Lies!

Earlier this semester, Lies My Teacher Told Me was announced as next year's common book. You should absolutely read it. And then you should take some time to think about it and maybe do some research of your own before the author comes to campus (on April 24th) to talk about it. Sound a little too ambitious for you (at this point in the semester, with a million things to do and spring beckoning)? You can use this webpage to quickly identify some useful library and online resources and get you thinking!

Extended Hours!

Welcome back to campus! Lila and the gang hope you enjoyed a nice break from studying, but we feel compelled to remind you that exams are only a month away. It is time to get serious about finals and end of the semester projects. In order to help you prepare, the library will be open extended hours, beginning Monday, March 31st:

Monday - Thursday 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 a.m.
Friday 7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.

To read or not to read...

The National Endowment for the Arts recently published To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence. Although this report claims not to be "an elegy for the bygone days of print culture," it kinda reads like one: "58% of middle and high school students use other media while reading...this multitasking suggests less focused engagement with a text." That most teenagers can't read two pages without texting or IMing a friend is hardly revelatory. However, the data is compelling enough to make Lila want to shut down the computer and focus on a good book:

All of the data suggest how powerfully reading transforms the lives of individuals—whatever their social circumstances. Regular reading not only boosts the likelihood of an individual’s academic and economic success—facts that are not especially surprising—but it also seems to awaken a person’s social and civic sense. Reading correlates with almost every measurement of positive personal and social behavior surveyed. It is reassuring, though hardly amazing, that readers attend more concerts and theater than non-readers, but it is surprising that they exercise more and play more sports—no matter what their educational level. These cold statistics confirm something that most readers know but have mostly been reluctant to declare as fact—books change lives for the better.

Read an Ebook week 2008?!?!

Epublishers Weekly Blog has a list of 30 reasons to celebrate Ebooks and suggests doing so between March2-8. Lila’s former classmate Mark is skeptical, but Lila is decidedly PRO-READING and doesn't discriminate based on format. Why not celebrate Ebooks? You can find them peacefully coexisting with print books in the catalog. They're just books, after all.

If you’d rather explore some free online options for celebrating Ebook Week 2008, check out these:

Project Gutenberg, was among the first providers of free, public domain Ebooks.

A similarly named project, Gutenberg-e, is adding new, scholarly, and free books to the mix. Gutenberg-e is “program of the American Historical Association and Columbia University Press” that offers digital versions of books published by Columbia University Press in an open access setting.

With 351,384 texts in its collection, Lila’s old standby Internet Archive is definitely worth checking out.

It's all Belmont to Jenny!

Bunch Library Reference Librarian Jenny Rushing was honored this week in Belmont FYI:.

For Jenny, to take responsibility and follow through means going the extra mile, no matter how much time it takes to help the student find the answer. “As a librarian I am asked a lot of questions,” Jenny says. “Whether it is technical, research related or ‘can I have some more paper for the printer,’ my role is to answer them all with a smile on my face!” Jenny also said that she has great support from all the faculty and staff, which in turn makes her want to do the best job she can.

Want to see Jenny taking responsbility and following through? Stop by the library where she is at it five days a week!

Harvard Goes Open Access

Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted on February 12th to make faculty member's articles available via an open access repository. Coupled with the recent Congressional mandate that research funded by the National Institutes of Health be accessible through PubMed Central, this decision could have a tremendous impact on the future of scholarly publishing models. In a press release, Provost Steven E. Hyman emphasized universities and, especially Harvard’s, responsibility to disseminate and preserve research “of global significance” to a larger audience:

Today's action in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will promote free and open access to significant, ongoing research. It is a first step in the creation of an open-access environment for current research that may one day provide the widest possible dissemination of Harvard's distinguished faculties' work," he added.

Has the Library Positively Impacted Your Health?

Interesting question, right? Too bad Lila didn't come up with it. Woman's Day Magazine and the American Library Association are hosting an essay contest on this topic. Here's the scoop:

Has the library positively impacted your health? If a library's resources have helped you find a diagnosis for you or a loved one, or improved your physical, mental or emotional well-being, tell us in an essay of 700 words or less. Up to four women will be featured in an upcoming issue of Woman's Day.

If you're interested, you can read more here. In the meantime, Lila wishes all good physical, mental, and emotional health!