Subject handbooks – a bridge to understanding scholarly studies

Ms. DeGroat is currently evaluating Oxford Handbooks Online to see if it might fill a research gap in the library’s online toolbox. Subject handbooks provide scholarly overviews about topics that can often serve as a bridge between reading articles from encyclopedias, newspapers, and magazines about a topic and understanding scholarly studies in that discipline.

MLWGS students and teachers can access Oxford Handbooks Online through April 22^nd. Although this free trial includes all subjects, a school subscription would be for a specific subject or subjects, so if you give this a test run, it would be VERY helpful if you could jot down the title of specific handbooks that prove useful. You may submit feedback about this resource @ http://bit.ly/tryhandbooks.

Our school login for this free trial is available in the library and on the Student Information course in itslearning.

 

Library Vision Walk

Participate in this week’s Library Vision Walk and you could WIN a Sugar Shack or Target gift card (winner’s choice).

Last spring, student focus groups provided the initial layer of feedback about the library’s present and future – ideas that have already led to positive changes in the library (like the cozy floor seating area) and informed this vision walk, the next layer of feedback in developing the library’s strategic plan for 2020 through 2025.

Help shape the library’s future by adding YOUR voice this week. The walk starts near the library’s main entrance. . .

and continues down the Digital Video/Mac Lab hallway.

Let Ms. DeGroat know if you have any questions – and thank you in advance for your feedback!

 

 

Create a women’s history month poster

In addition to being Youth Art Month, March is Women’s History Month.

To celebrate, the MW Library has started a poster wall (using cool posters from A Mighty Girl) featuring women from around the globe who’ve made a difference in STEM fields. 

Who else would you like to see pictured here?

Create your own poster about a woman who’s made an impact in any field (not just STEM fields) – including women making a difference right now!

When you’re finished, upload your poster to the library’s related shared Google folder.

At a minimum, each poster should include the following:

• The name of the woman you’re honoring
• A brief description of how she made – or is making – a positive impact in the world
• An image of the woman you’re honoring
• Your name

If you have any questions, stop by the library to speak with Ms. DeGroat.

 

Transcribe volunteers help make Virginia’s history more complete

Several diligent MLWGS students from Chesterfield, Goochland, Henrico, Prince George, and Richmond dove into the challenging and rewarding work of transcribing historic documents for the Making History: Transcribe! project on Wednesday.

Some found it easier to decipher cursive with help from a friend. And whether working independently or together, students discovered that reading these documents brings history to life in new ways.

During this Transcribe-a-thon, we worked with two recently merged collections: the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s Unknown No Longer and the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Untold, both focused on pre-1865 Virginia documents by and/or about enslaved and free African Americans.

The letters, freedom suits, and other documents that students transcribed revealed both personal and public details about individuals and families; painful details about the brutality and inhumanity of slavery; poignant details about resilience, tenacity, love, and loss–details that will soon be searchable by scholars, historians, and genealogists.

Along with other Transcribe volunteers, these MLWGS students are helping make the story that accessible historical records tell about Virginia and America more complete.

If you’d like to participate in this important project, stop by the library to see Ms. DeGroat. You may earn up to 35 hours toward the MLWGS community service requirement by participating. After you attend a training session or Transcribe-a-thon (our next one is on April 10th), you can even work on transcriptions from home.