The Continuing Adventures of Research Grrl: Where is Waldo???

In trying to find a book in good old Bailey Library, you have probably discovered several things. The first thing I noticed was that Toto and I were not in Kansas anymore.

The Dewey Decimal system is not how our library is organized!

I felt as though my senior year English teacher had somehow failed to prepare me for life with the way that she had gushed about good old Dewey but never mentioned this thing called the Library of Congress system. I wanted to stop right there and turn around so I could drive to my hometown and tell my former school's administrators that my high school education had failed me (especially the public school excuse for sex education, but let's not even get me started on that, I mean if Wikipedia starts a debate I have no idea what spouting my views about abstinence focused curricula would do).

When I asked one of the librarians about the Library of Congress system, they were eager to explain how it works. Pretty much, look something up in the online catalog and then find it on the shelf. A book's call numbers can be thought of like an address and you probably should save yourself some time and have a tablet handy to jot down the call numbers of possible sources. (I know that your Jedi mind powers are strong, young one, but you won't look nearly as silly trying to find something from memory.)

The beauty of this system is that generally, once you find one source that will be usable, others should be in fairly close proximity.

Here are some tricks and tips before you set off on your quest, young Padawan.
*Call numbers starting witb the letters A through PQ are on the second floor.
*Call numbers starting with the letters PR through Z are found on the third floor.
* The third floor is home to the ghost and the folio section. I recommend spending a rainy afternoon lounging about with some of the oversized art books housed in the folio section. It's cheesy, but I think it's a good way to add some sunshine to your day.
*Be prepared to get lost in the library. Eventually, you will find your way out and I'm sure you'll find something cool in the mean time.
*The library is a surprisingly good place to meet people... But that's a story for another day.

May the force be with you.

Keep reading the Continuing Adventures of ResearchGrrl!

Check out my myspace (www.myspace.com/sruresearchgrrl)
OR
IM me sometime -- my AIM is SRUResearchGrrl

The Envelope Please....

Dusting off the gold lame gloves and the tiara for Sunday night...

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy Award Winners
Oscar Fashion Do's and Don'ts
Oscar Igloo Predictions
Oscar Odds (no wagering please)

All the Library News That Fits...

Librarians without Borders...
Distant Libraries of the World...
New York Public Library featured in PBS documentary....
Library of Congress digitizes news photo collection...
New citation site uses ISBNs...
LibraryThing hosts book pile contests...
"Scrotum" controversy in Newbery winner...

Do You Trust Wikipedia? Vote!

Research Grrl brings up an interesting point! Tell us what you think!

The Continuing Adventures of Research Grrl: What do you do with an article from Wikipedia???

This week, let's talk about background research. Now, some topics you guys are looking into may prove difficult to find encyclopedia articles on, but I would still recommend this avenue if possible. Information found in good old Brittanica and the like are really solid foundations for undertaking research, getting definitions of key terms, and finding names.

BUT BEWARE OF WIKIPEDIA!

Basically, anyone with a computer and access to the web can go on Wikipedia and fabricate information to be posted on this site that I can only describe accurately by using this analogy- Wikipedia is to Brittanica as the Weekly World News is to The New York Times (according to the Weekly World News, Oprah is worshipped by Aliens and Bat Boy was found in a Romanian orphanage).

Just avoid the site if possible. I think that anyone who saw American Dad last night probably got a good laugh about Stan and Steve posting "the truth" about the origins of peanut butter on Wikipedia.

In other words, Mister T pities the fool who uses Wikipedia because they're too lazy to crack a book! Stay tuned for the Continuing Adventures of ResearchGrrl! and check out my MySpace profile...

Pop Quiz....

Below are the titles of sixteen books. Fifteen of the titles are for real books. One title is for a fake book that does not exist. Can you select the title that is not real?

1) The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
2) The Pop-Up Book of Phobias
3) Chainsaw Dentistry
4) Population control through nuclear pollution
5) The Government Manual for New Superheroes
6) English as a Second F***ing Language: How to Swear Effectively, Explained in Detail with Numerous Examples Taken From Everyday Life
7) How to Make Your Man Behave in 21 Days or Less Using the Secrets of Professional Dog Trainers
8) Across Europe by Kangaroo: A Three-Month Odyssey Through Europe
9) Kids' Letters to Terrorists
10) Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover
11) How to Avoid Huge Ships
12) Collect Fungi on Stamps
13) Homicide: The Hidden Victims: A Resource for Professionals
14) The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers: No Ink, No Paint, Just a Hammer
15) The Theory of Lengthwise Rolling
16) People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves To Unsuspecting bystanders and what to do about it

Yes, it is true. Only one of the books above is fake. The rest are real titles.

You can see the answer by clicking here. Quiz via LISNews....

By George...

Also celebrating...
George Washington: A National Treasure, from the Smithsonian
By George, IT IS Washington's Birthday, from the National Archives
Happy Birthday, from the Library of Congress
Free Resources for Presidents Day, from the Department of Education

Presidential Makeover, from ScienCentral News... from whom the image at the left comes. Using various scientific means, this image represents George Washington as he might have looked when he traveled in western Pennsylvania as a young man. Is it disrespectful to be thinking the father of our country was a bit of a hottie?

Guess Who's turning 50?

It's everyone's favorite cat!

In 2007, the Cat in the Hat turns 50 and to celebrate Random House Publishing will donate a book to First Book for every birthday card the Cat receives from a child ages 1-17. Just visit http://www.seussville.com/CITH_50th/ . The big kids like me can help donate too by sending in receipts for any Random House Suess book purchase. Rules

Yes, We Are...

Open today, February 14, until 2:00 am as usual.... even though the weather is terrible... and it's Valentine's Day.... and I am not feeling the love. Actually, the library is considered an "essential" service, like the dining halls and health center, and we show up in sleet, snow, and dark of night.

The Continuing Adventures of ResearchGrrl!: Topic? We don't need no stinking topic! Oh wait, yeah, we do...

Okay, so it's not really all that fun to do the research thing, especially when you really don't know what to research.

Since my last post I have felt the need to call in the big guns and ask an expert. According to the helpful librarians of our very own Bailey Library, the simplest way to choose a topic for a paper and to get a start on some background research is to look at the latest articles on CQ Researcher.

The strength in this plan is that you can find a hot topic, see how much information is available on it, and begin developing your understanding of what you want to write about.

Let's face it, as interesting as it would be to write a paper on hangover cures, there probably won't be an abundance of scholarly sources on this topic and it would probably end up falling through because it is not a research-friendly topic.

To access the CQ Researcher database, simply use this link http://academics.sru.edu/library/DBases/alpha.htm and scroll down from the top of the page to the C's. The newest articles are listed on the main page but don't tie yourself to a topic you don't want to pursue.

It's important that you be able to deal with reading and writing a lot about it.

~So don't write a paper on reproductive technologies if you really don't want to think about zygotes and embryos and fetus (fetuses? fetii? What is the plural form of fetus?)

~Just follow your gut- if you aren't interested in reading an article on a topic, don't choose that topic unless you want the process to be painful (and in that case you are a masochist and that's all the further we are going to discuss that matter )

~Also, while it may be tempting to do a paper on a topic you have some knowledge of already, beware- you may end up sick of it by the time you are done.

If you have any further questions, you can always utilize the Ask A Librarian feature on the Library's homepage, or you can chat with them or me on AIM. Their screen name is SRUBaileyLibrary and mine is SRUResearchGrrl.

Stay tuned for the Continuing Adventures of ResearchGrrl! and check out my MySpace profile...

Call for a Flatuence!

Librarian Judy Silva shares the results of the Washington Post's annual neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. You won't find these definitions in the dictionaries in the reference room. Here are the top 10...

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.). to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatuence (n.), emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

I'm looking for the original link....

Fun on Film....

Library Director Phil Tramdack sends this spoof on low technology...
And I stumbled across this one, March of the Librarians, a pseudo-documentary...

"What's My Age Again?"

That Blink 182 song seems to be taunting me right now, as I feel caught up in the worst junction of collegiate adulthood and juvenile anxiety over something entirely silly... more about that later. Now I would love to talk to you about this adventure known as college.

The collegiate experience is not really one distinctive episode; rather, it is a multitude of many little milestones and learning experiences combined together in a four (or perhaps more- YIKES!) year chunk of our lives. There are a variety of firsts that we are introduced to with the guidance of our peers, professors, and other mentors... Like Johnny Knoxville and Wee Man.

The first that I'm embarking upon is that of the all-important first research paper, which is only slightly less exciting than that first time you convince somebody to purposely papercut themselves for your entertainment.

While it may seem tempting to blow this off in favor of doing something more suitable to my maturity level, responsibility dictates that the best course of action is to just get it over with. After all, you have to pass your college writing classes to get that diploma because otherwise, you'll just be looking at a really expensive beer tab and the possibility of a future as a "petroleum product retail associate" (meaning that you'll get to pump gas for all the people you should have graduated with).

Now if that sounds good, maybe you shouldn't be reading this because the goal here is to do well on this paper and help some people by posting my notes on the process online.

The parameters of the paper are that it is supposed to be a 4 or 5 page double-spaced paper that uses at least two sources from the course's textbook and at least two library sources. My professor doesn't want any web sources used unless they are in addition to the other four sources. The general topic that I'm supposed to pursue is an open question that can be interpreted in pretty much any way.

Right now, the main difficulty that I face is the time constraint. It's due around the end of this month and I have all sorts of work to do. Yeah, I haven't even chosen what topic I want to pursue for this paper. My professor didn't have too many suggestions so I think that I may end up going to good old Bailey Library to ask someone who may be able to help.

I really am not looking forward to this because I'm not even sure how to start. Hopefully, I'll get some help on this because I sure as hell don't want to end up at Sheetz...

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of ResearchGrrl! (Or if you just can't get enough check out some more blurbs at www.myspace.com/sruresearchgrrl OR coming soon chat with me on AIM!)

Wassup in Library Land....

Laura Ingalls Wilder would have been 140 years old on Wednesday. They are making a musical based on the Little House books now...

Today's special is a virtual exhibit of Miss Frank E. Bottoph's menu collection from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery...

Here are 33 Reasons Why Librarians Are Still Important...

From the Sshhhhh!!!!! Dept: No Howling in the Library...

News of the world: Baghdad Day by Day, A Librarian's Journal... The Director of Iraq's National Library chronicles the conditions under which he is working.

News of the weird: Odd bookmarkers found in returned library books include pieces of bacon, an alien abduction identity card, slices of cheese, and toenail clippings (ew...)

New Trial Database...

A trial of the online database Security Management Practices (SMP) is now available through the Bailey Library web site. SMP is a monthly information service devoted to establishing best practices for secure operations across an entire organization: facility security, IT and network security, employee security, and regulatory issues. It consists of full text "real world" reports prepared by analysts from Faulkner Information Services. Here are some of the topics: Managing bomb threats; Drug testing; Conducting a business impact analysis... and many more on a broad range of security issues.

To use SMP, go to the Library's trial databases page and follow the login instructions. The trial ends Wednesday, March 7, 2007.

Friday Fun...

Lisa Yee's Bodacious Book Title Contest! The contest is over but it still makes for fun reading. Rules: Think of a title of a children's or young adult book. Change one letter of one word to make a whole new title. Then write a one sentence summary of this new work.

Example: Where the Wild Things Are becomes WHERE THE MILD THINGS ARE...Max sails off to a sensibly furnished place where huge creatures listen to public radio and get caught up on their email.

GO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
After Atticus loses the big trial, he wallows in drink and depression, no longer caring what happens to the yahoos in his stupid small town.

LITTLE SOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
Laura, Mary and Ma finally have to come to terms with Pa's drinking problem.

GREEN EGGS AND BAM!
Tell all book about the little known love affair between Sam-I-Am and Emeril Lagasse.

Check it out, some are hysterical and most are definitely twisted.

I Heart February...

if only it weren't so damned cold. Here are more facts for February celebrations and commemorations:

No need to be alone on Valentines Day....There are 119 single men in their 20's for every 100 single women in their 20's, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Fast Facts for February 14.
The Sentimental Slut?!? Check out this exhibit of Victorian comic valentines...
Love in the Stacks from the University of Iowa...
Love and Romance Through the Ages from the Virtual Museum of Canada...
Image: a favorite Valentine from my collection....

60 resources for Black History month from the Federal Resources for Excellence in Education...
Black Museums from Soul of America....

The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project...

February is American Heart Month...

New Trial Database...

The library is currently offering a trial of The Global Market Information Database.

The Global Market Information Database provides comparable international business intelligence on countries, consumers and industries. It offers access to more than 1 million country, market and lifestyle statistics; 4,500 market research reports (global reports, country reports, industry reports, company reports and lifestyle reports); 205 country profiles; company market share and brand share rankings; and 35,000 business information sources. The database provides historic data back to 1977 and includes forecasts.

Take it for a test drive on the Library's trial databases page. The trial is only available on campus and ends February 27, 2007.

CSA Illustrata Demo...

A CSA representative will be at Bailey Library in Room 213 on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, from 2-3 p.m. A presentation on CSA Illustrata, a new database, will be given. CSA Illustrata represents a new concept call Deep Indexing which supplies information from tables, figures, charts, and other illustrations within scholarly articles.

This will be of special interest to all science faculty.

February Facts....

• Encyclopedia Britannica and Gale Publishing offer free resources for Black History Month...
• Our new database, Access World News, provides featured resources for the same...
  
  
• U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features spotlights the Super Bowl... (But we don't really care, here in the heart of the Steeler Nation)
• Colts and Bears Make Super Bowl History, from NPR... (see above)
  
  
• The Library of Congress shares a Today in History feature for Valentines Day...
• An online exhibit of antique valentines from the American Antiquarian Society...
  
  
• Happy Chinese New Year on the 18th!
• It's the Year of the Boar!
  
  

Phil predicts an early spring!

Punxsutawney Phil DID NOT see his shadow this morning. This means that spring will arrive early. Phil sees his shadow approximately 90% of the time. In fact, the last time that he did not see his shadow was in 1999.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4520824.html

http://www.gojp.com/groundhog/

And the winners are…

It might not be quite as exciting as all of the awards flying around this time of year (Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Oscars to name a few), but the LibQUAL prize winners are being announced. And the winners are [insert drum roll here]…

Justin Lubecki – iPod Nano
Stephanie Brauner – Portable DVD Player
Jamie Pfadt – Digital Camera
Charles Andrews - MP3 Player
Ryan Lote - 2GB Flash Drive
Jessica Shuler - 256MB Flash Drive

An assortment of prizes, including hoodies, baseball caps, mugs and AVI food certificates for on campus dining, were awarded to 17 other students.

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey and congratulations to our winners!