Want to see more of the Library? Try Flickr

The University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library is now on Flickr!  We’re using the photo-sharing service to post pictures of our latest Library events.  We’ll also be adding a few “mystery” archives photos, like the University of Scranton Players picture below.  Please comment if you can help us identify them!

Check out our photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/universityofscrantonlibrary.

Do you know these University of Scranton students?
Comment on Flickr if you can help us identify them!

Save the Date! Countdown to the Book & Plant Sale

Mark your calendars for April 25th and 26th!  We’re just 63 days away from the Weinberg Memorial Library’s annual Book and Plant Sale, and the Library’s already buzzing with plans for this year’s event, which will be held in the 5th floor Heritage Room.  As always, the Book and Plant Sale benefits the Friends of Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library Endowment Fund.

Right now, we’re collecting donations of books, plants, and tag sale items.  If you’d like to donate, you can drop off your books or other contributions at the Library, in the boxes just inside the Monroe Avenue entrance.

Shoppers browse the 2008 Book Sale

We’re also looking for volunteers.  If you’d be willing to help us sort books and set up/take down the sale, please let us know!  Give Barb E. a call at 941-4078, and she’ll add you to the volunteer list.

This year’s sale starts on Friday, April 24th with a special “Preview Sale” for current Friends of the Library and Schemel Forum members (and current University of Scranton students – bring your Royal Card!) from 4pm – 9pm.  The sale is open to the public on Saturday, April 25th from 9am – 9pm and on Sunday, April 26th from 12pm – 4pm.  We’ll see you there!

Happy Darwin Day!

Note: Today we welcome Dr. Janice Voltzow, chair of the University of Scranton Biology Department, as our very first guest blogger!  Dr. Voltzow has been studying Charles Darwin’s life and works, in addition to her biological research in invertebrate functional morphology.

February 12, 2009, marks the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and this year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of his landmark book On the Origin of Species.  The theory of evolution by natural selection, as first articulated by Darwin and subsequently observed, verified, and tested by generations of biologists, is the foundation of our understanding of the complexity and diversity of life on earth.  It explains how life evolved from single-celled organisms to include all the various forms of life we see around us today, from single-celled bacteria to complex, multi-cellular, sexually reproducing organisms.  Modern biology, and indeed, modern life, rests on a foundation of evolutionary theory.  Molecular genetics has provided overwhelming support for Darwin’s mechanism of natural selection as the primary force of evoutionary change.   His theory continues to have a tremendous impact on our daily lives, including our understanding of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (bacterial populations that have evolved to resist the effects of anti-bacterial drugs or antibiotics) and the increasingly complete fossil record.  At The University of Scranton we are celebrating this event with seminars, workshops, and plenty of cake.  I encourage you to celebrate Darwin Day 2009 and to participate in the international celebration of the work of one of the great intellectual giants of all time—Charles Darwin.

There are a number of wonderful web sites available to help you learn more about Darwin and evolution.  All of his major works, notebooks, and most of his letters are now available at The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online at http://darwin-online.org.uk/.  For more of his incredible correspondence, see  The Darwin Correspondence Project at http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/.  And for a wonderful interactive site on the voyage of the Beagle, see http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage03.html.

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Thanks, Dr. Voltzow!  I’d like to add some of my favorite Darwin-related resources — check out last year’s Newsweek article comparing the lives of Darwin and his co-birthday celebrant Abraham Lincoln.  Another fascinating site is Tree of Life, a collaborative web project that brings to life the evolutionary tree that Darwin envisioned.  And if you still want to celebrate, Jonathan Eisen at UC-Davis offers you “10 simple ways to honor Charlie D.”

Countdown to the Lincoln Bicentennial

Here at the Weinberg Memorial Library, we’re celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday all month long, even though the big day isn’t until Thursday (February 12th). Yesterday, we opened our display of the national traveling exhibit, “Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation,” in the 5th floor Heritage Room.

The exhibit, organized by the Huntington Library and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, will travel to 63 different libraries in 31 different states.  The Weinberg will be hosting the exhibit through March 22nd – to see it, just head up to the 5th floor anytime during the Library’s regular hours.

Want even more Lincoln?  There’s still time to register for this Saturday’s free Symposium and Exhibit Opening Reception.  We’re excited to have three speakers share their knowledge of Lincoln and his time:

• Dr. Leonard G. Gougeon, The University of Scranton – “In the Heat of War: Lincoln, Emerson, and the Fortune of the Republic.”
• Karen James, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission – “Effects of the Abolitionist Movement on Slavery Laws in Pennsylvania.”
• Thomas E. Wooden, Sr., Center for Anti-Slavery Studies – “The Underground Railroad in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”

Best of all, we’ll be visited by Lincoln actor and historian Jim Getty, who will bring the 16th president “alive” as we celebrate his memory.  To join us on Saturday, just call the Special Collections librarian Michael Knies at 941-6341 to register.  (And check out Michael’s interview in yesterday’s Scranton Times-Tribune!)

WML Instant Messenger Now Up and Running!

The WML Instant Messenger!

 

Let’s run through a hypothetical scenario:

Its 9:30 Wednesday morning, you’ve been “awake” for a total of 10 minutes, you haven’t brushed your teeth, you haven’t eaten, and you are by no means ready to meet the world. You look over at your wall calendar and what do you see? –

Bring a copy of “The Devastated Nest: Crises of Identity in Wuthering Heights and Antigone” from Mosaic : a Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature to class Wednesday (10 am).

Okay, you have approx. 30 minutes to get ready for the world, get to the library, ask a librarian how to find the article, wait in-line to print the article, print it, and then run to class.

Oh, and you are still in your pajamas.

Because we feel sorry for you and how taxing the life of the American College student can be, the Librarians have just made your life easier…

We are online ALL DAY LONG from 8 AM to 11:30 PM.

Same scenario, this time instead of running to the library, you send out an IM to UofSRefDesk, a librarian promptly responds to your question, directs you to the article, you print it at home, and you still have time to put on a decent pair of pants and make it to class early enough to suck up to your professor.

So what was that Screen name again?

AIM = UofSRefDesk

MSN = UofSRefDesk

Yahoo! = UofSRefDesk

Google Talk = UofSRefDesk

I suggest adding us to your buddy list now, that way when you really need us, you won’t have to waste that precious time looking for our screen name again.

Oh, and if you look to your immediate left you’ll see the IM a Librarian “widget.” This little window is a portal right to a University of Scranton Librarian, it acts exactly the same way as an IM window except it lives in your browser. No need to register, just type your text and send. We will respond right inside the same window. This widget IM Window is also available on the Ask-A-Librarian Page.

So, remember no matter which program you use to chat, add us to your buddy list!

Go ahead, just say hello. We won’t mind – we like the attention.