RefWorks Drop in Sessions Available for Help with Citation Management

RefWorks is a citation manager that helps you to keep your research organized, store documents, and create annotated bibliographies. The University of Scranton has a subscription to RefWorks that is available to all students, staff, and faculty.

The library will be hosting drop in instructional sessions for students to take advantage of this powerful tool. All sessions will be in Library room 306. Students can stop in at their convenience to ask questions or to get general instruction on how and why they should be on Ref Works. Available drop-in times are:

Wednesday, February 29 from 12-1pm with Kevin Norris

Monday, March 5 from 3-4pm with Donna Witek

Tuesday, March 6 from 8-9pm with George Aulisio

Wednesday, March 7 from 12-1pm with Kevin Norris

Rwandan Art Exhibit and Reception Tonight

Artwork by Emmanuel Nkuranga
Artwork by Emmanuel Nkuranga on IvukaArts.com

The fifth floor Heritage Room is hosting a reception tonight, Tuesday February 21st 7:30-9, for a Rwandan art exhibit on display this week in the Library.  The exhibit showcases paintings from a visiting artist, Emmanuel Nkuranga, and Ivuka Arts.  Tonight’s reception will feature a live art demo by Nkuranga.  All are welcome.

Sponsored by the Office of Equity and Diversity and CAS Dean’s Office,  the exhibit will be on display February 20-27th.

For more information, contact Dr. Sharon Meagher, (570)-941-4075, or check out IvukaArts.com for a bio on the artist and view some of his artwork.

Library Game Night Returns on Monday

The library will once again be hosting a Game Night for all interested Students, Staff, and Faculty.

We will be playing Rock Band, Mario Kart, and Just Dance 3! There will also be board games, snacks, soda, and prizes. Oh, and back by popular demand Free Pizza! First come, first served so come early for the pizza and stay late for the fun!

The Game Night is in the Heritage Room of the library (5th floor) and runs from 8pm to 11pm on Monday February 27.

Exhibit of ABC’s: Alphabets from the Zaner-Bloser Collection

The Heritage Room is currently featuring an eye-catching exhibit of Alphabets from the Zaner-Bloser Collection.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zaner-Bloser was a leader in penmanship and calligraphy instruction.  The Company produced manuals providing examples of elaborate Roman, Medieval, Decorative, and Shaded or Spencerian alphabets.  The Company also retained the original large format penwork for the manuals and the exhibit will present approximately 70 examples of this original pen artwork.  The exhibit will emphasize the work done by Charles Paxton Zaner (The Zanerian Manual of Alphabets), Daniel Ames (Ames Compendium of Practical and Ornamental Penmanship), Henry Flickinger (Practical Alphabets), and S.C. Malone along with other scribes.

For a sample of some of the alphabets found in our exhibit, please check out our Pinterest Board of Zaner-Bloser Alphabets.

The exhibit opened January 30 and will run through April 5, during normal Library hours.

Please contact Michael Knies Michael.Knies@Scranton.edu 570-941-6341 for more information.

Open Access Simplified

Due to what many consider to be unfair business practices, the Open Access movement continues to grow, but what is Open Access anyway? In order to better understand the movement, the library created an Open Access page on our Research Guides. However, one important thing to keep in mind is that though libraries and librarians are usually the ones asked to explain Open Access (and often run Open Access programs on campus) , the decision to adopt Open Access is a campus wide issue, not one the library can make unilaterally.

On the page you can find a definition of Open Access, its subtle nuances, the various issues, and the multiple roads toward knowledge that is more open and accessible to everyone.

For more on Open Access, check out our previous post “Princeton, Open Access, and the Evolution of Scholarly Communication.”

The Foreign Film Series Presents Four Minutes

Photo Courtesy of Wolfe Video

The Foreign Film Series presents the award-winning German drama Four Minutes at 7 p.m. on Friday February 10, 2012 in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library.  Dr. Monika Moyrer will lead a discussion following the film.

Four Minutes tells the story of two very different women Jenny, a young convicted killer with enormous musical talent, and Traude, an aging music teacher at the women’s prison who is grooming Jenny to perform in a prestigious piano competition.  With powerful performances from Hannah Herzsprung as Jenny and Monica Bleibtreu as Traude is an unforgettable film.

Four Minutes is directed by Chris Kraus and is in German with English subtitles.

This event is open to faculty, staff students and the public.  Seating is limited, so please contact Sharon Finnerty at sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu or (570) 941-6330 for a reservation.

The film begins at 7 p.m. and light refreshments will be served.

Welcome Back! Spring Hours and Excitement

Source: Uploaded by user via Kay on Pinterest

It’s been quite a while since we last saw all our students and faculty.  While we hope everyone had a relaxing and calm intersession, ours was anything but! We’ve been working hard all month long to update, improve, maintain, and increase our Library resources and services, both in person and virtual.  We’ll be posting more detailed announcements throughout the month, but here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming your way in Spring 2012:

We’re excited to have everyone back on campus (even if it means we have to fight for parking spaces again), so stop by anytime to say hi! We’re back on our regular hours for the Spring semester:

Monday-Thursday: 8:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Saturday: Noon – 8:00 p.m.
Sunday: Noon – 11:30 p.m.

Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

Google LogoIf you have a Google account, you should be aware that Google is updating its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service Policy effective March 1, 2012. Instead of different policies for each of its different services, there will now be one policy for all of their services. What does this mean for you? Basically, that it will become more difficult for you to be anonymous when you login to Google and use various Google services. Google will not only be gathering information about you, but will also use that information to “offer you tailored content.” With these new policies, Google is going to combine the information that it gathers from its different services to “push” content to you such as ads for products based on your interests à la Facebook. In fact, Google has recently launched its own social network, Google+. But even if you don’t login,  Google‘s servers automatically record the page requests made when you visit their sites. These “server logs” typically include your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

“Google now watches consumers practically everywhere they go on the Web — and in real life, when using a mobile phone,” said Christopher Soghoian, an independent privacy and security researcher in Washington D.C. “No single entity should be trusted with this much sensitive data.”

The main issue with Google’s new policy is that it will now be combining information that it has on users. This could mean, for instance, that when users search via Google, the company will use their activities on sister sites like Gmail and YouTube to influence those users’ search results. Google has not done that before.

Alexander Street Press VAST Collection is Available

VAST, an exciting new streaming video resource from Alexander Street Press, is now available for faculty, staff and students on the Streaming Media web page. This cross-searchable collection includes over 10,000 titles in 22 disciplines including American History, Education, Counseling and Therapy, Science, and Philosophy and Religious Studies.  Titles in the collection are licensed from a wide ranges of sources and include documentaries, interviews, performances and news programs.

Login to my.scranton and use the Library tab so that you’ll be authenticated as a University of Scranton user.  Authorized users can create custom clips and playlists.  VAST can be accessed on or off campus from a computer, iPhone, iPad or Android.

If you have any trouble accessing VAST, or would like more information about using it, please contact Sharon Finnerty at sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu or (570) 941-6330.