PSC Library Newsletter

May

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What’s Newsworthy

The library has a ton of programming in May. Join us to push through the rest of the semester.

Lunch ‘n’ Learn: Resume Writing
Monday, May 4th
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Library Classroom
South Suburban Cook HRA, an association of human resource professionals, is coming to PSC for a lunch ‘n’ learn about resume writing. Learn how to write a resume, or bring your own for review. We’ll have this lunch ‘n’ learn twice at 12:00 PM in the classroom on Monday, April 27th and Monday, May 4th. This event is free and open to students. Please encourage your graduating students to attend.

Finals Fest
Monday, May 4th - Thursday May 7th
All day
Library Circulation Desk
Finals Fest is returning to the library the week before final exams. From Monday, May 4th - Thursday, May 7th we will have beverages to keep you going. Keep pushing to the end, PSC!

Field Day in the Scholar’s Garden Spring ‘26
Monday, May 11, 2026
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Scholar’s Garden (Library Classroom in Case of Rain)
Join the library and Student Engagement for an end of the semester Field Day in the Scholar’s Garden on Monday, May 11th from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. We’ll bring the fun, you bring yourselves.

Game Days with the Library
This week's Game: Really Loud Librarians
Monday, May 11th
2:00 - 3:00 PM
Library Classroom
Gotta case of the Mondays? Join the library for games! We’ve got games every other Monday through the semester. These events are free and open to all.

How to: understand article retractions in our databases

Whether you are someone who reads Retraction Watch, or are Googling the word “retraction" right now, Primo has a new feature that highlights when publications have been retracted. Scholarly publications retract, or reject, a published article when the information is unreliable, unethical, or actively dangerous. While peer review is a check and balance, it isn’t perfect, and sometimes articles are later disavowed by their publishers. In this case, publications issue a retraction notice, often along with a reason for said retraction, and the article will be labeled as retracted in our databases.

The retraction notice will look like this in a real Primo search result:

In looking at this new feature, we noticed that when we click through to the actual article via a vendor called EBSCO, it doesn’t have any mention of the retraction. At this point it looks like any other article, and if you missed the retraction notice, you won’t get it here:

The lack of any notice on the actual article could be the fault of the vendor, or it could be that it just hasn’t been added yet.

Other sources will show the retraction in a watermarked copy on the article as well, such as this example of the infamous Andrew Wakefield article, retracted by the Lancet 12 years after publication.

While this new feature is helpful, please be careful to always check the search results page for the retraction notice. While the Wakefield article has a watermark, you can still access it. You and your students should know that they can still access flawed studies.

Something new: website improvements

The library’s website changed dramatically about two years ago when we joined a library system called I-Share and got a new search engine. We had another round of more subtle changes recently which will facilitate easier browsing for you, and easier maintenance for us. Our colleague Thane updated parts of the library’s website, including our database page, to use a newer version of Bootstrap. More changes are coming to our homepage, so if things look different next time you visit the website, it isn’t your imagination. Know that people are working behind the scenes to keep the website functional for you to access materials.

Featured ebooks: Mother's Day

This month we are showcasing moms in both of our book displays. The display by the circulation desk will be heartwarming with juvenile books featuring moms, grandmas, and the women who love us. The main book display will be a little more nuanced and will honor the messy, complicated relationships that we have with mom. This month the ebooks will only be featured in the newsletter. Come to the library for the full display!