Fall 2013 Instruction Workshop Series Now Available

The Carmichael Library would like to announce the Fall 2013 Instruction Workshop Series. We've hosted sessions like these in past semesters, and now we introduce an expanded lineup on topics like blogging, using Twitter for information management, crafting online presentations, and more.

Fall 2013 Instruction Workshop Series at Carmichael Library from Carmichael Library DML

Instruction workshops are hands-on experiences where you learn how to create projects or manage information with online tools. You can come and ask questions, work on your own class assignments, or just observe. And because the sessions are informal, there's no need to make reservations. Arrive late or leave early. We don't mind! 

Earn Badges

Some professors may offer extra credit if you attend an instruction workshop session, but more often than not, you may want to come and learn simply because you're interested. However, you may also want to earn badges. If you attend a workshop, you are entitled to earn a badge (see the lineup on the above slideshow), and you may also opt in to our semester long badges competition. Those who accumulate the most badges will receive prizes, which may include print cards to be used in the library. We'll keep track on a leaderboard, which is displayed on the Instruction Workshop Series homepage.



This first session is Informed Blogging this Wednesday, September 11 at 4:00 PM in the EBSCO classroom on the ground floor of the library. If you're in a class that requires blogging, or if you're generally interested in using blogs to organize information or share content with a public audience, you are welcome to come to this workshop. We hope to see you this fall at Carmichael.

Fall 2013 Instruction Workshop Series

Wednesday, September 11, 4:00-5:00 PM Are you taking a class that requires you to write on a blog? Are you interested in writing for an online audience? This workshop will help you understand the Wordpress blogging platform. Andrew Battista will explain the conventions and technical skills needed to blog effectively.

Citation Management with Zotero - Monday, September 16, 5:00 PM-6:00 PM  Zotero is the only research tool that automatically senses content, allowing you to add it to your personal library with a single click. Learn how to use Zotero to organize research, generate citations, and collaborate with other people.

Apps for Research - Tuesday, September 24, 5:00-6:00 PM How can you make the most of your iPhone or iPad to succeed academically? Lauren Wallis workshops some apps and shares ideas on how to increase productivity.

Curating with ARTstor - September 25, 3:30 PM-4:30 PM Catherine Walsh helps us use ARTstor to organize information and image collections for teaching and personal research.

Curating with Twitter - Thursday, September 26, 3:00-4:00 PM In this session, Andrew Battista will demonstrate how to organize and consume information via Twitter, a microblogging platform that limits user contributions to 140 characters. We will cover the skills of attention management and will explore supplementary Twitter apps and platforms.

Building Archives with Omeka - Thursday, September 26, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Omeka is a content management system that allows users to digitize resources and display them in collections. Learn about Dublin Core and other elements of archival creation with Omeka.

Charting History with Timeline JS - Wednesday, October 2, 3:00-4:00 PM Do you want to tell a story about how ideas or things develop over time? Timeline JS is a tool that allows you to display data as a linear, interactive narrative. All you need is a Google Account. In this workshop, Andrew Battista will share ideas about incorporating creative media sources into Timeline JS projects.

Technology for Presentations - Tuesday, October 8, 5:00-6:00 PM Learn how to use free online resources to enhance your next class presentation. Lauren Wallis will demonstrate using Prezi, Glogster, Storify, and Pic Monkey to support engaging presentations.

Developing GIS Projects - Wednesday, October 9, 3:00-4:00 PM GIS projects are visual representations on maps of complex social, economic, natural, and cultural patterns. GIS projects help students form questions about people and places and translate them into a map that represents data that shows some kind of change over time. In this workshop Andrew Battista will explore GIS projects with Google Fusion Tables.

Life after Google Reader - October 22, 4:00 PM-5:00 PM Now that Google Reader is no longer supported by Google, users have to find an RSS alternative. Andrew Battista and Lauren Wallis co-lead a session on mastering RSS readers. We will explore the process of creating journal alerts, following podcasts, and organizing popular publications.

Podcast Editing with Audacity - Monday, November 4, 3:00-4:00 PM  Learn to create and produce audio projects with Audacity, a free editing software. Andrew Battista will facilitate a hands-on editing workshop. You are encouraged to bring your own laptop.

Advanced Googling - November 5, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Explore how to use Google for research. Lauren Wallis will talk about the usual suspects, Google Books and Google Scholar, but we'll also explore keeping current with specialized current events and scholarship through Google News and RSS alerts.

Editing and Producing with iMovie - Thursday, November 7, 4:00 - 5:00 PM Involved in a movie or video project? Mike Price of the Digital Media Lab shows us how to edit videos and produce content with Apple's iMovie software.

Navigating WorldCat Local - Wednesday, November 13, 4:00-5:00 PM  Learn smarter organization strategies and search better with WorldCat Local.

The Revelation of Research Guides

Although I've been on faculty at the Carmichael Library for a few months now, this is my first post to the library blog. Many thanks to everyone in the Montevallo community who has welcomed me so warmly.

Today I wanted to share some of the new ways that our students and teaching faculty have been accessing information on the library webpages. Since July, I and the other librarians have been developing a series of subject-specific research guides. These guides are designed to index credible (scholarly and popular) information in a given discipline. So far, we have good research guides in Social Work, Literary Criticism, Education, Psychology, and several other fields.

The Social Work research guide is a good example of what these pages do. When you visit its homepage, you can see that resources are organized in a series of tabs at the top according to kind of resource. Students can rapidly make distinctions between popular and scholarly print sources, online publications, and electronic journals, and they can find materials specific to their discipline.

Faculty will also find these pages useful, especially the "Journals" tab, which often contains a constantly-updating list of recent journal publications. This is the "revelation" of research guides, and of the "Web 2.0" landscape in general: information comes to you automatically if you take time to cultivate a single online space or tool.

There's also a section of every guide dedicated to constructing Web 2.0 tools as sources of information. For instance, on the "Social Media" tab of the Social Work research guide, anyone who visits can find a list of organizations to "like" on Facebook, find a list of Twitter feeds to "follow," or view a clip of RSS feeds to add to a personal reader.

The Carmichael Library is using Twitter to organize information. Those people who follow the @umlibrary Twitter list on Social Work resources will be able to keep tabs on journals, prominent public intellectuals, professional organizations, and college/university initiatives, all with a few scrolls of the mouse.

There's also a space on our research guides that can be customized for a specific class. Carmichael Librarians can add information, create or build ideas related to a specific assignment, or assemble any other resources that may be helpful. If you are teaching a class at the University of Montevallo, consider taking us up on our offer to save a space for you on our research guides.

The project is still in progress. We have many more guides to build, but we are always open to suggestions as we move ahead.

Twitter, in the 1930s? Well, sorta...

While doing some research for Kathy Lowe earlier today, I stumbled upon some interesting gems from the Shelby County Democrat, circa 1930s. Check the photo below (click the image for a larger view).



Apparently, it was common practice in the 30s for the local paper to publish the day-to-day doings of the townsfolk. Many of these little blurbs could easily fit into any of today's Twitter accounts or Facebook statuses. "Claud Coppinger spent the weekend with the home-folks," for example, or "Mrs. Len Cochrane spent Tuesday shopping in Selma."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Are You On Twitter?

Hey Montevallo!

We need your help finding our students. If you're on Twitter, follow us and we'll follow you back, or send us a Tweet suggesting other UM students we can follow.

Got a reference question? Send us a Tweet, and we'll see what we can do to help you out.