ONLINE HELP
1. That said, I think that the the Library system could do a beter
job in two areas. First in providing new students some sort of
orientation on all the options available at the Libraries. From
Interlibrary loans, to rare book collections, to reserves, to
periodical resources,and more, the library system has more options
and information resources than any student could even guess at. I
for one stil; am unsure as to what each individual library
specializes in; discovering how to utilize interlibrary loan
options was a bit of a snipe hunt for me. Additonally, there
doesn't seem to be an easy way to find journal articles. I have
searched for articles from the basic/initial search, not found what
I was looking for and then after poking around in specific
catalogs/databases, actually discovered they were available online.
I'm obviously doing something wrong, but a how-to guide on finding
journal articles would be great, and if you already have one,
perhaps a very obvious link would be useful.
2. At times, I wish there were more sources so that I could answer
certain questions on my own.
3. More online information and better ways to navigate the library
resources, and to be taught to do so independently. There are
several book collections and resources that I know are probably
available in the library, but I have no idea of how to access them.
The librarians usually have a rough idea, but are not experts on
all field, thus, for example, cannot usually help me with very
precise questions on historical material.
4. I would say that my one area I think could really, really help
users new and old would be to provide a printed guide to electronic
resources. Or an online guide. Because there are so many databases
and there is no one centralized way to know descriptions of them
all, how to use them, and how to distinguish between them,
especially remotely.
5. I still find it confusing to figure out which electronic
databases to search for published scholarly articles or other
sources on various topics. Any online guides would be most
appreciated.
6. I would appreciate updated subject guides that include links to
relevant e-journals for users.
7. Would like to learn how to use our library web or portal for
access from office and home.
8. Need instruction in how to get copies of periodical materials
available only on line.
CURRICULUM SUPPORT/COURSE-INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION
9. the database research introduction that students in some classes
receive by request of their teacher is somewhat useful, but it
could be better. also, for students who do not receive it, there
ought to be some tutorial to which they can refer for
guidance.
10. Beth Bidlack does an awesome job of informing the divinity
school of new resources, programs, and training sessions. Thanks
Beth!
11. Andrea Twiss-Brooks (sp?) provides excellent library resource
support for my work in the chemistry program. Her training sessions
for new chemistry search programs has been extremely helpful to
me.
12. I think there is a great need for the Law Library to offer
research training sessions beyond the first year of law school.
Those sessions in the first year were helpful, but when legal
research tools aren't used on a daily basis, it would be extremely
helpful to have referesher courses available. Also, I'd like a
little more explanation about the Ask a Law Librarian events that
are scheduled in the law school Briefs during various lunch
periods. I've never taken advantage of one of these, but it's
because I have no idea what they are for or why they are
happening.
WORKSHOPS
13. i woiuld welcome workshops that fopcused on teaching people how
to use information resources better - e.g. citation indices, major
databases, etc.
14. I like the computer courses I took at Crerar and now
periodically those I take at Regenstein.; They are most
useful.
15. The training sessions and information sessions have been very
helpful for my research.
16. I wish there were more seminars on useful software, like
FileMakerPro. The support I have gotten for Endnote was really
good.
17. And it would be extremely useful if searches from the library
catalogue could be directly downloaded into Endnote - WorldCat has
a function like that and it is very useful.
18. the class I took on how to use Refworks was a joke. I had to
spend consdierable time after the class teaching myself how to use
the program. Either alot more time to teach the class more
thoroughly or find better instructors because I got nothing form
the class, as did several of my cohorts.
19. Although the librarians themselves are friendly and helpful,
the training sessions I have attended with them have been
completely out of touch with student needs.
20. Also, consider offering seminars in soft- and hard-cover
maintenance and repair. The student and faculty population would
respond very well.
21. Crerar librarians have been extremely helpful in teaching me
how to use citation programs and navigating medical literature,
often going well out of their way- what a wonderful
experience.
22. And a recent workshop on EndNote was also extremely well
presented and very usefull
ORIENTATION/OUTREACH
23. Many students, especially undergraduates, remain unaware of
many great services that would make their research easier and
enrich their intellectul lives. I'm not sure how this could be
remedied other than making library orientation mandatory during
general orientation period.
24. I do think that some sort of library orientation needs to be
offered (or better publicized if it is offered) with maybe even
tours of the buildings made available. Because, as much as I have
learned about the libraries in my first six months here, I bet
there is 10 times as much I still don't know about. And that's a
dman shame.
25. I recommend making the library information sessions more
in-depth and mandatory for Cerar and the Reg during O-Week, because
these two libraries are incredibly intimitdating, and so many
students coming out of high school are entirely dependent on
Wikipedia and then what their professors post on Chalk. Also, I
believe you should have an introduction to Academic Journals,
because I have found them critical in my studies and research here,
but I feel that they are quite esoteric beyond academia. The
average person reads Popular Science, not Nature. Professors assign
them without blinking an eye, yet it can be a little shocking to
open your first syllabus and find four journal articles as your
first reading--especially when you are used to high school
textbooks. I think I am the only one of my friends who can, or
will, confidently and independently navigate J-STOR and the other
electronic journals, because I am lucky enough to come from a
school that provided access to these materials and high school
teachers who used journal articles in their lesson plans.
26. orientation library tours in the beginning of the year?
27. I believe the library should be part of the employee
orientation because there are a lot of resources that are
accessible that people do not know about.
28. if there is any area of improvement it would be to make sure
that all incoming graduate students (or those in the PhD programs)
have many options to learn about what the library has to offer.
This might mean coordinating with departments to set up times where
the incoming PhD cohort is given a tour of the library as part of
the general orientation. This would be helpful to educate new
students to the full dimensions and resources in the library.
29. If the library really wants to spend money on these two issues,
it can just 1)make a class for students to learn about how to
evaluate sources, and 2) buy lots of recent material.
30. There need to be more effort to help students understand the
resoureces availble as well as how to use them.
31. I think the library could do much more to teach faculty and
students how to use the internet- courses offered to faculty would
be very useful
32. Also, I have a hard time finding new resources available on the
library webpage or in the library itself that would help me search
more effectively. I always have a feeling I'm missing something,
and I would love it if there were more tips readily available about
how to use the different applications. Particularly since my
undergraduate library was limited in terms of resources and
software applications, it would be nice if someone took the time to
point out all the nifty things one can do at such a huge library as
we have here.
33. I think that the library may contain many rare and historical
resources that might be useful but of which I'm unaware.
34. The library system could use some marketing around the various
libraries on campus and their areas of specificity.
35. …the library provides no services that I can use to do
my job better. If there are services that I could use available,
there has been outreach that was effective in communicating those
services to me.
LIBRARY SKILLS
36. I find it hard to do productive on line searches for
information on my own.
37. the library's search engine is terrible! Sometimes even if I
type the exact name of a book, it won't show up even if the library
has it.
38. I would have liked more instruction on how to find sources and
information but I loved the session for BA research, it was very
helpful.
39. Too many professors don't know how to use Chalk and the on-line
Library article sites. Makes some classes rather confusing and
frustrating for students and profs both! Many students don't know
how to use Chalk either.
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