As UGA students and faculty set their 2024 New Year’s resolutions, we wanted to remind you that UGA Libraries have the resources and services to help you reach your academic goals. Through the Libraries, you can access tools to enhance your research, take your projects to the next level, and reach your next steps.
Here are a few examples of how we can help you achieve your 2024 resolutions:
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Get started early on research for my thesis or publication.
First things first — make an appointment with a librarian. With specialty in various disciplines, UGA librarians can help you navigate databases and find resources, organize your citations, and give you one-on-one support for processes like systematic reviews. To ask a librarian a question, visit this link or go to the service desk at your favorite Libraries’ location.
Don’t forget to also consult an archivist. UGA’s Special Collections Libraries contain broad and expansive collections of primary source materials. From rare books and maps to government records, personal diaries, and research journals, and more, the collections can augment research in any field, from the arts and humanities to the sciences. We are also home to the Digital Library of Georgia and serve as a regional depository in the Map and Government Information Library in the sub-basement of the Main Library.
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Organize my data and figure out how to display it.
The faculty in the Libraries’ Department of Research and Computational Data Management provide help for faculty, students, and researchers throughout the research process, from organizing and storing data to learning data visualization techniques and publishing.
In addition to a variety of workshops scheduled throughout the year, we invite researchers to drop in during free data consultation office hours on Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Sessions are available at the DigiLab, located on the third floor of the Main Library, as well as at the McBay Science Library in Room 207. You can also schedule a one-on-one session with an expert at this link.
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Stay up to date on current events.
In college, it can be easy to dig so far into campus life that you forget the world around you. But at UGA Libraries, we make it easy to stay up-to-date on the events, trends, and issues that are occurring throughout the globe. All UGA faculty, students, and staff can get free digital access to some of the premiere news outlets.
Register for your free New York Times account at this link, by choosing University of Georgia — Athens, GA from the drop-down menu and entering your UGA email address. This account also includes access to The Athletic, and the Libraries also provides free access to the online editions of Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Information about the New York Times in Education subscriptions, as well as free access to thousands of online academic journals, can be found at the Database A-Z listing on our website.
In addition to the online journals, we invite you to stop by our periodicals section, located on the second floor of the Main Library. There, you can find the latest issues of popular publications from Time magazine to Forbes, Rolling Stone, and Sports Illustrated.
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Learn a new skill.
Check out the Makerspace at the McBay Science Library! The space, located on the third floor, features a number of technologies to allow students to explore making, including 3D printers and scanners, laser cutters, sewing and embroidery machines, button-making and soldering equipment.
Students and faculty can sign up for introductory workshops to learn about the equipment and then come back and experiment, iterate, and explore how to create. Our emerging technologies librarian can help you perfect your project to meet a variety of needs, from a research prototype to a fun educational hobby.
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Study for grad school exams.
UGA Libraries subscribe to a number of databases that are great for research, and we also provide UGA students, faculty, and staff with databases that can help them expand their knowledge. If you want to take the GRE, LSAT, or MCAT for grad school, we recommend the Learning Express Library. The database provides study guides and practice tests for a number of standardized exams, and it also include career prep resources.
To find the database, go to libs.uga.edu and browse under A-Z databases. You can set up your free account from there.
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Work on myself.
As a member of the UGA community, you have access to the more than 4.7 million books that are part of the UGA Libraries system. In addition to the research books in all fields of study, our general collection includes books that can help you learn about everything from nutrition and exercise to personal finances and mental health. Visit the 2024 book table at the Main Library for a selection of some books that can help you fulfill your personal goals.
Remember, your UGA ID is your library card, and you can also sign in to our website to read one of the thousands of e-books we have on loan. If we don’t have the book that you need, you can request a purchase (which sometimes only takes a few days if an e-book is available within our contracts) or take advantage of interlibrary loan and GIL-Express services that allow our patrons to borrow books from our partner libraries across the state and around the globe.
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Bonus: Complete my TBR List.
Speaking of reading, the UGA Libraries collection has an academic focus, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have fiction books, biographies, and other best-sellers on our shelves. Check out the leisure book sections on the main floors of the Main and McBay Libraries or search our online catalog for a fun book to get your mind off your studies for a bit.