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