Year of the Frog

Someone asked me if I had heard about a rare and threatened New Zealand Maud Island frog that has been found to be breeding in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. Of course being a Kiwi I should have known about this but no it was new to me. So I did a Google search and found quite a few news items about this wonderful small little frog. It has started to breed again and this is wonderful as according to the article it wasn’t even doing that on its home island of Maud. The article also mentioned that this frog has eveloved little over the last 70 million years. Wow that is, well for want of a better word “mind blowing” that a species is here now and has been around for that length of time. These rare frogs do not croak, live in water or have webbed feet sorather different from your regular frog. But  Thirteen little froglets have been born and as this is the Year of the Frog what could be more wonderful. Keep on breeding Maud Island frogs.

New Scholarly Communication Resource

“Scholarly communication” may not sound like all that exciting of a topic, but there’s actually so many interesting ways in which it affects all of us in academia, whether we’re students, faculty, or staff. A committee here at Snell Library has been working really hard to assemble a resource for the NU community on scholarly communication. This website provides news and information about topics related to this issue, such as academic publishing, copyright issues, and open access. Be sure to check out this great new site if you’re interested in any of these areas!

Reading For Free

Neil Gaiman has a series of wonderful posts about reading, buying books, and free books. His publisher, by the way, is offering his book American Gods online for free through March 28. Neil Gaiman talks the talk and walks the walk. He writes really well too – and now’s your chance to read one of his more popular books for free if you aren’t familiar with him. When you’re done with American Gods, don’t forget that you can check out many of his other works here at the Snell Library!

Library Architecture

I recently came across this slide show on Slate, titled “How do you build a public library in the age of Google?” It’s an interesting tour of current library architecture, and the different ways cities are trying to adapt libraries into popular public spaces. What do you think? Do you have a favorite public library? How does the building design play into your appreciation? I know I prefer smaller libraries, and sometimes I find some modern architecture a little too sterile for my taste. In any event, I still plan on checking out books for a long time to come!

Restaurant Week Boston

Restaurant Week Boston is a great way to break up the winter doldrums that hit once February passes and you realize that winter hasn’t lost its hold just yet. This event gives you a chance to sample some of the area’s finest restaurants (and not-so-finest) for the reasonable price of $33.08 (for dinner). The restaurants that participate offer a prix fixe menu Sunday – Friday for two weeks in March. You go in, ask for the RW menu, select an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert – most places have several choices for each course – then enjoy the meal and the company. True, sometimes the selections are a little weak (last year, nearly every restaurant had the same cheap cut of beef) or sometimes lacking in variety, but almost always excellently prepared or prepared in some unique way. If you want to explore what that restaurant you’ve always heard about has to offer without spending a lot, dress up for a night out with friends, and forget that OMG, it’s freezing outside, make your reservations without reservation. You’ll have lots of fun.