LMU Library News

Wait, What Happened to Wikipedia?

Have you checked Wikipedia today?  What's going on, why isn't the site working?

On January 18th, various popular websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla and MoveOn.Org, are participating in an online "blackout" to protest two Congressional bills--H.R. 3261 (SOPA) and S. 968 (PIPA). The website "blackouts" are rendering these sites inactive for the entire day. Other sites such as Google are choosing to remain online but are still using the opportunity to engage in dialogue about these particular bills.

SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA is also known as the Protect IP Act. Both of these are aimed at fighting online piracy and copyright infringement and their content is currently being hotly debated both online and off. For more information, check out this New York Times article about Wikipedia's blackout. A list of protesting websites can be found on americancensorship.org, with more information at SOPA Strike. 

Unlike Wikipedia, our 200 plus library research databases are NOT black today, nor any day. (Plus our resources have the bonus of being approved by professors and librarians!) 

You can access them via our library website AND receive 24/7 library reference help too! So instead of using Wikipedia, use one of our online encyclopedias like Credo Reference and Gale Virtual Reference, and continue to do so when internet returns to normal.

Library Workshops - FALL 2011

These workshops are mainly for faculty, staff and student-workers (although all are welcome). The courtesy of an RSVP is requested as we have limited space in our library classrooms. If demand exceeds space, we will schedule additional dates. Note that the average time for these workshops is approximately one hour, but the librarian hosting the workshop will be available for another 30 minutes for those who wish to practice what they just learned and ask questions.

Read on for more details, and click here to RSVP.

New! Tips for Research Assistants & Teaching Assistants: This workshop is all about footnote chasing.  Do your RAs or TAs know how to read a citation?  Do they know the difference between a book article and journal article or a dissertation?  This workshop will include a quick review of the library catalog, LINK+, and the Journal List.  Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan procedures will also be covered.

                                 Thursday October 7:   12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Convo hour (WHH 118)

                                 Tuesday October 19:  10 – 11 a.m.  (WHH 118)

 

Finding Articles: Magazines, Journals, and More: In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to use the library's online databases to conduct research and find full text newspaper, magazine, and journal articles. 

Tuesday October 12:  1 - 2:30 p.m. (WHH 118)

Library Orientation and Tour: learn about the library benefits you have as an LMU employee, including checking out books and DVDs, getting research help, and more. This session will conclude with a library tour. (Note: registration for this workshop is limited to LMU faculty and staff only.)

Wednesday November 10:  10 - 11:30 a.mm  (WHH 118)  

If any of these pique your curiosity, RSVP today!

Have any suggestions for future workshops or feedback on workshops that you have attended? Let us know in the comments below.

Treasure Hunts in the Library!

 

Treasure Hunts

Starting in August, the library has been conducting Treasure Hunts for Summer Bridge programs, Living Learning Communities and other LMU Orientation groups.  Treasure Hunts (a.k.a. Scavenger Hunts) are a fun alternative to the traditional library tour.  The goal of the treasure hunt is to make students more comfortable with the library and its staff, and to be more successful using it during their time at LMU. We want to reduce library anxiety and improve student learning. 

During the treasure hunt students have to navigate the library building with a map and interpret clues while interacting with staff at service points. Students find clues by:  locating a book using a call number, instant messaging a reference librarian, using a OneCard to print, learning how to make a group study room reservation, etc.

The first orientation group to try out the new treasure hunt was TLC (The Learning Community) on August 8th.  We made some revisions for the ACCESS (A Community Committed to Excellence in Scientific Scholarship) treasure hunt on August 11th, and it was a smashing success.

The Treasure Hunt works best with groups of 18-24 students.  To avoid disrupting other students studying in the library, we limit treasure hunts to the summer months and to the first 2 weeks of each semester.  Please contact Elisa Slater Acosta, Library Instruction Coordinator, to request a library treasure hunt.

 

Library Tours

We still offer library tours!  Please visit our Library Tours webpage to learn more about group tours and self-guided tours (podcasts & videos).

 

 

 

*Treasure Hunts and (library tours) are not intended to teach information literacy.  If you want your students to learn "How to do research," please request a Library Instruction session.

Beyond the Basics: Make a Research Consultation Appointment

Students: are you in the thick of a research paper or group project? Are you sure that you've found all the resources that you need? If you're feeling adrift, or if you just want some pointers to navigate our library's collection, we are now offering Research Consultation appointments.

At these appointments, librarians are able to provide more in-depth assistance than we can in a typical visit to our busy Information Desk. You can request an appointment with a reference librarian for yourself or for your group. A librarian will meet with you and provide assistance tailored to your needs. You can find a link to the Research Consultation Appointment Request form from our Get Help page, or visit it directly at: http://library.lmu.edu/get_help/research_consultation.htm.

See you at the library!

Study Jamz

In an effort to enhance academic excellence, the William H. Hannon Library is partnering with the Department of Ethnic & Intercultural Services (EIS) to bring you Study Jamz every Wednesday evening (5 - 7 p.m.) this semester in the EIS Computer Lab (Malone, Room 301) beginning Wednesday, September 15th.

What is a Study Jam? Once a week, a qualified library staff member (equipped with an Apple iPad!) will conduct a brief 5-10 minute presentation highlighting a resource or service from the William H. Hannon Library. Research databases, the library catalog, subject guides, Google Scholar and much more will be discussed. After highlighting the resource or service "of the week," the library representative will remain in the EIS Computer Lab until 7 p.m. to assist with any library-related research questions. All students are invited to use this opportunity to enhance their library research skills while contributing to the intimate study-hall environment envisioned for Study Jamz.

Your Study Jamz expert for fall 2010 will be Library Assistant, Raymundo (Ray) Andrade, LMU '04, and current Masters in Library & Information Science candidate (2011) with San Jose State University (online).

Hope to see you there!

Study Jamz

Every Wednesday this Fall

5 p.m - 7 p.m.

EIS Computer Lab, Malone 301

Class Librarian for the Class of 2014

Welcome new students! 

My name is Elisa Slater Acosta, and I am the Class Librarian for the Class of 2014. This is our third year of working on outreach specifically to incoming students as a graduating  class.

 
What does this mean? Even though you (freshmen) are welcome to talk to any librarian, as your Class Librarian I will serve as a consistent, familiar point of contact until graduation.

I am available to you by way of email, chat, phone and office appointments. My goal is to help you with your first research assignment, all the way through to the challenges of more advanced upper-division papers.

It's easy for you to find me — I'm on the Class of 2014 LibGuide page at: http://libguides.lmu.edu/classof2014.  

Class of 2014 LibGuide

Class of 2013 LibGuide

Class of 2012 LibGuide

LMU's library catalog unavailable on Tuesday, August 10

We are upgrading LINUS, our library catalog, to a new server. This will help ensure speedy performance and room to grow as new features become available. 

To complete this upgrade, LINUS will be unavailable all day on Tuesday, August 10th. This will also affect access to our research databases, our journal list, and LINK+ requests.

If you want to search for a book in our library that day, you aren't out of luck. You can use LINK+, which is available from the search box on the library home page. (Just select LINK+ above the search box before you type in your search.)

LINK+ searches the collections of several public and academic libraries, including the William H. Hannon Library at LMU. If we own a book here at LMU, you'll be able to view its local availability, call number and location in LINK+.

And, as always, if you have any questions, ask a librarian!

Need library help? Chat with us!

Did you know that librarians are available to assist you even when you’re not in the library? You can call us, of course, but we are also available for live chat and SMS text messaging. When you’re on the library web site, look for the blue Get Help button:

Clicking Get Help will lead you straight to our chat widget. If you’re using one of our LibGuides, you’ll usually find a chat widget right there in the guide. You can also chat with us from our Facebook page (you’re already a fan… right?). When the librarian is in, you'll see this image on the Facebook page. Just click it to talk to us!

Our newest chat addition is in EBSCO databases, including Academic Search Complete, ERIC, PsycINFO, and many more. When you do a search, along with the search results you’ll find our chat box hanging out on the right side of the screen. We’re right there to help you if you get stuck.

Even when we’re not available – say, when you’re burning the midnight oil – you can still chat with a librarian 24/7. When we’re not signed in, the chat box will change into a link to our 24/7 Virtual Reference service.  Just click through, and a librarian (not necessarily from here at LMU) can help you with your research question.

Finally, if you’re not at a computer but you have your cell phone, you can chat with us via text message. Send your message to 265-010 and precede your first message with lmurefhelp:    ...this will direct your message to us, and we’ll take the conversation from there! (This is best during daytime hours. We may not respond to late night SMS messages until the next day.)

We hope to see you here in the William H. Hannon Library -- but if you’re elsewhere, now you know how to find us any time. (And if you chat with us from across the room in our own Information Commons, that’s OK too… we’ll never know unless you tell us!)

New tutorial for LMU Faculty

LMU faculty, are you familiar with LibGuides?

No?

Please visit our LibGuides (Library Research Guides) homepage and take a look around, and contact Elisa Slater, Library Instruction Coordinator, to discuss getting a customized research guide and corresponding library instruction session for your course!

Yes?

Did you know you can embed a link to a course or subject level LibGuide directly into MyLMU Connect? View this short tutorial to learn how!

English 110 LibGuide wins award!

If you took English 110 in the Fall, then you have most likely used the Library Research Guide ("LibGuide") designed for the library component of the course. In the Fall, this guide was viewed over 17,000 times.

It's about to receive a lot more hits. We are proud to announce that, in January, our very own English 110 LibGuide was selected for inclusion in the peer-reviewed collection of instructional library online resources, PRIMO. PRIMO (Peer Reviewed Instructional Materials Online Database) is a collective that highlights best practices in library instruction online, and we are proud that our guide, spearheaded by LMU Librarian Elisa Slater, is in such good company.

The Librarians in the Reference and Instruction department at the William H. Hannon Library are always looking for new ways to improve and increase the usability of the library and its resources for our faculty and students, and these LibGuides are just one example of how we work to do this.

Faculty- want a custom LibGuide for your course? Contact Elisa Slater or your Library Subject Liaison to collaborate.

Students- do you have any feedback on the LibGuides that you've used? Are they helpful? What can we do to make them better?