Workshops + Courses
In addition to offering one-on-one assistance at the reference desk, the BGC Library teaches library research skills in a variety of formats, from short workshops to full courses.
Current Instruction Project: Spring 2012
The Library, Visual Media Resources, the Digital Media Lab, and Academic Programs have planned a series of research workshops and clinics for the Fall 2011 semester:
Scanning 101
Covers the various scanning options available at the BGC, and the most efficient ways in which to scan text, images, multi-page documents, etc. This will include instruction on using Bookeye open-book scanner. Offered jointly by the Library and DML.
Tuesday January 24 and 31, at 1:00 p.m. in the DML.
Wiki Clinic
Unlike the more structured wiki workshops, wiki clinic is a chance for you to talk to the DML staff about specific ways to improve your wiki. Want to add a blog to your wiki? Want to know how to do more precise things with images and captions? Still unsure how to embed media? The wiki clinic is your chance to ask questions and get answers.
Thursday January 26, at 12:15 p.m. in the DML.
Productivity Apps
Most BGC users are comfortable use tools like Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat for the majority of their work. But, there a number of alternatives that allow for different approaches to academic work. This workshop will introduce word processors like Scrivener, cross-platform note management systems like Evernote, and mobile PDF readers like GoodReader that make managing your digital information a little easier.
Thursday February 2, at 12:15 p.m. in the DML.
Advanced Photoshop
This workshop assumes a basic working knowledge of Adobe’s Photoshop and dives directly into advanced tools and techniques. We’ll be covering color and tonality correction using Exposure, Levels, Curves, and Selective Color; discussing image “clean up” using the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Patch tools; surveying image manipulation using transformation tools like Warp and Distort; and exploring selection options like the Magic Wand, Direct Selection, and Lasso tools.
Tuesday February 7, at 2:00 p.m. in the VMR.
TrueSerials
Introduces this service, new to the BGC, and the ways in which it works with the print periodical collection and subscription databases, as well as relevant open access journals.
Thursday February 9, at 12:15 p.m.
Prezzi
Prezi is an online presentation tool that allows you to move away from the slide structure of Powerpoint and create presentations that occur on a zoomable digital canvas. But, Prezi is more than just a presentation tool as the lack of built-in structure of this digital canvas makes it a useful tool for visual syllabi, thought maps for research and image analysis, and for the developing of prototypes for digital projects. This workshop will introduce Prezi's simple to use toolset and show some different models of how Prezi can be used in your work.
Tuesday February 14, at 1:00 p.m. in the DML.
Photoshop Alternatives
While Photoshop remains the gold standard for digital image editing software, it has a steep learning curve and an even steeper price tag. This workshop takes these limitations as its starting point, and from there explores several free alternatives, some locally installed, some web-based, such as GIMP, Splashup, and even Adobe's own free alternative, Photoshop Express. Rather than being a full scale tutorial for each option, consider this instead an overview of a number of differently featured applications so that you can best choose which one suits your needs.
Thursday February 16, at 12:15 p.m. in the VMR.
Filemaker Pro, basic and advanced
Provides introductory level instruction in the use of Filemaker Pro to design databases for research and data management, showing how to create a database, add tables to that database, define fields for data entry, and then create basic layouts for the entry of data, with a particular emphasis on pre-planning data relationships and developing an organized and easily manageable data framework.
Basic: Tuesday February 21, at 1:30 p.m. in the DML.
Advanced: Thursday February 23, at 12:15 p.m. in the DML.
Zotero
Explains Zotero, a browser-based bibliographical tool, including the interface, adding sources to a Zotero library from WorldCat, newspapers, websites, and other places,editing and managing sources in folders, using tags and relationships, and an introduction to the social network aspects of Zotero.
Thursday March 15, at 12:15 p.m. in the DML.
Presentation Clinic
The presentation clinic is a chance for you to bring ideas for or questions about upcoming presentations to VMR, DML, and library staff. Want to use a Prezi for the first time? Curious about a Powerpoint feature you haven't used before? Want feedback on the look and organization of your presentation. This clinic provides you with an opportunity to get some answers and help.
Thursday March 29, at 12:15 p.m. in the DML.
Style and Citation Clinic
Helps students who are puzzling over how to best organize a paper’s bibliography or struggling to cite nontraditional formats or having any other style or citation trouble, offering a chance to bring your work to one of the Clinics for style tips, organization advice, and Chicago-based answers to any citation questions.
Tuesday April 3, at 1:00 p.m.
Thursday April 12, at 12:15 p.m.
Past Research Courses
505. Bibliographic Instruction in the Digital Age
In Spring 2008 and Spring 2009, BGC librarians taught 505. Bibliographic Instruction in the Digital Age, an introduction to reference sources and research skills consisting of seven 2-hour sessions that brought students through the process of researching, producing, and presenting their work.
843. Research Methods
In Spring 2010, BGC faculty and librarians team-taught 843. Research Methods for first-year MA students as they prepared to submit thesis proposals.
Past and Recurring Workshops
Online Library Research
An introduction to the Bard College library catalog and WorldCat, designed for first-year MA students.
Research in New York
Three short, linked practicums on the nuts-and-bolts of doing research
in New York City's libraries.
Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A BGC group visit to Watson Library to tour the space, meet the librarians, and receive readers' cards.
Zotero
Offered jointly by the Library and DML: managing citations and online research.
Style and Presenting Your Work
An overview of the Chicago Manual of Style and preparing your work for class papers, publication, conferences, and beyond.
Arc of Research
This “arc of scholarship” workshop moves through four stages of the research cycle, providing an opportunity to check what stage your work is in currently, and to think about what you can do to move your work along the research cycle.
Know Your Databases (KYD) workshops
Using a scholarly index or research database effectively requires facility with its particular buttons and interface as well as knowledge of its history: how, why, and by whom is its data created? What can you expect to find there, and what will you not find? Each short KYD workshop examines a particular subscription database used at the BGC.
Primary Sources
This collaborative workshop helps demystify the sometimes vast and arcane process of original research through case studies and a question/answer period.
Using Auction Catalogs for Research
Teaches skills to better utilize auction resources using examples in our own collection and discussing strategies for using subscription auction resources such as SCIPIO and ArtfactPro.
PowerPoint
Instructs on the range of features found in Microsoft PowerPoint, including creating slides, using and editing themes and layouts, adding and editing images and text, implementing audio and video, applying transitions and animations, and offers strategies for getting the most out of PowerPoint.
Image Research
Discusses such topics as image cataloging at the BGC, finding image resources for the decorative arts and material culture, using controlled vocabularies to aid in image research, and ordering images for academic publishing.
Bibliography and Citation Clinic
Puzzling over how to best organize a paper’s bibliography, or struggling to cite nontraditional formats? Bring your work to one of the Bibliography and Citation Clinics for style tips, organization advice, and Chicago-based answers to any citation questions.
Visual Media Resources (VMR) workshops
The Library's VMR staff offers workshops throughout the year on topics such as image correction and Photoshop, utilizing PowerPoint and other, newer presentation softwear, and more.
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