Below you will find a collection of faculty services that the library offers.
Professional development
Research
- Archives Hub — "descriptions of archives held at over 250 institutions in the United Kingdom.
- NIH RePORTer (National Institute of Health) - Abstracts for federally funded biomedical research projects 1972-present.
- Dissertation Express (UMI) — Connect to Dissertation Express as an individual and purchase digital files or loose-leaf shrinkwrapped copies of dissertations using your credit card.
Information literacy
"Information literacy is a way of thinking."
— Craig Gibson in Student Engagement and Information Literacy
Practitioners have yet to agree on a firm definition of information literacy. Some consider it synonymous with library research skills. Others believe it to be a set of information technology utilization skills. In truth, information literacy includes both and much more. It includes the articulation of an information need and a knowledge of the resources which will potentially meet that need as well as the ability to evaluate, synthesize, and ethically/legally use the sought after information.
- Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
- Discipline-specific information literacy standards (see below)
- Library instruction (see below)
Resources for learning more about information literacy:
- Foster, Andrea L. "Students Lack 'Information Literacy,' Testing Service's Study Finds." The Chronicle of Higher Education. (October 17, 2006). Appears in the Today's News column available online only and does require a password. Contact Sabrina Riley for access information.
- Gibson, Craig, ed. Student Engagement and Information Literacy. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2006. (Call # 028.7071 St9 2006)
- Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2000.
- Information Literacy in the Disciplines. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, Instruction Section.
- Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report. Association of College and Research Libraries, 1989.
- NASW, ASWB, CSWE, & CSWA Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice. National Association of Social Workers, 2017.
Library instruction
We want to help you teach your students how to best utilize the resources the library has to offer! If you would like us to teach a class session about research or the library, submit this form to us. We will contact you within two days of submitting this form to review your request and collect any additional information we need for planning purposes. We look forward to helping you help your students!
Copyright
General resources
- Best Practices for Teachers Using Copyrighted Material
Copyright - Copyright Policy for Union College Library Patrons
- Copyright Renewal Database
- Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States (chart)
- Fair Use Evaluator
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians
- Tips for Using Copyrighted Material in Moodle
- U.S. Copyright Office Public Catalog
Free images
- Creative Commons
- Flickr: The Commons
- Images from the History of Medicine (National Library of Medicine)
- Library of Congress: Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
- Wikimedia Commons
For additional insight regarding copyright practices, see our dedicated copyright page.
Collection development
- Please submit requests for materials through your program director.
- Book and Media Review Sources
- Selection Criteria Quick Guide
- Collection Development Policy
- Personal Librarian Program (see above)
Course reserves
Provide equal access to required reading/viewing for your students. Books, articles, and audiovisual materials may be put on reserve at the Circulation Desk. Both library-owned and personal items may be put on reserve. The library provides audiovisual viewing facilities supporting VHS, DVD, CD, and more. One hour reserves are to be used in the library only. Two hour, one day, three day, and one week reserve items may be checked out.
Students and faculty may view current course reserve items in WorldCat Discovery by selecting Course Reserves in the dropdown menu under Search in the upper left hand corner.
See the Course Reserves Policy for more information.
Free eTextbooks
Free Open Access eTextbooks
- Connexions
- VitalSource (textbook selection tool; discounted pricing)
- Flatworld Knowledge
- Lumen Learning
- Merlot — The Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
- Teaching Commons
- OpenStax