Seneca Libraries Updates for Fall 2020 | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Adele Georgievski, Seneca Libraries

in the September 2020 issue

Over the summer, your colleagues at Seneca Libraries have been busy creating, updating, and preparing resources to support you in fall 2020.

Below are select items to support both faculty and students:

Virtual Welcome Back Sessions with Your Librarians

The library will be hosting School-based drop-in sessions for every School throughout September in an effort to share with faculty the various library supports we have to assist you in building content for your online course and helping your students learn in an online environment.

Check out our schedule and drop in to ask your questions!

Library Collections
When the pandemic began, Seneca Libraries was already in a strong position to support online learning with 93% of our collections available in electronic formats. Since March, library acquisitions have focused exclusively on e-resources, including the purchase of electronic editions of essential print titles where available, as well as the addition of numerous new titles to the library's existing virtual collections. As always, the library's focus is on current, curriculum-relevant materials in support of Seneca's diverse programs.

During these unprecedented times, many faculty members are moving away from traditional textbooks, instead adopting open educational resources or course readings extracted from Seneca Libraries' robust collection of electronic journals, books, and videos. Faculty members are invited to contact their liaison librarian for assistance in searching for appropriate textbook alternatives.

Textbook Alternatives – Using Leganto to Create Course Resource Lists in Blackboard

Leganto allows librarians and faculty members to work collaboratively to build lists of library-licensed materials as well as publicly-available material such as websites and open access resources. These lists can be embedded into Blackboard and have a host of features to improve the faculty experience and increase student engagement.

Interested faculty are kindly asked to contact their liaison librarian for information on how to experiment with us.

Online Tutorials and Library Packages for Students

Over the summer, Seneca Libraries have developed five new online research tutorials:

• Applied Research for Students*
• Library Research for Students*
• Google Research for Students
• Covid Research
• Literature Reviews

Here is a comprehensive list of all of our tutorials for both students and faculty.

*These tutorials are also available as a library package with an auto-graded quiz that can be imported into your Blackboard course.

Building Better Research Assignments Tutorial for Faculty
The Building Better Research Assignments tutorial for faculty has been updated and serves as an informational resource about increasing information literacy skills in your students, promoting a culture of Academic Integrity, designing research and digital assignments, and more.

Seneca Sandbox

The Sandbox team has developed a suite of webinars and self-guided tutorials to support students’ digital media skill development. This fall, the Sandbox is newly offering 1:1 bookable virtual consultations, as well as a new module and webinar about how to present in a virtual environment.

Faculty can contact the Sandbox at sandbox@senecacollege.ca for more information about our supports for digital assignments.

Virtual Research and Citation Help for Students

We are connecting with your students online now more than ever! Our support includes

• Live research chat with library staff
• Live citation chat with a citation expert
• Bookable virtual research appointments with a librarian
• Virtual drop-in citation workshops

We are looking forward to continuing to navigate the online academic world together and wish you the best for your fall 2020 program start-ups. See you online!

^{Image credits:}

^{from Seneca Sprout}

^{Leganto screenshot from Seneca Libraries staff}

^{" Image credit: from https://pixabay.com/photos/home-office-workstation-office-336378/}

^{from Seneca Sandbox}

^{Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash}

View the September 2020 issue of the Academic Newsletter.