Central

The acquisition of library resources for scholarship and teaching known as “collection development,” is a complicated process that strikes a balance between access and ownership. Factors, such as price, budget, availability, and licensing, increasingly impact the libraries’ abilities to provide the most relevant and useful set of resources for our… Read More

Are you trapped in a social media echo chamber? Don’t let yourself become a passive consumer of information in a world where informed discourse is intertwined with ‘hot takes’ from Facebook, Twitter, and other user-driven social media. Learn how to critically consume and challenge social media misinformation and disinformation. Read More

Can you critically evaluate news and media sources for fact-based data that is free from ideology? Learn strategies and tools for identifying inevitable bias (including our own) and practice analyzing information resources for evidence-based problem solving and informed… Read More

There have been a lot of conversations lately about the spread of misinformation and each of our individual roles in combating it. Fact-checking and evaluating information with a critical eye is extremely important in order to help stop the flow of disinformation. Librarians can help you work through this process,… Read More

Are your online activities being tracked? Privacy is essential for our freedom to generate new ideas and formulate our conception of self. Surveillance can influence our behaviors with manipulation and deception and stop us from engaging with new,… Read More

Why does the Census matter? Find out how Census data is used, its historical background and politics, how the pandemic has affected the Census process, and library resources to… Read More

Don’t forget that the Libraries are also here for you when you need a break! In addition to our lovely library buildings with quiet corners to cozy up in, check out our “for fun” collection, which includes fiction and travel books, audio books, and digital magazines. Read More

How can you defend yourself against manipulation by fabricated media?  ‘Deepfakes’ are synthetic images, videos, and audio that can undermine our ability to detect deception. Discover the machine learning… Read More

Complex technical information and research data can confuse an audience if not presented clearly. Learn how to use the narrative structures of storytelling to communicate your research in a way that will resonate with your audience. Register for the Workshop  … Read More

In honor of Read Across America our Central Library student workers produced a reading of Wherever You Go written by Pat Zietlow Miller and illustrated by Eliza Wheeler. Watch the full reading (this video has limited access to the VU Community and requires a VUnetID and password to… Read More