New Book Drop

You may or may not have noticed a big new shiny metal box outside of Main Hall.

Say Hello to our new bookdrop located right outside of the Main Hall in Parking Lot C (south lot) which replaces our tired and old, paint peeling, rusted and difficult to open bookdrop box.

If you have books or other materials to return, this convenient bookdrop is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and is just waiting to be filled. Time sensitive materials like interlibrary loans or reserves should be taken inside the library for quick return.

National Library Week

If you came into the library this week, you may have noticed our large "National Library Week" Banner behind the reference desk.

National Library Week is a time to remind our students, faculty and staff about the contribution the OSU-Tulsa library, librarians and library workers make to the OSU community everyday.

In today’s economy, libraries offer free resources to help people find jobs, complete research assignments and learn new skills. Worlds connect @ your library, with people of all ages and backgrounds finding entertainment, self-help or their place in the community. With free resources like books, e-books, online journals, DVDs and computer and wifi access, you can do better in school, tackle projects and meet with your study group.

What makes the library unique is access to trained professionals – librarians – to help people find and interpret the information they need to make a difference in their lives. Our libraries also help keep us connected, providing a space for people of all ages, classes and races to come together, while keeping us connected to events and people around the world.

If you haven't utilized the resources at the OSU-Tulsa Library please visit the website or the library space.

Selling the American Way Wednesday April 15th

Please join us this Wednesday April 15th at Noon for another presentation in our excellent faculty lecture series, Selling the American Way.

This lecture is of special interest to anyone who enjoys learning more about American Studies, History, Political Science, Propaganda or International Relations.

Dr. Laura Belmonte will discuss the U.S.'s use of propaganda to help shape foreign perceptions of the "American Way of Life" and its continued need in Foreign policies.

For more information please review our lecture series description.

John Hope Franklin Display

The library has a new display honoring the wonderful life work of native Oklahoman John Hope Franklin who died recently at the age of 94.

John Hope Franklin was an author, scholar and professor emeritis at Duke University whose book "From Slavery to Freedom" is the quintissential and seminal book about African-American history.

He had deep roots in Tulsa, surviving the Tulsa Race Riot in 1921, and graduating from Booker T. Washington in 1931 which used to stand on the current home of OSU-Tulsa campus. Haskell street in North Tulsa was eventually changed to John Hope Franklin Boulevard to honor his work.

Please come by and check-out the current display located in front of the copy center in the library.

TAXES!!!

Its that time again....April 15th is fast approaching...

The basic federal and state tax forms are available online:


Federal Tax Forms http://www.irs.gov/
State Tax Forms http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/link/forms.html

Free online filing can be done through the IRS or through HR Block's Taxcut...there are some qualifications so read the fine print first.

Also on this IRS website is information in obtaining assistance in completing your taxes.

Library Survey...A Big Thank You

The Library would like to thank everyone who filled out the OSU-Tulsa Library User Satisfaction Survey. 118 library patrons participated. We are in the process of evaluating the results and will provide a report once this process is completed.

Aesha John completed the survey and her name was drawn to win the iPod. Beth Freeman, OSU-Tulsa Library Director, presented Aesha with the iPod.

Aesha is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Human Development and Family Science. She will be conducting research with families of children with Autism in India and will be finishing her Doctorate in 2012. In meeting the Library staff to receive the iPod, she remarked that the instruction sessions given by Tom Thorisch, Instruction Librarian, have been very valuable especially in learning how to use RefWorks, a bibliographic citation manager. She also said that she has found Interlibrary Loan to be very quick and helpful in her research. In addition to working on her Doctorate, Aesha teaches classes on the OSU-Tulsa campus and always encourages her students to use the OSU-Tulsa Library.

Mary Hujsak

Writing a Paper? Refworks Can Help

Help learning and using RefWorks Citation Manager Software is available on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons during March and April for groups of two or more people. Please contact Librarian Tom Thorisch at 594-8146 or email him at tom.thorisch@okstate.edu . The session will take forty five minutes. Advanced notice of 24 hours is required to schedule this training.

We want your feedback.

The OSU-Tulsa library is conducting a survey now until March 13th. The library is wanting student and faculty feedback on how we are doing and how we could serve you better.

The library survey is found at the top of the library homepage and should take 5-10 minutes to complete.

The best part about the survey is registering to win the IPOD that will be given away after March 13th.

All completed surveys are anonymous and separated from your registration as well, so don't be shy in your reponses.

Now is the time to let your opinion be known.

New Year-New Services

Two New Services are coming to the library starting this Spring:

• Document Delivery--the library will pull articles or book chapters that you need and deliver them virtually to you within 48 hours of your request. So lets say you find the perfect article for an assignment, but do to work you just can't make it into the library, just order the item needed and we will send it to you. For more information on this visit the Document Delivery Page under Student Services.

• Instant Messaging--Now chat with a librarian while sitting anywhere you have a computer. Instant Messaging will be available Monday-Thursday 9 AM - 7:30 PM and Friday 9 AM - 4 PM. The librarians are happy to assist in your questions. If you have more indepth questions like large research assignments, we recommend setting an appointment with a librarian.

NEW Year...New Web Page

The OSU-Tulsa is making room for new services on our webpage by redesigning the look and the links that are available.

Some of the links have changed so if you do not see a favorite link look around the center of the page or ask a librarian to help. One link that has changed is the Interlibrary Loan link is now in the center of the page under Find Articles or Find Books.

The librarians would be happy to show you around the new webpage, so stop by the reference desk.

Lights Camera Action in the Library

This past Saturday and today the OSU-Tulsa library has been one of the sets for a motion picture that is shooting all over campus this week.

The movie entitled Find Me about a group of college students who uncover the possible location of the kidnapped adult son of a U.S. Senator while geocaching in Tulsa, OK. The students become embroiled in the kidnapping and must save the son to save themselves.

OSU-Tulsa American Studies graduate and writer/producer Joe Myers was very professional in working with the library staff and students today and we wish him and this film much success.

Thank you to all the students who were extra quiet in the library this morning and for changing their route into the library.

Learning New Things

On Fridays the library typically has a calmer feel to it....students are sparce, but focused. You may or may not have noticed that librarians are also sparce in numbers this Friday.

Why?

Professional development. This is how the librarian's stay informed and up to date in their knowlege.

The Oklahoma Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries is having their annual conference in Oklahoma City today at Rose State College. The topic that four of our librarians are learning: "How Secure is Your Security?Prevention, Planning, and Response in Your Library."

As student's graduate and begin their career of choice...professional involvement and development is crucial in staying competitive in today's job market. In the OSU-Tulsa librarian's case...its crucial to keep us up to date to help the students and the library function effectively.

EBSCO 2.0

The semester is more than half way over and students should be now into researching those papers. When searching, you may notice changes.




Databases, those search engines for school research, are constantly changing and Ebsco's databases including Academic Search Elite has gone 2.0. With new redesigned search areas and 2.0 features like exporting to reference manager Refworks and RSS feeds of your favorite searches Ebsco's searching is more user friendly than ever. The power of limiting your search to full-text and date ranges is now found on the front screen as well as in the results area.

Try the tutorial for more indepth information! Or the librarians on staff can always help you with your searches, so come by, e-mail, or call.

Google's New Browser--Chrome

Labor Day was a busy day at Google! The team at google launched their new web browser "Chrome" Monday by using a unique marketing tool...A comic book.

I haven't used Chrome yet, but I will very soon... but if you are interested to see what Google's latest creation is all about. Read the comic!

Great Start to Fall Semester

Welcome to the Fall 2008 school semester. We are all excited to see familiar faces back for further studies and new students learning how to navigate the campus. We've already had hundreds of students walk through the library doors the first week of class.

The librarians are on duty and happy to help any student with questions about campus, computer access, and obtaining the right research materials and homework projects.

Speaking of homework, if you are reading this from home, your office or laptop across campus and don't know how to obtain the information your prof. is asking you to get or you have struggled for more than 30 minutes to find that information...be sure to come into the library for help.

Can you see a theme here? Help is here when you need it. The OSU-Tulsa library staff is committed to making your experience at the OSU-Tulsa campus enjoyable and educational.

One Week Countdown to School

The Fall semester at OSU-Tulsa starts 8/18/2008 and that means the library staff is finishing our preparations for the new semester.

So what are we doing to prepare?

This summer the staff has been attending and giving workshops, learning new technologies and staying current with the ever changing database world. The circulation staff has also been moving the books around to make room for more books.

We have been busy renewing those information resources that are critical for the success of our students. The librarians also review the materials that are currently in our collection and make changes as necessary. Mary Hujsak and Dona Davidson have been involved in updating our webpages to provide better and easier access points. We also prepare for faculty reserves.

The OSU-Tulsa staff is excited to start another semester and all of the work that we are doing to prepare for the new semester should pay off starting next Monday. Please come and visit the library this fall.

Happy 4th of July

Fourth of July is a great time to look at the history of the United States and there are several valuable websites on the internet to discover more about this great nation of ours including these three:

American Memory Project from the Library of Congress.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian: History and Culture.
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government (great for children)

The OSU-Tulsa library will be closed Friday July 4th and the staff hopes you have a safe and fun holiday. We will reopen at 9 AM on Saturday.

A shifting we will go....

Do you have a home improvement project on your agenda this summer? If you answered yes, you are not alone.

The OSU-Tulsa library has a very large improvement project starting the week of June 23rd. A book shift!

What's a book shift?

The entire circulation collection will be moved a few rows back to make room for areas in the collection that are tight. We are moving books to make room for--MORE books!

This is a huge task that the circulation crew is tackling this summer, so thanks to them for working hard at this (also it might be a little noisy in the back of the library).

And if you are used to going straight to your favorite book section...look carefully...it may have moved.

Get your OKEY to get your Education to the next level!

The all important OKEY Account!

What is it? Your Key to the virtual world of OSU-Tulsa!

Want computer access on campus or off campus? You need an OKEY

Want to check on your bursar's account, enrollment, grades? You need an OKEY

Want to get into your Online Classroom? You need an OKEY

How to get it?

If you are a new student and have never been to OSU-Tulsa before the OKEY account is an e-mail address and a password that you will use to access absolutely everything at OSU-Tulsa (especially the library)

Obtaining an OKEY account takes about 10 minutes and can be done anywhere you have internet access. Just follow the link to the OKEY starting page and choose either new users or current users.

Returning students have to reset the password to their OKEY every 120 days by clicking the "forgot your password" area....even if you haven't forgotten but need to reset this is your link!

Need help? Computing at 918-594-8043 or the Library 918-594-8130....

Searching By Subject...a Great New Way

So you have a research paper due tomorrow and you have no idea where to start to search for your topic.

Try our new new search boxes by subject that allow you to search several subject databases at once.

1st: From the Library Homepage

Click on Databases by Subject

2nd: Find the subject of your choice and click on that link.

3rd: Type in your search term in the search box (pictured below)being specific as possible and using " " quotes to make your term a phrase




Now wait for the book to finish turning to give search results.

Follow the links to the article(s) desired.

Happy searching