Browsing Room, Research 101 and Finals Study Break

Also, more exciting things have happened! I\u27ve completed more of the Research 101 guide, and I\u27m pretty close to finishing it. I have to say it has been a lot of fun to look at what information is the most useful when doing research, and the best way to phrase the ideas so that it is helpful for students. I think casual but informative is working pretty well. Also, images are a great bonus. Too much text and the reader gets bogged down and it is hard to focus on the options let alone absorb the material. My intern supervisor Clint and I have been working on cleaning up the page and using more images to make it more useful. Personally, I think it looks great. I learned how to use image catching tools too- the programs that let you take an image of your computer screen and add arrows and stuff to it. Definitely a very cool program to know how to use. I should finish the guide fairly soon and then the revised version will be a subject guide option on the Gettysburg library page. I\u27m really excited to finish it. The guide will be a physical representation of all the work I have been doing, and it makes me feel official to have something people will be able to look at. [excerpt

Finals Study Break and Final Blog Post

I cannot believe that this semester is over, and my internship at the library. This semester has been a immensely rewarding experience for me. From the wonderful librarians I had the opportunity to work with to the different aspects of librarianship I was able to discover, I am so grateful for the opportunity. This experience has made me 100% sure that I want to become a librarian and I cannot wait to get started. I\u27m filling out graduate school applications over winter break. Fingers crossed to see which programs I get into. [excerpt

Banned Books Week

As promised, I\u27m going to tell you about what the library is doing for Banned Books Week! I have had a lot of fun planning it. First of all, we\u27re going to have pins with book covers on them so that students can show off their favorite banned book. There will also be snacks, and a comment box where they can write their feelings on censorship which will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, hopefully every day but it depends on how many responses we get. I\u27m also making up signs so that students can see the title and then turn it around to see the reasons why the text was banned. A lot of them are really interesting, and maybe books you might not expect. [excerpt

Classroom Observation

Besides lots of practice for the Book Cart Drill Team (we zombified shirts yesterday, get excited to see) the past few weeks have been mostly working at the Reference Desk and observing classroom sessions lead by other reference librarians. The desk has become more interesting as the semester goes on, and a lot harder. Students and faculty are asking me questions that I do not quite have the answer to yet, which is very challenging but I also like. I learn something myself trying to answer their questions, and it makes me feel smart when I do find information for them. They are usually really grateful too, which makes working at the desk even more fun. Also being a student while doing this internship is interesting as well. Sometimes my friends come to ask for help at the desk which is kind of odd but enjoyable. In terms of my own work, this internship is helping me a great deal. I have a better understanding of where to look for material for my courses, and all of my research assignments are a little more manageable than they used to be. [excerpt

First Post

Hello! My name is Kelly and I am an intern in the reference department this semester, which is very exciting. I was thrilled when I found out that I was going to be working here this semester. This is exactly what I wanted to do during my senior year, since next year I am planning on going to grad school for library science. But before I applied, I wanted to make sure I had some experience under my belt, and that I had some idea of what I was getting myself into. Which, as it turns out, I only had some idea of. Library science and reference are harder than I thought. There is a lot of technology involved as well as a thorough knowledge of research techniques and the library catalogue itself. It may look easy when you see a librarian finding a book or pulling up information, but it\u27s not. There\u27s a reason I have to get a degree to know how to do it. The more I work, the more excited I am to go to grad school and experience it myself. [excerpt

Ferromagnetic/superconducting proximity effect in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 / YBa2Cu3O7 superlattices

We study the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in high quality YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) / La0.7Ca0.3MnO3(LCMO)superlattices. We find evidence for the YBCO superconductivity depression in presence of the LCMO layers. We show that due to its short coherence length superconductivity survives in the YBCO down to much smaller thickness in presence of the magnetic layer than in low Tc superconductors. We also find that for a fixed thickness of the superconducting layer, superconductivity is depressed over a thickness interval of the magnetic layer in the 100 nm range. This is a much longer length scale than that predicted by the theory of ferromagnetic/superconducting proximity effect.Comment: 10 pages + 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Traumatic Stress Interacts With Bipolar Disorder Genetic Risk to Increase Risk for Suicide Attempts

Objective Bipolar disorder (BD) is one of the most heritable psychiatric conditions and is associated with high suicide risk. To explore the reasons for this link, this study examined the interaction between traumatic stress and BD polygenic risk score in relation to suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescent and young adult offspring and relatives of persons with BD (BD-relatives) compared with adolescent and young adult offspring of individuals without psychiatric disorders (controls). Method Data were collected from 4 sites in the United States and 1 site in Australia from 2006 through 2012. Generalized estimating equation models were used to compare rates of ideation, attempts, and NSSI between BD-relatives (n = 307) and controls (n = 166) and to determine the contribution of demographic factors, traumatic stress exposure, lifetime mood or substance (alcohol/drug) use disorders, and BD polygenic risk score. Results After adjusting for demographic characteristics and mood and substance use disorders, BD-relatives were at increased risk for suicidal ideation and attempts but not for NSSI. Independent of BD-relative versus control status, demographic factors, or mood and substance use disorders, exposure to trauma within the past year (including bullying, sexual abuse, and domestic violence) was associated with suicide attempts (p = .014), and BD polygenic risk score was marginally associated with attempts (p = .061). Importantly, the interaction between BD polygenic risk score and traumatic event exposures was significantly associated with attempts, independent of demographics, relative versus control status, and mood and substance use disorders (p = .041). Conclusion BD-relatives are at increased risk for suicide attempts and ideation, especially if they are exposed to trauma and have evidence of increased genetic vulnerability

Validating Chemistry Faculty Members’ Self-Reported Familiarity with Assessment Terminology

With the increasing emphasis placed upon chemistry instructors and departments to assess and evaluate their courses and curricula, understanding the structure of chemistry faculty members’ knowledge and use of assessment terms and concepts can shed light on potential areas for targeted professional development. Survey research that might accomplish this objective often relies on self-reported responses from the target audience, and such information is sometimes difficult to assess in terms of validity. As an example of an internal mechanism to help establish validity, it is possible to include an “internal standard” item early in the survey. For the sake of understanding faculty members’ familiarity with assessment terminology, an item that asked participants to identify analogous pairs of terms comparing assessment measures (assessment validity and assessment reliability) to laboratory measures (accuracy and precision) served this purpose. Using ordered logistic regression, participants who answered the analogy question completely correctly were more likely to report higher levels of familiarity with the assessment terms. Because the self-reported data appears to be valid, these data can be further used in subsequent analyses in order to determine the general familiarity trends among chemistry faculty regarding assessment terminology

Reply to: New Meta- and Mega-analyses of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Schizophrenia: Do They Really Increase Our Knowledge About the Nature of the Disease Process?

This work was supported by National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Grant No. U54EB020403 (to the ENIGMA consortium)