EllenFilgo.net

The best library evangelist is a satisfied patron. I was staffing the desk last week, when a first year student came up, looking for how to get access to a number of articles that she had found on an Ebsco database. She told me that she had been in an instruction session with me a few months earlier and was very impressed by the databases. She gushed, “I’ve been telling all my friends about how much information you can find online through the libraries! I think that they think I’m some kind of geek, but I don’t care, it’s seriously amazing!” She had grasped the idea of keyword searching pretty well, too, as she had a good list of resources for her paper. What she hadn’t grasped so well in my instruction session was using our “BU Info Links” button to get the full text of the articles. I don’t blame her, however, as it can be a tricky concept to figure out. Once those new windows start popping up everywhere, and you see strange database names, new interfaces, and sometimes error messages, it can be a daunting process. I was glad she had come back to the library for help and that she was stealthily spreading the word among her circle of friends about how much the library was amazing and cool.