Top Ten Tuesday – Getting the most out of the library

Blogger Alice Sneary, head of the community team at the Online Community Library Center library cooperative (known as OCLC), created this list of 10 tips. It is a really great list! I\’ve summarized just the basics. I encourage you to read the entire post with full explanations and details here. Please – get the most out of the Library!

1. Ask a reference question – in person, by phone (254-968-9249), from the web, or email

2. Search like a pro – the library catalog, WorldCat, SFX e-ejournals

3. Don\’t miss the databases. – Tarleton Libraries has over 150 databases to search, most with full text articles

4. Search strategically – learn how to search both the catalog and databases, read the help files.

5. Pay attention to punctuation and foreign characters – I would add spelling to this list.

6. Take advantage of audiobooks – the library has audiobooks in our AV collection

7. Go ahead; use Facebook – cool tools are available, CiteMe for example and look for the Tarleton library to be joining Facebook soon

8. Borrow from anywhere – ILLiad, our inter-library loan service is free

9. Invest in a study carrel – we have study rooms available and you can use a locker to store your things

10. Ask for help – we have professional librarians here to help. Use them.

Alice\’s post is REALLY great! I hope you take a minute to read it. One of the best ways to get the most out of the library is to visit us. The library is open 101 hours per week offering access to the library\’s collections, reference assistance, circulation services, study rooms, computer workstations, and more. We hope to see you soon!

Suggest a purchase

Did you know that the library takes purchase suggestions from faculty, staff, and students?

If there is an item: book, dvd, cd, audio, etc. that you believe belongs in the Dick Smith Library\’s collection… let us know! You can submit your recommendations online via the Library\’s Suggest a Purchase link on our homepage. We will review your request and if it meets purchase guidelines, you may just see it on our shelves.

Welcome to the Weird (and sometimes Sad) World of Human Behavior

Wow! I just found the strangest web site! It is Social Psychology Eye. They monitor journals on human behavior (and you may access many of the journals via the library, my friends), and share snippets of information here.

I just learned a few random, bizarre facts at this site:

People who think their health is better than most are more likely NOT to get a flu shot, making them more susceptible to the flu. (BTW, CDC recommends taking the flu shot now, and taking the H1N1 shot in October.)

When considering issues, people who carried a heavy clipboard were inclined to rate the issues as more important than people carrying a lightweight clipboard. (Maybe TSU should pass out heavy clipboards for students for class!!)

If you want to feel closer to someone (and vice versa), opt for a coffee shop rather than a bar, and have warm beverages, not \’a cold one\’.

And sadly sadly sadly
A third of teenage girls in a relationship suffer unwanted sexual acts and a quarter suffer physical violence. OH!! Ladies! Are you and two buddies reading this together? Statistically, one of you is in a relationship like this! Run/Call/Email the
COUNSELING CENTER
BARRY B. THOMPSON STUDENT CENTER Room 212
Main #9044.

I should end on a happier note, but this is too important.

15 Essential Web Tools for Students

A recent Mashable post by Josh Catone offers a guide to 15 Essential Web Tools for Students, plus links to the tools and tips for using them. With all the tasks everyone manages every day, these tools are very handy.

  • Stay Organized: web applications to help you get and stay organized.
    • Evernote — note taking tool that lets you sync notes between the web, your phone, and any computer
    • Notely — solution for taking notes and staying organized
    • GradeMate — organizer for creating to-do lists, managing due dates, and collaborating
    • Backpack — tool for keeping research organized

  • Study Better: web tools to help you get the most out of your study time.
    • StudyRails — for people who have trouble blocking out distractions when it comes time to study
    • Diggo — web-based highlighter and sticky note system for annotating your web research and sharing work with classmates
    • Delicious — tool for collecting web resources for a class, project, or paper under a single tag
    • Mindmeister — organize your thoughts and research through mind maps

  • Work and Collaborate: web-based and social tools that help you get your work done and collaborate with others on group projects.
    • Google Docs — online word processing and spreadsheets applications that let you work together on group assignments
    • EtherPad –collaboration tool that lets a group of people edit a document at the same time and see what everyone is writing as they write it
    • Sliderocket — online presentation building tool for creating multimedia presentations that are accessible from anywhere
    • Wikidot — a simple, wiki hosting solution for creating an unlimited number of wiki pages to organize projects and group research

  • Cite Right: tools to help you keep track of your sources and cite them properly.
    • CiteMe — search the world’s largest library catalog by title, author, subject, or ISBN and get formatted citations in APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, or Turabian style
    • EasyBib — automatically create citations in APA, Chicago/Turabian, and MLA styles
    • Zotero — automatically collects your research sources and lets you create citations in any of one of over a thousand different styles

Check \’em out!

A provocative video…


This wiki will give you a little more background on the video and \”connect you with some resources to learn more about the shifts that are occurring in our world and their implications for K-12 and higher education.\”

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 top news sources

The beetles sang – \’I read the news today oh boy\’… We have all heard that print news and newspapers are slowly dying. That made me wonder, where are we getting our news from? I found this online from \”editor and publisher\”. Below are the top 10 current events and global news online destinations for the month of June. So print may be ending, but online news seems to on an upswing.

  1. Yahoo! News – 45.638 million – Traffic rose 30% from May.
  2. CNN Digital Network – 38,792 million – Traffic rose 14%.
  3. MSNBC Digital Network – 36.262 million – Traffic fell 4%.
  4. AOL News – 24.716 million – Traffic rose 12%.
  5. NYTimes.com – 17.423 million – Down 1%.
  6. Tribune Newspapers – 17.044 million – Rose 13%.
  7. Fox News Digital Network – 16.808 million – Increased 61%.
  8. ABC News Digital Network – 13.408 million – Increased 16%.
  9. Google News – 12.831 million – Increased 22%.
  10. McClatchy Newspaper Network – 12.681 million – Increased 29%.

Remember that the library provides you access to newspapers and news organizations. You can search several news sources at once by using the Metalib: quick search for newspapers. We have a list of online newspapers and news website in our internet links. The online databases pages has links to many news databases, including Newsbank, Newspaper Sources, Access World News, InfoTrac Custom Newspapers, Dallas Morning News, and the New York Times

I hope you find these links helpful. Please remember, Dick Smith Library is here to help. We have lots of resources available for you. The reference desk of the Library is staffed with professional librarians who provide personalized service to assist with learning and research needs. You may get help and ask questions in person at the library, by phone at 254-968-9249, by email, or via the web at http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/askaref.html.

We hope to see you in the library soon!

Facebook Quizzes

Quizzes abound on Facebook. Here are a few samples:

Which Harry Potter character are you?
Which Transformer are you?
How evil are you?
Who were you in a past life?
What is your biggest fear?
What kind of Mom are you?
What famous movie star are you?

When a user clicks on an icon to take a quiz, he or she will usually get a screen like the one below:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, is concerned that quizzes and other Facebook applications may be accessing a whole lot more than users realize.

For example, a user can reject a quiz but if his/her friend takes it, the quiz can still access almost all of the first user\’s information, unless it is specifically restricted by privacy settings.1 They are also concerned by the fact that Facebook developers (the ones who create the quizzes) are not screened \”for trustworthiness\” or required to \”comply with a privacy policy.\”2

The ACLU of Northern California has created their own Facebook privacy quiz to test users knowledge of Facebook privacy policies and created an online petition for better privacy on the social networking site.

Recently Facebook agreed to increase user privacy in response to complaints from the ACLU and the Canadian Privacy Commission.3

For more information, visit their Facebook page , take the quiz, or read one of the following related articles:

Harris, Scott Duke. \”Facebook knows too much, ACLU says in warning of quizzes.\” San Jose Mercury News. August 26, 2009.

Hefflinger, Mark. \”Facebook Increases Privacy Protections on Quiz Applications.\” digitalmediawire. August 27, 2009.

1 Perez, Sarah. \”What Facebook Quizzes Know about You.\” ReadWriteWeb.com
August 27, 2009.
2 Ibid.
3Hefflinger, Mark. \”Facebook Increases Privacy Protections on Quiz Applications.\” digitalmediawire.com. August 27, 2009.

Labor Day in Thurber, Texas

The Texas Pacific Coal Company in 1888 bought out the Johnson Coal Company in northwestern Erath County at what was then the village of Johnson Mines. Robert Dickey Hunter, president of the Texas Pacific Coal Company, renamed the town Thurber in honor of H.K. Thurber, a New York investor in the company. At this time, Thurber was a company town, meaning that workers were paid in company script, which could only be redeemed at the company store and there were no unions.The majority of the miners were European from Italy and Poland as well as thirteen other countries. Relations between the workforce and management had always been strained. In 1903, the United Mine Workers successfully organized the miners and all other trades in Thurber. Other trades and crafts unionized included the Thurber Brick Plant, meat cutters, clerks, and bartenders. While still a company town Thurber was now 100% union. At its peak, Thurber boasted a population of 10,000 residents.

Pictured is the Queen’s float from the 1908 Labor Day Parade. The Woman seated on the left is Blanche Kessler, who delivered the Labor Day speech that year.

(Photo courtesy of the W. K. Gordon Center for the Industrial History of Texas)

Lockers

Did you know there are 45 public lockers located on the third floor of the library? They are across from the restrooms nearest the elevator and stairwell. Each locker is approximately one foot wide, one foot tall, and 18 inches deep. You can check one out for an entire semester. Commuting students might like to use one to store your books so you don’t have to haul ALL of them from class to class. Keys are available at the circulation desk for checkout and renewal. There is no charge for using the lockers; however, the charge for a lost locker key is $7.50.

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 types of library resources

Since the semester is still so new and many people are still learning about the library, I thought I would give you a list of 10 types/formats of resources the library has to offer you. Hopefully you will find this list helpful. If you need something you don\’t see listed, we encourage you to let us know! You can use our online suggest a purchase form or even post a comment to the blog.

  • Books – the library has over 388,000 items in our online catalog
  • E-journals – electronic access to full-text articles. Use to search by title or subject.
  • Databases – over 170 databases to help you with your research
  • Periodicals – print, bound, and microforms
  • Audiobooks – you can \’listen\’ to a good book
  • Government documents – information created by the federal and state government
  • Children\’s books – thousands of children\’s and young adult books, both fiction and nonfiction.
  • DVDs and other media – movies and research materials
  • Die Cuts – make posters of displays
  • Flip Cameras – need to make a class presentation? You could be a star!

Remember if the library does not have the information or materials you need, you may borrow them through interlibrary loan (ILLIad).

To find out more about the library please visit us! The library is open 101 hours per week offering access to the library\’s collections, reference assistance, circulation services, study rooms, computer workstations, and more. We hope to see you soon!

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