Library Faculty Newsletter: Winter 2017

Walden Library's New Liaison to the Richard W. Riley College of Education

Faculty/Librarian Collaboration

Library Resources for the Literature Review

Faculty Research Webinar

Doctoral Student Referral Form

Interim Library Director

September Library Statistics

Upcoming Library Labs & Webinars

Featured Library Resource

Fun Corner

Library Lab Suggestions

Faculty Feedback

We are very happy to welcome Kim Burton to our liaison team. Kim has been working with us part time and joined us as a full-time liaison in November. Kim is one of two liaisons working with the Richard W Riley College of Education and will be working with the PhD and Master's programs. After 25 years working as a paralegal, Kim decided to go back to college to get her master's in library science. She approaches her work in the Library with enthusiasm and is looking forward to working with faculty and student s in the College of Education. You can contact Kim by email at Kimberly.Burton@mail.Waldenu.edu

We are looking for faculty who would like to present/advise together with a librarian! The library would love to collaborate with faculty to teach students how to be effective and successful researchers.

Some of our librarians have been working with faculty in the classroom to help students with a specific assignment or to talk about the literature review. For example, Anne Rojas worked with Dr. Tom Cavanagh by presenting in his weekly meeting with students in his EDUC 8090 course.  Dr. Tom and Anne discussed the role of the literature review and students were given a short presentation on advanced search techniques in the library databases including how to use Boolean operators, truncation, search by indexed fields and other ways of fine-tuning searches.  Anne was then available to answer student questions and help them brainstorm search strategies for the literature reviews in progress. 

Please contact us at libraryliaison@mail.waldenu.edu if  you would like ideas about how we can help your students develop effective research techniques – or if you have an idea of your own that you would like us to try out in your classroom.

Do you have doctoral study or dissertation-level students? If so, the Library has resources and services to help your students get the information they need for their literature review. 

In the past few months, we have updated and recorded new webinars that provide students with a road map for navigating Library resources. In addition to webinars, we also have one-on-one services, guides, and resources to help them through the dissertation process.  

Recorded Webinars

Finding the Gap in the Literature through Exploratory Research: In this webinar, we talk about how to use exploratory research to identify a gap in the literature. We will look specifically at how to identify broad concepts with your area of interest and how to use Library resources to survey current literature and identify opportunities for further research. We will explore a sample topic in Thoreau and PsycINFO while covering tips and tricks for narrowing your topic and preparing for your literature review.

Finding Literature for the Lit Review: In this webinar, we talk about how to use Library resources to locate current literature on your topic. We cover what databases to use, how to find keywords and subject terms, when to use full-text, peer-review, and date limiters (and when not to), how to use Document Delivery Service, how to find recent articles using citation chaining and alerts, how to find studies that use a specific methodology, how to find out what tests and measures, how to find information on theories, and how and when should you use Google Scholar.

Library Tips for the Literature Review: Doing research for a literature review can be a daunting task. If you're looking for a few tips and tricks to help make the whole process more manageable, then you should watch this webinar! We'll discuss where to search, how to search, and how to keep track of everything you find.

One-on-One Help for Doctoral Study and Dissertation Students

Capstone Research Appointments: doctoral study and dissertation students can make an appointment to speak one-on-one with a librarian liaison in their subject area.   These appointments are offered in order to brainstorm and develop effective research strategies for the dissertation or doctoral study literature review.

Student Referral: The Student Referral Form is for faculty members who would like to refer a doctoral student to a librarian for more in-depth assistance. If you have a student who is struggling with research, information literacy, or any other library-related skill please fill out the form below. We will reach out to the student and do our best to assist them. 

Library Resources and Services

Library Guide to Capstone Literature Reviews: The Library's comprehensive guide to research for the literature review. 

Document Delivery Service: A free service that allows students to request the full-text of articles not available in the Walden Library. 

In November, we had a great turn-out for our webinar on Library Resources for Faculty Research. 

• Where do you start?
• How do you know what databases to use?
• How do determine what keywords to use?
• How do you find the full-text of an article not available in the library?
• What’s the best way to find recent articles on a topic?
• How do you find articles that use a specific methodology?
• How do you find articles that talk about a theory?
• How and when should I use Google Scholar?

Watch a recording of the webinar. 

If you have a doctoral student who is struggling with research, information literacy, or any other library related skill, please fill out the Student Referral Form. We will reach out to the student and do our best to assist them. 

Michelle Hajder accepted the role of Interim Library Director effective December 1st. Michelle has been with the Library for nine years; she has seen about six versions of our website and worked in just about every position available. The Library has seen many changes and innovations in the years since Michelle started at Walden, which will allow her to be a strong leader for the Library during the time she is filling the role of Interim Library Director.

September has historically been our busiest month and this year was no different. In nearly every category that we measure, we surpassed previous numbers. The table below shows our monthly averages from January through August of 2016 and then the totals from September 2016.  You can also see the percentage of increase from 2015 to 2016.

It may seem concerning that our reference incidents saw a 28% decrease, but this is likely related to all other areas increasing, especially views of assignment guides and the addition of capstone appointments. We have increased our instruction efforts so students now have more help that they can access online at any time, allowing them to get answers to their questions right away rather than needing to wait for a librarian to respond. 

Text alternative for September 2016 Library statistics chart

Please feel free to share these Library Labs with your students!

Is there a research topic you feel your students are struggling with? Or an assignment that requires intense and in depth research? Perhaps there's a resource that students are struggling to navigate? Please provide us with some suggestions for library lab topics you'd like to see us cover and we'd be happy work with you to create it.

Please provide us with any suggestions about the newsletter or any other ideas you may have!