A good research project involves lots of little details — we can help! Show us your assignments (or better yet, plan them with us) and we can let you and your students know what resources are available. We can point your toward which of the 31 professionally curated databases is the right place for an organized, well resourced start for your students' project. We'll find websites for specific projects, and are eager to purchase materials that fit into your curriculum. Our Research Guides offer a glimpse of the skills work we build into our lessons. Can we build one for your project? You can book time in the library, reserve computers, and ask for assistance with your students … which can be in your classroom or a computer lab, if more convenient. And don't forget to give us a "heads up" on units you assign for independent study, so that we can have materials available for them.
Given advanced notice, we can compile a list of books, audiobooks and e-books to support a teaching unit. Examples that appear in our library catalog under "Resource Lists" are Dan's World War II Fiction, Meaghan's Non-fiction, Catherine's Short Story Collections, Catherine's Teen Angst. The lists are online accessible to students from anywhere (just use the catalog link from the library's home page.. Students have easy access to the book summaries and a note on whether the book is available for checkout.
The library has a large collection of AV materials such as DVDs, Videos and Audiobooks in addition to our online databases.
Teachers are encouraged to use Learn360 and Discovery Learning streaming video sites for classroom applications. Details on access can be obtained from the ITC. Cable in the Classroom guides are also made available each month in the library and through team leaders and department heads.
The library maintains a professional collection and encourages teachers to use the several databases within Gale/Cengage and EbscoHost which provide you to access to information for your professional needs. Look there for its "Professional Development" collection as well as the "Psychology Collection." Look also under "Child Development" and additional categories related to education or your particular field of study. The librarian can help you gain skill with these time-saving research databases– just set up a time to get together. She can also help you establish a NoodleTools account to organize your personal research projects, or to gain access to your students' ongoing projects, work logs and growing bibliographies, notes and outlines as the progress.
In addition, you'll find a wide selection of books and journals available at Syphax Center. Your librarian has a comprehensive list of local university libraries where you or your students can access and use those resources on campus. Some libraries even offer borrowing privileges and a "surface" level of access to database "titles" of articles to search up before you go. Come learn more!