Every year, we reach out to students, faculty and staff to see how we’re doing. We strive to provide the best possible service, so your feedback is very important to us. Check out the results of the survey above, and let us know any additional thoughts you have in the comments!
At the risk of being redundant, I do love Wikipedia. Without it, I would never have had exposure to the word disambiguation. (It’s been a long time since I sat for the SAT, and consequently, a long time since I’ve learned any highfaluting vocabulary words.) Wikipedia resolves ambiguity by clarifying a word, phrase, or person with additional identifying information. This is a great benefit for the inexperienced. For example, imagine you are invited by friends to the U of M for winter break. I know you can have fun anywhere, you party animal, but knowing whether you are traveling to the University of Miami or the University of Minnesota will inform your decision about bringing your Canada Goose.
Published in 2012, Black History: More than Just a Month, by public school teacher Mike Henry, is a fascinating volume that highlights a comprehensive collection of the often-overlooked contributions by African-Americans to American history. Beginning with the colonial era, Henry interlaces popular historical narratives with details of the crucial, yet less frequently recognized, roles played played by black men and women. Continue reading
A little more than a year ago, we began the process of redesigning the library homepage (see its many previous incarnations), but the beginnings of the decision to undertake the project stretch even further back. The previous library website served us well, but it had grown and changed over time. As is very common, each of these small changes solved a current problem, but without a holistic analysis of the entire website, certain inconsistencies and dissonances began to creep in. It was time for a total overhaul. Continue reading
Our enthusiasm for opportunities to start fresh has frequently made its way onto the blog, from the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), to the civil New Year, to the start of a new semester. Today, February 5th, marks another calendrical reset, the Lunar New Year. Commonly known as the Chinese New Year for its largest group of celebrants, it’s the start of a calendar determined in part by the phases of the moon, rather than the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. Because of this, the civil date of the holiday varies from late January to mid-February. According to former Touro Library Cataloger, Liping Wang, observations of the holiday often include cleaning the home, families gathering for a home-cooked meal on New Year’s Eve, fireworks, and “luck money” given from the older generations to the younger in red envelopes. In New York, you can participate in parades and other celebrations held in Chinatown, in Manhattan, and in Flushing, Queens. NYC public schools recognize the Lunar New Year as an official holiday, meaning no school for students today. Alas, Touro classes are all still in session, but we wish you all a happy Lunar New Year!
As we prepare for a new semester, we’d like to share the libraries’ many instructional support services available to Touro faculty. If you’d like assistance with something you don’t find on this list, don’t hesitate to ask! Continue reading
Whether you’ve been at Touro for a few semester or you just joined us this Spring, there a few key steps all students should take to make sure you’re set up to do your best. Writing and research is an inescapable part of most college courses, but it can sometimes be a frustrating process. The good news is that the library is here for all your research needs, from finding sources and understanding new information to academic writing and creating citations. In fact, a recent report released by the ALA found that, “students who receive library instruction as part of their courses achieve higher grades,” and gain “confidence with the research process.” If that sounds good to you, make sure that you follow these tips! Continue reading
TU Library Blog 