Jan the Librarian tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009-06-18:/fransen/myblog//10423 2012-08-29T15:24:37Z News and information especially for University of Minnesota faculty and students in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, and History of Science & Technology Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en Getting to full text off campus (Library Hacks) tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/fransen/myblog//10423.363913 2012-08-29T15:00:21Z 2012-08-29T15:24:37Z When you're on campus, getting to the full text of articles licensed by University Libraries is easy: Most of or providers recognize the U of M IP address and you're in. But off campus can be different. You can, of... Jan Fransen using the VPN. But if you haven't, and you're on a publisher's site, you might see a prompt to pay for content that we already have. 

You can always back all the way out, go to the Libraries home page, find the journal or publisher in one of our A-Z lists, and find the article all over again. But we have another solution that's much quicker.

Go to the Libraries Tools page and click on the Add the Proxy Bookmarklet for Off-Campus Access link under Browser Tools. Drag the Reload via U of M Libs button up to your browser toolbar. That's it.

Now, next time you're confronted with a pay wall or login prompt, click that button. The page you're on will reload through the Libraries proxy, and you'll be prompted to log in with your U of M Internet ID if you haven't already. Assuming we really do have access, you'll be able to download the full text.

And if we don't have access? That's another Library Hack. Stay tuned...
]]> Formatting Your Dissertation in Microsoft Word tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/fransen/myblog//10423.339719 2012-02-22T03:15:23Z 2012-02-29T19:13:15Z Over the last couple of years, librarians who teach workshops have made a point of trying to capture at least one recording of a workshop on video so that people who can't attend a workshop have some way of getting... Jan Fransen Over the last couple of years, librarians who teach workshops have made a point of trying to capture at least one recording of a workshop on video so that people who can't attend a workshop have some way of getting the instruction they need. These recorded workshops have been quite popular. In particular, students have viewed clips of the Formatting Your Dissertation (or Thesis) in Microsoft Word workshop hundreds of times.

When the time came this winter to record a new version to match the current version of Microsoft Word, we decided to take a different approach. This workshop is particularly "modular" and students often need help with just one or two things at a time. We'd previously handled that by cutting up the recording into pieces and posting each piece in a section of our Moodle page. This time around, we've created a set of tutorials that match the workshop in content, but are designed for individual computer-based instruction. Each describes a Graduate School formatting requirement or a Word feature you're likely to need and allows you to click the right menu and dialog box selections to format a sample document.

The links below point to our "first drafts." Please let us know what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest other features or common problems/solutions you'd like us to cover.

01 - Graduate School Guidelines and Word Templates

02 - Setting Margins

03 - Placing Page Numbers

04 - Changing Fonts and Spacing with Styles

05 - Defining Headings

06 - Automatic Chapter Numbers

07 - Working with Word Templates

08 - Inserting Images

09 - Captions and Cross-References

10 - Copying Charts in Excel

11 - Using a Landscape Page

12 - Combining Chapters

13 - Adding the Table of Contents

14 - Adding Lists of Figures, Tables, and Equations
]]> Orientations for Grad Students tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2011:/fransen/myblog//10423.307066 2011-09-08T20:26:13Z 2011-09-08T20:32:37Z One of my favorite weeks of the year is the week before Labor Day. That's because I have the opportunity to tell a couple of hundred new graduate students about the great resources we have at University Libraries. Unfortunately, the... Jan Fransen One of my favorite weeks of the year is the week before Labor Day. That's because I have the opportunity to tell a couple of hundred new graduate students about the great resources we have at University Libraries. Unfortunately, the talks always fly by, and by the end of a long orientation day I know that students will barely remember the tips I mentioned.

If you're struggling to remember what I said last week, maybe looking at the handout and presentation I gave will help:


Library Hacks (handout I used for all Fall 2011 orientations)

Not enough? Feel free to email me to ask questions or schedule an appointment, or find me in the KHKH Rice Student Center on Thursdays 3-4,
]]> Winter Workshops in Walter tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2011:/fransen/myblog//10423.265714 2011-01-03T22:05:53Z 2011-01-03T22:07:08Z Walter Library is hosting a week of workshops to kick-off the new year and give you the research advantage. Each session is free to register and held in Walter Library. Creating a Data Management Plan For Your Grant Application... Jan Fransen

Walter Library is hosting a week of workshops to kick-off the new year and give you the research advantage. Each session is free to register and held in Walter Library.

Creating a Data Management Plan For Your Grant Application Mon, 01/10/2011 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 314 Walter Library
Register for this Course (Faculty and staff members encouraged)
Grant Funding for Graduate Students Mon, 01/10/2011 - 3:00pm - 4:15pm
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 3:00pm - 4:15pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
Introduction to Citation Managers Tue, 01/11/2011 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
RefWorks: Basics Tue, 01/11/2011 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
EndNote: Basics Wed, 01/12/2011 - 11:00am - 12:30pm
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 11:00am - 12:30pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
Can I Use That? Fair Use in Everyday Life (open audience) Thu, 01/13/2011 - 10:00am - 12:00pm
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
Zotero: Basics Thu, 01/13/2011 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
Google: Advanced Searching for Researchers Fri, 01/14/2011 - 10:00am - 11:00am
Fri, 01/14/2011 - 10:00am - 11:00am
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
Google: Increasing Productivity and Collaboration Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
Introduction to Citation Managers Mon, 01/24/2011 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Mon, 01/24/2011 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
RefWorks: Basics Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course
EndNote: Basics Tue, 01/25/2011 - 2:30pm - 3:45pm
Tue, 01/25/2011 - 2:30pm - 3:45pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Register for this Course ]]> Shoveling citations tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/fransen/myblog//10423.264279 2010-12-14T05:09:40Z 2011-01-03T22:14:21Z EDIT: Hmm, I wonder why people don't post preliminary results on their blogs all the time. Well, because sometimes they think they've proofread more carefully than they have. At least that was the case with me. When I reviewed my... Jan Fransen EDIT: Hmm, I wonder why people don't post preliminary results on their blogs all the time. Well, because sometimes they think they've proofread more carefully than they have. At least that was the case with me. When I reviewed my citation data again, I found that I'd accidentally categorized a set of IEEE journal articles as conference papers. Once I'd fixed the data, the split between articles and conference papers wasn't nearly so even. And IEEE moved well ahead of AIP in article citations. More details in the "future article" mentioned below.

IMG_0753.JPGI'm now a third of the way through my six week leave. And yes, I was happy to stay in my cozy home office today instead of waiting at the bus stop. Or on the four foot high mound of snow where the bus stop should be.

Leading up to the leave and during the first week, I read a fair amount of literature on engineering resources and reviewed many of the pages other librarians have built for their students. Thanks to others' thorough work, my "book knowledge" is pretty solid, and I've seen great examples of what others are doing.

But in order to get people to actually use the instruction modules I create, they'll need to know why they need them. The best way I can think of to do that is to educate them (and myself) about what other people just like them have found useful. And that means digging into the richest source of data available to me: Dissertations and Master's theses written by students in U of M engineering and computer science programs over the past few years.

I started with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. Over the last ten years, ECE granted 27% of the Masters degrees in engineering and computer science, and 23% of the PhDs, so ECE grad students account for a healthy share of the target audience. To preserve my sanity and keep the time required reasonable, I put a few parameters around this experiment:

I was able to collect all citations from 47 PhD dissertations and 10 Masters theses. For the record, the UDC turned out to be the better source for theses: Only one thesis showed up in the Proquest database. For dissertations, all were at least in the Proquest database and most--39 of 47--were in the UDC as well.

Oh, results? Well, I'll leave most of them for a future article. I'm anxious to compare the ECE results with those of other departments, and I think such an analysis may be useful for others as well. But here are a couple of interesting tidbits:

Citation sources were predominantly split between articles from academic journals (mostly peer reviewed) and conference papers.

MainSources-EE.jpg

8% of the citations were to books. An array of websites, magazines, patents, software, and theses made up the remaining 9%.

OtherSources-EE.jpg

I also looked into who published the articles cited. I was surprised to find that IEEE was second on the list of publishers. American Institute of Physics edged out IEEE, 274 citations to 259. On the other hand, I'm confident that if I took the time to find the sponsors for all the conferences listed, the vast majority would be IEEE-sponsored.

My favorite citation? Has to be this awesome video of Boston Dynamics' BigDog.

I love my job.

]]> Finding my way around the Engineering Literature tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/frans005/myblog//10423.260743 2010-11-18T21:41:02Z 2010-12-14T23:03:36Z week from Monday I'll be shifting my work responsibilities for a short time. Goodbye, lists of books to buy or not buy; hello, lists of learning objectives and instruction scripts. (Oh, and sweats and slippers and my tranquil home office.)... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/
I've been granted a "mini-leave:" Six weeks to focus on a specific project that I probably would never have found time to do alongside my regular responsibilities.

I'll be creating a series of short online tutorials targeted at new graduate students in engineering and computer science. I hope that the set of tutorials will be customizable for different departments, or even different labs. The tutorials will be loosely organized around the common types of literature depicted in the sketch below. 
FindingYourWay-HubPrototype.jpgStudents can use the tutorials to learn:

  • What a particular type of literature is: Who creates it, why they might use it, and where they can find it
  • How to use different tools available through the Libraries or on the Web to find what they need
  • Which specific journals, conferences, or repositories they need to be familiar with in their field of research 
I'm going to try to use this long-dormant blog to document my progress and gather feedback as I develop prototypes.

So is this something that would be helpful to you, or would have been when you started your graduate education? If so, let me know in the comments.

]]> Working off-campus tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/frans005/myblog//10423.237762 2010-06-16T18:43:32Z 2010-06-16T20:53:17Z Suppose you'd like to review some article citations and you're off campus. If you're feeling lucky, you can just search Google Scholar and find PDFs of the articles you want. But what if full text isn't freely available online?If University... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ Google Scholar and find PDFs of the articles you want. But what if full text isn't freely available online?

If University Libraries has purchased access to the journal you want, you can go to the Libraries website and either find the journal in the E-Journals list or fill in citation information with the Citation Linker. In either case, you'll be prompted for your X.500 credentials and recognized as an affiliate once you get to the publisher's website.

But if you prefer to go straight to IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Elsevier ScienceDirect, or another publisher site, just drag the bookmarklet below to your browser toolbar. When you're on a publisher's webpage, click the UMN Access button. The code will update links on the page to use the University Libraries's proxy and you'll be able to download full text just as if you were on campus,

UMN Access

The idea and code for this bookmarklet came from Daniel Feldman, a graduate student in Software Engineering. Thanks, Daniel!
]]> A Library Seminar for Institute of Technology Faculty and Instructors tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/frans005/myblog//10423.231184 2010-04-21T14:42:59Z 2010-04-21T14:46:15Z With a renewed focus on the first-year experience, a strong emphasis on capstone and design projects in the senior year, and renowned graduate programs, the Institute of Technology is committed to producing well-rounded students with a skill set that... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ With a renewed focus on the first-year experience, a strong emphasis on capstone and design projects in the senior year, and renowned graduate programs, the Institute of Technology is committed to producing well-rounded students with a skill set that includes critical thinking, managing and synthesizing scientific information and data to create and effectively communicate new knowledge.

To help you and your colleagues more fully integrate these skills into your courses and curriculum, the University Libraries invite you to an intensive one and one-half day seminar.

A $250 honorarium is offered to those who participate.



Through presentations, small group discussion with colleagues, and individual consultations with science and engineering librarians, you will...
  • Reflect on teaching practices and assignments to improve your students' ability to  navigate the literature of your field, critically evaluate information, turn data into meaning, and effectively convey new knowledge
  • Explore issues around scientific scholarship, including publishing, copyright and open access to help prepare students to negotiate the publishing world themselves
  • Consider strategies for managing your data and be able to advise UROP students and members of your research group on this topic
  • Learn how to keep up with the literature and increase your productivity with information gathering and organizational tools

When: Wednesday, May 19, 2010, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and Thursday, May 20, 2010, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. There will also be a short follow-up meeting in late fall.

Where: 101 Walter Library

Space is limited. Please fill out the registration form below by Monday, May 3. You will receive a confirmation email in early May.

Questions? Please contact Kate Peterson (katep@umn.edu, 612-626-3746)

]]> January Workshops for Grad Students tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.210316 2009-12-15T22:20:47Z 2009-12-15T22:38:48Z Our Winter Break Workshops in Walter are designed specifically for graduate students in the sciences and engineering. They are free and open to anyone; just register by following the links below each event. Many more workshops are also available... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/
Our Winter Break Workshops in Walter are designed specifically for graduate students in the sciences and engineering. They are free and open to anyone; just register by following the links below each event. Many more workshops are also available throughout the University Libraries, see a full list here.

Introduction to Citation Managers
Tue, 01/05/2010 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 101 Walter Library
Instructor(s): Meghan Lafferty
Capacity: 50
Status: Open
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Capacity: 17
Status: Open
Mon, 01/11/2010 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Capacity: 17
Status: Open
Tue, 01/12/2010 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Instructor(s): Jon Jeffryes
Capacity: 17
Status: Open
Wed, 01/13/2010 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Capacity: 17
Status: Open
Wed, 01/13/2010 - 3:00pm - 4:15pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Instructor(s):
Capacity: 17
Status: Open
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library
Instructor(s): Janet Fransen
Capacity: 17
Status: Open
Register for this Course
Recorded workshop is available in two parts
Online resources are available
]]> Excel for Engineers tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.198019 2009-10-16T01:51:02Z 2009-10-16T01:55:43Z Next week I'm teaching a workshop called Excel for Engineers and Scientists. I taught a similar workshop at the instructor's request for a Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering class last winter, and have been eager to try it again as an... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ WatershedSpreadsheet.jpg
Next week I'm teaching a workshop called Excel for Engineers and Scientists. I taught a similar workshop at the instructor's request for a Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering class last winter, and have been eager to try it again as an open workshop. I'll be teaching primarily about using Visual Basic for Applications to interact with Excel.

In the BBE class, I showed them how to solve a particular watershed problem from their homework. I could use more good engineering examples. If you've got one, or if you've got suggestions about what engineers should know about using Excel, I'd love to hear from you. Email me, or leave a comment.

]]> Academic Bread and Butter tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.197974 2009-10-15T19:13:38Z 2009-10-15T19:52:14Z If you are a graduate student or a faculty member, research is likely your primary focus. But you know that to continue to do the research you love, you need to develop two important skills: getting grants and publishing the... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/
Next week, librarians at Walter Library will be offering two workshops designed for graduate students and early-career faculty:

  • Monday, 10/19 (1:30-2:30) Getting Published: How to Publish Your Science Research Article will help you identify journals to consider when submitting your article and discuss how to manage your rights when signing a contract with a publisher.
  • Tuesday, 10/20 (3:00-4:15) Grant Funding - Search Tools and Resources introduces you to searching for grant opportunities with IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science and the Foundation Directory. You'll learn to set up email updates on specific subjects, as well as find out about internal U of M funding sources.

We hope to record these sessions. If you can't attend, check our Tutorials and Recorded Workshops page next week. If we're successful, you'll see these workshops on that page by the end of next week.]]> Aerospace Artistic Endeavors tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.196726 2009-10-09T17:12:34Z 2009-10-09T17:50:19Z One bright side of our recent cold, rainy weather: When I walk to the West Bank, I get to take a look at how different groups on campus express themselves. Every year, groups can sign up for a panel... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ ArtMajors.jpg

One bright side of our recent cold, rainy weather: When I walk to the West Bank, I get to take a look at how different groups on campus express themselves. Every year, groups can sign up for a panel along the Washington Ave Bridge shelter's inside walls. This year's AIAA entry caught my eye--especially the disclaimer at the bottom.





AEM-1985.jpg

The Aerospace majors of my era weren't known for our artistic ability, either, but a couple of weeks ago I was reminded of a classmate's flash of inspiration. My niece must have dug pretty deep when raiding her dad's closet, and came up with an AIAA t-shirt I'd given him in about 1985. My friend Nick put together the design--younger readers need to understand that this was back in the Bloom County days, when Opus was funny. The design got a lot of traction on campus, probably the first AIAA shirt to sell widely outside of the AEM department.

No, we didn't get into copyright trouble. As I recall, we were just naive enough to worry more about what Burt Rutan would think of another shirt that featured the Rutan Voyager than about Berke Breathed.

]]> Tutorials and Recorded Workshops tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.193272 2009-09-25T20:03:03Z 2009-09-25T20:13:33Z We love our Workshop Series here at the Libraries, but we know that many of you aren't on campus during the day, or just can't find the time to come over to Walter Library for a class. Therefore we're... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ TutorialsRecordedWorkshops.jpg We love our Workshop Series here at the Libraries, but we know that many of you aren't on campus during the day, or just can't find the time to come over to Walter Library for a class. Therefore we're adding as many online instruction options as possible. Our Tutorials and Online Workshops page lists three kinds of instruction, all available wherever you have your computer and an Internet connection:
  • Online Tutorials are short and targeted to specific tasks, like setting up a Refworks account or searching for books in MNCAT Plus.
  • Recorded workshops are recordings of the walk-in workshops we teach in the library. We just turn on the recording software and capture the screen and our voices.
  • Online Self-Paced Workshops are mostly Moodle pages. They typically contain the slides and handouts we use for the walk-in workshops, screenshots and how-tos for specific tasks, and links to additional resources on the topic.
Let me know if there are topics you'd like to see us cover, either as online instruction or walk-in workshops.
]]> Workshops @ Walter Sept 28-Oct 2 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.192814 2009-09-23T20:23:34Z 2009-09-23T20:40:23Z My fellow engineering librarian Jon Jeffryes' knack for finding great Creative Commons images for blog posts never fails to impress me. He claims to love doing this, so I'm not even going to feel guilty about copying and pasting his... Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ Jon Jeffryes' knack for finding great Creative Commons images for blog posts never fails to impress me. He claims to love doing this, so I'm not even going to feel guilty about copying and pasting his weekly-or-so posts about our upcoming workshops. Thanks Jon!

Here's a list of library workshops coming up next week at Walter Library. If you have any questions or would like more information about any of the offerings, send me an email.


Create Posters Using PowerPoint
Poster Show.jpg
(Image comes from ragesoss via Flickr. CC)

We'll give you the tools to make a classy poster for your next presentation--be it in class, at a conference or a departmental meeting. We'll show you how to use PowerPoint to create a poster as one giant slide that can be easily sent to a large-scale printer. We'll also provide you with some best practices in designing your poster so that you have an eye-catching document that's easy to understand.

Monday, September 28
1:30-2:15
Walter Library 310

Web Tools For Working Collaboratively

Collaboratively.jpg

An introduction and overview of great online collaborative tools that you can use in your work with colleagues...whether they're across the ocean or across the hall.

Tuesday, September 29
1:30-2:30
Walter Library 310

Engineering: Find Better Information Faster

Engineering Information.jpg
(Image from Calistobreeze via Flickr. CC).

In this workshop we'll give you an overview and some hands-on experience finding quality engineering research. We'll discuss finding peer-reviewed journal articles from Engineering Village and Web of Science as well as searching for more technical information in patent and standards databases.

Wednesday, September 30
2:30-3:30
Walter Library 310

For more, or to register for any workshop, visit our website.

Can't make it to Walter? Check out our growing list of tutorials, recorded workshops, and self-paced workshops.

]]> Engineering Research: A Guide to Finding and Contributing to Your Field's Literature tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2009:/frans005/myblog//10423.192793 2009-09-23T19:48:31Z 2009-09-23T20:11:29Z Jan Fransen http://www.tc.umn.edu/~frans005/ Missed it? Want a review? Take a look at the presentation here:


Library Resources and Services for ECE Handout
Slides for ECE Colloquium, Fall 2009 (PowerPoint 2007 format)

]]>