Best wishes for Winter Break

Best wishes for a happy, restful Winter Break.  And a big congratulations to all of the December Graduates!

If you will be on campus over the break, please be aware of the following:

• The library will be open for shortened hours.  In general, we will be open from 7:30am to 4:30pm Monday through Friday only.  We will be closed for the week between Christmas and New Years.  For exact hours, please consult our Hours page.  
• Over the break, the carpet on the first floor of the library will be replaced.  This means that there will be some commotion and rearrangement of items on that floor.  If you need assistance with accessing the newspapers, Reference Collection, Popular Reading Collection, microforms, or anything else usually found on the first floor, please ask at the Circulation Desk.

Spotlight on... Kellie Fisher

This is the next installment in a series of blog posts to help you get acquainted with some of the people who work in the library. Today we introduce you to one of our student workers.

What is your name?  Kellie Fisher

What is your major?  Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology

What do you do in the library?  I work in the Acquisitions department on the second floor.  My responsibilities include handling all incoming periodicals, sorting and delivering mail, answering questions, and performing miscellaneous tasks as needed.

What do you enjoy most about your job?   I really enjoy the relaxed atmosphere. I have always loved libraries, and working at the library is a nice break from the stress of classes. It also provides a flexible schedule so that I can keep up with my school work and participate in other programs and activities.

What’s the best class you’ve taken at BU?   My favorite classes so far have been Comp 1 with Professor Stuart and Intro to Audiology with Dr. Zalewski.

What else do you want people to know about you?   Besides working at the library, I am a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and the Presidential Leadership Program, which provides a variety of wonderful educational, networking, social, and volunteer opportunities.
 

Congrats to LibQual prize winners!

Thanks to the over 1,600 people who took the LibQual survey! The winners have been selected. Congratulations to the following:

• 1st prize ($150 Amazon gift card):  Kierra LaForge, sophomore, Audiology/Speech Pathology
• 2nd prize ($100 BU Store gift card): Brittany Albertson, junior, Communication Studies
• 3rd prize ($50 BU Store gift card): Samantha Horn, senior, Nursing
• Winners of the 500 pages of additional free printing:  Luke Peterson, Seth Stropp, Lisa Lower, Ryan Dunleavy, Sara Kaufman
• Winners of the library swag:  Nicholas Tyson, Morgan Kelley, Erin McLaughlin, Emma Emanual, Jessica Byra

New option for EZBorrow/PALCI

Patrons wanting to use EZBorrow/PALCI  to request books from other libraries can now log in using their Husky ID and password.  You are no longer required to log in using your Library number (the number on the bottom left corner of your University ID), although this is still an option.  We hope this change will make it easier to request books from other libraries.  For more information about EZBorrow/PALCI, click here.

Spotlight on... Joyce Counterman

This is the next installment in a series of blog posts to help you get acquainted with some of the people who work in the library.  Today we introduce you to someone you might not have seen before.

What is your name?  Joyce Counterman       

  

What is your title? Library Technician in the Acquisitions department

What kinds of things are you responsible for in the library?  I am the supervisor of the Acquisitions department and oversee one full-time employee, as well as 3 student workers.  I am responsible for ordering, renewing, and processing of the journals/databases, as well as supplies.  This includes making sure that the online journals are registered and activated for use by all patrons.  Another area of my job is to process the invoices for the various items that we order for the library, whether it is books, eBooks, databases, DVDs, or journals.  I also oversee the sorting and delivery of the mail to all the library departments.  

How did you come to work in the library?  I started working in the Acquisitions department in 1999 as a student employee while I was attending BU full-time.  In 2001, a Library Assistant position became available in the Acquisitions department and I was fortunate enough to be hired.

What do you enjoy most about your job?  I really enjoy working with our student employees.  I also enjoy problem solving, which includes mysteries to why we don’t have access to a specific online journal or database and fixing the problem.  

What else do you want people to know about you? I graduated from BU with a BS in OIS in 2004.  I enjoy fishing, photography, reading, and crafts.  I am also a diehard Steelers fan.

How can people get in touch with you?  Email: jcounter@bloomu.edu  Phone:  389-4727.  Room: AL 223.

New Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences database!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has recently created the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections, which provides free online access currently to a growing collection of over 3,000 items, including correspondence, photographs, early release fliers, full issues of rare periodicals, sheet music and movie star ephemera. The digital collections also include complete copies of more than 250 Academy publications, dating back to the founding of the organization in 1927, and provide access to significant items including selections from the Alfred Hitchcock papers and the Cecil B. DeMille photographs, as well as the annual Academy Awards programs.

Access these collections via links for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections on the following Library web pages:

• Databases A-Z
• Film & Image Databases
• Mass Communication - Specialized Databases
• Music - Specialized Databases 
• Theatre/Dance - Specialized Databases

As always, if you have questions please contact the Research Center desk (x4204) or your liaison librarian.

New Database Trials

The Library is providing trials to the following 5 EBSCOhost databases until the end of the semester. Take them for a test drive and tell us what you think! We can't guarantee we'll subscribe to a particular database, but we'll definitely weigh your comments carefully. The trial ends Dec. 14th.

• Applied Science & Technology Source - TRIAL ENDS 12/14
  Full text for almost 1,200 journals, citations to millions of articles. The content within Applied Science & Technology Source derives from numerous sources, including leading trade journals, professional and technical society journals, and conference proceedings.
• Education Source - TRIAL ENDS 12/14
  Full text for more than 1,700 journals, 550 books and monographs, education-related conference papers, citations for over 4 million articles including book reviews. Coverage in Education Source spans all levels of education from early childhood to higher education and also includes educational specialties such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
• Humanities Source - TRIAL ENDS 12/14
  Full text for more than 1,400 journals, with citations to over 3.5 million articles, including book reviews. Coverage in Humanities Source includes worldwide content pertaining to literary, scholarly and creative thought.
• Legal Source - TRIAL ENDS 12/14
  Over 1,200 full-text journals and over 2.5 million records, including book reviews and case citations. Legal Source offers information centered on the discipline of law and legal topics such as criminal justice, international law, federal law, organized crime, medical law, labor & human resource law, ethics, the environment.
• Library & Information Science Source - TRIAL ENDS 12/14
  Full text for more than 460 publications and indexing for hundreds of high-quality journals, as well as books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage encompasses librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more.

Keep a Lookout for LibQual

In November, the Andruss Library will be participating in the LibQual survey. This web-based survey lets us measure the service quality of libraries. We participated in LibQual in 2006 & 2009; this follow-up survey will show us how things have changed over the last three years.

 

This survey will:

• Tell us how the BU community rates its library services
• Allow us to compare our results against other university libraries
• Show us where we can improve our library services

To let you know how important we take this survey, we’re giving away prizes. When you fill out the survey, you’ll have the chance to enter into a drawing to win:

• One (1) $150 Amazon.com gift card
• One (1) $100 gift certificate to the University Store
• One (1) $50 gift certificate to the University Store
• 500 additional pages of free printing
• Library swag (mugs! pens! t-shirts!)

We will be surveying all members of the BU community, so keep a lookout for an email inviting you to complete the survey. If you have questions, contact Katie Yelinek, Reference Librarian/Coordinator of Government Documents, at kyelinek@bloomu.edu. The survey runs Nov. 5-21. 

Spotlight on... Charlotte Droll

This is the next installment in a series of blog posts to help you get acquainted with some of the people who work in the library. Today we introduce you to our new library director.

What is your name?  Charlotte Droll


What is your title?  Director of Library Services
What is a typical day like for you?   It’s a real mix of activities--learning about what’s going on, solving problems, and keeping an eye on our larger educational efforts.
What made you decide to come to Bloomsburg?  Three things: the people I would be working with, the nature of the position itself, and Bloomsburg’s location. The people here in the Andruss Library and from the Bloomsburg campus and community have made me feel welcome, and I’m very glad to be here. I enjoy the challenge of new responsibilities and look forward to working with my colleagues as we advance the role of the library and librarians in student learning. And I am originally from Pennsylvania and am happy to be closer to immediate and extended family in the Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh areas--this part of Pennsylvania is new to me, and I’m also enjoying how beautiful it is.
What do you enjoy most about your job?   Figuring out how to make things better. And learning all the time!
What else do you want people to know about you?  I really enjoy theater and am looking forward to performances by both the Bloomsburg University Players and the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble.

How can people get in touch with you?  Email: cdroll@bloomu.edu. Phone: 570-389-4207.

Faculty: Have you published a book?

We here at the library love to hear that a BU faculty member has published a book.  We aim to collect two copies of every book that a faculty member has published, and we've had a long-standing agreement with our book vendor to supply two copies of every known book with a faculty author.  Unfortunately, this system isn't perfect.  When you've published a book, first, congratulations!  Second, please let the library liaison for your department know.  Then we can be sure that copies of your book end up on our shelves.  Thanks!

An Assignment that Prevents Plagiarism

An article on the Magna Teaching & Learning blog details an assignment developed by 2 accounting professors, McGown and Lightbody, that has significantly cut down on instances of plagiarism in their classes. Students must identify and correct 10 instances of plagiarism in a faculty-written essay after completing an online tutorial on plagiarism.

Most students learn the basics of how to cite and paraphrase in their first year composition courses and are expected to apply what they've learned to courses in their major. But each discipline has its own conventions, and students need additional, repeated instruction and practice within the discipline.

Read the blog post here.

Spotlight on... Jazmin Carrasco

This is the next installment in a series of blog posts to help you get acquainted with some of the people who work in the library. Today we introduce you to one of our student workers.



What is your name?  Jazmin Carrasco

What is your major? Accounting

What do you do in the library?  I work at the Archives office on the third floor where I help identify, organize, file, and preserve historical documents and photographs. I also select and scan photographs upon request and prepare Finding Aids that are then added to the University Archives website. 

What do you enjoy most about your job?  I really enjoy that I am able to learn something new about the university and about the Town of Bloomsburg on a daily basis. I also love being able to view really old and interesting photographs while I work. This proves that you really can learn something new every day!

What’s the best class you’ve taken at BU? My favorite class at BU so far was Managerial Accounting with Dr. Nancy Coulmas.

What else do you want people to know about you?  Besides working at the library, I am also a member of the Alpha Sigma Tau national sorority on campus and I volunteer at the BU Women's Resource Center. I truly love being involved on campus.



Congrats to Linda Neyer

The library wishes to congratulate Reference Librarian and Associate Professor Linda Neyer for receiving a Certificate of Merit Award from the Pennsylvania Library Association.  This award recognizes Professor Neyer’s work on behalf of libraries in Pennsylvania.  Professor Neyer has, among other things, served as chair of the College & Research Library Division of the Pennsylvania Library Association and spearheaded the creation of a new open-access, peer-reviewed journal for Pennsylvania libraries.  She also co-chairs the statewide PA Forward Information Literacy Planning Team, comprised of partners from the public and private sectors, which is dedicated to advancing information literacy in the Commonwealth for all citizens. Her efforts have contributed to greater cooperation among and visibility of academic libraries in Pennsylvania. 

Spotlight on... Amanda Bloom

This is the next installment in a series of blog posts to help you get acquainted with some of the people who work in the library. Today we introduce you to one of our student workers.

What is your name?  Amanda Bloom

What is your major? Early Childhood/Special Education

What do you do in the library? I work at the circulation desk. I check books in and out, re-shelve books, and help students, professors, and PA residents to the best of my ability with any questions they might have.

What do you enjoy most about your job? I like that it is a work study job and I am able to help everyone at the university and am still able to do my homework and keep up on my studies.

What’s the best class you’ve taken at BU? The best classes that I have taken have to be all of my special education courses because that is where I plan to teach once I graduate.

Why doesn't the library...?

If you've ever wondered this question (filling in your own end of the sentence), then let us know!

There are lots of ways to get in touch with us:

• If you know of a book, databases, journal, video, or other resource that you think we should have, use our book request form to suggest that we purchase it.  We can't buy everything!  But we'll consider all suggestions. 
• If you have another suggestion about our services, website, or building, use the "Did We Help?" forms at the bottom of many of our website pages, or use the suggestion box on our homepage.  These suggestions go to a real person, who does see them and responds as needed (or who gets in touch with someone who can respond).
• You can always talk to a real person.  Check our staff directory or contact the Research Center or Circulation Desk for assistance. 

How do I cite this?

Need help citing something you found in a database?  Have other questions about using the library's resources?  We've been adding "help" links to many of the database descriptions for the databases that you use most heavily, as well as those that cause you the most questions.  See below for examples of these links.

Keep an eye out for these time-saving links while you're doing your research!  And, as always, if you have questions about using a particular database, contact the Research Center.

Research Help in Sutliff

Need help with your business research?  Can’t find the information you need to succeed with a project?  Michael Coffta, Business Librarian, will be available for research help and consultations for the following weekly hours and lab locations in Sutliff Hall.

SH 123: Mondays, 10-11am

SH 105: Thursdays, 10-11am

As always you may contact Michael at mcoffta@bloomu.edu or @CashLibrarian

Spotlight on... Miranda Bailey

This is the next installment in a series of blog posts to help you get acquainted with some of the people who work in the library.  Today we introduce you to someone you might have seen if you're a night owl.

What is your name?  Miranda Bailey

What is your title? Evening Library Supervisor

What kinds of things are you responsible for in the library?  Putting material on Reserves for professors and assisting with interlibrary loan by ordering books for patrons. I also do the calendar and the electronic signage. 

How did you come to work in the library? I started out as a student worker, working as a  lab consultant, lab technician, then Building Consultant for the library.  I was about ready to graduate from Bloomsburg and there was a job opening for a Library Assistant 1 on night shift.  I got the job then less than two years later I became the evening supervisor.

What do you enjoy most about your job? Helping the students 

What else (if anything) do you want people to know about you? I’m a Storm Spotter for the National Weather Service.  I really enjoy music; I play the flute and the piccolo. I’m more of a computer geek than an avid reader.

How can people get in touch with you?  Email: mbailey@bloomu.edu. Phone: 389-4222.  Room:  AL 119