Spanish Studies

Note to Spanish students:

I just want to let you know that I'm available to help you with your research on projects in your major. Part of what I do, besides helping students at the reference desk, selecting books, and teaching instruction sessions, is helping students with their research in my office. So if you're stuck trying to find good resources for a project or just want to improve your research skills, contact me and make an appointment. Here is my contact info:

Rory Litwin
Librarian for Foreign Languages and Literatures
Office: Library 268 (2nd floor)
Phone: 726-7896
Email: rlitwin@d.umn.edu

I hope to hear from you.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Greetings to Spanish students and faculty at UMD. I hope you had a great summer. I did.

Here you will find news about the library's services, especially new resources for the study of Spanish language and culture.

I look forward to assisting you with your research. Feel free to drop by my office in the library, room 268, on the second floor.

Cheers...

Posted by Rory Litwin at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is for faculty....

I have been working on a collection of web pages on the UMD Library website that give instructions on some fancy ways to link to library resources. We have a lot of things you might want to link to in your course web pages or course WebCT or Moodle sites that require a bit more than copying and pasting a link. To explore what those are and get the instructions, visit my Guide to Linking to Library Resources. I'd appreciate any feedback you have to offer.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Library has added a web page listing our new acquisitions from the previous month. The list includes regular books, children's literature, teaching materials, reference books, bestsellers, and multimedia items. There will be a new list each month at the same location on the website. It's a very nice way to get a sense of what we are buying to support the University's needs.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The new issue of the UMD Library Connection newsletter is out. It includes items on the upcoming Northeast Minnesota Book Awards (NEMBA), the kids from the Children's Place who come in and use the library on Tuesdays, the new statewide 24-hour online reference service AskMN, profiles of three of our student employees, and other interesting news.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The new issue of the UMD Library's Newsletter, the Library Connection, is out. It's out in print and online as well. This issue has items about this semester's Student Video Contest, the transfer of the Media Hub to the library, the call for nominations for next year's Northeast Minnesota Book Awards, an article on the David Berman exhibit and event, and other news.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The library website has an updated section about the various collections in the library. There is a page for each collection, and the majority of these collections can be searched separately from those pages.

The collections you'll find there include:

Archives
Audiobooks
Bestsellers
Books
Center for Economic Development
Children's Literature
DVD/Video
E-Books
Government Documents
Microform
Music Recordings
NRRI
Northeast Minnesota Historical Center
Plays
Ramseyer-Northern Bible Society Museum
Reference Collection
Special Collections
Teaching Materials
Tweed Museum Library
Voyageur Collection

Posted by Rory Litwin at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The reference department has set up a "chat widget," which allows anyone to chat with a librarian at the reference desk by going to the "Ask Us" page. This chat doesn't require the user to have any kind of account with any instant messaging service. I think this is pretty nifty.

Additionally, I offer chat service from my office to students and faculty in my subject areas. My IM accounts:

• AIM: umdlibraryrory


• MSN: umdlibraryrory@hotmail.com


• GTalk: umdlibraryrory@gmail.com


• ICQ: 347078118

I hope some folks find these services useful.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here is an Excel file listing all of the books we acquired for the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures last year.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have access to some electronic bilingual dictionaries from Oxford University Press, that are hidden within our databases. For Spanish Studies, you will find a general bilingual dictionary and a bilingual dictionary of Business terms.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Spring issue of The Library Connection, the UMD Library's newsletter, has been sent out in print form and uploaded to the web. Enjoy the news from the library....

Posted by Rory Litwin at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

UMD Library Newsletter Fall 2006: The Library Connection: A Newsletter for Friends of the UMD Library.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I want to just mention a little-known service of the library website: the Citation Linker. This allows you to put in a citation to an article, and the system will attempt to link you directly to that article in one of our databases. Take it for a spin...

Posted by Rory Litwin at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In the last year and a half we have acquired a number of Spanish films on DVD. Here is a list:

Almodovar, Pedro: Bad Education (Original Uncut NC-17 Edition)
Almodovar, Pedro: What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
Almodovar, Pedro: Talk to Her (Hable con Ella) (2002)
Amenábar, Alejandro: Thesis (Tesis) (1996)
Amenábar, Alejandro: The Sea Inside (2004)
Belen, Ana: Mucho Mas Que Dos
Bollaín, Icíar: Flores De Otro Mundo: Flowers From Another World (1998)
Bunuel, Luis: Viridiana - Criterion Collection (1962)
Bunuel, Luis: The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - Criterion Collection (1972)
Coixet, Isabel: My Life Without Me (2003)
López Sánchez, Eva Francisca
Medem, Julio: Tierra (1995)
Medem, Julio: Sex and Lucia (Unrated Edition)
Trueba, Fernando: The Girl of Your Dreams (1998)
Uribe, Imanol: Running Out of Time (1994)
Zambrano, Benito: Solas (1998)

These are all DVDs and can be checked out by faculty or students. They can be checked out for one week, and can be renewed. To look them up by title or browse for more, visit the DVD and Video catalog.

Posted by Rory Litwin at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We now have Google Scholar working with our Find-It system, which is very very nice!

Google Scholar is Google's effort to provide access to scholarly resources of the kind needed in college. It's searchable like regular Google, but what it comes up with is (mainly) all scholarly and reliable.

Among the results in Google Scholar are a lot of things that we only have access to through our subscription databases. But in order to get from Google Scholar to the full text of these articles via our databases, you have to set up some settings in Google Scholar to connect it with us. This page explains the steps, but I will repeat them here:

1. Go to http://scholar.google.com/

2. Click on Scholar Preferencesto the right of the search box.

3. In the Library Links field type in UMD.

4. Click on Find Library.

5. Put a check next to the University of Minnesota Duluth.

6. Click on Save Preferences.

Once you have done that, when you search Google Scholar you will often see a Find-It link next to a citation. If the link is in large type, it will lead you directly to the full text of that article in one of our databases. If it's in small type, it will lead you to the other steps you can take for getting the article (e-journal locator, library catalog, ILL form).

Posted by Rory Litwin at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)