Digital resources that are anything but common

About a month ago, I posted about Ball State's Digital Media Repository. The Repository is one small piece of a much larger project called the Digital Commons (DC). This week, I'll highlight a couple of the services available in the DC that you might not have known about.

To access the DC on the new homepage, click the yellow "Find" block and click the "Digital Commons" link on the right-hand side of the yellow bar. You'll see a wheel with multi-colored spokes (see the screenshot). Clicking on one of the colored dots will take you to the resource indicated. Below are just a few of the possibilities.

Dissertations and Theses - You can find digital copies of these documents produced by Ball State students as requirements for their degree programs. Search dissertations and theses from other schools in the databases listed on this resource page.

GIS Resources - Discover all kinds of mapping information by following this link. Resources cover geographic information at the state, national, and world levels.

These are just two examples of the whole host of information sources available to you as part of the Digital Commons. Remember, you don't have to be in the library to use it!

New Library Homepage: a Rainbow of Information Options

You may have noticed that the library homepage changed at the end of May. Now, five colored blocks and corresponding tabs organize information on the site. This week, I'll take you on a brief tour of our new digs on the web, and even give you an "easy button" if the changes are just too much for you to handle.

The Blocks


Find - As you might expect, clicking on this yellow block will lead you to information available from CardCat or one of our many academic databases, for example.



Help - Click on this purple block to ask a librarian for help, read our FAQ's, or take a virtual tour.




Resources for... - This red block breaks out information for audiences who might be using the library: students, faculty and staff, distance learners, etc.




About - Learn more about the library's hours, how long you can check something out, and more with a click in this green block.



New & Notable - You can read about current library news by clicking on the headlines in this blue block.


The Tabs


Once you click on a color block, you'll be taken to a page with a tab of the corresponding color. A great feature of these tabs is that the headings on the page appear on the right-hand side of the tab. Click on the heading, and you'll be taken to that section of the page. (See the example of the Find tab in the screenshot.)

The Easy Button

If you get stumped, you can always click on the link that takes you to the previous version of the homepage. If you're familiar with that homepage, it might make things easier to find.

The End of the Rainbow

You use the library homepage as your path to the pot of gold available to you as a student, staff, or faculty member of Ball State University: information. Remember, you don't have to be in the library to use it, and there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Your own virtual library

We're back after a hiatus for the Memorial Day holiday.

This week, I'd like to highlight an alternative to the main library web site that you see when visiting from outside of the library. There is another site that has many of the same features of the "official" library page, but with an emphasis on resources for researchers. This, loyal blog-readers, is the Student Virtual Library,or SVL for short. To get there, just click the light blue logo on the left side of the main page (see the first screenshot).

Once there, you're presented with several options. Search CardCat for "books & more," look at the Subject Guides for great places to start research, access electronic reserves, or view our academic databases by subject. Just choose an area of study from the list and click the "Go" button. You'll get a listing of databases covering that subject (check out the second screenshot).

Remember, if you're not sure which database to choose or need additional help finding resources, help is always available via our Ask a Librarian services.

Once again, this proves you don't have to be in the library to use it!