Welcome to the fall semester!  The Information and Research Help Desk is open and ready to help. We can assist in-person or from online. We are available for helping you with your research and book/resource-finding needs. We also help with information and with some technology questions. If we can’t help we’ll refer you to the appropriate place on campus.

Studying from home? You have options. The Virtual Research Desk is still alive and well! You can chat in real-time with librarians on the Ask Us page by clicking the green “Chat is Online” button. If you already started your search in the Quicksearch box, click the blue “Ask us! tab on the side of your screen to begin a chat session. You can also call at 786-1848 and email us using this form. If you have a particularly gnarly question, we can even Zoom with you!

For fall 2022, the In-person and Virtual Reference Desk will be available 9 am – 8 pm Monday-Thursday, 9 am – 5 pm Friday, and 1 pm – 6 pm Saturday-Sunday.

Need even more options to get help? Lucky for you, librarians are also available by appointment!

If you have a pretty specialized question in your field of study, we have specific librarians whose skills are best suited to particular subjects. You can find the list of subject librarians and which majors they serve here. You can book an appointment with a specific librarian by clicking on their name and following the prompts.

Have a great fall semester!

Summer semester 2022 runs through August 5. And, as always, the folks at the Research Help Desk are available to help you with all your research questions!

Research help will be available from 11am – 5pm Monday – Friday and Saturday/Sunday from 1pm – 5pm.

If you are unable to stop by the library, there are numerous ways to get in touch with a Librarian. Click on the Ask Us icon to navigate to our contact page. You can click the green ‘chat is online’ button to begin a live chat with a Librarian. You can also reach us by text, phone or email by filling out this form.

Want to get a head start on your research? Take a look at our course guides, topic guides, or how-to guides. And don’t forget you can always make an appointment to discuss your research with a Librarian!

Congratulations Seawolves Class of 2022! You have spent the last several years working incredibly hard and everyone at the UAA/APU Consortium Library wants to say how proud we are of all the graduates! We have seen the work you put in, the hours spent toiling away on papers and projects, and now you get to see all of that work come to fruition! We wish you the best of luck!

For those of you still working on your degrees, don’t think we have forgotten about you. Spring Semester may be done but the Information and Research Help Desk is still here over the summer to answer any and all questions.

During Intersession, the hours of the Desk are slightly different.

• May 2-6, noon-5pm
• May 7 and 8, closed
• May 9-15, noon-5pm

The Library as a whole will be open 8am-8pm, M-F and 10am-8pm on weekends.

We are still available in our usual ways over the summer. You can email us here; call us at (907) 786-1871; text us at  (907) 312-1024; or set up an appointment with a librarian. You are also welcome to visit us during desk hours.

For those of you enjoying your summer break, have fun, and for those of you taking summer classes, good luck!

Climate change, no pun intended, has been a hot topic in the news lately. Following the news of climate change activist Wynn Bruce’s death this past Friday, I thought it would be a good idea to round up several resources available that pertain to this topic, starting with general databases and adding in some books from our collection.

GreenFILE is a database that focuses on collecting resources on topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and more. Like other databases powered by EBSCOhost, your search bar is the main navigation tool.

You can choose to search a single keyword at a time, or combine terms using the “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” drop down menu. Further down the page, there are also advanced search tools that can help you limit the results even further. Common limiters include publication date, full text available online, and peer reviewed.

Science Magazine is another great option for those researching climate change. As a magazine Science currently published on a weekly basis and has been in print since 1880, meaning there is over 140 years of historical data and scientific trends a reader can follow!

Environment Complete is a database with a focus, as the name implies, on environmental studies. This database is unfortunately not available during all hours though. To access it, please visit ARLIS in the UAA/APU Consortium Library on weekdays from 8am-5pm. For more information on ARLIS, check out their website here.

When it comes to books, there are hundreds of great items to pick from in our collection. If you need some recommendations, check out these great titles.

1. Climate Change by Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner
2. Global Warming in the 21st Century by Bruce E Johansen
3. Common Questions About Climate Change by United Nations Environment Programme: World Meteorological Organization
4. Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming by McKenzie Funk
5. Preparing For Climate Change by Michael D. Mastrandrea
6. Kivalina: A Climate Change Story by Christine Shearer
7. Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming by Michael E. Mann

Just as there are trends in fashion, there are also trends in the types of assignments that professors like to assign. It seems we have reached peak argumentative essay season around here so let me be your sherpa to the mountain of good essay research and writing!

Let’s take a look at one of my favorite databases fist, Points of View Reference Center. This database was built for argumentative essays. The databases is full of articles that explain the basic facts of a hot topic like “Working Remotely“, “The Big Bang Theory“, or “The Indian Child Welfare Act“. Within each article, there is an overview of the topic, an article arguing one side, and argument for the other side, and a guide to critical analysis. These are all amazing resources for figuring out how you want to present your argument.

Depending on your topic, there are any number of other databases I could recommend, so instead, let me point you to our amazing Topic Guides. There are several dozen guides covering a wide range. Based on your chosen topic, pick a guide that works for you. Each guide has been put together by one of the Reference Librarians with books, databases, and other materials that will help you complete your research.

Three guides in particular will be of great help to all students because the tips work pretty much universally, no matter what subject you are writing on.

1. What to Put in a Search Box
2. Types of Sources
3. Keywords
4. Scholarly vs Popular Sources
5. Evaluating Sources

Finally, here are some books that will lead you on your way to crafting the perfect argumentative essay.

1. What is Rhetoric? by Michel Meyer
2. Writing from Start to Finish: A Six Step Guide by Kate Grenville
3. Write to the Point, and Feel Better About Your Writing by Bill Stott
4. The Nuts & Bolts of College Writing by Michael Harvey
5. Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilbers
6. MLA Handbook by the Modern Language Association of America
7. Concise Guide to APA Style: The Official APA Style Guide for Students by the American Psychological Association