Category Archives: Resources

About a library database, index, monograph, title

Research Tips, Resources, What's Cool

Want to Make Finding Full Text Articles Easier? Download the Lean Library Browser Extension

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jstor.org page with the Get Access Lean Library Pop-up appearing on the top right. The pop-up has a Get Access button.
Lean Library is a browser extension that provides quick and simple access to Library-subscribed full-text content – whenever, wherever you need it. When you’re on a website that contains library-subscribed content, the browser extension will notify you with a pop-up alert in the bookmarks bar that library access exists. The pop-up will provide you with the Get Access button to prompt you to authenticate with your UMass Boston login. If we do not have full-text access, then the extension will provide a link to InterLibrary Loan.

You don’t have to interrupt your workflow to find Healey Library; Healey Library will find you! Download the extension, select University of Massachusetts Boston, and start browsing for articles!

Here are some other ways Lean Library can help:

Find alternative access to articles and ebooks. If there is no access to the article or book through the current site, Lean Library helps find alternative access in another Healey Library-licensed resource or through open access channels. For books, Lean Library will take the ISBN on a page and match it up to our library holdings. This also works with Amazon, Google, and Outlook (web)!

Improved Google Scholar experience
You will notice our Find It@UMBrella links appearing beside some full text. Run a search – engineering education for women- in Google Scholar to test it out. Without Lean Library, you will have to go through Google’s multi-step Library Links set-up.

Highlight & Search in UMBrella
With Lean Library, you can highlight any text on a webpage and search it in UMBrella. Do this by using the context menu of your browser, i.e. by right-clicking on a webpage. Select the Search UMBrella @ Healey Library option from the menu.

For even more information about Lean Library, including FAQs, please visit our Lean Library Guide.

Resources

Take a break and explore your recreational reading and streaming options!

Do you need some new recreational reading, watching, and listening to brighten your spring? Between Healey Library and the Boston Public Library, we’ve got you covered!

At Healey Library

Reading — We have some eBook and physical book options whether your recreational reading involves novels, biographies, or reading about any subject of interest to you. To find a book, type in the title of the book you’re looking for in Umbrella, and then, on the results page, select the filter for “book”. We also have quite a few eBooks. To search for those, type in the title of the book, and then, on the results page, select the filters for “book” and “Full Text Online”. You can also explore our Anti-Racism Guide, which has a few reading lists attached to give you ideas of something to read next. Whatever we don’t have, can most likely be found at the Boston Public Library. 

Watching — Kanopy Streaming Video has a ton of leisure viewing. You can click “browse” on the homepage to view groups of movies by genre. While Kanopy is definitely our most extensive source for streaming video, you can explore our database list of streaming video options for more. 

Listening — To search for online audiobooks and CDs in UMBrella, type in the title of the book or CD, and then, on the results page, select the filters for “Audio” Material Type and “Full Text Online” Availability. 

At Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library is an excellent source of recreational reading, watching, and listening. Did you know that all Massachusetts residents, including students, are eligible to register for an eCard from the Boston Public Library, the Library for the Commonwealth?

eCard holders have access to most of BPL’s online resources — here’s a flyer describing them all, called What BPL Can Do for You, and here are a few more links to help you get started:

Reading — BPL’s eBooks page has booklists with eBooks and plenty of eBook titles to browse. For a wide selection of national and international newspapers and magazines, start at the BPL Stream & Download page and scroll down a bit until you see Press Reader (for newspapers) and RB Digital (for magazines). 

Watching — If you aren’t familiar with Kanopy yet, the Most Watched Kanopy Films of 2020 is a great list to start with. Also, visit BPL’s Movies and TV page for links to Kanopy and Hoopla and lists of new purchases. 

Listening — BPL’s audiobooks page includes audio booklists and titles to browse. BPL’s music page lists new purchases in many genres. 

Announcements, Library Services, Resources

Teaching Information Literacy: A New Tool for Faculty and Students

Introducing Credo Instruct

Healey Library is excited to introduce a platform called Credo Instruct, a set of standalone, interactive information literacy modules.  These modules are used in the Library’s in-person instructional program and are also available for independent faculty use.  

Information literacy addresses critical thinking and research skills by teaching students:

  • How to identify an information need
  • Where to locate the information they need
  • How to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information they find
  • How to use the information they find ethically

These interactive Credo Instruct modules include text tutorials, videos, and interactive exercises, and they allow students to test their learning with graded quizzes. The interactive modules include:

How Can Faculty Use Credo Instruct?

Faculty can choose individual videos and activities to incorporate into their classes as needed, or they can assign students to review entire modules. Faculty may select and assign the lessons independently, or they may assign specific modules or lessons to their students to review before a library instruction session. When students view the modules before a session with a librarian, students have more opportunities during that session to engage with library and information resources and expand on larger conversations about research and critical thinking. 

For more information, please review the Faculty Guide to Credo Instruct, which contains the full menu of Credo Instruct learning objects. 

Contact the reference department at library.reference@umb.edu if you have questions or need help with the links.

Evaluating Information Module Menu of Lessons
Each video, tutorial, and quiz in Credo Instruct can be used individually or as part of a larger module. Faculty can pick and choose from the Credo Instruct “menu” which lessons they want to incorporate into their course content.
Screenshot of Credo Instruct Plagiarism Video with Transcript
All the videos in Credo Instruct are fully captioned, and video transcripts can be downloaded as separate files. Playback speed can also be adjusted up or down.

 

Feedback from Faculty and Students

Since the introduction of Credo Instruct this year, faculty feedback has been incredibly positive.  

Faculty have told us:

  • “Tell me how I get your wonderful Credo segments into my class’s Blackboard page, so I can have them well prepared before they come to visit the library.” (Nursing) 
  • “This is great!” (English)
  • “In advance of your visit, I had the students review Credo Instruct, choose a module that would be helpful for them, and then write a short paragraph explaining why the info was helpful.” (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures)

Students have told us:

  • They like the content, pacing, and activities, especially the Test Your Knowledge segments. 
  • The citation activities give them a better understanding of what a citation is and its different parts.
  • Viewing the module Presenting Research and Data gives them an understanding of how to synthesize information for a research paper. One student said, “In high school, I never even thought about where information was coming from. My teacher would give me an article and tell me to write about it. I didn’t have to do research; in high school everything was given to me. Until I viewed the module, I didn’t realize how complicated information is.”
  • “I watched the Evaluating Information module. My main takeaway was how ineffective Google is when evaluating for quality.”

Review the Faculty Guide to Credo Instruct, and contact Library.Reference@umb.edu for more information about using these modules in your classes!

Healey Library: We’ve Got You Covered

Umbrella picture with the text: Welcome to Healey Library! We've Got You Covered
Welcome to Healey Library: We’ve Got You Covered

We want to begin the new school year by reaffirming our mission to support our users. “We’ve Got You Covered” is our commitment to the campus and our community partners. If you need something, we will do everything we can to try to get it for you, whether it’s a specific research resource, research or classroom support, or any of the services offered by Healey Library staff. We’re here to help you and your students succeed, so please let us know what we can do for you.

Announcements, Resources, Trial period for a resource

New Resources at Healey Library!

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Healey Library is pleased to share some new resources with you, including a trial resource on which we are seeking feedback!

Flipster

Enjoy the print magazine experience on your computer or phone screen. Flipster digitally recreates print magazines, page for page, complete with high-quality, full-color images (and cartoons!). Healey Library’s subscription provides access to issues from the last 3 years for these 10 popular magazines:

You can search for these magazines in UMBrella or find Flipster on our Databases A-Z list. Be sure to also check out the Flipster app for Android and iOS.

Skillsoft (formerly Books 24×7)

Access e-books and audiobooks covering business analysis, business skills, engineering, information technology, productivity tools, and personal well-being via Healey Library’s subscription to Skillsoft. You can also search for these books in UMBrella. Skillsoft’s new and improved platform is mobile-compatible, offers enhanced accessibility, and gives users the ability to take notes, save items to their personal bookshelf, and download PDF chapters of books. Here are a few of the latest releases available via Skillsoft:   

ATTENTION FACULTY! If you have previously used Books 24×7 books in your classes as assigned or suggested readings, please update the links to direct to the new Skillsoft platform. Contact Library.Reserves@umb.edu for any help with updating your links to course materials.

AccessMedicine (trial resource ending April 25)

Healey Library is currently offering trial access to AccessMedicine, a McGraw Hill collection of professional resources for nursing and health science students and faculty. These resources are a mixture of medical textbooks, such as Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, and online teaching tools, such as animated anatomy modules and procedural videos. This collection was designed to help residents, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants facilitate decision-making at the point-of-care.

The library welcomes and encourages feedback on this trial resource from all of our users. In particular, we’re interested in the response from faculty in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Would faculty consider using the textbooks in this collection as the primary text for their courses? Let us know!

Announcements, Resources, Trial period for a resource

Try Out a Government, Politics, and Law Database!

HeinOnline LogoHealey Library invites your feedback on a new trial database, billed as “the world’s largest image-based government document and legal research database,” HeinOnline’s Government, Politics and Law package. This resource is on trial through March 31, 2018.

This database provides extensive coverage of legal history and government documents, including U.S. statutes and case law available as PDF downloads, and more than 300 years of information covering political development. It might be of particular interest to users looking for a replacement for WestLaw.

Five Things You Can Do In Less Than 15 Seconds in HeinOnline

Five Things You Can Do in Less Than 15 Seconds in HeinOnline

This database’s more than 50 million pages of content cover subjects applicable to:

  • Political Science
  • Criminal Justice
  • World History
  • Civil & Human Rights
  • And more than 80 other subject areas

HeinOnline offers several training resources to help new users search and navigate within the interface, quickly retrieve documents, and use helpful tools and resources integrated throughout the database:

To learn more, watch this three minute video.

Login now at http://ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/login?url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Welcome, or via the Healey Library Databases & Indexes page.

Let us know what you think of this resource with this feedback form!

Danitta Wong
Danitta Wong

Please direct any questions or comments to Danitta Wong, Head of Collection Development and Assessment:
Danitta.Wong@umb.edu or 617.287.5924