Holiday Greetings in the Library

It’s that time of year.  Snow is falling, temps are dropping, and it is almost the end of the semester.  Well, at least one of those is true in Melbourne.   Soon there will be the celebrations of the semester’s end as well as a wide variety of holidays.  We hope you’ll share in our cheer.   

Sometime over the next couple of weeks, stop by the Evans Library and make your own holly-day greeting for display.  Pen your good wishes for your fellow Panthers or express a seasonal sentiment in your native language.  Share your thoughts about this time of year and help us make the library more festive.  Materials are provided in the Library lobby so that you can design your greeting and leave it for a staff member to post.  Or feel free to “Leave a Comment” to this blog posting expressing your holiday greetings. 

Happy holidays from all of us at the Evans Library!

 

Need help with Research for your Paper or Project?

When doing research, do you get stuck trying to  come  up with terms that return good results?  Do you need help finding scholarly materials?  If  you have a project or paper due and you need help with your research, you can ask a mobile librarian. Librarians are research experts.  Let us help you find the right articles or materials for your paper or project. No appointments are necessary.  See the schedule below:

Come see us:

TONIGHT  October 19^th             6-8 P.M.              Academic Support Center

Thursday October 22nd           7-9 P.M.              Applied Computing Center (library 2nd floor) 

Monday, November 2nd           1-3 P.M.               Denius Student Center

Thursday, November 5th        1-3 P.M.                    Crawford 4th Floor Lounge (Room 407)

Thursday, November 12th       1-3 P.M                    Olin Engineering Student Lounge (2nd Floor Room 236)

Thursday, November 16^th         7-9 P.M.              Harris Village Multi-Purpose Area (Farmer Hall) 

 

Looking for Our New Books?

Staying current is essential in academic research. In addition to electronic resources, Evans Library also boasts a new collection of  new print resources  (or books) for research.  Print Resources that are NEW to the Evans Library are on a low shelf in front of the reference librarians’ offices on the first floor of  the Library.

Here are three of our many new titles:

The Pen/O. Henry Prize:  The Best Stories of the Year 2009 edited with an introduction by Laura Furman

A History of Dentistry in the U.S. Army to World War II by John M. Hyson, Jr, DDS Joseph W.A. Whitehorne, PhD and John T. Greenwood, PhD

Ocean Yearbook 23 Edited by Aldo Chircop, Scott Coffen-Smout, and Moira McConnell

We hope you find what you are looking for.

Volunteers needed!

As part of an ACITC grant-funded research project, the library will be testing an off-site or mobile reference service this semester.  Reference service makes librarians available to answer your research questions.  In this case, librarians will be sent to various places on campus, such as to the SUB or the Academic Support Center, to assist you with your research.

But first – we want to get feedback from you students so that we can make this service convenient and useful for you.  Therefore we are recruiting volunteers for focus groups. Participants will be asked questions about when, where, and why they might use a service like this.  As an incentive to participate in a focus group, we will be giving away $10 Barnes & Noble Gift cards, which are good at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore on campus as well as the store on New Haven Avenue.

We need 20 volunteers, 10 graduate students and 10 undergraduates, to participate in focus groups on Thursday, September 17, and Friday, September 18.  Undergraduate groups will be held at 2 PM; graduate groups will be held at 10 AM.  Groups will be limited to five students each.

Interested?  If so, please email Instruction Librarian Rebecca Weber at  weberr@fit.edu. Groups will be formed on a first-come, first-served basis.

“…but my professor said I can’t use the Internet.”

Part of my job as a reference and instruction librarian is to assist students in finding the materials they need to complete research papers and other projects.  Quite often, I hear, “I need to find sources for my paper, but my professor said I can’t use the Internet.”  Understandable. The Internet, a.k.a. the World WIDE Web, lives up to its name. It’s vast and sometimes it can be daunting to make sure that the information you find and use is reliable. However, there is a difference between the library databases and the Internet in general. Let me explain.

First, the library databases provide subscription content.  (That means that the library PAYS companies to make this content available to YOU.)  Most of the content on the Internet is free OR YOU have to pay for it. In the case of LINK databases, you’ve already done that with your tuition, so you might as well take full advantage of it. 

Secondly, what is in the library databases often has been peer-reviewed.  That means that experts (such as your professors) in various fields have reviewed these articles and okayed them for publication.

Thirdly, librarians are trained in what we call collection development. This means we take the time to know what publications and resources are important in your field of study, and we work to select and provide what you need  in print and in the databases.   This is another reason you can trust the content.

So the next time you have a research project,  go the library’s Website (www.lib.fit.edu) and click on Databases/Indexes, logging in with your TRACKS.  You may be surprised at what you find.  Remember, you can always Ask A Librarian for assistance.  I am sure your professors will agree.

Rebecca Weber

Welcome!

Whether you are just returning to campus or this is your first semester, welcome! Over the coming months, you will see some fun events and impressive changes at the Evans Library.  For instance, the Library will celebrate its 25th birthday on September 25th – with a big anniversary celebration! Watch  for more details over the next few weeks. In conjunction with this event, the library will be launching the 21^st-Century Learning Commons, a project encompassing a remodel of some of our spaces and the incorporation of more hands-on technology.  The Evans Library will also be launching a new Website later this semester.

We look forward to meeting the new freshmen on campus.  We will definitely see you as part of University Experience, but please know that you are welcome here any time.  We hope that everyone – from freshman to faculty  - will take advantage of all that the library has to offer.  Please remember you can visit us in person,  contact us by phone, email us or chat with us.  Visit our Ask a Librarian site at http://lib.fit.edu/questionpoint/ for more information. Hope to see you soon!

Summer Break Hours

We’ve been busy this summer making your library a  better place and a better interface–with new resources and great plans for future library spaces.  

In August, during campus break, we will be changing our evening and weekend hours. Evans Library will be open Monday-Friday, August 3-7 and August 10-14 from 9AM to 5PM. The Library will be closed on the following weekends August 1 &2, 8&9, and 15& 16.

We hope you have a great break. We look forward to seeing you when we resume our regular hours, when classes begin on August 17th!

Bored? Check Out Your Local Library

If you need a change of pace this summer, keep in mind that Evans Library provides a place to study or relax and use the Internet. Remember,  Evans Library also has a take a book/leave a book section at the South entrance. You might find a fun summer read that you don’t have to bring back. 

If you’re looking for the latest bestseller or DVD but find yourself pinching pennies, you might consider checking out the local public library. This week Florida Today featured an article on the services offered by Brevard County Libraries. Florida Tech students have borrowing privileges at these libraries with their student ID’s.  Either way, checking out a library is a great way to get away from the routine and find some free resources!

What Happens Online….STAYS Online!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas may be a comforting thought for some of us, but what about online? 

I recently attended a web cast with Clifford Lynch, a guru of virtual technologies and preservation where libraries are concerned.  He discussed the idea of cultural memory and preservation, in other words, what do we as Americans consider part of our culture now and how do we preserve it for future generations?  Librarians are concerned with both cultural preservation and privacy.  Here are some things to think about:

When you go into a museum like the Smithsonian, you are viewing a part of our culture, preserved by archivists. Should what you do on Facebook or Twitter be archived? What happens if Facebook goes away?  Look at it another way.  If you are a student, how might this influence your professional life later? If you are a part of that professional world now, should what you do on Facebook be private?  In five or ten years what might someone be able to find out about you online. Do you care?

Graduate Research Workshop

Did you know that almost 200 Florida Tech graduate students have taken the Library’s graduate research workshop in the last two years?  It’s true!  And registration for the Summer 2009 workshop is now open. It will be held on Friday, June 19^th, from 1:00 – 4:30 p.m.

More about the Workshop:

This informative session is designed to help graduate students learn search techniques and how to use the library’s valuable resources to conduct research more effectively.  In addition, you will meet your Information Advocate, AKA the librarian responsible for assisting with your specific subject-related research.   It’s a great chance for us to get to know you and discover your research interests.  It also gives you a chance to talk with one of us in a small-group setting.

Grad students, sign up today!