Library Research Prizes Available for 2016-2017

libraryresearchprize_banner_finalAre you working on a research project this semester? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then the Weinberg Memorial Library Research Prize is for you!

Two prizes of $500 each are awarded every year to the winning Undergraduate and the winning Graduate submissions. All you need to do is write a 500-word essay describing your research process and how you used the library in completing the project. Click here for some tips on how to craft the best 500-word essay you can about your research.

Then, submit the application materials for your project through the Library Research Prize website by the Fall 2016 deadline: Monday, December 5, 2016 by 4:00 pm. This deadline is for projects completed in the Summer 2016 or Fall 2016 semesters. There will be another deadline for Spring 2017 research projects. Winners are announced at the end of the Spring 2017 semester.

Research projects can be individual or group projects, though winning group projects will receive one $500 prize for the group.

A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission.

Details on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and what the selection criteria are, can be found at the Library Research Prize website. Any additional questions can be sent to Prof. Bonnie Oldham, Information Literacy Coordinator (bonnie.oldham@scranton.edu).

We look forward to hearing about your research!

Win $500 for Describing Your Research Process in 500 Words

1863 united states 500 dollar demand note

Image by Flickr user ocean_of_stars via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license (a human-readable summary of this license may be found here)

Are you working on a research project this semester? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then you should consider submitting your project for a chance to win the Weinberg Memorial Library Research Prize.

Two prizes of $500 each are awarded every year to the winning Undergraduate and the winning Graduate submission. All you need to do is write a 500-word essay describing your research process and how you used the library in completing the project. Click here for some tips on how to craft the best 500-word essay you can about your research.

Then, submit the application materials for your project through the Library Research Prize website by the Fall 2015 deadline: Friday, December 4, 2015 by 4:00 pm. This deadline is for projects completed in Summer 2015 or Fall 2015. There will be another deadline for Spring 2016 research projects. Winners are announced at the end of the Spring 2016 semester.

Research projects can be individual or group projects, though winning group projects will receive one $500 prize for the group.

A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission, so be sure to let your course instructor know you will be submitting your project for consideration for the prize.

Details on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and what the selection criteria are, can be found at the Library Research Prize website. Any additional questions can be sent to Prof. Bonnie Oldham, Information Literacy Coordinator (bonnie.oldham@scranton.edu).

We look forward to hearing about your research!

Library Research Prize Deadline Approaches

2015 flyer

Did you work on a research project in either Intersession or Spring 2015? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then the Weinberg Memorial Library Research Prize is for you!

Two prizes of $500 each are awarded every year to the winning Undergraduate and the winning Graduate submission. All you need to do is write a 500-word essay describing your research process and how you used the library in completing the project. Click here for some tips on how to craft the best 500-word essay you can about your research.

Then, submit the application materials for your project through the Library Research Prize website by the Intersession and Spring 2015 deadline: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 by 4:00 pm.

Research projects can be individual or group projects, though winning group projects will receive one $500 prize for the group.

A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission.

Details on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and what the selection criteria are, can be found at the Library Research Prize website. Any additional questions can be sent to Prof. Bonnie Oldham, Information Literacy Coordinator (bonnie.oldham@scranton.edu).

We look forward to hearing about your research!

 

Enter to Win the $500 Library Research Prize

500 Words = $500!

500 Smackeroos

Image by Flickr user nyer82 via CC BY-NC 2.0 license (a human-readable summary of this license may be found here)

Are you working on a research project this semester? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then the Weinberg Memorial Library Research Prize is for you!

Two prizes of $500 each are awarded every year to the winning Undergraduate and the winning Graduate submission. All you need to do is write a 500-word essay describing your research process and how you used the library in completing the project. Click here for some tips on how to craft the best 500-word essay you can about your research.

Then, submit the application materials for your project through the Library Research Prize website by the Fall 2014 deadline: Friday, December 5, 2014 by 4:00 pm. This deadline is for projects completed in Summer 2014 or Fall 2014. There will be another deadline for Spring 2015 research projects. Winners are announced at the end of the Spring 2015 semester.

Research projects can be individual or group projects, though winning group projects will receive one $500 prize for the group.

A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission.

Details on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and what the selection criteria are, can be found at the Library Research Prize website. Any additional questions can be sent to Prof. Bonnie Oldham, Information Literacy Coordinator (bonnie.oldham@scranton.edu).

We look forward to hearing about your research!

2012 Library Research Prize Winners

The Library is pleased to announce our two winners of the 2nd Annual Library Research Prize competition, one in the Undergraduate category and one in the Graduate category.

Congratulations to Stephanie A. Pisko, a senior double major in History and Women’s Studies, whose submission, “Murder and Turmoil: Honor and Crimes of Passion in Two Nineteenth-Century Murder Trials,” was selected as this year’s winner of the prize in the Undergraduate category. Stephanie’s supporting faculty member was Dr. Susan L. Poulson in the History Department.

Stephanie wrote in her essay describing her research process:

Throughout the entire process, the library and the librarians helped me with all my questions, and there were many. […] As an undergraduate I had never taken on extensive research like this before and their guidance was invaluable. From learning to use the microfilm machine to locating articles in a bound journal, the library was there every step of the way. The research skills I gained are as sophisticated and as numerous as those of a graduate student. I feel confident of how to research, how to evaluate scholarly sources, and how to integrate the sources. This research project would not have been of the same quality without the librarians’ extensive knowledge and constant assistance.

Congratulations as well to Colleen Achatz, a student in our Graduate Program in Occupational Therapy, whose submission, Part I: “Evolution of Sensory Integration with Children” and Part II: “Jean Ayres’ Impact on the Past, Present, and Future of Sensory Integration,” was selected as this year’s  winner of the prize in the Graduate category. Colleen’s supporting faculty member was Dr. Rita Fleming-Castaldy in the Occupational Therapy Department.

Colleen wrote in her essay describing her research process:

The resource in the library that most surprised me was the microfilm; I had no idea about it until I learned about it for this assignment. I did not know what the microfilm section of the library even was and I wound up using microfilm for a key portion of my research. The journals in the library were also very helpful. In the past I had only used the databases on the library website to retrieve articles from the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and other journals but it only goes so many years back. I was surprised to see how many years’ worth of journals were physically in the library. I never realized how extensive the resources, tools, and services the library had to offer until this assignment. […] Through this assignment and the research process with the use of Weinberg Library’s resources and services, I learned a significant amount of knowledge in the methods and process of research as well as the importance of research in the profession of occupational therapy. This experience also helped me with my ability to more competently participate in my faculty mentored research course.

The Weinberg Memorial Library inaugurated the prize to recognize excellence in research projects that show evidence of significant knowledge in the methods of research and the information gathering process, and use of library resources, tools, and services. The prize is in the amount of $500 for the winning submission in each category: Undergraduate and Graduate.

In addition to our winners, two students were selected to receive Honorable Mentions in the Undergraduate category: Allison Carey for her submission, “Dynamics of Recent Trade Relationships with China,” and Ryan P. Pipan for his submission, “Much Ado about the Archer-Shee’s: Shakespearean Signatures in Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy.”

Winners will be honored at a reception and awards ceremony on Thursday, May 10, 2012 in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room.

Graduate Student Loan Period

flickr CC library books
Photo courtesy of Flickr user ‘eseering’ under a Creative Commons license.

 

Last Spring, we received feedback from grad students regarding their loan period for books. Our grad students are heavy researchers, and they made their case to us that the nature of their research requires a loan period of longer than 30 days. They pointed out that most grad level research assignments are semester-long, and so they would need their books for the length of the entire semester without the renewal period running out on them.

As a result, we have extended the loan period on books for graduate students to meet this need.

As of March of this year, the loan period for graduate students is always, at most, an entire semester. This means, when a graduate student checks out a book, it will always be due at the end of the current semester. One renewal is allowed though, which would then extend the due date to the end of the following semester.

So, to all of our grad students — happy researching!