Earth Week in the Library

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April 19, 2010

9:51 am

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Green Weinberg, News

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How much paper does the Library use each week? Let's just say it's not pretty.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and we green-minded folk here in the Library will be celebrating all week.  Since this is our first year officially celebrating Earth Week, we thought we’d put up a few displays to encourage everyone to start thinking about how the Library could be more sustainable.  So if you visit our building this week, be sure to take a look at:

1) Our 5’3″ stack of paper in the  second floor computer lab, which represents the 45,000 sheets of paper our Library printers use up each week.

2) Our growing collection of recycled paper, showing how much paper is thrown into the recycling bin in the computer lab each week.  While we’re glad that this paper is being recycled rather than just thrown away, we hope to impress upon all of our patrons just how much paper is wasted each week. Please only print when necessary!

3) Our “These Come From Trees” reminder stickers, now on every Library printer, copier, and paper towel dispenser.

4) A display of sustainability-themed books in our fourth floor Quiet Study Room.

5) Recommendations for sustainability-related resources from our faculty and staff, on the first floor right inside the Library’s terrace entrance

6) A big sheet of paper (reused, naturally!) where you can write down your own ideas and suggestions for how the Library should go green in 2010.

Also, check back here at Infospot @ WML throughout the week for green-themed books that we’ve just recently added to our collection.

And when you’re not in the Library, be sure to participate in some of the joint University of Scranton/City of Scranton Earth Week activities, starting with tonight’s concert by alternative rock band Monty Are I and culminating on Friday with the popular Fair Trade Fair.

Wonderful Gmail Labs, pt. 1: Nested Labels

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April 15, 2010

7:55 pm

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Resources & Technology

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Here is Part 1 of a series of posts I plan to do, in which I share about the latest and (in my opinion) greatest features available in Gmail through Gmail Labs.

(Image borrowed from the Gmail blog post about Nested Labels, linked in the body of this post)

To all the Gmail users on campus…

Ever wish you could organize your thousands of archived emails into folders, like most other email clients allow? Well, now you can. Or, at least, you can do the equivalent, with a new Gmail Lab called Nested Labels.

Nested Labels allows you to create custom labels and sub-labels (which can even be color-coded), where the parent label, as viewed by default to the left of your inbox, can be expanded and collapsed to reveal (or hide) the sub-labels within that parent label.

I find this incredibly useful, since it allows me to categorize my huge archive, thus making older emails easier to find. It takes a little bit of time to set up, since you’ll need to go back and categorize all of your old emails from the past, assigning custom labels to the emails you want easy access to. But, if this is something you’ve wished Gmail had (or if you’ve been using the folders4gmail browser extension as a work-around, like I was), check out the Gmail blog post, linked above, for instructions on how to get started with Nested Labels.

Game Night 2.0 Was Pretty Awesome

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April 14, 2010

9:53 pm

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News

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Game Night 2.0 was as successful as version 1.0 back in February!  From 8-11 pm, the 5th floor Heritage Room was filled with students.

We had everything.

Food:

Trivial Pursuit:

And of course, video games:

Digital Services Librarian Kristen Yarmey-Tylutki and Part Time Reference Librarian Neil Grimes also stopped by to enjoy the fun:

Overall, the night was a success.

This time, we were equipped with a Wii Fit, two Wiis (would the plural of “Wii” be “Woo”?) — one hooked up to Rock Band and the other to Mario Kart.  We even had a Sega and an original Nintendo!

Like last time, we had a raffle with fabulous prizes and while the counts aren’t in yet, there were a lot of people that texted us their names and email addresses in order to enter -– the winners will be emailed soon with information on how to claim their $10 Amazon gift cards.

In the end, after all the food was gone, and everyone had cleared out, Public Services Librarians George Aulisio and Donna Mazziotti rocked out to Alanis Morissette on Rock Band:

(No Alanis, it's not ironic)

We asked students if they would want to have another Game Night…

The responses were fairly consistent:

Something tells me there will be a Game Night 3.0. Keep your eyes out for it.

National Library Week to be Celebrated at the University

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April 12, 2010

8:00 am

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Events, News

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This year, the Weinberg Library will join libraries through the nation in celebrating the importance and value of libraries to their communities, whether they serve  a public, academic, or school population. To begin our celebration, we’d like to invite you to participate in our second Gaming Night, which will kick off the week. Following a very successful maiden run in February, library patrons responded to a survey which asked if it the event should be repeated. The positive response was overwhelming, so on Monday evening April 12 from 8-11 P.M. you may try your hand (and foot) at a variety of Wii games, including Wii Fit, Wii Sport, and Mario Kart. Free refreshments – pizza, wings, and more will be offered, and if Wii isn’t your forte, traditional board games will also be available. Come and take a break from your studies for a while — you may even win one of our great prizes! While you are in the library, stop at 4th floor Quiet Study Room to view the display of favorite books by library staffers. A wide range of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books will be featured, each with the staff member’s name. Finally, the Library is rolling out our newest reference service — Text a UofS Librarian.  If your phone is equipped with a basic texting service, you may text a message to our reference desk at 570-687-8787 any time the Library is open. Questions about book locations, library hours, and library holdings can be quickly answered through our texting service.

And although our annual Book Sale starts next weekend (April 23-25), it is still not too late to donate books to the sale. Boxes are positioned in the  Monroe Avenue side lobby of the Weinberg Library. All donations are welcome!

Come and celebrate National Library Week at the Weinberg Library.

Wii Want you @ the Library

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April 11, 2010

10:27 pm

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Events, News

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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!

Jay Parini speaks on his “found novel”, The Last Station

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April 9, 2010

2:01 pm

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Events, Friends, News, Schemel Forum

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Scranton native Jay Parini spoke at today’s Schemel Forum luncheon about his 1990 novel, The Last Station, which was recently transformed into an Oscar-nominated film by the same name.

The novel describes the last year of Leo Tolstoy‘s life and focuses on the battle between Tolstoy’s wife Sophia and his disciple Chertkov for Tolstoy’s soul.  Parini wrote the novel after reading several diaries written by people who lived in Tolstoy’s house during the tumultuous year.  In today’s talk, Parini described his work as a “found novel,” a narrative shaped from the layered viewpoints of those diaries.

Parini has authored 21 books and is currently working on a new novel on the life of Herman Melville.   When it’s done, we hope he’ll find his way back home to Scranton for another visit with the Schemel Forum!

P.S. The Last Station has been shown in cities all over the world – but not in Scranton.  Tolstoy fans will have to drive to Tunkhannock’s Deitrich Theater, where the film will be shown on three different days (4/14, 4/18, and 4/22) during this month’s Spring Film Festival.

Update: A video of Parini’s talk is now available on the University’s YouTube channel!

Easter Break Hours

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March 30, 2010

8:00 am

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Hours

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Photo courtesy of amandawoodward under a Creative Commons license

Holy Week and Easter are upon us. And this means the Library’s hours will be lighter at the end of this week, in order for those of us who celebrate to give this Feast of Feasts more of our attention, that we may celebrate Christ’s Resurrection with un-distracted joy!

Here are the Library’s hours for Easter break:

Thursday, April 1st: 8AM-4:30PM

Friday-Sunday, April 2nd-4th: Closed

Monday, April 5th: 12 Noon-11:30PM

Happy Easter and Blessed Feast!

Share with Surety: Facebook Privacy Settings Workshop

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March 29, 2010

11:47 am

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Events, News

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Take a second to Google the phrase “facebook privacy” and you will probably come across a few anxiety-provoking results.  You might see links to articles with headlines like “Facebook’s Privacy Changes: When Will it Go Too Far (and will you even notice)?”, “Facebook’s New Privacy Changes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, and even “Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says the Age of Privacy is Over.”

For experienced Facebook users, these concerns might be old hat.  But if you’re a relatively new Facebook user and you’re not sure how to tweak your profile to account for all of these changes, we’ve got a workshop for you.

Next Wednesday, April 7 from 12pm-1pm in WML306, Public Services librarian Donna Mazziotti will teach a Technology on Your Own Terms workshop that she’s titled “Share With Surety: Facebook Privacy Settings for the Casual Facebook User.” During the session, Donna will walk participants through customizing their own Facebook Privacy Settings and will help attendees understand what each setting means.

The workshop is open to University of Scranton faculty and staff members, so if you’re interested, please let us know by registering at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration.  The workshop will be hands-on, and we’re assuming that attendees already have a Facebook account.  If you plan to participate, make sure that you’ll be able to remember your account information when you arrive at the workshop.  Hope to see you there!

Printer Problems?

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March 26, 2010

7:01 pm

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News, Systems

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The computers in the Library are networked using a system called UniPrint. Sometimes UniPrint goes down. The Library now has a backup plan in place for students when this happens which uses a “crash cart” with a stand-alone computer and printer.  The “crash cart” will be located in the alcove adjacent to the Reference Desk on the 2nd floor of the Library. If this happens, you’ll need to save the document you want to print to a flash/thumb drive or e-mail the document to yourself. If you need any help, you can ask one of the Reference Librarians.