From Mary Thill, our librarian:

Mary's responses to your survey questions . . .


1. Can I access these external NEIU library resource databases in my own home, off campus?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to remind all of the students that they can access all of NEIU’s online resources from home through our website, www.library.neiu.edu. They’ll need to enter their NetID (the same that they use for NEIUport) and password when prompted.

2. I’m just having trouble finding empirical articles.

Perhaps it would be helpful to remind students that different databases have different ways to limit information. Psychology databases (like PsycINFO, for instance), allow you to limit results to empirical research under the limits screen. General databases like Academic Search Premier may not present “empirical research” as a limit, but have similar limits, like “Primary Source Document.”

3. I had this one assignment in my anthropology class, that I had a hard time doing. I was given a list of questions and had to find the answers in a book or journal. I also had to give the reference number of the book or whatever is the proper name for that. I googled the question or part of the question, but I had to use or make up a book that I didn’t really find the answer in. In the end, I decided not to turn what I came up with in, and I accepted the incomplete.

I have seen this anthropology assignment. It was a scavenger hunt designed to get the students to use the Library. One thing that this student did not learn from the lecture/anthropology assignment is that the Library has private information that you can’t find on Google. The student would have needed to use the Library’s online catalog, or one of the Library’s databases, to complete the assignment.