We’re sad.

We are losing our fabulous Reference Librarian, Sarah Palacios-Wilhelm. Last weekend she graduated GW with her second Master’s Degree (overachiever!) and now she and her family are leaving happy Eckles for a new life in Houston, Texas.

Sarah has been responsible for a lot of great stuff both at Eckles and Gelman. You can thank her for your ability to ask questions via Instant Message through the EcklesInfo and GelmanInfo programs. You also have Sarah to thank for the Eckles Prize (have you entered yet?). On top of all that, she has been a great teacher and source for reference assistance.

Next year we’ll have a bright and shiny new Reference Librarian here at Eckles, but no one will ever replace Sarah.

Good news! Fortune Cookies are back at Eckles.

Better news! Our special Fortune Cookies will remind you about all of the great academic services available to you at Eckles Library.

What have we got?

Reference Services
You can get research help anytime Eckles Library is open using AIM/Yahoo/GTalk: EcklesInfo
OR
You can make an appointment to get help from a Reference Librarian
OR
You can just stop by.
It’s so easy!

The Writing Center
The Writing Center offers free tutorial services in writing at Eckles Library on Sundays: 7:00pm—10:00pm
Stop by Eckles or call (202) 994-3765 in advance to schedule a free, 50-minute appointment.

Math & Science Tutoring
Free math and science tutoring sessions are open and require no prior sign up. All tutoring sessions take place in Eckles Library Room 205. The weekly schedule is below:

Sunday 6-10pm: Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics
Monday 7-10pm: Chemistry
Tuesday 6-10pm: Mathematics
Thursdays 6-8pm: Astronomy & Physics

All this and fortune cookies too? How great is Eckles!

So, while you should be busy getting ready for finals, you’re probably also trying to figure out what to do with your summer. Well, here are a few resources that will make your search easier:

Finding a job or internship:

GW Career Center: gwired.gwu.edu/career/StudentsAlumni/skills/Consulting/

Job Resources:
www.idealist.org
www.summerjobs.com/
www.coolworks.com/
www.studentjobs.gov

Preparing your resume:
Electronic Books:
Resumes for College Students and Recent Graduates
The Resume Makeover 50 Common Problems with Resumes and Cover Letters

Web Resources:
Writing a Resume: www.csuchico.edu/plc/resume.html

GW Career Center Career Resources:
gwired.gwu.edu/career/CareerResources/

Getting ready for the interview:
Web Resources:
Successful Interviews: www.csuchico.edu/plc/interview.html
Interviewing Tips: www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/students/resources/interviewing.htm

So you could travel to a far away, exotic land to help a thirsty community build a much needed water well or you could roll up your sleeves in your own community. My main point is that you should get off your parent’s couch this summer and do something!

Next week . . . study tips for those final exams.

Freshmen students are encouraged to submit a research project of any length or format, along with a one page essay summarizing how they used library resources to complete the project. Students should submit only one project that reflects their best work of the year.

The winner will select one from the following prizes:
$250 Gift Certificate to JetBlue
OR
30 GB iPod
OR
$250 iTunes Gift card

All submissions must include:
Application Cover Sheet - Due May 4, 2007
Research Project - Due May 4, 2007
Research Essay - Due May 4, 2007
Faculty Support Form - Due May 11, 2007

Submissions can be delivered to the Eckles Library service desk or emailed to eckles@gwu.edu. Email submissions should include all of the above information.
The winning project and research essay will be made available to the public.

The Application Cover Sheet and Faculty Support Form will be available from this site later this week as will a complete Selection Criteria Matrix. If you have any questions please contact Sarah Palacios Wilhelm at palacios@gwu.edu.

Those final paper due dates are looming and hopefully you’ve already started tracking down your resources. But, how would you like to refine your skills and boost your results? Lucky for you, we’ve got your back. You can find strategies for finding books and articles here:

Books: www.gwu.edu/gelman/catalog/tutorial/
Articles: www.gwu.edu/gelman/database/articles/

Of course, you could always IM EcklesInfo or GelmanInfo…

Did you know that you can customize Google Scholar? Wait, let me back up - did you know there was a Google Scholar search engine? Google Scholar allows you to search through scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, and professional literature. Now, there are limitations to Google Scholar, the main one being that you don’t always have full access to the information you find on Google Scholar. However, you can customize Google Scholar to include the resources available to you through Gelman to maximize your search power.

Here’s how:

Go to www.scholar.google.com
Select *Scholar Preferences* (to the right of the search box)
In the *Library Links* section, search for *George Washington University* and add GW to your library links

** Bonus Tip: In the *Bibliography Manager* section you can also set Google Scholar to export to bibliographic management software, such as Refworks or Endnote.**

Now select *Save Preferences*

Now every time you use Google Scholar you will notice a “FindIt@GWU Libraries” link. Select this link to see if you have access through Gelman Library and then, when possible, Google Scholar will link you directly to the resource. However, don’t let this be the starting and ending points of all of your research, if you can’t find something find a librarian! We’ve got special research powers, if its out there we’ll help you track it down.

ttyl - Sarah

What’s up with WRLC??

Libraries are infamous harborers of acronyms. Librarians like to make them up and then toss them around at our important meetings; this however, does you little good. WRLC is one term you may see when searching the ALADIN catalog or hear when speaking to library types.

WRLC stands for Washington Research Library Consortium. The consortium is made up of eight schools: GW, American University, Catholic University, George Mason University, Georgetown University, Marymount University, and University of the District of Columbia. What does that mean to you? Well, it means you can borrow the millions of books located at any of these area universities. You can request items using the Consortium Loan Service (CLS - see previous post). You can also walk into each of the libraries and borrow the item directly using your Gworld card.

Find out more about using CLS here: http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/service/circulation/cls/

Your friendly librarian,
Sarah

Hey! Welcome back from Spring Break. I’ve just returned from sunny Florida myself. Upon my return to DC I was rudely greeted by 36 degree weather, which made me seriously reexamine why I got on the return flight. Then I remembered all of my faithful readers . . . So as promised:

Decoding Call Numbers

Books on the library shelves are organized by subject, this requires a complex system of letters and numbers called call numbers. Each book in the library is assigned a call number that denotes exactly where the item belongs. Call numbers are usually found on the spine of the book or the upper left side of the face of the book. Here are some tips for finding books in the stacks (that’s the cool library term for the shelves).

1. Books are shelved alphabetically (left to right) by the top letter or letters in the call number.
2. All books of the same top letter are arranged numerically by the number below.
3. All of the same number are arranged first alphabetically by the letter after the decimal point and then decimally by the number after the letter.
4. If another letter appears after the decimal number, it is also arranged first alphabetically within the previous number group and then decimally.
Here is a sample row:

B351.C3 / BC2.C3 / BC10.C3 / BC15.C3 / BC15.5.C3 / BC15.5.D331 / BC15.5.D4 / BC15.5.D4A1

Now, the most important thing to remember: When in doubt ask a library staff member!

Your friendly librarian,
Sarah

Cryptic Terms in the Library World

The library is full of library lingo that can be difficult to decipher if you’re not a permanent resident of Library World. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll define and explain some of secret library code that is essential to a successful library experience.

CLS (Consortium Loan Service) - The consortium loan service allows patrons to request books from any one of GW’s eight partner schools in the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC), these include, American, Catholic, George Mason, Georgetown, Gallaudet, Marymount Trinity, and University of the District of Columbia. CLS gives you access to millions of books, so you should always find something on your topic. You can find out more information on how to use CLS here: http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/catalog/request.html

ILL (Inter Library Loan) - ILL is a service that allows you to access materials not available thorough any of the libraries in the consortium. If you are looking for a specific title and can’t find it in the ALADIN Catalog or any of the 250+ databases offered by GW, then you can submit an ILL request and the library staff will search the world over (literally the world) to find the resources you need. This service is free to GW students. You can find out how to place an ILL request here: http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/service/interlibrary/

Next time: Decoding Call Numbers and What’s Up with WRLC?
Have a great Spring Break!

Your reference librarian - Sarah

It’s midterms, which means you are probably knee deep in papers to write. Well, you’re gonna need some solid research to support your well-formed arguments. A great place to start your research is a research guide. Research guides provide links to relevant databases and online resources, as well as a list of print resource related to a topic area. Each guide is put together by a librarian who specializes in the subject area, so you can be sure that you’re getting off on the right foot. You can find the research guides here:
http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/guides/

Now that you’ve got all that research, you need to cite it. Well, I’ve got just the thing to lighten your load. Gelman offers a collection of online citation guides, so you don’t have to track down a style guide every time you have a question. You can find the citation guides here:
http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/database/articles/step5.html

You can find these and other great research tools at the Gelman homepage (www.gwu.edu/gelman), just look in the Research Help section.