Our next Technology on Your Own Terms workshop is coming up next Tuesday, October 13, from 12pm-1pm in WML room 306. If you’re a University faculty or staff member who has trouble keeping track of all of your favorite websites – this workshop is for you.
In “Really Simple Steps for Managing the Web: An Introduction to RSS,” we will explain how RSS feeds and RSS readers can help you manage the abundance of information available on the web. You’ll create a Google Reader account and will learn to import, organize, search, and share up-to-date content from your favorite websites.
Seats are limited, so be sure to register (under Special Events).
If you’re a University of Scranton faculty or staff member and you love to read, be sure to come to our next Technology on Your Own Terms workshop! “Curl up with a Kindle” will be held on October 1, 2009 from 12pm-1pm in Weinberg Memorial Library Room 306. CTLE Instructional Technology and Enrichment Specialist Aileen McHale will introduce you to Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader and will demonstrate some of the Kindle’s features, from digital highlighting to note taking.
Seats are limited, so be sure to register (under Special Events).
Our first Technology on Your Own Terms workshop is coming up on September 15th! If you’re a University of Scranton faculty or staff member and would like to learn how to use Twitter, come join us – just be sure to register (under Special Events), since seats are limited.
Update: Did you miss “Tweet Your Words”? Notes from the workshop, along with lists of University of Scranton and Scranton-area tweeters, are posted on the Library’s Research Guides wiki.
It’s been a busy year in the Library, with two important Library staff transitions. You may recall that last year at this time, we bid a fond farewell to Katie Duke, Coordinator of Information Literacy, and welcomed George Aulisio as our new Part-Time Reference Librarian. This year saw us searching for a Librarian to take Katie’s place, and our very own Bonnie Oldham turned out to be the best candidate for the job! This meant Bonnie’s position as Distance Learning Library Services Coordinator became vacant, and after yet another search (this time with one of the largest applicant pools ever seen at the Library), our joy was doubled when George emerged as the top candidate for this position. And so, we welcome (back) Bonnie and George, each in a new job role — Bonnie as Information Literacy Coordinator and George as Distance Learning Library Services Coordinator!
Bonnie and George in their 2nd floor office in the Weinberg Memorial Library
Bonnie was born in Harrisburg, PA, and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has lived in Georgia and New Jersey, and twenty years ago she returned to Pennsylvania, where she has remained ever since. She currently resides in Shavertown. She received her undergraduate degree (A.B.) in History from Chestnut Hill College, her Master of Library Science degree from Kutztown University, and her Master of Science in Organizational Management degree from Misericordia University. Bonnie brings 19 total years of experience in academic libraries to her new role as Information Literacy Coordinator.
George grew up in Old Forge, PA, and still calls Old Forge his home. George received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from Bloomsburg University, his Master of Library Science degree from Drexel University, and is currently pursuing his Master of Liberal Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
If you are a student or faculty member in the Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Exercise Science and Sport, or Nursing Departments, then Bonnie is the Librarian you will want to get to know. She is the collection development and information literacy liaison to these departments, just as George is the liaison to the Philosophy, Communication, Mathematics and Computer Science Departments. Both are especially looking forward to working more with faculty and students in their collection development areas.
In her free time, Bonnie enjoys cooking and doing crafts – for example, five years ago she made her daughter’s wedding dress. George, who has a deep thirst for knowledge, spends much of his free time pursuing his studies; however, he also enjoys yard work, including cutting the grass and trimming the trees. Both enjoy reading (what librarian doesn’t?), and both can be found sharing the same 2nd floor office in the Weinberg Memorial Library. George can be found in the Library most evenings of the week, Sunday through Thursday, while Bonnie is easiest to find during the day, Monday through Friday. Feel free to stop by and say hello to them – they both welcome visitors!
The 2008 presidential election is coming up quickly — only 40 more days until November 4th!
With all of the debates, town halls, news stories, and sound bites, it’s hard to keep up with all of the information from and about the candidates – even if you are a devoted CSPAN viewer. And, here in the Library, we encourage everyone to examine information from several sources and think critically about a source’s accuracy, reliability, validity, and potential bias. So I thought it might be a good idea to highlight a few useful news and fact-checking websites to help you make an informed decision on Election Day.
One of my favorites is the non-partisan Annenberg Political Fact Check, aka FactCheck.org. The site reviews political ads and commercials from both campaigns and checks to see whether their statements are accurate. They also answer “questions of the day,” submitted by the public, to help you understand the background behind various rumors and accusations — today’s is “Did Sarah Palin make rape victims pay for their own rape kits?” (Answer: “Palin’s police chief in Wasilla did that. Whether Palin supported this is not certain”).
As a recent transplant from Virginia, I’m also a fan of a Washington Post blog called “The Fact Checker,” where blogger Michael Dobbs grades the candidates’ claims. He assigns between 1-4 “Pinocchios” to let you know whether a statement was absolutely true, completely false, or somewhere in the middle (for example, true but misleading). The Post also has a neat 2008 Campaign Toolbox, filled with links to up-to-date news, polls, and analysis. CNN has a similar site, the Election Center 2008.
Of course, after digesting all of this political information, you’ll need a break! That’s when it’s time to go watch a few episodes of The Daily Show.
Most importantly, though, don’t forget to register to vote. There’s been a table for voter registration in DeNaples every day during lunch, or you can download a Pennsylvania voter registration form (and find out more about voting in Pennsylvania) at www.votesPA.com, a website published by the Pennsylvania Department of State. And let us know where *you* find your election information, by posting a comment.
RefWorks is an easy way to store citations and generate bibliographies in correct format, either MLA, APA, or any of numerous other format styles. Students and faculty can find RefWorks by going to the A-Z List of Databases and then clicking on the blue RefWorks button near the top of the page. The first time you access RefWorks you will be asked to create a log-in name and password.
Most databases will allow you to export citations directly to your RefWorks account. Once in the account these citations can be organized and stored in folders according to subject. From these folders you can generate bibliographies in correct format style. Using the Write-N-Cite component of RefWorks you can also insert correct parenthetical references into the texts of your papers as you write.
RefWorks is easy to use. There are helpful tutorials online. A useful “how-to” folder is available at the Reference Desk. And, finally, if you have problems or would like to schedule either a one-on-one training session or instruction in RefWorks for your whole class, please give the Reference Department a call at 570-941-4000.
This is a summer of change here at the Weinberg Memorial Library. One such change is the departure of our esteemed Coordinator of Information Literacy, Prof. Katie Duke. Katie’s retirement after 23 years of serving the Scranton community is the beginning of the next set of adventures life has in store for her. Students and faculty in the Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Mathematics, Nursing, Philosophy and Physics Departments know Katie for information literacy sessions in these subject areas which have always been exciting and useful, chock full of knowledge and gusto. The entire university community has Katie to thank for an Information Literacy program that is lauded and valued by so many, both within the university community and those outside of it. Her love for the research process comes out in all that she does, and for this she will be fondly missed.
Thank you, Katie, for your years of love and service!
