Tag Archives: Research and Resources

LIS Liaisons to Academic Departments

Liaisons to Academic Departments
To make it easier for faculty to find information and resources quickly, the Academic Consulting Services group within LIS designates a liaison as the primary LIS representative to each academic department.
For questions about library or technology resources, please refer faculty to their LIS liaison. See this page for more info. Also check this spreadsheet for a complete listing of LIS liaisons.

“Research-How to Help” Training and Homework

As Elin told you earlier this week, you can expect to receive more requests for help with research at the Circ Desk this year.  Reference librarians are still available, but they’re probably a little harder to find.  We need you to help us connect researchers with resources–including us!

Please:

  1. Read the new “Research-How to Help” page on the Circ Wiki.
  2. Add a sample question for us to use in training:  a) Log in to the “Research-How to Help” page; b) Jump to the “Students/Staff: Add example questions…” section; c) Click “edit”;” d) Record a question you’ve received at the desk.
  3. Attend a training session: a) Monday, October 5, 12:15-1:15, Lib 105; or b) Tuesday, October 6, 4:30-5:30, Lib 105.

You’ll be paid for attending the training session.  Attendance is strongly encouraged.  Earn and learn!

See you on the 5th or the 6th,

Carrie Macfarlane and Brenda Ellis

Liaisons to Academic Departments

LIS Liaison Teams
Academic Consulting Services designates a primary Liaison as the LIS representative to each academic department.
For Liaison contact information, see the link above.
New for Fall 2009 — Liaisons work with a Team .
Your Liaison should be the first contact for:
* Library collection development
* Research classes and assistance
* Research Consultations
* LIS updates for faculty
* Support for Web pages, Segue (courseware), digitization, and other technology projects

If you are uncertain whom to contact about an LIS resource or service, ask the Liaison.

Liaisons and their team members are available to help plan projects involving technology or the library. They also try to stay informed about developments within academic departments, so LIS will be able to provide research and technological support, as needed.

Research – How to Help

The Reference Librarians have recently changed their model for providing research support. Faculty, students and staff using our libraries may turn to the Circ desks to ask questions – please read the Circ wiki page on Research – How to Help for some great tips on how to help and how/when to refer questions to a Librarian.

Reference Service is provided as follows:
AFTERNOONS: In the Main Library, Librarians have scheduled shifts in the reference offices (Main floor, South side).
* Sunday – Thursday 1-5 pm
* Friday 1-4 pm
Look for a sign outside an office to see who is on duty.
EVENINGS: In the Main Library, Librarians have scheduled shifts in Special Collections (lower level)
* Sunday – Wed. 7-10 pm

You can also contact a Librarian by:
Email: Send an email to Ask a Librarian
Text Messaging: Text a message to 66746 and start your question with the word midd (ex. midd how do I get to JSTOR?)
Phone:
MAIN LIBRARY REFERENCE (443-5496)
ARMSTRONG SCIENCE LIBRARY (443-5018)
MUSIC LIBRARY (443-5785 or 443-5218)

Why is this so important?
The library has over a million books, journals, government documents, audio and video recordings, diaries, newsletters, annual reports, microfilm reels and microfiche sheets. We have online catalogs that show what we own, what our consortial partner libraries own, and what other libraries around the world own. We have databases for statistics, photographs, and newspapers. In short, we have a wealth of information.
Even though we try to publicize our resources through workshops, newsletters, web guides and the like, much of it remains invisible to our researchers. Therefore, as a library staff member who works at a public service point (eg, Circulation Desk or Help Desk), it is crucial that you help to connect researchers with resources or refer to a librarian when appropriate. The wiki page (link above) gives advice on how to do that.
Librarians want to help and have lots of research expertise (training and experience) – please don’t hesitate to refer students, faculty, staff and guests to them.
To help develop the documentation and plan for a training session, please comment on this post with a research or reference question that you have encountered at the Circ desk.

New Reference Service Hours

Message from Reference Librarians:
SUMMARY:
Please remember that librarians are here to help with research – don’t hesitate to refer our students, faculty, staff, and guest users to us for help.
-Weekday mornings, call x5496. Any librarian in his/her office will pick up.
-Sunday afternoons and Weekday afternoons, call x5496 and/or look for the “on duty” sign outside one of the ref offices (rooms 206-211)
-Sunday-Wednesday evenings, call x5496 and/or find us in Special Collections
-At all times, questions can be sent to us at go/askalibrarian
Continue reading

LS Resources – Training Highlights

Thanks for presenting, Joy!

From Joy Pile:
The two FAQs for language school are:
Where are the dictionaries for x language?
And
Is there a list of videos in x language?.

1. Dictionaries are in both the stacks which can be borrowed, and in the reference collection. There is a hard copy of the basic LC call numbers for dictionaries in each language at both the Info Desk and at the Circ Desk. The reference collection is housed on the shelves in the middle section of the main floor, many of the circulating copies of dictionaries are in the shelves on the left hand side of the main floor.
2. There is a quick link to a MIDCAT search that pulls up a video listing in each of the language subject guides. To find the subject guides, type: go/subjectguides in the browser address line. Click on the appropriate language. The link appears on the right hand side within the information in the blue box. (Below my picture, but above the Meebo widget)
3. There is also a link for a CD search in the subject guides.
4. There are also colored paper guides for each language with basic information about locating items in the collection. There is a copy of each at Circ – but there are take away copies, as well as floor plan maps at the info desk.
5. A librarian staffs the info desk from 1-5pm every afternoon (Sunday-Saturday), evenings Sunday-Thursday. Please refer any detailed questions about finding resources to them.
6. To reach a librarian during other hours, suggest that they use MOSIO – a new question answering service using text messaging that we’ve instituted. Tell them to dial 6674, and start the question with midd and simply text it. They can even text us in the language they’re studying. We may answer in English, but among the staff we can read most of the languages taught here.
7. There are language school buttons denoting the languages you speak at the Circ desk – please feel free to use them. Maintain and share your own proficiency in a language you are studying or are a native speaker in.
8. Should you have or receive further questions, I can be reached at x5140 or by e-mail pile@middlebury.edu.

SciFinder Scholar moving to web-only

In case you receive any questions in the next few weeks about SciFinder Scholar:

Our access to the client version of SciFinder Scholar ends on May 8.  After that, the SciFinder application that is loaded on library (and other) computers won’t work.  We’ll only have access to the web version.  To use SciFinder web, each person must create an individual account.  Continue reading