Library Partner Updates: November 2021

 Request Library Instruction for Spring 2022

Crafting your schedule for Spring semester? Assigning a research project?   

• With F2F or virtual options, our research librarians are available to discuss exactly what your students need to achieve for your assignment requirements. This way, they can craft unique and robust library lesson plans that will help your students tackle those college-level research projects. Schedule your session now. 
• Don't have class time to spare for a librarian, but think your students could use some help? That's okay! Simply require that your students meet with us via our Research Consultation Scheduler, and  email our RIS Librarians to give us a head's up.

 Database Spotlight: Social Explorer 

MU Library had a trial subscription to Social Explorer, and we're now in the process of purchasing it! If you haven't used it yet, it's a database used "to analyze and visualize the characteristics of almost any location. Whether you are interested in markets, voting, poverty, aging populations, ethnicity and race, spending patterns, health indicators, crime, environment or education, the easy to use tools will facilitate your analyses. You can see trends and make comparisons over time and place to gain insights and help make decisions."

Use this handy guide explaining best uses of Social Explorer for courses in:

Be sure to click on the Lecture Launchers tool from Social Explorer's homepage (part of their "Teach & Learn" menu), which provides prepackaged modules on lots of subjects, with information about estimated time commitment (many are 10-20 minutes), student level (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced), and easy to use interfaces for students and teachers alike.

Pictured: screenshot of the Business category Lecture Launcher tool from Social Explorer.

You can find this database, other trial databases, and our subscription databases on our A-Z Database page.

If you ever have a chance to explore our trial databases and think the library should try to purchase them, let us know using our Purchase Request form.

 Learning Opportunity: Open Textbook Workshop & Paid Review

Would you like to have a free textbook available to your students? 

This Open Textbook Workshop and Paid Review opportunity will be held on Thursday, November 18, 2021, from 2:00 – 3:00 PM in MS TEAMS with, Prof. Larry Sheret, Scholarly Communication & Open Educational Resources Librarian.

Marshall is part of the Open Education Network, which has over 900 free open textbook titles available in the Open Textbook Library. In this workshop, faculty will learn the elements of an open textbook review, write a review, and upload it to the system by January 3, 2022. All reviews will be posted online. To fully prepare, participants must find a textbook to review from the Open Textbook Library before the workshop. The list of available books is found at https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks.

Any faculty member who attends the library workshop and submits a review will be awarded a $250 stipend.  There is no requirement or pressure to adopt a textbook although we encourage faculty to consider this option. Attendees will also be entered into a drawing to win an Amazon Echo Dot Smart Speaker courtesy of the Marshall University Libraries.

Please RSVP via: https://open.umn.edu/network/workshops/open-textbook-workshop-paid-review 

In addition to being paid $250 for attending and writing a review, faculty who adopt a textbook to replace a commercial textbook for an existing course can also apply for a $1000 grant from the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) through the Open Learning WV program.  For more information and to apply online, visit https://wvoer.org/ 

For additional information please contact Jingping Zhang: zhangj@marshall.edu or Larry Sheret: sheret@marshall.edu

 Contact Us

Have a question about anything on this page? Have a question about something not on this page? Just ask your library partner team.