Finding Journals at Ramaker

Finding journals can be a little tricky.  Sometimes Ramaker has journals in print on our shelves, sometimes we subscribe to a single journal in its electronic version and sometimes we have access to a journal through a database subscription.

If you wonder whether we have access to a certain journal, your best first step is to visit our Journal Finder.  (It’s the link at the very top of our Quick Links list on our home page.)

Here, type in the name of the journal you are looking for.  NOTE: The search function here is for journal titles; entering an article title or article keywords will not return relevant results.

For example, let’s say you were looking for the Journal of American History.  Type that title into the search box.

On the results screen, scroll to your title.  The list below the title shows Ramaker’s holdings.   Journal of American History is available in Academic Search Premier, E-Journals from EBSCO, History Cooperative, JSTOR and in the stacks at Ramaker.  Be sure to pay attention to the dates; not all issues are available in all locations.

If you have any questions, please let a librarian know.

Going Green at Ramaker

Each year, Ramaker staff looks through parts of the collection and removes items that are out-of-date or damaged. We did not want these books to end up in a landfill, so we began partnering with Better World Books, who resells them, donates them to literacy charities, or recycles them properly.  Did you know that 97% of a book can be recycled as usable fiber?  Here’s how Ramaker’s partnership with Better World Books has impacted our environment.

• 291 books were either reused (sold or donated) or recycled, that’s 394 pounds of books
• 5 trees were saved
• 3,002 gallons of water were conserved
• 416 pounds of greenhouse gases were avoided
• 965 kilowatt hours of electricity were conserved

Pretty cool, huh?

Welcome!

Welcome students, faculty, and staff!

 

Ramaker Library Hours (when classes are in session)

Monday – Thursday  ==>  7:30 am – midnight

Friday  ==>  7:30 am – 10:00 pm

Saturday  ==>  8:30 am – 5:00 pm

Sunday  ==>  1:30 pm – midnight

 

 Research Help Desk Hours

Monday – Wednesday  ==>  1:00 – 5:00 pm; 6:00 – 9:30 pm

Thursday  ==>  1:00 – 5:00 pm

Friday ==>  1:00 – 4:00 pm

Sunday  ==>  6:00 – 9:00 pm

 

Please let us know how we can help you!  Have a great year!

Late Nights @ Ramaker Library

Ramaker Library will have extended hours for finals week.  

We will also be serving refreshments Sunday through Wednesday, 6:00-9:30pm.

Library Hours

Saturday          8:30am – 10:00pm

Sunday          1:30pm – 2:00am

Monday          7:30am – 2:00am

Tuesday          7:30am – 2:00am

Wednesday          7:30am – 2:00am

Thursday          7:30am – 5:00pm

Friday          8:00am – 5:00pm

Saturday/Sunday          CLOSED

Good luck on finals!  Have a great summer!

Day of Learning in Community

For the Day of Learning in Community, the hours at Ramaker will be as follows:

7:30am – 9:00am: Open
9:00am – 10:45am: Closed
10:45am – Midnight: Open

While the library will be open for most of the day, library staff will not be available between 9:00am and 4:00pm.

What do Augustine, Nietzsche and Virginia Woolf Share in Common?

Well, perhaps among other things, accessible introductions to their lives and thoughts are in Cambridge Collections Online, which is available through the Ramaker Library home page.  Cambridge Collections Online provides not only scholarly and readable introductions to artists, writers, philosophers and others, it also offers introductions to themes and subjects such as postmodernism and Native American literature. 

Cambridge Collections Online  Check it out!

Ramaker: Anytime, Anywhere

The Northwestern community — faculty, staff and students — can access Ramaker Library’s virtual holdings from off-campus. To do so, simply enter http://vpn.nwciowa.edu in your address bar. You may see a Microsoft message indicating that “this is not a recommended site.” Simply disregard the message and continue.

At the prompt, enter your campus login information. Once you are logged in, click the Ramaker Library Resources link.  You can now browse the library’s resources, including our online catalog and databases.

You can also access the VPN from the link on Ramaker’s home page. Look for the Off-Campus Access graphic: 

Do note that the network runs more slowly when accessing it via the VPN.  Also, you can only access the VPN when off-campus.

Getting Started with ILLiad

Over the summer, Ramaker Library implemented a new interlibrary loan system. ILLiad allows you to request materials online.

To get started with ILLiad, go to the Interlibrary Loan page. Log in using your usual Northwestern log-in combination. The first time you visit, you will need to complete a registration form; this only needs to be done once.

To request a material, click on the type of material in the left column. Then fill in the form as completely as possible. You must fill in the fields marked with an asterisk.

When your material is ready, you will be notified via e-mail. Most articles will be available for download from the ILLiad interface; simply log in and click on the “electronically received articles” link to view it. You also have the ability to print it or save it to your computer drive. Books will need to be picked up at the library circulation desk.

You can also use ILLiad to review what you’ve requested and received. To do so, explore the View options in the left column.

If you have any questions about interlibrary loan or ILLiad, please contact Bryan Van Gelder, Interlibrary Loan Coordinator, at bvangeld@nwciowa.edu or 707.7311.

Welcome back!

The first day of school is my favorite day of the year. I believe the first day of school is the true New Year’s Day. It’s the time to make fresh starts (all those unsullied notebooks!) and bright resolutions (this year, I will not begin my research papers on the night before they’re due).

We at Ramaker want to welcome you back. We also want to let you know we’re here to help you meet those resolutions. Here’s when we’re available:

Library Hours
Monday thru Thursday:  7:30am to midnight
Friday: 7:30am to 10pm
Saturday: 8:30am to 5pm
Sunday: 1:30pm to midnight

Reference Desk Hours
If you have a specific research question, stop by the reference desk.
Monday through Wednesday: 1 to 5pm, 6 to 9:30pm
Thursday: 1to 5pm
Friday: 1 to 4pm
Sunday: 6 to 9pm

Accessing the Library Off-campus
Even if you can’t make it to the library, you can still get your research done. Click here to learn how to access Ramaker from off-campus.

Happy new year!

Late Nights @ Ramaker

Extended library hours begin Saturday, May 3.

Saturday       8:30am – 10:00pm

Sunday         1:30pm – 2:00am

Mon-Wed      7:30am – 2:00am

Thursday       7:30am – 8:00pm

Friday           8:00am – 5:00pm

Sat/Sun         CLOSED

Coffee, lemonade, and snacks served Sunday-Wednesday, 6:00 – 9:30 pm

Good luck on finals!  Have a great summer!

Goodbye from ILL

I’d like to take this opportunity to say that it has been a pleasure to serve you this past year in all your interlibrary loan needs.  As we wind down the end of the year, please make sure that you are aware of the following important dates:

LAST DAY TO REQUEST BOOKS

Monday, April 28

LAST DAY TO REQUEST ARTICLES

Wednesday, April 30

ALL BOOKS BORROWED THROUGH ILL DUE BACK

Friday, May 2

Good luck in all your finals, term papers, projects, etc. during the next couple weeks, and best wishes to all those who are graduating and moving on!

To those who are returning, ILL will have a very different look next fall.  Over the summer we will be implementing a new ILL management system called ILLiad.  (See what they did there?  They used ILL, which stands for Interlibrary Loan, and then added the ”-iad” to create the word Illiad, just like the story by Homer.)  This program also uses a document delivery system called Odyssey.  (Isn’t that all so clever?!) 

This software will streamline the way you request and receive items, and will put more control in your hands (i.e. you will be able to track every request you make from the time you submit the request, until the time it is ready to be picked up). 

When you return to campus in the fall, you will have the opportunity to create your own ILLiad account, and start to see and use the benefits of this new program.  We’re very excited to have this wonderful system coming to Ramaker and NWC!

Enjoy your summer, and God bless in whatever you may do!

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. First celebrated in 1995, National Poetry Month is the Academy of American Poets’ annual celebration of poetry.

I wondered why they picked April. I had some guesses, but thanks to the Academy of American Poets’ web site, I now know for certain:

With input from booksellers, librarians, poets, and teachers, the Academy chose a month during the school year so that schools and students could participate fully. February is Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month, so April seemed a logical choice. Also, there are many wonderful poetic references to April:

T. S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month.” It is our hope that National Poetry Month lessens that effect.

On a lighter note, Chaucer wrote:

Whan that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veine in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flowr

Finally, Edna St. Vincent Millay asked, “To what purpose, April, do you return again?” For National Poetry Month, of course!

I recently discovered a short poem I like by a former American poet laureate, Ted Kooser. Since the Northwestern community has spent time recently analyzing our place here on the prairie, Kooser’s A Birthday Poem resonated with me. Using a cow as the comparison, he describes both the sun and himself. A fellow Midwesterner (born in Iowa, even), Kooser uses what he encounters everyday to describe more than what is there. You can read the entire text of the poem on the Library of Congress web site.

Ramaker Library holds most of Kooser’s books in its collection, if you’re interested in reading more.

Access EBSCOhost from off campus

You can access EBSCOhost, JSTOR, ProjectMuse and other electronic resources from off campus:   

1.  Go to the library homepage:

<http://www.nwciowa.edu/library/>.  

2.    Click on the “Off-campus Access” link on the library homepage.   

It is under both the “For Faculty” and “For Students” sections.  

3. After clicking on the link, you will see some instructions and another link <Vpn.nwciowa.edu>. Click on this link.  

4.  You will come to a page (a very red page!) at the top of which you will see a link to Ramaker Library.  Click this link.  

[You may encounter a Microsoft message to the effect of "this is not a recommended site."  Disregard the message and continue.]  

5. After completing step 4, you should see the library homepage again.  You can now access all the resources just as if you are on campus. 

Library Hours over Easter Weekend

The library will close Thursday, March 20 at 5:00 pm and will open on Monday, March 24 at 8:00am. We will be closed from Friday, March 21 through Sunday, March 24.

Have a blessed Easter.

Media and Missiles

Greetings from the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) office!  I am the library staff member Dan mentioned earlier, who has experience with missiles.  You can actually find out more about the missile system

  that I used while I was in the National_Guard, at the link from a  search I did in Google.  (scroll to the bottom of that search page to see more pictures)  Or, you could find even more scholarly information at the link on Ramaker’s website to do a search for the TOW missile,

  and come up with the full text results found in EBSCOhost or JSTOR. (I would sort from most recent to oldest)  Of course, it would be best to start your search for missiles in  Ramaker’s current holdings or any of these sites before you submit a request to ILL! 

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “How does your missile experience qualify you to work in a library?” 

  Here’s your answer:  “I don’t know!”  But I will say this.  Using the missile system I used does have a relationship to ILL.  When I fired that missile at a tank,

  I had to keep my sights on that target until the missile reached it.  Otherwise, the missile would have                  flown off into the sky  

                 or into the ground.       

I couldn’t stop tracking it until the target  was hit.  When you submit a request for an item through ILL, that item becomes my target.  I stay focused on that target and don’t take my sights off it until it is hit.  If your request comes back unfilled, I fire again at different libraries until that target is reached, or every option is exhausted.  If I didn’t, your request would go off into cyberspace

   never to be seen again, and I would have missed the target.  So, everytime you submit a request to ILL, think of the book-and-article-requesting “missile system”

  in Ramaker. (It’s in the office to the left of the circulation desk)  I’m here to help you meet your educational needs and goals  by getting you the information you desire. 

       If you ever have any questions, want to talk about missiles or the military, or about my last job as a high school choir director,

     email me or come on over to my office .  My door is always open!  

 Bryan Van Gelder, ILL and Curriculum Library Coordinator