Check THIS Out!

SOPA, and PIPA, and Blackouts! Oh my!

2012-01-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

Curious about all the blacked-out web sites today? Trying to figure out what the alphabet soup of "SOPA" (Stop Online Piracy Act) and "PIPA" (Protect IP Act) are? Don't know which side makes more sense to you? Here are some helpful websites for figuring it out:

A Technical Examination of SOPA and PIPA (from reddit)
Stop Online Piracy Act (from the House Judiciary Committee)
SOPA Explained (from CNNMoney.com)
SOPA: The Internet Blacklist Bill (from Stop American Censorship)
All About PIPA and SOPA (from Lifehacker.org)
House Introduces BiPartisan Legislation to Protect American IP Jobs (from the Recording Industry Association of America)
Artists Against Digital Theft
Viewpoint: For and Against Piracy Protest (from the BBC)

January's Featured Resource is Academic Search Premier

2012-01-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

Our featured resource this month is one of our largest databases, Academic Search Premier. This scholarly resource contains indexing and abstracts for more than 8,500 journals, with full text for more than 4,600 of those titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. We recommend it as the best resource to begin most research projects. Additionally, you can make use of the MyEBSCOhost personalization features to save articles and citations, build lists, and share articles within a group.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-19T13:28:00.000-05:00

Whew! We made it through finals! The faculty and staff at the DiPietro Library would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.

The Rindge Campus, including the DiPietro Library, will be closed from December 23 - January 2. We'll see you in the new year!

National Gaming Day @ your library

2011-11-07T16:18:00.000-05:00

Join the Gamers Club from 11am -1pm this Saturday, November 12th as we participate in the 4th Annual National Gaming Day@your Library. Fun! Games! Fun AND games! Here's a post from KQED on "Ten Surprising Truths about Video Games and Learning."

November's Featured Resource -- RavenRequest

2011-11-02T15:36:00.001-04:00

This month's featured resource is RavenRequest - a web site that allows you to create online Interlibrary Loan requests. RavenRequest is linked from the library's front page or can be accessed directly at http://ravenrequest.franklinpierce.edu. RavenRequest can be accessed with your FPU network username and password. You will need to create an account upon your first login. Once you have created an account you can track your interlibrary loans (both books and articles), find out when materials have arrived or are due back, see past interlibrary loan requests, and coming soon -- pick up articles directly through RavenRequest.

Several of our databases allow users to submit interlibrary loan requests directly to us, those can also be tracked via RavenRequest. You can copy and paste author/title/journal information from websites directly into RavenRequest, saving you further time. Give it a try!

After a long absence, we greet you!

2011-10-04T11:33:00.000-04:00

October's Featured Resource: DiPietro Library Online Reference Shelf

It’s a great place to begin your research, learn more about a topic, or grab some facts. Credo Reference is an online collection of over 500 Reference books, including some of the same ones we have in our paper Reference Collection. (For a complete list of titles click here.) Additionally, we have links to EasyBib and other citation help, statistics, and subject specific References. We also subscribe to the Oxford English Dictionary – the world’s most complete dictionary of the English language.

Precision Search the Web

2011-02-25T11:23:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it's hard to get at the information you want on the web- the results are full of junky sites, or you only want results from a particular kind of webpage. Blekko is a new search engine that helps you target only the sites you want by using "slashtags." For example, adding /conservative to a search will pull up only sites with a conservative viewpoint. Confused? Watch the demo to get a better sense of it. You can even join and create your own slashtags to search your favorite sites or help edit the tags that have already been created.

Happy searching.

Moving Files

2011-02-08T13:46:00.006-05:00

Image from Flickr user VeloSteve

Moving electronic files around can be as time consuming at paper files. Emailing files fills up your mailbox, putting them on your flash drive requires finding your flash drive. Moving files can be especially frustrating if you've 'left' it on your work computer when you meant to bring it home or vice-versa.

There are easier ways to do it.

- Save files to your network (F:/) drive. Franklin Pierce offers access to your F:/ drive from home, instructions (PDF) can be found on the IT Department's eRaven page.

- Use Dropbox or one of another file-hosting services. Dropbox is a convenient way to move files from one computer or device to another. Files placed in Dropbox are also available on many mobile devices. It can also be used as an easy way to share files between two people without filling up your email.

Got a favorite file sharing tip? Let us know below.

Updated: Podcast of Wil Wheaton talking on Marketplace Techreport about how he uses Dropbox.

Tuesday Tech Tips!

2010-10-28T15:52:00.005-04:00

LibGuides

2010-10-28T14:28:00.000-04:00

We've been busy in the library creating new resources guides with links to websites and library resources that can help you with your research. Here are a few of our more popular general use guides- check them out!

NaNoWriMo- Because everyone should write a book!

2010-10-01T11:03:00.002-04:00

Do you think you have what it takes to write a novel? Of 50,000 words? In one month? If so, join other crazy writers who are rising to the challenge in November. All you have to do is sign up and write. 175 pages. In 30 days. Visit the NaNoWriMO site for more info (that stands for National Novel Writing Month).

DiPietro Library One Search

2010-09-01T08:59:00.009-04:00

We are excited to announce DiPietro Library One Search, our new search platform that displays results from our online databases and print collection. Give it a try!

More One Search options

Tuesday Tech Tips For Students

2010-08-31T11:23:00.000-04:00

Starting on Tuesday, September 14, and continuing throughout the semester, DiPietro Library and The Center for Academic Excellence will be sponsoring a series of workshops for students interested in learning how to use online research tools and apps for classroom projects and papers. These will be alternated with research help drop-ins for students working on course assignments.

All sessions will take place 7-8pm in the Library Instruction Room (stop by the main desk of the library if you need directions). See below for the weekly schedule.

TOP TEN APPS for Students! Way cool FREE and mostly free technology to help students.

September 21st – Drop-in and talk with us*

Search Smarter, Not Harder: How to really use Google and other search engines.

October 5th – Drop-in and talk with us* October 12th – Take a break! We’ll be back next week!

You Want me to Work with WHO? Group projects made easier using FREE Web applications.

October 26th – Drop-in and talk with us*

PowerPoint is for Suckers! How to use Cloud Computing for slideshow presentations (we’ll give you tips on maximizing your use of PowerPoint too!)

November 9th – Drop-in and talk with us*

November 16th – Drop-in and talk with us*

November 23rd – Take a break! We’ll be back next week!

Who Gives An APA? Son of Citation Machine, Easy Bib and more web and old-school tools for citing your work

December 7th - Drop-in and talk with us** Faculty/Staff from both the Library and the Center will be available on drop-in nights to work with students around any of these topics OR anything related to research and writing (and probably most other academic topics you can think of). Come by and see us!

Getting full-text from the library using Google Scholar

2010-07-27T15:52:00.003-04:00

We have recently added the ability to connect to articles in our databases when searching Google Scholar. On campus, you will see a link that says "Full-Text@FPU Library" to the right of the search result. The link will ONLY appear if we have access to the article or journal in our databases. Clicking that link will bring you to a page listing options for viewing the article.

From off campus, you will have to add the library to your Google Scholar preferences in order for a link to our databases to display. To do that, click the link "Scholar Preferences" to the right of the Search button on the Google Scholar Homepage.

Scroll down to Library Links, and search for Franklin Pierce University. Select the library to add it to your links.

Now when you search Google Scholar from home, the "Full-Text@FPU Library" should appear. Again, the link will only appear if we have access to that article or journal in one of our databases. From off campus you will still have to login to access database content.

More than searching

2010-06-25T14:27:00.004-04:00

Everyone is familiar with Google for searching, but how familiar are you with Google's other products? You may be more familiar with:

Google Scholar- an academically oriented subset of Google
Gmail - their popular email client
Blogger - free blogging platform
YouTube - videos

But you may want to check these out...

Google Docs - an online suite of products including word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. It's free and web-based so it's available anywhere, it also offers offline capabilities. The spreadsheet has a forms feature which is really handy if you're running the registration for a conference. One of the best features is the ability to work collaboratively, synchronously or asynchronously on a document, perfect for group projects!
Picasa - photo organizing software. Allows you to organize your photos into albums, do some minor editing, and upload to Picasa Web. Consistently one of the best photo organizing programs on the web.
Chrome - a tabbed browser, that allows for extensions and themes so you can customize it based on how you want to search, it also uses less system resources than other browsers
Google Public Data Explorer - mines public dataset and presents them in an easy-to-understand, visual manner. Interesting sets include: Unemployment in the US, Historical Population in the US, and World Development Indicators.

Check out what Google has to offer beyond searching. Here are some handy cheat sheets for Google Spreadsheet, Google Reader, and more!

Plagiarism, it's not just for US students

2010-06-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

A very funny plagiarism video from the University of Bergen Search & Write program.

Finding Book Reviews

2010-06-10T12:06:00.001-04:00

There are many sites on the web to find book reviews for items both academic and popular. Most of the databases to which the library subscribes allow you to narrow your search to a particular document type (i.e. book review). If you would like assistance with a particular database please contact a Reference Librarian. Some examples:

In JSTOR, click on 'Advanced Search' and limit by type.

In an EBSCOhost database (in this case, Academic Search Premier) look through the 'Search Options' on the lower half of the page for 'Document Type'.

In OVID, choose 'MultiField Search'. Use the pull-down menu on the first search box to select 'Document Type'. Type 'book review' into the search box and your topic in the second search box.

Additionally, there are many good places on the web to find book reviews. Some suggestions:

The New York Review of Books
The NY Times Books page and it's blog Paper Cuts
Book reviews from Salon.com
H-Net Reviews book reviews from Humanities and Social Sciences Online

And if you're looking for some fiction:

Bookslut
Stop! You're Killing Me - mystery fiction
ChickLit Reviews

If you want to catalog your home library and see how it compares to others, try LibraryThing. LibraryThing offers the opportunity to catalog your home library, reviews, and suggestions of other titles you might like.

Have sites to recommend? Leave them in the comments or let us know!

(Not so) Current Events

2010-06-08T12:59:00.001-04:00

The University of Texas hosts an online digital collection of Mike Wallace interviews recorded from his television show in the 1950's. They are available from the School of Information or from the Harry Ransom Center at UT-Austin. Interviewees included actors and actresses (Gloria Swanson, Tony Perkins), politicians (Eleanor Roosevelt, Orval Faubus, Henry Kissinger), and other celebrities of the time (Elsa Maxwell, Pearl Buck, William Douglas). A fascinating collection, and snapshot of a particular time in US history.

Another interesting and useful site is the American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank. This site lists what they consider the Top 100 Speeches in US history, most with transcripts, some with audio or video; Figures in sound, listing rhetorical devices; and Movie Speeches giving clips of some famous movie monologues.

Timelines from the British Library

2010-06-02T15:20:00.004-04:00

The British Library has been digitizing large portions of their collection to share with the world. Go to their main page to search their collection, or browse through history by looking at the fabulous Timelines which walk you through history from the 1200's to the present. The emphasis is on British history, but well worth the trip for the connections to European history. Each entry links to primary source material which can be viewed online, some may be downloaded.

Timelines is a fantastic resource for learning about culture, politics, technology and everyday life through the ages.

Highlights of the timeline include:

Manuscripts by great figures in history, including Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mozart, Wordsworth, William Blake, Jane Austen, Florence Nightingale and Dickens
Original records of major events in history, from the Black Death and the Great Fire to the French Revolution and the abolition of the slave trade
The first Western printed book, the first English cookery manuscript, the first English language bible and the first postage stamp
Posters, advertisements and illustrations documenting everything from public executions and magic shows to plague cures and freak shows

Use thematic timelines, such as ‘everyday life’ and ‘politics, power and rebellion’ and 'literature, music and entertainment', to make fascinating comparisons, both within time periods and across time. Save or print individual timeline items or add them to your own timeline of favourites. (http://www.bl.uk/timeline)

Top 100 Tools for Learning - 2009 Edition

2010-05-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

For the past several years the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies has surveyed educators around the world to produce a list of the Top 100 Learning Tools. These lists provide links to some great tools, as well as new ways of thinking about programs you may already be familiar with. Be sure and check out lists from the previous years (2008, 2007). It's also interesting to see how different programs have moved up, down, and off the lists.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more presentations from Jane Hart.

Literary Superheroes!

2010-05-20T15:01:00.000-04:00

Literary humor submitted by Prof. Donna Decker.

Hello World!

2010-05-19T16:21:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the blog of the Reference Desk at the DiPietro Library, Franklin Pierce University. The purpose of this blog is to share interesting references, tools, articles, and online resources. We welcome suggestions from our readers.