All kinds of Hobbit-y goodness.

Tour Middle-Earth interactively. Cook for your Hobbit friends.

Visit Middle-Earth interactively on the web, courtesy of Google Chrome and Warner Brothers: “A Journey Through Middle-Earth.”    You can get a sense of what it’s like in this promotional video.

Get recipes for your Hobbit party.  Get recipes and links to recipe sites from
Beth Accomando, "Elevenses And Then Some: How To Prepare A Feast Fit For A Hobbit," The salt: what's on your plate (NPR, December 10, 2013).

Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens December 13, 2013.

My precious...

Extended hours & food at Library!

Library is open until 1 a.m. (Sunday through Thursday) through Tuesday, December 17.  Pizza and hot cider is served around 9 p.m.    End of semester and winter break hours are below.

End of semester hours:

Monday, 12/9 – Thursday, 12/12
8:00 am – 1:00 am

Friday, December 13th  
8:00 am – 7:00 pm

Sunday, December 15th   
2:00 pm – 1:00 am

Monday, 12/16 – Tuesday, 12/17
8:00 am – 1:00 am

Wednesday, 12/18 – Friday, 12/20   
8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Winter break hours:

Saturdays and Sundays, Dec. 21 - January 12.
CLOSED

Monday, December 23.
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Tuesday, December 24.
CLOSED.

Wednesday, December 25.
CLOSED.

Thursday, December 26.
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Friday, December 27.
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Monday - Tuesday, December 30 - 31.
8 a.m. - 5 p.m

Wednesday, January 1.
CLOSED.

Thursday - Friday, January 2 - 3.
8 a.m. - 5 p.m

Monday - Friday, January 6 - 10.
8 a.m. - 5 p.m   

Be mentally strong #9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

#9 Mentally strong people: Don’t Resent Other People’s Success

Mentally strong people can appreciate and celebrate other people’s success in life. They don’t grow jealous or feel cheated when others surpass them. Instead, they recognize that success comes with hard work, and they are willing to work hard for their own chance at success.*

This week, we've been featuring 13 "don'ts" of mentally strong people identified by Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and social worker. Read about all 13 at 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do*

*Source: Morin, Amy. (2013, Nov 13). 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. Lifehack.org.
Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/13-things-mentally-strong-people-dont.html

Be Mentally Strong - #10

#10 Be mentally strong

Mentally strong people: Don’t Give Up After the First Failure

Mentally strong people don’t view failure as a reason to give up. Instead, they use failure as an opportunity to grow and improve. They are willing to keep trying until they get it right.*

Beginning December 2, we'll feature all 13 "don'ts" of mentally strong people identified by Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and social worker, but we'll reveal one each day, in reverse order starting with #13.


*Source: Morin, Amy. (2013, Nov 13). "#10. They Don’t Give Up After the First Failure." 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. Lifehack.org.
Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/13-things-mentally-strong-people-dont.html

#11 Be mentally strong

Mentally strong people: Don’t Fear Alone Time

Mentally strong people can tolerate being alone and they don’t fear silence. They aren’t afraid to be alone with their thoughts and they can use downtime to be productive. They enjoy their own company and aren’t dependent on others for companionship and entertainment all the time but instead can be happy alone.*

Beginning December 2, we'll feature all 13 "don'ts" of mentally strong people identified by Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and social worker, but we'll reveal one each day, in reverse order starting with #13.

*Source: Morin, Amy. (2013, Nov 13). "#11. They Don’t Fear Alone Time." In 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. Lifehack.org. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/13-things-mentally-strong-people-dont.html

#12 Be mentally strong

Mentally strong people: Don't Feel the World Owes Them Anything

Mentally strong people don’t feel entitled to things in life. They weren’t born with a mentality that others would take care of them or that the world must give them something. Instead, they look for opportunities based on their own merits.*

Beginning December 2, the Mundt Library blog will feature all 13 don't-do's of mentally strong people identified by Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and social worker, but we'll reveal one each day, in reverse order starting with #13.

*Source: Morin, Amy. (2013, Nov 13). "#12. They Don’t Feel the World Owes Them Anything." In 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. Lifehack.org. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/13-things-mentally-strong-people-dont.html

13. Be mentally strong

Mentally strong people: Don't Expect Immediate Results.

Whether they are working on improving their health or getting a new business off the ground, mentally strong people don’t expect immediate results. Instead, they apply their skills and time to the best of their ability and understand that real change takes time.*

Beginning December 2, the Mundt Library blog will feature all 13 don't-do's of mentally strong people identified by Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and social worker, but we'll reveal one each day, in reverse order starting with #13.


*Source: Morin, Amy. (2013, Nov 13). "#13. They Don’t Expect Immediate Results". In 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. Lifehack.org. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/13-things-mentally-strong-people-dont.html

Mango Languages - NEW!

Mango Languages, an online language learning system for many languages including English, is now accessible to you through libraries in South Dakota. 

• DSU folks can access Mango Languages in the “Database Quicklinks” dropdown menu that is near the top of the Mundt Library home page.
• If you are accessing Mango from off-campus, you will first have to login with your library ID number. For information on library ID numbers and how to get one, see off-campus login instructions.
•  Also, you will need to create a personal account in Mango so that it can keep track of where you are in the learning modules.  That login screen is the first thing you see when you link to Mango Languages, so this step will be obvious.
•  After creating your personal account, you will receive an email from Mango with a URL to use to activate your account.
• After that, it’s just a matter of choosing lessons in English or another language for study.

If you encounter any problems with access or if you have any questions, contact the DSU Librarians. 

Open Access Week Oct 21-27, 2013

Open Access Week provides an opportunity to remind people of the need for open access and to understand the issues that stand in its way.

“Open Access” to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole. [Open Access: Redefining Impact]

Curious to learn more?  Visit SPARC "Why Open Access?"  to learn what "open access" is and why it matters.

Federal shutdown and your assignments

The Federal shutdown has caused the closure of several key websites that provide information and data for classes. Librarians may be able to find alternative sources for the information on which you depend, so please ask the librarians for help if you are having difficulty due to loss of access.

Even though the Mundt Library subscribes to many research databases and purchases other material in order to give you access to credible sources, we also rely on many excellent sources of information and data provided without charge to the public by the Federal government.  

Typically, there is no single alternative to replacing the missing website.  For example, the data-packed U.S. Census Bureau is irreplaceable as a whole, but we may have or be able to get some specific information or data you need from other sources.  In other cases there may be at least partial access. For example the ERIC education database is shutdown, but we do have access to the citations, abstracts, and many journal articles on the EBSCOhost platform. Because EBSCOhost links out to the Federally-sponsored ERIC website to access the full-text ERIC documents, EBSCOhost cannot and is not currently showing the links to the ERIC docs. In some cases, data and information available on September 30th remains available, but no updates are being made. Examples include the Consumer Expenditure Survey which remains available on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website and PubMed, the health and medical research database provided by the National Library of Medicine.

Bottomline: Ask the DSU Librarians if you need help finding sources of information.

If you are curious about access to various Federal agencies during the shutdown, see the agency contingency plans available on the site of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

I READ BANNED BOOKS!

Banned Books Week is September 22-28, 2013. "Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." [American Library Association (ALA), Banned & Challenged Books]

More information:

• Frequently Challenged Books of the 21st Century. 
• 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books by Decade.
• Timeline: Thirty Years of Liberating Literature.
• Banned Books Week site.

To find banned books in DSU's Mundt Library, search the Library Catalog for specific titles and/or authors. You can get the titles/authors from the lists in "More information" above.

 Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association

Foundation Directory Online

Foundation Directory Online and Foundation Grants for Individuals are now available online from off-campus for DSU students, staff, and faculty. Select either database in the "Database Quicklinks" dropdown menu near the top of the Library's home page.

• Foundation Directory Online - provides information about grants available from private, corporate, and other foundations to fund projects, programs, research, etc. Extensive information about grantmakers, grants, and grant recipients, including 990 tax forms and more.
• Foundation Grants to Individuals - provides information about funding opportunities for individuals including educational support (scholarships, fellowships, loans, and internships), support for research, doctoral, and postdoctoral work, and a range of other types of support (arts/cultural, special needs, professional).

These databases are published by: 

Access is available from anywhere with your DSU library ID number and password.
If you don't know your library ID number, request it from the DSU Librarians.

Roald Dahl Day - September 13

Hey, twits, Roald Dahl Day is September 13! Yes, we're talking about the author of James & the Giant Peach, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Twits...   and more.

In the mood to read?  

Find Dahl's books available in the Mundt Library by going to the Library Catalog. In the search box in the Library Catalog, type: Roald Dahl.

For more information about the author, visit the official sites:

Roald Dahl website

Roald Dahl Day

Roving librarians & TARDIS

Librarians are delivering library research assistance in your space and time.  We're on the move with the TARDIS, roving across campus again this year, spending time in classroom buildings and the Trojan Center. Watch for a Library TARDIS in your building. 

Not familiar with the TARDIS? An acronym for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space," it plays a key role in the long-running Dr. Who television series. According to the BBC, “The TARDIS can travel to any point in all of time and space and is bigger on the inside than the outside due to trans-dimensional engineering – a key Time Lord discovery.” That’s the Mundt Library! We're here, there, wherever for YOU.

Learn about Dr. Who's TARDIS at BBC.com: "A Beginner's Guide to the TARDIS" and  "The TARDIS"

For Harry Potter fans

You can now visit Harry Potter's Diagon Alley using Google's Streetview!  To learn more and to go to Diagon Alley, read "Wander Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley With Street View" in Smithsonian Magazine (July 5, 2013). 

Mining Books to Map Emotions

A study has discovered peaks and valleys of emotion during the 20th century. "Were people happier in the 1950s than they are today? Or were they more frustrated, repressed and sad?"
asked National Public Radio (NPR) in early April when reporting about a study that examined the use of  "emotion" words in 20th century literature. According to NPR's Mining Books to Map Emotions Through a Century by Alix Spiegel, the study used a dataset from Google books. The high point of joy was found in the 1920's. The low point was in the early 1940's during WWII. The pattern can be seen in a chart from the study that was republished in the NPR story.

The study's authors discovered more than peaks and valleys.
"We find evidence for distinct historical periods of positive and negative moods, underlain by a general decrease in the use of emotion-related words through time. Finally, we show that, in books, American English has become decidedly more “emotional” than British English in the last half-century, as a part of a more general increase of the stylistic divergence between the two variants of English language."

To see and learn more, read the original article:
Acerbi A, Lampos V, Garnett P, Bentley RA (2013) The Expression of Emotions in 20th Century Books. PLoS ONE 8(3): e59030. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059030

Letter from Birmingham Jail -50th Anniversary

Tuesday April 16, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" written by Martin Luther King in 1963.  The event sponsored by the Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library features readings of the letter taking place around the world. Please join those who will be doing the reading at DSU--at NOON in the Trojan Center Underground on Tuesday, April 16th.

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly effects all indirectly. 

 - Martin Luther King

Learn about "Letter from Birmingham Jail," the 50th anniversary event, and Martin Luther King, at Birmingham Public Library's 50th Anniversary website.

'Doctor Who' Explained in 25 GIFs

On Mashable, Amanda Wills says, "let's assume that you've never heard of a time-traveling alien in a blue telephone booth and have no idea what TARDIS stands for." Her solution is "'Doctor Who' Explained in 25 GIFs," a concise summary of the  show that began in 1963.

In case you haven't noticed, the Mundt Library's TARDIS continues to send librarians Mary Francis and Risë Smith to campus buildings so that you can get help from librarians with your research assignments on any topic and for any course. We also like to meet you in the Library or online via Ask-a-Librarian (chat, tweet, email -- choose your method for asking questions). Look for one of us with our blue Library Tardis' in Beadle, East Hall, Kennedy, Science Center, and the TC Spectrum Lounge. Our schedule is posted on Mondays in the DSU-Activities email.

Experienced Book Sale begins Monday, April 1

The annual BOOK SALE of Madison Public Library and DSU's Mundt Library begins Monday, April 1.

• Where:   First floor, Mundt Library (corner of 8th St and Egan Ave)
• When:   April 1 to April 26, 2013
• Prices:   All items are 50 cents or less!

New items will be added daily!

Latest releases of professional video tutorials

"HTML5 Projects: Geolocation", "Up and Running with DSLR Filmmaking," and "CSS: Animations" are just a few of the latest releases of professional ONLINE video tutorials available now in LyndaCampus.

NOTE:  To view the full video tutorials, you will need to login to LyndaCampus. 

If you have not previously used LyndaCampus, go to instructions for access. 

(You must follow these instructions in order to gain access through the Mundt Library's subscription to LyndaCampus).

The list of latest releases below is just a small sample of what is available in LyndaCampus.
The links here will provide overviews of the tutorials. REMEMBER, to actually view the full tutorials, login!!

Outlook 2013 Essential Training

with: Jess Stratton

PowerPoint 2013 Essential Training
with: Jess Stratton

Access 2013 Essential Training
with: Adam Wilbert

Artistic Painting with Illustrator: Natural Media Brushes
with: Sharon Steuer

InDesign FX
with: Mike Rankin
 http://click.e.lynda.com/?qs=fd1b616689a64c79e35a20b90f14295b10e461f1c5002779b98c9c88af612c98

HTML5 Projects: Geolocation
with: Joseph Lowery

CSS: Animations
with: Val Head

Up and Running with DSLR Filmmaking
with: Chad Perkins

LyndaCampus provides ONLINE access to over 80,000 tutorials. 

Try it out!

View LANDSAT satellite launch videos

If you missed the live launch of the LANDSAT satellite yesterday, you can see the event by watching these NASA videos.  When you go to view the videos, you will find:

• "Landsat Launches on Atlas V Rocket" - a video of the launch itself

• "LDCM in Space" - a video of the spacecraft separating from the booster

• And much more information about the project. 

Currently known as NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8 after three months of extensive testing.  Operational control will then be transferred to USGS.

Data from LANDSAT 8 will be archived at EROS Data Center near Sioux Falls, as has the data from previous LANDSAT satellites, and the Data Center employs DSU graduates and interns. “Landsat images reveal subtle, gradual changes, such as Wyoming rangelands greening up after a drought, as well as massive landscape changes that occur in rapidly growing urban areas. Landsat can also provide broad assessments of sudden natural or human-induced disasters, such as the number of acres charred by a forest fire or the extent of tsunami inundation. Landsat data have been used to monitor water quality, glacier recession, sea ice movement, invasive species encroachment, coral reef health, land use change, deforestation rates, and population growth.” To learn more about LANDSAT, visit Observing Tomorrow: Continuing Landsat’s Long Look at Our Changing World.

Launch party!

Launch party!  With snacks and camaraderie!  Brown bag lunches welcome!

WHEN: 11:30am – 12:30, Monday, February 11

WHERE: Mundt Library, main floor

WHAT: Watch the launch of the Nation’s next Earth-observing satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California live on NASA TV.  NASA, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, will launch LANDSAT 8 on February 11. Liftoff is targeted for 12:02 p.m. (central time). Launch commentary begins earlier.

WHY: Data from LANDSAT 8 will be archived at EROS Data Center near Sioux Falls, as has the data from previous LANDSAT satellites, and the Data Center employs DSU graduates and interns. “Landsat images reveal subtle, gradual changes, such as Wyoming rangelands greening up after a drought, as well as massive landscape changes that occur in rapidly growing urban areas. Landsat can also provide broad assessments of sudden natural or human-induced disasters, such as the number of acres charred by a forest fire or the extent of tsunami inundation. Landsat data have been used to monitor water quality, glacier recession, sea ice movement, invasive species encroachment, coral reef health, land use change, deforestation rates, and population growth.” To learn more about LANDSAT, visit Observing Tomorrow: Continuing Landsat’s Long Look at Our Changing World

Come drink a toast of Tang with us to wish EROS success with their new satellite!  If you have questions, ask the DSU librarians

Research project? Plan ahea...

Okay, you've heard it before: "Don't procrastinate." When it comes to doing research for assignments, it pays to start your research early.  Plan now for when you'll do the research for your projects this semester. Get it on your planner/calendar now, before the semester kicks you in the backside.  And ask librarians for help whenever you need help with research.

Why?

• Because you will need high-quality, credible sources in order to do your best work.

• When the best and most useful journal articles and other materials are *not* available online in a library database or on the open web or in the Mundt Library, you will need more time to request the Library to get them for you through Interlibrary Loan. 

Interlibrary Loan can be quite speedy for some items and then terrifically slow for others -- depending on the item's rarity and availability from other libraries.

So request items early to make sure that we can deliver them to you from other libraries across North America before your project is due. 

• Research isn't the same as "search."   Research takes time.

Putting search terms into a search box and hitting the Search button is *not* research.  Research involves sifting through material and selecting credible material, reading it, evaluating it, and digesting it.

 Enough said?  Have a great semester!  We're here for you.