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Research lifelines for 2024

Research lifelines for 2024

A new year means new classes, new studies and maybe a new approach to doing research.  But all this newness can be difficult to navigate.  Thankfully, there is a solution, available to every student, faculty and staff member on campus.  The IU East Campus Library is here to help, with plenty of databases, finding aids and good advice to help students, staff and faculty in engaging with a new year’s worth of learning. The new A-Z list Looking for a more organized, simpler way to find important databases?  The library recently launched a revised Databases A-Z list, with numerous features that help with finding information.  The library includes databases for all subjects taught at IU East, along with broader spectrum … Continued
Happy Birthday, World Wide Web!

Happy Birthday, World Wide Web!

On August 1, 1990, Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist at CERN created the term “world wide web” to describe an interconnected universe of information.  The first graphics-based web browser, Mosaic, was developed only a few years later by computer scientist Marc Andreesen, then working for the University of Illinois.  While other text-based browsers already existed, like Gopher and Lynx, it was Mosaic that pointed the way toward what most people think of as the Internet today.  Considering the ubiquity of online information, commerce and entertainment, it is worth examining tools and tricks that make the Internet safer, easier and more useful.  For instance, special operators are an easy way to make any search engine work better.  A tilde (the ~ … Continued
New Interface for a Major Research Tool

New Interface for a Major Research Tool

The easiest way to begin searching for research materials at IU East is to start typing in the blank labelled “Search EBSCO (Articles)” on the library’s home page.  This search blank is a meta-search, which means that it looks through many of the library’s databases simultaneously.  Most research at IU East starts here. The software behind this is called the EBSCO Discovery Service, and it is getting a facelift.  The search interface will change, and some of the features and buttons are moving around.  Some new features are being added.  The clean-looking search blank continues to put some of the most popular filters right there with it (for example, restricting just to things that have full text immediately available, or … Continued
Who Uses OER at IU East? — Open Education Week 2023

Who Uses OER at IU East? — Open Education Week 2023

Due to the rising costs of higher education, textbook affordability is a particular area of hardship for many students. With limited funding, students may have to choose what is essential to their well-being and education and because of this, many students forgo buying required textbooks or other course material. This often results in poor grades or failing or dropping out of the course (Yano & Myers, 2019).  To combat this issue, Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives have been growing among many higher education institutions, including Indiana University East. ​ In support of Open Education Week (March 6-10th) 2023, the Campus Library is highlighting IU East faculty who currently use OER textbooks and resources in their classes.  Humanities and Social Sciences … Continued
The (Lib)Key to Quick Access

The (Lib)Key to Quick Access

The IU East Campus Library subscribes to a useful service that connects students and faculty directly to the articles they want, by providing quick access and eliminating paywalls. LibKey is a suite of products that help researchers locate and view research articles with fewer clicks. The LibKey API works with the library’s subscriptions and the Unpaywall Open Access database to streamline access to full text content available at the IU East Campus.  The LibKey link is already integrated into many of our databases, so you don’t need to do anything special to use it—it works behind the scenes as soon as you download or view a PDF. However, there are few other special LibKey features and products that IU East … Continued