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For Staff

Articles & resources for class

A Libguide dedicated to all things MU Staff, bringing together useful resources, tools and services available to MU Staff in one place.

Online Primary Sources from MU Library

Primary sources are an excellent online resource for academic research, both for faculty and their students. They can be an even richer experience for the user over traditional print primary sources as they often had additional features built into the electronic environment, including transcriptions, sharing options, and virtual bookshelves. 

MU Library has an excellent range of primary sources relevant to all Faculties. Some of the main providers are listed below; 

  • Gale Primary Sources: https://bit.ly/2ZrHCpM

  • Proquest Primary Sources: https://bit.ly/2ZtSm6R

  • Adam Matthew Primary Sources: https://bit.ly/3h0orsZ

All three providers offer varying degrees of Course Alignment services for MU Faculty, mainly focused on Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies & Philosophy, and Faculty of Social Science's areas. This process generally involves the provider analysing your module, suggesting lesson plans, digital material and resources to support your module, suggested groupwork,  and providing this to you in a comprehensive report. The process can be lengthy so allow at least 4 weeks prior to the commencement of your module for Course Alignment to be carried out. If you would like to explore Course Alignment for your module, please contact Helen Farrell to get the process started. 

Academic Video Online (AVON)

  • Avon's Product Manager (Sarah Brennan) or Product Marketing Manager (Kathleen McLellan) are available to MU Faculty to recommend videos to match your curriculum.

  • You can request films directly to be added to AVON using this form. 

  • You can also keep up to date with new additions and Editor's picks here

Online reference database

Use Oxford Reference online for a superb source of content.

"Oxford Reference is the premier online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias."

Hate LibrarySearch but love Google?

Do you find yourself preferring Google or Google Scholar to LibrarySearch when looking for material online? Google can be a good source for general searches, Google Scholar is good for academic material, but LibrarySearch is the best if you want full-text access to academic material. Google Scholar can have some links to full-text content available via MU Library (the link is usually in the margins) but this is not a reliable way to determine what you have access to. Google Scholar definitely doesn't pick up all of our full-text subscriptions and for that reason, you need to use LibrarySearch if you want proper full-text access.

If you need a quick demo of some LibrarySearch tips to make using the feature easier, let me know. I can deliver these on a one-to-one basis, in a group, or as a short video.

Need advice on how to link to an article or resource?

We are happy to advise you on how to:

  • Optimise the way you link to online materials so that usage figures are properly recorded
  • Comply with copyright legislation and license agreements
  • Use links that are stable so that your students can access them over time
  • Use images, quotations and excerpts for review in your work and classes

Email the Academic Engagement Librarian for advice.

 

Collaborative Resource Sharing

National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

 

 

The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in HE has produced an interactive spreadsheet, containing a number of targeted resources to ensure the best knowledge and expertise is underpinning decisions affecting student learning.

The interactive spreadsheet contains links to useful online teaching, learning and assessment resources. Institutional representatives across the higher education community have been adding to this resource and we welcome additions that you think may be useful to your colleagues across the sector. They are also curating other useful resources for the list – you can find these on the second tab of the spreadsheet.

The Russell Library and teaching support

The Russell Library was designed by British architect and designer, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52), and completed in 1861. It houses the historical collections of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth which span ten centuries and a wide range of subjects. Contact the Russell Library for more information by telephone +353 1 7083890 or email us.

Search tips for LibrarySearch

LibrarySearch allows for phrase searching with the use of " ".

The query "teacher education" will find results with that phrase.

The single search box in LibrarySearch (basic search box or keyword search box in Advanced Search) will search across many fields automatically. For example, entering an ISBN, ISSN, or Call Number will bring back associated records.

You can explicitly search a field using the syntax: field:(query) For example, the search ISSN:(1234-5678) finds records that contain that value in the ISSN field.

Searchable fields:

  • Title
  • SubjectTerms
  • Author
  • Publisher
  • PublicationTitle
  • Volume
  • Issue
  • Language
  • Notes
  • ISBN
  • ISSN
  • DOI
  • DEWEY

LibrarySearch offers the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT. The operators must be written in ALL CAPS.

By default, all terms in a search are combined with the AND operator.

To expand the results set, use the OR operator. For example, microcircuits OR nanocircuits will return items that contain either term.

This can be combined with quoted terms such as "teacher education" OR "educator training".

To exclude items in LibrarySearch, use the NOT operator or - character before a term. When used in the following query animal NOT dog, the results will not include the term dog.

Searches within LibrarySearch can be performed using the wildcards ? and *.

The question mark (?) will match any one character and can be used to find Olsen or Olson by searching for Ols?n.

The asterisk (*) will match zero or more characters within a word or at the end of a word. A search for Ch*ter would match Charter, Character, and Chapter. When used at the end of a word, such as Temp*, it will match all suffixes Temptation, Temple and Temporary.

Wildcards cannot be used as the first character of a search.

LibrarySearch supports the following browsers and phones:

  • Internet Explorer 9.0+
  • Firefox (current - 1) or current
  • Safari (current - 1) or current
  • Chrome (current - 1) or current
  • iPhone 5.0+
  • Android 4.0+

Rehearse your presentation and get AI feedback!

This extremely useful feature in Sharepoint is available under the dropdown option of "Present/ Rehearse with Coach" below. You can practice your presentation privately and it gives you feedback as you go on over-use of "filling words", detect if you are reading from the slide too much highlight specific slides you need to practice on to avoid this at the end of the analysis, and also gives you a feedback score on your pace, tone and accessible language. Extremely useful feature for those of us who give classes.

Plus, there is the second very useful "Designer" feature ringed below that actually suggests layouts for your slides as you go, and brings your design far beyond the normal MS Word look.

SAGE Research methods: content for all faculties

Take a look at SAGE Research Methods database, specifically, the dedicated Faculty page here.

  • Reading lists

Instructors can customize and embed reading lists for their students featuring specific chapters, articles, cases, datasets, and videos.

  • Embedded video

Instructors can easily create clips to customize content for their teaching needs and embed them into their online learning environment.

  • Content mapping

Instructors can browse recommended research methods content by discipline to help them find the best resources for their students. You can also: 

You can print off 20 copies of resources per class. Alternatively, share the link to the full text content with all of youScreenshot of Sage Research Methodsr students, in your reading list, or by email. 

Using material from MU Special Collections in your class

The Special Collections Reading Room in the John Paul II Library houses the unique and distinctive collections of Maynooth University, including archival collections of private origin such as the papers of writers and other professionals, as well as documents of local interest. Contact Special Collections & Archives for more information by telephone +353 1 4747423 or email us.

In support of departmental programmes, we teach classes which include the following:

  • Aspects of book history which complement a particular area of study. This can provide an invaluable backdrop to research and give an understanding of the broader picture of publishing for a given period
  • Introduction to the history of the book
  • Introduction to manuscripts and archives