Baron-Forness Library: Winter Break Hours

 For more hours: http://edinboro.libcal.com/calendar.php?cid=1899#!/month/2014/12

Extended Library Hours

Thanksgiving Break Hours

Have A Great Thanksgiving Break!

Coming Attractions: New DVDs!

The library used book sale proceeds from last Spring to order popular DVDs for our circulating collection.  DVDs can be borrowed free of charge and are located on the rear wall of the reference area.   Some of our newest titles include:

• 12 Years a Slave
• Divergent
• Games of Thrones (I-3)
• Grand Budapest Hotel
• Gravity
• The Great Gatsby
• The Help
• Inception
• Jersey Boys
• Memento
• Oblivion
• Pan’s Labyrinth
• Philomena
• Sherlock Holmes (1-3)
•  Up
• Wall-E
• Warm Blood
• World War Z

Check back often; new movies and TV series are donated regularly.  Who needs Netflix when we have BFLix?

Potterfest!

The library is featuring a Harry Potter display in conjunction with Potterfest 2014 which runs from Oct. 13-18. Potter memorabilia, books and game pieces are displayed in cases on the first and second floors of the library. A full program o...f events has been posted on both floors. This year’s display features the new publication Ravenclaw Chronicles, a collection of essays and fan fiction compiled by Dr. Corbin Fowler, an EUP Philosophy Professor. For more information on Potterfest 2014 visit http://potterfest.cs.edinboro.edu/Schedule.html.

Books on Global Warming for Homecoming Events

Edinboro's Homecoming Weekend features keynote speaker Bill McKibben on October 2, and the film Disruption. Baron-Forness Library will provide a display of McKibben's books, as well as current works on the issue of global warming. Here are some online books you may want to "check out" too.

Book List

Now Showing: Movies and TV Shows on DVD

The Baron-Forness Library has hundreds of popular feature films, documentaries and television shows on DVD. These discs can now be found in the rear of the library computer area. All DVDs can be checked out like other library materials.

Enjoy the Library Butterfly Garden in Bloom!

 

Members of the Baron-Forness Library Butterfly Garden Committee have been tending to our garden in front of the library. The garden contains shrubs, perennials and annuals that are attractive to butterflies either for their nectar or as food for larva. Plants are donated by our gardeners. Butterflies are beautiful pollinators that are losing habitat with the American emphasis on grass lawns. Anyone interested in creating a Butterfly garden should check out resources on the topic available at the Baron-Forness Library or Erie County Library, or talk to one of our committee members the next time you see us in the garden!

New ebooks and streaming videos added to library catalog

The Baron-Forness Library has greatly expanded its selection of online books and videos. Edinboro University students, faculty and staff can now choose from almost 25,000 ebook titles and 15,000 streaming video files. All titles can be found in the library's catalog and through Discovery Search.

K-12 Textbooks Refreshed and Reclassified

Over the summer the Baron-Forness Library faculty and staff added many new titles to the library's K-12 textbook collection for Education majors. In addition, the entire collection was switched to the Library of Congress classification system, the same one used for the rest of the books. They are still shelved in the library's curriculum materials room. So, for example, if you are looking for mathematics textbooks for your student teaching, you can now find them with the call number beginning with QA, just like the college-level math books.

Some new Web tools you might find useful for research

New & old tools on the Web for better searching

Finding good sources on the Web while conducting research is always difficult; often it seems that any web search will yield millions of hits, and it's difficult to sometimes determine what's useful and what's useless.

Some new & interesting tools can simplify that quest; some others have been around but perhaps you have not searched them of late  Here are some recent finds that you might find useful.

Zanran.com

We live in a world of "big data," have you heard?  

From the Sciences to the Social Sciences to the Humanities, both government and private and public organizations produce some kind of 'data' that we think will be valuable for our research needs. But the question has always been where to find it?  Most people will still say "google it" which has become a verb now. 

Enter Zanran.  This search tool searches data sources; it often has data in excel or other kinds of spreadsheets.  It retrieves both government and other sources of information.  It also offers a preview of the data source by hovering your mouse pointer over the image on the left column. Zanran isn't Google or anyone else; at least so far. 

First time users will have to register an email address to download the data.  Zanran claims it will not give out your address, nor does it use it to send you anything.  So why do they want it?  Maybe they are collecting data too!  Give Zanran any address you wish.  After that, you'll be able to download the results you find.

MillionShort.com

Everyone knows that Google retrieves millions of results.  Do you ever go past a few pages before giving up?  Millionshort promises you it will remove up to the first million of results of a Google search.  Does that mean you will behold websites you have never encountered?  Keep in mind that when Google searches, thousands if not more retrievals are from the same site, just different pages.  Try the two next to each other and compare results.  It all depends on what you are looking for, of course, but millionshort is worth trying.

DOI Resolver

The Social Sciences know that the APA style for citation is pushing the use of a DOI as a replacement to listing a database source; DOI (digital object identifier) is gaining ground in the publishing industry.  Popular databases may display a doi in a reference, but not always.  There are still problems with uniqueness, but doi's are making headways into the citation rules.  If you are a Chrome user, you can download a "doi resolver" right on your toolbar.  Copy and paste a a doi you find, and the resolver contacts crossref.org to deliver a citation.  It's too bad that it is not delivered in proper format for APA, but then the world is not yet ready for that.  Are you a Firefox user?  There's a doi extension there that is available to you by simply right-clicking the web page you are on.  Search for it in your extensions under 'tools' and you'll be on your way.

Archive Grid

There's a place.... where to find an archive that might hold collections, papers, historical, scientific, etc. of all kinds of topics.  Archive Grid, part of the Online Computer Libraries, or OCLC, has made Archive grid free for searching.  Use it to identify a collection that you might want to visit later; unless the library has virtual access to materials, you will likely find Archive Grid helpful for simply identifying a collection which you will have to contact or visit later.

Re-Fresh Yourself! Refresh your browser if Chat is not available

Got a question?  You're working on a computer and you need help.

Look on the library's homepage in the upper right; does it say "Sorry chat is offline"??

Re-fresh yourself!  

Refresh your browser; we may be changing who's monitoring the chat service.  If we are on, a refresh will reload the page and the chat service will be live again.

It's quick, as quick as we can be.  Just start typing

your question; you don't have to put a name in.  We monitor the chat during regular academic hours in the fall

spring and summer.  We will respond as quickly as we can; sometimes we're busy and

sometimes we are switching who's monitoring the service.

Re-fresh Yourself!  

We monitor chat from 8AM to 7PM Monday thru Friday, Saturday 9-4:30PM, 

and Sunday 1:30-9PM during fall & spring terms.

Autism Awareness...Autism Education...Autism Acceptance

April is Autism Awareness Month! With the rate of autism diagnoses increasing (see CNN's recent article and video of noted autistic Temple Grandin), it stands to reason that we will continue to see more and more students on campus with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnoses in the coming years, as well as encounter more individuals on the spectrum in the workplace. Autism Awareness Month is a time for those who are affected by ASD to shine a light on it so others might not just become aware, but educate themselves and better learn to accept those individuals on the spectrum.

Baron-Forness Library has a wonderful collection of materials on a variety of topics concerning ASD, for both research and personal education. Whether you are a student who anticipates working with children or adults on the spectrum, an instructor who currently teaches students on the spectrum, a parent or family member of someone on the spectrum, or simply interested in learning more about ASD, join us this month as we celebrate Autism Awareness, Education, and Acceptance. You can view our display of some of the titles found in our collection on the 2nd floor near the elevators, as well as common autism myths debunked throughout the entire library. And keep a lookout for faculty and staff rocking their Autism Awareness ribbons all month as we demonstrate our acceptance of students on the spectrum, as well as our support for those students who will go on to work with individuals with ASD in the future.

Baron-Forness library used book sale: April 17 and 18

Gently Used Book Sale

April 17 & 18, 2014

Celebrating National Library Week!

Baron-Forness Library is sponsoring a used book sale in honor of National Library Week 2014. The proceeds will be used to acquire new books for the library.

The sale will be held in Room 715 on the 7^th floor of the library. The items for sale include gently used fiction, non-fiction, paperbacks and media

(CDs, DVD, VHS). There are many art and history books, as well as books on other academic subjects. These are books which were donated but not added to the library because they were duplicates or older editions of items already owned. All the books are in good condition, and many are like new. The public is welcome to attend.

Sale Hours:

Thursday April 17 10am-4 pm

Friday April 18 10am – 4 pm

$ a bag Friday 2-4pm

Pricing:

CDs & VHS…. $.25

DVDs………….$.50

paperbacks..$.50

hardcover….$1.00

Library Faculty to Give Talk at Millcreek Public Library

Do women and men experience travel differently?  Do they write about their journeys from different perspectives?  Can they explore the same place and have distinctive viewpoints? Barry Gray, Technical Services Librarian at Baron-Forness Library of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, has researched those questions. He will be giving a presentation on Monday, April 21 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM at the Millcreek Branch Library Community Room, on his findings. His presentation is free and open to the public.  No reservations are needed.

For over one hundred years, women have documented their travels across America by car. This presentation describes several representative road books by women authors and compares them to accounts by male travelers. It contrasts themes of escape and empowerment to show how different authors approach the experience of cross country travel and describe it in their narratives. These works are important primary sources for the cultural and intellectual history of the United States, because the development of cars, the automobile industry, and highways have greatly influenced American history in the past century. If you like to travel, please journey to Millcreek Branch Library, to learn how much others do, too.

New E book Collections Here!: Multicultural Diversity Collection & Nursing Collection

The library recently acquired two new ebook collections that include about 140 titles in each area.  The Multicultural Diversity Collection includes books on ethnic and cultural studies, and women’s studies and each of America’s major ethnic groups are included in the collection.   The Nursing Collection includes books on advanced practice nursing, nurse practitioners, specialty areas such as pediatric nursing, and some  nursing reference handbooks.

These titles can be located by using Discovery Search orby  searching EBSCOHOST.  The individual titles are now being added to PILOT, so subject or subject heading searching in PILOT will soon retrieve these titles.   These e books can be accessed 24/7, from on or off campus and the books are downloadable.   The books in these two collections are all current, most have been published with the last 1-2 years.

New semi-private rooms for group work!

We're pleased to unveil the latest additions to the library in the form of two new "Group Technology Rooms." The rooms are located on the second floor of the library with access available via the computer lab in Room 232. The spaces are designed to be used by groups of students who would like to work in a semi-private space and are equipped with technology that enables group members to plug in their laptop computers (or laptops borrowed from the library) and share their desktops on a large screen monitor. Comfortable seating, large conference tables, and a fresh coat of paint complete the transformation of what once were a storage closet and an outmoded multimedia lab.

The rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis and during regular computer lab hours. Please note the rooms are not available when classes are scheduled in the lab -- a list of scheduled classes is available on the online calendar  and is also posted at the entrance to the lab.