Upgrades coming to the Library's group study rooms!
We're excited to announce that some big changes are coming to the RVCC Library's group study rooms on the 2nd floor! New study tables will allow for groups to share work easily, and to collaborate on projects and assignments. Tabletops will have multiple built-in power and USB outlets, so you can keep all your laptops and devices powered up while working. Study rooms will also feature flat-screen LCD monitors, to allow you to easily connect your laptop and share your screen with the group while collaborating. Lastly, we'll be upgrading the seating with modern, adjustable (and yes, comfortable!) task chairs.
We are hoping to complete these upgrades by the end of March. Please note that while the rooms are being upgraded and new furniture is being installed, some or all of our study rooms may be out of service temporarily. We will try our best to minimize the amount of time any study rooms will be unavailable - we know they are very popular spots in our library!
Need help with research? Let's chat! (Or zoom, or email, or text, or meet in person…)
Whether you are doing research from home, or from here on campus, help from a friendly librarian is as close as your keyboard. Live chat reference help is available during any hours the library is open. Librarians are on hand to help you navigate our databases, find quality resources, and answer your questions.
You can access the library's chat service by clicking on the “Get Answers” icon on our library's home page. This page also has instructions on how to reach a librarian via email and text. See screenshot below:
And, should you need more in depth research help, you can also schedule a one-on-one research consultation with a librarian, either in-person or via Zoom. The links to make an appointment are also on our “Get Answers” page.
And of course, in-person help is always available! Just stop by the library's Reference Desk, and speak with a librarian!
So whether you prefer in-person, chat, zoom, or email - the library's got you covered, and we're here to help!
6 Things You Should Know about Proquest’s AI Research Assistant
By Megan Dempsey with assistance from Claude AI*
Proquest has launched Research Assistant across its platform, an AI tool intended to support your research tasks while searching Proquest databases. Here are 6 things you should know about Research Assistant if you plan on using any of the AI features.
1. How to Level Up Your Search Terms with Assistance 🔍
Suggested search terms will appear below the search bar once you have results. These are based on your initial search and can help you discover related concepts you might not have thought of and identify more specific concepts related to your research topic, with each term easily added to your search as a keyword.
2. Why the Key Takeaways Are Helpful (But Don't Quote Them!) 📝
When you open an article, the Key Takeaways offer an AI-generated summary that may be more readable than the article’s abstract and can help you better understand the article’s main ideas. Just remember - while these takeaways are great for deciding if an article is worth your time, you shouldn't quote them in your paper since they're not actually from the original text.
3. Using Subject Tags to Find the Good Stuff Fast 🎯
Below the key takeaways, you'll find indexing terms (aka subject headings) that are like hashtags for academic articles. Clicking these terms helps you run a narrower search with highly relevant results but remember - combining many terms will reduce the number of results since articles must contain all selected terms.
4. The Brainstorm Button Is Mostly Recycled Info 💡
When you let the AI “Brainstorm related research topics,” each suggestion includes info about why it might be interesting to research that topic, but it doesn’t really add new ideas to what is already given in the key takeaways. But if you use it and find one of the suggested topics is valuable, you can click the magnifying glass icon to run a new search on that topic.
5. Making Sense of What Terms Mean in the Article 🌟
The "Describe important concepts" feature ranks terms by importance and explains them using the document's own context. Think of it as getting a mini-glossary customized just for your article.
6. What to Skip: The Research Assistant Feature That's Not Worth Your Time ⚠️
While the "Find sources about these concepts" button sounds promising, it's actually a bit too enthusiastic - it'll flood you with millions of results by searching for any article that mentions any of the important concepts. Stick to using the more focused search options instead.
Database Spotlight: Testaments to the Holocaust: Documents and Rare Printed Materials from the Wiener Library, London
Testaments to the Holocaust is the online publication of the archives of the Wiener Library, London, the first archive to collect evidence of the Holocaust and the anti-semitic activities of the German Nazi Party. It contains documentary evidence collected in several different programmes: the eyewitness accounts which were collected before, during and after the Second World War, from people fleeing the Nazi oppression, a large collection of photographs of pre-war Jewish life, the activities of the Nazis, and the ghettoes and camps, a collection of postcards of synagogues in Germany and eastern Europe, most since destroyed, a unique collection of Nazi propaganda publications including a large collection of 'educational' children's' books, and the card index of biographical details of prominent figures in Nazi Germany, many with portrait photographs.
This collection makes it possible for students, researchers, and anyone interested in learning more about this dark period in history, to view these unique primary source photos and historical documents, many of which are unavailable elsewhere outside of the Wiener Library in London. The collection presents an important record of the Holocaust, and is available to all students and faculty via the RVCC Library website.
To access the collection, go to https://library.raritanval.edu/testamentstotheholocaust.
This collection is made available through the Hirsch Library of the RVCC Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Whiteboard question of the month (what's on your lock screen?)
