Hosted By: Bracken Library
When: Friday Nov 07, 2008
at 9:00 AM
Where Bracken Library
Muncie, Indiana|15 47306
United States
Description:
Bracken Library

Click Here To View Event

We're just starting the second week of the fall semester and we hope that everyone had a good first week and a safe and fun Labor Day weekend.  We also wanted to remind everyone that librarians are available during most of our opening hours to assist with research for your class assignments and to answer questions and help with using the library collections.  Check out our Ask a Librarian page to find out all the ways you can contact a librarian for help.

New Chairs in Bracken

Those of you who weren't around campus during the summer break are probably just now noticing the new chairs that we've put in the lobby of Bracken Library.  The chairs were added in late May/early June and have replaced the older wood framed blue upholstered chairs that had been in the lobby previously.  I had the opportunity to be one of the first people to sit in one of these chairs when they were put in the lobby and was pleasantly surprised to see how comfortable they are.  The chairs are placed in groups of four around small tables and are a great place to meet with small groups for working on class projects or just hanging out between classes.

University Computing Services Lab Closed

The University Computing Services Lab in Bracken Library has been closed. In the winter of 2008-2009 the area will re-open as the "Helen B. and Martin D. Schwartz Special Collections and Global Digital Complex." The complex will provide state-of-the-art interactive equipment for collaboration.

Changes to the EBSCOhost interface

The interface for our EBSCOhost databases, including popular resources such as "Academic Search Premier", "Business Source Premier", and "ERIC (EBSCOhost)", has undergone a bit of a change.  Users who were familiar with the old interface shouldn't have much trouble with the updated interface, though new users are encouraged to contact a librarian if they need any assistance.  Two extremely useful new features are the ability to view thumbnails of figures and illustrations for some article entries and the ability to preview some items by mouseing over them.

Loan Period Extended for DVD's and Laptops

Students, faculty, staff, and Academy Students may now borrow DVD's for 4 days. Digital equipment, such as laptops, projectors, digital cameras, etc. may now be kept for 6 hours. The equipment may be renewed online twice, or returned to Educational Resources by the closing time of the same calendar day, whichever comes first.

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone who took classes during the first summer session is having an informative and successful academic session thus far.  For those of you taking second summer session classes, this is just a reminder that with the sessions being so short, it doesn't pay to procrastinate.  As soon as you start getting any research assignments that you may be given for class, you might consider visiting us as soon as you can so that you will have plenty of time to collect the best research resources that we have available in our collection or that we can get through interlibrary loan from another library.  Of course, as always, reference librarians are available during most of our open hours to offer you research assistance.  If you're needing a lot of help, you can make an appointment to meet with a reference librarian for 30 minutes or so to get some great ideas for the best resources to consult or the most efficient strategies to search for materials on your topic.  Check out our Ask A Librarian page to contact a librarian or to make a reference appointment.  We also offer help through IM on AIM, MSN Instant Messenger, and Yahoo! Instant Messenger.

Cool Things happening in Archives this summer

The University Libraries' Archives and Special Collections have two very cool exhibits on display on the second floor of Bracken Library.

The first is  "The World of Artistic Expression", which is on display through July 30th.  This exhibit of rare materials features such diverse items as Chinese Calligraphy, Pueblo Indian Paintings, and miniature Japanese screen paintings.  The books found in this exhibit will display some of the exceptional kinds of artwork that can be found from American to Japan, with one of the highlights of the exhibit featuring artists and scenes from Indiana.

The second is the Digital Exhibit "Howdy Goudy: Frederic W. Goudy and the Private Press in the Midwest".  The Private Press Movement sought to revitalize printing as an art form, focusing on typography, design, and print quality rather than profits. Midwest-born printers and typographers Frederic Goudy, Bruce Rogers, Edwin Grabhorn, and Robert Grabhorn made the private press their life's work, becoming four of the most influential figures in the Private Press Movement in the United States.  This exhibit will be on display in Bracken Library room 210 through July 16th.

You asked for it...we gave it to you!

Bracken Library is pleased to announce that we have been steadily replacing our previous wood-framed reading chairs with all new chairs.  The new chairs are extremely comfortable and a welcome new furnishing here at the library.  Many users have mentioned that they wished we had more comfy chairs at the library...well that wish is being granted.  If you haven't already, stop by the library some time and check out the new seats.  You'll be glad you did.

Obvious but I'll mention it anyway...

Unless you have just recently discovered us here on MySpace, you've no doubt noticed that our MySpace profile page has undergone a massive makeover.  We hope you like the new look.  If you'd like to send any comments or questions about the new profile design, we'd love to hear from you.  Thanks for reading and we hope you have a good second summer session.

Well, despite the chilly temperature outside, the semester that started today was, in fact, technically the summer semester.  The warm weather hasn't arrived yet, but the days are getting longer, and the school days are shorter, but Bracken Library's hours are still the same as they usually are, so if you need to work on a project or a paper and need access to the library's resources late into the night, we're still here until 3am on Sunday through Thursday.

National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month and a "Bike to Work Day" has been planned to encourage university employees to ride in instead of drive in on May 16th.  Of course, employees aren't the only people who need to travel to campus.  So, if you have a bike, and you live relatively close to campus but usually drive in, why not join the Ball State University employees and try biking to class this Friday?  With the price of gas it could help save you a little cash, and who knows?  You might decided that you want to bike to class every day.  Ball State Employees' "Working Well" website has links to information about bicycle safety, biking info and tips, a campus map showing the locations of the bike racks, and even a link to a page with info about local bike routes and trails ideal for recreational riding.

Bookmark Cafe closes for the Summer Semester

The Bookmark Cafe will be closed for the summer semester, but will re-open again in the fall.  Please make a note of this when coming to the library if you were planning on visiting the cafe during your visit.

New Vending Machines in the Lower Level of Bracken

Even though the cafe isn't open this summer, there are still vending machines in the lower level of Bracken just outside of the double doors by the Music Listening Collection which offer a variety of beverage choices and snack items.  In fact, two new vending machines have been added.  One of the machines has refrigerated sandwiches, hotdogs, muffins, chocolate milk, etc. and the other machine contains a variety of juices.  All of the items are reasonably priced at around $1.00 to $1.25 for many of the items.

The summer has just started, and before long many of you who are taking classes are going to start having to research papers and projects.  As always, library staff are available at Bracken, the Architecture Library, and the Science-Health Science library during normal open hours to assist you with locating the resources that you need.  Feel free to stop by any of our service desks for assistance, or to contact us online or by phone, visit our Ask a Librarian page.  We look forward to seeing you and assisting you this summer.

Hosted By: Bracken Library
When: Thursday Apr 17, 2008
at 6:30 PM
Where: Bracken Library Forum Room BL 225
Bracken Library-BSU Campus
Muncie, Indiana|15 47306
United States
Description:
Bracken Library

Click Here To View Event

Hosted By: The Writer’s Community of Ball State
When: Friday Apr 04, 2008
at 6:00 PM
Where: Bracken Library Forum Room, BL225
Bracken Library
Muncie, Indiana|15 47306
United States
Description:
The Writer’s Community of Ball State

Click Here To View Event

The library was treated to a sneak preview of the Ball State University Theatre department’s upcoming production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s musical "Into the Woods" on Tuesday, March 25th.  Here are a few pictures from that preview at Bracken Library:







Opening night is tonight and the show runs March 27th-30th and April 2nd-5th.  For more information, go here and scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Enjoy the show!

Well, another Spring Break has come and gone and we hope everyone had an enjoyable week long break from classes and that everyone made it through the holiday no worse for the wear.  Spring Break has been a much welcomed vacation for as long as I can remember, and so as I prepared to write this post I decided to do a little looking around to find a little information about the history of Spring Break.  One interesting piece that I found is this article from the Orange County Register.

Speaking of history, vacations, and holidays--today is St. Patrick’s Day which celebrates the life of the patron saint of Ireland who, according to the "Encyclopedia of Holidays and Celebrations",  is believed to have died on March 17th, 461 A.D..  One story of St. Patrick claims that he used the shamrock to explain the Christian belief of the Holy Trinity (pg. 608).  The shamrock as a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day persists to this day, but I suspect that many in this country, myself included until now, aren’t aware of the meaning behind this symbol.  Perhaps in Ireland, where the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is a 4 day festival running from the 15th to the 18th, the symbology is not lost on the celebrants.

Irish immigrants brought the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day  to what is now the United States in the 1700’s.  According to "The Encyclopedia of American Holidays and National Days", Irish gentlemen in Boston met on March 17th, 1737 to honor St. Patrick and form a group for the benefit of the Irish Protestants (pg. 79).  While this is one of the earliest known acknowledgements of the holiday in this country, it wasn’t until several years later that the day began to be observed regularly.  The St. Patrick’s Day Parade website claims that the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City took place in 1762, with this year’s parade marking the 247th consecutive year for this particular spectacle.  It’s interesting to think that a holiday that started as a celebration of Irish national heritage is now often celebrated with green beer, pinches for not wearing green, and a lot of "Kiss Me I’m Irish" t-shirts.

Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository gets makeover

Since we’re on the subject of history, the Ball State University Libraries’ "Digital Media Repository" has unveiled its new interface today.  The Digital Media Repository is essentially a database of various digital media collections put together by the Ball State University Libraries.  It includes several collections pertaining to local and campus history (including historical campus images) as well as various other collections of images and digitized documents.  Check it out, it’s full of some rather rare and unique resources.

...watching a really good movie, especially if it's that new release you've been just waiting to get on DVD?  Isn't it even better when you can watch it for free?  The Ball State University Libraries is constantly adding materials to the collection, including new movies, and they're all available to check out for free!  You can browse the list of new items or search for a specific title using CardCat or our Video Media Finder.  Our January arrivals include such titles as Nacho Libre, Rome season 1 and season 2, High School Musical 2, Shrek the Third, and one of my personal favorites Idiocracy.

Still can't find that certain movie?  You can also request movies through our Interlibrary Loan service.  Submitting a request is quick and easy and can be done online by following the link above. 

Happy Valentine's day and happy viewing...just don't spend too much time watching movies and too little time doing homework!