Library News – Summer into Fall 2020
As with last semester, policies may fluctuate or develop. The College Librarian, Lis Chabot, sent a letter to Deans recently with an update as of early August. This post incorporates portions of that letter.
The IC Library will reopen the physical facility on a reduced schedule in early September. Per College policy, access will be limited to IC students, faculty, and staff. We will follow guidelines which recommend a 96-hour quarantine period for circulated materials and thus are encouraging the use of online resources and service.
To keep abreast of changes, check the top of the Library’s Homepage. We are currently featuring Curbside Pickup; after finding a book or DVD using the Library Search, sign in with Netpass and Request the item for pickup. This service will continue through September. We also are continuing our Digitization service for book chapters, print articles, DVDs, and other physical items. There is a link to Library News for the latest updates. I’ll do my best to keep you posted but don’t want to fill up you inbox.
Interlibrary Loan never ceased for online articles and book chapters. As many library buildings have been closed, books have been problematic.
Library Instruction
I’m ready and able to schedule classes with you as usual. Let me know if you prefer a synchronous online session or asynchronous video recording. Email me all the details: date, time, number of students, and length of lesson. I can work with you to design a lesson. Or, try using this Request an Instruction Session form (you can write me in the comment section).
Note: I am using my work computer for recording videos so the quality should improve over what I generated last Spring. I’ve used SnagIt & Kaltura Capture for screencasting but will experiment with QuickTime & iMovies (if you have a best practice you’d like to share, let me know!).
Our Research 101 series is a great place to introduce students to basic library skills. There are guides to: Starting your Research; Finding Sources; Primary & Secondary Sources; Scholarly Publications; Evaluating Sources; Citing your Sources; & Plagiarism. Some of the guides contain tutorials that can be assigned to students; you would be alerted when the student completes the tutorial.
Faculty Information
See our Services for Faculty page (which can be found in the footer of the library website) for an overview. Welcome to our new faculty! I’ll try to reach out to you personally sometime this month.
Reserves
One of the more recent announcements is that we will not have physical Reserves this semester.
The Library is utilizing an interactive reading list tool (Leganto) to receive faculty course material requests and post them in Sakai. Leganto provides the flexibility to break readings into weeks and sections and to add different types of resources to course lists. Please use Leganto for all of your Reserve requests; the link to our Leganto guide outlines how to use it and where to seek help. I created a video on adding multimedia items. For questions on Print Reserves contact: reserve@ithaca.edu ; for questions on Multimedia Reserves contact multimedia@ithaca.edu
Collection Development
Last Spring, in response to the pivot to remote instruction during the COVID 19 pandemic, many vendors temporarily lifted restrictions and provided emergency access to licensed electronic content. This expanded access has been phased out.
The Library’s budget for 20/21 allows us to maintain database and online journal subscriptions from the 19/20 fiscal year, but not to expand access. Our 20/21 budget does not include funding for book or media purchases, or new serial subscriptions.
Now is an opportune time to consider using openly licensed materials – see our Open Education Resources Guide and this great OER etext that is organized by academic discipline
Let me know if I can help you identify course materials.
Research Assistance
Librarians have been monitoring a our general chat and email accounts between 10 and 4 pm this summer. We’ll provide expanded service in the fall but have not solidified the hours or shifts. Feel free to contact me with any questions and refer researchers to me for help: cmichael@ithaca.edu
#ICstrong. — Stay healthy!
updated 1 pm 8/7/20