Posts from — February 2012

We have had quite a bit of feedback from students about the change to usage of the individual study carrels on Level 3 of the Library at Melbourne campus. Thank you for letting us know your views!

We do recognise that this is a significant change, especially for any undergraduate or postgraduate coursework students who may have been used to using these carrels.

The decision was made to return these carrels to their originally intended use as private study spaces for research students in recognition of the importance of research at La Trobe University, and the significant need for spaces like these for higher degree by research (HDR) students at the Melbourne campus. 

If you are a student who has been affected by this change, or want to find a suitable study space in the Library, please check the new room booking system now available via the link on the library homepage or at lib.latrobe.edu.au/melbourne/study-places 

You may also consider using other areas on the recently refurbished Level 3 which is designated as silent study space and is regularly patrolled by a security gaurd. New workstations with powerpoints have been added to some areas on this Level and additional workstations installed.

If you are not sure whether your enrolment qualifies you to use the library study spaces reserved for higher degree by research students, please check at the Inquiry Desk on Level 1.

Please note also that it will take some time before the usage of the carrels on Level 3 by HDR students reaches capacity and until then there may be some that are not in use.

There are some great events coming up at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.

This week for the Lunchbox/Soapbox event, Michael Gawenda will speak on The Journalist as Betrayer. Mr Gawenda is a former Editor-in-Chief of The Age. He is a Walkley Award winning journalist, columnist and foreign correspondent.

This free event will be held on Thursday, 1 March, at the Wheeler Centre from 12.45-1.15pm.

To find out more about the venue and event, visit The Wheeler Centre website.

La Trobe University Library and the Academic Language and Learning Unit  (ALLU) have re-started the Student to Student S2S learning assistance initiative for 2012.

S2S is staffed by experienced students from all faculties and disciplines and operates at all campuses.

Our student learning advisors have been trained to answer anything from general library enquiries to discipline-specific issues. Some questions you may want to ask:

• I don’t understand this assignment. Can you help?
• Can you please correct my English?
• How do I reference a web page?
• What referencing style do they use in Psychology?
• My wifi isn’t working, can you help?
• Can you help with stats?
• Can anyone here help me with a nursing assignment?
• I am not prepared for my exams. What am I going to do?
• My tutor doesn’t answer my emails. What can I do?
• What do you do if you want to drop a subject now?

So if you’re looking for help why not ask one of our Student Advisors? They are easy to spot- they will be wearing bright red t-shirts (like the picture above).

At the Melbourne campus S2S advisors are located next to the Writer’s Block Cafe.

Hours of operation:

• 10am-4pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
• 10am-7pm on Wednesday

La Trobe’s Ideas & Society Program will be hosting this debate on Tuesday, 6 March from 12.30-2pm. The event will be held in the seminar room, ground floor of the Borchardt Library, Melbourne Campus. Everyone is welcome, but seating is limited so be sure to come early.

Leading the panel debate will be Paul Ramadge, Editor in Chief of The Age, and Eric Beecher, Crikey Proprietor and former Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. Joining the discussion will be Dr Mary Debrett, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Communication at La Trobe University and Professor Robert Manne, from Politics at La Trobe University.

A webcast will be available for download from the Ideas & Society webpage.

Set yourself up to have a low stress semester by attending a library tour, orientation and demonstration of our website and catalogue.

Choose a time that suits you and meet us here.  Bookings are not required.

Tours are running on the hour at the following times:

Tuesday, 21 February
commencing 2pm, with the last tour at 4pm

Wednesday, 22 February
commencing 11am, with the last tour at 6pm

Thursday, 23 February
commencing 12 noon, with the last tour at 3pm

Friday, 24 February
commencing 11am,  the last tour at 3pm

If you are unable to attend during these times, please contact us to make alternative arrangements.

Last week we were having problems with our Full Text Finder service.

The issues we were experiencing with error messages being received instead of full text articles have now been resolved.

Thank you for your patience and we apologise for the inconvenience.

Over the summer level three of the Bundoora library was recarpeted and new study furniture installed.  This floor is designated as a silent study space and is regularly patrolled by a security guard.

The Bundoora library has 2174 seats.  Currently Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students have a designated collaborative room on level two with eight workstations and an informal working space.  In recognition of the importance of research at La Trobe the Library team has designated thirty five lockable carrels on level three as HDR only study spaces. These carrels are available for a semester. Each carrel has a work table, a bookshelf and a power point.

The carrels are available:

• 8.00 am – 9.45 pm Monday – Thursday
• 8.00 am – 5.45 pm on Friday
• 9.30 – 4.45 pm on the weekend.

This service will be available from 27 February.  No carrel loans will be be issued before 27 February. HDR students interested in ‘borrowing’ a carrel for the semester should go to the Library inquiry desk to have their HDR status verified and key issued.

The winners of the 2012 National Year of Reading ‘Our Story’ competition have been announced. These are the stories Australians voted for to paint a picture of the Australian people and the land we live in.

All titles are available through the LTU Library.

The Idea of Home, by John Hughes

Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey

Listening to Country, by Ros Moriarty

Smoke and Mirrors, by Kel Robertson

Time’s Long Ruin, by Stephen Orr

Wanting, by Richard Flanagan

Well Done Those Men, by Barry Heard

The White Earth, by Andrew McGahan

Enjoy these excellent books!

There are plenty of useful sessions planned at Melbourne campus library to help you get a good start to the new academic year.

Sessions and tours start on 27 February and you must book your place online via our training page.

All sessions will be held in collaborative classroom 1.01 in the library; and all tours will begin at the library’s main entrance.

Topics covered in the sessions:

• find & use LibSearch, LibGuides,LibSkills,LibChat and LibAnswers
• view your borrower record, place holds and renew items online
• navigate the library webpage, e.g. training, My Library, LibGuides, chat, etc.
• distinguish between citations for books, book chapters and journal articles
• locate items using the traditional catalogue
• search for Reserve lists

We look forward to seeing you!