How do I use the website?
Answer
The library website is designed to be responsive, clear, highly functional, and able to help you meet your library needs. This page is a guide to some of the new library page’s features.
The Header The header of the page holds the library hours display, as well as the Divine Mercy University logo, which links back to the Divine Mercy University website when clicked. It also contains the top navigation bar.
The Navigation Bar The top navigation bar contains all the links and information that will assist you in your library tasks. These are organized into five main categories, plus the Mary S. Thelen Library/home page link and the Off-Campus Access link to use to log in to library services remotely. The five main categories, which are Find, Get Help, Services, Writing Center, and About, are dropdown menus that house several links below that fit into each category.
The “Find” Menu The “Find” dropdown menu contains the A-Z eResource list, in addition to the databases page, and the Course Reserves page. The A-Z eResource list is used to find certain articles in certain journals, while the Databases page allows you to search a specified database that is not linked with the discovery search. For example, the APA databases do not share data with WorldCat Discovery so it is best to search the database itself for your information. The Course Reserves contain material that is for the classes. Here the materials are organized and linked within the same place.
The “Get Help” Menu The “Get Help” menu contains a link to the chat service (this also is linked in the footer and can also be easily accessed via the body of the page) that allows one to chat with a librarian 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Although these are not librarians at DMU, they are trained to answer research questions and basic questions about how to find DMU resources. The “Get Help” menu also contains the Library Tutorials on how to perform common library tasks and the Library Handbook for your reference. In the future, it will contain answers to common library questions as well.
The “Services” Menu The “Services” menu contains a place where you can log into your library account and create interlibrary loan and/or document delivery requests. It also contains another place to find the Course Reserves.
The “Writing Center” Menu The “Writing Center” menu has the links to information about the writing center, in addition to Grammarly Premium and APA Academic Writer. Grammarly Premium is a useful tool that would help check grammar, and the APA Academic Writer service is useful for managing and organizing references, as well as formatting papers in APA style.
The “About” Menu The “About” menu contains information not found anywhere else such as the vision and mission of the library, the biography of Mary S. Thelen, after which the library was named, a contact form, directions, and general information on the collections and resources. The hours page can also be found here, which has additional days and information than is contained in the header portion above.
The “Library Log-In” Link This link allows students to access the library resources remotely and redirects one back to the library home page.
The “Mary S. Thelen Library” header link This links back to the Library home page. Wherever you are on the site, this is available to navigate back to the home page.
The Footer The footer contains useful and quick links of some of the other links on top for ease and convenience. It also contains contact information and some information about the library.
The Page Content The content currently contains announcements, general information, and featured material.