Gobble, gobble, gobble

I never knew how many things I didn't know about Thanksgiving. Thanks to the History Channel, I now know enough to annoy everyone at the dinner table this Thursday.

Take the Thanksgiving Quiz to see how much you know, and if you don't know as much as you thought, take a minute to have fun learning.

Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Mayflower Myths

The First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Proclamation

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Smell That Smell

Now this is an interesting research project... Henry Fountain writes about Digging Into the Science of That Old-Book Smell in the NYT. For all of those who have sniffed and wondered, you aren't alone.

Who Can Serve?

According to a newly released report from Mission Readiness, 75% of young people in the United States are ineligible to serve in the military. Many are under-educated (1 in 4 lack a high school diploma), have a criminal record that precludes their service (1 in 10 have a previous felony or serious misdemeanor conviction), or are physically unfit (27% are overweight). This report has generated a lot of press and concerns about these issues might affect national security. One response is a proposal from Congress that focuses on early intervention to provide early education opportunities.

Snapshot PA Day

Libraries of all types all across PA recently celebrated Snapshot PA: One Day in the Life of Pennsylvania Libraries. Snapshot PA is a project, initiated by the Pennsylvania Library Association and Commonwealth Libraries, to capture the impact that PA libraries have on their communities on a typical day. Once the information from all libraries is gathered, processed, and disseminated, I will share it. In the meantime, here is what we reported from Bailey Library:

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Door count/Customer visits: 2,959
Circulation of monographs and media: 190
Materials borrowed via ILL: 60
Materials loaned via ILL: 30
Reference desk questions: 54
One-on-one (in librarians’ offices) reference questions: 11
Instruction sessions: 1 class / 16 students
Online databases searches: 10,440

We also gathered some wonderful comments, such as the following:

"When I typically think of a library, I have images of women in tiny glasses with angry expressions prowling the aisles of books to pounce on anyone who isn’t being silent and still. While we do have our fair share of women with small glasses, all of the librarians are pleasant to work with. The atmosphere is laid-back, which has allowed Bailey Library to become a central hang-out for students at Slippery Rock University."

If you have any questions about our findings or about Snapshot PA, please contact Cathy Rudowsky at catherine.rudowsky@sru.edu or at 724-738-2657.

We All Have A Story--Or Do We?

This video, in which Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie reminds us that we need multiple stories, is well worth watching. It's good to remember that we should look at people and cultures through a wide lens--