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

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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

Do you know about the changes to our ILL system?

07 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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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.

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.
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.
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.
Click submit.
You will be contacted when your item comes in.
ILL Shelf
You need to fill out the form for each individual item.
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.
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:

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

Do you know about our debate books?

02 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by Sarah Uthoff - Trundlebed Tales in Uncategorized

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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.

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

Do You Know About Reserving Textbooks?

01 Friday May 2015

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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

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!

Do you know about Interlibrary Loan?

06 Monday Apr 2015

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Database of the Month, InterLibrary Loan, Library Display, Library FAQ, Library Newsletter, New Books

If Kirkwood Community College Library Services doesn’t own a book or journal article you want, we have a service where we can borrow them from another library and lend it to you. This service is called InterLibrary Loan.

ILL Shelf

The easiest way to request this service is to find the article or book you want in our WorldCat Catalog system or directly in one of our databases, like EBSCOhost. (In EBSCOhost uncheck the Full Text box to the left of the results list to find articles we don’t own.) Open the record for the item you want to request. Look for a button or a hyperlink that says “Request InterLibrary Loan.”

Clicking on the button or hyperlink will bring up a request for you to log in with your K number and password. The first time it will ask you to answer a couple of questions. After you answer them this first time you may have to return to the item you want to request and click on the request link again. Every time after that, logging in will always bring up a prefilled form for the item that you clicked on. Be sure to click the submit button. At that point we send the request on to other libraries to let us borrow it so we can lend it to you.

You can log in to the ILL program later and check the progress of your request. We will also contact you directly when it comes in. The process normally takes around a week, but can be faster or slower depending on the time of year, how busy the lending institution is, etc.

Learn more and log into your account.

EVENT – Exam Cram: Session on Research and Citation Workshop

As the beginning of EXAM CRAM, Library Services will be hosting two Research and Citation workshops to aid students in developing their papers. The session will be offered on both Monday, April 6th and Tuesday, April 7th from 11:15 am -12:10 pm in the Library classroom, room 158. Citation handouts will be provided for students to take home. Please pass the word along.

The full EXAM CRAM is on Tuesday, April 28^th. There will be coffee, tea, lemonade, water, and popcorn available all day.

10:00 AM, instructor Keith Reins will help you fine tune your papers – first come, first served – no appointments
10:10 AM, instructor Don Arenz will offer a Tai Chi class in the library classroom
11:15 AM, during activity hour, we will have a visit from therapy dogs
in addition math tutoring will be available in the Tutoring Center

All during the day there will be:

a free raffle with prizes courtesy of the Kirkwood Bookstore
coloring books and crayons on the library tables
board games in the library classroom
two electric massage chairs

EVENT – National Library Week

Stop by the library and wish us Happy National Library Week! April 12-18, 2015

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

Holocaust
Odds and Ends 13 – Various Subjects
Odds and Ends 14 – Various Subjects
Odds and Ends 15 – Various Subjects
Presidents 2015
E-books

Our Special Display This Month

Please stop by and check them out.

National Poetry Month
Earth Day

Our Database of the Month

Proquest New York Times Historic

We’ve also recently added access to digital versions of both the World Book Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Britannica.

Tech Tips

Our most heavily accessed blog post by far is about how to restore a disappearing toolbar on Word, PowerPoint, etc. Microsoft Office 2013 has changed the procedure for doing this. Check out the new directions.

This one will only apply to a smaller number of you, but if your visual menu disappears on WordPress, here is the way to bring it back.

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!