Library News

Category: Library News

QR Codes in the Mudd

What is that black and white square of gibberish? Why do they keep appearing in the library? These souped-up bar codes are called QR codes and they contain information that could allow your QR-enabled smart phone to do stuff like connect to a web address, download an MP3, dial a telephone number, or prompt your email client with an address.

Want to know more about the QR codes in the Seeley G. Mudd Library? Check out ourinformational page and take a look at the ways we’ve been using these handy codes to help our patrons easily access information when, and where, they need it.

Banned Books Week!

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

Check out this list of the 100 books most frequently banned and/or challenged between 2000 and 2009, compiled by the American Library Association.

Here’s an interesting map of book challenges from 2007-2010.

And a list of 15 iconic movies based on banned books from the Huffington Post.

For more information about why books are challenged, see this list of “challenged classics” — some of the top novels of the 20th century and the reasons they were challenged. Every book on this list can be found in the Mudd Library.

How many banned books have you read?

National Punctuation Day!

Friday, September 24 is National Punctuation Day, a “celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis.”

Want to use punctuation correctly?

Start with a search English language punctuation guides in LUCIA. We have a bunch, in the reference and main collections.

Also useful:

And some (entertaining) examples of not-so-correct usage:

Changing Times…

Newsweek magazine, in its July 20, 2010 issue, asked the age-old question, “Exactly how much are the times a-changin’?”

Here are some of the numbers they reported:

Active Blogs
2000: 12,000
2010: 141 Million

Daily Google Searches
2000: 100 Million
2010: 2 Billion

Reality-TV Shows
2000: 4
2010: 320

Books Published
2000: 282,242
2010: 1,052,803

Daily Letters Mailed
2000: 207.88 Billion
2010: 175.67 Billion

Daily E-Mails
2000: 12 Billion
2010: 247 Billion

Text Messages
2000: 400,000
2010: 4.5 Billion

Time Spent Online
2000: 2.7 Hrs./Wk.
2010: 18 Hrs./Wk.

CD Sales Revenue
2000: $943 Million
2010: $427.9 Million

Itunes Downloads
2000: 0
2010: 10 Billion

TLAPD in the Mudd!


On September 19, the piratical crew of the good ship Seeley G. celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For the 8th year in a row, these hearty swabbies welcomed landlubbers aboard for a rollicking day of “Avast!” and “Ahoy” and “Scurvy Dogs!”

Even if you missed the day itself, you can see some photos of the decked-out Rrrrreference desk and you can still enjoy the piratized Library homepage.

For even more fun, you can get yourself a pirate name, translate into pirate, and even knit like a pirate!

Avast!

Constitution Day!

On Friday, September 17, 2010 (Constitution Day), Lawrence University will once again join in the national commemoration of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States (on September 17, 1787). As part of this celebration, we’ve created a web site with links to information on the Constitution, its content, its creation, and its relevance.

In addition, the Mudd Library is offering a display on the U.S. Constitution from the library’s collections. Items in the exhibit include various facts about the Constitution, a copy of what the Constitution looked like in its handwritten form, a selection of books about the Constitution from the library’s collection, and microfiche with the Constitution in various languages. Don’t miss it!

Canine Therapy: The Poem

Canine Therapy

The Mudd’s June 7 Canine Therapy session inspired a poem! It captures pretty well what the event is all about. Thanks to the author for letting us post it here.

Canine Therapy
Sarah Gilbert

Finals week, spring term
Outside the college library
seven dogs work for treats
for attention, for long belly scratches.

Clumps of students come
weighed down by deadlines
pet their stresses, their fears
into forgiving fur, floppy ears
smile into shining eager eyes.

Boundless willing doggie hearts
radiate love and hope back to them
and the students walk away lighter,
laughing together.

Home again the therapists
sleep long and deeply
twitching with dreams
of MLA citation style
cell apoptosis
surrealist self-representation
and diminished 7th chords,
then wake and shake, stretch,
and go look for more treats.

Be careful out there…

Yield! A recent article in the Post Crescent noted that “the Appleton Police Department is using grant money to concentrate on bike and pedestrian safety in the downtown and Lawrence University areas.” This seems like a very good thing — we want library users to stay safe. The article went on to remind us that not only must vehicles yield to pedestrians who have entered the crosswalk but that state laws say a pedestrian may not enter a crosswalk unless there is enough distance for a vehicle to safely yield.

So — don’t forget to give cars enough time to yield. We want to see you back in the Mudd.

Mudd Students shine at Honors

Here at the Mudd, we totally rely on our student workers — and we think they’re all pretty great. So we were especially pleased to see several of the Mudd’s finest receive awards and prizes at this year’s Honors events.

Elected to Mortar Board
Claire de Rochefort-Reynolds

Elected to Lambda Sigma
Kelsi Brown
Caitlin Buhr
Sarah Slaughter

Elected to Phi Beta Kappa
Bradley Camp
Alex Macartney

The William F. Raney Prize in History – Alex Macartney
The Hicks Prize in Poetry – Katie Kasper
The Edwin N. and Ruth Z. West Scholarship – Micah Price
The Henry Merritt Wriston Scholarship Award – Elizabeth Shimek

Congratulations all!