Changing Roles of Academic and Research Libraries

A new [Feb. 2007] report on Academic Libraries has been published by the ACRL [Association of College and Research Libraries). Since the librarians are having an all day workshop on Monday, I thought I would link to this report online. Wouldn't be a bad idea if students and teaching faculty read it too!

And to celebrate Spring, here's a link that a faculty member sent me with these instructions:

Click here: http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf

Click on the link. You will get a black page.
Click your mouse anywhere on the page & see what happens!
Better yet, click & drag your mouse over the black page...

Have a great weekend. js

Learning Technology--Medieval Style

Actually the codex was invented in the late first century by the Romans according to the Wikipedia [I'm so ashamed--Middlebury College would flunk me, I'm sure]. Check out this YouTube video illustrating the training issues that accompanied this incredible "new" technology.
Hope you read and enjoyed at least one book during National Library Week. If not, now's the time to make your summer reading list.

InfoTubey Library Awards

In honor of Natl. Library Week check out some of the best library videos on YouTube. Esp. check out the William's College history of 'short pencils.' There exists, albeit not easy to find, some great library humor. Hope there will be a second annual award and wish we could enter the contest. Anybody got an idea? I have the camera and iMovie, just need someone's fertile imagination--mine's suffering from year-end drought. js

Hot Docs for Natl Library Week

Vickey Baggott, goverment documents librarian, has a new Hot Docs at USA featuring a little light reading newly arrived from the Government Printing Office for National Library Week.

Excellence in Librarianship Award to Vicki Tate

Yesterday, at the start of National Library Week, Vicki Tate received the Excellence in Librarianship from the Dean, Richard Wood.

Vicki is the Head of Government Documents and Serials and will, this year, be the Chair of the University's Faculty Senate. She is active in a number of organizations, moderates a document listserv, is serving on several search committees, adeptly handled recent flood damage in her department. Vicki is also known as the queen of the spreadsheet organizational method, an indoor gardener extraordinaire, and the person to see if you need a kitty cat in your life.

Urban Legend Fells Another Librarian!

On Wednesday of last week I posted a "fact" I got from a weird-facts webpage. It seems that I have been misled, hoodwinked and bamboozled. Always check your facts! A person, who-must-be-obeyed, but who shall remain nameless, found the truth on the VERY useful Urban Legend website. "The number of the horse's feet taken up from the ground has nothing to do with any attribute of the person depicted and everything to do with the skill of the sculptor and his ability to overcome nearly insurmountable problems in solid geometry, stress of materials, and other aspects of civil engineering..." From an unnamed webposting.

National Library Week-April 15-21

Hum That Tune

Got a song in your head? Can't figure out what it's called? Know some of the words, but need the rest for your next shower performance? Try this website--Midomi. Sing, hum or whistle a few bars into your computer microphone and, if you can carry just a bit of the tune, you should get back the info on the song, it's words, and the ability to download it for 99¢. Obviously this is not easy for technology and won't always work, but what the heck, maybe your roommate will even spring for the buck to get you past your made-up lyrics. I got this from MaryLaine Block's weekly email.

Weird Stuff

Can you read this page? http://www.funny-potato.com/read-this.html

And Weird Trivia found on the web.

Did you know:
If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.

If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
I got this from a webpage I can't find anymore or I would cite it.

Writing Outreach--On Finding Literary Criticism: Articles

On Thursday,
3:30-4:30,
Room 305,
in the Library,
I will be offering a workshop on how to find literary criticism for your literature termpapers. If you are in EH 101 or 102 you can come and ask questions about your papers too. Here's the webpage I am working on to be ready by Thursday at 3:30. js

Global Warming--What You Can Do

Did you know that our ethanol might have been some starving individual's possible meal. If our corn goes to our fuel, what's going to happen to the corn that we ship to countries who can't feed their population? Sorry--I never thought of that before. Maybe ethanol is not the answer. Marylaine Block's email today links to a Time magazine article about things we can do and maybe should think about a little more.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/

Easy Reading in the Library

Vicki Tate just sent this announcement over from the periodical collection on 2 South. Yeah! Now I can drool on the Library's Gourmet magazine instead of waiting for my twice annual dentist visits. And since I have never ever been able to throw away my Wired magazine, maybe I can just give up my subscription and save my storage area for more important stuff.


by Vicki Tate
"One area that the library has been previously unable to meet the demand from our patrons is for general, pleasure-reading magazines. This has now changed due to recent gifts from two local businesses. We are now able to provide such materials to our patrons. Through a gift subscription service from EBSCO, a periodical vendor, 17 popular magazines on a variety of subjects will be available. EBSCO provided us with an initial list of 100 possible magazine titles. The final selection was based on trying to provide a variety of reading options we thought would be of interest to our students, faculty and staff. The magazines are sponsored and paid for by Farmers Insurance and by Domino’s Pizza, two local businesses located near the University on Old Shell Road. We will keep the 6 latest issues from each title, with the most current issue displayed on magazine racks next to the service desk in the current periodicals area on 2nd Floor South. These new magazines are: Christianity Today, Cycle World, ESPN Magazine, Four Wheeler, Glamour, Golf Digest, Gourmet, GQ, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Latina, Modern Bride, Road & Track, Self, Spin, Vibe and Wired.

In addition to these gift subscriptions, the library has received other gift titles, including American Legacy: The Magazine of African-American History & Culture, and the newspapers Muslim Journal and People’s Daily.
If you are interested in providing a gift subscription, please contact Vicki Tate (460-7024). Acceptance of any title is based on selection criteria and other factors.

So when you want to take a break from your academic pursuits, stop by the current periodicals area on second floor, and check out our new magazines."