The Best of Both Worlds! Dual-Booting Windows 8 and Windows 7!

From www.makeuseof.com



"'Tis the season to be jolly!"  And even if you're not feeling the joy of the season just yet, then perhaps a new PC surprise under your tree will have you singing "Fa la la la la, la la la la!"  But before you "Deck the Halls", have you prepared yourself for Microsoft® Windows 8?  If not, then you might consider this brilliant MakeUseOf idea:  dual-booting both Windows 8 and Windows 7 until you get the hang of things.  Chris Hoffman provides step by step instructions on how to accomplish this in his article, "Not Sure About Upgrading? Then Why Not Dual Boot Windows 8 With Windows 7?"  As Hoffman explains, dual-booting "allows you to test Windows 8 while keeping Windows 7 around as an escape hatch if you want out."  Check out the article to experience the best of both worlds today!

                                           - Kerry Vash, Online Librarian, Blog Co-editor -

More CHOICE(R)-Recommended Online Resources!

CHOICE® “is a publishing unit of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association." The following online resources were featured in the October 2012, Volume 50, No. 02 issue of Choice magazine (pages 23, 53, and 111, respectively) and are included here as items of potential interest for your future research:

General

Trove, from the National Library of Australia is a "web portal" that "...offers access to over three million resources"
"include...[ing] access to online catalogs" which makes available "the substantial digital content  of many other libraries and archives around Australia." This amazing "union catalog" is searchable via "basic or advanced searching...".  Of particular interest to scholars, is the opportunity to access "digitized materials" which can be searched via the following categories:  "Digitised Newspapers and More", "Journals, Articles, and Data Sets", "Books", "Pictures, Photos, Objects", "Music, Sound and Video", "Maps", "Diaries, Letters, Archives", "Archived Websites (1996-Now)" and "People and Organisations".  Access to "all the major colonial..." "Australian newspapers" in digitized form (spanning the dates 1803 to 1982) is a marvelous benefit indeed!  Registering with the site also gives you the option of making "public or private lists to keep track of...[your] research."  "Lower-level undergraduates and above" as well as "general readers" will appreciate the wonders to be found in this treasure Trove. Beginning users will find "A Guide to Trove" especially instructive. 
 
Humanities

The "result of a merger between the American Music Center and Meet the Composer", New Music USA "serves as a portal to invaluable resources...for contemporary musicians and composers as well as their audiences."  An important source for grants previously funded by these two companies, New Music USA has continued these programs which can be found "...here, with detailed information and [application] instructions."   Site highlights include NewMusicBox, a multimedia production created by New Music USA which features news focused on American composers, innovators and their fans and also provides additional access to Counterstream Radio, "a streaming radio site for American music", and the Online Library which provides "a comprehensive database of works by living American composers."  If you are interested in "the latest developments concerning contemporary American music, composers, and musicians", then this site is a must-see!  Be sure to also check out their "weekly blog" which usually includes "audio and video clips." 

Social & Behavioral Sciences

States Perform, "sponsored by the Council of State Governments", is a "website" that "provide[s] users '"access to interactive, customizable and up to date comparative performance measurements for the 50 states..."' in the following six areas:  "fiscal and economic matters, public safety and justice, energy and environment, transportation, health and human services, and education...".  If you choose the "Compare" option, you will find that each area is also further subdivided into subcategories, including measures, with up to ten measures available for comparison for each of the six areas.  Comparisons can be made across "the US as a whole or one of four geographical regions..." with "search results appear[ing] in easy-to-read charts that may be downloaded as Excel files."  If you would like to focus on an individual "state...and views its collected data, choose the "Profile" option.  The "Customize" option provides a unique opportunity for "users to select one of the key areas, choose from several subcategories, select a date range [typically ranging "from 2002 to 2012"], and produce charts or maps to display these data."  Finally, the "Trend" option allows "users [to] select a region and individual states constituting that region, then choose from subcategories of the key areas, and produce charts, maps, or tables that display data from 2004 to 2010."  An "invaluable" resource for "scholars, students, government officials, and members of the public", the opportunity to freely access such "a wide range of information..." about "the 50 states", so quickly and efficiently, is truly priceless.

                             - Kerry Vash, Online Librarian, Blog Co-editor -

Introducing the New and Improved Library Website!



Cannon Memorial Library's New Website!

You've probably noticed that our Library's website has a completely new look!  More streamlined for increased efficiency, these recent rennovations were designed to help better serve you so that you can find the information and resources you're looking for faster and easier!  

Our Library Director, Brent Short, explains the objectives that guided the website remodeling: 

     "One of our main aims with the new library website was to 
      make it much easier to use.  We provided a straightforward 
      web design with drop down menus which reduce the amount
      of clicks it takes to get directly to the resources we offer.

       "We were after practicality, not slickness.  We want a 
        website that's not necessarily pretty to look at, but one that
        increases the chances of our patrons getting to what they
        want as quickly as possible because we think that's what
        our patrons really want as well."

             "There will be other changes in the not-too-distant future, 
          I'm sure, but for now we wanted a website that was
          uncluttered, and where everything was easy to find and  
          to get to."

As we continue to fine-tune certain aspects, we appreciate your patience as we believe you will find our final website destination well worth the drive to get there.  In the meantime, let's journey through some of the major changes together...

How to Find the Library Website from the
University Home Page


Click on the "Find it Fast" option at the top right of the home page. 

A drop down box will appear from which you can then click on the "Library" option to be taken to our home page.  

OR

Here is another option:



Click on the "Academics" icon to the top left of the home page's menu bar.   

Click on the "Library" link at the bottom of the lefthand

list of options to be directed to our home page.

Points of Interest

• Looking for our Library hours and contact information?







Click on the "About" link at the top of the page to find our contact information as well as our list of hours via the Cannon Memorial Calendar. 

• Looking for the right library form to request an article, book, eReserve item or to submit a question to Ask a Librarian? 

  

Click on the "Services" link at the top of the page and choose "Forms" to browse through our list of options.

•  While we think you will find our Library catalog's new and improved interface to be much more user-friendly, if you prefer to search our older version, Leocat2, (use this version, for example, if you would like to search by call number), just follow these steps:

Click on the "Library Catalog" option from the "Find Info" category. 

Click on the "older interface" link at the top of the page to access Leocat 2. 

• Looking for the latest information on online resources? 

Click on our Blog link at its new location at the top of the Library home page.

With a more streamlined and user-friendly approach, we hope that our rennovated website helps you find the resources you are looking for faster and easier!  As always, please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. 

  - Kerry Vash, Online Librarian, Blog Co-editor -




Become a Guru with Gooru Search Engine!

From www.goorulearning.org

Expand your horizons education majors with Gooru - "A Search Engine for Learning"!  Gooru offers both educators and students the opportunity "to search for rich collections of multimedia resources, digital textbooks, videos, games and quizzes created by educators in the Gooru community." 



From www.goorulearning.org

Gooru is a free educucation search engine that strives to "aggregate the best of the web, giving you high-quality and free multimedia resources within seconds..." which can then be "organize[d]...into a playlist called a collection."  The potential for teachers is immense as they can very quickly discover quite an assortment of resources on a subject in a myriad of formats that they might find useful for their students' learning enrichment.  To begin, you just type a subject into the search box or choose the "Browse Library" option below the "Search" icon to see a list of subjects and their resources.  

Gooru's initial emphasis has involved providing comprehensive collections "...on math, science, and social science subjects for 5th through 12th grade", but they are also "constantly expanding to more subjects and grade levels."   As stated on their "Who Are We?" page, Gooru's team of educators includes "education researchers, academic experts, designers and engineers who share a passion for education."  At the same time, Gooru also "encourage[s] the use of Open Education Resources (OER) and allow[s] users to upload their own material and make it available on Gooru Search."  According to their FAQ page, a Gooru account is not needed to "use or share resources....However, if you want to save your favorites or customize a collection, you will need to sign up...."  To sign up, click on the "Register" option at the top righthand corner of the Gooru home page.  To learn more about this innovative education search engine, visit Gooru's Help Center.   

                                            - Kerry Vash, Online Librarian, Blog Co-editor -

A Message to Our Readers...

Dear eLibrary News Readers,

This entry is dedicated to you as we pause to appreciate your loyal readership these past few years.  From our blog's inaugural days to today's honorary posting, our mission has remained the same:  to present the latest library news and highlight valuable online resources for the benefit of the entire Saint Leo University community, including faculty, staff and students, with particular consideration of our online students. And my, have those years flown by as we've explored so many different informational topics together from Online Collaborative Writing Tools to a myriad of CHOICE(R) Recommended Online Resources! It seems that as our blog has progressed,so has our readership,as the graph below illustrates: 


eLibrary News Readership

With an all time viewing history of 4,440, we hope to quadruple our readership in the year to come with your help! As our blog continues to evolve while remaining committed to our original mission, please let us know if there are any library/informational topics or online resources you would like to know more about! We would welcome your suggestions and can be reached by phone or email (please see our contact information to the right of this page).  Most of all, we would like to say thank you, dear readers...it is your readership that makes each entry worthwhile!

Sincerely,

Kerry Vash, Online Librarian, Co-editor

Expedite Your Research Formatting with Google Scholar Citations!


Improve the efficiency of your research experience with Google Scholar Citations! 

From http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/citations.html


You can now cite any article by clicking on the "Cite" link which appears below each article entry. 

Clicking on the "Cite" option for your particular item of interest, provides you with instant MLA, APA and Chicago citations immediately available to copy and paste.  It also gives you the option to import the citations to various citation management softwares (BibTeX, Endnote, Refman, Refworks). 

For more advanced research options for scholars, it is beneficial to set up a profile on Google Scholar Citations.  An informative post by Eileen Allen from Syracuse University's School of Information Studies' Information Space blog, entitled, "Google Scholar Citations:  Setting Up a Profile", clearly illustrates these benefits.  To join Google Scholar Citations, you will first need to set up a Google account.  The next step is to click on the "My Citations" link at the top righthand corner of the Google Scholar home page and fill out the necessary information.



  

Good research takes time, patience and effort.  Luckily, modern technology can help lighten the burdens of some of the more tedious steps such as citation formatting.  So give yourself a break and let Google Scholar Citations help you out today!

                                       - Kerry Vash, Online Librarian, Blog Co-editor -