Happy Holidays: Library Closed 12/24 - 1/4

The library is closed Dec. 24, 2008, through Jan. 4, 2009, for the holiday season.

May you and yours have a joyful season.
~The Library

Remember to Return Items and Pay Fines

Return items that are overdue and/or due before Dec. 19 to avoid fines.

If you are graduating or transferring at semester, you must return all your items.

Also remember to pay your fines. Until Dec. 12, you may donate items to support overseas troops and receive a $1 deduction in your fines for each item donated.

"Biblioburro" or Donkey Library

In Columbia, one man is taking books to people who don't have any. See "A Whimsical Riff on the Bookmobile" from the New York Times.

e-Audio Books for iPods and burning to CDs

Kansas Audiobooks, music, and more! (found in the catalog and on the e-Books & e-Audio Books web page) has some e-audio books that can now be downloaded to iPods or burned to CD.

Check out the e-audio book and download it to your computer. In the OverDrive Media Console, you will be given the options to transfer to an MP3 player or iPod and/or burn it to CD. Burning to CD requires several blank CDs; the number depends on the size of the e-audio book.

New Popular Books

Testimony by Anita Shreve
Against Medical Advice by James Patterson
Dark Summer by Iris Johansen
Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain by Kirsten Menger-Anderson
A Lion Among Men (Volume 3 in the Wicked Years) by Gregory Maguire

Britannica Online Goes Wiki

Britannica Online (found under Reference e-Books) now allows readers to leave comments and to share articles with others. The traditional online encyclopedia will continue its editing process but will allow readers to suggest changes and contributors to update their articles. Additional content supplied by the public will not go through Britannica's editors.

Read more: Wikitannica? by Barbara Bibel

100 Most Frequent Challenged Books 1990-2000

How many challenged books have you read?

• Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
• Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
• Forever by Judy Blume
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
• My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
• Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Sex by Madonna
• Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

Remaing list found at The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000

6,364 Challenges Reported

6,364 challenges were reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom from 1990 to 2000.

• 1,607 were challenged as “sexually explicit” materials
• 1,427 for the use of “offensive language”
• 1,256 considered “unsuited to age group”
• 842 with an “occult theme”
• 737 considered “violent”
• 515 for “promoting homosexuality”
• 419 for “promoting a religious viewpoint”

For every 1 challenge reported up to 5 are not reported.

from: Challenges by Initiator, Institution, Type and Year

10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2007-08

• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Pater Parnell
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• TTYL by Lauren Myracle.Reasons
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
• The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

from: Children's book on male penguins raising chick tops ALA's 2007 list of most challenged books

Banned Books Week Question

What does the following books have in common?

• the Bible
• the Koran
• Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Shakespere's Hamlet
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

answer: They have all been challenged at various times.

Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Banned Books Week (Sept. 27-Oct. 4) celebrates the freedom to choose what to read and the freedom to select from an array of opinons and viewpoints.

Banning an item is its complete removal from a library or a curriculum.

Challenging an item is the attempt to remove it because of the objection of a person or group. This isn't simply an expression of a view point but a means to restrict access to it for others. The commitment of educators, parents, students, and citizens prevents most challenges from becoming bans.

"Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance." - Lyndon Baines Johnson, February 11, 1964

Presidential Candidates In Quotes

Compare the quotes of John McCain and Barack Obama on various topics such as the economy, human rights, environment, and oil.

Change topics by either selecting the hyperlink or searching for a desired topic.

The "Spin" button brings up new quotes on the topic for each candidate.

Created by Google: http://labs.google.com/inquotes/

2 new databases

Teacher Reference Center (found under "Education")
Search the most popular teacher and administrator journals and magazines.

GreenFile (found under "Science")
Find well-research information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment.

Search 50 databases at once!

In its beta version, multi-database search is now operational. Found on the homepage and the database web page, click on "Multi-Database Search" to use one search to access 50 different databases. You also can search by only subject or select the various databases you wish to search.

Remember that searching 50 databases may mean to narrow your terms to keep from retrieving too many results.

Call the library or contact a librarian for additional help.

Changes to Online Services

The databases provided by the State Library of Kansas will be changing in August. Some new databases will be added, and some old databases will be deleted. However, all the standard subject specific databases such as ABI/INFORM, ProQuest Nursing, and CINAHL will continue to be provided.

Also the library will be introducing a new link resolver to find full text articles in databases.

Thank you in advance for your patience during this time of transition.

Closed July 4 in observance of Independence Day

SC Library will be closed July 4 in observance of Independence Day.

Front door closed to patrons beginning Tuesday, May 27

Beginning on Tuesday, May 27 and until further notice, the front of the library will be closed to patrons due to renovations. Please use the back door, on the south side of the building facing Warren Ave. We apologize for any inconvenience!

Memorial Library closed on Monday, May 26 in observance of Memorial Day

Memorial Day, a day when Americans stop to remember soldiers who have died, was originally known as Decoration Day. As early as 1868 Americans had adopted May 30th as a day to decorate the graves of Civil War veterans. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York the birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1977 Congress officially declared Memorial Day a national holiday, taking place on the last Monday in May. You can find out more about Memorial Day here.

via The History Channel's Memorial Day Site

Library closed Friday, May 16 due to renovation

The library will be closed on Friday, May 16 due to renovation activities. The library will re-open on Monday at 8 AM.

SC students lend a helping hand to Myanmar with www.istandforhope.org

SC students have initiated a charity to assist victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. This is a great opportunity to join with your fellow Builders in providing help to those who desperately need it. Please check out their webpage for more information.

Summer hours begin Monday, May 5

The library will close at 6 PM on Friday, May 2. The lobby will not be open over the weekend. Summer hours begin 8 AM on Monday, May 5 and are as follows:

Monday - Thursday 8 AM - 7 PM
Friday 8 AM - 4 PM
Closed weekends

There is no 24 hour lobby over the summer.

All items due back today - Wednesday, April 23

Students must return all library items by today, Wednesday, April 23. Outstanding items or fines over $10 may result in being placed on the hard block list, which affects transcripts, diplomas, and IQweb.

DVDs and CDs will be available for 2 day checkouts April 24 - May 2.

Regular circulation rules will resume in May 5.

Happy Earth Day

April 22 is Earth Day. Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. It was originally designed as a day to protest for environmental issues on a national level. College and university students made up a large proportion of the roughly 20 million people who attended demonstrations on that first Earth Day. Earth Day 1990 was another important milestone with nearly 200 million people in 141 country rallying to support issues like recycling. This directly lead to the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit. Earth Day even has its own flag, seen above, created by Ron Cobb in 1969.

April 22 is also the birth date of Julius Sterling Morton, who founded Arbor Day in 1872.

Find more information, volunteer opportunities, and ecologically friendly living tips at the official U.S. Earth Day site.

Also, while supplies last, Memorial Library has free Earth Day foot bags. They are perfect for going outside and spending some downtime with your friends while contemplating the environment.

Get your tough theological questions answered by SC's own E-team Discipleship

Southwestern's E-team Discipleship have started a TuffQuestions blog to facilitate discussions between Christians and non-Christians. So far they have only one question, so do some navel-gazing and through a few quandaries their way.

Food for Fines to benefit the Food Bank

Got library fines? Got some extra canned food? Get double the karma! Pay off your library fines cheap and help those in need. Between Monday, April 14 and Friday, April 18 each can of food you give to Memorial Library will reduce your library fines by $1. All donations go to The Food Bank. Start clipping those coupons!

Short videos that explain blogs, RSS, zombies, social networking and more

The CommonCraft Show is a series of short animated videos that explain all sorts of technological concepts. If you are not sure about the difference between a twitter and a wiki, or if you just want to have a better understanding of how a site like Facebook works, this is a great resource to get some basic explanations.

All items muste be returned to the library by April 23, end of 24/7 lobby May 2

We hope you had a great year at Southwestern! As we approach the end there are a couple of things you should be aware of.

All items must be returned to the library by Wednesday, April 23. Any book you you check out from now until the end of the school year will have less than three weeks remaining until it is due. After April 16 you will have less than one full week on CDs, DVDs, and any other seven day items you check out. You will be charged late fines and lost item fees over the summer so it is important that you remember to bring everything back. Outstanding fines and unreturned items may result in a Hard Block being put on your account, which will affect your ability to receive transcripts, diplomas, and use IQWeb.

Starting on April 24th CDs and DVDs may be checked out for 48 hours. Starting on May 5 regular circulation policies resume. However, everything must still be returned by April 23 and then re-checked out later. We apologize for any inconveinence this may cause.

Finally, beginning Friday, May 2 the lobby will no longer be open 24 hours. This is for your safety as the library undergoes renovations. We expect that this will continue through the 2008-2009 school year.

New, free scholarly enviromental database

EBSCO, the company that provides many of the databases that you have access to through Memorial Library has announced a free bibliographic database focusing on environmental concerns called GreenFILE. You can access this database from anywhere with Internet access by going to www.greeninfoonline.com. That means your friends, your family, your neighbors, K-12 students, and alumni can all get access to this great resource and gather scholarly information about important environmental issues. And all without killing any trees!

Memorial Library is having a book sale

For 25 cents each a wide variety of books, including fiction titles, can be yours to cherish forever. Come check out our book sale carts in the Reading Room at the front of the library.

Reduced hours over Spring Break

Memorial Library will have reduced hours over Spring Break.

CLOSED Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th

10 AM-4PM Monday the 17th - Thursday the 20th

CLOSED Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd

6 PM - Midnight Sunday the 23rd

Check out the Official Blog of Southwestern College

The Memorial Library Blog is happy to be joined by the Official Blog of Southwestern College. They have a lot of great sports coverage and pictures, so check them out!

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion discussion Thursday

Professor emeritus Dr. Wallace Gray will be presenting the first of a two-part viewing and discussion of the film Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion at Memorial Library on Thursday, March 6 from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM. The second part of the film will be presented on Thursday, March 13. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Internet, email and printing down March 1

Due to routine maintainence Internet, email, and network printing will be unavailable on Saturday, March 1. Please plan accordingly.

Library closing at 6 PM

Due to the weather the library will be closing at 6 PM today. (Thursday the 21st.) The lobby will remain open as usual.

The 25 Most Important Questions in the History of the Universe

Good news, everyone! Neatorama has found answers to the 25 Most Important Questions in the History of the Universe. Feast your mind on answers to such questions as:

Is There One Move That’s More Likely to Win a Game of Rock-Paper-Scissors?

Can a Pregnant Woman Drive in the Carpool Lane?

Why Do Most Snooze Buttons Only Give You Nine More Minutes of Sleep?

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck if a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood?

Why are Grape-Nuts® Neither Grapes Nor Nuts?

You might also want to check out the Annals of Improbable Research which hands out the Ig-Noble Prizes every year.

Make your own library catalog at home

If you have ever wanted to have an online catalog for your personal book collection you may want to check out LibraryThing. This site not only lets you easily catalog the books in your collection but also tag them and explore other members' books and tags. What other ways do you have of engaging with books and other bibliophiles online?

Where do Wikipedia edits come from?

A new website called Wikipedia Vision aims to answer that question. It displays the location that edits were submitted from on a Google map. Not only is this an interesting way to see where edits come from but it is an easy way to see what is being edited as well. You can click through to the wikipedia article or see what has been edited.

via College & Research Libraries News

Are books not interactive enough?

A columnist at Computer World opines that the reason young people don't read books is because they are used to more interactive media like YouTube. He glances at the book publishing world in Japan where last year five of the top ten best selling books started as stories written by amateurs and distributed by cel phone. Western publisher Penguin tried a novel written via wiki but that project hasn't really gone beyond the concept stage. There is also a small group of English speaking fiction bloggers (Ahem, "floggers.") but that concept doesn't seem to have broken out of being a fringe hobby. There have also been some stabs at video book reviews but, really, if someone won't read a review what are the chances that they will read a book? Amazon has long allowed reader comments, and readers even comment on each other's comments which seems a lot like the interactivity books are supposedly missing. Add to that the fact that many authors keep active blogs or foums (some of which are directly accessible through Amazon and similar sites) and it seems like books are about as interactive as they can be while still being a coherent set of ideas. What do you think the future of the book is?

Campus closed due to inclement weather

The campus is closed today, Thurday, January 31st due to the weather. Please check your e-mail or the sckans.edu homepage for more information. The library lobby will remain open but circulation will be closed.

Rummage through the government attic

governmentattic.org has recently posted an interesting series of FCC complaint logs with complaints about shows like the Simpsons, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and Sex and the City. It can be interesting and sometimes surprising to see what people filed a formal complaint about. You can also see some logs for the Peace Corp, the Secret Service, and NASA, among others. All of this information was obtained via a Freedom of Information Request. The Freedom of Information Act allows U.S. citizens to request any non-published information from any federal agency. As long as it is not classified or otherwise protected (see the link above) and you are willing to pay "reasonable processing fees" you have the right to access any information the government has! This is a great tool for original research in a wide variety of fields.

If your tastes run a little more lurid you can also check out the always interesting but sometimes frightening display of original documents at The Smoking Gun.

Free online courses from prestigious universities

The Online Education Database has posted a list of 200 classes you can take for free online. Everything from Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics at Yale to Introduction to Psychology at MIT. This is a great way to try a class you have always wanted to take.

The Library of Congress needs your help

The Library of Congress has launched a Flickr account to crowdsource the tagging of digital images in their collection. You can tag and comment on their images just like you can on any other Flickr account. If you want to stay a little closer to home you can do the same on SC's own fledgling Flickr page.

via Boing Boing

Library closed Saturday and Sunday

In observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day the library will be closed on Saturday, January 19 and Sunday, January 20th. The library will be open from 8 AM to midnight on Monday, January 21st.

Some Google tricks

Lifehacker has posted a list of ten tricks in Google. Did you know you can get the local time anywhere, track a specific flight and limit image searches to faces only right from the search box? Well, you can. Some of the other "tricks" are a little less impressive. The article claims using the phrase "better than" in a search is a trick. For instance, if you are looking for a book that is similar to but better than Harry Potter search for "better than Harry Potter." Unlike most of the other tricks, this isn't an actual command, just an arbitrary suggestion. There is one good command, the tilda ("~") mentioned. Tildas are used in equations to indicate approximation, and they are used the same way in Google. For instance, a search for "~college" returned results including college, colleges, NCAA, and graduate school highlighted.

Welcome back!

We are glad to see you and we hope you are looking forward to a great Spring semester. Normal library hours resume on January 8. It's never too early to start researching your papers... or to start watching some DVDs. Just let us know what we can do to help!

Library closing at 5 PM today

The circulation desk will close at 5 PM today. (Monday) The lobby will remain open. Regular circulation desk hours will resume tomorrow with the beginning of classes. (Tuesday)

Library Hours for the rest of break

The library will be open Wednesday January 2 through Friday January 4 from 8 AM - 5 PM. The library will be closed the weekend of January 5-6 and will resume regular hours on January 7. Welcome back!