On March 9, our Spring 2011 Technology on Your Own Terms workshops will continue with The Changing Face of Facebook, to be held from 1pm-2pm in WML305.
If you are a Facebook user, you have probably asked yourself at least once, “Why does Facebook make so many changes to its site?” In this session, librarian Donna Mazziotti will present an overview of the latest wave of changes made to the Facebook user interface. She will also offer a rationale for why Facebook is an ever-evolving tool, as well as reasons why users should embrace Facebook’s mission to always improve its product. After this session, attendees will grow from passive to proactive Facebook users, able to educate themselves about changes made to Facebook as the changes occur. A light lunch will be provided during the discussion.
All faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited, so please register at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).
A scene from the movie Bomber. Photo courtesy of Film Movement.
The Foreign Film Series at the Weinberg Memorial Library premiered on Friday February 11, 2011 with a faculty event. Faculty members from many departments came together to view the bittersweet comedy Bomber. A lively and insightful discussion led by Dr. Ileana Szymanski followed.
The series will continue through the Spring semester. Each month a different award-winning independent or foreign film will be featured. The film series will be open to members of the University community and the general public.
Watch for information about next month’s feature on Infospot @ WML.
This year the library will be hosting its first ever Environmental Art Show. The purpose of the art show is to promote sustainability and to raise awareness about environmental issues. The Library Green Team is asking any interested students, staff, or faculty to submit their environmentally themed art.
All types of environmentally themed art are welcome, this includes photography, painting, sculpting, graphic design, altered images, fashion, film art, and any other areas of creativity. Submissions must be environmentally themed. Examples of environmentally themed art include nature scenes, animals, humanity’s effect on the environment, and creative messages about sustainable issues. Any questions about specific themes or ideas could be directed to george.aulisio@scranton.edu. There is no limit on submissions. However, not all submissions will necessarily be displayed.
Submissions are asked to be ready for display (within reason) This means, for example, that photographs and paintings are to be matted or framed, TVs and additional devices for film art will be provided by the library, any artist who has special display needs should contact George Aulisio. The Environmental Art Show will be held in the Heritage room of the library and will coincide with the University’s celebration of Earth week. All artwork will be returned by the end of the semester.
For any additional questions please contact george.aulisio@scranton.edu.
Congratulations to Frank Subasic of Clarks Summit who won memberships to the Everhart Museum and Lackawac Sanctuary, a gift certificate for 2 tickets to a Broadway Theatre League of NEPA 2011 production, 2 tickets to Langston Hughes’ Ask Your Mama, Twelve Moods for Jazz, courtesy of Community Concerts at Lackawanna College, 4 movie passes to Cinemark Theatres, a $50 gift certificate toward performances at the Scranton Cultural Center, 2 tickets to an Actors Circle production, a new haircut at CK Salon, a gift basket of fabulous lotions and more from LAVISH Body+Home, a 2 day/one night midweek stay at any one of three Cove Haven Entertainment Resorts, a meal at Old Country Buffet (2 adult and 3 children,) and a 3-month “exclusive” Black Card membership to Planet Fitness.
Remember there’s still eleven more chances to win great prizes ~ Click here to purchase your Leaves of Class Raffle Ticket.
Image courtesy of goXunoReviews, under a Creative Commons license
Winter weather keeping you indoors? Well the e-book is celebrating its 40th birthday this year! Why not download a free e-book to your device (Nook, Kindle, Sony Reader, smartphone), or just download and read one right on your computer. You’ll first need to check to see which of the different available text formats are compatible with your device.
To help you get started, check out this list of some of the sites where you can download free e-books, along with an informational quote from each website:
“Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.”
“PublicLiterature.org provides a user-friendly interface to read books online. Many tools are provided to explore and utilize this collection of public domain books, poetry, tutorials and audio.”
“Bookyards has a total of 17,008 books, 41,784 external web links, 4,197 news & blogs links, 384 videos, 32,963 Ebook links and access to hundreds of online libraries (800,000 Ebooks) for your reading pleasure.”
“We format and package books so that you can read them on a java enabled phone. Most phones sold today are java enabled – you probably have one in your pocket right now.”
“Standard memberships are FREE and allow members unlimited access to eBooks in the HTML format or access to 5 eBooks each and every month in the PDF and/or TXT formats.”
Our science, math and engineering book collection just got a whole lot bigger! We’ve added a large eBook collection (over 3000 titles!) to our resources! You may browse the Springer eBook Collection or simply search the catalog for “Springer eBook Collection.” You can also search for specific subjects, like “software engineering” and then limit the location the Electronic Access. This collection will add a lot of depth to our resources that we would not be able to provide in print resources and you will be able to access them from anywhere on campus any time of day.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this new collection! Happy researching!
According to a study that appeared on the front page of the January 31st edition of the New York Times, males in their mid-twenties account for 87% of the articles written for Wikipedia. Over 3.5 million articles in over 250 languages comprise this evolving decade-old encyclopedia, which rises to the top of almost any Google search one conducts.
Early in 2010, researchers at a joint center of the United Nations University and Maastricht University collaborated with the Wikipedia Foundation to assess the demographics of contributors to the website. Now that the profile has been released, Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation, has set a goal of raising the gender equity of contributors to 25% by 2015.
Several industry analysts and organizational behaviorists have tried to suggest theories to explain the gender differences. Gardner herself believes that “the traditions of the computer world and an obsessive fact-loving realm dominated by men and uncomfortable for women” has created the disparity.
Whatever the explanation, the facts speak for themselves. So the next time you consult the online encyclopedia for a quick refresher on a fact, take note of the article’s authorship. And better yet, women “know-it-alls” out there, contribute!
For thecomplete article, refer to The New York Times from Monday, January 31, 2011.
