Talking in the Library

Document delivery now offered to all students, faculty, and staff

Yippee.  Say it as loudly or quietly as you want, but before you reach the end of the post, I'm sure you'll say "Yippee!"  Here's why I'm so confident:

Using the Interlibrary Loan request form, students can now join faculty and staff in asking for (and receiving) scanned copies of articles and chapters from journals and books on the shelf in K-State Libraries.  Wait.  What? 

OK, you know how if K-State Libraries doesn't own a book or subscribe to a journal with an article you need we'll borrow it for you from another library?  And you know that if we do own that book or journal, you come to the library, find it on the shelf, and either check it out or photocopy/scan what you need?  Now, even if we do own the book or journal, you can request a copy of a chapter or article through Interlibrary Loan.  Since we don't have to borrow it from another library, we're calling this courtesy service document delivery.

Here's an overview of document delivery:

We will scan:

• Articles and chapters from journals and books in K-State Libraries up to 50 pages in length
• Articles and short documents from microfiche/microfilm up to 30 pages in length

 How to request and access your articles/chapters:

• Place your request using ILLiad (that's the online program we use for interlibrary loan)
• Interlibrary Services staff will scan and post the PDF files on ILLiad
• You'll receive an email telling you when you can retrieve the article from ILLiad

Be patient:

• Depending on staffing, expect 1-4 days (excluding weekends) to receive your article or chapter
• For a quicker turnaround, the best days to place a request are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Caveat (or, we're delighted to offer this courtesy service, but . . .):

• Sometimes, due to holidays or if we're short-staffed, we may have to suspend document delivery (not interlibrary loan, we will still borrow materials we don't own from other libraries for you)
• We will let you know if/when we have to suspend document delivery 

That's it:

• I have no more bullet points
• If you haven't already, please say, "Yippee!"
• You can stop reading now and start researching

Short Cuts: Marat/Sade by M.E. Fritch

Well, if you’re reading this article, you’re either a theatre buff or just curious to see what in the world a Marat/Sade is and why you need to know about it. Marat/Sade is actually a play that I performed in a very long time ago – it is actually the shortened form of the actual title:  The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of The Marquis de Sade. See, aren’t you happy I used the shortened version? But really, I just wanted to grab your attention so I can talk to you a little bit about theatre.

First, let’s talk spelling. I have a BA in theatre, which means I spell it theatre, the super cool spelling. But I know that many people spell it theater (and even worse, pronounce it thee-ay-ter) but I tell you, my spelling is for the art – yours is for the building (I have no source to back me up here – it’s just what I tell myself).

Second, let’s talk cool theatre people. My very favorite theatre person on campus is Thomas Bell. Now, you may be wondering if I’ve lost my mind since after all, Thomas Bell is not a performer (well, he is, but that’s a different article) but rather a librarian! But  Mr. Bell is the Performing Arts Librarian, which means he gets to study and research theatre, dance, music, etc,; the best part – it’s all he does! The performing arts are his specialty.

You may be thinking that you don’t need to go hang out with Mr. Bell, but let me tell you that you most definitely need to come meet him. He is just a cool cat in general. But, he also maintains this cool subject guide on the library’s website where you can go to find sources for researching theatre.

The very best, most awesome source for theatre, imho, is “Theatre in Video”. You can find it under “T” in our Databases. “Theatre in Video” is full of information for anyone who wants to do research about plays, directors, performers, etc. But what I like to do is search for actors whom we know today – and see what plays or recordings they might have done years ago. For example, if you want to see what Meryl Streep did before dancing around and singing in Mamma Mia, you could watch her performance in the 1981 play Alice and the Palace. Or, if you would like to learn what one does before going on to Law and Order, watch Sam Waterston in a 1972 production of Much Ado About Nothing. And for you Star Trek buffs out there, be sure to learn how to “Explore a Character” or about “Passion and Coolness” by listening to Patrick Stewart teach you in a couple Royal Shakespeare Company Workshops.

And of course, if you have any questions or just want to chit-chat with Thomas Bell about theatre (or music or dance), you can find his contact information here. He would be happy to see you. Don’t have anything to talk to him about? Well, by all means, go see some theatre! To start, make sure you get tickets for the following KSU productions:

On the Mainstage:
Intimate Apparel on Feb 5th  (produced with Ebony Theatre)
Die Fledermaus begins March 5th
The Cherry Orchard begins April 23rd
SpringDance 2009 begins April 3rd

In the Purple Masque:
Dog Sees God begins February 26th
Yours for the Asking begins on April 16th 

Short Cuts: Health and Medicine Research for the Rest of Us by J.M. Dale

I usually let Tara C. handle the health-related Short Cuts because, well, she’s a genius. But something I read this morning sparked my interest, and I thought I’d share a layperson’s perspective of health and medicine research.

It’s January in Kansas, which generally means that baby, it’s cold outside. It’s also that time of year when everyone seems to be sniffling or sneezing or coughing (and then shaking your hand, but that’s a topic for another day). So, I’m just biding my time until I wake up feeling like my face is going to explode. When that happens, I’m bound to reach for a hot beverage or a bowl of soup, as I always associate hot liquids with a speedy recovery from a bad cold. And apparently I’m not the only one, as this article suggests. This article is a perfect example of why I get so much of my health news from the New York Times – it’s short and sweet, summarizing the research study that found that hot liquids really can help with cold and flu symptoms. If I want more, it links me to the study itself, which, handily, is available through PubMed, where you can find a good deal of health and medicine research. PubMed has tons of free full-text, but unfortunately, this article isn’t on that list. However, since we subscribe to this resource at K-State Libraries, you can access this article as a student, faculty, or staff member, and can also satisfy your intellectual curiosity about all manner of health information you find elsewhere, like the New York Times. Which, by the way, we also have.

So, while I’m satisfied with the quick and dirty summary I get from the New York Times, I know there are many budding medical professionals out there who wouldn’t be. For the rest of us, there’s a ton of free, reliable health information available. Want to do some searching? Check out Tara’s Medicine and Health guide.

Short Cuts: I'm so ExCiteIt! by S. Shelton

Short Cuts is all about making your college life a little easier - providing short cuts to the things you need (but perhaps not want) to do for school.   One of the things you need to do is provide citations and bibliographies for your papers.  Having been students once, too, we appreciate your requests to lobby professors to stop requiring citations entirely, but now we join them in assuring you that they are really, very necessary (just like algebra – promise!).  So, we made a tool to make those citations just a bit easier.  Just pop over to the CiteIt tool and you can plug in the pertinent data (author, title, year, etc.) from your source (book, book chapter, interview, journal article, magazine, newspaper or web), click Make Citation and the CiteIt tool will generate your citation in APA and MLA style  (we decided not to include Chicago style because it made us hungry for pizza – but if you really, really need Chicago style, try Knight Cite).  Copy and paste the text into your word processor (be sure to check the hanging indent) and you're good to go.  There's also a handy help tab to get you pointed in the right direction if your source isn't one of those listed.  Remember, no tool is perfect, so be sure to check your citations with a style guide.

Cold weather and runny noses--what's the connection?

It's maddening.  You're sniffing.  The guy at the computer to the right of you is sniffing.  Your roommate is sniffing. It's 20 degrees outside and you are seeking out tissues like they are worth their weight in gold.  What's the deal?  NPR asked just that question and you can hear the answer in the report, "Why Does Cold Weather Cause Runny Noses?"

If you want a more scientific or scholarly examination of runny noses, such as you'd find in the database  PubMed, use the search term rhinorrhea. Nasal discharge is also a useful search term.  However, if you are searching for consumer information, as you can from the Medicine & Health subject guide, runny nose seems to work just fine.

Image credit: a very, very attractive man blowing his nose by summer luu on Flickr.

Undergrad and Grad Students: submit your research to the K-State Research Forum

My grandpa used to tell me, "Toot your own horn, because no one else is going to."  A colleague prefers, "Pimp yo $#@!"  Either way, if you've been doing research, get some K-State street cred for it and submit an abstract application to the K-State Research Forum. The K-State Graduate Student Council is accepting submissions through 5:00 pm this Friday, January 30, 2009.  The Research Forum will be held on Friday, March 6, 2009. In addition to building character, there will be prizes! Grad students, it appears that you can piggy-back a submission to the Capitol Graduate Research Summit using the same application form. (But don't take my word for it, be sure to read the application and contact the Graduate Student Council office if you have questions.)

Undergrads, are you on the lookout for other student research and award opportunities?  Check these out:

• K-State Presidential Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Student in Research (nomination deadline: February 27, 2009.
• K-State Undergraduate Research opportunities--academic year programs
• K-State Undergraduate Research opportunities--summer programs
• K-State's Nationally Competitive Scholarship Office

Other good sources of information?  Your professors.  They usually know of regional, national, and international conferences that are open to undergraduate and graduate students and that may accept submissions from students.  Because they get asked to write letters of recommendation, they may also know of scholarships, awards, grants that you may want to shoot for.

Good luck!

ARTstor Unveiled

If a picture paints a thousand words, then ARTstor has your next ten years of lectures and research papers covered.  ARTstor is a database of digital images: photographs, paintings, architecture, murals, textiles, jewelry, maps, sculpture . . . you know, art and artifacts.  Since art reflects the breadth and depth of the human experience, ARTstor’s content spans the globe, from ancient times to contemporary life, incorporating cultural objects that reveal "art" in its broadest definition. 

You can take advantage of ARTstor’s many high resolution images and zoom in so close that, if you were in a museum, your nose would be pressed against the object and a guard would escort you from the premises.  Thanks to the zoom tool, you can see not only the placement of individual beads, but also the netting onto which they are sewn in this image of a Christian Dior gown (please note, links in this article to images in ARTstor will only work for K-Staters).  Some of the images of paintings allow you to get close enough to see individual brush strokes.

ARTstor images include QTVR (Quick Time Virtual Reality).  QTVR images offer 360º views of structures such as mosques, piazzas, basilicas, opera houses, convents, chateaus, grottos, and innumerable other spaces where visitors gawk and pivot in an effort to absorb it all.  QTVR uses Quick Time to “play” images, so if you don’t have Quick Time, you may be prompted to download it.  Once you’re in a QTVR, use your mouse to move left and right; be sure to look up! 

The ARTstor database is continually updated with new image collections from around the world.  Through K-State Libraries’ subscription, anyone with a K-State eID can register with ARTstor and take advantage of options to create folders and save searches.

Don’t take our word for it, give ARTstor a try yourself!

To register with ARTstor:
1. Go to the K-State Libraries Home Page
2. Click on “Databases” (at the very top)
3. Click on “A”
4. Scroll down the page, find and click on “ARTstor”
5. Click on “Go” in the top right corner, near “Enter the ARTstor digital library”
6. Click on “Not registered?” on the next page, again in the top right corner, by “Log in to ARTstor”
7. Enter your ksu.edu e-mail address and assign yourself a password (make sure it’s easy to remember)
8. Click “SUBMIT”
9. Once your password is set, click on “LOG IN” … and, log in

If you’re still not convinced that ARTstor has something for you, we offer a sampling of images (click on the “I” icon to view the descriptive information for each image; click on the arrow to proceed through the slideshow).

Itching to learn more about ARTstor?  Watch ARTstor's YouTube channel, read more about using the Image Viewer or check out ARTstor's incredibly helpful training documents.  Also, explore ARTstor’s image collections on the ARTstor blog  -- below the calendar on the right, there's the option to browse by category.  It’s a great way to discover and read a bit about some of the image collections that might inspire you.   If you need any help or have questions or feedback about using ARTstor, contact Visual Arts Librarian Ellen Urton.

By: Ellen Urton and Sara K. Kearns

Short Cuts: Medical images for fun... or legitimate research by T. Coleman

I may look like a mature adult, but sometimes I'm 12 years old. When I find out some bit of cool and new (or gross) information, I have to share it. Today, my cool and new thing is all visual. VisualDxHealth that is. This website has a library full of awesome medical images. You can search by health topic or disease name. And, if you are adventurous, you can try out the identify skin diseases feature (though it by no means takes the place of a doctor). Select age (infant through adult), gender, and body location and a whole slew of images come up.

Ever wondered what Onychomycosis (warning: graphical medical images await you at the end of that link) looks like? Probably not, as it is super gross. But if you did, this website would show you!

The end.

Short Cuts: Why buy the article when you can get the journal for free? by J.M. Dale

True story: Long before I decided to become a librarian, I went to my first and only library instruction class. I was a freshman, the campus was big, the room was cold, the library I was in felt daunting, and the whole process of finding the three articles I needed for my paper seemed confusing. I was following along the best I could, but somewhere along the way I got lost and when push came to shove, I ended up paying $18.95 for an article from the New England Journal of Medicine because I was too embarrassed to go ask a librarian for help.

Since then, I’ve made it my mission to keep others from following that dark path. Now I’m sure this would never happen to any of you, but just in case it does, please don’t buy an article. If you use our databases, you can find tons of articles we’ve already paid for you to use whenever you need them. Really. And if we don’t have one that you really need, our stellar team in Interlibrary Services will try to get it for you from another library. Most importantly, if you’re confused about how to find articles, or you’re not sure how to get one that you want, you can always Ask a Librarian. There’s never any need to be embarrassed, but you can ask us totally anonymously by clicking on the purple chat widget on that page. We’ll walk you through it and do anything else we can to keep you from spending your hard-earned money on articles we’ve already purchased for you.

Friends don’t let friends buy journal articles. Please, pass it around.

Short Cuts: Ask Dave!

Q: dave – since i arrived i haven’t gotten any issues of “fortean times” which is no doubt due to another conspiracy that fortean times will cover in a later issue.  where can i read about grassy knolls and tinfoil hats in the meantime? (sorry about the font size: i have to write small so it gets through the “filters”)

A:  Well, you could always try the “Crackpot Database.”  That’s not really its name or its function, per se, but many find it appropriate.  It’s actually called the database called Alt-Press Watch (APW), which comes to us from the good folks at ProQuest (so if you’ve used ProQuest, and I know my readers have, you already know the basics of Alt-Press Watch), and it actually aggregates some of the most respected low-circulating, grassroots publications out there.  Want to know what American Conservative thinks of our new president?  APW can help you there.  APW also searches a number of “fringe” publications and produces a number of crackpot articles, like Citiview’s take on psychic energy vampires.  I swear I’m not making this up.  So if you’re looking for a different take (and it doesn’t get much, er, different-er than this) you should check it out.  Just don’t let the Man catch you doing it.