Three Overriding Functions of Libraries

An academic library performs three overriding functions for its institution

1. Build and manage a relevant, high quality collection of information resources;
2. Facilitate and maintain efficient and effective access to information resources;
3. Provide instruction and support regarding the use of information resources. (Also called information literacy.)

All library services can be mapped to one or more of these three functions. Each function is distinct and deserves respect.

• A library can have a relevant, high quality collection of information resources that nobody could access or know how to use.
• A library can provide effective and efficient access to information resources but the resources could be of low quality or no one knows of them or how to use them.
• Or the library can teach and support the use of information resources but they are of low quality, of low value, or no one can get to them.

Therefore, all three of these functions must be safeguarded in order to provide to Indiana State University an effective, relevant library.

In addition, the library includes employees with specialty skills and knowledge that add value to the university and control costs. For example, units within the university have in the past purchased and managed their own information resources. But the library has an employee with professional expertise and familiarity with the contracts and licensing of information resources, which saves the university money lost to nonoptimal contractual commitments to information resources. In addition, university faculty teach students how to find and use the information resources within their major. However, ISU librarians have spent years specializing in the information resources of specific disciplines and provide instruction and support to students, freeing up faculty time.

Because these three functions distributed and shared amongst various librarians and staff with varying areas of expertise, varying levels of experience, and various roles, an efficient, well functioning library system requires the cooperation and interconnectedness of the many different units.

Finding Theses and Dissertations

Researchers sometimes want to find a dissertation or thesis. Sometimes they will be working on their own dissertation or thesis and they wish to see examples. Sometimes they specifically wish to find one awarded by Indiana State University. Sometimes they found the dissertation or thesis in references somewhere and they want the full-text for their project. 

Dissertations and theses can be very lengthy documents, like a book. Therefore, they can be huge files that are difficult to share via e-mail. They may be proprietary, in that they legally belong to the author who has not given permission for it to be shared free online. The print manuscript may only be held by one library in the world.

However, the authors of dissertations and theses want people to read their works. The Library can obtain a copy of a dissertation or thesis for you. Sometimes they are available online within a digital repository at a university. Or they may have been published into a book and be available from multiple libraries. Regardless, the ISU Interlibrary Loan service can help you obtain a copy of a dissertation or thesis. 

More information about dissertations and theses as sources and about how to find dissertations and theses are available at the following Guides.

• About Dissertations
• Finding ISU Theses and Dissertations

And you may always contact the ISU librarians to get help finding out more about dissertations and theses...or other sources. 

Can't find full-text? That is what Interlibrary Loan is for!

Can't find full-text? That is what Interlibrary Loan is for!

About Interlibrary Loan. Click the video to see options to enlarge and view.

Interlibrary Loan is a service utilized by most libraries in the United States to get information materials for their patrons. 

Because most libraries do not have the budget to buy items or access to EVERYTHING that our patrons may wish, libraries share. If the ISU Library does not have an item you want, we can request that another library send us the item at no additional cost to you. 

At Indiana State University, Interlibrary Loan is a service provided free of charge or ISU students and employees. Students have essentially already paid for Interlibrary Loan, so you might as well use it! We want you to get the most appropriate information resources for your assignments and research projects in order to do your best work. 

An Analogy for Library Content

Have you ever wondered what librarians are dealing with when we are purchasing and managing content for you? 

Let me compare it to something that may be familiar to you.

I own a smart television. (Because I am philosophically opposed to high cable bills but that's another matter.) When I set up my television, I have to decide what apps to install to view shows. Some apps are free. PlutoTV provides free channels. Amazon Freevee provides free channels. There is some overlap in channels between PlutoTV and Freevee, but I am not sure that the same channels are offering the same show/film at the same time from one service to the other. In addition, I have an Amazon FireStick for a non-smart television. The FireStick also offers channels and shows, but PlutoTV through the FireStick seems to include different channels than PlutoTV on my smart television. PlutoTV and Freevee show scheduled shows not watch on demand...I think. 

In addition, other subscription apps are available through FireStick and the smart  television. Some offer the ability to watch films and shows on demand when I want them. So I must make decisions whether I wish to pay for these subscription apps. Do they offer some value that PlutoTV and Freevee do not? Do they offer shows and films that I wish to watch? How much am I willing to pay for the convenience of  watching something when I want to watch it? I regard my television entertainment as a luxury beyond my costs for essentials of food, housing, clothing, etc. So I am only willing to invest so much in a luxury.

Do I want to pay for Acorn TV or does it have the same shows as PlutoTV and Freevee? Do I want to pay for Amazon Prime to watch movies? Or Hulu? Or Netflix? How much does the content overlap? Do they have the same movies and shows? Will I be paying for mostly the same content twice? Or three times?

PlutoTV has a Doctor Who channel, which is fun. But it is mostly the older "classic" Doctor Who. It includes Tom Baker, which is good. But perhaps some of the other actors do not interest me. It comes with the smart TV and the FireStick, but are they throwing in something for "free" that I really don't want? If Tom Baker was only 3% of the channel content, would the Doctor Who channel really be of interest to me?

Plus, PlutoTV changes its channels on occasion to add or subtract channels. After all, the apps (free or subscription) probably must pay whom ever owns the shows in order to display them and those contracts expire and may fail their renegotiation. 

And both PlutoTV and Freevee have many, many channels that I never watch because I am just not interested.

Or maybe I can find a specific show or film free online if I know where to look.

SUBSCRIPTION DATABASES AND JOURNALS AND E-BOOK COLLECTIONS

Librarians must make similar decisions when we are evaluating content for our databases, journal subscriptions, and e-book collections. Some databases come with some "free" full-text titles thrown in ("Free" with the database payment). We pay for packages of journals and/or e-books that may contain some content that is not really of interest to our us or our patrons. We must determine whether there is enough desirable content to make the acquisition attractive. In addition, different databases and collections may include some of the same titles. So again, we must determine whether paying for too much of the same content. If new titles are provided, then are they desirable enough? Some titles are almost always present (like NBC and CBS on the television) so we take them for granted.

And some journal titles are desirable but they may not include some of the years of coverage that we want. This is why the library sometimes subscribes to a journal even though we are getting some years of issues for free--because our free stuff doesn't include the newest most desirable articles. Like the Doctor Who channel, we may be given the older less popular Doctors rather than the newer Doctors' seasons.

It is tricky. Librarians have some software that we use to try to help us compare content and we get some statistics to figure out what our patrons are searching and viewing. But there can be some noise in the statistics. People search for topics for a variety of reasons that may or may not affect what they want to be always available. And the databases and journal/e-book collections change content if a publisher pulls its journal title or tries to sell them a new journal.

So I hope this analogy might help you understand what we librarians deal with when we are trying to manage your databases, journals, books, e-books, and other information resources.

Kindle Deals

So I have developed a habit of checking on the Kindle Deals on Amazon. Amazon owns the Kindle, of course, and will offer sales on Kindle books to get people to buy  book and talk about it with their friends in order to inspire more sales perhaps? Sometimes popular and best-selling books go on sale for a day or a month and it can be a good deal as long as you don't mind the Kindle e-book version. Most of the Kindle books are fiction. I mention it here at the university because nonfiction books sometimes go on sale, too.

More often the nonfiction Kindle Deals are books that might be on the New York Times bestseller list or otherwise in the news. Beware the popular science books that may or may not include accurate information. I don't generally see scholarly science or health science books but they do occur. Look at the publisher to determine if the book is a scholarly book. Or consider the expertise of the author to the subject of the book. And is the date too old for the contents to still be up to date and accurate? The Kindle publication date reflects the release of the Kindle book, so switch to the hardcover version to see its publication date to determine the true release date of the book into the world.

I like  some of the history books, too. Sometimes a classic book is offered and I cannot resist it. Or a book that has been made into a movie so they are trying to get buzz about the upcoming movie. Or a new book from a book series is being released so older books from the series are put on sale.

Like any sale, decide if you really want or need it and establish a budget for what you can afford to spend. Sale prices vary but are often between $0.99 and $6.99. Authors have a say in allowing sales and setting prices.

There are Daily Deals that are only on sale for one day. And there are monthly sales. There may be other limited time sales of varying lengths; I cannot tell. Some Kindle Deal books seem to always be listed, which means the price is really the book's regular price now.

I also have a personal Kindle Unlimited account, which for a fee, allows me to "check out" up to 20 books that fit the Kindle Unlimited category. And sometimes the Kindle Deal books are also Kindle Unlimited books, which means I could read them already with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. The Kindle Unlimited subscription currently costs $9.99 a month. Kindle Unlimited rarely includes bestsellers so consider whether it includes the books you like to read.

• Kindle Deals
• Science Vendors Guide

Social Science Data

A method for novices to become more acquainted with data and statistics would be to subscribe to the e-mail newsletters from the Census Bureau and from FRED St Louis. (That is the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis). Governments collect a lot of data and statistics about various industries and sectors of the country and the world. Citizens can take advantage and access much of this data. The newsletters often inform people about the the data and statistics and present interesting analyses. Students asked to work with data may get ideas of what data is available and how it could be used for their own purposes.

• US Census Subscription Requests  to sign up for various e-mail or text newsletters from the United States Census.
• America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers 

Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis is the one closest to Terre Haute, IN, and the one most likely to be supplying analyses relevant to the Terre Haute.  

• Find and Search for Teacher Resources | Education (stlouisfed.org)
• Subscribe to the FRED Newsletter at the bottom of the webpage. 

It can be interesting to skim down the newsletters to see what's new in data analysis.

APA Style Blog

The American Psychological Association (APA) features an APA Style Blog on its website. As you know the APA is the organization behind APA style, which specifies how many disciplines should format their professional writings. If you have made use of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, you know that the book does not always answer every little question. The APA Style Blog can provide some helpful supplementary information about citing or other APA style questions. You may sign up to receive an E-mail alert of new postings. Many social sciences disciplines use APA style, such as education, business, nursing, criminology, and of course, psychology. 

APA Style Blog https://apastyle.apa.org/blog

American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association. https://indsu.iii.com/search/?searchtype=t&SORT=D&searcharg=Publication+Manual+of+the+American+Psychological+Association&searchscope=2 

Evernote web clipping software

Evernote https://evernote.com/ is a useful software that can be used to save a webpage or a segment of a webpage. I use it to save online webpages to read later. Or I save them to make sure so I have it in case the webpage is ever deleted later. 

Evernote says that it can be used as a planner and all around productivity app with e-mails, tasks, and calendar, but I have not used those features. I would be wary of using it in such a way for work. Some software is not compatible with ISU software and technology. But Evernote is very useful for saving webpages.

You can make a free account for up to 60MB monthly data. For a fee, you may use more data. Evernote Plans. Apps are available for your phone and devices, too, that can be synced with your account.

What is Evernote?   Jul 21, 2021

Back to school research and sharing tips from an Evernote student intern

Aug 10, 2022

Welcome to ISU for Fall 2022 & Pixabay

Welcome to ISU for Fall 2022! I am trying out a blog this year to see if it will help communicate tips and assistance to library users, particularly in the science and health sciences, which are my areas of expertise. 

It is the day before classes start. We librarians have been contacted by a few students who are trying to get a head start. I have a few things I want to finish before tomorrow's first day of classes. 

PIXABAY.COM

I tend to default to Pixabay.com for copyright-free images. This is NOT my first stop for images in health and science if I wish to make sure images are accurate and error-free. For those, I use the links on the Guides posted by the ISU librarians. Always cite where you got the image unless you are certain that you needn't. If in doubt, cite!

PRO RE NATA

Pro re nata is Latin. It means "as things stand" or "under the present circumstances" or "for the present matter." In a prescription, prn means "take as needed."

Therefore, take this blog as needed.

Shelley Arvin

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Pro re nata. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved August 19, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pro%20re%20nata