Monthly Archives

September 2015

Faculty Feature: Have you Scheduled a Library Session?

We’ve gotten past the first two weeks of the semester – yay! From what I’m hearing many of you, it also means that you’re gearing your students up for some research projects.

Please remember that we at UST Libraries are here to help out! Each year we go into an average of 300 different classrooms to be another voice teaching students how to find and evaluate information and to make use of the Library’s services. FullSizeRender

UST Librarians will work with you to make sure the session fits with your needs and expectations. Lower level courses are often geared towards more basic skills, while upper-level class sessions can help your students learn some of the research skills they will need as they prepare for graduate school.

Courses can take place in your classroom or one of the library’s computer labs and are taught using a mix of lecture and hands-on activities. We’re always happy to incorporate any library assignments you have for the day, and we can also build a course-specific subject guide (see examples here) that will include all of the resources/ideas covered in class (these can be embedded into Blackboard). After the session, librarians are available for follow-up sessions or individual consultations for both you and your students, as well.

We teach from the American Library Association’s Information Literacy Framework, and here are some ideas of what this involves:

The “nuts and bolts” of using the library
- How to find things on the shelves
- Navigating the website
- Setting up RefWorks and ILLiad accounts – and why you’d need them
How to construct a research strategy
- Brainstorming appropriate search terms
- Forming a research question
- Determining scope of search (choosing filters such as date, geography, etc)
Where to locate information
- Finding the appropriate (electronic or paper) resources and services
- Determining the difference between sources
  - Type of research: Primary v. Secondary
  - Audience: Peer-Reviewed/Academic v. Professional v. Popular
- Familiarization with databases and journal titles important in their field
Evaluate and synthesize the information discovered
- How to effectively read a research paper
- Determine the authority of the source
- Finding an “Academic Conversation” within their area of interest (searching by author, cited references, and more)
- Building an annotated bibliography

Information Ethics
- How to navigate the world of copyright
- Importance of citation and some basic how-to’s for a variety of citation styles
- Effectively using citation management tools

If you have any questions, please let us know. Otherwise we look forward to working with your classes!

September 24, 2015 by

Charles J. Keffer Library, Services

Busy Morning at Keffer

Although these pictures were taken near the end of class, today was the day that approximately twenty EDUC 370 (Language Development, Literacy and Literature) students visited Keffer Library this semester for their first exposure to the Hubbs Children’s Literature collection. The Children’s Literature Research Guide is available for any students and visitors to explore the resources of this collection.

September 21, 2015 by

Faculty News

Faculty Feature: Course Reserves 101

Do you want to…

Create a completely customized reading list for your course?
Reduce costs for students?
Help ensure our great library resources get used?

Then UST Libraries Course Reserves are for you!

As you finalize your reading lists for this semester, please know it’s never too late to let the library staff help you put items on Course Reserve. course reservces

Materials can be placed on physical or electronic reserve, with loan periods ranging from 2 hours to 2 weeks. It all starts by filling out a request form, after which Course Reserve staff will contact you to finalize details. Once the reserve is in place, a course-specific reserves page will be created that can be linked to on your Blackboard page or easily found by course # or instructor’s name within our system.

More details can be found below, or view our Course Reserves webpage to start placing your items on reserve now!

Print Course Reserves:

The list of items that can be placed on reserve includes: 12001064_10153564518992270_3791545871161013218_o

Books from the UST Libraries collection
Personal copies of items (including films, books, textbooks, you name it – items will be returned to you at the end of the semester)
Films from the UST Libraries collection
Materials from the Music Resource Center

*Note: If an item you’d like to place on reserve is not available at UST Libraries, you are always welcome send a purchase request through your library liaison to acquire an item (this might be an option for later-in-the-semester readings or for next spring at this point; acquiring a book takes time!)

E-Reserves:

Alternatively, many items may be placed on e-reserve, to be linked to within our reserves system or on your course Blackboard page. We are always happy to work with you to make sure that the e-reserves comply with copyright law and license restrictions:

In many cases, you can find or create a direct connection (known variously as a durable link, persistent link, DURL, or PURL) to the reading in one of the libraries’ subscription databases, and place that link in your Blackboard course. See IRT’s help pages for more on using Blackboard.
If that is not an option, Course Reserve staff may create an electronic reserve item accessible from the CLICnet catalog. To use this option, you will need to send or bring us a physical or PDF copy of the reading.

Fun Facts:

For Spring Semester 2015 alone, we had 161 Courses use Course Reserves in the OSF Library, putting 461 unique items on reserve (including 141 E-Reserves – articles, book chapters, etc.)
In the last 9 days, we’ve had a 124 students check-out materials on Reserves (UST Libraries-wide).

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments; we hope your semester is off to a great start!

This is the first of many “Faculty Feature” blog posts – look for more each Thursday! Please send any future topic ideas to UST Librarian Laura Hansen.

September 17, 2015 by

Libraries, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Special Collections and Archives

Tales From the Archives : The Computer Dance, 1965

These days, everyone is familiar with using sites like Match.com and E-harmony to find that special someone. But did you know that St. Thomas was on the forefront of using computers to match up singles?

From left to right: Diane Karner, Sue Klein, Steve Nachtsheim, Bob Cochrane, Joe Kellenberger

During Freshman Week in 1965, St. Thomas sponsored a “Computer Dance.” Freshman from the College of St. Thomas (an all-male school at the time) were matched with dates from the College of St. Catherine and St. Mary’s College (all-female colleges) based on the students’ answers to a questionnaire. Responses to the questions were coded onto punch cards and fed through St. Thomas’s IBM computer to make the matches. According to the student newspaper, the Aquin, organizers of the event “consulted three Ph.D.’s and ran trial tests on several students” before perfecting the system.

I wonder if any of these couples are still together today…….

For more interesting stories from St. Thomas’s past, browse issues of the Aquin in the Historic University Publications database.

September 15, 2015 by Ann Kenne

Libraries, News & Events, Recently Read

President Sullivan’s 2015 Reading List

During her convocation address yesterday (view the video of it here), President Sullivan reflected on some great titles she read over the summer that she explained were part of her “typical dose of insightful nonfiction: books that remind you what’s important and how to do it.” She found all of these very relevant to UST’s mission to advance the common good and thought each had an important lesson to impart.

And guess what? You can get all of them here at UST Libraries!

Here is the list, with President Sullivan’s takeaways listed in italics below.

The Road to Character

by David Brooks

“We experience true joy by discovering what life is asking of us and living purposefully”

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business

by Patrick Lencioni

“The single greatest advantage is organizational health.”

The Power of Habit

by Charles Duhigg

“Habit determines at least 40 percent of the actions we perform each day.”

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

by Atul Gawande

“Why we wish to be alive is just as important at the end of life as any other time.”

I don’t know about you, but I have some reading to do! Thank you for your insight, President Sullivan!

And (just for fun and if you need a break), we also have this novel President Sullivan mentioned as the one she enjoyed while vacationing in France:

The Nightingale

by Kristin Hannah

There’s always time for a good novel, right? :o)

September 9, 2015 by

Libraries, Media/Music Collections, News & Events

It’s Welcome Week 2015 @ UST Libraries!

Welcome to campus for the 2015-16 year. We at UST Libraries are looking forward to a great year, and we’ve put together a series of fun activities for this first week back on campus to help you remember all the ways we can be part of your UST experience. Stop by daily to learn more!

Saturday –Monday, 9/5-9/7: Looking Forward @ UST Libraries
Take a break from moving in to help start our first “white board conversation” (a UST Libraries tradition!) in the OSF Rotunda. This week’s question: “What are you looking forward to this year?” Lemonade and cookies will also be available

Tuesday, 9/8: Ask Us @ UST Libraries
Did you know the libraries have research assistance available 24/7? Stop by to meet YOUR librarians, and learn more about all the ways we can assist you.

Library tours at 1 and 3pm
Pick up a free magnet with important UST Libraries numbers and contact info.

Wednesday, 9/9: Technology Day @ UST Libraries
Find out more about the technology available for your use at UST Libraries. Drawings will be held at each of the library tech desks for flashdrives and other tech goodies.

Thursday, 9/10: Groupie Day @ UST Libraries
The UST Libraries are a favorite place for Tommies to study for a reason! Take a tour of our group study areas, learn how to reserve the rooms, and enter a drawing for large Davanni’s pizza coupon.

Friday, 9/11: Movie Day @ UST Libraries
The library has so much more than books! Visit an open house hosted by the Media Resources Collection and enter to win a voucher for movie tickets.

Saturday, 9/12: Stress Less @ UST Libraries
The UST Libraries and staff are here to help you – including finding a way to relax and take healthy study breaks.

Stop by for free “Welcome” snacks and hang out in our back-to-campus Stress Free Zone
Pick up a schedule of Fall 2015 Therapy Pets visits
Enter to win some relaxing Tommie gear!

September 4, 2015 by