The end of the semester is upon us! If you have last-minute research needs, we are here to assist. Perhaps an article you selected earlier in the semester doesn’t quite fit the way you thought it would, or you need one or two more sources to elucidate on some point. Your Campus Library has many tools to assist you.
These include on-site books and ebooks and full text articles in databases. You may have special restrictions on the material you choose – for example, that it be peer reviewed (most databases can limit to solely this type of article), or that it be primary – that is, created by a participant in the event described. Fortunately, a lot of primary source databases are full text. Databases like North American Immigrant Letters & Diaries, Gale Primary Sources, or The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives may have exactly what you’re looking for.
Some papers or projects allow you to use web pages or YouTube videos, but if you need academic resources, we have plenty linked from the library’s homepage. For videos, you can access AVON, a multidisciplinary database with thousands of titles in streaming (and subtitled) video format.
Another tool you can use is interlibrary loan for articles. We receive about 80% of articles requested back within a day or two of the submission, so it’s still an option if you see the perfect article for you that isn’t in one of our databases. If you don’t want to ensure immediate retrieval, most databases let you limit to only full text searching with the check of a box.
Tools that are no longer available to you include interlibrary loan for books. Even getting a book from another IU Campus will likely take three to five business days, and from outside the IU system will take more than a week. Fortunately, we have substantial ebook holdings.
The Library is available for you, in-person and online. Just be sure to ask us soon!
For quick researching or study tips, we offer a number of easy-to-use resources, as well. Books like The Ultimate Study Skills Handbook by Sarah Moore, Test-Taking Strategies by Judi Kesselman-Turkel, Study Skills Strategies: Your Guide to Critical Thinking by Uelaine Lengefeld, “Ace” Any Test by Ron Fry, or The Student’s Guide To Exam Success by Eileen Tracy might be the perfect thing to power you through the last week of industrial-strength academics.
The Library is available for you, in-person and online. Just be sure to ask us soon! iueref@iue.edu