The Tableless Library

You never know what may happen in a library during the summer. On the last day of Summer Term the furniture disappeared over a couple of hours. An intrepid student carried on to finish her finals. "Who needs tables?"

Meanwhile, we moved the Reference books. All of them.

















The chairs went out the door. . .

And the tables and sofas.

And all that was left was a vast empty space.

This was definitely not business as usual.

The painters showed up.

The carpeting began. First one side of the library,

And then the other.

Then everything went back together again.


Thanks to the flexible students, the Facilities crew, the Job Corps painters, and the library staff.

For more photos of the project, check out our photos on Flickr.

Get a life...locally

All things considered, it looks like many of us are planning on staying a little closer to home this summer. Maybe you have work commitments, or the price of gas going up-up-up has you down. Whatever the reason, there's nothing that says you can't have some fun right here in Douglas County! Check out our local maps to the summer events, farmers' markets, and educational and recreational activities near and dear to you. If you like, you can even add some of your own suggestions!

(Leave us a comment below with your suggestion, or click on "view larger map" and choose edit to add your activity directly!)

Douglas County Summer

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Douglas County Wineries

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Test Yourself

UCC Library now subscribes to LearningExpress, a database full of many, many self-paced tests and skills improvement courses. Test your knowledge--no pressure for a grade! Set up a free account for yourself and develop your skills at your own pace. Tests are scored immediately.Some of the subjects and categories of tests covered in the database are: GED, Advance Placement, Business Writing, College Entrance Practice Tests, Computer Skills (MS Office suite, Outlook), High School Skills Improvement, Law Enforcement, Math Skills, and Reading Skills. There are online “Improvement Courses” for writing, math, algebra, vocabulary, spelling, and more. There are courses for creating a resume, creating a cover letter, and tips for interviews.

You can reach the database here: http://www.LearningExpressLibrary.com?HR=http://www.umpqua.edu And it is linked from the library website: click "Find An Article" from the library homepage. You can also find the link from the Library Tab in UCCLife. From your UCCLife account you can use the database from off campus.You’ll be asked to sign in—just create your own username and password—to track on which tests you’ve taken.

Please let us know if you have any feedback on this product--whether you find it helpful or not. Thanks!

Budget cuts mean reduced Douglas Co. Library hours

The likelihood of losing the "safety net" timber payments from the federal government to Douglas County this year has led to a call for budget reductions county-wide, including a plan to cut public library services by about 20%.

According to an article in Thursday's News Review on page 2 (not up at nrtoday.com yet, but I'll post a link when it is available), the library system is looking to reduce open hours from 322 to 284 per week. Most noticeably effected is the downtown Roseburg branch, which would cut its Monday hours completely.

Favorite Online Tools for Awesome Academics: a short list

Living la vida virtual this term in your classes? Whether you are taking, teaching, building, or just considering online coursework, there is a bewildering selection of tools and tips that can leave even the most techno-saavy user feeling as overwhelmed as an ant in a swimming pool. But with the proper care and feeding, online tools can be a powerful ally in the classroom, whether said room is a traditional one or the type you can attend in your PJs on a Saturday morning.

Here are five of my personal favorite (free!) online tools:

1. UCC Life
   Yes, it has its issues. But did you know, every single UCC class has its own "course homepage" within UCC Life where links can be posted, documents placed online, and discussions can be held all available from any computer with an internet connection? Even if your class is entirely "on campus," the UCC Life course homepage can provide another place for communication to occur.
   
   Suggested uses if you're an instructor: By using the "manage" links, you can post assignments or a syllabus, and send out announcements that will automatically appear on your students' front UCC Life pages when they login.
   
   Suggested uses if you're a student: Even if your instructor is not using every course homepage feature, there will be a link to email your instructor, or to post webpage links if you have a resource to share with the class.
   
   
2. Google Tools
   Have you ever had the frustrating experience of wanting to print out an assignment you've worked on for hours, only to realize the disk was left in your other bag? Never again, with Google Documents. In addition to a very popular search engine, Google offers a variety of online tools that allow you to use a word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation program that will save your documents to your account, and you can access and work with them on any computer with an internet connection. You can also share your document with others, and the changes will be automatically saved so you can always see who made which alterations. The service does require one to sign-in, but account creation is free.
   
   To learn more, take Google's friendly online tour.
   
   Suggested uses if you're an instructor: Use a Google Document to track comments and contributions to a shared class product, such as an info page on a class-related topic created by students (like a wiki, you can see all past versions of a Google Doc. in a drop-down menu). Or create an interactive course schedule that you can update and students can view on the web: see an example for LIB 127 (Library & Internet Research).
   
   Suggested uses if you're a student: Eliminate the sinking feeling that occurs when it is the day a paper is due and you can't remember where your USB drive is-- Save your research paper as a Google document, and have access to it from any computer with an internet connection. Or use the "sharing" ability to work on group projects online.
   
   
3. Del.icio.us
   Social bookmarking allows you to have that great website you found last week at your fingertips, and share it, too. Del.icio.us has been used and continues to be used heavily by educators; for an example, check out this great video introduction by Lee LeFever of the Common Craft website:







Suggested uses for instructors and students: Share links related to topics you are discussing in class, or other websites (like BibMe) that you think might help classmates and colleagues. For example, this list generated by students and instructors of NRS 111 (Chronic Illness) at UCC.




4. Firefox (+ add-ons)
   Firefox is a free web browser that preforms all of the same internet-viewing options as Internet Explorer or Safari, but also gives you the option to add on free, open-source "add-ons." These add-ons are like the "extra features" you might select when buying a car-- they make your web browsing experience more pleasant, and they can be highly personal. There is even a "Firefox Campus Edition" available that includes the most popular features for college students and scholars.
   
   Suggested uses for instructors and students: Use Firefox add-ons to do more work with your web browser. You can add-on automatic Wikipedia searches, citation managers (like Zotero), and automatic spell-check. (True story: the automatic spell-check add-on I have for my Firefox browser just saved me from misspelling that last sentence.) You can also find add-ons that will do everything from helping you build webpages to updating you on the weather or alerting you when your tea has brewed long enough.
   
   
5. Remember the Milk
   If you are like most of us, there's too much to do and not enough time to do it. Remember the Milk is a online to-do list that lets you sort items into different categories and will even allow you to set up an item to occur multiple times. Best of all, it is super-easy to use: all you have to do is type an item in ("Remember to feed the goldfish every day.") and Remember the Milk automatically detects when the item should be "due" (today), and how often it should appear on your to-do list (every day).
   
   Take the online tour to learn more.
   
   Suggested uses for instructors and students: Use Remember the Milk to finally remember the milk. Or whatever else you need to keep track of-- homework, meetings, birthdays, or knowing where your towel is.

Do you have other online tools that you use to help you manage classwork or college life that you couldn't live without? Let others know-- leave a comment on this post!

Songs for Spring (and Sweden)

Maybe Spring is a little slow in coming because we haven't been singing enough. Or maybe it's because the UCC Library didn't have enough Swedish music in the collection.



Just in time, we've added three new CDs by Swedish folk-rock bands to the collection, Hoven Droven, Ranarim, and Hedningarna. Looks like Hoven Droven will be playing in Sweden later this week, but most of us will have to make do with their live CD. And according to their web site, Ranarim will be playing in Ulvon. So they'll be partying in Sweden, also.

Did you know that we're coming up on Walpurgis Eve and May Day (April 30/May 1), one of Sweden's biggest holidays?

According to the Visit Sweden website:

If you want to find an evening when song is to be heard in every village, town or city, then be sure to be in Sweden on the 30th April. On that date, known as Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Eve); in a tribute to an ancient German saint, St. Walburga, huge bonfires are lit at dusk.

Happy May Day!

Instructional Tech. Survey at Harvard- what are the "best" online class tools?

Harvard University's Department of Romance Languages and Literatures has just released an Instructional Technology Survey (pdf) on the use and perceived usefulness of digital instructional technologies in classroom support that reaches some interesting conclusions about the educational expectations of the latest wave of students, what Harvard is calling its "Digital Learners."

Across all concentrations and student levels, the posting of course materials online and interactive syllabi are rated as the most useful instructional technology tools. In their written responses, students expressed appreciation for technologies that make their access to course materials more convenient and the exploration of additional concepts easier. Many view the posting of materials online as an expectation for a course, rather than a bonus.

(from the executive summary, emphasis mine)

Between December 2007 and January 2008, 463 individuals- undergraduates and graduate students- were surveyed on their use, and prior experience with, online technologies ranging from digital syllabi to RSS feeds of supplemental class reading.

More from the executive summary:

Students reported a number of benefits of using technology in education. They cited the convenience of having material in one place, the ability to review lectures, to engage in discussions with forums, to use blogs to connect material with current events and to view foreign video clips on sites like YouTube.
...
We believe that instructional technology, when implemented properly and thoughtfully, provides enormous opportunities for active and engaging learning.

Read comments on the survey's process and results at Harvard's Digital Natives blog, or go directly to the full survey (pdf), with corresponding charts and graphs for the information straight from the undergraduate's mouth.