King of Devil’s Island

Photo courtesy of Film Movement

Join us for a presentation of the Norwegian thriller King of Devil’s Island at 7 p.m. Friday May 4, 2012 in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library.  Dr. Kathryn Meier and Professor Mark Meier will lead a discussion following the film.

Described by Film Movement as the true story of the infamous Bastøy Boys Home correctional facility in Norway, the movie begins with the arrival of seventeen-year-old Erling, a rumored murderer.  He clashes with the island facility’s governor (Stellan Skarsgård), who believes manual labor, rigid discipline, and harsh punishment are the only methods that can turn the boys into honorable members of society. Erling slowly rouses the rest of the boys out of their resigned existence, and encourages them to fight to lift their spirits. When tragedy falls at the hand of the cruel dorm master, Erling leads his comrades in a courageous and vicious rebellion that will bring them head to head with the Norwegian Army.

Directed by Marius Holst King of Devil’s Island is in Norwegian with English subtitles.

This free event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Seating is limited so please contact Sharon Finnerty at (570) 941-6330 or finnertys2@scranton.edu for reservations.

Mobile access to Library resources

University of Scranton students, faculty, and staff now have two ways to access the Weinberg Memorial Library’s resources from their mobile devices:

Whichever way you go, you’ll find a mobile-friendly version of our Library catalog and quick links to Ask a Librarian, as well as the Library’s hours, location, and latest news.

Try it out and let us know what you think! And let us know what other mobile features you’d like to see – we’re working right now on providing mobile-friendly access to our databases, and we’re daydreaming about a Java City webcam.

Preserving Your Family Memories – Workshop

Next week is our spring break, and even though our students will be gone, the rest of the University will still be open and working. This year, we decided to take advantage of the  break as a good time to host one of our Technology on Your Own Terms series workshops.  While we usually focus on forward-looking emerging technologies and how we can create and explore new information, we thought it would be interesting to take a different view this time and learn about how we can preserve existing information.   In a two-part workshop, we’ll examine how to preserve physical records (Part I) and digital records (Part II) of your personal and family history.

Preserving Your Family Memories: Part I (Physical)
Tuesday, March 13 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm in WML305

Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the basic preservation problems relating to personal collections of books, photographs, negatives, personal papers, audio/visual recordings, and other paper-based collectibles.  Limited attention will be paid to three dimensional objects. Proper storage and handling will be emphasized. A light lunch will be provided. (Taught by Michael Knies, Weinberg Memorial Library)

All faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited, so please register for sessions you plan to attend at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).

The Foreign Film Series Presents Alamar

Photo courtesy of Film Movement

Join us for a presentation of the Mexican drama Alamar on Friday March 23, 2012 at 7 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library.  Professor Kevin Norris will lead a discussion after the film.

Film Movement describes this beautifully scenic family drama as the story of a father and son. Jorge has only a few weeks with his five-year-old son Natan before Natan leaves to live with his mother in Rome. Intent on teaching Natan about their Mayan heritage, Jorge takes him to the pristine Chinchorro reef, and eases him into the rhythms of a fisherman’s life. As the bond between father and son grows stronger, Natan learns to live in harmony with life above and below the surface of the sea.

Directed by Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio this award winning film is in Spanish and Italian with English subtitles.

This free event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Seating is limited so please contact Sharon Finnerty at (570) 941-6330 or finnertys2@scranton.edu for reservations.

 

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.

Technology On Your Own Terms Spring 2012 Workshops

Each semester, the Weinberg Memorial Library and the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence (CTLE) offer a faculty and staff advancement series called Technology on Your Own Terms. The series introduces University faculty and staff to emerging technologies in order to encourage innovation in the workplace and in the classroom. We’re continuing the series in Spring 2012 with three new workshops:

Facebook Timeline: What You Need to Know About the New Facebook Profile (or, Facebook Gets a Face-Lift)
Wednesday, February 15 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm in WML305

If you’re a Facebook user, you may have heard of a new feature on the popular social networking website called Timeline: the newest version of the Facebook Profile. You may have even converted your own Facebook Profile into this new format, or visited the Profiles of Facebook Friends who have already converted to Timeline. Whether you have already opted-into the new Profile format, or are holding out until you learn more, there is a lot of information about this radical new feature that all Facebook users need to know in order to use it with purpose and control. During this presentation, Librarian Donna Witek will give an overview of Timeline, including information about its design, functionality and use. She will demonstrate the key tools within Timeline that will enable users to get the most out of the new Profile format. And, she will cover the relationship between your Privacy Settings and Timeline. Attendees who own tablets or laptops are encouraged to bring them to the session; however, this session does not require that attendees have a computing device. A light lunch will be provided. (Taught by Donna Witek, Weinberg Memorial Library)

Preserving Your Family Memories: Part I (Physical)
Tuesday, March 13 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm in WML305

Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the basic preservation problems relating to personal collections of books, photographs, negatives, personal papers, audio/visual recordings, and other paper-based collectibles.  Limited attention will be paid to three dimensional objects. Proper storage and handling will be emphasized. A light lunch will be provided. (Taught by Michael Knies, Weinberg Memorial Library)

Preserving Your Family Memories: Part II (Digital)
Thursday, April 5 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm in WML305

Increasingly, we capture moments to remember in digital rather than physical format: we document our lives in digital photographs, videos, social media, email, and websites.  In this workshop, Digital Services Librarian Kristen Yarmey will introduce you to the concept of digital preservation.  We’ll talk about common misconceptions (for example, why digitizing your photos is not the same as preserving them), some of the major challenges involved in maintaining digital files over time, and some basic strategies you can take to help make your digital memories last.  A light lunch will be provided. (Taught by Kristen Yarmey, Weinberg Memorial Library)

All faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited, so please register for sessions you plan to attend at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).

Schemel Forum Spring 2012 Schedule

What’s the best way to beat the post-holiday blues? How about thinking Spring by thinking Schemel?

Our Schemel Forum Spring 2012 schedule is out, and it’s packed with captivating speakers and sessions to steal your attention away from the winter gloom:

If you still need convincing, take a few minutes to listen to Schemel Forum director Sondra Myers talking over this season’s Schemel Forum events with WVIA’s Erika Funke.

As always, registration is required, so please contact program coordinator Kym Fetsko at fetskok2@scranton.edu to make your reservation or to find out more about our programs.

Happy 2012!… and Intersession Hours

Happy 2012 to the University of Scranton community! The Weinberg Memorial Library faculty and staff is back from the holiday, and we’re ready for a new year of challenges, opportunities, work, and fun.  This year is especially important to us since we’ll be celebrating our 20th anniversary all year long.

More about that later, but for now, here are our hours for Intersession (January 3 – 28):

Monday – Thursday:  8am – 10pm
Friday:  8am – 4:30pm
Saturday: 12pm – 6pm
Sunday: 12pm – 10pm

Regular hours will resume on January 29 at the start of the Spring semester.  Happy studying!

Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives

There’s a great new resource available for anyone interested in local history.  The Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives, hosted by the Scranton Public Library and funded by a grant from the Willary Foundation, contains digitized photographs, manuscripts, maps, paintings, letters, and videos related to the history of the Valley and its surrounding areas.

While the Digital Archives will continue to grow, there are already three great collections available to the public:

We’re partial to the Out of the Wilderness collection since it contains Civil War era materials found, described, digitized, and transcribed last spring by University of Scranton history students in Dr. Kathryn Shively Meier’s Civil War class.

The Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives is a collaborative effort involving many of our local cultural heritage institutions, including the Scranton Public Library, the Lackawanna Historical Society, the Steamtown National Historic Site, the Scranton Times-Tribune newspaper library, the Anthracite Heritage Museum, and our own Weinberg Memorial Library.  In addition to the Willary Foundation, other funding partners include the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority and the Scranton Area Foundation. We’re looking forward to working together with all of our colleagues on more digital projects in the future!

For more information, see About LVDA or take a look at Go Lackawanna‘s 500 Vine column from November 20th, “New Digital Service Preserves History.”  You can also subscribe to the Digital Archives’ Facebook page for updates.