Library News

Celebrate Open Education Week – March 5-10, 2012

Today’s News@Northeastern featured a “3Qs” interview with our Dean of Libraries, Will Wakeling. The focus was open access to research, and Will specifically highlighted Open Educational Resources (OERs).  Development of OERs involves remixing resources that are openly available in order to create learning materials that don’t cost students anything. The average college student paid $700 a year on textbooks in the 2009-2010 school year; given that the price of college textbooks is said to be increasing at four times the rate of inflation, that amount is likely higher today. So, it’s no surprise that the need for affordable course materials is becoming critical. Legislation such as the College Opportunity and Affordability Act has placed limits on textbook publishers, but prices are still high. MIT was a pioneer in the OER field with their Open CourseWare system, which debuted in 2002. It offered anybody, anywhere, the opportunity to access MIT course materials for free – a radical concept at the time. Since then many other institutions around the world have also established OCW programs, as well as an international consortium. That consortium is now sponsoring the first global Open Education Week, “to raise awareness of the open education movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide.” Events are taking place around the world this week – many being hosted as online webinars. I encourage you to check out their schedule of events! How do you think Northeastern can play a role in the development and adoption of OERs? Leave your thoughts in the comments section…

Just Scan It!

If you are in Snell Library and are frantically looking for a photocopier, stop your searching. Why? Because the library is photocopier free! Yes, that’s right– the old copy machines in the Library were replaced with environmentally-friendly scanners last year.Located on floors 1-4 of the Library, these easy-to-use scanners are a green alternative to copy machines. They help save trees and reduce paper-use by allowing students to save the scanned image to their email, USB flash drive, or Google Docs account, instead of printing out unnecessary and wasteful hard copies of documents. If you still need a paper copy of the scanned document,  it can be emailed and then printed out using the printers at the Library. And the best part? The scanners are absolutely free! Now you don’t have to suffer from a guilt trip every time you want a copy of something– just go green and use the scanning stations instead! If you haven’t yet, use one of the scanning stations today, and feel good about making copies!

Welcome to the new Library website!

Update: January 20, 2012 — The new site is live! Please have a look around, and let us know what you think, here in the comments, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter @ClubSnell. — Coming soon, the Northeastern University Libraries will launch a redesigned web site at library.northeastern.edu. The site is the result of over a year of planning and building by myself and my Web Team colleagues Annie DeVane, Amanda Rust, and Diann Smothers along with the staff of the NU Libraries who helped us along the way. Many of you and your friends in the Northeastern community participated in usability testing, surveys and focus groups as part of this project. The resulting site is designed to be easy to use, and takes into account the primary functions you need when visiting the library online. It was a lengthy and robust process, we’re excited about the results, and can say with gratitude that it all began with you. The new homepage welcomes visitors with our familiar Discovery search as well as a NUCat search option. Links to our most popular services, like Room Booking, Ask a Librarian, and Interlibrary Loan are prominently displayed. New features include a redesigned menu, site search, and plenty of engaging exhibits, polls, featured resources, and news. A dropdown at the top of the homepage allows for selection of targeted resources for different types of users. Built on Drupal, an open-source web content management system, the new website is flexible, configurable, and allows for innovation and sustainable growth going forward. The site is the first part of a number of initiatives and redesigned online services planned for the coming year, including improvements to searching and room booking. The top of the page will have a link to a form for you to contribute your feedback. You can comment there, or on this blog, about the new site. We look forward to hearing from you!

Meet Snell’s Newest Staff Member

Snell Library is gaining a new librarian: Daniel Jergovic has been appointed as a new Metadata Librarian in the Metadata Management department. Jergovic started his new job with Northeastern University Libraries on January 9th. As a metadata librarian, Jergovic creates access to the library’s resources, especially those that are electronic and digital. Jergovic says he is interested in this area because he enjoys “the challenges of organizing information” and “helping people find and use library resources”. Jergovic brings plenty of experience to his new position: before working at Northeastern, he was a librarian for five years, working at the University of South Florida, University of Washington, and San Diego State University. At San Diego State, he managed metadata and cataloging activities for multiple print and digital projects. Jergovic holds an MSIS from the State University of New York at Albany. In addition to his various positions as a librarian, Jergovic is also an active contributor to library committees and professional development associations, including the ALA ALCTS CaMMS Recruitment and Mentoring Committee and the Leadership Development Committee, where he serves as a communications liaison. Jergovic has just moved to Boston and loves living in the city so far. Originally from Cleveland, Jergovic has lived in several cities, including Seattle, San Diego, Tampa, and London. Jergovic says Boston is among his “most favorite places to live”. Jergovic is also fluent in Croatian and Serbian and has been an instructor at Berlitz International. When he’s not at the library, Jergovic has numerous hobbies that he likes to partake in, including movies, music, traveling, exercising, eating out at restaurants, and cooking, although he admits the latter is not his strongest skill. So far, Jergovic likes working at Northeastern and says he is “really impressed by the university,” especially its “strong orientation towards looking toward the future.” We at the library welcome Daniel to Northeastern University and wish him luck in his new position!

Why is Wikipedia down today? (Jan. 18, 2012)

Major websites such as Wikipedia and the Internet Archive are holding blackouts today, January 18, 2012, in protest of two anti-piracy bills currently before Congress. Many believe that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) go too far in their efforts to curb illegal downloading and streaming of movies and television shows. The stated intent of these acts is to protect the intellectual property rights of copyright holders (sometimes the authors or creators but more frequently the large media corporations who own the works). However, if passed into law, they may set a dangerous precedent for permitting private companies to block access to information. Wikipedia, among other sites, has chosen to do just that today – block access to the information that millions of us seek every day – in order to highlight what they feel could happen if SOPA and PIPA are passed. What do you think about this topic? Read more here: ⇒ Full text of SOPA and PIPA ⇒ “A Political Coming of Age for the Tech Industry” (The New York Times) On a lighter note… ⇒ “Wikipedia Blackout: A Nation of Students Mourn” (The Guardian) (compilation of tweets, may contain foul language) Register your opinion on SOPA/PIPA with Congress: ⇒ PopVox: What’s Your Position on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)? ⇒ PopVox: What’s Your Position on the Protect IP Act (PIPA)?

Need that information TODAY? Visit our online collection of dictionaries and encyclopedias!