This post continues the series featuring library resources about the countries represented by the UC international community.
Featured country: Argentina
Source: (CIA) World Factbook
Featured resource: Culture, Customs and Etiquette in the Country Information CampusGuide
Olga Hart
UC Libraries’ faculty and staff are happy to welcome new international students who are learning about the campus and visiting libraries this week. On Thursday morning over 250 undergraduate international students got introduced to key library resources and services through an interactive orientation session. During one of the orientation activities students and orientation leaders put star stickers for their home locations on the maps.
We hope that many more new and returning faculty and students will put stars on the U.S. and world maps on the chalkboard inside Langsam Library.
This post continues the series featuring library resources about the countries represented by the UC international community.
Today’s featured country: Albania.
Source: CultureGrams
Featured resource: “Global Energy Market Research: Albania” (in Business Source Complete)
Our special connection: Albi, a peer mentor at Langsam InfoCommons, was born in Albania.
“…All flags shall here be seen…” – this line from Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” describing the thoughts of Peter the Great as he was envisioning St. Petersburg, comes to mind as one enters Langsam Library this summer. Flags of dozens of countries adorn the Circulation and InfoCommons desks greeting the UC Community, including nearly 3,200 international students from 110 countries. “I feel as if I were at the United Nations [Headquarters],” a colleague remarked today passing by the InfoCommons desk.
The diverse international community of students, faculty, and staff is described in the UC Academic Master Plan as “one of our richest resources.” UC Libraries’ faculty and staff are proud to be part of this community and to contribute to UC’s global engagement initiatives.
The flags proudly displayed in the library represent the richness of our collection. To help you learn about the countries where the members of the UC family come from, we’ll be featuring library resources in a semi-weekly tweet. Please feel free to share your favorite resources in your responses!
Today’s featured country: Afghanistan.
Source: Europa World Plus.
Learn more about countries of the world from the Country Information CampusGuide.
Friday Challenge Winner:
Madhavun Candadai
Madhavun used the library catalog to find the book and searched its contents to find the answer to the question.
Grand Prize Winner:
Raj Kapadia
Our virtual Oscar: a librarian action figure
Throughout the week Raj demonstrated proficiency with the library catalog as his preferred search tool. Indeed, if used efficiently, the catalog can provide you with a lot of information and unlock many useful sources.
Raj also used Google Books to search for the text in the book. This is a wonderful research tool for finding text fragments, especially for books not available electronically in the UC collection.
See the names of other winners in our earlier post.
Congratulations, winners!
Many thanks to all the students who took part in the contest!
Good luck with your exams and have a great summer!
During National Library Week UC Libraries celebrated the library users by offering them an opportunity to demonstrate their research skills and win prizes by participating in a research skills contest.
It was interesting for us to see how different students approached the same challenges and what tools and strategies they used. Here are some lessons from our participants and winners. Continue reading
During the Information Literacy Awareness Month we used chalkboards in Langsam to learn more about our patrons and how they use the library and information sources. A couple of weeks ago we asked you to tell us what your biggest challenge is when doing research.
We got a variety of responses ranging from difficulty getting organized and pulling yourself away from Facebook or Pinterest to problems related to putting the results on paper and getting the research findings published.
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To help our patrons to address some of these problems we put together a virtual exhibit Tips for Effective and Efficient Library Research. The exhibit features current e-books and print books from the UC Libraries’ collections related to various aspects of library research projects, from finding and evaluating sources to presenting your research results and getting them published. It also includes resources on successful management of your research projects.
While the books on finding sources are targeted primarily to undergraduates, books in other categories might be useful to broader audiences, including graduate and doctoral students and faculty.
We hope to expand this exhibit in the future by adding more online resources in a variety of formats. Please help us by using the Comments link to to share tutotials, books, and websites that helped you to improve your research skills. Let us know what libraries can do to help you to find, evaluate, and use information more effectively.
Recently I came across this stunning quote from James Madison in a fellow librarian’s blog post:
“A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
On November 6 UC students along with the all voters will be casting their votes in the General Election. Do you have all the information you need to make the important decisions?
Earlier this month we asked the students who visit Langsam library to share the sources of information they use in order to decide how to vote.
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Tumblr was the most popular source followed by Facebook and reddit. The responses featured online news sources, TV and radio channels and talk shows, newspapers and magazine titles ranging from The New Republic to Huffington Post, and a broad range of websites, including RealClearPolitics , League of Women Voters, and predictably Wikipedia.
Thank you for sharing your favorite sources of information. Here are some resources recommended by librarians.
The following premium library resources require off-campus access.
Stay informed and make great decisions!
In celebration of the National Information Literacy Awareness Month librarians, educators, and politicians are talking about the importance of information literacy and evaluating what we are doing to help today’s students become lifelong learners. Continue reading
Welcome, new and returning faculty and students!
The University of Cincinnati Libraries are happy to provide access to a variety of tools, resources, and services to support your research, teaching, and learning. Continue reading
UC Libraries have a few openings for the following workshops next week:
Monday, February 13
Basics of Outlook 2010: Beyond E-mail 1:00PM – 2:30PM HSL Electronic Classroom G005G
This class is for the student who wants to use Outlook to the fullest extent! Students will learn how to 1) set up appointments and meetings using the Calendar, 2) add people to their Contact list 3) Add and assign Tasks 4) use the Journal to keep track of activities, and 5) use the Notes function to keep reminders for themselves. (Note – the e-mail function of Outlook is not covered in this class). Prerequisite: Basics of Outlook E-mail.
Tuesday, February 14
Intermediate Outlook 2010 9:00AM – 10:30AM HSL Electronic Classroom G005G
This workshop is designed for people who have a basic knowledge of Outlook . Students will learn advanced messaging features as well as how to customize many of Outlook’s functions. Prerequisite: Basics of Outlook 2010.
Wednesday, February 15
Basics of PowerPoint 2010 11:00AM – 12:30PM HSL Electronic Classroom G005G
This is a beginning level workshop that will take participants through the basics of creating a graphical computer presentation using PowerPoint. Advanced features such as transformations, slide builds, hidden slides, and timed rehearsals will also be covered. Prerequisite: Basic Computer Training or equivalent experience.
RefWorks 2.0 for Engineers 2:00PM-3:00PM 850D Baldwin (CEAS Library)
The new RefWorks 2.0 platform is now available. Learn how to use this bibliographic management tool to build and manage citations retrieved while conducting your literature reviews. If you have your own laptop, please bring it to the workshop.
To register for the workshops please go to http://webcentral.uc.edu/hslclass/ and click on “Register or cancel registration” next to the workshop title. You will find links to classroom directions at the bottom of the page.
If you have any questions about the classes, please call Lauren Mills at 558-6019 or e-mail her at Lauren.Mills@uc.edu