LibX SBU Edition Workshop on 2/24

LibX is a browser toolbar extension for Firefox and Internet Explorer that provides direct access to the library's resources without requiring a visit to the library website. Effortlessly switch between exploring the Internet and exploring the library. Learn how to:

• Install the SBU Libraries edition of LibX


• Use LibX toolbar functionality


• Use LibX right mouse click functionality


• Create your own edition of LibX to suit your specific research needs and preferences

Tuesday, February 24 @ 1 PM

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

Scheduled E-Resource Downtime, 2/20 @ 5.30pm

Friday, 2/20/09, there will be a scheduled interruption in access to the library's electronic resources due to campus server upgrades.

The downtime will begin at about 5.30pm and last approximately one hour.

Latest Library Newsletter Available

The February 2009 issue of Library Connections is now available at http://stonybrook.edu/library/newsletter/February2009.pdf.

SBU Libraries acquires second Washington letter

From Chris Filstrup, Dean & Director

Stony Brook arrived in force at Christie's auction of American documents yesterday. Kristen Nyitray, Richie Feinberg, and I represented the library. We were joined by Barbara Russell, Suffolk County Historian, and Elizabeth Kaplan, Director of Education at the Three Village Historical Association. Both Barbara and Liz are members of the Historical Documents Advisory Board which oversees the library's several activities related to the purchase of important historical documents. Also joining us was Steven Englebright, our Assemblyman and champion of local history.

The George Washington letter of interest to us was number 48 out of 51 lots. Most of the earlier lots went for amounts at the low end to middle of Christie's estimates. Exceptions were a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed on vellum which sold for $580,000 and a plaster life caste of Lincoln which sold for $28,000. But the letters, mostly by Lincoln but also several by George Washington, were fetching low to middling amounts.

Bidding on our George Washington letter started at $14,000, and Kristen cooly kept the paddle in her lap. There was interest in the letter, and the price quickly went to $30,000, the top of the estimate, in $2000 increments. At $36,000, there was one bidder in house and one on the phone. There was a lull as the auctioneer waited for a bid at $38,000. Up went Kristen's paddle. "There's a new bidder in the house, first row," announced the auctioneer. From that bid to the end, it was no contest. The in-house bidder quickly dropped out, and it was Kristen versus the phone. At $48,000 the remote bidder must have realized Stony Brook's determination and went silent. The library is purchasing the letter with a combination of state funds provided by Assemblyman Steven Englebright and a donation by Henry Laufer.

The auction ended with the exciting sale of Lincoln's manuscript of his 1864 election victory speech. Bidding started at $1.5 million and, in $100,000 increments, rose to $3 million, the final, hammered price. With Christie's commission, the total price of $3.41 million set a record for an American document. Interestingly, the owner who put the Lincoln manuscript up for auction was a public library in Dryden, New York.

After the dust settled, we chatted with Christie's staff, several of whom came from or live on Long Island. They were happy to see the letter repatriated and to a public institution. We plan to do this again.

--CF

See the Newsday coverage of the auction for further information

See a previous Screen Porch post about the first Washington letter acquired by the library in May 2006

Head of Reference publishes Duras book

The University Libraries heartily congratulates Hélène Volat, our Head of Reference and Information Services, on the recent publication of her book Les Ecrits de Marguerite Duras. Bibliographie des oeuvres et de la critique 1940-2006 which she co-authored with Robert Harvey and Bernard Alazet.

This is the first monograph published in France in which one will find all works by Marguerite Duras from 1940 up to her death on 3 March 1996, all extant translations worldwide, as well as all of the criticism and research on her work until the end of 2006.

With 3,000 cited references for primary and secondary sources, Les Écrits de Marguerite Duras comprehensively lists works published in a multiplicity of languages on this key French twentieth-century author and provides the reader with a detailed synopsis of each of these works of criticism.

Thanks to an international team of dozens of renowned contributors under the direction of Robert Harvey, Bernard Alazet, and Hélène Volat, this fully annotated bibliography is an indispensable tool for Duras researchers and students alike.

Les Ecrits de Marguerite Duras. Bibliographie des oeuvres et de la critique 1940-2006. Robert Harvey, Bernard Alazet, Hélène Volat. Paris : Institut Mémoire de l'Edition Contemporaire, 2008. (Coll. Inventaires, 2). 530 p.

Library Tour on Feb. 17

Tour the Melville Library

Take a tour of the Melville Library’s main public service areas. Learn about our collections and services and get some freebies while you’re here. Meet us @ the Central Reading Room, Melville Library. All tours run about 30 minutes.

Tuesday, February 17 @ 12 PM

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

Newspaper Workshop on Feb. 19

Extra! Extra! You Can Overcome Frustration with Newspaper Research!

This session examines ways to find current and historical articles in newspapers. We'll look at online indexes and collections of digitized newspapers, as well as explore old-fashioned ways to dig in the newspaper archives. In this workshop, you will:
• Become familiar with the odd nature of newspaper indexing
• Effectively search online newspaper indexes
• Effectively use non-online resources for locating older articles
• Find, display, and print articles from the library's online newspaper collections
• Find, display, and copy articles from the library's microformat collection of newspapers

Thursday, February 19 @ 1 PM

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/index.html.

Journal Articles Workshop on Feb. 18

Where are the Journal Articles?

You’ve been asked to write a research paper using at least three journal articles from peer-reviewed journals. What does that mean and how do you find them? This workshop will go over:
• Where to find the articles
• How to find out if an article is or isn’t peer-reviewed
• Which databases are best for which subject matter

Wednesday, February 18 @ 1:30 PM

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/index.html.

Library Tours on Feb. 9 & 11

Take a tour of the Melville Library’s main public service areas. Learn about our collections and services and get some freebies while you’re here. Meet us @ the Central Reading Room, Melville Library. All tours run about 30 minutes.

Monday, February 9 @ 11:30 AM

Wednesday, February 11 @ 5:30 PM

Register at http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

Yes We Did!

From Hélène Volat, Head of Reference

On January 20, 2009, I attended Barack Obama’s Inauguration in Washington DC with my husband, Robert, and my daughter, Aurélie. After volunteering for the campaign from the very beginning, canvassing houses in Pennsylvania under pouring rain in October, calling hundreds of people on the phone, overspending our budget on contributions, and agonizing over the final outcome of this election, it was the logical thing to do.

We enjoyed every minute of it and hardly noticed the deep cold because of the incredible warmth of the crowd surrounding us. It is the first time since I arrived in this country that I took part in an event that gathered such a diversity of people, of all races, celebrating not only one man but a new future. It was moving and exhilarating. I did not dance with President Obama at the Hawaiian Inaugural Ball. But never mind… Yes we did!

Note: You can see more of Aurélie's inauguration photographs cycling through the pics in the upper right corner

Get Your Learn On: Web Research 2.0 on Feb. 12

Get Your Learn On: Web Research 2.0

Web research is like juggling dynamite: done right it’s spectacular, done wrong it blows up in your face. Learn how to do it right:
• 10 rules for effective Web research
• Tools and applications for organizing and sharing research online
• Top 5 Web research mistakes

Thursday, February 12 @ 2:30 PM
Classroom A, First Floor, Melville Library

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

STARS (Library Catalog) Workshop on Feb. 11

STARS: Finding Books, DVDs and more @ SBU Libraries

STARS is Stony Brook’s online catalog of more than 2 million titles, including books, journals, DVDs, CDs, scores, etc. Learn how to:
• Find books, journals, DVDs and more
• Renew books online
• Find Course Reserves and more

Wednesday, February 11 @ 4 PM
Classroom A, First Floor, Melville Library

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

Galaxy (Combined Search) Workshop on Feb. 10

All Across the Galaxy: Searching Multiple Resources Simultaneously

The library's new combined search system, Galaxy, allows you to search up to 50 library resources simultaneously. Learn how to use Galaxy to quickly and effectively locate the information you need. Learn how to:
• Use Galaxy as a research and discovery tool
• Construct effective and productive searches in Galaxy
• Navigate from citations in Galaxy to the full-text available elsewhere

Tuesday February 10 @ 1 PM

Classroom A, First Floor, Melville Library

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

Library Tour on Feb. 5

Take a tour of the Melville Library’s main public service areas. Learn about our collections and services, and get some freebies while you’re here. Meet us @ the Central Reading Room, Melville Library. Tour lasts about 30 minutes.

Thursday, February 5 @ 1 PM

Register @ http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm.

John Updike, 1932-2009

The library has a great deal of information by, and about, the late John Updike.

In STARS, the library catalog, you can find materials by searching:

Updike as Author
Criticism and Interpretation of Updike's Work

Chemistry Library Closing Early This Week

The Chemistry Library will be closing at 7pm this Wednesday-Thursday and at 5pm on Friday.

Please see the revised hours below.

Chemistry Library Hours 1/27/09-1/30/09
Tuesday, 1/27- Thursday, 1/29: 8:30am- 7pm
Friday, 1/30: 8:30am-5pm

Emily Wells, gift well received

from Victor Santiago, North Reading Room

While listening to NPR one day, I heard an interview with a woman named Emily Wells. Emily is musician with the rare ability to transcend the genres of Classical music and Hip Hop. As I listened to her talk I learned of her training as a classical violinist and her philosophy of music. The snippets of her music woven into the interview intrigued me, especially her rendition of the Notorious BIG’s Juicy. I liked the idea of creating legitimate classical pieces with the spirit of Hip Hop, as opposed to the ‘cut and paste’ sampling of classical pieces stitched into Hip Hop beats. I thought it would make a great addition to our Library’s music collection; a perfect bridge between two very different worlds.

After explaining to Gisele Schierhorst, Head of SBU’s Music Library, that happenstance had given me the good fortune to come across a rather uniquely gifted artist, an effort was made to buy the album for the library. I contacted Emily's management to arrange the purchase of the album... and was later informed that Emily generously donated the album. We do thank Emily for the gift and hope as many people as possible get a chance to hear her compositions. Seriously, check it out.



You can learn more about Emily and hear some music on Emily’s MySpace account.

Here is Emily’s NPR interview.

Here is Emily’s official page.

Listen to some of Emily’s music on LastFM.com.

--VS

Spring 2009 Library Workshops

The list of library workshops for the Spring 2009 semester is available now at http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/services/instruction/workshops.htm. Workshops are free and open to students, faculty and staff at Stony Brook University.

New workshops for the Spring include:

• Extra! Extra! You Can Overcome Frustration with Newspaper Research
• Every Item in Every Library Everywhere: An Introduction to WorldCat
• Film Research
• Research Skills for Non-Traditional Students
• Research Skills for Philosophy Students
• Managing Your Research Using Endnote: Basic Skills @ the Health Sciences Center
• Citation Data: H-Index, Impact Factors and Citation Alerts
• The Basics of Bioinformatics Resources
• Business Databases
• The American Community Survey: What It Is And How To Use It

If you have problems registering, please contact Fiona Grady.

Library Hours

Click here for Library hours for December 24, 2008 through January 25, 2009.

Extended Library Hours for Finals

The Library extended hours for the finals will start next Monday (Dec. 15) to Monday (Dec. 22). Sunday to Thursday both the Central and North Reading Rooms will be open until 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday they will be open to midnight. ID cards will be checked during the last four hours.

For more information on Library Hours see http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/about/hours/index.html.