Latest Posts

Latest Posts

Historical Research Resources: real-time and real perspectives

Historical Research Resources: real-time and real perspectives

, , Frances Yates, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
Suppose someone living in the year 2025, or even 2225, wants reliable information about what happened in 2011? Where would be the best place to get information (assuming by then all our brains aren’t pre-wired at birth to the Internet or whatever comes Next)? There are unique considerations when doing historical research, for whatever type of questions you seek to answer.  One facet of historical research is the need for primary sources – that is, things written and said by the people actually involved with those events.  Having access to primary documentation is of vital important to historical study.  Newspapers are also of great value, providing contemporary perspectives that can be critical to understanding the perceptions about events and people … Continued
Partners for Academic Success

Partners for Academic Success

Frances Yates 0 Comments
IU East is preparing for a visit from the The Higher Learning Commission during the upcoming Fall semester. The HLC is an independent corporation and one of two commission members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), which is one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States. In the U.S., colleges and universities voluntarily seek accreditation from this nongovernmental organization.  Accreditation assures education consumers (i.e., students) that a school is meeting specified criteria and standards for effectively providing an education. The Commission’s mission statement is “serving the common good by assuring and advancing the quality of higher learning.” They use five criteria in determining accreditation: Mission and integrity Preparing for the future Student learning and … Continued
New Orleans: After Katrina, Then and Now

New Orleans: After Katrina, Then and Now

Lora Baldwin 0 Comments
New Orleans, or NOLA, is a great place to attend a conference. I recently attended my fifth American Library Association annual meeting there. In June 2006, ALA was the first conference in NOLA after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the City. It was in the New Orleans convention center that was made famous by the hordes of people who had nowhere else to go during the flooding. The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is over a mile long, but only a part of it was ready in time for the ALA conference. The first thing noticeable while driving into New Orleans in 2006 was the number of roofs covered with blue tarps. We stayed south of the city, in a … Continued
Intentional Spaces

Intentional Spaces

, , Interns, Library Services, Matt Dilworth
This year, while attending the annual American Library Association conference, graduate intern Sarah Gilchrist presented on “The Library Living Room: Creating Learning Relationships” (you can see her poster behind her in the picture).  Thousands of librarians from all over the country attend the ALA annual conference, and Sarah’s presentation gave us a chance to share with others the success of that unique learning environment, even as she learned about their new ideas.   The Library Living Room is a great space, and an excellent study or hang-out area for students (when classes aren’t running there!).  But it is just one of many intentional spaces in the library.  We’ve changed a lot of rooms in the library to better suit student … Continued
Independence Day

Independence Day

Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
Happy Fourth of July!  Whether you celebrate with family or cookouts or fireworks, our country’s birthday is a good opportunity to reflect on freedom. And the freedom that our Founding Fathers most espoused was the freedom of ideas.  “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain,” John Adams wrote to his wife.  We are a generation with the freedom to study these things, and anything else we want, because of what they did 235 years … Continued