@ Olin & Uris Libraries

After Hours Research Help

Photo source: U.S. National Archives, on Flickr Commons

Location: Cocktail Lounge, 2:30 am.

You are furiously finishing that paper that is due in five and a half hours,  and need that last reference to tie the paper together. To top it off you are using a citation format that you are unfamiliar with.

Where can you go some Reference help at this hour?

There a few options at your disposal:

• You can chat with a librarian using our 24/7 chat service.
• There are library guides available for most disciplines.  You can browse by subject or class.  There is also a search box in the upper right hand corner that will allow you to look for specific information within all the guides.  The results also allow you to click on a page level link to where the information was found.  Each library guide is filled with details on the best resources for that subject, from encyclopedias to databases.
• There are also many online resources available for citation management help, as detailed in last week’s blog post.

If your paper is due later in the day or week you can always stop by the Reference Desk at Olin, or email us. We will be more than happy to help you get those final details of your final paper set.

Citations Made Easy!

Finishing up a paper?
Need help with your citations?

Take a look at the Guides for Citing Sources section of our Citation Management web site.

Basic citation guides for MLA and APA are available online. In addition, the entire text of the Chicago Manual of Style is available online!

If you still need help, stop by the Olin reference desk for walk-in assistance

or to consult the full-length print manuals for APA or MLA citation styles.

Or send us an e-mail : okuref@cornell.edu.

If you need help using citation management software such as RefWorks or EndNote, you can contact our experts. But don’t wait until the last minute.

And good luck with exam week!

Slope Day 2012, the Library and You

Uris, the library that shares the same slope upon which many students will enjoy Slope Day, is closed for the festivities. It will close after the overnight study hours at 8 AM on May 4^th. Uris can still have a place in your Slope Day as a nice background for any photos taken facing up the slope.

Here are some pieces of library news related to the annual end-of-classes celebration:

Olin Library will open at 8 am. However, the Amit Bhatia Libe Café will close at 12 pm.  The front doors of Olin will close for the day at 12:30 pm. Never fear: Olin Library will be open for study until 5 pm. You’ll just need to use a different entrance that is usually closed to the public.

After 12:30pm all patrons must enter and exit Olin through Stimson Hall. If you’re already in the library, the Stimson exit is located in Kroch Library, across from the main staircase.  If you’re outside, use the Arts Quad entrance to Stimson and follow signs to Kroch. All patrons entering and exiting the building through Stimson will be subject to their bags being searched.  This is a necessary security measure.

In addition, several services will be discontinued for this day only. There will be no Big Red Bikes and no day lockers. If you need a book from Uris (either from the Uris stacks or on Reserve) on Slope Day, please see the staff at Olin Circulation Desk.  They will be more than happy to have the book paged for you while you wait. As a bonus: you’ll find out what those numbers above the circulation desk really mean!

All of these procedures are in place for the benefit and safety of all our patrons and our collections.  We appreciate your understanding, and hope that you have a safe and relaxing Slope Day.  We will be here for you in the days following the event, ready to help you through study week, and the rest of your semester.

New exhibit in Olin celebrates poems about Cornell

A new exhibit in Olin Library’s lobby features six Cornell poets, from A.R. Ammons to Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, whose work has garnered substantial recognition among critics and peers. Each poem takes the physical location of the Cornell campus or its natural surroundings as a vantage point from which to examine both the outer and the inner life, mapping the metaphysical borderland that merges personal experience with human consciousness on a universal scale. more…

Image-tastic

Looking for the perfect image for your paper, project, or presentation?

Contact vrhelp-l@cornell.edu for assistance from trained visual resources staff.

We can help you–

• Locate high-quality images no matter your subject and purpose, even if it’s finding images to help you make eye-catching powerpoint/keynote presentations.
• Use ARTstor, LUNA, and other image databases effectively.
• Cite images and visual media appropriately.
• Manage and share your image collections.
• Direct you to image scanning and copyright services on campus.

Caribbean Literature Now Online

To support the growing scholarly interest in writing from the Caribbean region, the Library has acquired online access to Caribbean Literature, a searchable, full-text database of fiction, poetry, manuscripts, archival content, interviews, photographs, and other material extending from the 19th century to the present day, embracing the writing of early figures such as Ardouin Coriolan and Agustín Acosta through that of contemporaries Derek Walcott and Edwidge Danticat. Much of this work is difficult to find in any form and was obtained from archives, licensed from local publishing houses, and in some cases provided by the authors themselves. The collection is multi-lingual, including works in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and various Creole languages. Complementing the writings themselves are author interviews, language dictionaries (such as Rastafari Lexicon and Dictionnaire des Néologismes Créoles), as well as other reference resources. As the focus of literary studies expands and deepens, Caribbean Literature will offer new possibilities for research, teaching, and learning at Cornell.

A New Sign of Spring on Campus: The Return of Big Red Bikes

The traditional signs of spring on the Cornell campus have already arrived: various sports and games have played out on the Arts Quad, the trees outside of Uris Library are ready to bloom, and winter coats have been shed in favor of shorts and sandals. Alongside these tried and true signals, a new seasonal tradition has taken hold. This past Monday Big Red Bikes made their Spring 2012 debut.

What is Big Red Bikes?

Big Red Bikes is a student run bike-share program that operates out of Uris Library, Mann Library, and Appel Commons.

How does it work?

First you need to register with the Big Red Bikes program and sign a waiver form.

You can check for bike availability at the Big Red Bikes website.

When you visit any of the bike share stations you must present your ID at the service desk. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Take the numbered key and find the corresponding Big Red Bike on the rack outside of your check out location. Inspect the bike and report issues, adjust the seat, and enjoy the ride! Remember to return the bike to any of our stations half an hour before closing (make sure to double check that time with staff while checking out the bike).

For more information you can go to the FAQ on the Big Red Bikes website.

Take part in a growing Cornell tradition. Big Red Bikes is back up and running as of this past Monday.  Check out the website, register for an account, and visit the most convenient location today.

 

What is a Research Consultation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A research consultation is a meeting with a librarian, scheduled in advance at your convenience, to get help with your research.

Why should I consider one? It’s one of the perks of being a Cornell undergrad, graduate student, or faculty. It’s free, and fun, but it’s also incredibly efficient. The librarian will help you search for, find, and obtain better and more sources for your project than you might have found on your own, and it’ll take less time and effort.

Here’s the research consultation request form. When you make the request, describe your project pretty fully—

• the topic/project (and maybe the course)–But if you don’t have a topic for your paper yet, that’s okay too. Librarians often help people think through possibilities and help decide whether there’s enough material for a project.
• the parameters or length—There are no requirements. It could be a small five pager, an honors or master’s’ thesis,  a Ph.D. dissertation, or your next article or book.
• the deadline—We’re usually very flexible, but don’t wait to the last minute. You may need a few days or even weeks to obtain the materials through Borrow Direct, Library-to-Library Delivery, and/or Interlibrary Loan.
• any particular problems or challenges—For instance, you’ve searched a lot but you haven’t been able to locate any good sources on your own, or you’re doing a paper on Russian elections, but you can’t read Russian.

Once you’ve pressed submit on your request, it goes to our Research Consultation Scheduler who uses the information you provided to match you with an available librarian with the pertinent subject background.  That librarian then emails you to schedule a time and provide directions to a library office.

Once the meeting is set up, if you get sick or something comes up, it’s not a problem. Just let us know and we’ll reschedule.

The meeting takes place in a relatively quiet private space, generally in a library office with a computer. (Bring your own laptop if you’re the type that likes to follow along.)

Every research consultation is a bit different because it’s tailored to your needs.

Generally the meeting lasts for about an hour, occasionally even two, but it depends on your topic and your needs.  Some people have a series of research consultations.  For which they receive frequent flyer miles. (Just kidding! There are no frequent flyer miles for research consultations. Yet.)

Typically, during the consultation, you and the librarian search the classic catalog, relevant discipline-specific databases, and other specialized print and online resources depending on your particular needs which might include digital collections, image repositories, other library catalogs, statistical resources, etc.

While you search, you and the librarian will talk and evaluate the results of the searches and design new strategies and approaches together. It’s not unknown for laughing to occur.

By the end of the consultation, you will have:

• Discovered lots of material and made requests for material that was checked out, not at Cornell, at another campus library, etc.
• Learned more about how to effectively navigate the library
• Learned a whole lot more about effective searching
• Secretly congratulated yourself for taking advantage of this service!

Are research consultations only for research projects? Good question. Actually, no. They could be for help with RefWorks or other citation managers, or formatting the citations themselves, or using other research software, copyright issues.

Map Exhibition Marks 500th Anniversary of Amerigo Vespucci’s Death

The Maps and Media Unit in the Research & Learning Services Department of Olin & Uris Libraries has prepared a new exhibit, Columbia or America: 500 Years of Controversy, displayed in the lower level lobby of Olin Library. The exhibit was inspired by the 500th anniversary of the death of Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine explorer who gave his name to two continents.

A controversy has surrounded Vespucci ever since his death. None other than Ralph Waldo Emerson presented him as a thief who robbed Columbus of his rightful glory. Others however, argue that Amerigo represented the living culture of the Renaissance while Columbus was still very close to the medieval thinking. Whether Vespucci exaggerated his role in the discovery of the New World in his controversial letters is not the point. The fact is that from these letters, the European public learned about the newly discovered continents of the Americas for the first time, which might be justification enough for the name.

This exhibit consists of eight original maps depicting Columbus’s and Vespucci’s voyages, as well as four historically important maps from the early and mid-1500s, including the famous 1507 World map by Martin Waldseemuller, where the name, “America,” was mentioned for the first time.

Come take a journey across the Atlantic and rediscover America.

New Equipment Will Provide Better Service to Map Collection Users

The Maps & Media unit of Olin & Uris Libraries just acquired a large-size  scanner  for our patrons’ scanning needs. The Colortrac SmartLF GX+42 produces fast, high quality scans, copies or file distribution of large format photographs, satellite images, artwork, graphic designs, posters and any other documents that require a wide color gamut and high dynamic range. The scanner also captures accurately the finest details in maps, engineering drawings, blueprints, site plans, architectural renderings and many other technical documents in monochrome or color at resolutions from 100 up to 1200dpi. Original images can be captured off media from 6” to 48” wide by any length (up to 42” scannable area), with up to 0.8” (2cm) thickness. The scanner is located in the Map Room in the basement of Olin Library. The Map Room staff will scan maps and other documents per patrons’ requests. Images are saved in the “Map Patrons” folder at the public computer connected to the scanner, in a folder identified by the patron’s Net ID. Once a job is finished, the patron is notified by e-mail. This new service is provided free of charge.

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