Stopping by the local mini branch and there’s an exciting storyteller with balloons. A fully grown woman amazed a bunch of 1-8 year olds with the ability to climb into a 6 foot yellow balloon and carefully escape. In a terrifically tiny branch library, how can you not but pay attention to 20 kids chanting, cheering, clapping, and generally recreating the sounds of a hurricane from a storybook? It was better than anything I might have otherwise watched on TV tonight.
Annie Bannanie at story hour
Annie Bannanie and Dr. Electric
Annie Bannanie and the 6 foot balloon and the leaf blower
Waiting for the library to open with central casting milling around the front door:
A poor actor talking about knowing Corey Feldman back in the day is wearing a brown poncho with black devil horns on his forehead while speaking in a preternaturally loud voice, as if he were giving a performance;
His sixty-ish female companion is trying to wrangle several children, though I’m not sure how many of the three or so orbiting her are actually hers;
One of the children, a 7 year old named Tommy Two Feathers, is commanded to look for a blue jacket as the group hovers around a very late model Toyota pickup parked in a no parking zone that appears to have all of the family’s belongings except for the several dozen or so which are sitting on the sidewalk for no apparent reason;
Then there are two tatted up 20 something thugs, one of whom is sparking up in the grass while the other twitchily watches;
There’s a granola mom with two home-schooled kids buzzing around on scooters;
A first generation Chinese woman with tattered plastic grocery bags full of books to return;
A Caucasian retiree in a hoodie;
An average mom with a bright, curly red-headed 2 year old; and
A few hipsters of the Eagle Rock persuasion.
I wish I could take more photos, but don’t think the menagerie would really appreciate it. I definitely wanted to videotape the devil’s performance, but I’m not sure if I would have remained one of the audience in the process.
I’m wondering how I came to be here…
I couldn’t resist a shot from the car
Yes those are black horns!
The pastoral scene belies what is happening behind me
I really didn’t know what I was walking into…
This planter is out of place in this all-too-quirky neighborhood.
I've been writing about privacy in libraries for a while now, and I get a bit down sometimes because progress is so slow. I've come to realize that part of the problem is that the issues are sometimes really complex and technical; people just don't believe that the web works the way it does, violating user privacy at every opportunity.Content embedded in websites is a a huge source of privacy leakage in library services. Cover images can be particularly problematic. I've written before that, without meaning to, many libraries send data to Amazon about the books a user is searching for; cover images are almost always the culprit. I've been reporting this issue to the library automation companies that enable this, but a year and a half later, nothing has changed. (I understand that "discovery" services such as Primo/Summon even include config checkboxes that make this easy to do; the companies say this is what their customers want.)
The Sheridan Libraries offers many tools to help you with your library research. While you can always stop at the Reference Consultation Office on M Level, use our Ask a Librarian service, or contact your liaison librarian with any questions you may have, we also offer workshops about specific tools. These tools include databases and citation management programs.
Below is a list of our Fall Workshops, with links for registration.
Refworks 2.0 Workshops Tues., Sept. 20, 2011, 11:00-12:00
Wed., Sept. 21, 2011, 4:00-5:00
One class can help trim hours off your time spent researching and writing. Come learn the secrets of organized citations and easy, quick bibliographies.
Citation and Organization Tools Wed., Sept. 28, 2011, 2:00-3:00
Wondering what tools can help keep you and your papers organized? We provide a comparison and overview of several popular tools. RefWorks, Mendeley, Zotero, and Papers will be included.
Scopus and Web of Science Wed., Sept. 28, 2011, 4:30-5:30
Help your research and save your time: learn to use these two powerful tools in the most effective ways. Feel free to bring topics that we can use as search examples!
Making the Best of Google Tues., Oct. 4, 2011, 4:00-5:00
You seek. But do you find? Join us for a tour of Google, Google Scholar, and Google Books. Learn how they really work and how to make the best use of each.
E-Books for Academics Wed., Oct. 5, 2011, 4:30-5:30
We love reading our fun fiction on our mobile devices, but the JHU libraries have 1 million academic e-books as well. Bring your e-readers, tablets, and any mobile device that you use to read books. Find out which e-books can/can't be downloaded directly to your e-device, and practice while the librarians are there to help.
Copyright and Fair Use Wed., Oct. 12, 2011, 10:30-11:30
With the increasing use of images, music, and other kinds of audio-visual resources as well as the delivery of course content through online course management systems like Blackboard, scholars and academic institutions are facing challenges as to what constitutes fair use and what does not. Therefore, the aim of this workshop is to create awareness about some of the challenges related to copyright and provide an electronic toolkit for the participants.
History Detectives: The Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition Wed., Oct. 12, 2011, 6:00-7:00
Want to impress your friends and professors alike with research skills that would surpass those of Sherlock Holmes? Detective-Librarians Chella and Heidi will lead you on a madcap journey through Victorian London as we discover the secrets of the Crystal Palace. Gumshoes will have the opportunity to put together their own case files explaining the who, what, when, where, and whys of the Crystal Palace!
PubMed Wed., Oct. 26, 2011, 5:00-6:00
Great tips for using the tools within PubMed that will help you find exactly what you want, much more quickly. You'll be able to practice online, too, while the librarians are there to help!
I hope that some discusses LibX in some of these presentations. It’s my favorite new research tool!
