The following resources at the Dewey Library will help you find a career in social work:

101 Careers in Social Work. Jessica A. Ritter, Halaevalu F.O. Vakalahi, & Mary Kiernan-Stern. New York: Springer Pub. Co., c2009.
Dewey Library Reference HV 10.5 R58 2009

Many paths, one purpose: Career paths for social work and human services majors. Edited by Tuyen D. Nguyen. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, c2006.
Dewey Library HV 10.5 M36X 2006

Social work career development: A handbook for job hunting and career planning. Carol Nesslein Doelling. Washington, DC: NASW Press, [2004?]
Dewey Library HV 10.5 D63 2004

Careers in social work. Leon H. Ginsberg. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, c1998.
Dewey Library HV 10.5 G55 1998

To prepare for the licensing exam, you may want to use a study guide. The Dewey Library has three copies on reserve of Study Guide: A Guide for Candidates Preparing for the ASWB Social Work Examination. Ask for this at the circulation desk!

You may also want to check out the Career and Education Resources section of Getting Started in Social Welfare Research. From here, you can find more information on licensing and accreditation, job resources, and professional associations. You may also want to check out the section on professional development. Professional development and continuing education are vital aspects of being a social worker. This site connects you with valuable resources.

Professional associations are a great way to get your foot in the door and learn about job opportunities. The Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA) is a national social work organization. The Job Board section provides resources for both job seekers and employers.

The National Association of Social Workers is another professional association you will want to be familiar with. NASW is the largest member social work organization in the world. Here, you can learn about recent publications in the field, access information on professional development, and advocate for meaningful causes. Their Social Work Career Center lists current job openings. If you want to stay local, you will want to check out NASW’s New York State Chapter.

If you have any questions on social work careers, please contact our social welfare bibliographer, Elaine Lasda Bergman by email at elasdabergman@albany.edu or phone at 442-3695.

Blog post created by Katherine Farrell

This week's schedule is as follows:

Monday, 5/14:
1:00 pm: Social Welfare Research Seminar

You can sign up for a class by visiting the Reference Desk, calling us at 442-3691, or visiting our registration page.

Blog post by Cary Gouldin

The Quiet Study area in the basement of Dewey, of course! Equipped with computers, printers, a copier, study carrels, tables and comfortable reading chairs, this space will satisfy all your study needs. The many computers feature all Information Commons software, like Photoshop, EndNote, Access and SAS. The space is also on the University’s wireless network, so you can bring your own laptop.

Have a group project to work on or want to study with a friend? We’ve got the space for that too! Also located in the basement, our Group Study area features large tables, Information Commons computers and some comfy chairs. To get there walk through the Quiet Study area, up the stairs on the left-hand side, and through the door at the top of the stairs.

Good luck on your finals!

If you have any questions or need research help, stop by the Reference Desk.

Blog post created by Cary Gouldin

However, not all of the news was grim. The public library in Troy, Michigan was saved from closing after voters approved a five-year operating millage. Circulation is rising among public libraries in many major U.S. cities, and there is an increase in demand for e-books in libraries. “Guerilla libraries” appeared in camps of the Occupy movement. In Zuccotti Park, the location for the Occupy Wall Street movement, the People’s Library was created. When the park was cleared on November 15th, the People’s Library had 5,500 volumes.

Libraries also continue to shed light on issues such as censorship, copyright, and piracy issues. Banned Books Week stresses the importance of the First Amendment and the dangers of censorship. Libraries are also connecting to customers through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Social media has helped libraries widen their reach within the communities they serve.

What do you think 2012 will bring? What can libraries do to improve their services when facing stagnant budgets and reduced staff?

Blog post created by Katie Farrell

This week’s class schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, 5/9:
3:30 pm: Evidence Based Practice

You can sign-up for this class on our website, call 442-3691, or stop by the Dewey Reference Desk.

Blog post created by Cary Gouldin
 

Photo Credit: Morris Stilson

Shocked and awed: a dictionary of the War on Terror. Fred Halliday. Berkeley: University of California Press, c2010.
Dewey Library Reference JZ 1253.5 H355 2010
This unconventional dictionary defines words and phrases used about 9/11 and issues that have followed it. Religious, political, and military words are defined. Quotes, Middle Eastern vocabulary, and stereotypes are also explored.

An encyclopedia of human rights in the United States. H. Victor Condé. Amenia, NY: Grey House Pub., c2011.
Dewey Library Reference KF 4747.5 C37 2011
With important legal cases and information on UN involvement, this encyclopedia examines all aspects of human rights. International and non-governmental organizations’ roles regarding human rights are also explored.

Getting and finding social workers jobs: the ultimate guide for job seekers and recruiters. Brad Andrews. [Qld., Australia : Emereo Pty Ltd., 2009?].
Dewey Library Reference HV 10.5 A547X 2009
This guide provides information on opportunities in the social work field and how to get hired. Get advice on resumes and cover letters as well as tips on the interview process.

If you have any questions about our new reference titles at the Dewey Library, stop by the reference desk or call us at 442-3691!

The schedule of classes for this week is:

Wednesday, 5/2:
1:00 pm: Introduction to Information Resources for Gerontology
3:00 pm: Introduction to Research Databases

For more information or to sign up for a session, visit the Reference Desk, call us at 442-3691, or visit our registration page.

Blog post created by Cary Gouldin

Photo credit: Morris Stilson

Elaine M. Lasda Bergman
Bibliographer for Dewey Reference, Social Welfare, and Gerontology
(518) 442-3695
elasdabergman@albany.edu

Mary Jane Brustman
Bibliographer for Criminal Justice
(518)-442-3540
mbrustman@albany.edu

Deborah Bernnard
Bibliographer for Information Studies
(518) 442-3699
dbernnard@albany.edu

Richard Irving
Bibliographer for Political Science, Public Administration & Policy, and Law
(518) 442-3698
rirving@albany.edu

There is a complete listing of library subject specialists [] available on the library website, look for it under the "Research Assistance" tab.

Do not hesitate to call or email them and set up an appointment to get help for your most recent project or assignment. They are here to help and are happy to sit down and work through a problem with you.

Blog post created by Katherine Farrell

Here at the Dewey Library you may want to check out:

In the field: a guide for the social work practicum. William A. Danowski. Boston: Pearson, c2012.
Dewey Library HV 11 D357 2012

Contemporary field social work: integrating field and classroom experience. Mark Doel, Steven M. Shardlow, & Paul G. Johnson. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, c2011.
Dewey Library HV 11 D635 2011

The practicum companion for social work: integrating class and field work. Julie Birkenmaier &Marla Berg-Weger. Boston, MA: Pearson A and B, c2007.
Dewey Library HV 11 B44 2007

Educational supervision in social work: a task-centered model for field instruction and staff development. Jonathan Caspi & William J. Reid. New York: Columbia University Press, c2002.
Dewey Library HV 11 C335 2002

The University Libraries also subscribes to journals that provide more information on field placement. These are all available online:

Journal of Social Work Education
Online / Periodical: HV 11 J664X WWW

Social Work Education
Online / Periodical: WWW

Journal of Teaching Social Work
Online / Periodical: HV 11 J664X WWW

In addition to online journal subscriptions, there are also several online sources:

Here at the University at Albany, you are required to complete two field placements. The School of Social Welfare has detailed information on field placementsfor MSW and BSW students. In addition you can learn details about the requirements you will need to fulfill while pursuing your social work degree.

For general information on field work placements, mswprograms.com is a good place to look. Here, you will understand the basics of field placement, general school requirements, and the differences between your first and second year placements.

The OCFS Graduate Student Training Program through the New York State Social Education Consortium provides field placement opportunities to social welfare students. Tuition support for those already working in child welfare services is available as well as stipends for interns.

The Office of Mental Health provides a list of evidence-based practice in mental health field placement sites in New York State. The sites listed are all EBP approved sites for field placement. This is a great resource for those of you interested in EBP and mental health.

Once you’ve graduated, you may want to become a licensed clinical social worker. The New York State Office of the Professions has information on how to obtain your clinical license. Keep this information stored away until you need it! It can be a confusing process but the Office of the Professions helps break down the information into something manageable.

If you have any more questions on field placement resources, please contact our social welfare bibliographer, Elaine Lasda Bergman by email at elasdabergman@albany.edu or phone at 442-3695.

Blog post created by Katherine Farrell

This week’s schedule of classes is as follows:

Wednesday, 4/25:
4:00 pm: Social Welfare Research Seminar

You can sign up for this class by visiting the Reference Desk, calling us at 442-3691, or visiting our registration page.

Blog post by Cary Gouldin

Commercial publishers for the most part accept scholarly material for publication either for free from the author or they may charge the author fees for publishing, such as in the case of so called page charges. Page charges may range from $100 for each page of the article to $2000 for color illustrations or other special page features. Commercial publishers usually require the author to give them the copyright for the material, then they charge royalty fees, subscription fees or other access charges for those who wish to read or otherwise use the material in order to make their profit. The restrictions and prices imposed by commercial publishers of scholarly materials can be a difficult barrier to access for those who need to read or use the materials. Commercial publishers may also provide free access to users of the material, not require the author to assign copyright to them, and instead charge the author substantive fees to have the material published. This open access offering by publishers is called the “author pays” model. The fees may be equivalent to the amount the publisher may expect to otherwise make from subscriptions or pay-per-use models and may be as high as $2500 for a journal article.

Many see the barriers created by copyright as destructive developments for the scholarly community, noting that if an individual scholar is not able to read all the scholarship in their field due to price restrictions or interlibrary lending restrictions, their scholarship suffers as a consequence. If one can only have access to 80% of what exists in that scholarly field, what is the quality of one’s scholarship? These are troubling issues in the current scholarly communication system.

Because the internet provides many alternatives to commercial publishing for scholars, it is possible to distribute scholarly materials at no cost to the user other than the costs involved in getting access to an internet connection. There are now thousands of free scholarly journals. This free access for users is the open access alternative, and more scholars are taking advantage of it because of the barrier-free access it provides to their work and the subsequent higher impact. When the material is available without copyright restrictions, fees and subscription charges for access, data is beginning to show that the material is used more frequently than copyright-restricted material. By using open access distribution methods, scholars implicitly give permission for use of material free of charge and copies can be made and distributed by whoever wishes to do so without individual permission by the author. Some open access publications are restricted somewhat by Creative Commons licenses that may require use to also include attribution for the original author, or may require that each use also be open access.

The open access alternative is so attractive for so many different reasons that many funding agencies now require scholarly authors to publish the results of their projects in open access venues and the faculties of many institutions are declaring through resolutions that they will publish only in open access venues.

For more information and discussion regarding open access, see the Simmons College Open Access wiki.

Blog post created by Lorre Smith

Professor Peterson’s research interests include youth gangs and violence, juvenile justice, youth gang intervention and prevention, juvenile treatment, and sex and gender issues in gangs and delinquency. She is particularly interested in the debate over the efficacy of gender-based theories and responses to youth gangs and delinquency, and the effects gender has on the structures of delinquency and gang involvement.

Professor Peterson has written or contributed to several books that you can find in the University Libraries’ collections:

Peterson, Dana. 2012. “Girlfriends, Gun-holders, and Ghetto-rats? Moving Beyond Narrow Views of Girls in Gangs.” In Delinquent Girls: Contexts, Relationships, and Adaptation, edited by Shari Miller, Leslie D. Leve, and Patricia K. Kerig. New York: Springer.

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Dana Peterson, Terrance J. Taylor, and Adrienne Freng. 2010. Youth Violence: Sex and Race Differences in Offending, Victimization, and Gang Membership. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
University Library / HQ 799.2 V56 Y684 2010

Peterson, Dana. 2009. “The Many Ways of Knowing: Multi-method Comparative Research to Enhance our Understanding of and Responses to Youth Street Gangs.” in Handbook on Crime and Deviance, edited by Marv D. Krohn, Alan J. Lizotte, and Gina Penly Hall. New York: Springer Science and Business Media.
Dewey Library / HV 6025 H278X 2009

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Dana Peterson, Terrance J. Taylor, Adrienne Freng, and D. Wayne Osgood. 2004. “Gang Prevention: A Case Study of a Primary Prevention Program.”in American Youth Gangs at the Millennium, edited by in Finn-Aage Esbensen, Larry K. Gaines, and Stephen G. Tibbetts Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Dewey Library / HV 6439 U5 E73 2004

Peterson, Dana. 2003. “Girls and Boys Town.” in Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice, edited by Marilyn D. McShane and Frank P. Williams III. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dewey Library / Reference: HV 9104 E58 2003

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Adrienne Freng, Terrance J. Taylor, Dana Peterson, and D. Wayne Osgood. 2002. “Putting Research Into Practice: The National Evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program.” in Winifred L. Reed and Scott H. Decker (Eds.), Responding to Gangs: Evaluation and Research, Research Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
University Library / GovDoc: J 85 J 28.2:G 15

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Dana Peterson, Adrienne Freng, and Terrance J. Taylor. 2002. “Initiation of Drug Use, Drug Sales, and Violent Offending Among a Sample of Gang and Non-Gang Youth.” in Gangs in America, 3rd Edition, edited by C. Ronald Huff. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dewey Library / HV 6439 U5 G36 2002

She has also authored many articles that have been published in scholarly journals. Some of her most recent include:

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Dana Peterson, Terrance J. Taylor, Adrienne Freng, D. Wayne Osgood, Dena C. Carson, and Kristy N. Matsuda. "Evaluation and Evolution of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program.” Journal of School Violence. 10(1): 53-70. Available through Education Research Complete.

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Dana Peterson, Terrance J. Taylor, and Adrienne Freng. 2009. ”Similarities and Differences in Risk Factors for Youth Violence and Gang Membership.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology. 42(3): 310-335. Available at Dewey Library (Periodical HV 6001 A9) or through Academic Search Complete.

Taylor, Terrance J., Adrienne Freng, Finn-Aage Esbensen, and Dana Peterson. 2008. “Youth Gang Membership & Serious Violent Victimization: The importance of lifestyles/routine activities.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 23(10): 1441-1464. Available through Criminology: A SAGE Full-Text Collection.

Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Chris Melde, Terrance J. Taylor, and Dana Peterson. 2008. “Active Parental Consent in School-Based Research: How Much is Enough and How Do We Get It?” Evaluation Review 32(4): 335-362. Available at Dewey Library (Periodical H 1 E73X) or through the publisher’s website [http://libms3.albany.edu:8991/F/IXMN9K3YRIVGMCCIA86H589M1EFECDJJIRBP3HMQTLGQEUC1LR-65667?func=item-global&doc_library=ALB01&doc_number=000961539&year=&volume=&sub_library=ALBR]

Englebrecht, Christine, Dana Peterson, Aaron Scherer, and Toni Naccarato. 2008. “It's Not My Fault: Acceptance of Responsibility as a Component of Engagement.” Children and Youth Services Review 30(4): 466-484. Available through SUNY Science Direct Titles.

A complete list of Professor Peterson’s publications can be found on her Curriculum Vita For research assistance, contact Mary Jane Burstman, our criminal justice bibliographer, at 442-3540 or mbrustman@albany.edu.

Blog post created by Cary Gouldin

The schedule for this week is as follows:

Tuesday, 4/17:
1:00 pm: Evidence Based Practice

Thursday, 4/19:
2:00 pm: Introduction to Research Databases

To sign up for a session, visit the Reference Desk, call us at 442-3691, or visit our registration page.

Blog post by Cary Gouldin