In preparation for a new year

Classrooms await new and returning students! (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

This is the time of the year for preparation, on two levels.  One level is for the Jewish High Holy Days and the other level is for the beginning of the new school year.

Taking an online course this semester? Prepare to tackle it with these five tips!

All set to learn! (CC0 image via Unsplash)

Online classes definitely have some advantages: you can attend class anywhere, there’s no commute to school, and you can often write papers or take tests at times convenient to you.  Studying for online classes can be tricky, however, since the normal pattern of in-classroom learning is nonexistent.

Even More Frequently Asked Questions: The Rest of the Story

“Question Mark” by Karen Eliot via Flickr

According to Wikipedia, the question and answer format for information dissemination has been around for centuries; the acronym, FAQ, not so long.  (I call it F-A-Q. You can call it what you like.  I don’t judge.)

Navigating a post-Google information world

(source)

Sometimes it’s easy to spot the more dubious…ahem, “facts” that have a tendency to pop up online, but what about when a source’s credibility is a little more murky? Read on to find out how you can level up your information literacy and become truly research savvy.

Staff Profile: Laurel Scheinfeld

 

I am Laurel Scheinfeld, a Reference Librarian at the Bay Shore campus.  I have been working for Touro Libraries for three years, since June 2011, a month after I graduated from Long Island University (LIU) with my Master’s degree in Library Science.  I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity.  In my last semester at LIU, I reached out to the Chief Librarian at the Bay Shore campus to request an internship, which was a requirement of the program in Library Science at LIU.  I didn’t realize at the time that a Librarian position would open up while I was there – that was a wonderful surprise.

So, what DO librarians do all day?

The librarian of yore…lots of dusty books? Check! Bun and cardigan? Check! (CC0 image via Wikimedia)

So you may or may not know that librarians actually have to go graduate school to become librarians.  You may even wonder what we study. As a student in library school (Queens College Graduate School of Library Science), I often get a shocked “You need a degree for that!?” when I explain that I’m working toward earning my Master’s degree in library science. 

Lights! Camera! Action! Video Tutorials from Touro Libraries

Mary Pickford with motion picture camera via the Library of Congress

In her book, Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from my Life with Austism, Temple Grandin describes the different learning style she experiences as a result of her autism.  Unlike most people who fully understand language, Dr. Grandin “translates” words into visual images that play in her head like a movie. (See the movie!)   

Stay Networked….

(image courtesy of MorgueFile)

You’ve graduated, you have your degree….now what?!? Joining a professional network can really help get your career off the ground.  It can put you in touch with the individuals that have the power to hire or it can simply provide you with the inspiration and confidence you need to get out there and start interviewing.