Blog – Page 46

Research Databases Anytime, Anywhere

September 14, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Recent changes on the library’s website may have left more than a few people puzzled about how to access our online research databases and journals when off-campus. This is my best attempt at clearing up any confusion and hopefully getting people back on track with their research.

On our OLD site, you always went through Research Port to access databases while off-campus.

On our NEW site, you can use the Database and Journal Search right on the homepage to access online databases and journals whether you are on campus or off campus. This new search puts the search functionality of ResearchPort front-and-center, saving you time and clicks.

Get your public library card today

September 10, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

It’s National Library Card Sign-Up Month. Stop by the circulation desk at the SMCM Library from September 10-23 to sign up for a St. Mary’s County Public Library card.

Get access to:

Popular books, ebooks & audiobooks
New releases on DVD & Blu-ray
Mango Languages Online
Online Test Prep for GRE, MCAT, LSAT

Ask Us! We mean it.

August 30, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

If you’ve been to the library’s website recently, you may (or may not) have noticed a smallish box off to the left-hand side of the screen with the words “Ask Us.” It’s a small but commanding phrase, and here at the library, it’s one we take seriously. Librarians and library staff love questions and you need answers, so we’ve added yet another way for you to ask and us to answer:

Online Chat!

That’s right, librarians are online and available to help you. At the moment, our chat hours are a bit inconsistent, but eventually we’ll work out a regular routine. This is a new service for us and we’re still working out the kinks and playing around with the features. So, when you click on the “Ask Us” button you’ll end up with one of two screens:

If you’re really lucky, you’ll see this:

Chat Success!!!

which means a librarian is online and available to help you.

If you’re a little less lucky, but still amazingly lucky in the grand scheme of library help options, you’ll see this:

Ask Us is our new FAQ system

Which is an entryway into our new LibAnswers system. It’s a Frequently-Asked-Questions system/knowledgebase and an email-a-librarian system all rolled into one. It’s a way to help yourself or get the help you need. Just type in a question to search for an answer.

So again, when we ask you to Ask Us, we mean it. We really, really do.

And we’re off!!!

August 27, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Photo from Flickr user Matt McGee

Welcome everyone to the 2012-2013 academic year at SMCM! In the library we were hard at work all summer so that now, you can work smarter! Below is a brief rundown of just a few of the new toys and services we’re offering in the SMCM Library. If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

New photocopier: We have a brand new photocopier! It does full color and has an automatic feeder for those long documents. Prices are 10 cents per black & white copy, 25 cents per color copy. Please note that the photocopier on the 2nd floor (in the periodicals) is no longer there – there is only the first floor photocopier, which is in the same location.

New scanner: Returning students, staff, and faculty may remember the touchscreen-operated scanner that we had on a trial basis toward the end of the Spring 2012 semester. It is now a permanent addition to the SMCM Library. It scans in color or black & white and your scanned images can be printed (print in black & white only), saved to a thumb drive, or emailed immediately to you as a PDF, JPG, PNG, or RTF (MS Word) file. It also has a leading edge – this makes it very easy to photocopy books & journals without pressing down on the item to get that hard-to-read text in the center!

Kindles: We now circulate Kindles! We have three Kindle Fires, two Kindle Touches, and a Kindle Keyboard that can be checked out for two weeks (one renewal allowed). They come preloaded with several e-books for your reading pleasure, including the Hunger Games trilogy, Prisoner of Heaven, and more! We are actively soliciting requests for new titles for our Kindles, so let us know if you have a request.

Overdue fines: The rumors are true: the SMCM Library has eliminated almost all of our daily overdue fines. Daily overdue fines remain in effect for:

All course reserve items (not e-reserves)
All media center items (3^rd floor)
Anything that comes from another library (Interlibrary Loan/ILLiad or USMAI)
Items that have been recalled

Nothing else, I repeat: nothing else is subject to daily overdue fines, i.e. books, DVD’s, VHS, CD’s, laptops (yes, laptops!), headphones, extension cords, ethernet cords, thumb drives, Kindles, etc etc). The complete new SMCM Library fine policy is available on our website here (or, from the Library home page, click on “about the library” then “policies”).

Group Study Room Booking: Now, you can reserve one of our group study rooms for up to three hours per day. Use this link (or, from the Library home page, click on “library services” then “group study rooms”). In addition, Group Study Room 221 has been outfitted with a 55” HDTV with a DVD player. Group Study Rooms 215, 216, & 221 are available for booking. Group Study Rooms 206 & 217 are open and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Happy Librarying!!!!!

Everyone is a winner!

August 23, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Prizes But the big winners are Heather Pribut who won the August prize drawing and *Mandy Reinig who posted 10 reviews and wins a bag of library swag.*

Don’t forget to pick up your prizes. You may pick them in the Library, office 126.

The winners of the 2012 monthly prize drawings are:
June: Lauren Grey
July: Lisa Williams
August: Heather Pribut

What did you read this summer?

August 22, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Did you read the Catching Fire, The Help or Front Burner? These are just a few of the titles that were reviewed on the Library Summer Reading Blog this summer. As editor of the blog I read them all. The books reviewed covered everything from young adult (YA) dystopias to Al Qaeda’s Attack on the USS Cole. There were also memoirs, literary fiction and plays. The reviewers were a mix of SMCM students, staff and alumni.

I am a big fan of book statistics so here are some stats from the 2012 blog;

55 reviews were posted
41 were fiction reviews
14 non-fiction reviews
5 reviewers submitted more than 6 reviews
3 reviewers submitted only 1 review
1 reviewer submitted 10 reviews

YA series were by far the most popular titles reviewed this summer. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games led the way with six reviews, but other series such as Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk series Leviathan, Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments and Cinda Williams Chima’s Seven Realms all made a good showing with at least two books reviewed from each set. The non-fiction reviews were dominated by memoirs including Tina Fey’s Bossypants. And, well, I’m not sure what to call Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Both our reviewers agree that despite the vampires, it “reads like a history lesson,“ but not on whether you should read it or not.

Mandy Reinig was our top reviewer and wins the bag of library swag.

Pamela

Memories of My Melancholy Whores, by Gabriel García Márquez

August 22, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

I chose this novel for three reasons: a) I thought it was an interesting title, b) While I have never read anything by this author I have wanted to read his 100 Years of Solitude, and c) it was short. Probably not the best reasons to pick up a book, but I thought it was a decent read for the beach. I liked the writing style and look forward to reading more by Márquez. His prose is straight forward and has an elevated style that I feel should come across as presumptuous, but somehow doesn’t. Instead, it reads like it is written by someone who knows that he knows how to write. However, I was not a huge fan of the story itself, which follows the narrator who turns 90 and decides that he wants to spend the night with a virgin. Almost every night for a year the narrator sleeps next to this young girl. I am not particularly squeamish when it comes to sex scenes and there is nothing in the book that is too graphic (it’s certainly no Girl with the Dragon Tatoo), but I didn’t really like the narrator whose views on sex and women were degrading. I am sure that Márquez was making a larger statement about that and other issues, but I didn’t really care to think that much about the narrator to figure out what those statements were. But I do think that someone with a more open mind would enjoy the story much more and have a greater appreciate for the characters that Márquez crafts.

Originally submitted on 8/8/2012.

Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Lauren Grey, SMCM Alumn ’11
Rating: Recommended with Reservations

Summer Reading 2012 has ended.

August 20, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Thanks to all the readers who posted reviews on our Summer Reading blog.

In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Edward L. Ayers

August 15, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Edward L. Ayers tells the story of the Civil War not as we usually hear it, from generals and presidents. Instead, he follows the experiences of Franklin county in Pennsylvania and Augusta county in Virginia. It makes the war more personal, as he shows how North and South begin to hate each other, and the dead as not statistics but as obituaries in their local newspaper. My only complaint is that the book ends in 1863, before the battle of Gettysburg. It makes the story seem half-finished.

Availability: COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Rebecca Thayer
Rating: Highly Recommended.