Marti'sLearningPlace

The Infoethicist Is Now Connected

2008-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

http://infoethicist.blogspot.com I'm working on my first posting, a revised ethics quiz. Let me know if you have any ideas for examples to use on the quiz.

The Infoethicist: Website Here

2008-06-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

http://infoethicist.blogspot.com

I need to make sure that my two blogs are connected. For posts in 2006, look at The Infoethicist http://infoethicist.blogspot.com

Switching to Information Ethics Blog Soon

2008-06-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

Look there for The New and Improved Ethics Quiz

Information Ethics Again

2008-06-16T18:19:00.001-07:00

I'm planning to start posting again to my information ethics blog. I'll post the address here when I do.

Bye and Hello Again

2008-06-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Friends and Colleagues,
To borrow from Hilary Clinton at her final campaign rally-- this isn't the kind of year end memo I expected to be writing. First I want to thank so many of you for the gifts of friendship and good work over the past two years. I will remember the challenges and successes we've had and the joys of getting to know so many new people. I wish you all the very best for the future.

At church we have a custom to bring closure when a church member or pastor leaves or steps down from a particular responsibility. During Sunday worship, we have a liturgy to mark the ending and a new beginnning. If we apply the same convention to the current setting, I'd ask you to release me from my responsibilities and our former relationships and also ask you to forgive any shortcomings. At the same time, I would offer you release from the past and forgiveness for any shortcomings. Even from a distance, I feel a great deal of peace to think of us performing this rite of passage.

In the immediate future, I will be doing some guest preaching at various churches in the area and exploring my future career options. On June 1st, I lead worship over in the Conshohocken area for Gulph UCC. On the 15th (Father's Day) I'll be at my home church, Immanuel UCC in Shillington, for the 8am and 10:30am services. Some of you may not know that preaching is my most favorite activity in church while being in the nursery with the babies is a close second. With a Ph. D. in Biblical Studies, it's fun to get in the pulpit and make the gospel real. I'll be helping out at Immanuel later in the summer as our pastors are away on mission trips or vacations. I hope to do more preaching in the area as well. It may be that I'll do the training for intentional interim ministry. Years ago I served two churches in interim periods and enjoyed it very much. In case you don't know about this part of my life, I've been ordained in the United Church of Christ since 1983 (before that in the United Methodist Church--1971). http://www.ucc.org

April has been talking to me about our starting a consulting business. Combining our backgrounds, we could cover a wide territory from healthy eating (April) to online teaching (me). Right now consulting on the starting or growing online programs appeals to me. I'd be especially interested in online programs in seminaries. I'm still not ready to get back into teaching online or on a campus. I do love the library and working with new technologies, so in time I'll look into that area as well. I've also thought of doing some more speaking on information ethics, particularly in faith-based settings. Since I'm now free to travel, it would be fun to get back out on the circuit. As most of you know, I love to be "on stage." Writing still calls me, so do check here from time to time to see what happens with that.

To keep myself healthy, I'm going back to yoga and probably swimming. So far I'm still making progress is losing the weight to get back to my Weight Watcher goal. Three pounds so far is pretty good.

Please stay in touch. Even as we move along on separate paths, I'll be thinking of you. My email addresses for now are Google: martismith419@gmail.com and AOL: martismith419@aol.com I'll be glad to send you other contact info.
Peace and hope,
Marti

No Longer with Alvernia College

2008-06-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Please note that this blog will no longer contain any information about Alvernia College. I will continue as a personal blog.

Alvernia Reads for the 50th Anniversary

2008-05-29T11:26:00.001-07:00

Alvernia Reads 2008-2009
The Little Flowers of St. Francis
Look here for more information.

Copyright Workshop Resources

2008-04-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Gang,
This is such a busy time of year, so I decided to put the resources I'll be using in my workshops of Copyright and the New World of Scholarly Communication on the blog. Enjoy.
Marti

Workshop on Copyright and Scholarly Communication: Reminder

2008-04-16T11:40:00.001-07:00

Saturday, April 26th. Please email me and let me know if you can attend. marti.smith@alvernia.edu 10-12noon and 2-4pm (The same material will be repeated.)

For more details, see posting for March 6th.

April 5th Workshop: From Finding Information to the PowerPoint Presentation

2008-04-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

Outline of the Workshop: Finding and Using Quality Resources
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Dr. Marti Smith

Schedule: (15 mins. presentation and 15 mins. for questions and personal assistance)
10:00 Finding Information from Quality Sources: Library Subscription Databases

10:30 Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due (Citing sources, print and electronic; Avoiding Plagiarism and Other Intellectual Property Mistakes; Protecting Your Intellectual Property Rights)

11:00 Academic Research Sources to Inform Original Research (Google Scholar and Peer-reviewed Sources; Dissertations and Faculty Websites)

11:30 PowerPoint for Impact and Understanding

http://mmslearningplace.blogspot.com/

Part 1: Finding Information for Scholarly Research
If the goal is to identify current research in a particular area, then here are some of the steps you mind take.
1. Start with two or three of the database(s) and search for some key names or terms. For example, search for a scholar (Brenda Dervin); a method or theory (sense-making); and a methodological approach (participant observation).

2. Quickly note the results for quantity and quality. Document for later use the key terms, descriptors, technical terms, names of journals, or other aspects of your searches. Note the history feature in the EBSCO databases.

3. Review how to save, email, and print your results.
After some general searching, review your results and decide what to do next.

Part 2: Intellectual Property: Theirs, Yours, Mine
To become a part of the community of people who create new knowledge and cultivate the preservation of knowledge, the new scholar will need to learn the customs and conventions of his or her particular field. In the digital world, this is a special challenge. Today we will review some of the basics and invite you to continue to build your awareness and competences as you move through your studies.

1. Most of us will use APA style or a variation of it. http://www.apa.org
In submitting manuscripts, we can be guided by the conventions of the specific journal. Usually, copy editors guide the final revision of the manuscript.

2. What about one’s own intellectual property? Is it always necessary to sign away right to publishers? What about retaining copyright?

Part 3: Google Scholar for Scholarly Research http://scholar.google.com

1. Google Scholar and Citation Databases: What do new scholars need to know about patterns in scholarly communication? See a useful article on citation indexing in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_index Also see the Web of Knowledge web site http://isiwebofknowledge.com/

2. Alvernia databases integrated into Google Scholar Review access to full text holdings through the Full Text Periodical Finder
Alvernia holdings and Google Book search http://books.google.com

Part 4: PowerPoint and Poster Presentations http://www.microsoft.com
1. Using a Pp template: Simple is best. Don’t read the slides.
2. Doing a poster presentation starting with Pp.
3. Pp and pdf

It's a bird, it's a plane, No, it's a book. Google Books

2008-03-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Cited by 1041. How important is J. Lofland?

[BOOK] Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and AnalysisJ Lofland, LH Lofland - 1984 - Arden Shakespeare, TheCited by 1041 - Related Articles - Web Search - Library Search

J Lofland: Look at the Dates

2008-03-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ask yourself. What is the value of finding articles and books from decades ago that have been cited by many?

Tip: Try removing quotes from your search to get more results.

Doing Social Life: The Qualitative Study of Human Interaction in Natural SettingsJ Lofland - Chapter One - questia.com... The leadership of Leon H. Mayhew in that milieu has been particularly appreciated.JOHN LOFLAND. Davis, California July 1976. -ix-. Questia Media America, Inc. ... Cited by 106 - Related Articles - Web Search - Library Search

[BOOK] Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and AnalysisJ Lofland, LH Lofland - 1984 - Arden Shakespeare, TheCited by 1041 - Related Articles - Web Search - Library Search

Look for the Lists of Citations

2008-03-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Even if you can not find one particular article, see what you can find in the citations lists.

J Lofland

A Bryman

L Smith

T Jick

A Vidich

Authors in Google Scholar: Leadership and Participant Observation

2008-03-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

J Lofland

A Bryman

L Smith

T Jick

A Vidich

JSTOR: Why is JSTOR such an important resource for research?

2008-03-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Click on the title of this article:

An Evolving Logic of Participant Observation, Educational Ethnography, and Other Case Studies - Full-Text @ AlverniaLM Smith - Review of Research in Education, 1978 - JSTORAn Evolving Logic of Participant Observation, Educational Ethnography, and OtherCase Studies. Louis M. Smith. Review of Research in Education, Vol. 6, 316-377. ... Cited by 100 - Related Articles - Web Search

Using Google Scholar with the Alvernia Databases

2008-03-27T18:38:00.001-07:00

This posting is only for the brave and determined. The good news is that we have a wonderful software program that links our articles databases with Google Scholar so that it's easier for us to find full-text or abstract information about the rich resources in Google Scholar. That's the bad news too. Don't give up yet.

First, you can see that my search found 19,000 entries. I searched leadership and the exact phrase "participant observation." Below are the first few results. Note too that under All Results there are several names. These are key names/authors found in the search.
Now look at the first result, and you'll start to see the good news and the bad news. It looks like you can find the full text in the Alvernia database, but it's not quite that simple. Do not despair. Even when you can't get directly to the full- text, often because Alvernia does not subscribe to that particular journal. But sometimes you will find it. At the workshop, I'll show you how to get the most out of this interface.

From Google Scholar Search:
All articles - Recent articles
Results 1 - 10 of about 19,900 for leadership "participant observation". (0.12 seconds)

All Results
J Lofland
A Bryman
L Smith
T Jick
A Vidich

An Evolving Logic of Participant Observation, Educational Ethnography, and Other Case Studies - Full-Text @ AlverniaLM Smith - Review of Research in Education, 1978 - JSTORAn Evolving Logic of Participant Observation, Educational Ethnography, and OtherCase Studies. Louis M. Smith. Review of Research in Education, Vol. 6, 316-377. ... Cited by 100 - Related Articles - Web Search

Qualitative research as the cornerstone methodology for understanding leadership - Full-Text @ Alvernia - all 2 versions »JA Conger - The Leadership Quarterly, 1998 - Elsevier... The author has employed observation and participant observation in two researchprojects on leadership (1985, 1992). Without a doubt ... Cited by 57 - Related Articles - Web Search

Participant Observation and the Collection and Interpretation of Data - Full-Text @ AlverniaAJ Vidich - The American Journal of Sociology, 1955 - JSTOR... In view of this widespread dependence upon participant observation as a ... betweencompeting factions, competing leaders, or leadership- membership cleavages. ... Cited by 37 - Related Articles - Web Search

Grounded theory and social process: A new direction for leadership research - Full-Text @ Alvernia - all 2 versions »KW Parry - The Leadership Quarterly, 1998 - Elsevier... Participant observation Unstructured interviewing Life history Grounded theory analysis ...s (I 99 1) content analysis of the construction of leadership images in ... Cited by 62 - Related Articles - Web Search

Doing Social Life: The Qualitative Study of Human Interaction in Natural SettingsJ Lofland - Chapter One - questia.com... The leadership of Leon H. Mayhew in that milieu has been particularly appreciated.JOHN LOFLAND. Davis, California July 1976. -ix-. Questia Media America, Inc. ... Cited by 106 - Related Articles - Web Search - Library Search

Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Triangulation in Action - Full-Text @ Alvernia - all 2 versions »TD Jick - Administrative Science Quarterly, 1979 - JSTOR... same conclusions, provide a more certain portrayal of the leadership phenomenon ... Forqualitative methods such as participant observation, this can be re- flected ... Cited by 1115 - Related Articles - Web Search

Looking for the Acronym

2008-03-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Find the acronym. See post right below:

OBEMLA

Proceedings of the Second National Research Symposium on Limited English Proficient Student Issues:
FOCUS ON EVALUATION AND MEASUREMENT
Washington, D. C.September 1991
VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2

United States Department of EducationOffice of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs Published August 1992

Note that the US Department of Education publishes a great deal of research in education and related area.

Conference Paper: Sense-Making and Science Education

2008-03-27T18:20:00.001-07:00

If we're trying to find out if sense-making might apply to a research idea we're considering we could look at papers from conferences as well as articles in scholarly journals. Here is an example:

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/symposia/second/vol2/science.htm

Science Education as a Sense-Making Practice
Proceedings of the Second National Research Symposium on Limited English Proficient Student Issues: Focus on Evaluation and Measurement. OBEMLA, 1992.

Formal Title: Science Education as a Sense-Making Practice:Implications for Assessment
Authors: Beth Warren and Ann S. RoseberyTechnical Education Research Center, Cambridge

Where would you find this acronym? OBEMLA (Think first of using the URL as a way to get more information.)

Workshop, April 5th: Sense-Making as a Methodology

2008-03-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to highlight the variety of settings identified by Dervin as appropriate for research using sense-making as a methodology.

http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/

Look here to learn about Brenda Dervin's Sense-Making Scholarship...See the quotation below:

"Sense-Making is an approach to thinking about and implementing communication research and practice and the design of communication-based systems and activities. It consists of a set of philosophical assumptions, substantive propositions, methodological framings, and methods. It has been applied in myriad settings (e.g., libraries, information systems, media systems, web sites, public information campaigns, classrooms, counseling services, and so on), at myriad levels (e.g., intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group, organizational, mass, national, global), and within myriad perspectives (e.g., constructivist, critical, cultural, feminist, postmodern, communitarian). The approach has been developed by Brenda Dervin and is being expanded, transformed, and enriched daily by the efforts of some 100-plus persons worldwide (academics and practitioners, teachers and students). This web site is designed to provide access to these efforts and links to those who are involved. On this site, Sense-Making (capitalized) refers to the methodology; sense-making (not capitalized) refers to the phenomena of making and unmaking of sense.
Since Sense-Making has been under development since 1972, it cannot be encapsulated in a few sentences or even the intersection of all the documents on this web site. It is important, however, for the reader to know that the project has been based on three central assumptions regarding communication practice: (a) That it is possible to design and implement communication systems and practices that are responsive to human needs; (b) That it is possible for humans to enlarge their communication repertoires to pursue this vision; (c) That achieving these outcomes requires the development of communication-based methodological approaches."

Using EBSCO for Help with Citation Management

2008-03-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.alvernia.edu/library

Go to Article Databases and select one of the EBSCO databases such as Education Research Complete. EDUCATION -- EBSCO

Using Advanced Search, you can probably find a good list of 10-20 full- text articles on a solid research topic and narrow it down enough to see the trends in the research.

Note that you can print, email, and save your results. Note also that after several searches you can use the "History" feature to see what you have searched and go back to previous results or combine searches. I suggest you save and email results so that you will have electronic files to document your work. We all forget what we have done and found almost as soon as our fingers leave the keys. Keep your results electronically even if you print some. You don't want to have to enter data more than once.

Enter the name of a scholar in the field and see what you find. I'm using Brenda Dervin for the workshop and also one of her dissertation students. Dr. Dervin, Ohio State, has developed and used a research theory and method called "sense-making" for several decades. I think that her work will serve as a good example for our workshop. I've chosen Dervin and sense-making for illustration because (1.) Dervin is well-established and works with the level of theory and with the methodologies most likely to be use or at least understood by students in our program in leadership studies; (2.) Sense-making as a theory and a method is used by students in a wide variety of disciplines and particularly in professional, action-oriented research; (3.) Dervin and sense-making are not so popular that as terms are the easiest to find so I can illustrate some of the subtleties in searching the electronic resources in scholarly communication.

You should be able to find "Dervin, Brenda" and "sense-making" in all of our social science databases, in Google Scholar, and in the academic regions of the web.

Original Research: Following in the Footsteps of Giants

2008-03-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

For the workshop on April 5th

Original Research: Following in the Footsteps of Giants

http://scholar.google.com/

Before the workshop, take a look at some of your key authors in Google Scholar.

Let me share a few of my own random reflections about writing in academic settings and particularly about the process of getting started in scholarly research and writing.

1. Scholars are created by other scholars.

2. The process is more like growing up in a culture and learning to survive in order to multiple than it is like anything else I know.

3. It's probably easier if you imagine growing up to be a dog after being a puppy or growing up to be a cat after being a kitten. For puppies and kittens, it is in their best interest to make the bigger beasts happy.

4. If what you plan to do for a research paper or project makes sense to ordinary people, you may be in trouble.

5. Learning the language and the conventions of the field is essential. Figure out early what seemingly everyday words mean when they are used in an academic context.

6. Original does not mean original like a short story or an editorial.

7. Scholarly work builds upon the scholarly work of those who come before. Try to understand how this works from the beginning.

8. Academic writing doesn't have to be boring but it's probably safer for you if it is. Wait until your dissertation is finished before you try to show any flair for writing creatively.

9. No two scholarly agree on what research is and how it should be done. Look for a basic but not perfect consensus among your professors.

10. Take all criticism gracefully and remember that big dogs take better care of puppies who know how to be respectful. It may not always be right but in my experiences it's true.

Citing Sources: How the databases can help.

2008-03-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

For the workshop on Saturday, April 5th

Let's use one of our databases to explore creating and managing citations. We'll also consider some of the current issues in scholarly publishing and communication and what a potential author needs to know.

First, you will find lots of basic help on our website. Look for citation guides and related resources. http://www.alvernia.edu/library

Here are some websites you may want to consult.

American Psychological Association

http://apa.org/

The Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/

Copyright Clearance Center
http://www.copyright.com/

Finding Articles in the Subscription Databases

2008-03-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

For the workshop on April 5th

The first part of the workshop on Saturday, April 5th, will focus on the subscription databases. Let me start the presentation by pointing you to our current list at http://www.alvernia.edu/library Click on Article Databases and you should get the list below. If you click on one of these links, you will be able to get inside the databases from on or off campus. The key is to know enough about the databases to make a good selection so your searching will produce the best results. I'll illustrate at the workshop.

Finding Articles
About
Multiple Topics & Disciplines - EBSCO
About
Multiple Topics & Disciplines - JSTOR
About
Book Reviews
About
Business - EBSCO
About
Business, Legal, News - LexisNexis
About
CIAO - International Affairs
About
CQ Researcher - Controversial Issues
About
Contemporary Authors
About
Criminal Justice
About
Dissertations & Theses - ProQuest
About
Dissertations & Theses - World Cat
About
Education - EBSCO
About
Education Journals - ProQuest
About
GreenFILE - Environment & Ecology
About
Health
About
History
About
Human Resources Library
About
Legal - Westlaw
About
Literature
About
National Library of Medicine
About
News
About
OT Search
About
Philosopher's Index
About
Psychology
About
Sociology
About
SportDiscus
About
Religion
About
Ulrich's Periodical Directory
About
wired.MD streaMed Patient Education Solution
About
EBSCO Database Selection
About
Databases for Marywood Students

New Resources: The Green File

2008-03-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Flowers and Trees and Earth and Sky: Oh My!

GreenFILEGreenFILE offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for approximately 295,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,600 records.
You'll find it in our list at http://www.alvernia.library/ Click on Article Databases.

GreenFILE

Ideas for our website?

2008-03-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

We're going to redo our website to make it more friendly and easier to use. Please take a look and let us know your ideas. What do you need to find most frequently? Shall we link to Facebook and other social networking sites? All ideas are welcome.

After Spring Break: Welcome Back

2008-03-07T12:57:00.001-08:00

To those who took the week off, welcome back. We missed you. I hope you will take a look at what is coming up from Library and Educational Services.

Hold the Date: April 1: Edible Book Festival Celebration

Alvernia at Philadelphia: You are invited.

2008-03-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

Alvernia at Philadelphia

This is a test document to share. Marti Smith Friday, March 7.

Philadelphia Faculty and Students: You are invited to participate in a test using Google Tools for sharing information and collaborating with each other.

Faculty Workshop: Copyright, Fair Use, and the New World of Scholarly Communication

2008-03-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

Faculty Workshop (Graduate Students Invited):
Copyright, Fair Use, and the New World of Scholarly Communication

Dr. Marti Smith, Dean of Library and Educational Services

Dates:
Saturday, April 26, 2008, 10am-Noon or 2-4pm
Monday, May 19, 2008, 2-4pm
Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 10am to Noon

Schedule:
Hour 1: The New World of Scholarly Communication
Hour 2: Copyright and Fair Use: Practical Applications for Teaching, Learning, and Research

Register: Email: marti.smith@alvernia.edu or call 610-796-8413

April 5th Workshop: From Finding Information to the PowerPoint Presentation

2008-03-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

Saturday, April 5th, 10am to Noon

Franco Library Learning Center

Library Learning Commons and Help Desk

Dr. Marti Smith, Dean of Library and Educational Services

Schedule: (15 mins. presentation and 15 mins. for questions and personal assistance)

10:00 Finding Information from Quality Sources: Library Subscription Databases

10:30 Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due (Citing sources, print and electronic; Avoiding Plagiarism and Other Intellectual Property Mistakes; Protecting Your Intellectual Property Rights)

11:00 Academic Research Sources to Inform Original Research (Google Scholar and Peer-reviewed Sources; Dissertations and Faculty Websites)

11:30 PowerPoint for Impact and Understanding

Dr. Smith will be available from 2-5 for individual or group consultations. You may make an appointment or drop by:
Email: marti.smith@alvernia.edu or call 610-796-8413

2:00-2:30

2:30-3:30

3:30-4:00

4:00-4:30

Catch-up

Off Campus Access to Electronic Databases

2008-03-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

Off-Campus Access to Electronic Databases

Alvernia College students may access all electronic databases from off-campus with a single login procedure. The login system, Web Access Management (WAM), eliminates the need to use a different password for each database vendor.
Authorized users will need three items of identification in order to login: Alvernia College I.D. name and number and a PIN (last four digits of the college I.D.). For those who are unable to access the databases, call or visit the library circulation desk (610-796-8223).
After the login procedure, all of Alvernia's subscription databases can be accessed.

Login Procedure
1. Access the library resources page at http://www.alvernia.edu/library/resources.htm
2. Select a database.
3. Enter your name and number as they appear on the front of your Alvernia College I.D. card and your PIN.
4. Click on the “Submit” button.
Note: If you are unable to login, try this trouble-shooting guide.

APA Guide to Electronic Sources and DOI's

2008-03-05T16:52:00.001-08:00

From Librarian Leon Weber:

We developed a guide highlighting the APA changes for listing references accessed from library databases. Print copies are available in the library. An electronic version can be accessed from the Library Citation Guides web page http://www.alvernia.edu/library/guides/citation.htm

The new APA guidelines are open to interpretation about how to list the source of library database articles that do not have a DOI. Two options, listing the database or the publisher home page URL, are illustrated in this guide for students. Please let your students know if you have a preference that you require on the references page.

Leon Weber
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Alvernia College Library
400 Saint Bernardine St.
Reading, PA 19607
leon.weber@alvernia.edu
610.796.8352

SlideShare--New Web Site

2008-03-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.slideshare.net/

What a great idea. We can share our presentations here.

New Group Workstation with Large Monitor

2008-02-29T13:00:00.001-08:00

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

Library Laptops to Check Out

2008-02-29T12:58:00.001-08:00

We now have eight.

The Library Learning Commons-- A Busy Place

2008-02-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

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

Welcome Trustees

2008-02-28T17:39:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-02-18T08:14:00.003-08:00

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

2008-02-18T08:14:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-18T08:13:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-18T08:12:00.002-08:00

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

Alvernia Reads for the 50th Anniversary

2008-02-18T08:12:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

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

You'll find guides to psychology and education.

Advanced Educational Psychology-- More

2008-02-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-05T16:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-02-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

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

Questions: Please ask here or at the "Ask a Librarian" Address

2008-01-29T13:46:00.000-08:00

We welcome your questions about specific assignments, research, or about our resources and services in general. Please let us know how we can serve you with your library and educational technology needs. For email use our strange address: library.calendar@alvernia.edu
Phone us at 610-796-8223.

Transcultural Nursing and Journal Access

2008-01-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Leon Weber has prepared a special resource guide for this class being taught by Terri Adams.

Look here to see special instructions for gaining access to a key journal in the field.

http://www.alvernia.edu/library/guides/transcul.htm#art

With so many electronic journals available now, it's almost impossible to keep up with all of the ways we can gain access to them. We'll try to keep you alerted.

CIAO: New Database for International Relations and Political Science

2008-01-25T06:32:00.001-08:00

CIAO: New Database with Full-text Resources for International Relations and Political Science

http://0-www.ciaonet.org.alvin.iii.com/ This resource also contains an atlas.

To get directly to the library home page:

http://www.alvernia.edu/library

Get Ready for the Edible Book Celebration

2008-01-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

The first annual Edible Book Day will be celebrated in the Franco Library on April 1st. Turn your favorite book into something to eat, and you could win a prize. Stay tuned for more details.

Get a Brain If You Ask a Librarian

2008-01-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

Have you seen our stress balls that are shaped like brains? You'll see them in the library and in class if one of us come over to do a class. Why would we give out stress balls? Brains? To remind you to use our resources.

OT Assignment again-- Books by Relatives or Friends are ok.

2008-01-23T06:20:00.001-08:00

According to the professor, students may also use books written by relatives or friends about a physical or mental challenge. For example, "Riding the Bus with My Sister" would be a good choice. Let me know if you think of some other good ones.

OT Assignment: Autobiographies on Mental or Physical Challenges

2008-01-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

For an OT assignment: Find an autobiography by someone who has faced a mental or physical challenge.

It's hard to find this kind of book in a regular library catalog. Write me personally if you want to know the details. marti.smith@alvernia.edu

In helping a student tonight, I went to amazon after not finding her first choice in the online catalog. http://www.amazon.com/

The student had asked if we had the book called "The Monster Within." We didn't, but I looked it up on amazon so that I could get some titles that might be on the same subject. Then she could look up some of the titles to see what we did have. Unfortunately, we don't have any autobiographies, as far as I could tell, that deal with eating disorders. Please let me know if you find any. I might have looked under more specific eating disorders, but I suggested that she fill out an Inter-Library Loan form for the book she really wanted.

http://www.alvernia.edu/library/resources.htm Look here for the ILL form.

Searching on amazon lead me to some good titles that I will suggest we order for the collection. In addition to "The Monster Within," a book by Marya Hornbacher called "Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia" got good reviews. There was a list of others for those of you interested in the subject.

Now I'm going to do some more searching so we'll be able to help other students in the class. Please let me know if you have ideas for good books for this assignments. Other topics I'm going to explore include depression, blindness, earing loss, MS, lupus, missing limbs, and bipolar disorder.

Spring Semester-- Welcome Students

2008-01-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome back students and a special welcome to new students.

Take a look here and see how we can help you with your assignments.

Finding articles: Do you need journal articles for an assignment? We have over 20,000 full-text periodicals available online.
Click here: http://www.alvernia.edu/library/resources.htm

Finding books: Check our online catalog
http://alvin.iii.com/

PowerPoint: Do you need to print slides from Pp? Six to a page? Three to a page?
The key is to save your PowerPoint before you try to print.

Now Open for Comments

2008-01-22T07:24:00.001-08:00

I have now enabled this blog for comments. Please do.

Librarians on the Move: Look for Us Outside the Building

2008-01-21T05:53:00.000-08:00

Beginning with Spring Semester, librarians will be roving around the campus with laptops. We want you to use our services and resources. Look for us.

Saturday Workshop on Searching the Databases

2008-01-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

Interested. Let me know. We could meet as a group or individually on Saturday between 10 and 2. A librarian is on duty every Saturday. Comment here and we'll get something scheduled.

Invite a Librarian to Class

2008-01-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

Alvernia has five librarians who are available to teach classes. We can come to you or you can bring your class to us. Two of us, Leon and Curtis, staff day time hours (8am to 4pm); Kristin works late afternoon until 10:30. Sharon and Marti are also available. Most weeks Marti works on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 10:30 and other days from 10am-7pm. Call or email us and we'll figure it out! We can also prepare materials for you to use on your WebCT course site or to email your students. We're working hard to get students into our electronic databases through hot links. Look here for more ideas.

Adjunct Faculty Orientation

2008-01-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ask questions in the comments.

Google Book Search

2008-01-17T15:52:00.001-08:00

http://books.google.com

Would you believe it, last semester I found the full-text of a book written by an obscure German writer in Google Book Search? The student I was helping only needed some biographical information, but we got that and the whole book with a picture from the book cover. What a surprise. Try it for yourself.

Why Google Scholar?

2008-01-17T14:40:00.001-08:00

Try Google Scholar using terms from your course(s) and see what you find. It's my favorite tool at the Library Commons Help Desk. You'll find lists of articles, books from Google Book Search, articles cited by other scholars, sometimes full-text.

Now many of our expensive full-text journals are linked through Google Scholar, so you can get access to thousands of articles because we have subscriptions. Try it and see. Will it sometimes be frustrating? Certainly, but think of your searching as an adventure. Most often you will find something really good and useful. The Alvernia linking software is new to us so it will take some time to get the bugs out. Try often.

http://scholar.google.com/

Off campus you may need your external access information to get to the full-text subscriptions. Some articles are free to everyone, but many are not. Sometimes even finding a title or abstract is a help. It's worth a look.

New Faculty: 10 Things You Need to Know First

2008-01-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

10 Things You Need to Know First about the Franco Library Learning Center Resources and Services

10. Call 610-796-8223 for library help. Email to a reference librarian: library.calendar@alvernia.edu

9. Call 610-796-8398 for WebCT or classroom technology help. We have lots of DVDs, VHS, and CD's for classroom use.

8. Call 610-796-8395 or email marti.smith@alvernia.edu for Dr. Marti Smith. Complaints, suggestions, and rave reviews! See her for copyright questions.

7. You and your students have 24/7 access to over 20,000 full-text, mostly scholarly, electronic journals and a bunch of ebooks. We can show you how to use them.

6. We are happy to do classes in the classroom or in the library. For day classes, contact Leon Weber (8352) or Curtis Datko (568-1534); for late afternoon and evening classes, contact Kristin Brumbach (5635) or Marti Smith (8395). We have a librarian on duty every Saturday available to teach classes. Watch the blog for further details.

5. We can direct students to citation guides and how to use the guides. The Learning Center in Bernardine Hall (610-568-1494) has citation workshops and helps students with papers.

4. Locations: IT and I.Q. Web, and WebCT help are upstairs with the book collection. The Library Learning Commons, multi-media stations, reference collection, and library services are downstairs.

3. On the first floor you will also find coffee/hot beverages stations for for $1 per cup. Spring water and a vending machine are located in the same area.

2. Our electronic resources are available 24/7. Make sure you know how to get in off campus. resourcesUse your network login to get into the Franco LLC computers.

1. Always, always ask for help.

Where are the books?

2008-01-16T14:28:00.001-08:00

Where do I find the books?

Our book collection is upstairs on the 2nd floor arrange in order using the Dewey Decimal Classification. If you are not familiar with Dewey, look at the signs on the sides of the stacks or ask for help. We're happy to help.

Click here to see the basic divisions from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_decimal

A tour of the Dewey Decimal System http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/tour/

More on Dewey? http://library.thinkquest.org/5002/

Alvernia Library: Essential Web Sites

2008-01-16T14:26:00.002-08:00

Library and Technology Home Page
http://www.alvernia.edu/library

Databases and Other Electronic Resources
http://www.alvernia.edu/library/resources.htm

Online Catalog
http://alvin.iii.com/

External Access for Adjunct Faculty

2008-01-16T14:26:00.001-08:00

See below for a link to an excellent full-text article on leadership and learning styles from Training and Development publication. To see the article you will need special access information.

To access the Alvernia proprietary databases off campus, you will need to be entered into the library database. For this, we will need your name, address, phone number, etc. We will also need your Alvernia ID#. We will be glad to help you if you call 610-796-8223.

Some of your students may have access. For those who don't, please have them contact us.

http://0-search.ebscohost.com.alvin.iii.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=27746437&site=ehost-live&scope=site/

Welcome to Spring Semester: What's New in Library and Educational Services

2008-01-16T14:25:00.001-08:00

What's new?

Six more computers in the Library Learning Commons
Five new laptops for library check out (total of eight)
Relocated computers upstairs (in the next few weeks) with nursing and Praxis software
(Coming soon) Access for more color printing and for scanning
Jane Austen display in the locked case (January)
Black History Month display for February (coming soon)

Why a Blog?

2007-11-08T07:07:00.001-08:00

Blogs are friendly and available to everyone. One of my major reasons for doing a blog is that it's inspires me to write about what's happening and create content that can be used for other purposes. It also encourages me to try new tech skills. Let me know what you think.

Welcome to Marti's Learning Place

2007-11-08T07:03:00.001-08:00

If you are here, you are probably involved with Alvernia College in Reading, PA, in some way. Should you read more? Maybe.

Do new learning technologies excite you? Distress you? Make your head hurt?
Are you looking for a career related to books, computers, and people?
Do you have to teach, learn, or both using a blog, a wiki, a learning management system, PowerPoint, or websites?
Do you need to get into Alvernia's resources off campus?
Are you required to produce an electronic portfolio?
Do you know how to search databases to find peer-reviewed articles in your field?
Are you curious about why an older lady would be interested in learning and computers?
Are you related to me?

If any of these apply to you, then stick around. Welcome.