UC Cooperative Extension Archive: Past, Present, and Future Author: Lisa Vallen August 2, 2018 Things are heating up at the UC Cooperative Extension Archive! July marks the start of our $308,900 three year grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission for “A Century of Impact: Documenting the Work of the Cooperative Extension in California's Counties.” Over the next three years, we will appraise, process, and digitize historical material from 20 county offices, with the goals of: Digitizing approximately 180,000 pages and 2,000 photographs from California Cooperative Extension reports. Arranging and describing at least 100 linear feet of material from 20 county extension offices. (One banker box is the equivalent of a linear foot). Creating a scalable demonstration project using the records to engage Merced County 4-H students in tagging and curating digital records. Testing the use of natural language processing (NLP) tools to perform automated named entity recognition for use in creating controlled access vocabularies. Developing a searchable... |
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Zero-Cost (OER) Course Materials Grant July 31, 2018 What are Open Educational Resources (OER)? OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or are released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others. OER can include textbooks, supplemental materials, teaching materials, test and question banks, and more! Why use OER?Using OER allows students to have materials before the first day of class and to have access to materials 24/7 from any internet connection. The use of OER removes financial obstacles to course materials and allows instructors to customize materials to match their teaching style and learning needs of their students. How can I start using OER?The UC Merced Library and the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL) are collaborating to offer the Zero-Cost Course Materials Grant to support the adoption of OER and use of UC Merced Library licensed electronic resources to reduce textbook and learning materials costs... |
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ProQuest Platform Interface Enhancements Author: Sarah Sheets July 26, 2018 As of July 26th, ProQuest will roll out redesigned basic search and search results pages. These improvements will put a focus on source types to help retrieve more relevant results from across the platform. |
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Deputy University Librarian Releasing New Book: "Fake News, Propaganda and Plain Old Lies" June 25, 2018 First impressions count, maybe now more than ever. But what if those impressions are based on lies? People’s willingness to believe even the most outrageous “information” they get is so remarkable that researchers have been studying this phenomenon — more recently given the current political divide in America — and trying to explain why facts don’t sway people’s beliefs. It’s better to learn to critically evaluate information as it comes at you, argues UC Merced Deputy University Librarian Donald Barclay, whose new book “Fake News, Propaganda and Plain Old Lies” is being released Friday, June 29. |
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SpringerProtocols to Transition to New Springer Nature Experiments Author: Sarah Sheets June 7, 2018 On July 25th, the SpringerProtocols platform will be deactivated and transitioned to Springer Nature Experiments. |
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U.S. Major Dailies Now Available Author: Sarah Sheets June 1, 2018 All UC campuses now have access to U.S. Major Dailies, which grants access to current content and archives dating back to the 1980s for five of the nation’s most valued national and regional newspapers: New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and The Wall Street Journal. The database is searchable as a whole or by specific publication in full-text format. |
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Morgan & Claypool Colloquium Digital Library of Life Sciences Collection 4 Now Available Author: Sarah Sheets May 30, 2018 UC Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, and San Francisco now have access to the Colloquium Digital Library of the Life Sciences fourth collection covering biological, genetic and biomedical subject areas. |
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Fūzoku Gahō Now Available Author: Sarah Sheets May 30, 2018 Fūzoku Gahō is now available to patrons at all ten campuses and UCOP through JapanKnowledge. |
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Library Jam Sessions - A Recap Author: Breanna Wright May 22, 2018 The week before spring finals began, the UC Merced Library hosted six Library Jam Sessions in partnership with H.E.R.O.E.S. This multi-day event took place from May 2nd -4th and included a morning and evening session each day. Students looking for a quiet space to study or relax headed to KL 371 to enjoy coffee and snacks. The first ten students at each session also received a Study Smart Kit, which included earplugs, pens, Scantrons, Green Books, etc. To help students combat stress, H.E.R.O.E.S. provided a Relaxation Room complete with coloring pages, a chocolate mindfulness exercise, and supplies to make stress balls. In total, 97 students attended throughout the three days. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Charles Nies, and Vice Provost for the Faculty, Gregg Camfield, took notice of the Jam Sessions and commended the Library and H.E.R.O.E.S. for their efforts. Vice Chancellor Nies and Chancellor Dorothy Leland also stopped by one of the sessions. |
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Library Award Scholarship Pays Homage to Persistence and Research May 17, 2018 A generous gift from the grandmother of a UC Merced alumna and current staff member is benefitting two undergraduate students who put the UC Merced Library to good use. Melissa Becerra, a third-year psychology student, and Nathan Parmeter [...] are the first recipients of the Carter Joseph Abrescy and Larry Kranich Library Award for Student Research Excellence. The $26,250 endowment comes from Arlene Kranich of Sonora, grandmother of Development and Alumni Relations Director Kelli Abrescy as a memorial to Abrescy’s grandfather Larry Kranich, who died in 2003, and in honor of Abrescy’s new son, Carter. |