Author Archives: Carrie Macfarlane

Director of Research & Instruction.

Ask a librarian – anytime!

The red sign is back! As always, whenever someone has a research question, please don’t hesitate to refer them to a librarian. At any time!

Give us a call at x5496. Whoever is available will be glad to come out and help. On weekday and Sunday afternoons, and Sunday-Wednesday evenings, one of us is always on duty. Look for the red “Librarian on duty” sign.

If it seems like no one is around, have the person write to us in the go/askalibrarian form. Even when we’re not in the library, we’re often on email. Hours and information about how to reach us is at go/askus. Also, some good “getting started” advice is here: Find Books, Articles and More.

Coming soon: Ref Chat!

Visitors to the College – research databases

We love the Guests and Visitors to the College page! It makes it so easy to provide answers about guest access. We’ve just made a change to the page, and it’s significant enough that we thought I should make sure you’re aware.

The revised text is toward the end of the “Guest Borrower Responsibilities” section: “Many electronic resources are available to guests in the library, but due to licensing agreements and contract restrictions, some are restricted to Middlebury College users.” We want to be sure it’s clear that guests can use most of our electronic resources when they’re in the library. (Previously the text said that use of electronic resources was at the discretion of the reference staff. I’m sure someone in our group signed off on that text at some point — maybe even me! But now we realize that it might have been misleading.)

Also, I added a link to the wiki page from this Drupal page: Visiting Our Libraries.

Thank you for all of your documentation!

Reporting for duty!

Librarians are back on duty! On weekday and Sunday afternoons, and Sunday-Wednesday evenings, look for the red “Librarian on duty” sign to find out who is available.

As always, whenever someone has a research question, please don’t hesitate to refer them to a librarian at any time (even when we’re not “on duty”)! Give us a call at x5496, and whoever picks up the phone will be glad to come out and help. Alternatively, you could walk the person to our offices (LIB 205-211) and “interrupt” any of us (p.s. it’s not interrupting! it’s our job!).

If ever it seems like no one is around, have the person write to us in the go/askalibrarian form. Even when we’re not in the library, we’re often on email. Hours and information about how to reach us is at go/askus. Also, some good “getting started” advice is here: Find Books, Articles and More.

SciFinder Scholar Accounts

Hi Armstrong Students,

It’s SciFinder season! Chem students just received training in SciFinder Scholar, and to use it they’ll need to create their own account. Here’s what to tell them when (not “if” but “when”!) they ask:

Go to the Chemistry Research Guide (go/chemguide).
In the “SciFinder Scholar” description, look for the link to “create an account.”
After the student has an account, s/he will use the “SciFinder Scholar” link (not the “create an account” link) to log in and do research.

Looking for a librarian?

We don’t have “Librarian on Duty” hours this week or the first week of January. But we’re still around! The go/askus page tells you how to find us:

During regular hours, the best thing to do is to call x5496. That number rings in all librarian offices, and one of us should be available to help on the phone or in person.
At any hour, you also can use to the go/askalibrarian form, which sends an email to all librarians.
We’re out Friday December 23-Monday January 2. We might be able to respond to messages during that period, but our response time probably will be longer than usual.

Please encourage all researchers to use the phone and form, too!

Where’s the librarian?

We don’t have “Librarian on Duty” hours Fri Oct 21 through Tues Oct 25 because of midterm recess. But we’re still around! The go/askus page tells you how to find us:

During regular hours, the best thing to do is to call x5496. That number rings in all librarian offices, and one of us should be available to help on the phone or in person.
At any hour, you also can use to the go/askalibrarian form, which sends an email to all librarians.

Please encourage all researchers to use the phone and form, too!

SciFinder Scholar – How to create an account

Hi Armstrong Students,

Go to the Chemistry Research Guide (go/chemguide).
In the “SciFinder Scholar” description, look for the link to “create an account.”
After the student has an account, s/he will use the “SciFinder Scholar” link to log in and do research.

SPSS (PASW) Stats Software at Armstrong

If anyone is looking for a computer with SPSS (aka PASW) stats software at Armstrong, direct them to the public computers near the circ desk. Computers in the Armstrong Computer Lab (MBH 161) will be updated with the latest (called PASW 19) next. The thin clients in the current periodicals area don’t have the new software yet, and I don’t know when they will.

Remember, go/software links to software and lab locations.

Librarians back on duty!

The red sign is back! As always, whenever someone has a research question, please don’t hesitate to refer them to a librarian. At any time! Here’s how:

Give us a call at x5496. Whoever is available will be glad to come out and help. Alternatively, you could walk the person to our offices (LIB 205-211) and “interrupt” any of us (p.s. it’s not interrupting! it’s our job!).

On weekday and Sunday afternoons, and Sunday-Wednesday evenings, one of us is always on duty. Look for the red “Librarian on duty” sign to find out who it is.