UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY-AFRICA UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY-AFRICA

LIBRARY NEWS – FALL 2020

Education to take you Places

SURVIVING DURING THE PANDEMIC

C ovid-19 came as a surprise to so many of

us. We had never heard or imagined an
illness that many describe as a flu could
paralyze nations and institutions in the fashion
Corona Virus has. Academic libraries were not
spared.

HOW DO I ACCESS?
When the University was pronounced closed, ----------------------------------------
the library team had online modalities in place. Teaching and learning entirely online
We quickly announced that we would be brings the question of access to the
supporting members of our community to door-step of all libraries.
teach and learn online using our electronic
resources. It was fortunate that the Virtual At USIU-Africa accessing electronic
Reference Service – AskALibrarian is a tool we and online resources is not difficult.
had been using for a number of years. We were It has been simplified by the Virtual
confident, we knew our clients would not be Private Network (VPN).
stranded since they could find us on this
platform or on email. The VPN makes off-campus access
seamless. All you need to do is go
We moved into action using the over 60 here to download, install and
electronic databases acquired over the years, connect!
plus the large number of ebooks that we own
perpetually, the Library remained alive and
stayed put as an active facilitator of learning to
the end of Spring, through Summer and we are
1. eLibrary
kicking, up and running in Fall 2020. 2. For queries, find us at [email protected] or
[email protected] or explore the Library FAQs page
The ongoing pandemic has caused us to relook 3. For regular tips on scholarly and academic resources follow
at our online portfolio and we can proudly say us on Twitter @UsiuLibrary or like our Fb page, USIU Library.
that we are at a good place and we are getting
better every day. Not because the pandemic is
here to stay but because learning in the 21st
century calls for variety and flexibility.
 LIBRARY NEWS – FALL 2020

FREE RESOURCES
In support of continued education during the
Pandemic, so many publishers made their
resources freely accessible to learners and
educators.
These publishers have been on the lead,
providing sure support especially for those
working from home:
1. JSTOR has expanded Free Read Online
access from six to 100 articles per
WHAT WE ARE DOING TO SUPPORT YOU
month. You just need to register! Librarians are ready and willing to
provide support via online
platforms.

?We are on standby to give the

much-needed research
assistance – downloads and all.
?We have in place Subject Guides
that will serve as ready sources
or pointers to sources of
information for your courses.

2. Artstor – a collection of images,

documents, audio and video files
contributed by world's museums,
archives, scholars and artists is free to
access.
3. Cambridge University Press higher
education text books have been made
free to access online. ?We will work with you to bring
4. Project Gutenberg is a free-for-all-to- together readings (reference
use library of over 60,000 ebooks. books and journal articles) for
5. Public Books Database gathers and your Fall instruction.
links to academic publishers with free
books. ? We had eCourse texts for Fall
6. The New York Times Wirecutter courses made available via
provides a guide to free streaming BlackBoard. There are more going
video services. through the purchasing process.
7. Open Library is the Internet archive of
1.4 million (and growing) collection of ? As more and more publishers
digitized books. continue to make their content
free, we will keep you informed
and current.
 LIBRARY NEWS – FALL 2020

SUPPORT FOR TEACHING AND FOR SMARTER, EFFICIENT INTERNET

LEARNING ONLINE SEARCHING:
1. Provide enough Key Words - How many is
enough? Depends on your topic but no
more than six or eight.

2. Be Specific – the right level of specificity

may be difficult to identify but when key
words are too broad, the results are too
many; when the key words are too narrow,
very few results are returned. Synonyms
using the Boolean OR could help.
Female OR women
Aggressive OR fighting

In the face of Online Everything some

organizations are providing information on
how online can be organized and delivered
with success.

Here are resources that can make your online 3. Phrase Search – using phrases is a powerful
working and learning experience awesome:
search technique. Enclose phrases in
1. Pearson Education's online hub of
double quotations e.g. “United Nations”,
resources for faculty and students.
“competitive advantage”, “attention deficit
disorder” for greater specificity.
2. The VERGE's guide to free alternatives
to Zoom and WebEx.
4. Use AND to stick your Search Terms
together – the Boolean AND focuses a
3. New York University Shanghai Digital
search by retrieving only those records that
Teaching Toolkit – designed to help
contain at least one of the terms or phrases
universities around the world preparing
e.g. “endangered species” AND “white
to transition online.
rhino”

4. Bringing Your Course Online –

5. Truncate – the asterisk (*) or question
resources compiled by Modern
mark(?) at the end of a word also called the
Languages Association (MLA).
fill in the blank operator allows you to
search for a root form of a word and pick up
5. COVID-19 resources for Higher
any ending e.g. teen* will find teens,
Education and Academic Libraries from
teenage, teenager and teenagers
ITHAKA S+R.
Example: Does wrestling viewing
encourage aggressive behavior in children?
Simple search: wrestling AND “aggressive
behavior” AND children
C o m p l e x s e a r c h : w re s t l i n g A N D
(aggressive OR aggression OR fighting)
AND (children OR adolescents)
 LIBRARY NEWS – FALL 2020
USEFUL DATABASES
1. KNOEMA https://knoema.com affords you 4. MSD Manuals https://msdmanuals.com are
free data, statistics, analysis, visualization & one of the world's most used medical
sharing on all manner of topics. It is just a information resources. Find videos, photos,
mouse-click away! animations, 3D models, quizzes, etc, for
professional and consumer use...just a click
away!

5. Ethos https://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do is an
Electronic Theses Online Service, an
2. OECD iLibrary https://oecd-ilibrary.org is a go- initiative of the British Library. It hosts over
to place for books, papers and statistics from 500,000 doctoral theses and you can plug in
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation to learn from others.
and Development. The content covers such
themes as Agriculture, Food, Development,
Economics, etc.

6. Case studies offer a great opportunity to

explore real world challenges in the
classroom environment. Emerging Markets
Case Studies................
https://emerald.com/insight/content/case-
studies will allow you to test your decision
making skills before the workplace.
3. The IMF eLibrary https://elibrary.imf.org
provides free access to the IMF's periodicals,
books, working papers, data & statistical tools.
These cover areas like macroeconomics,
globalization, development, trade, poverty
reduction