In this issue: Your Success is Our Goal; Government Information; Meebo - Instant Messaging; Access to Dissertations; RefWorks; New Hours and Exhibits and Event

Portland State University Library

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Portland State UniversityPDXScholarLibrary Newsletters University LibrarySpring 2008Portland State Library Newsletter; Spring 2008Portland State University LibraryLet us know how access to this document benefits you.Follow this and additional works at: http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/ulib_newsThis Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Library Newsletters by an authorized administrator ofPDXScholar. For more information, please contact pdxscholar@pdx.edu.Recommended CitationPortland State University Library, "Portland State Library Newsletter; Spring 2008" (2008). Library Newsletters. Paper 10.http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/ulib_news/10  Portland State Library  What’s Inside • Your Success is Our Goal! • Government Information  • Site-ings  • Meebo – Instant Messaging! • Access to Dissertations  • RefWorks • New Hours! • Exhibits & Events Spring 2008 Newsletter http://library.pdx.edu/ New Student Presentation Room!Getting ready for an in-class presentation? Use the new Practice Presentation Room in the Library to gain confidence with campus-standard classroom equipment! Check out the key at the Library's Circulation Desk. Current Portland State students can use the room for two-hour sessions.  The ASPSU has partnered with the Office of Information Technology and the Library to equip and furnish the Student Presentation Room to enhance library services for students.  Gain experience for in-class presentations by using the same computing and presentation equipment encountered in other “technology smart” classrooms! This technology-rich room can be used by students for small-group seminars, discussions, and digital video-viewing sessions. Equipment in the room includes a KlassTech media-center podium; Dell Desktop PC; VHS & CD/DVD Player with Dolby Digital Sound; ceiling-mounted projector; and a wall-mounted projection screen. The room is furnished with a modular conference table, a large whiteboard, and eight comfortable chairs.  Rudy Soto, ASPSU President  _ “I love art! I attended the discussion on Guernica at the library a couple of months ago or so and really enjoyed hearing people’s insight on this particular piece and learning about the history – knowledge is awesome!”  -Undergraduate quote from guest book at Guernica Preliminary Sketches Exhibit, Littman Gallery      "I used the Practice Presentation Room before my class and I was very impressed! The directions on how to use the computer were clear, and the room is pleasant and quiet. My team and I spent about an hour in there working on our presentation and it helped so much. We were able to fix spelling errors and work out the order of our PowerPoint slides."           - Graduate Student              “I really pay attention to the order and condition of the shelves in my areas of interest. I'm obsessive about it, and the stacks are in the best condition I've ever seen them."  -Faculty         Your Success is Our Goal!   Library faculty and staff want to provide the best collections and services we can in order to make your learning, teaching, and research as easy and effective as possible.  Our best source of information on how we can do a better job is YOU!  Let us know what would facilitate your work.  The Millar Library is now open until Midnight, Sunday-Thursday.  Students already are making use of the new Student Practice Presentation Room to prepare for the presentations they make in class.  They also are using some of the new web tools at the Library’s web site.  One told me that RefWorks saved her an incredible amount of time in putting together the bibliography she needed for a paper.  Lots of you have engaged librarians in chat over the web, or called and emailed with questions, saving you a trip to the Library for subject and research expertise.  It is amazing what the librarians know about your class assignments and they can help you find the best print, audio, visual, and online resources to use.  They also can help you find useful information that may be in government documents or in the microform area or in an online thesis or dissertation that you might otherwise overlook.   School is challenging enough!  Don’t do your homework the hard way.  Let us help you make the most of what the Library can do to make the best use of your time so that you can produce your best work!  We are here for you.   Helen H. Spalding University Librarian    Government Documents Transitions  The U.S. government is the largest publisher in the world on any topic you can imagine.  The Portland State Library has engaged with the Oregon State Library, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, and U.S. Government Printing Office to improve regional preservation of and access to government information.  Regional responsibilities for housing and providing subject expertise about the documents are divided logically among the four institutions so that Oregon citizens can quickly have access to current and retrospective government information.  For example, Oregon State University is the regional location for the Department of Agriculture publications, and Portland State University holds the Department of Transportation documents.  This responsive collaboration supports not only academic programs, but also the research needs of Oregon citizens.               Portland State Library provides RefWorks, a web-based citation database and formatting program, free to all Portland State students, faculty and staff.  Creating bibliographies was never so easy!  RefWorks allows you to import citations from Library databases, organize them, and insert them into Microsoft Word documents, appropriately formatted. It also uses the web to its advantage, letting you share your citations with others, even allowing them to add comments to your citations. With the ability to create multiple accounts for yourself, you can create a new account for a group project!     THE LIBRARY OFFERS WORKSHOPS ON USING REFWORKS!     Site-ings  The Tolman Guide to Green Living in Portlandhttp://www.tolmanguide.geog.pdx.edu/news.htm  This green guide was initiated by Deborah Tolman’s Natural Resource Topics class in the Department of Geography here at Portland State in spring of 2006, and the final guide was put together by students Michelle Lasley and Joe Parker. This guide offers more than 230 "tips on simple, sustainable, and affordable do-it-yourself projects in the categories of water, air, energy, food gardening, biodiversity, and processes….”    Sustainability: Science, Practice & Policyhttp://ejournal.nbii.org/index.html  An online, peer-reviewed e-journal, Sustainability's goal is to provide a link between "scientists, practitioners, and policy makers who are investigating and shaping nature-society interactions and working towards sustainable solutions" by "establishing a forum for cross-disciplinary discussion of empirical and social sciences, practices, and policies related to sustainability."     Pacific Institutehttp://www.pacinst.org/topics/  "In 2007, the Pacific Institute celebrated 20 years of innovative work--two decades of addressing issues in the fields of freshwater resources, climate change, environmental justice, and globalization."  The institute works across disciplines to conduct research and find solutions that produce sustainable communities and "advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity...nationally, and internationally."   Oregon Campus Contract  http://www.oregoncampuscompact.org/"Oregon Campus Compact promotes civic and community engagement as a core educational approach for student development as citizens, leaders and lifelong learners."  As part of a national coalition of over 1,100 college and university president, Oregon Campus Contract fosters "the development of collaborative partnerships among campuses and with communities across Oregon" and encourages institutions to "create curricular and co-curricular community engagement opportunities for students."     Sustainability at Portland Statehttp://www.pdx.edu/sustainability/The joint website for Portland State's Sustainability Group and Academic Sustainability Programs is "dedicated to ensuring that sustainable practices are fundamental considerations in all University processes and endeavors." They invite you to join them.    Instant Messaging at the Library!  Do you ever wish you could chat with a librarian when you are sitting in a computer lab, an office, or at home far from the library and need help right away?  Do you ever have a quick reference question and no phone is handy? Well, your prayers are answered!  The Portland State Library Electronic Reference Team is now offering "Chat with a PSU Librarian" right on the Library's homepage.  The service is currently available Monday through Thursday 2-5 pm when classes are in session.   How do you use it?  It's simple.  No special software is needed, just go to the library homepage, click on “Chat with a PSU Librarian,” type in your question on the "Ask Us" form, and begin chatting with a helpful reference librarian.  You can also visit us directly at the     Ask Us webpage!  Portland State University Theses and Dissertations Available from the Library Online Catalog  To enhance scholarly communication and graduate education, the Library now offers online access to Portland State dissertations and theses (from 1978 on) through the library catalog (Vikat). The digitized dissertations and theses are hosted by ProQuest and available for free access to the PSU community only.  For example, a keyword search in Vikat using "digital dissertations and Portland” and your discipline term, such as "(digital dissertations) and (Portland) and (Chemistry)", will enable you to find all of the electronic chemistry dissertations.    Sunday-Thursday-Midnight! You asked and we listened! The Portland State University Library extends hours for Spring Term 2008! We are open  until midnight Sunday through Thursday. For more information, go to Hours! For more information about Portland State Library visit http://www.library.pdx.edu/ Visit the exhibit on the first floor of the Branford P. Millar Library, April 1 through April 30.                        NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS:  MICHAEL BOWMAN JOCELYN DUFFY JULIE GUZZETTA DON FRANK ARTHUR HENDRICKS HELEN SPALDING KIMBERLY WILLSON       The ZoomUganda exhibit shares the journey of 12 girls given 12 cameras and 24 hours in which to tell their own stories through their own lenses, empowering its participants to stand in the centers of the world and show you the view from there.     Calendar of Events & Exhibits   7 pm, April 9, Room 160, Musicologist Ned Sublette offers a detailed account of the myriad threads in his new book, The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square, which weaves together the complex history of one of the most remarkable cities on the globe. Focused on New Orleans' first century, it outlines the political and cultural development of Louisiana in the context of the clash of three empires, the exploration of the American frontier, the spread of slavery and the revolutions in France, the United States and Haiti.  April 1 –April 30, New Books Area – ZoomUganda – This exhibit shares the journey of 12 girls, each given a camera and 24 hours in which to tell their own stories through their own lenses, empowering each of them to stand in the center of their world and show you the view from there. ZoomUganda is sponsored by the Harambee Centre, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, which connects people and groups in the United States with the peoples and cultures of the African continent. May 1 – May 30, New Books Area –  Clear Project Exhibit- The Community and Language Enhancement through Arts Resources (CLEAR) Project is a pilot program that engages Portland State students in community-based learning with Chinese, Vietnamese, and Spanish speaking communities in Portland. This exhibit represents collaboration between the Portland State Applied Linguistics Department and Atkinson Elementary School. Engaging with the students at Atkinson Elementary, CLEAR uses the visual arts as a focal point for language instruction and outreach, resulting in the captivating exhibit of children’s art. June 18 – August 1 – New Books Area The Changing Face of Medicine - Portland State University’s Contribution Exhibit presents photographs and biographical sketches of women doctors of medicine who graduated from Portland State University. “The Changing Face of Medicine” coincides with the National Library of Medicine’s exhibit at the Multnomah County Central Library, which will be on display June 18 through August 1.    

Portland State Library Newsletter; Spring 2008

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Portland State Library Newsletter; Spring 2008

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