Mann Library Workshops

To see a calendar view of workshops offered by most Cornell libraries, click here.

If you've taken a workshop, please
fill out our workshop survey
and tell us what you think!

Unless otherwise noted, all workshops will be held in Mann Library's Stone classroom. Please note: The Stone classroom has moved and is now located on the first floor just to your left as you enter the library proper.

Register for workshops by:

• clicking the Register link under each workshop description
• calling 255-5406
• signing up in person at the Mann Library Reference Desk.

Please note your confirmation number in case you need to change your registration. If you cannot attend a workshop you have registered for, you can now cancel your registration; enter your last name and confirmation number. You can also contact the Mann Library Reference Desk at mann_ref@cornell.edu.

Workshops are restricted to registered Cornell University students, staff and faculty (though exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis; contact ca92@cornell.edu). There are also workshops offered by:

• other Cornell Libraries,
• Academic Technology Services,
• CIT Training course catalog,
  
• the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER) and
• the Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit.

For more Library events, see the CUL Events Calendar.

Find Information Fast

Library Research

Improve your research skills by learning the fundamental concepts and principles of library research and mastering the following library technologies: the Library Gateway, the Online Catalog, and the electronic databases and e-journals.

Library Research Tutorial

Library Tours

From individual study rooms to state-of-the-art computing to a swinging cafe, come explore the newly renovated Mann Library, Cornell's largest science library, which serves the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Human Ecology, and the Division of Nutritional Sciences. No registration required. Meet in the lobby of Mann Library.

Life Sciences Databases: What's New in Web of Knowledge

In this essential workshop for anyone in the life sciences and agriculture, learn how to search the scientific literature, save your sources and searches, and keep up quickly and easily using the databases in the new Web of Knowledge platform. Both novice and experienced researchers will benefit from this first look at the new face of life sciences databases such as Web of Science and BIOSIS. Please note: This workshop will take place in Warren 160.

Bioinformatics

This class will be taught in the form of a lecture followed by a hands-on session. The lecture will begin with an overview of some of the major public access molecular databases, but will focus on resources available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). In particular, attention will be given to the effective use of NCBI's Nucleotide, Protein, Structure, Gene, and Homologene databases, and the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) at an introductory level. MapViewer, a tool that enables search and display of genomic information by chromosomal position, and Cn3D, NCBI's 3-D visualization tool for proteins will also be demonstrated.

Getting Started With Bloomberg

What do at least 250,000 investment professionals around the world have in common with each other? Bloomberg, the investment tool for finance professionals. Attend this 90 minute demonstration to learn what employers expect from students seeking finance and investment banking careers. The instructor will demonstrate how to conduct equity, fixed income and portfolio management research using Bloomberg and how to gain a competitive advantage by earning Bloomberg certification. Please plan to attend on time. If you have questions or are unable to attend the full session, please contact Baseema Banoo at bb75@cornell.edu to schedule a separate consultation.
Download Workshop Handout (pdf)

Better Research for Interviews

Researching your potential employer communicates that you are keenly interested in the firm and its business. A recent Cornell Daily Sun article reported that interviewers expect more from Cornell students during job interviews. Resources available through the library could provide the competitive edge to your interview preparation. The instructor will demonstrate information resources and discuss an effective business research process that you can use during your interview preparation. The presentation will be followed by hands-on practice time for participants. To get the most out of the seminar, come on time and plan to attend the full session. If you have questions, please contact Baseema Banoo at bb75@cornell.edu.

Keep Current with News & Research

Want to learn how to get journal tables of contents, announcements from professional societies, or just the latest news, easily and automatically? In this hands-on session, using simple, free web tools such as Bloglines, del.icio.us, and Connotea, you will learn how to automatically obtain useful and timely information in easily browseable form via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. Keep your web browser bookmarks online and accessible from any networked computer, share them and see what others with your interests are reading, and export bookmarked items to your favorite citation management software.

Work With Data

Access-Parts 1 and 2

Please note: This workshop is in two sessions. When you register, you are registering for both sessions.

Part I will cover tables and reports, and Part II will focus on queries and forms. Use Microsoft Access to store and retrieve information that can be used to automate common workplace tasks. Create a sample database, sort and filter data, and generate reports. This class will also prepare you to learn more specialized features of Access on your own. Database design and programming will not be covered, and no prior knowledge of these topics will be assumed. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows or Macintosh experience.

Basic Data Analysis

Please note: This workshop is in two sessions. When you register, you are registering for both sessions.

Do you need to collect and analyze data for a research project? Is your statistical training limited or do you feel that you lack practical skills? This 4-hour, hands-on workshop is designed to help you get started organizing and analyzing data. The topics covered include: structuring data; creating a codebook; entering data into a computer; and verifying, cleaning, transforming, exploring and graphing data. No prerequisites required.
Offered by Francoise Vermeylen from the Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit.

Getting Started With Data Analysis

Although this workshop is open to all researchers, it is especially intended to help honors students getting started with the analysis of quantitative data. The focus of the workshop is on practical data analysis and topics covered will include the organization, summarization, basic analysis and presentation of data. Participants are encouraged to bring their own data if possible because a statistical consultant will be available after the workshop to answer their specific questions.
Offered by Francoise Vermeylen from the Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit.

Excel Quick Start

These brief hands-on introductions to Excel illustrate the main features of the program and common techniques for doing simple calculations and creating basic graphs. Advanced statistics and data analysis will not be covered.

Session 1: Inputting and formatting

Get an introduction to Excel features for cell and worksheet formatting. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows or Macintosh experience. No previous Excel experience required.

Session 2: Functions and macros

Learn to use Excel macros and functions. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows and Excel experience; Knowledge of material in Session 1 or permission of instructor (contact gwl1@cornell.edu).

Session 3: Basic charts

Learn to use the Excel Chart wizard and create pie and line charts. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows and Excel experience; Knowledge of material in Sessions 1 and 2 or permission of instructor (contact gwl1@cornell.edu).

Session 4: Question and Answer session

Bring new or followup questions to this open question and answer period.

GIS Mapping

ArcGIS 1: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows experience. This workshop consists of a brief overview of GIS concepts followed by hands-on experience with GIS software (ArcGIS 9.2) to create your own digital map. Learn to join tabular census data to GIS data and construct a thematic map displaying demographic statistics from the U.S. Census.

GIS Tutorials

ArcGIS 2: Adding Your Own Data to a GIS Learn one of several ways to add your own data to a GIS. This workshop will begin with an overview of how to add data to a GIS (ArcGIS 9.2), including general principles and finding an appropriate basemap. Participants will then choose one or more of the following tutorials to work on: adding GPS data; geocoding street addresses; joining tabular data to existing geographic features; and georeferencing a scanned image. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows and Excel experience; GIS 1 or permission of instructor (contact kgj2@cornell.edu).

Introduction to Manifold GIS

This workshop will cover the basic concepts of GIS mapping and analysis using Manifold, a modern, low-cost, high-performance GIS application. Learn how to import different types of data, perform basic spatial analysis, and create maps. This workshop is intended for GIS novices, and also for experienced ArcGIS users who want to learn the basics of the Manifold interface.

Save and Cite Your Sources

EndNote for Citation Management

We offer three introductory and two advanced sessions. You can register for any of them separately.

Introductory session Having trouble keeping track of the research that you find? Working on a long paper or thesis? Manage your own database of references using EndNote. This class focuses on developing hands-on skills using EndNote for creating bibliographies. Ideal for those who need to manage large numbers of citations. Prerequisite: MS Windows or Macintosh experience.

EndNote tutorials

Advanced sessions Prerequisite: hands-on experience with EndNote. Please note: These classes are not for the beginner. None of the material from Introductory EndNote will be repeated. This means that such topics as downloading from databases into EndNote, citing references and generating bibliographies in Word will not be covered. If you have missed Introductory EndNote and would like training or have a specific EndNote question not covered by the advanced EndNote sessions, please contact the reference desk or fill out a consultation form.

Advanced EndNote: Creating and Managing Your Filters In this hands-on session, learn how import filters work and how to create a custom filter to load citations from an existing Word document or Excel spreadsheet.

RefWorks for Citation Management

This class will provide an introduction to Refworks, a software program freely available to the Cornell community. A web-based, EndNote-like product, Refworks allows users to easily import and organize references from online database searches and format their papers and bibliographies.

RefWorks Tutorial

Present Your Projects

Capture, Mix, Burn: Tools to Acquire Edit & Export Your Video Project

Session 1: Learn how to import footage from a digital camera into iMovie, do very simple editing and export your video to a digital media file or DVD. Learn best practices in editing and manipulating video using iMovie on Macintosh computers using OS X and see what other software, services and support are available to you for videography at Mann or from other venues on campus. No previous experience required. Please note: This workshop will take place in Warren B60.

Session 2: We will review the process of exporting your iMovie product to a digital media file; learn and experiment with video encoding and encode your video/audio into a supported format that fits your needs; and extract audio from video, change video size and convert one format to another format. In this session the formats we will use are MP3, MP4, MOV, MPEG and DV. Prerequisite: Some video editing experience; attendance at first session or permission of instructor (contact pdh28@cornell.edu). Please note: This workshop will take place in Warren B60.

Photoshop: Graphic Design

We offer two introductory and two intermediate sessions. You can register for any of them separately.

Introductory Photoshop Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows experience. Learn to scan your photographs and use Adobe Photoshop to improve them by cropping, removing red eye, altering color/contrast and lightening or darkening selected areas. The class will have a lesson component as well as time for personal exploration using the software. Students are welcome to bring in their own photos for use during the exploration portion of the class. Please note: This class focuses on basic image manipulation. For more advanced techniques, see the Intermediate Photoshop workshop.

Intermediate Photoshop Prerequisite: Introductory Photoshop or prior experience with Photoshop. Using Adobe Photoshop (Windows PC platform), this class builds on the introductory class which assumes familiarity with basic scanning and image manipulation. The focus will be on graphic design with text and images, using layers and working with advanced text manipulation and image filters.

Top

PowerPoint: Creating Electronic Presentations

This hands-on workshop provides an introduction to MS PowerPoint for presentation, focusing on effective visual display, appropriate use of the software, and the creation of a PowerPoint slide show. Learn how to add graphics and text, modify slide backgrounds and design, save and produce slide shows in multiple formats, and print out handouts. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows experience.

Web Design

Dreamweaver

Please note: These workshops are in two sessions. When you register, you are registering for both sessions.

This workshop will focus on the bare essentials of creating a web page using Dreamweaver. This will include working in both "Code View" and "Design View" to set up a web site, format text, change colors and fonts, insert links, and add images. Prerequisites: Registration for or possession of a free CU People Page account (http://people.cornell.edu/). Knowledge of HTML code is helpful but not required.

Dreamweaver tutorial

Web Design Made Simple

Please note: These workshops are in two sessions. When you register, you are registering for both sessions.

This course will cover the basics of web design using nothing more than XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and your everyday text editor--no application like Dreamweaver required. As long as you can type and have an interest in developing websites, you can take this class. In the first session, we will introduce the basic XHTML tags and discuss how to structure the content of your page. In the second session, we will review how to use CSS to control the layout of your page.

Desktop Publishing Using InDesign

Newsletters and other publications are a great way to get the word out about your organization or keep in touch with your members. InDesign is one of the industry's most popular software programs for laying out newsletters, newspapers, magazine etc. In this short workshop you will learn the basics of how to format and layout articles, add pictures, format text and prepare your finished newsletter, newspaper or magazine for publication in print or on the web as a PDF. Following the class you should be able to use the InDesign software (freely available at Mann Library) to easily design publications for your organization and create new issues of your publications with less effort. Prerequisite: Microsoft Windows or Macintosh experience. No previous InDesign experience required.