Category Archives: User Services

Introducing MCSearch: One search box–for the good stuff

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The P.H. Welshimer Memorial Library is pleased to introduce MCSearch to the Milligan College community. What is MCSearch? We think our tagline says it all: “One search box–for the good stuff.”

One search box. Students are familiar with Google and other popular web search engines. They like the ease and convenience of being able to type a few keywords into a search box and get tons of results. But how relevant, reliable, or current is this information for academic research purposes? This is a serious question. Students need to acquire skills for evaluating information accessed from the open web. (The Library provides instruction to students in information literacy skills like information resource evaluation.) However, given a choice between digging hard for the best available information resources or the convenience of a Google search, students are often satisfied with “good enough.”

What if there was a tool available that provided the ease and convenience of a Google search, but the information resources searched and results returned were those provided by the Library? Students could get to the stuff that was truly good instead of just good enough. This is exactly what MCSearch does.

The good stuff. Every year the Library spends tens of thousands of dollars to provide Milligan College students and faculty with high quality information resources to support their coursework and research. Books, media, print and electronic journals and magazines, e-books, subject-based print and electronic reference works (encyclopedias and dictionaries), and numerous subject-based and multidisciplinary databases for accessing journal articles online. We also provide an array of tools such as online library catalogs, journal finders, link resolvers, and database interfaces to help students and faculty search these resources. We make this investment because, frankly (and contrary to much conventional current day “wisdom”), you can’t get everything you need on the open web. Academic information resources are costly to produce, publish and distribute. Although there is a slowly growing open access movement in academic communication online, generally speaking, the good stuff isn’t free.

One search box, again. The “killer feature” that makes a search engine like Google so powerful and compelling is that a single query is applied simultaneously across a multitude of sites and resources on the World Wide Web. Can you imagine having to browse or search each site on the web individually to try to find information you were looking for? I’m showing my age here, but I first got online in 1994, almost 5 years before the Google search engine started attracting attention on the Web. I still remember when Yahoo! was literally just a running list of websites. But enough about that. My point is that search engines have profoundly altered the way we search for information. What if it were possible to apply some of this kind of power when searching the Library’s information resources–a single query applied simultaneously to the Library catalog and databases, rather than searching each of these sources individually? This is exactly what MCSearch does.

The emphasis is on discovery. As the Library evaluated the various print and electronic information resources it provides to students and faculty, it occurred to us that in many ways we have enough stuff. What we felt we needed was a way to make the stuff we have more discoverable. MCSearch is not about “dumbing down” the research process, or pandering to the bad study habits of lazy students. Using a search engine effectively still requires skill and discernment. But because MCSearch applies a search query across a range of Library resources and formats at once, it can bring to the surface information a student may not have otherwise discovered through conventional means. This brings a delightful element of serendipity to the research process.

Filter on the way out. Because general or broad keyword searches tend to return too many results that are not necessarily relevant, conventional catalog and database searching with limited features encourages the user to formulate precise search queries in advance to get the best results. MCSearch also allows the user to apply limiters to search queries in advance to narrow search results. However, a particularly powerful capability of MCSearch is the ability to filter results after the search is completed. MCSearch includes the ability to easily refine or “facet” results by various criteria (date, format, subject, provider, etc.). This capability removes the “problem” of too many results, while still providing the opportunity to discover valuable resources from unexpected sources.

Try it out now! We will be providing more usage assistance in subsequent posts and instruction sessions. But right now I would like to encourage you to just take some time to play around with MCSearch and get familiar with its capabilities. Feel free to contact us with any questions, and we especially welcome your feedback.

Million Pennies Campaign raises $20.00 in August 2011

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Milligan College Library is proud to announce that you, our loyal library users, contributed $20.00 in cash and change to our Million Pennies Campaign in August 2011. We have now raised $3,276.28 since the start of the campaign in April 2010, which means we’re getting close to 1/3 of our goal!

The Library staff would like to extend a hearty thank you to our August donors: Charlotte Anderson, Ben Carpenter, Kendra Fiddler, Curtis Huskins, Corrine Kaisand, Tommy Parker, Jubal Roe, Bev Schmalzied, Lauren Tomlinson, and Brennan Tracy . Remember, if you’d like us to thank you by name, please write your name down on the slips of paper in the tray next to the donation box, and we’ll let everyone know about your generosity!

Tommy Parker is the winner of our monthly drawing. He will receive the paperback The Shack by William P. Young. Congratulations, Tommy!

The next prize is the paperback Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon. Donate to the campaign, write your name on a slip of paper, and place it in the box at the Circulation Desk. On October 1st, we’ll draw a winner from the names in the box!

We still need your help in raising funds to help us reach our goal of a totally renovated library. Bring your loose change and help us get closer to $10,000. Remember, when we raise the money, we’ll allow you, the contributors, to name a study room whatever you like. Every penny helps! If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, check out original post on the library blog. And remember you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Thank you!

(Late) Summer Reading

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Editor note: I first received this article from Mary Jackson near the end of July, but I was unable to publish it to the blog until now. Apologies Mary! The content is still relevant, however, and we are very excited about providing a Bestsellers Bookshelf for our users. It’s a bit later now. But there’s still enough summer left to get some official summer reading done.

How was your summer? Many people will be asking that in a few short weeks. But summer is still here and for many of you that includes summer reading. Meredith Sommers announced in a May 25th blog post, that the library is now purchasing a small rotating collection of bestsellers. I have read four of these bestsellers and hope a brief review might encourage you to read them.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand—From the author of Seabiscuit, an amazing, uplifting, spiritual, and true story of Louis Zamperini. In places his real life is so unbelievable that it reads like fiction. Hillenbrand, who has an interesting life story herself, writes a compelling tale with extensive research and interviews with many of the participants.

Bossypants by Tina Fey—Funny books are hard to write, but this book made me laugh out loud. Fey is a comedy writer first and foremost; it shows in her writing. The final 1/3 is the weakest part of the book, but the first 1/3 more than makes up for the weakness in the ending. I knew of her, but certainly do not consider myself a huge Tina Fey fan and I still enjoyed this book.

Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College by Andrew Ferguson—A funny and engaging account of a writer dad’s efforts at getting his reasonably smart, but overwhelmed, son into college. An excellent read for the Milligan community showing the admissions process from the other side. In describing his son’s experience, he touches on many current topics in higher education.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain—A well written novelization of the real life first marriage of Ernest Hemingway to Hadley Richardson, written from her perspective. The story is interesting, but one I found sad and with very few sympathetic characters outside the protagonist. It might be interesting to read in conjunction with Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, which details the same period in his life.

Come by the library and check out these or any of the Milligan bestsellers. They are located on the first floor near the back stairwell.

Million Pennies Campaign Raises $106.72 in June-July 2011!

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Milligan College Library is proud to announce that you, our loyal library users, contributed $106.72 in cash and change to our Million Pennies Campaign in June-July 2011. We have now raised $3,256.28 since the start of the campaign in April 2010, which means we’re getting close to 1/3 of our goal!

The Library staff would like to extend a hearty thank you to our June-July donors: Bev Schmalzried, Don Schmalzried, and Brennan Tracy. Remember, if you’d like us to thank you by name, please write your name down on the slips of paper in the tray next to the donation box, and we’ll let everyone know about your generosity!

Dr. Bev Schmalzried is the winner of our monthly drawing. She will receive the paperback Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. Congratulations, Dr. Schmalzried!

The next prize is the paperback The Shack by William P. Young. Donate to the campaign, write your name on a slip of paper, and place it in the box. On September 1st, we’ll draw a winner from the names in the box!

We still need your help in raising funds to help us reach our goal of a totally renovated library. Bring your loose change and help us get closer to $10,000. Remember, when we raise the money, we’ll allow you, the contributors, to name a study room whatever you like. Every penny helps! If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, check out original post on the library blog. And remember you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Thank you!

Million Pennies Campaign raises $68.50 in May 2011!

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Milligan College Library is proud to announce that you, our loyal library users, contributed $68.50 in cash and change to our Million Pennies Campaign in May 2011. We have now raised $3,149.56 since the start of the campaign in April 2010, which means we’ve exceeded 30% of our goal!

The Library staff would like to extend a hearty thank you to our May donors: Ermias Mekonnen, Tommy Parker, Alan Stengel, Brennan Seth Tracy, and Bob Wetzel. Remember, if you’d like us to thank you by name, please write your name down on the slips of paper in the tray next to the donation box, and we’ll let everyone know about your generosity!

Dr. Bob Wetzel is the winner of our monthly drawing. He will receive the hardcover The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Congratulations, Dr. Wetzel!

The next prize is the paperback Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. Donate to the campaign, write your name on a slip of paper, and place it in the box. On August 1st (during the lazy summer we’re combining June-July) we’ll draw a winner from the names in the box!

We still need your help in raising funds to help us reach our goal of a totally renovated library. Bring your loose change and help us get closer to $10,000. Remember, when we raise the money, we’ll allow you, the contributors, to name a study room whatever you like. Every penny helps! If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, check out original post on the library blog. And remember you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Thank you!