A student browses titles in the new popular browsing area in the Hammes Information Commons. A similar move was done with popular DVD titles last year, which resulted in a 243 percent increase in circulation.

Browse Popular Titles Easily
Library moved selected popular titles to Hammes Information Commons after major donation of graphic novels

By Julie Elliott

The Schurz Library recently received a generous donation of graphic novels (comic books), and it was decided to place these titles, along with popular fiction and non-fiction titles in our collection, to a browsing area within the Hammes Information Commons. Previously these titles, many donated to the library, were kept in the stacks (floors 3-5), mixed in with the more academic titles. Circulation of the titles since the move is being tracked and numbers will be reported next year.

The idea for the browsing area was inspired in part by a decision last year to move our popular film titles to an open browsing area on the first floor (they were previously kept behind the circulation desk). By making these titles more easily seen in a high traffic area, circulation of these titles increased by 243 percent.

 

The Library does not have a budget to purchase popular titles and works on health and wellness, or cookbooks, and we rely on donations to fill these needs.  The Franklin D. Schurz Library will gladly accept your gently used books, graphic novels, as well as unwanted DVDs.   

 

Your donations help build the Library's collection and raise funds for new materials through a partnership with Better World Books.  The Schurz Library also accepts and greatly appreciates donations of current textbooks (2010-present).   Please contact Susan Thomas, Director of Collection Services, for more information at  suethoma@iusb.edu or 574-520-5500.  Donations to the Library are tax-deductible.   

 

 

Director of Collection Services, Susan Thomas (left), and Shanna Frische-Mouri (right), working on research for the Masters of Public Affairs program. Frische-Mouri often comes to Susan for research guidance. Both are students in the MPA program and will graduate in spring 2015.

Director of Collection Services provides research assistance for students in MPA, Nursing, and other subjects

By Julie Elliott

Shanna Frische-Mouri, a graduate student in the Masters of Public Affairs program, has found an ally with her research in Susan Thomas, Director of Collection Services. 
 

"Susan [has] helped me tremendously," Frische-Mouri said. "I would recommend working with Susan to any student at any level. It is so crucial to have someone who knows what they are doing to help you. She has great ideas and knows how to do the research that is required."

 

Susan, who is also working toward her MPA in addition to her full-time faculty position at the Library, finds research consultations, such as the ones she does with MPA students such as Frische-Mouri, to be one of the most rewarding parts of her job.

 

"One of the favorite parts of my job is working directly with students and seeing them succeed. I enjoy working one-on-one with the students to help them find the articles they need for their research papers.   There is no greater reward than when they find the perfect resource or when they tell me they earned an A on their research paper!"

 

Frische-Mouri found that the time she spent in her consultations with Thomas not only saved her time, but provided results.

 

"Susan helped me complete my papers with the best resources available," she said. "I received A's on both of my assignments that Susan helped me with. It was a relief to leave the meeting with Susan knowing that I had accomplished a lot in a small amount of time."

 

Frische-Mouri, who will graduate in the spring with a concentration in non-profit management and policy, looks forward to working with Susan again as she finishes her final courses.

 

"Susan is great at what she does. She truly cares about helping students and making a difference. She helped me get through some tough assignments and I know that I will probably be meeting with her again before I graduate."

 

 

 

 


Librarians Are Available to Help Your Students
Instruction available in a variety of formats
 

By Nancy Colborn

 

The development of research skills is becoming increasingly important for today's students. Librarians offer instruction in the use and evaluation of library materials, databases, and information sources. Sessions can be tailor-made to meet the needs of your class in completing library research assignments. Library instruction may take the form of:

  • Brief overview or orientation sessions
  • Audio tours (available on MP3 players at the Hammes Information Commons service desk)
  • Tutorials 
  • Course webpages
  • Course-specific instruction sessions in person or for online or distance courses
  • Embedded Librarians
To schedule an instruction session, please complete the Library Instruction request form at https://www.iusb.edu/library/forms/libinstructionform.php, selecting your subject librarian's name from the listing.

 

 

 

Head of Library IT Services provides suggestions for best (and most affordable) out there.
 

By Kirby Cheng

 

A screen recorder is a handy tool that allows you to capture a still image or make a screencast of a series of displays.

 

Screencasts are especially effective for showing how to configure a device or to fix a technical problem. Nowadays there are plenty of special applications that can help with recording screens, saving the video, and distributing the visual file. They range from expensive and feature-packed products such as Camtasia for making professional tutorials to free, lightweight ones like CamStudio to create an occasional video.  

 

Among the most popular of the free screencast software is Jing. It not only allows you to make a five-minute video but also provides marking-up features such as adding text, color arrows and highlighting. Once the video is done, it can be saved locally on a computer or uploaded to a shared cloud site. This kind of application runs on both PC or Mac computers.  

 

Similar apps on smartphones or tablets tend to have fewer editing features. Most of the apps focus on capturing screens, taking a single image shot or creating a multiple-screen video clip. With Screenshot Free, a user can shake his or her Android cellphone to capture a desired screen and use its "Pencil" to add simple texts or "Crop" to harvest a section of the image. If willing to spend a few dollars, you can acquire the more advanced version of Screenshot ER or Screenshot UX.

 

Unfortunately, at present, an iOS device user does not have as many choices. Because of Apple's vigorous review process, few screen recorders have reached the virtual shelves of the iTunes Apple Store. Among them, xCamera, sold at $2.99, has the best user reviews.

 

 


Giving to the Library
Donations help with collections, student scholarships, digitization, and more   

Please consider a gift to the Franklin D. Schurz Library. 


The faculty and staff of the Franklin D. Schurz Library take great pride in the resources and services we offer to meet our mission. We can only maintain this high quality through the additional support from individuals and organizations like you. Please visit https://www.iusb.edu/library/about/donation.php to learn more about how to donate to the library. 

  

Interested in collections? Select the Franklin D. Schurz Library Fund (32RR04205), Schurz Library Endowment (37RR04279), and/or Wiekamp Educational Resource Commons Fund (32RR04CT1).  

 

Interested in scholarships? Select the Endowed Russo Library Worker Scholarship (37RR04782) and/or the Franklin D. Schurz Library Fund, which supports the Library Prize for Undergraduate

Research

 

Interested in digitization? Select the Franklin D. Schurz Library Fund.

 

Tax Advantages: Gifts to Indiana University are deductible as charitable contributions within the limits of the Internal Revenue Code. Indiana taxpayers are eligible for a 50% tax credit for gifts up to $400 on joint returns, or $200 on individual returns.

For questions, contact: Vicki Bloom, Dean of Library Services at (574) 520-4448 or Dina Harris, Director of Development at (574) 520-4131.

 

Franklin D. Schurz Library
Vicki Bloom, Dean of Library Services
vdbloom@iusb.edu
Julie Elliott, Library Newsletter Editor
jmfelli@iusb.edu
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