WHAT THE LIBRARY CAN DO FOR YOU Megan Lowe, Reference Librarian

Session Overview  A Few Rules  About the Library  Services  Help!  Resources  Find Books & More!  Find Articles  Q & A Time

A Few Rules  Food and drink are not allowed in the Library  Unattended children will be reported to campus police – please keep an eye on your kids!  Talking on cell phones is not permitted on the floors; if you need to talk, please step into the bathroom, the elevator lobby, or the downstairs lobby; make sure your phone is set to vibrate or silent THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

About the Library: Hours  The Library is open Sunday through Friday  Monday – Thursday: 7:30am – 12:00am (midnight)  Friday: 7:30am – 4:30pm  Saturday: 10am – 4pm  Sunday: Noon – 12:00am  These times apply to the regular Fall and Spring semesters; hours are different during Intercession and Summer semesters

About the Library: Hours  There are some non-Library departments housed in the Library as well, like Career Connections. Their hours are different from the Library’s, and you should contact those departments or check their websites to see their hours  Some of the Library’s individual departments aren’t open as long as the Library, such as Special Collections and Serials

About the Library: Hours  The Library will often have different hours during holidays, so make sure you check the Library’s website to see if the Library is open  The Computer Lab on the First Floor of the Library has essentially the same hours as the Library (but more on the Lab later)

About the Library: Computer Lab  The Lab on the First Floor is open to all faculty, staff, and students of ULM and the public  Only ULM students can print, though  But you can save to flash drives  Just a note: the Library is wireless, so you can bring your own laptop and use the ULM Guest wireless connection

About the Library: Computer Lab  It is STRONGLY recommended that you save your work to a USB external media, like a jump drive  We do not provide headphones  The computers have CD/DVD drives

About the Library: Layout  The Library occupies 5 of the 7 floors of the building  The 6 th floor houses campus administration – the President’s Office, the Provost, the Vice Presidents, etc.  The 7 th floor houses the University Conference Center  The elevators on the Library side stop on floor #5

About the Library: Layout  If you wish to visit the 6 th or 7 th floors, you must use the Administration/Conference Center entrance, which is located on the DeSiard side of the building  The elevators on that side only access floors 6 & 7  The Library is not responsible for scheduling the Conference Center – it is independent of the Library

About the Library: Layout  The Library contains many collections which are housed on different floors….  Reserves are housed on the 1 st floor, at the Circulation Desk  Serials are housed on the 2 nd floor  Media Services are housed on the 2 nd floor  Government Documents are housed on the 2 nd floor  Curriculum & Juvenile Collection is housed on the 4 th floor  Special Collections/Archives are housed on the 5 th floor  Oversized Collection is housed on the 5 th floor

About the Library: Layout  But the largest collection, the Main Collection, is the Stacks  The Stacks are housed on four floors of the Library, depending on the call number:  Call numbers beginning with A – F: 2 nd floor  G – P: 3 rd floor  Q: 4 th floor  R – Z: 5 th floor

About the Library: Layout So, a call number that looks like this… HV6529.H and is located in The Stacks will be found on what floor? THE THIRD FLOOR!

 We’ve already talked about the Computer Lab and printing…  You can also make photocopies in the Library; there are two black and white copiers available on the 1st floor  Printing is 10¢ a page  We don’t have fax machines or scanners, though Services

 Special Collections can provide you with access to past issues of the Chacahoula (the yearbook), The Hawkeye (the newspaper), and other student publications, as well as historical materials about LA  Special Collections also houses artifacts associated with the University and often houses traveling exhibits

Services  The Circulation Desk handles the checking in and out of materials, such as books and study rooms (more on that in a minute), and oversees Reserves  Unless you become a Friend of the Library, you will not be able to check out books; if you become a Friend, you’ll have borrowing privileges (you’ll be able to check out books)  Fines for regular items are 10¢/day; certain Reserves items, study room keys, and ILL items are $5

Services  Reserves are where professors can place special items with limited checkouts; some items can only be checked out for 2 hours; some can be checked out for 1, 3, or 7 days  Study rooms are only available for group study and require a student ID; rooms can hold between 2 and 10 people

Services  The Library provides subject guides – the librarians created them, and the guides provide you with an overview of what resources are available to you in a given discipline or subject  There is also a Style Guide than can help you navigate MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian formats  There’s even a FAQ that can help you!

Help!  There are different ways you can get help; we’ve already mentioned three  Subject Guides  Style Guide  FAQ  But there are other ways, too!

Help!  The Circulation Desk can help you with…  Checking materials in and out  Renewing materials  Getting help with the copiers  Paying overdue fines  Helping locating a book on the shelves

Help!  The Reference Desk can help you with…  Brainstorming  Research (every step of the way!)  Learning how to use the Library’s resources  Finding books  Finding articles  Creating citations for “Works Cited”  Proofing papers, presentations, speeches

Help!  There is a librarian “on duty”…  Monday – Thursday: 7:30am – 9pm  Friday: 7:30am – 4:30 pm  Saturday: 10am – 4pm  Sunday: noon – 9pm  You can also ask librarians for one-on-one help apart from the desk

Help!  You can contact the Reference Department in a variety of ways…  Coming to the Reference Desk on the 1 st floor of the Library in person (it’s the desk on your right as you enter the Library)  Calling: (318)   Ask-a-Librarian page

Research In order to do good research, you need to have a topic in mind before you start. It shouldn’t be too broad, or you’ll get frustrated easily. Here’s an example topic: Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.

Making It Work Okay, so you have a topic – now you have to make it manageable. Or, as my hero Tim Gunn would say: “Make it work!” You have to break the topic down into smaller concepts to make it easier to research. You wouldn’t eat a pizza whole, would you? No, you cut it into slices. So: thesis = pizza, slices = keywords. THESIS KEYWORD

Making It Work: Keywords  Marijuana  Legalized  Medicinal  Purposes  Cannabis  Legalization  Medicine  Medical  Medical marijuana  Law  Treatment  Seizures  Migraines/headaches  Cataracts  Pain relief  Chemotherapy  Case study (case studies)  Doctors Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes. Medical marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes. Medical marijuana should be legalized for the treatment of seizures, pain relief, and nausea as a result of chemotherapy.

Making It Work: Keywords  Keywords can be used in › The ULM Library Catalog › The ULM Library Databases › Even on the Internet!  You combine keywords together using certain words called operators. They are: › AND (this is the most common operator) › OR › NOT

Making It Work: Keywords So a keyword search for our topic could look like any of these search strings:  marijuana AND legalization AND medicine  marijuana AND medicinal AND legal  marijuana AND treatment AND law AND seizures Order and capitalization are not important, but spelling and number are, so be careful. You have to use the word AND, not + or &.

Resources: Find Books & More!  In order to find…  Books  What journals we have subscriptions for  Government documents  Electronic books  Electronic journals  Electronic government documents Use the ULM Library Catalog!

Resources: Find Books and More!

Resources: Find Articles  Articles come from journals, magazines, and newspapers  The Library has both print and electronic articles, though there are WAAAAY more electronic ones than print ones  The electronic articles are accessed through the databases, which are just collections of articles

Resources: Find Articles

Resources  You can search the Catalog from home  You can search most of the databases from home, but not all – but you’ll need to become a Friend of the Library in order to be able to do this  If you need help using the resources, all you have to do is ask a librarian for help!

Resources: the Internet  Remember: not everything on the Internet is appropriate for research  Remember: not all disciplines/professors will allow you to use the Internet  Remember: the Library is the best place for research But if you are using the Web…

Resources: Evaluate the Internet!  Authority  Accuracy  Coverage  Currency…  Of information  Of page  Objectivity

Interrogation: Q & A Time

Library Overview Resources  Presentation URL  The OWL at Purdue: Style Help (MLA & APA)  My Contact Info  

THANKS FOR COMING! If you need help, the Reference Desk!