Mobile apps and websites for Mott Library resources

Several of the Mott Library’s online resources offer mobile apps and mobile websites designed to work on smartphones and tablets.

Mobile Apps:

• The EBSCOhost mobile app allows you to search EBSCO databases including Academic Search Complete and CINAHL. EBSCOhost is compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices. In addition to downloading the app, you need to authenticate your device.
• The ebrary mobile app allows you to download an e-book to your mobile device for up to 2 weeks so you can read the e-book offline. Download the ebrary mobile app to use on your iPhone and iPad or Android smartphone and tablet. Please note: you only need to download an e-book if you want to read it in a location where you do not have internet access.
• The BookMyne mobile app allows you to search the Mott Library catalog, place holds, and view or renew items you have checked out. BookMyne is compatible with Apple and Android devices.

Mobile Websites:

• The JSTOR website is designed with ease of navigation in mind, either with a mouse or on a touch screen. 
• The Chronicle of Higher Education’s mobile website offers links to featured articles and articles from the section, In The News.
• The LibGuides mobile website allows you to easily navigate libguides created by the Mott Library to help you find the best online resources for a particular subject.
• The LibAnswers mobile website allows you to ask questions or read FAQs about Mott Library resources and services.
• The LibCal mobile website allows you to reserve the group study room or presentation practice room.

Summary Chart: Mott Library Resources and Mobile Access 

See Mott Library’s Online Resources Libguide for more information about using our online resources.

Welcome Back Students!

Welcome back students!  We hope you had a wonderful summer and are ready for the fall semester.

Three tips to give you a jump start this semester:

• The Mott Library website is your pit stop for research, information about the library and the collections and services we have just for you.
• If you hit a bump in the road, stop by the library reference desk or use our online LibAnswers service to connect with a librarian for research help or questions about the library.
• Park yourself at the study spaces available on the library’s first and second floors for groups who need to talk as well as individuals seeking a quiet place.
  

The library staff can help you stay on the road to success. We encourage you to visit the Mott Library in person or online to become acquainted with all we have to support your learning and research. Here are some highlights:

• Get help on the go with LibGuides to locate information on specific subject areas.
• Search our online research databases and browse our great collection of books for research or entertainment.
• Keep track of items you check out from the library using our smartphone app, BookMyne, available for both iPhones and android smart phones.
  
• Search, read, and download e-books from ebrary anytime, anywhere from any Internet enabled device.
• View streaming videos online using Films on Demand, a collection of thousands of high-quality educational titles in dozens of subject areas.

Special Note:  Visit the library showcase display featuring presidential elections.  Beginning Tuesday September 18, play our Tuesday Trivia game for a chance to win a Nook.

Have a great semester!

The Mott Library staff

Survey Results: Value of the library

According to our recent survey, 84% of faculty respondents, 81% of staff respondents, and 81% of student respondents consider Mott Library to be valuable or very valuable.

100% of faculty and staff respondents and 95% of student respondents would recommend Mott Library to their peers and colleagues.

Comments about Mott Library included:

• “It’s where I go between and after class to do homework or study quietly, find reference material for class papers, or to just check out a non-school-related book to read.”
• “It has everything a student might need as far as quiet areas, computers and Internet access, and online and printed resources.”
• “The online databases and helpful staff are the two best resources I have when writing a paper; without them, I would more than likely be lost. They save me so much time and provide me with information that is otherwise unavailable to me.”
• “I’d recommend it to others because it’s a safe, quiet, and friendly environment for learning and to study.”
• “The Library gives me a distraction-free zone.”
• “I especially value the Mott Library’s abundant resources and friendly knowledgeable staff.”

Survey Results: Student library use…or not

According to a survey conducted by the Mott Library earlier this year:

• 73% of faculty respondents recommend their students use library resources to complete course assignments
• 55% of student respondents use library resources to complete course assignments
• 24% of student respondents stated library use is not required in their courses
• 17% of student respondents are not aware of library services and resources

Student respondents reported that the following issues held them back from taking full advantage of Mott Library’s resources and services:

Did you know:

• The Mott Library is open seven days a week during fall and winter semesters?
• The Mott Library’s online resources are available anywhere, anytime you have an Internet connection?
• You can get help from a professional librarian in person, on the telephone, or via email/text message? From the Mott Library website, click on Get Help to learn more.

Survey Results: How students learn about Mott Library

In early 2012, the Mott Library conducted a survey to learn about our patrons’ use and awareness of library services and resources. One of the things we wanted to find out was how our users learned about the library and which methods were most effective.

160 out of 272 student respondents told us they felt they received enough information about the library when they started attending classes at MCC:

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According to student respondents, the three most effective ways they learned about the Mott Library’s services and resources was during a class visit to the library, from a professor or college staff member, and by talking to a library staff member:

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Survey Results: What students use most

In early 2012, the Mott Library conducted a survey to learn about our patrons’ use and awareness of library services and resources. This is the first of several posts sharing what we learned.

272 students responded to our survey. These students use the library most often to :

1. find a quiet place to study, read, or relax
2. use the library’s online resources
3. use the first floor computer lab
4. get help from a librarian
5. use the wifi
6. type a paper
7. borrow a book

[click on image to view a larger, more readable graph]

March is Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month Resources at the Mott Library.
March is Women’s History Month. The theme for 2012 is Women’s Education-Women’s Empowerment. The National Women’s History Month Project explains that although “women’s history is intertwined with the history shared with men, several factors – social, religious, economic, and biological – have worked to create a unique sphere of women’s history. The stories of women’s achievements are integral to the fabric our history. Learning about women’s tenacity, courage, and creativity throughout the centuries is a tremendous source of strength”.

“If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain.” ~ Dolly Parton

Mott Library Book Catalog
The Mott Library has a wide variety of books that cover many aspects of Women’s History. When you initially search the Library Catalog you only search the Mott Library. Using the drop down menu next to “library” you can choose to search the Baker College Library and the Kettering University Library and have the books sent to the Mott Library. Sample searches:

Women’s History

Suffrage

Women’s Biographies

Magazine, Journal articles and ebooks
Current MCC students, faculty and staff can access a rich and diverse variety of articles from magazines, scholarly journals and reference books from the online databases found in the “Online Resources” section of the Mott Library webpage.
Several databases of note:
ebrary This collection of 28,000 full-text ebooks covering a wide range of academic subjects. Search ebrary on the topics of women and education, women and employment or women’s history and find several hundred titles.
JSTOR (Journal Storage) Beyond the 25 journals covering women and feminist studies, 1000s of articles can be found in JSTOR, covering many aspects of women’s history.
Academic Search Complete ASC provides users with a good balance of popular and scholarly titles from all disciplines. A search for women’s history locates many full text articles.
Gale Virtual Reference Library GVRL is a collection of online reference books. Included in the collection is the 17 volume set of Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia.

Internet Resources

Women’s History Month from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian

Women’s History Month from the New York Public Library

United Nations Women Watch

The National Women’s History Project

Downloading books from the Mott Library’s ebrary database

ebrary, a collection of over 28,000 digital books, recently made it possible to download its digital books.

You may download an ebrary e-book whenever the DOWNLOAD button appears in the toolbar. ebrary books may be downloaded for 14 days (loan length is indicated when the Download button is clicked). After the loan period has expired, you will be prompted to download the book again.

Downloading an ebrary book enables you to access the book offline and transfer it to a device that supports Adobe Digital Editions—for more information see Adobe Digital Editions list of compatible devices.

At this time, you cannot download an entire ebrary book to a Kindle e-reader. However you can convert chapters and page ranges of up to 60 pages to PDF format, which can be uploaded to and read on Kindles and most other devices. For more information, read about downloading at ebrary Support.

Specific directions for popular devices:
iPad / iPhone / iPod touch: Download, Transfer Files, mobile app
Kindle: Download Chapter or Page Range, then email PDF to your Kindle
Kindle Fire: Download
Nook: Download

Nominate your librarian!

24,000 e-books added to the Mott Library

The 24,000 electronic books recently licensed from ebrary for our collection are now available on the Mott Library Webpage. Covering just about every discipline, titles as varied as Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World and Guided Care: A New Nurse-Physician Partnership in Chronic Care can be found. More than 350 publishers are represented in the collection, including Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Oxford University Press, Springer, and Taylor & Francis. The collection also includes maps and reports. Viewing options include a QuickView or the ebrary Reader.

To access ebrary:

• Go to www.library.mcc.edu
• Choose “Online Resources”
• Choose “ebrary“

View the ebrary Quick Start video at:

http://www.ebrary.com/corp/collateral/flash/QuickStart/ (please allow a few seconds to load).