Be inspired, be creative. Celebrate National Poetry Month!

Just in time for National Poetry Month – find open access poetry journals all in one place in a new, custom e-collection at the University Libraries!

Fountain Pen, by Antonio Litterio is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 US / lightened from original

From Abalone Moon to Valparaiso Poetry Review, you can now enjoy over sixty (60) open access poetry journals anyplace, anytime.  Open access (OA) means that no paid subscription is required and typically no login restriction is imposed.  While there may be no subscription cost, please be assured that these journals are part of EBSCO’s database of thousands of OA journals not only because of their commitment to the OA sharing model of publication but also because they operate under the same rigors of research and scholarship as other academic journals.

While these journals were previously available in our EBSCOhost database of OA journals, they were not easy to locate by subject until our cataloging department worked with our e-journal management vendor (EBSCO) to make this easy, custom collection of poetry titles possible.  Alternatively, you can also find OA poetry journals by doing this search in our catalog.

Take some time out from studying today to enjoy browsing these journals!  You may even find an opportunity to submit a work of your own.

For more on poetry, please visit our English Literature LibGuide.

 

ILLiad requests may be delayed

Due to flooded work areas in our Interlibrary Loans department, your ILLiad interlibrary loan requests may require more time for processing.  We apologize in advance for any delay you may experience in receiving your materials as we clean up from our recent incident.  Thank you!

Come Join us for National Library Week!

The UT Libraries will be celebrating National Library Week, April 13-19!

The theme of this year’s National Library Week is “Lives Change @ Your Library.” We will be featuring new READ posters of well-known UT alumni whose lives have been impacted by books, reading and libraries.

Fun events are also planned for both Carlson and Mulford libraries including used book sales; a lecture on bibliotherapy; creative readings by UT students; and game night:

http://lgimages.s3.amazonaws.com/data/imagemanager/15410/nlw_for_libguide.gif

Visit http://libguides.utoledo.edu/nlw to learn more!

OA survey results in, analysis soon to follow

Last month the University Libraries conducted an institution-wide OA survey.  We are very pleased with the number of responses received.  At this time we would like to share our preliminary results set with you.  We will offer analysis of some of our findings shortly.

We’d also like to announce the winners of our drawing for several Starbucks gift card/insulated cup packages:  Erin Crawford, Dr. David Nemeth, and Dr. Stephanie Hughes.

And we thank everyone again for their participation!

University Libraries conducting a new survey on “open access”

open access logoAlthough the annual Open Access Week is several months behind us, the University Libraries is interested in keeping the conversation on open access going.

Just over two years ago the University Libraries conducted a survey to gauge UT’s institutional perception of and experience with the open access (OA) publishing environment.  If you are a faculty member or researcher, GA or TA, we would like to invite you to participate in our NEW follow-up survey.

The IRB-approved survey (which takes about 10 minutes to complete) asks first some basic questions about your understanding, views and experiences with open access research and publishing.  The second part of the survey asks your opinions on the best use of an institutional repository.  The “institutional repository” (or IR) has become the preferred scholarly publishing and digital curation tool for researchers at universities worldwide.   It serves both as a storehouse and a showcase of the intellectual and creative output of an institution:  from faculty research articles and data sets, to student theses, dissertations and projects, to media and grey literature, conference presentation files, and more.  The IR can even serve as a publishing platform.  The University Libraries will soon be launching a brand new IR and so we would like to have as much feedback as possible on the best way to maximize its value and impact.  If you would like, you can read more about repositories here.

So if you are a faculty member, GA or TA, please consider taking the survey!  Upon completion of the survey you may opt in for a random prize drawing.  Thanks.

UPDATE [3/2/14]:  Survey is now closed.  Thanks to all who participated!

Guest artist Blocksma to lecture on found and repurposed materials

Please join us Wednesday, January 15 at noon when the Canaday Center in Carlson Library will host an interesting art lecture with the UT Art Department’s visiting artist Dewey Blocksma, a former emergency room physician and local outsider artist who has become renowned for his creative and imaginative work with found objects and repurposed materials.  Learn more about the artist.

The lecture is co-sponsored by Friends of the Library.

Dewey Blocksma Event Poster

 

New Look for LexisNexis Academic

The LexisNexis Academic research database has a new look for the new year.  LexisNexis is one of our best databases for finding current news from a variety of sources, information about legal cases and decisions, and basic business directory information.  They’ve simplified their interface with a single search box to search all of their content.  Use the ‘Search by Content Type’ to search in the major areas (News, Legal, Companies) and use the ‘Advanced Options’ below the search box to see further refinements based on the section that you are searching in.  Additional help is available from the pop-out menu on the left side of the screen.

LexisNexis Home ScreenAs always, results in LexisNexis Academic are full text of articles or transcripts, and can be exported to your e-mail.  For additional assistance in searching LexisNexis Academic or any of our research databases, contact our reference librarians.

Reference Assistance over Break

Carlson Library will provide reference and research assistance on a limited basis during the following hours over the holiday break:

December 16 – 20 (Monday through Friday):  10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Please contact us using the phone number, email address or chat box found at the lower left of our main page and a librarian will assist you.  For more information you may also want to check our reference libguide.

Reference hours will return to a full schedule beginning the first week of classes, Spring Semester.

Library System Maintenance – Advance Notice

The University Libraries’ online catalog and remote database access will be unavailable on Monday, December 16th from approximately 11 AM to 5 PM.*           We will be performing critical server maintenance and apologize in advance for any inconvenience.

During this system downtime, you will not be able to request OhioLINK books or access research databases.  If you need help with research or need to check out a book, please see a library staff member for assistance.

*Please check periodically throughout the day to see if systems are back up and running earlier than expected!

NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

Earlier this week some NaNoWriMo participants gathered in Carlson Library’s Dorothy MacKenzie Price Model Classroom to celebrate their month-long achievement:  completing — or attempting to complete — a first draft of a novel.  Although not everyone who set out to “write a novel in 30 days” was successful, many were able to enjoy the satisfaction of having challenged themselves to a month of uncommon and unfettered writing creativity.

Of the approximately 25 participants who initially signed up with the Carlson Library NaNoWriMo group, just a handful reported that they had crossed the finish line – completing the necessary 50,000 words to be considered a “winner” in NaNoWriMo lingo.  Most others completed enough of a story to at least get a taste of the challenge and to obtain a small sense of achievement.  This is no small feat considering how busy the semester gets this time of year.

This year was the library’s first experience with hosting the national event (co-hosted with the UT Writer’s Guild and English Department).  Carlson Library hopes to host future NaNoWriMos.  Do you have a novel in you?