18 Ways We Can Help Advance Faculty Research

Posted June 17, 2024 in Educational Technology News, Featured News, General Collections News, JMU Libraries News, Open Education News, Special Collections News, The Makery News

JMU faculty members, if you are working on scholarship or research projects this summer, take a moment to check out the many resources we offer that can propel your research forward! 

1. Scholarly communications, copyright, and publishing: We provide holistic support for scholarly communications across JMU, offering consultations on copyright, author rights, open publishing, choosing a journal for publication, and more. 

2. Data management: We offer consultations on data management, including creating a data management plan. 

3. Liaison Librarians: When you have research questions, contact your department’s liaison librarian, a subject expert who can help you (and your students) with discipline-specific research. 

4. Research Guides: Check out our research guides, created by JMU librarians, to see our best resources in a variety of disciplines.

5. Video, illustration, photography, and graphic design services: Get expert assistance with media production — including creating images, graphs, and other visual representations of data — for your scholarly publications. 

6. JMU Scholarly Commons: Share your scholarship worldwide and increase its visibility and reach by adding it to JMU’s open-access institutional repository. Check out our top 6 reasons to add your work to the JMU Scholarly Commons. 

7. Accessing data on obsolete devices: We offer these services and resources to help you access data on obsolete devices or older media. 

8. Multimedia equipment: You can borrow equipment such as cameras, microphones, camcorders, and external hard drives at the Learning Innovations & Design Desk on the 1st floor of Rose Library.  

9. The Makery: Use our 3D printers to make rapid prototypes in The Makery on the 1st floor of Rose Library. 

10. Digital scholarship: Get support from our digital scholarship team on innovative methods to conduct and share your research online. Libraries faculty and staff will help you experiment with new and established technologies and platforms. Here are some example projects. 

11. Special Collections is our repository for rare and unique materials focusing on the history of JMU and the Shenandoah Valley. You can make an appointment with Special Collections to access these physical collections or peruse our digital collections online. 

12. Use SPSS and other software: JMU Libraries provides a variety of academic software to support your research and teaching. We provide varying levels of support for using this software. In some cases, all support is provided by the software vendor—but we’re always happy to consult with you on using any educational technologies. LinkedIn Learning also provides tutorials on some of these tools and platforms. 

13. Learn new skills: Whether you want to brush up on SPSS statistics software, qualitative research methods, or something else, LinkedIn Learning has tutorials and courses for you, available for free through JMU Libraries.  

14. Use JMU Libraries spaces: Use our 24/7 space or quiet spaces for focused concentration. Read about our Library Locations or watch this short video about our library spaces. 

15. Interlibrary loan: When you need a resource that’s not in JMU’s collections, submit an Interlibrary Loan request. We do our best to use the global network of libraries to get it to you quickly and free of charge. 

16. Delivery services: Get library books or materials delivered to your departmental mailbox or request books for pickup at any of our four library locations. 

17. Scanned articles and chapters: We can also scan articles and book chapters for you, whether they are in our collections or only available from other libraries.  

18. Use our online resources: Check out all our databases, articles, streaming video, and more online resources, available 24/7 online through JMU Libraries. 

More Free Tools to Help with Your Research 

• Connect Google Scholar with JMU: You can get more out of Google Scholar by identifying JMU as your institution in Settings so that you can more easily download full-text articles available through JMU subscriptions. 
   
• LibKey Nomad extension: Tired of hitting paywalls? LibKey Nomad is a super handy browser extension (for Chrome, Safari, etc.). Whenever you try to open a scholarly article online, it pops up a link to the best version available through JMU. Here is a short video that shows how it works. 
   
• Zotero: Are you still typing out your reference lists? Maybe it’s time to try a citation manager! Zotero is a free, easy-to-use, open-source tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and collaborate on research. Zotero connects easily with Microsoft Word and Google Docs so you can insert citations directly in your text and automatically generate a reference list.  

We Also Support Your Teaching!  

If you’re getting ready for courses this summer or fall, you can also check out our Educational Technology Services page. 

Questions? 

If you have questions about your research, Ask the Library! We’re here to help.