Do You Know About Our Quiet Study Floor?

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Book Displays, Kirkwood Community College Library Services, Library FAQ, Newsletter, Quiet Study Floor, Special hours

Are you someone who needs quiet to study? Or do you know someone who does? Check out the Cedar Rapids Kirkwood library’s quiet study floor.

Second Floor of the Cedar Rapids Library

Located on the second floor of the library, the entire area is meant for studying by yourself in quiet. We ask that cell phones are put on silent mode and that if you are studying with someone and need to talk, please use the group study rooms or use a table on the first floor where it’s fine to be a little louder.

Especially look for the study carrels around the outer edge behind the book shelves (on the opposite end from the stairs). Carrels are tables with large sides to block out other people and other distractions.

When the group study rooms aren’t in use by groups, individuals may also use them. – BE AWARE that groups still get priority and you may be bumped if any group of two or more people need the space. The further you locate yourself from these rooms the quieter the space will be.

Not everyone’s definition of quiet will be the same and some soft noise like paper shuffling etc. are permitted. If you feel that noise is distractingly loud or goes on for more than a couple of minutes, please notify the reference desk either in person or using the chat on the library homepage. Giving as exact directions as possible helps us try figure out who is causing the problem. If they have quieted down before we get there, we won’t approach them unless we get a second complaint.

Some of the second floor study carrels to help you isolate yourself for quiet study

Lots of people don’t know about flashdrives and using them on campus.

Students often don’t know the academic words you think they know, check out this study about words you should help define in your assignments.

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

Earth Day

Emotional Picturebooks Update for 2017 – for when you need to tie a children’s book to an emotion or a theme in a novel

New Books: Odds and Ends 33

New Books: Odds and Ends 34

New Books: Odds and Ends 35

New Books: Odds and Ends 36

Our Special Display This Month

Women’s History Month (March)

Poetry Month (April)

Earth Day (April 22nd, but check out the display the week before and the week after)

Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April)

May the Fourth Be With You – Sci Fi (May 4th, but check out the display the week before and the week after)

Event – Special Events

Exam Cram – Library Services and Tutoring Services combine their efforts to get your finals studying, tests, and projects off on the right foot. Stop by both the library and tutoring services on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Watch for the return of therapy dogs on May 4, 2017 at 11:15 am.

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

In the lead up to and during Finals Week the Cedar Rapids Kirkwood library will be having extended hours. Both library locations will offer coffee, hot tea, etc. See post for more details

Research Tips

How do you get research help?

Keep track of your flashdrives! And what to do if you lose them.

401 Writing Prompts

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.

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Do You Know How to Use the Library Scanner?

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Copier, Do you know, Kirkwood Library Services, Library Services, Newsletter, Scanner

One of the most successful technological moves we’ve made in recent years is the introduction of a scanner available to students that saves right to a flash drive/memory stick. The scanning feature is built into both copiers we have for student use.

Using the Scanner

What The Scanner Does and Does Not Do

The two scanners are available to anyone with a k-number. While you are required to log-in with your k-number, scans are not subtracted from your printing ration.

There are several settings you can adjust.

It defaults to black and white, but you can scan in color. While it will SCAN in color it’s NOT a color copier.

Scan resolution ranges at preset intervals from 100 dpi – 600 dpi, but defaults to 200 dpi.

You can use the feeder to scan, but if you’re wanting to scan something double-sided you need to set it to double-sided original before you begin.

Files autosave as PDFs. You may choose to save it as a TIFF instead, but JPEG and other formats aren’t available.

Files names default as a random series of numbers. You can set to save under a particular name, but most people using the scanner don’t take the time. To find the latest thing you scanned if it’s under the number when you open the flashdrive, sort the file by date and look for the newest PDF. You can always rename them.

Directions

• Log in with k# but LEAVE OFF k and first zero
• Push <OK> on control panel screen
• Push <Scanner> button on left of control panel
• Insert flash drive into USB port on right side of control panel
• Touch <Store File> button on control panel screen
  NOTE: While the screen where you touch “store file” looks like you should be able to send it directly to your e-mail, this feature has been disabled. You can enter your e-mail, but it won’t actually go anywhere and we often have to reset the machine if someone tries to get it to work.
• Touch <Store to Memory Device> button on control panel screen
• Touch <OK> button on control panel screen
• It’s then ready to scan with the default settings. Hit the green <Start> button to begin the scan, if you want something other than the default adjust the settings before hitting the start button
• If scanning for color, touch <Scan Settings> on control panel screen, then <Full Color>, then <OK>
• Ask at the reference desk if you need help finding other settings
• If feeding copies through feeder, the scanner will know when the last page went through
• If copying by placing pages on glass, you will have 60 seconds to switch pages and hit start again if you want multiple pages in the same file. If you want individual pages in different files push the <#> key on control panel keypad after each document to break it into individual files.
• Push the <#> key on control panel keypad when done, the copier will begin saving to the flash drive
  NOTE: Files do not actually transfer until you hit the the <#> key. If you remove the flash drive BEFORE it tells you it’s writing to the storage device and gives you the screen with the <Exit> button NOTHING will be put on your flash drive.
• There will be a popup warning not to remove flash drive
  NOTE: The bigger the file the longer this process will take, if you’re saving a file with a lot of pages there can be some delay before the process completes. If you want documents in separate files, you have to go through the #, don’t remove, exit screen process in between each document.
• When file is saved to flash drive, there will be a popup that it is OK to remove flash drive
• Tap <Exit> button
• To logout, tap <HOME> button, then <PCS Director> then <Logout>
• Remove flash drive
• A pdf with a long random number for a name will be saved to your flash drive

Check out our report on our latest faculty survey and how we’ve responded to the feedback.

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

Best of Lists 2015 Roundup Summer Reading

Recent Additions to Popular Fiction

Business

Isis

Memorial Day

On Iowa

Odds and Ends 26

Our Special Display This Month

During May we’ve continued with our 50th Anniversary Display, finished up our Earth Day display and poetry.

During June we have a summer reading suggestions display up and keep up the 50th Anniversary Display.

EVENT – SPECIAL HOURS

Kirkwood Library Services in Cedar Rapids always extends hours during finals, our hours are shorter during the week between classes, and slightly shorter during the summer. Remember the pattern for the next time a semester ends.

EVENT

We published our 500th blog post

Research Tips

Consumer Information Catalog and its replacement

Tech Tips

How Do You Find Resume Templates Online

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

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.

Do You Know About the Many Things To Do With Our Children’s Collection?

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Children's Books, Children's Literature, Kirkwood Community College Library, Library Services, Newsletter, Picture Books

For many years our children’s literature collection has supported the children’s literature class for future teachers and other interested people. In the last few years there have been some changes you might not know about and some new uses that you should think about for your classes.

How They Are Organized

In most libraries children’s books are divided by type of book and reading ability. The books are then organized by author’s last name or series name. Books shelved by author is an accommodation in the Dewey organizational system that takes into consideration that people looking for fiction books are quite frequently looking by author.

Our collection has always been a little different in that it stuck with true Dewey call numbers for our children’s books. Under Dewey fiction books are divided up not only by author, but also by considerations such as country of origin and original publication date. The reading level of the books isn’t considered.

Chapter Book and Picture Book in Children’s Section

Rearrangement

Last year we did a major rearrangement of the children’s literature collection by separating out picture books (large colorful books with many pictures and few words, normally 32 pages) and chapter books (novels aimed mostly at upper elementary readers) into separate sections. The picture books now have Easy Reading added to the beginning of their call number in the catalog and can be identified on the shelves by the blue Easy Reading sticker on the spine. The chapter books still just show children’s literature as the location in the call number. Both sections still use Dewey instead of the author, but we hope this change will make it easier for people to find the kind of books they are looking for.

Ideas for Use

Several Kirkwood instructors have been using our picture book collection with their classes in different ways. Some assignments have students analyze how children are presented with a particular type of information, others look for books to use to share information on a topic they are studying, or help analyze a theme also used in a novel they read. Picture books can be a fun way to introduce a subject or to give a short example of a certain type of story, art style, or design. Low level readers can sometimes benefit from using our picture books, chapter books, and children’s non-fiction. Using picture books with older students was popular a few years ago, but seems to be on the rise again. Get some ideas from this article or this longer article or stop by the library to talk to us about it. Check out our list of recently added children’s books below.

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

Children’s Literature 2016

Design Books

Odds and Ends 25

Our Special Displays This Month

March – Women’s History Month

April – National Poetry Month

– Earth Day

EVENTS

Our Kirkwood’s 50th Anniversary Display is now up in Cedar Rapids Library Services. Look for one for the entire Iowa City campus later this year.

Heather Gudenkauf – Author Event

Research Tips

How Do You Find Just Magazines in EBSCOhost

Tech Tips

Print Your Own Graph Paper and Notebook Paper

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

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.

Do You Know All The Ways To Contact the Reference Desk?

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Kirkwood Community College Library, New Books, Newsletter

The circulation desk may be the heart of the library where books and other materials pump in and out, but the librarians at the reference desk are the brain helping to answer questions, troubleshooting and fixing problems, and teaching classes. Need a fact like the latest estimate of the population of white tail deer in Iowa? Ask the reference desk. (Roughly 200,000 according to the Iowa DNR) Having trouble finding information on your topic and need help? Ask the reference desk. Not sure about how to do a citation in MLA or APA? Ask at the reference desk.

Main page chat box

You can contact the reference desk in several different ways.

1. You can come in and person and talk to the librarians. Any time the library is open, except for 9:30 pm – 11:00 pm in Cedar Rapids, a credentialed reference librarian is available to help. Stopping by in person is especially recommended for people working on citations and is sometimes more helpful for research questions.
2. Call into the reference desk in Cedar Rapids call 398-5697 directly or 1-866-452-8504 toll free. In Iowa City call 887-3612.
   

   Proquest Chat Box

3. Chat in to the librarians by clicking on the blue “Questions? Ask a librarian” box on the right side of the library website. Also find it in EBSCO at the bottom of the right hand column on any results page and in ProQuest in a slightly different format in the bottom left hand column of any results page. Please note that sometimes our IM isn’t terribly I if we’re really busy, so please be patient. The chat opens into its own tab and you can navigate away from the page you found it on without disconnecting us if you want to work on something else while you wait.
4. You can e-mail the library at: Library library@kirkwood.edu
   The account is checked daily.

Do You Know What Librarians Can To Help Your Class?

ALL Kirkwood Passwords were reset!

Special Hours

We’re open Monday – Friday 8am – 5 pm this week. We’re closed this weekend (Jan. 16-17). On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we’ll be open 11am-5pm in Cedar Rapids and 8am-8pm in Iowa City. Then we resume normal hours.

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

Clothes and Fashion History

Odds and Ends: Number 20

Odds and Ends: Number 21

Zombie Books

What to Read Over Break

Our Special Display This Month

2015 In Review

Our Database of the Month

What does EBSCO stand for?

Event – Exam Cram

Exam Cram – Relax before Finals Week Begins, Look for it in Spring the week before Finals

Research Tips

Check out our Information Literacy posts from October

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 Lost Flashdrives?

Tags

Flashdrives, Information Literacy, Lost and Found, National Information Literacy Awareness Month, Newsletter

By far the most common thing in our lost and found is lost flashdrives. It’s all too easy to be printing something out and then be so concentrated on the paper copy that you forget to grab your flashdrive and in some cases even to log off of the computer. We get roughly half a dozen flashdrives/memory sticks/thumb drives every day. Ninety percent of them are either Kirkwood designed or, more commonly, black.

We urge you to take a minute right now and create a word document called This Belongs To, put in your contact information, and save it to your flashdrive. In order to speed its return if someone finds it. Adding something unique like a wrist band also speeds identification.

If a flashdrive is turned into the library we turn it over to the library lost and found located at the Circulation Desk. Students return to the library asking for these more than any other lost item so we hold them here a week. After that we turn them over to the main campus lost and found located at 230 Iowa Hall, phone number 398-5578 (they answer as student life, just ask for lost and found).

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

• Picture Books on Emotional Subjects
• Children’s Books
• Information Literacy

Our Special Display This Month

From last month Banned Books Month

• Banned Books Week – What Is Happening This Year
• Banned Books – The Bible?
• Updated Banned Books Lists 2015

Check out Halloween themed books until the end of the month.

Event – Exam Cram

Save the day for special events in the library to help you relax and blow off steam before Finals Week begins. Hold December 1st to come visit us at the Cedar Rapids campus.

EVENT – National Information Literacy Awareness Month

This month we urge people to stop and think about how they receive, use, evaluate, and apply information. Learn more from the national organization.

• Introduction to the Month
• New Books Related to Information Literacy
• Privacy
• Asking Good Questions
• Online Activities and Job Hunting

Event – Misc.

The Library also celebrated Back to the Future Day (the day when, according to the movies, Marty McFly came to the future).

Research Tips

Do you know you can check out books from the University of Iowa?

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 Our Popular Book Section?

Tags

Little Free Libraries, Newsletter, Popular Books, Reading, Recreational Reading

For a long time Kirkwood Library Services really wasn’t budgeted for books not specifically related to classes. Last year we received a grant courtesy of the Great Cedar Rapids Community Foundation and were able to use to the funds to create a popular books section on the Cedar Rapids campus. The response was so positive that we are now buying popular books for recreational reading. This collection concentrates on popular, mostly YA, fiction along with a small section of graphic novels. Our goal is to increase student pleasure reading.

The popular book collection in Cedar Rapids is now located in the corner just to the left of Circulation. The shelf order is a little different than in other sections of the library. While the popular books retain their Dewey numbers on their spines, they are actually shelved in alphabetical order by author’s last name. Popular books are easily recognizable by the yellow PB label above their spine label and the bright red label with the first letter of the author’s last name on the top of the spine.

A second part of the grant was to establish Little Free Libraries (small libraries in a box where people can take a book or a leave a book not cataloged in our collection). You can find them at the county centers around Kirkwood’s service area.

There is also a popular book section in Iowa City, so check them out! Let your students know where to find popular books courtesy of Library Services and encourage them to read.

Miscellaneous Reminders

Be sure to check out some of the information you might need to know about life on campus.

There are Vending Machines near the library on Cedar Rapids Campus.

In case you missed our summer FAQ, check it out. Do you know about color printing?

Do you know our library hours?

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

• Agriculture and Agribusiness
• Economics
• For People Who Like Books
• Odds and Ends 19

Our Special Display This Month

Help Banned Books Week Sept. 27- Oct. 3, 2015. Check out the display in the Cedar Rapids branch from Sept. 25th – Oct. 10th. Get your banned books button by stopping by the library or e-mailing to Sarah Uthoff here at Kirkwood.

Our Database of the Month

• Featured Database: ERIC
• Featured Database: Kanopy

EVENT – KCELT Class

Library Services That Can Help Faculty – Please join me on Tuesday, September 29th at 11:15AM or Wednesday, October 7th at 2:25PM in the KCELT MALI room.

Tech Tips

• Set a Meeting Date
• Find the online student tech help sheet linked to this post

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 Color Printing?

Tags

Color Printing, Newsletter, Student Print Quota, Student Printing

Do you have an assignment that requires students to be print in color? Or are you someone who needs color printing done?

Color Printing

Color printing for students is not available at most locations on any Kirkwood campus. Also be aware that while black and white printing takes 5 cents a page off the student print ration for each page printed, color printing takes 10 cents a page.

• It’s available on the Cedar Rapids campus at both the library and at the Allsop Lab in Nielsen Hall.
• On the Iowa City campus color printing is only available in the library.
  

• The Benton County Center does NOT offer color printing.
• The Cedar County Kirkwood Center has a color printer.
• The Iowa County Kirkwood Center has one color printer by the front desk.
• The Jones Regional Education Center has two color printers available.
• The Linn Regional Kirkwood Center as a color copier that can print in the office. Students have to know that and do a printer search on the student computers or has for help according to their office.
• The Tippie-Mansfield Center Coordinator in Belle Plaine has a color printer.
• The Washington County Regional Center has a single color printer available in the office. Students can print there from Kirkwood computers, but when the office is closed they have to find a staff member to retrieve their printing.

The IT policy is that all printers must default to black and white so it’s a little more complicated than you might think to print in color, especially the first time. We STRONGLY advise people printing color at Kirkwood for the first time to ask for help and we’re glad to help you more than once.

You’ll need to:

• Click on Print
• Select the color printer (it will not be the default printer on any Kirkwood computer – ask at the desk if you’re unsure which is the color printer)
• Depending on the print box for various programs the way to do this will differ, but you need to get into Printer Properties and select printing in color instead of the default of printing in black and white.
• Often people printing in color want to print single sided to prevent color bleed through, if you do select single sided at this point. The way you select single sided differs depending on the print box that goes with the particular program you are printing from. Sometimes you have to go into printer properties, other times it will be on the opening screen of the print box. Generally you want to look for something that says double sided and uncheck the box in front, select where it says single-sided or select off from the dropdown menu.
• Don’t forget that student color printing takes double the amount of credit black and white printing does from the Kirkwood print ration.

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

• Odds and Ends Part 16
• Odds and Ends Part 17
• Odds and Ends Part 18
• Memorial Day 2015
• Fashion: History and Career
• AFI Top 100 Movies Added
• Little Golden Disney
• Biotechnology
• Food History and Science

Our Special Display This Month

Student Skills

Our Database of the Month

Gale Literary Resource Center

EVENT – Announcement

New Snack and Pop Machines by the Library in Cedar Rapids

Tech Tips

How to Make Downloaded Word Documents Look Normal

Research Tips

• How to Search for New University Press Books
• How to Read the Chronicle of Education Online for Free
• How to Find Vital Record Statistics (Birth, Marriage, Death, etc.)

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!