video & outreach & librarians

Eric and I were talking about our library and wrote a blog entry on how we think our library is doing in terms of outreach. When you type it all out, we are not doing too badly!

The importance of videos in library outreach and instruction is something that seems to be getting more and more important, with the rise of YouTube as the second most popular search engine as well the likely increase in distance education.

Anecdotal support for the importance of video in libraries (which is point number 4 here):

• I have been recognized by students who have seen one of our library videos of their own free will! (Not even in a classroom setting.) They came across our videos when they happened to be doing a YouTube search on 'UT Arlington' or 'UT Arlington libraries.'
  
  
• This mention of our videos in this post on teaching through video at In the Library With a Lead Pipe.
  
  

  The University of Texas at Arlington has started a series of “Librarian vs. Stereotype” videos that are engaging and informative while still getting their message across.

What is a Catalog? What is a Database? What kind of resources will you find in each?

This diagram explains what you will find in our catalog! Clink on image to embiggen.

This diagram explains what you will find in our databases! Click on image to embiggen.


Here is a clickable link to our complete list of databases.

I used bubbl.us to make these digrams, and I really found it useful. Also, Embiggen is totally a word

Why can’t I just search Google or Google Scholar for articles? What does Peer Review or Refereed or Scholarly Article mean? Also: Open Access?

This video has a really good explanation of why ONLY searching Google or Google Scholar is not the best idea when you are looking for scholarly articles.

• Short reason: Copyright issues
• Slightly longer explanation: You will miss out on a lot of stuff that is either: not indexed by Google because the publisher said NO!, OR it is indexed by Google but the publisher wants $$ to let you read it.
• Longer explanation: Watch the video below.

If you just want to jump to the explanation of what exactly is a scholarly article (also called peer-reviewed or refereed) watch 0:23-1:00 of the video below.

Open Access 101, from SPARC from Karen Rustad on Vimeo.

After watching this video you might say: Wait! This video seems to be implying that the current way of publishing scholarly articles is not the best! Everything should be publicly indexed and available and I should be able to use Google Scholar or some other index to find and read articles! And I would agree with you, that is what it is arguing, but we are so far from that, so for now, use the library databases.

Sometimes you are just not sure how a journal is classified,and you want to double check what kind of journal it is (popular, trade, scholarly, etc) .

• Here are some ways to tell if an article is popular or scholarly from UTAustin.
• You can also use the Ulrichsweb database to find that information. Search for the journal by title and the results will tell you how that journal is classified (is it peer reviewed or not)

How to find a Journal that covers [insert specific topic in field of literature studies here]

1. Go to the MLA International Bibliography which you can find on the English Subject Guide
2. Watch the video below, try what it says.
   
3. If you are having any issues, contact me.
   

These are not directions on finding the most relevant articles in this database, these are directions on how to use MLA International Bibliography to find out what journals are covering specific topics, and how to find those journals at UT Arlington Library.


Curious abut how to use the Thesaurus, MLA Directory of Periodicals, or Names as Subjects links near the top of MLA International Bibliography? Watch this video!

P.S. Click on the Maximize button to be able to see the full screen!!!