Cite These Sources

Posted on March 31, 2012 by EP

Did you know that even librarians like us at the UGL are fans of Wikipedia? Yep, we are. Because librarians are people, too.

But while Wikipedia is a great place to start looking for information on things you’re interested in and might want to research for a class (not to mention an excellent source for finding the information you need to win bets with your friends), you typically can’t cite Wikipedia for your academic research. Your professors just aren’t gonna accept it (unless you’re doing research on Wikipedia itself, in which case you might cite it as a primary source).

Sometimes you really need credible background information to inform a paper, presentation or project. You need…encyclopedias! In case you haven’t used one since elementary school days, encyclopedias are the (usually big) books, from which the name Wikipedia is derived, that typically offer objective overviews on a range of topics. They range from the general, like Wikipedia or World Book Encyclopedia, to the specific, like the Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States. Like Wikipedia, encyclopedias are really great starting points to find background information, but unlike Wikipedia, credible, published encyclopedias can be cited in papers, as the entries have been compiled and reviewed by experts in the field.

The UGL has lots of print encyclopedias both in the reference collection on the upper level and all over the shelves on the lower level, organized by their subject area. Just to challenge your notion of what an encyclopedia is (big, dusty, can only be used at the library), we also have TONS of online encyclopedias, most of which are electronic versions of their print equivalents. You can access these anywhere, anytime, through the UGL’s homepage (Find → Background Information). And they never get dusty.

Here’s a list of some of our faves!

West’s Encyclopedia of American Law – You’re probably not a lawyer, but you might take classes that deal with some aspect of law: education, political science, communication, technology, medicine…all of these are affected by the law! This encyclopedia doesn’t just offer definitions of legal terms, but gives you great overviews of policies, issues and government departments and processes. (Related: Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law)

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture – This title is a little more specialized, but is useful for research in history, sociology, food and nutrition, and other cultural research. Bonus: it includes recipes!

Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security – It’s not going to bring you the same kind of thrills you get from watching The Bourne Identity. But if you’re Interested in learning more about the science, technology, and organizational structure behind today’s intelligence and security organizations, this is a great place to start. It’s also an excellent place to learn more about the concept of homeland security and the complexities involved in the reorganization of United States security agencies.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture – Learn more about pretty much anything you can think of related to pop culture. Entries range from the very broad (like “advertising”) to the much more specific (“Threes’s Company“! “Velveeta Cheese”!). Easy to read entries are great for research or just for kicks.

You can find more of our online encyclopedias here. Now go get researching!

Ch-ch-ch-changes (Printing! Software!)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by EP

Spring means new beginnings, and at the UGL we’re beginning to use some new technology: over spring break we began updating the public PCs to Windows 7 operating system (this will continue until all the public PCs use Windows 7). We also updated our printing software to make things run more smoothly and easily for you!

The print release station is a computer monitor between the printers.

The neat-o new Print Release Station

Here’s some important stuff you should know about the changes we’ve made:

1) The old printing software, LibPrint, has been replaced with the new and improved PaperCut! If you live in a residence hall and/or have used a res hall computer lab (or have worked in a couple of other labs on campus that already use this system) you are familiar with PaperCut. If not, here’s a quick introduction!

PaperCut is a bit different from LibPrint, but also pretty similar. The biggest change is that you don’t get charged for any print jobs until you release them from the Print Release Station, located by the printers on the upper level. That means that you won’t constantly wonder if you got unfairly charged for a print job that did not print, or didn’t print properly.

You still have the option to pay cash or charge to your student account, but now you have to select that option when you select which printer you want. To charge a print job to your student account, choose UGL B&W on libprintserv1 for black and white print jobs and UGL Color Log in to pay (30 cents per page) on libprintserv1 for color. If you want to pay cash for your print jobs, choose UGL B&W pay at Circ Desk (10 cents per page) on libprintserv1 for black and white, and UGL Color Pay at Circ Desk (30 cents per page) on libprintserv1 for color.

Whenever you print in color, you will get a pop-up dialog box asking you to confirm your selection. This is to help remind you that color costs more, and to keep you from wasting money on color printing when you really just need black and white.

When you open a document and click print, you’ll be given the above choices. You should then get a pop-up notification asking you to log in (if you’re paying with your student account) and then a notification that your job has been sent to the print queue. The green PaperCut icon should always be in the top right corner of the desktop and will briefly display your total charge.

To release your print job, go to the Print Release Station by the printers at the front of the upper level of the UGL and log in with your Net ID and password. If your job is not there, head back to your computer and click on “Details” in the green PaperCut icon on the desktop so you can log in again and then re-print your job. Again, you don’t get charged until something prints!

You don’t need to close or log out of PaperCut when you’re done. It is programmed to not remember your login information after you send a job to the printer.

2) Some of the public PCs on the upper level of the library are being upgraded to Windows 7. And some of these–the ones that don’t have the hard drives under the monitors–have different software set ups than you’re used to: basically the ones that don’t have hard drives under them (called “thin clients” in IT lingo — they look just like the computer above in the “Print Release Station” photo) don’t run any Abobe software. So if you need to use Photoshop or another Adobe product, find a public computer that DOES have a hard drive sitting under the monitor.

We will be working on updating documentation on the UGL website about these and other technology upgrades.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions about the new technology at the UGL, stop by the circulation or research desk to ask! You can always Ask-A-Librarian, too.

Spring Reads

Posted on March 22, 2012 by BD

CC image courtesy of Flickr user q8

Ahhh… spring time. The beautiful blossoming trees, the 80 degree weather, the smell of barbeque in the air….not to mention the whole spring break thing. What’s not to love?

For those of you still in town, you’ll be pleased to know that the Undergraduate Library is open this week, operating from 8:30AM – 5:00PM through Friday (and reopening Sunday at 1PM). And while we know it can be hard to find the time to engage in leisure reading when you’re in the thick of the academic craziness, spring break is the perfect time to stop by the UGL and pick up one of our great new books. After all, you can’t spell “break” without almost spelling “read,” which obviously goes to show that reading and vacation go hand-in-hand.

Here’s a little list of some intriguing titles just hitting the UGL shelves to whet your appetite. You can find these on the “New Books Shelf” on the upper level of the UGL. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Ask the friendly library staff… we’re happy to help!

Fiction – Take Me to Another Place

Out of Time: Stories by Geoff Schmidt

Winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, this collection of short stories is bound to please all you literary types. “The stories in Out of Time chase after the secrets and sorrows of families, revealing the lengths people will go, and the harm they will do, to keep their worlds together. These characters are not crazy, they are in love and afraid.”—Ben Marcus, author of Age of Wire and String

Start Shooting: A Novel by Charlie Newton

Like dark and gritty mysteries? Enjoy stories set in Chicago? Then Newton’s new novel is the one for you. Chicago cop Bobby Vargas and his detective brother Reuben are pulled back into the world of their youth when a local reporter implicates them in a 25-year-old murder case involving their childhood neighbor. “Newton has created the writerly equivalent of every great Chicago bluesman who ever lived playing together, all soloing simultaneously. It might be messy, but you wouldn’t want to miss a single note.” –Thomas Gaughan, Booklist

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

Looking for something a bit lighter? Check out Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly’s latest romantic suspense novel, in which recently separated and jobless Kate Appleton heads to Michigan to turn her parents’ old lake house into a Bed and Breakfast. Strapped for cash, she takes on a less-than-savory spy gig for local brewery owner, Matt, who promises Kate a $20,000 payout if she can find out who’s been sabotaging his business. Things get dicey and spicy as Kate and Matt fall for each other and it becomes clear the saboteur Kate’s after is looking to kill more than just Matt’s business…

Nonfiction: Some of it Deep, All of it Awesome.

The Complete Hogan: A Shot-by-Shot Analysis of Golf’s Greatest Swing by Jim McClean

The awesome weather we’re enjoying this week is perfect for golfing. So before you go hit the links, why not read up on how icon Ben Hogan actually managed his legendary swing. Top golf instructor Jim McClean breaks down Hogan’s swing piece by piece in a way that’s never been done before, encouraging you to integrate some of Hogan’s mechanics into your game. Alternate reading a chapter and hitting the driving range, and soon enough you’ll be a legend in your own mind.

A Nation of Moochers: America’s Addiction to Getting Something for Nothing by Charles J. Sykes

If you’re a news and/or policy junkie, this is the book for you. A Nation of Moochers takes a look at the American trend towards demanding and expecting “free” money; from Wall Street bailouts to corporate tax exemptions. Whether you agree with Sykes or not, his entertaining examination of the “American moocher mentality” will have you mind-penning witty op-eds for days (or, you know, arguing with your parents, effectively showing them that you are learning stuff at school!)

The Great American Cereal Book: How Breakfast Got Its Crunch by Martin Gitlin

Seriously… who doesn’t love cereal? Marketed as the “definitive compendium on breakfast cereal history and lore,” this coffee table-style book tells the stories of your favorite cereals (and associated spokes-characters), from Grape Nuts to Trix. For as the author notes, “Cereal is fun. Eating cereal is fun. Reading cereal boxes is fun.”

Spring Break HOURS!

Posted on March 15, 2012 by EP

Palm trees in front of a tropical seaside sunset.

(Image courtesy of flickr user samborowski through a Creative Commons license)

Attention! Attention! The UGL hours and services are a little different over spring break! Because some of us will be relaxing just like you. And some of us will still be working but there will be fewer of you around to keep us busy.

The UGL will NOT be open 24 hours starting on Thursday, March 15 and ending on Sunday, March 25. We will close on Friday, March 16 at 7pm, and will remain closed until Monday, March 19 at 8:30 a.m.

Our limited hours are:

Saturday, March 17 and Sunday, March 18: CLOSED

Monday-Friday, March 19-23: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 24: CLOSED

Sunday, March 25: We reopen at 1:00 p.m. and remain open normal hours after that!

(check out the full spring break schedule for all of the libraries)

During the limited hours, the research desk will not be open. The friendly staff at the circulation desk will be around, of course, to help you.

What does this mean for you? It means that if you need in-depth research assistance, you will have to wait until after spring break (or hurry up and come in on Friday!). It also means no more late nights in the UGL for at least a week.

What does this NOT mean for you? It does not mean that you can’t come to the UGL! We’re still here, so please feel free to join us if you’re sticking around Champaign-Urbana over break. It also doesn’t mean that you can’t check out media items like DVDs! If you check something out before you leave and it’s due while you’re gone, you can renew it online through your account or call the library at 217-333-2477 to renew it.

As always, you can access the library’s online resources any time, anywhere (as long as you are connected to the interwebs!).

Have an awesome spring break!

Where the Magic Happens

Posted on March 10, 2012 by EP

A few posts back, we filled you in on what’s up with the research desk, and promised a similar post to fill you in on what goes on at the other desk in the UGL: Circulation and Reserves, known affectionately as the Circ desk.

Student Assistants at the circ desk.

Most of the folks you see at the Circ desk are student assistants (SAs). Many of them are undergrads, some are grad students. You can spot them by looking for their friendly, fun dispositions (and the slight look of exhaustion they have around midterms and finals). They work really hard to balance school and work, and we appreciate them for that!

The other people who help you at the Circ desk are the staff members who supervise the SAs and keep things running smoothly (on weekends, this job is filled by the graduate assistants who you normally find over at the ref desk). Like their (mostly) younger counterparts, the supervisors at the Circ desk are characterized by their friendly dispositions and ability to help you with any and all problems you might encounter while in the UGL. Trouble with a computer? Someone talking loudly on the quiet level? The supervisors are the folks who help you out with stuff like this. They also have the power to do things like reserve a collaboration room or a technology item for you, so they kind of rock.

That gets us to what you do at the Circ desk: this is where you check out items of all sorts. We have a lot to check out, so, you know, check it out. In order to make it possible for you to check out items from collaboration room keys to books to cameras to flash drives to video games, there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes at the Circ desk.

A big part of what we do at the Circ desk is to help make it possible for you to find and access the stuff you need. There are over 200,000 items available for you to check out and use at the UGL, including books, DVDs, laptops and more, and the SAs and circulation staff work to make sure things are clean, accessible, work properly, etc.

The SAs put tons of effort into physically managing the UGL’s collection. You might have seen them shelving and re-shelving books like the good book elves they are – especially around finals when everyone returns the hundreds of books they checked out for projects and papers. The SAs also do what is called “shelf-reading,” which involves reading the call numbers and titles of books on each shelf to make sure they are in the right order. (If that sounds at all fun to you, we’ll probably be hiring at the end of the semester!). As the SAs shelf-read and re-shelve, they also work hard to keep the place clean. That’s a big job and enough for another blog post.

The supervisors and SAs also do things like search for missing items, pull requested books off the shelves to send to other libraries or hold for you behind the Circ desk, and create displays to keep things interesting.

There’s a lot of technical work that happens, too, as a joint effort between the UGL circulation staff and staff in technical services at the Main Library. They work together to make sure every item has a barcode and a call number, and that every item is listed accurately in the catalog so you can find it easily there.

Planning a trip abroad? Brush up on those language skills!

Posted on March 7, 2012 by BD

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

¿Habla Español?

Parli Italiano?

(Photo courtesy of ToastyKen on flickr.com)

Yeah, us neither. But we sure do like traveling, and we’re willing to bet you do, too. Maybe you’re planning a European spring break vacation. Or maybe you’re thinking about studying abroad in Spain next year. Wouldn’t it be nice to learn a bit of the lingo before you go? Have we got the tool for you! Check out the awesome new online resource you can access through the library’s website called Tell Me More. With Tell Me More, you can practice your English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, or Spanish, all from the comfort of your own bunk bed. Here’s how you get there:

1. Start at the library website’s Online Journals and Databases tool.

2. Type “Tell me more” into the search box. Two results will pop up. Click the link for the second result, where it says “Databases DATABASES” (the first result is an NPR news publication).

To enter Tell Me More, click the link to “Databases DATABASES”

3. You’ll probably be prompted to enter your NetID and password. Once you do that, you should be taken directly to the Tell Me More homepage.

4. On the homepage, click on the message near the center: “New user, click here.” You will enter your name, email address and set up a username and password.

5. A screen may pop up asking you to to allow the system to access your camera and microphone. Once you check the appropriate boxes, you should be able to start learning your language of choice!

Some things we like about Tell Me More:

Supplemental Business and Culture specific content: Just trying to learn the business basics so you can impress your German colleagues? Or do you want a more in-depth understanding of how to communicate with people on a daily basis? You get to decide which kind of training you need.
Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening Workshops
37 different types of learning activities/interactions
Speech Recognition with playback and achievement scale
Spoken Error Tracking System (SETS®) technology automatically detects and corrects your pronunciation errors: This is pretty cool. If you’ve got a microphone, you can repeat the phrases you hear in Tell Me More, and they’ll chart how your accent/pronunciation compares with a native speaker’s. That way, you learn what words you’re saying right, and what you still need to work on.

Tell Me More seems pretty cool to us, but it’s a new resource for the library, and we’d love to hear about your experiences using it. Send us a comment through this blog to let us know what you think!

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Monthly Archives: March 2012