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Tag Archives: Library Newsletter

Do You Know There Will Be Some Changes in Library Atmosphere?

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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Do you know, Library Newsletter, Newsletter

As you know Iowa Hall closed down for remodeling at the end of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and with it some of the normal places for students to go to study, to eat, and to relax will close down. Also, meeting spaces that staff use will be unavailable between the rooms in Iowa Hall being unavailable and normal meeting space being taken up by moved offices. Our group study rooms will now ALL be on a reservation system.

We’re expecting that people will be coming over to the library in bigger numbers. So we’re going to be less worried about noise and more worried about how things will effect Kirkwood students, faculty, and staff. We’re going to be bringing in extra chairs and tables. They’ll be bringing food next door to the bookstore.

Part of the remodeling plan is to bring out the entrance of the library, that will be a ways further into the construction project, but it will happen. During that time the library will remain open although space may have to be relocated.

So please plan on being patient with the library until this major construction project is done. If there is anything we can do, please ask and we’ll see if we can help.

Be sure to look for the Info to Know post later this month. There are going to be quite a few changes about where things are and I want to let people get settled.

Some Articles/Books to Read

Design for How People Learn (2nd ed) by Julie Dirksen, Call Number: 370.152 D599d 2016

Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, OWL LD, and Dyscalculia: Lessons from Science and Teaching (2nd ed), Call Number: 371.9 B528d

Engaging African-American males in Community College by Ted N. Ingram and James Coaxum, Call Number: 378.198 E571

How the Special Needs Brain Learns (3rd ed) by David A. Sousa, Call Number: 371.9 S725h

How to Choose the Right Way to Study for You: Advice for Students

Inclusion Strategies That Work!: Research-Based Methods for the Classroom (3rd ed) by Toby J. Karten, Call Number: 371.9 K189i

Students with Interrupted Formal Education: Bridging Where They Are and What They Need by Brenda Custodio and Judith B. O’Loughlin, Call Number: 371.826 C987s

Teaching at its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors (4th ed) by Linda B. Nilson, Call Number: 378.17 N712t 2016

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

Let’s All Read – Binti

New Books: Odds and Ends 60

New Books: Odds and Ends 61

New Books: Odds and Ends 62

New Books Student Life Part 6

What to Read Over Break 2019

Our Special Display This Month

International Education Week

Information Literacy

Information Literacy

Check Your Credit Report and Credit Score

Dice Pass Phrase

Translate Gender

Our Database of the Month

New Health Reference Database

General Information Posts

Welcome Back to the Kirkwood Library!

Banning Dictionaries and Maps in China and India

Better Study Habits

Eggbert Has Starring Role on Game Show

International Education Week 2019

Kirkwood Librarians Shared With the Communique 2018-2019

New Database Subscriptions!

New Debate Topics 2019

Pell Grant Laptop Program

New Books Happy Halloween 2019

Happy Halloween 2019 Ghost Words and Other Horrors

 

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do You Know The APA Citation System is Going to Change?

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in faculty, Uncategorized

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APA Citation System, Do you know, Library Newsletter

APA Book and Question Mark

Here at Kirkwood Community College, most classes use either the MLA or APA citation systems. The MLA was updated in 2016, but the APA hasn’t updated since 2010.

In October the APA is publishing a major update. So far we haven’t seen it yet so we don’t know how much of a change it will be, but hopefully it will address the many technological changes that have effected research and college research papers since 2010.

The Nursing department will be switching over Spring semester, other departments may have their own schedule. The Kirkwood Community College library plans on having the new handout out by January. If it follows what happened with the last MLA release, you can expect the automatic citation generators in the various databases and stand alone citation generations to change over at different speeds. Once in a very long while we STILL find things using the old MLA system, but some systems switched over fairly quickly. Warn your students to be careful – and as always it will be a good idea for them to create their own citations or at least closely examine all citations themselves. If you’re giving an assignment be clear about which version they are to use and if you’re a student and your instructor doesn’t say – ASK!

UPDATED September 7 2019: After I posted this online I was asked when the Chicago Manual of Style was last updated. (Once in a long while we get an instructor at Kirkwood using this, but it’s so rare we only give minimal support.) The last edition was the 17th and it came out in 2017. We have the manual at the reference desk in the library if anyone ever needs it. And for the curious, the current un-updated APA edition is the 6th edition and the current MLA edition is the 8th.

Some Articles to Read

How to Hold a Better Class Discussion – An Advice Guide

Why One University Went All Out on Teaching Reading

Mindset List for Fall 2019

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

Odds and Ends 55

Odds and Ends 56

Odds and Ends 57

Odds and Ends 58

Odds and Ends 59

Amazon Best History Books List 2018

Memorial Day Books

National Book Award Winners

Personal Finance 2019

Photography

Some of Amazon’s Best Food Books

Our Special Display This Month

For the Fourth of July –  Citizenship Test

Faculty Survey

Spring Faculty Survey

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

Kirkwood Events Summer 2019

Different Hours in August

Research Tips

Let’s all become fact-checkers

Free Access to Gun Violence

Summer Updates to Library Resources

Tech Tips

Transfer Large Files

Add Symbols to Microsoft Office Files

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

 

Do you know laptops can now leave the library?

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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Library Newsletter, Newsletter

As of this spring, students can now check laptops out of Kirkwood’s Cedar Rapids library. In response to a few requests we’ve changed our policy and students are no longer restricted to only using our laptops within the library. Laptops can be checked out for the day. They must be returned 30 minutes before the library closes. Students must bring their EagleCard and sign a laptop usage agreement.

The Iowa City Kirkwood library will continue with their policy to let students check out laptops for use anywhere on the Iowa City campus for four hours.

These are the same laptops that have been available for check out within the library. Make sure you save any files on a flashdrive, e-mail them to yourself, or upload it to cloud storage because anything saved on the laptop will be wiped once you log out or power off.

Laptop Kit for Library Check-Out

Some Articles to Read

Become a Better Online Teacher

New Iowa City – Kirkwood Campus – Cedar Rapids Bus Route Continues

We just got in a couple of new books I want to make sure everyone on campus knows about. With everything going on at campuses around the country, this provides a thoughtful heads up.

13 Ideas That Are Transforming the Community College World, Edited by Terry U. O’Banion, Call Number: 378.1 T447

Universities, Pedagogical Encounters, Openness, and Free Speech: Reconfiguring Democratic Education by Nuraan Davids and Yusef Waghid, Call Number: 378.68 D251u

Kanopy Film Database Temporary Change

Due to budget constraints, films from the Kanopy database will not be immediately available for use between Monday, May 13th and Monday, July 1st. Instead all Kanopy film requests will be manually approved for purchase by the library. This means your new film requests could take 24 to 48 hours to be fulfilled. Once purchased by the library you’ll have continued access.We are letting you know now so you can plan ahead, especially if you are teaching summer classes. If you have a list of videos that you want to know this summer, we’ll be glad to purchase titles not available. After July 1st, we will go back to the immediate access model.

Please note that this does not affect films in the Films on Demand database.

Extra Hours

Remember the Cedar Rapids library extends hours between now and the end of Finals.

Also the library reserves an extra classroom week days between now and the end of Finals for student group use. Ask at the reference desk for the room number of the day.

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

We get a lot of questions on copyright, you may want to check out:

Copyright: What Everyone Needs to Know by Neil Weinstock Netanel, Call Number: 346.04 N469c

All Iowa Read – Finalists

Culture Smart Series – Learn about other countries

Earth Day Books

New Popular Books

Odds and Ends 53

Odds and Ends 54

Our Special Display This Month

Eggbert Won Our Mascot Name Vote

Earth Day

Magnet Poetry on the White Board

EVENT

We Celebrated National Library Week 2019

New History Page in Honor of National Library Week

Exam Cram – Your Kick Off to the Finals Study – Cedar Rapids Library and Tutoring Services – April 25, 2019 – Look for next semester’s!

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

The library will start its extra long hours for finals starting Sunday, April 28, 2019. Check here for the details.

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do you know about our debate/persuasive resources?

04 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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Kirkwood Community College Libraries, Library FAQ, Library Newsletter, Newsletter

In a persuasive speech or paper you tackle a subject that has people with strong opinions on two sides, pro or con, real or fake, etc. While our basic academic databases (Gale, EBSCO) are still a good place to start, we also have materials that specifically argue both sides of issues. Picking a subject other than the old standbys (like abortion and the death penalty) leads to much better project. Here are some great ways to find one.

Both library locations have a collection of debate books. These books are from multiple series (Opposing Viewpoints, Current Controversies, At Issue) and contain persuasive essays on both sides of an issue. We just refreshed the collection and it’s an especially good place to browse if you still are looking for a broad topic or need help narrowing down a subject. In Iowa City these books circulate, in Cedar Rapids they don’t, but you can make photocopies.

Browse these recent additions to our Cedar Rapids Debate Collection for suggestions on recent topics.

Cedar Rapids Debate Book Collection

Our Debate Books

Our main online resource for persuasive speeches/papers is Opposing Viewpoints. This database not only includes the persuasive essays from the Opposing Viewpoints books (the database calls them Viewpoints), but also articles from academic journals, statistics, archives from NPR, news stories, recommended websites, and sometimes even videos.

Top Bar of Opposing Viewpoints

A second database useful for persuasive speeches/papers is CQ Researcher. This database was originally designed for the sole use of Congress, but it now gives access to whatever institutions are willing to pay for it. For each topic it includes history, an overview of the current situation, a chronology, a pro/con section like Opposing Viewpoints, etc. It’s great for deep background and as another place to find topics. As a warning, watch the date of individual reports, if the subject is presented just a little differently when they update they will often leave both reports in instead of replacing it. Also their Hot Topic pieces that are always up to the minute are shorter and don’t have all the elements of the longer reports. To just browse their Pro/Con section select “Pro/Con” from the drop down menu under “Browse Reports.”

Top bar of CQ Researcher

 

 

Kirkwood Library Services Has a New Mascot!
Vote for his name! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/92R3RRH

Check out this article – How well do you understand your online students?

Weather

When the college campus closes so do both Kirkwood library locations. We do are best to maintain regular open hours if the campus doesn’t close, BUT there will be times – especially on weekends – when the library is the only thing open on campus and so the college doesn’t officially close. During those times, for the safety of staff and students, the library may close without an official college closure. As soon as possible we try to post any such closures on our Facebook and Twitter channels, but while extreme weather persists PLEASE call ahead before you make a special trip. If no one answers, we’re not here.

In Cedar Rapids 319-398-5697
In Iowa City 319-887-3613

To keep current with official college cancellations, closures, or delays make sure you’ve signed up for the Kirk Alert system.

Info to Know

Check out all these services available around campus. Did you know about all of them?

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

Biography Spring 2019

Holocaust Books 2019

Washington’s Birthday aka President’s Day

Odds and Ends 51

Odds and Ends 52

Very Short Introduction Series 2019

What to Read – Recommendations from Library Staff

Our Special Display This Month

Women’s History Month
Learn more at this special website from the Library of Congress

Our Database of the Month

A to Z World Food

Research Tips

Untangling Copyright Links – from our Collaborative Learning Day program

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do You Know About Using our LibGuides?

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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Kirkwood Community College Library, Library Newsletter, Library Services

Screen Shot of LibGuide Example

Citation LibGuide

LibGuides are a platform where the library can gather and share resources. They allow us to collect resources on a particular topic or for a particular assignment for student use whether they are books, articles, ebooks, videos, websites, etc. Find more information on how to work with the library to create a LibGuide for a subject or assignment for your class. We also have a collection of LibGuides we make for the general population that get a lot of use.

The LibGuides that get the most use are:

Citation Guides (APA/MLA)

What Are Scholarly Journal Articles?

Web Resources Evaluation

Open Textbooks, OER & Other Open or Free Resources for Faculty

Library Hours

Distance Learning

Print from Your Own Device (PYOD)

Faculty Services

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Take a minute and take a look.

 

We have a few of extra things to mention this month.

The library reserves an extra classroom around the Cedar Rapids campus for additional groups space during finals week or the week before. Ask at the reference desk for more information.

Info to Know – Do you know about all these services around campus?

Kirkwood Library Faculty Survey Results from Spring 2018

Kirkwood Librarians publish in The Communique

How To Craft an Effective Syllabus via Chronicle of Higher Education (full text available through the library)

What College is Like for First Generation Students via Chronicle of Higher Education (full text available through the library)

Google Images Should Now Show Credit (open web article)

Small Studies Show Students Retain More Detail Reading Print Over Digital (click through to the studies Kirkwood databases provide access to the full text)

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

I Heart Books!

Cookbooks and Food Books

Information Literacy 2018

Looking for Biography

Odds and Ends 50

Paranormal Happy Halloween 2018

Self-Improvement Fall 2018

Student Life Part 4

Our Special Display This Month

Nonfiction November

Event – Special Event

All Kirkwood Reads

Where all of Kirkwood gets a chance to read one book to think and talk about together.

Exam Cram –

Our annual kick-off to the intensive study for finals season will be
Thursday, November 29, 2018, 8am-9pm

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

Thanksgiving Break –

Both library branches will be:

  • Closed Sunday (Nov. 18, 2018)
  • Open 8am-5pm Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 19-20)
  • Closed Wednesday thru Saturday (Nov. 21-24)
  • Cedar Rapids only will be open Sunday (Nov. 25) 3pm-8pm

Research Tips

Banned Books Week 2018

Banned Books Britannica List Tell Me Why

Banned Books Preview

Copyright Update – Can I Use This?

MLA Citation Handout Updates Fall 2018

Information Literacy Bad Historic Twitter Feeds

Information Literacy Private Browsing

Information Literacy Tracking Down a Study

Tech Tips

Kirkwood Slash Gives Helpful Links

OER Search Tool

OER at Kirkwood: Survey results & Looking ahead

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do You Know About Saving on Kirkwood Computers?

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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Do you know, Library Newsletter, Newsletter

This is a shock to many students, but there isn’t a way for a student to directly save on the Kirkwood system. Unfortunately a folder icon with their name does show up in the top left hand corner when they log in. It is not clear to the uninitiated that this doesn’t mean they have a folder.

Whenever you log out of a student use computer it wipes clean anything that was saved to the computer while you were logged in. So anything saved on the desktop or documents folder is gone!

If you’re using a Kirkwood machine as a student please e-mail it to yourself, save it on a flashdrive, or save on an online web based service such as OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.

Faculty PLEASE remind students of this fact. We get students who can’t believe they’ve lost papers on a regular basis.

 

We have a few of extra things to mention this month.

First, we’d like to remind everyone if you’re planning on having a library instruction session please let us know so we can get it on our schedule to make sure you get your first choice of date and time.

Second, another reminder, the library puts copies of textbooks on reserve, but ONLY the ones that faculty and departments give us. If you have an extra copy of a book you use in your class, please bring it by or drop it in campus mail.

Third, we didn’t get a report put out about the faculty survey we took this spring. We’ve got a report ready, but want to give everyone a little time to get back and into the semester before we give you something else to think about. We will be doing another Info to Know post the first week of school so be sure to point it out to your classes.

Fourth, watch for more information later, but we’ve added a database of modules to use for flip teaching Information Literacy with your class. You can choose which modules to use and skip the others. Quizzes are set up as Talon objects so they can add scores directly to your gradebook.

Welcome to Our New President

President Lori Sundburg introduces herself to Kirkwood.

Chronicle of Higher Education Articles

5 Things Community Colleges Can Do To Help With Student Success

https://twitter.com/DanBerrett/status/992066688924508160

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-5-tips-for-student-success/243323#.WustbO1AUCI.twitter

2 Year and 4 Year College Partnerships

https://www.chronicle.com/article/These-2-Year4-Year/243283

A-Non Chronicle of Higher Education Article with some interesting (even if not brand new) suggestions. Click to get to tweet and again to open image file so you can read it.

Hey Teachers! For all of you planning activities for the semester, here are some ideas for in-class exercises that can be applied to a wide variety of subjects & grade levels, elem to grad school! Would love to hear more ideas as well – courtesy of @uhmcte #pedagogy pic.twitter.com/XECbdE0rpm

— Kera Lovell, Ph.D. (@keralovell) August 14, 2018

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

Amazon Best Books of 2017

Books for Veterans

Movies and Directors

Nature Books

Six Words to Tell Your Life Story

Sport Biographies

Odds and Ends 47

Odds and Ends 48

Odds and Ends 49

YALSA Best Books 2017

Our Special Display This Month

We’re going to do several posts this fall sharing the information that was part of our display for Kirkwood’s 50th Anniversary. This month check out our statistics.

Our Database of the Month

Our database of the month is very unique this time. Over the summer we have added Credo Info Lit. This set of modules can be dropped into any Talon class. You can do them all or just the modules you want. Quizzes are available as Talon objects and when added that way you can tell them to feed results directly into your grade book. This is an experiment this year to see if they get use and how faculty and students like them. Please give at least one module a try and let us know. For a quick introduction and for detailed instructions on how to use it.

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

The Cedar Rapids library is going to be on reduced hours the week of August 13 – 17. On Wed., Aug. 15th we’ll be opening at 9:30am and will otherwise be on 8am to 5pm hours all week. The Iowa City library will be open normal summers hours that week.

For the very first time the Cedar Rapids library is going to be celebrating Welcome Week. We’ll be having a special event each day to try and encourage students to figure out where the library is located during that first week. We’re doing Movin’ and Shakin’ having food during the week, offering a photo op with Sammy the Eagle on Thursday, and games on Friday. So please come by and encourage students to come too.

EVENT – NEW ADDITIONS

We now have a special children’s area in the library.

Research Tips

We’ve Added New Videos to the Library YouTube Page

Study Says Millennials Like Books

Tech Tips

Clean out your computer to start your new school year right!

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do You Know About Our ELA Student Support?

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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Do you know, ELA, Library Newsletter, Newsletter

Shelves of ELA books

Kirkwood Cedar Rapid’s ELA section

One of the sections of the collection we’ve focused on this year is the ELA collection. We’ve been working with a couple of the instructors and especially Betsy Baertlein who even helped us track down two different publishers to buy from at a convention. That said it’s a much smaller press output than you would think so we’re always looking to add more. (Betsy recently gave the Kirkwood library a shout out in her article which we appreciate.)

Our books are divided into groups based on Lexile number as divided into levels by the Penguin Readers which seem to be widely used by the ELA classes. In the last year some of the ELA books have been reorganized and some of the books we used to shelve there have been moved to other areas. Previously we’d kept a small selection of higher level books to give upper level ELA students a less overwhelming selection to choose from, but following teacher requests those books have been moved to our normal circulating collection. Depending on their level, these higher level books mostly have been moved to our Popular Fiction or our Young Adult/Children’s Area.

We  are always glad to do orientations for classes. This year for various ELA classes we have done everything from library basics to book talks to very basic research.Whether you have a full ELA class or just a few ELA students, the library is here to help.

If you have a totally non-ELA class, we’re always available for orientations for you too. No matter what your subject is we’re always glad to hear suggestions for weeding and purchases from an instructor. Please let the library know if you’re interested.

 

Info to Know Spring 2018 – Services Available on the Kirkwood campus for students, faculty, and staff. Did you know about all of these?

Participate in the County Wide Reading Event – Linn Area Reads

Tax Information for Iowans

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

 

What to Read Over Break – Recommendations about books to try from our library staff

Iowa Books

Self-Improvement Books

Cookbooks and Cooks

Odds and Ends 41

Odds and Ends 42

Odds and Ends 43

Picture Books on Emotional Subjects – Organized by theme if you have to match them to a novel or class assignment if you don’t see what you need, let us know.

Very Short Introduction – Do you know about this great, quick read non-fiction series?

Our Special Display This Month

Popular Fiction

Cookbooks

EVENT – Survey

Currently Kirkwood Library Services has two surveys open, one for faculty and one for students. Please check your e-mail to find the links. The more participation, the better we can serve your needs. So help us help you!

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

Look for reduced hours over break

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do you know about the changes to our ILL system?

07 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Do you know, InterLibrary Loan, Library Newsletter, Newsletter

Do you know that you can borrow books and articles that the Kirkwood library doesn’t actually own? We can borrow it from another library and then loan it to you. This service is call InterLibrary Loan. This past semester our system changed so now it’s a little different in how you request it.

  1. Find a book or article in the library catalog that we don’t own. To include items not owned by Kirkwood in the results, check Libraries Worldwide in the box on the left titled Library or if your first search doesn’t bring up any hits click on the words libraries worldwide in the yellow box that pops up to expand your search beyond Kirkwood. 
  2. Click on a title to bring up the full record. This will include a list of the libraries that own it and a blue button that says “Request This.” If you are off-campus you’ll have to log in at this point with your k-number and password.
  3. Fill out the form at the bottom of the record. Only the blanks with the red stars are required. Be sure to choose the library or regional center where you want to pick it up. 
  4. Click submit.
  5. You will be contacted when your item comes in.

    ILL Shelf

    ILL Shelf

  6. You need to fill out the form for each individual item.
  7. Articles can also be requested straight from our databases. Look for a request this button. If you’re having trouble finding the request this button for a specific database, chat into the library from our homepage.
  8. If you log into to your Library Account with your k-number and password, it will show you the status of your requests and when anything you have out is due and when it comes in so you can pick it up. We will always contact you via e-mail or phone when a requested item comes in. There may be a delay of up to 20 minutes before a request you make shows in your account.  

 

Remember the Faculty Survey we posted in the spring? Check out the results.

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

Biography

Information Literacy

Paranormal Books

Personal Finance

Self-Improvement

Our Special Display This Month

For Halloween we had a special paranormal/true crime display up.

In December look for a popular book display.

EVENT – National Information Literacy Awareness Month

Once again Kirkwood Library Services took the month of October to share some extra bits of information literacy.

We posted a list of books to help you learn more.

When Toys Attack Your Privacy

Spotting a Fake News Story or Website

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

Watch for our special longer hours the week before and the week of Finals. During finals week watch for coffee, etc. at both library locations.

Here in Cedar Rapids also have reserved an extra classroom for student use when our study rooms get full. Check the sign or ask at the reference desk.

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do you know about our debate books?

02 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

CQ Researcher, Databases, Debate Books, Do you know, Library Newsletter, Newsletter, Opposing Viewpoints

Library Shelves with books with pink debate books on them

Our Debate Books Collection

Do you have to make a persuasive or argumentative speech? Do you have to write a persuasive or argumentative research paper? Or do you assign one? Do we have the both the book section and databases for you.

The most important step in researching a persuasive speech or paper is to select your topic. It should both interest you and be a topic that there are clearly at least two sides to.

HINT: Do NOT choose topics such as abortion, death penalty, etc. Everyone writes about those and your instructor would be in a much better mindset when grading your paper if you don’t make them read their 5,000th paper on one of those topics. AND you will write a better paper if it’s something that you’re at least a little bit interested in.

How do you find different and interesting topics? That’s where are debate books section comes in. It is mostly made up by two major series, Opposing Viewpoints and Current Controversies. Both series design books on a particular subject, which is then broken down to more detailed sections and then to questions for and against. Anyone of these questions would make an excellent topic. As a bonus they also give you the opposing viewpoint so you can argue against it.

The Debate books are found in a section in both the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City branches of Kirkwood Library Services. Their design makes them the easiest to browse in paper. They don’t circulate. However, we do also carry two online options.

The first is CQResearch which gives in-depth background reports that are useful for any project. You can also search for Pro/Con sections within these reports that argue both sides of an issue side by side.

The second is the Opposing Viewpoints in Context database which is put out by the same company that produces the series of books. You want to look for Viewpoints which are the same as the essays in the books. The also have direct access to a limited selection of journal articles, new articles, statistic reports, etc. which show up in a basic search. Unfortunately on the website the essays and articles aren’t paired pro and con so you may have a harder time finding the opposing viewpoint. Also, it can be hard to find all the articles within a book. Make sure you have the names of the essays from the table of contents if you want to find everything in a book online. Some recent titles may not be available online even if they are available in paper.

Ask a reference librarian if you need more help.

Close-up of a part of a shelf of debate books with pink labels

Important Notes

The Library link has returned to the bottom of the Kirkwood homepage. After moving off the page right before the semester started and staying off for a couple of weeks we were finally moved back into the second column of the list at the bottom of the page.

If you use APA in your classrooms there has been a change in how doi format. Learn more.

There has been a change in the Iowa City Kirkwood Library’s hours. They are now:
Mon-Th: 7:30am-9pm
Fri: 7:30am-5pm
Sat: 11am-4pm
Sun: Closed

Major Databases Changes came July 1st

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

Agriculture and Agribusiness
Alex Awards 2016 – check out these best fiction and nonfiction books written for adults at an popular reading level
Best Books from School Library Journal for 2016 – check out these books which are a mixture of picture books and young adult books.
Collections of True Stories About Women
Culture Smart! Book Series Updates
Directors, Movies, Actors
Memorial Day Books about Veterans and the Armed Forces
Top Science Books of 2016 by the Smithsonian
YALSA 2016 Best Books for Young Adults – check out these fiction books selected to appeal to college age students by librarians who work with them
Odds and Ends 37
Odds and Ends 38
Odds and Ends 39
Odds and Ends 40

Our Special Display This Month

Hispanic Heritage Month

Banned Books Week will be September 24-30, 2017. Contact the library for a button to wear. Stop by during Banned Books Week or the week after to check out this year’s display. (See last year’s display.)

Check out this list of Cultural Events happening at Kirkwood this fall.

Our Database of the Month

Major Databases Changes came July 1st

Books and Authors

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

Kirkwood Campuses Closed at Noon on Fridays through July 28th. This Friday closure pattern will carry over to next summer. Dates are not yet available, but will likely run from the beginning of summer classes through the end of July next year also.

Research Tips

Librarians Wrote Articles in The Communique last year. Watch for our articles in upcoming issues.

Want a Specialized LibGuide for an assignment to help your students find stuff?

Click Here

Want to schedule time in the library or for us to come into your class?

Click Here

What if the library doesn’t have a book you want?

Click Here

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter. And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you! Look for the next issue of our newsletter.

Do You Know About Reserving Textbooks?

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Library Display, Library Displays, Library FAQ, Library Newsletter, New Books, Reserve Books, Textbook Reserve

The circulation section of both branches of the Kirkwood Library has material that has been placed on reserve by instructors for their students.  These books are held on special shelves behind the circulation desk. The majority of the materials are placed on closed reserve meaning that student may only check them out for use within in the library. Students may make copies or scans of the required pages or to read them within the library.

Reserve Section

Reserve Section

To place a textbook on hold the instructor needs to bring the material to the library and fill out a reserve form or print the form online and send it to the library with the completed form. (Please refer to Course Reserve Policy to determine type of material that is allowed).  Library materials may be put on reserve, but we do not currently collect textbooks. If the instructor or the department wants to loan us a copy of a textbook we will put it on reserve.

More information and the reserve form are available on the Library Services Website. To find this information from our Library Services homepage:

     Click on:  Explore our Help Guide

     Type:  “Faculty” in Lib Guides Search Box

     Click on:  Faculty Services

     Scroll down to:  “Placing Item on Course Reserve” in the box in the lower left hand corner of the page. See Links for Course Reserve Policy and Library Reserve Form.

While we are focusing on textbooks today, supplemental materials, such as non-text books, articles, etc., also may be placed on hold. Both books in the library’s collection or instructor or department owned books may be placed on reserve this way.

Links to Some of The Books Recently Added to the Collection:

  • New Books from Best Of 2014 Lists
  • New Books: Public Speaking
  • New Books: Student Life – Books for things students might encounter and skills they will use both as students and recent graduates
  • New Books: A Very Short Introduction Series from Oxford Press

Our Special Display This Month

No special displays this month, but check out our display from last month Earth Day

Our Database of the Month

CQ Researcher

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

This month the library will have extra long hours in the run up to finals and then cut back for the between semester break.

We also had a very successful Exam Cram special event. Look for this stress reducer and student help again at the end fall semester.

Survey Feedback

Early in Spring Semester 2015, Library Services did a short survey for faculty. We did one post on feedback earlier this semester. Look for Part 2 next week.

And remember you contact us at the library any time by phone, e-mail, chat, or stop on by! We’re always glad to see you!

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Kirkwood Community College Libraries

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, IA
319-398-5696 or Toll Free: 866-452-8504
Cedar Rapids Main Campus Library Hours -During Fall Semester 2020

Mon-Thurs: 7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Fri: 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sat: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Online help, building closed)
Sun: 3 - 8 p.m.

Iowa City Campus Library Hours
Mon-Thurs: 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Fri: 8 - 5 p.m.
Sat: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Online help only, physical building is closed)

Visit www.kirkwood.edu/library for non-semester hours

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