Writing Outreach - in the Library Today

Today at 3:30 I will be doing a "Writing Outreach" presentation in the Library Auditorium on finding articles for your papers and projects. Bring your topics and I can show you subscription databases, open-access journals, Google Scholar and a few tricks for using them that will make your research, not easy, but easier.

http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/sauer/outreacharticles.html

Sticker Shock 2

Our youngest students, raised using Google, are often shocked when I say that the difference between library information and Google's is loot, greenbacks, benjamins, cash, scrilla, jack, bread, dead presidents, moolah, chedda, bling, bucks, dough, filthy lucre.

In 2002 Cornell's Engineering Library put together a website called "Sticker Shock" graphically documenting the incredible cost of engineering periodical subscriptions, for example a one-year subscription to The Journal of Applied Polymer Science cost $12, 495.00 -- as much as a Toyota Corolla in that year.

They have revised this site with current prices. Check out Sticker Shock 2 -- and be very glad you are associated with a university library.

Tax Forms

The ever-vigilant Reference and Documents Librarians have noted our needs and put a link on the homepage to the IRS Tax Forms and Publications webpage. Bite the chocolate bunny ears while you bite the bullet.

Peeps Shows (for Easter)

From the Washington Post Contest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032002753.html?hpid=artslot

Spring Break is So Much Hype!

From today's online Chronicle of Higher Education comes this article which should help you get over your Spring Break envy.

"Where the Folks Are"

By THOMAS BARTLETT

"Spring break is all about beer bongs, wet-T-shirt contests, and regrettable intimate encounters, right?

Maybe not. A new survey found that only 33 percent of college students whoop it up at the beach, while 70 percent stay at home with their parents (3 percent, presumably, take their parents to the beach). The survey was sponsored in part by Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. . . .

The survey, conducted online in February, found that 68 percent of students who did party during their vacation set limits on how much alcohol they consumed. . . .

Among students who chose to drink, 84 percent said they consumed alcoholic beverages in moderation. . . .

Over all, according to a news release, the survey's results are proof that college students are behaving responsibly during spring break, and that all this talk about debauchery is so much hype. . . .

Everyday Sociology Blog

The weekly Scout Report just came through my email. It always introduces interesting websites. This one grabbed me, probably because I've lately been thinking about how most of our "common-sense" assumptions so often turn out to be wrong (e.g. Eliot Spitzer, Geraldine Ferraro, etc). I particularly liked the one [March 7th] about how students decide where to sit in a classroom. js

Everyday Sociology
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/
When some people think about sociology, they might think about Max Weber, …mile[sic] Durkheim, and Manuel Castells. The witty, irreverent, and very insightful sociologists at Everyday Sociology consider those esteemed scholars, but they also examine social dynamics on airplanes, Asian American voters, and the world of celebrity. The Everyday Sociology weblog is edited by sociologist Karen Sternheimer, and her contributors include a wide range of practicing sociologists. Visitors to the site can scroll through recent entries and also browse several categories, which include crime and deviance, sex and gender, social psychology, and popular culture and consumption. Also, users may wish to look through the archives, which date back to June 2007. Along with being eminently readable, the site also includes teaching activities and video interviews. [KMG]

Watch Your Language -- Interactive Quizzes

I'm weird. I happen to think that learning can be great fun even if you fail, especially when no one is grading you. Here's a webpage of quizzes: grammar(I mostly failed these), mechanics, punctuation, vocabulary, spelling and others. It comes from the Capital Community College Foundation in Hartford Connecticut.

Daylight Savings Time from Paula Webb

Hot Docs Sunday at 2:00 A.M. jump to 3:00 A.M. and lose an hour of sleep along with most of the rest of the country.

New Hot Docs from Paula Webb

http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm
Super Delegates and the Electoral College--things you need to know this year.

Sell by, Best if used before, Expiration date

Sorry, it has been over a week since the last post. Guess I was having too much fun being a librarian!

From the last weekly email by Marylaine Block [She's going strictly to the web] comes this link to the U.S. Government blog which is both readable (surprised) and most useful. I didn't know till a few months ago that diet drinks have a very short shelflife. This website elucidates the different messages marked on grocery products and actually has a "Cold Storage Chart" on how long one can actually keep refrigerated or frozen foods. And another strangely entitled "Foods Purchased Refrigerated."

I'm not sure that after looking at these charts that there is anything in my freezer or pantry that won't kill me. Frozen hotdogs-2 months! Canned tomato soup-18 months! And that aerosol can of real whipped cream. C'mon--tell me you haven't secretly done tongue-shots of whipped cream for months after the use-by date!

Another site to peruse this weekend from Marylaine Block:
 StrangeUSA.com
http://www.strangeusa.com/Default.aspx
"Consolidating the vast amount of 'Strange Stuff' out there into 1 easy
to use place. Haunted buildings, places, Urban legends, cemeteries, weird
places, cool places, ghost towns, and anything else that is worth your
time to visit." Click on a state and then browse by town name or by type
of weirdness; you'll get descriptions of the incidents, soe with links to
news stories."

Academy Award Winners --of sorts

Happy Valentine's Day! Perfect day to check out YouTube, the nostalgia machine!

Academy Award winning cartoons and short subjects as collected by Michelangelo Matos and cited by Marylaine Block [this week filled with lots of great websites.
Enjoy your Saturday morning with the best of the best!
http://m-matos.blogspot.com/2008/02/academy-award-winners-for-cartoonshort.html

Also Note:
I will be in the Auditorium at 3:30 today for a Writing Outreach Session on finding books in the Library and on the Web.

The Rainbow Library

Hmmm! I need a fushia book with ecru lettering, but it must have seafoam green edging.
Ask your Rainbow Reference Librarian!

The Rainbow Library

Black History Month in Gov. Docs

Paula Webb has just today put up a new Hot Docs for Black History Month.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm

We Will Do Anything to Serve

Just give a Reference Librarian a few lessons in Photoshop!

This is from the imaginative, service-minded librarians at Lafayette College.
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~library/pra/gallery.html

[Link courtesy of Paula Webb, Doc. Librarian]

If you need help here at USA call our Reference Desk at 460-7025.

Next Thursday, Valentine's Day, bring your sweetie to a Writing Outreach session at 3:30 in the Library Auditorium on Finding Books in the Library and on the Web.

Hot Docs for the Elections

Hot Docs from Paula Webb.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Videos and Podcasts

Find here a 20 minute video on Jacob Lawrence, one of my very favorite artists.

14. Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Videos and Podcasts
http://www.lacma.org/art/ScreeningRoom.aspx

"Art lovers who can't make it down to 5905 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles
will enjoy mulling over some of the videos and podcasts presented on this
site. Currently, the site has over fifty different programs, and the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art will continue to add new programs over the
coming months. In the "Current Features" area, visitors can take a walk
through the new museum campus and also learn a bit about an exhibition that
highlights the work of Salvador Dali. Other visitors may be more interested
in the "Public Programs" area. Here they can listen to conversations and
dialogues with the likes of Anthony Hernandez, Ken Gonzales-Day, Jeff Koons,
and John Baldessari. Finally, the "Documentaries" area offers up profiles of
Jacob Lawrence, a group of contemporary potters, and noted fluorescent light
artist Dan Flavin. [KMG]"
From The Scout Report-Jan 25, 2008[Copyright Internet Scout, 1994-2008. Internet Scout
(http://scout.wisc.edu/)

What to Do With Old Catalog Cards

Gallery Cartalog
Lifted from Neat New Stuff I Found This Week
http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html

Flickr and The Library of Congress="The Commons"

Even the Library of Congress is in to Web 2.0 technologies. Partnering with Flickr to mount their photographic collections in a site called "The Commons," the LOC is asking visitors to tag these photos with everyday words describing what they see. LC Subject Headings are great for focusing a search, but they are limited to a controlled language that is sometimes baffling. By allowing visitors to tag photos, this site is using the populist strategy found in collaborative websites called Web 2.0 like del.icio.us, LibraryThing and Flickr itself that aims to create easier ways to find info, in this case visual info.

The photos themselves are labeled as having "no known copyright restrictions" so they can be used for whatever purpose you can devise.

Enjoy the photos, but add some value by tagging the ones you look at so that others can find them more easily.
http://flickr.com/commons

HotDocs from Paula Webb, Gov. Docs Librarian

Here's a link to Paula's first 2008 list of Hot Stuff from the government.
http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/govdocs/hotdocs.htm