WHAT THE LIBRARY CAN DO FOR YOU Megan Lowe, Reference Librarian

WHAT THE LIBRARY CAN DO FOR YOU

Megan Lowe, Reference Librarian

Session Overview

A Few Rules About the Library Services Help! Resources

Find Books & More! Find Articles

Q & A Time

A Few Rules

Food and drink are not allowed in the Library

Unattended children will be reported to campus police – please keep an eye on your kids!

Talking on cell phones is not permitted on the floors; if you need to talk, please step into the bathroom, the elevator lobby, or the downstairs lobby; make sure your phone is set to vibrate or silent

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

About the Library: Hours

The Library is open Sunday through Friday Monday – Thursday: 7:30am – 12:00am (midnight) Friday: 7:30am – 4:30pm Saturday: 10am – 4pm Sunday: Noon – 12:00am

These times apply to the regular Fall and Spring semesters; hours are different during Intercession and Summer semesters


There are some non-Library departments housed in the Library as well, like Career Connections. Their hours are different from the Library’s, and you should contact those departments or check their websites to see their hours

Some of the Library’s individual departments aren’t open as long as the Library, such as Special Collections and Serials


The Library will often have different hours during holidays, so make sure you check the Library’s website to see if the Library is open

The Computer Lab on the First Floor of the Library has essentially the same hours as the Library (but more on the Lab later)

About the Library: Computer Lab

The Lab on the First Floor is open to all faculty, staff, and students of ULM and the public

Only ULM students can print, though

But you can save to flash drives

Just a note: the Library is wireless, so you can bring your own laptop and use the ULM Guest wireless connection

About the Library: Computer Lab

It is STRONGLY recommended that you save your work to a USB external media, like a jump drive

We do not provide headphones

The computers have CD/DVD drives

About the Library: Layout

The Library occupies 5 of the 7 floors of the building

The 6th floor houses campus administration – the President’s Office, the Provost, the Vice Presidents, etc.

The 7th floor houses the University Conference

Center

The elevators on the Library side stop on floor #5


If you wish to visit the 6th or 7th floors, you must use the Administration/Conference Center entrance, which is located on the DeSiard side of the building

The elevators on that side only access floors 6 & 7

The Library is not responsible for scheduling the Conference Center – it is independent of the Library


The Library contains many collections which are housed on different floors….

Reserves are housed on the 1st floor, at the Circulation Desk

Serials are housed on the 2nd floor Media Services are housed on the 2nd floor Government Documents are housed on the 2nd floor Curriculum & Juvenile Collection is housed on the 4th floor Special Collections/Archives are housed on the 5th floor Oversized Collection is housed on the 5th floor


But the largest collection, the Main Collection, is the Stacks

The Stacks are housed on four floors of the Library, depending on the call number:

Call numbers beginning with A – F: 2nd floor G – P: 3rd floor Q: 4th floor R – Z: 5th floor


So, a call number that looks like this…

HV6529 .H53 2006

and is located in

The Stacks

will be found on what floor?

THE THIRD FLOOR!

We’ve already talked about the Computer Lab and printing…

You can also make photocopies in the Library; there are two black and white copiers available on the 1st floor Printing is 10¢ a page

We don’t have fax machines or scanners, though

Services

Services

Special Collections can provide you with access to past issues of the Chacahoula (the yearbook), The Hawkeye (the newspaper), and other student publications, as well as historical materials about LA

Special Collections also houses artifacts associated with the University and often houses traveling exhibits

Services

The Circulation Desk handles the checking in and out of materials, such as books and study rooms (more on that in a minute), and oversees Reserves

Unless you become a Friend of the Library, you will not be able to check out books; if you become a Friend, you’ll have borrowing privileges (you’ll be able to check out books)

Fines for regular items are 10¢/day; certain Reserves items, study room keys, and ILL items are $5

Services

Reserves are where professors can place special items with limited checkouts; some items can only be checked out for 2 hours; some can be checked out for 1, 3, or 7 days

Study rooms are only available for group study and require a student ID; rooms can hold between 2 and 10 people

Services

The Library provides subject guides – the librarians created them, and the guides provide you with an overview of what resources are available to you in a given discipline or subject

There is also a Style Guide than can help you navigate MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian formats

There’s even a FAQ that can help you!

Help!

There are different ways you can get help; we’ve already mentioned three Subject Guides Style Guide FAQ

But there are other ways, too!

Help!

The Circulation Desk can help you with… Checking materials in and out Renewing materials Getting help with the copiers Paying overdue fines Helping locating a book on the shelves

Help!

The Reference Desk can help you with… Brainstorming Research (every step of the way!) Learning how to use the Library’s resources Finding books Finding articles Creating citations for “Works Cited” Proofing papers, presentations, speeches

Help!

There is a librarian “on duty”…

Monday – Thursday: 7:30am – 9pm

Friday: 7:30am – 4:30 pm

Saturday: 10am – 4pm

Sunday: noon – 9pm

You can also ask librarians for one-on-one help apart from the desk

Help!

You can contact the Reference Department in a variety of ways…

Coming to the Reference Desk on the 1st floor of the Library in person (it’s the desk on your right as you enter the Library)

Calling: (318) 342-1071 Email: [email protected] Ask-a-Librarian page

https://webservices.ulm.edu/wsforms/library_ask.php

Research

In order to do good research, you need to have a topic in mind before you start. It shouldn’t be too broad, or you’ll get frustrated easily. Here’s an example topic:

Marijuana should be legalized

for medicinal purposes.

Making It Work

Okay, so you have a topic – now you have to make it manageable. Or, as my hero Tim Gunn would say: “Make it work!” You have to break the topic down into smaller concepts to make it easier to research.

You wouldn’t eat a pizza whole, would you? No, you cut it into slices. So: thesis = pizza, slices = keywords.

THESISKEYWORD

Making It Work: Keywords

Marijuana Legalized Medicinal Purposes Cannabis Legalization Medicine Medical Medical marijuana

Law Treatment Seizures Migraines/headaches Cataracts Pain relief Chemotherapy Case study (case studies) Doctors

Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.

Medical marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.

Medical marijuana should be legalized for the treatment of seizures, pain relief, and nausea as a result of chemotherapy.


Keywords can be used in› The ULM Library Catalog› The ULM Library Databases› Even on the Internet!

You combine keywords together using certain words called operators. They are:› AND (this is the most common operator)› OR› NOT


So a keyword search for our topic could look like any of these search strings:

marijuana AND legalization AND medicine marijuana AND medicinal AND legal marijuana AND treatment AND law AND

seizures

Order and capitalization are not important, but spelling and number are, so be careful.

You have to use the word AND, not + or &.

Resources: Find Books & More!

In order to find… Books What journals we have subscriptions for Government documents Electronic books Electronic journals Electronic government documents

Use the ULM Library Catalog!

Resources: Find Books and More!

http://www.ulm.edu/library

Resources: Find Articles

Articles come from journals, magazines, and newspapers

The Library has both print and electronic articles, though there are WAAAAY more electronic ones than print ones

The electronic articles are accessed through the databases, which are just collections of articles

Resources: Find Articles

http://www.ulm.edu/library

Resources

You can search the Catalog from home

You can search most of the databases from home, but not all – but you’ll need to become a Friend of the Library in order to be able to do this

If you need help using the resources, all you have to do is ask a librarian for help!

Resources: the Internet

Remember: not everything on the Internet is appropriate for research

Remember: not all disciplines/professors will allow you to use the Internet

Remember: the Library is the best place for research

But if you are using the Web…

Resources: Evaluate the Internet!

Authority Accuracy Coverage Currency…

Of information Of page

Objectivity

Interrogation: Q & A Time

Library Overview Resources

Presentation URL

http://www.ulm.edu/~lowe/libraryoverviewpub.ppt

The OWL at Purdue: Style Help (MLA & APA) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

My Contact Info http://www.ulm.edu/~lowe [email protected]

THANKS FOR COMING!

If you need help, ask @ the Reference Desk!