Playing in the Sun with ‘Tag, Toss & Run’

Author Paul Tukey

Author Paul Tukey presents his book "Tag, Toss & Run"

We all enjoyed a great afternoon playing lawn games from organic lawn care advocate Paul Tukey’s book, Tag, Toss & Run: 40 Classic Lawn Games. Thank you to everyone who participated in our final Meet the Author Series talk of the semester and Field Day on Tuesday! Starting the afternoon off with his presentation on organic lawn care and Tag, Toss, & Run, Paul enlightened us on the dangers of society’s use of regular lawn care and the much better benefits of using organic lawn care techniques. He reminded us that before people needed their lawns to be perfect, with no weeds and completely green grass, families and their children were playing outside on their lawns without any problems. It wasn’t until a need for the “perfect” lawn that parents began to stop their children from playing outside due to all of the dangerous chemicals from the weed sprays and fertilizers that were being used to grow the “perfect” lawn. Fewer children are now going outside to play, missing out on fun and the exercise that comes with playing outside. Paul challenged and encouraged us to know what is being sprayed on our own lawns, and also to get outside to play more.
Field day lawn games on Centennial Commons

Student groups lead lawn games following Tukey's presentation

Emphasizing this challenge, Paul invited us to join him for an afternoon of play out in Centennial Commons where student groups, including NUHOC, Tri Sigma, BGE and the Vietnamese Student Association, as well as those from NU Sport in Society, were hosting lawn games from Tukey’s book. Enjoying the sun, students were able to play games such as Volley Ball, Ladder Toss, Badminton, Molkky, Sepak Takraw and more. Hitting the ball over the net, scoring points in Molkky and tossing a Frisbee around, students and faculty met Paul’s challenge and for an afternoon, got outside to have a fun game-filled day under the sun.

We Need to Know What You Need to Study

Crowded study space in Snell

UPDATE 5/1/12: We have closed the survey data collection, thank you to everyone who shared their experience on this survey! If you are interested in the results of the survey, please watch this space, or contact me directly, at t.urell@neu.edu. — Do you come in to study in Snell but you can’t find a place to sit? Is your favorite group study room always booked? Need more power outlets? We want to know! This spring the Library will be asking for your help in collecting information about how study space is configured in Snell. We’re conducting a quick survey about study habits, preferences for space and furniture, and we will use the information to shape Library development over the next few years. Please take a few minutes to let us know what space and furniture you use, what you would like to see more of, and any other feedback or suggestions you have about study space in Snell. The survey shouldn’t take more than five minutes, your responses will remain anonymous, and each response will help us shape the Library’s study space. If you would prefer to fill out a paper version of the same survey, copies are available at the Circulation (1st floor) and Research Assistance (2nd floor) desks in the Library. Questions? Send me an email at t.urell[at]neu.edu Thanks for your help in creating a better Library!

Preserving HOPE

Poder Latino AIDS/HIV training session, ca. 1995 The Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department is happy to announce our newest social justice collection, the historical records of HOPE, the Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation, Inc.. HOPE was a community-based organization established in 1971 to offer services and programs to benefit Massachusetts’ Hispanic/Latino residents. A wonderful addition to the Archives, the HOPE collection furthers our mission to collect and preserve the records of the Boston-area social justice organizations that serve under-represented communities. HOPE was a leader in creating innovative programs and services. In the mid-1970s, HOPE Talent Search was established to assist low-income youths in Boston and surrounding communities to stay in school, complete high school, and seek advanced or post-secondary education. During the 1990s, HOPE established Poder Latino (Latin Youth Power), a program to train Latino youth as peer educators about health promotion and disease prevention with particular emphasis on sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS/HIV. Another innovative program, PLENA (Padres Latinos Educando Nuestros Adolescentes/Latino Parents Educating Our Youth), trained volunteers to educate their own parents and family members on health issues. In 1995, HOPE established the Pedro Zamora Center, a peer center offering support services to Latinos and family members living with AIDS/HIV. HOPE promoted civic engagement and leadership development through its HOPE “Proyecto PLAN” Community Leadership Development and HOPE YouthPLAN and CommUNITYPLAN programs.  It also operated a computer-learning center and offered training classes to the community. HOPE worked closely with schools, cities, state-run organizations, and local non-profits until its closing in 2011. To learn more about HOPE’s contents or if you’re interested in our other social justice collections, please visit the Archives website.

JoVE: Science in Motion

Work by NU Professor on JoVE

Work by NU Professors Jing Xu and Mansoor Aniji on JoVE

Have you ever slogged through an experimental protocol, trying to understand exactly what the authors did in the lab?  Have you ever tried to learn about research methods in other disciplines, just to get bogged down in terminology?  Now there’s a more visual alternative. The library is pleased to offer access to JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments.  JoVE publishes professionally produced and edited, peer-reviewed video demonstrations of experiments filmed in research laboratories. This revolutionary resource allows students and researchers to watch experts perform techniques before attempting experiments themselves.  Just getting started in the lab?  JoVE has a Basic Protocols section where you can learn everything from microscope care to Western blotting. JoVE also features video articles from NEU scientists in the departments of Bioengineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Electrical and Computer Engineering. We invite you to check out JoVE, and let us know what you think!

Not Sure Where to Start? New in Arts & Humanities Reference Overviews from SAGE

Encyclopedias and handbooks provide excellent ways to get an overview and start your research project. (Think of how you use this encyclopedia, probably every day.) To help give context to large research questions, the Library has just purchased a collection of encyclopedias and handbooks from SAGE Reference. You’ll find answers to questions like: You can search or browse the SAGE Reference collection, and find more resources through our Arts and Humanities subject guides. If you have any comments, let us know here or via email.