Category: For Librarians

PsycINFO Expert Tip: Updating Search Alerts When a Thesaurus Term Changes

Posted on by Patti Avellanet in For Faculty, For Individual Subscribers, For Librarians, For Students

The Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms®, which is used to tag and categorize records in PsycINFO®, was updated in December 2015. In addition to adding terms, we changed five terms that had already been a part of the Thesaurus – they are no longer Index Terms, but have been turned into Use references.

Here are the terms that were changed, along with the new Index Terms that have taken their places:

Terms that are now Use references New Index Terms to search
Aspergers Syndrome
Autism
Pervasive Developmental Disorders		  Autism Spectrum Disorders
Complications (Disorders) Sequelae
Q Sort Testing Technique Q-Sort

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Screenshot from tutorial How (and Why) to Search the APA Thesaurus in PsycINFO

Tutorial Thursday: Top Tutorials of 2015

Posted on by Patti Avellanet in For Faculty, For Librarians, For Students

It’s Tutorial Thursday! In this series, we explore APA’s extensive library of video tutorials, available on YouTube. Please feel free to link or embed videos or playlists in library websites or LibGuides, course management systems, or other locations where students, faculty, and researchers will find them.

Our video tutorials are a popular resource for people trying to quickly learn how to search APA Databases. But they’re also a rich source of material for librarians and instructors who are teaching students how to efficiently search PsycINFO® and other databases.

For many of our tutorials, we create a version for each of the major vendor platforms: APA PsycNET®, EBSCOhost, Ovid, and ProQuest. When looking at the most-viewed tutorials for each platform in 2015, we noticed that three tutorials appeared on each list. Continue reading →

Keyboard with rainbow colors reflecting off of it

Webinar Alert: Sessions for Students & Faculty

Posted on by Customer Relations Staff in For Faculty, For Librarians, For Students

Our first series of webinars for students and faculty in 2016 is starting on March 23, 2016. Help us spread the word to faculty, students, and anyone who teaches research methods.

APA provides free training webinars tailored for PsycINFO searchers at all levels of proficiency. We feature three 30-minute sessions: Basic Search, Advanced Search, and Results Management. The sessions may be taken separately, but we encourage interested students to take all three and offer the sessions on consecutive days. These webinars are an ideal way for students to get a refresher on PsycINFO if they have had training earlier in the semester.

Descriptions are provided below. Visit our website to register today for these no-cost sessions.

Research Methods instructors and other faculty: If you would like your students to attend for extra credit, we offer certificates of completion for each session.

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The PsycTHERAPY Teaching Guide

Posted on by Customer Relations Staff in For Faculty, For Librarians

PsycTHERAPY® is APA’s database of streaming psychotherapy videos, allowing users to observe psychotherapy techniques as they are put into practice by master practitioners. The videos cover a variety of presenting issues and therapy topics, such as anxiety and self-perception, and include an assortment of well-known therapists working with individuals, couples, and families. The database enables graduate students, educators, and practitioners to see the therapeutic approaches and techniques they’ve read about come to life. Currently, PsycTHERAPY contains nearly 400 videos, with an update scheduled for April that will bring the total number available to 430.

Cover of the The PsycTHERAPY Teaching GuideOver the course of 2015, we talked to educators about how they are making use of PsycTHERAPY. In doing so, we encountered faculty who were using the database in ways we never could have imagined. The PsycTHERAPY Teaching Guide, released in the fall, is the result of conversations with these faculty. The book features a series of exercises, including step-by-step instructions, for using PsycTHERAPY with students, in clinical supervision settings, psychotherapy researcher training, and more. Continue reading →

Announcing the First Recipient of the APA Librarian Conference Travel Award

Posted on by Customer Relations Staff in For Librarians

Jahala SimuelWe are pleased to announce that Jahala Simuel, Reference Librarian at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, is the first recipient of the APA Librarian Conference Travel Award! Jahala will use the funds to defray the cost of attendance at Electronic Resources & Libraries 2016 this April.

Jahala has been at Shaw University since 2004. As a solo librarian, she has taken on a wide variety of tasks and projects. Most recently, Jahala took on the responsibility for electronic resources, a complex role made all the more challenging by the fact that no training was available, and no processes were in place. It is Jahala’s hope – and APA’s – that the sessions offered at ER&L will prove valuable as she builds these skills.

The committee would like to thank all those who took the time to apply. Choosing a recipient was difficult – we received several strong applications. We encourage all those who are thinking of applying to do so, and to use the essay portion of the application to make a compelling case as to why attending the conference you’ve chosen will be of benefit not just to you, but the students, faculty, and researchers you support.

Now through March 31, we are accepting applications for attendance at conferences taking place from May to August 2016. For more information and to apply, please see the award website.