The Importance of Library Basics Classes
At the beginning of each semester, the Giovatto Library offers Library Basics classes to all our new students who want to get to know their library and how to navigate it though the web, or students who just want to brush up in their library skills. Library skills are vital to have in this age of information and technology that we are living in. For example, relying solely on Wikipedia for information is not a wise course to take now or in the future.
Given by our librarians, a library basics class will include a tour of the library introducing the main departments on the second floor, reference and circulation, and on the first floor, periodicals. After, they will take you down to the Library Instruction Room and show you how to navigate the library on the web. This includes showing you how to search for books on our online catalog, how to look for journals and newspapers, and how to search for scholarly articles in your discipline and much more.
Yes, you might not need these library skills at the beginning of the semester, but you will definitely need it sooner or later. So take advantage of it!! You do not want to be the student I helped several years back who was about to graduate. She told me after I found several business scholarly articles on the database at the reference desk, “if only I knew all this earlier”.
Michael Liss