It's National Library Week

All across the nation, libraries are celebrating National Library Week. No matter where you are studying, there should be a library near you having a special event or two. Check them out! We connect our readers to many resources - books, articles, help, some in print and some online. If you are near Wahpeton, come to MJ Library to "Guess the Staff", which book goes with which library staff member. We will be happy to see you.

Guides to Research

We have recently started to add Guides to Research in several topics that will help you to use the library resources more effectively. There is a new link on the web page to the LibGuides, and links to specific guides for curriculums that often use library resources. There will be new ones added over the year as time permits. Let us know if there is a topic you would like to see available.

The guides will help you locate useful magazines and journals through our databases as well as pointing to some reliable web sites. Some books in the collection are also highlighted. If you want a book, you can request this via the InterLibrary Loan link in ODIN and remember to ask that the book be mailed to you if you cannot pick it up here.

Smarthinking

Do you know about Smarthinking? This is a service that NDSCS supports to give you 24/7 access to tutoring and topic help. Among the several topics such as math, biology, chemistry, and writing, you can get answers to questions from a tutor, critique your paper, or interact with a live tutor.

You will need a password and login to set up your account, so first check with your instructor or with the library about access. Once you are set up, you will receive your own username and password for your own personal sessions.

The website is at http://www.smarthinking.com/

With this site there is help available on many topics, whenever you need it.

Work smarter, not harder

As a student working primarily online, you may feel you do not need to look at Library resources in order to complete your assignments. However, searching and finding the scholarly materials you need is actually a more complicated process starting from a search engine. The Library purchases subscriptions to many materials - journals, magazines, e-books, newspapers = that are available to you with your library ID. Connecting through the Library web page and using your personal login, you have a wealth of items to choose from. Take advantage of this great resource that is free to you as a student.

Electronic Databases

For those of you who need library resources, we have several databases available. I am starting several trials, which you could look at as well as the sources we have already purchases. I can't get everything available for off-campus students yet, but I am working on it.

In the meantime, check out the Electronic Resources page and see what might be useful for you.

http://www.ndscs.nodak.edu/library/reference.jsp

If you call me to get a password, I will need your student ID number or library barcode number to verify that you are a student. Thanks!

Online tutorials for research

As you progress in doing research, the more capable you have to be to find the articles you need to support your research. You probably need to do some of the tutorials on the North Dakota State Library’s Instructional Tutorial Page. These tutorials are designed to instruct you in using the ODIN catalog and the Online Library Resources. If you are having trouble viewing the tutorials, you may have to adjust your computer display settings. You may need to download Adobe Flash Player, install Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt), or adjust your volume to view some tutorials.

http://ndsl.lib.state.nd.us/OnlineTutorials.html

Finding Magazine and Journal Articles

Many journals and scholarly magazines are available online. In the links listed in the sidebar, you will see EBSCOhost and Gale Group, which are two publishers. Each has many databases you can look at, on a variety of topics. Once you have chosen which database to look at, you can type in your topic or search term to get a list of relevant articles.

Many articles will be "full text", which means the full article can be downloaded or printed. If only the citation is there, you can e-mail the library and ask for the full article. We will locate a copy for you, if possible, and have it sent to you. This may take some time, so allow for mailing if necessary. There is no charge for this service. However, don't forget it may be faster to check with a local library to see if the article is available from there.