Talking in the Library

Thanksgiving hours

For those of you who haven't taken off for exotic (or down home) locales for Thanksgiving, here's the lowdown on our Thanksgiving hours:

Hale:

• Tuesday (today):  we're closing at 6pm
• Wednesday: open 8am-6pm
• Thursday and Friday: Closed
• Saturday: open 1pm-5pm
• Sunday: resume our normal hours at 1pm

If your favorite library isn't Hale, check out the hours of our other libraries:

• Fiedler Engineering Library
• Math/Physics Library
• Salina
• VetMed Library
• Weigel Architecture Library

The Anita C. Lehner 24 Hour Study Area on Hale's 1st floor will remain open for your vending machine, microwaving, computing, and studying pleasure.

Did you get an email from us recently?

Did you get an email from us in the last few days about a book that isn't due for a while? We hope it wasn't too confusing. By popular request, we're setting up our system to provide courtesy reminders of your due dates, and this first batch came out a bit early! Because of the complexity of setting up this new service, we are having issues with the timing. From media that's due in 7days, to undergrads who get 30 days, to grad students and faculty who have 120 days...well, we got a bit lost. Once we get the kinks worked out, you will get handy, timely reminders when materials are coming due. In the meanwhile, if you have questions about your account, you are always welcome to give us a call at 785-532-3014.

The Conspiracy Room

Normally we refer to it as the room on the 3rd floor with the microforms machines, but it's time to reveal that is just a cover. I suppose the CIA maps filed outside the room could be considered a tip-off, if you are in a conspiracy state of mind. In any case, as the renowned newspaper, The Onion, recently revealed, your number one not-so-secret source for uncovering conspiracies is microfilm.

K-State Libraries not only has microfilm, but microfiche, microcards and other microformats. Forget that we have Einstein's papers on microprint, have you seen those cabinets on the 3rd floor full of microfiche from the government? I smell conspiracies just waiting to be uncovered.

Emily Dickinson's poems? All of those bees, and clovers, and sunsets? Clearly a code. I'm guessing if you scour her papers, cross-reference them with Human Relations Area Files and then accidentally spin through a reel of the Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathematischen Wissenschaften you'll discover what is causing the honeybee colonies to collapse.

Just be careful who you tell and don't bring my name into it.

Oh, and printing from the microforms machines is free which is kind of cool when you are trying to uncover a conspiracy because that doesn't tend to pay off until you get the book and movie deal.

Short Cuts: Holiday preparations with FactCheck.org and CQ Researcher

Ah, the Thanksgiving dinner face-off when your family becomes more polarized and politicized than Sean Hannity and Michael Moore locked in a shiny red Miata. If this is the year you're finally going to wade in and prove that you are learning something in college (thanks, Uncle Ned), allow me to suggest a couple of sources that will up your mad debating skillz: FactCheck.org and CQ Researcher. FactCheck.org is a free website, CQ Researcher is a database we subscribe to at K-State, so you'll want to access it through the Libraries' database page.

Here's the rundown on what you'll get from FactCheck.org and CQ Researcher:

• non-partisan analysis of news, politics, and policy
• major credentials
  • FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (http://factcheck.org/about/)
  •  CQ Researcher has been publishing in-depth reports on major U.S. policy issues since 1923. These reports are read by legislators, lobbyists, attorneys, and those who are in the know
  • both sources tell you not just who wrote the report, but the author's credentials
• extensively cited sources of information: if you suspect them of putting a spin on anything, you can check it out for yourself
•  a little extra strut in your walk because it's easier to argue your point if you are confident in your understanding of the issues

Additionally, FactCheck.org has a spin-off, FactCheckEd.org, that includes a "Straight from the Source" section that organizes Internet sources into three groups: The Official Word, Policy Wonks, and For the Cause.  (You'll have to visit the site to learn the distinction between the three.) CQ Researcher, at least for the reports published in the last ten years or so, provides Pro/Con sections wherein experts holding opposing viewpoints are asked to make their case. This is a fantastic way to learn what argument someone who disagrees with you might wake, and prepare your best defense (or offense.)

So, head on home and prepare to hold your own.  Let me know how it goes.  For my part, I'll be in the living room, out of range of the discord, humming a little song to myself.

--S.K. Kearns

Short Cuts is a series from K-State Libraries' Instruction Team providing library and research tips and tricks for undergraduates. Please feel free to share our articles and ideas with classes and colleagues - just give us credit!

What's your favorite music video?

What's your favorite music video, song, or artist? I'm making a YouTube playlist to show during our next Caffeine Fix and need your suggestions! Don't be shy, I'm looking for variety. I'll play any (legally uploaded) video :-)

Short Cuts: Safari, So Good

You may have heard the old adage that by the time you get a computer home it is already obsolete.  Actually, that was a new adage, but by the time it was uttered, it was an old adage.  With technologies becoming outdated so quickly it is hard to keep up-to-date with books about those technologies.  Do we have a solution for you?  Of course we do. The solution is called Safari Books Online wherein you will find the most-up-to-date books about all the cool technology that will very soon be obsolete. To access this resource, just click "databases" on our home page and then "S".  Then click Safari Books Online.

If you can't get in right away, go make a cup of tea or coffee and come back and try again.  Our license is limited to two users at a time, so you might have to wait for somebody to finish their search. In other news that's good to know, Safari times out after 20 minutes of inactivity.  As a courtesy to yourself and others waiting to get in, make sure you maximize your time.

You'll find access to over 3,000 books featuring topics such as Adobe Development, Apple Development, Digital Media, Java Development, Microsoft Development, Network Administration, Project Management, Security, Web Development, Windows Server Administration and more.  Safari Books Online also has collections focused on business, IT/development and desktop help.  Titles are geared to users from novice to expert.

Despite the name, Safari Books Online features more than the Safari books from O'Reilly Media.  There are also titles from a few dozen other well-known IT publishers. Safari Books Online also features Short Cuts (hey, they stole our title!) which are, "documents that provide details on a very specific topic or that introduce new technology or advances before a great deal of information is publicly available."  You can actually be ahead of the curve without relying on sometimes unreliable rumor sites.

These electronic versions are better than their print counterparts because you can search within the text to quickly get to exactly information you need.   So, if you are looking for the latest information about the newest technologies, the first place you should look is Safari Books Online.  Hurry, before it becomes old news.

--S.D. Shelton

Short Cuts is a series from K-State Libraries' Instruction Team providing library and research tips and tricks for undergraduates. Please feel free to share our articles and ideas with classes and colleagues - just give us credit!

Citation Linker is the easiest way to find a specific article

Here's a quick timesaver. If you already have the citation for an article, but you don't know how to find it, use the Citation Linker.  Plug in as much of the information as you have, and the Citation Linker will search through our journals and databases to find the full text. If we don't have it online, you'll be able to check our catalog or place a request to get a copy from another library through Interlibrary Loan.

We're having a party

We're kicking off our comfortable shoes, pulling on our party frocks, and our smiles are set to "dazzle".  Hale Library's Great Room has been transformed into a banquet hall with silver plates, candles, and a dance floor.

Other than the fact that everyone needs a good party once in a while, why a party in the library? Well, it's  the Friends of K-State Libraries 22nd annual Gala,"What So Proudly We Hale." Every year, the Gala has a different theme and this year's celebrates our military history collections and academic programs. General Richard Myers will join us as our featured speaker.  General Myers and his wife, Mary Jo Myers, are also our Honorary Gala Chairs.

In addition to good company, good food, good music (the First Infantry Division Jazz Combo will be performing), and good dancing (our Dean likes to boogie), selections from the K-State Historic Costume and Textile Museum and K-State Libraries' Department of Special Collections will be on display.  Here's a sneak peek:

If you miss your favorite study table in the Great Room, no worries, we'll take care of it for you tonight and we should have the detritus cleaned up for you to resume normal studying by Sunday.

Just a little roof work

One of the perks of living in Kansas is the wind. A side effect of the wind is wind damage to roofs.  Thanks to a storm in May, Hale Library's roof suffered wind damage. Crews are now repairing the roof, hence the orange safety fence and the terrifyingly long ladders.  Those ladders, by the way, are the number one reason why I am a librarian and not a roofer.

 
The work should be completed in a couple of weeks.  Sooner, if this cat has anything to say in the matter.

We've got game(s)

If the number of questions we've been getting recently is any indication, K-Staters are hitting the books pretty hard. But what's that they say about all work and no play?

This Thursday, we'll be celebrating National Gaming Day @ Your Library here at K-State Libraries (yeah, we're celebrating it a few days early; we're just that excited!). Join us on the 2nd floor of Hale Thursday between 12:30 and 5 for games of all kinds. Take a study break and play some Wii Sports, or flex your musical muscles with Guitar Hero World Tour. You can even go old school with some classic Atari games. If you're too young to know what that means, that just makes it more fun! If video games aren't your thing, we'll also have tables set up so you can play Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Star Trek Uno, and more.

Come celebrate National Gaming Day with us. Don't you deserve a break?