Foreign Languages in Academic Librarianship: A Survey of Skills, Use, and Perceptions

No comprehensive study of academic librarians’ attitudes and perceptions toward foreign language skills in libraries has occurred. Similarly, the question of how librarians use foreign languages has only been cursorily examined. The authors conducted an online survey in the spring of 2007 asking academic librarians in the US and Canada about their knowledge of non—English languages, use of languages professionally, and the perceived value of language skills. Results indicate substantial use of and value placed on language skills. Of the 1,858 respondents, more than 25 percent reported using foreign languages daily and over 75 percent desire better language skills to complete library tasks

HathiTrust -- A Gov Docs Repository?

A brief overview of the HathiTrust Digital Library and its government document holdings. Vetruba will demonstrate to search for these and other public domain materials in it. He will note steps libraries can take to make these materials more readily discoverable by patrons and discuss possible impacts HathiTrust could have on physical collections in libraries.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1003/thumbnail.jp

Embedded Librarian: Meeting Users on their Turf

With a decline in reference desk visits now evident at many academic libraries, librarians are experimenting with new ways to provide reference and other library services to faculty and students. Besides virtual reference and other online services, a growing trend is to provide alternative venues for librarian and patron interaction outside the library. By “setting up shop” in student unions, dormitories, and academic departments, either throughout the year or during specific times in a term (e.g. exam week), many librarians are answering patron queries in a timelier manner and in more convenient settings to the user. In short, they have brought the library closer to faculty and students. In this presentation, I will share two years of experiences from holding weekly office hours in the Germanic Languages and Literature Department at Washington University. Along with a review of recent literature on this new outreach technique, I will provide suggestions and recommendations for being an embedded librarian.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1006/thumbnail.jp

International and Area Studies Workshop – Germanic Collections

The Center for Research Libraries, along with the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) and the Western European Studies Section (WESS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), is co-sponsoring an International and Area Studies Workshop for Librarians on Friday, June 26, 2015. The workshop is timed to coincide with the ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco. The full-day workshop is designed to assist librarians who are newly responsible for Western European and Latin American humanities and social sciences collecting. It will cover publishing trends in Western Europe and Latin America, providing reference services, and tips for getting up to speed quickly as a librarian newly assigned to cover these world areas. Specifically, the workshop includes presentations on Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, Francophone and Italian Studies, and Germanic Collections.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1019/thumbnail.jp

Teaching with Twitter: A Collaborative Experiment using Twitter in the Classroom

In a world where social media are becoming part of our daily existence in a variety of ways, Twitter is making inroads as a method for engaging students. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning found a higher rate of student engagement with faculty and course material--as well as better grades—among students who were Twitter users. Kristina, Makiba, and Brian will describe a collaborative experiment in integrating Twitter into two Art History courses in the fall of 2011. They will share lessons learned and engage participants in a discussion of best practices for using this technology in the classroom.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1005/thumbnail.jp

The Whitney R. Harris Third Reich Collection : materials added to the collection, 1999-June 30, 2008

Bibliography of items added to the Whitney R. Harris Third Reich Collection funded by Whitney R. Harris

Thirtieth Annual Bibliography 2016 (Contemporary German Literature Collection)

The 30th bibliography for 660 volumes added to Washington University Libraries\u27 Contemporary German Literature Collection. All published in 2016, these acquisitions include novels, poetry, short story collections, essays, autobiographical works, and literary and cultural periodicals from publishers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Organized by author or editor, the bibliography includes local call numbers as well as subject and genre descriptors. This Collection serves as the research arm for the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature\u27s Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature. A bibliography of items added the previous year is compiled each year by Washington University\u27s Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures in cooperation with the University Libraries

Twenty-ninth Annual Bibliography 2015 (Contemporary German Literature Collection)

The 29th bibliography for 585 volumes added to Washington University Libraries\u27 Contemporary German Literature Collection located on level B of Olin Library. All published in 2015, these acquisitions include novels, poetry, short story collections, essays, autobiographical works, and literary and cultural periodicals from publishers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.This Collection serves as the research arm for the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature\u27s Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature. A bibliography of items added the previous year is compiled each year by Washington University\u27s Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures in cooperation with the University Libraries

Twenty-eighth Annual Bibliography 2014 (Contemporary German Literature Collection)

The 28th bibliography for 560 volumes added to Washington University Libraries\u27 Contemporary German Literature Collection. All published in 2014, these acquisitions include novels, poetry, short story collections, essays, autobiographical works, and literary and cultural periodicals mainly from publishers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. A small number of items published in Italy and Luxembourg were also added. This Collection serves as the research arm for the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature\u27s Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature. A bibliography of items added the previous year is compiled each year by Washington University\u27s Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures in cooperation with the University Libraries

You’re in Good Company: Developing a Research Conference for Advanced Graduate Students in the Humanities

In 2014, librarians at Washington University in St. Louis developed an annual research conference for advanced graduate students in the Humanities. This conference was inspired by the desire to connect to graduate students at the dissertation stage as librarians had observed a gap in librarian-graduate student interactions between the first years of graduate school and when students embark on their own dissertation research. Librarians discovered that graduate students often struggle in isolation with similar research questions as well as project management and dissertation writing; thus, we aptly entitled the conference “You’re in Good Company: A Mini-Conference for Advanced Graduate Students in the Humanities.” We will share the make-up of the conference, gathering input on session offerings, funding considerations, marketing, assessment, and administrative needs. Our presentation will focus in part on the variety of sessions we have been able to offer and our collaborations with faculty and other campus partners. Sessions included not only advanced research skills but also hands-on workshops for technologies such as Zotero, Scrivener, and mobile apps. Faculty presented sessions about dissertation writing, time management strategies, tips for getting published and funded, as well as their own personal experiences The conference demonstrated the value of the library to the university community as You’re in Good Company will be in its third year and appears to be filling a void to further research skills, discovery of Humanities resources, and awareness of new technologies. We will also share our developing body of conference video and audio recordings. Finally, we will present recommendations to assist other librarians interested in developing a similar conference.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/lib_present/1022/thumbnail.jp