Showing posts with label VU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VU. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Guess what?



Whether you are building a website, creating a flyer for your club or event, building the latest iPhone app, or are just inspired now you can use this computer cluster to create eye-catching print and web content with industry leading software.

These computers are available to be checkout on a first come first serve basis while the library is open. Remember the library is open until midnight 5 nights of the week and our doors are open for over 99 hours per week!

Monday, April 11, 2011

National Library Week 2011


Today, April 10, 2011, marks the beginning of National Library week. This is a week of awareness created to promote libraries around the country, and to recognize the contributions made by library staff and Friends organizations. The celebration began in 1958, and is annually sponsored by the American Library Association.

We, at Shake Library, are pleased to bring you five limited edition resources with which to celebrate. We invite you to checkout our web page and take a look.  Explore global issues in context or a transnational archive devoted to the study of Slavery. Gain access to global references on the environment, energy, and natural resources or try your hand at Powerspeak Languages.

We would love to include your thoughts in our upcoming newsletter. Tell us why you love the library!


Shake LRC Celebrates National Library Week: http://bit.ly/nlw11
Shake LRC Celebrates National Poetry Month: http://bit.ly/vupoetry


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A vacation is...

...what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. 

Spring Break is almost here. Whether you are vacationing in Cancun or planning the Staycation of your dreams. Why not take one of our new additions for some fun reading? Check these out:

Jay-Z, . Decoded. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Print. [Call #782.42164 J42d 2010]
An excerpt: "When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted it to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics-not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC-are poetry if you look at them closely enough. The second was I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history.  And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to."


Reagan, Ron. My Father at 100. New York: Viking, 2011. Print. [Call #973.927 R287re 2011]

The son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan presents an assessment of his father's life that features his childhood observations of the qualities that rendered the future fortieth president a powerful leader.

Cole, Teju. Open City: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2011. Print. [Call #Fiction: C689o]

Feeling adrift after ending a relationship, Julius, a young Nigerian doctor living in New York, takes long walks through the city while listening to the stories of fellow immigrants until a shattering truth is revealed.





Palumbi, Stephen R, and Carolyn Sotka. The Death and Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival. Washington, D.C: Island Press, 2011. Print. [Call #333.72 P184d 2011]

Monterey began as a natural paradise, but became the poster child for industrial devastation in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, and is now one of the most celebrated shorelines in the world. Monterey is thriving because of an eccentric mayor who wasn't afraid to use pistols, axes, or the force of law to protect her coasts. It is because of fishermen who love their livelihood, scientists who are fascinated by the sea's mysteries, and philanthropists and community leaders willing to invest in a world-class aquarium. The shores of Monterey Bay revived because of human passion-passion that enlivens every page of this hopeful book.


Heinrich, Bernd. The Nesting Season: Cuckoos, Cuckolds, and the Invention of Monogamy. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010. Print. [Call #598.156 H469n 2010]

One of the world's great naturalists and nature writers, Heinrich shows us how the sensual beauty of birds can open our eyes to a hidden evolutionary process. Nesting, as Heinrich explores it here, encompasses what fascinates us most about birds- from their delightful songs and spectacular displays to their varied eggs and colorful plumage; from their sex roles and mating rituals to nest parasitism, infanticide, and predation.What moves birds to mate and parent their young in so many different ways is what interests Heinrich- and his insights into the nesting behavior of birds has more than a little to say about our own.


Zelizer, Viviana A. R. Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Print. [Call # 306.3 Z49e 2011]

Economic Lives shows how shared cultural understandings and interpersonal relations shape everyday economic activities. Far from being simple response to narrow individual incentives and preferences, economic actions emerge, persist, and are transformed by our relations to others




Coggan, Philip. Guide to Hedge Funds: What They Are, What They Do, Their Risks, Their Advantages. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2011. Print. [Call #332.645 C676g 2011]

Hedge fund managers are the new "masters of the universe." The best earn more than $1 billion a year and are so sought after that they can afford to turn investor money away. The funds they run have, to some extent, established an alternative financial system, replacing banks as lenders to risky companies, acting as providers of liquidity to markets and insurers of last resort for risks such as hurricanes, and replacing pension funds and mutual funds as the most significant investors in many companies-even in some cases buying companies outright. The revised and updated second edition of this lively guide sheds much needed light on the world of hedge funds by explaining what they are, what they do, who the main players are, the regulations affecting them, the arguments as to whether they are a force for good or bad, and what the future holds for them.


Title Quote: Earl Wilson.
Images: WorldCat

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

ARTstor: 1000 uses and counting



What is ARTstor?
ARTstor is a nonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences with a suite of software tools to view, present, and manage images for research and teaching purposes. The collections comprise contributions from outstanding museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates.


What can I use it for?
When you need to put together any kind of quality presentation nothing makes your ideas hit home like a strong and relevant image that ties your points together. Using ARTstor will impress not only your classmates but also your professors. 


How can I find images? 
You can Search by:
  • Keyword- So you can begin by finding images about the French Revolution by entering those two key words. 
  • Advanced Search - This allows you to filter your search by date, collection, geography and more.
You can also Browse. This allows you to navigate through many categories at once to find images of interest. There are three way to browse:
  • Browsing by Collection: Useful for when you want to browse existing groups of images. (example: Latin American Art, or Illuminated Manuscripts)
  • Browsing by Classification: This database option divides the image library into sixteen broad classifications, including "Architecture and city planning", "Decorative arts", "Drawings and watercolors", "Maps, charts and graphs", and "Graphic design and illustration." Each classification can be sorted further by geography.
  • Browsing by Geography: Allows you to focus on works created by an artist from a specific country or, in the case of architecture, the location of the work. Each county or region is further subdivided types of materials. So you can find images of Italian sculptures quickly without having to look through Italian paintings or tapestries.

How do I get images into my presentation?


Where can I find it?
ARTstor can be found via the VU libraries website: http://www.vinu.edu/libraries  under the Find Media link. 
(If you are connecting from off campus don't forget to sign in to MyVU first in order to authenticate yourself as a student at VU.)


What if I don't have time to search the collections?
Checkout the Subject Guides: African American to Women's Studies  and jump to the subject area you want to look at!


What if I have more questions?
Ask Ariela, your Lending Services Librarian, for help.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Friday, November 19, 2010

“Thanksgiving, man! Not a good day to be my pants."


You're almost there... Thanksgiving break is just around the corner and you can do it!
Hopefully you are planning to enjoy the break, eat some great Thanksgiving food and relax. Before you head out of town, why not check out some of the cool materials we have at the library?

We have traditional fare for Thanksgiving:

Baker, James W. Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday. Durham, N.H: University of New Hampshire Press, 2009. [Call No. 394.2649 B167t 2009]

This is the first in-depth study of the most American of holidays, the author sweeps away lingering myths and misconceptions to show how this celebration day was born and grew to be an essential part of our national spirit.

Curtin, Kathleen, and Sandra L. Oliver. Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2005.

This book explores the delicious, fascinating history of Thanksgiving, complete with trivia, recipes, and an amazing collection of archival imagery of the holiday's history.

We also have a few non-traditional choices as well...

Westhoff, Patrick C. The Economics of Food: How Feeding and Fueling the Planet Affects Food Prices. Upper Saddle River, N.J: FT Press, 2010.

What are the hidden relationships between the food on your plate and the gas in your car? Will economic recovery lead directly to massive inflation in both food and energy? What do food prices have to do with world hunger? Find out here!

Wissing, Douglas A. Indiana: One Pint at a Time : a Traveler's Guide to Indiana Breweries. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2010.

This year, Doug spoke on the VU campus about his experiences in Afghanistan. Here's his newest book about something completely different! A travel guide to our craft breweries, interweaving their stories with Indiana architecture, ethnicity, and regional specificity, connecting the dynamics of today with the luster of the past.

We want you to be safe too... so here's a link to Let's Talk Turkey—A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey: Every facet of getting a turkey from the store to the dinner table is included—buying fresh vs. frozen, safe thawing methods, stuffing, roasting, storing leftover turkey and reheating the leftovers.

We also want you to impress your family and friends... especially that know-it-all-uncle!

Thanksgiving Facts and Statistics  – Last year, the major pumpkin-producing states brought us 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins. Read more Thanksgiving fun facts from the Census Bureau.

and here's a lesson with some "real world" use: Turkey Carving 101.



We also want you to be healthy during the holiday... Check out PubMed articles about the effects of the holidays on our health:

Hull HR, Hester CN, Fields DA. The effect of the holiday season on body weight and composition in college students. Nutr Metab (Lond) 2006;3:44. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-3-44.

If you're staying on campus... don't despair!

VU Campus Thanksgiving Dinner -Harrison Hall Basement. 11am-1pm November 25th. Eat Thanksgiving Lunch with CCF! They would like to send a warm invitation out for RA's, Campus Police, International Students, VU Maintenance & VU faculty/staff. Join them for a great meal on campus! The meal is fully provided and completely free!Sponsored by Christian Campus Fellowship (882-1261).

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Source: Title Quote by Kevin James

Monday, November 15, 2010

I'm looking over your shoulder... only because I've got your back.

Meet our new librarian!

She's new! Well.. kinda new... since August new... Whatever, you should meet her!
Name: Ariela Berstein

Job title: Information Services Librarian

Location in Shake Library: Shake Library Room 117, the Reference desk, wandering the Computer Commons,  fighting the vending machine.

Tell us what you do in 75 words or less: I deal with electronic databases & make sure they work. I buy materials [books, dvds etc.] for the Business/Public Services and Technology divisions. I go into classes & show students our resources & how to get an A on an assignment. I do website maintenance, beta testing, & I run our Facebook page too [Like us!]. I also work on the reference desk answering people’s questions in person, on the phone, via chat or email.
Choose one service that your department provides that you want the VU community to be aware of: Group study rooms! We have two nice study rooms you can check out for 4 hours. They’re great for groupwork or when you need to practice a presentation.

What is your favorite website? www.thedoghousediaries.com . I love these comics! They are hilarious and I eagerly anticipate their musings on all manner of things: From color swatches to their commentary on the love life of sandwiches
.
What is your favorite book in the Shake Library collection? Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (C527g, 1st floor -fiction) has been a favorite for a number of years. I love the mix of history, art and mystery. I also love movies and music and I’m really excited about two new books we got at the library. Sondheim on music: minor details and major decisions by Mark Eden Horowitz. (782.14 S698h 2010) and Complete guide to film scoring: the art and business of writing music for movies and TV by Richard Davis (781.542 D263c 2010). The second looks at the history of film scores, how the process works, and also has interviews with some of the most amazing composers today.

When I'm not at work, you can find me... Stuffing my face, planning vacations (5 continents and counting!), on ColbertNation, donating via Kiva, or teaching myself to play guitar.
One thing few people know about you… I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Title Source: the Colbert Report.