Message for Grads from NYU Libraries as End of Semester Nears

It's hard to believe the end of the semester is almost here already!

Please keep in mind that the librarians at NYU Libraries are here to help you with your last research tasks during this crunch time such as chasing down those difficult citations and keeping yourself organized. Make an appointment for consultation help by filling out the form at http://library.nyu.edu/forms/research/consultations.html or use our Ask a Librarian service to get immediate help at http://library.nyu.edu/ask.

-- The NYU Libraries Graduate Student Working Group

http://library.nyu.edu/grads

Two Research Workshops for NYU Grad Students

1. Spring Research Breakfast

Come have breakfast, talk with our librarians about your project, and take care of those lingering research to-do list items. This informal event lasts for two hours, and you can come and go as you like during that time.

Thursday, March 8, 10:00am-12:00noon
Bobst Library
10th-floor Graduate Research Exchange (northwest corner)

2. Spring "Clean Up" Workshops for Grad Students
The NYU Libraries are holding a series of workshops and clinics especially for graduate students, led by expert librarians. These sessions focus on core research skills like:

* Identifying key resources in your discipline
* Organizing your research using an easy personal database called RefWorks
* Finding and ordering research materials from other institutions
* ...And much more

Workshops will be held March 14-21. Find all the details and sign up at http://library.nyu.edu/grads.

Happy New Year from NYU Libraries!

Be on the lookout this upcoming Spring semester for Library classes specifically for graduate students. These short sessions cover topics like developing your research skills, managing your citations, and introducing you to statistical software (if you want to sign up now, see http://webapps.library.nyu.edu/classes).

Bobst Hosts Research Breakfast for Grad Students, Nov. 15

NYU Libraries are getting ready for the final stretch of the semester and invite you to join them for a special event. Come have breakfast, talk with librarians about your project, and take care of those lingering research to-do list items. There will be specialists from across the disciplines who can help get you (re)oriented to library resources, get you started with citation management tools, and help you get the most out of library collections and services. This informal event lasts for two hours, and you can come and go as you like during that time.

Tuesday, November 15, 10:00am-12:00noon
Bobst Library
10th-floor Graduate Research Exchange (northwest corner)

To RSVP, go to http://library.nyu.edu/grads 

Human Development Conference at the University of Notre Dame: Call for Papers

Faces Behind the Figures: Visions of Prosperity, Progress and Human Potential

The Fourth-Annual Human Development Conference at the University of Notre Dame

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, in conjunction with the Center for Social Concerns at Notre Dame and SIT Study Abroad, a program of World Learning, announces a student research conference on topics relevant to human development. This event will take place at the University of Notre Dame on February 10-11, 2012.

The conference is an opportunity to explore interdisciplinary, sustainable approaches to improving livelihoods and advancing human dignity. Our inspiration for this year’s theme comes from Eduardo Galeano’s work, “Those Little Numbers and People.” In it, he observes, “In our countries, numbers live better than people. How many people prosper in times of prosperity? How many people find their lives developed by development?” With these ideas in mind, we aim to uncover the meaning of human-centric development. How do both the real, everyday experiences of people merge with statistical indicators of poverty and development to reveal something about their lives?

All undergraduate and graduate students are invited to take part in this conversation. We welcome students to share their research experiences from a broad spectrum of topics.

For those interested in presenting a paper, please attach your abstract (limit 300 words) and complete the survey questions found on the conference website: www.nd.edu/~hdc. Only proposals received by the Monday, October 17 deadline will receive consideration. Invitations for participation will be extended no later than Monday, November 21. Students who accept invitations to present at the conference are responsible for securing funding for travel and other related expenses. More information will be forthcoming on our website. We hope that you will join us!

Check Out the DSNY Oral History Archive, Developed by Robin Nagle and Draper Students

Freshkills, March 2011 (Photo: Robin Nagle)

In spring 2011, Draper and Museum Studies students in Robin Nagle's "Oral History, Labors of Waste, and the Value of Knowledge" class had the opportunity to launch a new online oral history archive unlike any other currently in existence--one which is dedicated to New York City's Department of Sanitation and Freshkills Park. The oral history projects begun in this class have been collected into one website: the newly-launched DSNY and Freshkills Park Oral History Archive.

Over the course of the spring semester, students conducted interviews with individuals deeply involved with both the history and future of the DSNY and Freshkills Park. Interviewees featured on the website include current and retired sanitation workers and DSNY employees, spouses of sanitation workers, a former resident of Freshkills (before it was converted to a landfill), the administrator of Freshkills Park, and many others.

In the long term, Robin hopes that "the DSNY Oral History Project will have 100 voices from all corners of Sanitation life. Similarly, the Freshkills Park Oral History Project will have recollections from neighbors, workers and planners whose lives intersected with or continue to shape the Park’s future." For now, the website marks a vibrant start to a project that will undoubtedly develop and expand in the coming years.

Check out the archive's website to find out more about the motivation for the project, the narrators who shared their stories and experiences, and listen to full and excerpted interviews.

You can also read a recent article on silive.com about the project: "How Does Your Garbage Disappear from the Curb? Hear from the People Who Make It Happen."

Bobst Launches LibX (Browser Extension for Researchers & Scholars)

Bobst library has recently launched a web browser plugin which "lets scholars connect to resources offered by their library." According to a recent article published in Connect, NYU's Information Technology newsletter, "The NYU version of LibX allows you to:

• Access NYU's collection of books and electronic resources alongside search results in Google, Yahoo Search, Amazon, and WorldCat
• Highlight text on any web page and search for the highlighted term in NYU Libraries' resources; a simple right-click of the mouse enables you to search BobCat, NYU databases, WorldCat and more"

LibX also embeds an NYU search button in your browser, "making it a simple matter to conduct a keyword search of Bobcat for the desired item."

For more information on LibX, check out the full article, here: http://www.nyu.edu/its/connect/w11/libx.html

The LibX plugin can be downloaded from the library website, here: http://nyu.libguides.com/tools

The Dalai Lama Fellowship

New York University has been selected as one of nine universities to offer the Dalai Lama Fellowship, a new international educational program of the Dalai Lama Center.

One fellow will be chosen from each university to receive up to $10,000 toward a year-long project of his of her design in one of four focus areas:

1. diminishing violence;
2. mitigating income and wealth inequities;
3. encouraging cross-cultural and inter-religious communications and
understanding;
4. promoting environmental sustainability.

All full-time students - undergraduate, graduate and professional students - who will be enrolled at NYU in Academic Year 2011 – 2012, are invited to apply.

For more information and to apply, please visit www.nyu.edu/civic.engagement

Please direct any inquiries to civic.engagement@nyu.edu or 212 998-2329.

Announcing Spring 2011 Grad Student Workshops at Bobst

Hello from the NYU Libraries:

As another spring semester kicks off, we're offering a chance to brush up your skills with a series of Graduate Student workshops. These workshops focus on learning how to organize your bibliographies, finding out to how to track down tricky citations, understanding the intricacies of processing and analyzing data, and even simply knowing your way around an American research library. For the complete listing of these sessions, and to sign up, go to:

--> http://library.nyu.edu/grads

You may have noticed that during the last month of the Fall semester we opened our long-awaited Research Commons on the 4/5 floors of the library. The Commons integrates spaces and services designed to enhance productivity and enrich the research process. Come visit the commons and find amenities suggested by, and designed for, graduate student researchers. Lastly, pay a visit to the 10th floor Graduate Student Exchange. The Exchange extends our efforts to provide graduate students spaces that encourage conversation and collaboration and provide a place for grad students to decompress and recharge.

We have been working hard over the past few years to expand and improve our services and spaces to fit your needs, and we hope you'll help us keep improving.

We look forward to meeting you and wish you the best of luck this semester!

-- The NYU Libraries Graduate Student Working Group

NYC Rare Book & Manusc-ript Workshop: Next Monday, Nov. 8

2010-2011 NYC Rare Book & Manuscript Workshop: Session 4

Theological, Literary, and Historical Resources

of the Burke Theological Library

Monday, November 8, 2010, 4-6pm (Burke Library)

John Weaver, Director Burke Library, Union Theological Seminary

Michael Ryan, Director Rare Book & Manusc-ript Library, Columbia University

The fourth session of the NYC Rare Book and Manuscript workshop will provide an introduction to the holdings of the Burke Theological Library. Drawing on the Burke Library’s extensive special collections, John Weaver and Michael Ryan will present the scholarly resources available to students of Theology and Religious Studies, the History of the Book, and English Literature and History. Burke’s holdings include especially strong collections of pamphlets, bibles, catechisms, prayer and song books, and sermons—with emphasis on the literature of the German and English Reformations, as well as American revivalism and missionary movements. An examination of distinguishing features of these books and pamphlets – their paper, type, typography, illustration and bindings – will approach their history as a multifaceted and evolving relationship between religious texts and literary and historical contexts.

To sign up: Send an e-mail to nyrarebook@gmail.com letting us know you'd like to attend. Please sign up only for events that you are fully prepared to attend. A waiting list will be maintained. All events are free of charge.

Please feel free to contact one of the NYU coordinators with any questions at nyrarebook@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop!



NYU Survey Service, Qualtrics, Now Available for Students

Hello from NYU Libraries/ITS Data Service Studio!

Working on a survey research project? Want a tool that will take your survey project to the next level? Try Qualtrics!

Our new NYU Survey Service provides Qualtrics, a tool for creating and administering web-based surveys. This service is available to current faculty, retired faculty, administrators, staff, and students in degree programs.
· You can access the NYU Survey Service through the Research tab in NYUHome http://home.nyu.edu
· Check out the NYU Survey Service (Qualtrics) guide at http://nyu.libguides.com/survey for more info and to get started!

The Data Service Studio can also help you with your statistical, qualitative, or GIS analysis project. Visit our homepage at http://library.nyu.edu/dataservice/

--
Samantha Guss
Data Services Librarian
Bobst Library, New York University
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
samantha.guss@nyu.edu
(212) 992-7304

Rescheduled! MA Thesis Workshop, 3/12

M.A. Thesis Writing Workshop
Led by Professors Robin Nagle and Rebecca Colesworthy

*Friday, March 12, 5-7 PM*
Draper Map Room

This workshop is primarily intended for students who are in the early
phases of thesis preparation, but also for those at later stages of the process. Students will receive guidance on how to refine their topics
and narrow the scope of their theses, and on some of the basic mechanics of writing up their work.

Spring Break "Clean Up" at Bobst: Research Clinics and Workshops

Graduate Students:

Why not use Spring Break to "clean up" your research and organizational skills?

The NYU Bobst Library is holding a series of workshops and clinics especially for graduate students. These sessions focus on core skills like:

* Finding citations and expanding your research
* Organizing your research using an easy personal database called RefWorks
* Finding and ordering research materials from other institutions
* ...And much more

Some of the sessions are one-hour sessions on a single topic, while others are designed to give you a chance to get help with whatever questions you might have. All sessions are led by expert librarians, and take place in the Bobst Library computer labs on Lower Level 1. Classes are scheduled twice a day, every day, with early evening sessions for those coming from work or other engagements.

So you can't go somewhere fun in the sun for Spring Break; you can still make the rest of your semester a little less stressful and a little easier.

Find all the details and sign up at:

http://webapps.library.nyu.edu/classes/


For more information about what the NYU Libraries can do for Graduate Students, see your web front door:

http://library.nyu.edu/grads