LiBLog-USA

Spring Library Hours

2012-01-17T12:21:00.000-06:00

The University Library is now operating on Spring Semester Hours:

Monday - Thursday: 7:45am-11:00pm
Friday: 7:45am-6:00pm
Saturday: 9:30am-5:00pm
Sunday: 1:00pm-10:00pm

The Reference and Documents/Serials desks close an hour earlier than the Library on Sunday - Thursday. The ARC Lab closes 30 minutes earlier than the Library.

Library Interim Hours and Closure

2012-01-05T09:52:00.001-06:00

The University Library is currently on Interim Hours, 8:00am - 5:00pm, Monday-Friday, January 3-15. We are closed on Saturday and Sunday.

The University Library will also be closed Monday, January 16, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Holiday Hours

2011-12-22T15:42:00.001-06:00

The University Library will be closed for the holidays for Friday, 12/23/2011 - Monday, 1/2/2012

Have a good holiday season.

Library Interim Hours

2011-12-16T11:04:00.000-06:00

The University Library is on Interim Hours beginning Thursday, December 15. Our hours are:

Dec. 15 (Thursday) - Dec. 22 (Thursday): 8:00am - 5:00pm, Monday-Friday

We are closed on weekends. For more information, see http://library.southalabama.edu/InterimDec2011.pdf

Salvage the Bones and the National Book Award

2011-11-17T16:23:00.001-06:00

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, USA Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, is the winner of the National Book Award for Fiction. It is set during Hurricane Katrina's landfall and tells the story of a young African-American girl and her family who are living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during this time.

The University Library owns Salvage the Bones, but the circulating copy is currently checked out and due back 12-01-11. You can place a hold on it by clicking on the title above -- this will take you to SOUTHcat. Click on Hold/Recall and enter your login information, choose Hold, and enter your J Number again. Then submit the request.

Can't wait to read a Jesmyn Ward novel? The University Library also owns Ms. Ward's debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds. The call number is PS 3623 .A7323 W47 2008, and the novel can be found on the 4th Floor South.

Update (11/18/2011): Check out the CNN interview with Ward.

Haruki Murakami Display

2011-11-08T12:46:00.001-06:00

Haruki Murakami is an award winning writer of both fiction and non-fiction. In 2006, his novel, Kafka on the Shore (PL 856 .U673 U4813 2005) , won both the World Fantasy Award for Novels and the Franz Kafka Prize. Check out Ellen Wilson's display of the works of Murakami that are owned by the University Library. It's on the pond side of the library near the TracCard printers.

New Computers in Reference Section! (With Software)

2011-10-19T09:39:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the wonderful efforts of the University Library Systems Department, we now have 10 additional computers available for USA student use in the Reference section of the library. These computers are located across the back wall of windows on the 2nd floor North. These new computers are equiped with the same software that is available on the computers in the ARC computer lab.

In order to log onto these computers, students scan a barcode placed on the back of their TRACcard; these barcodes are placed on the TRACcard after students have verified with the circulation staff that they are USA students.

The Reference staff would like to send a sincere thanks to Gary Pugh for his hard work getting these new computers up and running for our students!

Art of Reading at West Regional Public Library

2011-10-18T12:57:00.000-05:00

Ellen Wilson, Instructional Services Librarian, has a quilt hanging in the Mobile Public Libraries' (West Regional Branch) Art of Reading show. This art show is a juried exhibition and will be hanging in the West Regional Branch through December 2, 2011.

New vending machines!

2011-10-05T08:20:00.002-05:00

In order to respond to the closure of the student center, we have installed 3 vending machines outside the library - 2 Pepsi machines and a snack machine. In conjunction with this, we have updated the library's food and drink policy:

Food and Drink Guidelines
University Library, University of South Alabama
The goals of the University Library include providing a comfortable and inviting study atmosphere for our library users and also protecting the Library’s collections, equipment, and furnishings.
The University Library allows the consumption of snack food and non-alcoholic beverages under the following conditions:
• Snack food and drinks are only allowed in library study areas.
ALLOWED: SNACK FOOD = chips, nuts, pretzels, cookies and other pre- packaged items.
NOT ALLOWED: pizza, burgers, fries, sandwiches, salads, etc.
• Use sturdy, “spill-proof” containers to minimize damage to Library resources and facilities.
• Dispose of any food and drink-related trash properly.
• Please report any spill to Library staff immediately so the spill can be cleaned ASAP.
LIMITATIONS:
1. The delivery of food to the Library for library users is prohibited.
2. Eating and drinking are NOT permitted at or near:
• Computer workstations
• Media equipment
• Printers or photocopiers
• Aisles and stacks where books are shelved
3. Eating and drinking are NOT permitted in the ARC Computer Lab.
We expect that you will make every effort to accept the responsibility that these guidelines allow. Your recognition and acceptance will minimize enforcement problems and will make the Library a more comfortable and productive place for everyone. Your cooperation will also ensure the full use and enjoyment of our resources and facilities for all current and future users.
If you fail to follow these guidelines and limitations, you will be asked to conform or leave the Library. Additional sanctions may be imposed on repeat offenders.

Library Information

2011-08-23T13:04:00.000-05:00

The University Library has an information table by the pond-side entrance to the library that is stacked with useful information about the Library for new and returning students and faculty. The table includes campus maps, library hours and TRACcard handouts. Circulation and Reference staff the table from 10:00am - 1:00pm to answer any questions students may have.

Paul Hendrix answering student questions

USA Librarians Get In on the Jag Bike Fun!

2011-08-23T12:56:00.012-05:00

Several University Library Librarians took advantage of the wonderful weather today to try out the new Jag Bikes on campus.

For information on the new Jag Smart Initiative, check out this site.

How to go green using Jag Bikes.

Click here for a map of Jag Bike stations and routes.

Have fun, be safe, and go green!

Check out some more pics of librarians having fun!

JagFest 2011

2011-08-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

Beth Rugan and Ellen Wilson manned the University Library's table at JagFest on Saturday, August 20. They had swag to give away and were completely cleaned out by the end of the campus fair. Ellen and Beth gave away five or six bags of candy, 500 pencils, 100 brochures with library information for students, a stack of bookmarks, and a large stack of blue library information sheets for students.

ebrary ebook collections

2011-07-13T09:23:00.003-05:00

The University Library has recently subscribed to ebrary's Academic Complete collection, giving us access to over 70,000 ebook titles in 15 different subject areas including Anthropology, Psychology, Fine Arts, History, Social Sciences and Education.

Currently you can access these titles by going to the Library's homepage, choosing Electronic Books, and then choosing ebrary. We are working on adding these titles to SOUTHcat so they will appear when you do a search in our catalog as well.

Pages from ebrary titles can be printed by using the InfoTools button and choosing Print. You can choose to print the current page, a range of pages (with the maximum number of pages being 60) or an entire chapter.

You can save books to a bookshelf within ebrary by creating a free account. Then when you login and do a search, you can add titles to your bookshelf (this will also save any annotations you may make in the book) by simply clicking on the Add to My Bookshelf button. Even though you've saved this book to your bookshelf, it is still available for others to read.

Since ebrary books cannot be saved to your computer, they cannot currently be used on an ereader. This is something the company is working on and hopes to make available soon.

Closed Monday, July 4th

2011-07-01T11:02:00.002-05:00

The University Library will be closed Monday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day! We will resume regular summer hours Tuesday, July 5th. Have a wonderful and safe holiday!

Academic Search Complete

2011-06-14T15:46:00.006-05:00

The University Library has upgraded its subscription to the major EBSCO general interest database, Academic Search Premier, from the Premier version to Academic Search Complete. In so doing, we have been able to provide faculty, staff and students with access to almost twice the number of journals that were available in Academic Search Premier (over 4500), as Academic Search Complete indexes over 8500 journals.

Just like Academic Search Premier, Academic Search Complete can be used on your mobile device. Use the following URL:

http://libproxy2.usouthal.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp?profile=mobsmart

University Librarians Attend and Present at the Alabama Library Association Conference

2011-04-27T15:42:00.011-05:00

Six librarians from the University of South Alabama Libraries, both the University Library and Biomedical Library, attended this year's Alabama Library Association annual conference in Orange Beach, Alabama, April 19-22.

Many of these librarians also presented at the conference. University librarians Elizabeth Rugan and Ellen Wilson presented research posters at the conference's poster presentation sessions. Wilson's poster explained the citation habits of students in an undergraduate political science class, while Rugan's poster explored ways in which academic libraries can implement QR code technology to serve their patrons.

Biomedical librarian Andrea Wright, University librarian Paula Webb, and USA Baldwin County Campus librarian Angela Rand served on this year's Technoforum and discussed social media in the library. The forum was sponsored by the Technical Services and Systems Round Table of the Alabama Library Association.

University Librarians Vera Finley and Muriel Nero hosted a presentation for NAAL entitled “Outsourcing End Processing to Baker and Taylor at USA: Benefits and Cost Effectiveness.” This presentation described what was outsourced at the University Library, as well as the results of the process. Baker and Taylor provide the following physical processing of some University Library books: spine labels, label protectors, date due slips, and laminated book covers. The University Library started outsourcing these services in April of 2006 and it has proven to be very cost effective.

Ellen Wilson, Instructional Services Librarian, University Library

Elizabeth Rugan, Reference and Instruction Librarian, University Library

National Library Week, April 10-16

2011-04-11T13:21:00.007-05:00

Celebrate National Library Week and Create your own story @ University Library, April 10-16

This National Library Week, join our nation’s libraries and librarians and Create your own story @ your library.

The University Library is celebrating National Library Week by hosting library quotation prize drawings; staffing a Disaster Preparedness table at Community Day, April 13 10am-3pm; and conducting an online e-book survey.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Rugan 251.460.7025 or Paula Webb 251.460.7024.

We Want To Know...

2011-04-08T08:29:00.004-05:00

...how you use e-books. As part of National Library Week, April 10-16, the University Library is surveying users regarding their use of our e-book collections.

Take this short electronic survey and Enter to Win! It's a double whammy; we get valuable information, and you get a chance to win!

The more you tell us, the better we can make your library.

-The Librarians

E-Book Survey

University Librarians Participate in USA Faculty Research Forum 2011

2011-03-30T14:31:00.003-05:00

Two members of the University Library Reference department, Elizabeth Rugan and Kathy Wheeler, are participating in this year's USA Faculty Research Forum. The poster created by Rugan and Wheeler describes the many ways in which USA librarians are preparing college freshman for the rigors of college-level, academic research.

Stop by the Student Center Lobby sometime this week and check out the poster. Rugan and Wheeler will be present for questions Thursday, March 31 from 2-4 pm in the Student Center Lobby.

We hope to see you there!

Paula Webb -- Library Journal Movers and Shakers

2011-03-15T08:41:00.006-05:00

Paula Webb, Reference & Electronic Resources/Government Documents Librarian, has been named as a Community Builder among Library Journal's 2011 Movers and Shakers for her work on the Government Document's Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill web page and for her work on the committee that was able to bring a branch of the Mobile Public Library to Semmes, AL.

For the complete story, see http://www.libraryjournal.com/csp/cms/sites/LJ/LJInPrint/MoversAndShakers/profiles2011/moversandshakersWebb.csp

Congratulations, Paula!

Tax Information

2011-03-07T09:24:00.007-06:00

Need help with finding information on tax preparation? The USA University Library provides access to paper copies of the most-used, current tax forms and instructions during the tax season (Jan.-April). The materials are free and available near the Documents/Serials Department Help Desk on 2nd Floor South. If the library does not have a form you need, we can assist you in locating a copy on the web for print-out.

For more information, check out the Government Documents Libguide at http://libguides.southalabama.edu/docstaxes

Vicki Tate
Head, Government Documents/Serials

USA Librarians Conduct High School Librarian Workshop

2011-02-18T09:17:00.001-06:00

Members of the University Library's Reference Department, Kathy Wheeler and Elizabeth Rugan, conducted a workshop for Baldwin County high school librarians at Fairhope High School Library on the topics of preparing high school students for college-level research and what students should know about research when they enter college. Topics included information literacy, plagiarism, citing sources, the need to understand the importance of databases such as those at the Alabama Virtual Library, understanding the limitations of Google for serious research, the problems with using Wikipedia, web page evaluation, and teaching students to be responsible users of information.

2011-02-07T14:00:00.004-06:00

The Alabama Virtual Library has received trials for three career resources. These databases will remain active through June 30, 2011. They are:

These databases can be accessed from on or off-campus with a USA ID card or an AVL card. Check them out for your career information needs.

The University Library also has trials of two ebook packages through the AVL:

Gale Ebooks: trial through March 15
APA Books: psychology books

New Librarian

2011-01-26T09:19:00.004-06:00

Elizabeth Rugan has recently joined the staff of the University Library as its Instruction and Reference Librarian, Assistant Librarian. Beth has her Masters in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University. She also holds an M.A. in English from LSU and was a teacher before she came to USA. In addition to her reference duties, Beth will co-design and implement the information literacy program at the University Library.

Welcome Beth!

Holiday and Interim Hours

2010-12-17T09:11:00.002-06:00

Holiday and Interim Hours

December 15, Wednesday - December 22, Wednesday: 8:00am - 5:00pm. (ARC Computer Lab: 8:00am-4:00pm) CLOSED WEEKENDS
December 23, Thursday - January 2, Sunday: CLOSED
January 3, Monday - January 16, Sunday: Monday - Friday: 8:00am-5:00pm. (ARC Computer Lab: 8:00am-4:00pm) CLOSED WEEKENDS
January 17, Monday: CLOSED -- MLK Day

Regular hours being of the first day of classes: Tuesday, January 18th.

Final Exam Hours

2010-12-03T11:33:00.006-06:00

FINAL Exam Hours

The University Library's Final Exam hours begin December 6:

December 6, Monday -December 9, Thursday : 7:45am - Midnight
December 10, Friday : 7:45am - 8:00pm
December 11, Saturday : 9:30am - 8:00pm
December 12, Sunday: 1:00pm - 11:00pm
December 13, Monday: 7:45am - 11:00pm
December 14, Tuesday: 7:45am - 6:00pm (Last day of Exams)

For the complete list see http://library.southalabama.edu/studyhoursFALL2010.pdf

Points of View Reference Center

2010-10-26T09:06:00.005-05:00

The Alabama Virtual Library has added EBSCO's Points of View Reference Center to its subscription databases, so USA students have access to it by going through either the University Library's web site or the AVL web site.

Points of View Reference Center is much like Gale's Opposing Viewpoints in that it is designed to provide users with information on current controversial topics from multiple sides. Because of this emphasis on representing various points of view on a topic, the Points of View Reference Center is especially useful for students writing persuasive or argumentative papers. Types of materials represented in the POV Reference Center are the Points of View essays, periodicals, newspapers and images. The Points of View essays, as well as taking a side on an issue, provide readers with a bibliography for further reading.

Although it is an EBSCO database, the interface for the Points of View Reference Center is different from the EBSCO databases you may be used to using, and it is not listed in our EBSCO list of databases. You will find it at the University Library's homepage (http://library.southalabama.edu/) under Articles, Indexes and Databases or Electronic Reference Sources.

New Digital Archive Collections guide

2010-10-04T16:42:00.000-05:00

Our Reference Intern, Alisha Linam, has prepared a great new guide to Digital Archive Collections. The link is on our homepage right under the link to SOUTHcat: USA Libraries' Catalog.

New Electronic Book Collections

2010-08-25T12:04:00.003-05:00

The University Library recently purchased the following electronic book collections from ebrary: Business and Economics, Computers and IT, Education, Engineering and Technology, Environment, Psychology and Social Work, Special Needs Education, and Sports and Recreation.

These collections add approximately 280 ebooks to the current ebook collection owned by the USA Libraries. To access them, go to the University Library's Electronic Book page at http://library.southalabama.edu/ebooks.html.

JSTOR - New Arts & Sciences Collection

2010-08-05T08:27:00.005-05:00

The University Library has recently acquired access to the JSTOR Arts & Sciences V Collection. This multidisciplinary collection of 120 journal backfiles includes art and museum publications, state historical society journals, and literature journals which publish original literary works as well as reviews and criticism. Key titles in history and in classical studies include least 15 journals published in German, French, Spanish, or Italian. Other disciplines covered include African Studies, Archaeology, Asian Studies, and Middle East Studies.

To search the Arts & Sciences V Collection, as well as all JSTOR content, go to the University Library's "Articles, Indexes, and Databases" page at http://www.usouthal.edu/univlib/other.html and choose "JSTOR".

USA's Government Documents Department

2010-08-03T12:42:00.004-05:00

The University Library's Government Documents Department is the Federal Depository Library Program's Spotlight Library. The article focuses on the department's reaction to providing information on the Gulf Oil Spill, but also discusses the ways in which the department provides access to other kinds of information to patrons.

For the complete FDLP article, see http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/spotlight/748-univofsouthalabama. Congrats, Gov Docs.

Alabama Red-bellied Turtle

2010-06-07T14:41:00.010-05:00

Barbara Jackson, in Government Documents, found a rare Alabama Red-bellied turtle on the balcony outside the University Library last week. Dr. David Nelson, of USA's Biology department, came and retrieved the turtle. According to Dr. Nelson, "After being measured (extensively), weighed, and photographed to extreme, the lovely female turtle was released yesterday. Doubtless, she is happily feeding on swamp salad of submergent macrophytes."

"The Alabama red-bellied turtle is a large herbivorous turtle that has the smallest distribution of any North American turtle species. It only occurs in streams and embayments in the lower part of the Mobile Bay Drainage System in Mobile and Baldwin Counties in Alabama. This species was listed as ENDANGERED by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1987 and was designated as the Official State Reptile of Alabama in 1990." (http://www.savetheredbelly.org/)

Dr. Nelson attached the following two photos of the University Library's Red-bellied turtle:

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Information

2010-05-03T11:13:00.006-05:00

This satellite image is from NOAA/NASA. The Mississippi and Alabama coasts are in green at the top and the platform is the little tiny red dot the bottom yellow arrow on the left is pointing to.

The University Library Government Documents web site is a good source for the latest government information on the oil spill. For basic information, see http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/gd/. The Gov Docs Department has also prepared a more in-depth bibliography of sources regarding the oil spill. It includes links to maps of the spill and information about Alabama and Mobile, specifically. For this bibliography, see http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/gd/oilspill2010.html.

The Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Programs web site also contains up-to-date information on the oil spill: http://gulfseagrant.tamu.edu/oilspill/index.htm. Here you will find phone numbers to call to report oiled wildlife or shorelines as well as numbers to call to discuss spill-related damage.

Excellence in Librarianship Award

2010-04-23T08:50:00.008-05:00

The 2010 recipient of the Excellence in Librarianship Award is Ellen K. Wilson, Instructional Technology/Reference librarian. Ellen was cited as having displayed excellence in all areas of her job, including instructional technology, library instruction, professional development and service. The Excellence in Librarianship Award committee noted Ellen's development of online tutorials, her work with Freshman Seminar instructors, and her scheduling and teaching of classes.

The committee also commented on Ellen's superior work outside her job, contributing to the profession. She has presented at the Southern Political Science Association, the Mississippi Library Association, and the Alabama Library Association. Ellen presented a poster entitled Citation Analysis of Undergraduate Honors Theses at the USA Research Forum. Along with Rob Gray, Paula Webb and Andrea Wright, she conducted an in-service training session on Web 2.0 for the Mobile County Library Media Specialists. Ellen is the current secretary of the Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries.

Ellen's service activities have included serving as the chair of the University Library Public Relations Committee. She is the chair of the University Libraries' Forum, and she has represented the University Library at the HR Benefits Fair and at JagFest. Ellen was appointed to the University Writing Committee and serves on the University Library Homepage Committee and the University Library Intranet Committee.

Congratulations, Ellen!

EBSCO Academic Search Premier and AVL

2010-04-13T11:24:00.004-05:00

From the Alabama Virtual Library help desk:

"Academic Search Premier (upgrade to Academic Search Elite) is now available on the AVL website until 9/30/10. Be sure to check it out!" at http://www.avl.lib.al.us/.

The AVL downgrade to Academic Search Elite never really affected USA's access since the University Library librarians felt that access to Academic Search Premier was important enough for our students that we needed to figure out a way to pay for it. We, in the library, hope that usage of Academic Search Premier between now and September 30 is high enough that the AVL realizes this in one database they need to make sure they keep.

Staff Appreciation Awards and Lunch

2010-04-12T14:02:00.013-05:00

For the beginning of National Library Week, the University Library held a Staff Appreciation Lunch where awards were presented to Heather Hoven and Scotty Kirkland.

Heather Hoven began working at the library in the Circulation department in 2005 and was promoted to Library Technical Assistant in 2007. She was profiled in the USA Vanguard's section A Day in the Life Of : http://www.usavanguard.com/a-day-in-the-life-1.1305229

Scotty Kirkland began working for the University Library in Government Documents in January 2006. He moved to the Archives in September of that year and has worked there since. Scotty earned his M.A. in American History in December 2009. His thesis was on politics and the civil rights movement in Mobile from WWII to 1985.

National Library Week

2010-03-31T16:44:00.011-05:00

Neil Gaiman, winner of the 2009 Newbery Award for The Graveyard Book, is the honorary Chairman for National Library Week. Through his blog at http://journal.neilgaiman.com/, he links to author Laurie King's fun contest for NLW -- the Fantasy Library Contest. Tell her what your dream library would look like -- you can even send her pictures and blueprints! Your favorite library could win a copy of every Laurie R. King book ever written, plus you could win Laurie King literary art for your fantasy library's walls.

National Library week begins April 11, so celebrate by designing the library you've always wanted.

Addendum: Stream the National Library Week event, An Evening with Neil Gaiman, on Monday, April 12th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm EDT, here: http://gaimanatjcpl.org/

AVL Databases

2010-02-24T11:10:00.000-06:00

From the Alabama Virtual Library Help Desk comes some very good news:

At the AVL Executive Council meeting on Feb. 18th, the council voted to license the following databases for a limited time thru Sept. 30, 2010. Usage of the resources will be monitored, and although these databases have been restored for the remainder of the State of Alabama's fiscal year, we cannot guarantee they will be available next year. To help secure their continued availability, please contact your State of Alabama elected officials (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/zipsearch.html),
and tell them how the AVL helps you!

Has the AVL helped you finish an important school project, find a job, or start a business? The more real-life stories we have to share with our elected officials, the greater the likelihood we can maintain and, possibly, add resources. Please share with us your success stories (Email: avlhelpdesk@asc.edu).

Databases licensed until Sept. 30, 2010:

    Britannica's Annals of American History
    Britannica's World Data Analyst
    Britannica's Spanish-Language Resources
        Enciclopedia Juvenil
        Enciclopedia Universal en Español
    Wilson's Biography Reference Bank

The University Library will be adding these database back to our web pages.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-08T16:35:00.002-06:00

The University Library will be closed on Tuesday, February 16, for Mardi Gras. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez! Here's some information from the Library of Congress about the development of the Mardi Gras tradition in Mobile which notes that Mobile is indeed the home of the first Mardi Gras celebration.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/AL/200002665.html

Scopus Day at the University of South Alabama Libraries

2010-01-14T11:54:00.004-06:00

The University Libraries are sponsoring SCOPUS Day on Friday, January 29. This day will consist of three separate events:

Librarian Session: 9:00am: All librarians and library staff are encouraged to attend the morning session. This update will highlight new features in SCOPUS following the January 2010 release - particularly the inclusion of new journal and article ranking metrics to aid in research evaluation.

Lunch and Learn Author Workshop: 12:00 noon[Lunch will be provided.]: This free session, in the College of Medicine Conference Room will focus on SCOPUS as a unique solution for authors. It will emphasize the features in SCOPUS that will help authors manage their online publications, find collaborators, and use metrics to make their grant applications more competitive.

A free box lunch will be provided for the first fifty who RSVP. Door prizes and a chance to win an ipod will also be offered.

SCOPUS General Information session: 2:30 to 3:30 PM [Snacks and door prizes will be provided.] at the same location. This session will provide a thorough overview of the unique features that make SCOPUS different from other available tools, including the Author and Affiliation Identifiers and the Journal Analyzer. It will also include an overview of the new features included in the January 2010 release.

RSVP to medlib@bbl.usouthal.edu or (251) 460-7044 specifying the session you wish to attend by Monday, January 25, 2010.

Fellowship opportunity: UNC Chapel Hill

2009-12-04T08:52:00.003-06:00

The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is seeking applicants for fellowships for a new program called "Educating Stewards of Public Information in the Twenty-First Century" or ESOPI-21. These Fellowships are funded through a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

The fellowships will be for students enrolled in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Science in Information/Library Science (MSIS/MSLS) dual degree program between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science and the School of Government.

The two-year fellowships offer:

* A 15 hour per week position as a Fellow in Public Information Stewardship at the National Records and Archives Administration, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Archives & Records Section, and/or the UNC at Chapel Hill University Archives.

* An annual stipend of $16,000.

* In-state tuition and health coverage

* One time enrichment fund of $2,500 which can be used for travel or other resources such as a computer.

* Opportunities to meet experts in public information curation via symposia, conferences and workshops.

As a component piece of the project, two cohorts of four ESOPI-21 Fellows (eight Fellows in total over the grant period) will each combine coursework with internship assignments in one or more governmental digital records environments, leading to a dual master's degree in Information Science or Library Science and a master's degree in Public Administration. The program's goal is to prepare the next generation of public information stewards. It offers Fellowship recipients the opportunity to engage in government records archiving and curatorial duties and to receive supervision and mentorship from senior public records experts in various types of government records management and other information management settings.

About ESOPI-21

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded project, "Educating Stewards of Public Information in the Twenty-First Century" or ESOPI-21, is a collaboration of SILS, UNC at Chapel Hill's School of Government (SOG), the University Archives (UA) at UNC at Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Archives and Records Section (NCDCR-ARS), and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). ESOPI-21 seeks to prepare the next generation of public information stewards by building on the Digital Curation Curriculum IMLS-funded projects at SILS and by developing fellowships, curricula, courses, and experiential components designed specifically for the needs of public sector information professionals.

Applying for the Fellowship: The ESOPI-21 Fellowship is provided to masters level students who are pursuing the dual degree program offered by SILS and the SOG. Acceptance into both programs is a requirement for the award.

Steps for application are:

1. Apply to SILS via the regular admissions process found on the MSIS Admission page at http://sils.unc.edu/programs/msis/admissions.html or the MSLS Admissions page at http://sils.unc.edu/programs/msls/admissions.html

Students are encouraged to apply by January 1, 2010 as this ensures consideration of the greatest amount of university funding, but we are accepting applications for this program up to February 15.

2. Apply to the SOG via the regular admissions process found on the MPA Admissions page at http://www.sog.unc.edu/uncmpa/applicants/admission.html. Students must apply by February 1.

3. In addition to the required written statement of your intended research focus, we ask that you write a separate essay elaborating on these goals and how they are related to the goals of ESOPI-21. Please see the ESOPI-21 Web page for more details (http://ils.unc.edu/esopi21/index.html). Please send this essay in an e-mail message to Dr. Helen Tibbo (tibbo (at) email (dot) unc (dot) edu) or Dr. Cal Lee (callee (at) ils (dot) unc (dot) edu) no later than February 15, 2010. Earlier applications are encouraged. Please note that we are only able to accept applications from
United States Citizens at this time.


*******************************************
Wanda Monroe
Director of Communications
School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 Manning Hall
Campus Box 3360
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
Phone: 919.843.8337
Web site: sils.unc.edu
___________________________________________

Scholarship opportunity: University of Southern Mississippi receives IMLS grant

2009-12-04T08:46:00.002-06:00

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) recently received a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Studies (IMLS) to recruit ten minority students for its fully accredited, online, master of library science program. Students who are chosen for the grant will receive full tuition waiver, $400.00 per semester for the purchase of books, a laptop computer, and $9,000.00 per year as a stipend. They also will attend special programming and training from the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC), and will attend the American Library Association annual meeting in 2011. The students must take nine hours of classes each semester and work five hours per week at either USM’s Cook Library in Hattiesburg or the MLC in Jackson.

For more information, please visit: http://www.misslib.org/index.php/2009/11/30/university-of-southern-mississippi-receives-imls-grant/

Scholarship opportunity: E-government Librarianship Scholarship Program

2009-12-04T08:41:00.003-06:00

The Center for Library and Information Innovation at the iSchool at the University of Maryland College Park in partnership with the Government Information Online Initiative and the University of Illinois at Chicago, is accepting applications for 20 Master of Library Science (MLS) scholarships. The scholarships are for a new online MLS program focused on e-government services and digital government information. Applications are due by 1 February 2010, and the program is scheduled to begin in Fall 2010.

For more information, please visit: http://liicenter.org/libegov

Multiple Database Searching

2009-11-12T09:19:00.010-06:00

The USA Biomedical Library has purchased WebFeat, a cross-database search engine, in order to facilitate searching of their electronic books. Because access includes the University Library, we have set it up so that many of our databases, such as Oxford Journals Online, Sage Journals Online, ACLS Humanities E-books, JSTOR and Wiley Interscience, can all be searched using one interface.

You can search by keyword, title, author, abstract, or subject and choose your own databases, or you can enter a search term and choose a general topic, such as Art & Humanities or Business, where the databases have already been chosen for you. WebFeat includes the ability to limit your search to Full-text articles only and/or Peer-reviewed articles.

Check out the University Library's implementation of WebFeat here: http://wfxsearch.webfeat.org/wfsearch/menu?cid=13098&cat=72060

EBSCO Databases Go Mobile

2009-11-10T11:54:00.006-06:00

Ever wished you could access the University Libraries' databases from your phone? Well, now you can; at least the EBSCOhost databases, which include Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, CINAHL, Medline with Fulltext, PsycARTICLES, SocINDEX with Fulltext, Education Research Complete, and a variety of other databases.

This access is only in its infancy and I've only tested it on two phones -- the iPhone and the Blackberry Curve (mine is an 8320) -- but to try mobile access to our EBSCO databases go to:

http://libproxy2.usouthal.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp?profile=mobsmart

You will need to login with your usual remote credentials.

Javascript needs to be enabled to use the libraries' databases. To do this for the Blackberry:

Check your Blackberry's OS version first by clicking on the Options icon (mine is a wrench) and then About. Your OS will need to be version 4.0 or higher; older versions do not support JavaScript.
Open your Blackberry Internet Browser by clicking on your Internet icon.
Click on the button and choose Options.
Choose Browser Configuration and scroll down to Support JavaScript. Check that box and save your changes.

The iPhone and iTouch seem to run these databases beautifully; the Blackberry's implementation is much uglier and I haven't been able to open a pdf file as a native pdf -- instead I get an ugly rendering of the text.

Try mobile access on your phone and let me know how it goes (kwheeler@jaguar1.usouthal.edu); be sure to tell me the type of phone you've used and any issues you've had accessing pdf files.

Favorite Banned Book

2009-10-03T15:23:00.003-05:00

Thanks everybody for participating in the University Library's vote for your favorite banned book. Here are the results:

The Winner: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Runners Up:

Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Honorable Mentions:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’ Engle
Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
Bible
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Witches by Roald Dahl
And Tango Makes Three by Richardson and Parnell
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
A Clockwork Orange by Antony Burgess
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Kama Sutra
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Where’s Waldo by Martin Hanford

Banned Books Week

2009-09-28T10:55:00.006-05:00

Banned Books Week, September 26 - October 3

Banned Books Week is an annual recognition, held in the last week of September, of the importance of the First Amendment to readers and writers. It celebrates the freedom to read what we want to read and emphasizes the significance of open access to information. The American Library Association lists the most Frequently Challenged Books in libraries at http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/index.cfm

Check out the posters of Frequently Challenged and Banned Books at the University Library -- you can't miss them when you come in the doors. Also, don't forget to vote for your favorite banned book at the Circulation Desk.

AVL Databases

2009-08-31T09:51:00.007-05:00

The Alabama Virtual Library has been a boon to our state as far as research is concerned. It has provided databases for all ranges and ages of researchers -- from kindergarten to graduate student to general public. Having access to the AVL has allowed the University of South Alabama Libraries to subscribe to very subject-specific databases such as ArtStor and IEEE Xplore, knowing that the general use databases had already been taken care of by the AVL.

Like the rest of the state, the AVL has been affected by the economic situation and finds its funding to be less this year than previous years. Keeping its mission in mind -- to provide information for all levels of researchers -- the AVL recently decided to cut the following databases from its list. Access will not be available after September 31:

OCLC FirstSearch databases

CAMIO - Catalog of Art Museum Images Online
ArchiveGrid
ArticleFirst
ClasePeriodica
Electronic Collections Online
GPO Monthly Catalog
MEDLINE
OAIster
PapersFirst
ProceedingsFirst
World Almanac
WorldCat
WorldCat Dissertations

H.W. Wilson's Biography Reference Bank
SIRS Knowledge Source databases

SIRS Issues Researcher
SIRS Government Reporter
SIRS Renaissance

Britannica's add-on databases

World Data Analyst
Annals of American History
Enciclopedia Juvenil
Enciclopedia Universal en Español

In addition to the above resources not being renewed, EBSCO's Academic Search Premier will be downgraded to Academic Search Elite.

Fair Use

2009-08-24T16:14:00.008-05:00

Determining whether your use of an item falls within Fair Use guidelines can be more problematic than you might think. Luckily, there's a tool that can help with that -- Fair Use Evaluator, from the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy. By providing information about an article and your intended use of that item, the Fair Use Evaluator can provide you with an idea of where on the spectrum from "Fair" to "Infringing" that your use may fall.

The makers of the Fair Use Evaluator are careful to note that this tool is not intended to provide you with legal advice and point out that only "a court of law can definitively rule whether a use is fair or unfair." However, the Fair Use Evaluator does provide you with information that can help, such as a time-stamped pdf document showing your use of the evaluator and the criteria you used to reach your decision about whether your use of a document falls within Fair Use guidelines. Check it out. Try it with the Exceptions for Instructor eTool if you are a faculty member.

Formatting Bibliographies

2009-08-18T09:58:00.003-05:00

Sue Medina, the director of the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries, recently sent an email about an article discussing the top five online citation applications. I loved the one called BibMe -- it allows you to save citations for books, articles, web sites and other formats in the citation style you need whether MLA, APA, Chicago or Turabian. You can download these and or save them to a free account.

Check out Bibme at http://www.bibme.org/

Farewell

2009-06-26T16:16:00.002-05:00

Jan

"If I didn't believe it with my own mind, I never would have seen it."

2009-06-25T11:36:00.002-05:00

Bard College graffiti, 1972.

Or: "If I believe it, I will see it -- wrong."
Or: "Context is all."
Or: "Don't believe much of what you see--it is more complicated!"

Try this:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/06/24/the-blue-and-the-green/

Sorry! Should be http://www.worldcat.org/advancedsearch

2009-06-18T09:38:00.001-05:00

Identities: Cool new feature on Worldcat.org

2009-06-18T09:12:00.003-05:00

This just released from OCLC WorldCat

"We’ve just incorporated WorldCat Identities into WorldCat.org navigation proper, rather than having to satellite out to a listing and then find your own way back. You can get to a WorldCat Identities page from the “Find more information about” drop-down in the Details section of a detailed record:

WorldCat Identities is one of those fun things we like to play around with, here at OCLC. It showcases things you don’t find many other places–like you can see the most widely held works by a writer, or how one fictional character is related to another one, or get a visual for publication timelines, or audience recommendation levels, or, or, or…there’s a lot of good stuff there."

It took me a few tries to find this info, but it really is cool. Do title search for a book by an author you want to find more about (doesn't seem to work for films and articles) on worldcat.org--the advanced search. Drag down on the page past the libraries that hold the item to the "Details" section and "Find more information about" and click GO.

Much info on your author: most popular titles(library holdings and number of editions); most popular books about; languages; related people; a related items cloud, and several bookcovers.

I love WorldCat and Google Books and Google Scholar--long may they be free! (Keep your fingers crossed about this--most anything of value is ripe for a price tag these days.)js

Best Places to Work in the Government 2009

2009-05-22T10:22:00.002-05:00

Still looking for a job? This survey's results might interest you, as they are based on employee satisfaction and commitment in federal agencies. And check out the link for job seekers at the top of the page. Do it for your parents!
http://data.bestplacestowork.org/bptw/overall/large

The Colors of Your College Degree

2009-05-01T09:49:00.004-05:00

(OOPs! Graduation is next Saturday, not tomorrow.) With graduation tomorrow, I thought this link to be most appropriate. What do those colors worn by the graduates stand for? http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/11/06/the-colors-of-your-college-degree/ Glad Library Science is lemon yellow and not "drab."
Thanks to Sue Medina for this one.

Best Study Strategy: "Close the Book. Recall. Write It Down"

2009-04-27T10:13:00.003-05:00

Excepted from
The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Faculty
From the issue dated May 1, 2009

That old study method still works, researchers say. So why don't professors preach it?
By DAVID GLENN

The scene: A rigorous intro-level survey course in biology, history, or economics. You're the instructor, and students are crowding the lectern, pleading for study advice for the midterm.

If you're like many professors, you'll tell them something like this: Read carefully. Write down unfamiliar terms and look up their meanings. Make an outline. Reread each chapter.

That's not terrible advice. But some scientists would say that you've left out the most important step: Put the book aside and hide your notes. Then recall everything you can. Write it down, or, if you're uninhibited, say it out loud.

Two psychology journals have recently published papers showing that this strategy works, the latest findings from a decades-old body of research. When students study on their own, "active recall" — recitation, for instance, or flashcards and other self-quizzing — is the most effective way to inscribe something in long-term memory.

. . . .

Brain Games for the Weekend

2009-04-23T16:56:00.001-05:00

Took me a few games to even figure out the rules.
Cognitive Labs
http://cognitivelabs.com/game_list2.htm

Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch!

2009-04-22T11:18:00.002-05:00

I've just read a synopsis of Google's settlement with the book publishers and the librarians concerning Google Books (http://books.google.com). See below.

For the past few years I've been showing relevant upper-division classes the value of Google Book Search. Google has been digitizing the books from a couple of dozen of big libraries for several years now. Till now (and I really don't know the date when this will change) anyone anywhere could search this website and pull up records of the books already digitized in three different possible formats: full view for out-of-copyright items (generally 1925 and earlier), limited preview (several pages) for copyrighted with no active publisher-prohibition, and snippet for publisher-restricted viewing.

Publishers didn't like the fact they they had to ask Google to restrict their books to limited preview,and they claimed copyright violation, and sued (of course). Below is the gist of the settlement. What it seems to say is that no longer will out-of-copyright books be available full-text from any computer anytime as it is now. Only authorized computers in libraries will have this ability. [I'm sure the librarians fought hard to get this one so full-view access of copyright-free books remains available, but also so libraries don't become completely irrelevant as providers of classic and historical sources of information.]

Google and the publishers will also LET YOU personally and We, libraries, BUY access to copyrighted books. You could buy individual titles. Libraries would buy subscriptions (To Collections? How much? Will libraries will be able to afford the price publishers deem reasonable. Will access be restricted to the University community or can anyone come in and use it? Will libraries ever need to buy another print monograph? Is licensing the same as owning? Will we be able to interlibrary loan electronic items?)

The two research center idea is interesting, but I'm not really sure of any broadly useful value, other than archival. Where will they be? Will access be free at these sites?

There are so many more questions about the ramifications of this settlement that we don't even know how to pose them yet, much less what the answers will be. ANSTAAFL. I guess we always knew that Google wasn't doing all this scanning because of their generosity and their love of knowledge. Sometime the stockholders would seek a profit. We also know that publishers are not easily adjusting to this electronic world. This is another attempt at control. Will it work? How will it affect libraries?

Here's an excerpt of what Google just sent out:[ Note the enthusiastically positive spin.]

Increasing access to books: the Google Book Search settlement agreement

by Daniel Clancy, Engineering Director for Google Book Search

. . . The <http://www.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/>agreement, which settles two lawsuits brought against the <http://www.google.com/googlebooks/library.html>Google Books Library Project, proposes to dramatically increase access to millions of books in the U.S., while at the same time expanding the opportunities for authors and publishers to earn money from their works. The agreement also provides a wealth of new opportunities for libraries, academics, and researchers, a few of which we'd like to share with you:

Expanded access to millions of in-copyright books: Librarians have been providing access to books for thousands of years, and over time they have increased the size of their collections and broadened their reach into the community. The agreement dramatically expands the reach of <http://books.google.com/googlebooks/partners.html>Book Search Library Partners by enabling readers across the U.S. to <http://books.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/#2>preview millions of in-copyright out-of-print books preserved in their collections. Readers will be able to search these books through Google Book Search and where previously they have only been able to view bibliographic information and a few snippets of text from the book, they will be able to view a limited preview (up to 20%) of the book to find out if it suits their needs. From there, they can click through to a list of libraries which hold that book, to online bookstores (which carry used books) or to purchase instant online access to the rest of the book so that they may read the book in its entirety.

Free online viewing of books at U.S. public and university libraries: In most communities, your local library is one of your primary access points to information. Through this agreement, public libraries, community colleges, and universities across the U.S. will be able to provide free full-text reading to books housed in great libraries of the world like Stanford, California, Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan. A newly-created Public Access Service license will allow full-text viewing of millions of out-of-print books to readers who visit library facilities. Public libraries will be eligible to receive one free Public Access Service license for a computer located on-site at each of their library buildings in the United States. Non-profit, higher education institutions will be eligible to receive free Public Access Service licenses for on-site computers, the exact number of which will depend on the number of students enrolled.

Institutional subscriptions to millions of additional books: Imagine never having to ask a patron to wait until a book is returned or arrives through interlibrary loan. Beyond the free license described above, libraries will also be able to purchase an institutional subscription to millions of books covered by the settlement agreement. Once purchased, this subscription will allow a library to offer patrons access to the incredible collections of Google's library partner when they are in the library itself as well as when they access it remotely.

Services for People with Print Disabilities: One of the advantages digitization presents is the opportunity to enable greater accessibility to books. Through the agreement, the visually impaired and print disability community will be able to access millions of in-copyright books through screen enlargement, reader, and Braille display technologies.

New Research Opportunities with the Creation a Research Corpus: The vast database of books that Google is digitizing is not just a resource for readers, but also a one-of-a-kind research tool. The agreement allows for the creation of two research centers that will include a copy of almost all of the books digitized by Google. These research centers will enable people to conduct research that utilizes computers to process or analyze the text of the books. Examples of the types of research they will facilitate include automatic translation, analysis of how language has evolved over time, next generation search technology, image processing research and others.

This agreement would not have been possible without the work of librarians who have preserved and maintained books for years, and <http://www.google.com/googlebooks/partners.html>Google Book Search's library partners, who worked with Google to make so many of them discoverable online. To learn more about what they have to say about the agreement, check out our <http://books.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/thoughts.html>thoughts and opinions page.
___________

Staff Appreciation Awards Go To . . .

2009-04-15T14:13:00.003-05:00

Brenda Hunter and Nancy Trant received this year's National Library Week "Staff Appreciation Awards" in the University Library during a luncheon on Wednesday.

This Year's Excellence in Librarianship Award goes to . . .

2009-04-14T08:43:00.003-05:00

Deborah Lynn Harrington, the Mitchell College of Business Librarian. Congratulations Deborah for doing excellent work in setting up and running the "Business" Library.

Celebrate National Library Week--April 12-18

2009-04-13T10:55:00.003-05:00

World Connect @ USA Libraries

Monday Thru Thursday--Roving Reference, Student Center Breezeway, 11:30-1:00. Need help with your assignments? Face-to-face with a reference librarian--what could be better!

Thursday-- 7 P.M., Library Auditorium, "Ruben's Mobile." Dr. Sue Brannan Walker and Ms Kathryn Seawell.

Kids & Teens Book Drive for USA Chidren's and Women's Hospital--Drop any new or gently-used children's or young adult books at one of our libraries.

Twitter a Book Review--share your bookish experiences @usabaldwin.

Rare Books at the USA Archives on Springhill Ave.

Prize Drawing--draw a quote at any of our Circulation Desks for a chance to win a prize.

Twenty-First Century Literacy Skills

2009-04-09T10:27:00.004-05:00

by Henry Jenkins, Director of Media Studies, MIT, excerpted:

"We have also identified a set of core social skills and cultural competencies that young people should acquire if they are to be full, active, creative, and ethical participants in this emerging participatory culture:

Play — the capacity to experiment with your surroundings as a form of problem-solving

Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery

Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real world processes

Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content

Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.

Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities

Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal

Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources

Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities

Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information

Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms."

Bodleian 19th Century Collection Online

2009-04-03T13:41:00.002-05:00

Just got this from Google Book Search Blog:
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/bodleians-treasures-available-to-all.html

"In 2004, Google began a partnership with Oxford University Library to scan mostly 19th century public domain books from its Bodleian library. Five years on, we're delighted to announce the end of this phase of our scanning with Oxford, our first European partner. Together, we have digitized and made available on Google Book Search many hundreds of thousands of public domain books from the Bodleian and other Oxford libraries, representing the bulk of their available public domain content.

From English to German, to Spanish and French, most of the digitized works date from the 19th century and range from classic literature to more scientific volumes in fields including Geography, Philosophy or Anthropology. Among some of the works now available through Book Search, you can find the first English translation of Newton's Mathematical principles of natural philosophy from 1729, the first edition of Jane Austen's Emma, and John Cassell's Illustrated History of England. You can search and read the full text of these works on Google Book Search, and download and print a pdf if you wish to.

TODAY: Writing Outreach--Finding Scholarly Articles

2009-03-26T09:02:00.003-05:00

Today in the University Library Auditorium I will be doing an instruction session on how to find the best scholarly articles for your research papers. Bring your topic and we can explore where to go and how to "talk to" the general and specific databases that will yield articles to help inform your papers.
3:30 Thursday
March 26th
Univ. Lib. Auditorium
about 45 minutes in length
http://www.usouthal.edu/univlib/sauer/outreacharticles.html

Web 2.0 PETAL Brownbag

2009-03-09T14:12:00.002-05:00

Faculty and Staff,
Ellen Wilson and I will be talking about some Internet applications that may enhance your teaching and make your life more efficient at the PETAL BrownBag Tuesday. 12:15 in Room 312 on the Southside of the University Library.

The Commons

2009-02-27T10:33:00.003-06:00

"The Commons: Your opportunity to contribute to describing the world's public photo collections."
http://www.flickr.com/commons/
These collections from institutions and corporations are all published under usage guidelines called "no known copyright restrictions" meaning that they have been unable to locate the copyright owner. These photos are probably public domain. They can certainly be used under fair use guidelines for academic purposes.

The cool thing about this collection of collections is that "the public" are asked to tag the photos to make them more accessible to others.

FYI: At the bottom of the sign in page is this warning:
*Any Flickr member is able to add tags or comment on these collections. If you're a dork about it, shame on you. This is for the good of humanity, dude!!

Momentous Day 200 Years Ago Today

2009-02-12T09:22:00.003-06:00

Arguably, the two men who most influenced our lives and our thinking were born on the exact same day, 200 years ago. One is obvious. Who is the other?

Writing Outreach--Googling for Information

2009-02-11T11:56:00.002-06:00

What do we even mean when we say we Googled it? Plain old Google, Google Books, Google Scholar, iGoogle, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Finance, Google Maps, Google Images, Google Reader?

Is searching Google academically anathema? Why, when, where and how students and faculty can use Google as one of the research tools in the scholarly scavenger hunt to find the best information available. And when is it best not to use it!

See you (anyone):
Tomorrow--Thursday, Feb 12th
3:30-4:30
Library Auditorium

The Best of the Best

2009-02-06T11:46:00.002-06:00

I am constantly squirreling away websites that I plan to get back to when I retire--email, delicious, favorites, bookmarks--any way I can, so I have them at my fingertips sometime in the near future. Two came across my email in past two days and are perfect for my dilettantish [better:interdisciplinary] mind. The second one I am already addicted to, because it is the perfect iPhone app--short, often graphically interesting, and highly entertaining (remember this is for a librarian's mind.)

Academic Earth--"Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars." Choose them by subject, by instructor, thematically, or the Editor's choice. Most of them seem to be about an hour long. http://www.academicearth.org/

TED "Ideas worth spreading" An annual conference that invites the best and brightest to spend 18 minutes each talking about their ideas in fields that include science, business, the arts and the global issues. Watch them on your computer and now on your iPhone. Perfect length. Fascinating people and ideas. http://www.ted.com/

Find Out About Study Abroad? British Tea Today

2009-01-28T08:50:00.003-06:00

London, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Ghana--Programs offered by USA for studying abroad. Come have some biscuits and find out about them.

British Tea
5:30-7:00 Today
Alumni House

.edu and spammers

2009-01-22T08:35:00.002-06:00

I've gotten a couple of these emails this week purporting to be from university webmasters. They come from gawab.com which seems, according to a few webforums, to be home of lots of spammers. Universities use the .edu domain, not the .com domain and have no reason to change domains.

Dear Webmaster of http://www.southalabama.edu ,
I´m the webmaster of indiana.edu and and I want to inform you about the changing of our domain name.
Old name: http://www.indiana.edu
New name: http://indiana-edu.com

Whitehouse.gov

2009-01-20T16:34:00.002-06:00

Here's the ABC website with a transcript of the inaugural address and a video of the address.

As of 12:01, today, January 20th, the White House has a new webpage. The first blog post on it promises transparency of government to the point that it says this: "One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it." Wow. I wonder who is going to read all of the posts, many of which, given the tenor of comments I see on other blogs, will be venomous. Let's hope for a new era of civility on the web, as well as the transparency promised by our new President and the new Administration. Perhaps information will again flow freely from our government to the people.

MLK Quote

2009-01-14T12:23:00.001-06:00

Power without love is reckless and abusive. Love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best corrects everything that stands against love.

PMLA Alternative Source Citations

2009-01-09T14:09:00.002-06:00

Being a reference librarian in an academic institution means being bombarded by questions about the rules for citing information using the most common stylesheets, particularly the MLA. This alternative source, the PostModern Language Association, offers guidelines for citing the cutting edge sources of information now so common in research papers.
http://www.pmla.org/altsource.html
Thanks to Ellen Wilson for this site.

SilverPlatter to OVID

2009-01-07T12:35:00.001-06:00

Just got this from Amy Prendergast, our sci/tech librarian:

All our SilverPlatter databases have now been moved to the Ovid platform. I have changed the links on the database pages - please let me know if you find any I have missed. The databases concerned are:

Biological Abstracts
GeoRef
Mental Measurements Yearbook
Social Work Abstracts
NASW Clinical Register

Unfortunately we don't seem to be connecting correctly with Social Work Abstracts and NASW Clinical Register but the others should all be working. I have sent a message about the problem to Ovid and hopefully we can get it resolved soon.

When you click on one of the database links, it will take you to a search page. At the top of the page is a box for Search History - you can close this by clicking on "(Click to close)". This makes more room at the top of the screen and enables you to see all the available limits for the database.

A Junkbin of Catalogs

2009-01-06T08:52:00.003-06:00

Is there anyone who hasn't resolved to be more organized; to be more environmentally aware; to work smarter this year? Here's a website to help: Catalog Choice You do have to register and supply a snail mail address to which the catalogs you receive are posted. Find the ones you really don't want and this org will make contact with the business and request that they desist. Go through all those Christmas catalogs and thin the selection. Save space, save trees, save work AND eliminate temptation.

https://www.catalogchoice.org/

Lists 2008--Best of . . .

2008-12-19T16:12:00.003-06:00

Here's an aggregate list of many of the end-of-the-year best of/ worst of lists. What's this fascination with lists? Maybe because they are so neat and tidy. Maybe they simplify our world into nice linear value-laden predigested cultural schedules. I dunno. All I know is that I'm off for the weekend.
http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2008.cfm

Google Street view

2008-12-18T10:09:00.004-06:00

I have probably blogged about this at least once already, but it still blows my mind everytime I encounter a reference to it. If you haven't done this yet, you need to try it--if only to see how easy it is for information-literate-trained stalkers to find you. Many streets in U.S. cities have now been photographed. Looks like pictures of my house were done sometime last winter.

Go to Google; choose Maps; enter your address/zipcode. When you get the map, click on Street view in the box that pops up. Now you can navigate by clicking on the arrow in the middle of the street or rotating the picture using the carets (sp?) in the top corner of the view.

Should you ever see a car driving your street with a set of cameras mounted on the roof, be sure to wave and say hello to the world!

Tic Your TOC

2008-12-16T12:43:00.003-06:00

I love electronic databases, especially those with full-text articles. But, alas, I miss the serendipitous finding of articles I wasn't looking for, but really like or need or explode my mind. Just got notice of a utility from the UK that allows us to specify (tic) a list of our favourite[sic] journals, save the list, and then cruise the Table of Contents (TOC) of our choices whenever we wish. And the name is. . . . ticTOCs!
http://www.tictocs.ac.uk/index.php?action=home

"Welcome to ticTOCs - where researchers keep up-to-date

* ticTOCs is easy to use, and it's free.
* Find 11,393 scholarly journal Table of Contents (TOCs) from 414 publishers.
* View the latest TOC for each journal.
* Link to the full text of 291,071 articles (where institutional or personal subscription allows).
* Export TOC feeds to popular feedreaders.
* Select and save journal titles to view future TOCs (Register to ensure your MyTOCs are permanently saved).
* And more!"

Library Elf

2008-12-12T14:13:00.003-06:00

Sounds like a Christmas story; it's not. Ellen Wilson, our ingenious technology librarian, alerted me to this utility several months ago, and every month I'm really glad she did.

Sign up for an account. Enter your Mobile Public Library card number and password and Library Elf will connect with your account. You can set it up to let you know which books you have checked out and send you an email alert before they are due.

It works for MPL and Hancock County library for both me and my husband. You can check and see if any other libraries are included. There are a couple of academic libraries, but not this one, though I will look into it. Library Elf may not work with our system.

It has saved me from fines several times and I love just being able to see what I have, what I've put a hold on, and when everything is due. Perfect if you have kids that use the public library. So easy.
http://libraryelf.com/

The Top Ten of Everything of 2008

2008-12-09T10:50:00.001-06:00

Finished exams? No brains needed for these lists.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10

Addictionary

2008-12-08T11:19:00.003-06:00

I think it was the Washington Post that used to have a contest every year for the best made-up word. This website is based on the same concept. The Word of the Day is:

inlawgestion
noun, The anxiety and stress stemming from having the in-laws over for dinner over the holidays.

So many words that ought to exist!
http://www.addictionary.org/

Thanks to http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
Marylaine Block

Just for Fun--Sleeveface

2008-12-05T13:31:00.002-06:00

Now that exams are going on, I think it's too late for anything but some stress relief. Heard about this website on NPR the other day. Too cool! This is something anybody can do with an old album cover and a friend with a digital camera. Submit your photo to the website.
http://www.sleeveface.com/

The Mechanics of Finding an Article in the Library

2008-12-02T10:03:00.002-06:00

I just finished updating a web page that, I hope, elucidates the steps you need to take to find a full text article through the USA University Library Homepage in a couple of general databases. I wish it were easy, but it's not. Here are seven steps that take you through the mechanics of the process. The actual search strategy is a whole 'nother ballgame. Maybe I can talk Ellen Wilson into doing a Captivate demo on constructing a search strategy--after the Holidays, of course.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/sauer/articles/finding.html

World AIDS Day

2008-12-01T10:56:00.001-06:00

How much do you know about how AIDs? Take the test.(Give it a few moments to load.)

American Social History

2008-11-26T10:15:00.003-06:00

Appropriate for this most social of holidays is this primary document website described by the Scout Report today.

The Digital Library Federation's website, Aquifer American Social History Online, is a site that brings together 175 collections that catalog American social history. Some of the types of materials included on the site are photographs, maps, oral histories, data sets, sheet music, posters, books and journal articles. On the right side of the homepage you can browse by "Times", "Subjects", and "Places". The items included here date back as far as the 1600s, covering the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and subjects ranging from African-Americans to World War II.

http://www.dlfaquifer.org/home

Great Websites for Kids

2008-11-25T13:46:00.001-06:00

For these holidays from the American Library Association:
http://www.ala.org/greatsites

"The most valuable journalism is the kind that explains."

2008-11-25T12:05:00.002-06:00

Too much information; too little knowledge.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7978

Website Parodies

2008-11-24T14:21:00.004-06:00

Sometime along the way, I gathered this set of parody websites. They were probably originally meant to illustrate the need to evaluate public web pages. Some of them are very carefully done--by someone who had a lot of extra time. Some of them are just silly. I thought maybe they would provide a little humor-break from research-paper writing. And always remember there is The Onion.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/sauer/parodies.html

Civic Literacy Quiz

2008-11-21T08:57:00.002-06:00

According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education citing a newly released report on civic literacy:

. . . earning a college degree does not necessarily guarantee an increase in knowledge of American history, government, or economics.

The report, "Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions," is based on a survey that quizzed more than 2,500 randomly selected Americans, including college graduates and elected officials, to test their "civic literacy." Of those who took the 33-question multiple-choice test, nearly 1,800, or roughly 71 percent, failed.

According to the report, college graduates whose highest educational-attainment level was a bachelor's degree answered 57 percent of the questions correctly. That was 13 percentage points higher than the score for Americans whose formal education ended with a high-school diploma.

Only one age bracket of college graduates, baby boomers, did not fail the test over all but came close with an average score of 61 percent. A score below 60 percent was considered failure.

I didn't fail, but am embarrassed that I actually missed 3 questions. But I'm one of those baby boomers that actually studied "civics" as a class in grade school and high school.

See how you do. Take the 33 question multiple choice test.

Life on Google

2008-11-20T08:36:00.002-06:00

For years, when doing a library tour, I've stopped at our shelves of Life magazines. Our bound volumes on the third floor outside of the classroom start in 1936 and go through about 1983. Students are amazed at the history these represent--the articles, the advertisements and the photos. Google has gotten the Life photo collection from 1750s and made it available on their Images search. All those famous shots of presidents' inaugurations, presidents'funerals, war, wars' ends, fashion icons and the poor unfashionables.

To browse the collection go to Google, choose "Images" search and use these words: source:life.

To search it just add another word, for example: source:life vietnam.

http://images.google.com/

Full Frontal Scrutiny

2008-11-14T08:45:00.002-06:00

Americans for American Energy
Center for Consumer Freedom
American Clean Skies Foundation
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy
Consumers Rights League

"Alliance," "foundation," "league," "coalition," Wow, such great names. They sound like activist, grassroots organizations working for the betterment of our world and our lives. Sorry to say these are all backed by those for whom transparency is the foe. Hmmm, what might that be? Here is a watchdog website that follows the money to unearth the agenda of these groups.

http://www.frontgroups.org/

"This joint project between Consumer Reports Web Watch and the Center for Media and Democracy aims to examine advocacy groups with misleadingly green-sounding names that are actually funded by corporate interests." Thanks to: Neat New Stuff I Found This Week http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html

Hoaxed Again!

2008-11-13T13:59:00.002-06:00

Have you heard the news that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent and not a country? And did you believe it? All the news stations and blogs reported it, so it must be true, right?

Read this: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/13/arts/13hoax.php

Even me, a librarian skeptical of all news sources, fell for it. After all everyone was saying it. Just hope that no one decides to do this to you on the web, on facebook, twitter, wherever. It is viral and can be deadly.

National Survey of Student Engagement 2008

2008-11-11T08:24:00.004-06:00

Though this report should be of interest to university administrators, students should take note of the summary below. Whatever college and university you attend, there will be differences in the quality of the education. It is up to you to find the best courses and the best teachers--not just the easiest and those that fit your schedule.

Promoting Engagement for All Students: The Imperative to Look Within
Source: National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
From press release (PDF; 226 KB)

Findings from a national survey released today show that the quality of undergraduate education varies far more within colleges and universities than between them. As a result, rankings can be highly misleading predictors of educational quality. Analyses of key “Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice” reveal that in almost every case, more than 90 percent of the variation in undergraduate education quality occurs within institutions, not between them. A related conclusion is that even institutions with high benchmark scores have an appreciable share of students whose undergraduate experience is average at best.

The 2008 report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is based on information from nearly 380,000 randomly selected first-year and senior students at 722 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. The report, Promoting Engagement for All Students: The Imperative to Look Within, provides an overview of survey findings and points to accomplishments as well as areas where improvement is needed.

10 Most Annoying Phrases

2008-11-07T16:11:00.001-06:00

Oxford Researchers List Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases
By John Scott Lewinski
Wired.com, 7 Nov 2008

The great hierarchy of verbal fatigue includes:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

The list appears in a new book, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, by Jeremy Butterfield.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition

2008-10-29T09:54:00.002-05:00

The 11th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, coincidentally published in 1911, is known (by librarians and historians mostly) for the depth of its articles and the scholarly authority of the authors of these articles. I just ran across an online version of this 44 million word reference source and after a little more research have found more than one website hosting it. Needless to say, it is of no value for most 20th century topics, but for students and academics in most fields it is a historiography of great value.

Wikipedia offers these characterizations by noted authorities. I can't think of better advertisements for trying it than these

In 1917, under his pseudonym of S. S. Van Dine, the US art critic and author Willard Huntington Wright published Misinforming a Nation, a 200+ page criticism of inaccuracies and biases found in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. Wright claimed that Britannica was "characterized by misstatement, inexcusable omissions, rabid and patriotic prejudices, personal animosities, blatant errors of fact, scholastic ignorance, gross neglect of non-British culture, an astounding egotism, and an undisguised contempt for American progress.

"Sir Kenneth Clark, in Another Part of the Wood (1974), wrote of the eleventh edition, "One leaps from one subject to another, fascinated as much by the play of mind and the idiosyncrasies of their authors as by the facts and dates. It must be the last encyclopaedia in the tradition of Diderot which assumes that information can be made memorable only when it is slightly coloured by prejudice. When T. S. Eliot wrote 'Soul curled up on the window seat reading the Encyclopædia Britannica,' he was certainly thinking of the eleventh edition." (Clark refers to Eliot's 1929 poem Animula.)"

Check it out at:
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/

Molecular Movies--Cool Animations for the Biologist and the Curious

2008-10-24T09:50:00.003-05:00

This website just came via Scout Report. This is their review:
. . . . The Molecular Movies site presents an organized directory of various animations, along with original tutorials for life science professionals who are learning 3D visualization techniques. These materials are divided into the following sections: "Showcase", "Learning", "Toolkit", and "News". The "Showcase" area contains animations listed by scientific area or individual animator or design studio. Currently, there are well over fifty animations offered here which demonstrate everything from cell invasions to DNA replication. Next up are the visualization tutorials (located in the "Learning" area), which allow users to learn about the techniques used in making such lovely animations. Visitors can browse these tutorials by skill level, software type, or topic area. Before leaving the site, visitors should also check out the site weblog for further updates and links to other related works. [KMG]
http://www.molecularmovies.com/showcase/index.html

Copyright Internet Scout, 1994-2008. Internet Scout
(http://scout.wisc.edu/),

Imagination Overwhelms Me

2008-10-02T14:13:00.002-05:00

When everyone else sees the world as bland and boring, there are those among us who make visual, aural and poetic sense of the random.

Sorted Books project

The Sorted Books project began in 1993 years ago and is ongoing. The project has taken place in many different places over the years, ranging form private homes to specialized public book collections. The process is the same in every case: culling through a collection of books, pulling particular titles, and eventually grouping the books into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence, from top to bottom.

Bill Geist on Complaining Choirs (CBS Sunday Morning)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9BZUjZWYIA
CBS' offbeat correspondent Bill Geist explores the trend of "complaining choirs", where ordinary people complain about life to four-part harmony.

Glumbert: When graphic artists get bored.

Banned Books Week

2008-10-01T08:33:00.003-05:00

This is the one week a year that we officially celebrate our freedom to read whatever we want. John Stuart Mill believed that if we were just allowed to explore all possible arguments we would come up with an enlightened answer. But Plato didn't trust that we would not be unduly swayed by the poets and rhetoricians. The battle still rages today. Reading is a civic responsibility OR reading is dangerous unless controlled for "truth." Libraries generally take the first position and are sometimes challenged by those who take the second.

Here is the Joint Statement by the American Library Association and the American Association of Publishers.

Take the Guardian's Quiz to see how much you know about book banning worldwide.

Here's a list of frequently banned books.

And visit the University Library to vote for your favorite banned book.

“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.” — On Liberty, John Stuart Mill