Add the University Libraries to your class schedule

In order for your students to do their best work it is important for them to be familiar with, and know how to use, the resources available to them. Instructional Services offers library instruction sessions designed around your students' class assignments. Subject-specific sessions are designed to help them locate and evaluate relevant resources. Librarians will help your students develop the information-seeking skills necessary for their academic success. You may sign up for a session in person, by telephone at 765-285-8017, or by e-mail at LibrInstr@bsu.edu. They are located in BL 101 on First Floor West. Please schedule your class at least two weeks in advance.

(Thanks to Steve at News & Events for this tip.)

Schedule your library instruction session today!

August 2006 newsletter online

You can read the latest issue of the Library Insider at http://www.bsu.edu/library/virtualpress/libinsider/.

Articles in the August 2006 issue include:

• Ball State Librarians Reflect on Experience at 2006 ALA in New Orleans, p. 1
• University Libraries Finish-Up a Great Year, FY 2005-2006, p. 2
• Librarian and Educator Frederick G. Kilgour, 1914-2006, p. 3
• Libraries Offer More Software Selections at Public PC Work Stations, p. 3
• New Collections Enhance the Digital Media Repository, p. 3
• Indiana Writing Project Summer Institute Comes to Bracken, p. 4
• Libraries’ Community Development Website Offers One-Stop Solution, p. 4
• Rare Copy of 1942 Ostland Atlas Added to Collections, p. 4
• Workshop Prepares Volunteers to Conduct Oral Histories, p. 5
• Interlibrary Loan Services – World’s Resources at Your Desktop, p. 6
• Friends of the Libraries Make a Difference, p. 7
• Array of Professional Development Opportunities for Faculty, p. 7
• Architecture Librarian Reaches Out to Users, Different Audiences, p. 8
• Jacob L. Harris Receives ALA Spectrum Scholarship, p. 8
• Streaming Music Course Reserves for Music History Students, p. 9
• Contributing Financially to the University Libraries, p. 10

The Library Insider is a publication of the Ball State University Libraries. You can also read articles from the Insider at http://ballstatelibrarynews.blogspot.com.

A new resource for biographies

“Information Gathering” researchers and other journalism students will be glad to hear of a new library resource for biographies. The Biography Reference Bank, available at http://www.hwwilson.com/_promotrials/amigos/login.cfm, allows online access to basic biographical information on over 500,000 people, including over 60 contemporary journalists.* You can read more about the database at http://www.hwwilson.com/databases/biobank.htm.

To access the current trial version of Biography Reference Bank, sign-in using the password bracken@bsu.edu.

To use the database, select the Biography Reference Bank from the list of databases on Wilson Web, and type in your search criteria, as shown here (click image to enlarge):

Then, choose the correct reference from the list (click image to enlarge):

And view the additional information (click image to enlarge):

The University Libraries' trial of the Biography Reference Bank database ends on December 31, 2006. Please consider purchasing this resource with your department's library funds if you wish to continue using it.

For more information or to schedule a training session on using this database, please contact
Stacy.

(*Data from a search for journalists born since 1970.)

Scheduled CardCat outage on Aug. 5 & 6

CardCat, the University Libraries' online catalog of library resources, will be unavailable between 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, August 5, and 7 a.m. on Sunday, August 6. This is due to a scheduled outage for system maintenance.

Users who need to search for materials can still use the other tools available at http://www.bsu.edu/library/, including the WorldCat database for finding books. To search for just those materials in the Ball State University Libraries in WorldCat, use the library code "IBS" in your advanced search.

Questions? Please, ask a librarian for more details.