Old Dominion University Libraries - Library Information - Publications

Faculty Events at Perry Library

Faculty members, staff and graduate students are invited to attend three informative sessions at Perry Library in the coming weeks.

Finding Articles in an Imperfect World
Thursday, February 22, 10:00-11:00 AM. The good news is that hundreds of thousands of journal articles can be found online through various resources. As more become available, however, the methods for retrieving them become more varied. Learn about obtaining articles through research information databases, through the library’s journal search page, by using ArticleLinker, and even electronically via interlibrary loan. Register with Nancy Schafer at nschafer@odu.edu.

Googling for Scholars
Tuesday, March 20, 10:00-11:00 AM. Google is expanding and improving; it now offers many excellent features for the scholarly researcher. Learn about Google Scholar, Google Books, Google Uncle Sam, and a variety of advanced searching techniques. Come and see what’s great about Google these days. Register with Cynthia Swaine at cswaine@odu.edu.

Meet Me at PubMed
April 3, 10:00 AM; repeated at 2:00 PM. Learn how to use this health sciences database in very effective ways. Check the library’s faculty workshop page at http://www.lib.odu. edu/libassist/classes/facgta.htm for updated information or contact Janet Justis at jjustis@odu.edu.

The sessions will be held in Perry Library, Room 163.

Another library success story

The library was almost ready to close. An upset student came to the circulation desk, begging for assistance with her email account. She was yelling, “Somebody's got to help me!” She said that she had asked for assistance in the OCCS lab (housed within the library) but that they could not help her at the time. She was trying to access her account in order to submit a paper due the next day. She was suffering from pneumonia, coughing and wheezing badly, and was so distressed that the staff thought they might have to get her some medical assistance.

One of the student assistants working at the circulation desk, Reddy, realized that the young woman had too many email messages in her account, preventing her from being able to use her it to send any more messages. He was able to access her account from the computer at the desk. As Reddy was about to see if he could help her delete some of those messages, one of the student assistants from the OCCS lab approached the desk to offer assistance. She had been trying to solve the problem in the computer lab.

All turned out well, and the library closed on time.

Saturday Workshop for Grad Students

Mark your calendar now for February 17. A workshop for graduate students will be held in Perry Library 163 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon about Finding Articles in an Imperfect World. See the previous article for a detailed description. If you can’t attend on February 17, sign up for the February 22 session instead. This information is vital for those working on a thesis or dissertation. Register with Nancy Schafer at nschafer@odu.edu.

New Civil Rights Digital Collection

The U.S. Government Printing Office, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the Thurgood Marshall School of Law have teamed up to create a website of authentic civil rights historical publications. Here you can find a wealth of important documents, indexed by subject. See for yourself by visiting the resource here.

Distance Learning Corner

Did you miss the January broadcast titled, MAKING the MOST of Library Resources? You may view the video of that session, as well as the accompanying PowerPoint presentation and handouts, by going to the library homepage at www.lib.odu.edu and clicking on the “distance learning” link (listed under the Services heading).

Note about course reading materials

The library maintains a reserve collection of books assigned by faculty members. For assistance contact Robert Stone, Circulation Services Supervisor, at rstone@odu.edu, or click on the "Course Reserves" link under the Services section of the library's homepage.

For articles, rather than simply listing them in a syllabus, faculty are asked to either link to, download, or scan items and then post them to Blackboard for students to read. Contact Karen Vaughan, kvaughan@odu.edu, for help with identifying and posting articles.

For items not available through the library's collections or databases, contact Stuart Frazer, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, sfrazer@odu.edu.

Library Exhibits for Spring

A series of library exhibits is planned for the spring semester. In February, Black History Month, From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in America will be featured in the lobby of Perry Library. In the same location for March, Women’s History Month, the exhibit will be Women in Colonial America. This theme ties in with an exhibit on Jamestown planned for May.

The current exhibit now being featured in the Diehn Composers Room is Allan Blank: the Sonic Possibilities of Words. This exhibit will be available for viewing through April.

CALENDAR

Library Update is published four times a year by the library for the Old Dominion University community. Its purpose is to inform users of new and existing services, policies and procedures.