Library is More Digital, The  

Instructor's Tools

Click here to see new furniture we have in the Library, including the new quiet reading area!

At this workshop, we will discuss many new features that are available in the library, especially many new digital features.  Highlights include:

Ebooks  By either subscription, shared collection, or direct purchase, the Library now has over 28,000 E-books in our collection, purchased or subscribed for the first time within the last two years!

Literary Criticism  Using part of a state-wide grant, the Library purchased a number of additional titles on literary criticisms of many authors including the entire Short Story Criticism Reference Series and the entire Twayne series on literary criticism.

New Databases and Interfaces   The Library's suite of databases includes three new databases; PsycArticles, Ebrary and LitFinder.  Meanwhile, while usually with warning and not as crude as sudden interface changes on Facebook, the library subscription databases do sometimes get new looks.  Latest changes include ProQuest (of the Diversity Databases), EBSCO E-Book Collection (formerly NetLibrary) and soon Gale Virtual Reference Library will have interface-"lifts" that we hope will make searching easier for our students.

Libguides  Instead of paper handouts provided at library orientations, the Library provides interactive instructional guides which better engage students toward the materials they are seeking for their research papers.  Another Example  Yet Another Example

Chat Reference  The librarian at the reference desk now does more than help students face to face or by phone.  Chat reference is also available to students during the hours the Library is open.

NoodleBib  Students now have a research paper aide available to them online which they can then cite more accurately by having an online tutorial assist them as they develop citations (unlike a normal citation generator which does not allow students to distinguish clearly between sources)

Online Tutorials  Since 2007, Norman Buchwald has utilized Basic Skills grant monies and focused his sabbatical in creating Searchpath, the authoritative online tutorial on information literacy instruction for online courses, and ten additional brief interactive tutorials on logging on and using databases effectively.

The Library's own Google  Search Public WWW Sites Selected by Librarians to find quality web sites, pages taken from sites deemed of good quality by librarians at Chabot College.