Monthly Archives: July 2009

New Databases

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The BSC Library is part of ODIN (Online Dakota Information Network), one of the partners in a three-state group (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota) to license databases and database packages.  The partners realize the importance of statewide access to a common suite of databases to the libraries and school media centers within and among the three states. 

As of July 1, 2009, the new licensing agreements are in place.  Access to these statewide electronic resources will be available through June 30, 2012.

We invite you to explore the suite of  BSC Library databases available to you.  You will find some old favorites (as well as some new ones that will become favorites), while a few that you may have been accustomed to using are no longer available. 

In addition to the statewide common suite of databases, the BSC Library subscribes to several databases on its own. 

We are also in the process of redesigning our databases page.  Stay tuned!

Student Library Research Practices & Skills

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Food for thought for librarians, professors, and students.  

Survey of American College Students: Student Library Research Practices & Skills

This 150-page report looks at the research practices and skills of a sample of 400 U.S. college students and presents detailed data on how American college students use their library to complete research assignments. 

The report examines questions such as:

  • Which American students are being assigned research papers and which are not.
  • What research sources do students use to complete their research assignments?
  • Which use only major search engines or Wikipedia? Which use print resources?  Library furnished databases?
  • How familiar are students with the concept of plagiarism?
  • Are students confident in their research abilities?
  • Do they know how to use citation software?
  • Do they feel that their librarians help them to use the available resources?

The report also gives information on how professors advise students to use the library and how helpful librarians are with research. Among the findings:

  • Only about 47% of students are sure that they have ever been required to turn in a research paper exceeding 10 double-spaced typed pages in length for any of their classes.
  • More than 86% of students say that they understand the concept of plagiarism well or very well.
  • 64% of students say that they know how to contact a librarian online.
  • 55% of the students had not asked for help from a librarian within the past year.
  • Nearly 29% of students say that Google, Yahoo and other major search engine searches were the most important information source for their last research assignment.
  • More than 9% of information needed for research papers was sourced from Wikipedia or other wikis.
  • The higher the grade point average, the less information for research papers was obtained from search engines, such as Google or Yahoo.

Let Freedom Ring!

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Happy 4th of July from the BSC Library!

As expressed by some of our greatest Presidents,  the work of libraries is vital in a free and democratic society.  

  A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.
— Thomas JEFFERSON (1743-1826)

  Information is the currency of democracy.
— Thomas JEFFERSON (1743-1826)

 We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
— John F. KENNEDY (1917-1963)

 A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
— James MADISON (1751-1836)