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The staff of the Social Work Library welcome you to the School of Social Work! We are here to assist you with the resources you need for course assignments, class reserves, circulation and instruction in tools and resources. Our natural light-filled space in the basement of the School of Social Work building includes a large computing lab and several group study rooms.
This guide orients you to information and library resources you will need as you work on your degree as well as an introduction to the campus computing environment. We recommend that you bookmark this page and refer to it frequently. It is essential that you understand the information contained in these pages.
Please feel free to ask questions in person, via phone or by email:
This orientation lays the foundation for understanding the information resources available to you as a student at the School of Social Work, and is crucial to preparing you to become a social worker. By the end of this orientation, you should know things like:
Over the next several terms, you will learn new information literacy skills through instruction by library staff in courses and in library workshops, as well as through course assignments. To learn more about information literacy as it applies to you at the School of Social Work, see a description of Information Literacy Competencies.
SearchPath is a research tutorial that prepares you to access the information-rich environment of the University Library. Even if you are a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, you are required to go through the SearchPath Tutorial and Test. Additional library workshops and instructional opportunities offered throughout the year will assume you have the knowledge covered in the SearchPath Tutorial and Test.
If you attend an orientation program at the School of Social Work you may have an opportunity to complete some of the Search Path Tutorial and Test during your visit.
3. To submit results when you are finished with the Test, click on the arrow above the word "submit".
Clicking on "Turn in tutorial" may cause your test score to be lost.
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The Social Work Library brochure describes the library facility and many of the resources available to you as a member of the U-M community.
You will be able to access library electronic resources from off-campus and check-out books about 48 hours after you have registered for fall classes. If you need access to library resources before this happens, see library staff and present your MCard to request a library account immediately.
When you are connected to a computer on the University of Michigan campus (this includes laptops using the U-M Wireless Network), access to library databases and online journals is available automatically. Login to Mirlyn to find course reserves and request book deliveries from other libraries on campus.
From off-campus, you will need to enter your uniqname and password and have a library account to access library electronic databases.
Soon after completing your degree program, your access to most electronic library resources will expire. To stay current in the field of social work, see Information Literacy Competencies for Professional Social Workers (Exit strategies and continuing professional development for SSW alums).
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The Social Work Library website is your portal to resources specific to your studies and professional work. Use the navigation menus at the top of the page to connect to information about all of the University Libraries. The menu on the left is dedicated entirely to the Social Work Library!
Highlights of the website are:
Click on Research Rescue -- Course-Related Pages to view a list of current course-related library web pages. Research Rescue: Tips & Aids contains various subject guides and handouts on research topics and techniques including APA Editorial Style Guide.
Mirlyn is the catalog of the libraries of the University of Michigan. It includes the Social Work Library’s books and journals, as well as materials such as books, journals, videos, and databases from many other libraries on campus. Log in to Mirlyn for services such as accessing Course Reserves, renewing your books, and requesting a book delivery from another library on campus.
The University Library subscribes to hundreds of electronic databases for finding journal articles and other kinds of information. Many databases also provide full-text of all or some of the articles they index.
The Social Work Library Databases page provides Quick Links to some of the databases most useful to the field of social work in the left sidebar. Click on "show descriptions" to see a summary of the databases and notes for each on when they might be useful.
This symbol indicates a U-M Licensed Database, accessible from any computer on campus and from off-campus with a valid U-M uniqname and password.
Index for core U.S. social work journals. Contains information in the areas of the social work profession, theory and practice, areas of service, social issues and social problems.
A comprehensive international resource of research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, Human Development and Social Welfare.
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, or CSA Illumina, is a collection of more than 100 databases covering a wide variety of fields. These databases may be searched separately or in combination.
Comprehensive index of social services literature, including social welfare, policy and community development, covering journal articles, dissertations and book reviews.
Contains over 457,000 citations and abstracts on all aspects of social work.
Indexes major journals in criminology and related disciplines, chapters in books, and selected government reports. Records include an enhanced abstract with research findings and methodology. Subjects covered include juvenile delinquency, prevention projects, crime trends, corrections, courts, and victims.
Consists of Current Index to Journals in Education (over 775 journals and is the most comprehensive database in the field of education) and Resources in Education (unpublished documents like conference papers, reports, theses, curricula, project reports, etc.). Covers guidance and counseling literature.
Indexes and abstracts of books, journals, research reports, consumer guides, and book chapters in the field of aging. Produced by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
Covers journals, dissertations and books comprehensively in the field of psychology and selectively covers related disciplines of education, medicine, business, sociology and psychiatry.
or UM-MedSearch]National Library of Medicine's comprehensive database to international journal citations and abstracts in the biomedical sciences, including research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services.
The most important full-text electronic journals are listed in Social Work Journals. All e-journals are included in Mirlyn, All Electronic Journals, and Search Tools.
When searching subject-specific databases, many have full-text available directly from the record of an article. If the database doesn’t have the full text of your article, use the 
button to link to the electronic article from another source. If it’s not available online, will search Mirlyn for a paper copy of the journal, or connect you to an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request form.
As a U-M student, you should never have to pay for an article or other resource. If you’re having trouble locating an article, ask a staff member for help.
Each student has 400 pages of free black-and-white printing per term through your ITCS account. Additional printing and color printouts will be charged to your student account. You can check your printing quota to see how many free pages are left.
Two photocopiers and a copy card dispenser are in the back of the library. Copy cards are required to make copies, which cost 10 cents per side. The card is accepted at copiers at most libraries on campus.
RefWorks is a web-based application for managing citations, and is free to U-M students. With RefWorks you are able to download and save citations directly from a number of databases such as those listed above, including Mirlyn, the University of Michigan catalog. When citations have been added to a RefWorks database, it is simple to keep track of resources for a project and create bibliographies.
For an overview of RefWorks, see the excellent tutorial at the RefWorks website.
The process for downloading citations into RefWorks varies by database. Using RefWorks with Selected Social Work Databases links to directions for using RefWorks with each of the most important Social Work databases, and the RefWorks Protocol handout summarizes this information.
Look out for library-sponsored workshops on RefWorks offered throughout the year!
Search Tools is for accessing all U-M Library databases, indexes, e-journals, web resources, and catalogs, including many resources not specific to social work. Log in to customize this portal to meet your individual research needs. Search Tools also allows you to search multiple databases simultaneously.
CTools is the University’s web-based course-management system for organizing course and group project resources. Professors use CTools sites for such things as the course syllabus, schedule, assignments, announcements, required reading, Library Reserves, discussions, and resources. Students can create CTools sites for group projects, so that they have an electronic space in which to organize resources, schedule meetings, have a record of announcements sent to the group, etc. After you register for classes, login to CTools to bring up your class pages.
All students are required to understand the concept of plagiarism and must cite the ideas of others correctly in their own work. The definition of plagiarism and sanctions for violations can be found in the School of Social Work Student Guide under Student Rights and Responsibilities.
You can learn more about plagiarism on the Undergraduate Library’s Plagiarism site and by working through SearchPath Module 6.
The Social Work Library computing site is a cooperative effort between the University Library, the School of Social Work (SSW), and Information Technology Central Services (ITCS). The Social Work Library space has:
ITCS maintains a list of their 25 campus computing sites, which includes details about different equipment, software, and printing options available at those locations. Locations convenient to the School of Social Work are the Angell Hall site, which is open 24 hours and has over 370 computers, and the Shapiro Library computing site, with approximately 70 computers on the 2nd floor and basement levels. ITCS staff are available for technical help in Angell Hall and in the School of Education SITES lab.
When you log out of a Campus Computing Site workstation all files on the desktop and any software you may have installed will be permanently deleted. It is highly recommended that you work from a flash drive (a.k.a. "thumb drive", "jump drive"). Of course, it is always good practice to save your work to a disk frequently!
Most buildings on campus now have access to the U-M Wireless Network. For detailed information, see ITCS' site on the UM Wireless Network. To connect to this network with a laptop:
It is possible to print documents to some campus printers, including those in the Social Work Library, via mPrint. Click on mPrint login to get started.
Anti-virus software and some tools useful for being a wired part of the U-M community are available for free for download from ITCS at U-M Blue Disc, or you can borrow the disc from the School of Social Work Office of Student Services.
Personal computers and software can be purchased at a student discount through the U-M Computer Showcase, located in the basement of the Michigan Union. The Microsoft Office suite provides most tools needed for group projects and presentations. Some manufacturers also offer discounts to students when you order directly from the manufacturer's website.
Your uniqname stays with you as long as you are affiliated with UM, and provides access to your email, transcript, financial information, filespace, library record, and other sensitive information. Your password should be changed as often as every 6 months. Change your Kerberos password to ensure that your information stays private.
The password first assigned to new students is a computer-generated password. Choose a new safe and secure password. You should not use your U-M password for any other purpose, so that a security compromise at one company or institution will not affect your access elsewhere.
Make sure you logout of any site completely that required you to use your uniqname and Kerberos password.
For problems with a uniqname and Kerberos password or if you have forgotten your password, contact the SSW Office of Student Services at (734) 764-3309 or the ITCS Accounts Office at (734) 764-8000.
It is critical that you check your e-mail account at U-M frequently. You are responsible for important messages received through email from the university, the School of Social Work, and professors.
Students new to using e-mail or who would like an overview of how to use e-mail at U-M are welcome to stop by the reference desk at the Social Work Library for assistance.
U-M Web mail gives you a way to access your e-mail from any computer with an Internet connection and a browser. You can access web mail directly by typing mail.umich.edu into your browser or from the University of Michigan gateway and click on the “Web-based E-mail” link in the Quick Links box in the lower right. To learn more, see Using mail.umich.edu: Getting Started.
Other options for accessing your email include setting up software on your laptop or home computer (e.g., Outlook, Eudora, Mulberry, Apple’s Mail application) or using e-mail forwarding to access your U-M e-mail from another account. See ITCS’ main e-mail information page for more information.
All students automatically get 1 GB of centralized electronic file storage in the Institutional File System (IFS). Use this filespace for personal file storage, to share files with others, and for publishing your own website. Some students also use flash (USB) drives to store and move files from one computer to another. Note that most computers on campus no longer have floppy disk drives.
You can access your IFS filespace very easily from computers in a Campus Computing Site, as well as most other computers connected to the campus network. Click on the link on the desktop for “My IFS Space” to enter your main directory; the folder named “Private” is the one in which you will probably keep most of your files. You can also access your main directory from the list of drives under “My Computer”, where you can find it by looking for your uniqname, which is the name for the directory.
When you work on a file or you print a file, save the file to the desktop. Do not work on or print from the IFS directory. Use the IFS directory for storage only. When you are done working on a document or file, copy it back to your IFS space. Any files left on the desktop will be erased when you log out of the computer.
You can also access this filespace from home or another computer via the web at mFile (best for small numbers of files and small files) or via SSH Secure Shell (available for free, and best for large numbers of files or large files). For details about using these, and for any questions not answered here, see the IFS Overview in the ITCS page on Storing and Sharing Files.
The University of Michigan Online Directory lists information about U-M students, faculty, and staff, including their uniqnames and e-mail addresses. You can also create email groups (e.g., for group projects) or add or delete yourself from existing, open groups through the directory. You can search this directory from the main page of the University of Michigan, by changing the option from “web” to “directory” next to the search box before entering your search.
To update your directory entry:
Social Work students may wish to keep their local address private (not available to the public). For more information about options in your U-M directory entry, see the Directory FAQ.
NOTE: Changing your address in the directory does not change the address you have on file with U-M. Your address has to be updated independently in Wolverine Access in order for your student information to be corrected immediately.
For help with email, your IFS space, printing, and the U-M Online Directory, and a variety of other issues, call ITCS at (734) 764-4357, or at 4-HELP from a campus phone.
The ITCS Accounts Office can assist with computing accounts, subscriptions, uniqnames, passwords, and billing inquiries regarding ITCS services.
The University of Michigan gateway serves as an entry point to information created or maintained by units of the University. You can search the site or do a directory search to find people and email groups at U-M.
Information about campus resources, services and events.
The School of Social Work website, including faculty/staff directories, class offerings and syllabuses, news, and calendars.
Extensive information on field instruction, including the field placement database.
A comprehensive library web site for the study of social work and gerontology for students, faculty, and social work professionals.
Provides access to online indexes and abstracts for articles on social work topics. Many databases also provide full-text of all or some of the articles they index.
Customizable portal to U-M library databases & indexes.
Instructions for using RefWorks with the major Social Work databases. RefWorks is a free web-based application for managing citations.
Links to course-related web pages and an overview of information literacy competencies.
An extensive list of research guides and subject bibliographies.
Answers to questions frequently asked at our Service Desk or received via e-mail.
The University Library is a system of 19 libraries on campus, including the Social Work Library. Social work students can use any library in the University Library system.
Mirlyn is the University of Michigan's library catalog. Use it to find books, journals, videos, and databases in the library system, but not to identify journal articles. Log in for services such as accessing Course Reserves and renewing items.
Campus Computing Sites provides public access workstations for use by University students, faculty and staff. Users are able to access a wide variety of software and Basic Computing Package services in their sites and classrooms.
Check your printing and file space usage here.
Documentation to help you use ITCS computing services.
U-M webmail gives you secure access to your U-M e-mail from any computer with an Internet connection. Also see Using web.mail.umich.edu: Getting Started to get started.
Free, downloadable software from ITCS for the U-M computing environment. The Blue Disc also includes anti-virus software.
mFile gives you secure access to your U of M IFS space from any computer with an Internet connection and a browser. It is an alternative to SSH Secure Shell.
Instructions for SSH Secure Shell, included on the Blue Disc, which is used to copy or transfer files from one computer to another over the Internet. SSH uses sftp (secure file transfer protocol) for a Windows PC. It allows access to U-M file storage space (IFS home directory) from your home computer.
Content last updated on: 20 May 2008
Social Work Library | (734) 764-5169 | social.work.library@umich.edu
B700 School of Social Work Building, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor MI 48109-1106
