Tag Archives: Minitex

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Your Guide to Learning Express

Have you heard the news about your free access to Learning Express, which is now part of the Electronic Library of Minnesota (ELM)? We did an earlier post about the other resources that remain in ELM, but this addition is exciting news. Take a moment, take stock of everything at your disposal in working with your end-users. 

A meeting of nibsWhat is included in Learning Express? In a nutshell….

  1. LearningExpress Library
    Interactive collection of tests, tutorials, and eBooks categorized in Learning Centers including School Center, College Preparation Center, College Center, High School Equivalency Center, Adult Learning Center, Career Center, and Recursos para Hispanohablantes (Spanish Center).
  2. LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator
    Test preparation and skill building tools related to career and job readiness available through the LearningExpress Library.
  3. LearningExpress Computer Skills Center
    Interactive multimedia training tutorials to develop computer and internet skills available through the LearningExpress Library.

See a More Detailed Description of What is Included in These Three Resources

Do You Need Information About How to Get Set Up?

Need Usage Stats on LearningExpress? In order to obtain usage statistics for your institution on these resources, follow these three easy steps:

  1. Locate your library’s access code in this spreadsheet.
  2. Register with your access code. (Up to 10 people at your institution can register with a single access code.)
  3. Log in to the LearningExpress Usage Reports site.

Need a Little Training? Below is a list of new Minitex webinars that highlight LearningExpress Library and Job & Career Accelerator! (Click on each link for  specific class dates, times, and descriptions)

LearningExpress for Public Libraries

LearningExpress Library

LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator

LearningExpress for Academic Libraries

LearningExpress Library K12 Resources

ELM for Public Libraries

Britannica School Educator Resources

ELM K-5 Resources and the New Kids InfoBits

An Electronic Library for Adult Basic Education

ELM Advanced

History Day Resources in ELM

Google, Library Resources, & Your Students

 

Still Need More? New this year…… Office Hours for ELM Assistance

Wednesdays @ 11:00am – 12:00pm through 12/17

  • Ask ELM questions!
  • Ask for a quick ELM resource demo!
  • Ask about ELM content!
  • Ask about ELM usage statistics!
  • Ask about setting up ELM!
  • Ask about searching ELM!

Just show up at my (Jennifer Hootman’s) online office and ask anything about ELM!

All of us in Minitex Reference Outreach & Instruction can be reached for ELM questions and conversation anytime (mtxref@umn.edu  or 612-624-4150).

Jennifer says…..”This Fall I’m piloting additional weekly office hours when you can meet with me online through our Adobe web conferencing software. It’s easy!  Just register, and I’ll send you the link to my online office.  If my office hours don’t work for you, just let me know when you can meet”

*********************************************
Jennifer Hootman, Librarian
Reference Outreach & Instruction
Minitex

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/lku9jy6, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Changes with ELM Resources

PrintMinitex staff have been busy this summer! This information may appear dated, but we know that many of our K-12 and academic librarians “power down” in the summer. Soon, we will be through the process of getting everyone geared back up with important information that is needed to provide access to our valuable free  Electronic Library of Minnesota (ELM) resources. When you are finished reviewing this post, you will want to also review a related post about a new ELM resource, Learning Express!
June 20, 2014

Minitex Announces New Suite of eResources

On behalf of the Minnesota Department of Education – State Library Services, the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Online Dakota Information Network (ODIN), the North Dakota State Library, South Dakota Library Network (SDLN), the South Dakota State Library, and itself, Minitex is pleased to announce the databases and database packages recommended by the Minitex Electronic Information Resources (MEIR) Task Force. This was a result of the Request for Proposal (RFP) that was developed and issued during 2013-2014. These collaborative partners realize the importance of statewide access to a common suite of databases to the libraries and school media centers within and among the three states.

In coordination with Elaine Kelash, Manager/Contracts Specialist, University of Minnesota Purchasing, Minitex will finalize award and license agreements with the following vendors for access to the following statewide electronic resources. These resources will be available beginning July 1, 2014–June 30, 2019. Current access will continue uninterrupted.

  • EBSCO databases (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota)
    • Academic Search Premier
    • Alt HealthWatch
    • Business Source Premier
    • Consumer Health Complete
    • ERIC
    • Health Source: Consumer Edition
    • Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
    • MAS Ultra – School Edition
    • MasterFILE Premier
    • MegaFILE
    • Middle Search Plus
    • Points of View Reference Center
    • Primary Search
    • Professional Development Collection
    • Regional Business News
    • Searchasaurus
    • Science Reference Center
    • Student Research Center
  • Gale Group for K-12 electronic resources (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota)
    • Discovering Collection
    • Expanded Academic ASAP
    • Educator’s Reference Complete
    • General Science Collection
    • InfoTrac Student Edition
    • InfoTrac Junior Edition
    • Junior Reference Collection
    • Kids InfoBits
    • Student Resources in Context, formerly Student Resource Center Gold
  • OCLC for the FirstSearch Base Package, which will transition to WorldCat Discovery Services (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota)
    • OCLC WorldCat
    • CAMIO
    • OAISter
    • OCLC ArticleFirst
    • OCLC Electronic Collections Online A&I
    • OCLC PapersFirst
    • OCLC ProceedingsFirst
    • ArchivGrid
    • Clase/Periodica
    • ERIC
    • GPO Monthly Catalog
    • MEDLINE
    • World Almanac/Book of Facts
    • OCLC Electronic Books
    • OCLC WorldCat Dissertations and Theses
  • ProQuest Newsstand Complete, the current package (Minnesota and North Dakota only)
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica’s General Reference Package (Minnesota and North Dakota only)
    • Britannica School
    • Britannica Library
    • Britannica Academic Edition
  • Gale’s Spanish-language database ¡Informe! (Minnesota only)

Two Gannett papers, the St. Cloud Times and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, from ProQuest were not renewed. This was a Minnesota-only subscription.

Additional information will follow over the coming weeks as we work with LearningExpress to set up access. Access to LearningExpress products for current subscribers will continue without interruption. We understand the work and time any changes may take to implement in your libraries and schools and will provide needed information as quickly as possible.

The Minitex CPERS staff, Rita Baladad, Tim Peters, and Anne Hatinen, and the vendors’ sales teams will work closely with you as some of you transition between vendor products (for example, the two Gannett papers). Similarly, the Minitex Reference Outreach & Instruction staff, Jennifer Hootman, Matt Lee, Carla Steinberg Pfahl, and Beth Staats, and vendors’ staff will work to provide instruction and training for you and your colleagues on the resources we have awarded.

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Parker, Minitex, m-park1@umn.edu, 800-462-5348, or 612-624-1024.

 

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Searching the Digital Public Library of America: Webinar

Government Information: the Most Interesting Information in the World

Join Minitex and the University of Minnesota Libraries Regional Depository Library in a unique webinar series that highlights the exciting government information available to you and your patrons for free. Learn to determine the best starting points for your government information searching and be informed, my friends, through these free webinars.

Using the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) to Locate Government Information
dpla-logoWednesday, June 4, 2014
2:00 PM–3:00 PM (Central Time)

The Digital Public Library of America brings together the rich collections of America’s libraries, archives, and museums. You may not realize that government information is searchable in DPLA. Attend this webinar to learn how to locate government information. Sarah Huber, a DPLA Community Rep, will highlight how to effectively search the DPLA through such DPLA search tools as the timeline, bookshelf, and DPLA unique apps.

Presenter: Sarah Huber, DPLA Community Rep and MLIS student at St. Catherine’s University

If you didn’t get a chance to catch earlier offerings in this webinar series, be sure to check out the recordings and handouts. (Filter by Category: Government Information)

School Media Specialist

Minitex Needs K-12 Input

Shared at the request of Minitex staff….May 5, 2014

PrintPlease Participate in a Ten-Minute Technology Survey

This survey, http://z.umn.edu/elmipadsurvey, is for Minnesota K-12 school library and technology staff. Minitex Reference Outreach & Instruction would like to better understand technology you use or issues you may have with iPad implementation, ELM access, and more.

Please take 10-15 minutes to let us know about technology in your K-12 school. Thank you very much!
ELM is brought to you by your local library or school library, Minitex, and State Library Services, Minnesota’s state library agency, with state appropriations to Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the Minnesota Department of Education.©2014 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota, University Libraries. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Still Time Left to Register for Minitex ILL Conference

PrintApril 22, 2014

Register Today for the Minitex ILL Conference

Date & Location

Tuesday, May 6, 2014
8:30 AM – 3:15 PM

Continuing Education & Conference Center
University of Minnesota – St. Paul Campus
1890 Buford Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108

Registration Details

Fee: $40.00 – Register Now!

Registration closes on Tuesday, April 29.

Keynote Presentation – Phil Simon, “Big Data: Too Big to Ignore”

Phil Simon is a keynote speaker, recognized technology expert, and the award-winning author of six management books, most recently The Visual Organization. He consults organizations on matters related to strategy, data, and technology. His contributions have been featured on NBC, CNBC, Inc. Magazine, BusinessWeek, The Huffington Post, The Globe and Mail, Fast Company, The New York Times, ReadWriteWeb, and many other sites.

Ryan Litsey & Joni Blake, “The Occam’s Reader Ebook/ILL Project”

Occam’s Reader is a software program that allows interlibrary loan of electronic books. Occam’s Reader is a collaboration between Texas Tech University, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the Greater Western Library Alliance. Currently Occam’s Reader works with the ILLiad software to allow the document delivery staff to lend electronic books seamlessly between libraries. The software currently works with .PDF documents, but there are plans to support other formats of electronic books and to develop a standalone, web-based version of the system. This session will focus on current and planned functionality as well as the discussions with ebook publishers.

Ryan Litsey is the Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan Assistant Librarian in the Texas Tech University Library. He earned a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science as well as a Master of Arts in Political Science from California State University Northridge. He also holds a Master of Science in Library and Information Sciences from Florida State University.

Joni Blake is the Executive Director of the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Literature from Cornell College, a Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Missouri – Columbia, and her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in Educational Leadership and Higher Education Administration.

Valerie Horton, “Deep Collaboration”

“Libraries have a choice, we can collaborate or die.” This sentiment was expressed by William Jordan, and captures the new thinking sweeping through libraries. The days of casual cooperation are long gone as a new era of deep collaboration is unfolding. Deep collaboration requires more courage, more resources, and more commitment to mutual agreed upon goals. Drawing from her work as co-general editor of Collaborative Librarianship, Valerie will look at how deep collaboration works in the Minitex region, and examines how projects like DPLA, HathiTrust, and Kuali Ole have been transforming our profession.

Valerie Horton started as Director of Minitex, a three-state library consortium, in December 2012. Prior to that, she was the first Executive Director of the Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) from November 2004. Valerie was also Library Director for Mesa State College, Head of Systems for New Mexico State University Libraries, and a Systems Librarian at Brown University. In 1993, she received an ALA International Fellowship to help automate the public, school, and government libraries for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Valerie has a book coming out from ALA Edition in 2014 on library consortia. In 2009, Valerie published Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries, and she is co-general editor for the online journal, Collaborative Librarianship.

Katie Birch, “Life after WorldCat Resource Sharing: the future of ILL”

During this session, Katie will provide an in-depth look at the migration of more than 5,000 libraries to WorldShare ILL and how this new service is transforming fulfillment options for interlibrary loan staff. Katie will also talk about OCLC’s new WorldCat Discovery platform and the future of VDX.

Katie Birch is Portfolio Director for Delivery Services at OCLC. In this capacity, Katie oversees WorldCat Resource Sharing, including the WorldCat policies directory and IFM, as well as ILLiad, VDX, and WorldCat Navigator. Katie is a librarian with 10 years experience in resource sharing and document delivery. Before joining OCLC in 2005, Katie was project manager and business development manager at Talis.

Learn More

Get the full conference agenda, speaker bios, and registration forms at the conference website.