UHD Library Blog

New Amazon eBook format aims to improve digital publications

From the article:

Kindle Format 8 (KF8) ... will replace Mobi 7. ... gone are the days of the black and white ebook. 

KF8, which will roll out to Amazon’s latest generation e-readers and reading apps in the next few months, provides publishers the ability to develop digital publications that require rich formatting and design functionality. The file format will be an ideal fit for children’s books, comics and graphic novels, cookbooks and even technical and engineering books. 

See the full article from website magazine.

Library service during the Winter Online Term

As we approach UHD’s first ever Winter Online Term, we at the library would like to address some questions that you may have about library service during this time.

 

Will the library be open during the Winter Online Term?

The library will have shortened operating hours December 18^th-23^rd and January 3^rd-16^th.

Winter hours are as follows:

DAY	OPEN	CLOSE
Monday	8 AM	5 PM
Tuesday	8 AM	5 PM
Wednesday	8 AM	5PM
Thursday	8 AM	5 PM
Friday	8 AM	5 PM
Saturday	CLOSED
Sunday	CLOSED

The library will be closed from December 24^th-January 2^nd.  However, we will be monitoring the library’s email Ask-a-Librarian reference service December 27^th-31^st from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Questions regarding placing items on reserve or interlibrary loans may not be resolved until the library reopens on January 3^rd.

Email reference questions can be submitted by filling out this form:

http://www.uhd.edu/library/forms/askform.html

 

Can I put items on e-reserve for my students?

Yes!  The normal rules and procedures for placing items on reserve apply.  Information about course reserves can be located here:

http://www.uhd.edu/library/about/reserves.html

To ensure your students have access to course reserve material on the first day of class, we ask that all items be submitted by December 20^th.  Please be aware library reserves staff will not be available the first week of class (Dec 27-31) to add items to the reserves modules which were submitted late.

Items submitted after this date will not be processed until after the library reopens on January 3rd.

 

I’ve never taught an online class and I’m not sure where to find information

You may want to look at the Library’s Online Instruction FAQ’s page: http://www.uhd.edu/library/about/onlineinstructionfaq.html

The Library Online Instruction FAQ’s page will provide you with contact information, information about online resources, and a wide range of other useful information to help make your online course a success.  In addition, the Library is creating general subject guides for all courses offered during the Winter Online Term.  Your subject guide will be available here by December 18: http://library.uhd.edu/.

Adding the subject guide URL to your Blackboard course will greatly assist your students in their research.

Please contact the library with any questions you may have about library service during the Winter Online Term. 

Have a great Winter Term!

New Library Services for Fall 2010

Welcome new and returning UHD students and faculty. Your library staff has been working over the summer to add new services we think you'll find both helpful and useful.

LibSearch: "Everything Under One Search Box"

Use this new searching tool to find research materials (books, articles, journals, video, and more) all in one place. Start by entering keywords for your topic or area of interest. Your should see a list of results almost immediately. Use the check boxes on the left side of the results list to narrow down to just the materials you want.

LibSearch finds items (books, DVDs, e-books) in the library catalog as well as full-text electronic items (journal articles, newspaper articles, theses, video) in other library databases. You can start finding material right away without having to choose a database or switch between the library catalog and databases. Of course, if you want to use a specific database you can still do so -- just click the Databases tab on the library home page.

For more information, see our guide to using LibSearch.

LibraryGuides: "Your Research Guides to Library Resources"

Our subject librarians have compiled information about, and links to, the best library resources available for research in specific subject areas. You'll find guides to information resources for Business, Philosophy, Criminal Justice, Education, English, and much more. You'll also find class-specific guides and guides on special research topics such as UHD Information.

Browse the available guides, and let us know what you think.

You can access both of these new services from the library's home page at: www.uhd.edu/library/index.html.

Test drive library services and research databases

Much like Google Labs serves as a place to try out new products and services from Google, on the new UHD Library Beta Testing web page you'll find trial access to databases as well as new library services undergoing Beta testing.

Items currently available on the Library Beta Testing web page include:

• AAS Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2

• Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection: Series 1

• Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources

• History Resource Center

• Research Centers Directory

If you have comments or feedback about anything in Library Beta Testing, please let us know at library_feedback@uhd.edu.

by Steve Bonario, Web Management Librarian

Picture book anyone?

The UHD Library has a growing collection of notable children’s books.

In addition to supporting students’ families, this collection is a resource for the English and Urban Education Programs. The courses supported by the Juvenile Collection include Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, Folklore, Bilingual Education, Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Teaching Children’s Literature in Spanish, English as a Second language, Teaching Reading in a Multicultural Classroom, and Reading Curriculum.

 

To find a book in the juvenile collection by subject:

 

1. Go to the UHD Library Catalog Advanced Keyword Search page

2. Enter keyword search terms, such as: first day of school

3. Limit search by location: Limit by UHD

4. Limit by Subcollection: Juvenile

5. Click the Submit button.

 

After steps 1-4 above, your search should look like this:

New Books & Videos - January 2008

The New Books and Videos lists have been updated for January:

• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Economics
• Criminal Justice
• Education
• Engineering Technology
• English
• Higher Education
• History & Political Science
• Juvenile Literature
• Natural Sciences
• Philosophy & Religion
• Psychology
• Security Management
• Sociology & Anthropology
• Videos & DVDs

New Books & Videos (October 2007)

The New Books and Videos lists have been updated for October:

• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Economics
• Computer Science & Math
• Criminal Justice
• Education
• Engineering Technology
• English
• Higher Education
• History & Political Science
• Juvenile Literature
• Natural Sciences
• Philosophy & Religion
• Psychology
• Security Management
• Sociology & Anthropology
• Spanish
• Videos & DVDs

ProQuest Newspaper Databases

The library is now offering additional newspaper databases from ProQuest:

• The Chicago Tribune  (1985 to present)
• The Los Angeles Times (1985 to present)
• The New York Times (1980 to present)
• The Washington Post (1987 to present)

These database join the previously acquired Wall Street Journal (1984 to present) database.  Each ProQuest newspaper database includes full-text articles with detailed indexing that makes it easy to find articles by topic. Each article also includes a "Document URL" that can be copied to share with UHD students and faculty by e-mail or WebCT Vista.

For these and other news databases, please see our News guide.

New Books & Videos - April 2007

The New Books and Videos lists have been updated with items received in April:

• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Economics
• Criminal Justice
• Education
• Engineering Technology
• English
• Higher Education
• History & Political Science
• Natural Sciences
• Philosophy & Religion
• Psychology
• Security Management
• Sociology & Anthropology
• Spanish

Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Premier has been one of the most popular research databases at UHD since 2001.  Starting this week, UHD will begin moving to Academic Search Complete, a new expanded version of the popular database. When it is complete in September 2007, Academic Search Complete will cover more than 9,300 journals and magazines (4,000 more than Academic Search Premier) with full-text articles from 5,300 titles (800 more than Academic Search Premier). Academic Search Complete will also include hundreds of full-text books, encyclopedias, government reports, historical documents, and conference proceedings. This content is provided to UHD by the Texas State Library & Archive Commission's TexShare program with funding from the State of Texas.