Meriam Library News

We've all seen it. There, in the computer lab or on one of the computers by the reference desks on the second floor of the library, is a student hard at work conducting research for her midterm paper. And next to her, while she's buried nose deep in an article database, is a student buried nose deep in Facebook.

I'm not trying to knock Facebook. I keep up with my friends with it and enjoy using it myself. But yesterday's Thumbs classic in the Orion caught my attention with its thumbs down to MySpace and Facebook users in the library when other students are waiting to use a computer for research / taking a Blackboard Vista quiz / some other scholarly activity.

So I'm curious what you think. Is there any sort of "social network etiquette" concerning when to hang out on Facebook or MySpace and when not to? If not, is this something you see for the future as interest in social networks continues to grow?

Contributed by Aaron Bowen

Global Road Warrior is a database of information related to countries. Though described as "the ultimate business travel guide," it is more that just a business resource. It contains much of the same information found in the Library's other country database, Country Watch. What makes it different is the inclusion of practical information for travelers, such as pictures of currency, information on transportation, and cultural information such as social etiquette, customs and even superstitions.

The publisher of Global Road Warrior, World Trade Press, has granted the Meriam Library trial access to the database through April 18, 2008. Please have a look at it, and feel free to share your comments!

Harvard University's arts and sciences faculty voted unanimously February 12 to publish their scholarly articles online, making them available to the public at no charge. Under the plan, the university's library will oversee a newly created Office of Scholarly Communication that will serve as a repository for the material. Faculty members will retain the copyright to their articles, subject to the university's license, and can request a waiver of the license for particular articles in special cases.

Harvard's move is seen as giving a significant boost to the open access movement, which champions free, permanent online access to peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly material.

"There is no question that scholarly journals have historically allowed scholars to distribute their research to audiences around the world," said computer science professor Stuart M. Shieber, who proposed the motion. "But the scholarly publishing system has become far more restrictive than it need be. Many publishers will not even allow scholars to use and distribute their own work. And the cost of journals has risen to such astronomical levels that many institutions and individuals have cancelled subscriptions, further reducing the circulation of scholars' works."

"Today's vote in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences addresses an issue that is of great concern to all of the faculties of the university," said Harvard Librarian Robert Darnton. "All of us face the same problems and all of us can envision the public benefits of open access. Harvard Medical School, for example, is already working with its faculty to comply with a congressional mandate that articles based on funding from the National Institutes of Health be openly accessible through PubMed Central."
Although he commended the option for faculty to request waivers, Association of American Publishers Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs Allan Adler voiced concern that the plan could harm the peer review process. "This is a vendor-customer dispute over price," he said in the February 13 Boston Globe.. "It doesn't surprise us that all libraries feel their budgets are far less than desirable, but that's a reality the educational community faces."

Posted by Carolyn Dusenbury / Source:American Libraries, February 15, 2008 http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2008/february2008/harvard.cfm

Deering Family, 1911

In the late 1970's, Ellen Deering established an endowment as a memorial to the C.E. Deering family. Her intent was to support research projects about the history of Northeastern California and the history of CSU, Chico, particularly the development and organization of the University Archives. Mrs. Deering required that copies of all projects funded from the Endowment be deposited in Meriam Library Special Collections.

Proposals or questions about the 2008/09 competition
may be sent to:

Carolyn Dusenbury
Ellen Deering Endowment Project Director
Meriam Library
CSU, Chico
Chico, CA 95929-0295

or Emailed to cdusenbury@csuchico.edu
or Faxed to 530-898-4443

Applications must be received by or postmarked on May 2, 2008.

Proposals are reviewed by the Ellen Deering Committee. Successful applicants will be notified by June 15, 2008.

Deering Endowment Fund information and guidelines for applications are available here.
Download file
Contributed by Carolyn Dusenbury

Many patrons come into the Meriam Library with questions about the university itself. There is a lot of information specific to CSU, Chico on the Web. I (Aaron Bowen) have put together a brief list of some of these sources, as well as notes on what kind of information each resource offers and how to search or browse for information on each one.

Chico State Public Affairs News Releases:

Browse news releases semester by semester back to 1997, or, click the "Search" button in order to search the entire news release archive through 1997.

The Orion (Student Newspaper):

The search bar is on the left side of The Orion's homepage. The two lines of text under the search bar - Past issues by date and Old archives (before 2001) - are both hyperlinks. You can select either to browse articles by date.

Chico State Facts:

Listing of common "quick facts" about Chico State University. Select the links at the top of the screen to find information about majors, fees, the Chico community, and more.

University archives in Special Collections, Meriam Library:

As the archives webpage says, "The primary purpose of the University Archives is to document the history, growth and development of the university and to provide source material for administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni and other members of the university community. While the archives holdings and services are developed primarily for the university, they are also available for use by visiting scholars and the general public."

Student and Campus Announcements:

Daily listing of events and announcements at Chico State. You can browse the archives of these announcements using the navigation at the left side of the screen. The "Search For" box at the top of the screen will also find these announcements.

University Police Department (UPD):

The left-side navigation offers a wealth of information on different campus policies, such as safety and bike rules.

Contributed by Aaron Bowen

Faith Ringgold - "The Triangle"
Celebrate Black History month online by visiting the Library of Congress' website commemorating African American History Month. "Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism" is the theme of this year's national celebration. Woodson, an early champion of the role of African Americans in history, co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. He inaugurated "Negro History Week" in 1926, and is considered to be the father of Black History month.

From African American History Month you can access the diverse collections, exhibitions, and events at the Library of Congress related to black history. View a webcast of the one woman play Zora!, a portrayal of the life of noted Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston. Listen to the stories of African American soldiers from the Veterans History Project. Explore the Library's extensive collection of photographs in the Image Collection. Or, read about Marian Anderson's historic concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial under Historic Events. Whether you want to look at photographs, listen to interviews, or just read, the Library of Congress site is a great place to visit.

Contributed by Liz Colson

This past Wednesday Jacqueline Carambat wrote a great article in The Orion called Early semester stress sting students. Even if you've not read it, you probably already know what it is about. Between scheduling classes, studying, thinking about an upcoming internship or study abroad program, and doing your best to take time off from everything that's going on, college is a 24-7 commitment. But you are not alone in feeling stressed by student life.

Jacqueline's article reminded me of a book in the library collection called Under Pressure & Overwhelmed (Praeger, 2007). It examines the issues students face when going through college and includes both research and personal accounts from students. The book takes a psychological perspective and has a high level of scholarship, but for all that is still written in straightforward, understandable language. And (perhaps most importantly) it offers strategies for coping with the stress that can accompany student life. As the authors say on page 13, "Each of us can learn the strategies and skills that permit us to deal effectively with worries and fears. You can help yourself. And what you learn will assist you in dealing effectively with many of life's challenges."

The authors also note that universities have resources available to students to cope with the stress and pressure that college life can bring. Here at Chico State there are places on campus available to help you navigate college, such as Student Services, Academic Advising, and the Counseling Center.

Contributed by Aaron Bowen

Want to know how students feel about what goes on in the Meriam Library? Nicole Williams talked to Carolyn Dusenbury, the Dean of the Library, and to a number of students to get their take on student conduct in the library. The results of her investigation are published in the 2/06/08 issue of the Orion.

What sorts of experiences have you had in the library? Do you think it is a good place to study? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Please leave your comments. We would love to hear from you.

Posted by Sarah Blakeslee

William Gibson has long been one of my favorite authors. Certainly I find him a talented writer, but my favorite aspect of his work is his futurism - his thought on how different technologies affect our social world. He is best known for Neuromancer (1984), a book that saw the first use of the word "cyberspace" and envisioned the Internet six years before the net was released to the general public.

Something of a sequel to Pattern Recognition (2003), Spook Country weaves three independent stories together - one of a journalist investigating digital art, one of a Chinese-Cuban racketeer who transfers stolen government secrets stored on the hard drives of iPods, and one of a U.S. Intelligence agent tracking the stolen data to find out who is taking it and what it is being used for. These parallel plots are woven together for an original, unexpected conclusion.

While I must say that I find it a bit less engaging than previous Gibson novels, Spook Country is still a fast paced, enjoyable read with a slick post-modern style. Its 84 chapters rarely take more than five or six pages apiece, thus making the book feel like it is constantly being updated - almost like reading a string of blog posts. And while the book touches upon different subjects affecting our contemporary globalized world, the topic I found most interesting was Gibson's commentary on the loss of privacy that comes with being wired digitally. For example, consider this interaction between the journalist and a character (ridiculously) named Hubertus Bigend:

Her phone rang in her purse. It was still attached to the scrambler. How would that work if it were anyone other than Bigend? She answered. "Hello?"

"Just checking," said Bigend, and suddenly she didn't want to tell him about Sarah.

A reaction to her sense of his ubiquity, if not yet actual then potential. Once he was established in your life, he'd be there, in some way no ordinary person, no ordinary boss, eve, could be. Once she accepted him, past a certain point, there was always going to be the possibility of him ringing up to say "Just checking," before she could even ask who was calling. Did she want that? Could she afford not to?

While the idea that someone could just be in contact at any time for whatever reason is hardly comforting, Gibson is alluding to a real phenomenon that can occur when someone bases a part of his or her life on a digital network. For some this loss of privacy is worth it. Putting details of one's life on a social network, for example, necessarily sacrifices some privacy, but many people are willing to accept that loss in order to connect to their friends. The extent to which people are willing to sacrifice privacy in a networked environment thus becomes an open question - a question that has served as the topic of such books as Privacy at Risk and World Without Secrets.

Because it is a well crafted, enjoyable read, and because it poses contemporary topics such as digital privacy to its reader, I recommend Spook Country for anyone interested in a novel that reflects real-world issues.

Contributed by Aaron Bowen