Van Pelt and Opie Library Blog

New Module: Incorporating Information Literacy into Instruction

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The Van Pelt and Opie Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) invite faculty and graduate students to attend a module, consisting of three one-hour sequential workshops, Incorporating Information Literacy into Instruction.

Instruction & Learning Librarian Sarah Lucchesi is delivering the module through the CTL’s University Teaching and Learning (UTL) Seminars program.  In this module, using the framework of Michigan Tech’s information literacy rubric for undergraduate students (learning goal #6), we will explore the library’s information resources, digital tools for keeping current in a field of study, and assignment elements that allow students to practice information literacy skills.

Faculty and graduate students are welcome to register only for this three workshop series, or as a part of the complete UTL Course Design program.

The workshop sessions are scheduled for Monday November 4th, 11th, and 18th from 11:00am-12:00pm in Library 242.  Please register by 12:00pm Friday November 1st.  If you have any questions, please contact instrlib@mtu.edu.

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Professor Bill Sproule Explores Copper Country Streetcars: New Book Signing

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Professor Bill Sproule Explores Copper Country Streetcars: New Book Signing
Please join colleagues and community in celebrating the publication of Copper Country Streetcars (Images of Rail) on Tuesday, Oct. 1 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the East Reading Room of the library.

William “Bill” Sproule, professor of civil and environmental engineering, will describe how copper mining’s boom period and winters with over 200 inches of snow led to the development of streetcar lines that served over six million riders at their peak in 1910.

Books, along with Dining Services’ cream cake and fabulous citrus punch will be available. For further information, contact the Office of the University Librarian 7-2500 or library@mtu.edu.
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EndNote Workshops

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The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering EndNote workshops on September 26 and October 3.

EndNote is a citation management software that helps you to easily create and manage bibliographic information and incorporate references into your writing. In other words, EndNote streamlines the research and reporting process.

Seating for these workshops is limited, and registration is required. To register please visit:  EndNote LibGuide.

EndNote Basic I – Thursday, September 26, from 5-6pm

The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering a one hour introductory workshop on creating and managing references using the citation software, EndNote.  EndNote allows you to easily collect, organize and use your research references.  No prior knowledge of EndNote is necessary.

In this workshop participants will learn how to:
• Construct an EndNote Library in order to effectively organize references
• Create custom and smart groups to efficiently manage references

Note:  Our sessions use EndNote X7 on PCs.  Laptop users are encouraged to update their versions of EndNote prior to the session.  See the Library’s EndNote Download page.

EndNote Basic II – Thursday, September 26, from 6:15-7:15pm

The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering a one hour EndNote Workshop on how to incorporate your EndNote Library citations into a written document (MS Word).  Attendance of the EndNote Basic I workshop, or prior knowledge of building and managing an EndNote library, is recommended.

In this workshop participants will learn how to:
• Successfully incorporate EndNote Library references into their writing process (MS Word)
• Locate, identify and import specialized output styles

Note:  Our sessions use EndNote X7 on PCs.  Laptop users are encouraged to update their versions of EndNote prior to the session.  See the Library’s EndNote Download page.

Using EndNote – Advanced Topics – Thursday, October 3, from 5-6pm

The Van Pelt and Opie Library is hosting Kristen Faeth, Customer Education Product Training Specialist at Thomson Reuters, to conduct this advanced EndNote workshop. Light food and beverages will be provided. 

This workshop will cover the new features in EndNote X7 as well as ways to use your synced EndNote Basic library online. EndNote X7 allows you to easily search hundreds of online resources to collect references and PDFs or automatically import PDFs from your computer.

In this workshop participants will learn how to:
• Create bibliographies with subheadings and utilize new output styles.
• Attach charts, tables and equations as figures to be cited in your work.
• Sync your EndNote library with your online library to share groups of references with other EndNote users and access file attachments from anywhere.
• Easily cite references in your own work using the Cite-While-You-Write plug-in for Microsoft Word. 

Prior knowledge of, or attendance of, the EndNote Basic I & II workshops is recommended.

Seating for these workshops is limited, and registration is required. To register please visit:  EndNote LibGuide.

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Constitution Day 2013 Commemoration Features Political Scientist David Canon

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“Can Congress Govern? Gridlock, Polarization, and Budget Politics”

The campus is invited to celebrate Constitution Day on Monday, Sept. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in MUB Ballroom B. The guest speaker, David Canon, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will explore the context of gridlock and polarization in Congress, outline the stakes of the current budget battles and speculate about what can be done to improve the political climate in Congress. More information.

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Am I Cited? The Library’s New Citation Searching Guide Has The Answer!

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Compiling a comprehensive report of citing publications can be a seemingly overwhelming task.  Where do you look? What are the quickest and easiest ways to search?

The library can help answer these questions with a new guide to citation searching, located at http://libguides.lib.mtu.edu/citationsearching and created specifically with Michigan Tech faculty and graduate students in mind. Save yourself time by learning the most efficient ways to search a variety of databases for citation metrics.

This guide will help you find citing publications in many different databases crossing all academic disciplines, track citations of topics or other authors’ articles, and assess the relative quality or merit of a publication.

We welcome your suggestions about other resources that would make good additions to this guide. If you know of a database not represented in the guide that allows citation searching, or you know of any other helpful links related to this topic, you can submit them to reflib@mtu.edu or using the submission link on the front page of the guide.

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Winners Named in the Library’s ‘Empowered by Information’ Writing Contest

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Congratulations to the winners of the Library’s ‘Empowered by Information’ Writing Contest!

The library received many wonderful submissions. Thank you to all who participated!

  • 1st place ($200) – Megan Walsh, STC undergraduate student
  • 2nd place ($125) – Aditya Kumar, Civil & Environmental Engineering graduate student
  • 3rd place  ($75) – Ashley Schuman, Chemistry undergraduate student

Read Megan Walsh’s winning entry, below, and our 2nd and 3rd place entries, here: http://goo.gl/ZsMgZ.

“Sophomore”

As a freshman, college is an entirely new and sometimes terrifying world. So, coming into classes like Perspectives and having no idea how to even start research for my papers was overwhelming, to say the least. The library can seem scary and sometimes pretty awkward when you don’t know how to properly use it. My first experience with the Library was when I was working on my first college research paper about the urban history of Los Angeles, a fairly uncommon topic. Here I am, an embarrassed freshman walking up and down the aisles between the bookshelves, backpack clinging against their metal frame, annoying all of the grad students working on projects I will never understand.

After giving up the hope that I would just magically find what I needed, I walked into a lab, logged in, and went onto the Library’s website to try to find some journals or books on my topic. I knew that there wouldn’t be many but I fumbled around for a couple of hours and walked home, defeated. Let me note that this is not because the Library is not useful but because I had no idea how to make the best of it yet.

The next day in my Perspectives class, my instructor took us on a trip back to that same lab that I felt so overwhelmed in the day before for an informational session on how to use the library resources. A charismatic and welcoming librarian walked in and set up her equipment in the front of the room. For the next hour, she walked us through how to use the online databases and the library catalog. She talked to us about recognizing scholarly sources and using them to boost the credibility of our research. She even came over to me and talked to me on an individual basis about what keywords would be best to use to find what I was looking for. I couldn’t have asked for anyone more helpful than she was.

I made it through my freshman year, as rough as it was at times. I am currently finishing my second year as a Scientific and Technical Communications major and I am happy to say that the Library has changed from being a scary, unknown world to one of my safe places on campus. Aside from it being a wonderful and tranquil area to work and relax in, it has provided me with resources that have guided me through these two years at Tech.  By the way, I got an A on that Perspectives paper. However, the best part was not that I received an A, it was that now I have a useful and welcoming new space to carry me through the rest of my time here at Tech. And I plan on making the best of it.

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Empowered by Information – Library Video & Writing Contest

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We want to hear stories about your successful library research! Did the perfect research article that a librarian helped you find in a library database make all the difference in your poster presentation? Did you impress your supervisor by tracking down an industry standard for a project at your internship? Are your friends envious of those great historical photos a library staff member in the Archives helped you find for your dorm room?

We invite all current Michigan Tech students to submit a video OR written piece showing us the awesome ways you have thrived using the library’s information sources (e.g. journal articles, patents, standards, librarians, books) and win a cash prize!

Video Entries: 1st place – $300, 2nd place – $200, 3rd place – $100
Written Entries: 1st place – $200, 2nd place – $125, 3rd place – $75

Entries must be received by 11:59 pm, Sunday, April 21, 2013. Winners will be announced and contacted on Monday, April 29, 2013.

Want to submit a video entry but don’t have a video camera? The Library has video cameras available for checkout at the Library & IT Service Center.

See full contest details at: www.mtu.edu/library/contests/ebivwc

Contact us at instrlib@mtu.edu with questions!

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March 20th EndNote Workshops

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The J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library is offering another round of its EndNote workshops.

EndNote is citation management software which allows anyone to easily collect, organize, and use their research references.  Learn how EndNote can save you hours of time in your library research and document preparation process.

Seating for these workshops is limited and registration is required. To register visit : EndNote LibGuide

March 20th @ 11:00 am – EndNote Basic I: Creating and Organizing an EndNote Library

The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering a 1 hour introductory workshop on creating and managing references using the citation management software, EndNote.  EndNote allows you to easily collect, organize and use your research references.  No prior knowledge of EndNote is necessary

In this workshop participants will learn how to:

  • Build an EndNote collection of citations (i.e. EndNote library)
  • How to manage an EndNote library

March 20th @ 12:15 pm – EndNote Basic II: Cite While You Write (CWYW)

The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering an 1 hour EndNote Workshop on how to incorporate your EndNote Library citations into a written document (MS Word).   Attendance to EndNote Basic I, or prior knowledge of building and managing an EndNote library, is recommended.

In this workshop participants will learn how to:

  • Incorporate EndNote Library references into a written document (MS Word)
  • Import specialized output styles

March 20th @ 1:30 pm – EndNote Special Topics: Sharing EndNote Collections

Have you wanted to share your EndNote citations with colleagues?  Are you collaborating with others and have wanted to simply share your citations?  The Van Pelt and Opie Library is offering an 1 hour EndNote Workshop on how to share EndNote collections.   In this workshop participants will learn how sync their EndNote library with EndNote Web. Participants will also learn how share EndNote citation collections with anyone else who also uses EndNote.  Attendance to EndNote Basic I & II workshops, or prior knowledge of creating an EndNote Library and using CWYW, is recommended.

In this workshop participants will learn how to:

  • Sync your EndNote library with EndNote Web
  • Share your EndNote Collection

Seating for these workshops is limited and registration is required. To register visit : EndNote LibGuide

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