December 2009 Archives

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 310 Walter Library

Zotero is a *free* Firefox extension that helps you collect citations and website information from within your Firefox browser. We'll show you how to install Zotero and use it to capture citations, organize your research, and format bibliographies and in-text citations.

Register here

7:00 pm
January 7, 2010
Northrop Auditorium

The show is a unique mix of large-scale physics demonstrations and humor that is fun for adults and children of all ages. Demonstrations include dropping one of the team members from a 20-foot gantry while shooting a ball at him to demonstrate the effect of gravity, a human rocket to show the mechanics of collisions, collapsing a 55-gallon drum to show the force of air pressure, and much more. It is free and open to the public.

Learn more about Physics Force here.

Take advantage of the slower pace during Winter Break to learn about useful information resources.

Check out our New workshop on managing your data as well as workshops on citation managers, formatting your dissertation using Word 2007 and more.

To learn more about the workshops during break and to sign up for a workshop visit our Workshop Registration page here.

2ND FLOOR GREAT HALL

Study Days/Finals Week (Dec. 17-23)
OPEN 24 HOURS/DAY from Th, 12/17 through W, 12/23, 6 pm.

Walter Library

Study Days/Finals Week (Dec. 17-23)
M-F 8:00 am-12:00 am
Sa, Su 8:00 am-12:00 pm

Join us for refreshments, pick up a used book to read over the break, and enter a drawing for free prizes!

12/12
9-1 pm 140 Appleby Hall
1-5 pm 101 Walter Library

Consultants and tutors available in Chem, Bio, Math, Econ, Physics, Stats, Foreign Languages and more! Free food.

FFI

The IT Library Committee met on Thursday, December 3, 2009, from 2:15 to 3:15 pm in 314 Walter Library.

Faculty and Student Attendees:
Tryphon Georgiou - Electrical Engineering
Mike Grove - Council of Graduate Students rep
David Holt - IT Student Board rep
Alex Kamenev - Physics
Sanford Lipsky - Chemistry
Walter Littman - Mathematics
Friedrich Srienc - Chemical Engineering/Materials Science
Donovan Woldt - IT Student Board rep

Agenda

1. Collection Updates -- Kris Fowler
The collections focus has been on managing the budget to maintain our access to databases and journals, along with the recent increased investment in books and e-books. The outlook for the next couple of years is uncertain, but it is encouraging that the Provost explicitly protected the Libraries' collections budget for FY 2010.

2. Patron-driven acquisition of materials - Kris Fowler and Jon Jeffryes

• As part of a three-month pilot project, 15,500 new e-book records were added to MNCAT, so they would be seamlessly findable along with other library materials. However, the Libraries will only pay for those that users actually access. The records for those that are not used--and therefore not purchased-- will be removed. Especially since print copies of some titles are also held, the pilot will provide interesting evidence of which formats are preferred.

  UPDATE: The funds set aside for this pilot project were actually exhausted in 2.5 weeks and the records were removed in early January.

• An unrelated e-book development is the newly-available option for UMN faculty and students to buy individual print copies of Springer books for only $25, as a result of the Libraries' purchase of all Springer e-books from 2005 to the present. A link to this option shows after opening the e-book, whether starting from MNCAT or elsewhere.

3. Technical reports and the University Digital Conservancy - Jan Fransen

4. Assignment Calculator - Janice Jaguszewski

• The Assignment Calculator is a tool that breaks down a variety of student assignments in manageable steps based on due date.

• It provides students with reasonable deadlines, specific instructions, and guidance for each step of an assignment, and may be customized by an instructor.

• Students may sign up to receive email reminders for each step to keep them on track.

• Assignment templates include lab reports, papers, speeches/presentations, and videos/media.

• A template for the development of UROP proposals is underway.

• Other ideas for science-focused templates: grant proposals, engineering design projects

5. Library Course Page - Lisa Johnston
Library Course Pages are being developed for every course offered at the University and will replace CourseLib pages. They will include key resources to support classes, including links to reserve readings, and faculty may ask librarians to customize these pages for specific assignments. Soon, Library Course Pages will be linked automatically from Moodle and WebVista course pages.

• Old CourseLib Page


• New Library Course Page (draft view)


• MyLibrary Tab (Undergraduate View)

6. Patent Searching tutorial and other workshops available online - Jon Jeffryes

Along with library intern, Julia Demasi, we've been developing tutorials on patents and patent searching.

The library can create tutorials to help instruct students in library research skills. If you have ideas for tutorials that you'd like to see contact your subject liaison.