Author Archives: Stephanie Davis-Kahl

Gateway Essay Award Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of the 2012-13 Best Gateway Essay contest!

Hands Writing in Class by bgblogging (CC BY-NC-SA)

First: Christine Peterson, “Lost in Translation,” Instructor: Tina Isabelli
Runner-up: Lydia Rudd, “Down a Dusty Haitian Road,” Instructor: Kathy Zurkowski
Runner-up: Valerie Mack, “Reputation and Social Perfection: The Social Creation of Mr. Hyde.” Instructor: Adam Woodis

These students will have their achievements cited in the upcoming Honors Convocation program. They have also agreed to have their essays submitted to IWU’s Digital Commons, where they will be available to the IWU community.  Submissions, which were first nominated by Gateway faculty, were vetted by Writing Center tutors. The Writing Committee made the final decisions from a list of finalists.

Image credit: Hands Writing in Class by bgblogging (CC BY-NC-SA)

 

 

Open Access Week Events

open access logoThe library is sponsoring three events to celebrate Open Access Week:

Open Access Exhibit – Definitions & Debates
All week, Circulation Desk
Thanks to Sciences Library Crystal Boyce for creating this exhibit!

Open Access, Social Justice and Information Literacy
Monday, October 21, 12:10 pm – 1 pm
Davidson Room

Please join Stephanie Davis-Kahl and Chris Sweet from the Ames Library for a presentation about the connections between open access, information literacy and social justice, and how these play out in the classroom, on campus, statewide and nationally.

 

Open Forum with Nick Shockey, Director of the Right to Research Coalition
Thursday, October 24, 4 pm
State Farm Hall Case Study Room

Nick Shockey is the Director of the Right to Research Coalition, an international network of undergraduate and graduate students working towards open access to research. Nick is a graduate of Trinity University in Texas, where he helped pass an open access policy for faculty. He is an experienced speaker on issues related to Open Access, including author rights and taxpayer access, and has been active in working with his SPARC colleagues in Washington, D.C. to advocate with House and Senate representatives for legislation and policy at the national level. Please join us for discussion and debate!

To learn more about Open Access, please watch this video from Ph.D. Comics, or read about it here or here.  We’ll be adding more information about how IWU promotes Open Access in the coming days!

Finding Government Information During the Shutdown

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The government shutdown has cut off access to many key resources provided by federal agencies.  Mashable has a summary and links to where    some government data can be found, and EBSCO has provided access to the ERIC database for free.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is available in print from 1966-2008 (2nd floor, call number HA202.A2), and electronically via  ProQuest from 2009 – present.  ICPSR is also a great place for data and statistics from government agencies.

 

If you have any questions about finding government information, please contact the Help@Ames Desk!

(image by Nick Papakyriazis, CC BY-NC-SA)

 

Welcome & Welcome Back!

It’s been another busy summer here at The Ames Library, and we’re thrilled to welcome new and transfer students to campus!  We also want to extend a warm welcome back to returning students, many of whom have been doing amazing work on campus or completing internships, and to our faculty, who have also been busy with research and course preparation.  Wherever you’ve been this summer, we’re happy to see you back at IWU.

You may notice some changes in the building this fall – thanks to our great Physical Plant staff and our dedicated custodians, Justin and Nora, we’ve added some extra areas for studying, reading and working together.  Here are the highlights:

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On the first floor, we’ve consolidated print journals and added more tables for collaboration.  We’ve also reconfigured two former offices into new project rooms, which means we now have six project rooms for students to reserve through Help@Ames.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On the second floor, we’ve removed 10 rows of shelving and added study tables and a whiteboard on one side of the space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On the other side, outside of Room 214, we’ve added some extra comfy seating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope you enjoy the building as much as we do.  Keep coming back to our blog throughout the year for more news about resources, events and more.

New Wireless in Ames!

 

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ITS has completed the installation of new wireless service in The Ames Library! To reconfigure your devices to connect to the new wireless setup, please follow these steps:

1.) Open up your network connections and select the “IllinoisWesleyan” SSID.

2.) Enter your NetID and password

3.) If your are asked to okay the validity of a Certificate click OK, Accept or Continue

4.) If you do not get connected, you may need to sync your password. You do not need change your password (unless you need to make your password stronger).

If you have problems connecting, please contact Help@Ames at (309)556-3900.

For more information and updates on the new wireless service on campus, see the ITS Website or the ITS blog.

“wireless” (CC0), designed by Lea Verou, from The Noun Project.

John Wesley Powell Collection of Pueblo Pottery Featured Image

An image of an Olla jar from the John Wesley Powell Collection of Pueblo Pottery has been selected as the featured image of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries of Illinois (CARLI) news page.  Mary Rose, member of the Digital Collections User Group committee of CARLI, noted that “The high-quality images and informative descriptions combine to render this collection of unique content wonderfully accessible and eminently useful.”  The digital collection was created by Meg Miner, University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, and is considered a flagship digital collection at IWU.

To view the pottery featured in the digital collection, please visit The Ames Library, open Monday-Friday, 8 am – 4 pm during the summer.

Ames Catalog & I-Share Scheduled Maintenance

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The Ames Library Catalog and I-Share will be down for scheduled maintenance from Friday, June 21 – Sunday, June 23.

Summer Hours

 

The Ames Library will be open Monday – Friday, 8 am – 4 pm during the summer months.

If you need research or technology assistance over the summer, please call Help@Ames at x3900.

Wishing everyone a relaxing and productive summer!

Photo: “Hello, Summer” (by Cooky Koon, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Hours for Memorial Day Weekend

Hours for the library over the Memorial Day Weekend are as follows:

 Friday, May 24: 7:45 a.m. – 4 p.m.
 Saturday, May 25: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
 Sunday, May 26: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
 Monday, May 27: 1 p.m. – 11 p.m.

Regular library hours resume on Tuesday, May 28.  The library closes at 4 pm on Friday, May 31, the last day of May Term.

Database Updates

Several of our databases will be unavailable due to routine vendor updates and maintenance.  If you encounter any issues post-updates, please don’t hesitate to contact the Help@Ames Desk at x3900.

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Offline April 17, 5 am – 6 am

Chicago Tribune (both Current and Historical)
Environmental Sciences Collection
National Newspapers Premier
New York Times (Historical)
PAIS International

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April 16, 2013

According to the ArtSTOR website, an upgrade to the ArtSTOR database will eliminate the need for Java in the ARTstor Digital Library and single image downloads will be delivered in Zip files due to the recent recommendation from the Department of Homeland Security that Java poses a potential security risk.

Many versions of Windows come equipped with a built in zip program, but if you need to install a program on your PC, ARTstor recommends 7-Zip, available free at 7-zip.org. Mac users will not need to install software to handle zip files as it is already built into OS X. If you experience any difficulties, please clear the cache on your browser and restart your Web browser. If you continue to experience difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact User Services at userservices@artstor.org.  For more information, please see the ARTstor blog.