St. Thomas University Library Weblog- Have Information Your Way

Final Exam Week University Library Hours

stublogger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:48:30 +0000

Sunday Nov 30th 2.00pm to midnight

Monday Dec. 1st 8:00am to midnight

Tuesday Dec 2nd 8:00am to midnight

Wed Dec 3rd 8:00am to midnight

Thurs Dec 4th 8.00am to midnight

Friday Dec 5th 8:00am to 5:00pm

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Is it too early for New Year resolutions?

stublogger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:41:42 +0000

Tired of hunting and pecking on your keyboard when trying to write a lengthy paper? Wish you could type quickly and effectively? Try powertyping, let me know what you think!

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How did you find us?

stublogger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:27:51 +0000

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Good Luck on this weeks finals!

stublogger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:22:04 +0000

So, here we already at the holiday season. A time for fun, family and shopping. But between this wonderful time and you loom finals week. Well we found some tips for you to get through it!

1. Don’t Panic- this is only a COMPONENT of your final grade. Of course if you have been slacking off all semester, then that is a whole other issue (see my time management post).

2. Don’t be too relaxed- ok so I said don’t panic, not slack off. It may be up to 30% of your grade. Do all you can to be prepared, you know what your weaknesses are!

3. Make time to do your usual routines- especially one that are healthy like exercise. Go for your morning jog, etc.

4. Use the study method that works for you- this is not the time to practice new techniques

5. Sleep- plenty of it, cramming and all nighters just make you jittery and tired.

6. Don’t procrastinate- if your exam is next week START NOW.

7. Arrive on time- you need every minute of the exam time, plus who wants to be embarrassed and disturbing others?

8. See the second link below on good exam taking.

9. Don’t worry about others finishing first- it doesn’t mean anything. Take the time you need.

10. When you are done, let it go.

And enjoy your holiday! Be safe and we will see you in the spring!

(http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/ohe/library/mental/finals.htm)

(http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/ohe/library/mental/essay.htm)

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Celebrate Banned Books

stublogger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:08:14 +0000

September and October came and went in a blurr. I hope all of you have been productive and well. The library experiencing a very busy semester with new changes like the opening of the John C. Favalora Archive and Museum. We have barely a chance to catch our breath when the “librarian holiday” as I like to call it arrived. Oh yes, banned books week. Once a year, in the last week of September, the American Library Association (ALA) observes the freedom to read. It is a freedom that many take for granted. This years title is Closing books Shuts Out Ideas.

“Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them” (ALA, 2008)

Every year a list is published of the books that have been challenged. We posted this list and some of the book we hold on a display in the reference area of the library.

COME CHECK IT OUT!

It often requires more courage to read some books than it does to fight a battle.
— Sutton Elbert GRIGGS (1872-1930)

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Throw it in your backpack…

stublogger — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:53:45 +0000

After speaking at length with my first year students, I realize they all seem to have a common challenge, staying organized! Well I have news folks, most people at some point face this problem until they find a solution that works for them. I am still plagued by post-it notes and a mess of ants I can’t get rid of. But I digress.

Is it surprising that in the age of log-ins, pins, and digital information that we find ourselves frustrated confused and yes..late? I have found, albeit by accident, but why split hairs, a program that claims it will keep track of research, project ideas, forms, procedures, expenses and receipts, and even lunch menus! Take out anyone? Check it out http://www.backpackit.com/examples

Posted in Information

Hablas español?

stublogger — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:42:11 +0000

Did you take a year or two of a foreign language in high school? Do you wish you can retain what you learned and be able to improve through practice? Now you can! Learn spanish, or another popular language with the following free program.

Livemocha is the “social” way to learn a new language. It is an online learning community, with interactive lessons help you track your progress. The neat thing is that your teachers are native speakers! For those of you that are shy they offer self study as well. So far you can choose from the following languages English, French, Hindi, German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese with more to come.

Buena Suerte¡

Google’s New Open Source Web Browser- Chrome

stublogger — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:21:49 +0000

The buzz in the online community is about the new browser Google has come up with called Chrome, it will compete with Explorer and Firefox. Although the site is not live, word on the street is that the beta version will go live tonight. This is all well and good, but some may wonder what exactly does open source mean? “It is a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge” (Calgary, 2008).

Google’s Chrome boasts of:

· a browser that “will include a JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8

· will use special tabs

· an address bar with auto-completion features

· as a default homepage Chrome presents you with a kind of “speed dial” feature, similar to the one of Opera

· privacy mode; Google says you can create an “incognito” window “and nothing that occurs in that window is ever logged on your computer

· Web apps can be launched in their own browser window without address bar and toolbar

· To fight malware and phishing attempts, Chrome is constantly downloading lists of harmful sites” (Lenssen, 2008)

While the beta version will be using Windows in as many as 100 countries, it will eventually be available for Mac and Linux (BBC, 2008).

What do you think? Are more choices better? Does Google now have control over too much? Why or why not? I look forward to seeing your responses.

This will be the site address, although as of right now it is not up.

http://www.google.com/chrome

(2008), from Calgary Commerce Services Web site: http://www.calgary-ecommerce-services.com/glossary.html

(2008). Google launches internet browser . Retrieved September 2, 2008, from BBC News Web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7593106.stm

Lenssen, Philipp (2008). Google Blogscoped. Retrieved September 2, 2008, Web site: http://blogoscoped.com/google-blog.html

Swisher, K (2008). The Entire Google Chrome Browser Blog AnnouncementPosted at 2:15 PM PT on September 1, 2008 . Retrieved September 2, 2008, from Boomtown Web site: http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080901/the-entire-google-chrome-blog-announcement/

Attention Scrabble junkies!

stublogger — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:58:32 +0000

If you are addicted to Scrabble, you can now play the game electronically at Tuxwordsmith for free, in many languages. You get English Scrabble, French Scrabble, German Scrabble, Italian Scrabble, Greek Scrabble, Latin Scrabble, Dutch Scrabble, Swahili Scrabble, Spanish Scrabble, Russian Scrabble, Ukranian Scrabble, Swedish Scrabble, Icelandic Scrabble, Norwegian Scrabble, Finnish Scrabble, Brazillian-Portuguese Scrabble, Arabic Scrabble, Hindi Scrabble, Turkish Scrabble, Czech Scrabble, Kurdish Scrabble, Hungarian Scrabble …whew thats alot of scrabble!

Sláinte,

-stublogger

Stars are the limit!

stublogger — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:08:18 +0000

Astronomy comes alive using a free simulation software that let’s you explore our universe in three dimensions. Its called Celestia and it is free! Travel the stars, the zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, it comes with a huge catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, asteriods, comets and spacecraft. And you can add dozens of installs.