Check It Out

Andy Burkhardt's Meaningful Books

2010-02-02T16:28:00.001-05:00

Andy's Meaningful Books from champlib on Vimeo.

HOW TO: Learn to Manage Your Citations with Refworks

2009-10-13T15:18:00.004-04:00

The Library will be hosting three workshops over the next few days to introduce RefWorks. Refworks is a tool to organize all your citations and easily create a bibliography from them. Workshops will be held at the following times:

Thursday, Oct. 15th, noon, Foster 100
Monday, Oct. 19th, 3:30, MIC 308
Tuesday, Oct. 20th, 7 pm, Foster 104

Please feel free to join us at any of these workshops to learn more about RefWorks.

Jeff Rutenbeck's List of Meaningful Books

2009-09-15T16:58:00.001-04:00

If you missed Jeff Rutenbeck's Meaningful Books, you really did miss out! Jeff was terrific. And the threads he pulled together during his discussion of these books was interesting, thought provoking, and funny. A great example of why I love this series!

Jeff's books are still on display at the Miller Information Commons. If you can't make it over, here's his list:

The Peleponnesian War by Thucydides
I will Fear No Evil Robert A. Heinlen
The Hypercomplex Society by Lars Qvortrup
Marxism and Literature by Raymond Williams
Communication as culture: essays on media and society by James A. Carey
Dune by Frank Herbert
Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan
Discovering the news : a social history of American newspapers by Michael Schudson.
The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Phillip K. Dick
The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul
Ender’s Game, Card by Orson Scott Card
Germinal by Emile Zola
Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson

New databases for the new year

2009-08-25T09:26:00.004-04:00

It's a new year and several new databases are now available in Champlain's online collection. Check out the Databases by Subject lists to find new resources in your field of study.

Relevancy ranking now in online catalog

2009-08-25T09:22:00.003-04:00

A recent upgrade in our online catalog system (Innovative Interfaces' WebPAC PRO) includes the "RightResults" relevance ranking algorithm. When you search for books in Champlain's collection, your results will now be ranked by relevance. Try it out with a Keyword search in the online catalog.

Catalog back online

2009-06-30T14:45:00.000-04:00

The online catalog is functional again! The planned upgrade to the Champlain College online catalog system has been successfully completed. Thanks for your patience during the upgrade process.

Catalog unavailable today June 30

2009-06-26T10:39:00.002-04:00

The Champlain College Library online catalog will be unavailable from 8:00 am on Tuesday, June 30 until 8:00 am on Wednesday, July 1 due to server replacement. This planned upgrade will allow for continued maintenance and growth of the catalog, but it means that the online catalog will be unsearchable during this time period, particularly the day of Tuesday June 30.

We apologize for the inconvenience. If you need to locate and check out books during the downtime, please let us know so we can try to help. No other resources on the Library website other than the catalog will be affected. We anticipate that the online catalog will be fully functional by 8:00 am Wednesday, July 1.

The library is famous!

2009-04-01T10:48:00.004-04:00

In addition to getting on the cover of Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries a couple of the librarians also made it into a student video. The library is becoming pretty famous.

Check out the rest of the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/champlainforreel

DISPLAY: Dreaming of Paradise

2009-03-27T15:54:00.005-04:00

Webster defines paradise as "any place of complete bliss and delight and peace." One might add, warm. Stop by the library and check out a collection of books on display that challenges Webster's definition--paradise: lost or found? myth or reality?

The Meaningful Books Series Highlights Becky Peterson

2009-02-23T09:18:00.001-05:00

The Miller Information Commons’
“Meaningful Books” series highlights
Becky Peterson

Tuesday, February 24th at Noon.
Miller Information Commons, Vista Room

Becky is in her 22nd year at Champlain and is currently the Registrar. For 16 years, she worked as a Counselor in Student Life. She has also led the Music Makers group at Champlain for 12 years. When she is not at work, there is a good chance that Becky is either singing, practicing yoga, or reading.

Becky clearly remembers when, at 7 years old, her father took her to the public library to get her first library card. Reading opened up a whole new world to her, and since that day, Becky has made frequent pilgrimages to the public library wherever she has lived.

Becky enjoys the serendipity involved in finding just the right book to read in the present and then looking back years later and seeing the ways books have connected with each other and with her life as it has evolved. Selecting this list of meaningful books has been a real “trip down memory lane” for Becky, and she looks forward to sharing what she discovered along the way.

Here's a list of Becky's Meaningful Books:

1. Little Women Louisa May Alcott
2. Anne of Avonlea L. M. Montgomery
3. The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank
4. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone JK Rowling
6. Elements of Style E.B. White
7. Dubliners James Joyce
8. The Snow Leopard Peter Mathiessen
9. Selected Poems of Langston Hughes Langston Hughes
10. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard
11. Living the Good Life Helen and Scott Nearing
12. The Moosewood Cookbook Mollie Katzen
13. The Second Sex Simone De Beauvoir
14. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Grace Paley
15. Peace Is Every Step Thich Nhat Hanh
16. The Color of Water James McBride
17. Paul Robeson Martin Duberman
18. Having Our Say Sarah and A.Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth
19. Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris
20. Anam Cara John O'Donohue
21. Signs of Life: A Memoir of Dying and Discovery Tim Brookes

Join us on Tuesday to hear the story behind the books.

Flying Fotos

2009-02-16T11:48:00.002-05:00

This is a pretty awesome flickr widget designed by Roy Tanck. Here is our flickr stream flying around the page.

Roy Tanck's Flick Widget requires Flash Player 9 or better.

Get this widget at roytanck.com

Happy 200th B-day Darwin and Lincoln!!!

2009-02-11T15:39:00.005-05:00

The library has both a Lincoln and Darwin book display up in the entrace and at the desk. Check out these monumentous historical figures. We have also made a video in celebration of the occasion.

Ski Bonk

2009-01-13T16:14:00.001-05:00

Ski Bonkgreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Holiday Card

2008-12-08T14:32:00.005-05:00

If the library had a Christmas/Chanukah/Holiday/Everything card, this would be it. From our librarian family to you, Happy Holidays and keep it down. People are trying to study.

All Fun, All the Time

2008-11-20T13:45:00.002-05:00

It's that time of your again. Jib Jab and Office Max have teamed up once again to make the holidays even more merry. Here is a special greeting from the library to you.

Renee Florsheim's Meaningful Books

2008-11-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

The Miller Information Commons’
“Meaningful Books” Series
highlights

Renee Florsheim
Dean of the Division of Business

MONDAY, November 24th
3:30 pm
Miller Information Commons, Vista Room

(Refreshments will be served)

Join the Library in welcoming Renee to Champlain.

Preview some of Renee’s meaningful books in the glass case
on the Main Floor of the MIC.

Not the Healthiest?

2008-11-18T15:10:00.002-05:00

I posted yesterday that Burlington was the healthiest city in the U.S. But a few hours later my friend e-mailed me this article from Web MD saying that Lincoln, Nebraska was the healthiest. It says that the other rankings were derived from 2006 CDC figures.

This makes a good information literacy point. It is easy to "prove" things based on some article, but that does not make it true. If someone only looked at my previous blog post or the original CNN or Burlington Free Press article, they would only get one side of the story.

It is important to question our information. Don't just accept what CNN says or Web MD says, look at the CDC numbers for yourself. In this case it is not terribly important but in others it may be. Question the info that is given to you, and don't simply take things for granted.

And who cares if we are #4 or #1? We're still in exceptional health, and I think I would rather live here than Nebraska.

Healthiest City in U.S.

2008-11-17T09:01:00.002-05:00

According to the CDC, Burlington is the healthiest city in the U.S. This may come as little surprise to those of you who are constantly biking, hiking, walking, etc. Here at Champlain people even start skiing and snowboarding before the snow flies.

So whatever else is going wrong, whether you are stressing about finals or the holiday season, at least you can say you've got your health.

Chili Cookoff

2008-10-30T09:24:00.004-04:00

Last week at here at the library we hosted the First Annual Faculty/Staff Chili Cookoff and Tasting and it was a stunning success. We brought people together from all over campus including entries from 212 Battery down by the lake and Spinner in Winooski.

Our three skilled judges Bob Mayer, Sandi Earle, and Craig McKeon chose our winner Tee Mulhall. They also chose David Wolfe as winner of "Most Original Chili" with his strawberry rhubarb entry, which edged out Rob Williams' entry of Yak Chili no less.

The discerning chili crowds spoke loud and clear choosing Rich Long's entry as their favorite chili and giving him the title of "People's Chili Champion."

There were at least 73 people who voted and I am willing to bet that over 100 people came to taste chili a week ago. It was a good opportunity to bring different parts of the campus together who would not normally commingle.

Due to the popularity of this event there is already a Second Annual Cookoff in the works. We'll see you next year once the leaves start turning and a chill permeates the air!

TC Boyle at the Library

2008-10-14T16:34:00.005-04:00

Every year, Champlain selects a Community Book for the campus to read and come together to discuss. This year we read T.C. Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain.

Boyle was here for two and 1/2 days. The big bang of those two days is his book talk. Andy Burkhardt, the Library's Emerging Technologies librarian, showed his emerging technologies stuff by live-twittering it. Thanks Andy! The talk was amazing: Boyle read a short story, talked about his writing process, read an excerpt from the Tortilla Curtain, and then answered questions. He was very funny but also gave a lot of insight into how he writes. My favorite part was when he wouldn't answer a question about the book's interpretation. Essentially, he believes that the writer must leave issues of interpretation up to the reader. That is our job. If he told us it was just one way, what fun would that be? YES!

One of the more quiet but wonderful parts to the Community Book author's visit is their seeing our GGD students' renditions of the bookjacket. Here's Professor David Lustgarten's announcement of the project:

Students in Graphic Design and Illustration classes have produced their own interpretation of T.C. Boyle's "The Tortilla Curtain" in the form of new book jackets. Their varied, imaginative, and highly professional work can be
viewed in the Miller Information Commons magazine area on the first floor, where new acquisitions are normally displayed. The show will be up for about three weeks.

TC Boyle seemed to really enjoy the bookjackets, as these picture show:

It’s always wonderful to have student art work at the Library, but even better to have authors and students mingling, discussing the importance of the students’ choices in their work, and students getting the real world perspective of book art in the eyes of an acclaimed author.

Yup, it was pretty awesome.

Kyle Dodson's Meaningful Books

2008-09-23T16:02:00.003-04:00

Kyle Dodson, our new Director of the Center for Service and Civic Engagement, was truly engaging on Monday during his Meaningful Books talk. The conversation branched over a lot of topics: race, media, accountability, politics, elections, youth, the individual v. the society...I could go on. Needless to say, it was wonderful.

In case you haven't made it over to look at the display of Kyle's books on the Main level of the MIC (come on over!), here is the list of books that he discussed:
NVISIBLE MAN-Ralph Ellison
NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME-James Baldwin
FOUNTAINHEAD-Ayn Rand
THE ORDEAL OF INTEGRATION-Orlando Patterson
CATCHER IN THE RYE-J.D. Salinger
A SEPARATE PEACE-John Knowles
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD-Zora Neale Hurston
CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES-John Kennedy Toole
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD-Harper Lee
AMAZING GRACE-Jonathan Kozol
THE SNOW LEOPARD-Peter Matthiessen
THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD-Ray Suarez
DON QUIXOTE-Miguel de Cervantes
LOVESONG: Becoming a Jew-Julius Lester
MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL-John Berendt
ALL SOULS: A FAMILY STORY FROM SOUTHIE-Michael Patrick MacDonald
LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET-Rainer Marie Rilke
FREAKONOMICS-Stephen Dubner and Steven Levit

Many thanks to Kyle for an excellent hour of conversation and welcome to Champlain!

Shiver Me Timbers!!!!

2008-09-19T09:21:00.005-04:00

Happy International Talk like a Pirate Day! I almost forgot, but luckily I was reminded by one of my friends online. So I exhort the faculty, staff, and students of Champlain to shove off and start talking like ye be pirates. I would really like to hear about an entire class conducted in piratese, but that may be wishful thinking.

I may try to take a reference session today so I can throw at least some pirating talk into the questions I get. Maybe I'll make an eye patch, or at least draw an anchor tattoo on my arm.

If you arRRRR not sure how to talk tlike a pirate here is an instructional video:

Good luck me hearties!

Grockit and learning in gaming

2008-09-11T12:59:00.007-04:00

Here at the library we have been involved with two separate groups who are designing games for us. These games are meant to teach information literacy. We are not quite sure how we are ultimately going to use them, but that may be easier once we see the finished projects. From the meetings I have been to, the games are looking pretty solid and I can't wait to play them.

In addition, a number of students recently got a grant from the UN to design a game that combats violence against women. They traveled to South Africa and from their blog posts clearly had an amazing and moving experience. Learning in gaming is clearly a trend around here, and an awesome one from my perspective. I love fooling people into learning.

This trend is not limited to Champlain College though. The startup company Grockit took home a Jury Selection award at this year's TechCrunch50. From what I have read it is “Massively Multi Player Online Learning Game” in which you are a student in a classroom and you get questions that you can discuss and debate and ultimately decide on. You award "Grockit points" to other students that increase or decrease their ranking. It sounds like an online study session but funner. The article talks about using it to study for things like the SATs, but I could see this product used in a lot of interesting ways, especially in the classroom. They have been very secretive about it for the past year and only now are they opening it up to the light of day. I am excited to learn more about it and see where this game goes.

Who knows, maybe some of our graduates will go on to work on this game or something even better.

ArtStor Workshops

2008-08-28T08:16:00.003-04:00

This fall, the Library will be offereing workshops to help students and faculty get the knack for ArtStor & Naxos. Artstor offers over 750,000 images from artistic traditions across many times and cultures, including painting, architecture, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Naxos, gives online access to classical, jazz, folk, blues, world, and other music genres. It includes over 16,000 CDs, plus liner notes, libretti, biographies, and more.

Workshops will cover:

ArtStor Level 1: Explore ArtStor, navigate the collections, search images, look at individual images, look at details of an image. Create an account and start a folder. (30 minutes)

ArtStor Level 2: Use an account, offline image viewer, and slide sorter. Make notes. The last 20 minutes will cover user privileges, accessing class folders, instructor privileges. (30 minutes)

ArtStor More: Please contact a librarian for a private consultation

Or, check out ArtStor on Youtube.
1. Register for an Artstor Account
2. Making an Image Group
3. Downloading Images to Powerpoint

Naxos: General exploration of the music database. Search for artists, pieces of music, era, or instrument. Create a playlist. (30 minutes)

Join us at a workshop!
Artstor, Level 1
• 9/10/08—noon (30 min.)—MIC G08
• 9/18/08—12:30 pm (30 min.)—Foster 104
• 9/22/08—3:30 pm (30 min.)—MIC 308
• 9/29/08—5:00 pm (30 min.)—Foster 100

Artstor, Level 2
• 9/29/08—3:30 (30 min.)—MIC G08
• 10/1/08—5:00 pm (30 min.)—Wick 101

Naxos
• 9/16/08—noon (30 min.)—Foster 104
• 10/8/08—12:30 pm (30 min.)—MIC 308

Workshops are interactive and for faculty and students. If you plan on requiring attendance for students, please let us know!

New librarian joining the team

2008-08-12T11:16:00.005-04:00

Hi! I have been here three whole weeks now, so I figure that I should formally introduce myself. My name is Andy Burkhardt, and I am the new Emerging Technologies Librarian at Champlain College. I am very excited to be working here. Burlington seems like a very lively, effervescent city. I am originally from Minnesota so I am no stranger to cold and snow. I also recently got my Masters in Library and Information Science from UW-Madison in Wisconsin, so I am no stranger to local cheeses either.

As an Emerging Technologies Librarian I plan on finding creative ways to use new and existing technologies to make using the library easier and hopefully more fun. An example of something I am going to be working on is making the instant messaging reference service we provide more visible and available longer hours. Another technology I plan on employing is screen-casting software. This is software that is used to capture movements, mouse-clicks and pretty much anything else that goes happens on a computer screen. I plan on making easy to understand tutorials that explain things like how to do research and how to find books and articles. These are just a couple examples of the ideas that I have swimming around in my brain. There are all sorts of interweb technologies that I would like to try out here at Champlain. But there is probably a lot of stuff that I haven’t even thought of that may work great at the library. If you have any great ideas for technologies that you’d like to see used in the library or know more about, I would love to hear about them. You can get a hold of me here, or my screen name on AIM is andyatmic.

I won’t be hidden away in my office behind the warm glow of the computer screen all the time. I’ll be out at the reference desk answering questions. I also look forward to a heavy instruction schedule, assisting in the new information literacy initiative for which we are busily preparing. I look forward to meeting a lot of new people, making new friends and becoming a part of the community here at Champlain College.

P.S. These “Read” posters are kinda cool. You can make your own here at the ALA website.

So much blogging going on

2008-06-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

The Faculty Internationalization Initiative is well underway at Champlain. How do I know? Because there's a whole lot of blogging going on. Some faculty are on their way, some are out in the world right now, and some are already back in the States. But no matter where in the world they are, you can read about their adventures, observations, and experiences on their blogs. Professors David Kite, Bob Mayer, Richard Hunt, and of course Gary Scudder are full of interesting tales. I know Prof. Scudder heads out this weekend so add their blogs to you RSS for updates.

ANNOUNCING THE COLEMAN FOUNDATION GRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COLLECTION

2008-05-06T14:48:00.003-04:00

The library received funding through a grant to the College from the Coleman Foundation (www.colemanfoundation.org) to purchase the initial one year subscription to the Small Business Resource Center Database and almost 200 print books on entrepreneurship. Special thanks to Charlie Nagelschmidt collaborating with Greg Morgan (Development), Dave Binch (VITC) Cinse Bonino (CIP) and Marie Kascus (MIC) to make this special collection available to the Champlain College community.

Entrepreneurs launching a new business need help with all aspects of selecting and operating a business including information gathering, start-up, writing a business plan, financing, marketing and advertising, management, human resources, accounting, taxes, knowing the law, growing the business, franchising and much more. Titles included in this collection reflect the broad range of resources needed to support Champlain’s BYOBiz Program and entrepreneurship throughout Vermont and beyond. Many of the books selected are practice based and intended to jump-start and sustain any fledgling entrepreneur. The global impact of entrepreneurship is reflected in a number of the titles included in this specialized collection of entrepreneurial resources. This print collection is physically located in the Miller Information Commons and virtually accessible via the library/college Web Page through the library flickr site below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/millerinfocommons/sets/72157603734627908/

The Coleman Foundation entrepreneurship collection is our May New Book Display.

Come to the main floor of the Miller Information Commons on Tuesday May 13th at 3:30 for a reception with the Business Division to showcase this special collection to the entire college community.

National Turn Off TV Week April 22-28

2008-04-23T15:16:00.017-04:00

Can you imagine how cool it would be if everyone on the planet who has a TV really did unplug, even for one day--say, on Earth Day, April 22nd! VPR commentator Deborah Luskin has a problem with pulling the plug on TV, however, and she'll tell you why. Luskin's daughter was "right on" when she said to her mother: "Not watching TV gave us a chance to be ourselves instead of trying to be like everyone else." Years ago I used to defend TV every now and then, but now my mindset is more like the bumper sticker that advertises "kill your TV." This week, when you get that urge to pick up the remote, pick up a book instead. And now for the best part, listen to our own Rob Williams singing Kill Your Television.

Celebrate Earth Day, Today and Everyday

2008-04-21T12:15:00.015-04:00

Greetings from a tree-hugging librarian.....and check out the EPA's website featuring a list of Earth Day events and volunteer opportunities, a timeline and history of Earth Day, and much more, including the cool Environmental Tips Widget and Earthday Countdown Widget. And check out our display in the Miller Information Commons for great books on topics ranging from global warming to the publishing of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

National Library Week on YouTube (Sarah & Paula's Favorites!)

2008-04-17T13:18:00.003-04:00

Happy National Library Week Champlain!

We were amazed and excited (so much so that our workstudies laughed at us) to see all of these funny and clever You Tubes on National Library Week.

And we love the little diddy and the little creatures dancing.
Here are some of our favorites:

Given the jump in reference this year, we really liked this one:

For our gamers out there:

Tammy Miller, our head of Circulation, will love this one:

Anyone read People Magazine?

And we really have that song in our heads!
Happy National Library Week!

YEAHH!!!

PS: Paula found these on the Lipstick Librarian blog. If you didn't know, librarians are avid bloggers. Just in case you were wondering.

Rockin Reference!

2008-04-15T20:19:00.002-04:00

Wow: we must be doing something right because our students are slamming us at the Reference desk this finals season! And not just with quick, easy questions either. A lot of what is coming our way are sophisticated, in depth, difficult issues and questions. What ever is in the air, it certainly is keeping us busy at the MIC.

Technology Workshops: Mark Your Calendars!

2008-03-31T16:09:00.004-04:00

Champlain's IT Department are offering a host of helpful workshops this month. Some are for getting your work done (Outlook, Powerpoint) but others are to spread our wings into social networking and effective use and enjoyment of 2.0. Here's a list of what is offered:

Monday 3/31 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 4/1 @ 8:00 am
Outlook and Meetings – Meeting Requests
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to create meeting and track responses from invitees

Monday 4/7 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 4/8 @ 8:00 am
Outlook IV – Searching and Sorting
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to more easily find messages in your inbox or folders.

Monday 4/14 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 4/15 @ 8:00 am
PowerPoint Basics
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to create and show a basic PowerPoint Presentation

Monday 4/28 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 4/29 @ 8:00 am
Connecting to the H: drive from home – Secure FTP
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to access your Network H: drive from home (or anywhere)

Monday 5/5 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 5/6 @ 8:00 am
Social Networks
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to create a profile on a social network site

Monday 5/12 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 5/13 @ 8:00 am
ClearSpace
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to navigate in the ClearSpace

Monday 5/19 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 5/20 @ 8:00 am
RSS Feeds
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to subscribe and unsubscribe to RSS feeds of your favorite websites

Monday 5/26 @ 4:00 pm and Tuesday 5/27 @ 8:00 am
Microsoft Vista – A Tour
At the end of this workshop you’ll be able to describe the features and benefits of Microsoft’s latest generation of desktop operating systems

Brown Bag Informal

2008-02-29T15:37:00.010-05:00

It's time for another Brown Bag Informal at the Library. This time we are going to feature our cool new streaming-music database, Naxos--not to be confused with the island off the coast of Greece! Faculty member Lois Price and I will be showing off the Naxos Music Library database on Thursday, March 6th, from 12:30-1:30 in MIC 308. Discover a wide range of music from piano music of Enrique Granados to Chinese lute music of Fung Lam. Lois will discuss how she has used Naxos in her classes, and I will present some of the basic features of the database. Join Lois and me on Thursday for a musical event.

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." -Plato

Wikipedia: where does it belong?

2008-02-28T10:01:00.003-05:00

As I am spending more time in the classroom this semester, I am constantly dealing with the question of Wikipedia, the encyclopedia anyone can edit. As part of my starting the Information Literacy program with students, I ask them if they have been told that they can't use Wikipedia. Invariably, they say yes. Then I ask them why they think that is. Invariably, they say that it is because anyone can edit it. Because professors think it is unreliable. Because professors, wrongly they say, think it isn't worthwhile.

Students get pretty riled up about it.

The reason I don't want students to use Wikipedia is not because anyone can edit it. As a matter of fact, the more time I spend on Wikipedia, the more articles I read, the more changes I track, the more I learn about the technology, the more I believe in the democratization of information, the more I think that an encyclopedia anyone can edit is cool. Very cool.

But I still don't want students to use Wikipedia for their academic research papers. I don't want students to use any encyclopedias as a resource of an academic research paper. Encyclopedias, I tell students, are starting places. They are a great place to familiarize yourself with a topic, to identify keywords, key events, key issues, key players. But going to a summarization of a topic and its issues is not research. You, or your parents, aren't paying all this money for you to look stuff up in an encyclopedia and call it a day.

Students are hear to hone their critical thinking, writing, reading, and analytical skills. They are here to do dig deeper into what they learn in encyclopedia entries, electronic or print, edited by anyone or by the elite.

Much like Kim Leeder points out in this post from the ACRLblog (ACRL=Association of College and Research Libraries), a few years ago I took a different tack on Wikipedia. But it has changed and so have I. I think Wikipedia will continue to improve and continue to flourish, especially if Aaron Swartz gets his way and connects the Open Library with Wikipedia.

So where does Wikipedia belong in the research process: as a place to start it. But it is just that: a starting place. It does not belong on a Works Cited page. But it can surely be a useful resource in figuring out what does.

The List of Gary Scudder's Books

2008-02-21T13:07:00.001-05:00

By popular demand, here is the list of Gary Scudder's Meaningful Books. All but a few are available at the Library, so if something looks appealling, come check it out!

Zhu Xi, Reflections on Things at Hand

James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

Junichiro Tanizaki, Some Prefer Nettles

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio

Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory

Yukio Mishima, The Sea of Fertility cycle
Spring Snow
Runaway Horses
The Temple of Dawn
The Decay of the Angel

Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book

Valmaki, Ramayana

Brooks Hansen, The Chess Garden

Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That

Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot

Herodotus, Histories

Basho, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer

J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings trilogy

Meaningful Books Series Highlights Gary Scudder

2008-02-18T11:39:00.007-05:00

“The Miller Information Commons’ “Meaningful Books” series highlights Professor Gary Scudder

Monday, February 18th at 3:30 pm,
Miller Information Commons, Vista Room
(Refreshments will be served)

Professor Gary Scudder, recipient of the 2007 Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship, grew up in a small, country town in southern Indiana before cable TV or the Internet. While he wouldn't romanticize that upbringing, it was an environment designed to turn someone towards a love of reading. Professor Scudder found out early that books were a magical escape. For him, they have never lost that power of enchantment.

As a great and avid reader, Professor Scudder’s only problem in producing his list of Meaningful Books was later remembering other books that he had forgotten to include by some terrible oversight - and, as he said, “upon remembering them, I suddenly felt a sense of guilt as if I had heartlessly forgotten an old friend."

The Lyman Professorship honors a faculty member who has shown dedication to students and Champlain College through a record of excellence in teaching and service to the College.

A selection of Gary’s Meaningful Books is on display in the glass case on the main floor of the Miller Information Commons. Stop by to look at some of the titles.
Join the Library on Feb. 18th to find out more about the books that have made a difference in Gary Scudder’s life.

Champlain FOCUSES THE NATION

2008-01-25T10:35:00.000-05:00

Monday kicks off Focus the Nation at Champlain and we have a lot of events to help us all learn what we can do to find solutions for global warming. Check out the posters around campus, or the wiki to find out what's going on.

Or, check out these AWESOME videos made by Prof. Rob Williams' Contemporary Media Issues class:

To see more of what Champlain is doing, or what's going on nationally, search Focus the Nation in You Tube. We are a big part of something big! FOCUS THE NATION!

Keep it Focused...

2008-01-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Visit the Sustain Champlain Wiki for more information and the full schedule of events..

We can all do something! Get involved!

Focus the Nation at Champlain

2007-12-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

This past year, I signed on to be an ACRL Legislative Advocate. It has been a fascinating appointment: I send information about important legislative issues out into my community to rally support from my college and immediate community while informing them of the issues that impact their ability to access information as well as remind them of their power as voters.

One particular issue that I am excited to support is the HIGHER EDUCATION SUSTAINABILITY ACT. Here is an update by Kara Malenfant, our contact as Legislative Advocates:

On November 9, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller unveiled the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (HR 4137) that reauthorizes the Higher Education Act. At the request of many of the 17 co-sponsors of HESA, Chairman Miller included HESA in HR 4137.

Subsequently the Higher Education Sustainability Act of 2007 (S. 2444) was introduced into the Senate on December 11 by Senator Patty Murray. HESA is co-sponsored by Senators Bingaman, Dodd, Kennedy, and Kerry. Such a powerful list of Democratic co-sponsors puts HESA in an excellent position.

The House is expected to vote in mid-January on the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (HR 4137) that reauthorizes the Higher Education Act and also includes HESA. If it passes, then the conference between the House and Senate (which has already passed their new Higher Education act) should occur shortly thereafter. This conference will decide which of the 30+ new programs including HESA make it into the final bill.

Environmental literacy is vital to our ability to fight global warming in a longterm, sustainable, and proactive way. Champlain is involved in
Focus the Nation, to turn our energy and attention to finding solutions for global warming. Champlain is joining more than 1000 other institutions nation-wide on January 31st to bring our attention to finding solutions for Global Warming. We are excited to welcome Bill McKibben as our keynote speaker and we have a bunch of events lined up including a Teach In, a sustainabiltiy expo, and a film series.

If you are interested in getting involved, contact Sarah Cohen or Rob Williams (we are both at the Miller Information Commons). One of the best things you can do is to come to events and bring your friends. Educating yourself is vital to finding solutions; learning more is doing something.

Time for yourself with a good book

2007-12-14T16:28:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, in less than a week everyone at Champlain will have some time to themselves. Yes, finals are this weekend and then...(drum roll)....we are on break!

While everyone takes that time for themselves, I hope we take a moment to pick up a book. You know, for pleasure reading. Remember that? Reading for fun?
Yes, I hope you find that book at the Library. But even if you don’t, take up a book regardless. Take a moment to think about what you WANT to read. Or what someone you love might want to read. Let’s not forget, books are great holiday gifts.

Some good lists of good books:
The Ten Best Books of 2007 by the New York Times, as well as their Gift Guide (the Boxed Sets bit is really good). The Happy Booker, Carole Burns, whose book is on display among the New Books this month, also offers a good list. Or if you are trying to remember one of the books from a previous New Books list, try looking at the
Archive.

It has been a busy semester. I hope everyone has the chance to enjoy this break with your friends, families, and of course, a new book.

Happy Holidays!

Hoping to see you at the Library.

Books for Fun at the MIC

2007-12-03T11:03:00.000-05:00

Students, faculty, and staff often wonder if there is anything "fun" to read in the Library's stacks.

To answer that question, the Library has started to highlight our collection of "Popular Reading" in a virtual display. And to start us off, we are highlighting "Great Books into Great Movies". Some of the greatest movies of all time were books first.

More popular reading collections are soon to come so don't forget to Check It Out!

Tent City

2007-11-14T12:13:00.000-05:00

As part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, FIFTY Champlain College students signed up to participate in "Tent City," a week-long on-campus student-led service project designed to simulate homelessness and raise money for Burlington's COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter) program. Here's some footage of their work.

Once again, thanks to Rob Williams for the footage and to the students who donate their time and energy to helping all of us realize how fortunate we are.

Global Modules Hit the Big Time!

2007-10-29T10:16:00.001-04:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education has caught on to the coolness of Global Modules and highlighted them in this article. Congratulations Gary and everyone involved in making Global Modules a success.

If you are still wondering what the big deal about Global Modules is, here is Gary giving you the skinny in 9 minutes (bravo to Rob Williams for the video and the editing!)

So What is a Global Module?

2007-10-23T20:07:00.000-04:00

You've heard about it.
You've maybe even participated in it.
But what is a global module?

Thre are a couple of ways to find out:
1. Track down that elusive Gary Scudder and latch on to his enthusiasm for the project. Oh wait...he's traveling the world right now making connections for further modules but keep your eyes on the blog roll to the right to find out when he'll be back!
2. Check out the Global Modules website or blog to learn more.
3. Check it out in YouTube. (Yes, educational uses for YouTube!)
Here is our own Bob Mayer:

And here is Cinse Bonino's explanation of it:

Thanks to Rob Williams for capturing these "Champlain Stories" and sharing them with the rest of us.

Meaningful Books Series highlights Angela Batista

2007-10-18T14:02:00.000-04:00

The Miller Information Commons’ “Meaningful Books” Series highlights

Angela Batista, Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Wednesday, October 24th at Noon,
Miller Information Commons, Vista Room
(Refreshments will be served)

Welcome and get to know Angela Batista, the new director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Angela's list of meaningful books reflects her journey and many transitions from a simple childhood in the Dominican Republic to a complex immigrant experience in New York City and later in Vermont.

Although Angela did not own any books as a child, her love of reading was inspired by the stories she listened to on the radio and the oral tradition passed down from generation to generation by her family members.

The first book Angela owned by Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes, a gift by a beloved high school teacher. The story opened a whole new world of possibilities and dreams for Angela as a young woman trying to find her way out of a challenging and at times dangerous neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Join us on October 24th to find out more about Angela's journey and the books that have made a difference in her life.

Champlain Gamers noted in the Library blogosphere

2007-10-10T14:26:00.000-04:00

Rock on Jenny Levine, (aka the Shifted Librarian) for highlighting Champlain College's gaming students in this post. All of us at the Library wish them the very best of luck in this hard core contest. I know they will rock it in Orlando!

These are the same students that are working with the Library to develop an information literacy game to complement are developing IL program. We met for a brainstorming session last night and they are a rowdy, smart, creative bunch. They latched onto key IL concepts and ran with it, offering a slew ideas as to how to make information literacy exciting to college kids everywhere.

More to come on the project. Exciting stuff coming out of Champlain...

LexisNexis: let's put it to good use!

2007-10-10T11:34:00.000-04:00

Have you used LexisNexis recently and noticed a change or just interested in learning more about this online database?

Information Professional Consultant Andrea Sevetson is coming to Burlington on Thursday October 11th to provide a training session for Librarians on the new LexisNexis interface.

You are welcome to attend this session scheduled in GBTC 112 from 2:00 to 3:30. Handouts will be provided.

Brown Bag at the Library

2007-10-05T16:33:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, October 2nd, Michele and Paula hosted a Brown Bag at the Library from 1-2 featuring ARTstor. The appreciative audience, Cinse Bonino, Al Capone, and David Kite, enjoyed fresh Vermont apple cider and chocolate “autumn foiled wrapped” kisses while Michele Melia, the library’s ARTstor guru, presented introductory and intermediate features of ARTstor. Paula showed an alternate way to access ARTstor images through JSTOR. The display of portraiture books we had set up for the presentation in MIC308 also showed off our rich collection of art books, and generated an idea from the crowd to move the books to the display area at the Circulation Desk for all to see, and check out! We plan on offering more Brown Bag Informals in the future.

Betsy Beaulieu's Book List

2007-09-27T13:31:00.000-04:00

Today we hosted our Meaningful Books Series with Betsy Beaulieu. It was wonderful. While her overviews of her books were brief, they were passionate and intriguing.

A number of people who attended asked for a copy of the booklist. I imagine that some of you who couldn't attend might be curious as well. A number of these books are on display at the MIC. As for the others, check the catalog to see if the books are available.

Many thanks to Betsy for such a wonderful talk!

Betsy Beaulieu's Most Meaningful Books

1. Bread and Jam for Frances, Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban
2. Nancy Drew series
3. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
4. The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer
5. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
6. The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor
7. Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs
8. Beloved, Toni Morrison
9. A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines
10. The Middle Passage: White Ships, Black Cargo, Tom Feelings
11. Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks
12. Feminism Is For Everybody, bell hooks
13. Save Me the Waltz, Zelda Fitzgerald
14. The Dream of A Common Language, Adrienne Rich
15. Images from An African Journey, Mark Patinkin
16. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro

Books That Have Stayed with Me
17. The Dogs of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst
18. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
19. My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
20. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Kim Edwards
21. The Girls, Lori Larsens

ArtStor

2007-09-26T13:21:00.000-04:00

ArtStor, the most comprehensive database of images, is an incredible resource. I just finished introducting it to a professor and despite the tediousness of registering, logging in, and turing off his pop up blocker (all of which are necessary for a successful ArtStor experience), he was amazed at the quality of the images and the sheer number of images available. The best part is once you are in an image, you can zoom in...and in...and in to see the texture of the paint, even the texture of the canvas!

I know ArtStor will be useful to our Core curriculum but wouldn't it be great to see it used in other programs?

If you are interested, come by the Library and we can think about how to use ArtStor in your projects, papers, or classroom.

It's a Core Blog!

2007-09-24T10:33:00.001-04:00

Look to the right.

Notice that serious thinker over in the big, black, blog roll. That serious thinker is a great new addition to the library's Feevy: it is the Core Development Team's new blog!

This new blog offers anyone at Champlain the chance to keep up on how the new Core is developing. In just a few postings, I have learned a great deal about the next semester including its theme, the texts, the central questions, and how global modules will fit in.

Thanks to David Kite, Jen Vincent, and Bob Mayer (the CDT Team) for entering the blogosphere and keeping us all up to date!

Meaningful Books Series highlights Betsy Beaulieu

2007-09-19T13:35:00.000-04:00

The Miller Information Commons’ “Meaningful Books” Series highlights

Dr. Betsy Beaulieu

Thursday, Sept. 27th at Noon,
Miller Information Commons, Vista Room
(Refreshments will be served)

Welcome and get to know Betsy Beaulieu, Dean of Champlain’s new Core Division.

Betsy’s list of meaningful books reflects her love of reading almost everything – African American literature (her specialty in grad school), pedagogy, poetry, and smart women’s fiction.

A voracious reader, Betsy cut her reading teeth on Golden Books. She progressed to the Nancy Drew series, developing a love of mysteries. Her first grown-up friend was the Children’s Librarian at the public library, who introduced her to Little Women, the first book that made Betsy cry, so closely did she identify with bookish Beth.

Join us on Sept. 27th to find out more about Betsy’s love of reading and the books that have made a difference in her life.

Preview some of Betsy’s meaningful books in the glass case on the Main Floor of the MIC.

3 Cheers for CC students

2007-09-17T10:18:00.000-04:00

Students in Linda Miller's Accounting Information Systems class and Erik Kaarla's CREW2 class, thank you for your participation on Thursday the 13th and Friday the 14th as we milked those library databases! We discovered ways to find reliable and useful accounting websites and which databases can turn up valuable reports on topics ranging from physics to alien abduction. We covered the invisible web, a list of evaluation criteria to use when reviewing websites, I highlighted databases ranging from Mergent Online to MarketResearch.comAcademic, I shared my funniest (of the month) YouTube--"The Best Horse in Europe"--and we listened to Goldfinger on the library's Naxos Music Library database. I received a round of applause from the accounting students, and I saw many of Erik's students printing reports from (Yes!) library databases rather than Google (Google, of course, turned up some good reports as well). Go figure.....can life at the library get any better than that?

Shakespeare at the MIC

2007-09-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

“A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, and monarchs to behold the swelling scene” (Henry V, Prologue)

The stage is set at the MIC…
Join us on October 4th at noon in the Vista Room at the Miller Information Commons as we discuss some “swelling scene(s)” of Henry Vth.

Before attending the Champlain Theater performances (Oct. 11-13th), familiarize yourself with the play and get a taste of the characters in this informal discussion session. We will be reading and discussing excerpts from the following scenes:

The Prologue,
The St. Crispin’s Day Speech, and the Wooing of the French Princess.

We have the stage, we have the scenes…a kingdom for princes to act.

Hoping to see you at the Library.

Super Busy at the MIC bring Technology out into the Open

2007-09-04T22:07:00.000-04:00

School started today and getting the Library ready for the influx of 475 new first years as well as returning students, new faculty, new deans, and new adjuncts has been a whirlwind. But the results are outstanding. Largely this is due to our library crew embracing and taking technology to a whole new level. We are starting out the year with a series of new initiatives that are pretty cool. Here are some of the highlights:
1. We have started using wikis to create subject guides. What a relief! You can actually update and modify the pages to accomodate instructor's needs, students' feedback and new additions to the collection. Awesome and very well received. Hopefully they will be very used.
2. We are trying chat reference. We've held back from chat in the past because we are such a small staff but with more of our students going abroad and a new librarian in the mix, we thought it was time to give it a go. More on that as the school year progresses...it's hard to know how that's working on day 1.
3. We are blogging (as you well know since you are reading it!) We are maintaining a library blog to highlight events at the library but also things the librarians think are cool. (Oh, there are so many).
4. We are tracking reference questions using a free, online tool from zoho. We just stareted it today but it was so much easier to keep track of questions. We kept the screen open and the form is easy to fill out and WHAM, we've got improved data on reference.
5. We have been spending most of the summer adding our newest additions to the collection into Flickr. I think it will be a cool way for faculty, and maybe even students, to share books with one another, comment, suggest other books, and get to know our collection better, which is changing rapidly.

We are giving these technologies a go and I am so proud to work somewhere that is willing to take that chance. It's a great way to kick off the school year: invigorated, excited, and trying new things. It might make all of us insanely busy, but it feels insanely great.

A First for First Years

2007-09-03T13:11:00.000-04:00

Orientation has been growing like crazy at Champlain so this year the Library decided to participate in the Scavenger Hunt. It's a first for them and a first for us!

Here's how it goes, each group of students will receive a question that once answered will take them to a spot in the Library that we wish they would know about.
Here are some of the spots in the MIC that are included:
Newspapers
Writing Center
Math & Accounting Lab
Quiet Study Rooms
Main Stacks
Circulation Desk
Reference Desk

To answer the questions, the students have to use skills we wish they'd use:
Find a book in the Stacks and in Reference
Look up a book in the Catalog
Ask a Librarian for help
Find a book on Reserve

How would you do? If you are scratching your head as to where to find any of these spots or how to do any of these things, come by the MIC and ask! That's why we're here.

And yes, we will give you a new MIC bookmark too!

The Library Website gets Better and Better

2007-08-27T14:49:00.000-04:00

As if winning an award for the website wasn't enough...we've improved the Library Website. Some of the highlights include:
1. Renew Your Books. Get to know this link so you no longer have to receive reminder emails or look at those books on your desk guiltily.
2. Subject based Research Guides. These are wiki based, therefore easily editable and awesome. Keep your eyes peeled, more subject guides are on the way!
3. Ask a Librarian, Champlain's Live Chat Service. We are excited to try to implement a well-used technology with our students to answer questions Monday thru Thursday, 6 - 9 pm. We are powering through Meebo, which means that a variety of instant messengers will work to contact your favorite librarians.

So check out the website and click around. We are looking forward to a new school year and always trying to come up with ways to put the right information into your hands.

College Website of the Month!

2007-08-20T09:44:00.000-04:00

Champlain College Library's website has been selected as the "College Library Website of the Month" by the College Library Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). In his letter announcing the selection, J. Michael Thompson, chair of the College Library Section's Communications Committee, explains the award this way: "The College Library Section recognizes that a library's Website, in addition to enhancing access to a library’s resources and services, serves in general as a major means of communicating with current and future users."

In their review of the Champlain Library website, the selection committee wrote: "Library Director Janet Cottrell and the staff provide a visually pleasant homepage. The links clearly identify the Library's services and resources to their patrons. The Find sections as well as the Research Advice, Library Services and For Faculty sections illustrate the Library's mission as stated by Cottrell in the latest annual report...." The committee's review goes on to identify elements of the Library website they found particularly helpful, including a link to guidelines for starting a research project and a new link (to be activated this Fall) providing chat-based reference service.

To have our work recognized by our peers is truly an honor. Like all college libraries, we work hard to communicate with students, faculty, and colleagues; this external recognition of our website lets us hope that we have built a site that does indeed communicate some of the wealth of resources and services that our library offers.

Many thanks to everyone in the Library who contributes to and maintains the website, and to our IS colleagues who helped with the original setup. We are planning some great enhancements to the Library website this Fall, so stay tuned!

Angela Battista

2007-08-15T15:08:00.000-04:00

Our new diversity director has agreed to be a part of our Meaningful Books Series this fall! We can't wait to see what books Angela finds important to her!

Core Slide Show

2007-08-15T13:03:00.000-04:00

I checked out the slide show of our new core books at Flickr, and it really is awesome. Thank you MIC staff for all the hard work you've done to make this work! It's a great way to browse the collection and encourage readership at the same time.

Cool idea

2007-08-14T15:44:00.000-04:00

The July/August 2007 C&RL News had a fun article about a program at the University of Chicago called "Class Librarians." Check out their website at www.lib.uchicago.edu/classlibrarians. Food for thought.....

paula

Other cool blogs

2007-08-14T09:07:00.000-04:00

In thinking about what else we could blog about, there are plenty of interesting blogs out there, library related or not, that give some ideas or are worth commenting on. That's what the Feevy is for! Feevy is a dynamic blog roll where we can see when blogs we like have new posts and the first few lines of that post. I have loved having it on my personal blog. If you have any suggestions for blogs you want to see added, let me know. Also, it would be a great way to highlight other campus blogs. I know Elaine Young blogs regularly...who knows who else might be at it.

to blog or not to blog

2007-08-08T15:39:00.000-04:00

Let's try it! For example, we could talk about what we're reading. I just finished my first book by Amos Oz, an Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist. Don't Call It Night was a haunting and poetic story about the relationship between the couple Theo and Noa and their involvement in the establishement of a drug rehab center in the their small desert frontier town. Oz creates an atmosphere that lingers long after the book is finished!
paula

To blog, or not to blog...

2007-08-07T15:12:00.000-04:00

To blog, or not to blog. That seems to have been our question for quite some time. One of the reasons I know I have hesitated to blog for the Library has been the question, "what will we blog about?" With the school year approaching, new books coming in by the truckload, and new faculty and staff joining us all the time, there seems to be quite a lot. But as Janet pointed out to me today, perhaps we don't just have to blog about ourselves. Perhaps we can take this opportunity to share with the campus the stuff we think is cool: website, articles, blogs, wikis, events, etc. Check out what Kenyon is up to: this blog is filled with simply good stuff. So that's where the title for this blog came from: "Good Stuff at the Miller Information Commons." It is by no means "the" name: we can change it. We can change everything you see here.

This is our blog: a place to point out cool stuff at the library, at the college, and in the world. What do you think?