Reminders to Get Your Students on the Right Path

• For Your Students

• Inform/remind students that online research takes time! In fact, online research provides so many choices that it may actually take longer to conduct the research. Time also needs to be factored in for:

• finding the books,
• finding a photocopier,
• finding change, etc.
• Believe it or not, we still have students coming in the night before their paper/project is due! If you're not already doing so, consider establishing deadlines for turning in bibliographies, for turning rough drafts, etc. Utilize the Library Research Planner approach to better demonstrate that there is a process.

• Many books get checked out this time of year on the same topics. Be sure students are checking out their books as early as possible. In some cases, it is helpful to use the Vigo County Public Library as a back-up (link is also kept on Library home page under Other Libraries).

• Come prepared! If you are coming to the Library to do your research, you will not be able to access your campus network account, so bring a floppy disc to download LUIS records, full-text articles, etc. There are even times when you may need paper and pens, so bring them, too! Bring change for the photocopiers, or, better yet, be sure you have credit added to your Sycamore ID cards and save time and money!

• Print is not dead! Besides books, there are times when students will be using other library resources, including indexes, non-print materials, microfilmed newspaper or journal articles, etc.

• The Internet is not the same as "Internet-based resources"; e.g., a database like ProQuest is not 'the Internet'. Some students have been told not to use the Internet for their research, and, therefore, think that they can't use the materials listed under Databases --> Subject or Databases -->  Alphabetical. Articles in the full-text databases are identical to the print copies, and are paid for by Library subscriptions.

• An Internet Search Engine such as Altavista or Hotbot will not link you to full-text articles found in our full-text databases.

• Online access: the Library has an estimated 285 databases/parts of databases available. Full-text access is estimated at 11,000 periodical titles (scattered throughout the database listings)! Use the E-Journal link to find out what is available. (The Library still subscribes to approximately 4,000 print periodicals.)

• Access to journal article citations in most subject areas are now available electronically, but depth of coverage differs a lot! (For example, lots of social sciences, business, humanities, but currently,  not so much in the pure sciences).

• Besides finding articles in full-text databases, students will still need to check for local periodical holdings. Citation databases, as did printed indexes, always index more titles than are held locally. Some students think, if it's in the index, it's in the Library. Emphasize that the student should search for the magazine/journal title, not the article title, when conducting a Journal Title search in LUIS Online Catalog.

• Be sure students know where our Online Help Guides are: helpdx.html

• Be sure students know that they can/should ask for advice, either in person at any Help Desk (Info Desk -- 237-2580, Current Periodicals, Government Documents, Teaching Materials), or via our Get Help links.

• Students can take advantage of the Interlibrary Loan electronic form link on the home page, but they have to allow at least 7-14 working days for their requests to be processed, and there is not 100% guarantee that we will be able to obtain the materials. If the research process begins earlier in the semester, then students will have an opportunity to take advantage of this service.

• Government Documents are organized in a different classification system from the rest of the Library. Staff at the Government Documents Desk will help students find Gov Docs materials, in print or on microfiche, or will direct students to a federal web site as appropriate.

It may be too late this semester, but, if your students are continually confused/unprepared for a library research experience, or the quality of their papers doesn't reflect the anticipated level of scholarship, consider discussing various avenues of support by the Office of Library Instruction, including

• pre-assessment of student's library/internet skills,

• assessing/updating your assignment parameters -- doing a quality check. A recent example: Gov Docs got a question about a specific geology book with photos of sand dunes. The book was not in the Online Catalog, and the manual "post-index" (check-in) card listed it as missing since 1994. If you want students to use Reference books, list the books they should consult. If you list specific items, give complete bibliographic information. If you want all students to examine a source, put it on Course Reserve (for general collection); Info Desk Reserve for Reference books, etc. Consider Electronic Course Reserve!

• scheduling classroom/lab instruction

• identifying Internet-based guides & links

• librarian assistance in your Blackboard, etc. web-based instruction