John David Harding: Writing and Research Instructor

An additional Writing and Research Instructor has joined the Saint Leo Pride!

John David Harding received his BA in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University in 2008 and then went on to complete his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction) at LSU in 2011. In addition to his studies, John David taught creative writing and composition at LSU, where he was also a graduate assistant for classes in Shakespeare and Contemporary Fiction. For two summers, he assisted with courses at a summer program for high school students at Northwestern University in Chicago. When he was a junior in college, he began his teaching career as a writing tutor at the LSU Writing Center.

Coming from a small town, Phenix City, Alabama, John David likes to read and write, play easy video games, and visit the amazing state parks of Florida.

John David is absolutely committed to serving our distance learning community! You can make an appointment for writing help by emailing john.harding@saintleo.edu or calling (352)-588-7576. His hours (EDT) are Tues 11:00-8:00; Wed 8:00-5:00; Thurs 11:00-8:00; Fri 8:00-5:00; Sat 10:00-7:00.

Please join the library staff and Saint Leo Community in welcoming John David to the Pride!

Changes to Library Services: WorldCat

Hello, Saint Leo Pride. it has been a while since the last blog post, and there are some exciting new changes coming to the services that the library will be providing our patrons. Beginning August, our catalog database will be switching to WorldCat, and we will be implementing LibAnswers, a new way to ask and retrieve answers for reference and library questions.

WorldCat is a global system with user-friendly features that will be replacing our existing catalog. Much like our current search box, Worldcat can be accessed through the library website. The result format will look different (as seen below), but you will still be able to limit your search by different criteria, such as book, eBook, language, and many others. A great feature that WorldCat provides is that if we do not possess a book in our collection if it is available at any surrounding libraries.

This new system allows for easier use of access, retrieving materials, and has a more aesthetically pleasing display. Further details to be announced as the time draws near!

Updating Reserve Items at the Circulation Desk

The Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library is currently updating all reserve items at the circulation desk. Items on reserve will be either re-shelved in the circulating stacks or returned to faculty. If you would like course materials placed on reserve for the upcoming term, please complete the form found through our website and submit to cecilia.bolich@saintleo.edu.

All requests should be emailed by August 23 for the Fall 2013 semester to ensure availability.

-Aimee Graham, Online Librarian - 

Happy Fourth of July!

From all of us at the Daniel Cannon Memorial Library, we are wishing everyone a safe and happy 4^th of July! In celebration of our nation’s birthday, the library at Saint Leo University is displaying works of America’s history! Browse the collection regarding America’s history, and if you’re craving something a bit more informative, our catalog can help you find even more texts of Americana! We also have a great collection from American writers in our stacks, including Hemingway, Irving, Steinbeck, and so many others that made American literature the masterpiece it is today. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!

-Aimee Graham, Online Librarian -

Saint Leo University has been named in the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll! Established in 2006, this honor recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their community. Whether through the university wide Community Service Day or the numerous activities conducted by different groups and organizations on campus, Saint Leo University is a shining example of philanthropy at a Catholic institution.

Whether you are new on campus or would like to find opportunities to volunteer, contact the Center for Values, Service & Leadership, including information on AmeriCorps and Saint Leo’s alternative spring break program, SERVE (Students Engaged in Relevant Volunteer Experiences).

Once again congrats to the SLU Pride!

-Aimee Graham, Online Librarian - 

ebrary is a free mobile app for both iOS and Android users that lets researchers have access to scholarly e-books through a variety of platforms. Users can access Saint Leo’s e-books from leading publishers and even upload research – outside of the library platform – through the DASH!(Data Sharing, Fast) feature.

Key features and benefits of ebrary’s apps include:

• Online and offline reading
• Seamless downloading of full titles
• Simple and advanced search
• Multiple navigation controls
• Table of contents with relevancy rankings
• Early check-in of ebrary’s e-books
• Copy and paste with automatic citation for offline documents
• User configurable download size warnings
• Import and use documents from other sources
• Available in English and Spanish
• Optional sign-in with Facebook user name and password
• Email ID based authentication
• Use of up to 6 different devices from the same account

Take a gander and send some reviews back! Have a great week everyone!

-Aimee Graham, Online Librarian - 

Your CHOICE® of Online Research Sites

Art, Communications, History and Current Culture (Reference): Flickr: The Commons, a subsite of Yahoo!’s photo-sharing site.

CHOICE® reviewers wrote: “This is the most accessible collection of freely available historical photographs on the Web, and the rich metadata make photos easy to find.” Participating institutions include: the George Eastman House, the Getty Research Institute, the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian Institution, NADA, and the national archive of the US, the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands.

URL: http://www.flickr.com/commons

Computer and Information Science: AI (Artificial Intelligence) Topics, from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

Aimed primarily at AI students and faculty, an editorial review board selects materials “to be accessible to all interested readers.” Articles date from the 1980s; video sources include materials from the 1940s and 1960s. The site employs standard Google search methods. Readers may submit materials to the review board for consideration using an online submission form. Not all articles can be freely provided, although each includes citations and abstracts. Saint Leo University students, faculty, and staff can use citations to track full-text back to university databases for full-text delivery, or search for individual eJournals by title using the AtoZ Journal List to locate full-text from online library resources.

URL: http://aitopics.net/

Health Care and Medical Technology: Influenza Encyclopedia, from the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and MPublishing.

Similar to The Great Pandemic: The United States in 1918-1919 <http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/1918/>, the Influenza Encyclopedia site is actually an encyclopedia solely about the American flu epidemic of 1918-1919. It addresses how the Department of Health and Human Services used two University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine research studies to “form policy decisions on handling pandemic influenza.” Fifty US cities are represented, each with an essay and supplemental materials. The site is based on primary source materials, including images, and is divided into four topics: People, Places, Organizations, and Subjects.

URL: http://www.influenzaarchive.org/

Health Care, Sociology and Social Work (Reference): The Human Mortality Database, created by demographers John R. Wilmoth (Univ. of California, Berkeley) and Vladimir Shkolnikov (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany).

On the home page, site developers Wilmoth and Shkolnikov explain that it was “created to provide detailed mortality and population data to researchers, students, policy analysts and others interested in the history of human longevity,” such as those majoring in or researching topics in the fields of health care, sociology, anthropology, or social work. At present, there are 37 countries included, each with data sets linked from the site’s home page. Use the left-hand frame for navigation to sections such as registration, projects, people, methods, data, and links. If you need this type of data, you might also consider looking at the United Nations’ Population and Vital Statistics Report at <http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/vitstats/>. For similar data on the United States, look at the US Census Bureau's The National Data Book, the online version of the series known as The Statistical Abstract of the United States or link to it from the library's online catalog, LeoCat.

URL: http://www.mortality.org/

History and Archeology : Texas beyond History: The Virtual Museum of Texas’ Cultural Heritage, from the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, in partnership with the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University, the Council of Texas Archeologists and 15 other organizations. 

Launched in 2001, the site seeks to “interpret and share” a bounty of research into "at least 13,500 years" of Texas history and archeology. The site includes virtual museum exhibits, Gr. 4-7 curricular materials, and a clickable map to 60 other Texas sites. Additional resources are listed in the Credits and Sources section of individual pages. The site has been infrequently updated in recent years, but still provides a great jumping-off point for both academic and lay researchers.

URL: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/

Scholarly Communications (Reference): The Scholarly Kitchen, from the Society for Scholarly Publishing.

This moderated blog was started in 2008 by the Society for Scholarly Publishing and focuses on “scholarly publishing, particularly in scientific, technical, and medical fields.” Use the "Follow" button on the lower right of the home page or the Twitter, RSS Feed, and Email Notifications features on the right-hand side of the home page to sign up for notifications from the site. Readers can search by contributor, keyword, or a topical index, as well as join in the scholarly discussions of individual articles using the "comments" feature. You might want to compare it to the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) blog site,< http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/blog/index.shtml>.

URL: http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/   

Undergraduate Instructional Materials (Reference): PRIMO; Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online, from the Instruction Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

Started as the Internet Education Project by ACRL’s Instruction Section, this database is regularly updated and curated by section members. Tutorials are selected for “their strong instructional value” and can be used by both academic librarians and undergraduate subject faculty interested in developing the research skills of their students. The collection presently tops 250 tutorials created from 1996 to the present. Navigate the site by browsing or searching. Results include the tutorial record, a short description, the tutorial link, and data from the developers.

URL: http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite/projpubs/primo/

--Items selected by
Sandra Lee Hawes,
eLibrary News Editor,
from CHOICE Reviews
March 2013, Vol. 50, No. 7