Top 100 Alternative Search Engines

This is from Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff and ExLibris (Subscribe here)
I'm working my way through them. but you have to try the Ms Dewey Search Engine for an experience you have never had with a search engine or a librarian before. Very Interesting! Be patient, it takes a minute to load and retrieve results, but the wait is not like any other you've experienced. Now we need a male version.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php

Academic Research Center aka Computer Lab in the Univ. Library

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"--a computer lab in the Library! Room 128, just inside the west[lakeside] doors opened today as the Academic Research Center [ARC] with 14 computers loaded with Word, Powerpoint, Excel, CD/DVD read-only drives, Quicktime, Flash, Windows Media Player. Bring your own headphones if you want audio. Thank Dr. Covey & Library Systems & Admin. for now being able to finish and print your papers in the Library, or print your instructor's ppt slides, or use your text's DVD to study. "He chortled in his joy."

"Beware the Jabberwock": it is only for USA students with a student ID. Two hour limit. No food or drink. Rebooting erases everything. All printing goes to the TRACcard printers in "the pit" and cost 10¢ a page. js

Photoshop Envy?

I got this tip from Poynteronline's Web Tips. Photoshop is great if you can afford it. The web has some free utilities that let you do many of the things you can do in Photoshop--adjust contrast, saturation, reduce red eye, crop, etc. -- AND they are free.
I tried the first one on this list, Picnik.com and it works really well. I upload my photo; 'shopped it; saved it back to my desktop quickly. Try it with your digital photos and voila! You might have banished your Photoshop envy forever.
<http://www.picnik.com/>Picnik.com
<http://www.snipshot.com/>Snipshot.com
<http://www.pixer.us/>Pixer.us
<http://www.fauxto.com/>Fauxto.com

If you want to get these kinds of tip in your own email, go here http://www.poynter.org/profile/subscribe_info.asp js

Feb. Government Docs and Spring Newsletter

HOT DOCS for a cold Feb. Day
Vickey Baggott, in the Documents Dept., invites you to check out the new HOT DOCS at USA page and discover newly acquired documents for perusing on a cold winter's day."

And Jan Sauer invites you to peruse the latest University Library Newsletter.

Multimedia for the Weekend

two from the weekly Scout Reports

Independent Short films
Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/insideindies/shortsfest/index.html

"Included are a film that explores a Parisian secret from 1951, a meditation of growing old, and an artist who created a monument out of mud, old paint, and adobe. After viewing the films, visitors are also welcome to leave their comments in the "Talkback" section, submit a film or find out more about the members of the jury for this online film festival."


StoryCorps [Quick Time, Real Player]
http://www.storycorps.net/

"Drawing inspiration from the wide-ranging projects of the Works Progress Administration, the StoryCorps project was created "to instruct and inspire
people to record each others' stories in sound."

J Number Access

The techie folks here in the library and in the computer center have now set up the login to our databases from home or off campus to accept J numbers. Each student, staff and faculty has a J number. Faculty--check your paycheck--it's on the stub. Use it without the J00.

Some long time occasional users might not have noticed but the Login Name now requires your full last name and the first two letters of your first name [not your initials-the first two letters!]

If you still have trouble logging in from off campus read this: Remote Access If you still have a problem then call or email us or come in and we will figure out the problem. js

Searching for the BEST Sites

Last Friday I made a link to the American Library Association-Reference and User Services Association Best Free Reference Web Sites. An enterprising librarian named Bill Drew has created a "Google Custom Search Engine" to assist you in focusing on the best information from these hand-picked websites for your particular need. A great time saver when looking for reliable results. Type a name, or history, or a quotation and see what happens. Who needs a million Google return when you can search within the best of the best. Make this a favorite/bookmark.
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=012681041057676717069%3Alxoys7hon_y

If you want to know more about the existence of other GCSEs, how to find them and how to make them, then read this article from Research Buzz, the list that alerts me to lots of good stuff.

BTW, I had to teach a library session for a computer science class last night so I updated the webpage Amy Prendergast has been using. If you need CS info you might want to look at this page. Research Methodologies CIS 518 js

Best Free Reference Sites & Weekend Project

OK, you must bookmark this site. It's the reference librarians' list of the best websites for reference type information.
Best Reference Sites of 1999-2006

And for your weekend activity:
http://members.cox.net/crandall11/money/shirt/

Procrastination Central

"Anyone can do any amount of work providing it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." Robert Benchley [Like me right now]

It's early in the semester. You are starting to understand how much work you are going to have to do to make it through. This is a resource you should try. Take the assessment and see what you can do to get over the stalling and JUST DO IT!

Procrastination Central gives you:
* A formal definition of procrastination
* A list of scholarly articles, theses, and books
* A historical analysis
* Theories, treatments, and case studies

Finally, we are in the process of conducting new research. If you would like to have your own procrastination assessed, please click here or on the procrastination link under Online Studies on your left. You will get a formal assessment of your procrastination as well as some suggestions about what you can do to reduce your delaying.

Scholarpedia

Here's another attempt to create a reliable source of information with "experts" supplying the information. Volunteer if you are an expert. http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Main_Page