OVERVIEW
This semester we are trying a more theme based approach to our workshops.
One of our theme’s this year is Open Access Week, where we will be celebrating software that is created for the people, by the people. More accurately, open access software “is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose.” – Wikipedia This software tends to be free and it tends to run on multiple platforms. Since Open Access Week is officially during our October Break, we’ll be doing our open access themed workshops the week after. Here’s an overview:
Monday, October 27
Intro to Omeka, 3:30- 4:30 PM on Zoom
Intro to Zotero, 4:30-5:30pm on Zoom
Tuesday, October 28,
Intro to Scalar 3:30- 4:30 PM on Zoom
Wednesday, October 29,
Intro to Zotero, 2-2:50pm on Zoom
Quantum GIS (“QGIS”) 3:00-4:30 PM GIS Lab
Campus Resources for Building Websites 4:00 – 5:00 on Zoom
Thursday, October 30
Intro to the Vassar College Libraries Digital Library 3:30 – 4:30 PM on Zoom
Finding and Evaluating Open Educational Resources, 2:00 – 3:00 on Zoom
Friday, October 31
Free Software & Campus Recording Resources 10:00 – 11:00 AM in the Main Library Finding and Evaluating Open Educational Resources, 2:00 – 3:00 PM on Zoom
MONDAY OCTOBER 27
Intro to Omeka 3:30 – 4:30 PM on Zoom
Omeka is a free, open-source content management system for online digital collections that allows users to publish and exhibit scholarly collections and cultural heritage objects. The Vassar College Digital Scholarship Services Collaboration (DiSSCo) provides a web hosting resource called vassarspaces.net. This service, a Domain of One’s Own (DoOO) product, provides the flexibility for anyone in our academic community to build websites on a variety of platforms, including Omeka. Led by Nicole Scalessa of Digital Scholarship and Technology Services, nscalessa@vassar.edu.
Register Online: https://libcal.vassar.edu/event/15212399
If you cannot attend the specified date we can discuss this topic by appointment: https://calendar.app.google/Zx5sY85amAPikN1E9
Intro to Zotero, 4:30 – 5:30 pm on Zoom
Looking to save time formatting your bibliography? Overwhelmed by unorganized PDFs? Zotero is a free citation manager that helps you organize references, annotate pdfs, and generate in-text citations and bibliographies. Zotero is most useful when used during the research process – finding sources, building your Zotero library, and using Zotero’s citation tools all work together to facilitate your research and writing. During this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Create a Zotero library
- Organize and share references
- Generate bibliographies in your preferred citation style
- Format in-text citations and reference lists in Word and Google Docs
Led by Elizabeth Salmon, Social Science Librarian. Registration appreciated but not required.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 28
Intro to Scalar 3:30- 4:30 PM on Zoom
Scalar is an open source, web-based publishing software from the University of Southern California’s Alliance for Networking Visual Culture that allows you to create networked, multi-media online publications.This workshop will begin with the basics of installation along with creating accounts, projects, and content path. It will also cover the management and inclusion of media, such as images and video. Led by Nicole Scalessa of Digital Scholarship and Technology Services, nscalessa@vassar.edu.
Register Online: https://libcal.vassar.edu/event/15212530
If you cannot attend the specified date we can discuss this topic by appointment: https://calendar.app.google/Zx5sY85amAPikN1E9
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 29
Intro to Zotero, 2-2:50pm on Zoom
Looking to save time formatting your bibliography? Overwhelmed by unorganized PDFs? Zotero is a free citation manager that helps you organize references, annotate pdfs, and generate in-text citations and bibliographies. Zotero is most useful when used during the research process – finding sources, building your Zotero library, and using Zotero’s citation tools all work together to facilitate your research and writing. During this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Create a Zotero library
- Organize and share references
- Generate bibliographies in your preferred citation style
- Format in-text citations and reference lists in Word and Google Docs
Led by Elizabeth Salmon, Social Science Librarian. Registration appreciated but not required.
Quantum GIS (“QGIS”) 3:00 – 4:30 PM | GIS Lab
Quantum GIS (“QGIS”) is a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for mapping and spatial analysis. Like other Geographic Information Systems (GIS) softwares such as ESRI ArcGIS, QGIS can be used to create, edit, analyze, and display geographic data, enabling users to understand spatial relationships and patterns. This has wide-ranging applications in fields as varied as environmental management, public health, transportation, marketing, emergency management, and many others. In this workshop, you will learn how to find geographic data, assemble it in a simple map in QGIS, analyze it to identify a potential pattern, and visualize the result. Led by Neil Curri, Academic Computing Consultant for GIS, necurri@vassar.edu
Campus Resources for Building Websites 4:00 – 5:00 on Zoom
Need a website? We will review the options you have available to you as a member of the Vassar Community. We’ll also cover our new resource : vassarspaces.net – where we empower users to become sys admins and install their own apps (WordPress, Scalar, Omeka and more!). Led by Baynard Bailey of Academic Computing Services and Nicole Scalessa of Digital Scholarship and Technology Services.
Register Online: https://libcal.vassar.edu/event/15407387
THURSDAY OCTOBER 30
Finding and Evaluating Open Educational Resources, 2:00- 3:00 PM on Zoom
Open Educational Resources, or OER, are free teaching, learning and research materials that can be reused, remixed or revised; this includes textbooks, question banks, and much more. Once a nascent movement born in the early 2000’s, the quality and disciplinary coverage of OER have significantly improved over the years. Please join us to learn about locating and evaluating OER, as well as interpreting the Creative Commons licenses typically associated with these resources. Presented by Elizabeth Salmon, Social Science Librarian, esalmon@vassar.edu and Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic, Humanities and Multidisciplinary Librarian, LCantwellJurkovic@Vassar.edu.
Register Online: https://libcal.vassar.edu/calendar/mainlibrary/fall25-oer
Intro to the Vassar College Libraries Digital Library 3:30- 4:30 PM on Zoom
The Digital Library includes photos, audiovisual materials, manuscripts, and much more! Did you know it now also provides access to Finding Aids, Vassar Scholarship, and a Herbarium? Join us for a tour of the system followed by a Q&A. The tour will include tips on how to find what you need for your research and how to submit your work to the Vassar Scholarship repository. Led by Nicole Scalessa of Digital Scholarship and Technology Services, nscalessa@vassar.edu.
Register Online: https://libcal.vassar.edu/event/15212543
If you cannot attend the specified date we can discuss this topic by appointment: https://calendar.app.google/Zx5sY85amAPikN1E9
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31
Free Software and Campus Recording Resources 10:00 – 11:00 AM in the Library Electronic Classroom
In the summer, the exploring college students were some of the first to try out the new setup.
Workshop participants will come away with a basic understanding of using open source software Audacity to make recordings. Time permitting, we’ll visit the Chicago Audio Studio.
Finding and Evaluating Open Educational Resources, 2:00- 3:00 PM on Zoom
Open Educational Resources, or OER, are free teaching, learning and research materials that can be reused, remixed or revised; this includes textbooks, question banks, and much more. Once a nascent movement born in the early 2000’s, the quality and disciplinary coverage of OER have significantly improved over the years. Please join us to learn about locating and evaluating OER, as well as interpreting the Creative Commons licenses typically associated with these resources. Presented by Elizabeth Salmon, Social Science Librarian, esalmon@vassar.edu and Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic, Humanities and Multidisciplinary Librarian, LCantwellJurkovic@Vassar.edu.
Register Online: https://libcal.vassar.edu/calendar/mainlibrary/fall25-oer
