New Group Workstation with Large Monitor

Ask for the keyboard and the mouse at the Circulation or Help Desk.

Library Laptops to Check Out

We now have eight.

The Library Learning Commons-- A Busy Place

Take a look. We're filling up our 30+ workstations every day.

Welcome Trustees

Welcome to our Trustees as they come on campus for their spring meeting.

We'd like you know what we've been doing in Library and Educational Services.

1. The computers in the Library Learning Commons are used more than any other computers on the campus, and we're here at the Help Desk to work with students and faculty. A Group Study workstation with a large monitor and a large table for students to work together has recently been added to the Learning Commons. In addition, eight wireless laptops are now available for students to use in the library.

2. We're planning a special campus event for International Edible Book Day on April 1st. Look for pictures after the 1st. http://www.diffusionadage.com/livremangeable/index.html

Here's another site:

http://www.eatyourwordsboulder.com/Gallery07Shamane.html

3. The Educational Technology Department headed by Dr. Daonain Liu has successfully brought video conferencing to Alvernia. The new equipment will connect our three campus sites and enable faculty to teach students on more than one campus at the same time.

4. Dr. Liu and her staff are learning to use a Scantron machine so that they can train faculty in the use of this automatic grading machine.

http://www.scantron.com/

5. Wimba, an interactive web-based communication systems, is being tested by five faculty members this semester. http://www.wimba.com/products/wimbaclassroom/ Dr. Liu is also directing the Wimba pilot.

6. Librarians, Leon Weber, Kristin Brumbach, and Curtis Datko, are offering workshops on topics like Evaluating Websites and Managing Citations in Research Papers for students and faculty members as well as teaching information literacy classes for specific courses.

7. Soon "Roving Librarians" will begin to meet with students around the campus in the dining halls and cafes at peak times. Using wireless computers, the librarians can help students over coffee and donuts at breakfast or over fries and burgers before an evening class.

8. For the 50th anniversary celebration, Dr. Marti Smith and other members of the Academic Sub-Committee, will be leading Alvernia Reads, a year long program focusing on The Little Flowers of St. Francis.

From the project description: The purpose of the Alvernia Reads project is to weave a common intellectual thread throughout the anniversary year. The focus book, The Little Flowers of St. Francis, available both in print and in free electronic editions, represents the enduring heritage and the future potential of Alvernia. For the first fifty years, the life and message of St. Francis informed and shaped learning, service, and love. These foundational values passed down by the Bernardine Franciscan sisters through successive decades continue to challenge. Today, Francis is recognized as both a respected historical figure and also a universal symbol of simplicity, peace, and spiritual seeking. Alvernia Reads will begin with one book and one author as the launching point for a wide-variety of activities, course assignments, and creative endeavors to unite the community in embracing the opportunities of the next fifty years.

9. Soon video game equipment will be available for overnight check-out. Gaming, both for entertainment and learning, is becoming a staple of campus life. The Gaming Project is a joint endeavor with Student Life.

10. Finally, a planning process is now underway to repurpose an area in the building to provide space and equipment for audio and video production and other multi-media resources for teaching and learning.

11. Highlighting New Resources

• Educational DVD's for enhancing the curriculum in music, nursing, science, and history.
• Linking software to make article databases more accessible on and off campus
• Print and electronic Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
• Interactive DVD for preparing for job interviews: The Virtual Interview
• Additional resources for the graduate programs, new courses in the doctoral program, and the new masters program in nursing

Happy Spring Break and Off Campus Access

Wishing everyone a good spring break. Remember that you can log in to our databases while off campus. Forget how? Look here under off-campus access. Click for instructions:
http://www.alvernia.edu/library/WAM.htm

Do You Use Your Alvernia Email?

We're talking about how to get in touch with students. If you don't use your Alvernia email, please let us know why here.

Need Help with Your Research Assignment: Make an Appointment

We'll be glad to meet with you. Call or email the library and ask for an appointment for research help. library.calendar@alvernia.edu or 610-796-8223

Free Pass to the Reading Public Museum

The Library has a free pass for students and faculty to use at the Reading Public Museum, 500 Museum Road, 610-371-5850.

Faculty may reserve the pass to take a group of students.

Students may reserve the pass as well. Call the library at 610-796-8223.

Check out DVD's

We have lots of new and older DVDs. They may be checked out for a week.

Alvernia Reads for the 50th Anniversary

Beginning in May we'll be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Alvernia. As part of our celebration, we'll be focusing on The Little Flowers by St. Francis of Assisi. Look here for more details.

Persistent Links: What Happens When They Don't Work

Today I had a question from a student who couldn't get a persistent link to work She was asked to enter a login and password. What happened? Unfortunately, sometimes the interfaces don't work and you get the wrong page. I suggest that we all accept the reality that machines are just not as smart as we are, so when something doesn't work, we have to think of another way to get what we want. Usually you see the name of the journal, the volume number, the pages, and the date. If so, go to the Full Text Periodical Finder and go in through another door. You should only need your Alvernia off campus login. Name as it appears in our system, Complete ID #, and the PIN (usually the last four numbers of the ID#). Be sure to call if you need help. 610-796-8223. Let me know if you have specific problems. We want to know if you can't get the systems to work. Sometimes we can fix a problem from inside.

Subject Guides by the Librarians

http://www.alvernia.edu/library/guides/

You'll find guides to psychology and education.

Advanced Educational Psychology-- More

http://www.alvernia.edu/library

We're planning to update the look of our webpage soon. How should we make it easier for you to use?

Can you tell that we have e-books?

How would you find a video or DVD on gifted children?

Can you find a database that contains state laws?

Do we have children's books? Find one.

Can you find an APA style guide?

Advaced Educational Psychology in the MED .Program

On Monday evening I'll be visiting Dr. Kay Jones' class on Advanced Educational Psychology. Let me share some of the resources I'll use in class. If you are in the class, please comment here and let me know what your topic interests are.

I'm going to start with Google Scholar since our journals are now linked in Google Scholar.

http://scholar.google.com Look for "educational psychology." What do you find here and how is it useful to you?

Did you use the basic or the advanced search screen? Take a good look at the Advanced Search Screen.

Here's a sample of what you can find on Advanced Search


Advanced Scholar Search
Advanced Search Tips About Google Scholar
Find articles
with all of the words

with the exact phrase

with at least one of the words

without the words

where my words occur
anywhere in the article
in the title of the article
Author
Return articles written by
e.g., "PJ Hayes" or McCarthy

Publication
Return articles published in
e.g., J Biol Chem or Nature

Date
Return articles published between
e.g., 1996

Think about these categories and how they help you find the articles you need.

Full Text Periodical Finder-- A New Look

Check it out:

There's a new look and more ways to use the Full Text Periodical Finder. We now have access to more than 20,000 full-text journals, so the Finder is even more important.

http://qm4qj4lz3m.search.serialssolutions.com/

You can get there from here too.
http://www.alvernia.edu/library

Roving Librarians Are Coming Soon

Here is a picture of me at a conference some years ago.

Look for us in an dining area near you.

New for Valentine's Day-- Win the Candy

Guess how many hearts are in the candy dish! Guess the right number, and you could win the jar and the candy.

Yes, we have full-texts of articles and books.

Full-text is the best!



What's the big deal about electronic databases in academic libraries?


To me the answer is access to full-text articles. Remember that these are real articles just like in print but they are available to you from your computer on or off campus because we pay for subscriptions.

http://www.alvernia.edu/library Click on Article Databases. When you get into the database of your choice, select full-text. Need help? Call 610-796-8223.

Also, Alvernia has lots of electronic books through NetLibrary.
http://www.netlibrary.com/Search/AdvancedSearch.aspx




These are great resources for you to use. Look at our electronic resources page.





http://www.alvernia.edu/library