PSC Library Newsletter

September

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What’s Newsworthy: Open Access and Open Educational Resources

As you start to think about your textbook orders for next spring, consider reaching out to Thane Montaner in the library to discuss suitable open-access and open educational resources. You might be surprised by what is available in your subject. If you would like a small sample of what is available, take a look at the University of Minnesota’s Open Textbook Library.

If you need a refresher on open access (OA) and open educational resources (OER), they were discussed in a couple of previous newsletters. For a broader discussion on OA and OER, please read this newsletter from March 2025. In our September 2022 newsletter, we discussed our favorite OER websites.

How-To Place Holds and Renew Loans

This time last year, the library unveiled our new search function, called Library Search, along with other changes to the website. During class visits, we discussed using Library Search and sharing information and tutorials via this newsletter. However, you need to know something more basic. This How-To research guide shows how to place a hold on a book and how to renew books in our library. (All I-Share items now autorenew.) Happy reading, PSC!

Something New: Digital Finding Aids for the Archives

Prairie State College has an archive, which contains information about the history of the college, as well as Chicago Heights. This collection exists to support research on the college and local history. Everyone on campus is welcome to use it.

While the archive is inside the library, items are not organized like our books. This can make finding items tricky. To assist with this, our College Archivist/ILL Librarian, Alex Altan created a digital finding aid. This finding aid describes the collection and helps with wayfinding. Follow the link in this sentence to get to the finding aids, then click the box that reads, “browse collection.” Each collection has a description of the contents and organization, done by a record group, then a record sub-group, and finally, a record series number. You’ll see a list of all items in each box. (Archival records are organized much like old paper files were once organized by larger hanging folders, then a folder, then (maybe) a subfolder.)

More information about the archives can be found on our website, and Alex is always happy to help. You can reach him at: aaltan@prairiestate.edu.

Librarian Water Cooler: Our AI Policy

During convocation, faculty discussed AI and the implications in our respective disciplines. Then time was given for us to return to our departments and talk about a policy for our area. For the library, this discussion was a little bit different. We have strong opinions about AI, and we teach, but we aren’t creating a syllabus or setting a policy for a class that we lead for the semester. We decided that:

Whether you work with a librarian for a single session or the full semester, we will support your course’s AI policies. When you request a session with us, please let us know if you have any policies you would like us to uphold.
If requested, we are happy to discuss the strengths and limitations of AI, alongside Google and the library for research.
The library does have an AI Research Assistant. It pulls answers directly from the library’s collection. We are enabling AI functionality as it becomes available for individual databases.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask a human at librarians@prairiestate.edu.

Featured ebooks: How to Succeed in College

This month’s book display will feature books to help students succeed in college. Books include everything from how to learn, to tips specifically for first-generation students, and books for students with disabilities. Please stop by the library to view the full display, or see a preview of the ebooks below.