Excerpt: “Some years ago, I was awakened early one morning by a phone call from a friend. She had just broken up with a boyfriend she still loved and was desperate to justify her decision. “Can you believe it!” she shouted into the phone. “He hadn’t even heard of Pushkin!” Read the whole article from the New York Times: It’s Not You, It’s Your Books ”
A sobering vision of romance.
T.

If you’ve had a chance to use JSTOR today, you may have noticed something different. As of April 4, JSTOR has a new interface. The visual appearance is vastly improved, and the functionality enhanced by a number of new features:

Unbelievable! U.S. Funded Health Search Engine Blocks ‘Abortion’
T.

Students in Geography 270 will be coming in until April 10 to ask for “ALR” maps. These are detailed maps of the GVRD’s Agricultural Land Reserve boundaries for 1974 and 1981. I have placed all relevant maps on top of the map cabinets under appropriate signage. Students are welcome to photocopy these maps, but may not sign them out. Their professor will make arrangements with me for oversized scanning if it proves necessary.
Feel free to refer students to me if necessary.
Tim

There’s origami.kites and fans, and then when you let a real artist at it, there’s this.
Spotted on BoingBoing.

Jan Wallace sent out this reminder of the group study space available in the Barber Learning Centre, some bookable, some “drop in when no classes are on”. Keep reading to the end of the message for a review of Barber’s great hours during exams, April 14-28. Wow!
North Wing:
There are 5 rooms available for booking by groups of 3 or more to
work on group projects. These rooms are located along the east side
of levels 3 and 4. An additional room is in the northwest corner of
level 3.
Each room is equipped with 2 tables and 8 chairs, a white board,
electrical outlets and wireless. Whiteboard markers can be requested
from the Circulation Desk on level 2.
Guidelines for Group Project Rooms:
* A group may book a maximum of 2 hours per day, twice a week
* If you are more than 10 minutes late you lose your booking
* Reservations are made in person at the reference desk on level 3
* Rooms can be reserved 2- 3 weeks in advance
South Wing:
* Most classrooms, seminar and meeting rooms, especially on Level
One, are unlocked and may be used when no class is in progress.
This is in keeping with classroom practice throughout campus.
* Other small meeting rooms are available on Level Two (behind
Ike’s Café)
* A silent study room seating 50 people is on Level Four (Musqueam
Room, Room 455)
* Considerable informal study space is scattered throughout the
building, especially on Levels Three and Four
The IBLC’s central core (excluding the north wing and parts of the
south wing) will remain open for extended hours during exams, April
14-28:
Monday – Friday:
7am – 1am
Saturday:
10am – 1am
Sunday:
12noon – 1am

Good news on the eresources front. As of today, we have access to a number of new and upgraded online resources.
In the EBSCOhost line, we now have access to the following:

“The Map Room is a blog that points to maps, map collections, map-related resources, and material about maps on the web. Anything that fits under that rubric, from medieval mappæ mundi to satellite imagery, and from topo maps to Tolkien, is fair game.
Launched in March 2003, The Map Room is aimed at a broad audience. While GIS professionals and cartographers seem to enjoy reading it, it’s meant to be accessible to anyone with nothing more than an interest in maps.”
I particularly enjoyed finding the section on Imaginary Places when I was working on a recent reference question.
See also the link to Strange Maps, where you can find a map of the 1969 moon landingsite or have a look at the abandoned proposal (thankfully) to rename star constellations with more recognizable figures such as The Tyrants–featuring Hitler, Attila the Hun, and Mussolini.
Enjoy!
Tara

The citation style questions keep a’comin’ so I thought I would post this useful link to Diana Hacker’s Research and Documentation site I know a number of us already use it but it’s always nice to have a link at one’s finger tips. If you aren’t familiar with the site, it has a significant number of citation examples as well as sample papers with formatting details. In my experience, students have always been very happy to learn of it.
Tara

Brilliant librarian reference from the Star Trek cartoon Very short. Come on. You KNOW you want to watch it.