Here’s how library staff, departments can facilitate success

Published Sep 01, 2023 by
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Below is a guide to the many ways our Academic Library Services department can be help to faculty, students and staff of Pirate Nation!

Scholarly Communication

General Information:
The Scholarly Communication Department can help with the SPIN funding database, open access publishing, data management, scholarly impact metrics, journal selection and tools to make research and data publicly available. More information can be found here: https://library.ecu.edu/scholarly-communications/

Questions can be directed to scholarlycomm@ecu.edu.

Introducing Campus Reads!  
ECU’s new digital book club. Students, faculty and staff can vote on which spooky short they would like to read, subscribe to the newsletter and receive the story in bite-sized sectionS directly to their email throughout the month of October. Stories can be read between classes, in line at Starbucks or anywhere when there is time to spare. Voting through the library’s magnet wall on the first floor starts Sept. 11.

Popular Reading Refresh 
The Popular Reading Collection, located near the front circulation desk, has undergone a refresh over the past several months and contains dozens of new titles. Patrons can suggest new titles for popular books here: go.ecu.edu/popreads.
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Open Access Publishing Support Fund: Now accepting applications for support with charges associated with open access publishing. More information available here: https://library.ecu.edu/scholarly-communications/open-access-publishing-support-fund/ 
NEW: Applications are accepted on a rolling deadline from the beginning of the fiscal year until April 1(or funds available).
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Open Access Publisher Discounts: ECU researchers have access to discounts for open access publishing through a number of publisher agreements like Cambridge, Wiley and PLOS, in addition to other outlets. A complete list of eligible publishers is available here: https://sustainablescholarship.ecu.edu/open-access-publishing-support/
NEW: ECU corresponding authors are eligible for a 50% discount in publishing charges with Frontiers.

New collections and resources: Thanks to end-of-year funding from ECU, Academic Library Services has purchased access to a wide range of electronic resources. Most of these resources are primary source databases across many different subject areas, including history, African and African American studies, gender studies, literature and religious studies. Additions to journal backfiles and e-books support a wide range of subject areas, especially physics, engineering, math and computer science. These are available to our users via the database list and the E-journal/E-book Portal. For a list of these recent purchases, view https://library.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/242/Spring-2023-Electronic-Resources-Purchase-List.pdf.

Questions? Email Joseph Thomas or your liaison librarian.

Circulation & Interlibrary Loan

Circulation provides access to nearly a million physical books, journals, documents, maps and DVDs in the library’s collections, as well as numerous kinds of equipment, including laptops, cameras and calculators (see our equipment webpage for a full list). Can’t find it? Ask a librarian, request that we borrow from another library for free through interlibrary loan, or suggest a purchase.

Use the library’s My Account tool to place holds, request office delivery of items, check due dates, renew items and pay fines. If on main campus, library employees can come to pick up returns and to renew items.

Please consider placing copies of required course materials (textbooks, other books, DVDs, etc.) on course reserve so students can easily access them from the library.

If in need of book chapters or articles scanned from the library’s physical collections, or to add to a course Canvas site, please request through interlibrary loan. Students, staff and coworkers may also use these services for free.

If teaching distance education courses, please let students know the library can ship physical items to them for free (including a prepaid return UPS label), and that the library can scan from our physical collections for delivery by email. These document delivery requests may be placed through interlibrary loan.

Research & Instructional Services

Academic Poster Printer: RIS will now be printing academic posters for this campus. Patrons can learn more about the service here:  https://lib.ecu.edu/joyner/poster-printing/.

One Button Studio: We used time during the spring and summer to upgrade and improve our One Button Studio (OBS). The OBS allows users to record high-quality videos, regardless of their experience level. Learn more about this unique studio and make a reservation: https://rooms.lib.ecu.edu/joyner/studio/about.

Major furniture and computer refresh: RIS has undergone a major furniture and computer refresh.

RIS welcomes its new engineering and technology librarian, Angela Whitehurst. Whitehurst can be reached at whitehursta23@ecu.edu or 252-328-0734. We also welcome Walter Lanham, our new first-year and student transitions librarian.

Special Collections

Kristen Daniel started this summer as the new outreach and instruction librarian for Special Collections. She can work with faculty on using Special Collections materials in class, primary source instruction or help create a tailored session. Daniel can be reached at danielk23@ecu.edu.

Interested in learning more about what Manuscripts and Rare Books have to support curriculums? Interested in items added to a collection? Kelly Spring, Head of Manuscripts & Digital Curation, would love to assist in those areas! Whether physical material, digital content or collaborative projects, all ideas are welcome. Email Spring at springk18@ecu.edu.

Teaching Resources Center

The Teaching Resources Center (TRC) is located on the second floor of the library and contains an extensive collection of children’s and young adult materials. While the department primarily serves teacher preparation programs at ECU, our resources and collections are available for circulation to all faculty, staff and students. Our new Trending Reads corner offers a comfortable space with child-friendly seating where visitors of all ages may enjoy the latest award-winning titles and staff picks from our collections.

Study spaces

A Family Study Room is located on the second floor near the main stairwell next to the elevator, for parents or caregivers who have children with them in the library and need a quiet place to study or work. The room is equipped with child-friendly seating and activities, and it may be reserved for up to two hours each day.

Room features include:

  • Activity table
  • Assorted fidgets and toys
  • Blocks
  • iPad with kid apps (check out from Teaching Resources Center desk)
  • LEGO toys
  • Magnetic tiles
  • Marble run
  • Sanitizing wipes
  • Tactile wall
  • Whiteboard easel
  • Wooden board puzzles

More insight about the family room and other alternative study spaces is available in this blog post.