UofSLibrary News

Web Surfing Made Simple

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

April 20, 2010

6:14 pm

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Resources & Technology

applications, free, Web 2.0, web2.0

While surfing the Web I came across a website which makes focusing on your work all that much more difficult.

StumbleUpon is a website which leads you to other websites.

The webpages you stumble upon could range from Government Fact Sheets, National Geographic Images, YouTube Videos, Flash Games, News Articles, Blog posts, just about anything you can imagine.

My first result was a great set of images which help to scale galactic objects in comparison to one another… http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9LspdV/www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

After that I stumbled on a game where you try to tranquilize sheep running from your herd. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1F2W83/www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

Then an extremely interesting video from YouTube. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1mWEMo/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253DlUMf7FWGdCw

Lastly, a photo of Earth at Night from NASA. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2hI6DU/antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg

You do not need to sign-up in order to use this site, but for people who do a lot of surfing I would suggest making a free account. Account members can chose what kinds of websites they most frequently enjoy. As you are lead to a new site you can decide if you Like or Dislike the site. The more you rate websites the more likely you are to be lead to sites that you’ll enjoy.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Happy stumbling!

Wii Want you @ the Library

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

April 11, 2010

10:27 pm

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Events, News

Events, games, Gaming, Gaming in the Library, Heritage Room, library, National Library Week

In Celebration of National Library Week…

The Weinberg Memorial Library will be hosting its second ever Library Gaming Night on Monday, April 12th.

Due to the success of the first gaming night held on Mardi Gras, we have decided to expand. This time there will be more gaming systems and more food.

All students are welcome to join us in the Heritage Room (5th floor) to Play Games, Eat Food, Enter our Raffle for Gift Cards, and/or just come to hang out with your friends.

The event starts at 8pm and will go on til 11pm.

See you Monday!

Free Rice

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

March 9, 2010

7:42 pm

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Resources & Technology

charity, free, games, Web 2.0

What’s more fun than playing a game?

Playing a game that matters…

http://www.freerice.com/ is a multiple choice website which quizzes your general knowledge.

People spend hours wasting their time on games similar to this one, but the difference here is…

When you answer correctly on FreeRice.com a Sponsor pays for a donation of Rice to the UN World Food Programme.

The more you play, the more you get correct, the more rice gets donated.

According to FreeRice’s FAQ section, FreeRice has:

Fed 27,000 Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh.

Provided take-home rations of four kilograms of rice for two months to 13,500 pregnant and nursing women in Cambodia.

Fed 66,000 school children in Uganda for a week.

Fed over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees for three days in Nepal.

Fed 41,000 children for 8 days in Bhutan.

Fed 750,000 cyclone affected people for 3 days in Myanmar.

The website defaults to English Vocabulary words, but you can click on Subjects at the top of the page to change it to something more to your liking, such as: Famous Paintings, Chemistry, Geography, Mathematics, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.

If you are going to burn time on the internet doing something similar, why not do it here? I guarantee if you spend an hour at this website you’ll feel a lot better than you would if you spent an hour at another website.

www.freerice.com

Indie Magazines for Everyone

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

March 2, 2010

8:54 pm

1 Comment on Indie Magazines for Everyone

Resources & Technology

applications, digitization, free, fun, magazines, Web 2.0

One of my favorite websites to kill some time on is Issuu.

Issuu is a website which allows you to “Publish yourself.”

I think it’s pretty cool that you can publish your own work on this website, but that is not the reason why I enjoy it so much.

Issuu has a large collection of magazines which are all free for you to peruse. The only difference is that these magazines are not the ones that you usually see at the grocery store.

Because Issuu is free to publish on, a lot of magazines which are not mass-produced and are uber-popular in America use it to increase their readership.

The magazines are mostly Independent, Student run, or from outside the U.S.A. The content of these magazines ranges from Poetry, Photography, Art, Graphic Design, Film Reviews, Popular Culture, just about everything…

Issuu is a great way to get your daily dose of culture and to read something a little different for a change.

Check it out at http://issuu.com.

Compare and Contrast

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

February 22, 2010

10:43 pm

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Resources & Technology

citations, information literacy, Information Resources, Internet Tools, reference, Research Papers

About.com is a free information resource tool which shares a few similarities to it’s widely popular colleague, Wikipedia.

Some of the similarities are that they are both free resources and they’re extremely easy to use… Another one is that they don’t look great when citing them in a research paper.

Wikipedia is undoubtedly the more popular resource and almost certainly has more articles in its collection.

However, the biggest difference between the two is the way articles are written.

As most everyone knows, Wikipedia uses “group intelligence” to compile what many consider to be highly accurate and extremely accessible information; whereas others consider it to be riddled with erroneous information, typos, and consider it poorly written.

About.com has each article written by a single author. The authors of the articles are known as About.com Guides. These Guides are hired by About.com solely to be their resident expert in a given field. At first glance About.com sounds like it has an advantage over Wikipedia in so much as it could provide more reliable information. However, not all of the About.com Guides live up to the standards that are required in Academe. Most guides are not scholars, they do not have a Ph.D., and haven’t dedicated their lives to their given field.

Many guides on the other hand are very well informed and highly trained, so another similarity between About.com and Wikipedia is that they are mixed bags. You could be getting high quality information from both, but by the next paragraph you can be reading something that simply isn’t true.

The fact is that you are going to get information from website such as About.com and Wikipedia (I do it too), but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from websites like these, depending on the accuracy of information that you need, it’s OK to read these articles.

The important thing is that you cross reference the information provided with a more reliable source (i.e. encyclopedia, handbook, reference manual, etc.).

Please know that I am not saying its OK to cite Wikipedia and About.com in your homework assignments (I am 100% against that), what I am saying is that it’s OK to check information resources like these, but you should always check more than one resource to make sure the information is accurate. Lastly, make sure those additional resources are highly reliable — those are the resources you can cite!

Mardi Gras!

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

February 16, 2010

5:35 pm

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Events, News

Just a reminder…

Mardi Gras at the Library is Tonight!

Come to the Heritage Room between 8-11 to enjoy Wii games, Board Games, Pizza, Wings, Chips, Pretzels, Donuts, Soda, M&M’s, Free Beads, and Prizes!!

See you there!

Wolfram | Alpha

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

February 14, 2010

9:58 pm

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Resources & Technology

Emerging Technologies, Information Science, research, Research tools, tools, Web tools

By now Wolfram|Alpha might already be old news, but just in case you haven’t heard about it, you should really check it out…

Wolfram|Alpha is set-up to look like a Search Engine similar to Google, but it is actually a “computation machine.”

This resource is a good tool for finding statistics, socio-economic data, information on a date, figuring out equations, and has data on specific locations.

You’ll see on their Examples by Topic page that Wolfram|Alpha could be useful for the following Subjects — Math, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Education, Sociology, Criminal Justice, Engineering, Geography, and a lot more.

Just to get a feel for it, I suggest plugging in your Birthday to see what you get, then try doing a comparison, for example: Scranton, PA vs. Philadelphia, PA.

I’m sure you’ll at least find it to be interesting. Those of you who work with numbers, facts, and data might find this “computation machine” to be downright awesome.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Mardi Gras at the Library!

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

February 11, 2010

6:29 pm

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Events, News

Events, Gaming, Gaming in the Library, Heritage Room, Student Activities

This Tuesday night (Feb 16) from 8pm to 11pm the Library will be hosting a gaming night for Scranton students.

"Come enjoy yourself at the Library on Tuesday Night, with me, Mario!"

Students will have the entire Heritage Room to themselves to kick back, socialize, eat, and play some games!

There will be three Wii consoles on three different televisions and students will have the option to play Mario Kart, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and Rock Band. For those students who prefer classic gaming over video gaming there will also be various board games set up along the room.

Not yet intrigued?

What if the Library throws in Pizza, Wings, Soda, Chips, and Candy in the mix for you!

Still not enough?

OK, OK. How about three $10 Amazon gift cards that every student who shows up has a chance of winning regardless of one’s gaming skills?

We figured that would get your attention! See you at the Library!

Library Feng Shui

by Dr. George J. Aulisio Ph.D.

August 14, 2009

10:27 am

1 Comment on Library Feng Shui

News

The library has been anxiously waiting for the return of students and faculty all summer long. In order to show our appreciation for our wonderful students, staff, and faculty the library has undergone some upgrades in order to make your visit more enjoyable!

1. New Gates.

The library has removed the old gates which were causing false alarms and replaced them with new models to help alleviate the problem. The new gates have been moved to a new location closer to the stairs.

2. All New Computers!

Every terminal in the library has been replaced with a new computer that boasts a faster processor, more memory, and a flat screen. You’ll definitely notice the rooms look much less cluttered now — compared to the old computers these one’s barely take up any space.

2. New 1st Floor Study Space!

Library staff and student workers tirelessly moved and rearranged those heavy bound journals in order to make as much room as possible. The new 1st Floor / Bound Periodical study space is a wondeful new addition to the library and I’m sure it will be a hit when school starts!

3. New and Improved 2nd Floor / Reference Department Study Space!

Friendly arrangement allows you to sit in a large group with your friends, read while occasionally glancing out the window, and/or sit in our lounge chairs positioned to face each other with a coffee table in the middle.

4. New tables are technology friendly!

In the new study areas there are new tables. There are two major improvements with these tables. These tables allow you to get your legs underneath them — unlike the old tables there is no lip on these. Also, there are built in outlets, so now you can plug your laptop in and not have to worry about finding a wall outlet close to a table.

Most of these improvements were made due to Students’ and Faculty’s suggestions on the LibQual+ Survey which was sent by email last Spring. The Library is always looking to improve itself and make it more user friendly. So, please remember, if there’s something you think would be an improvement, and we are able to do it, then we will try our hardest to make it a reality.

See you soon!