The Naked Roommate

The Naked Roommate: and 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into at College 3rd ed., by Harlan Cohen.

“What an interesting title for a book!” That is what I thought when I saw it listed as the NetLibrary Book of the Month for July. (For information on NetLibrary and how to use it, see below.) This book contains all the information a new college student needs to be able to survive and thrive, during that confusing and challenging first year of college. Your parents will claim that, “I wish I had that information before I went to college.” However, don’t discount the book due to that statement!! There is good information here with funny stories and vignettes to complement the information being given. There are chapters on everything from dorm life to finances. Great information like: always were flip-flops in the community bathrooms, and the fact that you will do better in your classes if you actually go to class! So, go to NetLibrary and see what the book is all about. You may decide that you need a paper copy of this title, either for yourself, or your younger sibling or a friend.

Tina Oswald, Research Librarian

NetLibrary is one of the databases the Steen Library subscribes to and is actually a collection of e-books. Yes, you can get there easily! Follow these steps:

Go to the Library Home Page and click on Databases A – Z.

At the Databases page, click on “N”, or scroll down to the “N” section.

Click on NetLibrary, and you are there!!

Tina Oswald toswald@sfasu.edu rm. 202f 936.468.1861 Subjects - Elementary Education, and Secondary Education/Educational Leadership

eAudiobooks, NetLibrary and You

Check out Steen Library’s new collection of eAudiobooks online. You can view the most current list of titles at NetLibrary’s website. To get there from the Steen Library Home page, select the link Databases A-Z on the left side of the page, then from the list of databases, select “NetLibrary.” Once you are at NetLibrary's web site, select the link for eAudiobooks located on the right hand side of the page. This will take you to a list of over 500 audio books available online. You can search or browse the eAudiobooks alphabetically by Title or by Subject. New titles will appear every month. Eventually, all of the eAudiobooks available from NetLibrary will be added to Steen Library’s catalog, and you will be able to search for them there as well.

You can create your own NetLibrary user account by selecting "create account" on the top right side of the NetLibrary screen. After you create your user name and password, you will be able to access eAudiobooks and all the other online titles available to the SFA community from NetLibrary, with any computer connected to the internet. There is unlimited, simultaneous access, which means several people can have the same eAudiobook “checked out” at the same time.
When browsing the books, if one looks interesting, click on “show details” to find out what portable playing devices can be used and what file formats are available. You can listen to the eAudiobooks on your computer as well as most Mp3 devices.

For more information, concerning content available online or in print we encourage you to contact a librarian. For more information about NetLibrary you can Ask A Librarian or visit the NetLibrary Demo to learn how to create an account, search for eContent, or Download eAudiobooks http://www.oclc.org/netlibrary/demo/.

Kayce Halstead halsteadkay@sfasu.edu rm. 202g 936.468.1574 Subjects - Government Documents, Collection Development

Pop Quiz. The Alarm Sounds. What do You Do?

Thursday...

April 16, 2009 8:00 a.m.

Several threatening signs were found posted on and off campus this morning. The signs found on campus stated “4-16-09 A shooting will occur today and students will die.” Several signs were also found off-campus at the Grove apartment complex stating “4-16-09 10 people will be killed and shot at the grove.” While these messages are disturbing, there have been no other indications of a threat. Classes will continue as scheduled. Police patrols have been increased today. We ask that students, faculty and staff be vigilant and notify University Police immediately if they witness any unusual activity. Any updates will be posted on this site.

What was a catchy phrase for a movie in 1994 is now a scary possibility for some in 2009. Did you know what to do Thursday? The university has detailed plans and procedures for dealing with emergencies.

Pop Quiz. Fire alarms go off in the building, what do you do?
Fire
Pop Quiz. Weather alert alarms go off, what do you do?
Weather
Pop Quiz. Hazardous chemical spill forces an evacuation the alarms go off, what do you do?
Evacuation
Pop Quiz. A gunman starts shooting on campus, alarms go off, what do you do?
Armed Subjects
Pop Quiz. Someone makes physical threats, what do you do?
Disruptive Individuals
Pop Quiz. Someone is having a heart attack, what do you do?
Automatic Electronic Defibrillators (AED)

What do you do? You should be prepared by reading emergency procedures ahead of time, and then practicing them. You can also learn about preparedness and survival in almost any situation from books and other materials in the library.

That's what you do.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

Guess Who Is to Blame for Punctuation Marks .!:;,"??. . .

Having a hard time with those commas or semicolons? Does punctuation, and that red (or purple) ink on your papers, give you a headache?

The authors of On the Dot: the Speck That Changed the World (Humez, 2008) lay the blame squarely on an ancient Greek named Aristophanes of Byzantium. He was the librarian at the Museum of Alexandria in Egypt. So, go ahead and blame a librarian, but not this librarian! They write that he is generally credited with devising the first system of punctuation in the Western world. Aristophanes “. . . created a system of three dots (low, middle, and high) to address a problem of vital interest to the readers of his day: how to tell where (and for how long) to pause and take a breath while reading out loud.” (Humez 2008, x-xi).

Apart from all those breathless Greeks and Egyptians, the authors caution not to judge Aristophanes too harshly for his "invention." Kathryn Lasky explains in her childrens’ picture book, The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, “Before this, one word ran into another with no spaces between them. There were no question marks, periods, or exclamation points either. Reading was hard!”

just imagine trying to read the following without punctuation marks it would be pretty difficult how about typing a web address what a jumble the comics wouldnt be half as much fun either if characters couldnt react with !**!#?*!! as they often do and you all know what that stands for or so Ive heard texting would be tough carol said forget about database searching it doesnt work well without punctuation marks

Whether you think of the librarian Aristophanes as a problem solver, or a problem maker, he was a librarian who changed the world forever with, three... little.. dots.

Carol Scamman cscamman@sfasu.edu rm. 202e 936.468.1710 Subjects - Art, English, Modern Languages, Social Work, Sociology, Theatre

Ministry Of Truth : Whitehouse Web Site

Ministry of Truth

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

"Reality Control" ...if all records told the same tale-then the lie passed into history and became truth. "Who controls the past", ran the party slogan "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

This Process of continuous alteration was applied...to every kind of documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance.

....[documents] were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made.

George Orwell 1984

Changes in White House documents raise concern about rewriting history

news bureau
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

11/25/08

Craig Chamberlain, Social Science Editor
217-333-2894; cdchambe@illinois.edu

The Bush White House has been rewriting part of its history, according to University of Illinois researchers Scott Althaus (ALL’-touse) and Kalev Leetaru (KAHL’-iv lee-TAR-oo). It “has quietly deleted or modified key documents in the public record that are maintained under its direct control,” they write, in a report posted online this week and cited in a story in The New York Times.

They argue, however, that “updating lists to keep up with the times is one thing. Deleting original documents from the White House archives is another. Back-dating later documents and using them to replace the originals goes beyond irresponsible stewardship of the public record. It is rewriting history.”

Airbrushing History American Style (Full Report)

The authors of the report show how to locate altered or deleted documents from the public record on the White House web site. You will need to hurry because in January the site will be gone. It could be deleted or put in an archive with restricted access.

Print, books, cultural literacy, and "the classics" are as relevant today as the day the were first written.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

You Can Run but You Can't Hide From an Overdue Fine

Seinfeld is tracked down by library cop Mr. Bookman, for a missing book he checked out over twenty years ago.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

5 Types of Books that Increase Intelligence

Fortunately, after John Wesley posted 10 Ways to Improve Your Mind by Reading the Classics, he soon followed up with a list of genres to read to increase intelligence. In his post 5 Types of Books that Increase Intelligence, he describes in detail how reading Science, Philosophy, Serious Fiction, and Poetry increases our brain power. Most of the classics in these fields can either be acquired very inexpensively or downloaded free. Of course, as always there is your local library.

Below is a list of some of my favorite classics.

• Beowulf (Library) Beowulf (Librivox free audio books)
• The Island of Doctor Moreau (Library) (LibriVox)
• War of the Worlds (Library) (LibriVox)
• Pride and Prejudice (Library) (LibriVox)
• Northanger Abbey (Library) (LibriVox)
• Heart of Darkness (Library) (LibriVox)
• Demoracy in America (Library)
  
• Bible, King James Version (Libary)
  
• Siddhartha (Library)
  
• The Art of War (Library) (LibriVox)

What are some of your favorite classics? Send us a comment with a list of titles and share your classic finds with others.

	R. Philip Reynolds preynolds@sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy/Religion, Political Science/Geography

10 Ways to Improve Your Mind by Reading the Classics

From the blog "PicktheBrain" John Wesley mentions a study summarized for the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, indicating that "42% of college graduates will never read another book" after graduation. As disturbing as this is, it indicates that if a book is not a bestseller then number of people likely to read it drops even further. Wesley lists ten ways that reading the "classics" will improve our intelligence. He lists things like gaining perspective, developing fresh ideas, and increasing your level of sophistication. This does not mean one has to become a bookworm but it could help us move a little farther from being a couch potato. The list is at: 10 Ways to Improve Your Mind by Reading the Classics.

	R. Philip Reynolds preynolds@sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy/Religion, Political Science/Geography

2007 Pulitzer Prize Winners

From Bowker's Patron Books in Print at Steen Library
Winner(s):
Native Guard: Poems
by Natasha Trethewey

Rabbit Hole
by David Lindsay-Abaire

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
by Lawrence Wright

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
by Debby Applegate

The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation
by Gene Roberts, Hank Klibanoff

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

Finalists:

After This
by Alice McDermott

Andrew Carnegie
by David Nasaw

Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness
by Pete Earley

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
by Thomas E. Ricks

Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems, 1982-2004
by David Wojahn

John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty
by Arthur H. Cash

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
by Nathaniel Philbrick

Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005
by James T. Campbell

The Echo Maker
by Richard Powers

The Republic of Poetry: Poems
by Martín Espada

	R. Philip Reynolds preynolds@sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy/Religion, Political Science/Geography