Bugging Out? Crawl into a Book

See the new display at the Downtown Campus Library.  By the way, during the remodeling you can still crawl into some bestsellers; we moved them over to the open side of the library. 

Is Wikipedia Trustworthy?

While the academic world continues the ongoing debate on whether Wikipedia is a reliable reference tool, the History Department at Middlebury College made a decision this past January to ban students from using Wikipedia as a citable source in their papers and exams.  

As  a librarian, I feel that Wikipedia is a great starting point tool to use for a research assignment or paper.  Many Wikipedia articles provide good background information on a topic (especially useful if you are not familiar with a topic).  For further reading on a topic, Wikipedia articles also provide links to other online sources and references to print sources. 

I also think that Wikipedia is a great tool to use for critical thinking assignments.  For example, students can research a particular topic by first going to Wikipedia then verify the facts and information found on Wikipedia by using at least several primary and secondary sources.

For further reading on the Wikipedia debate and how it is used in colleges and universities, take a look at:

• A Stand Against Wikipedia Inside Higher Ed.com  - Article includes various feedback from educators and students.

• Wikipedia: Press Coverage - Links to articles from 2001 – present.

What do you think of Wikipedia?  Feel free to comment on this post.

Make the Most of Investing in the Stock Market

 Check out NetLibrary’s ebook for the month of May, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.  “Owning a diversified portfolio of stocks and holding it for the long term is a winner’s game.”  Mutual funds industry veteran, John C. Bogle, provides practical advise on how to incorporate this index investing strategy into your portfolio.

SIRS Database – Spotlight on Colonial History

 

Check out the articles from the SIRS database that spotlight colonial history in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.  For more information or assistance in using the SIRS database, contact the Reference Desk.

Construction in the Downtown Library

For the next month, half of the Downtown Campus Library will be closed. This means reference books and books with call numbers between A – P are inaccessible.

This is rather distressing for all of us – faculty, staff and students. However, patrons can still request books from the Parham and Western Campus libraries. You can also use our Interlibrary Loan services to borrow books from any library in the country.

Faculty may want to let students know that these options are available. They can also warn their students that toward the end of June the other side of the library will be closed; all nursing, science, and cooking books (call numbers Q-Z) will be off limits.

During all phases of the construction, patrons will have access to the databases and electronic books in our catalog.

We are not all librarians

We all work in the library and we are all here to help. But we don’t all have the same roles. We are not all librarians.

Some of us are library specialists. We are support staff—we are paraprofessionals where librarians are bona fide professionals. We do the things you probably think of librarians doing. We check books in and out; we send out overdue notices. We make sure the books are on the shelves where they belong. We process textbooks for reserves and we work the system for interlibrary loan. We keep track of the myriad details of buying and processing new materials. We fix the copy machine. We go “Shhhhh.”

So if you come to the circulation desk and ask an Important Question we may send you to the reference librarian for your Important Answer. It is because we have different roles. Librarians have special training to help you identify your needs and find the best possible sources to solve your problems. They will teach you how to hunt and show you our specialized and very expensive databases and make beautiful research guides so you can be information literate. They will be encouraging and dauntless.

And we library specialists will be friendly and courteous. We will help you any way we can. If it happens that a librarian is not available we will even answer your Important Questions, or at least get you started in your search. We have skills too. Because this is the real world our roles may cross over from time to time and you will find a librarian checking out books or a library specialist being encouraging and dauntless.

But we are not all librarians.

Will Reading Go Completely Online?

At Microsoft’s recent Strategic Account Summit, Bill Gates predicted that reading will go completely online.  Review the rest of Gates’s predictions and user comments at Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog on Seattle Post-Intelligencer.com.  Come back to the JSRCC Library blog and give your own comments on Gate’s predictions.

Need Help with Citing Your Sources?

JSRCC Library’s  Citing Information Sources web page provides links to handouts with examples on how to cite various print & online resources in both MLA & APA style.  Also included are links to other citation examples on the web and citation machines. You can also get to this web page by clicking on Citing Sources under the  Research Help section from the JSRCC Library home page.  If you need more help in citing your sources for a research paper or project, we encourage you to come see our Reference Librarians at the Reference Desk.  Our librarians are more than happy to personally assist you.

Research Worksheets for your Students

Do your students need to brush up on their information literacy skills?  Besides scheduling library instruction sessions for your students, you can also assign research worksheets for your students to complete.  JSRCC Libraries has recently updated and added a complete package of worksheets (with corresponding handouts) on our web site. You can access these handouts & worksheets by clicking on:

• Research Guides (under Research Help) from the Library’s home page.  This guide provides a list handouts & worksheets arranged alphabetically by the specific items/skills covered.
• Guide to Research at JSRCC  (under Research Help) from the Library’s home page.  This guide provides a detailed outline of handouts & worksheets arranged sequentially by research steps.
• Handouts & Worksheets from the Guide to Research at JSRCC.  This section of the guide provides an abbreviated outline of handouts & worksheets arranged sequentially by research steps.   

For more information on our handouts & worksheets or to schedule a library instruction session, contact the Reference Desk.

Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum

According to the American Library Association’s Presidential Committee on Information Literacy (1989), the information literate person is, “able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use it effectively.”  The Association of College and Research Libraries further defines an information literate individual as being able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed.
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently.
• Evaluate information and its sources critically.
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base.
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.

Information literacy is a survival skill in this Information Age as well as a potential empowerment tool.  To successfully function in an information-rich culture, students must also be proficient in the use of rapidly changing and ever growing technology and concepts.

The high tech academic library environment can be an overwhelming and frustrating experience for students.  Despite what students might think and tell their instructors, most students do not navigate well in a college library.  Although most students know how to “Surf the Net,” this is far from performing college-level research.  Most high schools do not prepare students for the research skills they will need in college.

Developing information literacy skills is a structured and progressive process and is not something that can be learned in a one shot session.  Because a standalone information literacy course is not offered at the college, the JSRCC Libraries strongly recommend that instructors collaborate with our librarians to integrate information literacy throughout the curriculum. Our librarians will work with you to tailor instruction to a particular assignment as well as help you develop effective research assignments for your students throughout their time at JSRCC. 

To get an idea of the skills our librarians can cover during instruction sessions or skills that can be incorporated into research assignments, take a look at our information literacy model, Guide to Research at JSRCC Libraries.

The main goal of integrating information literacy into the curriculum is to improve the quality of your students’ research papers and projects.  Let’s work together in helping our students become information literate and develop the skills they will need to help them think critically, solve problems, and make informed decisions throughout their lives.