"Unknown" is the default printer on 1st fl. public PCs

The connection to the Kyocera public printer on the 1st floor public PCs is named "unknown." (Why "unknown"? Ask this guy.) If the printers settings in Windows are set to something else the PC won't print. To check (or correct) Windows' printer settings:

• Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Printers
  
• Right click "unknown" and select "Set as default printer."
• Tip: You can get to these settings quickly by pressing the Windows logo key and typing "s" followed by "p."

Call the Systems Office at 7061 or 7074 if you have problems.

Problematic PDF printing

On Tuesday a student had problems with a PDF form that wouldn't print completely. The problem appears to be with the way the PDF was created by OKCCC, but here's a workaround for the issue:

• Click Print. At the bottom of the Print dialog, click the Advanced button.
  
• The Advanced Print Setup will open. Check "Print as image", click OK, and then click OK again to send the document to the printer.
• The entire form will now print.
  

Where is computer K?

Computer K is in Systems waiting for a new motherboard from Dell. K should be back in service next week.

ADA PC updates and scanner instructions

The ADA PC has been updated with MS Office 2003, Firefox, and the latest Windows patches and updates.

There are now instructions for using the flatbed scanner on the ADA PC's Windows Desktop. Double-click the "Scanner Instructions" shortcut to view them. Brandon will also post the instructions on a sign near the PC.

Counseling Services

I have placed a brochure explaining SWOSU's counseling services for students on campus in the Reference Notebook. Please read over this brochure and be prepared to answer basic questions about the service.

Collins- Lit 2413 -Confederacy of Dunces paper

Collin's class is working on a research paper comparing / contrasting A Confederacy of Dunces with another fiction work of their choice (see Ref notebook). To find info, search the title (in quotes) in the databases Academic Search Premier and MLA Bibliography.

Kim Kelley - Exceptional Children

This class needs a classroom test for K-12 students. They should use teacher's editions in the curriculum area. Ask them the subject area and do a keyword search in the catalog with a limit to currciulum.

This will get them in the general area. Explain to them the call numbers and how they can deteremine grade level and teacher's editions. Also explain which ones can be checked out and which cannot, as I believe many of the students may not be familiar with the curriculum collection.

Dr. Collins History Paper

I had a student ask about doing a Weatherford, Oklahoma research paper. I directed him to the reserve shelf where there is a book about Weatherford. Then they are supposed to pick a year and get three sources about what happened that year. I had a difficult time looking up 1996. Everytime I went to look at a newspaper article in various places I kept getting articles that just pertained to Oklahoma History even though I typed in Weatherford, oklahoma history. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the assignment.

Public PC updates: A-U complete

All of the PCs on the first floor (except the ADA PC), the Instruction Room PCs, and the Writing Lab have been updated. Some of the changes include:

• MS Office 2003
• Firefox
• Drivers for the new Kyocera printer
• updated browser plugins (QuickTime, RealPlayer, Flash, etc.)

Roger will be working this week on updating the laptops.

Network printer & quotation marks -- problem fixed

This problem has been fixed. -- Jon

There has been a problem that has come up with students printing essays, english papers, etc. that contain "quotation marks." Thenetwork printer is printing a tilde (~) instead of quotation marks. I have given Jon the information to look into and he will advise further.

In the meantime, I have found that most of these papers can be correctly printed using the HP laserjets located at the Circ Desk, Info Services office, and Reference office. Please advise the students to save to a disk or email, and take it to one of these locations to print.

Argumentative Speeches / Cindy Carley's classes

Just a heads-up!

Three sections of Carley's Speech class will be doing research for a persuasive speech. Students will need print and electronic information. Please refer to the following handout for resources to assist with this assignment http://www.swosu.edu/library/infoservices/instruction/handouts/pro_con.pdf

Some of the issues are in the following areas: sports, education, child safety, poverty, health, social security, stem cell research, cloning, senior citizens, organ donation, self defense, cell phone usage, etc.

A Writer's Reference-Diana Hacker Now at Ref Desk

A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker (R 428.2 H118) is now available at the reference desk. This is the book used in conjunction with English Composition I & II. On occassion, student's will ask for the "Hacker style" and this publication is what they are referring to.

There is also an online version at http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/

Patti Perkins - Basal Reader - Reading Guide for Children

Patti Perkins' Teaching of Reading students will be in looking for Teacher's Editions or currculum books to teach reading to elementary students. They may also refer to these as "Basal Readers."

They should go the curriculum section (remember to remind them that typewritten call numbers may be checked out, but handwritten ones cannot).

E 25.70 T

E - Designates an elementary curriculum
25.70 - is the number for reading
T - Designates a teacher's edition

Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit

Over 521,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Oklahoma must enroll inthe Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit which goes into effect January 2006. Many may soon be in the Al Harris Library asking for help in enrolling. The link attached will enable enrolling people to enter their prescription drugs and find out what their cost will be. 1.First look at: "Want to Learn More About the New Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage? NEW!" 2.Use "Formulary Finder" to enter each prescription drug to get new price. (Click on this blog title to view link)

USB 2 Drives

There was another student today who tried to use a USB 2 pin drive on PC B. The PC wouldn't read it but was able to pull it up on Ref Desk computer.

New public printer info

There's a shortcut to the manual for the new Kyocera printer on the Reference Desk PC's desktop. These are the pages you need to read:

• 2.6 How to load paper
• 4.8-4.12 Correcting a paper jam
• 5.1-5.4 Toner container replacement

You can check the jobs being sent to the printer by clicking the "Printer Jobs" shortcut on the desktop. Print jobs can be canceled from the "Printer Jobs" page or by pressing the red "Cancel" button on the printer control panel.

Zoology/researching animals

There have been several zoology students working to find primary research on a specific animal of their choosing. I gave them three tabs or windows to work with, each with a different database or service: Academic Search Premier, Article First, and ILL. In Academic Search Premier, I showed them a basic search using the Latin term for their animal (in quotes), how to find articles that we have in the library, and how to get articles we don’t have from ILL. In Article First, I showed them how to do a basic search (once again with the Latin term in quotes), how to limit the items to titles held by SWOSU, and how to get articles we don’t have from ILL. The ILL tab or window was to show them how easy it was to request things through interlibrary loan. They were originally working on a basic bibliography but may be back for further research.

Value Line trial username and password

Adri has set us up with a 30-day trial of Value Line. The trial requires a username and password, which I've written on a Post-It on the passwords page of the Reference Desk flip binder. You can give the username and password to SWOSU students and faculty. The Value Line trial is linked on the Database Trials page. Please encourage anyone who uses the database to fill out the Database Feedback Form. The trial runs until about Nov. 17, 2005.

Checking ILL Requests

This is just a reminder. Check ILL requests before passing along to Mary.

Recently, a student submitted several ILL requests. With it being her first time, she was unsure and wondered if the forms had been completed correctly. As it turns out, almost half the requested items are available in our library. Please double-check ILL requests when they are submitted in-person at the reference desk. I think if everyone is diligent in this matter, Mary would appreciate it. :)

Vanderslice/Finding Test Reviews

Dr. Vanderslice's students are assigned an educational/psychological test upon which to find review(s) and a journal article. Please consult the informational handout A Selected Guide to Finding Educational Tests in Al Harris Library and the "cheat sheet" for test reviews in the back of the reference notebook under the "TESTS" tab.

At the very least, they should search the Mental Measurements Yearbook online for the test review. Use ERIC or PSYCHINFO to find the journal articles by typing in the test name or given abbreviation in quotations, for example: "Attention Deficit Disorders Behavioral Scale."

Also consult the "cheat sheet" spreadsheet in the ref notebook. Please add any titles that students ask for that are not already on there. If have any problems, please ask me (Audrey).

Capps/ English 1213 Oklahoma paper

Students in Mrs. Capps English Comp 2 class are working on a research paper regarding Oklahoma History. They should use the following:

For Books: Our library catalog. If they cannot find something, also try WorldCat and use Interlibrary Loan for the materials.

For Periodical Articles: The paper index to the Chronicles of Oklahoma, which is shelved with the Chronicles in the Periodicals section. They could also try Academic Search Premiere, or peruse the paper copies of Oklahoma Today (no indexing available).

For Newspaper Articles: The Daily Oklahoman Archives linked from the Articles/Newspapers page.

If someone is really having a hard time, please suggest to them to schedule an individual research session with Kristi, Jason, or Audrey.

Teacher's Edition of Reading Curriculum/Basal Reader

Students in Education (the Teaching of Reading Class, I think) are needing the teacher's edition of a reading text book. Send them to the elementary area of the curriculum collection. The numbers are 25.70 for reading and the call number will have a "T" at the end to indicate that it is a teacher's edition:

E 25.70 T

There can be a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 following the E to indicate the grade level, so let them know if they really want to look at 5th grade, then they should look for E5 25.70 T.

Also If someone uses the term "basal reader" then what they are looking for is the teacher's edition.

Dr. Hayden's Reference Book List

Dr. Hayden has students locating 4 books in the reference section.
The first title is slightly off on the worksheet so the title search doesn't bring it up. I've listed all titles with call numbers below.

• World Geographical Encyclopedia R910.3 W892
• World Almanac Ready Reference
• Encyclopedia of World History R 903 En196 2000
• Documents of American History R 973 C73d10
  

Helton's Foundations of HPER research assignment

Students of Helton's Foundations of HPER class have been divided into groups for a research assignment. Each group concentrates on a particular issue but each individual within the group focuses on a different part of that issue. The students are expected to finish their research by Oct. 25. The assignment calls for them to gather research on their topic, cite sources, and each individual will prepare a powerpoint presentation highlighting the information researched.

This class will be working in the library on Oct. 11, 13, & 18 from 10am to 11am. They plan to work at the tables next to the Oklahoma Documents collection. I will place a copy of the assignment in the reference notebook along with the handout of print & electronic resources that was prepared for them.

The issues are:

#1--Dangers and effects of drugs on PE, exercise science and sport

#2--Problems facing youth in PE, exercise science and sport

#3--Problems facing women in PE, exercise science and sport

#4--Issues facing individuals with disabilities in PE, exercise science and sport

#5--Issues facing senior citizens in PE, exercise science and sport

#6--Equality issues facing minorities in PE, exercise science and sport

Dr. Gates' Gilded Age History Course

Dr. Gates' class is working on an annotated bibliography assignment this week. Due to personal reasons, he will be gone this week and has asked the library to provide oversight of his students (Tuesday & Thursday 2pm-3:15pm).

The library instruction room will be open during this time. The class size is approximately 30 students so, we need to encourage them to work upstairs. A librarian will be upstairs with the class and back-up will be present for the person on duty at the reference desk due to the anticipated "high-traffic" for each of those days.

Cart of Poetry Reference Materials at RefDesk

This cart of materials has been pulled for Dr. Collin's two sections of Eng 1213. The cart will remain at the Reference Desk for the next week while his classes work on their research assignment. The only time the cart will not be at the Reference Desk is during library instruction M-W-F 9am & 11am.

Their assignment is the same one as the previous two semesters. I will place an updated assignment sheet in the Reference notebook to reflect current due dates; however, the content remains unchanged.

Dr. Burgess - Research Methods

Class is needing to find a psychological test online that they can print out and then submit approval to conduct. Due date of assignment is October 7.

Steps I've used in helping a student find one such test:

• Go to PsychInfo
• Type in keyword or decriptors (if known) AND test*~ in this case DE "Personality traits" and test*
• Find an article/abstract that interests patron and then I googled the name of the test to find a copy online.

Obviously some tests will be easier to find than others and then some may not be online at all (or will cost). Please amend/comment on this post as necessary to include more searching techniques.

*thanks Aud for ideas!

Health Care Institutions - Thompson

The students need to find an article in the health literature about total quality management, quality control, quality circles, or quality assurance published in the last year.

Use HealthSource or CINAHL. Do a phrase search using date limiters for best results.

There is a copy of the assignment in the front of the reference notebook. Please refer to it for additional information.

opening .wps files in word

The networked computers running Word 2002 will not convert .wps (Microsoft Works) files to Word files. The reference desk computer is Word 2003 and will work. So, if you have someone who is trying to open .wps and are getting gobblydegook, then have them save to email, disk, USB drive, etc. and try opening at the reference desk.

IE and Hotmail file attachments

I've helped a couple of patrons who were not able to open email attachments in Hotmail when using the Internet Explorer browser. The solution is to use the Firefox browser instead.

Resume' Writing Wizard in MS Word

Some students have asked about using the Resume' Wizard in Microsoft Word. To use the Wizard, open Word and look at the menu on the right side of the screen. There's a section called "Templates." Choose "Templates on my computer." When the Templates window opens click on the "Other Documents" tab and select the Resume' Wizard.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles - Biological Orientation - Maness

Dr. Maness's Biological Orientation classes are using the Dictionary of Occupational Titles to look up professions. We have the last edition published (4th edition, 1991) on Ready Reference, call # 331.7 D 561 1991 v.1-2

However, the Department of Labor website states: " The DOT was created by the Employment and Training Administration, and was last updated in 1991. It is included on the Office of Administrative Law Judges web site because it is a standard reference in several types of cases adjudicated by the Office of Administrative Law Judges, especially labor-related immigration cases.
The DOT, however, has been replaced by the O*NET. For information on O*Net, go to:

http://online.onetcenter.org/ and search "occupations"

I will get the library catalog updated with the new information about O*NET.

Gaydosik - Language Arts - Linguistics

Gaydosik's Linguistic class must use the American Heritage Dictionary 3rd ed. Ref 423 Am355 1992.

Computer M & L

Let Jon know (email or voice mail) if you have any problems with computers M or L.

Vanderslice - Education – Test Critiques/Reviews

There have been a few students needing test critiques or reviews for Dr. Vanderslice’s education class. Under Vanderslice and Tests in the Reference Notebook, there is a “cheat sheet” to find reviews in three books: the Mental Measurements Yearbook, Test Critiques, and Tests in Print. The cheat sheet lists several tests and where you can find the review in each book by the title’s volume number and test number (page number in Test Critiques). Please review the cheat sheet to make sure you understand how it works. Also, the Mental Measurements Yearbook is now online under the link for Education Articles if you prefer to use an online source.