Matt Dilworth

Matt Dilworth

Artistic Pursuits

Artistic Pursuits

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
Music and art are an experience – how can words adequately characterize or explain them? As a researcher, you might have thoughts along these lines. And while you use academic databases for history or science or economics papers, when it comes to art, maybe you think you’re fine on your own. Understanding the musical, performance, and graphic arts does indeed rely on your own critical experience more than most disciplines. But it’s an error to think that scholarly resources won’t be of use. The library has many databases for both – from ProQuest Arts for scholarship and criticism in each of these areas to the Naxos Music Library for streaming music. But one critical resource in the arts is Oxford … Continued
INSPIRE-ational

INSPIRE-ational

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
At IU East, we advocate strongly for using the best, most trustworthy sources for your scholarship. And we have loads of great academic databases designed to do just that, linking you to reliable, vetted content that hasn’t been twisted by the vacuous, editor-free and repetitive fluff that makes up the bulk of the free web. But after you graduate, where will get the same trustworthy and authoritative information? If you live in the state of Indiana (as most of our graduates do), the answer is INSPIRE. Provided by the Indiana State Library, anyone with an Indiana IP address can access dozens of databases freely. This deeply benefits public and school libraries across the state, and the ISL’s negotiations help subsidize … Continued
Digging up Great Things

Digging up Great Things

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Programs
Retired anthropology professor Rob Tolley and his wife Nancy have long been dedicated to IU East, creating many opportunities for students in the decades he spent teaching. His field trips to Utah to give firsthand experience in surface surveying and classes in prehistory and Southwestern literature are still fondly remembered. But they have been active in supporting IU East since his retirement, as well, and are donating $50,000 to help fund an archaeological methodology lab. To be located in the woods east of campus, it will allow students the hands-on opportunity to perform their own digs. The artifacts will be simulated – pig skeletons, burned and buried structures, and ceramics crafted by IU East art students – but the experience … Continued
Support for Information Literacy

Support for Information Literacy

, , Matt Dilworth 1 Comments
The 2016 American Library Association’s annual conference recently concluded, and a troubling issue came out of it. The Association of College and Research Libraries voted to rescind a previous resolution passed in 2000, the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. And while the ACRL plans to continue to support information literacy in some way going forward – such as networking librarians to share their experiences, lesson plans, rubrics, and assessment tools – there is now no longer a universal policy supporting the inclusion of information literacy components in college courses. And that has caused concern among academic librarians. You might wonder where that leaves you – will IU East still offer in-class library instruction in the same way? Do … Continued
Mergers

Mergers

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
In late June, ProQuest, one of our largest suppliers of scholarly databases, purchased Alexander Street Press, which is particularly strong on primary sources, music, and video. Some of the many ASP databases IU East uses include VAST, a multidisciplinary video collection, Black Thought and Culture, North American Immigrant Letters and Diaries, Women and Social Movements, Underground and Independent Comics, American Film Scripts, Oral History Online, and Twentieth Century North American Drama. So, there is a lot that we use that will probably look a bit different by next year. In fact, the vast majority of academic library resources at IU East come from one of two vendors – the EBSCO corporation or ProQuest. In many ways, this is great news. … Continued