Cats and...

How Are Professors Like Cats? Let Me Count the Ways

By Rob Jenkins

http://chronicle.com/article/How-Are-Professors-Like-Cats-/65032/

Photo by: Rachel Ayers, 2009

Freeze and READ on Saturday...4 pm

OK, this is one of those funky things that may be fun, too. Show your appreciation for libraries by publicly demonstrating your willingness to read. By that time on Saturday, I'm usually ready to drop anyway...

http://freeze-n-read.weebly.com/freeze.html

Jane Watkins Announced as first DEWEY Award Winner at Butler

Congratulations to Jane Watkins, our first ‘DEWEY’ Award winner, first announced by Dr. Leann Ellis on April 1, 2010. ‘DEWEY’ means “Developing Education with an Excellent Library – Yours.” This award is designed to recognize the award winner’s outstanding use of the library in areas such as:

1. innovative, consistent, effective use of the library in teaching;

2. program activities that bring students and/or the community into the library;

3. promotion, encouragement or support of the library and its resources and services

4. thoughtful, timely, and in-depth resource development.


Here’s what those who nominated her said:


When I first thought of this idea, I was instructing Jane Watkin’s Children’s Literature class. For seven years, Jane has brought in her English Composition I, Fundamentals of English, and Children’s Literature classes in for instruction. What makes Jane unique from other instructors and their classes is that her classes don’t require using the library. Jane believes so strongly in information and how to do research that she worked with me each semester to incorporate research assignments into each of those classes. The assignments were very direct and purposeful. For the Children’s Literature assignments of finding author biographies and book reviews, Jane wanted to simulate what the students would need to know to complete these tasks in the real world of teaching. Consequently, students from her classes leave the library with knowledge of the library, confidence in how to research, and lifelong skills that will enrich their professional and personal lives.


Jane is a wonderful recruiter for the written word. I have heard testimony from many students that hated English and reading until they took her class. She creates more readers!


She is a dream of every librarian. She loves to discover new authors and talk about books. Her love of reading and research inspires others, and she will be missed by the library staff. I will especially miss working with her. She is my dream instructor! (J. Bastin)



And


Jane Watkins has used the library repeatedly over the years, not only as a Butler Instructor but also as an avid library patron. Jane has brought her Children’s Literature class into the library for instruction and research. For years, she has made use of the library web page as a resource for subject guides using a variety of print sources, Internet sites, and online databases. When Jane comes into the library, she always brings a smile along with her superb sense of humor. We will miss her as she retires again for the second time. Jane will leave a void here in the library that will be hard to replace.

Thank you Jane for all your years of support to the L. W. Nixon Library! (R. Holt)


Thanks to all who placed a nomination.

Your librarian,

Micaela

Micaela Ayers
Director, Library Services
Butler Community College
901 S. Haverhill Road, El Dorado, KS 67042
mayers@butlercc.edu (316)322-3235
http://livelibrary.blogspot.com/
CULS President 2009-2010

March EBook of the Month

J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations
Edited by Harold Bloom
Chelsea House Publishers, 2009
Product ID: 274103

J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations will be provided with free, unlimited access March 1-31, 2010. Click below to learn more.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most popular and influential coming-of-age novels ever written, and its 17-year-old protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon of teen angst. The full-length essays in the March eBook of the Month provide a critical look at this classic by J.D. Salinger.

Edited by master scholar and Yale University Professor Harold Bloom, this comprehensive study guide presents a selection of the best current criticism and includes:

Critical essays reflecting a variety of schools of criticism
Notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and a bibliography
Introductory essay by Harold Bloom.

***

And on another note: EBSCO has bought NetLibrary. Someday these ebooks will be searchable via the EBSCO database:

Dear EBSCOhost Customers:

If you currently purchase eBooks or have considered adding eBooks to your collection, we hope this email comes as exciting news to you. Effective Wednesday, March 17th, EBSCO Publishing and OCLC finalized an agreement whereby EBSCO has acquired NetLibrary, a leading eBook platform and service. It has been a pleasure working with OCLC, who saw EBSCO as the ideal candidate to continue to serve NetLibrary customers, and take the service to new heights.

EBSCO’s goal is to better serve research by offering the strongest possible collection of materials and the greatest accessibility and usability. As eBooks become more prominently used and relied upon by libraries, they are an ideal addition to the EBSCO suite of resources. As EBSCOhost is the single most-used premium research platform in libraries worldwide, and overall usage continues to steadily increase, it follows logically that searching databases and eBooks on a single platform would create a more complete, fruitful one-stop research experience for end users. Many librarians have requested we move in this direction, and we are pleased to be doing so.

At present, EBSCO will continue to support and enhance the NetLibrary platform, with the goal of enabling EBSCOhost to appropriately incorporate eBook availability in the near future. In the coming months, we will be conducting focus groups, advisory sessions and usability testing to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of eBook platforms, and investigate the various models for accessibility and purchase. We will provide updates on our progress as we move forward. Additionally, we plan to maintain the dark archive of eBooks to ensure accessibility for customers who have purchased and will continue to purchase NetLibrary eBooks. MARC records for these eBooks will also continue to be provided (at no cost).

Thank you for your patronage and support of EBSCO resources. We are excited about what the future holds for EBSCOhost users. If you have any questions regarding your current NetLibrary account, or would like to explore eBooks in subject sets or on a title by title level, please contact your EBSCO representative.

Kind regards,

Scott

Scott Bernier
Vice President of Marketing
EBSCO Publishing

sbernier@ebscohost.com

Chris Biggs will sell us the legal KS documents from now on...

Hello all...

With the naming of Chris Biggs as the 30th Kansas Secretary of State we thought it was a good time to review some of the duties and powers of that state office. Below is a link to the most recent Kansas Government Information (KGI) blog:

http://ksdocs.blogspot.com/2010/03/kansas-secretary-of-state.html

Have a good one

Bill Sowers



Bill Sowers
Kansas Publications & Cataloging
State Library of Kansas
300 SW 10th, Room 169-W
Topeka, KS 66612
ksdocs@kslib.info
785-296-3296

American History in Video - Rated by Library Journal a Ten!

“Based on content, design, and price, this product is a solid ten. It tops any other similarly themed resource in its field and, at this price, is an amazing deal. . . . This is a product I wish every library in the United States could make accessible to its researchers, from elementary-school children to history scholars, and everybody in between. Resoundingly recommended.”—Library Journal

Since launching last April, American History in Video has grown to include more than 4,000 titles and 1,000 hours. It will continue to grow to include more than 5,000 complete titles and 2,000 hours of rare newsreels and important documentaries from leading producers such as PBS, The History Channel®, Bullfrog Films, Media Rich Learning, and California Newsreel.

And we've got it here at Butler! Log on through your pipeline tab "Library". For questions: Judy Bastin or Martha Gregg, via the "Ask your librarian".

Reading?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D9jiEYxzs