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Author Archives: mdilwort

The Power of Reading

children, Programs May 16, 2011 Frances Yates, Matt Dilworth, Programs mdilwort

Libraries and literacy are a natural fit. We have the staff that knows how to connect people with the reading resources they need. Literacy is significant at all ages, but it is especially important for the young – if a child can’t read by the third grade, the likelihood of graduating from high school is significantly reduced. And if they don’t graduate from high school, they won’t have the opportunity to read and succeed here at IU East. At the IU East Campus Library we believe it is important to reach out and mentor k-12 students to promote literacy and promote a mindset that college is a real possibility…IF they learn to read and if they develop the reading habit. … Continued

Mental Health Awareness Month

psychology, reference databases May 9, 2011 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research mdilwort

May is Mental Health Month, so library staff want to share some relevant resources in psychology and mental wellness. Online journals provide current, readily accessible articles. We subscribe to two major databases that cover psychological issues: ProQuest Psychology Journals and PsycINFO from EBSCOhost (see last week’s blog for more on EBSCO). Both are very user-friendly and have a wealth of full text information. If currency isn’t an issue, JSTOR can also be a powerful database, but it doesn’t feature articles from the last few years like ProQuest and EBSCO do. You also might want to use PubMed Central, the National Institute of Health’s free digital archive. Additionally, we also have a wide selection of books and e-books, a sampling … Continued

Strategies for database searching

e-resources, good information, reference databases May 2, 2011 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

Chances are, if you’ve used a library database, you’ve used one of the EBSCO databases. Some of the databases provided by the vendor EBSCO are available to Indiana residents through Inspire, and Ohio residents through OhioLink. At IU East, a third of our full-text journals are available through the EBSCO interface. In 2010, IU East students, faculty, and staff searched an EBSCO database 114,240 times, retrieving 102,280 full-text articles. EBSCO provides general search databases like MasterFile and Academic Search Premier. They also have specialized databases. For example, if you’re working on a health topic, you could use MedLine, CINAHL, and Health Source. A criminal justice paper? PsycInfo and SocIndex will work well for you. Economics? Try Business Source Premier. Education? … Continued

What We Aim to Accomplish

Programs, reference databases, scholarly resources April 25, 2011 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

Probably, at some point in your educational career, you’ve thought about what you’re working towards. A career? Fame and fortune? Stability? Goals are good. They help us accomplish what we want and need to accomplish. The Library is committed to the goals IU East has established through the campus Learning Objectives. It makes sense – a library is place where you can into practice what you learn. Researching. Experimenting. Many of our resources are geared around these specific principles of what it is that makes an educated person. Reading. Critical examination. Understanding diverse opinions. These are all core functions of research. Some of our databases, like Opposing Viewpoints in Context, do this rather dramatically. Others are more subtle. But these … Continued

Streamlined Reference

reference April 4, 2011 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

If you’ve visited the library recently, you know we’re always fine-tuning things here. Our most recent change involves the reference books. These used to be split up into two sections – reference and biography books, in two different places. We’ve combined them into one easy-to-use collection. Both types of books now make up the first row of shelves in the stacks. So if you don’t see them where they used to be, don’t worry – they’re still here! While we were at it, we took the opportunity to update it into a much more streamlined, focused reference collection. We’ve trimmed a few redundant volumes (like Something About the Author, now online), and transferred a lot to the circulating collection, so … Continued