New Power Search!

Power Search was added in response to the complaints that library searching is too complicated, and people don't know which database to use. It is the first search box you and your students will come to on the library home page. It searches our catalog, thus our book, video, etc. collection, as well as most of the journals and newspapers we have online - over 46,000! It is not as good as Google, but sometimes brings back Google like results - tens of thousands of hits. There are ways to limit on the left hand side, e.g. limit to just books or scholarly articles, or to a specific topic.

Give it a try. Sometimes it really brings up just what you need - or gives you an idea what databases to search. BUT, if you prefer more sophisticated search options, the catalog is in the next tab over, ProQuest Research Library is still under the Articles tab, with links to the rest of our databases by subject. And if you know which database you want to search, the Databases A-Z tab is still there. Remember Women's Studies International, is the main database we have purchased for your program.

Set up a library instruction session for Fall 2010!

If you are teaching a class with a paper that will require library research, I hope you will set up some time with me. Our students really do have a difficult time finding appropriate scholarly sources outside of the free Web. Ideally you can bring your class over to the library for an hour or more, they can all work on a computer in our library classroom, and find the resources they need.The library classroom time is filling up quickly, so please set this up soon, since the hands on work is usually the most effective. If you feel you can't give up that much class time, I can come in and demonstrate available resources to your class - once they are ready to start their research - for as long or as short a time as you would like.

If your students have not had a library introduction, we have an online tutorial ResearchPath (under the HELP at the top of the library page), which we encourage instructors to assign before bringing their class to the library. There are quizzes for which you can see the results - we just have to make sure you are set up properly in ResearchPath.

I can help you create assignments that work best with library research and help you with any research you may be doing on your own. Please feel free to contact me at maira.bundza@wmich.edu or 387-5207.