Connect with the Campus Library!

Happy National Library Week!   Have fun with this video!

 More NLW videos by the American Library Association here

Do you love to gaze at the stars in the night sky?  Want to experience some of the beauty of the Universe? I spent more than an hour with my child last night exploring Sky-Map, a web site which presents a detailed map of the sky and a huge collection of images of all objects outside our solar system.  When you are in this web site, use “Show stars above you now” (click on the time icon next to the search box) to enter your location and find all constellations viewable in your area, right above your head!  Want to search for a specific object in the sky?  Just do a search by typing its name in the search box, “Find Object”.  I addition, you’ll find so much more to explore in what’s featured under “Attractive Spots of the Universe”!  And for the real astronomer inside you, this web site is also filled with all kinds of hard-core information to satisfy your whole scientific appetite! 

There are (at least) a couple fun sites for sharing your books and socializing with other readers. There’s the relatively new Goodreads where you can see what your friends are reading, find good books to read and keep track of what you have read and want to read. It’s free and fun and worth a look if you enjoy reading, discussing and discovering new books.

I See Dead People(’s Books)

Also there’s LibraryThing, which has been around for a bit longer. Here you can do the same kinds of things, plus you can find people with similar reading interests.

Not quite as morbid as it sounds, at LibraryThing, there’s a group devoted to cataloging the collections of dead people. Wanna see what was on Tupac’s bookshelf? Wanna know what Sylvia Plath was reading? Now you can. For a complete list of cataloged authors, including libraries in progress, visit the group I See Dead People(’s Books) over at LibraryThing.

Having travel plans? A Google flight status search may come in handy as part of your preparations!

According to the official Google Blog:

For the latest information on a flight’s status, simply search for an airline and flight number, and the first result will tell you whether your flight is on time or delayed as well as the estimated departure and arrival times. Here’s a quick example for a specific American Airlines flight:

Cool, isn’t it?

With finals almost upon us, I think we could all use a little stress relief. Thankfully, Stress Pig is here to help! Just click on the link and then on his nose. Enjoy!

You got to see this one!   Make sure you watch it all the way to the end!

Want to know more about otters?   Check our Britannica Online database under Articles & more, Encyclopedias and other sources!

While many of us in higher education (and particularly us library-types) are really attached to learning by reading and writing, videos like the ones from Common Craft are a great reminder that sometimes a picture really is…well, you know.

My first post to this blog was about RSS feed readers, a technology to help you keep up with new information on the web. One of Common Craft’s most popular video explanations is also about RSS, so if you were waiting for the movie version, you’re in luck.

Now maybe you’re already technologically-inclined enough that you don’t need “plain English” explanations of wikis or social networking. However, are you comfortable with your zombie attack survival skills? I thought not. Now here’s some information we can all use.

Be safe out there, and Happy Halloween from the library. Stop by the reference desk on Halloween afternoon for a treat!

Sorry about all the updates: here are the links for the rss video and the zombie video for folks using feed readers.

Are you a geography whiz or a wannabe? Then check out Stateris-USA, a geography Tetris game to test your knowledge of the world.  This is a fun web site for people of all ages! Try USA, Africa, Europe, France, Netherlands, UK, or South Carolina (… I still haven’t figured out why these particular countries and among them all, the state of South Carolina?!) 

And if you really, really like to have fun with geography, try also this quiz. How good are you finding these hot spots on the map?
 

When was the last time you read a poem?  Or listened to a poem being read?  If you can’t even remember the last time you read or heard a poem, then stop everything and explore some of the options that are out there to help you make contact with poetry on a regular basis.  The best part is that there are a couple of great sites that provide audio clips of poems, so you can indulge even if you don’t have the time to sit down with anything other than required reading.  The Poetry Archive has lots of (mostly) contemporary poets reading their own work.  Think poetry is irrelevant to everyday life?  Think again.  You can browse The Poetry Archive by topic, so it’s easy to find something of interest to you.  You can also browse by poet or poem title.  If you have kids, they can visit The Children’s Archive.  Another excellent audio archive is called PENNsound.  It’s similar in conception to The Poetry Archive – modern poets reading their own works.  While you can’t browse in the same ways you can through The Poetry Archive, you can explore some of the interesting anthologies put together by PENNsound.  In addition to audio clips, PENNsound has video and longer podcasts.  Both of these sites are great ways to make poetry a part of your life!

Need a break from homework?  A website to help you procrastinate?  Check out MoOM (The Museum of Online Museums).  This site is a gathering of some interesting and unique digital archives and exhibits.  One of the most random is certainly the Gallery of Nebraska Pay Phones, which is exactly what its name says it is.  Are you out of food and also ideas of what to buy at the market?  Visit The Grocery List Collection, which claims to be the “world’s largest online collection of found grocery lists.” With over 1600 lists to view, you’ll find plenty of inspiration.  In addition to links to these and a great many unusual collections, MoOM also links to the websites of established museums with outstanding reputations:  MoMA, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Smithsonian, just to name a few.