Hey, first-year students! Now that you’re settled in to campus, it’s time to explore the libraries a little more. Here’s some insider advice to get you going (thanks, College Newsroom!):
What Every First-Year Student Should Know about Middlebury Libraries
P.S. You can meet all of the librarians at go.middlebury.edu/librarians.
Top Tips for Starting Your Research
Our newest video tutorial offers students some helpful tips for those moments when they feel stuck in their research, or are just not sure what to do next. There’s no need to struggle in silence! Middlebury College Librarians are here to help with all research problems.
Refer students easily with the go link go/TopTips/, or see all of our current video tutorials at go/videotutorials/.
Zotero makes citations and bibliographies easy.
Get started: go.middlebury.edu/zotero.
Find help: go.middlebury.edu/zoterohelp.
Ask a librarian about Zotero!
MIDCAT, the Library catalog, is currently experiencing some problems with searches limited to certain media formats (“scopes” in library lingo). This problem is affecting searches limited to formats selected from the drop-down menu as well those selected using the tabs across the top of the search screen:
Specifically: searches using AUTHOR, TITLE, etc., indexes in combination with the format limits are NOT working properly (we definitely have CDs with “Beethoven” as the author!):
The easiest way to work around this might be to simply use a KEYWORD search. KEYWORD searches in combination with the limits (scopes) seem to be unaffected:
If a KEYWORD search returns too many results, or is undesirable for some other reason, another way to work around this issue is as follows:
1) Perform a search of any kind WITHOUT using one of the media limits. This search can be a search of a specific index (e.g., AUTHOR, TITLE, SUBJECT, etc.) or a KEYWORD search.
2) Once you receive your results, click either the “Modify Search” button (if you searched by KEYWORD) or the “Limit/Sort Search” button (if you searched using an AUTHOR, TITLE, etc. index)
3) From the next screen, you can choose a format limit and click “Submit”
We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing, and hope to have this corrected soon.
Terry Simpkins
Director, Discovery & Access Services
Davis Family Library 135A
Middlebury College
110 Storrs Ave.
Middlebury, VT 05753
802-443-5045
tsimpkin@middlebury.edu
Is the Research Desk in your toolkit yet? Come and talk with a librarian when you start your first assignment. You’ll find that we are always happy to help. You don’t even need a question! Just tell us what you’re working on. Together, we can figure out what you’ll need to do first, next and last.
Fall Research Desk Hours
(September 10 – December 14, 2018)
And online anytime!
go/askalibrarian/ or
http://go.middlebury.edu/askalibrarian
Have a question outside of the Research Desk hours?
Visit us in our offices! Librarians are conveniently located right behind the Research Desk.
September is right around the corner, so it’s time to start wrapping up your summer checklist. Go out and explore Vermont! Borrow a pass at the Davis Family Library Circulation Desk for free or reduced entry fees at:
Learn how to borrow these passes, and what the benefits are, at: VT Historic Sites Pass now available and ECHO Pass now available.
Like your French and Spanish with pictures on the side? We’ve got just the thing for you. Come and check out (literally!) the French- and Spanish-language comics and graphic novels we’ve put on the cart in the Davis Family Library atrium. (Yes, you may borrow them!)
We have a lot, and we’re eager to refill. So if you want to see more colorful covers, and texts in your summer language, be sure to come and get these!
P.S. Looking for books in other languages? Use the links in our research guides:
Dear ILL Patrons: The ILL Department is currently experiencing a staffing shortage, and we apologize in advance if it takes somewhat longer than usual to process your orders, especially over weekends. We expect this to continue for the remainder of the summer, so if you have interlibrary loan needs, please try to give us as much lead time as you possibly can to fulfill your requests.
Our normal hours will continue as usual, with the exception of Monday, Aug. 6, when we will be closed for the day. Thank you for your understanding and please continue to submit new ILL requests! We will continue to fulfill them as quickly and thoroughly as we possibly can!
