Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Widget

To provide you the most up-to-date news on the oil spill, Gale is giving free access in GREENR to the newly created portal: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010. Updated daily, this portal offers:

• More than 70 annotated web links guiding you to reliable sources on the open web
  
• An in-depth expert overview
  
• Primary sources of congressional hearings
  
• More than 250 podcasts
  
• More than 1,500 news articles
  
• Case studies about disaster relief, offshore drilling and connections to other spills
  
• Direct links to BP's response
  
• More than 100 images
  
• More than 70 videos

This free widget from Gale has been added to the Library's homepage so that you all can stay up to date with the latest news regarding the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.

Online Renewal Option is Now Functional!

Blazer Library is excited to announce that library users now have the option to renew materials online in the Library’s catalog. To access this feature they would go to the library catalog search page and click on ‘My Account’ in the header. This will take them to a screen where they will have to enter their university I.D. # (101 or 100 number) and their last name. Once they log in they can see what they have checked out, what the due date is, and renew items.


Special thanks to Blazer's Systems Librarian, Benjamin Rawlins, for enabling this convenient feature for our patrons!

Spotlight on Ethnic NewsWatch

Paul Blazer Library subscribes to multiple academic databases - so many, in fact, that it may be difficult for you to choose which one to utilize when doing your research. To help simplify matters, this blog will periodically focus on specific databases to help explain why you would want to use them. Today, our focus is on Ethnic NewsWatch, a ProQuest product.

Ethnic NewsWatch provides access to full text of Spanish-, English-language and bilingual newspapers, magazines, and journals plus other multicultural publications from the ethnic, minority, and native press through Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW). Titles include La Opinion, El Nuevo Herald, El Diario/La Prensa, Mundo Hispanico, Hispanic, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, and many more (none of which overlap PRISMA). Much of this content is available only in ENW. And of its one million-plus articles, nearly a quarter are in Spanish, making ENW an unmatched bilingual diversity database. To complement this wealth of untranslated titles, help options and screen assists are also available in Spanish.

Spotlight on Maurisha Jenkins

The spotlight is on Maurisha Jenkins. Maurisha is the Library Technician for the Periodicals Unit. She is the newest member of the Blazer Library Team having been hired in April 2010. She graduated from Kentucky State University in May 2008 with a degree in Biology. During her time as a student at KSU she was very involved with several Land Grant programs centered on youth. She has also worked previously at the Kentucky United Methodist Children’s Home in Versailles, and continues to serve as a mentor for the Children of Greatest Need program.

Maurisha is currently seeking ways to further her education. She is planning to pursue a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health. When she is not here at Kentucky State University she enjoys spending time with family in Cincinnati and her dog, Putter. She also enjoys traveling and shopping, and wants to revisit Miami in the future. She enjoys cooking, particularly chili and chicken alfredo, and listening to R&B music. We are glad to have Maurisha as part of the Library, and would like to invite you to welcome her as well.

What's Your Take on Neologism?

ne·ol·o·gism   /niˈɒləˌdʒɪzəm/ Show Spelled[nee-ol-uh-jiz-uhm] –noun
1. a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase.
2. the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words.
3. a new doctrine, esp. a new interpretation of sacred writings.
4. Psychiatry . a new word, often consisting of a combination of other words, that is understood only by the speaker: occurring most often in the speech of schizophrenics.

from Dictionary.com

Do you believe that the current lexincon of words in the English language, as collected and defined in our dictionaries, is large enough to meet all of our written and spoken needs?

Or do you believe that our language is always evolving, keeping pace with our culture, and so as new cultural ideas present themselves, so must new words to describe them? Consider the following example, taken from the website WORD SPY:

Word: farmscraper
n. A high-rise building used for growing crops. [Blend of farm and skyscraper.]

Example Citation:

Other growth areas include vertical farming, in which lack of space means crops are cultivated in urban high-rises or 'farmscrapers'.
—Fiona MacCrae, 'Aim for the stars and train to be a space architect," Daily mail, January 14, 2010

Some might argue that the English language must continue to grow in breadth to accomodate changes that couldn't have been envisioned when dictionaries first took on the monumental task of collecting our every word. If you look to the above example, that seems like a reasonable argument. 300 years ago, no one needed the word farmscraper because there were no skyscrapers to farm on top of! That word could not have been created until a need for it was presented.

The flip side of this argument is that many of the new words that are being created are just jargon, created to accomodate passing trends - especially those which are technology-based. As techonologies come and go, they often take their words with them. Consider the Betamax: the now obsolete forerunner to the VHS (which is itself nearly obsolete) disappeared as new technology was ushered in to replace it. I haven't met a person under the age of 20 who knows what that word is, let alone the technology it represented. In cases like that, it becomes easier to understand why some folks believe that neologism is best left to, and should only be taken as seriously as, the schizophrenics whose speech are so often peppered with newly coined terms.

No matter which side of the fence you fall on in the debate, though, you should check out WORD SPY, a site that diligently collects and defines the new (and often puzzling) words sneaking into our vocabulary. Whatever your stance, you are bound to find the site entertaining and informative.

Hearts and Stars...

...are just some of the shapes that you can cut using the Ellison Die-cutting Machine, currently housed near the study tables in the Curriculum Lab in the basement of Paul G. Blazer Library.


What is a die-cutting machine? The manufacturer of the machine explains it like this:

"Die cutting is like using a cookie cutter. A hand-operated, die cutting machine uses steel rule die shapes to cut through a wide range of materials quickly and easily."(http://www.ellisoneducation.com/diecutting)


Why should you care about Blazer's Ellison machine? Because it is free for you to use, for one! You only need to supply the construction paper that you will use. Secondly, the die-cuts have real and practical applications in your life. Education students use the variety of shapes and letters to make cut-outs for the sample bulletin boards they must prepare for class. Sorority and Fraternity members use the letters to help in the construction of signs during Rush Week. The machine is indispensable during Homecoming season when it is time for the campus-wide decorating contest.


The usefulness of the Ellison is not just limited to making attractive signs, either. The Ellison website maintains a score of free lesson plans that utilize die-cut shapes from the Ellison machine. Check them out at http://www.ellisoneducation.com/lessons/1


The Ellison machine is available for you to use whenever the library is open.

The World Bank Shares Their Data for Free!

Of particular interest to our students of business and international affairs should be the iniative just undertaken by the World Bank to share many of their prime indicators and databases - for free!

The World Bank recently announced that they will offer free access to over 2,000 indicators (including many that go back 50 years) through the new online data portal they launched on April 20th at: http://data.worldbank.org/

This new site contains the full World Development Indicators (WDI), Global Development Finance (GDF), and Africa Development Indicators (ADI), along with other World Bank databases, including Global Economic Monitor (GEM) (up till now these databases were only availabale via subscription). The new site is designed for both novice and advanced users: you can access basic data by country, topic, and region, as well as download datasets in Excel, CSD, XML, and other formats. Users can also access and retrieve data through the DataBank (a platform similar to that of the previous WDI, GDF and ADI platforms). The site links to the World Bank Data API (encouraging developers to create new applications using the data), DataFinder, and World Bank's new iPhone application.

For a full list of available data sets available go to: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog. Most data is available in English, Arabic, French, and Spanish.

Spotlight on Sharon McGee

Even if you visit Paul G. Blazer Library everyday, you may have never met Sharon McGee, Blazer Library’s Records Manager and Head of Special Collections/Archives. Much of Ms. McGee's work is done away from the public eye, whether that work is diligently guiding KYSU employees in managing their records, or preserving KYSU’s permanent records for administrative/historical/fiscal/ legal purposes, or ultimately making those records accessible to KYSU faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Sharon is a KYSU alum, having completed her undergrad B.A. in elementary education with a computer endorsement here before going on to the University of Kentucky to complete dual master’s degrees, the first of which certified her as a Media Specialist and the second of which provided her a Master’s of Science in Library Science.

Before coming to KYSU as an undergrad, Ms. McGee spent several years working in business. After that, she taught elementary school in Anderson County and Franklin County prior to coming to work at Blazer Library. One year she worked as a Media Specialist. 

Sharon is married with 2 daughters, who both attend the University of Kentucky, and feels lucky to have a beautiful granddaughter. She loves working as an academic librarian and is glad that she chose it as her career . When she is not busy working at the job she thoroughly enjoys, Sharon can be found singing karaoke, listening to music, and most importantly of all, spending time with her family.

Thank you for all you do, Sharon!

The Dreaded Bibliography Made Easier

Have you ever found that the hardest part of writing your research paper isn't writing the paper itself but rather crafting the reference or bibliography page at the end? Have you found yourself losing valuable points on your assignments because of tiny errors made on that crucial page of citations? Well, if you have, you are not alone.

Understanding the mechanics of writing the sort of reference page that will earn a 100% is difficult. For example, should you underline or use quotes when noting your source title in APA style, and how does that differ in MLA? Once you decide, where do you place that title - before or after the author's name? It is enough to give a person a headache, but you can stop anguishing over those decisions now because help is here!

The Paul G. Blazer Library has added a link to the KnightCite online citation generator service to its online catalog. Provided by the Hekman Library of Calvin College, this service allows you to create accurate bibliographies. By prompting you to first choose a style (MLA, APA, etc.), then enter the answers to specific questions about the material you are using (such as author's name or book title) within a form, and then requiring you to submit the completed form through an easy click of your mouse, a complete and stylistically accurate citation for the work is generated. The service is provided free of charge by the Calvin College, boasts no distracting advertising on its site, and even provides registered users with the option of saving all of their citations and even multiple bibliographies to their account.

Check it out here and see just how easy writing a bibliography can be!

Ebooks

Did you know that Blazer Library has four different eBook collections? For some time those collections have been located on the library's database page, so you may have been unaware they existed. However, now we have created a seperate webpage for our eBook collections. We have subscriptions to ABC-CLIO, NetLibrary, MyILibrary, and Gale Virtual Reference Library. Click here to view our eBook collections. So if you are looking to see if we have electronic books on a topic for your research paper or you just want to see what we have available go to our eBooks page and find out.

Virtual Bookshelf

Have you ever been searching for books on a subject and found a book but wondered if the library had similar titles close to that title? Now you can see similar titles and subjects while browsing the library catalog from a computer without having to physically browse the shelves! This new feature is a Virtual Bookshelf that allows you to see items that are located on the same shelf as the book you just found. Here is a screenshot of what the Virtual Bookshelf will look like:



You can browse to the left or right, and this feature will let you where the items are located and whether they are available to check out. To see this feature in our catalog click this link. We hope that you enjoy this feature and that it helps you in searching for items to assist you in your research.

Celebrate National Library Week

At Kentucky State University, where’s the one place you can go to get help with a difficult referece question, study with your friends, connect to the Internet or just curl up with your favorite book – all for free? You can do all of that and more @ Paul G. Blazer Library! Celebrate National Library Week, April 11-17. Students, faculty, and staff all thrive @ our library!

New Look of Library's Catalog

Check Out the new look of the Library's Online Catalog! For the past several months we have been making changes to the look and function of the library catalog. Some changes that we have made include:
-Color Changes
-Adding both the KSU and Blazer Library Logos
-Adding our Library Name
-Addition of the New Items tab
-Link to the Library's hompage in the Footer
-Social Bookmarking in Individual Item Records

So take a look at the new catalog, and tell us what you think. Do you like the new changes? What suggestions do you have? Let us know what you think. We are always excited to hear from students and faculty/staff and what your input is regarding library services.

Meet Our New Library Technician

Chances are if you've visited Paul Blazer Library this semester, you've already met our new Library Technician. In case you haven't, though, allow me to introduce Christie Ellis.

Christie is replacing Nyasha Nyemba, our previous Librarian Technician, in the Circulation Department. Like Nyasha, Christie always has a warm and friendly smile to share with everyone she meets.

Christie comes to us with a rich background in professional administrative work, having worked for, among others, BWI (Book Wholesalers Inc) and the National Guard. She is the mother to three boys - Peyton (20 months old), Ben (9 years old), and Tre (13 years old). Her boys share her love of football, with the two oldest even playing it themselves. When she's not at work, Christie is likely to be cheering her boys on at their games!

Help us welcome Christie to KYSU and Paul Blazer Library! We are so glad she's here!

Depository for Donations for the People of Haiti

The Paul G. Blazer Library of Kentucky State University will be serving as a depository drop for items that include food (with a long shelf life), over-the-counter medicines, medical supplies, and toiletries.

Needs list includes food items with a long shelf life - at least 6 months out to the expiration date, some examples include items such as:
Peanut Butter
Rice

Over-the-counter medicines (examples below):
Children’s Tylenol
Children’s Motrin
Ibuprofen

Medical Supplies

Toiletries

The Red Cross website listed that food, water, medical services, temporary housing and grief counseling are needed among other things.

One of my co-workers has made the first donation of toothpaste, ibuprofen and food. She expressed that the toothpaste and ibuprofen are on sale now at Kroger for $1.
Please remember that all items that have an expiration date for use should be at least 6 months out for date of expiration if not longer.

We will be donating the collected items to:

The Northwest Haiti Christian Mission of Frankfort
Capital City Christian Church
The American Red Cross

These organizations already have service workers located in the immediate area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and can properly assist those in need by making the donated supplies readily available. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Dantrea Hampton at 502.597.5946 or Dantrea.Hampton@kysu.edu


Thank You

Welcome Our New Systems Librarian

Paul G. Blazer Library is excited to announce the arrival of our new Systems Librarian, Mr. Benjamin Rawlins. Yes, that's right, the very same Benjamin Rawlins who has served so capably in his capacity as the Library Technician in Periodicals since October 2008.




Benjamin came to Blazer Library with experience as both an a Electronic Services library assistant at Eastern Kentucky University and as a graduate assistant in Reference and Information Services at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. When he first joined our staff, he already had a Bachelor of Science in History and a Master of Arts in History from Rio Grande University and Marshall University, respectively. Always committed to furthering his education, however, he did not stop there. He continued his studies, receiving his Master of Science in Library Science from the University of Kentucky in May of this year. In addition to his formal education, Benjamin has pursued multiple continuing education opportunities within the library community, including KDLA's training on Open Source Software. Further, he has served as a guest committee member on Blazer Library's own Electronic Resources/Systems Committee, making him keenly aware of the technology issues and concerns relevant to our library. All of this experience and education makes him a wonderful fit for the position of Systems Librarian here at Paul G. Blazer Library.

When not at work, Benjamin loves to spend time with his wife Julia and their two dogs, Lexi and Ashes. He is a die-hard Ohio State Buckeyes football fan and loves watching them play.

We're glad to have you here (still), Ben!