Join us at the Main Library for the 2011 NDSU Libraries Open House from 10am-2pm September 28th and 29th. Enjoy light refreshments as you learn more about what the Libraries can do for you.

Event highlights will include:

• Staff demonstrations of online resources, including LibGuides (our new subject research guides), Google Scholar Library Links, and EndNote Web which can help you keep track of citations and create bibliographies for your research papers.
• Scavenger hunt activities complete with prize drawings!
• Treats, including root-beer floats served from 12-2 each day!

Staff will be available throughout the event to answer your questions and provide tours of our main facility. For more information, visit the Libraries Open House LibGuide

How to view Web of Knowledge/Science results via Internet Explorer 9

If you use version 9.0 of the Internet Explorer Browser (IE9), you may have found that your search results are not visible within Web of Science (Web of Science is still compatible with IE7 and IE8). To counter this problem, please note the following possible solutions:

• Using another browser: you may find it easiest to search the databases using another browser i.e. if your operating system is Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, you could use these browsers: Internet Explorer 7 or 8.0, or Mozilla Firefox 6.0. Alternatively, if your operating system is Macintosh OS X 10.5 or 10.6, you could search using these browsers: Safari 4.0 or Mozilla Firefox 6.0.
• If you prefer to use IE9: you should be able to get around this problem by clicking on the ‘compatibility view’ icon/button which is located to the immediate right of the web address bar when you’re within Web of Knowledge/Science. If you are unable to see a ‘compatibility view’ icon, you will need to activate it by following these steps:
  1. Click on Tools menu
  2. Click on Compatibility View Settings
  3. Type ‘isiknowledge.com’ in the textbox and click on Add

JSTOR announced today it is making journal content published prior to 1923 in the United States and prior to 1870 elsewhere freely available to anyone, anywhere in the world. This “Early Journal Content” includes discourse and scholarship in the arts and humanities, economics and politics, and in mathematics and other sciences. It includes nearly 500,000 articles from more than 200 journals.

Read more: http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early-journal-content

The NDSU Libraries are revamping their website to help you be a successful student!!

Students, take our survey and tell us what you think of our website, because we won’t know what needs to be improved unless you tell us! The survey takes less than 5 minutes to fill out, and it will help us to redesign the website to be more appealing, easy to use, and informative. Help your NDSU Libraries, and take our survey now. (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZNK8WC3)

You can also fill out our Libraries’ website survey at the Library Open House on September 28-29 from 10am-2pm. When you fill out the survey at the open house you’ll be eligible to win a prize!

The NDSU Libraries and University Archives are pleased to announce the launch of the full-text Spectrum (1896-1950) at: https://news.arcasearch.com/usndnds/. This was made possible through an NDSU Student Government Capital Project grant. Searching is available for individual words, parts of words, or phrases and all pages are printable. Just click on “Accessing the Spectrum Archives” to get started.

New way to reserve study rooms!!

When you are looking for a quiet place for some uninterrupted studying, or a place where a group of people can gather to complete a project, come to the library!

Reserving a group study room just became easier! Students, Faculty and Staff no longer have to come to the circulation desk to reserve a room; it can all be done online! Watch this video to learn how.

Users of the ProQuest suite of databases will see a fresh, new interface.  The new search platform consolidates many of the ProQuest databases so that they may be searched through a single search box.  Added functionality includes improved citation help, the ability to share search results through social networking sites, and an RSS alert tool to notify you of new material in your area.

You can see the new interface with any of the following NDSU Libraries’ subscription databases:

• ABI/INFORM Complete
• Biological Sciences
• BioOne Abstracts and Indexes
• EconLit
• Engineering Research Database
• Materials Research Database
• Dissertations and Theses
• Social Services Abstracts
• Sociological Abstracts
• Technology Research Database

If you have questions or would like a demonstration, please contact the Reference Desk at 701-231-8886 or by using the Ask Us Now instant message service.

Karen Matzke, Debby Tysdal and Susanna Von Essen, sisters and widow of Allen Spiker on recent visit to the Institute

A treasure of the audio history of North Dakota Germans from Russia is now available to researchers and the public. The NDSU Institute for Regional Studies and University Archives, in conjunction with the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, have placed portions of the “Allen Spiker German Russia Dialect Tapes” online.

The language of the German Russians of North Dakota is considered unique. The dialect first evolved in the foreign environment of the Russian colonies and, later, developed further in the United States.

Spiker, a descendant of German Russian immigrants, conducted dozens of interviews across North Dakota during the late 1970s and early 1980s as he researched materials for his master’s degree thesis at the University of North Dakota. He typically asked questions of the oldest generation of German Russians who learned German as their first language and actively used the language in their communities and homes. His aim was to capture the rapidly disappearing dialect as part of his German linguist education.

The result was a collection of more than 80 reel-to-reel tapes, a portion of which have been digitized and made available at http://library.ndsu.edu/digital/spiker.

“He was fascinated by his own heritage and the heritage of North Dakota,” said Susanna Von Essen, Spiker’s widow. “This project was always something he talked about and, as far as his academic activity goes, it was truly his first love.”

John Bye, NDSU archivist, said, “The collection documents a certain time period of German Russian immigrants. How did the German language get preserved from Germany to Russia and, then, to America? That’s important from a linguistic standpoint, but the tapes also have people’s stories, poems and music. It’s a very good sense of history.”

According to Bye, Spiker’s work is an important contribution to documenting the culture and heritage of the largest ethnic group in North Dakota.

“The collection is available to linguists, people interested in Germany and those individuals wanting to discover family history,” Bye said. “Descendants may want to listen to the voices of their parents or grandparents, which they may not have heard before. I think there are a lot of different uses here, and we realized we needed to make it available using online technology. Work will continue to add additional interviews. A link to the complete list of individuals interviewed is available online.”

We are pleased to announce our new online Library Research Guides using LibGuides. LibGuides is a system specifically created for the development of library subject guides that bring together lots of useful information to help you with research and assignments.

We’ve created a range of LibGuides covering different subjects, resources, and library services.

Check out some of the guides we’ve created: http://guides.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/index.php

Feedback appreciated! – Click on “please click to a leave a comment” below

NDSU Libraries and the University Archives are pleased to announce our newest Flickr exhibits:

Theatre Passion

The exhibit presents but a taste of the 100+ productions in which Don Larew, professor emeritus of theatre arts, has been involved at NDSU from fall 1969 to February 2001. Unless otherwise noted, the plays were Little Country Theatre productions.

Greek Life

This exhibit provides a brief glimpse primarily on the social fraternities and sororities over the years at NDAC/SU.