Summer research? We're here.

Sheaffer fountain pen factory, Iowa.
Final act of the pen manufacture

The librarians of McIntyre are available all summer if you need assistance with research.  The librarians of McIntyre are available all summer if you need assistance with research.  You can drop in, schedule an appointment, or email us a question (list of librarian liaisons and contact information).

We can also help with course planning.  We have collaborated on the following:

* Assignment redesigns

* Wikipedia authoring projects

* Assignment testing for research roadblocks

* Alternative modes of library instruction delivery

Makerspace, VR Room, podcast lab, oh my!

McIntyre Library is working with student groups to expand resources and opportunities for students to engage in hands-on exploration and experiential learning. These resources are (or will be) available for faculty and staff as well:

Makerspace (L109, Fall '18): The Library has received funding from the student Information Technology Commission (ITC) and the Student Office of Sustainability (SOS), enabling us to begin development of a makerspace.  We invite feedback and suggestions from you regarding equipment and technology that would benefit your students (email Dan Hillis). Though not available to reserve for classes (due to funding restrictions), the space will be available for use by students and faculty. Initially, the space will contain a 3D printer, laser cutter, sewing machines, a variety of tools, art supplies, robotics kits, and more.

More than a space, ‘makerspace’ is a concept, and includes the following:

Virtual Reality (VR) Room (L105, Summer '18): funded by the student Information Technology Commission (ITC), the Library is implementing a VR Room and is currently outfitting it with educational applications.  Funding exists to purchase VR applications. Please contact your library liaison if you have suggestions for applications or interest in identifying applications to supplement your students’ learning experience.

Already purchased:

• 4D Toys:

An application that lets users visualize 4 dimensions and understand the interaction between objects and physics of 4 dimensional space.

• The Body VR: Journey Inside a Cell:

Take a journey through the bloodstream and visualize the cells pumping through the body. This application takes you through the intricacies of the human body down to the molecular level.

• Google Earth VR:

Experience faraway lands and structures through Google Earth.

• Tilt Brush:

Create 3D digital sculptures with Tilt Brush.

Audio Recording (podcasting) lab (L3027, open now): this lab features high-end recording equipment and is available for 2-hour checkout for students and faculty. For more information or to reserve this room please visit http://libguides.uwec.edu/c.php?g=70982&p=457809

Thinking ahead? We're taking requests

You may not be ready to think about fall semester yet, but if you know of a video or book you'll want to include in your 2018/2019 syllabi, it's a great time to put in your request.   Of course, you can ask for materials for the library collection at any time.

To request items, please fill out this e-form. 

If you need an item before the new fiscal year in July, please make a note in the form.

JoVE Cancellation

McIntyre Library, like most departments, is experiencing challenging budgetary times that require difficult and informed decisions. Faced with a structural deficit, in which database and journal subscription costs increase each year while our budget remains flat, it is necessary that we constantly evaluate and re-evaluate our array of resources. In making decisions about what to retain, what to add, or – as is more often the case – what to cancel, we monitor usage data, costs, and uniqueness of content.

In assessing several years of data, we have decided not to renew our subscription to JoVE), which expires next month. The cost is high and increasing, and the usage is low. We realize that for those who use this resource, its cancellation will be an inconvenience. To minimize that inconvenience, library faculty are available to discuss possible alternatives for finding comparable information to the extent possible.

Paper, Powerpoint... podcast?

It's not always easy to find a quiet space to work on the sound for multimodal assignments.  The library now has a sound dampened podcasting room that can be used for high quality recordings of podcasts, interviews, narration for video, and more.

Students can check out the room on a first come, first basis, or schedule it ahead of time.  For more information to share with your students, including the equipment offered, please check out the Podcasting Room guide.

Library instruction served 3 ways

1.  Most of the time, when the library faculty get invited to meet with a class, we spend a whole

period working with the students, focusing on an assignment, disciplinary research norms, or information literacy in general.

2.  But, sometimes a whole class period is not required.  Introducing students to the resources relevant to the course or assignment and introducing them to the services and resources of the library can often be done in briefer window(~15-20 minutes).

3. And consultations are another way to get students the library instruction they need.  In one scenario, a librarian will meet briefly with a whole class and then students will sign up for required group appointments to get more tailored instruction.  Of course you are always welcome to recommend that your students meet with us.  We just ask that you consult with us if you are going to make it a requirement in your class.  We can facilitate tracking attendance, as well.

Request a library session or contact your library liaison to discuss.

Teaching with video: survey results

Last fall we sent out a survey about the instructional use of streaming videos and DVDs at UW-Eau Claire.  We wanted to find out how people were accessing and sharing videos and what needs exist in that area in order to help guide our decisions in the future.

We had 146 responses from all four colleges and learned quite a bit about classroom video use:

• Of our respondents, 125 reported currently using video in their classes
• Videos are viewed in class or assigned as homework in roughly an even amount
• A substantial amount of video content shared with classes is free, provided by faculty themselves, or available on platforms without institutional subscriptions.

When we asked what topic areas the library should carry more of,  we got a wide range of

disciplinary areas, and even some specific suggestions.  Science, economics, social justice, healthcare, disability, social work, kinesiology, American Indian Studies, Latin American Studies, gender, education, and history were some of the more frequently mentioned subject areas.

One implication of having so many disparate needs is that we would be hard pressed to find a streaming service that meets even a third of these.  Our streaming service Films on Demand probably comes closest, with content in almost all of the subject areas mentioned. Kanopy is our second most used service, with an emphasis on providing contemporary documentaries.  

But the fact is that content needs tend to be more specific than subject areas or even topics.  And that is why we realize developing our collection at the individual title level, with input from you, will be an important prong in our efforts to support the curriculum.   Given the constraints on the library budget and the expense of streaming media, we want to make sure that what we do purchase gets used. We also are trying to anticipate the ways that the diversifying production of moving pictures will affect future requests.  We've already been challenged in trying to acquire films that are only available streaming from one source.

In the meantime, whenever you want to request videos, simply email your request to Carrie Butler-Becker or contact your library liaison.  DVDs/videos vary widely in pricing, licensing restrictions, and availability, but we will try to fill every request.

Surge in library appointments

Firework detail from Klebeband 10
/Fürstlich Waldecksche Hofbibliothek

We were excited to see our consultation appointments go up last semester. 

We credit two things: referrals from instructors and the ease of use of our new online appointment system.

Feel free to share the link to our appointment scheduler in your course emails, D2L, or assignments: https://tinyurl.com/blugoldRC.  It is also accessible from our homepage using the link "Meet with a librarian."

We work with individuals or groups and can spend anywhere from 15-60 minutes with students.  Students have the option of picking the length of time, the librarian, and the time slot.

We help with any stage in the research process and we are eager to work with your students.

Request Books and Media

Library materials can be requested a number of ways: with our electronic form, in print through campus mail, or by email.

E-form: http://lib01.uwec.edu/Request.aspx?Form=BookRecommendation

Direct requests can be made by email or campus mail to

Carrie Butler Becker, McIntyre Library (beckercb@uwec.edu).

Making in McIntyre

[Photo credit: www.nicolassolop.com]

McIntyre Library is embracing the maker movement, and we are interested in identifying faculty who are interested in or curious about this idea. 

A makerspace is a collection of equipment (anything from 3d printers and laser cutters to sewing machines and digital recording equipment), resources and services that give students hands-on opportunities to experiment, create and collaborate. In addition to creating a space in McIntyre Library available to all students, we plan to serve as a clearinghouse, providing students with information about other facilities available to them across campus. 

We want to hear your thoughts about what a library makerspace should offer and how it can be incorporated into the curriculum. If you are interested in joining the makerspace conversation, please register. A meeting will be scheduled during the semester. 

Library Director Search: stay tuned!

The library has received approval to conduct a search for a new Library Director. A committee consisting of library faculty and staff, as well an outside representative or representatives from the faculty or directors will be appointed.

New: Instantly book a library consultation

The Research and Instruction department has set up a scheduling service for consultations that allows students and faculty to select from a menu of librarians and times.  We hope this cuts down on the back and forth of emails and makes working with us more convenient.

The calendar will be accessible from the library homepage, where it says "Meet with a Librarian," but it can also be accessed through this URL: https://tinyurl.com/blugoldRC.   The link is also featured on the library's D2L widget.

Feel free to share this with any students needing research assistance.  

Extreme Makeover: Library Search Edition

McIntyre's Library Search got better over the summer: the functionality is the same, the content is the same, but the user-interface is clearer and frankly, much nicer to look at.

This version features more obvious and convenient prompts to sign-in if you wish to request items.  You can also see if your item is held in the UW system, and at which libraries.

The metaphor of the bookshelf for saving items of interest has given way to the pushpin, but it works the same way.

And finally, our favorite - rather than being hidden in sub-menu, the options to email, print, cite, and permalink are right out in the open on each entry:

Research and assignment consultations

"Summer of 1904 on the Wisconsin central railway." Library of Congress.

The McIntyre librarians will be here all summer.  We are happy to assist you with your own research or help you plan research assignments for the fall semester.

As course sizes have grown, we have been working with several faculty members to design research assignments that help students develop their skills and dispositions without also making grading unmanageable.

Contact us through our form or email one of us when you're ready to start.

Fighting Fake News with the Framework for Information Literacy

A recent Stanford study found a “dismaying” number of students, from middle school to college, were unable to distinguish between ads and edited articles, activist organizations’ tweets and investigative reporting, and mainstream news sources versus fringe tabloids on the left and the right. If the study had extended beyond college graduates, no doubt the results would be similar. These days, understanding the information landscape and evaluating sources requires more due diligence than it did mere decades ago. The markers of reliability have become obscured or worse, counterfeited.

This is part of the reason we have moved away from “teaching the tools” at McIntyre Library. Up until the 21st century, information literacy instruction focused on skills based standards. But, unsurprisingly, many of the more basic skills were easy for students to pick up on. They could handle interfaces.  They had a harder time formulating searches, understanding what their searches were yielding, recognizing what was crapola, and figuring out how their findings fit together.

The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, which the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) adopted in 2015, focuses less on skills and more on ideas, dispositions and abilities that college students can develop over time. The six frames represent interconnected concepts. For example, students learning about the role of citation within a discipline might touch upon “Information has Value,” but also “Scholarship as a Conversation.” The goal of the Framework is that students will not only understand the information world of the academy, but also become self-directed consumers and creators of information in the communities they participate in.

The Framework often encourages students to look at the whole rhetorical context of their research. When a student types a natural language query into a library database, much as they would with Google, like “What are the best cures for addiction?” we could offer them guidance and our opinions on the advantages and disadvantages some of the search terms. But more useful for their future searches is a conversation about how their topic is discussed by health professionals, therapists, reporters. We also often draw upon the rhetorical analysis skills our students learn in their Writing courses to provide a robust method for evaluating sources. It’s a method that takes into account the complexity of the information world we work with. And when it comes to fake news and fake science, we can talk about the frame “Authority is constructed and contextual,” helping students understand how authority can be mimicked and false contexts can be created.

The Full Framework comes with descriptions, dispositions and knowledge practices. If you are interested in working on one or more of the frames in an assignment, please contact one of the Research & Instruction Librarians. It’s not just for librarians anymore!


The Frames

AUTHORITY IS CONSTRUCTED AND CONTEXTUAL
Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required.

INFORMATION CREATION AS A PROCESS
Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method. The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences.

INFORMATION HAS VALUE
Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.

RESEARCH AS INQUIRY
Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field.

SCHOLARSHIP AS CONVERSATION
Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.

SEARCHING AS STRATEGIC EXPLORATION
Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.

Did you get a haircut? Something looks different...

Actually, we tore down some walls and removed some vacant offices on the first floor. McIntyre Library is transitioning from a traditional quick-answer reference desk model to a Research Center layout that facilitates more in-depth collaborative and consultative interactions between librarians and students. 

As part of that transition, walls were removed, making librarian offices more accessible and opening up prime space overlooking the campus mall for student study space. 

Stay tuned as the space and the library service continue evolving this fall.

Images for Academic Publishing in Artstor

Paul Klee, The Man Under the Pear Tree
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Initiated by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2007, Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) provides free print-quality images for use in scholarly publications.

Scholars at institutions that subscribe to Artstor can access these images through the Digital Library.

Simply add IAP to your search criteria; the eligible results will feature the IAP icon beneath the thumbnail image. 

Spotlight on Delivery

You can get library materials delivered to your office. So if you're in the weeds and don't have time to visit McIntyre, you can request items via library search.

1.  Make sure you are signed into Library Search.
2.  Find the item you would like to have delivered.
3.  Click "Get It" for the item you are requesting.
4.  Under "Pickup Location" select "Work Address"
   
   

Please try to limit your requests to 5 at a time.  Materials are delivered in the mornings, M-F.  You can expect to receive items within 48 hours of requesting them.  This delivery program excludes Interlibrary Loan and bulk materials.

And when you are done with them, you can use this form to schedule pickup.  

Voter registration at McIntyre

Encourage your students to register to vote. In keeping with the university’s mission to foster active citizenship, McIntyre Library will again be registering voters this year. Several library faculty/staff members are certified Special Registration Deputies (SRDs), and can register voters who reside in the city of Eau Claire. Students (and others) can stop by the McIntyre Library Research Center (Library 1001) to register during the following dates:

·         Feb. 17-Mar. 9

·         April 6-July 13

·         August 10-Oct. 12

ScienceDirect Freedom Collection

The UW System was able to renegotiate our contract with Elsevier, making the complete ScienceDirect Freedom Collection available on our campus for the first time.  The Freedom Collection, with over 1,850 active journal titles from 1995 to the current year, offers extensive coverage in science, engineering and medicine. It also contains many core journals in business, social sciences and humanities.  Articles and journals in the Freedom Collection will be accessible through Library Search and the Journal Titles list.