New librarian search engine is available on site in Duffield Hall

Just in time for the end-of-semester rush, Cornell reference librarians are now available four days a week in Duffield Hall to assist students, staff and faculty members with questions about finding information and resources for class assignments or specialized research, using library collections and services, or almost any "how do I ...?" query they can pose. Located in the north atrium, the Research Connection@Duffield is open Monday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 am to noon, and Thursday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

University librarian Sarah Thomas said that the purpose of the Research Connection is to provide "information at the point of thought." Noting that Cornell Library staff are committed to helping faculty and students become more productive scholars and critical thinkers she said, "We want to reach out to students and faculty where they meet and work in these new 'commons' spaces on campus."

Reference librarians from the Engineering Library will staff the Research Connection@Duffield. Acting director Zsuzsa Koltay anticipates most of the questions from students will be related to helping them find and evaluate the usefulness of Web-based information for course assignments. "We can help them find the most relevant online resources such as hard-to-find information in patents and technical reports, or show them how to locate articles or books in the library that they found in a database," she said. "We can also recommend the best ways to get full text."

Koltay pointed out that users also can find the answers they need through the library's online Chat and Ask a Librarian services at http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/services/askalib.html. "Think of a librarian as your 'ultimate search engine,'" she said. "We can show you how to become a power searcher of databases Google can't index. It's also important to think about what you might be missing if you only look for electronic data."

Signs and handouts available at the kiosk provide phone (255-4318) and e-mail ENGRanswers@cornell.edu contacts at the Engineering Library for those who need assistance when the Research Connection is not staffed.