Library Student Newsletter: Fall 2019

Message From the Director

Meet a Librarian

Banned Book Week

Library Open House

Meet Your Librarian at Residency

New Library Videos

Doctoral Student Appointments

Library Lab Suggestions

Upcoming Library Labs & Webinars

50 Most Beautiful Libraries

Student Feedback Corner

Over the past few years, discussions about library as place have been constant in our field’s professional literature. Libraries as event spaces, collaborative spaces, innovation spaces, etc. are a big part of outreach planning in traditional libraries. Of course, for our library we can’t capitalize on some of the same easy wins in community outreach when we can’t, for example, use the tried and true strategy of giving away free coffee and snacks. This is why I am so inspired by our library team for continuing to develop the Virtual Library Open House for our second year of the event. Last year was a success with great participation in our online games and competition. Our event resulted in a notable increase of library visits, showing us that the open house was helping students discover new library resources. Librarians Nykol Eystad and Susan Stekel are sharing our Virtual Open House with the library world at the Internet Librarian national conference this October—but you can experience it first-hand starting Sept. 30th. See the full article below for all the fun details!

Michelle Hajder Director, Walden University Library

Banned Books Week began in the 1980s as a small exhibit at a book fair. Since then, it has become more widely recognized with the help of the American Library Association (ALA). Each year since 1990 the ALA has put out their list of top 100 challenged books for that year.

Banned Books Week isn’t just a week to highlight banned and challenged books, at the heart of this week is promoting the right of everyone to read what they choose and reminding us that censorship can cause more harm than good.  This year’s theme is “Censorship leaves us in the dark. Keep the light on.”

We may all be aware of some of the most often challenged books such as Catcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill a Mockingbird, but did you know that both American Heritage and Merriam Webster dictionaries, the Bible, Charlotte’s Web, and Where’s Waldo? have been banned in some schools and libraries?

If you want to learn more about banned and challenged books, see Censorship by the Numbers, which was put together by the ALA. If you want to participate in Banned Books Week, you can read a book from one of ALA’s lists of frequently challenged books, or you can write to or Tweet a banned or challenged author.

Academic residencies are action packed with opportunities for collaboration, networking and skill development, and who doesn’t love meeting faculty and fellow students face to face? But did you know that you can also meet with a librarian and talk about your Library research?  You don’t even have to schedule an appointment. Simply find the librarians in the advising area, take a seat and start a conversation. Whether you are just beginning library research or you are preparing for dissertation, we can help and ensure you are set for success! 

Additional tips for connecting with Librarians at residency

• Attend your scheduled Library sessions, introduce yourself and don’t be afraid to ask questions. We love enthusiastic students, and questions and discussions always add energy to the sessions.
• Librarians are available in the advising area. No need to make an appointment, just sit down with any available librarian!
• You can always find the Library’s residency materials (slides, presentation materials) on the Library’s website under Get Help.
• Librarians are typically wearing a teal badge with name and title. Find your librarian and make a connection. We love meeting our students.

For more information on both virtual and face to face residencies, please see Walden Academic Residencies.  

If you are a doctoral student who is struggling with research, information literacy, or any other library-related skill,you can make an appointment with a librarian to get assistance. Select Doctoral Research Appointment on our Ask a Librarian page to make an appointment with a librarian in your subject area.

Is there a library topic that has you confused? Or an assignment that requires intense and in-depth research? Perhaps there's a resource that is confusing to navigate? Please provide us with some suggestions for topics you'd like to see us cover.

Walden University's library didn't make this list but these are some impressive libraries!

50 Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

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

Get to know the Walden Library Librarians. A new Librarian will be featured in every newsletter! 

Meet Anne Rojas!

1. What is your job at the library?
   
   I am Liaison Librarian to the College of Education.
    
2. What do you like the most about working at the Walden Library?
   
   The favorite part of my job is working with students. I especially love seeing their faces light up at residencies and hearing the AH-HAs when working with them during appointments.
    
3. What book or series are you reading now?
   
   I am reading … My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite and I am listening to Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl.
    
4. What do you like to do in your free time?
   
   In my free time I knit obsessively.
    
5. Anything else we should know about you?
   
   I travel quite a bit, I am involved in several volunteer activities and I have two grandchildren … this keeps me busy and (mostly) out of trouble.

The Library is holding its Second Annual Library Open House from September 30th to October 4th. Students, staff, and faculty are welcome to attend our asynchronous events! We will be doing a scavenger hunt, locate the hidden Librarian, and open chat for everyone to stop in and say hello!
 

Each of these activities provides an opportunity for a chance to win a prize! 

A grand prize of an Amazon Kindle will be drawn from qualified entries. The first twelve people to correctly complete the scavenger hunt will win a $25.00 gift card for Walden Gear or a $25.00 Amazon gift card.

Other prizes include a five dollar gift card to the Walden Store or Amazon for the first 3 chats of the day for each day of the open house. See the rules for prize entry.

The link to the Open House will be active beginning the morning of September 30th. We look forward to chatting with you and having everyone learn a little bit more about the library!

Librarians are creating a series of short (3 minutes or less) instructional videos. Videos will focus on research tips and tricks. The first video is on search alerts. Watch for more videos to be announced!

As a scholar, it’s important to keep up with newly published research. You can do this by creating search alerts in Library databases and Google Scholar. Instead of going back to the database again and again to do the same search, you will get alerts about new articles that match your search. This can save time and help keep you up-to-date on research.

For more information on search alerts, please use the following guide: 

Please feel free to share these Library labs with your classmates!