Slouching Toward the Mashup

Worth reading. (with apologies to Joan Didion)

Lamb, Brian. (2007, July/August.) Dr. Mashup or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix. EDUCAUSE Review 42(4): 13-24.

According to the article a short mashed-up audio complement to this article can be downloaded (along with most of the track’s sources).

Biblio-Bit: "When choosing a content management system, we might consider how well it supports RSS syndication."

The Library and the Internet: Ten Good Reasons to Use the Library

(adapted by Lake Land College Library from Mark Herring's 10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library, which originally appeared in American Libraries, April 2001, p. 76–78.)

So you have to write a paper on the pros and cons of widgits vs. watchamasqueezers. You've always just gone on the web and used Google to find information before. Why should you bother using library resources? Here are ten good reasons why:

1. Not everything is on the Internet.
There is a lot of useful information out there on the web. Unfortunately, this often leads to the misconception that everything you need to know can be found online. This simply isn't true. There are tons of published materials (books, articles, videos, music, etc) that you won't find using a standard search engine like Google or Yahoo. And even when you do find them, your access may be limited (see #2 below.)

2. Not everything on the Internet is free.
Much of the web consists of subscription services that make you pay if you want to get into their website or download their stuff. Before you go and spend your hard-earned money on these services, check out the library's website. We've already paid for many of these services so you don't have to.

3. The Internet is not very organized.
How many times have you searched for something on the web and got a list of 1.5 million web pages? How are you supposed to make sense of that? Does searching the web feel like looking for a needle in a haystack? Well, library resources, unlike the web, are organized by topic and broken down into different types of information (books, articles, databases, etc.) Library resources have been organized by real people, not by search engine robots.

4. There is no quality control on the Internet.
The internet is full of lies, misconceptions, and half-truths. Almost anyone with a computer can put up a website, and they don't have to know what they're talking about. Some sites will deliberately mislead you, in order to get your money, change your opinion on a controversial issue, or just to pull your leg. Hoax sites are all over the place, and they often look real. Did you see the one about the first human male pregnancy? Not real. Library resources, on the other hand, have mostly been through editors and fact-checkers who make sure you're getting (relatively) reliable information.

5. Sources on the Internet can be harder to verify.
When you write a paper, it's important to cite your sources. Some web pages make it difficult to figure out who's telling you what and where they got their information. Library resources, even those on our online databases, will tell you exactly where the information came from.

6. The Internet is too new for some things.
Are you looking for news stories from the day your were born? How about speeches from World War I? The web is relatively new, and most sources of information over 10 - 15 years old have not been digitized or placed on the web. If you're looking for information on older events, you'll have better luck checking out the library's resources.

7. Library online resources are available 24/7.
There's more to the library than books these days. Library online databases can be accessed 24/7 through the library's website. Although you access these databases through the internet, they are not internet sources. They are every bit a part of our library's collection as the books on our shelf. The articles you find in our online databases are reprinted from real live print sources.

8. The Internet is a mile wide and an inch deep.
So you've found 40 websites on widgets, but they all give you the same four or five facts without very much detail. How do you stretch that out to a five-page paper? For a varied and more in-depth analysis of widgets and widgetology, try some of the library's books or article databases.

9. You're already paying for the library.
Your tuition and fees help pay for library resources. Why not get your money's worth?

10. Real live people can help you use our library.
Nice, eager, friendly, highly-trained librarians are standing by, waiting to help you find the information you're looking for. Don't spend hours in vain looking for information on the web. Take advantage of our services to point you in the right direction.

CUFTS Journal Search and Resource Comparison Tools

CUFTS Journal Search allows you to quickly find journal titles in over 245 different electronic collections listed in CUFTS. Search by journal title or ISSN to find out which collections include a journal, and what coverage dates are available.

CUFTS Resource Comparison provides rapid analysis of journal titles and coverage dates in over 245 different electronic collections listed in CUFTS. Pick two resources and find out what the overlap is and what titles are unique to each resource.

New Study on Student Internet Citation Confirms Link Rot

I have just read an interesting article: HOVDE, K. (2007). You Can't Get There from Here: Student Citations in an Ephemeral Electronic Environment. College & Research Libraries. 68, 312-321.

The article is available in print, but is not available on the surface Web, or in our Library databases. As of today, the July 2007 issue of College & Research Libraries has not been indexed by our Library databases. But, as I say, the article is available in print, in the periodical room of the library. Think of all you miss (or have to wait for), if you just rely on Web-based information. Now, to the article.

Hovde did a study of 1,666 student citations to "Internet resources" from 529 freshman English composition papers. For a 1999 sample, seven months after submission of the papers only 38% of the links led to the document cited. For a 2004 sample only 45% of the links accessed the document. Seven years after the 1999 citations were submitted only 9% of the links were successful. Hovde writes: "...the Web is an unstable medium. The sine qua non of a paper's references is stability."

As such the surface Web is subverting the scholarly enterprise which depends upon providing proof of authority, and a "published trail of evidence" which can be verified.

Heaven help us if students start citing fluff from the blogosphere... or MySpace!

The 15 Most Circulated Peninsula College Library Book Titles, 2006-2007

1. Cambridge ancient history. (12 volume set).

2. Capitalism and modern social theory : an analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber / Anthony Giddens.

3. Democracy and social ethics / Jane Addams ; edited by Anne Firor Scott.

4. Brendan Prairie / Dan O'Brien.

5. Fundamentals of anatomy and physiology / Frederic H. Martini

6. Graphical approach to precalculus / John Hornsby, Margaret L. Lial.

7. Karl Marx, 1818-1968.

8. Marx's concept of man / Erich Fromm

9. Political analysis : technique and practice / Louise G. White.

10. Third wave / by Alvin Toffler.

11. Theory of social and economic organization. Translated by A.M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons.

12. Sociology of Max Weber. / Julien Freund ; translated from the French by Mary Ilford.

13. Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons. With a foreword by R. H. Tawney.

14. On social evolution : selected writings / Herbert Spencer ; edited and with an introd. by J. D. Y. Peel.

15. Karl Marx, his life and teachings (Leben und Lehre) / by Ferdinand Tonnies

MERLOT (for faculty to imbibe)

MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching is a leading edge, user-centered, searchable collection of peer reviewed, higher education, online learning materials created by registered members.
Faculty can browse peer-reviewed online learning materials by discipline and get assignments to use with students. Membership is free. Here is an example of the quality of resources available: DNA from the Beginning

References for College Papers

References for College Papers is Steven Dutch's overview of what is and what is not acceptable to reference in college-level writing in his geology classes at the University of Wisconsin (for example, when "The Internet" is and is not an acceptable source).
How to let your Professors Know you are Familiar with College Writing

• Start early to locate sources.


• Cite scholarly references only.


• Cite recent materials.


• Use accepted referencing styles.

Quantcast: A Site for Business Students

Want to compare impact of two different Web sites? Or find out how much impact your business site has? Now you can get hard data via direct traffic measurement for over 20 million sites... for free!

Quantcast is the world's first open internet ratings service. Advertisers can find reports on the audiences of millions of web sites. Publishers can ensure their sites are represented accurately by tagging them for direct measurement. The service is free to everyone.

Critical Evaluation of Information Sources

Colleen Bell of the University of Oregon Libraries has created a useful Web page for Critical Evaluation of Information Sources. Provides questions to ask to determine authority, objectivity, quality, coverage, currency, and relevance, and provides suggestions for further reading. Links to additional sites on evaluating information sources appear at the bottom of her page.

New Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journals on Information Literacy

Communications in Information Literacy (CIL) is an independent, professional, refereed electronic journal dedicated to advancing knowledge, theory, and research in the area of information literacy. The journal is committed to the principles of information literacy as set forth by the Association of College and Research Libraries. CIL is also committed to the principles of open access for academic research.

The Journal of Information Literacy (JIL) is an international, peer-reviewed, academic journal that aims to investigate Information Literacy (IL) within a wide range of settings and to make generalised observations on how Information Literacy impacts on organisations, systems and the individual.

Research 101 Designated June 2007 ACRL PRIMO Site of the Month

Research 101 is an interactive online tutorial for students wanting an introduction to information research skills. The tutorial covers the basics, including how to select a topic and develop research questions, as well as how to select, search for, find, and evaluate information sources. The Research 101 tutorial, developed at University of Washington by John Holmes et al., was designated the "Site of the Month" (June 2007) by the Association of College and Research Libraries Instruction Section in their Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online Database (PRIMO).

Audio Archives and Podcasts from Lannan Foundation

The Lannan Audio Archives contain audio files from the popular Readings & Conversations series and other public Lannan events from the past 16 years, as well as selections from the award-winning literary radio program “Bookworm” with Michael Silverblatt. Public Lannan events may belong to any of the program areas: Cultural Freedom, Indigenous Communities, Literary, Readings and Conversations, with authors such as Isabel Allende, Sandra Cisneros, Denise Chavez, Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, and hundreds more. Requires free RealPlayer.

Port Angeles, Washington Events, Videos, and More

The Port Angeles page of American Towns is an online tool that citizens, groups and merchants can use to build a better community. The mission of American Towns is to create a useful, shared and "open" webspace for the community, bringing people, places and events together like never before.

One-stop Searching of WorldWideScience Sources

WorldWideScience.org is the prototype for a global science gateway connecting you to national and international scientific databases. WorldWideScience.org accelerates scientific discovery and progress by providing one-stop searching (see advanced search) of global science sources. Subsequent versions of WorldWideScience.org will make additional science information resources from many nations accessible via this portal. (from the Web site)

SciTalks: Smart People on Cool Topics

SciTalks: Smart People on Cool Topics provides science, humanites, government and business videos in which academics explain their research.
We’re a society trained to sound-bites. Our critical thinking skills are eroding. Scientific thought is by its very nature complex and challenging to communicate to the general public. ...there is no one else who can better convey the necessity, drama and passion of their work than the scientists themselves. --Lee Vodra, June 9, 2007, Boston, in the welcome post of the SciTalks: Smart People on Cool Topics blog.

Library Has New Edition of CSE

The Library has recently acquired SCIENTIFIC STYLE AND FORMAT: THE CSE MANUAL FOR AUTHORS, EDITORS, AND PUBLISHERS. (7th ed., 2006).

SCIENTIFIC STYLE AND FORMAT provides format for scientific papers, journal articles, books, and other forms of publication. This edition, which was previously published under the subtitle: THE CBE MANUAL (Council of Biology Editors), has been informed by authoritative international bodies with recommendations in keeping with the interdisciplinary approach to science.

Chapter 29 covers formatting of bibliographic references, both in-text (using the citation-name system) and end references. CSE end reference style is based upon the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Recommended Formats for Bibliographic Citation principles. NLM, in turn, bases its format upon standards from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

SCIENTIFIC STYLE AND FORMAT is located in the Library reference section.

Interactive Plagiarism Tutorial: You Quote It, You Note It!

You Quote It, You Note It! is the first in a series of modules developed by librarians in the Vaughan Memorial Library at Acadia University. Acadia librarians use these modules to teach basic research skills to students..." (Excerpted from the Tutorial Licensing page.)

Want to Take Stuff from the Web... Legally?

Check out OER Commons which provides open educational resources for teaching and learning that are freely available on-line for everyone to use, whether you are an instructor, student, or self-learner.

Also check out this Web site, Creative Commons. Here is the description from their home page:

Share, reuse, and remix — legally.
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."
We're a nonprofit organization. Everything we do — including the software we create — is free.

A Wikipedia Detective Story

Wikipedia Brown matches wits with Bugs Meany in The Case of the Captured Koala!

Peninsula College Library Receives NWCCU Commendation

The written report of a recent visit by an accreditation team from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) has arrived. Peninsula College Library received a commendation. Congratulations to all the good-natured library personnel... for continuing to provide services with a smile in these stressful times of reduced working space... while the new library is being built.

Using Social Networking for Academic Purposes

Have you ever been surfing the Web and found sites for your research paper, but when you try to find them later, you can’t quite get back to that same site? If so, you might find it useful to use an academic version of social networking called Connotea. (Of course, you should also use Library deep Web databases as well!)

Connotea is a free online reference management service that allows you save links to all the useful articles, websites, and other online resources you find on the Web. Connotea is specifically designed for scientists and clinicians (it is sponsored by the Nature Publishing Group), but student scholars can use it, too. Because it is an academic social network you get “less noise, more signal,” i.e., better, more relevant recommendations.

There is nothing to download and nothing to learn. All you need to get started is an email address to use for registration. And, because it is Web-based, you will have access to all those sites you come across and later wonder, “Now where did I find that?”

Journalism Pathfinder Now Available

The Journalism Library Research Guide lists resources owned by the Peninsula College Library and is organized into the following categories: Bibliographies, Biographies, Encyclopedias and Dictionaries, Handbooks, Manuals, Career Guides, Mass Media Journals and Newspapers (print subscriptions), Electronic Databases, Library Catalogs, and Source Documentation.

Examples of MLA Style Published by Library

These MLA Citation Style Examples, representing both print and electronic sources, are based upon:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.

Note: Peninsula College English Dept. practice italicizes source names.

Library Publishes Preliminary Jacqui Banaszynski Bibliography

This Jacqui Banaszynski bibliography of articles by and about Jacqui Banaszynski is drawn from deep Web library databases and does not include Web sites freely available on the surface Web. Bibliographic databases searched on June 30, 2007 for this preliminary bibliography include: MLA Bibliography, Humanities Abstracts, Psychological Abstracts, WorldCat, ProQuest, Academic Search Premier, Newspaper Source, and InfoTrac OneFile.

Library Acquires Database to Support Environmental Studies

The Library now has the EBSCO database, Environment Complete, which covers all aspects of environmental studies. Environment Complete offers full text of journal articles and monographs, and more than one million indexing records going back to the 1950s, in agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.

How to See What New Materials Are in the Peninsula Library Collection

Want to know what new books the Library has acquired? You can find out instantly through the Peninsula College Library catalog (this takes you to the "New Books" tab). Just click on “Search”… and a list of new Library books will be dynamically generated!

News Flash! WorldCat.org Adds 35+ Million Article-Level Records!

WorldCat.org now provides access to over 86 million unique titles from 9,000+ libraries, including newly added content: 35+ million citations to journal articles.

The database will tell you which nearby OCLC libraries have an item. You can also click on "Cite this Item" and have the citation formatted in the most popular bibliographic styles.

Library Acquires Digital Reference Collection from Oxford

The Library has acquired the Reference Premium Online collection from Oxford University Press.
This reference collection contains 160+ dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, including titles from the acclaimed Oxford Companions Series, plus the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. There is an especially strong humanities emphasis with multi-volume works on literature and Western history.

Library Supports New Bachelor of Applied Management Degree Program with Deep Web e-Resources

Students, staff, and faculty of Peninsula College now have access to several new business databases:

ABI/Inform Trade & Industry
ABI/INFORM includes in-depth coverage of companies, products, executives, trends, and other topics for more than 1,210 publications, with over 1,160 in full-text, allowing study and comparison of specific trades and industries, including telecommunications, computing, transportation, construction, petrochemicals, and many others.

Business & Management e-Book Collection
NetLibrary provides access to the digital version of books, journals, and database content in the fields of Business, Management and Leadership. You can access this NetLibrary eContent 24 hours a days, seven days a week!

Small Business Resource Center
The Small Business Center provides information in all major areas of starting and operating a business including financing, management, marketing, human resources, franchising, accounting and taxes, including a "How To" menu that tackles the most-frequently asked new business questions. The SBRC also includes nearly 200 business journals -- both specialty/vertical market and general business.

Library Book Collection Size Doubles Overnight with Addition of New e-Books!

The Library has acquired Ebrary Academic Complete, a full-text database of e-books covering all subject areas. Students, staff, and faculty may access the collection, which currently includes more than 30,000 titles from more than 220 of the worlds leading academic, STM (scientific, technical, medical), and professional publishers.

Over 9,000 e-Journals Now Available for Browsing through Library

Peninsula College Library has over 9,000 e-journals. Students, staff, and faculty have access to full-text articles through the A-to-Z Index to Peninsula College Library e-Journals

Welcome to Peninsula College Library Biblio-Bits!

The purpose of this blog is to share news about Peninsula College Library... a library on the move... soon (summer 2008) to move into our new library building... with a beautiful view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The Peninsula College Library is located online at: Peninsula College Library Media Center Home Page