Lest We Forget

Today, we honour and remember those who served our country and recognize our troops currently protecting our freedoms. To learn more about our veterans and troops, you may wish to visit the following resources:

Veterans’ Week 2009 Website (from the Canadian Dept of National Defence) & Veterans’ Week 2009:  How Will You Remember?
View videos and photos about our veterans and troops, send letters to the troops and learn about our military history.

Website of National Defence and Canadian Forces
Read news relating to our troops as well as reports regarding our deployments around the world.

Canada At War: A Guide to Library and Archives Canada’s Websites Recalling the Canadian War Experience
From Libraries & Archives Canada, a comprehensive guide to resources on Canada’s war experience. Many primary source documents and photos are included.

Display at Library@IAHS for Remembrance Day

Are you spooked by statistics?

Halloween is over but we know students still find statistics pretty spooky! Let the library staff de-mystify them for you.

Tip #1 – it’s not always necessary to re-invent the wheel.  Sometimes you can find great stats buried in a book or magazine article on your topic. Look there first.

Tip #2 – if you do need to go straight to the source, check out the  QuickLinks box on TheBRAIN. Choose Quick Reference > Statistics. Here you’ll find Statistics Canada – the mother of all crunched numbers – offering data profiling population, income, how much beer we drink and many other important aspects of Canadian life! Try The Daily…it’s an electronic bulletin covering up-to-the-minute social and economic info and is very easy to search. E-STAT is another great pick. Its interactive tool with the very strange name (CANSIM)  lets you customize your stats search and create tables, graphs and charts too!

Tip #3 – let the library staff protect you from those spooky statistics…just ask for help!

Get help with computing problems @ your library!

Need help with a Powerpoint presentation or an Excel spreadsheet? Having trouble printing from WebCT?  Never fear…help is on the way!  Back by popular demand, the Library has hired workstudy students to provide computing help to other students.  Connect with them during these hours:

Library@ Fennell:

Monday – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Tuesday – 10 a.m.  – 3  p.m.

Wednesday -  10 a.m.  – 1 p.m.; 3 – 5 p.m.

Thursday – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Friday – 10 – 11 a.m.; 1 – 4 p.m.

Library@ IAHS: Look for the bright red helping hand!

Monday - 11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday – 11  a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday -  11 a.m.  – 2 p.m.

Thursday – 1 p.m. –  5 p.m.

Friday – 2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Reviewing your library account

Need to know when your library items are due? Want to renew  a book?
With our new catalogue, it has never been so easy.

Accessing your account information, renewals, holds, due dates, etc is just a click away with the “my account”  feature!

Go to the library’s catalogue and  click on My Account to login. You will be prompted for your username and password. For first time users, your username is the same as your mocomotion userame.  Use the numbers following the zeros in your student number as the password.  Once input, you will be prompted to change your password.

Tip: change your password to your mocomotion password.  Less is more when it comes to passwords to remember!

Start using RefWorks!

Are you using RefWorks? If not, you should be!

RefWorks is a web-based citation management tool that can save you lots of time. RefWorks helps you track and organize your research by keeping a list of records that you export from the library catalogue or databases. This means you won’t spend time searching for missing citation details or trying to track down an article you read.

RefWorks also helps you format your citations and can automatically generate a bibliography in your chosen citation style.

As a Mohawk student you have free access to RefWorks. Click here for instructions on how to set up your account.

If you have any questions or need help using RefWorks, just Ask Us!

The BRAIN_blog – Reloaded!

The BRAIN_blog’s back in town! You may remember the BRAIN_blog from its previous incarnation as your source for the latest news from the library and web research world! Well, the BRAIN_blog has returned and features not only the hottest scoop from the Library@Mohawk but also research tips and tricks geared especially toward the Mohawk College student! And now there is more BRAIN_blog than ever – we’ll be pushing all of this newsy goodness at you 2 – 3 times per week! Check back soon – you’ll be glad you did!

Book Review Contest

Hey Everybody! Just a little note about a contest we’re running for the Spring semester. We invite you to write a review of a book in the Library@Mohawk collection. Fiction reviews are preferred but if you only read non-fiction, that’s no problem, we’ll accept reviews of non-fiction books as well. Check out the reviews written by C.E. students in the Winter Semester for inspiration.

• We’ll accept submissions until Friday, May 23rd.
• Your review should be 500 words or 1 page long.
• Send entries by email to colin.clarke1@mohawkcollege.ca, attach them as Word documents.
• The book you review must be in the Library@Mohawk’s collection. We’ll accept a donation of a book that you’d like to review if we don’t have it in the collection.
• The winner will receive a gift certificate from Bryan Prince and mention in the Spring edition of the Library@Mohawk Book Review. One prize will be granted for fiction and one for non-fiction.

If you have any questions contact:

colin.clarke1@mohawkcollege.ca

or

cynthia.williamson@mohawkcollege.ca

Library Survey & Copyright

1. Library Survey: March 3^rd to 14^th

It’s that time again…the Library @ Mohawk wants to hear from you! From March 3rd to March 14th, you will be invited to complete the LibQUAL+ User Perception Survey. This is a very long name for an online survey that will only take 8 or 9 minutes of your time.

Don’t be shy – this is a great chance to let us know your opinions so we can make improvements to the Library‘s services and programs. Tell us what you think – the good and the bad (or not so bad) and you will be entered to win some great prizes like an iPod touch. The Library @ Mohawk is your library so make it count.

Check out The BRAIN or for more information on the survey.

2. Canadian Copyright Law Changes

The Government is looking at changes to our copyright law right now and since copyright affects us all, we thought we’d give you some info about what’s going on. The process hasn’t been that transparent so I can tell you more about who has been lobbying the government and what they’re requesting. In particular, the Canadian Library Association has sent some recommendations to the Government. I reprint portions of their letter to the Minister of Industry, Jim Prentice and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Josée Verner:

“First, should there be new copyright legislation, it needs to be carefully crafted so that it punishes copyright-infringing behaviour but does not ban devices that might be used to circumvent technological prevention measures. These devices have legitimate uses, such as enabling the print disabled to access copyrighted material; allowing libraries to preserve and maintain digital collections; allowing ordinary Canadians to exercise fair dealing; and allowing anyone to access protected material after its copyright expires. To ban the manufacture or distribution of “circumvention” devices risks punishing all Canadians for the actions of a few who abuse copyright….

Second, the government needs to recognize that government documents and government data belong to all Canadians and that all Canadians should have liberal access to these materials. Canadians often pay for government information several times over. For example, provincial and municipal governments must purchase Statistics Canada census material that Canadian taxpayers have already paid for once. Crown copyright needs to ensure that nonprofit use by Canadians of all government information doesn’t require permission or payment from the government. Instead acknowledgment that information has been taken from a government source should be sufficient.

Third, persons with perceptual disabilities must have the same right to access copyrighted materials as all Canadians have. This right should apply regardless of format in order to accommodate their particular needs. Legislation is required to give persons with perceptual disabilities access equity with others. The desire to punish counterfeiters and pirates should not also punish persons with perceptual disabilities by banning devices that can be used to legitimately access material that is blocked to them by technical protection measures.”

If you would like more information here are some places to look:

Canadian Library Association

Canadian Association of University Teachers

http://www.michaelgeist.ca (Michael is a Canadian coyright guru, he a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law)

Next week, it’s all about Net Neutrality! Stay Tuned.

Planning, learning and growing

Greetings BRAIN_blog readers.

Even though its almost the end of January, I seem to still be in New Year mode. You know, thinking about new things, planning and making those dread resolutions! Foremost on my mind? Professional Development, both receiving and giving. I’m planning, trying to wrap up a research project with a colleague. We’re gearing up to present our findings to folks and get an article ready. I’m looking at the conference calendar and trying to decide what would be best for my learning goals this year. Do you make goals like this? Maybe your learning path is already well established and you’re moving along it just fine. Did you know that our employer will put $600.00 annually towards all full-time employees’ professional development? Whether your learning path is underway or this is the year you start – talk to your supervisor, talk to HR, make this a great learning year for you.

Your Mohawk librarians are gearing up for one of their favourite annual PD experiences. Next week, we’re off to the Ontario Library Association conference. It is held annually at this time of year in Toronto. We always come away from it brimming with enthusiasm for our profession and with lots of good ideas. The seed for this very blog was planted at the OLA conference a few years ago! It is so good to see what others are doing in their libraries and to be able to blow our own horns a bit. Presentations at OLA will be done this year by 4 Mohawk librarians! Don’t worry about being abandoned though – our excellent Information Services staff will be here, on the front lines, giving the same fabulous service that they always give.

I am also excited that the annual Ontario community college conference called This is I.T. is being hosted here at Mohawk this spring. Our colleagues over at the Centre for Teaching and Learning are organizing this one for us. Check out their blog for more information. They sent out a call for session proposals not too long ago, there’s still time to submit something. I hope to see lots of Mohawk folks telling others about the exciting things they’re doing in their classrooms with technology. Be sure to mark this one on your calendar. I attended in Durham last year, its a great learning experience.

Maybe your professional development this year will involve writing and publishing? Maybe self-publishing is an option. A reliable self publisher allows you as the author to publish your writing as you would like to see it published. It gives you lots of editing and creative control over the final product. If this appeals to you then maybe Lulu is for you. The ever reliable Resource Shelf pointed me to an Educause article about a web-based, self-publishing service called Lulu, it’s called 7 Things you Should Know About Lulu. Check it out.

Lastly, I promised you some more information about our Library@Mohawk Book Review. Ladies and gentlemen, start your reading and writing engines. We’d like you to read a book from the Mohawk fiction collection and send us a review, around 250 words long. If you really prefer to read non-fiction, we’ll take reviews about it as well. I’ll keep you posted about dates but at some time towards the end of the semester, a judging panel (made up of instructors and librarians) will decide on the best reviews submitted. We at the BRAIN will publish them on the BRAIN website. We hope to make this an annual affair so please join us and get the first one off to a roaring success. Keep an eye on Mocomotion for more information about final deadlines and maybe some incentives or prizes along the way. Happy reading. We’ll post more information about where to send your reviews on the BRAIN, stay tuned.

Technology Trends for 2008

Happy January Everyone!

This time of year a lot of the blogs I follow are doing top technologies for 2008 lists so I feel compelled to join in.  I don’t think I’m going out on too much of a limb with anything I have to say.  We’ll have to remember to check back in December to see if I was right or not.

1.  Social software sights like Facebook and MySpace will continue to be popular with folks.  There are those predicting their decline, MySpace in particular has not had the huge growth that Facebook has had in the past year.  I simply feel that people have become accustomed to using these sites and the habit won’t be broken easily.  In Libraryland, we’re still wrestling with how much of a presence we should have on these sites, I think more libraries will figure that out this year.  My own feeling is that a little bit of promotion is not a bad thing but that we really shouldn’t be too actively seeking friends, poking people or writing on their walls.  I’m wondering what, if anything, instructors are doing with these sites.  I know some who have accounts and interact with their students on Facebook.  Post something here and let us know what you do.

2.  Open Source Software will become more well known and used by more people.  Open source software, that is software developed by communities of programmers and usually free, is becoming more common place.  Libraryland in particular is seeing movement towards open source software for library resource management.  The Library@Mohawk will have news on our own open source venture soon!   Open Office is an example of open source software that you might want to try – it’s a free software suite very similar to MS Office.    There is even an open source Course Management System called Moodle that many people are using.

3.  E-books will become more popular.   I think lots of people have predicted this every year for what seems like many years but this may be the year that we’re finally right.  You will remember that I wasn’t so thrilled with the Kindle e-book reader but I do think it will help e-books take a leap forward this year.  I’m looking for an e-book version of a textbook for an instructor and I think the book store get some e-book requests this year too.  The publishers still need  to get more comfortable with licensing and access issues, but, I repeat, I think this will be a break out year.

4.  Software as a Service will really make its mark.  SaaS is software that you access via your web browser.  You don’t have to download it to your hard drive.  The software is hosted on a server with a vendor and you access it there.  The big plus – your stuff is available wherever you are.  No remembering to save files to your usb drive or email things to yourself (my favourite file saving method).  For busy I.T. folks, it means no servers to purchase and maintain. I’ve been using Google Docs, which, in many ways falls into the SaaS category, to work on a  project with a colleague.  It’s great, we can each edit and add things to what more or less looks like a Word document and everything is all in one place.  If you have a Gmail account, check out Google Docs, it is really neat.  Wikis and blogs are a good example of this kind of web-based software, like Google Docs, they’re great for collaboration and highly mobile folks.  It is the savings on servers and maintenance for big commercial software purchases that will really push people towards this option.  As an example, there is library software that can cost almost $200,000 including servers or you can allow the vendor to web host it for you and spend under $80,000 – it makes a big difference.

5.  Computers are going to continue to get smaller and more mobile and the touch screen will become more popular.  You heard me singing the praises of the Apple iPod Touch in December.  It’s popularity and the popularity of the iPhone, which has similar touch screen technology, will spark some imitation I think.  Our phones really are turning into mobile computers and, increasingly,  making our library’s online resources compatible with these mobile devices is going to be important.  I’m proud to say that the BRAIN website has been mobile compatible for quite a while now.  Do you find that your students are accessing resources on hand held devices and not just phoning, taking pictures and texting each other?

Some Library@Mohawk news:  We’re going to be sponsoring a book review contest and e-publishing book reviews written by students.  Watch theBRAIN for more information in the coming weeks.

Lastly, I’d like to send out kudos to our food services folks, Chartwells.  They’re now offering fair trade, organic coffee at the Moco Cafe in i-wing.  Yay!  And kudos to all of you out there drinking it, I went down for coffee at 9:00am this morning & the fair trade container was already empty and just being refilled!  Now if everyone could just remember to bring in their own mugs and stop throwing all those Tim’s paper cups in the garbage, we’d really be going in the right direction!