Interested in Pacific Northwest history and culture? Check out Northwest Digital Archives

Search WOU Archives and Historical Collections

Western Oregon University Archives is proud to announce participation in the Northwest Digital Archives database for researchers to find primary sources and archival collections related to the Pacific Northwest. Some significant subject areas include agriculture; natural resources; urban, rural, social, and progressive movements; local, state, regional, and national politics; outdoor recreation; religion, and education.

Research collections preserved in WOU Archives include photographs and documents from WOU’s 150+ years of history, scrapbooks, and personal papers of students, faculty, and Oregonians such as former Governor Straub. University Archives is open to the public daily from 9:00 – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Come check us out!

Educational Content, Curricula, and Standards

Kraus Curriculum Development Library is a database of educational materials from course content (lesson plans, learning activities) to teacher and administrator strategies, from educational legislation to academic standards by subject and grade level. The materials come from state departments of education and other government agencies, as well as local school districts, professional associations, non-profit organizations, and other sources that have educational concerns. Documents published after 2000 are available on the site as PDFs and/or HTML files.

Looking for Textbooks?

Check out our online Textbooks Guide to find textbooks in the Hamersly Library, WOU Bookstore or through online stores.

Use a scanner and your print credits as a “color copier.”

Use a scanner for getting color copies While there is not a color photocopier in the library, you can get a color copy by using one of the several scanners we have. Use the KIC or Epson flatbed scanners to capture the image, and make any adjustments to the image you want, including size, before saving it. Then sent it to one of the color print queues (such as HLColorWest). Voilá!

If you really do need a color photocopier, there is one in the WOU Print Shop, ITC 112.

Learn to Document and Use Sources in your Writing

Our Citation Guide helps you with

APA style
MLA style
Chicago/Turabian style
& links to the American Anthropological Association style guide

Tutorials

Incorporating Sources into Your Research Paper: Learn to structure, analyze and use sources to support an argument in your research paper in this tutorial. 6 minutes.
Why You Need to Cite Sources: Learn some of the reasons it is important to cite sources when writing a research paper. 3 minutes.

Have an alternative browser (or two) available on your computer

You probably have a standard browser that you use day in and day out to view the Internet. It’s a good idea, however, to have other browsers available on your computer to help out when technical problems or display issues that arise. Sometimes a website’s designed functionality or display just doesn’t play well with the technology of a specific browser.

In the context of the library, for example, the EBSCO databases have a persistent problem with the Chrome browser (otherwise Chrome is a highly recommended browser).

Here are the download pages for some of the major browsers:

Each browser will assume you want it to be your default browser as you download it; just click that option off and continue with the download. You may want to set up your installed browsers with the same home page. Or, you might like to designate the different browsers for different purposes: maybe you’ll populate Firefox with toolbars and extensions that help with school or work, while Chrome is dedicated to online games. Another handy purpose for having different browsers is logging into an online service with multiple identities at the same time. However you choose to manage your Internet browsing, you’ll have a backup browser to try when something’s not working right.

Campus Printing 101

printer Students have 225 pre-paid print credits attached to their network accounts each term that they are enrolled at WOU.

A single page (one side) of a black & white printout costs 1 credit. A single color printout costs 5 credits.

You can check your print credit balance. If you need to purchase additional credits, do so through WolfWeb under the Student Menu. Credits are immediately available for use.

Whatever credits you don’t use roll over to the next term–so if you have 83 remaining after Fall term, you’ll have 308 when Winter term begins. However, accounts are wiped clean before Fall terms, and everyone starts again with 225.

Print multiple PowerPoint slides to a single page

Printing professors’ slides for study purposes can quickly diminish print credit balance, make bi Multiple PowerPoint slides printed on a single page nders unwieldy and backpacks heavy, and waste the gifts from our arboreal friends. But if you are not ready to study from the slides in their digital form, you can print several on a single page and reduce your paper consumption considerably.

The key to do this is that you must ha Multiple slides on a single page ve the file in PowerPoint (extensions are .ppt and .pptx). The Print window in this program allows you to change from printing Slides to Handouts (see red arrow), and then to indicate how many Slides per page (see green box).

If the professor has saved the slide set to another format, try getting the same results by printing multiple Pages per Sheet. This is a printer setting, however. We talk about it in the Save paper by printing double-sided post. You can also request the professor makes the slides available in the original file format.

Ask for a librarian when you need research help

South Park librarian avatars

The library faculty are here to help you learn and discover effective ways to identify, access, and use information. Examples of common questions:

finding a couple articles that are “peer-reviewed” (and understanding what that means)
completing a citation for an article when you only have a title
finding images of landscapes by Chinese painters
citing a strange type of resource properly
finding primary sources regarding German agriculture before and after the industrial revolution. We love helping with wild questions like that. (Seriously, we do.)

Our public services desks are often staffed with our knowledgeable and customer-oriented library technicians and student employees. They answer questions regarding library information, resources, and technology, but they call a librarian to provide more complicated or in-depth assistance. You can always ask directly for the available librarian at the desk, or you can schedule an appointment with the librarian appropriate to your subject area. You can also consult subject or class-specific research guides compiled by librarians.

Turn your Facebook network into a study group

Hoot.me icon Hoot.me is an app that allows for study groups and other project collaboration within Facebook. Your collaboration can be private and shared only with specific friends, or it can be open to others at WOU or worldwide also working on your subject. (You don’t have to be Facebook friends to collaborate on Hoot.) Hoot.me’s chat has the special characters necessary for calculus, chemistry, and more.