UPDATE: The new maintenance work has been reported to FRIDAY, MAY 2nd.
Additional work needs to be done with the library servers after the other morning’s brief maintenance-related outage. There will be a new outage on Friday May 2nd , between 5:00am and 5:30am (everything should be back up at 6:30am at the latest).
The following services will be impacted:
the main library website, which will affect some links from the Lakeland Library website
EZProxy (one of the ways to connect to the electronic resources from home
Still wishing I could make it up to Harvard for Berkman@10, but it’s nice to know that they’ve launched their own YouTube channel where I can catch up on their most recent conversations as well as a great historical overview!
There will be a brief outage for the library servers on April 30th, between 5:00am and 5:30am (everything should be back up no later than 6:00am). A new power system will be installed.
The following services will be impacted:
the main library website, which will affect some links from the Lakeland Library website
EZProxy (one of the ways to connect to the electronic resources from home
Since 4Cs I have had nothing but days filled with writing, stressing, going to the gym, and editing existing pages. My blogging has suffered, but I think, dear readers, you understand why.
It’s starting to hit me now that I’ve landed a great job and will be moving in a little over 2 months, but there is so much to accomplish before then. I’m also trying to spend a lot of time in the sun while I can. On Friday we went to the beach at Fort DeSoto Park and today we biked 14 miles at Flatwoods Park. I know we’ll be getting to Wisconsin during the summer, but it’s kinda like I’m trying to stock up on the sunshine to prepare for the long winter I will have to endure next year.
In other news, I cannot wait for a new computer and a new blog platform. Since I’ve been following lots of social media professionals on Twitter I’m seeing really cool layouts and all I’ve got is some packaged template [on a very old version of Word Press] that I can’t figure out how to manipulate.
Off to bed for now. Will likely blog more tomorrow since I’ll be getting much needed feedback on my diss chapters and may need to figure out my ideas and/or timeline til defense.
Elsevier, the publisher of the multidisciplinary database ScienceDirect, has announced new features:
New to ScienceDirect are features that make the platform more user friendly and deliver better, clearer results in fewer clicks.
Researchers like to quickly evaluate articles before reading them
Researchers will find preview tabs that provide quick access to the important article assessment components: the abstract, figures/tables and references. These tabs are on the results page, the table of contents page and the article page.
Researchers have to scroll to the foot of articles to view reference information, which hinders reading
We have made it possible for researchers to view reference information within the body of a paper when their cursor moves over a reference marker.
Once a researcher has evaluated and read an article, they often want to email it to their peers
A new article toolbox brings together all of the article-related functionality including “Cited By”, “E-mail Article” and more, into one easy-to-find location. Researchers can now take further action quickly and easily with little extra effort.
Researchers are interested to know how other experts rate articles they read
Due to be launched in phases over the coming months, the integration of article comments and ratings from Elsevier’s social collaboration site, 2collab enables researchers to evaluate papers according to colleague-driven comments and ratings of articles right on the article page.
This is a dupe from my livejournal, but just as applicable to college and my life with school work
If you aren’t in to coffee, read no further… also, if you simply don’t love people raving about old schoolisms and the “old ways” of doing something… you probably should also not read on…
I have found the meaning of life in the coffee press. After several experiments, I turned it into a science… (otherwise, you’ll wind up with coffee that tastes worse than if you percolated it) whereby I fill the pot with the water I’d want in it, then I pour it into a kettle and put it on high for 2 and a half minutes… pour it on three scoops of coffee… begin pressing after 2 mins, and then finish pressing by about 3 and a half minutes. It’s working great for the coffee I have right now… and dude! It kicks arse when you can adjust the temp like that… the coffee has a little less acid since I steep at a lower temp (it’s very easy for me to tell since I’ve had heartburn from coffee usually… so far, when I do the press right and keep it cooler, I don’t have anywhere near the trouble that I did with espresso), and the coffee has this awesome flavor to it since I get more oils out of it…
Not only that, it punches a serious kick to it if you balance it right… seems that the caffeine tends to still come out a lot even if the acidity doesn’t seem to rise… which I need to check and make sure that makes sense (chemically, I thought that caffeine might add to the acidity a bit)…
Anyhoo, AWESOME! but now I end up making my fam coffee all the time… everyone is freaking out because it was such a cheap aparatus. I think within the first two days of having it we’ve used it about…. seven to eight times? The new bag of coffee we got (this chocolate raspberry flavor is awesome) is almost completely done…
If you like to almost “cook” your coffee and enjoy messing around (the first few batches were nearly sacrificial and horrific… but then, I drank those… so no one knew) until you get it ‘just right’, then try this stuff out! the coffee presses are a lot cheaper than an espresso machine and I’ve gotten nearly the same caffeine overload (especially when you steep longer and add more heat… you just make the grinds a little larger so it doesn’t get as bitter… and that means you’ll need to get a good grinder or have a good ‘trigger finger’ for those portable, cheapo grinders).
Coffffeeeeeee powurrrrrr! *blast*
*dances around… bounces off walls… drives parents crazy*
We are announcing trial access to Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies. This trial ends May 15, 2008.
Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies covers domestic private and public companies. Up to twenty items of information are provided for each company listed. Includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mails, and URLs, total assets, operating revenue, employee figures, hard-to-find data such as sales, metropolitan statistical area, exchange, and up to five names and titles of executive officers. Four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes and the newer five- and six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes are given. Up to 200 records can be exported. To search the Ward’s Business Directory exclusively, click on the Advanced Search tab and select Ward’s from the drop down box.
For these databases and other library resources visit http://www.lakeland.usf.edu/library/ . Click on “Search the databases” to begin. You may also find these databases listed under “By Subject” under Trial Databases.
Part 8 of the series which is a wrap-up for the semester long info series. I hope you’ve learned a lot more about the building through the series. We’ll keep adding new information throughout the summer as we get closer to opening in August - so please keep visiting the web site and the blog for up to date info.
A power failure in one of the servers caused the Blackboard application to become non-responsive beginning about 5:30pm, April 20th. Service was restored by 6:15pm.
No data was lost as a result of this interruption. In progress tests may have not submitted properly. Please consult with your instructor if problems with Blackboard were encountered during this time.
Presently working on a Nature of Science survey using Sufen Chen’s VOSE instrument. Hoping to get it up and running through the Student Research program at QuestionPro
If you used the USF Libraries catalog today, you may have noticed some enhancements:
the cover of the book is presented when available, on the right hand side
on the right hand side as well, you will find a link to Google Books giving you more information on the title. In some cases, you will be able to preview at least part of the content of the book, like the table of the contents. The link for the preview will be underneath the cover image.
back in the catalog, under each title, you will find different icons:
“Add” will add the title to a temporary list. At the end of your catalog search, even if you have done multiple queries, you will be able to find all the records in your list by clicking the “My folder has items” at the top of the page.
“Print” will print one record at a time.
“Email” will permit you to email the record to yourself or someone else.
“Save” will permit you to save the record onto the drive of your choice as a .txt file
finally, a “RefWorks” button will let you export the record to your RefWorks database
the “Print”, “Email”, “Save” and “RefWorks” are also available for your list.
April 13 to the 19 is National Library Week. Actress and author Julie Andrews is the Honorary Chair this year.
Tuesday the 15th is National Library Workers Day, a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.
The USF Lakeland Library and its staff are wishing you a great week. Do drop by and say Hi!
Since I’ve been on Twitter I’ve noticed people announce when their 1000th “tweet” is coming up. There’s a certain pressure to make it a good one, yet staying within the 140 character limit is always a challenge.
Tonight I hit my 1000th and have to admit it was chosen carefully, although only a few minutes before.
Since Andy’s been writing for his MFA program, I’ve picked up his regimen of freewriting, timed writing, and reading not for research sake but for craft’s sake. When I was in NOLA last November we went to the book sale at the Latter Library and I picked up Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings. As I’m in the throes of the dissertation, I thought this quote was well-suited for describing my personal narrative chapter:
The frame through which I viewed the world changed too, with time. Greater than scene, I came to see, is situation. Greater than situation is implication. Greater than all of these is a single, entire human being, who will never be confined in any frame.
If listening to fellow Katrina survivors and New Orleans college and university teachers last week at 4Cs taught me anything, it’s that more and more people need to hear our stories because of the fact that they are so varied. I know my writing out of passion and emotion is something I may have to defend to a scholarly audience, but it’s something I find quite necessary to my academic work, at least for now. I can’t let what I think people will critique hold me back from constructing the narrative thus far. So thank you, Eudora, for reminding me of basic human nature because, as you say later, I know “The strands are all there: to the memory nothing is ever really lost.”
I don’t know the answer to that question… if I knew I would tell you
Ala Clever Girl, although I don’t have anything to report this sunny Saturday other than once again heading to my library carrel, I thought I’d share this video. I’ve loved this song forever and I can’t help but laugh every time I hear the monologue near the end ever since my fav 80s music friend Theron pointed it out as the signature trait of a great pop song. Yet I’ve never seen the video until today, and, believe me, it’s one to see!
Part 7 of the series is up and it discusses the enhance plaza. Also, new interior pictures are up on the flickr page. Visit http://ctr.usf.edu/newmsc/default.htm for more information.
At about 2am, I had a breakthrough, of sorts. I had posted on our class boards about the UK public library service that allows children and youth who move around often to return library books anywhere in the U.K:
“The Society of Chief Librarians has agreed that: “Children and young people who are Travellers, looked-after, [...]
Estimates of the homeless youth population range from 52,000 to over one million. Estimates of runaway youth — including “throwaway” youth — are between 1 million and 1.7 million.
The Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) databases are being very slow these past few days. The slowdown is due “enhancements” that they rolled out on Monday (4/7) that are having a negative impact on their servers. This is affecting all U.S. customers. The problem is being worked on.
Some databases affected include Sociological Abstracts, Health and Safety Science Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts and versions of ERIC and MEDLINE.
Growing up in the Catholic school system of New Orleans holds fond memories for me. We had a school mass every week, and starting in the fifth grade, we students were allowed to do the readings, carry up the gifts, and sing in the choir. This was more than just studying to receive the sacraments and putting on a frilly dress for a ceremony. Every week, in our plaid uniforms, we were the church.
Sure, when you’re young it may come off as another hour to be out of class or “people-watch” instead of listen, but I very much miss the sense of community that those weekly masses instilled in me. Even though I was always upset when our priests were “stationed” somewhere else, I think having the physical place and ceremony always made me feel that I belonged to something larger. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I’ve never felt at home in any other church aside from St. Raphael the Archangel. Had Katrina not happened, it’s likely I would have been married in that church, but I was never given that option.
Today, many parishioners of churches in New Orleans that did not even suffer the water damage St. Raphael experienced are also not being given an option. Today, the Archdiocese [reminiscent of my time in 1992 when my high school the Academy of the Holy Angels was forced to close due to financial strain] announced numerous church closures and merges. A map and list can be found on these pages, but this video of local author and livejournaler Poppy Z Brite is most powerful:
Poppy Z. Brite decries Uptown church closing
Let us hope the people and the protests save some of the churches and parishes that need not be disturbed, especially when these structures help hold most neighborhoods together, particularly now.
For those new readers of my blog who may be visiting this site after attending our Saturday Katrina panel at 4Cs–”Composed in the Wake of Disaster: (Re)Writing the Realities of New Orleans”–I’d like to post some text and links for your benefit. As I was the last panelist of four and we were Internet-less in our conference room [something I’ve started to rant about over at Dennis’s blog], I felt a bit scattered. I typically create Powerpoints, but wasn’t in the mood for that this time around. So even though I had typed up a few pages and had a plethora of examples to share, I ended up doing what I prefer, extemporizing.
Here is a more fleshed out version of what I shared on my handout:
Like Bryon Hawk [who spoke on Hurricane Katrina as a cultural media event, using the framework Jean Baudrillard sets forth in The Gulf War Did Not Take Place], I agree that there were repeated and manipulated images of Katrina that circulated at rapid speed, particularly during that week of the storm when little to no information could be verified and the media focus had to remain on those still stranded in the city, Superdome, Convention Center.
But as a New Orleans native, I had other issues with the depiction of my beloved hometown. I was skeptical when Brian Williams declared on NBC’s Today Show (August 30, 2005. 7:05 a.m. ET): “There has been a huge development overnight … the historic French Quarter, dry last night and it is now filling with water. This is water from nearby Lake Pontchartrain; the levees failed overnight.”
Not only did I not know how to begin to process this information—which levee? how much water? where would the water go?—when I watched the news later that night and saw streets in and near the Quarter bone dry, I knew that these news stories were evolving into journalistic “meta-narratives,” and I knew that from this moment on, these would no longer suffice.
Thus, my focus today is on those locals–primarily those cyberliterate and with access to technology–who had evacuated and were watching from hotel rooms or the homes of extended family members. When they could not find any information relevant to their neighborhoods, never mind their eventual return to their homes and beloved city, many went online.
[Here I referred to the chart from a Pew Internet and American Life report on getting news during the storms of 2005, and wanted to highlight how it’s likely that, once again, locals were not part of the sample population.
While it’s great that more and more Americans nationwide are turning to and trusting alternative news sources like blogs and discussion boards, my argument is that in the years since the storm, the only place one can truly get a real depiction or chronicle of a Katrina survivor/resident of NOLA is in the New Orleans blogosphere.
With that said, and without Internet access, I read from several blogs, highlighting the dates of the posts to prove that the Katrina narrative is still developing, with every insurance claim, abandoned house or business, death, and reiteration of why New Orleans matters!
Full list of examples I shared or wanted to share, organized by rhetorical mode:
1. EXPLAIN: Katrina stories—locals who stayed and who watched from afar
2. DESCRIBE: the look of one street in January 2008 and a video commentary 16 months after the storm:
5. INFORM: One’s shock at the lack of discussion surrounding a scary statistic.
Finally, how to describe New Orleans? It’s a place of its own and one we are intensely attached
If anyone has comments or questions, please leave a comment. Watch this space for a link in the coming weeks because a more theoretical look at the “writing wrong” examples like these demonstrate is now in print in the Spring 2008 issue of Reflections.
For fun and a good cause:
First Book is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. They partenered with cereal-brand Cheerios and actor/author John Lithgow in a book donation challenge. Cheerios will be distributing 100,000 children’s books by John Lithgow to programs serving children in need across the country.
Visitors can “help decide where the books will be donated by answering trivia questions […] from now through Sunday, June 15, 2008. Every correct answer counts as one vote […] Cheerios will donate 20,000 children’s books to programs in each of the 5 states that receive the most votes. Cheerios’ nonprofit partner First Book will be identifying programs that will receive the books in each state where the books will be donated.”
