Library Help For The New Semester

Now, early in the semester, is an excellent time to check in with your department’s Library liaison.  S/he can deliver in-class instruction in library research or help you craft a research assignment or assessment.

If time is already pressing, bear in mind our popular tutorials on common library research topics, linkable from your iLearn course or website. Each video, such as "What is a Scholarly Journal" (2:45 min, below) is under 5 minutes and specific to the James A Cannavino Library. 

Other available titles include:

• "Finding Scholarly Articles in Databases" (2:00);
• "Is this a Scholarly Journal?" (2:00); and 
• "Library Catalog Overview Tutorial" (4:46) 

plus more on the Library's iLearn site.  (Didn't know about the Library's iLearn site?  Forgot how to get there? Call your liaision!)

Liaisons can also help with your own scholarship and departmental work. We're glad to offer brief presentations on discipline-specific resources for department meetings, manage requests for new acquisitions, answer questions about print and electronic information resources, and keep you informed about new Library resources and programs.  Schedule an appointment using our online form or just call.

Bookmark the Library Liaison listing now, so it's available when you need us, and have a great Spring semester!

Reserve and E-Reserve readings

It is the beginning of the semester and many faculty will be placing library materials of all sorts "on reserve".  These will include ejournal articles, photocopies of print article, books, ebooks, DVDs, and online videos.

Electronic Reserve (e-books, e-videos, e-articles)

Helping faculty integrate the library’s electronic resources into iLearn is a top priority.  We have written guides to linking e-resourses in iLearn in the Library iLearn Site.   If you would like personal assistance linking to periodical articles, ebooks, ebook chapters, Artstor images, or online videos, please contact Katy Silberger (Kathryn.Silberger@marist.edu or 575-3419).  We are happy to help you by email or over the telephone or in person.

Print Books / Photocopies

If you are placing print books or photocopies of journal articles on reserve, we have an online form which is submitted directly to the Library.  It is also available as a downloadable Word document.

Videos (DVD and VHS)

An online form  or a downloadable Word document are available to place DVDs and VHS tapes on reserve in the Library.  If you want to show the video in class, please remember to fill out the Media Center Equipment Reservation Form.

Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Resources in the Cannavino Library

In addition to books and videos, our Library provides access to many less-well-known sources of information on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the American civil rights movement.  As you peruse these, remember that, whatever your discipline, your library liaison can help you discover unexpected and stimulating resources to support your teaching.

Online Videos Collections

American History in Video has several  videos focusing on Dr. King. For example, there is a Universal Newsreel from August 29, 1963 reporting on the historic March on  Washington with Dr. King’s "I have a Dream" speech.

A 10 minute video tour of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institution and a 15 minute video of Professor Jonathan Bass discussing Dr. King’s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" are among the many videos that can be found on C-Span’s American History TV.

Dr. King also can be seen in the July 2, 1964 C-Span video of President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He is one of the people to whom President Johnson gives a pen.

 

Photographs in Artstor

Photographs of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Selma March, the March on Washington, at an Alabama Press Conference, and upon his return from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize  are but a few of the many images of Dr. King available in Artstor.

Follow Lowell Thomas Travelogue on Twitter

Throughout the month of December the Marist College Archives and Special Collections twitter account @LowellJThomas will have a Lowell Thomas Travelogue Theme, tweeting pictures and quotes from Thomas's famous World War I travelogue series "With Allenby in Palestine and with Lawrence in Arabia".

In 1918 Lowell Thomas went overseas to photograph the allied war effort. After first visiting the western front, it was in Egypt, Palestine and Arabia that Thomas and his photographer Harry Chase took their most spectacular motion pictures and photographs. It is at this time that Thomas also met T.E. Lawrence, whom, through Lowell Thomas's Travelogue, would become legendarily famous. The multimedia show about Lowell Thomas's travels through Palestine and Arabia became a sensation in America and Europe due to the incredible photographs and Thomas's commentary. Follow @LowellJThomas on twitter today to experience it for yourself!

Library help over the break

As the semester draws to a close The James A. Cannavino wishes you all happy holidays.

During the mid-winter break many faculty will be using the time to work on research and prepare classes for the coming semester.  The Library will be open many days during the break.  If you are working from home and have library-related questions, please contact us.

• Day by day Library hours are posted on the Library calendar.
• Phone us at 845-575-3292 when the Library is open.
• Send an email anytime to Ask-A-Librarian@marist.edu.
• ILL  will be available and fully staffed  throughout the break.
• Librarians will be available all days the Library is open to work with you in person or by telephone.

Katy Silberger will be available throughout the break to work with you on iLearn/Library issues.  If you would like help creating an “electronic reserve reading list” or linking to the Library instructional videos, please contact her.  If you would prefer to work from home, she can offer assistance by telephone and email.  Her direct phone number is 845-575-3419.

Collaborate with Students in the Library

Do you ever want to meet with a small group of students in the Library?

 Four collaborative rooms in the Library are available for faculty and staff use from 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.  They are located on the second floor in the Alumni Reading Room area of the Library.

The rooms accommodate between 5 and 8 people and may be reserved for 1 to 3 hours up to a week in advance.

 This space is made available for occasional meetings rather than regularly scheduled activity.

To reserve a room, please contact the Academic Learning Center at 575-3300.

Room #	# Seats	Features
300A	8	Whiteboard
300B	6	Computer
300C	6	Computer
300D	5	Computer

Why doesn't the Library have this journal?

Recently a faculty member asked me why Marist's library doesn't receive two respected journals of Catholic thought: America and First Things, yet does receive the similarly respected Commonweal.  The short answer is, we do get all three, but not in print.

Marist College Library's long-term commitment to build a digital library has enabled us to move from  1200 serial titles in print to more than 55,000 titles accessible digitally.  A complete, searchable list can be found by visiting the Library Catalog and clicking the "Journals" link.

Search tip: use the drop down option for one-word titles, as below.

.
Many digital editions lack the glossy, eye-catching covers and stimulating layouts of corresponding print versions.  This is especially true if they are part of a massive library database, and especially troubling if you rely on covers and headlines - catching your eye as you casually browse the library main floor -  to remind you of the valuable content inside.  But one often overlooked advantage of these digital serials, is that they allow any Marist community member to create, essentially, their own personal email subscription.

All of our major content providers offer this service - typically styled "Alert"

Examples below:

WilsonWeb














Ebsco

Once activated, this service will deliver the tables of contents of any journal with links to the full text article, on a schedule you can set.  And for the more adventurous, most can create RSS feeds too.

Of course there are many more valuable features of digital publications, and many challenges in working with them.  Please don't hesitate to contact me (Mark Colvson, 845-575-5218) or any of my colleagues to ask about finding digital serials, building them into your pedagogy, or any other features you nay have wondered about.

Putting the Library in iLearn: Mair Room, Thursday Nov. 17, 1-4 pm.

Come and learn how easy it is to link to the Library’s online articles, books, videos and images this coming Thursday from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. This CTE session will be held in Margaret Mair Room in the James A. Cannavino Library.

This will be a practical hands-on session.  You will learn how to copy article links from library databases and embed those links into iLearn "Resources", "Lessons", "Emails", "Forums", etc.  You will be introduced to the Marist iLearn Library Site which contains written instructions and brief instructional videos created by the Library.

The Library has a strong collection of electronic resources that you can use in iLearn including:

• 5,000+ Online Videos (Documentaries, American History, Counseling & Education)

• 85,000+ e-books

• 55,000+ electronic periodicals

• 1.7 million images (Artstor, etc.)

• Hundreds of electronic reference resources

Register for this session at the Center for Teaching Excellence Workshops: iLearn Training Workshops page.  (Its the last session at the bottom of the page.)

If you are interested in this topic but have a time conflict, please email Kathryn.Silberger@marist.edu and we will arrange to work with you at a more convenient time.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Student Newspaper Archive Now Available On-line

You can now read 40 years’ worth of Marist College Students newspapers on-line. To search across four decades of campus history you can use our new Archives Search, or to browse issues of the Record or the Circle by year please visit our Student Newspaper Webpage.

Help Us Build Marist's Collections

We all know that the Library exists to support Marist's fundamental teaching mission.  But we sometimes forget that faculty may be the first to discover critical gaps in our collections, or hear about important new works we should acquire.  So here's a reminder.  Please regularly submit recommendations, via our Materials Suggestion Form, or by any other reasonable means:

• email book reviews or publication notices;
• circle items on a photocopy of a bibliography page or journal review article; 
• tear out a publishers catalog page, circle your recommendation and send it along (or send the whole catalog!);
• use the "Notes" field in an Inter-Library Loan request to alert  us that an item would make a good addition to the collection.

Rules of Thumb

1. Send suggestions to Judy Diffenderfer (Judy.Diffenderfer@marist.edu), Collection Development Librarian, or your department's Library Liaison.  They can expedite purchases, alert you when items arrive on shelf, and/or advise on collection policy for your discipline.
2. Include your name on everything you send in. 
3. Supply a good citation. Minimally - title, author(s), publisher and year; better -ISBN.  Or try emailing a reference from Worldcat.org (a massive database of over a billion items held in libraries worldwide).

 Of course the Library faces budget and policy constraints.  We won't be able to acquire every recommendation automatically.  But it's highly valuable to know what faculty are looking for.  Even when we cannot fill requests immediately, we do keep them on file for when opportunities arise down the road.

We are very grateful to the many of you who stay involved in library collection building.  For those who haven't, or haven't recently, please give it a try.  You'll be surprised how easy it is to help strengthen Marist's library in the areas that matter most to you.