Transcript
Welcome to the NU Library faculty and adjunct faculty orientation. This video will introduce you to the broad range of resources available from the library including:
- materials supporting traditional library research such as print and electronic books, journals, and databases
- materials for leisure time activities, such as board games, video games, DVD and Blu-Ray movies, magazines and newspapers
- Services to help you integrate the library into your Discovery or NU Online course, such as electronic textbooks and video tutorials.
Basic Searching
Most of the library’s holdings can be located and accessed with a single search through the search box located on the library homepage. You can get to the library homepage by typing library.northwestu.edu into your browser’s address bar or by visiting the Eagle website and clicking the library link at the top left. In common with most other academic libraries, the NU Library is moving rapidly in the direction of electronic resources. We currently offer access to over 250,000 electronic books, nearly 80,000 electronic journals and magazines and over 80,000 documentaries in streaming format. In addition, the library maintains a print collection of about 50,000 books. We no longer have any print periodicals.
When using library resources, you will be asked to login using your NU email login and password. Some important features to note on the main search interface include:
- The ability to limit results by format, publication date and availability
- Location, call number, and availability from print books
- And on the detailed record screen, the ability to auto generate citations in AMA, APA, MLA, and
Chicago/Turabian formats
Advanced Features
We recommend students start their research using the main search box. If you are looking for a specific journal or database, you may wish to use the relevant links on the library homepage. Additionally, faculty should be familiar with the specific resources listed on the subject guides listed under the “Subjects” link. Disciplines supporting graduate degrees will typically have access to a number of specialized databases and tools. Note the availability of the ProQuest Theses and Dissertations Database. This multidisciplinary database includes over 5 million theses and dissertations available in PDF format. This database is not included in the main library search.
My Account and Borrowing
In the menu bar at the top of the library website you will find options for contacting the library and a link to log into your library account. Click on the My Account link and you have the option to view Interlibrary Loan requests, or click on Student/Employee Login to view your borrowing account. Here you will have the option to see the items you have on loan and due dates, items you have previously borrowed, and make purchase suggestions. For faculty and adjunct faculty, books from the General collection are due in 3 months. Most other collections, including games and videos have a 1 week loan period. Most items will be automatically renewed twice unless someone has a hold on that item.
Using Library Resources in Your Class
Scroll to the bottom of the library website. In the “For Faculty” section you will find information specific to using library resources in your Discovery or NU Online class.
- Adopting eTextbooks. The NU Library can purchase ebooks that allow for unlimited simultaneous users. These books can be used as textbooks at no cost to the students. One copy of such an ebook can be used by an entire class of students, allowing the students to avoid purchasing the book for the class. There are over 500,000 books to choose from, but most publishers do not allow traditional textbooks, such as “Introduction to Accounting” to be licensed for group use. Visit the adopting etextbooks page to search the list of available ebooks and learn more benefits to ebook adoption.
- Create permalinks. You may be accustomed to bookmarking a website by clicking an “add to bookmarks” link or by copying the link from the address bar of the website. Unfortunately, links to some library resources are session specific; meaning that if you copy the link in this manner and paste it into your NU Online or Discovery course the link will not work for your students. In order to get a link that will work in your course management program you will need to get a permalink. The process varies between different search engines on the library website, but for the search engines provided by Ebsco, you go to the detailed record of the document you would like to access, then click the “Permalink” icon in the right-hand menu. A box will appear at the top of the page with the permalink. Visit the permalinks page to learn how to create permalinks for other library resources.
- Put materials on reserve. The library is moving away from traditional library reserves, where the library places a book on a separate shelf with an abbreviated loan period. Instead, it is recommended that you either upload a scanned copy of the document you wish to share (assuming the amount is within copyright guidelines) or ask the library to purchase an ebook for the item. If you have no alternative, we can still place materials on reserve for you. Please fill out the form on the reserves page and specify if you would like the item to check out for 2 hours or 3 days.
- Speaking of copyright, are you confused by what materials can be legally uploaded to a course management system? Visit the Copyright and Fair Use page to learn how to make copyright determinations. Don’t hesitate to contact the library if you have questions about this process, as it is quite confusing.
- For additional help with research and writing skills, you may also want to direct students to the “Tutorials” and “Reservations” sections on the library website. The library produces a series of videos and textual tutorials on a variety of research related topics. Please feel free to link to the Tutorial page or individual tutorials if you feel your students would benefit from additional instruction on one of these topics. The “Reservations” section allows students to book a session with the NU Writing Center or a one-on-one session with a research librarian to assist with the research portion of their assignment.
- The Northwest University Archives is a digital archive of documents relating to NU history. If you are developing a class you may be interested in the syllabus archive, located under the “Scholarship” section of the Archives. Here you can find syllabi used by previous instructors for the class. The best way to search is by course code, such as “HIST 1503” Also under the “Scholarship” section of the Archives, you can find all theses and dissertations completed by graduate students at Northwest University.
- For additional suggestions on creating courses, please visit the “Course Development” link in the library website footer.
Fun Stuff: Games, Videos and More
Looking for some leisure time activities? The library has a selection of
- Canon dSLR cameras, lenses and lighting equipment
- Board games
- Video games for Nintendo Switch, XBOX, and PlayStation
- Movies and TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray
- Documentaries in streaming format
- Children’s and Young Adult books
- Free access to the New York Times app, which normally costs over $100 a year.
Thank you for watching this video and God bless!