Elizabeth South | Library Blog - Indiana University East

Elizabeth South

The Power of Pollinators

Elizabeth South, environment June 12, 2023 outreach mdilwort

As we enter the summer season, pollination of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and trees is still occurring. We often think of spring being the season of planting and pollinating, but summer plays an important role too. June is National Pollinator Month and in 2023 we celebrate National Pollinator Week from June 19th-25th. This is an annual event held on the third week of June that highlights the wildlife responsible for helping our food grow and promotes the importance of pollinator health and ways humans can help. Who are our pollinators? Lots of animals and insects pollinate, not just bees and butterflies. Some examples: Birds! Did you know that over 900 species of birds pollinate? Especially hummingbirds, who are essential pollinators … Continued

Alternatives to ‘No Mow May’

Elizabeth South, sustainability May 15, 2023 outreach mdilwort

Spring is in full swing, and many insects, animals, and plants are now active and roaming or growing in your yard. You may also have heard of the “No Mow May” movement from the news, social media, or eco focused organizations. Not mowing for a full month sounds like a nice idea, but it can also lead to a few problems (Damiano, 2023). Abstaining from mowing for only one month out of the mowing season can create confusion for insects and essential pollinators by providing food and shelter for a month, but then taking that shelter and food source away once mowing commences again in June. Insects may have short lifespans, but many have long memories and colony insects communicate … Continued

New Canvas Library Tool Available – ProQuest Resources

canvas, Elizabeth South, proquest, reference databases April 17, 2023 Library Resources mdilwort

The IU East Campus Library is now offering a new tool to embed journal articles and other resources directly into Canvas from our database search engine, ProQuest Central. This is a similar tool to the Library Resources application that we launched in Fall of 2022, which allows faculty to search and embed articles from EBSCO Discovery directly into Canvas from the Module level. Faculty can now search and pull article links that are available from our ProQuest databases, for which we subscribe to over 80, into their Canvas course! This tool, labeled as ProQuest Resources, is available at the page, discussion, or assignment level and can be added with the Apps icon from the Edit box: Faculty are welcome to … Continued

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

Elizabeth South, faculty, oer, Open Education Resources, textbooks February 27, 2023 Website mdilwort

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

Elizabeth South, linking, reference databases February 13, 2023 Library Resources, Website mdilwort

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