News for Undergraduates

You’ve probably seen the scenario played out tons of times in movies, cartoons, comic books or plays: someone with a hunch is hot on the trail of a mysterious lead and needs to confirm her suspicions. She treks over to the town library or archive and proceeds to pour through dozens of dusty papers dating back decades. Finally, after hours of digging (and sneezing) success! She’s found the original newspaper article that proves her hunch was right.

But what if you aren’t filming for a movie and don’t have a month to dig for the research? Not a worry — you can find a number of historical and archival newspaper sources available as digital copies from a few of the UT Libraries’ Historical Newspapers databases.

We’ve got almost twenty different types of historical newspaper databases to choose from, and depending on your research need, you’ll find they offer different types and scopes of coverage.  If you are looking for a newspaper that shows the entire paper of the newspaper as it was when it was published from the mid-1880s until about 20 years ago, try checking out any of the ProQuest Historical Databases: The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.

You can limit your searches to particular dates, types of articles (obituaries, reviews, front page articles), and email yourself the entire PDF of the article as appeared when it was first published.

Check out the entire video below for more information:

More resources:

• Historical newspapers
• How to find newspaper articles

Help the UT Libraries and get a $10 Amazon gift card for an hour of your time.

What: Participate in a one-hour focus group about how you find and use information now that you’ve graduated from UT.

When: Saturday, April 28 from 11:00am-noon or 1:00-2:00 pm (your choice of time, let us know!)

Where: On the UT campus

More details about the study are below. If you are interested in participating, check the eligibility requirements below and email Alison Head with your choice of time (11 a.m. or 1 p.m.) at ajhead1@uw.edu by Thursday, April 26.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you!

- Alison J. Head, Ph.D., Lead Researcher

______________________________
Co-Director and Co-Principal Investigator, Project Information Literacy
Research Scientist, The Information School, The University of Washington
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Library Innovation Lab, Harvard University
(707) 939-6941

About the study:

• We are conducting two focus groups of college graduates from University of Texas at Austin. The research is part of a national academic research study called Project Information Literacy, which is based in the University of Washington’s Information School.

• We work with campuses across the US to study how college students find and use information in the digital age and how these skills and strategies develop over time. This year, our research is being conducted in collaboration with the University of Texas Libraries and the Texas Exes.

The focus group sessions will have between 5 and 10 UT graduates, such as yourself. We will be asking you and a group of other graduates about your ideas, opinions, and experiences for a new study we are conducting.

• The study is about the skill sets today’s college students have and need for conducting research and finding and using information once they graduate and enter the workplace and their everyday lives. There is the possibility of a great benefit to improving the information literacy training students receive during college and once they graduate in the workplace and at large in the communities they live in.

• Findings from the final report will appear in a summary on the Project Information Literacy Web Site in December (2012).

Amazon gift card:

• As our thank you for your participation, we will give you a $10 Amazon gift card the day of the session. (Yes, if for some reason, you leave the session at any time and for any reason, you will still be able to receive the $10 Amazon gift card.)

Eligibility requirements:

• In order to qualify, you must have graduated with a BA or BS from UT between the years of 2005 and 2011 and you must not be currently enrolled in a graduate program at UT, or any other institution this semester.

Check out the new Library Insider: Library News for Undergraduates

What’s Inside:

• Celebrate Research Week @ the Libraries Fair
• A Viva Voz @ BLAC
• On Civil War and Humanitarian Interventions in Africa
• Mini Books Exhibit
• New Citation Tool
• Library Survey
• Featured Resource
• PCL Finals Hours
• Finals Maker Break
• Summer Borrowing
• Research and Win!

Get it delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing at the bottom of the For Undergraduates page.

Between March 26–April 13 you may receive an email invitation to participate in our LibQUAL+® customer service survey.  The questionnaire will only take a few minutes of your time, and it will help the Libraries determine how to best serve your needs.  As a bonus, participants may enter a drawing for a chance to win either a new iPad (Wi-Fi, 16GB) or one of two Kindle Fires.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The new SolarPump Charging Station  that was installed on the PCL Plaza yesterday is a Green Fee-funded project.  Here’s the description of the project from the Green Fee website:

“Solar Powered Campus:  Develop a course that would build and install visible mobile solar powered charging stations in locations around the University of Texas. The goal is to increase interest in solar power at UT by increasing student involvement and knowledge of solar power. The mobile solar powered charging station will be customizable, transportable, and versatile. A commercial solar powered charging station will be purchased to publicize the proposed class. The course will be interdisciplinary and open to all university students.  The course is planned to give research study credit for degree requirements. The outcome of the course will be a fully functional solar powered charging station, as well as community interaction with solar energy.”

The SolarPump Charging Station is the work of Sol Design Lab, founded by UT MFA Design graduate Bethany Ferguson.

Check out the photos of the installation on Facebook.

Green Fee funds were also used last year to upgrade the recycling containers throughout PCL.

Given the popularity of our PCL Presentation Practice Rooms and the need for Mac laptop users to have an adapter to connect to the MediaScape units and flat screen TVs, we now have 6 Mac VGA adapters available at the PCL Check Out Desk.

MediaScape audio connectors are also available for check out for the MediaScape units in PCL 1.380 and PCL 4.110.

Each of these items is available for 24 hour check out.

Questions?  Let us know in the comments or Ask a Librarian.

Sometimes your professors make life easier for you by setting aside popular, expensive, or rare resources that are part of your required reading for class.  Instead of having you and your classmates fight over politely share those resources, they are put onreserve. This just means that you can pick up the book or other required resource behind the check-out desk at any of the UT Libraries.  You’ll either need the professor’s name or the call number of the resource.

One thing to note:
As you’ll see in the below video, this also means that the length of time that you have to keep it checked out is less than the normal 28 days for books. So just keep that in mind when you go in to check out that book or article.

Check out this short video on how to find whatever reserves you need, no matter where you are:

Further resources:

• Find course reserves by course number/name or your professor’s name
• Call or visit a reserves desk at the UT Libraries

Check out the new Library Insider: Library News for Undergraduates

What’s Inside:

• Maker Breaks @ the Libraries for Valentine’s Day
• Romantic Recs from Library Staff
• UTIntegrity Week & Avoiding Plagiarism
• Featured Resource: English Poetry
• Library Enhancements
• Events at FAL: Art:21 Screening and Research + Pizza
• Win Tix from the Benson & the UT Libraries

Get it delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing at the bottom of the For Undergraduates page.

You asked and we listened!

The 6th floor of PCL now features:

• 18 new tables with 12 outlets per tables, for a total of 216 new outlets
• 8 seats per table for a total of 144 new chairs
• Before these changes, about 20% of the 6^th floor seats had access to power — now it’s over 50%

There are also 42 new outlets installed on the 4^th floor, along the SE and SW windows.  We’ve put chairs and small tables by all of those windows to make the outlets more useful.