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About the Humanities, Business, and Social Sciences Library Department
This department supports the teaching, learning, and research activities of faculty, staff and students in the creative arts, business, humanities and social sciences. Our services include course-based instruction, tailored research guides, and individualized research consultations with our team of research librarians. We assist library users with research strategies, finding and evaluating information, and knowledge syntheses. Librarians lead the development of the collection by acquiring materials in support of Queen’s academic needs.
[Department Name] Specialists
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View more of Gillian Akenson
View more of Sylvia Andrychuk
View more of Jesse Baker
View more of Michele Chittenden
View more of Catherine Fournier Boulianne
View more of Cory Laverty
View more of Ginny Letourneau
View more of Carling Spinney
Research Help
Get help in person and online, including starting your research, developing research strategies, and advising on knowledge synthesis projects.
Teaching and Learning Support
We support faculty teaching and student learning, including delivering library instruction, and developing course specific research guides.
Teaching Series: Student2Scholar
In the wake of GenAI, Humanities, Business, and Social Sciences liaison librarians are highlighting their collective workshops in the Student2Scholar teaching series. These in-class workshops support research skill development at specific levels and for different purposes.
We invite you to contact us at stauffer.reference@queensu.ca if you are interested in tailoring a session for your course.
Discipline-Specific Research Tools:
Our standard workshop that highlights key disciplinary research tools suited to specific assignments or topics of study at the undergraduate level.
Generative AI Foundations:
Introduces GenAI processes and outputs where students compare the scope and accuracy of library research tools to GenAI software.
Graduate Orientation to Disciplinary Research:
Introduces advanced search techniques, subject-specific databases and resources, and specialized library services.
Government Information and Grey Literature:
Introduces information pathways to different forms of government information and grey literature.
CRITICAL Source Evaluation and Citation Justice:
Introduces an evaluation framework to enable the detection of bias, authority, information gaps, and misinformation.
Citation Management Using Zotero:
Demonstrates citation capture from Omni, Scholar, and databases, export in a selected citation style, and essay and reference integration.
Coding Qualitative Data with NVivo:
Introduces NVivo qualitative analysis software, workspace navigation, importing data files, and basic coding techniques.
Mapping and Geospatial Data:
Introduces cartographic collections including maps, air photos, atlases, globes, and geospatial data.
Research Guides
Databases, curated subject resources and tools for your research.
For more, see these guides:
We have created these guides to help you with recommended tools, resources, and research strategies. There are more guides than the ones listed below. Take a look at our complete list of guides by subject if you do not see what you are looking for.
Ready for Research Videos
| Searching vs ResearchingThe type of searching we do everyday on the internet is different than academic research. Learn more about the differences and why it matters. |
| Searching Using Search Engines vs DatabasesThe way you search changes depending on where you are searching. How the information is organized will influence how you find the most relevant resources. Watch this video to learn more about the tips and techniques for finding what you are looking for. |
Popular vs Scholarly SourcesThere are many types of sources and knowing the difference between popular and scholarly sources is vital to academic research. Learn how to identify the difference and why it matters in this video. |