Author Archives: mdilwort

Author Archives: mdilwort

E-Book Publishers

E-Book Publishers

Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
If you’ve been keeping up with the news in the publishing world, you may have heard that Penguin Press has just withdrawn support for their e-books from libraries.  Now, of the ‘Big Six’ publishers, only Random House still makes e-book content available for libraries to lend.   Does this mean that the library will no longer be able to support e-books?  What if e-books end up almost entirely replacing print books?  Where will that leave you?  Well, first, the problem – while serious – almost entirely affects popular literature.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Twilight books, James Patterson and John Grisham novels – interesting, current books, but not the kind of books that scholars use.  So, while you might … Continued
FYI not TMI

FYI not TMI

Heidi Huff, Library Resources
When it comes to databases and journal article retrieval there’s really no such thing as TMI.  You never know what random bit of information you’ll find from some of our most unique databases in the A-Z list.  You may look at this list and think “I’ll never need that.” But challenge yourself to think beyond what you need, starting with a few of the databases mentioned below, FYI.   Soon you’ll be singing a different tune about your daily life like, “Yoho, Yoho a Viking’s life for me.” The Daily Life Thru History database gives you organized and accessible info about eras from as far back as 10,000 BCE Greece to modern day America. Know your ancestry? Find out more … Continued
Blackout

Blackout

, , Matt Dilworth
If you tried to use the Internet on Wednesday, you may have noticed that a lot of your favorite sites, like Wikipedia, were down.  Even Google changed its logo with a big black ‘censored’ bar.  All of those outages were in protest of legislation before the U.S. Congress, which could change the laws on how the government deals with stolen content on websites, known as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act, HR 3261) in the House of Representatives and PIPA (Protect IP Act, S 968) in the Senate.  Opponents claim that this proposed legislation is too intrusive, that it will eliminate a lot of good content and chill new attempts at innovation and online speech.  They say that the burden of … Continued
Celebrate!

Celebrate!

Frances Yates, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
The winter season is a time of celebrating across many cultures.  As always, your campus library has plenty to read to learn about these celebrations.  Books like Chase’s Calendar of Events (REF D11.5.C48 2012) and e-books such as We Are What We Celebrate: Understanding Holidays and Rituals or Holidays On Display offer excellent information, as do reference sources like Britannica Online.  And databases with strong religion sections like JSTOR offer numerous excellent articles about these and other holidays.    Some of these celebration around the world you may like to discover include: Bodhi Day (Buddhist) celebrates the day that Buddha achieved enlightenment.  It is on December 8th. Boxing Day (secular) is a gift-giving holiday that is sometimes merged or replaced … Continued
Last Minute Research

Last Minute Research

, Library Services, Matt Dilworth, Research
This time of year, with everything we have to do, a lot seems to get pushed to the last minute.  Last minute shopping, last minute decorating, last minute cooking, last minute cleaning… and last minute research.  We’ve all been there.  A big assignment, and it’s coming due… but we haven’t had time to do the research yet. It isn’t an ideal situation.  And just like last minute shoppers have to deal with picked-over stores, your options will be a bit more limited.  But fear not – you can still do great research and turn in a great project. Obviously, if your assignment is due tomorrow, using Interlibrary Loan won’t help.  So you’re limited to resources available right now.  But there’s … Continued