What’s New @ Speed Library 2008-09

New Databases and Resources

GreenFILE– database covering all aspects of the human impact to the environment.
GreenFILE emphasizes the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology.  Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more.

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) – database covering librarianship, classification, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. 

 Military and Government Collection – database offering current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government.  Publications covered in this database include Air Force Comptroller, Army Reserve, Defence Studies (British), FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Foreign Affairs, JFQ: Joint Force Quarterly, Naval Forces, and many more.

 Naxos Music Library– a database that includes a comprehensive collection of music online.  The user can listen to complete works, access information about the composer or artist, and search for music by genre, period, instrument or year of composition.  Music may not be downloaded, copied, burned, captured, re-transmitted, streamed, recorded or reproduced by any means or in any form.

 Oxford Reference Online Premium – provides access to more than 100 reference titles from Oxford University Press, including English and foreign language dictionaries; quotation and reference resources; and art, history, literature, statistical, scientific, and other subject encyclopedias.

Learn-A-Test – a test preparation and skill building practice database provided by public libraries in Mississippi.  The database provides practice tests for many subjects and vocations including the GRE, LSAT, Teacher Certification, and TOEFL.  The URL is www.learningexpresslibrary.com.  Click on Returning User.  The username is 0399253232 and the password is leland.

Online Information Literacy Tutorial (SearchPath) – this tutorial on the library web site offers self-paced instruction in finding, evaluating and using information ethically.

Remember, there are many discipline specific databases, as well as newspaper databases, legal resources, business resources and e-books. A complete list of databases is available at the library home page/electronic databases page at http://www.mc.edu/campus/library/el_indx.htm.  Please consider giving assignments that require your students to use these valuable resources.

Department Heads - Adjuncts

Please be sure that all adjunct professors have a campus identification card and a Novell account so that they can have off campus access to library resources and so that they can check out library items (books, databases, equipment such as projectors, laptops, etc.)

Library Services

Instructional Services - The Library’s instruction program is designed to introduce students to basic sources and search strategies, critical evaluation of sources, how to avoid plagiarism and how to use the information technologies needed for effective information access.  The instruction is course related, according to the specific needs of the class, and is more effective when given in conjunction with an assignment.  Undergraduate and graduate classes are both welcome.  Contact Susan Newman (925-3279/newman@mc.edu) to schedule information literacy/research instruction or to request the use of the library computers for group research projects.

Instructional Classroom – a classroom with 30 computers that is available for instruction classes or assisted research sessions.

Current Journals Alert Service - Would you like to receive an e-mail alert with the table of contents when your favorite journal is published?  With many of our full-text journals, you can create an alert so that you will be e-mailed the content of an issue when it is added to Ebscohost.  You can also create a search strategy in Ebscohost and be notified when additional articles that match your search criteria are added to the database.  Contact Susan Newman (newman@mc.edu or ext 3279) for assistance.

Electronic Reserve – if you have reading materials or articles that you would like placed on electronic reserve (passworded access via the internet), please bring them to Wanda Mosley in the LRC.  After your material has been placed on electronic reserve, remember to tell your students that it is available remotely.  Or on your syllabus/web page, you can create a link to the electronic reserve.  For those items that will not meet copyright compliance guidelines, there is still the “non-virtual” Reserve area in the LRC section of the library.

Electronic Reading Lists - “Speed Linking” allows for the creation of a direct link from a web page (syllabi, reading lists, course packs) to a specific full-text article, book review, editorial, etc. in a database.  The persistent link takes the student directly to the specific article.  Speed Linking is a great tool for professors who want to create reading lists and/or enhance syllabi.  These Speed Links can be created to be routed through the proxy server, so that only MC authenticated students will access the articles. If you need assistance in identifying or creating a Speed Link, call Kathleen Hutchison (925-3870) or Susan Newman (925-3279).

Placing class materials on the web – restricting to MC-affiliated users - Some faculty members may be interested in placing materials (class notes, PowerPoint presentations, or study guides) on a web page to be accessible only to MC students.  The Leland Speed Library maintains a proxy server known as EZ Proxy to provide and authenticate access to databases and restricted resources when connecting from outside the Mississippi College Internet domain (MCNET).  If you are interested in putting class materials on the web but behind the proxy server (restricting that information to MC students), we can assist you in setting that up.  Call Kathleen Hutchison (ext. 3870) or Susan Newman (ext. 3279).

Webliographies – We can help you create a web page of outside reading resources for your class.

Subject Guides – Subject Guides by discipline are on the library web site.  These guides point students toward useful resources in the library and on the web.

Group Study Rooms – the Library has several study rooms available for group projects or study.  These rooms have proved to be very popular.  So far we have managed the rooms on a first come-first served basis.

How can we help your students?

Please let us know how we can better assist your students in becoming independent researchers and lifelong learners.  Questions ???   Contact your liaison librarian or a Reference Librarian at 925-3916 or send e-mail to speed_reference@mc.edu

LELAND SPEED LIBRARY - DEPARTMENTAL LIAISONS  Each academic department at MC has been assigned a liaison librarian to make the faculty aware of new print and electronic resources within the discipline and to facilitate the ordering of those resources. The liaison serves as a contact within the library to respond to suggestions about developing the collection and improving library services.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES 
 Speed Library’s Collection Development Principles are available on the web at http://www.mc.edu/campus/library/acq.htm#col_dev.  

The library subscribes to Choice Online to aid in selecting appropriate materials.  The liaison librarian will periodically send by campus mail or e-mail a list of newly reviewed titles in your discipline.  You may want to circulate the list within the department and return the marked list to the liaison librarian.  In addition, please send any materials you are interested in from publisher’s catalogs or brochures. 

If a selected item can be used for a graduate level course, mark the order “’GRAD”.  The library is tracking graduate purchases for accreditation and assessment purposes. 

Submit orders as early in the academic year as possible.  February 1 is the deadline for departments to submit orders to the library to be processed by the current fiscal year. 

The library subscribes to several electronic databases that are discipline specific.  In keeping with the goal of being a good steward of limited financial resources, the library is constantly evaluating the usage statistics of such databases.  Please encourage/require your students to make use of library resources in your discipline. 

If your department has any special needs (new courses, approaching accreditation visits, etc.), please contact your liaison librarian or Kathleen Hutchison, Library Director.