Matt Dilworth

Matt Dilworth

The Christmas Eggnog Riot

The Christmas Eggnog Riot

, Matt Dilworth
In 1802, West Point Military Academy was founded, a pathetic joke of a military institution whose lax recruitment standards, negligible resources, and few teachers contributed little to the nation’s safety.  Then the War of 1812 happened, and losing the White House to the British convinced Congress that it would be prudent to train better officers and soldiers.  In 1817, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer was appointed as superintendent.  Thayer was a hero of the War of 1812 who had studied in France, and a man known for strict discipline in every sense of the word – both military and personal.  He quickly moved to change the character of the institution, and the character of the men who graduated. He created a stable four-year … Continued
International Education Week

International Education Week

Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
The benefits gained from international education – from brief study abroad trips to full semesters spent in other countries – include enhanced perspective, communication, and a level of ‘big picture’ thinking that is hard to replicate with any other experience.  Not only does international education expand student horizons, it also increases future employment options; building connections and trans-cultural skills that are desirable to many multinational companies.  International Education Week, from November 18-22 this year, is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State to increase awareness of and participation in study abroad programs and build these skills.  Numerous events are planned, including the public release of the Open Doors Report on International Educational … Continued
Get It From Anywhere Through ILL

Get It From Anywhere Through ILL

, Library Services, Matt Dilworth
As the semester progresses and research intensifies, scholars will inevitably encounter an important resource to which they do not have access.  It could be an out-of-print book, or an article behind a paywall – but something that would make your research deeper and better lies just out of reach. There are a number of library tools that can be used to get a resource.  For books, you can use IUCAT, Indiana University’s catalog, to request books be sent here from another campus – just click the red ‘Request Delivery’ button.  For articles in a library database, click ‘Find It’ or ‘LibKey Instant PDF’ – or download the LibKey Nomad browser extension, which will help link to the full text of … Continued
Voting Ahead

Voting Ahead

Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
Election Day is November 5th in the United States, and Americans have the opportunity to decide who serves in their government, at the federal, state, and local level.  In preparing to exercise this power – and responsibility – there are many useful tools that registered voters can avail themselves of to inform their vote. An all-purpose voting website is available from the state government of Indiana, letting residents check their voting status if they don’t know it, register to vote (October 7th is the deadline), and find their polling place.  Information about election security measures is presented, and results can be checked (after the election).  Online, the website Vote 411 lets users view their ballots ahead of time, and see … Continued
Basic Research Tools

Basic Research Tools

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
Transitioning to college research requires better tools, and the library provides many resources that will help students submit better work than can be generated through free web search engines like Google or Bing.  The easiest place to start is with the EBSCO Discovery Service, a meta-search engine that searches most of IU East’s databases at once, which can be found on the library’s home page under the section that says “Search EBSCO (Articles)”.  This provides the single box searching experience that may be the most familiar to users of Google or other popular search engines.  This returns material from academic journals, trade journals, and newspapers.  It can be set to give only recently published material, or only vetted academic writings.  … Continued