News from the Mudd

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!

Welcome to fall term!

Welcome to fall term! We hope you had a good summer and are looking forward to a productive (and fun) year. We start regular hours this week and look forward to seeing you here.

In other news:

  • There are lots of ways to get help. See our Ask a Librarian page for reference desk hours, phone numbers, email and IM connections.
  • You can use FindIt to discover what e-journals are available through the library’s full-text databases.
  • We’re glad you’re back. Let us know how we can help.

Welcome Class of 2014!

Welcome to the Class of 2014!
…and welcome back to returning students, faculty, and staff!

Please join us at the Welcome Week Services Fair on Tuesday the 7th from 1-4pm in the Warch Campus Center. learn about Library services, student jobs, and more…

And you won’t want to miss the Welcome Week library open house, Friday, September 10, from 1:30-4:00 p.m.! Not only can you find out about the library (both online and offline), take a tour, sign up to win prizes, and enjoy some food – but you can work on a jigsaw puzzle or bring your friends to play Mario Kart, Candyland, Twister, Chess, Checkers, Uno and more! It’s both fun and educational – and you can’t beat that.