Behind a staff-only door in Evans Library, you will find a stack of rare books. To the side, an office of file folios with delicate papers and other odds and ends awaiting processing.

Erin Mahaney, university archivist for the Harry P. Weber University Archives, and fellow Evans Library staff are diligently arranging and describing these historical materials before they are carefully moved to their temperature- and humidity-controlled homes.

Driven by preservation, Mahaney collects, protects, preserves and fosters accessibility of Florida Tech’s archival treasures, some of which go beyond Florida Tech’s 1958 inception—think 10,000 years beyond.

Equipped with white gloves, Mahaney very cautiously pulls a few items from the sparkling glass shelves of the archives’ public display for a closer look.

Go back in time by scrolling through the photos above.

Wednesday, December 7: 7:45am – 2am

Thursday, December 8: 7:45am – 2am

Friday, December 9: 7:45am – 9pm

Saturday, December 10: 10am – 9pm

Sunday, December 11: 10am – 2am

Monday, December 12: 7:45am – 2am

Tuesday, December 13: 7:45am – 2am

Wednesday, December 14: 7:45am – 2am

Thursday, December 15: 7:45am – 12am

Friday, December 16: 7:45am – 6pm

Saturday, December 17: 9am – 2pm

Some things to keep in mind while hitting the books:

• If you’re studying with friends, reserve a library study room ahead of time and beat the rush. Punctuality is appreciated! If you’re more than 15 minutes late to pick up your key, your reservation will be cancelled. Pay your punctuality forward and return your key on time for the next group in line. You can make same-day reservations from our convenient self-serve screen on the first floor.
• Do your part, and place your trash in the designated receptacles. Can’t find a trashcan big enough for you pizza box, or the trashcan in your study room is full? Over-sized trashcans are available in the copy rooms on each floor.
• Mmm, donuts. Grab a free donut (courtesy of the Library and the Florida Tech Deans) from 7pm – 9pm on December 12, 13, and 14.
• Stress relief dogs are back! Get your pets and hugs in on December 13 from 1pm to 2pm.

So it’s no wonder that the keeper of the DSL keys, otherwise known as Support Manager Martin Gallagher, is always on the lookout for new technology. Right now, he’s got his eye on two new gizmos that could dramatically improve the lives of many Florida Tech students.

The first is Agisoft’s PhotoScan, a photogrammetry production tool. It’s basically a software program that takes surface points of an object in 2D photographs and makes 3D models. So something that is normally pretty time consuming and physically challenging, can be done in a fraction of the time.

Although the software is used extensively in 3D animation, it’s only now beginning to be utilized in scientific research. Liz Whitcher, a biological science graduate student, is using the software to study and map coral reefs along the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of her thesis.

Liz Whitcher, a biological science graduate student, is using Agisoft’s PhotoScan to study and map coral reefs along the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of her thesis.

She spent a month over the summer taking underwater photos of 10-meter long sections of the reef.  Photographing each segment of the reef took approximately 30 minutes, and resulted in 200-300 photos per segment. Whitcher visited and photographed over 50 sections of reef.  Back at Florida Tech in the DSL, it took only 20 minutes to prepare the photos for analysis in PhotoScan, and the computer did the rest, while Whitcher could work on other things.

“Many of the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs are a result of their complex structures, but it is very time consuming to measure structural complexity underwater,” Whitcher said. “This software allows us to collect more robust datasets with less dive time.”

Even with a point-and-shoot camera, Whitcher was able to create a 3D model on one 10-meter transect down to a centimeter scale resolution. She’ll take these models and determine the reef’s structural condition, and its ability to protect the coastline as sea-level rises.

Agisoft’s PhotoScan turns 2D photos into 3D models and may soon be added to the DSL’s tech lineup.

“I want to find creative strategies for adapting to sea-level rise,” Whitcher said. “By studying the role of reef ecosystems as barriers to coastal erosion, we can predict how natural systems may respond to future change.”

Gallagher is interested in purchasing the software for DSL, not only for Whitcher’s research but for all the other possible uses across multiple majors.

“I see a lot of aspects for its use,” Gallagher said. “It fills the gaps that are a problem with the handheld scanner. It’s quicker and you can use drone and aerial footage to create 3D models of buildings and rooms.”

In addition to the PhotoScan software, Gallagher is also testing out Mevo, a multi-angle live event camera. Just a small camera on a simple stand, with facial and sound recognition, it is able to switch angles automatically or manually through a tablet. It can take the place of multiple cameras that would need to be individually manned. With a price tag of just $400, that’s a pretty powerful piece of equipment.

Students and faculty could use the camera to live-stream presentations, and record the event to be recalled later for training. From senior presentations to guest speakers to tutorials, it’s uses are pretty widespread.

Do you think you’d use the PhotoScan or Mevo? Do you have some new technology you’d like to see at the DSL? Let Gallagher know at gallagherm@fit.edu.

Lunchtime Webinars in the DSL

Monday, 10/24, 12:00-1:00 pm: Scholarship that’s Scholar-Led:  An Introduction to Open Access (By Megan Wacha, CUNY)

Tuesday, 10/25, 12:00-1:00 pm:  The Bigger Picture of OA:  Alternate Models of Review & Emerging Practices (By Heather Joseph, SPARC)

Wednesday, 10/26, 12:00-1:00 pm: SUNY OER Services:  What They Can Do for You (By Allison Brown, SUNY Geneseo)

Thursday, 10/27, 12:00-1:00 pm: Starting and Sustaining an OA Publication (By Molly Poremski and Amy Vilz, University at Buffalo’s The Reading Room)

Friday, 10/28, 12:00-1:00 pm: Understanding and Protecting Your Rights As an Author (By Jill Cirasella, CUNY Graduate Center)

Open Access Movie Night

Monday, 10/24, 7:30-9:30 in Room 204

The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

Open Access Brown Bag Discussion

Friday, 10/28, 12:30pm in Room 204

“Open Access: Promises and Pitfalls,” featuring Florida Tech’s own:

• Dr. Debbie Carstens and Dr. Brooke Wheeler on starting an open access journal
• Marc Baarmand on the SCOAP³ Open Access consortium
• David Lowe on avoiding open access publishing pitfalls

Learn More

Check out our open access blog posts from previous years:

• Open Access: Copyright Q + A
• Open Access: The Rainbow Connection
• Open Access: Open Educational Resources
• Open Access and Peer Review
• Open Access Week: Publishers role in Open Access
• Scholar as Author: Can I budget open access fees in a grant?
• Scholar as Author: How do I know if a journal is predatory or not?

Lars Bjørnshauge is the founding and managing director of DOAJ and co-founder of Infrastructure Services for Open Access.

This event is free, and open to all Florida Tech faculty, students, and staff.

Event Info:

Date: September 23

Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm

Location: Link Room, second floor

A special meet-and-greet with refreshments will be hosted at 10:30am in the DSL

Join us on Wednesday evenings for our weekly Conversation Hour!

Created as a place for students to practice their language skills, Evans Library’s Conversation Hour is open to all students. Talk with other students about your home, culture, customs, food, language, courses, current events, life in America, or anything at all.

Conversation Hour is held at 6pm in the DSL on the second floor.

The collection includes technical manuals authored by Frisch, NASA memorabilia and interior photos of shuttles, among other items.

“After watching the first moon landing on television, I developed an insatiable thirst for knowledge about space exploration and its technology,” said Frisch. “Before ultimately attending Florida Tech, I had amassed a sizable collection of public domain literature about past and future space programs from many organizations.”

“I am donating my collection and other papers from my early life achievements in the hopes that future Florida Tech graduates can be equally inspired to success based on the historical significance of our space programs’ beginnings,” he said.

His generosity is already making an impact.

Delroy Rebello, a graduate student in electrical engineering, is the Scott Frisch Scholar, a college roll position funded by Frisch to organize and inventory the collection. Rebello said the collection holds great value for aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering students, who can review documentation about various NASA rocket engines (1959–84), including architecture and telemetry.

“One of the most interesting parts of the collection are Scott’s own notes,” said Rebello. “He describes the mathematics at work in a very easy-to-understand way. This collection is a great resource for Florida Tech students.”

From the Grad Council Minutes of April 2016, it is clear that there are some concerns lingering over certain aspects of this change.  One issue centers on the paperwork for embargoing, or keeping the document from public access for a limited time period, so let me share the library’s perspective.  You, of course, as a current thesis or dissertation writer should take your advisor’s guidance into primary consideration.  There may be constraints related to as yet unpublished grant project findings or, in the case of private sector support, perhaps a confidentiality agreement.  Ultimately, the embargo decision and the accuracy of paperwork that enacts that decision will be your responsibility as the author of the thesis or dissertation.  Also keep in mind that during the past decade or two, much has changed in the overall realm of scholarly communication, including in the transition from graduate student to academically degreed professional, such that the immediate online accessibility of your work may be more valuable than protecting your work for a period of time; so, if there are not legal or ethical reasons influencing otherwise, you probably should consider favoring your embargo decision toward openness.  A job candidate’s work that remains a question mark to a search committee is at a severe disadvantage to one whose work is readily accessible.  (Such are our times, due to the high velocity part of the three Vs of Big Data; individual patience capacity to wait for findings to arrive by snail mail has long been left in the dust created in the wake of Moore’s Law.)

Another big category of embargo concerns is related to the thesis or dissertation writer’s intellectual property, specifically copyright or patent hopes.  Under current U.S. law, contrary to popular misconceptions, copyright legally gets conferred not from some arcane registration process or lawyer’s fancy paperwork, but instead happens at the very moment the writer fixes ideas into a “tangible medium of expression,” even such as a digital MSWord or LaTeX document as approved by your reviewing committee.  (As always, though, whenever you incorporate someone else’s expressions of ideas, you need to cite those.)  If you as copyright holder are worried that your plans to publish an article or book spiraling from your graduate work would be hindered unless your thesis or dissertation is embargoed, you should check with your publisher first.  Some might mind, but many do not. To embargo on some off chance that you are endangering other publication paths may not stand up to scrutiny.  In fact, openness could even help you, as editors and reviewers are able to refer to back to what you accomplished on campus.

As for patent concerns, holding off on making a thesis or dissertation public until patent paperwork clears does make perfect sense, but take care not to over-estimate the time required.  Again, the career boost from having your work accessible will probably be as valuable as anything in most cases.  Rely on your advisor and legal counsel for just the right fit to determine your ideal embargo period.

Image credits:

1. © Florida Institute of Technology
2. Velocity, by Robert S. Donovan, © 2009, CC-NC at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/booleansplit/3942748344/
3. From Laban Heath’s The United States Counterfeit Detector, and Teachers’ Guide, 1871, at https://archive.org/details/unitedstatescounhh02heat , p. 11

Here are some quotes from the publication cost budgeting advice from a couple of our top federal funders for Florida Tech grant projects:

• NSF: “You may request funds to cover costs of publication, page charges, or preparation of data as a direct cost in your budget proposal, which is evaluated as part of the merit review process.”

  Further referencing to more details sheds even more light:  “The proposal budget may request funds for the costs of documenting, preparing, publishing or otherwise making available to others the findings and products of the work conducted under the grant. This generally includes the following types of activities: reports, reprints, page charges or other journal costs (except costs for prior or early publication); necessary illustrations; cleanup, documentation, storage and indexing of data and databases; development, documentation and debugging of software; and storage, preservation, documentation, indexing, etc., of physical specimens, collections or fabricated items.”

• NIH: “Publication costs, including author fees, may be charged to  NIH grants and contracts on three conditions: (1) such costs incurred are  actual, allowable, and reasonable to advance the objectives of the award; (2)  costs are charged consistently regardless of the source of support; (3) all  other applicable rules on allowability of costs are met.”

Steps to Take

First, determine how many articles you expect to write to adequately report the results of your grant-funded project.  Next, if you have a good sense of your intended publisher, you should refer to their cost structure information for the charge per article.  (As mentioned in last week’s post, you should never consider publishing in any Open Access journals that do not reveal their fees up front.)  If you do not have a sense of your intended publisher, a reasonable figure would be somewhere in the range of $2000 to $3000.  (A relevant NASA FAQ uses one example at $2250.)  Again, though, it would be best to use citable figures from your intended publisher.

Packaging and Collaborations

One final note or two:  Some publishers have introduced institutional discount package arrangements for OA authors that the library could help coordinate, given a sufficient critical mass of interest on campus.  In order to gauge that cost effectiveness, though, we would need to first be aware of your interest, so let your library liaisons know if you find a particular opportunity that you think would work well for you and your Florida Tech colleagues.  Hindawi, Springer, and Wiley are just a few examples of this sort of opportunity.  Taken to an extreme, such coordination can result in a powerful multi-institutional collaboration like SCOAP3, in which over 3,000 libraries, funders and research centers have arrangements with several publishers to publish their high-energy physics papers at no cost to the authors.  (Florida Tech’s current most productive publishing authors benefit directly from SCOAP3.)  Essentially, money that had gone to subscriptions now is routed into a fund that supports their publicly accessible journals.  Maybe you have some ideas here?  Let us know!

Image credits:

1. Checked Box by David B. Lowe ©2016 CC-BY
2. Steps by Tezarah Wilkins CC-ND https://www.flickr.com/photos/tezarah/6214258281/
3. Package! by Beck Gusler CC-SA https://www.flickr.com/photos/halfbisqued/2353845688/

 FloridaTechHacks

We had a lot of fun with FloridaTechHacks very first hackathon!

Four-Ever Shakespeare

Four-Ever Shakespeare was a huge success! You can view photos from the event on our Facebook page. You can also check out the #4EverShakespeare tag on Twitter and Instagram to view photos from our Shakespeare photo booth.

Updates

Looking for information about grants, scholarships, fellowships, or internships? Check out GrantForward.

Upcoming Hours

Library Hours for Finals Week:

Sunday, May 1                                  10 a.m. – 2 a.m.

Mon–Wed, May 2-4                       7:45 a.m. – 2 a.m.

Thursday, May 5                               7:45 a.m. – Midnight

Friday, May 6                                     7:45 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Saturday, May 7                               9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Commencement

Sunday, May 8                                  CLOSED

Summer semester hours will begin Monday, May 9:

Monday – Thursday: 8am – 9pm

Friday: 8am – 5 pm

Saturday: CLOSED

Sunday: 1pm – 9pm

Targeted toward middle and high school students between the ages of 12 and 15, Understanding Media will explore the meanings and origins of the information we are exposed to on a daily basis. Campers will:

• Learn how information is gathered through interviews and first-hand accounts;
• Learn how data and news can be manipulated to tell a new story;
• Learn how advertising impacts our lives;
• Create their own media, including news stories and commercials;
• Learn about the Florida Tech community and Evans Library.

When:

June 13^th – 17^th, 2016

1:00pm – 4:30pm

Where:

Evans Library, Florida Institute of Technology

Cost:

$60 (includes t-shirt, camp materials, and snacks)

Sign-ups are now open on camps.fit.edu. For more information, contact Philina Richardson at prichard@fit.edu or 321-674-8086, extension 2258.

The context of faculty publishing priorities

I’d like to start this discussion (and set the stage for other future posts on this Scholar as Author blog) by sharing research on faculty priorities where publishing is concerned.  As part of the “Pay It Forward Project,” funded by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, investigators led by MacKenzie Smith of UC-Davis recently surveyed over 2000 researchers (approximately half faculty and half graduate students) from four institutions:  the University of British Columbia, the Ohio State University, and the Universities of California at Davis and at Irvine.  With the project report forthcoming this summer, here are their preliminary results for the top factors their surveyed researchers consider in selecting a journal for their article submissions, in priority order:

Since the money to support the publishing process has to come from somewhere, many OA journal business models feature a fee known as an APC (Article Processing Charge) to process each article.  Since authors are already motivated for career reasons to publish, and since the OA path may put the cost on their shoulders, the result can be downward pressure on quality as the marketplace expands into questionable practices.  (Considering #1, #6, and #8 above, you may be reminded of the engineer’s old saw:  “Of cheap, fast, and good, pick 2,” but our focus is to ensure quality, including OA.)

Here’s how to check

In practice, the Evans Library decision process to clarify an OA journal’s status involves filtering through a system of white lists (Good things:  Is the journal listed in DOAJ?  Is the publisher an OASPA member?), followed by black lists (Bad things:  Is the publisher or journal on Beall’s List? Is the journal one that failed Bohannon’s 2013 peer review sting operation as recorded in the journal Science?)  If the journal or its publisher either passes the white list tests or at least does not fail the black list tests, we may keep the publishing venue in consideration for our submissions.  From there, you should consider red flags, or questions you should at least consider:

1. Did you hear of the opportunity via an unsolicited email?[2]
2. Do past issues appear well edited?
3. Does the journal post its fees up front? (Notifying you of an exorbitant fee after the fact is the “gotcha” danger.)
4. Does the peer review process seem sketchy? (A symptom would be an unrealistically short turn-around time, for example.)
5. Are you confident that legitimate researchers are among the editors?
6. Are you confident the scholars who are listed as editors actually serve (or are even aware they appear) there? (Email makes it easy enough to check.) [3]
7. Does the journal title or its branding appear designed to pass for another, more reputable one?[4]
8. Does the place of publication seem to be falsified or hidden?[5]

Suspicions confirmed around any of these questions might warrant considering different publishing options.  If you have any questions or concerns about a journal, contact Holly Miller or me.

Next

Next week, we’ll address the question:  “Can I budget Open Access fees in my grant proposal?”

Image credits

#1. David B. Lowe, © 2015, CC-BY

#2.  From https://archive.org/details/inspectionguidef00helm , p. 8

[1] See https://www.cni.org/topics/e-journals/is-gold-open-access-sustainable-update-from-the-uc-pay-it-forward-project (slide #15 from either .pdf or .ppt slides)

[2] See http://www.nature.com/news/investigating-journals-the-dark-side-of-publishing-1.12666

[3] For points 2-6, see http://chronicle.com/article/Predatory-Online-Journals/131047/

[4] See http://www.nature.com/news/sham-journals-scam-authors-1.12681

[5] See http://eprints.rclis.org/14576/1/predatory.pdf , p. 11

1. Why do I need an ORCID?

Perishing is not an option

“Publish or perish” is the realist’s familiar mantra for a career in academe.  Whether you consider the tasks of publishing and presenting at conferences to be among the finest of sports on the one hand, or as most arduous torture on the other, as faculty you are evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively by what you write, in particular by your journal publications.  By collective extension, your department, your college, and even the university as a whole are all likewise judged (and to some extent accredited) in part thanks to the publications we produce as a greater team of individual colleagues.

Who are you? (Initial concerns) 

So, with all that is at stake and with all the effort expended to get published, who would not want to get full credit for their complete body of work?  Clearly, to track this amount of writing comprehensively requires standard tools across the community.  Traditionally, there have been two credible sources for this sort of large-scale scholarly citation tracking:  Thomson-Reuters (with Web of Science [WoS]) and Elsevier (with Scopus).  Now if you’ve tried to find all of your work in either or both of these sources, you may have noticed lacunæ in their record-keeping.  It would not be uncommon to find your things scattered across several variants of your name in different spots, including the case of your mere first initial attempting to hold forth among competing identities.  So, the situation was crying out for unique, universal, personal identifiers.  Admittedly, Scopus has its Scopus Author ID and WoS has its ResearcherID, but the point is that these did not talk to each other.

ORCID wants you to just be yourself

Enter the Open Researcher and Contributor ID, or ORCID:   create a free ORCID account today and you can account for and control your oeuvre’s listing comprehensively, including interacting with your ResearcherID and Scopus Author ID.  An ORCID is like your authoring fingerprint, a unique identifier that can capture all of your publications in one place, in addition to education, employment, and grants.  ORCID spans the globe, all the scholarly disciplines, and even format types.  You may list not only your articles, but also datasets you have deposited in a repository like Dryad, code you have in github, or posters or presentations we’ve added to the Scholarship Repository at FIT.  If you haven’t already, in the future you may be asked for your ORCID as you submit publications and grant applications.  You could also list and link your GoogleScholar, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley, LinkedIn, FIT, or any other profile page you wish.  In addition, you decide what you make visible on the ORCID site, but I would caution against hiding too much; at a bare minimum, you should reveal your current affiliation or the identification purpose is not well-served. Finally, since some have asked, we should note that ORCID does not have an impact metrics reporting feature, but stay tuned to this blog for discussion of this topic in the future.

In academia, you (and your institution) are what you write, so be sure to get your ORCID and let others know who you are and what you’ve accomplished.  Your Evans Library contacts stand ready to assist you, so please let us know if you have questions!  You might just dive in here:

http://orcid.org/

Until next week!  We are happy to address your scholarly authoring questions, which you may email to me.

Image credits:

1. https://archive.org/details/Philosophicaltr1Roya , cover page
2. http://apps.webofknowledge.com.portal.lib.fit.edu/RAMore.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&SID=1AW6iCUqrTg2EYbzupQ&qid=9&ra_mode=more&ra_name=Author&colName=WOS&viewType=raMore
3. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008675878 , p. 18

ACM Database

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) database covers topics such as avionics, simulation, air traffic control, airport management, human factors, and aviation weather.

To find full-text results, use the search box in the top right corner of the page and search within the publications from ACM and other affiliated organizations.

Use the search box on the top right side of the page.

Expand your search to the ACM Guide to Computing Literature.

Refine your search using the tools on the left. You can refine by people (name, institution, author, editor, and reviewer), publication (year, name) and by conference.

The following information is provided for each result:

• Title
• Author
• Date and publication information
• Full Text
• Bibliometrics and citation count

Aerospace Database

Published by ProQuest, Aerospace Database covers aerodynamics, aircraft design and instrumentation, communications and navigation, environmental pollution, meteorology, propellants, and many other subjects. Aerospace Database pulls from over 4,000 current titles, including those published by AIAA and NASA. Coverage is from 1962 to the present.

Like all ProQuest databases, users may limit their results to peer-reviewed information.

Select peer-review to find peer-reviewed resources.

Search refining tools are available on the left side of the results page, and allow users to limit by publication type, format, date, language, and subject.

Limit your results with the options on the left.

For more information on discipline specific databases and resources, check out the Aeronautics and Aviation research guide.

On Tuesdays, the Evans Library brings you helpful tips for using your library resources more effectively. This week, we’ll cover how to find fiction in and beyond Evans Library.

I read enough for class, thanks.

Reading fiction isn’t just a hobby: reading fiction can make you more empathetic, improve your theory of mind, make you happier, and lower your stress levels. Taking a reading break during a stressful or busy time might be just the thing to get you back on track.

So how do I find fiction? I left all my books at home.

Though the vast majority of our collection supports our academic objectives, Evans Library does have more than a few fiction items in its collection. You can find books by Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Brooks, Margaret Atwood, Danielle Steel, and many more  on the fourth floor. If you’re interested in browsing, check out the ‘P’ section on the fourth floor.

You can browse items by call number, either online or on the fourth floor.

To search for a specific author, use the “author” field within the library catalog.

Use the drop-down menu to change your search fields.

Brevard County Public Libraries are also an excellent resource available to all Florida Tech students. To obtain a library card, simply take your student ID to the nearest library.

Brevard County Libraries offer eBooks and audiobooks, as well as an excellent hold service that allows users to pick up books from any library within the system.

Topics:

1. Why do I need an ORCID?
2. How do I know if a journal is predatory or not?
3. Can I budget Open Access fees in a grant?
4. Where are we going with our online theses and dissertations?
5. Can I put my CV’s papers on ResearchGate?
6. How can I find my personal citation impact factor?
7. How can I navigate journal impact factor metrics?
8. I heard FSU has a new Open Access policy.  What’s going on there?
9. So the library has an Open Access fund for authors?
10. What advice would you give me on crafting a scholarly online persona?
11. Feel free to submit your own related questions to lowed@fit.edu .

I hope to hear plenty of suggested topics from all over campus.  Tune in next week for our ORCID discussion!

After Hours: Discovering Opera

Florida Tech Artist-in-Residence Alice Lestang gave a wonderful performance (and talk!) at Discovering Opera: A Lecture with Music. Thank you, Alice!

Updates

• The DSL is testing out a newly developed line of biodegradable filament for our 3D printers.
• Four new computers have been added to the DSL. You can find SolidWorks, Creo, MATLAB, and Microsoft Office on these workstations.

General Announcements

The following items have been added to our tech lending service:

• Wacom Pen Tablet
• Three USB-C phone cords
• CUBE portable color digitizer
• New projectors with improved color and sound
• Lamparte 3-axis gimbal

Upcoming Events

After Hours: Music of the World

Join us for an evening of music, and support your fellow students and staff as they play music from around the world.

Friday, April 1, 2016

6:30 – 8:30pm

After Hours: Video Game Night

Friday, April 8, 2016
6:15 – 8:30 pm

After Hours: Meet the Authors

Meet some of your favorite local authors!

Friday, April 15, 2016
6:30 – 8:00 pm
This event is free and open to the public.

After Hours: Earth Day

Friday, April 22
6:15 – 8:15pm

What is ‘open data,’ you ask?

Open data is just that – open. It is copyright- and restriction-free data made available to all. Open data may come from government agencies, scientists and researchers, businesses, libraries, archives, or museums. Regardless of origin, all open data should have the following in common (from the California Open Data Handbook):

• It should be technically open: information must be available in a machine readable format.
• It should be legally open: information should be available for commercial and non-commercial use without restrictions.

In addition to being available in a machine readable format, open data should be available in a format pertinent and useful to its intended audience: bulk bins or downloads for academics, within an API for programmers, and searchable and usable online for the average citizen. Open data may take the form of government information (open government), scientific data (open science), economic data (open spending), or cultural, historical, and heritage information (open galleries, libraries, archives, and museums)

Why should I care?

Open Data is vital to a free and open society. Benefits of open data include: better policy assessment, more efficient government, more insights into programs and initiatives, more citizen participation, and benefits to businesses and organizations that use open data.

How can I learn more?

To learn more about open data and how you can contribute to the movement, check out these resources:

• What is Open Data?
• Open Data Handbook
• International Open Data Hackathon/Open Data Day 
• Open Knowledge
• California Open Data Handbook

Events

Celebrating the Journey: Florida Tech’s African American Read-In

2016 marked Florida Tech’s first African American Read-In, and the event was a huge success! A recording of the event is available below and on our YouTube channel.

Updates

Spring break is upon us, and that means break hours! Evans Library will be open for the following hours during spring break:

CLOSED: Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6
OPEN: Monday, March 7 – Friday, March 11, 9am – 5pm
CLOSED: Saturday, March 12
OPEN: Sunday, March 13, 10am – midnight

General Announcements

Winners have been announced for our photography contest, Imagining the World:

• 1^st place: Fisherman by Efram Goldberg
• 2^nd place: After the Hung by Ahmed Hassan Alfadala
• 3^rd place: Children of Ghana by Katherine Kavanaugh
• Honorable mention: Kids of Kabul by James Baucom

Imagining the World will be on display on the first floor through the end of the semester.

March 5^th is Open Data Day! Learn more about the open data movement on their site: http://opendataday.org/

Upcoming Events

Research Support Workshops

How to write a research paper

March 2 and March 3

Simply Stunning Presentations

March 23 and March 24

Digital Scholarship Workshops

GIS III: Creating Animated Maps in ArcGIS ArcMap

March 14 and March 15

MATLAB

March 21 and 22

What is fair use?

Fair use is an exception to U.S. copyright law that allows certain uses of copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder. These uses include commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research. Fair use provides a critical balance between the rights of the copyright holder and the rights of the public and protects the interests of both parties.

Why should I care?

Fair use allows you, the student, researcher, educator, journalist, or commentator, to use material without fear of repercussions (so long as that use falls within fair use doctrine).

What are the rules?

Fair use is largely decided by four factors:

1. What is the character of your use? Does your use fall under criticism, parody, commentary, news, or education?
2. What type of information are you using? You’re more likely to fall on the side of fair use if you’re using published, factual works.
3. How much of the work will you use? Reproducing a work in its entirety would not be considered fair use, but quoting a passage or using a few seconds of video or sound might be.
4. Will your use affect the marketability of the original work? If your use of the work will reduce sales of the work, then it does not fall on the side of fair use.

These four factors can be distilled down into two questions:

• Is your use of this work transformative? (Does the work contain new meaning, insight, or commentary?)
• Is the amount of material used appropriate? (What percentage of the work is being used? A few seconds/minutes/sentences?)

Want to learn more about fair use and how you can make use of it? Check out the Center for Media & Social Impact for best practices for fair use in education, academia, libraries, and more.

Read (and watch) more:

Let’s Go Crazy: Lenz vs. Universal Music

A Fair(y) Use Tale

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index

Fair Use Week Blog

Mango offers courses in over 70 languages, including Spanish, English, French, Russian, Italian, ASL, Thai, Tagalog, Farsi, and Latin. There are no limits on the number of languages you can learn simultaneously, making Mango a great option for those who like to dabble.

Once you’ve selected your language, you may select a course from those offered for that language. All languages include a basic introductory course, though some also include courses on more advanced and technical topics. Pre-tests and assessments are available for those who already have some mastery of their chosen language.

The Mango Languages homepage for Japanese.

Mango works by introducing language in a natural setting, usually as a conversation. Each sentence is then broken down into its component parts, and users learn by studying the individual parts and putting them back together. Mango utilizes heavy repetition to teach users new words, and requires a headset with a microphone for the best experience.

Perhaps one of Mango’s best features is the option to watch full-length movies in your chosen language. Viewers may watch with subtitles in their own language, the language they are learning, or both. Subtitles are also coded to help you recognize and learn grammar.

Watch full-length movies in your chosen language with subtitles.

Mango is also available on your Apple or Android device.

Peer Review

Some questions come up more than others, and “How do I find peer-reviewed articles?” comes up most frequently of all. Let’s take a look at peer-review, and how we can use library resources to find peer-reviewed articles.

What is peer-review?

In short, peer-review is a process in which an author’s research is analyzed and scrutinized by his or her peers.

In more detail, peer-review happens when an author and his or her co-authors submit their work to a scholarly journal for publishing. If the paper meets the journals guidelines, the journal editor sends the document to reviewers (those would be the “peers”) for feedback. These reviewers may accept the article as is, accept on the condition that one or more edits are made, or they may reject the article outright. If the article is accepted, it is published. Check out this graphic from Understanding Science for a visual description.

Of course, peer-review is not without its detractors. Criticisms include allegations of shady science, discrimination, and bias against unpopular opinions. Despite these issues, peer-review is still held in high-regard within the scientific community. Throughout your academic career, you will be asked to find (and use) peer-reviewed research in your own writing.

What’s the difference between a “scholarly” resource and one that’s been peer-reviewed?

You can think of scholarly sources as those with, well, a scholarly bent. These resources will be academic in nature, are usually written for academics or researchers, and they will often include many, many citations. Always keep in mind that while all peer-reviewed publications are scholarly, not all scholarly publications are peer-reviewed.

How do I find peer-reviewed articles?

Finding peer-reviewed articles is much simpler than you might think. Many databases (such as ProQuest, Gale, and Academic Search Complete) have options to limit your search results to peer-reviewed resources. You may select the peer-reviewed option before beginning your search, or you may select it as a refining option on the results page. Evans Library’s discovery tool, Summon, has options for limiting to peer-review and scholarly sources on the results page.

Some databases (such as JSTOR and Engineering Village) do not make a peer-review option available because most (if not all) resources within them are scholarly and/or peer-reviewed. When using a database like this, you may want to use the search refining options to limit your results to “journal articles” or “articles” to find peer-reviewed results.

If you’re not sure about the types of materials available within the database you’re using, check out the database description on the A to Z Database list, or read the database’s about page.

But how do I know?

Peer-reviewed articles generally follow a standard format containing the following sections: abstract, introduction/background/literature review, methods, results, conclusions, and bibliography. Finding an article in this format is a good indication that you have found a peer-reviewed research article.

Even after limiting and refining your search, you might still be unsure about the quality of your results. When a journal’s credibility is in question, check out Ulrichsweb. Ulrichsweb contains publication information, including: publication schedule, content type, publisher, language, as well as reviews from librarians.

Additional Resources:

• What is peer-review, and how do I find peer-reviewed articles?
• Misha explains the peer-review process
• Finding articles on Evans Library’s website
• Anatomy of a scholarly article

Channeling Jerry Keuper

On Friday, January 29th, Evans Library hosted “Channeling Jerry Keuper,” an event celebrating the life and times of Florida Tech’s founder and first president. It was a wonderfully entertaining and successful evening!

Dr. Fronk’s talk is witnessed by the Jerry-bot.

Dr. Wastawy, Melanie Keuper, and AMber Patton pose for a photo.

Lisa Petrillo takes a selfie with Dr. Keuper’s bust.

Digital Scholarship Lab Opening

You can read more about the Digital Scholarship official opening here.

Updates

We’ve recently added the following databases to our collection:

• eBook Academic Collection
• MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
• New York Times Digital Edition
• PsycTESTS
• Social Science Citation Index (Web of Science) & Journal Citation Reports (JCR) – Social Sciences Edition
• InCites

General Announcements

Workshops, workshops, workshops!

We have put together an action-packed schedule of workshops on a variety of topics. If you have a hankering to learn about GIS, 3D printing, data management, Mendeley, or coding, we have a workshop for you. Check out our full schedule of workshops and events in a previous post.

Upcoming Events

Conversation Hour

Our weekly Conversation Hour takes place on Wednesdays at 5:30pm in Room 217.

Carnival Dance Hour, February 5, 6:30 – 8:00pm

Learn how to dance like they do on the streets of Rio and Trinidad!

Celebrate the Journey: Florida Tech’s African American Read-In, February, 5 6:30 – 8:00pm

Celebrate the works of black American authors and celebrate Black History Month with Florida Tech and Evans Library.

Whether you’re looking to learn something new, find research help, or let down your hair for an hour or two, Evans Library has an event or workshop for you! Click through the following pages to learn more about our Research Support and Digital Scholarship Lab workshops, as well as our after hours events.

The DSL facilitates collaboration among faculty and students in order to transform research and scholarship by using new media and digital technologies.  These include data curation, data management, geospatial analysis, visualization, and digital scholarship tools. In addition, training and consultations are provided.

Opening of the Digital Scholarship Lab

Our brand new Digital Scholarship Lab opened earlier this semester in the space formerly occupied by the Academic Support Center. In the lab, you can find:

• Five dual-monitor ArcGIS stations
• Three 3D printers (please submit your 3D print jobs through our website)
• One 3D optical scanner
• 4’ x 10’ LED Panel Video Wall
• One zSpace station (virtual reality/3D learning)
• A video conferencing system

Our most recent addition is the installation of the full Adobe Creative Cloud on all four Apple computers available in the lab.

The Re-birth of the Service Desk

Earlier this year, the long wooden staple of the first floor was removed to make way for a newer, more modern, more user friendly type of desk. The old wooden desk now resides in the Applied Computing Center on the third floor.

Learning and More

This year we learned about Open Access and Creative Commons, how to find and use Research Guides, and how to choose presentation software. Is there a topic you’d like to see covered in the blog in 2016? Contact Philina Richardson (prichard@fit.edu) and let us know!

Upcoming Workshops for Spring 2016

Spring 2016 will see the addition of two new workshop series to our roster: Digital Scholarship Workshops and Student Success. Featured workshops will include:

• Introduction to 3D printing
• GIS I: An introductory sampler for newcomers to ArcGIS*
• GIS II: An ArcGIS orientation*
• GIS III: Loading and displaying data in ArcGIS*
• Video production
• Research Data Management
• Plagiarism
• Citing Sources
• Finding Scholarships and Grants

Please note that some workshops (*) have limited spaces. Sign-up links will be available prior to each workshop.

Break Hours

Evans Library will be closed December 24, 2015 through January 3, 2016. We will reopen on Monday, January 4th at 9am. Regular semester hours will resume on Sunday, January 10th.

We hope that you have a wonderful winter break, and we’ll see you in the new year!

In November we celebrated International Games Day and danced our hearts out at 80s Karaoke Night!

Updates

• The Digital Scholarship Lab is almost ready! Furniture has been moved in, and our new equipment is being set up.
• We’ve added vending machines to the alcove on the third floor. Fill your caffeine and snack needs next to the elevator.
• New software available: ProText and TexStudio are now available on the five GIS workstations on the third floor. In addition, ArcGIS 3D Analyst, ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, and ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst are available through the end of 2015.
• This month we say goodbye to an old friend: the Information Links ends its 30+ year run this month. The full Information Links archive is available on the library website. To keep up to date with what’s happening in and around the library, check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.

General Announcements

End of the semester hours (see Upcoming Events for extended hours during finals week).

Sunday, December 13: CLOSED

Monday, December 14 – Friday, December 18: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Saturday, December 19 – Sunday, December 20: CLOSED

Monday, December 21 – Wednesday, December 23: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Friday, December 25 – Sunday, January 3: CLOSED

Upcoming Events

Finals are coming, finals are coming! We’re here to help fulfill your need for sugar, caffeine, and cramming (though you really shouldn’t be cramming).

Extended hours:

Wednesday, December 1 – Thursday, December 2: 7:45 AM – 2:00 AM

Friday, December 4: 7:45 AM – 9:00 PM

Saturday, December 5: 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Sunday, December 6: 10:00 AM – 2:00 AM

Monday, December 7 – Wednesday, December 9: 7:45 AM – 2:00 AM

Thursday, December 10: 7:45 AM – 9:00 PM

Friday, December 11: 7:45 AM – 6:00 PM

Saturday, December 12 (COMMENCEMENT): 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Stress relief dogs!

Our friends Cooper, Lava, and Sandy will be in the library on December 8 and 9 from 1 – 2pm.

Donut Days

 Donuts, coffee, and bagels courtesy of Drs. Becker, Bowers, Boy, Glicksman, Kenkel, Oyman, Rassoul, and Wastawy!

December 7, 8, and 9 from 7pm – 9pm on the first floor.

The Evans Library’s Information Links newsletter, which began publication in 1983, will end its run this month.  In light of significant changes in how news is disseminated, a decision was made to capitalize on real-time media outlets and other well-placed promotions to spread the word about Library resources, services, facilities, programming, and events. The newsletter’s history includes multiple formats – print only,  print/online options, and a blog summation.  To keep posted on the latest and greatest at the Evans Library, please find us, like us, follow us, whatever!

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

October was full of fun and informative events,

Dr. Holly Miller at “10 Books that Shaped the World”

We had some amazing costumes at Monster Jam!

Crazy good costume contest

A photo posted by Evans Library (@fitevanslibrary) on Oct 30, 2015 at 3:32pm PDT

General Announcements

We were pleased to welcome three new members of the Evans Library staff this month!

• Martin Gallahger as our new Digital Scholarship Lab Support Manager
• David Lowe as our new Data Librarian
• Chelsea Stripling as our new Instruction Librarian

 Upcoming Events

We have two more research support workshops this semester:

• MATLAB Basics on 11/4 and 11/5
• Formatting an FIT thesis on 11/18 and 11/19

This day in history…from Diane Newman, special collections curator

Making Connections

Countdown: 3, 2, 1, we have liftoff!  How many times have you listened to those numbers with baited breath waiting for a rocket to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center?  Those lucky enough to live along the Space Coast can witness the liftoffs live.  They never fail to make hearts pump wildly.  And that is why, on November 1, 1999, the 321 telephone area code was officially assigned to the Space Coast region.

While nearly 50 students – undergraduate, graduate, domestic, international, on-campus and online, from a variety of Florida Tech fields of study – applied, the following were selected:

Pratick Bakhtiani
Eric Cano
Iris Carson
Marina DeBiasi
Joseph Halisky
Manoj Kumar Hulmani
Balaji Kasula
Harshitha Kiran
Dhruv Patel
Mike Patrick
Normal Perry
Aabha Sant
Svetlana Santos
Urvashi Saxena
Sarinthree Udchachone

The purpose of the Student Library Advisory Council (SLAC) is to “inspire library improvements by engaging in dialog with library faculty, staff, and administration, by advocating on behalf of student needs, and by promoting the library’s integration of multiple student perspectives.”  A student-run committee, the SLAC will aim to “advise the library administration on matters regarding the Evans Library and to discuss and advise on issues that affect the quality of the student experience with Florida Tech Libraries’ services.”  Dean of Libraries, Dr. Sohair Wastawy, looks forward to meeting with the group in mid-November and to hearing their ideas.

The Testing & Education Reference Center includes over 300 practice tests and test preparation courses for common exams, including the GRE, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, CLEP, FCAT, and TOEFL.

Resources are divided by educational need, and include sections for high school students, students preparing for college or grad school, job seekers, and international students. Each test page contains links to practice tests, online books, articles, resources, and related links.

Resources are organized by audience at the top of the page.

This database is an excellent resource for students of all academic backgrounds, as well as staff, faculty, and their families.

We continue our celebration of Open Access (OA) Week with a look at some of the tools (and their purposes) that are coming into focus in this sphere of scholarly activity.  In my post this past Monday, I mentioned the new author identifier known as ORCiD, and urged everyone to register for one at orcid.org .  But why would we need such a thing, with profiles appearing in all sorts of professional and social media?  In a phrase, it’s a matter of mistaken (or mistakable) identities.  If you’ve ever Googled or otherwise searched for a person by name in any online database, you know that (depending on the name) it can be difficult to isolate the search results for just that one person you are looking for.  A unique identifier allows for grouping all of the relevant material in its proper place under a particular person.  This notion should be a priority for many reasons, not the least being grant funding:  we know that one funder—the Wellcome Trust in the UK—recently started requiring ORCiDs from grant proposal submitters, while many other grant agencies at least request them, and the trend is sure to grow.  We are pleased to announce that Evans Library recently became a member organization of ORCiD, so we will be able to help manage and maintain profiles of Florida Tech affiliates.  We urge you to register and populate your ORCiD profile!  Feel free to let us know how we can help.

The personal identifier solution will help make people aware of your work as a set of materials, and that’s the first step toward access.  But what other important steps might scholars take to facilitate communicating and sharing their work?  Three key areas to keep in mind here would be repositories, licensing, and networking.

Repositories are databases in which you can archive your research work.  Florida Tech’s Scholarship Repository has been discussed in an earlier blog post here (http://ecurrent.fit.edu/blog/campus/library/open-access-florida-tech-scholarship-repository/ ).  It is OA in principle (but embargoes are possible where appropriate), and indexed by your favorite search engines.  Other repositories with low barriers to entry would be figshare (figshare.com) and Harvard’s Dataverse (dataverse.org).  Your grant funder may have specific preferences (NOAA, for example, has its own repositories), but FIT OA materials are always welcome at repository.lib.fit.edu .   Note that non-exclusivity tends to be a common attribute with the OA ethic, so you might have your materials deposited in more than one place.

Similarly, another previous blog post here discussed Creative Commons (CC) licensing (http://ecurrent.fit.edu/blog/campus/library/creative-commons-whats-flavor/ ).  Have you ever seen or read something a colleague had put together (articles, sure, or maybe a slide or other graphic, or perhaps a survey) and wondered if you could use it?  Traditionally, we as academics would have needed to contact the author for permission if our implementation were to exceed the bounds of educational Fair Use.  With CC licensing in place, however, we can simply cite the source and follow the licensing provisions the author stipulates, and proceed on our merry scholarly way.  Much simpler than messy permissions phone tag.

Next, networks of affinities abound, and increasingly rare nowadays is the person unfamiliar with FaceBook or LinkedIn or Twitter.  We are social beings with hardwired tendencies to interact, and our professional lives in general are no exception, nor is the particular environment of the online world.  Academic networking platforms come from a range of instigators, such as professional organizations (such as IEEE’s Collabratec), or from information companies (such as Elsevier’s Mendeley or Thomson Reuters’ Project Neon), or from academic libraries (such as VIVO), or from enthusiastic researchers (researchGate.net), or even from venture capitalists and angel investors (such as academia.edu).  It would be worthwhile to explore at least one with relevance to your discipline (perhaps by probing colleagues or relevant email listservs).  These are fine avenues for making your work known and sharing it, which increases the likelihood of citation for you.

Happy Open Access Week (October 19-25, 2015)!  Maybe you’ve been following this event over its eight year life span, or maybe you’ve never heard of it before; still, you might wonder what good has been accomplished in that time frame.  Here is a description, with some highlights of accomplishments and steps you as a researcher might take:

Open Access (OA) Week is a time set aside for the scholarly community to raise awareness about OA as “the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need.”[1]  Perhaps in your research you’ve had occasion to encounter links to materials that required you to pay to read them.  OA counters such “pay walls” with the notion of unfettered access.  That’s a good thing for moving academic research forward.

So what’s been done?

For one thing, the number of peer-reviewed OA journals has more than doubled to over 10,600 currently,[2]  up from below 5000 in 2009.[3]  That’s over 2 million articles at your fingertips, 24 X 7 X 365:  Academic research of verified quality, available for free consumption.

Next, federal funders have taken some powerful strides toward OA with a series of steps aimed at making the products of research grants accessible into the future, including articles that summarize researchers’ findings, as well as the projects’ data sets as such.  Since 2011, if you submit a grant proposal to NSF, for example, you must include a Data Management Plan that explains what data your project will generate and how you will provide access to it into the future.  (By the way, Evans Library staff stand prepared to help you with that; see:  http://libguides.lib.fit.edu/RDM .)

In response to the funders’ new requirements, both publishers and academic libraries have answered with initiatives to enable these OA stipulations, expanding as they are across agencies and even to private funding sources.  The publisher response is known as Clearing House for the Open Research of the United States (CHORUS) and it involves having authors indicate when an article they are submitting needs to be OA as part of compliance for funding; such articles will be freely available, if all works as planned.  Libraries, on the other hand (and in particular the Association of Research Libraries [ARL], in partnership with other higher ed organizations), have countered with the SHARE project, an ambitious effort to track articles, data sets, and similar products of research toward the goal of cataloging and making these resources available.  An essential piece of both efforts will be ORCiD, a unique identifier and profile system which all researchers and authors in academia should register for; see: http://orcid.org .

In the next OA week post, we’ll look together at some other tools that scholars will likely encounter in this evolving ecosystem.

[1] See:  http://www.openaccessweek.org/page/about

[2] See:  https://doaj.org/

[3] See:  http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0020961

Monday, October 19th: Faculty Brown Bag Discussion – “Creating Open Educational Resources”

12:00pm – 1:00pm in the Link Multimedia Room (204) on the second floor.

Tuesday, October 20th: Research Support Workshop – Finding and Using Creative Commons Resources

3:00pm – 3:30pm on the first floor.

Tuesday, October 20th: WFIT’s Market Day

Stop by the library’s booth at Market day to learn more about Open Access and enter a free raffle!

Wednesday, October 21st: An Exploration of Open Access – Happenings on the frontier of scholarly publishing

4:00 – 4:50pm in P133

Wednesday, October 21st: Open Access Week Movie Night – The Internet’s Own Boy

The Internet’s Own Boy follows the story of information activist Aaron Swartz.

6:00pm – 8:00pm in the Link Multimedia Room (204) on the second floor.

Friday, October 23rd: Live with Cable Green – Taking OER Mainstream

In this live webinar, Dr. Cable Green will talk about open educational resources (OER), open licensing, and global education.

2:00pm – 3:00pm in the Link Multimedia Room (204) on the second floor.

Want to learn more? Take a look at some of our posts from previous years:

– Open Access: Copyright Q + A

– Open Access: The Rainbow Connection

– Open Access: Open Educational Resources

– Open Access and Peer Review

– Open Access Week: Publishers role in Open Access

by Erin Mahaney

We often hear that nothing lasts forever. For physical archival collections, the things we would like to preserve will inevitably interact with their environment at some point; items will age, and they will give off chemicals and undergo physical processes when they do. Even without any adverse outside activity, information and the physical medium that holds it can be lost through this natural process, though its rate will vary greatly depending on the storage conditions. For digital records, content can easily become decontextualized, information mediums can become obsolete, and the means of access can disappear. Especially in our digital age when information is produced and available at an exponentially increasing rate, it is inevitable that some valuable stories will be lost, and many important records of the human experience will never become part of our collective memory simply because we couldn’t save them all. Perhaps it is this sense of urgency that drives us: the awareness that we have nothing to lose in the attempt and everything to lose by inaction.

by Erin Mahaney

The challenges of preserving digital archives are increasingly visible and widely discussed (for example, Bina Venkataraman’s article in the Boston Globe from May 17, 2015: The race to preserve disappearing data). Though good standards exist for the storage and management of digital data, archivists still face an uncertain future for the long-term digital preservation of archival records. Some digital media of the 1990s and early 2000s has not even had the opportunity to stand the test of time the way older formats have, simply because newer media is evolving at a much more rapid rate. Faced with storage devices such as floppy disks, archivists must continually find ways to access content on media that is becoming obsolete faster than we can design ways to preserve it. Reading older storage media alone may require archives to maintain old hardware or create Frankencomputers.* While some mediums or particular file formats do have advantages over others, digital preservation requires an increasingly complex and multifaceted approach. Such an approach includes but is not limited to: multiple copies in geographically dispersed locations, regular fixity checks, good metadata management, and usually migration, normalization, and/or emulation as needed to preserve the content, authenticity, and functionality of digital records.

*As the name implies, a “Frankencomputer” is basically a computer made up of numerous parts from other defunct computers, helpful for employing multiple access points for different kinds of removable media.

by Erin Mahaney

Many archivists and other cultural heritage professionals are, by the nature of their profession, preservationists. Archivists are charged to collect, protect, preserve, and make available records of enduring or intrinsic value to the public. Slight differences exist among terms such as archival value, permanent value, enduring value, and intrinsic value, but for the purposes of this post, think about records in the context of intrinsic value and enduring value. In this context, both the message (content) and medium (form) have value that merits long-term preservation. This issue of medium, or form, changes when we begin to deal with digital records, and different priorities regarding authenticity come into play. Numerous challenges will face anyone, cultural heritage professional or not, who seeks to preserve records. Records come in countless formats, from paper to PDF to film reel and so much more. While the first task is to identify what to save, we must then try to actually preserve the materials when the natural world dictates that these things should, like everything else, eventually decompose. Without going into the theory or analysis of why we (individuals, not just archivists) choose to save what we do, or the potential implications of these choices on how humanity understands its own history hundreds of years from now (this is only a blog post, after all), it’s worth looking at some of the challenges facing the preservation of the physical and digital records we seek to maintain.

Physical Challenges

There are individuals who really love preservation. They love the nearly impossible (some would argue actually impossible) challenge of trying to slow deterioration, to preserve both the medium and the message of archival records- indefinitely. While the challenges and approaches to preservation are different for physical and digital media, these challenges are eagerly met by a field of devoted (sometimes slightly paranoid) individuals who look askance at an open coffee cup near an exhibit, watch the checksums (or the programs running them), constantly monitor the hygrometers or data loggers, and inspect or sniff old books for mold and decay.*

Being preservation-minded can result in certain behaviors, in and out of the workplace. Knowing mold can grow in library and archival collections within 48 hours if the conditions are right (high temperature and humidity) means that we compulsively monitor the environmental conditions of our storage areas to be sure they stay within the optimal range (50-68˚F and 35-55% RH, depending on the types of materials). We often exhibit similar behaviors in our home environments, such as discreetly hiding hygrometers in our book shelves, performing regular mold checks of our collections, and refusing to store certain types of materials in a garage or shed. We are very aware that maintaining good, stable environmental conditions are the single most important thing we can do to preserve our physical collections. Fluctuations in the environmental conditions are also cause for concern. Paper in particular will absorb moisture in high humidity, expand in heat, contract in cold, and become brittle when too dry. These small adjustments the materials make to their environment stresses and weakens them. In addition to heat and moisture, there is light. The effects of light are cumulative and irreversible on most archival and museum materials such as textiles, photographs, paper, and film. We cannot undo the damage caused by light simply by placing it somewhere in the dark for twice as long. Small things like oils on our hands when we touch the emulsion of a photograph, dust particles that can scratch a fragile surface, or air pollutants that settle on these items all haunt the preservationist. The first thing we look for when we enter a new building isn’t the fire escape but to see if the windows have UV filters and if anything valuable is located below a set of water pipes.

*Note- it is not recommended to sniff for mold. In fact, it is very bad indeed, and rumors of an occupational hazard called “The Archivist’s Lung” resulting partly from such unwise evaluation methods should deter the habitual book-sniffer.

If “Death by PowerPoint” accurately describes your presentations, take a look at any of the alternatives below.

Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is relatively new on the presentation software scene, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful or useful than the veteran alternatives. Available in your browser and on your iPad, Haiku Deck utilizes the ideas in Presentation Zen to give you simple, eye catching slides. By design, Haiku Deck slides only have limited space for text, but slide options for lists and graphs are available.

Totally web-based…unless you’re willing to pay

Almost everyone loves cloud storage. Who doesn’t want to worry about having their presentation stored in a thumb drive? Images are pulled from stock websites and creative commons licensed resources, meaning you don’t have to worry about where you’re getting your photos.

Haiku Deck recently changed its pricing structure, putting the ability to download decks in the premium tier. Downloaded decks save each slide as an image (text and all), and then place each new image in a traditional PowerPoint slide or into a PDF. A new feature, Haiku Deck Zuru Beta, allows you to upload your existing PowerPoint files to Haiku Deck.

Limited collaboration

Haiku Deck makes it easy to share your finished presentation with others, but the workarounds for collaborating on a presentation in progress are a bit much. Haiku Deck suggests creating collaborative accounts to work on group projects. If that isn’t feasible, your alternative is to share and copy decks amongst your group members.

Limited style choices

Haiku Deck makes great presentations through its simplicity, but sometimes you need just a little more. Your font choices are limited to those available in Haiku Deck’s 20-some themes. You can upload your own images as well, but your results may vary with size and quality. In some ways, the limited style choices do force you to really think about what you put into your presentation, and that can be a good thing.

Bullet points? We’ve got those

Haiku Deck recently added new slide templates that allow you to add graphs, tables, and bullet points to your decks. Of course, if you’re trying to avoid PowerPoint’s death by bullet point, then you might want to use some of these new options sparingly.

Prezi

Prezi hit the scene in 2009, and is currently the darling of the presentation world. Another cloud-based tool, Prezi allows users to create, store, and share presentations online. Prezi is a great tool for non-linear storytelling and digital presentations.

It’s like PowerPoint – but with motion sickness!

Prezi is all about paths, and how you use them. Zooming and panning let you add a new, dynamic dimension to your presentations, but if you’re not careful, your audience may hate you for forcing them to read a bunch of bullet points while motion sick. If you find that your Prezi frames tend to look exactly like your PowerPoint slides (but with zooming), you may want to step back and rethink your approach.

Collaboration

Prezi does allow for live collaboration between users, which is good news for group projects. Check out the video below for more information on how you can collaborate with your friends and colleagues:

You can also download your Prezis for offline viewing.

Limited functionality

Like Haiku Deck, Prezi doesn’t have everything you need for creating your presentation. For instance, you can’t hyperlink text (which you should be doing to provide proper attribution for those Creative Commons licensed images) and you’re stuck with limited color and font choices.

Media Integration

Prezi does let you directly insert YouTube videos into your presentation (and it works a whole heck of a lot better than it does in PowerPoint).

Heavy Time Investment

While Prezi offers tons of ready-made templates for your use, it can still be time consuming to get something that looks just right. The Flash interface is not always the most easy to use or navigate (as simply clicking on the background is enough to create a text box) and while there are plenty of pre-made templates available, creating something like this on your own may require more effort than you’re willing to expend.

Extra features aren’t free

In addition to the free, public tier, Prezi offers three premium tiers: Enjoy, Pro, and Teams. The Pro tier (targeted at individual use) offers unlimited storage, privacy settings, image editing tools, and offline working.

Google Slides

One of Google’s Microsoft alternatives, Google Slides is a cloud-based application that allows users to upload, create, store, and share presentations online.

You already have an account

Florida Tech students, faculty, and staff already have access to Google Slides through their my.fit and go.fit accounts. Take a look at the Google applications overview on the tech support website for more information. Like Slides below, Google Slides is available just about anywhere – on your computer and all of your mobile devices.

The best kind of collaboration

If collaboration is your need, then Google Slides is your solution. Unlike some of the other options reviewed here, Google Slides offers the ability to collaborate in real time straight out of the box, without subscriptions and with only a simple change in a document’s privacy settings. This makes Google Slides hands-down the best choice for collaborative work or team projects.

PowerPoint – but online

Google Slides replicates PowerPoint almost entirely – change your font, add textboxes, images, tables, captions, videos, word art, and everything else you’d expect in a presentation software. You even have the option to download your slides as .PPT or .PDF files for offline viewing or editing. In addition, Google Slides offers numerous customization options, including templates and themes.

Slides

Slides (not to be confused with Google Slides) feels like a motionless version of Prezi – or, in other words, a cloud-based PowerPoint.

Customization

Slides uses HTML to create decks, meaning that those with the inclination have the ability to customize their slides into exactly what they want. Pro users have access to the custom CSS editor, allowing them to edit their slides to an even greater degree.

Familiarity

The traditional PowerPoint features are present in Slides. Animations (called fragments), tables, text boxes, frames, and images are easy to find and use. Slides also has features for displaying code and mathematical equations, making it a great option for technical presentations.

View anywhere

Decks can be viewed on your phone, tablet, or desktop, embedded on other sites, or presented live to virtual (and non-virtual) audiences.

Extras will cost you

Just like Haiku Deck and Prezi, Slides charges for special features. The basic, free version offers access to the HTML editor, public decks, and 250MB of storage. Pro and Team plans offer private decks, more storage, Dropbox synchronization, offline presentations, and custom CSS.

In conclusion…

While we only reviewed four options here, there are numerous presentation apps available, both free and not free. We encourage you to do your own research, and find something that works for you. Here’s a list of things you might want to keep in mind when performing your own evaluation:

• Does this application have offline capabilities (and is that important to me)?
• What plugin (HTML5, Flash, etc.) does this application use?
• Which features are free, and which are premium?
• How much online storage do I get?
• If I’m working with a group, how easy is it to collaborate?

Events                   

“About Those Links” had a wonderful turnout!

Marilyn Link speaks to the audience.

Dr. Sohair Wastawy speaks to the audience.

Updates

Over the coming weeks, construction on the new Digital Scholarship Lab will begin in the area that was once the Applied Computing Center. Please pardon our dust while we update the space.

Announcements

Have you checked out our Research Support Workshops? This semester’s workshops include sessions on presentations, research writing, MATLAB, and formatting a thesis. Attend one of our live sessions on the first floor, watch the session live at home, or watch the recording later!

Upcoming Events

Conversation Hours are back!

October 15 (5:00 pm):  SciFinder and PatentPak training session

This training session will be held in OLS 103, and is open to all.

October 16: Not Quite Right Improv Troupe (6:30 – 8:30 pm)

Come learn about the power of play with Melbourne’s most popular comedy improve troupe. Admission is free to students, faculty, and staff.

October 23: Ten Books that Shaped the World (6 – 8:30 pm)

October 30: Fright Night (6:30 – 8:30 pm)

Music, costumes, and fun!

Open Access Week: October 19 – 23

Drop by and see our Open Access display on the first floor, or attend one of the informative sessions happening during Open Access Week (October 19 – 23):

• Faculty Brown Bag Discussion: “Creating Open Education Resources”
• Research Support: Finding and Using Creative Commons Resources
• Open Access Week Movie Night: The Internet’s Own Boy
• Live with Cable Green: Taking OER Mainstream

What are research guides?

Research guides are created and maintained by Florida Tech librarians. They contain information regarding resources, services, and research techniques, and can be centered around a specific topic, course, or major. Research guides are created and maintained by Florida Tech librarians, and contain information regarding resources, services, and research techniques. Guides can focus on a particular topic, course, or major.

Evans Library currently has guides for just about every major and department at Florida Tech, and over 35 course-related guides. With that many guides, there’s bound to be one that can help you!

Finding a guide

You can access Evans Library’s research guides by clicking on the “Research Guides” tab on the library homepage. From there, you’ll be taken to the list of all guides. If browsing the entire list isn’t your thing, there are options to browse by course, subject, topic, and librarian.

Use the “Research Guides” link on the homepage.

Using guides

Nearly all guides will contain information on reference resources, databases, books, and journals relevant to that topic, as well as citation management information and even search strategies. Research guides are a great jumping off point for beginning new research, whether that research is in your major or for an elective.

If you’re still having trouble with your research, you can always contact a librarian for help: call, chat, email, or visit us in person!

There are 17 branch libraries in Brevard County, meaning that no matter where you live, there’s a library near you. Together, these branches house over one million books, and thousands of video and sound recordings. Best of all, books in distant branches can be sent directly to your local library, free of charge. Simply use the “hold” feature within the catalog, and place your request. Regular books checkout for a generous 21 days, while new books checkout for 7.

If you prefer your books digitally, library card holders also have access to Overdrive, which allows them to download eBooks and audiobooks from their own home.

Students can bring their Florida Tech ID and a photo ID to their local library obtain a library card. Brevard County residents simply need to present a Florida driver’s license to obtain a card.

Hosted by Petra Brnova, our Research Writing Sessions aim to help students with the writing process, including deciding on a research topic, finding resources, and deciphering articles. Sessions will be held on Monday evenings beginning September 21st in the Link Multimedia room from 6 to 8pm. Registration is not required.

Returning this year, Presentation Practice Sessions will be held on Thursdays, from 3pm to 5pm in the Conference Room. Students, staff, and faculty are welcome to sign up  to practice presentations with a librarian, and receive feedback on presentation style, length, and format.

Presentation isn’t quite finished? No worries, we’re happy to help you with the planning and design process!

Registration is required for our Presentation Practice Sessions – please sign up for a slot at signupgenius.com.

Updates

Have you taken a look at our updated hours? And the café’s new hours?

General Announcements

The third floor has reopened, and is now the happy home for the Applied Computing Center! Drop by to take a look at their new location.

The Student Library Advisory Council is still looking for applications. Submit yours here by September 14^th.

Upcoming Events

Our fall Research Support Workshop schedule is up and full of informative sessions! This semester’s offerings include sessions on using library resources, writing papers, creating great presentations, using MATLAB, and formatting your thesis. Sessions are open to all Florida Tech students, faculty, and staff, and no registration is required to attend.

The first after-hours event of the semester will be held this Friday from 6:30 to 8:30pm: Jam Session @ the Library! Hosted by music professor Kyle Knappenberger, Jam Session @ the Library will fill the library with music, created by YOU. We’re looking for all kinds of instruments to come play together: strings, brass, woodwinds, guitars, bass, drums, singers – anything! All are welcome to attend, and all instruments are welcome!

Later this month, the library will host “About those Links,” an event dedicated to the famous Link family and their influence on Florida Tech.

Join us on Friday, September 18th from 2:00 to 4:30 pm for an afternoon all about those Links – an afternoon all about Edwin, Marion, and Marilyn Link – and learn more about the Link family’s involvement with Florida Tech.

Access Engineering provides online access to material published by McGraw-Hill, including ebooks, instructional videos, graphs, maps, calculators, and news. Access Engineering covers engineering topics ranging from biomedical engineering to industrial engineering to software and computer engineering. Available resources are organized by subject, by industry, and by title.

Notably, Access Engineering provides online access to Schaum’s Outlines. Simply go to “Subjects” and navigate to Schaum’s for a full listing of publications available.

Go to “Subjects” in the menu bar, and navigate down to Schaum’s Outlines.

On Tuesdays, the Library brings you helpful tips for using your library resources more effectively. This Tuesday, we’re going to discuss finding and using Creative Commons and public domain resources and images.

The right image

The right visuals can make or break a presentation or blog post. Images catch our attention, pull us in, and can speak louder than words. Not only is finding the right image important, but so is finding the right reusable image.

Copyright

Yeah, we said the “c” word. We’re familiar with the debates and controversies surrounding copyright restrictions, DMCA takedown notices, and the various other debates surrounding copyright – but that’s not the focus of today’s post. Regardless of how you feel (or we feel, or anyone feels) about copyright, many of the images retrieved by a Google image search are copyrighted and are therefore unavailable for use without express permission of the copyright holder at this moment in time.

An exception to copyright, fair use, does allow for the use of copyrighted material without permission in works that are commentary, criticism, or parody of the original, as well as works that are educational, used for research, scholarship, or news reporting. So, though using a copyrighted image in an academic presentation could possibly be considered fair use, others might not necessarily agree. We encourage you to read up on fair use doctrine before you apply it in your academic and creative endeavors.

The Public Domain and Creative Commons

If you don’t want to worry about whether or not your use falls under fair use, there are two options available to you: Creative Commons licensed media and media in the public domain.

Public domain images are those that have passed out of copyright, or those that were never copyrighted in the first place (including government documents).  Your other option, Creative Commons (CC) licensed work, is material available for reuse under certain terms and conditions. Creative Commons licenses work within the current copyright system to allow content creators to keep their rights while still allowing others to use and benefit from their work. Provided you follow the terms laid out in the specific licenses, you can reuse CC licensed material freely.

De-mystifying Creative Commons licenses. Image: Ordering of CC Licenses by creativecommons.org is licensed by CC ShareAlike 4.0

You do not need to ask permission to use media in the public domain or media licensed under Creative Commons, but you do need to attribute your author and make sure you’re following everything laid out in the CC license.

Finding Material

A search engine (like Google) will likely be the first place you go when searching for media. Like we said before, most of what you find in a default Google Image Search will be copyrighted, or have an unknown copyright status – but there’s something you can do about that. Within the “Search Tools” menu, find the option for Usage Rights. From there, you can limit your search to items that are available for reuse, with or without modification and for commercial or noncommercial purposes.

Google image search tools.

However, depending on your search terms, Google may not return as much as you may hope. If you find that to be the case, there are alternatives! The Flickr Creative Commons portal lets users search millions of photos by license type. Flickr’s default search also gives users the option to sort and search by license type, just as Google.

Using Material

Once you’ve found the right image, it’s time to use it. Remember that “free to use” doesn’t mean “free to use without attribution,” and make sure you cite accordingly. If a particular citation style isn’t called for in your project, presentation, or paper, then take a look at the Creative Commons Wiki’s best practices for attribution. As always, your librarians are only a mouse click or phone call away if you have a question regarding proper attribution.

Additional Resources

Creative Commons licenses don’t apply to just images – any intellectual material can be CC licensed.

• Freesound.org
• Openphoto.net
• Openattribute.com

If you have more questions regarding copyright, fair use, and Creative Commons, head over to our research guide.

Library Tip Tuesday!

On Tuesdays, the library brings you helpful tips for using library resources more effectively. This Tuesday, we’re going to talk about library privacy policies and what they mean for you.

It’s a common scenario

“But can’t you just tell me who has the book? Please?”

It’s a question heard often, but sadly it’s one that just can’t be answered.

Libraries and privacy

Librarians take privacy seriously. Very seriously.

As a library, we have an ethical duty to protect patron privacy, including patron records, library usage, and personally identifiable information. This is laid out within the American Library Association’s ethical framework, and within the Office for Intellectual Freedom’s mission. As part of an academic institution, Evans Library is also bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which regulates who can read your academic records.

So, what do all of these laws, rules, regulations, and guidelines mean for you, the user?

They mean that we’re never going to tell you who’s currently using that reserve book you really, really want. Even if you’re sure your best friend checked it out, like, 30 minutes ago and totally doesn’t mind us telling you that he has it – we’re still not going to tell you. Divulging a patron’s information is against our policies, and it’s also a really unethical thing to do.

FERPA does allow us to turn your information over to certain government agencies (public health and safety officials, law enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security), and to school officials who have a legitimate educational interest. (See question 15 on Questions and Answers on Privacy and Confidentiality for more information.)

We hope that this information makes this things a little clearer, and that you’re resting easy knowing that we’re doing everything we can to keep your patron information safe. Your privacy matters!

New Hours!

Our regular semester hours are now:

Third Floor Updates

The Applied Computing Center is currently in the process of moving to the third floor. The lab, and the third floor, will remain closed until the move is complete.

Over the last few months, we’ve made great strides to take student requests and feedback into account. To start, we’re modifying our normal semester hours to better reflect our users’ needs and desires. Beginning August 17th, regular library hours will be as follows:

Follow the numbers below to see what other changes and enhancements we’ve made!

Updates

Do, or don’t soak up the sun with our new umbrellas (pictured above)!

In preparation for the Applied Computing Center’s move, the third floor will remain closed until further notice. For your own safety, please refrain from entering or using the floor.

General Announcements

We are delighted to have Gwen Harris join us as Public Services Night Supervisor.

Gwen has more than 25 years of library experience, most of which was in Wichita, KS.  She moved to Brevard County in 2012 and has been working as a Reference Librarian and most recently, Library Lead, at Melbourne’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library.  Gwen has her B.A. in Business Administration.

Changes to our hours for Fall 2015

The Evans Library is pleased to announce expanded opening hours beginning fall semester. Beginning Sunday, August 16^th, regular semester hours will be as follows:

Monday – Thursday: 7:45 a.m. – Midnight

Friday: 7:45 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m. – Midnight

We will observe the following summer break hours between 8/1 and 8/15:

Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday: CLOSED

Upcoming Events

We’re preparing for the fall semester by scheduling and planning all new Research Support Workshops. Find out what’s happening by checking out the Research Support Workshop page, or by looking for our emails on Fitforum and Facforum.

Deep within the A to Z databases list, you’ll find a hidden gem: the ProQuest Research Companion. An interactive, self-guided tool, the ProQuest Research Companion will help you understand your assignments and walk you through the research process, step-by-step.

Within ProQuest Research Companion, the research and writing process is broken down into three sections: finding, evaluating, and using information. These sections are further broken down into nine modules that cover everything from developing a research statement to avoiding plagiarism in your writing.  Short, informative videos walk you through every part of the research process, including choosing a good research topic, finding trustworthy information, and organizing your thoughts into a well-structured argument.

ProQuest Research Companion also contains tools to help you develop your research topic and your search terms, as well as source evaluation, citation, and revision tools. A valuable resource to students at all academic levels, we encourage you to make use of this resource when working on papers and projects.

Continuing from Monday’s post, here are the books we’re reading right now and the books on our must-read lists. But before we dive in, take a look at this TED Talk from Lisa Bu on how books can help you expand your mind and find a new outlook on life:

Saint Odd by Dean Koontz: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

The Sandman, Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, and Mike Dringenberg: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: Find it on the fourth floor, on Amazon, or at your local public library

The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Gray Mountain by John Grisham: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

The Martian by Andy Weir: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

The New Bohemians: cool and collected homes by Justina Blakeney: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Though academic life can be difficult, we hope it hasn’t turned you off of the simple joy of reading for fun. If you’re in need of a good beach book, take a look at what we’ve been reading this summer:

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print or ebook)

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Adventures Against Their Will by Joanie Holzer Schirm: Find it on the fourth floor, on Amazon, or at your local public library

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

The Time in Between: A Novel by Maria Duenas: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Canada by Richard Ford: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-mazing Way to Deal with Change by Spencer Johnson: Find it on the fourth floor, on Amazon, or at your local public library

The Art of Asking: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library (print and ebook)

This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki: Find it on Amazon, or at your local public library

If you don’t already have a public library card, visit a Brevard County Library today to get one. All you need is a valid Florida Tech ID or driver’s license with your local address to get started.

 General Announcements 

Upcoming holiday hours: Evans Library will close at 5pm on Thursday July 2nd and reopen again on Sunday July 5 at 1pm.

We’re pleased to announce that Special Collections Curator Diane Newman is now officially a docent for the Ruth Funk Center – way to go, Diane!

Updates

New thin clients have come to the first floor – you may notice a new protocol for logging in on these new machines. Please let us know if you experience any difficulties using these new terminals!

We’re changing and rearranging – in the coming weeks and months, the first and third floors will be updated, rearranged, and revamped to better serve our users. We’re trying our best to keep service disruption and noise disturbance to a minimum, so please bear with us while the changes are made!

Events

On Tuesday, June 23, Florida Tech Professors Emeriti and others met with University Archivist Erin Mahaney to put names to faces on many photographs.  The group’s new president, Palmer Stiles, enjoyed a walk down memory lane while everyone told stories and performed a valuable next step in the processing of Florida Tech’s Historic Photograph Collection.

On Monday June 29th, the current Service Desk will be removed to make way for our new information stations for the library. During the transition, regular library services will be available to the right of the former desk (pictured above).

Let the renovations commence!

If you missed our plagiarism awareness workshops last semester, don’t fret! Learn how to avoid plagiarism on Wednesday, June 24^th at 1:00pm with librarian Linda Khan in the Link Multimedia room on the second floor of the library.

In this workshop you will learn:

• The definition of plagiarism;
• How to identify the different forms of plagiarism;
• How to acknowledge and cite your sources;
• How to paraphrase sources.

This event is free, and open to all Florida Tech students, faculty, and staff.

Click through to see 5 surprising things you can check out from the Florida Tech library.

Dogs, donuts, and extended hours made for a winning combination in the first week of the month.

Updates

• Upgrades, updates, and improvements! Throughout the summer, look for changes in the library as we improve services and spaces.

General Announcements

• Evans Library is looking for students to become members of the Student Library Advisory Council. The student-run committee will meet regularly to discuss issues that affect the quality of life within Evans Library. We hope for a council that will represent every college on campus, as well as on-campus, online, domestic, and international students. You can find more information on the Student Library Advisory Council webpage.
• Presentation practice sessions are back! If you missed our sessions during the spring semester, here’s your chance to practice your presentation skills, get feedback, or just run through that important presentation in front of a live, friendly audience. Sessions are available Monday afternoons from 2 – 5pm, between June 1^st and July 27^th.

Upcoming Events

• Evans Library is hosting its first summer camp! Read more about it on the camp page, or listen to our WFIT interview to learn more.

June 15 – 19^th, we’ll be hosting “What we know: Understanding media and its influence,” a day camp for middle school and high school students interested in media.

Every day we’re bombarded with information – it’s important to understand where this information comes from, and what it means. Enrolled campers will learn about information creators, author bias, information sources, social media, ethics in information reporting, data manipulation, and how advertising affects our everyday lives.

We’re very excited to offer this to the Florida Tech community, and we hope that this is the first of many such camps!

After four years of dedication, hard work, and long nights, you’re finally graduating! Before you begin to navigate the complicated world of post-graduation life (financial aid exit interviews, anyone?), we thought we’d show you a couple of infographics to help take away the sting of those student loan repayments you’ll soon be facing.

The United States Census Bureau provides statistics on the typical lifetime earnings for various careers, including engineering, computer science, math, business, and biology. A biologist with a bachelor’s degree can expect to make over $2million in their lifetime, while engineers, computer scientists, and mathematicians can expect over $3million. These figures only grow when master’s doctoral, or professional degrees are considered. Take a look:

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Finals are almost over. So…what are you going to do until August?

Instead of sitting in your room, pondering why there’s another Jurassic Park sequel coming out this summer, why not start learning another language?

The benefits to learning a second language are numerous – and don’t just apply to those who picked up a second (or third language) as a child.

There are dozens (if not hundreds) of language learning applications available online. While we wish we could review them all, we can only do so much. Below, you’ll find reviews and summaries for four language learning applications that we think are worth a look. Three of the recommended applications (Mango, Memrise, and Duolingo) are free (or free to FIT students, staff, and faculty). The fourth, Babbel, is a subscription based service.

The reviews

As a member of the Florida Tech community, you automatically have access to Mango Languages, an online language learning system that offers 65 languages, including Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic (Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, and MSA), Farsi, French, and Hindi. If you’re looking for something a little off the beaten path, Mango also offers courses in Ancient Greek, Latin, Shakespearean English, and Pirate (yes, really).

To get started, simply create an account, pick your language, and go! If you’re already multilingual, or know a few phrases, you can take the placement test to see where you rank in the lessons. For mobile users, Mango offers apps for both Android and iOS.

Mango works by breaking sentences down into smaller fragments, and then building them back up, teaching you structure and vocabulary. Grammar is embedded throughout the lessons, and integrated seamlessly into the content.

Duolingo is a free language learning system that uses gamification to encourage learning. Users earn points for correct answers and progress through levels in sequence.  Each level introduces a new grammatical concept, so make sure you take time to read the lesson before beginning the exercise. As you gain confidence and skill, you can test your language prowess by translating articles and media with other members of the Duolingo community.

Apps are available for Windows, Android, and iOS. Duolingo offers courses in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, and Turkish. Duolingo is always improving, so if you tried it out in the past and didn’t find it to your taste, give it another shot. You may be impressed by the improvements.

Memrise is another free service, offering a flashcard-type experience. “Plant” and “water” your mems to learn new concepts and words and to reinforce knowledge. Over 200 language courses are available (including constructed languages like Klingon, Morse code, Dovahzul, and Esperanto). Like Duolingo, Memrise relies heavily on community involvement and user repetition. If flash-card type learning isn’t your thing, Memrise and Duolingo may not be for you.

Babbel is a subscription based language learning service that offers several language courses, with a heavier focus on grammar than other offerings listed here. Unlike Memrise and Duolingo, Babbel offers more traditional “lessons” on grammar and vocabulary. If you prefer structured learning, this may be the service for you.

Babbel offers courses in Spanish, English, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesian, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian. Community forums are available for members to converse with native speakers and other learners. Content is regularly added, and some languages have B1/B2 content available.

Additional Resources:
How to learn a new language: 7 secrets from TED Translators
Language learning subreddit
Psst- how do you pronounce that name? 4 useful websites to help you pronounce names correctly

On April 10^th, local band Oranga Tanga performed for an enthusiastic crowd on the first floor. If you missed the show, catch the highlights over on YouTube.

Anthony and Lisa of The Love Hut joined us once again for a wonderful evening of drumming and dancing – catch the highlights below, and look for them again in the fall!

We celebrated Earth Day with SOSA and the Sea Turtle Preservation Society. FIT grad student Nikia Rice came to speak to us about Brevard’s turtle nests, and what we can do to protect them. In case you missed her talk, here are a few pointers:

• Leave no trace: when visiting our beaches, remove all your trash, and smooth over any holes or sand castles you’ve created.
• Don’t release balloons outside! Popped balloons and other plastic waste can be ingested by turtles.
• Remember: sea turtles dig the dark. During nest and hatching season, lights can disorient nesting mothers and hatchlings. Help our turtles and keep our beaches dark.

We celebrated National Poetry Month and National Library Week this month with our favorite poets and our library-made materials. It was wonderful to see so much creativity from our staff and students.

Update

• You may have noticed a certain lack of paper; when you check out library materials, you will now be emailed a receipt instead of receiving a paper one.

General Announcements

You can make a difference at Evans Library (yes, you!) through a donation. Gifts are crucial to the Library’s continued advancement; they allow us to provide the high-quality research resources, facilities, services, and programming that our students and faculty need.

Extended hours are here! Check out our Extended Hours blog post for updates to our current hours, or head on over to the library home page to see what time we’re closing today.

3D printing is live! Check out the blog post, or head over to the 3D printing page to find out how you can submit a job.

ArcGIS and Creo are available on the third floor. Check out the new terminals on the north side of the building (along the windows).

Upcoming Events

Evans Library is hosting its first ever summer camp in June! What We Know: Understanding Media and its Influence will teach students how to look beyond the face of media information, and how to understand the influence it has on our lives. The camp runs from June 15th through 19th, and is open for teens from ages 12 to 17.

Our hours for the final days of the Spring 2015 semester:

Wednesday, April 29^th: 8am – 2am
Thursday, April 30^th: 8am – 2am
Friday, May 1^st: 8am – 9pm
Saturday, May 2^nd: 9am – 9pm
Sunday, May 3^rd: 10am – 2am
Monday, May 4^th: 8am – 2am
Tuesday, May 5^th: 8am – 2am
Wednesday, May 6^th: 8am – 2am
Thursday, May 7^th: 8am – 9pm
Friday, May 8^th (Commencement): 9am – 2pm
Saturday, May 9^th – Sunday, May 10^th: CLOSED

Some things to keep in mind while you’re hitting the books:

• If you’re studying with friends, reserve a library study room ahead of time and beat the rush. Punctuality is appreciated! If you’re more than 15 minutes late to pick up your key, your reservation may be cancelled. Pay your punctuality forward and return your key on time for the next group in line. You can make same-day reservations from our convenient self-serve screen on the first floor.
• Do you want ants? Trash left on the tables and floor gets us ants. Do your part, and place your trash in the designated receptacles. Can’t find a trashcan big enough for you pizza box, or the trashcan in your study room is full? Over-sized trashcans are available in the copy rooms on each floor.
• Mmm, donuts. Grab a free donut (courtesy of the Library and the Florida Tech Deans) and a free cup of coffee (courtesy of the Library Cafe) from 7pm – 9pm on April 28^th – 30^th.
• Lara Coffrey, a licensed massage therapist will be in the library on May 5, 6, and 7 giving chair massages. Tips are appreciated!
• Stress relief dogs are back! Get your pets and hugs in on May 5 and 7 between 1pm and 3pm.

From Dr. Sohair Wastawy:

Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led by thee into ever-widening thought and action —
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

 William Ernest Henley Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Some of our other favorites:

• Emily Dickinson “Hope” is the thing with feathers
• Robert Frost The Road not Taken and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
• Seuss aka Theodor Geisel Happy Birthday to You! and The Lorax
• John Keats
• William Blake Auguries of Innocence

WHEN: Friday, April 24 6pm – 8pm

WHERE: Evans Library, first floor

WHO: Everyone! This event is free, and open to all.

Evans Library is fortunate to have a special collection donated by Florida’s Poet Laureate Emeritus, Edmund Skellings.  The collection contains Dr. Skellings’ life work, including  literary letters, academic pursuits, published poetry, manuscripts, video and audio recordings, and computer generated animated poetry that provide researchers insight into a poet who used “high tech with a human touch”.

April is National Poetry Month, a time to renew interest in poetry.  Here is a poem by Edmund Skellings that captures his flight of fantasy on a Florida porch:

Raving

This afternoon I’m raving sane
It comes and goes.
Ten feet away a lizard on the screen
Excites himself with sunlight
Suddenly, from his neck a bright red tiny sail
Mimics the sun
He tells the nearby jasmine shrub that he’s alive
I pick up my binoculars and zoom
Tyrannosaurus crash through Florida
And now he rears up on his great hind legs
(about him the smaller beasts stiffen and lay still)
I hold my breath.  All our eyes are on him
Out of his throat a terrible cry
And then a huge red sail shouts his lust for sun.
Beyond the foliage an answering flash
And the great trampling of mango has begun.
I put my lenses down.
The cat walks oblivious by
The afternoon is once again humdrum
And I can let my breath out in a sigh.

-Edmund Skellings

The Sea Turtle Preservation Society (STPS), located in Indialantic Beach, works to protect turtles and their nesting sites by raising awareness and helping sick and injured turtles. On April 22, Florida Tech grad student and STPS volunteer Nikia Rice will give a talk on sea turtles, STPS, and how you can get involved through volunteer opportunities and turtle walks.

Where: Evans Library, first floor.
When: April 22, 4pm – 5pm.
Who: Everyone. This event is free, and open to the public.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are used to store, manipulate, and analyze geographic information. Information stored and analyzed by GIS has many uses, including topological, hydrological, and cartographic modeling, geostatistics, and data mining.

ArcGis has three integrated applications:

• ArcMap – main mapping application
• ArcCatalog – organizes spatial data that you can view with ArcMap
• ArcToolbox – tools for geoprocessing and more

PTC Creo is a 2D / 3D CAD design software with simulation and visualization capabilities, comparable to SolidWorks.

Keep in mind: because these stations are specifically designed for those who need GIS, data visualization, or high performance graphics, priority will be given to users utilizing those features.

3D printing is a manufacturing process. Unlike many manufacturing processes, such as cutting, milling, drilling, sanding, etc., that remove material, 3D printing is an additive manufacturing process, adding material instead of taking it away. Specifically, it takes a material – usually a plastic filament – and builds an object layer by layer. It’s like making a coil clay pot, but with a much higher degree of precision and detail.

Watch this video to see our 3D printer in action.

Our large 3D printer uses two different types of plastic filaments –model plastic (which comes in several colors), and soluble plastic, which acts as scaffolding for the model as it’s being built, then is dissolved away in a special bath. This enables us to print objects with projections and hold moving parts clear of each other as they are printed.

Scaffolding holds up the tail during printing.

A layer of scaffolding between the case and the gears ensures that there is clearance for the gears to spin freely once the scaffolding is removed.

Our smaller printers use breakaway scaffolding that must be picked off/cut off when the part is finished.

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, before and after removal of scaffolding.

Material properties: 3D printed objects are anisotropic, which is to say their material properties change depending on the direction that they are measured. An example of anisotropic material is wood – stronger in some directions due to the grain of the wood. Similarly, 3D printed objects have a ‘grain’ that results in a printed object being stronger in some directions than others. Specifically, printed objects are susceptible to shear forces between each printed layer. If it is important that a part be strong in a particular direction, please state the specific orientation you want the part to be printed when you submit the job.

Our Printers:
UprintSE plus

• 8” x 8” x 6” build area
• Prints in ABS plastic
• Layers are .010” thick
• Uses soluble (dissolvable) plastic for support scaffolding
• COSTS:
  • $5 – base plate
  • $4.88/in³ – model plastic
  • $4.76/ in³ – support plastic

UPmini

• 12cm x 12cm x 12cm build area
• Prints in ABS plastic
• Resolution is .2mm
• COSTS  – $3.12/ in³

How do I print?

You will submit your job in .stl file format along with the form located on the Digital Scholarship Lab page. Bring the completed form and your job to the Service Desk, or email both to library-3dprint@fit.edu. Once submitted, you will be contacted with a price estimate, which is based on the cost of materials – plastic filament and the base plate upon which your object is printed. After your payment has been received, your job will be printed. When it’s finished and ready to go, you will be emailed and you may come to pick up your piece. Don’t forget to bring your ID!

A word to the wise: 3D printing takes time. The pieces shown above took several hours to print, and several more hours to dissolve the scaffolding. We make no guarantees on delivery time. It’s recommended that you allow at least 48 hours for a job to print. But keep in mind, if your entire class has an assignment to 3D print, there will be a line. Don’t leave it until the last minute! (Or Fred here will laugh at you.)

This event is free, and open to all.

WHERE: Evans Library, first floor

WHEN: April 17th, 6 – 8pm

This is a free concert, open to students, FIT people, and the community.

Can you believe that it’s already April? As we gear up for the end of the semester and finals, let’s take a look at what happened in the last month:

Events

At this month’s Market Day, we displayed WFIT memorabilia in anticipation of WFIT’s upcoming 40^th anniversary. E.J. Castor was the lucky winner of our Barnes & Noble gift card raffle.

If you missed our Sustainable Gardening lecture , or any of our other evening events, do not fret! You can catch event recordings on our after-hours page.

Don’t forget about our weekly Conversation Hours, every Wednesday at 5:30 in room 217. Drop by to practice your English, brush up on your conversation skills, or just to chat with some new people!

Our origami events were a blast. We’re still short of our goal for 1,000 cranes, so fold a crane the next time you’re passing through!

Updates

• You’ll notice 5 new computer workstations on the third floor. These aren’t just any new computers; each of these stations comes with ARC GIS software, ready for your use.
• We’re making changes to our Graduate research seminar, and working to bring the seminar to you. Contact your liaison, schedule a research consultation online, or view the archive.
• For our Twitter and Facebook followers: we made a small update to our pages. You can now find us at facebook.com/fitevanslibrary and twitter.com/fitevanslibrary. If you don’t follow our social media pages, well…what are you waiting for?
• We’re pleased to offer getAbstracts as our newest database.
• 6 iPads were just added to our Technology Lending program, available for 4 hour checkout periods within the library. In addition, three of our laptops may now be checked out for 24 hours!

General Announcements

The library will be open on Friday, May 8^th from 9am – 2pm.

Upcoming Events

April is going to be full of non-stop library fun. Here’s what you have to look forward to:

• 4/1 – 4/2: Our final research support workshops will teach you how to create a PowerPoint presentation that isn’t a pain to sit through.
• 4/10: Original music and lots of fun with local band Oranga Tanga (formerly the Brevard Busking Coalition). Free, and open to faculty, staff, students, and community.
• 4/17: If you missed our African Drum night last semester, don’t fret. Lisa and Tony are coming back!
• 4/24: Have you been looking for a chance to practice your stand-up routine? Here’s your chance! Join us for an evening of comedy from Melbourne’s finest stand-up comedians. Sign up to perform on stage, or just drop by and enjoy the laughs.
• 4/28 – 4/30: Donut Days are back! FREE donuts will be available on the first floor to kick off finals week. Stay tuned for more information.

Every other Tuesday, the Library brings you helpful tips for using your library resources more effectively. This week we’re branching out a bit, and talking about how you can make campus a little safer by talking about bike safety and etiquette.

In Florida, bicycles are legally classified as vehicles: they are required to follow the same traffic laws as cars, including stopping at all signals and signs, signaling turns, and driving on the right. If, for some reason, you’re biking on the sidewalk, you become a pedestrian and all pedestrian rights and rules now apply to you.

Simple enough, right? When you’re cycling on the road, you act like a car (vroom vroom!). When you’re riding on the sidewalk, you act like a pedestrian, though it is generally considered a bad idea to bike on the sidewalk.

In case you’re still confused, let’s break this down further with some examples:

Straightforward enough? Here are a few other things to keep in mind while you’re pedaling between classes:

• Your bike must have functional brakes.
• Your bike cannot be used to carry more persons than it was designed for (so, no one sitting on the handlebars!).
• If you’re going to be riding after sunset or before sunrise, you’ll need a light for the front of your bike and a reflector for the back to increase your visibility. If you can’t be seen, you can’t be avoided, and that can end disastrously.
• It’s illegal to wear or use headsets or headphones while operating a bike. Also? It’s just not a smart idea.
• Avoid the Danger Zones: stay out of the way of opening car doors, don’t pass on the right, and if you must bike on the sidewalk, use caution when approaching side roads and parking lot entrances (especially here on campus).
• Bike with the flow of traffic: it is illegal to travel in the left lane while on your bike.
• When cycling through campus, watch your speed and call out to pedestrians as you pass them. You’ll avoid a potentially dangerous collision by doing so, and hey, it’s just common courtesy. Examples: When passing on the right, call out: “On your right!” When passing on the left, call out: “On your left!”

Keeping all of these tips in mind while traveling around campus will keep you (and your fellow travelers) safe.

PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PsycBOOKS, and ProQuest Psychology Journals offer you all you need to get started on your next project, paper, or thesis. Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print (from EBSCOHost) is a comprehensive guide to over 2,000 testing instruments. Tests in Print contains information on all known commercially available tests.

PsycINFO contains abstracts from over 1.5 million resources, and 90% of the 3,000 titles indexed within are peer-reviewed. Materials include journal articles, books, book chapters, technical reports, and dissertations. Coverage begins in 1806 and includes: applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, educational psychology, experimental psychology, experimental psychology, personality, disorders, neuroscience, professional and personal issues, psychometrics and statistics, social psychology, sports psychology, and treatment and prevention.

PsycARTICLES offers full-text articles published by the APA, the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association, and Hogrefe & Huber. A full list of covered publications is available on the APA’s website. Coverage extends from 1894 to the present, and includes topics like: applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, educational psychology, personality, disorders, neurosciences, psychometrics and statistics, and treatments. Use this database when you need full-text or peer-reviewed resources.

PsycBOOKS is another full-text database offering scholarly books and book chapters published by APA, as well entries from the APA/Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of Psychology. PsycBOOKS covers the same range of topics as both PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES, providing an excellent text resource to students and researchers.

Last on our list is ProQuest Psychology Journals. While at first appearing similar to PsycARTICLES, this database only provides full-text for 540 of the 640 titles indexed. Coverage includes: behavioral psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, neurology, personality, psychometrics, and social psychology. Use this database when you need to broaden your search beyond what’s found in PsycARTICLES.

For more information on psychology resources, databases, and research help, consult our psychology research guide.

Congratulations to CSE graduate student, Badria Alfurhood, winner of the Kindle Fire HD raffle prize drawn following our Scopus/Science Direct/Mendeley workshops sponsored by Elsevier and Evans Library.

CSE graduate student Badria Alfurhood was the lucky winner of our Kindle Fire raffle!

These workshops focused on:

• ORCID author IDs
• research profiles
• tools for tracking, analysis, and visualization of author output
• journal citations and ranking information
• the reference manager and academic social network, Mendeley

If you missed these workshops, contact your Library Liaison to arrange a consultation, and look for more informative workshops in the future!

getAbstract provides access to thousands of summaries of the best business books and TED talks . The summaries cover the salient points of the book in just five pages and TED talks in 2 pages and can be downloaded to any device.

With getAbstract, students and faculty can read works from a wide range of authors and subjects such as leadership, management, and strategic planning. New summaries are added regularly.

You can set up an optional account to:

• create an interest profile
• select and maintain favorites folders
• view your download history
• build a travel pack of summaries to read on the go

Use our A-Z database listing to access getAbstract.

Origami by Ian Koss. Photo by Lisa Petrillo, 2015.

Origami by Ian Koss. Photo by Lisa Petrillo, 2015.

This semester, Evans Library is featuring the origami of Florida Tech students and staff. You’ll find traditional origami designs on display alongside more intricate designs, like those pictured above.

Join us on Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 PM for a special talk on modern origami by Ian Koss, and again on Friday, March 27 at 5:30 PM for an open origami folding hour. Both events are free and open to all.

In the meantime, learn more about the Peace Crane Project, and stop by the folding table in our lobby to help us create 1000 paper cranes!

Picture the scene:

You’re working on your term paper, furiously typing and citing away in a quiet corner of Olin Engineering, when suddenly you realize that you need help. You need one more reference for your paper, but you can’t find anything that supports your topic. Overcome with despair, you let out an anguished cry: “Isn’t there someone who can help me with this research paper?!”

There is someone who can help you with your research paper: your librarian!

You probably know that you can call the library for research help any time it’s open (you can also chat or text us, if you’re shy), but what about those times when no one is around? Or those times when you want to sit down and really discuss your needs?

You can submit a request for research help by going to our Ask a Librarian page, and selecting “Email/Request Appointment.”

The Ask a Librarian link is on the left side of the screen.

Find the email/appointment link in the middle of the page.

Once you submit your request, a librarian will get back to you within two business days. You can set up an appointment with your major’s library liaison, and discuss your individual research needs in-person, over the phone, or via email.

So, fear not my young scholar – help is available. You just have to ask for it.

This free event is open to the public.

“’Aquaponics’? Don’t you mean ‘hydroponics’?”

Well, yes and no. Aquaponics utilizes aquaculture waste products to grow produce. Nitrogenous waste is broken down by bacteria into nitrites and nitrates, and which are then utilized by crops. By utilizing what is normally considered a waste product, aquaponics bypasses the need for the prepared nutrient solutions normally used in hydroponics systems. Pretty cool, huh?

A worm bin. Image credit: Red58bill, 2005. Licensed by CC 3.0

Other animals can be pretty useful in your gardening endeavors, too. Vermiculture is the process of using vermiform-like animals (in other words, worms) to compost. Vermicompost is a great source of organic fertilizer and vermiculture is an excellent way to transform solid waste into something useful.

If you’re interested in learning more about these topics, join us on Friday evening!

Events:

We kicked off the month with “Learn to Dance: Carnival Style,” and students samba-d and merengue-d their way across the floor.

On February 20^th, we hosted “An Evening of Readings,” featuring eight local authors, this event was one to remember.

Guests stop by the signing table after the readings.

What a fantastic centerpiece!

Updates:

• We’re breathing new life into the Evans Library YouTube channel with new tutorials and how-to videos. Confused by the copiers? Mystified by citations? We can help. If you’d like to see a particular topic covered, let us know!
• Arduino compatible RedBoards, Raspberry Pis, and Google VR goggles have been added to our tech lending program.
• Our Safari eBooks package was just updated. We added over 2,700 new titles, but 2,900 titles were removed. Something you read last year may no longer be there, so keep that in mind while you search.
• Print document delivery is here. Request any article, book, or conference proceeding, and we’ll get it to your ILLiad account. If it’s in our collection, we’ll try to get it to you within one business day.
• We’ve updated our plumbing: You may have noticed Florida Tech’s wonderful Telecom team working around our building in the last week. We’re pleased to announce that 9 additional wireless access points and 7 network drops have been added around the library.
• Our 3D printing lab is coming along nicely. Take a look at one of our test prints in the featured image!
• Self-serve room reservations are here! You can now make a same-day reservation from the library lobby from our convenient touch-screen interface.

It’s here! We’re very excited about this new feature. You can make same-day reservations by simply picking your room and sliding your card.

General Announcements:

• Faculty: our reserves are always open. Contact Nelle Robb (nrobb2004@fit.edu) with questions or materials.
• Our bring-a-book, take-a-book library is looking sad and lonely. Bring in books for trade, or bring in books for donation. Don’t throw things away!
• Our Open Access publication support fund page is live! The program will help Florida Tech researchers publish their research in open access journals by subsidizing publishing processing fees.

Upcoming Events:

Have you heard about our Conversation Hour? Every Wednesday between now and April 29^th (excluding Spring Break) stop by room 217 for an hour of discussion and company, and improve your conversational skills at the same time. Conversation Hour will be held between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Aquaculture and gardening: a match made in heaven? Join us for “Sustainable Gardening with Sweet Leaf Aquaponics” on Friday, March 6th and learn how fish and plants can harmoniously coexist.

Representatives from Elsevier will be on campus March 16^th and 17^th to offer training for Scopus, Science Direct, and Mendeley. Stay tuned for more updates.

If you haven’t checked out our new origami display, you really should – and while you’re at it, fold a crane for peace! On March 26^th, Ian Koss will be giving a talk on Origami, and on March 27^th, we’ll be hosting an origami folding hour. Check our Facebook page for more updates as they develop.

Evans Library offers several multidisciplinary and general scope databases for use in general research. These databases are excellent tools for all types of research (even specialized), and are great for the beginning stages of a project.

To start, let’s look at Academic Search Complete. This database contains journals, monographs, reports, conference proceedings, and general periodicals, with some records dating back to 1887. Subject areas include anthropology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, general science, geology, law, math, music, physics, psychology, and religion. Academic Search Complete also offers a cited references search, and the option to browse by publication.

In addition to the Gale Virtual Reference Library, Evans Library also offers a collection of Gale Databases that can be used for general or discipline-specific research. Simply pick a collection, and go! Gale offers several useful search tools, including a subject guide search, a publication search, and a topic finder. Watch the video below to learn more, and to preview Gale’s new look, debuting on April 2^nd.

ProQuest is a popular full-text general discipline database containing scholarly articles, magazines, trade publications, and dissertations. Three additional ProQuest databases expand and enrich the original offerings: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, and ProQuest Research Companion. ProQuest Research Companion is an interactive learning tool that can help you research smarter and use resources more effectively.

Remember: all research starts with a question. Don’t be afraid to ask!

Ed Link was an inventor, a pioneer, an engineer, and yes, a genius. Mr. Link could see problems others did not know existed, and more to the point, he could fix those problems. By taking a leap of Imagineering and adapting what he learned about pneumatics in his father’s organ factory, he built a ground based mockup of an airplane he named the “Pilot Maker” for thousands of young American and British WWII soldiers to master the art of flying before they ever took their airplanes off the ground.  After the war, the trainer became known as the “Blue Box”.

Ed Link became known as the “Father of Flight Simulation.”  He was famous.  His engineering skill even contributed to the race to the moon.  When he had finished his work, he did what many men would do, and he went fishing.  But unlike most, he built a portable canoe he named “Linkanoe” for his fishing.

Perhaps while fishing in a pristine Canadian lake far from civilization, he considered the alien world brimming with natural resources beneath the sea. In the quiet hours Ed fished, it is conceivable he dreamt of designing an exploratory deep sea diving vessel or even an entire village of underwater houses to sustain life in the ocean thousands of fathoms deep beyond the continental shelf.

Ed Link put away his fishing rod and headed to warmer waters.  He built submersibles engineered to take men to great depths, where they could leave their cabin and explore the sea.  He built decompression chambers to bring men safely to the surface and slowly regulate the content of the air they breathed inside their compartment to prevent diving illness.  Once again, Ed Link was a famous man.  Backed by the Smithsonian and National Geographic Society, his underwater archeological excursions were funded, publicized, and memorialized.

The more I learned about this remarkable man, the more I wanted to curate the thousands of items he donated to make his story a permanent part of history when engineering meant mechanical, not digital.  I have been given the opportunity to guard a national treasure.

-Diane Newman, Special Collections Curator, Evans Library

by Kathy Turner

This week individuals from the Florida Institute of Technology Professors Emeriti met with University Archivist Erin Mahaney to discuss ways they could further preserve Florida Tech’s history. The focus was on advocacy and support, drawing upon their institutional knowledge and deep, rich history of the university.  Represented among the six potential volunteers was 193 years of exemplary university service!

Pictured here and above with Erin Mahaney are Roger Manley, John Morris, Janet Woodyard, Gary Wells, Andy Revay, and Harry Weber. Credit: Kathy Turner, 2015

This event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Friday, February 27^th at 6:30 PM

WHERE: Evans Library, first floor

Contact info: www.fit.edu/music

This week, we’re going to show you how you can use the library website to find a research article.

“But,” you say, “I already know how to find articles!”

Well, you can Google your citation or search in random databases, but…we both know how that works out.  So why not take a seat, and let me show you the magical world of the Evans Library A to Z Portal.

When you’re handed a citation and tasked with tracking down the relevant article, head over to the library homepage.

Click on the “Journals” tab under the search box.

From there, click on the “Journals” tab to access the A to Z portal. Next, enter the name of the journal your article is published in. For this particular example, let’s say that our article is found in the journal Science.

There are several results for our journal, but we want to pick a database that has the right range.

You can see in the image above that you have several options for accessing Science; your choice of database will depend on the year your article was published. Let’s say our article was published in 1990 – so then our options are ProQuest Biology Journals, ProQuest Research Library, ProQuest Science Journals, Academic OneFile, and General OneFile. The next step is to simply pick your favorite database, and find your article.

Different databases have different steps for accessing individual publications – be sure to read everything on the screen, and pay attention to any prompts that may appear once you’re inside the database.

Want to see the process in action? Head over to our YouTube channel and watch as I find an article.

As always, you’re welcome to call, email, chat, or text us with your questions. We love to help!

You know plagiarism is bad – but do you know why? And more importantly, do you know how to avoid it? Join us, Monday, March 2nd from 2 – 3 p.m. in the Link Multimedia Room for this workshop hosted by librarian Linda Khan.

You’ll learn:

• the definition of plagiarism
• the different forms of plagiarism
• why people plagiarize
• how to acknowledge and cite sources to avoid plagiarism
• the consequences of plagiarism

Additional Resources

• Florida Tech’s document on academic integrity and academic dishonesty: Academic Integrity & Academic Dishonesty: A Handbook About Cheating & Plagiarism.
• The Indiana University School of Education has created a useful tutorial with examples and test questions to help you gauge your understanding.
• Examples of plagiarism, from Princeton University.
• “Goblin Threat” plagiarism game from Lycoming College.

We feel your pain, and we want to help.

With our new document delivery service, you can submit interlibrary loan requests for articles (or books or conference proceedings) from our print collection – and Tori will will do her best to to deliver the document to your ILLiad account in one business day.

To set up your ILLiad account, visit the Interlibrary Loan section on our library’s homepage. You can also visit the frequently asked questions tab to learn more.  Our new document delivery service, combined with our recent acquisition of the Science Direct journals package, brings your library closer to the goal of offering on-demand desktop delivery of research materials to all  library users.

Please contact Tori Smith  (tosmith@fit.edu  or 674-7539) with any questions or comments.

Need to know the proper name for a baby echidna? Interested in the all-time top-grossing American movies? Perhaps you’re interested in scanning tunneling electron microscopy and want to learn more. We have databases that can help you research each of those topics – and more besides.

First up is Facts on File – World News Digest. This database covers U.S. and international news stories from 1940 to the present, and contains an extensive compendium of facts and statistics courtesy of sources like Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia and World Almanac and Book of Facts.

If you’re looking for something a little more on the technical side, turn to Access Science. Drawing from the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and the McGraw-Hill Yearbooks of Science & Technology, this database will provide you with biographies, news, data, maps, and graphics for all of your science-related inquiries. Articles within the database also provide direction for further study – consider starting in this database when beginning a paper or project.

If general reference is your preference, Credo Reference and Gale Virtual Reference Library are great options. Credo Reference provides access to dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, and atlases, as well as articles on a broad range of topics with images, sound files, animations, and videos. Articles even include helpful pronunciation sound clips! Gale Virtual Reference Library contains encyclopedias and specialized reference sources on art, business, law, history, language, literature, science, and technology.

Research have you stumped? We’re here to help! Call, text, email, or chat with us – we’ll get you sorted!

Over the last year, Evans Library has worked to improve its technological capabilities and offerings, so that we may better serve our users. One of our first initiatives is our technology lending program, rolled out last spring. In case you’re not familiar, our technology lending program allows students, faculty, and staff to borrow a number of technology items from the library, for a 4-, 24-, or 48-hour period. Our list of items includes:

• 3 Canon PowerShot SX150 IS cameras (48-hour loan)
• 1 tripod (to accompany cameras) (48-hour loan)
• 3 Showtime 3D Pico/Micro projectors (24-hour loan)
• Calculators, including graphing, scientific, and financial (24-hour loan)
• 5 laptops (4-hour loan)
• Wireless remote control presentation mouse with laser pointer (4-hour loan)
• Universal capacitive touch screen stylus (4-hour loan)
• Headphones (4-hour loan)

The following items were also recently added, by student request:

• MacBook HDMI adapter (4-hour loan)
• Lifetrons Multitool adapter (4-hour loan)
• DVI-D to HDMI adapter (4-hour loan)
• Euro to US power plug converter (4-hour loan)
• MacBook charger, L-style (4-hour loan)
• MicroUSB to USB(4-hour loan)
• MiniUSB to wall adapter (4-hour loan)
• USB wall power bricks (4-hour loan)

Items with a four-hour loan period are for library use, and may not leave the building. All items check out on a first-come, first-served basis, so plan accordingly.

We’re very excited to announce the installation of additional power outlets and several USB-charging stations on the first floor – you asked, and we listened!

You asked for more outlets, we gave you more outlets! (Credit: Philina Richardson, 2015)

Around the Library

We are pleased to introduce Nancy Garmer, our new Public Services Department Head.

We participated in Market Day again this month. Thank you to all who visited our table and entered our raffle, and special congratulations to John Palumberi, our raffle winner!

Our Market Day table, staffed by our wonder student employees.
Photo: Kathy Turner, 2014

From left to right: Dr. Donna Wilt, Diane Newman, Marilyn Link, and Erin Mahaney.
Photo: Kathy Turner, 2014

We were happy to receive a box of WFIT papers and memorabilia from the late 1970s and early 1980s from Jon Pernick. Mr. Pernick is an alumni and former General Manager of WFIT. We also received two Squamish items; a pledge book circa 1980 and an ink drawing by Dan Hess for Freak Week 1984. The Harry P. Weber University Archives is interested in collecting the papers of student organizations like Squamish to help document the history and culture of Florida Tech; if you have items of interest, please contact Erin Mahaney.

New Resources

Recent additions to our collection include:

• The full ScienceDirect journals package, containing 2,139 journals.
• 185 journals to Wiley Online Library.
• Springer eBooks Archives, containing 1,421 behavioral sciences eBooks and 3,903 engineering eBooks published before 2005.

Evans Library is proud to announce the addition of a digital scholarship lab to its resources. The lab, slated to be located on the third floor, will house a 3D printer and computer workstations for 3D modeling.

Upcoming Events and Displays

International Coffee Hours

Evans Library will continue to host International Coffee hours this semester, with one noted change: coffee hours will now take place from 5 – 6 p.m. on the first floor of the library. The library will not be open for normal services during this time.

An Evening of Readings, February 20^th 6 p.m.

On February 20^th, the library and the Office of Development will host “An Evening of Readings,” featuring local authors reading their works. Featured authors include:

• Andrew Aberdein
• Ben Brotemarkle, Executive Director of the Florida Historical Society
• Weona Cleveland
• Professor Emerita Marcia Denius
• Joddy Murray
• Joanie Holzer Schirm
• Winston Scott
• Louise Skellings
• Scott Tilley

 Carnival Dance Night

Come learn how to samba, merengue, and dance the Carnival dance – at the library! Florida Tech’s Latin Dance instructor William McCauslin will be on hand to teach Samba and Merengue, while student employee and Caribbean Dance instructor Xori Deans will teach you the Calypso/Soca Dance.

Origami in the Library

We’re putting the finishing touches on our Origami display. As you stroll through the lobby, take a look at modular, tessellation, and corrugation type origami models by Ian Koss, as well as origami created by your classmates. We’re planning more origami-related events this semester, including a workshop and a folding station, where you can help us create 1,000 paper cranes. Look for more information on origami in the coming weeks!

Please join Evans Library in welcoming Nancy Garmer, Public Services Department Head.

Nancy has a BS in Journalism with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Florida and an MLIS from the University of South Florida, and comes to us from Brevard County Public Libraries, where she was the Director of the Port St. John branch. Nancy possesses an outstanding public-service orientation, leadership skills, and innovative ideas about the “people, platform, and place” of libraries in general and services in particular, and we know that her experience and attitude will be assets to Evans Library and our faculty, students, and staff.

Please stop by the library, say “hi,” and help make Nancy feel welcome!

Friday, February 6^th, stop by Evans Library and learn to dance, Carnival style. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., you can learn the basic steps of dances popular on the streets of Brazil and Trinidad during Carnival.

Florida Tech’s Latin Dance instructor William McCauslin is on hand to teach Samba and Merengue, while student employee and Caribbean Dance instructor Xori Deans will teach you the Calypso/Soca Dance.

Refreshments will be served during this free event. We hope to see you there!

Printing

We’ve made some changes to the printers here- you can now print in color on the first floor! As part of our print-anywhere system, you can also release your print jobs from any machine in the building. Not sure what that means? Let’s explain.

Simply print your document from any campus computer, or from your own computer (download the driver here). The following box will appear:

Supply your TRACKS ID (in the NetID box) and a name for your print job. Next, go to the nearest printer and slide your student ID. (You did add Panther Cash to your account, right?)

Find your document in the queue, select, and print! It’s that easy.

You can print from the following locations across campus:

Applied Computing Center
Florida Tech Commons Room 260
Evans Library 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd floors
Evans Hall 205
Olin Engineering Student Lounge
Olin Engineering Rooms 127, 128, 130, 132, 228, and 229

Copying and Scanning

Each of the four printers within the library can also copy and scan. Scanning is free, but copying will cost you- see the table at the bottom of this post for prices.

To copy, simply slide your student ID at the copier, select “Copy,” and copy your materials. Don’t forget to slide your card again to log out. To scan, slide your ID and select “Scanner” instead of “Copy,” then press “Manual Entry” to enter your email address. Follow the directions on the screen to send a scan of your materials to yourself.

The library also owns two KIC Bookeye scanners. You can learn how to use these by watching the following video tutorials from Texas Tech University Libraries:

Printing and Copying Prices

Remember, copying and printing transactions can only be completed with Panther Cash and your student ID.

Letter (8.5 x 11 inches)

Legal (8.5 x 14 inches)

We’ve already talked about a couple of methods for preventing stress (effective studying and time management), but how do you handle stress from events out of your control? Relaxation techniques, and devoting time to unwinding is critical to your health. Last semester we provided a quick, cute animal interlude for your amusement. Such distractions (while possibly detrimental to your studying) can be helpful in lowering your acute stress level. Some other activities that can help lower your acute and chronic stress levels:

• Exercise: Regular exercise and physical activity can reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression, and help with pain disorders. Oh, and it’s also good for your heart. So get moving! As Florida Tech students, you have access to the equipment and facilities at the Clemente Center. Make the most of your tuition by hitting up the weights, or by taking a group fitness class.
• Meditation: It isn’t just sitting in a silent room, doing nothing. Meditating or practicing mindfulness is good for you, and there’s evidence for it.
• Crafting: Believe it or not, knitting and crochet are good for your brain. Oh, and gentlemen? Crafting isn’t just for the ladies. Don’t feel that you’re just limited to the yarn-y arts; paint, draw, sew, do whatever floats your boat!
• Gaming: While we’re not giving you permission to blow off writing your paper in favor of playing League of Legends, we are telling you that it’s okay to play in moderation, because gaming is good for you. No, seriously.

So, that’s it! Much of this may have seemed like common sense, and it probably was. But we hope that you take some of these tips to heart, or at least keep them in mind while traversing the turbulent waters of academia.

You can start by evaluating your time management skills. It seems that students are always panicking at the last minute to finish a homework assignment, or to finish a paper, or to study for a test. Why is that?

Procrastination by Clownhair MaGee licensed under CC BY 2.0

We can’t prevent you from procrastinating, but we can go over a few helpful steps that will save you a lot of headache later. Let’s get started.

Read. Your. SYLLABUS.

Your professors don’t spend hours creating a syllabus for nothing. Your course syllabus is the key to your success in any class. Reading over and getting to know your syllabus now can save you a lot of heartache later, especially in regards to large projects and sneaky little homework assignments. You’re doing yourself a huge disservice by tossing it in the garbage, or by relegating it to the back of your notebook.

The calendar is your friend

Scheduling problems can be solved by using a calendar. Any calendar will work, as long as you update it regularly, and you actually use it (digital calendars are great for this).

At the beginning of the semester enter your class schedule, your work schedule, and scheduled club meetings into your calendar. Also enter the dates of big projects and papers, and any other assignments you have. You can also turn on reminders to give you notifications a day/week/month before something is due.

Once you’ve set up your calendar, you can spot scheduling conflicts before they happen. Your friend asked you to help set up for his club’s giant BBQ-concert-bonanza the night before a big test? It might be a good idea to turn him down.

While you’re getting your work and school schedules in order, it’s also a good idea to schedule time for yourself.  Don’t fill your days and nights with so much that you can’t eat meals, get adequate sleep, or even keep up with regular hygiene.  Make sure you leave time available for dinner, for hanging out with friends, and for sleeping. And it’s perfectly fine to make sure you have a free hour on Sunday evenings to watch The Walking Dead.

Time to hit the books

Not literally.
Credit: US Adult Literacy

Okay, so you’ve put all of your assignments, meetings, and classes into your calendar. What now? Well, now it’s time to do the work.

Yeah, we know. You “know” how to study. You’re a pro! So, why were you panicking and hiding in that cubicle on the fourth floor at the end of last semester? We’ve got your number buster, and we’re here to show you a better way:

• Don’t try to study in huge chunks of time because it’s not effective. Breaks are perfectly acceptable, and even good for you! Try to aim for 50 minutes of studying, followed by a 10-15 minute break. If you have problems keeping your “breaks” from turning into “stops,” set an alarm to remind you that your 15 minutes are up.
• When you take a break, get up and move around. Do some sun salutations, jumping jacks, take a walk around your building, or just bounce around the room.
• Turn your phone off entirely, or at least turn off incoming notifications to help eliminate distractions. You can’t have it during your exams, so why do you need it while you’re studying?
• Label your notes with things like “Exam 1” or “Topic X” for easy searching. Spend less time shuffling paper and more time studying.
• Though it looked at high school students, we feel that this study is still applicable to Florida Tech students. Cramming: not even once.

The overall message here? Study throughout the semester in small bits, instead of waiting until the night before an exam. Use the tools at your disposal to plan for large assignments, and break projects down into smaller parts to make them more manageable. Waiting until the week (or night) before an assignment is due to begin your work is a recipe for disaster. If you plan ahead and manage your time, you can have a much more relaxing semester.

At the end of the fall semester, we briefly mentioned a couple of ways you could study more effectively, and provided a few helpful links for de-stressing during the final days of the semester. But, we know that more than just finals are causing our students stress. Projects, midterms, essays, homework, tuition, roommates, relationships, parking- all of these things add up. By the time finals roll around, you’re ready to explode.

Generally, when we think of physical manifestations of stress, we think of symptoms like insomnia, headaches, lowered appetite, gastrointestinal distress, and a lowered immune response. Psychological effects might also come to mind, including frequent mood changes or feelings of being overwhelmed. These are all transient symptoms of short-term acute stress, and will normally end once the source of your stress is gone.

But what happens if the stress never stops?

When your body’s stress response goes out of control due to chronic, unrelenting stimuli, bad things can happen.  Not only does chronic stress cause all of the symptoms listed above, it can also cause more insidious health issues, like:

• More frequent asthma attacks in asthma sufferers.
• Increased risk for hypertension, heart attack, and stroke.
• Spikes in blood glucose levels due to cortisol and epinephrine levels, especially dangerous for those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic.

Before you start worrying that your already high stress load is just going to kill you later in life, stop and take note:  It will be okay. You may not be able to control or prevent every single stressor in your life, but you can control how you react to stressful stimuli.  The next two posts in this series will contain tips on preventing stress by studying smarter and managing your time, as well as suggestions on ways to relax when you are already stressed.

Tragically, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee days before President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In 1982, 14 years after his death, King’s birthday was made a federal holiday, but not without opposition. It would take another 14 years before the day was celebrated by all 50 states.

This Thursday, Florida Tech will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. with a special presentation of his “I have a Dream” speech, given by Leonard Ross. The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Hartley Room on the second floor of the Denius Student Center, and is free for faculty, staff, students, and community.  For those who can’t make it to the presentation, the full text of “I Have a Dream” is on display in Evans Library.

At this point in the year, you’re probably already aware of the differences between Panther Cash and Flex Cash. Flex Cash is part of your meal plan, and can be used at any food services venue on campus to purchase food items, and can be used in vending machines. Panther Cash is a separate account on your student ID that students and parents can add funds to. These funds can be used for printing, copying, laundry, special services at the health center, as well as items at the bookstore, campus eateries, and items at the FIT Aviation Pilot Shop. You can add funds to your Panther Cash account in one of two ways: online, or in person at the Library or Student accounting.

To add funds online (credit or debit card):

You can access the online deposit screen by going to the Campus Services homepage, and selecting Online Panther Card Deposits. The deposit option is on the top left. You can also create an account, where you can check your account balance, grant access to up to four additional people, and request money.

Go to the Campus Services page, and find “Online Panther Card Deposits” on the left.

You can also reach the Online Panther Card Deposit Page by logging into Access, and finding the icon on your toolbar.

A Panther Cash button is available on your Access toolbar.

Using either option will bring you to this page. Create an account, or use the link on the left to make a deposit.

To add funds in-person (cash only):

You may use the CVST machine in the copy room on the first floor of the library, or you may go directly to the Cashier’s window in the Florida Tech Commons to deposit cash into your Panther Cash account. If you need assistance using the CVST machine, just stop by the Service Desk.

Next time we’ll talk about how you can use your Panther Cash to print and copy in the library and across campus. Stay tuned for more!