Graduation season

It’s getting to be that time of year again. Students panicking over graduation, our preparation for the oncoming summer, and the LURP Award.

Just because I’m in that kind of mood, let’s take each thing in reverse order.

First, “LURP” is short for “Library Undergraduate Research Paper.” We do this every year; undergraduates submit their best papers from the last couple of semesters and a group of Library people reviews them and determines a winner in a blind judging. Winning relies on a number of factors, including the use of Library resources in the paper. The prize? A $200 gift card to Amazon.com!

There’s a link to the submission details and form on our home page, but here it is as a Word document anyway.

Second, our summer is going to go pretty much as usual; there’ll be a few projects we’re undertaking. This year, however, they won’t be disruptive to people who want to use the Library.

One thing I’d like to add for students, though: Even if you aren’t registered for the summer semester, you can still use the Library if you’re in town! Just come in after the end of the spring semester (after May 6, in other words) and let us know:

• You’re here and want to use the Library
• You’re registered for the fall
• You’re going to be around long enough to return your materials on time

Every time we come upon a break between semesters or the beginning of the summer, we get a few students, staff, and faculty who ask if we can extend the due date while checking stuff out because they plan to leave town at some point and don’t want to end up with fines on their record if the due date falls before their return.

We also get a few people who contact us after a month, upset because they suddenly have fines; maybe they thought they could borrow an item for the entire summer, or someone else placed a hold on their item, so it can’t be renewed, or they just maxed out their number of permitted renewals. After asking some questions, we generally find out they’re not in town, one of the local states, the country, or -- in rare cases -- on this planet*.

Our advice in each case, often given pre-emptively and sometimes far too late, is the same, and here it is: Although we understand the desire for some free vacation reading, books have a nasty habit of being left behind on planes, forgotten under hotel beds, dropped on mountain tops, or buried in beach sand. Depending on how conscientious you are about keeping track of your things while backpacking through Peru, it may be a better idea to spend the money on a new book for yourself. Better safe than sorry!

Third and finally, graduation. If you’re graduating in May and have outstanding fines or fees on your record, please don’t forget to get that taken care of before you leave. Commencement is still more than a month away, but as the victim of two graduations myself, I know those final weeks can be hectic!

That’s three. Vlog next week. Ditto MLB’s Opening Day. Spring is here!
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*Just kidding. As far as we know, no one at Gallaudet University has been definitively proven to be an extraterrestrial.

What you need to know: Part 1 (Fall 2010)

See, I told you. There'll still be text posts. Welcome to the first of this year's posts about important information about the Library you'll need to know!

First, I want to refer you to last year's posts, some of which are outdated, and some of which are very outdated. However, there's still plenty of useful information in them that will serve as an introduction to our Library. Here they are:

• What you need to know: Part 1
• Includes a FAQ post link, links to individual librarian profiles (although Jane Rutherford will be retiring right at the beginning of the Fall semester, she's still worth learning more about!), and a few sample review posts of various books and films we have here. As I said, outdated, but it should give you an idea of the kinds of items we do have. In addition, there's a link to a comprehensive overview of the equipment we have available for you, which is worth checking out.
• What you need to know: Part 2
• This post includes links to a comprehensive discussion about the nuts and bolts of (a) finding journal articles; and (b) what our electronic article databases are all about. After that is a long, comprehensive listing of the previous year's Questions of the Week (which we'll do next week).
• What you need to know: Part 3
• Essentially a more focused update on exactly what changed from May to September 2009. The 2010 version will be the week after next.
  
• What you need to know: Part 4
• This was a long discussion of our new ALADIN Discovery catalog. We're not changing that this year -- not much, anyway -- so if you're new and need to know how to use our catalog, read this.

Now, let's take a look at the research-related posts of the past year or so, organized by category.

General Research
Research Paper Award, Dutch painters, baseball, and free stuff
If nothing else, this particular post explains why we're using a new format. Anyway, down at the bottom, I discuss some resources you can use freely for your research without having to pay for access. It's great as a supplement to what we have for you here, as well as a main source if you're not affiliated with Gallaudet and can't get into our databases.

Why does research take time?
What essentially passes for a "philosophical" meditation from me. It's really just me explaining to a proverbial Student that research isn't always as easy as it may seem sometimes and some of the reasons why.

Using databases for personal research
We really do encourage students, staff, and faculty to take advantage of our resources to the fullest; that includes not just schoolwork, but also important information that may affect other areas of your life. Our Library is an informational gold mine in comparison to the average schmo's experience; why use it so narrowly?

It's all about RefWorks
RefWorks is one of the most useful resources we have. It doesn't offer any information in and of itself, but it does offer a great way to manage all the information you dig up while you're researching. In this Q&A post, I go over the basics of RefWorks and explain why it's so good.

A word about searching
Basically, I sit you, Dear Reader, down, and outline the steps you need to take in order to research more efficiently and effectively. You'd be surprised how many people take a scattershot approach and just put in whatever search term sounds good, then say that there's no information available on the subject!

Specific aspects of our collection
Some words on the Little Paper Family
A recent uptick in research on the Little Paper Family (LPF) resulted in this post; what is it? Why does it exist? And how can you look at it? It's all explained in this post.

E-books: How do they work?
Any resemblance to recent works by the Insane Clown Posse are completely coincidental. However, I do explain our e-book collection and how you can use them. This is increasingly becoming a must; although our print collections are holding steady, we are expanding our electronic holdings.

Introduction to our e-books
As in: Dear Reader, meet e-book. E-book, meet Dear Reader. I sift through the catalog and dig up a few real gems in a variety of topics.

Exploring our e-journals
It can be easy to fall into the habit of thinking that our e-journals are mostly dry piles of academia in your field, but when you wander outside of the discipline you're focusing on, you can find much that's weird and wonderful!

What's hiding in our collection?
I wander the stacks and dig up a few fascinating and unusual books as an example of the sheer serendipity you can encounter while you're among the shelves.

Meet Credo, your new best friend
IN WHICH introductions are made between readers and Credo Reference. All joking aside, Credo really is a fantastic resource and should be relied upon for important historical context and a terrific method of sussing out interrelationships between people, ideas, and events. It's a database of hundreds of reference books in dozens of specialties and links them all together in a very useful way. I also offer some examples of when Credo is the perfect database to use and when it isn't.

A good way to make searching our catalog easier
In the adjustment period we underwent after switching to ALADIN Discovery, I wrote this post in order to help people use the built-in search-narrowing features. This is really one of Discovery's biggest advantages over our old catalog; it lets you limit your search to, for example, only items published in the last 10 years, or just films, or books written on specific topics by specific authors. Among other things.

That about covers it all for now. Next week, you can expect a couple of book-review vlogs (to make up for the lack) and a guide to the questions of the week that have been posted since last August. Since those are usually questions that come up at the Service Desk, keep a close eye; you might satisfy your burning curiosity about the Library!

Some summer questions and free coffee

The end of the semester is inching ever closer. We're all suffused with fearful anticipation!

To that end, the Library, in its infinite beneficence (and you'd better believe it, buster), is offering free coffee starting this Sunday, April 25, through Wednesday, April 28, from 8-10 p.m. on the first floor by the Service Desk. We offer sweeteners of varying chemical compositions, creamer, stirrers, a little candy, and while they last, free travel mugs!

I'll admit something shameful: we actually offered coffee earlier this week, from Monday until Wednesday. It totally slipped my mind last week when I was writing my post then. Still, our coffee hour does not seem to have suffered in popularity thereby -- it seems we are not the only ones not getting much sleep in the face of finals week.

Speaking of not getting much sleep, I read The World According to Garp by John Irving. That book's a "yikes" all around. It's about T.S. Garp, a fellow who was raised by a woman who impregnated herself upon the carcass of a comatose (and terminal) soldier specifically so she would not have to deal with the father of her child while she raised him, a tactic that roils 1950s America: as she rears Garp, she writes an autobiography that almost becomes her own hagiography and carries her to worldwide fame. With such auspicious origins, it is no wonder that Garp, in a bildungsroman covered by most of the novel, grows up to become a highly-accomplished novelist himself. This part of the story is accompanied by a couple of framed narratives -- nearly the full text of one of Garp's own short stories is incorporated into the book about his life -- that bespeak a certain surrealist sentiment.

In any case, Garp grows up, falls in love, gets married, and fathers children of his own, only to have tragedy strike. Remembering the details of this particular tragedy still makes me shudder. Anyway, it's all very sexy and is a good read in general. Highly recommended, as long as you aren't prudish about some things.

At this point in the semester, I'm going to go ahead and answer a few Significant Questions floating around, mostly regarding the Library, graduation, and the summer.

I got an e-mail from the Library saying I have fines to pay before I can graduate. Is that true?
Yes, it is, especially if you're one of those who have managed to ride your balance into the upper atmosphere. You can't officially graduate without paying your fines. You can walk at graduation, sure, but that's little comfort if, when you're applying for jobs or graduate school, you need an official transcript, which you won't get. If you owe us a lot of money, don't be shy; we're not going to arrest you and throw you into the debtors' prison behind the Echo360 classroom downstairs. Come in and talk to us!

If I come in to pay my fines, what do I need to bring?
Your Gallaudet ID. I can't emphasize this enough; we do not accept driver's licenses, passports, military IDs, baby photos, or your mom's ultrasound. It has to be a current, valid Gallaudet ID. Also, bring cash or a checkbook. We understand that it's a pain in the neck, but we can't take plastic -- cash or check only.

What if I don't bring enough money and have to come back? Can I do that?
Yes, you can do that. You can pay down your balance on any schedule you'd like -- just pay it before graduation. Also, please try to stick to normal business hours, especially if you owe fines at other universities like George Mason or Georgetown -- the librarians that are usually around between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. are pretty good at sorting these things out.

If I owe fines on books I got through CLS, how do I pay them? Do I have to go to those schools and pay there?
No, you don't. You can pay all of your fines right here.

Last question, I promise: What's up with the summer hours?
They're here! Scroll down to the bottom and take a look. One thing you'll notice are the hours for Reference Librarian service; there won't be a librarian here after 5 p.m. all summer, and weekends will also not have a librarian at all. This is an important thing to keep in mind! If you need help, come in before 5 p.m. Before 4, even, if you think you won't be the only one seeking help. If you still can't make it, get in touch with us via the contact information on this page to make arrangements to meet.

That about wraps it up for this session. No Question of the Week this week; there will also probably not be a post next week, as most of my time then will be consumed by the National Academic Bowl and time off. The following week, though, will see a quick preview of what you may be able to expect upon your return in the fall.

What's up with the Library of Congress?

Ahhhh. One of the biggest benefits of being an academic librarian, or otherwise working at a school of some kind, is the long holiday break. I'm relaxed, revitalized, and ready to face the Spring semester.

As much as I can be, at least. This semester will be busier than most; I'm involved with the Academic Bowl, creating questions for competitions and working as a Gallaudet Officer, so a good part of the Spring will see me traveling all over the country to work on regional competitions. If you're working with the Academic Bowl in your region, there's a good chance you'll see me this Spring!

Aside from the extracurricular activities, though, we're all also busy putting things together for the Spring -- electronic reserves, LibGuides, presentations, workshops, classes, new books and movies ... well, the list goes on.

Part of that involves a couple of announcements. First, replacement costs for lost books have gone up all across the WRLC, so the fee we charge has increased from $57 to $67. Not thrilling, but necessary. Publishing costs have gone up, which jacks up a whole bunch of other prices in its wake. It happens.

Second, we've made a slight modification to our home page; you'll see a lovely new pair of boxes at the top of the middle and right-hand columns. The Database Spotlight box is our effort to bring some of our less well-known databases to greater awareness. You'll see a few lines, which will link to a longer summary and standard instructions on how to find the database so you can use it. The From the Blog box is pretty self-explanatory -- we've gotten a few comments from students and faculty that this blog should be featured on the home page more prominently, so we're trying this out. The box will contain the dates and headlines of the last three posts, updated at the same time as this blog.

That's just a couple of new things. There'll be a few more in the coming weeks as we figure out more of what'll be happening both in the Library and on campus over the next semester.

In the meantime, I thought I'd plug something terrifically useful: researcher orientations at the Library of Congress, commonly known in librarian circles as the LOC. They offer classes on how to research in the LOC for the public on some Mondays of almost every month out of the year. You'll learn some really neat facts about the LOC, as well as how their reading rooms are set up and the system they have going. The LOC isn't your ordinary public library, so they do things differently, which means that if you plan to use them for your research, it'd be a good idea to go to one of those orientations. Interpreters are provided upon request, although you will need to place the request at least five business days in advance.

You can register for an orientation and place a request for interpreters and other accommodations here.

The LOC is kind of a funny place; it almost has its own mythology. At least once a semester, I give a presentation to a class that has at least one student who asks me why they should bother using the Gallaudet University Library when the LOC is right up on Capitol Hill. It has every book in the world and is totally open to the public, right? Actually, it doesn't and -- sort of -- isn't.

While it's certainly true that the LOC's mission includes the collection and maintenance of a universal body of knowledge and making it accessible to the public and that it's one of the largest libraries of all time, it has a stronger focus on something else: Congress. It's right there in the name: Library of Congress. More specifically, it's where Congress does its research. The services that the LOC makes available to the public are important, but they come in second to Congress and the rest of the federal government; the stuff they collect is usually acquired with the possible needs of the average Congresscritter in mind, before considering any possible cultural and historical value.

Still, the Library is just so large that you probably won't ever notice this aspect of its operations -- it contains so much information that it's virtually impossible that it won't have what you need.

So: What does Gallaudet have that the Library of Congress doesn't? To simplify matters, personal attention and ease of access.

The LOC is set up in a way that accomplishes a single purpose: maintaining the security of the collection while still providing access. Basically, you have to register for, and get, a reader ID card to get into the reading rooms (some reading rooms may also have more requirements for access, which are all available on the LOC's Web site). Once you've got the card, you need to figure out exactly what it is you want to look at. Every book, every map, every manuscript, including title, author, and call number.

Nearly the entire LOC consists of "closed stacks," which works on a similar principle to the Deaf Copy 1 room here on campus -- members of the public aren't allowed in among the shelves. To look at something from those shelves, you have to go into the reading room, sit down at a desk or table, fill out call slips with the correct information about the books you need, give them to an attendant or librarian, and wait for them to bring those items to you. Many reading rooms also enforce restrictions on what you can bring into the room with you; sometimes those restrictions are so severe that you are essentially limited to a single pencil. And it'd better have an eraser on it.

Okay, so the physical materials aren't so easy to get to. But they have a lot of stuff available online, right?

Weeeelllllll ... yes. They have a lot of stuff related to American history available for free on their Web site, as well as some free databases. However, most of their publicly-accessible stuff is extremely specialized and suitable mostly for very advanced researchers working in very narrow disciplines; the inaccessible stuff can be accessed only by going to the Library of Congress itself in person and searching via one of their computers. Here's the kicker: a lot of what they have online that'll be useful to you is also available through a library much closer to home. Guess which library*. Yeah.

The same principle applies to most other materials -- while it is nice to have an actual Gutenberg Bible to look at, our copy of the Revised Standard Version works just as well, and it's much easier to get to. Anything else might qualify as overkill.

Size is also a consideration. Most of the people I've met who opt for the LOC over us tend to come back with red faces and admit to being overwhelmed by the sheer number of resources available -- it's difficult to sift through tens of thousands of similar books when you just need to find a few case studies to support your conclusion.

That's without discussing the sheer amount of one-on-one help and communication access we offer that the LOC doesn't. We really are a group of knowledgeable librarians who can coordinate with your instructor for the best help possible, any time you need us. Then there's the fact that we know how to sign -- which is something that's hard to find anywhere else. In general, we do offer valuable help that can't be quantified, most of which comes to be through just plain old interacting with you and being a part of the school you attend.

To sum up: The Library of Congress is an incredible resource, but restrictions on access, relatively limited personal help, and the fact that most of what you'll need is available here on campus (after a little expert digging) anyway all combine to make the LOC fairly impractical for most undergraduate and graduate research.

No Question of the Week this week -- with only five days open since the holidays, we haven't had many folks coming in and asking us stuff. Instead, here's a bunch of LOC trivia.

• The Library of Congress encompasses 650 miles of shelf space and contains over 140 million individual items.
• It is the oldest Federal cultural institution in the United States.
• Only half of the Library's collection is in English; the rest is in 470 different languages.
• The Library receives approximately 22,000 items every day.
• However, the number of items actually added to the collection every day is much smaller: 10,000.
• The Library holds the some of the largest collections of items related to certain countries in the world.
• For example, it holds one of the world's largest Tibetan collections.
• It also holds the largest Asian collection outside of Asia; the same is true for Russian materials.
• The largest book in the Library of Congress is 5 feet by 7 feet!
• The Library of Congress contains the world's largest collection of comic books (5,000 titles, 100,000 issues).

*The Gallaudet University Library. Just in case.

Halloween's coming!

It's October!

The air is crisp, the sky is blue, and there are even some trees beginning to change color. Halloween has been sighted on the horizon, and we're ready for it; both display tables at the Library have been stuffed full of books about scary things (a few vampires, some werewolves, a couple of witches, and a movie monster or two, to say nothing of Stephen King and Anne Rice) and scary movies (slashers, zombies, aliens ... the list goes on). We anticipate the scary movies will go quickly, but since they're only allowed out for three days and horror movies make up a significant portion of our popular DVD collection, there's plenty to go around! Come by and check it out sometime -- unlike most of the characters on the display tables, we don't bite.

For this month, we'll be doing some asking around the Library for our librarians' favorite Halloween books, movies, and activities, mostly because I love Halloween and I don't mind using this blog to evangelize the joys of rubber masks and cheap polyvinyl costumes. Since we'll be doing some book reviews as a matter of course, I plan to take a break from the whole "What did I read this week" thing.

Let's start with my favorite Halloween movies:

Hocus Pocus
When 17-year-old Max's family moves from sunny L.A. to frumpy Salem, Massachusetts, he figures he's in for an eternity of stultifying boredom. Little does he know that Salem is home to the notorious Sanderson sisters, three witches who were hanged in the 17th Century for various horrifying crimes. With the help of his school crush and his younger sister, he accidentally brings them back from the dead and must thwart their plan to consume the souls of all the kids in Salem. And it's funny. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy play the Sanderson sisters and it's way too much fun watching them bicker and butt heads with the 20th Century.

Halloween and Halloween II
THE classic Halloween horror flicks! A twisted guy in a hockey mask terrorizes teenage girls, but unlike most slasher movies, it's actually a foray into some seriously messed-up psychological territory. Halloween is also the film that jump-started Jamie Lee Curtis's career and was instrumental in setting the standard for slasher films today, along with movies like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street.

Evil Dead and Army of Darkness
Both movies are part of Bruce Campbell's Evil Dead trilogy about Ash, a store clerk with some pals who head up to a cabin in the woods and experience some disturbing occurrences tied to a particularly evil-looking book they happen across in the house. The first movie culminates in some seriously weird-looking scenes at night in the woods and feature a demonic possession that still freaks me out every time I see it. The second movie involves some time-traveling and a massive battle against the Deadite Empire. It's both incredibly cheesy and unbelievably funny. Bruce Campbell is known for his skill at combining horror with hilarity, and both movies represent terrific examples of this.

Shaun of the Dead
A brilliant movie about an apathetic slacker who realizes he's in the middle of a zombie epidemic about three days after the first news reports start warning people to sever the head from the spine. He ends up leading his roommate, girlfriend, girlfriend's best friend, girlfriend's best friend's boyfriend who's actually in love with his girlfriend's best friend, mother, and distant stepfather to shelter in the local pub. A lot of people get torn apart and eaten along the way, but it ends on a heartwarming note when the world finds out that zombies aren't so bad after all. It's one of the funniest movies you'll watch all month.

Boy Eats Girl
Yet another walking-dead movie, but this one is unique: it's Irish! I know, Ireland isn't exactly very well-known for its film industry, but this movie is pretty unusual. For one thing, the main character is the first person to die. This might sound like a pretty short movie, if not for the fact that our main character doesn't stay dead. He doesn't even realize that he's not alive at first, in fact -- he just wakes up the morning after he dies and has no idea what happened and goes off to school, with predictable results. People get bitten and turn into zombies, or they get eaten and turn into something resembling hamburger. Either way, it's a really entertaining movie.

Psycho and Vertigo
No zombies in either one, unless you want to count Norman Bates's mother. Psycho is the story of a young fellow who runs a motel off the beaten path and has a few odd habits, most of which involve his problematic relationships with the opposite sex. One of the indisputable horror-movie classics, bar none. Vertigo, on the other hand, is much more of a psychological thriller and is, more frankly, just plain weird. A detective with acrophobia gets hired by a husband concerned about his wife's behavior; the wife appears to be possessed by her ancestor. After a suicide attempt or two, things start to really get strange, and the end of the film is more or less fitting. Sorry to be so vague, but it's hard to explain the plot without giving away a few surprises.

What with my actually being a librarian and all, I'm sure you're expecting me to recite a few hundred pages' worth of scary-book titles. The truth is, it's been a long time since I was scared by a book; I caught on to Stephen King's shtick fairly early on (although his Bag of Bones is still a pretty well-done creepfest), and Anne Rice is a little too flowery for my taste. Edgar Allan Poe can't be matched for sheer weirdness and horror -- "The Cask of Amontillado" still makes me shudder -- but he can be a little dense for some light reading; the same goes for Dracula. Frankenstein, on the other hand, is more tragic than scary. Instead, I'm going to suggest the only recent book that's managed to send chills up my spine: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

It's the story of a family that moves into a new house. The new house has something severely, severely wrong with it: It has an extra door. Normally, that'd just be an architectural quirk, except the door actually leads somewhere. This "somewhere" is hard to describe because most of this particular storyline after this point takes place in utter darkness. There are several different narratives in the book, all having something to do with the family's experiences, and the text itself gets experimental sometimes. There are plenty of fake footnotes citing documents that don't exist, whole pages blank except for a single word, other pages where the words spiral around the page, and other devices that can get kind of annoying after a while. I'm not fond of that part of the book, but when the story gets into the family's exploration of what's behind the door, it just gets creepier and creepier. You get to the point where you hope that blank walls stay blank, which sounds silly but makes sense after you read it. It's a fairly thick paperback book, so is a wee bit of a commitment, but one that pays off very, very progressively.

That covers my Halloween recommendations. Stay tuned for more from your local librarians!

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Question of the Week
I was working on one of the computers on the first floor, and one of the librarians asked for my ID. That's never happened before. What's up with that?
First, don't take it too personally. We've been noticing an increase in the number of people unaffiliated with Gallaudet using our computers for reasons other than deaf-related research. We don't allow it, but it happens pretty often anyway; sometimes a student will have a friend visiting from out of town who needs to use the computer and will give that friend their username and password in order to use one of our computers. Other times, someone will be working on a public computer and see that someone else needs to get on but doesn't have a Gallaudet-assigned username and password, so will log on for them.

This is pretty bad for a couple of reasons: First, giving out personal information like that is a lousy idea; that username and password gives access to quite a number of other things besides an on-campus computer. Second, it ties up a computer that should be used by a Gallaudet student who actually needs to do some work.

So we've started to be more assiduous about adhering to our policy on computer use. If we find anyone who can't produce a valid Gallaudet ID card, is logged on under a different name, or otherwise does not belong here, they will be asked to leave immediately. From this point on, it will be necessary for you to have your ID on you at all times when using the Library.

What You Need to Know: Part 5 (Fall 2009)

What a busy week!

We did the GSO Arrival Day event on Monday and handed out plenty of fliers and goodies; then the GSO Lunch on Tuesday and had a great time meeting all the new grad students (and giving them the third degree about what they wanted to see from us, which will have an impact on this blog for the rest of the Fall semester; you can expect more reviews and research tips!); then spent all day Wednesday outside in the sun and warmth giving out ice-cold lemonade and even more goodies to new students and their families, earning, I am sure, the eternal gratitude of some on such a hot day; and welcoming faculty members into our Library on Thursday for Faculty Development Week.

In the middle of it all, I've been working hard on making electronic reserves available to the professors who need it, putting together materials for GSO Arrival Day and the lunch, trying to finish off a LibGuide that'll help you find good stuff to read in the stacks, keeping library.gallaudet.edu updated with important news and downloads (such as this PDF of our GSO Lunch presentation -- check it out, the trivia's good!), carrying heavy stuff, meeting new students, helping new faculty, and just generally being all librarian-ish.

Not to mention getting the new Library online catalog actually ... online. It should be up and running by Monday -- keep an eye out!

In the middle of it all, I actually managed to finish Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Really, the only reason I could pull it off was just that the book is one of the most page-turningest things I've read in a long time. Cory's one of my favorite authors; he's a very active blogger and all-around techie and is something of a prominent civil liberties advocate (he believes in copyfighting, the principle that information "wants to be free," works with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and distributes news about various government intrusions on individual rights in the Anglosphere). He's also a fantastic writer who's written some fascinating "in the very near future" books (almost all of which can be found as free downloads online under Creative Commons licenses), which includes Little Brother.

Little Brother is the story of a 17-year-old San Franciscan technological prodigy who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when San Francisco is attacked by terrorists. The Bay Bridge (and underlying BART tunnel) is blown up, thousands are killed, and San Francisco is cut in half. Predictably (this novel was published a year before the 2008 elections), the government swoops in, arrests the main character and his friends, and detains them all on suspicion of terrorism in a torture-prison camp in the middle of San Francisco Bay without any legal recourse. He just disappears for a few days and is tortured into giving up his secrets, then released. The rest of the book follows him as he becomes a cyberterrorist, using all the various technological means the government employs to keep track of every citizen in San Francisco against them to both foment chaos and make a point about overbearing government intrusion. Along the way, he finds love, frees his best friend from the government, causes massive traffic jams, stops the BART in its tracks (so to speak), and leads a movement of tens of thousands of people under the age of 25 in their fight to overthrow the Department of Homeland Security and take the city back for themselves.

It's an amazing read. You learn a lot about how some newer technology actually works (like radio-frequency identification (RFID) -- which you can find in your Metro SmarTrip card; it's what lets you just tap it at the faregate and move right on through) and how to subvert it, you meet some truly fascinating characters along the way, and you see what happens when Big Brother clamps down and Little Brother decides to fight back.

Ordinarily, because it's been a lazy summer, I'd say the book is on display. However, we've just swapped out the book recommendations for a display of books on college survival strategies. I would also strongly recommend checking out the other display table by the West entrance (near Peet) -- we just put up a bunch of Myron Uhlberg's other books in celebration of his memoir, Hands of my Father, being this year's Common Reading, as well as a few other CODA memoirs and videos.

Okay. On with the show.

We're going to wrap up "What You Need to Know" with just a straight clarification of our borrowing policies. The idea is just so you're clued in on how long you get our materials, how much of our materials you can get, and what happens if things get overdue. This way, you can read this and then come on over and start borrowing stuff!

The first and most important thing: you need a Library barcode. It's affixed to the back of your Gallaudet ID card (which means only students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a lifetime membership can get it). You will not be able to borrow anything without that barcode; we need to have that piece of plastic in our hand before we can check anything out to you. That's the first, most basic thing you can remember.

Now, let's talk about our borrowing periods for books. They're pretty context-specific, which means they vary according to who you are and what you're checking out. I'm just going to make a bullet-point list, categorized according to whether you're an undergrad, graduate student, faculty member, or staff member.

• Undergraduate student
• 4 weeks
• Graduate student
• Books from the General Stacks: 6 weeks
• Books from the Deaf Stacks: 4 weeks
  
• Faculty
• Books from the General Stacks: 1 semester; all annual due dates are: 1/31, 5/31, 9/30. All books are subject to recall (very rare) after 4 weeks
  
• Books from the Deaf Stacks: 4 weeks
  
• Staff member
• 4 weeks
• All groups can check out an unlimited number of books
• All groups have the same restriction on videos:
• Each person can only borrow up to three videos at a time
• Up to 3 days
• The reason for this is explained in Part 3's Question of the Week
  

Alumni have a few different rules, according to the terms of the AA's lifetime membership:

• 4 weeks, same as most other groups
• 10 books max
• Videos can only be checked up for up to 2 hours and cannot leave the building

Why? Well, because our alumni are fairly far-flung; many do not live anywhere near Washington, DC. A lot of times, when they come in to check out materials, it's while they're in town for a few days to visit. In the hubbub of visiting the ol' alma mater, it's easy to forget that you've got a Library DVD in a suitcase pocket until you're halfway to Dulles, and then what do you do? We also realize that there's a huge number of Gallaudet alumni still in the DC Metro area, but in the interest of fairness, the same limits apply to all alumni with lifetime memberships. Then there's the fact that our first responsibility is to our students, so we do what we can to make sure they have the best chance possible to use our collection, given the demand for our materials.

So, okay. You've checked out some books and movies with the understanding entailed by the bullet points above. What happens if you go past the due date without returning your stuff?

We start charging by the day. 25 cents for books, $1 for movies. We do this because it turns out to be a pretty good incentive for people to bring our things back. This way, we can make sure that others who may want the same book or movie can get it within a reasonable time. Our fines accumulate until the total for each item hits $10; after that point, the item is marked as 'Lost' and we hit you with $87 for replacement and processing (explained in further detail here). We also give a three-day grace period in case the book really is lost -- we'll waive everything if the book is returned within those three days, but if the book comes back after those three days are up, all of the overdue fines accrued since the end of the three-day period have to be paid.

If you've accumulated more than $25 altogether in fines, you won't be able to borrow anything else until you've gotten that number down to $24.99 or less. Hit $50, and you won't be able to register for classes. Hit graduation with any fines on your record, and you won't be able to get your diploma or any academic transcripts until your record's been cleared. Kind of tough, but it's for good reason: all of our books and movies actually belong to Gallaudet University. Things need to be even-Steven between you and the University before you can get that sheepskin, get a job, or stick around for the next semester.

Don't think we exact every cent we can from anyone who owes us money; we don't break legs, manufacture concrete overshoes, or encourage people to sleep with the fishes. We just want our stuff back. If the item was overdue because of unavoidable situations (like suddenly being called out of town due to a family member's medical emergency), come in and talk to the staff at the desk, and we'll work with you to figure something out. In the meantime, it's usually possible to renew books electronically through myALADIN to buy a little more time.

That about covers the basics of What You Need to Know before Monday, August 31 hits.

Next week, we'll talk a little bit more about Hands of my Father. It should be fun -- I was fortunate enough to attend a talk by Myron here on campus last spring, and he was just an incredibly energetic and entertaining speaker. Something to look forward to!

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Question of the Week
I was watching that PowerPoint that was running on your computers this week, and noticed something about eReserves. I know it's for faculty, but what is it?
If you're a student, chances are you've had a course where the professor had all of his readings on Blackboard. Sometimes they're PDFs, sometimes they take you to a page on ProQuest or Ebsco. Those are eReserves -- we accept requests from faculty for help getting their readings online so they don't need to make 320 copies (say, 16 readings for 20 students) to hand out in class. It just cuts down on paper for everyone, especially since we used to offer actual, physical reserves here at the Library -- rows and rows of photocopied articles!

We also scan any readings that don't have electronic copies for professors who want those articles to be available online. We take care of any copyright issues that might come up and make sure everything's accessible, complete, and readable for all the students in a given course. It's a very popular service, and helps out a lot of harried, overworked faculty and keeps students from being loaded down with a bunch of dead trees.

All in all, it's just one way for us to contribute to the smooth running of Gallaudet's curriculum!

In which I meditate on my favorite questions

I have to admit I'm a fan of four-day weeks. Who isn't?

Still, the short week plus the quietude that advances with the summer means there aren't many new developments to report on at the moment.

Instead, I'll regale you with some of the most common questions I get asked as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man -- er, librarian -- and my answers for them, so you're getting a chance to see things from behind the Service Desk. The following questions are divided into two categories, so pay attention; sometimes the context is important!

On the Service Desk
"Where are the DVDs/videos/deaf school yearbooks?"
They're on the row of shelves behind you with the large sign on it that reads "DVDs"/"Videos"/"Deaf School Yearbooks."

"What about the copy machines?"
They're off to your left, just behind the little counter with the large "Photocopy" sign above it.

"Where's the eLearning Lab?"
It's downstairs; there's a large sign on the stairs right behind you that will help point the way. It's okay; we know the building's confusing, so don't feel too badly about missing all these signs. That's what we're here for!

"Do you work here?"
Frequently, yes.

"Does this building have a bathroom?"
I am very happy to say yes!

"I'm just visiting a friend in the dorms, but I lost my pager and I was wondering if I could use one of your computers to check my e-mail?"
Our computers are frequently in high demand, so our policy limits Library computer use to Gallaudet students and faculty first, followed by people performing deaf-related research. We do not allow casual visitors to use the computers. We're generally sticklers about this, so it is probably best to plan your trip well enough to avoid needing to try your luck with us.

"I left my ID at home, but I know my ID number. Can I still check out this book/DVD?"
Nope.

"Okay, how about to pay my fines/fees? Surely I don't need my ID to give you money!"
Nope. Only when you cross my palm with plastic will the way be opened.

"Well, why not?"
In a word: confidentiality. It's the law. We never, ever allow anyone to do anything affecting anyone's Library record without photographic proof of 1) their identity and 2) their current status as a registered student or employee of Gallaudet University. Some people don't take this too seriously, but it's kind of like the teller at the local bank letting just anyone walk up to her off the street and give your name so they can take money out of your account. Sounds like an exaggeration, but there have been people who let their friends borrow stuff from the Library on their IDs, only to find out the day before graduation they won't be allowed to graduate until they pay close to a hundred dollars for a lost movie that they don't remember ever checking out. That's money out of their bank account. We don't want this to happen, so we do our part to make sure the IDs we see actually belong to the people who give them to us. It's a short-term pain in the butt that'll save you a bigger one later.

"Why do lost books and movies cost so much? Harry Potter doesn't cost $97!"
We don't always collect the full $97; we usually waive some of it depending on what you decide to do. The fines break down like this:
$57 lost book fine: This number isn't arbitrary; it's the average cost of a single book across all eight schools in the WRLC. This number ensures that we're capable of replacing an item when it's lost.
$30 lost book replacement processing fee: This fee is applied because the process of removing a lost item from the collection and adding its replacement does cost money in supplies and time.
$10 overdue fine: The maximum overdue fine you can incur before the book is automatically marked as 'Lost.'
What you can do about it: One of three things: 1) pay the whole thing, in which case we'll waive the $10 and $30 fines; 2) talk to the librarian who's responsible for that book and find out what you need to do to replace it yourself, in which case we'll waive all but $10; or 3) bring the durned thing back! and you'll only pay the $10.

When you put these three options in order from cheapest to most expensive, you'll be able to see what we really want: our own stuff back. That's why that choice is the cheapest -- we don't think anyone would want to pay $57 for Hellboy 2. If the item really is lost, then we do what we can to make the loss as painless as possible for everyone.

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In My Civvies (i.e., off the job)
"So, do you actually get to tell people to be quiet?"
At a university for the deaf? Things are kind of quiet for most people by default. When they aren't, we have been known to ask people to settle down, but it isn't usually an issue.

"Do you spend a lot of time putting books on the shelf?"
Nope. That's what we have student assistants for. They're also good for things like cleaning up stray books, reshelving movies, and building pyramids.

"Have you memorized the Dewey Decimal System?"
Have you memorized the periodic table? Good. Now multiply that by 10. Add maybe 300 or so.

"Aren't you supposed to know it by heart, though?"
No one person could. It's hugely complex and to commit it to memory would mean that I have no life, which we all know isn't true ... right? Right? Hello?

"How does it feel to be forced into obsolescence by the pitiless advance of modern technology?"
It feels a lot like a bunch of people asking me questions all at once. Oh, wait ...

"So you just spend all day working on the desk, answering questions?"
No, actually. Working on the desk represents a pretty slim percentage of my work schedule. The rest of the time is spent working on various projects, including talking with faculty, giving presentations, deciding what needs to be taken out of my part of the collection and what needs to be put in, meeting with students, going to lectures and workshops on campus and off with the WRLC, and a million other little things every day.

"Do you get to read books for a living?"
Not really. Sometimes I'll skim a book here and there if it's been donated and I think it could be a good addition to the collection, but actual reading material is more a byproduct of the job. A perk, if you will.

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That squares away this week; no Question of the Week -- I've answered plenty as it is.

June starts on Monday, and that's when you know it's really going to be summer. If it ever stops raining, get out there and enjoy the sunlight! See you next Friday.