Shores, Mark
shoresml
Recent Submissions
Item Fast, Free, and Functional: An Overview of Freely Available Online Citation Tools
Shores, MarkFreely-available citation tools are popular with students because of their speed and convenience. Some offer the ability to copy and paste a URL and some only allow for manual entry of citation elements. This article offers an overview of the current landscape of freely-available online citation tools and some of the positives and negatives of each. Almost all of the citations these tools create require some editing in order to comply with the style guidelines used in academic writing but they are generally a useful resource for students.Item The Promise and Peril of Free Citation Tools
Shores, MarkThe article provides an overview of free citation tools. Topics include one-off bibliographies and smaller research projects; importance of avoiding too-numerous citation generator tools that are part of a suite of services to college students; and use of citation tools form American Psychological Association's (APA). Author also discusses use of essay mills and term paper mills for examining robust citation tools.Item The Rise of Content Farms
Shores, MarkThe article offers information on search engine content farms which gather and analyze web traffic to conceive topics that people are searching for over the Internet. It states that content farm articles offer little information and too little useful information regarding the authors' credentials. Furthermore, information on websites that qualify or may not qualify as content farms, including Squidoo, Brighthub, and Hubpages, is presented.Item Library Service to Urban Appalachians: Opportunities and Rewards
Shores, MarkThe article presents the opportunities of incorporating the U.S. urban Appalachians literature and library service to the service itself and the librarians. It notes that by exploring the history of urban Appalachians, librarians could gain a better understanding on how to reach out to the population which constitutes a sizable population in the U.S. Moreover, it suggests that libraries located in areas populated with Appalachians should consider building collections, programs and services that aim at educating the public about Appalachian culture.Item Capturing Appalachia: Building a Collection of Photographers' Work
Shores, MarkThe article offers information on the collection of books of Appalachian photography in the Appalachian region. The collected works of Appalachian photographers were published in book form by university presses and publishers provided for academic libraries. It featured several books where the works of the photographers can be seen including "Picture Man: Photographs of Paul Buchanan," "The Appalachian Photographs of Earl Palmer," and "You're Not From Around Here: Photographs of East Tennessee."Item Free Range Databases
Shores, MarkAn overview of freely-available bibliographic databases including: when to use them, their drawbacks, and how to find them. Includes short reviews of a handful of these resources and whether or not their content is indexed by Google.Item Free Range Databases
Shores, MarkOverview of some of the freely-available subject-specific bibliographic databases, their features and drawbacks.Item I Saw it on YouTube: Representations of Libraries and What We Can Learn From Them
Shores, MarkFree video hosting services like YouTube are a popular platform for libraries to post their online tutorials and promotional videos, but are also venues for fictionalized satirical depictions of situations at public service desks. This session will highlight several of these kinds of videos and what they can teach us about how libraries deliver services.Item The Laptop has Left the Building: Serving Your Students with 24-hour Laptop Checkouts
Shores, MarkEven though computer ownership in the United States has steadily increased over the last 10 years, many college students still do not have access to a computer at home. And because a lot of coursework requires using licensed computer applications, these students are limited to using computers only during the hours that campus facilities – including the library - are open. A library laptop checkout program is a great way to meet those needs. Several years ago, our library began offering laptops for two-hour checkouts and in-library use only, but circulation was minimal due to our status as a “commuter” campus (i.e. no housing facilities and an older student population). A switch to allowing 24-hour checkouts saw our circulation statistics explode. This poster session will detail how we pulled it off, what worked and what didn’t and what you might expect from allowing laptops to leave the building.Item Garbage In, Garbage Out: Citation Generator Tools
Shores, MarkStudents may not always know how to do thorough research but they sure do find out quickly that EasyBib, BibMe and other free citation tools can supposedly make their lives easier. The citation tools in subscription databases elicit oohs and aahs during instruction sessions, but are they any better than the free tools? This poster will show how the tools stack up against each other in real-life examples and provide guidance you can pass along to students who accept machine-generated citations as gospel.Item Phrases for the Front Line: What to Say When the Going Gets Tough
Ritchie, April; Shores, MarkWhether you work the front lines of customer service, or manage those who do, knowing what to say during difficult times is critical. This session will explore the idea of keeping a mental toolbox from which we can quickly access the tools – in this case, phrases – to aid us in handling tense situations confidently and professionally. Difficult interactions are stressful enough without having to search for the right thing to say -- learn specific phrases for various everyday scenarios.Item Mind the Sharks: Guiding Faculty Through the Sometimes Perilous Waters of Open Access Publishing
Shores, MarkOpen access, predatory journals and conferences can ensnare unwary tenure-track faculty trying to complete their scholarship responsibilities. Articles and proposals accepted by these entities can hinder instructors from achieving tenure and may prevent their research from reaching a broader audience. Librarians can offer their expertise and guidance to faculty before they submit their work. Learn how these opportunistic publishers and conferences operate and how to educate faculty about them.Item Countries of the World: Free and Subscription Information Sources
Shores, MarkThe paper describes several free and commercial sources that can be used for conducting research on countries of the world, evaluates them and makes recommendations regarding their use and appropriateness for specific clientele.Item Issues and Advantages of Free Citation Generator Tools
Shores, MarkThe ubiquitous free citation creation tools (BibMe, EasyBib and Citation Machine) are a panacea to the confused and harried student looking to breeze through the hard work of making a Works Cited page or Reference List. With a relatively easy-to-use web interface and/or the ability to create a free account for storing references, the promise of such tools is enticing until one looks at the output. Entering an ISBN delivers formatting errors; entering an article titles to “auto cite” is a dead end. Some tools do not offer the most current version of the citation guidelines, which are typically officially adopted in many academic departments. While students will undoubtedly settle for a “good enough” citation, especially when faced with a deadline, it behooves librarians to better educate them about what to look for. This poster session will highlight some of the issues with the free citation tools and also highlight the convenient features offered.Item Do you haiku? running an effective haiku contest in your library.
Shores, MarkPoster session about benefits and how-tos of running a haiku contest.Item Enhance Your Chances: How to Shine Brightly in a Tough Job Market
Shores, Mark; Ritchie, AprilCover letters and interviews are two of the most important, yet neglected, components to landing a job. Both of them require a lot of preparation and study to have the desired effect – landing your dream job. Your cover letter may not be sending the right message about your skills and qualifications, and your interview skills may not present you in the best possible light. The job search does not have to be a negative experience. Both cover letters and interviews are opportunities to sell yourself! In this fun, interactive session, the presenters will offer tips for how to make your cover letter and interview skills stand out from the crowd.Item Lean and Mean: Re-envisioning an Outdated Area of the Collection.
Shores, MarkDescription of a large-scale deselection process for the BTE collection at Miami University Hamilton. Changes in the subjects taught and demographic/logistical changes necessitated a different approach to collection building.Item Our Role in Retention:
Pickens-French, Kathleen; McDonald, Krista; Whitaker, Polly; Shores, MarkDescription of how libraries best reach out to students who are at-risk of dropping out.Item Appalachian Links: Libraries, Collections, Campus and Community
Shores, MarkThe migration of Appalachians to urban areas during the early and mid-20th century is having ripple effects to this day. One manifestation of this is the interest in Appalachian Studies by both academics and laypersons alike. Building a library collection in support of a unique regional academic program offers librarians a rich opportunity to collaborate with faculty members and other campus departments. One campus’ introduction of an emerging Appalachian Studies program offered the campus librarian the challenge of identifying and acquiring materials appropriate for supporting studies in that academic area. It also offered the library an opportunity to demonstrate to the administration its desire to help make the program a success. Building a collection practically from the ground up allows librarians to become subject specialists while simultaneously adding value to the new academic program. “Build it and they will come” is an aphorism that doesn’t always hold true in the world of academic library materials, especially fledgling collections. Getting the word out about the collection is vital to the success of the undertaking. Marketing strategies need not be expensive but should be well thought out and reflect a targeted approach. In summary, creating an inaugural collection affords librarians significant occasions to forge partnerships that stretch in many directions. Such alliances are key to raising awareness of the library’s mission to the campus and surrounding community. Highlights of such endeavors will be showcased in this poster session.Item Hard Times and Opportunities: Lessons Learned from the Pack Horse Librarians
Shores, MarkLibraries everywhere are feeling the pinch from the nationwide economic slowdown. Whether it is cuts in journal subscriptions or cuts in staff, the changes wrought by these extenuating circumstances will have longstanding effects on how libraries operate. The Great Depression is invoked in the media as the last comparable event to have such far-reaching effects on our nation and society. Libraries and librarians from that era in our nation’s history operated in a different atmosphere, but faced similar challenges in trying to maintain services despite poor funding. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) program from the Great Depression era – called “The Pack Horse Librarians”-- provided books and magazines to schools and residences in the remote areas of Appalachia. The circumstances those intrepid librarians faced offer some useful parallels to today’s situation. Beyond just bringing reading materials, the pack horse librarians also brought news of births and deaths in the community and even brought medicine to sick people. Pack horse librarians were intimately connected to the rural communities, and those connections helped add value to library services. The pack horse librarians also used their novel mode of travel to reach out to those who were not currently receiving materials. Similarly, libraries today are trying to seek out new users and forge connections that positively affect those users’ lives. This presentation will explore the lessons we can learn from the pack horse librarians and how those lessons can be translated into today’s library world.