Library a hit at Dudley Fest

Whether graduate students need research guidance, help locating and accessing resources online, materials for teaching classes, or even library materials scanned and delivered to them electronically, Harvard librarians can help. That was the message delivered over and over again – through speakers, informal conversations with librarians and current graduate students and information stations – to new Harvard graduate students who attended Dudley Fest, the GSAS-sponsored graduate student orientation at Dudley House on August 25.

The more than 170 students who attended the event’s two orientation sessions were welcomed to Harvard by Laura Farwell Blake, Head of Services for Academic Programs, who urged them to become familiar with Harvard College Library (HCL) libraries, their staff and the many resources and services available to them. Other presenters included Sue Gilroy, Librarian for Undergraduate Programs for Writing, who offered a brief outline of the Library Grad Guide, a Research Guide for graduate students; Research Librarian Steve Kuehler, who demonstrated the use of citation management tools like RefWorks; Martin Schreiner, Head of Maps, Media, Data and Government Information gave students examples of how the collections could be used; and Michael Leach, Head of Collection Development at Cabot Science Library, who described the science and open access resources available to students. English grad students Chris Barrett and Nicholas Nardini also gave presentations, respectively, on the top 10 things grad students need to know about the libraries and the many E-Resources available to students.

Students were also encouraged to meet the Library Liaisons they’ll work with in the coming years. Liaisons are research librarians who work with a specific academic department providing one-on-one consultation and general reference services to the department’s faculty and students.

The orientation highlighted some of the many online services offered by the library, including Scan and Deliver, which allows students, researchers and faculty to request scanned copies of journal articles or book excerpts directly from the HOLLIS record, and InterLibrary Loan, a service that allows students to borrow materials from non-Harvard libraries. Other Harvard library offering information to students were the Harvard University Library (HUL) Office of Scholarly Communications and the Manuscript and Archives Public Services group from HUL and HCL.

Materials and handouts were prepared by several library departments and units, and staff from throughout HCL took part in the orientation. They include: Mary Beth Clack, Cheryl LaGuardia, Pam Matz, Joe Bourneuf, Mary Clare Altenhofen, Amanda Bowen, Kerry Masteller, Hugh Truslow, Diane Sredl, Ramona Islam and Paul Worster.