We Need Your Help!!!

Blazer Library has submitted an entry on YouTube in a contest sponsored by Gale and Librareo with emphasis on the theme "Power to the User." The contest is open until July 1, so make sure to visit The Librareo Group page and look for "Kentucky State University Entry." Rate our video and leave us some comments, because your ratings and comments are an important part of the equation in determining the winner. Thanks for your support, and here is the video!!




Remember to visit YouTube and rate our video!! We hope you enjoy!!

Three Books...

National Public Radio, wonderful for so many reasons, provided me with one more reason to cheer last week.

The station currently hosts the program "All Things Considered", and within that program there is a recurring feature - "Three Books" - which is bound to appeal to book lovers of all types. "Three Books" invites writers to recommend three great reads on a single theme. For example, last week was "Mining the Classics for Laughs", in which author Jack Murnighan swears that the secret to finishing- and actually enjoying - Moby Dick, Ulysses and The Sound and the Fury is to realize how much humor is packed into each, and let laughter get you over the humps.

Other past themes, each as intriguing as the next, have included:

• Stone Soup: Three Cookbooks For Lean Times
• For Night Owls Only, Books That Shine After Dark
• Three Books Explore Lincoln's Complex Genius
• 'Lost' Literature: Not Just for Desert Islands Anymore

If you are waffling about, unable to find just the right thing to read this summer while relaxing poolside, consider using "Three Books" as a reader's advisory resource. Check it out here:

What's Your Dewey?

Sorry for the long hiatus. With the end of the semester things can get pretty crazy. Anyway, I was taking a technology class as a requirement for my Master's in Library Science, and remembered a link that someone posted. It was a link to a quiz on what you Dewey Decimal Classification would be. I know, you are probably think that Blazer Library does not use Dewey, and you would be right. However, it is a fun little quiz. Here are my results:

rawlins's Dewey Decimal Section:

116 Change

rawlins = 8132949 = 813+294+9 = 1116


Class:
100 Philosophy & Psychology


Contains:
Books on metaphysics, logic, ethics and philosophy.



What it says about you:
You're a careful thinker, but your life can be complicated and hard for others to understand at times. You try to explain things and strive to express yourself.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

rawlins's Dewey Decimal Section:

402 Miscellany

rawlins's birthday: 4/20/1982 = 420+1982 = 2402


Class:
400 Language


Contains:
Linguistics and language books.



What it says about you:
You value communication, even with people who are different from you. You like trying new things don't mind being exposed to unfamiliar territory. You get bored with routines that never change.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

rawlins's Dewey Decimal Section:

023 Personnel management


Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works


Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.



What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Now you try!!
My Dewey is the link to follow, and don't forget to post your results.

Celebrating Words with an Affrilachian Poet

Affrilachian (af.ruh.LAY.shun) adj. Definition: Relating to an African-American who lives in Appalachia. Also: Afrilachian.—Affrilachia n.

It is National Library Week - Yay! As I celebrate the week, I find myself thinking not only about all of the libraries that I love, but also all of the books within them, and even more elementally, all of the words that comprise those very books.

I am a logophile - a true lover of words. For proof, let me offer as evidence that I sleep with a dictionary on my nightstand in case I should come across a word I don't recognize as I read before sleep.

As an avid reader and thesaurus junkie, I am always moved by writers with the gift of reinventing words. Whether through the sassy new use of a tired old word, or the creation of a brand new hybrid word, I am excited by those with a vision for the rearrangement of letters into something meaningful.

Frank X. Walker is one such linguistic visionary and it is for this reason that I chose him as the subject of one of Blazer Library's display cases for the month of April. Mr. Walker is a native of Kentucky, a graduate of UK, a professor and writer-in-residence at NKU, a contributor to National Public Radio, the recipient of countless fellowships and accolades, and the author of four poetry collections. He is a man of many accomplishments - too many to recount here - but of all of them, the triumph that impresses me most is his creation of the word "Affrilachia". To conceive of a new word in a world already full to the brim of words, and then for that word to be so useful, to make so much sense, and to be so easily embraced into our lexicon - well, that's sort of amazing.

Cheers to Frank X. Walker, Affrilachian Poet and Artist!



Learn more about Mr. Walker at his website: http://www.frankxwalker.com/

Library of Congress YouTube Channel

The Library of Congress has launched a YouTube channel that features some of the library's collections of films, broadcasts, and sound recordings. The channel has more than 70 videos available with topics on Langston Hughes and his poetry, Rosie the Riveter, and Oral Histories of Pearl Harbor to name a few. Other playlists and videos include Westinghouse industrial films from 1904, scholar discussions from the John W. Kluge Center and the earliest movies made by Thomas Edison. You can check these videos and playlists by going to the Library of Congress YouTube Channel

Library Study Room

Starting this week the Library Study Room (located off the entrance to the library) will be open. The study room will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday-Friday.

Schindler's List found in Australian Library

For all those history buffs out there this is a story of what happened to one of the copies of the list compiled by Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust. If you have ever read the novel or seen the movie (or had a history course) you will know who Schindler is. What is amazing is that the library that had this list as part of its collection was totally unaware. It had been in possession of the library since 1996. It goes to show you that you never know what jewels are hidden in a library collection. Here is the link to the story http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090406/en_afp/australiagermanyhistorywwiiholocaustschindler_20090325134441.

Make your own READ poster!

National Library Week is a mere 9 days a way (April 12-19). With that in mind, and because it is Friday and I'm feeling slap-happy about the approaching weekend, I thought a little library-related levity was in order.

Available for free from the ALA (American Library Association) website is an awesome READ poster generator. Visit it here and taste a bit of reading fame for your self: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/graphics/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm

All manner of celebrities, from film to sports, from musicians to authors, have starred as spokespeople for the READ campaign over the years. Now it is your turn!

I couldn't resist making my own!

Edit: Since no one has been brave enough to make their own poster, I thought I'd take the liberty.

Sharon Reads!

Ben Reads!

Sheila Reads!

Database Searching: EBSCOHost

Searching databases can often be confusing for users. Results vary, and users sometimes are not aware of certain "tricks" that may lead to better and more relevant search results. Posted below are two videos related to searching EBSCOHost. Please note that the library addresses will differ as these videos were developed by other libraries. However, they offer a good overview of what EBSCOHost is and how to search it. The link to Blazer Library's database page is http://www.kysu.edu/academics/library/librarydatabases.htm.

Library Survey

In an attempt to gauge the quality of the services and resources at Blazer Library, the library will be conducting a survey for the next few weeks. We want to know what you think. The link to the survey is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2bYPhz_2bX50JeElfpRI33fmg_3d_3d. We encourage students, faculty and staff to take the survey. We look forward to your comments and suggestions, as we strive to make the library as best as it can be.

Free Stuff for You.

A famous quote declares that "nothing in life is free". Well, I beg to differ.

In the Education Curriculum Lab, located in the basement of Blazer Library, we have an entire shelf filled with free materials for the taking.

These items are educational in nature and have been given to us as free samples by textbook publishers through the program which we participate in where we serve as a repository for state textbook samples.

The items vary from textbooks to videos to leveled readers, and everything in between, and are constantly changing.

If you work with kids, have kids, or just plain value learning, then stop by and browse the shelf. The shelf is located immediately to the left of the service window in the Education Curriculum Lab, and has a yellow sign on it advertising the materials on it as free.

100% free. You can't beat that.

Welcome!!

Blazer Library would like to welcome eveyone to our blog!! In addition to our quarterly newsletter, this blog was created to offer continuous updates about library events and services. We would also like to hear from the university community regarding any suggestions about services or events that you would like to see the library develop or host. We also have a IM feature that will allow you to message a library staff member that is online using this blog. We hope that this will provide the library and the university community (students, staff and faculty) with an open dialogue of how the library can better serve the university.