The Curious ‘Cat: Taking Accelerated Courses? Tips to Help You Succeed
This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks four library professionals: “What tips, suggestions, or advice do you have to offer for students taking accelerated courses this summer?”
Nik Fogle wants students to know that “the Library is here to provide them with whatever resources they need to succeed in their coursework. … the Library is a great place to turn for background readings, or resources that go into more depth than can sometimes be covered in class. If their coursework is research-intensive, our goal is to provide them with everything they’ll need for well-informed research projects and papers—from books and journal articles to news sources, original data, government documents, etc. And the Library is probably the quietest and most peaceful place to study, which really helps when you need to focus and get through a lot of material.”
Alfred Fry recommends the “Live Chat” feature on the Subject Guides pages (lower, right corner). He also encourages each student to “get sources for your project early. Don’t wait until the weekend before a project is due. Subject specialists don’t work on weekends and may take vacation.”
Linda Hauck—“Research in summer classes is by necessity condensed and intense. There just isn’t time to allow for serendipity to guide your research path. Find out if there is a course guide for your project, and if there isn’t make an appointment with a librarian. Bring your research prompt to the meeting, so that the librarian can hone in on just what you need.”
Barbara Quintiliano encourages students to reach out to the contact librarian for their subject area (From the “Subject Guides” page on Falvey’s site, click the subject name to find contact info. for the librarian who specializes in that subject). Barbara adds that “the Library has a wealth of specialized resources that are not available for free to the general public but that they can access as Villanova students.
“The subject librarians really want to be contacted so that they can help students save time. So, if students are looking for specialized information for their course work, they should not spend valuable time searching at random on Google but should contact their subject librarian right away.”
Be on the lookout! The Curious ‘Cat (Gerald Dierkes) and his trusty roving photog (Alice Bampton) may be stopping you next time you visit the library! 😉
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