We know how it is. Your spring break is unexpectedly extended, you may have to deal with housing issues, and you STILL have homework due?!  That big research project you’ve been avoiding thinking about is probably due in less than a month. Enter full panic mode!

via GIPHY

Never fear — the Consortium Library Research Help Desk is here! Our reference librarians are available at the desk on the first floor of the library Monday-Thursday 9 am – 8 pm, Friday 9 am – 5 pm, and Saturday-Sunday 1 pm – 6 pm. Still looking for sources? Worried about how much information you have to wade through? Confused about how to use all the information you’ve found? And how in the world do you cite things? No matter what stage of research you’re on, we can help.

On that note, DO chunk your project up into bite-sized pieces. It’s easy to feel paralyzed by stress and anxiety, so set attainable daily goals for yourself. Identify 5 articles you could use one day, skim them the next, then write a paragraph summarizing what you learn from them on the third day. It may mean breaking a college-career-long habit of writing things at the last minute, but why make things harder for yourself right now? Give yourself some scholastic self-care.

If you’re working on some super specialized research, try reaching out to one of our subject librarians. They’ve specialized their research help based on discipline, and appointments with them could completely change the scope of your research (and hey, maybe bump you up a letter grade!).

We get it — sometimes it’s hard to leave your house or the coffee shop when you’re in the zone (or quarantined). You can also reach out to the reference librarians by email, chat, and phone. Click here to find out how. 

We’re all in this together. Take care of yourselves and each other. Go Seawolves!

If you are concerned about venturing out due to the COVID-19 outbreak, or if you’ve relocated out of the area for the time being, don’t worry — reference librarians are still available to help you. Just contact us with your questions via SMS text, chat, or email. We can assist you in locating and accessing resources.

To contact us, visit our main page, https://consortiumlibrary.org/ and select the “Ask Us” link located at the top left-hand side of the page. From there, you have the option to chat directly with us (if our chat is online). Or, you can always call, email, or text us, or even schedule an appointment (via phone or Zoom) for a time that works for you.

Until further notice, the Consortium Library is currently open only to UAA and APU students, staff, and faculty. University ID cards are required to enter the building. Currently, we will be closing at 8 pm each evening. Information about the Consortium Library during COVID-19 is available on our website.

For more information and resources about the COVID-19 outbreak, check out this helpful LibGuide from Portland State University:  https://guides.library.pdx.edu/covid-19 .

We hope you’re getting some rest during Spring Break, but if you’re working on projects or papers this week, the Research Help Desk is still here to help! We are open every day this week except Friday. You can always check the open hours of the library, the Research Help Desk and other departments here: https://libcal.consortiumlibrary.org/hours/

Working on assignments from home? No problem – you can contact us by email, phone, text, or chat! Find more information on our Ask Us page here: https://ask.consortiumlibrary.org/

If you’re doing research off-campus, don’t forget to log in for off-campus access to ensure you’re able to access all the articles and databases we are subscribed to. Log in from the homepage using your UA login.

Happy Spring Break!

March is National Women’s History Month! There are lots of ways to celebrate with the UAA/APU Consortium Library.

You can start by picking up books on the women who shaped our nation. Here are some suggestions:

Is the book you want to read not at the UAA/APU Consortium Library? Place a hold on it and have it delivered to the Consortium Library. It takes a little time, but you may check out most of the books you see from any library in the catalog (reference books and archival materials excluded).

Too busy to read? No problem! Download an audiobook from the Alaska Digital Library.

If you want to research women’s history, check out this guide of sources your trusty librarians put together.

You could also look at some of the papers of historic Alaskan women in the UAA/APU Archives and Special Collections. They have papers of Lanie Fleischer (the woman largely responsible for Anchorage’s network of trails), Arliss Sturgulewski (the first female candidate for Alaska’s Governor). and Fran Ulmer (the first woman elected to state-wide office in Alaska). Take a look at the Archives and Special Collections’ guide on women’s history or contact the Archives and Special Collections directly.

Let’s celebrate some amazing humans!

Pictured: Arliss Sturgulewski and Art Hackney in stern discussion in the Alaska Senate chambers. UAA-HMC-0467-B39-F5-5, Arliss Sturgulewski papers, UAA/APU Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections

The Consortium Library subscribes to a host of high-quality peer reviewed online articles available through online databases, accessible both on and off campus with your student log in. These resources are useful for academic research and modern reviews of both historic and contemporary issues, including everything from scholarly journals to Sanborn Maps. So, it’s easy to forget there are reputable free online sources too. Project Gutenberg and Muse, both listed on the library’s database page, have legally digitized materials that either no longer have active copyrights in the U.S. or that have been paid for through grants. But what kinds of materials do these databases have and what are they useful for? Here’s more information about each site, from their own homepages.

Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for enjoyment and education.

No fee or registration! Everything from Project Gutenberg is gratis, libre, and completely without cost to readers.

No special apps needed! Project Gutenberg eBooks require no special apps to read, just the regular Web browsers or eBook readers that are included with computers and mobile devices. There have been reports of sites that charge fees for custom apps, or for the same eBooks that are freely available from Project Gutenberg. Some of the apps might have worthwhile features, but none are required to enjoy Project Gutenberg eBooks.

-Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/, February 12, 2020.

Project MUSE offers open access (OA) books and journals from several distinguished university presses and scholarly societies. Through our open access hosting programs, we are able to offer publishers a platform for their OA content which ensures visibility, discoverability, and wide dissemination. These books and journals are freely available to libraries and users around the world.

Features of OA books and journals on MUSE

• Search and browse using the same tools for all MUSE content
• Appear in search results with content already owned by libraries
• Require no login or registration for access
• DRM-free, with unlimited downloading and printing

OA Books on MUSE

Books are made open access on MUSE through a variety of funding initiatives, including Knowledge Unlatched, NEH Humanities Open Book grants, TOME, and individual publisher programs.

MUSE Open, an initiative supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, enables Project MUSE to distribute selected OA books in browser-native HTML5 format, with enhanced functionality. Many other books are available OA as PDF files. The publishers of the books determine the licensing terms under which the books are made available.

Books may change their status on MUSE from paid access to OA, at the request of the publisher. Some books previously sold in collections may become OA; these titles will be delivered with their original collection(s) but are no longer included in the pricing for future sales.

OA Journals on MUSE:

• Constitutional Studies
• Journal of Appalachian Health
• RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
• Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary & Modern Art in Asia
• Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies

-Project Muse, https://muse.jhu.edu/, February 12, 2020.