Thousands of video tutorials from experts on software programs, design, and business skills: lynda.com via SFU Library has been renewed

I'm pleased to share the news that SFU Library has renewed our expanded lynda.com subscription for 2014.

lynda.com includes thousands of video tutorials from experts on software programs, design, and business skills. It covers hundreds of topics, including Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Flash, Final Cut Pro, presentation skills, print + web design, programming, digital photography + video, animation, and much more.

We have been running a pilot subscription for much of this year, which has allowed us to conduct surveys, gather feedback and monitor usage data. The pilot subscription has demonstrated that the SFU community is using this resource heavily and is very satisfied with it. We learned that lynda.com is an important resource for all types of users across departments and units at SFU. In particular, some faculty members have been directing their students to lynda.com tutorials so they can learn software and skills for assignments from anywhere at their own pace. Currently, we are only able to guarantee our subscription for 2014. We hope to continue our subscription into 2015 and beyond, but this will depend on our budget. A quick scan of the current lynda.com content unearths quite a few video tutorials that might be of interest to SFU's business/economics researchers. For example:

• SPSS Statistics Essential Training: A practical, visual, and non-mathematical approach to the basics of statistical concepts and data analysis in SPSS, the statistical package for business, government, research, and academic organizations. (over 5 hours long!)
   
• Many project management videos, ranging from the basics ("Project Management Fundamentals") to software guides (Basecamp, Project 2013, etc.) to specific situations ("Managing Small Projects" or "Practical Project Management for Creative Projects"), as well as some that touch on other major business areas such as "Online Marketing Fundamentals" and "Financial Literacy: Reading Financial Reports"
   
• Social Media guides such as "Up and Running with LinkedIn" or "Facebook for Your Business"
    
• And, of course, the usual guides to common business software such as "Data-Driven Presentations with Excel and PowerPoint"