This winter has worn out its welcome, like a houseguest or fresh fish after three days. Still, it lingers. Luckily, there are a couple of things that can help distract us from the cold.
For starters, another reminder: The Library is still accepting submissions for the Undergraduate Research Paper Award. If you've written a good paper in the last couple of semesters that used Library resources, send it on in; you might win a $200 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble.
We aren't all former English majors, either; past winners have included "Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome," "In Search of Identity: ASL Acquisition of Deaf Adults," "Acrylamides Found in Diet: Foods as Carcinogens?" and "Finding Spirituality in Nature." The upshot is that we don't discriminate based on topic; send in what looks good!
You can find more details about submission here.
And on to Thing Number Two: New books. We're sort of in conference season here -- and will be until June -- so things have been fairly quiet as far as librarian activity goes. There's that background hum that means work is happening, but the big stuff is in temporary remission while we all recover from the Big Deal the express computer workstation turned out to be.
Anyway, some of these fellas are on my to-read list for this blog, although I still have yet to work my way through the books listed in the last few new-book posts. I'll get there eventually. In any case, here goes!
The irresistible Henry House
Raised by a large group of women as part of a home-ec experiment, Henry House is the perfect man -- but because of his upbringing, can't reciprocate the affection he gets from his admirers. Lest this sound outlandish, one should bear in mind that there actually were programs that did this sort of thing in the early 20th Century; they'd get orphans or abandoned infants and use them as "practice babies."
To the end of the land
An Israeli woman looks forward to the return of her son from Army service, only to be forestalled by his sudden decision to volunteer for a West Bank excursion. A planned hike with him becomes instead one with his father, a recluse who is still recovering from his treatment as a prisoner during the Yom Kippur War.
Hiroshima: The autobiography of Barefoot Gen
This is a deep look into the life of Nakazawa Keiji, who was six years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II. An event which has ever since colored his outlook on Japan, the United States, and the foreign policies of both, the dropping of the bomb also served as the inspiration for Barefoot Gen, the classic graphic novel about Nakazawa's experiences as a survivor of Hiroshima. This book includes excerpts from that graphic novel, as well as other interviews and stories selected from his life.
Triumph of the city: How our greatest invention makes us richer, smarter, greener, healthier, and happier
The lengthy subtitle should give you some idea of what the book's about. Lest you scoff and look at the soybean fields around you, remember that over two-thirds of the American population lives in cities, which occupy just 3% of the United States' land area. The author brings together a variety of styles ranging from personal storytelling to empirical research to drive home his point: Cities are good for you.
Longitude
Dava Sobel's made quite the name for herself in the popularization of the history of science. In this book, she discusses the history of longitude and how it came to be measured in a way that would prevent the world's great oceangoing empires from losing huge fortunes at sea. The ability to locate oneself on the globe is essential to navigation, especially when you're in the middle of the Pacific without a jot of dry land for thousands of miles. Interestingly, the solution to this problem evaded both Newton and Galileo, but turned out to require only a well-made clock.
The oracle of Stamboul
In this tale of a city, a young Turkish girl in the late 19th Century -- who happens to be a bit of a prodigy -- stows away on her father's boat as he sails to Stamboul (now known as Istanbul) on business. Because of this little piece of impertinence, she learns a great deal about the city, the people in it, and herself.
Through the language glass
The author explores various languages and how culture can influence -- and be influenced by -- the language you speak. Everything from the perception of color to the gender of water can vary from language to language, and this book goes in-depth on a topic that has been fairly controversial in linguistics and cognitive psychology. Also, if you've heard of the concept of linguistic relativity, you'll appreciate more than a few puns in this book.
I think we've got a pretty nice variety going on here. More are coming in every week; come on by and check one out today!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Some cool news
Spring's arrived, but it's already gone on vacation for a few days. It's cold here!
In order to keep warm without having to burn all the, er, flammable material in the building, we've been keeping busy. There are three major things I'd like to announce this week.
First, it's that time of year again, when we give away a $200 gift card to Barnes & Noble! See the details here.
Second, in response to the survey we distributed a few weeks ago, we are currently piloting an express workstation in the public-computer area on the first floor. It's one of the stand-up computers, directly in front of the Service Desk, and has been marked out with a very attractive sign, if I may say so myself.
This computer will not require a login for use, which was one of the issues we brought up in the survey. Some of our computers are a little older than others, and have had a difficult time coping with the high volume of use, so it can take a while to log in, find a book's call number in the catalog, and log out on their way to class. We've since had Technology Services come in and clean up a little bit, so response times have improved, but things can still get backed up. This way, you can just come in, find what you need, and take off without having to wait for that little spinny hoop to stop twirling.
Since it's intended to speed up some tasks for everyone, we've placed a 15-minute limit on use of the machine. It's not intended for a two-hour marathon paper-writing session; since there should be fewer people monopolizing computers just so they can find a single book, there should be more public computers available for that purpose. We've also decided to disallow printing -- that's something that can take up more time.
As I've said, this is a pilot. Some things may be tweaked and others set in stone. We'll be watching the express station and getting an idea of what real utility a service like this would offer, so if it sounds good to you, I heartily encourage you to use it. If it turns out to be a boon to everyone, we've got further plans in the works.
The third thing I'd like to announce is that we're kicking around the possibility of adding a new e-book vendor to our repertoire. Call this a sneak peek!
It's a bigger deal to us than to you -- you'd see some more e-books in the catalog and they'd look a little different. We're excited, though, because this new vendor, Ebook Library (EBL), doesn't quite stop there in a couple of ways.
First, and most relevant to you, the e-books are downloadable. You can save them on your computer, laptop, or mobile device as Adobe Digital Edition PDFs for a limited period. It's sort of a "Your mission, should you choose to accept it ... " kind of thing, only the explosions are a little quieter. This, I think, is what I'm most excited about. It doesn't work on the Kindle, unfortunately, but I'm inclined to think that the joy of a Kindle is best left unmarred by academic considerations. It does work on the iPad and iPhone, though.
The second thing is more relevant to us than to you: its pricing structure. It works in a way that's new to us and may end up offering a balance between cost and usage that we just haven't seen before. Sorry to be so vague, but the full explanation requires some fairly recondite Librarianese. The upshot is that it's looking pretty good from our end, too.
We're still in the trial phase, so it's not quite available just yet, but the skies are clearing up!
In order to keep warm without having to burn all the, er, flammable material in the building, we've been keeping busy. There are three major things I'd like to announce this week.
First, it's that time of year again, when we give away a $200 gift card to Barnes & Noble! See the details here.
Second, in response to the survey we distributed a few weeks ago, we are currently piloting an express workstation in the public-computer area on the first floor. It's one of the stand-up computers, directly in front of the Service Desk, and has been marked out with a very attractive sign, if I may say so myself.
This computer will not require a login for use, which was one of the issues we brought up in the survey. Some of our computers are a little older than others, and have had a difficult time coping with the high volume of use, so it can take a while to log in, find a book's call number in the catalog, and log out on their way to class. We've since had Technology Services come in and clean up a little bit, so response times have improved, but things can still get backed up. This way, you can just come in, find what you need, and take off without having to wait for that little spinny hoop to stop twirling.
Since it's intended to speed up some tasks for everyone, we've placed a 15-minute limit on use of the machine. It's not intended for a two-hour marathon paper-writing session; since there should be fewer people monopolizing computers just so they can find a single book, there should be more public computers available for that purpose. We've also decided to disallow printing -- that's something that can take up more time.
As I've said, this is a pilot. Some things may be tweaked and others set in stone. We'll be watching the express station and getting an idea of what real utility a service like this would offer, so if it sounds good to you, I heartily encourage you to use it. If it turns out to be a boon to everyone, we've got further plans in the works.
The third thing I'd like to announce is that we're kicking around the possibility of adding a new e-book vendor to our repertoire. Call this a sneak peek!
It's a bigger deal to us than to you -- you'd see some more e-books in the catalog and they'd look a little different. We're excited, though, because this new vendor, Ebook Library (EBL), doesn't quite stop there in a couple of ways.
First, and most relevant to you, the e-books are downloadable. You can save them on your computer, laptop, or mobile device as Adobe Digital Edition PDFs for a limited period. It's sort of a "Your mission, should you choose to accept it ... " kind of thing, only the explosions are a little quieter. This, I think, is what I'm most excited about. It doesn't work on the Kindle, unfortunately, but I'm inclined to think that the joy of a Kindle is best left unmarred by academic considerations. It does work on the iPad and iPhone, though.
The second thing is more relevant to us than to you: its pricing structure. It works in a way that's new to us and may end up offering a balance between cost and usage that we just haven't seen before. Sorry to be so vague, but the full explanation requires some fairly recondite Librarianese. The upshot is that it's looking pretty good from our end, too.
We're still in the trial phase, so it's not quite available just yet, but the skies are clearing up!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Students, computers, and surveys, oh my
First, a little plug: the Academic Bowl is this weekend! It's the first time in the competition's 15-year history that all the magic will happen here on campus, and matches are open to fans! I'm working on it myself, and am looking forward to it.
Now ...
As I've mentioned a few times over the past few weeks, we're looking at different things we may be able to do with the public computer area on the first floor, next to the Service Desk.
To that end, we set up a survey specifically for people who used that area and collected them over the course of 2 weeks. We got close to a hundred responses, which, given various factors, is a pretty good number!
In general, we asked people questions on a couple of different topics:
1) How they used the area, either individually or with others.
2) If crowding was a problem, whether in terms of inadequate computer supply or sheer space for one's bags and stuff, and if an "express station" might help.
We also offered an area where people could add other issues that they'd been having with that area in particular. What we discovered both surprised us and didn't, and it'll inform many of the decisions we make over the next few months. More to come on that front!
In the meantime, I'd like to congratulate the winners of our drawing: Emma Pruitt, Shane Dundas, and Fallon Haney! They each get a nifty little giftcard to enjoy their weekend with, and everyone gets the benefit of their input, along with that of all the terrific students, staff, and faculty who filled out our survey. Our thanks go out to them.
That's it for the time being. Next week promises to be difficult schedule-wise, to say the least, so this blog will go quiet for the next week and a half. Never fear; we shall return!
Now ...
As I've mentioned a few times over the past few weeks, we're looking at different things we may be able to do with the public computer area on the first floor, next to the Service Desk.
To that end, we set up a survey specifically for people who used that area and collected them over the course of 2 weeks. We got close to a hundred responses, which, given various factors, is a pretty good number!
In general, we asked people questions on a couple of different topics:
1) How they used the area, either individually or with others.
2) If crowding was a problem, whether in terms of inadequate computer supply or sheer space for one's bags and stuff, and if an "express station" might help.
We also offered an area where people could add other issues that they'd been having with that area in particular. What we discovered both surprised us and didn't, and it'll inform many of the decisions we make over the next few months. More to come on that front!
In the meantime, I'd like to congratulate the winners of our drawing: Emma Pruitt, Shane Dundas, and Fallon Haney! They each get a nifty little giftcard to enjoy their weekend with, and everyone gets the benefit of their input, along with that of all the terrific students, staff, and faculty who filled out our survey. Our thanks go out to them.
That's it for the time being. Next week promises to be difficult schedule-wise, to say the least, so this blog will go quiet for the next week and a half. Never fear; we shall return!
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