the Empire State College Library blog
Published on May 23, 2013
In need of a solid introduction to using the library to find scholarly journal articles, and doing effective searching? Two Summer dates (June 18 and June 19) have now been added to the Workshops page.
Register now as these will be the last time this workshop is offered before the Fall term.
Example Blackboard Collaborate workshop slide.
Published on May 14, 2013
You may be wondering where to find your textbooks or maybe you just want to know if the library has your textbooks. Did you order e-books online through the bookstore and you now need to know where to find them?
The first place to check for your textbooks is the college bookstore at www.esc.edu/bookstore. They have information on how to find your books, how to order online and their contact information listed there. If you have any questions or need help ordering your books, contact the bookstore directly.
If you ordered e-books for your courses through the college bookstore, you should have received an email with the information about how to access your e-book. You can contact the bookstore if you do not have this email and they can assist you. www.esc.edu/bookstore
You are welcome to check the library e-book catalog to see if we have any of your textbooks in our online library but it is rare that we have textbooks available. You can search the e-book catalog by clicking on Books on the library homepage at www.esc.edu/library. If you do a search and your book is not listed, unfortunately, the online library does not have that book.
You may also have readings located in your course. Often the instructor will list how to access the reading or might include a link to the reading.
When all else fails or you still are not sure what to do, it is always best to check with your instructor.
Published on May 8, 2013
If you need to find a book or journal that isn’t available in the online library at Empire State College, you do have some options.
Published on April 25, 2013
The Online Library maintains a collection of text and video How To tutorials about library and research skills. Later this week, many of the How Tos will be updated, and some new ones will be added.
An example of one of the new How Tos.
The new How Tos are built in the LibGuides platform, which allows us to format the page for greater visual appeal and ease of use. It’s also fully integrated with Ask A Librarian, so you can chat with a librarian using the chat box on the right side of every How To.
While we will be updating our How Tos Guide with the new links, the old pages will remain available until August 30, 2013 (before the start of the September term). On that date, we will turn the old pages into redirects, so going to the old How To’s URL will drop you off at the new How To. The old How Tos will finally be deleted on February 22, 2014 (after the end of the November term). It is very important that you update your bookmarks and course links to specific, individual How Tos as soon as possible! You do not need to update any links to the How Tos Guide, because that is staying in the same place.
Old How To with a notification at the top. Please update your course links and bookmarks in advance of the September term, or by February 21, 2014 at the latest.
Published on April 22, 2013
Proquest is performing maintenance and will be down for 1 hour to update their systems.
Users will not be able to access any of our Proquest databases on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 from 6am-7am, approximately.
We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have issues accessing Proquest after this time frame, please let the library know.
Published on April 16, 2013
Citing information from the web can be confusing and ambiguous, but APA and MLA have official ways to cite blogs and other kinds of social media. Here they are:
Click to view the source of the image – Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.
As usual, if information is missing, like the first and last name, just skip them and include as much information as you can find.
And remember that both APA and MLA like you to introduce the source of the information in your sentence, like this:
According to Dr. Margarita von Brewerschlitz, by the time your BAC is .08, you are already too drunk to make good decisions (personal communication, June 1, 2010).
Published on April 14, 2013
This post is just so that the newsfeed on the library web site will update. 
Published on April 14, 2013
We appear to be back up and running. A huge thank you to the Sunday staff of the Empire State College TechInfo Helpdesk for getting this fixed!
The library login is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please DO NOT contact the library or helpdesk about it; we know about the problem and are working on fixing it.
Check back for updates. We will let you know as soon as it is up and running again. We are so sorry for the inconvenience!
Published on March 29, 2013
As the Fall term starts, you may be new to the online library. Since it is not familiar to you, it can be tricky to know where to go for what you need. This is a quick guide to what the links on the library homepage mean and where you need to go to find what. As always, if you have any questions, let us know!
You start at the library homepage which you can find at www.esc.edu/library or by clicking on Library on MY ESC
You will automatically be on the Find tab. This lists all the items you can find in our library. Here is more information.
Resources by Subject is the go to place to find research information. Click here and select your subject area to get a customized list of library resources relevant to your topic. You can then click on a database to search for articles or select a tab to get a different type of library resource like e-books, encyclopedias, and more.
Article Databases is next on the list. Here you will find an alphabetical list of every database the library has in our collection. There are over 100 databases listed so you only want to go here if you know a particular database that you need to search in. For example, if your instructor suggests that you search in JSTOR, go here and scroll to J to find JSTOR.
Newspaper Databases is similar to Article Databases but it is a shorter list. We have 17 databases listed here where you can specifically search for articles found in newspapers. Go here and select one of the databases to do your search.
Journal Finder is the place to go if you know the title of the journal, magazine or publication you are looking for. If your instructor said to look for a particular item, like Newsweek, you can go here and search for Newsweek. Then your results will show you what databases have that item and for what dates. If you just need to search in that journal, pick a database to search in. If you have specific citation information for an article, you need to look at the dates listed and pick the database that has the dates you need.
Books is the place to search for e-books in the online library. We do not have a building so we do not have print books. We do have a large e-book collection available. You can view chapters or entire books online in these collections. If you cannot find an e-book, click on the tab for Print Books and you can search to see if a library near you has it.
Next you will see Multimedia listed. This is an area of the library where you can search for videos, images and audio items. All of these items will be online only. When you get to this page, you will automatically be on the Videos tab. If you need images or audio, click on the tab for that and you will see a list of resources.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias is an online version of a library reference area. This is where you can find our online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and more. You can find background information on your topic here as well as definitions, translations, facts and figures.
Cite Your Sources is the place to go when you need help documenting the resources you use in your assignments. To avoid plagiarism, you need to properly cite your sources. When you go to the Cite Your Sources page, you will see some basic info and tools listed, like RefWorks. If you need help with your specific citations for an assignment, click on the tab for the citation style your instructor wants you to use. If you aren’t sure which style to use, ask your instructor first. There are style guides and information links available. For more information on how to use these style guides, see How to Cite Your Sources
Finally, Library Workshops is the place to go and see what workshops the library has to offer. We have live @Home workshops that you can attend right from your computer. This is a way to go step by step through learning to use the library, get hands on practice and have a librarian there to answer your questions. You can find out more information and register for workshops here.
Published on March 22, 2013
The Empire State College online library offers a series of @ Home Library Workshops. We use a live online classroom so you can attend the workshop from the comfort of your own home. You can learn how to use the library more effectively, save time and effort doing research for assignments,
For information on the technical requirements to take these workshops, please visit: Participation Requirements
To see available dates and times and register for library workshops, please visit: Upcoming Dates & Registration
Not sure which workshops you want to register for? See below for descriptions and more information.
a. Research Skills 1:
You will learn how to:
How to effectively and efficiently do research and navigate the college’s online library, which includes searchable access to millions of full-text journal & newspaper articles and other resources. Ideal for those new to the college, new to using the online library or doing college-level research. Optional: bring your own research topic to work on.
b. Research Skills 2:
NOTE: you must take Research Skills 1 (or previously, Introduction to Searching) prior to taking this workshop.
This hands-on workshop will tackle advanced search strategies and introduce tools and techniques to make gathering the most relevant information on your topic more efficient and effective.
Ideal for upper level undergrads who have experience using the online library and doing basic research, as well as for graduate students looking to take their research skills to the next level.
You will learn how to:
c. Citing Your Sources:
TOPICS COVERED:
Learn why citing your sources is so important and where to get citation formatting information for styles such as APA, MLA, etc. Ideal for anyone interested in learning how to avoid accidental plagiarism.
d. Books, Reference & Multimedia:
You will learn how to:
How to effectively navigate, search and use the college’s e-book and multimedia collections and how to locate print books in nearby libraries. Ideal for those new to the college, new to using the online library or doing college-level research.
e. Evaluating Sources 1:
Learn how to tell the difference between scholarly and popular sources, and between primary, secondary and tertiary sources. Know where to find them and when it is appropriate to use them. Learn eleven simple questions to ask yourself when trying to decide whether an information source is trustworthy for your research. Essential for anyone who has to find reliable sources for discussion questions and papers.
f. Evaluating Sources 2:
Learn how to maintain a critical mindset and detect bias, agenda, conflicts of interest, shoddy research methods, misleading statistics, and logical fallacies. Essential for anyone completing a term paper, capstone, thesis, or other research project.
g. Managing Your Citations with RefWorks 1:
You can manage your citations with RefWorks. In this workshop, learn what RefWorks is, how it can be used and create your own RefWorks account. Get an introduction to navigating RefWorks, features available and the basics of how to import References into your RefWorks account. Essential for those who are new to RefWorks and want to learn what it is and how to use it.
h. Managing Your Citations with RefWorks 2:
NOTE: You must take Managing Your Citations with RefWorks 1 (or have already created a login for RefWorks and have some experience using the account) prior to taking this workshop.
Learn how to use advanced features in RefWorks such as importing resources into RefWorks from multiple library databases and e-book collections and creating a bibliography for your assignments. Essential to those who already have a RefWorks account and want to know more about how to use the advanced features. If you do not already have a RefWorks account, please sign up for one prior to taking this workshop OR take the Managing Your Citations with RefWorks 1workshop if you want more guidance.
