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, In the News, Library Services, Research Tips

New library guide: Meeting the Challenges of Community-Based and Human Subjects Research in the Remote Mode

In early October 2020, UMass Boston faculty and graduate students were invited to join the Remote Research Sub-Committee of the campus Research Committee for a deep dive into the practical and professional, personal and existential aspects of trying to do community-based and other human subjects research in the remote mode.  This “Remote Research Symposium” generated helpful conversations, networking, suggestions and resource recommendations, all of which inspired the creation of this guide.

With the guidance of the sub-committee and based on resources curated by Associate Professor Rosalyn Negrón,  Healey librarians Teresa Maceira, Lauren Movlai and Lucas Hall organized an extensive reference guide around the topics of the three breakout sessions at the October symposium, which were:

  1. Research Guidance and Scholarship
  2. Remote Research Resources
  3. Work-Life Balance

The new guide’s menu offers a link to each section; we hope you find the included resources to be useful as you navigate the challenges of managing community-based and human subjects research in the remote mode.

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

Welcome Back: Spring 2019 Healey Library News

Hello to Healey Library patrons near and far!

Welcome back to campus after what we hope was a restful and rejuvenating break. To kick off the spring semester, we wanted to bring your attention to a few hot Healey Library news items about library email reminders, lowering textbook costs for students, and upcoming OER orientations for faculty:

UMBrella Email Notifications

Library patrons will begin receiving email reminders about their Library items.

As of February 1, all Healey Library patrons will receive courtesy notices about what you’ve borrowed, reminders when things are coming due or overdue, and reminders of your current borrowing status. Items that are long overdue could be subject to lost book charges, so check your bookshelves and couch cushions for lurking library materials! Please contact Library.Circulation@umb.edu with any questions, concerns, or corrections.

Lowering Textbook Costs for Students

Here are five pathways you can pursue in partnership with Healey Library and IT to offer no-cost or low-cost textbook alternatives to your students:

 

  • Use licensed e-books that are already available through UMBrella
  • Link to licensed journal and newspaper articles from Healey Library databases in password-protected Blackboard course pages
  • Submit a digitization request for scanned chapters of library books and e-books (note that these requests may be subject to copyright and fair use guidelines)

Open Education Info for Faculty

To learn more about the growing Open Education movement, please consider attending a FREE regional training event about the Massachusetts Open Education – Achieving Access for All project.

These events are funded by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and will provide an introduction to teaching and learning with free and open educational resources and will also offer faculty the opportunity to receive a $200 stipend for reviewing an existing open textbook for the benefit of colleagues. Training workshops take place 10am-2pm at the following locations:

  • February 8, 2019: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • March 12, 2019: Bridgewater State University
  • March 14, 2019: Worcester State University
  • March 20, 2019: Roxbury Community College

For questions about any of these resources, please reach out to Library.Reserves@umb.edu or Open@umb.edu.

As always, we look forward to partnering with you to serve UMass Boston’s students, faculty, researchers, and community partners.

With all best wishes for a wonderful start to the semester,
Joanne Riley, Interim Dean, and the Healey Library Staff

Updates from UMass Boston's Healey Library