I hope everyone is having a nice summer. In my case, summer means when I am outside I have to load up on the smelly sun screen and bug spray, wear funny looking floppy hats and huge sun glasses. I look extra-specially geeky with a whiter shade of pale pair of legs peeking out from under my shorts. DREAMY! I look like some kind of insect creature huddling in the shade while my husband spends as much time as he can in the sun. We live in a wooded area so he spends lots of time outside planting a vegetable garden and perennial flowers, weeding, cutting the grass, trimming hedges and carrying on his never ending war with the squirrels. This is a battle the squirrels are clearly winning. So far this year (he thinks–I’m not so sure it wasn’t bunnies or groundhogs) they have not only decimated some of our garden, they have also plundered my husband’s beloved potted plants and perennials. They have also outsmarted every type of squirrel proof bird feeder we have dared to hang outside. My husband is desperate for a victory so for the past few weeks he is plotting a squirrel offensive. He has drawn up what he believes to be the THE ultimate deluxe squirrel proof bird feeder. The past few days I have come home from work to find him happily assembling his squirrel busting bird feeder. I’ll let you know how it works out!
It’s the Internet, stupid! A case for library core values. PERL is a popular choice for open source software. WVU puts a large digitatal photo collection online. Bucks County Libraries offer non-english collections to their communities. Number of library users jump in times of economical down swing. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awards over $20 million for recruitment and training. Public Library offers etiquette class. Google is not synonymous with good research. Mozilla launches Firefox 3. Popular Non-Wikipedia Pedias. Libraries offer help to patrons who want to avoid home foreclosures. Adobe offers video, multimedia Acrobat update.
You can limit your search in the Aladin (CUA libraries online catalog: http://libraries.cua.edu/welcome.html) catalog by location in the Title, Journal Title, Keyword and Guided Keyword searches. For instance, if you do a keyword search on “polymers”, you get over 2700 results.. If you click on “post limits” button ( above the search results, on the right) and limit to Catholic University (this limits your search to items in CUA libraries only), your search results number is reduced to 176. Its MUCH easier to browse through 176 results than 2700! Please note you can’t limit by location in an author search.
Yesterday as I was driving to work I noticed a car up ahead weaving and bobbing across the lane. My first thought was that this person was intoxicated. Cars kept changing lanes to pass this weaving car until I was behind the car but trying to keep a little distance between usl It was then I noticed this person wasn’t drunk, she was putting her make-up on while she was driving. GAHHHHH!! People please, CONCENTRATE when you drive, for your sake and mine. Turn off those cell phones too!
I’d like to give a big shout out to SLIS students who passed comps and are graduating! Congratulations! If its any comfort I believe you are entering a very rewarding career. I’ve been a professional librarian for over…well…for a long time and I can attest it never gets old. Technology, new mediums and new ways of disseminating and organizing information change at a fast pace so you won’t ever be bored! Frequent changes will require you to constantly reinvent yourself and there’s nothing wrong with that! There is also something to be said for deriving satisfaction in marketing a product in which you can truely believe.
In the News
Fancy bells and whistles on Facebook may actually be a Trojan horse! Can they do that?: RUSA changes definition of reference. Forget the mall, libraries are the new teen magnets. Am I in the library or at Barnes and Noble? Ladies and gentlemen start your search engines! Twitter is growing momentum as a social networking tool. Best sites for researching search engines. How to start your professional job search.
ALA has a great site for librarian employment resources.
Not only are links provided to sources for locating and applying for jobs (via government, library association websites or job websites in general), there also links to library temp agencies, and how to locate and apply for jobs overseas. The site also includes tips on how to apply for jobs, how to write a cover letter, how to prepare for an interview, and what to do during a phone or in person interview.
The Pope’s recent visit has jogged memories of previous Papal visits to the U.S. Television features prominently in my memories probably because I grew up during the television era. The first Papal visit to the U.S. (ever!) occurred in October of 1965. I was a second grade student in a Catholic School in the heart of “da region“. This was an historic visit because it was the first time a modern Pope in left the Vatican and traveled to another country. The Pope’s visit took place in New York City where the Holy Father addressed the United Nations (he was in the U.S. for a total of 14 hours). On the day Pope Paul addressed the United Nations and rode in a motorcade through New York City, the nuns in my school brought in a small black and white portable television set into the classroom. That whole day we watched this historic event on a tiny, grainy, black and white screen instead of having class! As you can imagine, we were thrilled! And not just because we didn’t have class!
There is a back story to this. As a child, one of my favorite television programs was a show called The Outer Limits (this web site describes the original Outer Limits as such: “This series of sci-fi/horror fables enthralled, excited, or scared the Sugar Pops out of Kennedy-Johnson-era audiences from September 1963 to January 1965.) I suppose it would seem tame to those used to the stunning special effects used in tv and movies today but in 1963 this show simultaneously terrorized and rivated me. One episodes, The Sixth Finger, made a lasting impression. It starred David McCallum (who baby boomers might remember as Illya Kuryakin from The Man from U.N.C.L.E ) . The plot of the The Sixth Finger is about a Professor who has invented a machine which speeds up the process of evolution. A young miner volunteers to be the first human subject for the machine. Immediately he has more intelligence and understanding, and his body evolves as well. His forehead is higher, his eyes brighter and his fingers, long and sensitive, now have three joints instead of two. The stub of a sixth finger begins to grow. The evolution continues until he represents man of one million years in the future.
Original Outer Limits Theme
There is a point to this really! Look at the two pictures below. Notice the resemblance? Unfortunately for poor Pope Paul VI, his picture conjured up memories of the t.v. show The Outer Limits to me. Now I know he was a wonderful Pope who came to New York to address the United Nations on World Peace
(At this time the cold war was at its peak and the Vietnam war was starting to escalate). His Papacy saw changes in the Church balanced with preserving tradition. I hope no one takes offense. I was just a seven year old who watched too much television!
My second Papal visit memory occured when I was a senior at the University of Pittsburgh. Pope John Paul the II, elected Pope in 1978, made his first visit in the U.S. (coincidentally, one of his stops was at CUA ). about a year later. Pope John Paul II was a BIG DEAL!! Not only was he the first non-Italian Pope in 400 years, his predicessor’s tenure lasted only about a month. Poland was behind the iron curtain at the time and the Polish government almost stopped Karol Wojtyła from attending the second Conclave. Perhaps they had a premonition of the outcome!
Saturday Night Live was in its fifth year and one of the shows most popular recurring characters in the 70s and 80s was a gentle, cigarette smoking, Italian-accented Father Guido Sarducci played by comedian Don Novello. “Father” Sarducci was a fictional gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper.
In one particular skit, Father Sarducci is so overcome by newly elected charismatic Pope’s U.S. visit, he sponsors a “Find the Popes in the Pizza” contest.
The lucky winner would be the recipiant of an “I saw the Pope on tv” T-shirt! Sa-WEET!
Father Sarducci appeared on an episode about a month later to talk about the enthusiastic response to his contest. During the sketch Father Sarducci showed a film of a busy mail room (supposedly at the Vatican) where postal workers are supposedly sorting through the many entries to the contest. One of the postal worker takes and envelope and chucks it across the room. In a dead pan manner Father Sarducci says, “Opps, “musta” “beena” “froma” Protestant”. I thought that was one of the funniest things I had ever heard!
I enjoyed “Father” Sarducci’s skits that poked gentle fun at the idiosyncrasies of people.
Now, whenever I think about Pope John Paul II’s first visit to the U.S. I think of college, SNL, Father Guido Sarducci and pizza! However, since the time of his election until his death, I had nothing but admiration and love for the beloved Pope that was Eastern European like me.
In the News
New from the Library of Congress: The Resource Shelf. Information Commons are a good way to attract undergraduates to campus libraries. PLA tells librarians to just get over it! Dude! Be careful about what you put on Facebook. The Internet is the new black, Web 2.0 founder says. Spike Lee and Nokia collaborate on social film project to be viewed on cellphones. Wikipedia will soon be available in print! Whats up with that? Net neutrality battle returns to the U.S. Senate. Senate votes down proposal to restrict circulation of R-rated movies in libraries that receive public funds. Operation Bagdad Pups update.
From CUA LIbraries web page: Before you buy an expensive citation manager program consider Zotero, a free, open-source citation manager. Zotero Keeps track of citations and managing that ever expanding bibliographyWith one click you can download citation information from the ALADIN catalog, Amazon, JSTOR, Google Books, and many other library catalogs and journal databases. You can also download and store PDFs from article databases, take a snap-shot of the web page, and apply tags to your “library” of citations to keep them organized. When you’re ready to print that bibliography for your well researched paper, select your sources, select the citation format (APA, MLA, and others), and you have a nicely formatted bibliography ready to be printed or placed at the end of you research paper. Read More
Sorry its been so long since my last blog. This month I have met Janus, the Roman god or doors and windows, endings and beginnings. I had quite the traumatic month. My beloved 22 year old cat, Frieda, passed away in early March. Her passing was calm and peaceful so I do take comfort in that. However, I’ve been in a funk from which I’m only now emerging. I don’t want to get too goopy or sappy so I’ll stop there. A door closed. I’ve had pets all my life so I knew I didn’t want to take too long to adopt another cat. I don’t have anything against dogs. I love dogs and hope to be able to have one some day.
My husband and I both work and we aren’t home to be able to let a dog in and out, or take one for walks during the day, which isn’t fair to dogs. I don’t have a cat as a substitute for a dog either. I love both for all of their different and unique qualities. This week my husband and I adopted a cat, from a “no-kill” shelter. Her name is Ophelia and she’s eight months old. She is a little skittish but my husband and I think with lots of love and some time, she’ll come around. She can’t replace Frieda but she is a welcome addition never-the- less! Another door opened!
In the News
Myspace wants you to dance to the music! Brazil, India and China tell Microsoft: We don’t need no stinkin’ standards! A librarians place is at the reference desk? Not so fast. Would you care for an anime? Those who CAN teach. To tag or not to tag
Did you know that Mullen Library has a Facebook group page? Members of the group are updated on library news and events throughout the year. We also have a Facebook fan page which has links to the JSTOR and Webcat databases and a Meebo widget which allows you to ask an IM question. I have my own Facebook page geared towards library school students. To join Facebook go to www.facebook.com and sign up! Please feel free to contact me through Facebook at any time!
K-Pot enjoys a welcome home kiss from Danielle Berger whose brother rescued him in Iraq, Liberty, adopted by Amanda Lehneke, whose husband, a lieutenant, helped rescue the dog, takes things in stride at JFK airport, Amanda Lehneke, of Virginia, whose husband rescued Liberty and Danielle Berger, of New Jersey, whose brother, a medic, rescued K-Pot, both from the streets of Baghdad, show off their new best friends.
Google takes a voyage to the bottom of the sea. Apple updates MacBook Pro. Pakistan eases up restrictions on YouTube and the world breaths a sigh of relief. Project Censored names their top 25 censored news stories of 2006-2007. (obligatory disclaimer: AMH’s information station does not necessarily agree or endorse the opinions of this web site.). College degree.com lists 25 useful social network tools for librarians. Lets play doctor: tips for saavy medical web surfing.
Keep an eye on the links to the right. I will add links to useful and interesting library/information science web sites frequently. If you have suggestions on a link you think should be added please contact me!
Todays blog is more of a premier! Below is my first Video Tip of the Day! Its my first effort so I’m sure I will improve with time. I welcome your input! Please let me know if you find this video helpful. Today’s Tip of the Day: How to access CUA Libraries’ databases when you are off campus. ♥ As an aside, I want to thank everyone for their kind words and emails about my blog. I am happy that you find it useful! Please don’t be shy about leaving me comments or sending me suggestions.♥
How to access CUA Libraries’ databases when you are off campus
In the News
Soon you won’t have to fill out all those pesky forms at your doctors office! But is that a good thing? A match made in heaven (and some competition for Google?). There’s an Internet in my campaign. Honey, our little baby is growing up! This is not your father’s librarian. Your friends on Myspace will be AMAZED! Librarians are haute! Last but not least: Oscar predictionsUpdate
WASHINGTON, DC –On Saturday, February 23rd two soldiers’ dogs will arrive safely in the US after an emergency rescue from Iraq. Liberty and K-Pot, two puppies rescued off Iraqi streets by US troops have survived sure death thanks to SPCA International’s Operation Baghdad Pups. Read More…
I hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day! Frieda, my cat, surprised her dad (my husband) with a V Day card that plays the song Who let the dogs out when you open it. Frieda is just thoughtful that way.
There was an article in the Washington Post on Friday about the amazing saga of Charlie, an adorable black and white border collie mix, and the herculean effort it took to get him to his new home in the U.S. Charlie was found and nurtured back to health as a pup by the guys in the U.S. Charlie Company stationed in Bagdad. The troops didn’t want to abandon their mascot after their tour of duty ended so they contacted the SPCA International for assistance.
Getting Charlie to the U.S. was a costly proposition so SPCA International created the Operation Bagdad Pups program to raise the funds. Charlie arrived at Dulles airport last Thursday and appropriately took his first stroll in the U.S. on the national mall.
After a routine veterinary check-up, Charlie will be shipped off to his new home in Scottsdale Arizona.
In the News:
Here is a thought provoking editorial in the Washington Post: A Nation of Dunces. Are librarians disappearing(they’ve been predicting this since I was in library school way back in…well never mind)? How to get Johnny to read. E-books and other e-services are on the rise in libraries. Something is rotten in the state of Google, maybe. Wikipedia’s usefulness as a source is debatable. Pink is the new math!
Tip of the day
To find information about resources owned by CUA and the other WRLC member libraries, start with a basic search in the WRLC Libraries Catalog in ALADIN. To find books topic, try a keyword search. If you search by keyword you can also search in sequence by using quotes for terms like “air pollution” (that means it will search the text for those words appearing side by side. This gives you a more accurate search) You can search in sequence in the subject headings field also but you will be directed to WRLC’s Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) index. If you are searching for a particular book or journal title, you can search by Title, Author, or Journal Title.For more information on the ALADIN databases, check here. Just for fun try searching the term acid rain (with and without quotes)in both the keyword and subject fields in the basic search and see what you get. The basic search is located on the CUA Libraries Homepage underneath the word catalog.
This episode of the Carol Burnett Show got the longest laugh in network television history (10 minutes)
Regardless of what side of the fence you’re on, this will be a riviting, historical election.The primary elections on Super Tuesday yielded some interesting results. On one side a candidate widened his lead. On the other, the vote between two candidates was split right down the middle and a winner may not be decided until one or two ballots at the national convention. That would only be the second in my life time. At the CNN election center they have a nifty interactive map and calendar that shows the results of the primaries and caucuses up to and including super Tuesday, as well the places and dates of the upcoming primaries. Next Tuesday, February 12, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia will hold their primaries.
If you are still unsure who to vote for or where to vote, check out The League of Women Voters (LWV) web site. The LWV provides excellent coverage on the candidates and important issues in local and federal elections.
In the News
In times of recession its good you can find one place with cheap and reliable entertainment. In New Bedford, MA a public library battles a very controversial and troubling issue (and you thought all of your problems would be over once you passed comps!). A report by the New York Library Association makes the case for a library degree. Turn off your cell phone when you’re in the library or it may cost you.!
How to find articles for your research paper. To locate articles for your research paper, first go to the libraries’ web site. Look to the middle of the page until you find Article Databases & More (log in required from off-campus). if you are working at home remember to login to myAladin. Click on the pull down menu where it says “find databases”. Find library and information sciences and click on that. Then click “go”. You should be routed to a page of library and information science related article databases (some with full text!).
Having trouble finding material in the WRLC catalog? Getting help is now easier than ever! When you are in a search results page in ALADIN, look at the blue bar at the top of the screen. You’ll see a link to Ask a Librarian. Clicking will open a Meebo “widget” that allows you to choose your school and then send an instant message directly to a reference librarian. No downloads or IM account needed. It’s like having your own personal librarian in the online. f you have questions about using this new service, contact the reference desk at 202-319-5548, send an IM message or just stop by the reference desk on the main floor of Mullen.
catalog!
In the News
When I looked through the news today a few things stood out: a Library in Kansas is holding a class on Wikipedia. The class will cover whether or not information in Wikipedia can be trusted as a source. This article suggests that Al Gore should love libraries! Here’s why librarians shouldn’t tick off future newspaper reporters. Future public or school librarians should take a look at this article about shared-use libraries.
The cat to my left is my commander in chief Frieda. She will be 22 years old in March but she swears she doesn’t look a day over 13! Let me start by telling you something about myself. I grew up in the anthracite coal region of N.E. Pennsylvania.
I have a B.A. in English/History and a Masters Degree in Library Science (M.L.S) both from the University of Pittsburgh. I am married and live in a little house in the not so big woods of Southern Maryland with my wonderful husband and cat. My hobbies are: reading (of course), drinking cawfee, watching cable tv, surfing the ‘net, cooking, creating online graphics for my web pages, walking, travel, going to rock concerts, going to the theater, stalking Bruce Springsteen (well not really, I do go to a lot of his concerts though) and watching General Hospital. I also collect the works of John O’Hara (he’s from Pottsville, Pa.) in hard cover (many of which are now out of print so I scour second hand book stores regularly). I root for: the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Knicks and of course the Pitt Panthers! Yes its possible to like both the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia teams!
My experience is varied. I have worked in several different types of libraries including special, business, government and engineering. I have worked in libraries with a large staff and also spent many years as a solo librarian.
I’d like to use this blog as a place to post interesting links to articles, reference sources, government sources, and other useful resources, as well as familiarizing you with the CUA Libraries’ online subscription resources and periodicals.
Please don’t be afraid to contact me if you need help in starting an assignment or just want an overview of the library and information resources available in CUA libraries. You can contact me in a variety of ways:
