Priscilla Finley: November 2007 Archives

Dissertations

If it was published after 1997, the Get Text button should link you directly to it.

If it was published before 1997, you may still wish to search for the title or author in Dissertations and Theses, since complete copies of a few older dissertations are available.

If it is not, you can try requesting via Document Delivery Services ILLiad system, but they may have trouble getting it - many dissertations have not been published, and if the only copy available is the original copy, the library that owns it may be reluctant to lend it out.

Books and book chapters

Not every citation in MLA is to an article, though. Books and book chapters are also indexed.

Books are easy to pick out:

Chapters from books are also indexed, with the part after the chapter title beginning with In...

To find out if the library owns the book, use the Get Text button and follow the link labeled UNLV Library Catalog. This will automatically run a catalog search for the book’s title or ISBN. A new window should open with the catalog record for the book, which tells you where to find it on the shelf in the library.

If the book is not found, use the LINK+ button in the library catalog to check for copies available for delivery. LINK+ is a network of Nevada and California libraries that delivers books to requesters in 2 -5 days.

If the book you want is available from a LINK+ library, use the Request this Item link to have a copy delivered to the circulation desk at UNLV Libraries for you.

If not found in LINK+, the book may be available from another library through Document Delivery Services.

DDS interlibrary loan requests can take a week or more since the books are sent in the mail between libraries. Requests for book chapters or articles can arrive much faster since they are delivered online directly to you.

I'm searching the MLA Bibliography - how do I get to the article?

Most books and articles and some dissertations can be found even when there's no link to an online copy.

Remember that the Get Text button is there to automate this process!!

This button opens a new browser window, so if you use a pop-up blocker, be sure to set the MLA page as an allowed exception.

When the full text of a cited article or dissertation is available online, the Get Text button should link you directly to it.

This page describes what to do when the Get Text button does not link you to the cited article, book or dissertation.

Here is a citation to a journal article from MLA:

If UNLV Libraries cannot link you to this article online, you'll see instead a helpful menu listing other ways to get to this article.

The UNLV Library Catalog link will open a new window with a search for the journal's name or ISSN number.

If it tells you the call number of the journal, you can come to UNLV Libraries and read the article in the print copy.

If it says "no matches found," then UNLV does not subscribe to the journal, so you can request it from Document Delivery Services. They will try to get a copy from another library and send you a link to a scan of the article within a week in most cases.

You can create a username and password for Document Delivery Services using their ILLiad system. When you follow the Get Text link to Doc Delivery Services and enter your ILLiad username and password, you'll see that the information from the citation in MLA has been copied into the request form automatically. All you need to do is press the submit button to request a copy.

You'll receive an e-mail when the article is available for you to view online, usually within a few days.

What if it's not an article? See the next entry on books and book chapters!

The deadline for proposals for LOEX of the West 2008, Las Vegas, Jun 4-6, 2008 is Nov 30, 2007.

This year's theme is "Hit the jackpot: successful experimentation and innovation in instruction."

Traditional 75 minutes sessions, panels or workshops, 7 minute Pecha Kucha presentations, and creative alternative organized activities are all welcome.

Complete and submit proposals at http://www.library.unlv.edu/conferences/loexw/proposals.html by Nov 30, 2007.
Submitters will be notified of the results by January 30, 2008.

The city of Las Vegas sets the stage for this conference, hosted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The place suggests the following conference sub-themes offered to program proposers as food for thought, not as round holes to force the square peg of a program into. Alignment with conference themes is less important than innovative and compelling proposal content.
Games power this city of lights- blackjack, craps, poker and the ever present slot machines. Games are powerful microcosms representing the efforts of individuals to find the winning balance of competition and teamwork in their study, work, and life.
Las Vegas is characterized by rampant and frequently unrestrained growth. From gritty railroad stop in the middle of the Mojave to glamorous, glittering and gourmet playground for grown-ups, Las Vegas exemplifies transformation, renewal, entrepreneurship and new ways of doing business. Librarians and educators can learn from this carefree take on the historical, this easy urge to implode the old ways and take a gamble on something new.
Spectacle, feathers, fantasy, and magic rule the always packed showrooms of the Strip’s resort casinos. The elements of drama, fun, and performance are sometimes dismissed as so much fluff by educators but the power of edutainment to captivate and to generate engagement cannot be ignored.
Every roll of the dice, turn of the card, or pull on the slot machine handle involves a calculated risk. The savvy gambler manages resources in a way that recognizes the potential for a little loss, a lot of gain, and maybe some fun along the way.
Proposals are sought for the following:
Pecha Kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha): A presentation format in which creative work can be easily and informally shown. The name derives from a Japanese term for the sound of conversation ("chit-chat"). The idea behind Pecha Kucha is to keep presentations concise, the interest level up and to have many presenters sharing their ideas within the course of one session. In the 20x20 Pecha Kucha format each presenter is allowed a slideshow of 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each. This results in a total presentation time of 6 minutes 40 seconds before the next presenter is up. NOTE: Only one presenter per Pecha Kucha proposal. The lightning talk presentation style is similar in nature. The linked guide on how to prepare a lightning talk offers good advice for the Pecha Kucha presenter.
Conference session: 75 minutes. You determine the appropriate format, degree of audience interaction and approach to questions and answers. We're selecting innovative topics that offer a measure of transferability - how might your audience members recycle or reframe your project in their own communities?
Other: Have a session in mind that doesn’t fit the mold? We’re interested in hearing about it.
Preference will be given to new, innovative, creative, untraditional, and other ventures that people called crazy until they worked. Experiments-in-progress will also be considered.

Complete and submit proposals at http://www.library.unlv.edu/conferences/loexw/proposals.html by Nov 30, 2007.