Technology on Your Own Terms

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February 11, 2013

7:00 am

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Events, News

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On behalf of the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, we invite University of Scranton faculty and staff to the first of our Spring 2013 Technology On Your Own Terms (TOYOT) workshops.

 

 

Password Security

Adam Edwards (Director of Information Security)
February 20, 2013 – 12:00-1:00PM in WML 305

This session will teach you some techniques for creating memorable passwords, give you some tools that can be used to improve password security, and tell you some ways that you can keep your password safe.  This session will give you some tips on how to recognize if you are being targeted as a social engineering victim. This is when someone attempts to get your password by tricking you into thinking that he is someone else.
A light lunch will be provided.

Sessions are open to all University faculty and staff, but seats are limited, so please let us know you are coming. You can register at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration – under Technology on Your OwnTerms.

American Hands Exhibit and Schemel Forum Event

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February 8, 2013

8:41 am

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Events, Exhibits, Friends, News, Schemel Forum

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American Hands ExhibitThe Library’s Heritage Room is currently hosting American Hands: A Visual Celebration of Traditional Tradespeople, a traveling exhibit of work by photographer Sally Wiener Grotta.

American Hands is Sally Wiener Grotta’s ongoing narrative visual celebration of those individuals who are keeping alive the traditional trades that built our country’s diverse culture. She has documented the work of artisans including a spinner, weaver, blacksmith, bookbinder and others. She has returned to their workshops over the course of months and years to document the different stages of their creations.  She documents the craft processes as well as the personalities of the individual tradespeople.

Sally began the exhibit as Pennsylvania Hands.  The constantly changing exhibit has been seen around the state and has now become a national project and renamed American Hands.

Sally is widely considered to be a pioneer of digital photography and computer graphics.  She has served as chapter president for the American Society of Media Photographers and has traveled on assignment to every continent including Antarctica.  Sally co-authored (with Daniel Grotta) the groundbreaking work, Digital Imaging for Visual Artists which is considered one of the first important works on the subject. The PC Magazine Guide to Digital Photography and The PC Magazine Digital SLR Photography Solutions are among their other books. Her photographs and articles have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and books.

There will be a reception featuring a talk by the artist on Wednesday, February 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the Heritage Room.  The reception is free and open to the public.  The exhibit, lecture, and reception are cosponsored by the Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Schemel Forum.  You can register for the event here.

The exhibit will be on display through the end of February.

Archiving the University Web

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February 7, 2013

4:36 pm

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Digital Collections, News, Resources & Technology

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Thanks to combined support from the University of Scranton’s Academic Affairs and Planning and Information Resources divisions, the Weinberg Memorial Library has partnered with Archive-It (a subscription service from nonprofit Internet Archive) to capture and preserve University-related websites for the enduring future.

Part of the Weinberg Memorial Library’s mission is to “preserve and promote the history of the University,” and our University Archives has long collected and preserved photographs, documents, and other records from the past.

Increasingly, though, our students, faculty, and staff communicate using dynamic digital media instead of paper or film. For example, the University’s undergraduate catalog is no longer a print publication but a database, and instead of finding printed newsletters in our mailboxes, we get our weekly University news digitally via Royal News. And unfortunately, this kind of web content is surprisingly vulnerable to digital degradation and loss over the long term.

We could preserve a paper version of that dynamic information (say, by printing out Royal News each week) or take a PDF or image screenshot of it, but in doing so we’d lose its interactivity and searchability. Ideally, in the future we’ll want to be able to access archived web content the same way we access it now — that is, by browsing and searching.

That’s where web archiving comes in. Archive-It’s web archiving service allows us to crawl and capture web pages in ways that preserve their dynamic and functional aspects – including active links and embedded media like images, videos, animations, and PDF documents.

We’re certainly not the first ones to recognize the importance of web archiving in higher education. 97 other colleges & universities have already signed on with Archive-It, including fellow Jesuit universities Georgetown, Creighton, and Marquette, and fellow Pennsylvania schools Penn State, Drexel, and Bucknell. Several universities have created web archives that document important topics or events, like the American University in Cairo’s January 25th Revolution project or the University of Virginia’s collection of web and social media content relating to the resignation and reinstatement of President Teresa Sullivan.

Here at the Weinberg we plan to focus our early web archiving efforts on our own University web content (like our main website and our athletics site) and the University-related social media sites (like our YouTube channel and many Facebook pages) where our community shares its stories. Over time, as we develop expertise (and hopefully secure recurring funding!), we’ll work with faculty to identify and explore the possibility of collecting external websites relevant to current and future scholarship at the University of Scranton.

Our first step, though, is to seek input from our campus community regarding what is most important to preserve for the future. We invite members of the University community to send us questions, concerns, or suggestions. Take a peek at our first experimental crawls, and let us know if you’d like to be involved in web archiving at the University of Scranton!
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Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has some snapshots of the University website dating back to 1998. With Archive-It, we can periodically and systematically capture and preserve the entire University website – and any other related web content our community needs.

Library wants Student Feedback!

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February 1, 2013

1:28 pm

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News

FEB 1-28 the library is offering students the ability to reserve group study rooms as a test. At
http://tinyurl.com/wmlbookit

the two newest group study rooms on the second floor can be reserved by student groups of two or more, up to one week in advance, for up to two hours per day. The person reserving the room will receive a confirmation e-mail, which also gives a quick link for cancelling the reservation if necessary.

During this period we are requesting that these rooms ONLY be used with a reservation. The test will help us determine if the software is helpful, and if reserving study rooms is a service we will be able to offer more widely in the future.
Please give it a try and let us know what you think!

The International Film Series Presents I Am David

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January 25, 2013

3:02 pm

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Events, News

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220px-I_Am_DavidPhoto courtesy of Swank Motion Pictures

Can a young boy survive in the free world after escaping from a Communist concentration camp with few belongings and limited instructions?  This is the challenge for 12 year-old David as he travels across Europe attempting to reach safety and discover his true identity.  Adapted from Anne Holm’s novel North to Freedom, I Am David takes us on a remarkable journey.

Join us for a free showing of I Am David on Thursday February 21, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library.  Mr. Neil Grimes, Reference Librarian, will lead a discussion following the film.

Directed by Paul Feig, this inspirational drama is in English.

Please contact Sharon Finnerty at sharon.finnerty@ scranton.edu or (570) 941-6330 for reservations.

Technology on Your Own Terms – Spring 2013 Workshops

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January 21, 2013

8:00 am

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Events, News, Resources & Technology

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TOYOT_logo4a small

On behalf of the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, we invite University of Scranton faculty and staff to our Spring 2013 Technology On Your Own Terms (TOYOT) workshops. Here’s what we’ve got planned for this semester:

Password Security

Adam Edwards (Director of Information Security)
February 20, 2013 – 12:00-1:00PM in WML 305

This session will teach you some techniques for creating memorable passwords, give you some tools that can be used to improve password security, and tell you some ways that you can keep your password safe.  This session will give you some tips on how to recognize if you are being targeted as a social engineering victim. This is when someone attempts to get your password by tricking you into thinking that he is someone else. A light lunch will be provided.

Get in the Game!
Sheli McHugh (Cataloging & Metadata Librarian) &
George Aulisio (Public Services Librarian)
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 – 11:30AM-2:00PM in the Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library

Join us on March 26, 2013 for a drop-in game day style TOYOT! Event will be held in the Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library. We will have Wii, Playstation, and Xbox with various games like Rock Band 3, Just Dance 4, and Mario Kart. Feel free to stop by at any time from 11:30AM-2:00PM to test out our new gaming systems, ask questions on the various consoles, and experience the games firsthand. We will also feature the Kinect which is a motion sensor gaming system that uses physical gestures as the remote control. Gesture based computing is huge in the gaming industry and growing with televisions and home entertainment, but may also have implications in education for students to engage in virtual exercises.

Pizza, soda, and snacks will be provided just like at the Game Nights we hold every semester for students. Stop up, learn some new tools, and play some games!

Web Personalization: Powerful Information Tool or Filter Bubble?

Donna Witek (Public Services Librarian)
Thursday, April 18, 2013 – 12:00-1:00PM in WML 305

Like. Share. +1. Subscribe. Unsubscribe. These are just some of the actions we perform on the Web as we interact with information. Generally speaking, we do these things to make sense of the vast amount of information available to us. What is less widely known is that the information we see on the Web is shaped by more than just these deliberate actions we take. For instance, your search engine may know in what country you are located, and it may use this information to deliver search results it deems relevant to your interests based on this information. This process is called Web personalization. In this presentation, attendees will receive a basic overview of Web personalization, how it is different from customization, and the role it plays in determining what information we encounter on the Web. Common examples of how we participate in Web personalization (knowingly and unknowingly) will be demonstrated, and critiques of this technology will be presented. A light lunch will be provided.

Sessions are open to all University faculty and staff, but seats are limited, so please let us know you are coming. You can register at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration – under Technology on Your OwnTerms.

Environmental Art Show — 1st Call for Art

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January 9, 2013

9:19 pm

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Events, Exhibits, Green Weinberg, News

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Attention students and faculty home for Intersession:

The library will be hosting the 3rd annual Environmental Art Show in April. The purpose of the Environmental Art Show is to promote the natural beauty of our environment and the ideals of sustainability through art.

The art show is comprised entirely of student, staff, and faculty submissions, so please consider contributing artwork that fits into the following loosely defined criteria.

Almost any type of environmentally themed art is accepted, this includes Paintings, Photographs, Digital Media, Mixed Media, Fashion, 3D Objects, etc. Examples of environmentally themed art include images depicting human effects on the environment, nature scenes, animals, environmental messages, recycled or re-purposed goods, and so on.

The deadline for submissions is set for Friday, April 12, 2013. There will be an opening night reception scheduled open to the public and your family. All works of art are returned after the exhibit comes down at the end of April.

For photos from the past Environmental Art Shows see the following links:

Environmental Art Show 2011

Environmental Art Show 2012

Hours for Intersession 2013

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January 2, 2013

3:06 pm

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Hours, News

The Library has reopened for 2013.  During Intersession, the Library has (somewhat) reduced hours beginning January 2 and running until the Spring Semester starts on January 30.

Monday through Thurs.     8 A.M. to 10 P.M.

Friday                                         8 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.

Saturday                                     Noon to 6 P.M.

Sunday                                        Noon to 10 P.M.

Please call 570 941-7524 for hours for Media and Special Collections.

Extended Hours

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December 3, 2012

4:35 pm

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Hours

The library will be open for extended hours “dead week” and finals week.

Tuesday 12/4 — 8AM to Midnight

Wednesday 12/5 — 8AM to Midnight

Thursday 12/6  — 8AM to Midnight

Friday 12/7  — 8AM to 10PM

Saturday 12/8  — 9AM to 9PM

Sunday 12/9  — 10AM to Midnight

Monday 12/10  — 7AM to 2AM

Tuesday 12/11  — 7AM to 2AM

Wednesday 12/12  — 7AM to 2AM

Thursday 12/13  — 7AM to 2AM

Friday 12/14  — 8AM to Midnight

Saturday 12/15  — 8AM to 5PM

Sunday 12/16 — Closed

 

Thanksgiving Hours

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November 20, 2012

7:22 pm

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Hours, News

Thanksgiving Garden

Just a reminder that the Library will be closed for Thanksgiving weekend. Our hours this weekend are:

November 20, Tuesday – 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
November 21, Wednesday – 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
November 22 – 24, Thursday – Saturday   Closed
November 25, Sunday – Noon – 11:30 p.m.

Our two 24 hour rooms on the first floor of the Library will be open all weekend, which can be accessed using your Royal Card.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us in the Library!

Image CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 courtesy of carfull on Flickr