Listful Thinking

Posted on April 11, 2013 by CN

April showers bring not only May flowers, but also May caps, gowns, degrees and graduation ceremonies. Many of you will be leaving us forever soon, and we wish you the best! Before you go, though, you should make sure that you’ve gotten the most out of the library during your stay.

We’ve made a handy library ‘bucket list’ to help you explore all the secret levels and unlock all the achievements in your beloved UIUC library system. Be forewarned – the more things you do on this list, the more you’ll understand how awesome the library is, and you may never want to leave.

Image courtesy of homedepot.com

View the Gutenberg Bible fragments stored in the Rare Book Collection
Watch an entire television series from the UGL Media Collection
Go bird-watching in the Main Library (by which we mean check out their Audubon prints!)
Visit the Center for Children’s Books or the S-Collection, find your favorite children’s book, and be transported back to your childhood
Read an entire comic book series from the UGL’s graphic novel collection
Predict your post-college future with divination books from the Mandeville collection
Try to find a book on your own in the main stacks – look out for ghosts, mole people, and low ceilings!
If the main stacks aren’t creepy enough for you, try the stacks in the Math Library
If the Math stacks are too creepy for you, you can just check out the lovely murals in their rotunda!
Ask QB all your burning questions! If you don’t ask now, when will you ever find out?
Publicly defeat your friends at a game from the gaming collection
Get an international perspective on the news in the Communications Library News Lounge
Take a gander at the Sousa Archive’s current exhibitions (then go home and make Sousa’s favorite spaghetti)
Read the plaque next to the Morrow Plots – that’s the weird corn patch next door to the UGL. That corn is part of why the Undergrad is Underground – learn more about it!
Step outside into the UGL courtyard to enjoy the spring sunshine and read all of the words engraved around the upper wall
There are plenty more interesting things in the other libraries on campus – to round out the list, why don’t you try to visit them all?

If you’ve got a few semesters to go before you graduate, you can of course still do the things on this list – you can just do them at a more leisurely pace! If you enjoy completing this list (or if you think of any important library attractions that we forgot) make sure to tell us about it in the comments, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter. Good luck!

Poetry is Slammin’

Posted on April 8, 2013 by RAL

April is National Poetry Month! Poetry can be a great way to express yourself, and some of the world’s greatest literary works take the form of poems. Celebrate this month of poets, rhythm, meter, metrical patterns, stanzas, alliteration, diction and form by learning about one of the library’s many poetry resources.

National Poetry Month was established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets.

Online Resources

MLA International Bibliography
This database is your first stop for literary criticism and analysis of novels, short stories, poems, etc.
Literature Resource Center
This database is a bio-bibliographical guide to writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields. It’s searchable by name, title of work, subject/genre, nationality, date and place of birth, honors, awards and more.
Contemporary American Ethnic Poets: Lives, Works, Sources
This one-stop guide to 75 contemporary American poets from 12 different ethnicities includes biographical sketches, thematic discussions, and more.
Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare Vol. 4: The Romances & Poetry
This nifty tool has prose interpretations of Shakespeare’s sonnets!
Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets & Poetry
Separated into 5 volumes, this handy encyclopedia lists both author and poem topics alphabetically, making it easy to locate info on a specific writer, or find sweet poetry about everything from the Black Arts Movement to Visual Poetry.
Thematic Guide to British Poetry
This guide offers interpretations of 415 poems, representing the work of over 110 poets spanning seven centuries of British poetry.
Poetry Tool
Online archive of full text poetry with a robust search engine. It also includes numerous articles, podcasts, and audio on poets and poetry, brought to you by the Poetry Foundation.

Books & More
You can also search the library catalog by poem title, author or genre for books of poetry and books about poetry and poets. If you’re looking for some recommendations, check out our Poetry! Pinterest Board. And if you’re really feeling inspired, sign up to receive a Poem-A-Day via email, courtesy of Poets.org.

Still not finding that perfect poetry source? Ask a Librarian for help, and poetic justice shall surely be yours!

Write it, shoot it, create it

Posted on April 4, 2013 by HJL

There are lot of changes happening right now. (Spring! Is it finally here to stay?) In the UGL, we’ve launched our Media Commons. As part of our mission to support collaborative research and learning through technology, the Media Commons features a brand new video production studio. (You may have already heard all about it in the Daily Illini.)

The video production studio has lots of equipment, including a green screen.

The new video production studio in the UGL

In this former classroom space, together with CITES, we’ve been hard at work acquiring professional equipment and setting up a space for all your video production needs. Take a gander at some of the equipment available to you in the awesome new space:

Green screen
Pro-level lights, like the Lowel Fluo-Tec Studio 450 Phase-Dimmable Fluorescent Fixture, a professional fluorescent light fixture (We’ve included all the bells and whistles, so you can up the intensity or trim the spill. If that sounds fancy, it’s because it is.)
Cameras & tripods
Mics, including wireless mics, desktop mics, shotgun mics, and voice-over mics
Speakers, like the AV 40 Active 2-Way Desktop Monitor Speakers, which are ideal for smaller spaces (like our production studio) and are shielded for use near video monitors
The Mackie 1202-VLZ3 12-Channel Compact Mixer, which has 12 line inputs and 4 mic preamps

This all sounds great, you say? Well, then all you need to know is how to get access to this sweet setup. It is available for anyone who wants to use it. (Yes—that means you!) You have to reserve the space ahead of time and complete an orientation on the space and all its goodies. Email the Media Commons team at mediacommons@illinois.edu to get started. Check our website or the Media Commons Facebook page for updates, and we’ll also bring you updates about the Media Commons here at your friendly neighborhood UGL blog.

Everything you ever wanted to know about…

Posted on March 7, 2013 by HJL

How many movies has Samuel L. Jackson starred in? Aside from the telephone, what else did Alexander Graham Bell invent? How accurate was The Social Network in portraying Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg? With the Library’s biographical resources, you can find out just about anything about anyone.

The world's most interesting man says: I don't always look up my own life story, but when I do, I use the online reference collection.

Finding bios of people online can be super easy. Especially with websites like Wikipedia or IMDB, it may be more difficult to not find information about people online. As helpful as the world wide web can be, it’s often not the most credible of places to find information. Using the Library’s online reference collection, you have access to millions of biographies, still right at your fingertips. And you know it’s coming from Library-recommended, credible sources.

(You can use the link above, or if you start at the UGL homepage, click on Find in the upper right corner, and then select Biographies.)

There are a lot of resources to sift through, depending on your interests. These are some of our favorite multi-subject resources:

Biography Resource Center: This database covers people from all over the world, in all subject areas, from all points in history. You can search in a variety of ways, too: by name, occupation, birth or death years, and many others. Bonus: a lot of times, entries will include links to news articles, magazine articles or other references materials about the person in question.

American National Biography: If you need information about a famous American, this is a great place to get started. In addition to having bios of over 17,000 people, it also links you to other resources if you find yourself needing more info.

Credo Reference Biographies: While it may not contain its own full-text bios, it can link you out to other great resources, all by searching in one place.

In addition to the broad-coverage resources, there are also great places to start like American Men and Women of Science, Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, and Distinguished Asian Americans, all of which cover more specific subject areas.

If you get stuck trying to find information about a specific person, come talk to us at the Research Desk, stop in during Office Hours @ the UGL, or chat us up on IM. Stay curious, #ClubUGL.

Spotlight On…Lynda.com

Posted on March 4, 2013 by CN

You learn a lot of stuff in your classes, but sometimes there’s still more stuff you just gotta know. Maybe your professor gives an assignment that involves making a video, but you’ve never worked with video before–and the editing software wasn’t discussed in class. Or maybe you really need to know how to use a certain program for the jobs you’ll hopefully be getting, but you don’t have room in your schedule to take the class that would teach it to you. Or maybe, just maybe, you’re an insatiable learner with a hungry brain constantly on the lookout for new things to explore and master.

If any of these is the case for you, you’re in luck. As a student at the University of Illinois, you have access to the complete online training library at Lynda.com. Lynda provides helpful video tutorials for just about any program or application you could ever need–there are 1,642 topics and growing! Popular technology suites like the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office are well covered, as well as several programming languages, video and audio editing tools, and even a subsection for useful business skills. If you need to learn how to use a program as part of one of your courses, chances are you can find a tutorial for it on Lynda.

Accessing it is easy–just navigate to go.illinois.edu/lynda and put in your NetID and password as prompted. You should be directed to the Lynda.com main page, all signed in a ready to start learning! You can browse by subject area or the name of the products, or you can use the search bar in the upper right-hand corner to find topics related to your interests; whichever works best for your situation.

Navigation options include browsing by subject, software, or author, or searching.

Finding your way to what you need.

Once you’ve found something you want to learn about, click on the title of the tutorial, and you’ll be taken to a listing of all the videos within that tutorial. Large topics are broken up into shorter videos, meaning you can start and stop more easily without losing track of where you are in the tutorial overall. It’ll keep track of which ones you’ve already watched by displaying a little eye icon next to them:

Video tutorials are organized by chapter, and each chapter is either watched or unwatched, with a duration listed as well.

Keeping track of what you’ve watched

While you’re watching each video, there are some controls other than the basic start, stop and volume that can make your viewing experience more useful. To the right of the play button is the ‘autoplay’ feature–click on this to automatically load the next section as each section ends, saving yourself the trouble of clicking on a new link every time. To the left of the play button is a speech bubble with ‘CC’ in it–click this to turn on captioning, and read what is being said in the tutorial in addition to having sound. If you use certain programs to display the videos (which you can choose by adjusting the ‘player prefs’ in the right-hand corner), you’ll be given the option to speed up the video to twice its normal speed. This will cut down on the amount of time you have to spend watching videos, with the added benefit of making the narrators sound ever so slightly like chipmunks. I think we can all agree that this is the most valuable feature of Lynda overall.

Video Player controls let you adjust playback speed, captions, autoplay, and media player preference.

Getting the most out of playback.

If you need more details on how to navigate the site, Lynda actually provides a tutorial for using their tutorials! You can find it in the upper right-hand ‘support’ menu above the search bar; it’s listed as ‘how to use lynda.com’. If you’re having trouble signing in, CITES has a FAQto help you figure out what’s going on (you can also contact them with any questions or feedback). Good luck, and happy learning!

Find other posts in the Spotlight On… series here.

Statistically Speaking…

Posted on February 28, 2013 by RAL

What people at the "10 items of less" line at the supermarket have: it's mostly more than 10 items.

Data we’ve all witnessed in action…

When you’re doing research, statistics can be excellent evidence to support your topic or claim. After all, data don’t lie. But finding the perfect statistics for your research can be a little trickier. But don’t worry, the library’s got loads of starting points when charts and graphs and numbers (oh, my!) are what you need to find.

Before you start searching for stats, though, we’ve got a couple of tips for you. First, it might seem like data-collectors have probably collected data on every possible scenario under the sun, right? For example, if you are researching how many times people posted on Twitter about the 2013 Academy Award winners in relation to the TV ratings for this year’s ceremonies compared to past years, you should be able to find stats on that, right? Well… Maybe, but maybe not.

First, the Oscars were, like, just last weekend, so there probably hasn’t been a ton of data collected on them yet. Also, one person may’ve collected data on the TV ratings, and another person may’ve tallied Twitter reactions to the Oscar winners (how cute was Jennifer Lawrence when she tripped, btw? Team Katniss!), but they may not have necessarily put the two together. So, here are a few things to keep in mind when you are thinking about what kinds of stats you’d like to find:

How recent does the information need to be? Some data takes time to collect, and the most recent data may not be available. Is it okay if your data is from last year? Or even maybe 2010 or 2011?
Some events are too recent to have much data collected at all, so that’s another consideration.
If you are looking at how different elements compare to one another, you may have to find your stats in more than one place. For example, you might be the first person in the world to think about comparing professional athletes’ salaries with the money each athlete’s respective college made on sports income while said athlete played there. So, you might have to find data on pro salaries in one place, and data on college sport income in another, and then compare them yourself.
Is your research topic something that has statistics at all? Remember, in order for there to be statistics, someone, somewhere (we like to imagine in a white lab coat) needs to collect the raw data that turns into statistics. If no has has collected data on your topic, there might not be a lot of statistics.

That being said, there are still plenty of ways to find statistics—and plenty of ways to get help, too! If you want to browse a few starting points (conveniently organized by subject area), head to the UGL homepage and click on “Find” in the upper right corner.

The 'Find' button is in the top-most navigation menu on the UGL homepage.

The “Find” page is your link to locating all sorts of goodies!

Once on the “Find” page, scroll down to the bottom, and click on “Statistics.”

The statistics page is listed amongst many other helpful pages.

Tips on finding Statistics, among many, many other things!

The Find Statistics page lists a whole bunch of great places to start, including general starting points, which cover a lot of federal information and demographic info culled from census data. We’ve also got places to look for stats relating to Business & Economics, Crime, Education, Government, Health, Historical Statistics, Illinois-specific information, International info, and Psychology & the Social Sciences.

If you’re feeling really ambitious, the Government Information Services Library has an even more detailed list of starting points.

Of course, even if you find some potential stats, navigating your way through the data can still be a little daunting at first. You’re more than welcome to stop by the research desk, Ask A Librarian via chat, swing by Office Hours @ the UGL or make an appointment with a librarian who specializes in government information or other data services. We’re always happy to help you search for the stats that will really make your research shine!

UGL 101: How Do I…? Pages

Posted on February 21, 2013 by RAL

Handouts are available on a variety of topics.

You don’t always have to get online to get research help! Kick it old-skool with one of our handouts, packed with great tips!

There’s a page on the UGL website that’s got all the answers for starting, doing and finishing a research project. No, really! Linked from the upper right corner of the UGL homepage, the freshly updated How Do I…? page has all kinds of library and research-related goodness.

The How Do I page is linked in the top-most menu on the UGL homepage.

Are you having trouble choosing your topic or developing a topic you’ve already chosen? We’ve got pages that can help with that too.

The links on the How Do I page will help with every step of the research process, and more!

Links for help Getting Started, Finding Sources (all kinds!), Evaluating Sources and Citing Sources!

One of the best parts is there are also pages that can help you find all different kinds of information including:

Background Information (search encyclopedias you can actually cite!)
Campus, Local, and Regional Information
Editorials
Primary Sources
Pro/Con Arguments
Secondary Sources
Statistics

Need to know which library supports your major? Need help citing your sources? What did we tell you, this page has everything.

And the best part? Most of these pages have customized PDF’s you can download and print for reference later. If you’re feeling even more low-tech, visit the display near the New Books section and Media Commons on the upper level and snag a few handouts—all printed out in bright colors and ready to act as your quick guide.

Special thanks to guest blogger Ashley Booth!

Presidential Picks

Posted on February 18, 2013 by RAL

Mount Rushmore photo courtesy of fotopedia

Because we’re all about celebrating holidays here in the UGL, we’d like to draw your attention to Presidents’ Day! Celebrated this year on Monday, Feb. 18, the holiday was originally established to honor George Washington’s birthday, but it’s since morphed into a standard federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February. Either way, we think it’s a great excuse to showcase some of our resources for researching the U.S. presidency.

Finding Background Info

The A merican Presidents
Provides an overview and additional reading for each administration from George Washington through Bill Clinton
Encyclopedia of American Parties, Campaigns and Elections
This online encyclopedia has entries on contemporary American politics, including explanations of many of the most commonly used political terms and jargon
The Presidency A to Z
Contains more than 300 entries related to the U.S. Presidency
American National Biography
Contains 17,435 biographical articles on deceased Americans and includes men and women that were significant in politics, scholarship, science, sports, business, theater, film, and activism

Subject Guides

History of the U.S. Presidency
This subject research guide contains information on find background info, stats, journal articles and more for any research related to the U.S. President and the Executive Branch
Presidential Campaigns and Elections
This subject research guide has loads of information for researching presidential campaigns, campaign history, election reform and more

Movies
Doing research on the presidents not your thing? Don’t worry—Hollywood is more than adept at glamming up the Executive Office for film and TV. Why don’t you kick back and celebrate the holiday with one of the famous leading men (and one woman!) who played Commander-in-Chief instead? Just a partial list to get you going…

All The President’s Men
What’s better than a couple of enterprising reporters breaking open one of the biggest scandals in Presidential history? Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman playing said reporters, of course.

Battlestar Galactica
In this sci-fi space odyssey, the last remaining members of humanity must protect themselves from the evil Cylons—all under the fearless leadership of Madame President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell).

Deep Impact
While the other meteor-will-destroy-Earth movie from 1998 was much more entertaining (Armageddon, for those of you keeping score at home), Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of President Beck in Deep Impact was harder-hitting. (Pun intended.)

Frost/Nixon
Frank Langella does his best “I am not a crook!” impersonation of President Nixon in this Oscar-nominated version of the famous post-Watergate interview between Nixon and British TV host David Frost.

Independence Day
Bill Pullman kicks some serious butt as President of the U.S.A. (and, really, all of the remaining world) after aliens decide to destroy Earth. Between President Thomas J. Whitmore and Will Smith, we’re pretty sure we can take whatever E.T. can dish out.

JFK
Who killed JFK? In Oliver Stone’s classic conspiracy theory flick, District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) tries to find out.

The West Wing
Martin Sheen plays President Jed Bartlett in Aaron Sorkin’s fast-paced, sharp-tongued take on the American White House in the late ’90s/early ’00s.

Spotlight On… Tell Me More

Posted on February 14, 2013 by HJL

Planning to study abroad? Going to spend Spring Break somewhere south of the border? Just want to impress your pals with your stellar language skills? Then you need the Tell Me More language software.

Getting started learning a new language is muy fácil with Tell Me More. Follow these simple steps:

Image of tiny man standing on top of the world.

1. Start on the Library’s homepage. In the center column, look for the link to the Online Journals & Databases tool.

2. Search for “Tell Me More”.

3. When you see your results, you’ll want to select the second result on the page, labeled “Databases DATABASES”. Click on the “Databases” link.

4. You may then be prompted for your NetID and password. Enter that, and you’ll be taken to the Tell Me More homepage.

5. 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.

6. 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!

Select 'allow,' select 'remember,' close the Adobe window, then click continue.

Click to enter the world of the multi-lingual! Wunderbar!

Some great features about Tell Me More:

You can do reading, writing, speaking, and listening workshops. Learn how to sprechen sie Deutsch the best way for you!
It’s got 37 different types of learning activities/interactions. Impressionante!
It utilizes Spoken Error Tracking System (SETS®) technology, which automatically detects and corrects your pronunciation errors. Work on your acento!
Anytime, anywhere accessibility. Voila! You can learn a language on the go.

Whether you want to learn a new language for business or pleasure, Tell Me More is convenient, easy, and free to you. (And really, who doesn’t love free?)

Find other posts in the Spotlight On… series here.

Things We Know For Certain

Posted on February 11, 2013 by CN

We live in uncertain times. Not even something as mundane as the weather seems to follow a predictable pattern anymore. Is it still winter? Or is spring in the air? These questions stump us so completely that we turn to groundhogs to answer them, and not even the groundhogs can agree. What seems to be truth changes as frequently as the wind blows.

There’s one thing you can always count on, however–you can always come to the UGL to find great books to read and great movies to watch in your downtime. You may not know how you did on that test, but while you wait to find out, you can always find a good distraction here. We’ve compiled a list of new arrivals from the UGL shelves to help you explore and cope with the indefinite nature of modern life.

What’s A Dog For? The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man’s Best Friend
by John Homans
There’s no doubt that dogs are wonderful to have around, but what is their true role in our society? The way we treat our canine companions has changed greatly over the last few centuries, and this book explores that ever-evolving relationship. Incorporating personal anecdotes and scientific studies, it may make you view your fuzzy friend in a new light.

Blade Runner
directed by Ridley Scott
Are the people you know really people? Or are they merely beings genetically engineered to look like people? What does it really mean to be a person, anyway? And do androids ever have that dream where you have a test in a class you haven’t been to all semester? Feel Harrison Ford’s confusion as he grapples with these questions.

The Knowledge of Good and Evil
by Glenn Kleier
Ian’s parents died in a plane crash when he was young, and, though once a religious man, he is no longer certain if he will see them again in the afterlife. He and his wife, Angela, search for the lost journal of a dead theologian who might have the answers, but their quest is hindered by a mysterious cult. Will anything go right for them, and will they find the peace they desire? You’ll have to read to (maybe) find out.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
by Susannah Cahalan
If you’ve ever watched an episode of House, you know that medical mysteries can be some of the most tense and unsettling mysteries of all. This real-life medical drama chronicles the harrowing experiences of a young woman whose sudden bizarre symptoms are misdiagnosed as psychiatric problems, and whose memories disappear from an entire month of her life. The correct diagnosis is made clear in the end, but Susannah is left unsure of how to deal with her missing time and fractured identity.

Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America
by Morris P. Fiorina
Sometimes it can seem as if there are actually two Americas that disagree with each other deeply, instead of the fabled E Pluribus Unum. But are differences of political opinion among Americans really as great and divisive as they are often portrayed? What on Earth is the political climate really like? Author Morris Fiorina has some polling results and narratives that may help shed some light on the issue.

Will you have time to enjoy all these recommendations with all the other stuff you have to do? We’re not sure, but we’ll do our best to stand at your side while you figure it out.

Undergraduate Library Blog

Information and Updates on Getting the Most out of the UGL

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