News from the Mudd

Appleton. England. Not the same. This was proven by a little item in Monday's New York Times. The main reading room of the British Library, formerly a stodgy bastion of serious researchers, relaxed its admission policy in 1998 when it moved into a new building. Now the tweedy, suede-patched-elbows set must rub shoulders with "anyone who has a relevant research need," which includes college undergraduates. Here, we LOVE college undergraduates.

One regular user complained of the raucous behavior he witnessed:
"The worst is that they actually answer their phones...The phone vibrates and they go, 'Hold on a minute, Nigel,' and then they run out of the reading room and take the call."

For the record:
1. Setting you phone to vibrate is a lovely and wondrous thing
2. Answering it and saying only "hold on" will endear you to us forever
3. And finally, walking outside to carry on a conversation makes our hearts go pitter-patter with delight

The Mudd: We're Not the British Library

For Earth Day 2008. we asked visitors to suggest ways to make the Mudd Library more environmentally friendly. As usual, we got a bunch of good suggestions (the number of times something was mentioned is in parentheses):

• Make all student/faculty printers double sided and make this the default setting. (3)
• Make the urinals flush themselves less often.
• Turn down the heat. (3)
• Motion sensor lights in the bathrooms. (3)
• Turn off the lights at night. (2)
• Turn off the computers at night. (2)
• Use energy efficient light bulbs... the lighting is horrible here.
• Bring your own thermos/coffee mug to go at Lucy's Breakfast.
• Solar panels and/or gardens on the roof.
• Charge for printing (or give each student a quota). 3 agreed, 5 disagreed to the idea of charging directly.
• Replace bathroom fixtures/toilets with more water efficient models.
• Get a copier that works. (2)
• ID swipes for elevator use - encourage students to take the stairs for less than two floors. (2)

Do you have other ideas? Post them in the comments!

Citations for awards given to faculty members at Commencement each June are now available on the Archives website. Citations for honorary degrees awarded to retiring faculty are located at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/honfac.shtml

Citations for the Excellence in Teaching Award are located at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/univaward.shtml

And citations for the Young Teacher Award can be found at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/youngteacher.shtml

Citations go from 1978 to the present year, and additional years will be added in the future. For questions or information, visit or e-mail the University Archives.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Conservatory of Music Artist Series. The program was started in 1908 by William Harper, Dean of the Conservatory at the time. The series consists of outside performers of national and international acclaim coming to campus and giving concerts.

In honor of the centennial, a list of the performers from the last 100 years is now on the Archives' website at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/artistseries.shtml

Throughout 2008, a digital collection and exhibit will also be done on the history of the Artist Series. For further information on the history of the Series, visit or e-mail the University Archives.

Everyone knows and loves Click & Clack, who are, thankfully, alive and well. But one of those who may have been an inspiration for their names is no longer with us. It was announced today that Werner Groebli, "Frick" of the comedy ice-skating team, Frick & Frack passed away on April 14 at the age of 92. The original Frack died in 1979, so the current Frack made the announcement.

The Mudd can help you repair your pre-1974 engine or learn how to figure skate, 1939-style.

Members of the unlikely trio of William Shakespeare, Sergei Prokofiev and Shirley Temple are celebrating a birth anniversary today. Of course the Mudd has the first two, but did you know we have a recording of "On the good ship Lollypop?"

LibraryThing is "an online service to help people catalog their books easily" and lots of people are using it -- including some Lawrentians! If you're a LibraryThing user, join the Lawrentians LibraryThing group and catalog your Freshman Studies books, your favorite 19th-century poets, or your entire library...

After surviving a flood that ravaged the 4th floor, the Mudd narrowly escaped being flattened into heaping piles of concrete and fine Corinthian leather bindings by an earthquake that hit the Midwest early this morning . The Mudd's solid 1974 construction made it impervious to Mother Nature's puny swaggering, plus the fact that we're approximately 475 miles from the epicenter may have been a contributing factor.
We can hardly wait until locust season.

Celebrate National Library Week by becoming a Facebook fan of the Seeley G. Mudd Library! It's easy, it's fun, and it's good for you...

After a long, dry spell, here is an interesting batch of CDs. Today's CD pile is heavy on the Stockhausen and light on the C.P.E. Bach. Ballet by Stockhausen? Songs by C.P.E.? You guessed it.

If it hadn't been for the guy born 110 years ago today, the town 25 miles to our northeast would be a port, a paper making hub and a gateway to Door County. But because Curly Lambeau and his friend George Calhoun casually struck up a conversation about football one day, Green Bay is a lot more. Thank him, thank the Indian Packing Company, and thank the citizens of Green Bay (the team owners) for sticking with the team through the tough years. Here's to a new era.
We've got all kinds of books about the Packers in the Mudd.

Today's quiz: How many ways can you think of to legally transport edible grease? You can get take-out from KFC®. You can fail to wipe your hands before leaving a rib place. You can load yourself up with popcorn at a movie. But illegally transporting inedible grease takes some doing.
NPR reported this morning that a man in California was apprehended after being caught siphoning used cooking grease from in back of a Burger King®. He was charged with illegal transport of inedible grease, in violation of California Food and Agricultural Code, Section 19310-19317.
Sing from, listen to, or view Grease in the Mudd.

The CGA (Compressed Gas Association) Hydrogen Seminar is being held today at the Sacramento (CA) Convention Center. Try not to blurt out the obvious completion of this presentation topic as stated in the form of a question: "Hydrogen in your pocket."
You won't be surprised to learn Philip Glass composed a work with hydrogen in the title.

We always knew those wacky British were animal-crazy, but we had no idea that passion extended to traffic control. On April 2, 1962, the "panda crossing," a new style of pedestrian crossing was introduced in London, replacing the "zebra crossing." It was quite simple, really:

"The panda crossing is activated when the pedestrian presses a button that lights up a "wait" sign. This results in a flashing amber light warning drivers to stop. After five seconds a pulsating red light tells the driver to stop and a 'cross' sign is illuminated indicating to the pedestrian that it is safe to cross the road. Eight seconds later the red light is replaced by a flashing amber light. At the same time the 'cross' sign begins to flash, at first slowly and then faster to warn the pedestrian that his time to cross the road is running out. After 17 seconds both lights are extinguished and the driver is free to drive on."