A Couple of Sites for Weekend Browsing

From Marylaine Block's weekly post:


"What Book Got You Hooked?
http://www2.firstbook.org/whatbook/top50.php
FirstBook, which gives away books to children, asked people to tell them
what book got them hooked on reading. "Over 100,000 people responded.
These are the Top 50 books that got YOU hooked!" No doubt everybody's
answers would be different, which makes this a great topic for
discussions and exhibits in your library."

"Smithsonian: Art and Design
http://www.si.edu/Art_and_Design/
A good place to sample or immerse yourself in the Smithsonian's
outstanding research and collections on design. Browse by type of design
(architecture, graphic arts, industrial design, stamps, letters and
coins, etc.), or by regions and cultures. Irresistible sample displays
from each category (lighthouse postcards, American lunchboxes, Asian
games, etc.) are available from the main page. Click on Ask Joan of Art
to have information specialists at the American Art Museum answer your
questions."

Top 100 Tools for Learning

Here's a UK list, gathered from other lists, enumerating the most valued tools useful for educating students. It's interesting that the "written word" meaning words on paper only made it to 49. Guess students don't need "real" books much anymore, much less tools like library catalogs and databases--not mentioned at all.

What were the Brits thinking???

Top 100 Tools for Learning
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

Newsmap--a news junkie's dream

I stashed this url in an email and just resurrected it while cleaning my desktop. Newsmap is a visual representation of the most recent stories from Google news aggregator by country and color-coded to 7 main topics and recency.

"Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. . . . Its objective is to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media. It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news; on the contrary, it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it."

How refreshing--to admit bias!


Newsmap http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

Non-Profit Research Reports and YouTube

I got this from today's Gary Price's Resource Shelf.
IssueLab

"IssueLab, which has been around for just about two years, is a project of the Chicago-based New Media for Nonprofits, which basically assists third sector organizations in creating and managing an online presence. Gabriela Fitz, IssueLab co-director, describes the site as
"an online publishing forum focused solely on research being produced by the third sector. Its mission is to bring nonprofit research into focus by giving a broad audience easy and open access to this extensive body of work." We would describe it, more simply, as a searchable archive of full-text nonprofit organization research and policy papers."

http://www.issuelab.com/

Mediated cultures.net
The second website, and a rather fun educational project, is a digital ethnography class from Kansas State University explaining YouTube by using YouTube.
http://mediatedcultures.net/youtube.htm

DailyLit

If you are like me there are hundreds of classic books you have never read. Ones that everyone assumes an educated person has read--and what respectable librarian wants to admit to such outrageous gaps in ones reading history. To the rescue--DailyLit--a website recommended by my well-read daughter. Have small chunks of classic, copyright-free books sent to you daily--a 5-10 minute read--either by email or rss feed. I have just browsed the list, but have not yet signed up for one. Maybe I can finally get through Joyce's Ulysses if it is fed to me in 332 parts! Maybe not. Free registration. js

DailyLit http://www.dailylit.com

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winners

For the worst sentence of fictional prose for 2007. Always an amazing feat:
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2007.htm

Library Now Has Project Muse

If you haven't yet noticed the Muse icon on the bottom of our library homepage, please take notice! Project Muse might be considered the "front-end" of JSTOR, both non-profits starting about the same time with Mellon Grants. JSTOR covers full text back issues of many humanities/social science type academic journals. Project Muse carries the full text, current issues of many of the same journals.

This is a great boon to the humanities faculty who have, till now, not had the convenience of lots of full text humanities journals available to them online. Great for students doing papers too. JS

Here's what Project Muse says about itself:

Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to over 300 high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from 60 scholarly publishers.

MUSE began in 1993 as a pioneering joint project of the Johns Hopkins University Press and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at JHU. Grants from the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities allowed MUSE to go live with JHU Press journals in 1995. Journals from other publishers were first incorporated in 2000, with additional university press and scholarly society publishers joining in each subsequent year.

Today, MUSE is still a not-for-profit collaboration between the participating publishers and MSEL, with the goal of disseminating quality scholarship via a sustainable model that meets the needs of both libraries and publishers. At this time, Project MUSE subscriptions are available only to institutions.

How Google is Making Us Stupid

Worth a thoughtful read.
"It is hard to conceive of a more succinct description of what might be called the Google Society, convinced it is on the verge of a bright, shiny, networked utopia linked by huge virtual libraries to all civilised wisdom even as it reduces its culture to machine-generated lists of what everyone else is looking at, so stupid that it does not realise how stupid it is."

http://www.themonthly.com.au/excerpts/issue9_excerpt_001.htmlBy Gideon Haigh

Copyright Guidelines Chart

http://www.mediafestival.org/copyrigh.pdf

Instructors, if you are planning for your fall classes, this chart might be useful. It is slightly old, 2001, but most of the components are the same. I will have to do some research to see if there have been any updates, but I don't think there are.

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the U. S.
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm
If you wish to print or publish on the Internet the works of others, this chart will help you decide whether the copyright police can throw you in the clink.

js

Confused by Science Info?

Welcome to the club! The Libraries have a large number of science databases. The Web is full of others. How do you know where to go first? So much depends on what you are looking for. Amy and I did some workshops for the undergrad research students this summer and have developed several webpages to help them. Maybe they can help you too:

• UCUR Technology
• UCUR Chemistry
• UCUR Biology
• UCUR Sciences & NSF-REU

But here's a list I just ran across in Gary Price's Resource Shelf Newsletter that enumerates and annotates the "free" sources of science information on the web. No one place has it all. If you must be comprehensive, then you need to utilize all of the possible places where information is stored. Spending time doing this background research can save you lab time and maybe even lives.
A Quick Look of a Few Free Science Search Tools (Scirus, Live Search Academic, Google Scholar, Scitopia, Global Science Gateway, and More)
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/07/09/a-quick-look-of-a-few-free-science-search-tools-scirus-live-search-academic-google-scholar-scitopia-global-science-gateway-and-more/
or http://digbig.com/4tfcx
js

Identity by Design and NYPL Digital Gallery

I've been thinking a lot lately about design. A new beach house. No money to furnish it. Lots of catalogs, magazines, HGTV and websites have me imagining possibilities. The title of this site grabbed by attention. Identity by Design. How we define ourselves by our clothing and furnishings has always intrigued me. The pictures and text of this Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian exhibit are incredible inspirations. Be sure to click the arrows on the right side of the screen to get the full exhibit--I missed them the first time around. js
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/identity_by_design/IdentityByDesign.html

Also try the incredible images from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. You can even purchase framed or unframed digital copies of these images.

[From the Scout Report]

Death by PowerPoint

I'm back from a week off -- and totally exhausted. Here's a link that Sue Medina of Network of Alabama Academic Libraries sent last week. It illustrates everything I believe about most PowerPoint presentations:
http://i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=23724

On the serious side of this issue, Edward Tufte, the guru of visual information, in this excerpt from his book (The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint) talks about the implications of the use of PowerPoint in technical communication:
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1

Stuff

It's summer; so hard to blog in the summer. Off next week with no Internet access--haven't done that in a while. So here's some stuff to consider. Back in a week-or so.

Items from the Resource Shelf

MIT's Reference page
http://libraries.mit.edu/help/virtualref/
Simple, uncluttered, useful.

Great skywatching tools at Sky & Telescope magazine: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript

Items from Marylaine Block

2007 Webby Awards
5 word speeches from the winners


Really Tired of School
Best Careers, Degrees Not Required

Free Photos
No-Copyright Photos from Uncle Sam

Green Living
Inhabitat

Summer Solstice 1:06 P.M. Today

Have a little druidic dance right after lunch today--longest day of the year.

Thoughts on Facebook from Cornell Univ.

"Thoughts on Facebook" http://www.cit.cornell.edu/policy/memos/facebook.html
Please read the full text of this article if you use Facebook.

Here is the conclusion:
"Facebook, along with much of the Internet, is a great innovation that allows users to express their humanity and an opportunity to create new communities. As such it represents a forum in which one can make choices about their identity, at least insofar as one chooses to represent themselves publicly. That freedom does not suggest that one can do so with impunity, however. Because we live in a society in which expression is judged in legal, policy and even personal ways, it is important to remember the consequences of that expression no matter how ephemeral or fun in the moment it might seem to be. This essay offers some things to contemplate when using Facebook, all of which can be summed up easily in a "Golden Rule." Don't say anything about someone else that you would not want said about yourself. And be gentle with yourself too! What might seem fun or spontaneous at 18, given caching technologies, might prove to be a liability to an on-going sense of your identity over the longer course of history. Have fun and make productive use of these new, exciting technologies, but remember that technology does not absolve one of responsibility. Behind every device, behind every new program, behind every technology is a law, a social norm, a business practice that warrants thoughtful consideration."

by Tracy Mitrano, Director of IT Policy and Computer Policy & Law Program, Cornell University, April, 2006

Beloit College Mindset List for class of 2010

BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2010
http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
2. They have known only two presidents.
3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5. They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes."
6. There has always been only one Germany.
7. They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.
8. They are wireless, yet always connected.
9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.
10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
19. "Google" has always been a verb.
20. Text messaging is their email.
21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.
25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
26. "Boogers" candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.
27. There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.
28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents' attics.
29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
31. They grew up in mini-vans.
32. Reality shows have always been on television.
33. They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all get along?"
34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."
35. Young women's fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else
40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
43. They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
49. They have always been searching for "Waldo."
50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
54. There have always been live organ donors.
55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.
56. They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."
57. Sara Lee has always made underwear.
58. Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
59. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
60. They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
61. Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
62. Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
63. Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
64. LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65. Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
66. Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
67. Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
68. "Outing" has always been a threat.
69. Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
70. They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
71. The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
72. Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.
73. They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
75. Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

Today at 3:30 in the Library Auditorium

See the post below. "History in Peril: A National Geographic Society Expedition to Endangered Fossil Sites in China."

Brian Axsmith's Fossil Research and Travel in China

June Hot Docs

Vickey Baggott, Documents Librarian, has put together a Hot Docs http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm list of new documents covering a broad range of college courses/programs proving that there's probably something for every student/researcher in the Government Documents Department located on 2nd Floor, South of the University Library.

Artist Reception 5 to 7 in Library Art Gallery

From the Dean:
"The public is invited to attend the opening art reception for B. J. Ray in
the University Library, Third Floor Gallery, June 1 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

B J Ray, Photographer & Surrealistic Digital Painter, is exhibiting her
surrealistic landscapes, photographic composites and representational
waterfalls in the Third Floor Gallery, University Library. Ms. Ray is the
recipient of many awards including National Shrimp Festival; Arts in the
Park, Pensacola, FL; Fairhope Arts & Crafts Show; Meridian Arts in the Park;
Lexington Art Fest; Branson Art Festival and Minolta Photographers Award.
Her photographs have been published in "International Photographers Guild,"
"Alabama Alive" Magazine, and Ford Motor Company "Highways and Byways."
Studies include the Special Studies Summer Program Painting and Special
Studies Graphic Design Program at the University of Alabama. She also
studied three years with renowned photographer Michael Kaspareck of Brewer
State. The exhibit will be on display through July 31 and may be viewed
during library hours: http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/info/hours.html."

Web 2.0

The reference department is starting on an excursion to explore Web 2.0 sites today. I thought maybe some readers might want to try them too. I will adapt the instructions a bit for this open forum. You are welcome to make comments on this blog about your experiences. Here's the first place we are exploring:

First Stop: LibraryThing

Let’s start our adventure in a library catalog–your own library catalog–the one you are going to create in LibraryThing.

1. Go to http://www.librarything.com. Create an account with any user name and password you like. [Think about using the same log in and password for all of these expeditions so you won’t have to worry about remembering different ones for different applications.]

1a. If you must, you may read the short introduction to LibraryThing at: http://www.librarything.com/quickstart.php

2. Once you have an account your first entry box will pop up. Enter the title or author of your favorite book or just grab a book from your desk and type in the title or author.

<>3. Add 2 or 3 tags that describe it – fairly generic words that might fit other favorites of yours, e.g. mystery, female detective, Chicago.

4. You can change the Amazon.com search to Library of Congress below the entry box if you think your book may be out of print. Amazon’s good because it will retrieve cover images too. Click on the link below the Library of Congress to see the other 78 catalogs possibly containing the book. [Mary can even search the National Library of Norway if she has a favorite Norwegian author!]

5. Click the retrieved book that you wish to save to your library, then go to “Your Library” to see the beginning of your personal collection.

6. Hover over some of the icons and numbers to see what clicking through will take you to. Try some like the “Zeitgeist” tab at the top. Check out the tag "cloud."

7. Add a few more books. You can have access to your catalog from any computer on the web [if you can remember your log in and password of course.]

Smithsonian Photo Contest Winners

The Smithsonian Magazine 4th Annual Photo Contest winners have been published on the web. And they are glorious! http://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/v4/natural6.html

Memorial Day

http://www.usmemorialday.org/

http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Rainiest and Ideas

Guess who ranks as the rainiest city in the United States?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070522/sc_livescience/studyrevealstop10wettestuscities

and from marylaine block:

TED - Ideas Worth Spreading
http://www.ted.com/index.php/
"Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers." Among them:
Peter Gabriel on fighting injustice with a videocamera, Jane Goodall on
what separates us from the apes, Nicholas Negroponte on the vision behind
One Laptop per Child, Michael Shermer on why people believe strange
things, Jimmy Wales on the creation of Wikipedia, and many more.

Boating Info

Perfect weekend to be on a boat. It's best if you don't actually own one, but have friends who do. Then they have to pay to keep it up, store it, fuel it, and learn all the rules as well as run the thing. Here's a link to the Librarians' Internet Index listing for boating safety. Maybe you should brush up on some safety tips in case your hosts get tired of your mooching ways!

http://tinyurl.com/39dura

Have a great weekend!

Watching the Government

Congresspedia
Things are popping in Washington D.C. these days. Here's a website that will keep you up to date if you can't watch CSPAN all day everyday. It's a project of SourceWatch which describes itself this way:

Welcome to SourceWatch, a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy to produce a directory of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. A primary purpose of SourceWatch is documenting the PR and propaganda activities of public relations firms and public relations professionals engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion and policy. SourceWatch also includes profiles on think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. Over time, SourceWatch has broadened to include others involved in public debates including media outlets, journalists and government agencies. Unlike some other wikis, SourceWatch has a policy of strict referencing, and is overseen by a paid editor.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Congresspedia

Haunted Love [in Closed Reserve]

Dennis Guion, our Circulation/Reserve librarian just sent me this YouTube video. I might just ask the Freshman Seminar instructors to have their new students watch it in the Fall to "scare them straight" about library etiquette.
Haunted Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne_WXP7lUWM

Is Nothing Sacred?

Academics are taking teaching to YouTube.
Just got this video from the Chronicle of Higher Education about a professor who is using YouTube to teach cultural anthropology from the inside out.
http://chronicle.com/media/video/v53/i36/youtube/

This video references his [Michael Wesch, ass. prof at Kansas State] brilliant YouTube video. In it he raises questions that we will all need to address soon, if we are to make any sense of the phenomenon called Web 2.0--those applications that allow us to collaborate, personalize and create ourselves and our world in cyberspace.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

I've just activated the "comments" feature of Blogger. Use it!

StateMaster

Kathy Jones just sent me this website: StateMaster
http://www.statemaster.com/index.php

"Welcome to StateMaster, a unique statistical database which allows you to
research and compare a multitude of different data on US states. We have
compiled information from various primary sources such as the US Census
Bureau, the FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics."

Try this one under lifestyles and this one under crime---vvverrry iiinnnteresting.

HotDocs and Hollywood Librarians

Vickey Baggott, government documents librarian, has a new Hot Docs guaranteed to induce FUTURE SHOCK. These new hearings cover topics being discussed in Congress these days.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm

And

Check out the trailer for a new documentary on YouTube called the Hollywood Librarian, coming soon.

For Language Lovers and Others

One of the big problems information seekers have is trying to figure out what words to use to describe a concept, topic, subject. English is messy; unlike some other languages which are more precise, we have many words to express a single idea.

I have been a great fan of the visual search in the EBSCO databases. If you haven't tried it, do so. Click on visual search; search a topic; see the articles categorized graphically by subject heading. Marylaine Block offered this site today which will be useful for novice searchers--it gives definitions and establishes connections between words and their use in the real world. It could be a great first step for students (and the rest of us) to learn both the denotation and connotations of topics/words they want to explore. Here's how Visuwords describes itself:

"Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.<>

<>Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree. Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom. Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections." http://www.visuwords.com/

The Price of Textbooks

Textbook publishers are two of the dirtiest words ever spoken by college students. Costs have tripled in 20 years.* Sometimes the bookstores get blamed. Sometimes instructors get blamed. Sometimes the authors get blamed. There is certainly enough blame to spread around. Sue Medina, the guru and leading light of the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL), sent out a link to this article today. Washington State is trying to make the costs more transparent with a new law. Check out this editorial* in the NYTs today.<>

The article mentions a program Rice University is using to provide students with custom written textbooks online for no cost. Called Connexions, it describes itself this way:
". . . an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. Our Content Commons contains educational materials for everyone — from children to college students to professionals — organized in small modules that are easily connected into larger courses. All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons "attribution" license."

Hmmmm. Free texts. What an idea. js

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."

The Ultimate Reub Goldberg or What Some Undergrads Do on the Weekend

http://www.baynhamtyers.com/index.html?http://www.baynhamtyers.com/Services/Business_Image/image_viral_frameset.html?http://www.baynhamtyers.com/contraptionII.html

First Person and Historical Photos

There are lots of places to share photos on the web. Flikr is probably the most famous. But this one is kind of intriquing. MSNBC puts out a call for photos of certain things and stories that are of interest. The station might use your photo and story on the air. Got a great Spring Break picture? That seems to be on the call list, as are motorcycle pictures, Will Smith look-alike photos and quirky American landmarks and people.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16712587/ I haven't tried sending a picture yet, so I don't know what is involved.

Here's another photo site. This one has pictures from 100 or so years ago. Ran across one taken in Mobile about the turn of the century. Also links to other sites that have photos and ads from previous eras. http://www.shorpy.com/

Both of thse are from the latest Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff.

And here's one for you to post that photo of you taken on the day when your hair is perfect, your clothes are clean and you look like a Gap, Target or iTunes ad. It's called Looking Real Good and is for regular people (which seems to mean the under 35, fairly techy crowd). Where else can you do this and be one of the cool people. http://lookingrealgood.com/

Running the Numbers--Visual Statistics

Something to think about this weekend. Maybe one less can and grocery bag would help the planet.
http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=

Facebook and AIM Experiment

OK, I don't know if anyone cares but I'm sending out an invitation to you to try reaching me for Chat. See the graphic for my AIM name. And you can also get to me at Facebook as J Sauer or the I Love the USA Library group[which has a total of 2 members right now]. This experiment may not last long, either because of apathetic response or overwork, but I thought I'd try it near the end of the semester just to see what happens. I'll try to be online when I'm in the Library and not teaching or at the Ref desk. Got a question about your research? Try it here.

Our Veterans and a Watchdog

No matter what you think about the war, you know that those women and men who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with physical and psychological injuries deserve the best we can give them. Here's a watchdog website that is trying to ensure they get the best. http://vawatchdog.org/

Sundays New York Times Magazine section has a cover story on the women in the war that is well worth reading too. Go to LexisNexis>General News>Major Papers and do a search using women's war as your search term.

And I just donated a documentary DVD I saw in NY last summer called "The War Tapes" to the Instructional Media Center. Three soldiers in their own words and with their own videos. A primary document, a case study and a fascinating view directly from Iraq. X-Rated language. Check it out. js

I'm back from a Spring Break filled with difficult decisions based on cost/aesthetic analyses with mostly "cost" winning. If you are interested see: http://homepage.mac.com/jan.sauer/PhotoAlbum3.html js

With no cost to you, check out both the Art/Literature student's and the fine arts faculty's aesthetic decisions on the 3rd floor of the Library. I got this announcement from the Dean this morning:

"The Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition features artwork in a wide range of materials and disciplines including painting, printmaking, graphic design, ceramics, sculpture, drawing and photography on the third floor. This show extends through the end of the semester to May 10th.

"Poets & Artists" display. The students in Claire Evangelista's drawing class respond through art and photography to the poems written by students in Dr. Sue Walker's poetry class. Over thirty poems will be paired with as many framed photographs, sketches or drawings in eight display cases and walls on the third floor of the University Library. This student show marks the first, interdisciplinary project at USA between the two departments. The show runs concurrently with the visual art faculty exhibition and extends through the end of the semester to May 10th.

Helen Keller Art Show of Alabama. This show on the first floor of the University Library displays prize winning entries of visually impaired students of all ages in Alabama public, private, home and residential schools. It is the 24th annual statewide contest supported by the Helen Keller Birthplace Foundation, the Alabama Federation of the Council for Exceptional Children, and University of Alabama at Birmingham's Vision Research Center, and schools of Optometry and Education. It will be on display through April 15th."

So you don't forget about the Library over Spring Break

The best Library videos: http://libraryvideos.blogspot.com/

Spring Break Hours:

March 10 (Saturday) Open 9:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
March 11 (Sunday) Spring Break CLOSED
March 12 - 16 (Monday - Friday) Spring Break 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
March 17 (Saturday) Spring Break CLOSED
March 18 (Sunday) Open 1:00 P.M. - 11:00 P.M.

Through the Eye of Katrina

The History Dept. is sponsoring a conference this week entitled: Through the Eye of Katrina. Vickey Baggott, government documents librarian, has created a list of documents relevant to the topic. Here's a link to her webpage. Thanks Vickey.

Outreach-Books 3:30 today in the Auditorium & Art Show

3:30 today in the Library's Auditorium you might want to find out about multiple ways of finding books for your research projects: the SOUTHcat catalog, of course, but also WorldCat.org; Google Books; Online Books Page and many others. Hey, I know that journal and magazine are sooo easy to get to through our databases (and I'll talk about those in April) but books are still one of the most useful and efficient ways of deriving information and knowledge in this handy, compact, beautiful little package.

I also just got this email from the Dean's Office so after the Outreach, head to the third floor gallery and check out your faculty member's art works:
"2007 Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition

The Visual Arts Faculty of the University of South Alabama will present the 2007 Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition. The exhibit features artwork in a wide range of materials and disciplines including painting, printmaking, graphic design, ceramics, sculpture, drawing and photography. Also, Poets & Artists, a collaboration of emerging artists and poets from the Creative Writing and the Visual Arts Departments will be presented. The exhibit will be on display in the University Library Third Floor Gallery from March 1 - May 11. The public is invited to attend the opening reception Friday, March 23, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM.

The 2007 Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition artists include: Jeremy Colbert, Claire Evangelista, Diane Gibbs, Matthew Johnson, Marvin Kendrick, David McCann, Catherine McLeod, Phillipe Oszuscik, Walter Simon, Larry B. Simpson, Benjamin J. Shamback, Margarita Skiadas, Rachel Wright, Tony Wright and Kyeong-Won Youn.

For more information, contact Ben Shamback at (251) 261-1448 or email at bshambac@jaguar2.usouthal.edu."

Oscar Weekend and TV Online from Around the World and Movie in the Library

For Oscar weekend: this is the most important database for anyone who has any interest in movies, actors, directors, gaffers, best boys, caterers and all those others listed in the never ending credits. The International Movie DataBase or imdb.com. The answers to most movie trivia can be found here.

BeelineTV.com
This site provides links to a selection of "free online TV channels from around the world." Organized by language. Listings link directly to the programming, and indicate which media player is necessary to view the content. Provided by a software company.
URL: http://beelinetv.com
(from Librarian's Internet Index's weekly update)

This came from Mary Ann Graham in Library Circulation Dept:
Join Us in Celebrating Black History Month at the University of South Alabama Library

Date: Sunday, February 25, 2007
Time: 7:00pm
Place: University of South Alabama Library Auditorium
Movie: The Bingo Long Travaling All-Stars & Motor Kings
Directed by: John Badham

Tired of being treated like a slave by team owner Sallison Potter (Ted Ross), charismatic star pitcher Bingo Long (Billy Dee Williams) steals a bunch of Negro League players away from their teams, including catcher/slugger Leon Carter (James Earl Jones) and Charlies Snow( aka "Carlos Nevada" and "Chief Takahoma", played by Richard Pryor, as a player forever trying to break into the segregated Major League baseball of the 1930's by masquerading as first a Cuban, than a Native American). They take to the road, barnstorming through small Midwestern towns, playing the local teams to make ends meet. One of the opposing players, 'Esquire' Joe Callaway (Stan Shaw), is so good that the recruit him.

Bingo's team becomes so outlandishly entertaining and successful, it begins to cut into the attendance of the established Negro League teams. Finally, Bingo's nemesis Potter is forced to propose a winner-take-all game: if Bingo's team can beat a bunch of all-stars, it can join the league, but if it loses, the players will return to their old teams.

Ironically, there is a Major League scout in the audience. After the game, he offers Esquire Joe (a thinly-veiled Jackie Robinson) the chance to break the color barrier; with Bingo's permission he accepts.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia.

Laissez le Bon Temps Roulez

Topicalizer
For writers who want to be humbled [yeah, right] this web app is the one to do it. It's from this week's Research Buzz. Enter a URL to a piece of writing or cut and paste a piece of text into its box and it will analyze it in weird ways. What are your favorite 3 word clichés? What is the reading level of your writing? Other bizarre info. "Word, sentence and paragraph count, collocations, syllable structure, lexical density, keywords, readability and a short abstract on what the given text is about." It can be humbling; take my word.

Glory, the movie, is going to be shown on Sunday night at 7:00 P.M. in the Library Auditorium in a series sponsored by the folks at the Circulation Desk for Black History Month. Free and open to anyone. This came from Mary Ann Graham of the wonderful Circulation staff.


I'll be back after the good times have rolled by--next week. Have a great Mardi Gras.

P.S. If you have an advanced reader copies or review copies of books appropriate for kids and juveniles [alleged delinquent-type] read this article. I have been going to New Orleans fairly frequently and will be glad to deliver any new books you might wish to donate. js

Top 100 Alternative Search Engines

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

Academic Research Center aka Computer Lab in the Univ. Library

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

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

Photoshop Envy?

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

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

Feb. Government Docs and Spring Newsletter

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

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

Multimedia for the Weekend

two from the weekly Scout Reports

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

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


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

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

J Number Access

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

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

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

Searching for the BEST Sites

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

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

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

Best Free Reference Sites & Weekend Project

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

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

Procrastination Central

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

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

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

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

Scholarpedia

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

Stumbleupon

For your weekend's entertainment try this site. You do have to sign up, but I can guarantee that it is worth it. You can install a link on your menu bar and customize the kinds of websites you are interested in. Do "humor" for sure, because there are some hysterical websites indexed by this group. As you click Stumbleupon you can "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to rate the sites and the program learns your idiosyncratic sense of humor--or bizarre sense, as mine is. So far I have not been disappointed in the bizarre-ness of websites indexed. It is a great place to take a short break from your work. Short--right!
JS

Skepticism--A Library Virtue

Skepticism defined.

The Public Library of Science has just published a study on the objectivity of "sponsored" research: "Relationship Between Funding Source and Conclusion Among Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles."

• Much of the money available for doing medical research comes from companies, as opposed to government agencies or charities. There is some evidence that when a research study is sponsored by an organization that has a financial interest in the outcome, the study is more likely to produce results that favor the funder (this is called “sponsorship bias”). This phenomenon is worrying, because if our knowledge about effectiveness and safety of medicines is based on biased findings, patients could suffer. However, it is not clear whether sponsorship bias extends beyond research into drugs, but also affects other types of research that is in the public interest. For example, research into the health benefits, or otherwise, of different types of food and drink may affect government guidelines, regulations, and the behavior patterns of members of the public. Were sponsorship bias also to exist in this area of research, the health of the wider public could be affected.

Resolve this year to evaluate all information, whether it is a simple webpage or supposedly objective scientific research. Evaluate our own opinions too, as we are always tempted to choose that which will benefit us, rather than that which is true.

Excellent Career Choice

Looking for a career? Judy Burnham of the Biomed Library sent this article from US News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/061218/18librarian.summary.htm

We're back!

Ah! All my emails of last year have been archived. My files are cleaned up. My office is stripped in preparation for moving--if we should ever fill the new Instruction/Technology/Reference Librarian. And I'm ready to begin afresh. If you haven't noticed, the SOUTHcat library catalog has been updated so it is time for all of us to relearn how it works. But let's start the year with some Librarian New Year's kind of websites.

Kathy Jones sent me this website: Earth Calendar
http://www.earthcalendar.net/index.php"The Earth Calendar is a daybook of holidays and celebrations around the world. For the purpose of this web site a 'holiday' is any day that
recognizes a cultural event." By date, country or religion and the phases of the moon.

Now you need a calendar to on which mark up your holidays. Voila! Google Calendar is an online calendar you can maintain and share with your family, friends and work colleagues. Take a tour, then sign in to gmail or register for an account at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlecalendar/tour.html.

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."- Shakespeare, King Richard II, Act V, Scene V

And a website with tips to help motivate you to get organized this year:

I Need More Time / The Time Manager http://www.ineedmoretime.com/ The site will try to sell you books on organization, but there are a lot of free tips also.

And last, what words NOT to use this year:
The 2007 list from Lake Superior State University of words that you should avoid in the New Year. List of Banished Words. http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

Best Books for Gifts

A great Christmas is a stack of brand new books. Each one is a adventure just waiting to be started. Here's are some lists that might help you decide what book to get for those you care about.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,4809,00.html
http://www.amazon.com/Must-Read-Books-for-2006/lm/F7VGP5ZHI84Z
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/childrensnotable/notablecbooklist/currentnotable.htm
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/06bbya.htm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003477626_bestbooks170.html
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6395088.html
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/review/20061210tenbestbooks.html
http://www.playlibrary.com/2006/12/10/new-york-times-notable-childrens-books-of-2006/

Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year
js

50 Coolest Websites of 2006

Here's a real time killer--better wait till next week and all your holiday preparations are finished! 50 Coolest Websites of 2006 http://www.time.com/time/2006/50coolest/. From Time magazine and CNN. I haven't looked at them yet but the homepage looks like a lot a penguins resembling Homer Simpson. js

Ask City

Ask.com is becoming a very interesting competitor to Google. Here's their answer to Google Maps. Try Ask City to find businesses, movies and events in almost any city and it links you with a map to the location, contact info, reviews, booking agencies, and more.

Thoughts for the Christmas season from a new study called The World Distribution of Household Wealth:

• The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth.
• The richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000.
• The richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total.
  
• The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth.
• The research finds that assets of $2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution in the year 2000.
  
• To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world required $61,000 in assets, and more than $500,000 was needed to belong to the richest 1%, a group with 37 million members worldwide.

Cell Phones and Marketers

I got this today and sent it to about 20 people: "Marketers will soon be able to call you on your cellphone. If you don't want them to use up your time or money (your cellphone charges will still apply) call: 888-382-1222 or go online to http://www.donotcall.gov and register your number."

Oops! I probably got snookered by an Urban Legend. If you don't know about Snopes.com, I suggest you try it whenever you get email that encouragesyou to pass it on to everyone you know (even if the email is from your children or maybe especially from your children -- and other relatives). I seems that this has been circulating on the web for several years.

On the other hand, I called the number and registered my cellphone--and no harm was done. js

Photo of the Day

I'm off to San Jose for the weekend, so here's Friday's blog entry. http://www.earthshots.org/

Taking Notes--Cornell Method

I have no idea what the Cornell method of note-taking is, but I ran across this page which is so cool I thought it worth passing on. You can generate a page designed for notetaking using the Cornell method with your name, class and date on it. Choose lined, blank or my favorite--graph paper. Then print it off on your printer, punch holes, and take perfect notes! And if your exams don't go so well you can make For Sale signs for your car and your house--they even have a template for selling books.
http://www.eleven21.com/notetaker/

A Few Good Numbers

Lots of students writing papers right now. Here are a few websites that provide good statistics to fill in that empirical evidence you might need for your research papers.
Uniform Crime Reports--http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/index.html
State of Working America--DataZone--http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/datazone_dznational
Other Federal Statistics--http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/fsbr.html. Health, education, production, etc.
World Statistics from the U. N.--http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm
Iraq Casualty Count--http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

How Many of Me

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 20 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Scout Report

Friday is the day the Scout Report arrives and I look forward to it every week as one of the best compendiums of great websites. So instead of having me pick my favorite, why don't you go directly to the Scout Project yourself and check it out. The animated periodic table is certainly worth trying. If I had time, I'd love to watch the "Against All Odds" statistic videocasts. Moving Images: Pinewood Dialogues is another one I would love to spend a few hours with. Scout Project even offers a Macintosh program, Ebbinghaus, for making flash cards in the Network Tools section this week--excellent.

For fun try this Greeting Card Generator.

URL Utility

How many times have you tried to send a webpage link--a URL--to a friend only to find that it won't fit on one line and therefore just clicking it won't open the desired page. Jim Blansett of the UA Education library sent links to these three utilities for shortening these unwieldy addresses. Just click on one of these and paste the long link into the box. It will generate a nice tidy little URL that anyone can click on and might even remember.

*Make-A-Shorter-Link:* http://makeashorterlink.com/index.php

*TinyURL:* http://tinyurl.com/

*NotLong* http://notlong.com

ESTC [English Short-Title Catalog] Free Online

History people--take note! Librarians, remember Pollard and Redgrave and Wing and the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue? It is all here, online, for free, from the British Library, sponsored by a number of grants and foundations.

For "regular" people it is: "bibliographic records for all surviving letter press material in the British Isles and North America before 1801, held by the British Library and over 2000 other institutions worldwide. . . . The project documents all types of printed material including letterpress books, pamphlets, newspapers, serials, advertisements, election handbills and a variety of other printed material. The coverage extends to items printed in all languages in the British Isles and beyond, to Colonial America, United States of America (1776-1800), Canada, or territories governed by Britain before 1801.

This is a catalog; not full-text. But as a catalog it does tell you the locations (library/ies) that hold each of these items. Some may well be full-text online in other places on the Internet, but this is incredibly valuable as a place to verify the exact title, author, edition with full description, and the actual existence of an item in a particular collection.

Search for Franklin Benjamin as an exact phrase to pull up every item that he printed, as well as his writings, of course.

I love Open Access on the Internet! js

Library flooding and London this summer

These have nothing to do with each other:

Saturday night a hot water pipe burst on the 4th floor of the south side (old side) of the library drenching our storage room, my classroom on 3rd floor, Government Documents/Serials offices, and even down into the utility room on the first floor. Lost some computers, some documents and extra carpeting and all of our Christmas decorations. But as we all go around saying: "It could have been worse."



This is the "Summer Classes in London" table in the Student Center today. Look for it tomorrow between 11 and 2, and stop. We will give you info on how you can take one or two courses in London this summer or in the future. Actually there are several destinations and lots of possible courses that will count as USA courses. And if you plan ahead you may even be able to apply financial aid.

International exposure was always a requirement for a truly educated person. Want to know what the rest of the world is like--you won't get it from the Mobile Press Register or from any textbook. You have to experience it yourself. These programs are one of the easiest and cheapest ways for you to go abroad. Ask me about it if you can't make it to the SC tomorrow. js

American Routes

Combine New Orleans and music. Easy. Then add Internet radio and Katrina. js

Library Workout Tape

Vickey Baggott, Docs. Librarian, has sent a link to some very timely documents:
Your right, your Privilege, your DUTY -- GO VOTE!!!
In honor of that time of year, I've selected some government publications, new & old, that look at what our voting system has been like in the past and what it might be in the future. You can find these pubs in the Government Documents Department located on the 2nd floor-South of the University Library. Also, check out our new "Vote" display table near our maps area and our wall display case located on the 3rd floor-South by the west stairwell. And, remember to VOTE on November 7th. VB

And for your weekend edification:
This is YouTube video is particularly for library staff, but I'm sure many of our students and other faculty would enjoy this self-help video. A little dated as it was made in the 80s, but still relevant for us. http://youtube.com/watch?v=_k8BKX2eQ0Q js

Quality Info on the Web

Yes, it is possible to find really excellent scholarly information on the public Internet. The public Internet is what you find when you search using a regular search engine like Google. The private Internet is that part which has to be paid for--the databases and electronic journals that you get through the library homepage because the Library pays for it. I used to say that the public Internet info was unreliable, biased and generally a waste of time. But I don't say that anymore, because the Web is definitely changing. More scholars, new publishers and libraries are going Open Access. Since scholars seldom get paid for their published research, the only reason they might care to keep their articles in subscription sources would be if it affected their promotion and tenure decisions and their professional prestige. As universities and other scholars come to understand that quality is not a function of cost, this is gradually changing. Here's an article worth reading which also lists and links to some of the best sources for free information on the Internet. I will try to compile a shorter list of these sources for the Electronic Books link on our homepage, but for now, try this article. js

"The Changing Face of the Scholarly Web: Finding Free, Quality, Full-Text Articles, Books, and More! [Available Full-Text, Free]"
By Robert J. Lackie - in the online journal MultiMedia $ Internet@Schools
Posted Jul 1, 2006 http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=11534

Government Documents for Halloween and More

Vickey Baggott over in Government Documents sent me this website on scary documents for Halloween.

And because I won't be in to work tomorrow I'll give you your "learning activity" website for your weekend pleasure. art.comArtPad. Try your hand at painting with no cost, no mess, no talent. You can even email it to some one you think might actually appreciate your effort. js

Our Very Own Rembrandt!

Dr. Richard Wood, Dean of the Libraries, made this announcement today:
The university community is invited to see an etching of Rembrandt from 1634 entitled "The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds" at the University Library. This framed work is located in front of the circulation desk in the elevator area of the library's atrium. A gift of the 1968 graduating class, this original print by Rembrandt represents the finest etching of his earliest period. Only 28 years of age at the time, Rembrandt worked his copper plate over and over again to achieve a remarkable detail and powerful light/dark contrasts. Following closely the Gospel of St. Luke 2: 8-19, Rembrandt made the etching a night piece (for the shepherds were "keeping watch over their
flocks by nights"). Rembrandt shows the panic of the shepherds and their animals when confronted by the Angel of the annunciation who appeared in a blinding flash of light high in the clouds.

World Data Analyst

We finished all the EH 102 INTRO TO LIBRARY RESEARCH on Saturday of last week so I hope to get back to blogging "normally" this week. I just discovered this database/electronic reference book--World Data Analyst. It's the last link on the left under Electronic Reference Books on the library homepage and comes via the Alabama Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Britannica. What's cool about it is that you can create tables and charts comparing data between two or more different countries. And there are several variables available. From simple population to calories consumed, cell phone subscription, miles of railway lines, military imports and exports, and many more. Choose your countries; add them to a list; choose the variables; and create a table or chart.
js

LibraryThing

The Web is a wondrous thing! I have this software (Bookster) that I thought was great because I could create a catalog of books I own and it would automatically pull up cover pictures and basic info about each book from the Library of Congress or Amazon.com. But the big drawback was that I never had it with me when I was looking for a book in the library. Did I have this book--or not? LibraryThing is another "social software," Web 2.0 utility that lets you create a catalog of your books on the web, making all the possibilities for collaboration available. I can look up my list anywhere there is web access. I haven't tried all the other parts of it yet--a blog, a recommendation list, import and export functions, books groups, etc. It does make use of the folksonomies I blogged about on Friday. Give your books "subject headings" and you can find others with the same headings. A librarian's dream!
If you have any need to put some organization into to your life, try it. JS

Friday is for Fun!

Folksonomies.

New words. Web 2.0. Taxonomy. Subject Headings. Grass Roots. del.icio.us. collaboration. Descriptors. common language

Folksonomies are words that describe an object or idea. In the "old library" paradigm they were prescribed as Subject Headings from a taxonomy created by the Library of Congress and cared for by catalogers the world over. In the new world of Web 2.0's social software, a folksonomy is the collection of words that any ordinary jane/joe would use to describe something. If enough "folks" describe something the same way then one assumes that this is an acceptable description. Hence "folksonomy.

And of course the incredibly creative types at Google have invented a game to put us folks to work doing just this. Imagelabeler is a game they invented in which two people--you and some anonymous partner (from anywhere in the world) who happens to be online and in the game at the same time you are--are shown an image from the Google database of images. You both try to label the image. If you both use the same word you get 100 points.

Get it! Google is using you to create descriptions for their images. At least two people have to agree on the word for them to use it as a label. Not as easy as it sounds. You don't even have to sign in to play the game, but if you do you can be recognised when you become The Great Folksonomist. What other award can you win for do drudge work for a billion dollar company and for trying to think exactly like everyone else.
Great fun.

Try it at Imagelabeler. js

3:30 Lib. Auditorium if You Need Research Help

Writing Outreach session is at 3:30 in the Univ. Library Auditorium today. Everyone welcome.

How is it that myths develop and spread across a culture and across time. Here's a website that will confirm or refute our commonly held beliefs, e.g. chickens can actually live without their heads--like the one who made it 18 months!
Most Popular Myths in Science. (from this weeks Marylaine Block's Neat New.)js

Writing Outreach on Library Research--3:30 Thursday

I had a nice 3 day weekend and am totally exhausted today. Tomorrow a candidate interview.

But Thursday at 3:30 I'll be doing a Writing Outreach session in the Library Auditorium. If you have a paper assignment--it doesn't have to be an English paper--and need some help with the research, come, ask questions, and I'll try to get you jumpstarted. It is always a hard session to teach because everyone has a different problem--more like group therapy. You get to listen to everyone else's research problem and get a little time on your own. It works, because it seems that everyone's problems, while not exactly the same, are similar enough to provide insight on the process. I'm just there to be a catalyst, a facilitator, a tipster and a non-judgmental guide.
js

The Center for Public Integrity

Subtitled: Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest. [Found via the weekly Resource Shelf email.] Track the media: lobbyists, who pays for Congressional junkets, how much is spent, by whom. Here's a list of their projects. Check out the Katrina project while you are there.

Click here for a list of Mobile media outlets and their owners. js

International Film Series in the Library Auditorium

Tomorrow night is the first of the International Film Series with:

"Sol de Otoño Autumn sun ( Argentina, 1996 ) Director: Eduardo Mignogna Thursday, October 5th Unrated. A love story set in Buenos Aires in which a Jewish woman because of the impending visit from her American brother is forced to create a contrived relationship with a man of her own faith. ( In Spanish with English subtitles, 108 minutes )"

And here's a link to the rest of the movies in the series.

This being the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi we need to reference some animals. Here's Cute Overload--it is so over-the-top with animal photos/captions that it even gives guidelines for winning a cutsey contest. The animals are wonderful; their owners may be little sick. js

Ten Reasons Librarians Should Use Ask.com Instead of Google

Ask.com is now advertising on TV and is everywhere in the blogosphere too. It's probably time we ungooglized ourselves. And I guess if its good enough for librarians, then you guys should try it too. Try Ask.com and see if the Librarian in Black is right.
http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2006/09/ten_reasons_lib.html