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MIT Libraries Sponsor Wide Variety of IAP Offerings

MIT Libraries, Office of the Director, 14S-216
Contact: Ruth K. Seidman, rks@mit.edu, 617-253-5686

December 5, 2002

For IAP 2003, the MIT Libraries will be sponsoring 31 IAP offerings, compared to 16 last year, with many new topics as well as a number of popular sessions given in the past. Several will be repeated at different times to accommodate the schedules of those who are interested in attending.

New learning formats are also being introduced. For example, "Find Full Text Fast!" is a one-hour session being offered in the new library training room, while "Find it Fast! With Electronic Resources" will feature 15-minute demonstrations in Lobby 10 on January 22 from 11am to 2pm; these quick sessions will include "How to Find Recent News Articles in the New York Times" and "Beyond Trivia: Fast Facts Online". To meet the current interest in the techniques of scanning, "Document Scanning 101: Creating E-Versions from Paper" will include information on document preparation, scanning options, file formats, full-text searching and cost estimates; participants can bring samples of their paper documents.

Returning courses include two "Everything You Wanted to Know about Patents" sessions: "Patent Searching Fundamentals" and "The Patent Process". "Copyright Issues and MIT Policy" and "Endnote: Getting Started" are other popular courses returning this year. For the fourth year in a row, Daniel Eppelsheimer of Dewey Library will lead a three-session introduction to photography workshop, "For Light in the Shadows".

Many sessions will offer training on specific sets of databases, or on finding information on specific topics. Some of these are: Geographic Information Systems (GIS), chemistry (Beilstein and Gmelin), engineering, science, health, materials properties, and social science data. An opportunity to learn more about the variety of programs and services of the MIT Libraries is provided by the IAP sessions: "DSpace: Digital Repository" and "Looking Inside the Box: Discovering the MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections". For a change of pace, Colin Homiski of Rotch Library will lead a "Cardio Kickboxing" workout.

Some sessions, such as "Info @ MIT for EECS Graduate Students", "Library Resources for Architecture and Planning Staff", and "Finding Business Information for Engineering", are aimed at specific audiences. The Libraries’ Document Services department is sponsoring a session for graduate students and graduate thesis administrators on "Submitting an eThesis" on how to take advantage of the electronic thesis option and assure a high-quality copy for the Digital Library of MIT Theses.

For detailed information on all the MIT Libraries’ IAP offerings, see http://websis.mit.edu/iap/nslib.html or contact the MIT Libraries’ IAP Coordinator, Anne Graham, grahama@mit.edu, 617-253-7744.