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Web Interface Replaces MDUSA

Information and Library Services

Staff of ILS

Information and Library Services

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Reminder to Update Your Instructions and Assignments

Early this summer a redesigned Web interface replaced MdUSA for accessing the library databases and e-journals. Further, in the last year many of the databases have changed their interfaces and search procedures.  Because of these changes library assignments, references to MdUSA in your syllabus, and instructions for accessing articles will need to be updated.  Information and Library Services (ILS) staff will be happy to help you review and update your materials. In addition, librarians can provide library instruction to your students on using the new access system.  Just contact ILS by e-mail at library@umuc.edu or by phone at 800-888-UMUC, and librarians will work with you to make certain your students have the information and skills they need to use the library databases successfully.

Promoting Information Literacy Skills

The Graduate School has identified information literacy objectives for graduates of its programs and expects them to understand the nature of academic research in their discipline.  Graduate students should know how to successfully use libraries and other information resources to identify, evaluate, and use information effectively.  To assist you in integrating information literacy skills into your courses, Information and Library Services (ILS) has created a guide, UMUC Information Literacy FAQ for Faculty, to provide you with information about these requirements and useful suggestions for ways to help your students find scholarly articles, understand the importance of using the library databases for their research instead of simply the free Web, locate reliable materials on the free Web, and develop strategies to avoid plagiarism. There is also a tutorial to help you develop assignments that promote information literacy skills.

What's in a Name?

The names database vendors create for their databases frequently do not reveal much about the type of information patrons can retrieve from that database. ILS would like to highlight two very useful databases that include information onsubjects, especially business and management, not suggested by their titles.

• ScienceDirect
  As its name implies, ScienceDirect is an excellent database for finding information on all the sciences, engineering, and technology. What few people know is that it also includes many journals in all the social sciences, including psychology, education, and sociology journals and a significant collection of journals in business, management, accounting, and decision sciences. The next time you are looking for articles in any of these areas, browse the ScienceDirect journal title list to see what journals are available and/or try a search in ScienceDirect.
• Emerald
  Contrary to its title, you will not find information on minerals, jewelry, or even the Emerald Isle in this database. But it is the database to search if you need information on accounting, auditing and economics as well as all kinds of management: educational, environmental, food and nutrition, general, healthcare, hospitality and services, human resources, information, library and information science, logistics and supply chain, marketing operations and production, police, public sector, quality, and training. For a complete listing of the journals you will find in Emerald, see the Emerald journal listing.

ILS Newsletter

Check the latest version of the Information and Library Services Newsletter for information about new print books, using Citation Linker to find full text articles, links to resources for researching stocks on the Web, and other items of interest.