Amanda VerMeulen

eBooks!

October 14, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

The SMCM Library is entering the wonderful world of ebooks, and using data to get there. The Library is participating in a pilot project, along with other USMAI campus libraries, to begin adding ebooks to the library collection. For this pilot, however, we’re following your lead and only purchasing titles which you would like to read and borrow. During the pilot, the Library has access to 8500 ebooks. Those titles which are borrowed six or more times will be permanently adding to the collection. The USMAI campus libraries have access to the same pool of 8500 ebooks, and those titles which are purchased will be accessible to all of USMAI. A book will not belong to a single library, and can be read and borrowed by multiple users at the same time.

To use library jargon, this process is called demand driven acquisitions. Our library users create a demand by borrowing a title, and we let that demand dictate which books we purchase or acquire. Traditionally, the librarians make acquisition decisions, based on a variety of information and recommendations. For this pilot, we’re standing back and letting you select the titles.

HAPI (Not to be confused with HAPPY)

October 1, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

We’re starting a new database trial!

For the month of October, we will have access to HAPI, the Hispanic American Periodicals Index. According to its website,

The Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) is your source for approximately 300,000 journal article citations about Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.

The Library is participating in a free trial to determine if the database is useful for student research and something worth adding to our collection. We really would appreciate your feedback. At the end of the trial, we will have to make a decision whether or not to start a subscription, and the more information we have from students and faculty, the more informed our decision will be.

When you have a moment in the next few weeks, please give HAPI a try from on campus and tell us what you think! We appreciate your feedback!

The Staff Book Club joins the digital age

September 30, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

Posted on behalf of Cheryl Colson.

The Staff Book Club joins the digital age!!!

At one time or another we have all found ourselves reading a review on Facebook, Amazon or Twitter. So to keep up with the trend the staff book club will be posting reviews via a social media network better known as blogging.

Want to blog about your favorite book?
Want to submit a movie review?
Want to read the book of the month?

How about sharing your comments on a book or movie review?
Check out the review for October’s book selection, Notes on a Coma by Mike McCormack.

We want to hear from you, so visit us at the Staff Recommends blog.

Happy posting!

Have a Question? Find an Answer.

September 16, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

We get it. Sometimes you have a quick question and don’t want to bother to call, email, or ask us in person. Sometimes you just need to type a question into your iPhone and get an answer. Quickly.

In those situations, we have you covered. It’s a perfect opportunity to check out our collection of Frequently Asked Questions through our Ask a Librarian page.

Not sure how to download Endnote? Need to access online databases from off-campus? Curious about the dates of this year’s Library Book Sale? Our FAQs have you covered. The best part is that you can literally type in a question and get an answer.

Please note: Although we try to keep our FAQs well stocked with useful questions, you may have a question we just haven’t posted an answer to yet. In that event, you’ll simply be prompted to email your question and a librarian will soon.

Get Your Public Library Card Today

September 10, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

September is Library Card Sign-up Month and here in St. Mary’s county we celebrate with a library card sign-up swap. For two weeks in September the college library and the public library do a registration swap. Students, faculty and staff at SMCM can sign up for a library card for the St. Mary’s Public Library on campus at the library circulation desk. St. Mary’s County residents can sign up for a SMCM library card at their local branch library.

What do you get with a public library card? Access to COSMOS the gateway to the libraries of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties print and online materials. That’s a lot of popular reading material, newly released movies and online tools like Mángo Languages. Yes, you too can learn to speak Pirate from your bedroom with a St. Mary’s County Public Library Card.

What Makes a Librarian a Librarian?

September 10, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

If you are in the library and you have a question you can ask a librarian! And anyone you see working behind a counter or desk in a LIBRARY must be a LIBRARIAN, right? Not so fast.

There are all kinds of people working in libraries. Librarians, archivists, digital media specialists, paraprofessionals, volunteers, and even
. . . wait for it . . . students. Can anyone be a librarian? We librarians are pretty proud to be to members of a club which isn’t all that exclusive but which does require credentials.

All librarians have a master’s degree. Here at St. Mary’s the librarians have degrees from different library schools (yes – we still call some of them library schools, although some have changed their names to schools of information). We have been to U. of Texas at Austin, U. of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, Rutgers, U. of South Florida, U. of South Carolina, and U. of North Texas. AND – our degrees have different names including MS, MLIS (Master of Library & Information Science), MIS, MSI, MSIS, and MLS.

I have an MLS from Rutgers University. Most of the time MLS means Master of Library Science. But my diploma says “Master of Library Service.” Come on up to my office if you want to see it. Rutgers doesn’t give diplomas with that name anymore so pretty soon I’ll have a genuine relic.

So how does a person learn to be a librarian? Do we learn the Library of Congress classification system? Practice speaking in a whisper? Memorize the almanac? Actually it depends. Some library school students study how to catalog materials (organize and classify them so you can find them). Some take classes to learn to become good researchers and to help other do research. Some learn how to preserve materials or archive them. These days many library school students also learn to create digital learning materials, to use social media, to blog, and to develop tools for finding information. Some library school students write a masters’ thesis and some don’t. Most do an internship. Most of us take statistics and research methods.

Who wants to be a librarian? Almost anyone! Lots of SMCM alums have become librarians and archivists. Did you know that the head archivist at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum and Archives is a SMCM alum (and she’ll be on campus later this semester). A totally cool young adult librarian in a northern Virginia public library is an alum. And did you know that the associate director of the SMCM Library is a SMCM alum??? Go find Kat Ryner (LI 225) and ask her about becoming a librarian.

We are always in the process of becoming librarians. We learn lots of basics in library school and the real education starts once we get out and working. Those graduate school courses give us a really solid foundation, get us started thinking about all kinds of issues that librarians care about (fair use of materials, copyright, open access, the digital divide). We learn to do research and about important library journals (librarians research, write, and publish just like other faculty).

So now you know what makes a librarian. If you want to know more, ask a librarian to lunch, or coffee. Another thing you should know is that librarians LOVE to talk about why we love being librarians. We might make you want to be one, too.

Advice regarding the treatment of College Freshman. From 1495.

August 27, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

Whenever searching through primary source documents, you never know what you might find. One can only imagine the circumstances surrounding the issuing of the following statute, prepared by Leipzig University in 1495, but the folks at the Ask The Past Blog were good enough to dig it up for the world to see:

“Statute Forbidding Any One to Annoy or Unduly Injure the Freshmen.

Each and every one attached to this university is forbidden to offend with insult, torment, harass, drench with water…, throw on or defile with dust or any filth, mock by whistling, cry at them with a terrifying voice, or dare to molest in any way whatsoever physically or severely, any, who are called freshmen, in the market, streets, courts, colleges and living houses, or any place whatsoever, and particularly in the present college, when they have entered in order to matriculate or are leaving after matriculation.”

Leipzig University Statute (1495). From Friedrich Zarncke, ed., Die Statutenbücher der Universität Leipzig, (Leipzig, 1861), 102. Translation adapted from Robert Francis Seybolt, The Manuale Scholarium: An Original Account of Life in the Mediaeval University (Cambridge, MA, 1921), 21-2, n.6.

Perhaps at least one of these freshmen are concerned about somebody “crying at them with a terrifying voice.”

Feel free to contact the librarians or archivist for assistance with finding primary source materials for your papers and presentations!

The Library Tour

August 21, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

A tour is a great way to get to know the library and the people who work here. I took one of the college’s newest residents, Dove, on a tour this summer. He got to see one of our new spaces, the browsable DVD collection, and tried out some technology. Being a 21st century bear he opted for the scanner rather than the copy machine, but couldn’t resist the record player. Dove also checked out his first book, got help with some research and found pretty much every comfortable ~~napping~~ study spot available. You can see Dove’s full tour on our Facebook page.

Pamela

Now Hiring: Library PFP position, Instructional Media Fellow

August 20, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

The SMCM Career Development Center has a fantastic Professional Fellowship Program for interested sophomores, juniors, and seniors. You can get a great internship-like experience at a greater pay rate ($10 / hour) than your average student worker. Last year, the library’s PFP student, Taylor Robb-McCord, started work on a new video series: The SMCM Library in 60 Seconds. This year, we’re looking for a new PFP student to continue the series and put their own creative spin on it.

We’re calling our PFP position an Instructional Media Fellowship. You can learn more about it on the CDC website, but here’s a brief description:

The library is seeking a creative student interested in video production or advertising to help develop the “SMCM Library in 60 Seconds” video series. The fellow will develop instructional videos promoting library services and resources to the SMCM community.

To apply, email me, Veronica Arellano Douglas with your

resume
cover letter describing your interest in and fit for the position as well as your cumulative GPA and
contact information for one faculty/staff reference.

You can also call (240-895-4265) or email me with questions about the position!

Summer Reading 2013 has ended