How to Find Books, Movies, & More

Have you visited the library and wondered how to find books or other items specific to your research topic? You're not alone; several students approach the Reference Desk with questions on locating items on a daily basis.

We're always happy to help but here's a brief tutorial to get you started: 

1.  Visit the library's homepage, www.tarleton.edu/library. 

2. Click on the Library Catalog link, as pictured below: 

The Research tab has several tools to help you find what you need. 

3. You'll be directed to  a Quick Search option where you can enter a keyword or select a specific search term to find your item (see below). 

The Quick Search is an easy way to search for topics, by title, or by author.

4. You can also select the Advanced Search Options for more in-depth search criteria. 

5. Select an item of interest, write down the call number, and find it on the shelf. 

*If you're not sure what to do next, feel free to ask a library staff member for assistance. We'll be happy to walk you through the process. If you're on the go, you can call the Reference Desk (254) 968-9249 or email reference@tarleton.edu 

Do you have interests beside school? We have databases for you!

This semester we have several new databases for you to use! Most of them are academic databases that will be great for your school work, and you can check them all out on the Guide to Databases Page.  But, we know that you have interests outside of school as well, so today I’m highlighting three new databases that contain information on hobbies, home improvement and engine repair. Hopefully you will find something that will get your creative juices flowing, inspire you to try something new, or maybe even save some money!

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center has how-to videos, instructions, and project ideas for many different hobbies and crafts, including knitting, outdoor activities, crafting, and scrapbooking. It also includes full-text from many different hobby magazines including American Craft, Scuba Diving, and Horse & Rider.

Home Improvement Reference Center includes information on a variety of home improvement tasks, including decorating, plumbing, electrical and woodworking. The Toolbox includes how-to videos, conversion charts, glossaries, and a guide to working with contractors. It also includes step-by-step maintenance guides for projects like maintaining a grill.

Small Engine Repair Reference Center gives detailed instructions on how to repair and maintain small engines, such as those in boats, lawnmowers, motorcycles and tractors. It includes engine diagrams and full service manuals.

Saving Images for the Web

Spring and summer are excellent times for taking pictures:

• graduations,
• Mother's Day & Father's Day,
• vacations and family outings,
• weddings, parties, picnics, concerts, and
• the list keeps going.

Once the pictures are taken, most of us want to share them, and we usually want to do so on the web. That's where the article "The Comprehensive Guide to Saving Images for the Web" by Joshua Johnson of Six Revisions can come in handy.

In the article, Johnson explains features of Photoshop's “Save for Web & Devices” command and offers best practices tips for "saving images that are optimized for web use." Topics covered include

• Before the Save
• Entering the Save for Web Dialog
• Image Size
• Resampling Quality
• File Type and Image Quality
• File Type Options
• Working with GIFs, JPGs & PNGs
• View Modes
• Working with Slices
• Outputting HTML

His explanations are understandable and address novice and expert users' needs. Check it out.

Formatting your Works Cited list the easy way

It seems like everyone's working on a paper at the library right now. If you've got one you're working on, too, you might need to include some kind of Works Cited section. When formatting your Works Cited section, don't fiddle around with tab indents and rulers - you're making it harder on yourself than you have to!

(The instructions below assume you're using MS Word 2007, available on library computers, but you can probably carry some of this over to other versions of Word and similar programs.)


Let's say you've got a Works Cited page with a few entries, like the one above (yes, I made those entries up). You'd like every line after the first line of an entry to be indented, but you're not sure how to do it without messing up the formatting on the rest of your document (assuming that this is part of a larger paper), or you have no idea how to begin formatting this at all. Take a look at the next image:



I centered "Works Cited" and then highlighted the entries. I right-clicked on the highlighted entries and chose "Paragraph" from the menu that popped up.

Under "Indentation," I clicked the "Special" drop down menu and chose "Hanging." This adds hanging indents to the entries I highlighted, making my Works Cited document look like the picture below. Now, if I wanted, I could add more entries, which would all automatically be perfectly indented, or I could edit the ones already there (maybe italicize my journal title?).

Learn More, Get Involved, Take Action -- Useful Top Tens

It's Top Ten Tuesday, plus April is Keep America Beautiful month, Thursday is Earth Day, and April 30th is Arbor Day. What a great time to check out ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle, as well as embrace going green.

10 Top Tens: Ideas, Tips, Resources, and News

• Emerging Environmental Technologies – from LiveScience
• Endangered Species – from World Wildlife Fund for Nature
• Environmental Films – from Karl Burkart at Mother Nature Network
• Green Jobs – from InventorSpot
• Green Trends – from Government Technology Magazine
• Green Twitterers to Check Out – from Yuka Yoneda
• Reasons to Recycle – from the National Recycling Coalition
• Ways to be Green – from Yahoo! Green
• Ways to be Greener Through Better Networking – from Mark Leary at Cisco Systems
• Ways to Save the Planet – from HowStuffWorks

Live Green, Breathe Purple -- Check it Out

Flip Video Cameras

What is a Flip Video?

Flip Videos are pocket-sized, battery-operated, portable camcorders with LCD screens, one-touch recording, and digital zoom. They hold up to 60 minutes of TV-quality video on 1GB of built-in memory; no tapes or additional memory cards required (recording time may vary based on recorded content). A built-in USB adapter plugs directly into your computer for easy uploading and sharing of videos (however, you can only do this on your own computer, not a campus public access computer). Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, share them on YouTube and Grouper, do very simple editing like trimming the beginning and end of your video, and capture still photos from video. Or, you can watch videos instantly on TV with the included cable.

The Circulation Desk at the Dick Smith Library currently has two Flip Videos available for check out for one week loan (no renewal, and overdue fines are $2 per day). The camera comes in a case with cables and instructions.

What can I do with a Flip Video?

Record, edit, and share videos, just like any other video camera.

Since the camera connects directly to your computer, it’s fast and easy to upload videos to the internet or your hard drive, so Flip Videos could be used for simple video assignments:

- To show before and after.
- To demonstrate a procedure or process.
- To entertain or add a personal touch.

Flip Video Tutorials

Introduction to the Flip Camera by Learnthisthing.com (different model, but the same idea):

How to install Flip Video editing software by Learnthisthing.com

How to upload, organize, and share video by Learnthisthing.com

Ever Wonder How To?

Since finals are starting next week, you need some ideas for productive procrastination. May I suggest Have you ever wondered how to...

Drive cats endlessly crazy?
Bellydance?
Create and animate a stop motion LEGO brickfilm?
Break in 8 ball and 9 ball?
Make a compressed air spit ball launcher?
Avoid fretbuzz on an electric guitar?
Stop procrastinating? (ok ok, time to get back to studying.)

GOOD LUCK ON THOSE FINALS!!!