Langsdale Library Blog

Langsdale Basement to be closed, Microfilm inaccessible

2009-11-12T16:21:00.001-05:00

The basement in Langsdale Library will be closed for asbestos abatement from Monday Nov. 16 – Wednesday Nov. 18. The basement will be inaccessible during that time. Fortunately, there is not much down there at the moment so most people won't even notice the the closure. Well at least not until they have to use the facilities (tip: there are bathrooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors). The other main impact of the closure is that our microfiche and microfilm will be inaccessible for a few days.

Thank you for your patience.

Invisible China: E-Book of the Month

2009-11-09T09:59:00.004-05:00

In this eloquent and eye-opening adventure narrative, Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson, two Americans fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Uyghur, throw away the guidebook and bring a hitherto unexplored side of China to light. They journey over 14,000 miles by bus and train to the farthest reaches of the country to meet the minority peoples who dwell there, talking to farmers in their fields, monks in their monasteries, fishermen on their skiffs, and herders on the steppe.

In Invisible China, they engage in a heated discussion of human rights with Daur and Ewenki village cadres; celebrate Muhammad’s birthday with aging Dongxiang hajjis who recount the government’s razing of their mosque; attend mass with old Catholic Kinh fishermen at a church that has been forty years without a priest; hike around high-altitude Lugu Lake to farm with the matrilineal Mosuo women; and descend into a dry riverbed to hunt for jade with Muslim Uyghur merchants. As they uncover surprising facts about China’s hidden minorities and their complex position in Chinese society, they discover the social ramifications of inconsistent government policies--and some deep human truths as well.

Hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a spectacular achievement reminiscent of early 20th-century anthropological monographs by Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict,” Invisible China will be available to Langsdale Library patrons November 1-30. To access this title from the Langsdale Library homepage, click on NetLibrary (E-Books) and follow the links. Once in NetLibrary, click on the e-book of the month on the right side of the page. You will need your library barcode to access Invisible China.

UB Yearbooks on the Web

2009-11-05T15:28:00.001-05:00

The University of Baltimore was founded in 1925 to provide an opportunity for working adults to receive degrees in Law and Business graduating its first class in 1928. This graduating class began the tradition of publishing an annual yearbook. Known as The Reporter, the title was suggested to the editorial staff by Dr. Edgar T. Fell, who taught Admiralty Law. The yearbooks were published continuously until 1975, the only exceptions were 1930 and 1936.

The yearbooks were digitized from the holdings of the Special Collections Department in Langsdale Library. The scanning was undertaken by Stephanie Raszewski, a student intern and Tom Hollowak, associate director for Special Collections, who also designed the webpage. Palak Desai, a graduate assistant at Langsdale created the website.

Please take a look at the University over the years at:
http://archives.ubalt.edu/ub_collection/yearbooks.html

Leisure Reading

2009-11-02T14:10:00.003-05:00

Thought Langsdale Library was all about textbooks? Well you guessed wrong; we now have our Leisure Reading section, which is located behind the reference desk. All you Twilight fans-we have the whole series. Are you more of a poetry reader?... Or a fiction reader? We've got everyone covered.

Why don't you browse our leisure collection

Langsdale's Annual Book Sale Nov 4-5

2009-10-29T11:12:00.001-04:00

"Good books cheap" has always been the motto of the Langsdale Library Annual Book Sale. The sale will be held in the Gallery of the Langsdale Auditorium

Wednesday November 4th: Noon to 8PM
Thursday November 5th: 9 AM to 1 PM.

Over 3000 books plus cd's, DVD's, VHS and audio books will be offered for sale. Most hardback books will be $2. Most paperback books will be 75 cents for less. Audio and video materials will also have low prices.

Several book dealers from Virginia and Washington attend this sale for the bargains. Shouldn't you come too?

See you at the sale.

Langsdale has articles in MP3

2009-10-27T10:20:00.003-04:00

Hello,

I am a Reference Librarian and I thought you might be interested in the option to hear articles from two of our resources: Opposing Viewpoints and Science Resource Center. You can find links to these at http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/databases/databases_by_title.htm

Opposing Viewpoints covers social issues, such as Gun Control, Genetic Engineering, Censorship, Endangered Species, and Terrorism. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center brings together viewpoint articles, contextual topic overviews, government and organizational statistics, biographies of social activists, court cases, profiles of government agencies and special interest groups, newspaper and magazines articles, as well as links to more than 1,800 reviewed and subject-indexed web sites.

Science Resource Center provides a one-stop resource for all science-related research needs.

Susan

Question of the week

2009-10-20T12:07:00.003-04:00

Hi there, it's me again your Student Liaison. Ever wanted to tell someone about a change that you would like to see in the library? Now is the time to come on over and step up to the easel, located on the main entrance of Langsdale Library.

Question changes every week.

Don't forget our Librarians are here to help you.

Visit us @:http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/

Corrections to APA Style, 6th edition

2009-10-19T13:32:00.005-04:00

Well, some of academia has been in an uproar this week. It seems there were a number of errors in the first printing of the 6th edition of the APA style guide. The APA assures us that many of the errors were insignificant and typographical, though there are a few that appear in the style rules and examples.

The second printing of the text is already available, but APA will not exchange the first printing for a corrected copy. If you own a copy of the first printing of the 6th edition of the APA style guide, published in July 2009, You can access corrections to the rules, examples and typos as well as corrected sample papers for free from the American Psychological Association.

If you have questions about APA style, please contact a Langsdale Librarian, or consult our guides to using APA style (5th or 6th edition)

Google Scholar

2009-10-16T14:42:00.003-04:00

We've mentioned Google Scholar on this blog a couple of times before, but many students haven't heard of it yet, it's worth mentioning again.

Google Scholar is a specialized search engine that searches the kinds of sources that professors want students to use: scholarly or academic material on the Web. A search in Google Scholar won't get you random websites; it will get you scholarly journal articles, conference papers, academic books, research reports, and other good stuff.

Unlike the main Google search engine, not everything in Google Scholar is available for free on the Web. Langsdale Library has a solution though. If you go into the Preferences section of Google Scholar, there's an option called "Library Links" that will add the "Find it at UB" button to your search results so you can access Langsdale Library's subscriptions to online journals.

Want to know more? Check out the new Langsdale Library Guide to Google Scholar.

Learn Zotero: Free Citation Management Software

2009-10-09T13:41:00.001-04:00

Langsdale Library is offering 2 workshops to help faculty and students learn more about Zotero. Zotero is a free Firefox extension that allows users to collect, manage, organize and store citations from the web, databases or books. Zotero also has an associated word processor plug-in making it easy to cite sources from your Zotero library as you write your paper and create an automatic bibliography in almost any citation style.

If you're interested in learning more about this tool, please attend the workshop. If you can't make it, feel free to contact Catherine Johnson (cajohnson@ubalt.edu) for more information, or take a look at http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/zotero.htm

If you're interested in attending, please call 410.837.4274 or email langref@ubalt.edu to RSVP. While RSVP is not necessary, it's helpful to have a sense of how many people will be attending.

Some Spooky New Titles at Langsdale

2009-10-08T09:50:00.002-04:00

Alright, so only some of the titles are spooky. But in the spirit of Halloween, we are highlighting some spooky and not-so-spooky titles from our new Leisure Reading collection. Langsdale's Leisure Reading collection--featuring popular fiction and non-fiction books--continues to grow, and here's a handful of our newest additions:

Spooky:
Mary Higgins Clark's Just Take My Heart, PS3553.L287 J87 2009

Janet Evanovich's Plum Spooky, PS3555.V2126 P59 2009

John Updike's The Widows of Eastwick, PS3571.P4 W48 2008

Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, The Host, and Breaking Dawn

Not So Spooky:
Michael J. Fox's Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, PN2308.F69 A3 2009

John Grisham's The Associate, PS3557.R5355 A88 2009

Dean Koontz's Relentless, PS3561.O55 R45 2009

Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires : The Founding of Facebook , a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, HM742 .M49 2009

Also remember that Langsdale has several spooky DVDs titles, including Twilight, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Crucible, and Rosemary's Baby.

Burn This Book

2009-10-05T12:47:00.003-04:00

Published in conjunction with the PEN American Center, Burn This Book explores the meaning of censorship, and the power of literature to inform the way we see the world, and ourselves. Contributors including Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, David Grossman, Nadine Gordimer and other literary heavyweights, discuss the importance of writing from various views, both political and social. They illustrate the need for freedom of speech and human rights, and they emphasize the target writers become in a tyranny.

Provided through the generous support of HarperCollins Publishers, Burn This Book will be available free to Langsdale Library patrons October 1-31. To access this title from the Langsdale Library homepage, click on NetLibrary (E-Books) and follow the links. Once in NetLibrary, click on the e-book of the month on the right side of the page. You will need your library barcode to access Burn This Book.

The Original "Hairspray" Coming to UB!

2009-10-01T12:12:00.002-04:00

Langsdale Library will host a screening of John Waters' Hairspray on Thursday, October 8th at 7 pm.

At 6 pm, join us for a "Best 60's Themed Costume" contest. The winner will recieve a $25 gift certificate! Stay for the film, and then join us for an evening of discussion as we examine the underlying racial issues in 1960's Baltimore. Associate Professor Jeffrey Ross will facilitate the discussion.

The Book of William

2009-09-22T17:14:00.002-04:00

Among the many new books at the Langsdale Library, The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins, is worthy of note. [Call number: Z8813 .C65 2009] It describes the publishing of the First Folio by Shakespeare's friends and the adventures of the various copies over the centuries. Some odd information contained in the book is as follows:

Oxford University threw away their First Folio when the new and improved Second Folio was published!
Howard Staunton, of chess set fame, was the first to lithograph the First Folio for multiple copying.
Henry Folger began collecting with the Staunton book and ended by establishing the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. with 79 First Folios!
One of the First Folios is called the "Farting Folio" because it was held in an unsavory location for some centuries and is odoriferous when you turn the pages!
Japan is digitizing their Folios so that the scholar will be able to compare the same plays in the First Folio, Second Folio, Third Folio, and Fourth Folio
Langsdale's Special Collections has a facsimile of the First Folio
(well, OK, that may not be specifically mentioned in Collins' book, but we have a facsimile of the First Folio nonetheless)

Hard Copy Reserves

2009-09-17T13:45:00.002-04:00

Hello, I know you are very excited to see what's going on in the library today; Right? Well I know I spoke about E-reserves but I wanted to mention Hard Copy Reserves this week. These are textbooks, videos and other materials that can't be posted online. Students are able to access the hard copy reserves during library hours. You can make copies or even scan something to make it easier for you. You can take the book anywhere in the library if you wanted to. We are here for your academic needs. Feel free to contact us at 410-837-4318 or visit the website at http://langsdale.ubalt.edu. Don't forget about the chat with the librarian. I use it all the time, even if it is to say hello, just to make sure it works. :)

Happy Constitution Day!

2009-09-17T10:55:00.004-04:00

September 17 is Constitution Day. Find out more about this day and the document it celebrates by taking a look at our Constitution Day Guide: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/ConstitutionDay_guide.htm

If you need help finding information on the Constitution, the Founding Fathers or any other topic, you can always contact the Reference Desk.

Langsdale in the News

2009-09-15T19:21:00.003-04:00

An article in a supplement to the Baltimore Sun featured Langsdale and other area university libraries. The article, published Sunday, September 13, 2009, is entitled College Libraries: Universities provide a new frontier in research.

The article highlights new ways libraries are reaching out to the communities they serve. For example, as was mentioned in previous blog posts, you can find Langsdale on Facebook, Twitter, in the blogosphere (but you know that, because you’re reading our blog now!), IM (at UBLangsdale), or many other ways.

Check out the article!

E-reserves

2009-09-14T11:18:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone it's me again the Student Liaison helping you with all your needs @ Langsdale.I wanted to tell you about something that is very useful. Do you know that the E-reserves are available for you 24/7? Yes, I said it 24/7, so when you're not on campus and you're home relaxing and you need to write some notes before classes start, just go to Langsdale.ubalt.edu; on our website you can find e-reserves. E-reserves are readings, class notes or assignments that your professor asks the library to make available to you online. You can search by course or professor and don't forget the PASSWORD; you will need one to sign in to retrieve the reserve posted. Another week another useful post - if not please call us or chat with a librarian on our website

Take a break from studying

2009-09-11T15:15:00.002-04:00

. . .and read a book for fun! Check out Langsdale's new Leisure Reading collection.

Shelved just behind the reference desk at Langsdale, LR titles include such bestsellers as Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey, Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and many more.

Have a recommendation for a title to add to the LR collection? Send an email to langref@ubalt.edu or comment on this posting on the Langsdale Library Blog.

Librarians involved in return of UB's Alma Mater

2009-09-09T17:01:00.003-04:00

Librarians Bob Pool (Law) and Tom Hollowak (Langsdale) played an integral role is rediscovering UB's song, entitled only Alma Mater, and introducing it to the class of 2013. The story was recently featured in Baltimore's Daily Record.

Langsdale Closed Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-04T17:13:00.000-04:00

Langsdale Library will be closed for the Labor Day weekend, September 5-7. We will resume our regular hours on Tueday, September 8.

Welcome from your Student Liaison

2009-09-03T11:31:00.003-04:00

New to UB? Welcome to the school where knowledge works. I am Shamija Moncur the Student Liaison for the Langsdale library and like you, I've been there too. As the student Liaison it is my job to:
1.Enhance the communication between the library and students.
2.Find out exactly what the students require from the library
3.Increase student participation in library programs and activities.

First week of classes, swamped with work don't know where anything is, papers to write don't know where to get the information from? I can help because here at langsdale we have everything you need to finish that paper. If you visit langsdale.ubalt.edu on the first page you can search for journals, articles or books. Need more help? We have numerous ways to get in contact with Librarians such as Chat with a librarian, IM a librarian, call us or even send us an email and we will respond ASAP to your questions. You think you have it under control feel free to browse our help guides located on the website or on the 1st floor when you visit the library. We're here to help you so come on over and see the smiling warm faces :).

E-Book of the Month

2009-09-01T11:51:00.006-04:00

Flatlined lifts the veil of secrecy on twenty-first century health care and delves into the realities of good people caught in a bad medical system. Dr. Guy L. Clifton, a practitioner as well as a policy advocate, reveals first-hand accounts of needless tragedy, such as the young man who died after a car wreck for lack of a bed in a qualified hospital and the surgeon who was dejected by the scarcity of resources needed to enable him to perform heart surgery on an uninsured man.

Arguing that a lack of coordinated care and quality medical practice benchmarks result in high levels of redundancy and ineffectiveness, Clifton proposes that the key to reducing health care costs, improving quality, and financially protecting the uninsured, is to reduce wastefulness, and offers a solution for achieving success.

Provided through the generous support of Rutgers University Press, Flatlined will be available free to Langsdale Library patrons September 1-30. To access this title from the Langsdale Library homepage, click on NetLibrary (E-Books) and follow the links. Once in NetLibrary, click on the e-book of the month on the right side of the page. You will need your library barcode to access Flatlined.

Welcome!

2009-08-31T16:32:00.005-04:00

Welcome to the Fall 2009 semester! Langsdale Library staff is ready to help you connect with the information you seek for your class assignments, papers, and projects. Stop by the library to check your e-mail, get a movie, collaborate with classmates on a project, find a quiet place to study, or get some research help.

Read All About It will keep you up-to-date on what's happening at Langsdale. We wish you a successful academic year!

Special Collections closed Aug 28 - ILL has a new URL

2009-08-26T16:42:00.004-04:00

Just in time for the new semester, Langsdale has upgraded our Inter Library Loan (ILL) service. It will look pretty much the same as it did before, but there is a new URL for the service, which is here:

http://ubalt.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/BAL/
Also our Special Collections staff will all be out of the office attending conferences or sitting on a jury on Aug 28. The office will re-open on Monday August 31.