to help students have access to the learning materials they need.

What's New @Your Gardner-Harvey Library

While you were away this summer, library space was renovated to heighten your learning and recreation!
For the outdoor-type, sit at the new cafe tables on the back terrace. Read, study, and chat while gazing on the green hillside. For the indoor-type, explore the STAR Lounge (Space for Technology, Academics, and Recreation). Here you may practice PowerPoint presentations, watch DVDs with a group, connect to cable TV, or game with Nintendo Wii. New signage should help direct you to these library areas.
While here, grab a copy of Navigating the Information Universe, our Fall Semester 2008 newsletter to update the Miami University Middletown community on library developments, services, and resources available to Faculty/Staff and Students. The information world is ever expanding.

New Materials for July

The July new materials list is now available. We added 215 books, DVDs, and other items last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

New Materials for June

The June new materials list is now available. We added 250 books, DVDs, and other items last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Three New OhioLINK Libraries

Please join us in welcoming OhioLINK's newest member institutions: Ohio Christian University (located in Circleville), Saint Mary Seminary & Graduate School of Theology (located in Wickliffe) and the University of Northwestern Ohio (located in Lima). Records from St. Mary Seminary and the University of Northwestern Ohio were recently loaded into the OhioLINK Library Catalog. Ohio Christian University's records will be loaded soon. The three new libraries will have PCIRC training in July and should be live and able to place and receive requests in August.

These newest additions bring the total number of OhioLINK member institutions to 90, including 16 public/research universities, 23 community/technical colleges, 50 private colleges and the State Library of Ohio.

(from Candi Clevenger at OhioLINK)

Sarah Frye joins GHL staff!

We are happy to welcome Sarah Frye to our staff today. Sarah is our new Public Services Librarian, and will provide reference and instructional services for the library and the campus. She will also handle interlibrary loan requests. Sarah joins us from the staff of the Vogel Library of Wartburg College in Waverly, IA. Be sure to welcome her when you see her around campus.

Database Changes for July 1

Beginning July 1, several OhioLINK databases will be replaced with new resources. The affected databases are funded by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, which is administered through the State Library of Ohio, and are available to all Ohioans through Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO). LCO is a collaborative effort of OhioLINK, OPLIN, INFOhio, and the State Library of Ohio. Libraries Connect Ohio is constantly striving to provide the strongest portfolio of research resources possible to serve the diverse lifelong learning needs of all Ohioans, within budgetary limitations.

What’s Changing?

(The following links are somewhat unstable at the moment -- they will be linked from the University Libraries' Indexes & Databases page when they are fully up and running)

* Biography Reference Bank will replace American National Biography. Biography Reference Bank provides biographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present, along with thousands of images.

* Consumer Health Complete (an EBSCOhost database) provides convenient access to easily understandable health and medical information including medical encyclopedias, popular reference books and magazine articles.

* Science Online will replace AccessScience. Science Online presents a broad range of scientific disciplines through extensive definitions, essays, diagrams, biographies, and experiments.

* World Book Web (includes World Book Dictionary, World Book Atlas, World Book Advanced, World Book Kids, and Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos) will replace Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, Encyclopaedia Britannica School Edition and Enciclopedia Universal en Español. World Book Web is a suite of online research tools that delivers encyclopedia articles, primary source collections, educator tools, student activities, pictures, audio, and video, complemented by current periodicals and related Web sites.

In addition, OhioLINK will not be renewing its subscription to Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and Bibliography of the History of Art. Some OhioLINK member libraries may continue to subscribe some of the canceled resources individually (Miami is continuing with American National Biography at least; more news as it develops). Please let us know if you have any questions.

Journal Articles Now in WorldCat.org

Library online catalogs used to contain the catalog or bibliographic records for books, movies, sound recordings, and journal titles to which the library subscribed. But never articles published in magazines and journals! So researchers looking for periodical articles typically start in a full-text, subscription database made available through libraries.

Change has come! Two long established publishers and database vendors H.W. Wilson, 1898- and Modern Language Association, 1883- have negotiated an agreement with OCLC, a worldwide library consortium, to make available “article-level records” in WorldCat.org

This means researchers may search a single, vast catalog for books and more than fifty million articles from such databases as MEDLINE, ERIC, British Library, GPO Monthly Catalog, and OCLC ArticleFirst. Once the article is located in WorldCat.org, the article will be cross-linked to the full-text database in one’s local library when you click on "Find a Copy." Print holdings of periodicals held by your local library or Miami University Libraries will also be listed. Integrated searching of authoritative journal articles has just gotten a little easier.

Readers To Gather & Discuss

The Last Lecture. Randy Pausch. Hyperion. 2008. 206 pages.

Life is short. So is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Professor of Computer Science, Husband, Father, and Cancer Patient.

What dreams do you hold dear? Are you walking “The Road Less Traveled”? Come discuss what matters most when the clock is running down, as it is for each of us.

When: Thursday, June 26, 2008. 12:00-1:00 P.M.
Where: Gardner-Harvey Library, Blue Chairs Circle
Who: Everyone is welcome, even those who plan to read the book!

Read it. Be Here!
The GHL Story Squad

100 Best Technology Products of 2008

Given that a person only has so much time and money, why not use the best available products to enhance productivity and quality of life? PC World has once again created a winning one hundred list of amazing Web sites (music & video, e-mail & social networking, finance, news, and travel) browsers, laptops, smart phones, cameras, MP3 Players, GPS, games, software, and more. Products were ranked by overall quality based on design, functionality, performance, and impact. Check it out; there's something here for you!

Textbooks on Reserve Wrap-Up

The Textbooks on Reserve (TOR) program has been in place at the Gardner-Harvey Library since Fall Semester 2006. I thought it would be a good idea to let you know how the program has been used during the past academic year (2007-2008) and what changes and additions lie ahead.

TOR started as a collection of textbooks that covered about 40 courses at Miami Middletown. We now offer textbooks that serve as the main text for over 70 courses, along with supplementary materials that accompany several texts.

Use of the program has grown steadily over the last two years. This fall (2007) we tallied 232 items being checked out for use, and that was exceeded in the spring (2008) for a total of 369 checkouts. As of May 12, 2008, the textbooks included in the program have been checked out 793 times since the inception of TOR. Just last week we passed the 800 checkout mark, meaning that items held in the program have circulated an average of nearly 8 times each.

The ten most popular textbooks used by students at MUM are the following (listed with their total lifetime checkouts):

• Elementary and Intermediate Algebra (MTH 101/102) - 98
• Panorama (SPN 101/102) - 77
• Prealgebra (MTH 002) - 74
• Materials and Processes in Manufacturing (ENT 152) - 55
• Engineering Materials (ENT 151) - 48
• Hole's Human Anatomy & Physiology (ZOO 171) - 35
• General Chemistry (CHM 137/141) - 34
• New Perspectives on Microsoft Office 2007 (CIT 154) - 29
• Psychology (PSY 111) - 28
• Microbiology, a Systems Approach (MBI 111/161) - 23

Panorama had been our most popular book for four straight semesters, but Spring 2008 uses pushed the MTH 101/102 book ahead.

The numbers only tell part of the story. Each checkout represents a student who needed to use a given book; perhaps for just two hours, perhaps overnight. Students have taken books to class, studied them in the library, and worked on problem sets at home. The stories that we hear as we interact with these students has continued to motivate us to build and maintain TOR.

In building this collection of textbooks we have benefited tremendously from the donation of textbooks by faculty members and students, funds provided by Miami Middletown Student Government, the use of department library acquisitions funds to purchase textbooks, and the library funding we are provided by the campus. In the year ahead, we will receive further funding for TOR from a donor (more on this later) which will help us keep up our current coverage of courses and expand that reach.

So, we head into summer with the goal of buying new texts, replacing changed editions, and looking for more needs we can meet. One thing we would like to work on this year is a Textbook Donation Program at the end of each semester. Students might decide to donate their used texts to the library for TOR rather than keeping them or selling them back. Again, more on this later.

Thank you to everyone who has supported TOR and helped us spread the word among students! We greatly appreciate your help.

John

New Materials for May

The May new materials list is now available. We added over 380 books, DVDs, and other items last month, thanks to the impressive efforts of our faculty selectors and the library staff. There is truly something here for everyone, from Nietzsche to hiking, six-word memoirs to running 5ks, Euler to toothpicks. Well, it seemed like there was something for everyone. Like motherhood, and sex, and water detectives, and germs, and immigration, and blogging, and . . . well, you get the idea. Check out the list!

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

Playaways update

If you've enjoyed using our Playaway digital books, you're in for a treat. All right, if you haven't used them before, you should be excited, too.

We have just added 22 more titles to the collection (with many thanks to Cathy Bishop Clark for her recommendations - hey, you could suggest titles, too!). You can quickly browse the whole list of 130 titles here (most of the new ones are at the top of the list).

You can also browse them in person right in front of our circulation desk in our new rotating Playaway display stand. We're populating the stand now, but it will be ready for your browsing pleasure shortly.

John

New Materials for April

We have just posted our new materials list for April, and it's a doozy. Over 240 books, DVDs, and other items have been added to the collection this month. A new feature of this month's list: a (hopefully) clearer division of the items into subject areas.

You can find our current and previous new materials lists on the left hand side of our web site under "New Materials Lists."

Have a suggestion of something to order? Email one of our staff members or drop by the library. Thanks!

John

What does the lawsuit against Georgia State mean?

Here's a well-written explanation of the recent lawsuit filed by the American Association of Publishers against Georgia State University over its use of an electronic reserves service (and perhaps also involving faculty members posting class readings in the university course management system).

NUL Copyright: What does the lawsuit against Georgia State mean?

Libraries have long provided access to materials on reserve in support of faculty members and their students. Section 108 of Title 17 of the United States Code, AKA the "Copyright Law of the United States of America" specifically guarantees the right for libraries to hold copies of works for the use of students in a given class for the duration of that class.

This case questions the ability of Section 108 to apply in a digital environment. Along with many other academic libraries, Miami University Libraries offers electronic reserves services -- see our guidelines here. We will be carefully watching this case and will post updates as they occur.

KnowItNow Academic: Virtual Reference Service

Got information woes? Need a little help with a research question? Far from a library? Turn to a new, free statewide virtual reference service known as KnowItNow Academic. The program, piloted from January to March 2008 through the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services grant has now become a permanent service available from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Fridays until 5:00 p.m. Academic librarians from 12 OhioLINK libraries provide reference assistance in subject queues in which they possess expertise: business, government documents, foreign languages & literature, genealogy, general, history, literature & film, music & art, science & technology, and social sciences. Outside these hours, questions are answered by the regular KnowItNow channels staffed by public librarians and After-Dark librarians, independent librarians organized by the Northeast Ohio Regional Library System so that Ohio residents have 24/7 access to reference service. Give KnowItNow Academic a try the next time you are far from your favorite physical library.

National Library Week

In celebration of National Library Week, April 13-19, 2008, Gale is offering FREE ACCESS to 21 Databases most of which are unavailable through Miami University Libraries. This is the week to work on research papers, projects, and presentations. Explore such extensive, authoritative electronic resources as Health & Wellness Resource Center, History Resource Center U.S., History Resource Center World, Nursing Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center: Critical Thinking, Science Resource Center, Small Business Resource Center, etc.



In addition, FREE ACCESS to Books & Authors, a new online readers' advisory resource is available throughout all of April. Build your summer reading list now of favorite authors, genres, expert picks, or award winners. Take a book along wherever you travel.

Chinese-Language Arts and Humanities Journals

OhioLINK member institutions now have access to 257 Chinese-language arts and humanities journals in the China Online Journals collection from Wanfang.

You can access the COJ journals via several links:

Browse the database: http://www.wanfangdata.com/COJ/browse.asp
or http://www1.wanfangdata.com/COJ/browse.asp

Quick Search: http://www.wanfangdata.com/COJ/quick_search.asp
or http://www1.wanfangdata.com/COJ/quick_search.asp

Advanced search: http://www.wanfangdata.com/COJ/advanced_search.asp or
http://www1.wanfangdata.com/COJ/advanced_search.asp

This resource has been added to the OhioLINK list of databases under China Online Journals and as "also recommended" under all subject areas. It will be added to the Miami University Libraries Indexes and Databases list shortly.