News from the Mudd

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!

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...

The Estelle Ray Reid Scholarship in Library Science is meant to assist a female student, past or present, planning to pursue the graduate study of Library Science. To apply, or for more information, please see the Estelle Ray Reid page. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 21, 2008.

When I asked blog superstar Antoinette Powell for some blogging advice for my introduction, she kindly wrote an excellent one for me!

Former Mudd Library Night Supervisor Angela Vanden Elzen now has a day job. As of mid-July, Angela is our illustrious hard-working Interlibrary Loan and Circulation Assistant. If you are a regular reader of this space, you remember the previous, highly regarded ILL & Circ. Assistant, Cheryl Kraft, left the Mudd's bosom to devote herself to the Neenah Public Library (June 29, 2007.) Angela is more than able to fill those shoes. In real life, Angela devotes herself to her cats, her nut-ball Lab/Akita puppy, and her husband Adam. She is working on her MLIS, and should cancel her World of Warcraft account now that the semester has begun. Angela lives in the same space Cheryl occupied and will be available to serve the Mudd patrons Tuesday through Saturday during the regular academic year. We are thrilled Angela has emerged from the darkness, yet remains in the Mudd.

So, please come see me or call x6758 with any interlibrary loan, electronic reserve, or World of Warcraft questions.

Today we've got CD piles so nice, we've posted them twice. Here are more LU 2007-2008 Artist + Jazz Series performers, plus an added bonus of a little Schumann and Mozart. As composers. Not players.

We've got a heapin' pile o' CDs for you today. All of the artists appear on the LU 2007-2008 Jazz Series.

The magnificent 1974 structure that is the Mudd isn't the first library at LU. The first library, along with just about every other department and function on campus, was once housed in Main Hall. We are very pleased that The Chronicle of Higher Education has featured a photo of our Main Hall on their "Campus Architecture" blog. Main Hall appears in a new book Old Main: Fame, Fate and Contributions to Campus Planning and Design by Richard P. Dober. Watch the Chronicle's audio slide show, too.

We're happy to announce a new resource in the Mudd: Smithsonian Global Sound, an audio streaming database of world music. You can not only listening to sound files, but also read liner notes, create your own playlists and view album art. You can search for terms or browse by country, genre, cultural group, language, instrument, artist, ensemble, album or label. It includes American genres such as American folk, blues, bluegrass, old time country and music of Native Americans.
If you're on campus, you can access SGS here, or search "title begins with..." smithsonian global sound in LUCIA to get to the link.

Today marks the last day in "the Mudd" for Cheryl, ILL & Circulation Assistant extraordinaire. The Mudd staff sent her off in our very special way, with food. Best of luck to you Cheryl. You will be missed.

We here at the Mudd tend to think we're hip, we're happening, we're with it. And then someone suggested we get some CDs by The Yellowjackets, of whom we had never heard. They are featured in today's new CD pile, along with some s.o.b.'s (sons of Bach, as if you didn't know.)

This week is the official beginning of summer at LU, and here's the first pile of summer CDs. There's nothing particularly summer-y about them, no Beach Boys, no Ventures, no Surfaris (yes, we ARE old.) They just happen to be here now, so take some time to enjoy them.

Looking at today's pile of LU CDs, you're probably thinking, "There's no way there could be any performances by Lee Tomboulian in that batch." And you'd be so wrong.

Our regular blog readers are probably asking themselves, "How did our mild-mannered music librarian become the Blogging Machine that she is today?"

Well, now the whole story can be told -- because Antoinette told it herself! To a national magazine, no less! Read "That Bloggin' Pneumonia!" from the June 1, 2007 Library Journal.

It's June, which means it used to be May, which means it's Concert Season here at LU. The Conservatory has generated an impressive number of concerts, which in turn has resulted in an equally impressive pile of CDs for your listening pleasure.

Sure 'n' we're havin' a bunch more CDs for your listening pleasure. Today Lawrence University's own perfomers take the stage. We've got multiple performances of the latest operas, plus the Symphony Orchestra on its own. Both Gianni Schicchi and the Orchestra feature LU's quadruple-threat, Garth Neustadter. There's also some electronic music and still more Mengelberg.

There's just too many of 'em to hold off for another day. Here we have your symphonies (Brahms,) your jazz (Ornett Coleman's Pulizter Prize-winning CD, plus a return engagement of the Very Tall Band,) your Italian madrigal comedy (sung in English yet,) some saxophone stuff, some trumpet stuff, and some home-grown Small Jazz Groups, two of which are directed by, dare we say it?, Lee Tomboulian.

They just keep a-coming in. Today we have Mingus and Martinu, Salerno-Sonnenberg and Schadeberg, plus John Duke at the piano playing his own songs, with baritone Donald Boothman. Something for everyone.

Zowie. That's all we can say about this fantastic new resource. The Mozarteum in Austria has digitized the printed version of the complete works of Mozart, and, as you know, he was no slouch when it came to churning out the music. You can search by K. number, category, editor, key, or keyword - in German or in English! Or you can browse each volume. This gem is also accessible through LUCIA.

(It's that time of the term again....)

ATTENTION STUDENTS: The last day to submit interlibrary loan requests is Friday May 18.

Note: All interlibrary loan materials are due back on Monday June 4.

Please contact the Interlibrary Loan office if you have any questions or concerns. lucialib@lawrence.edu

Heres another batch of new CDs. And what would a new batch of CDs be without a couple of selections featuring Lee Tomboulian? When does the man have time to sleep?

Don't have a conniption when you see today's new CD pile . Ok, so all of the CD spines are in Japanese. You can listen to the music in any language you want.

It's a rollicking good time with today's new CD pile. We've got something old (Mozart,) something new (LU's Jennifer Fitzgerald as performer and composer,) some good singing (Paul Robeson,) and something recorded at the Blue Note. In addition you can listen to the latest Wind Ensemble concert.

This week's pile of new cds features LU's own Instructor in Music, Lee Tomboulian (jazz improvisation, jazz small group performance practice, and applied jazz piano.) Hear Lee on piano, organ, vocals and various other instruments in this mix of jazz, neo-Western swing and Brazilian rhythms.

The Mudd has picked up a brand-new online jazz journal, Jazz Perspectives, whose founding editors are affiliated with Rutgers University's Institute for Jazz Studies. This peer-reviewed journal is devoted to jazz scholarship but also includes Ethnomusicology, Music & Drama, Popular Culture, and Race & Ethnicity in Popular Music. Look for two issues a year, in April (volume 1, no. 1 is now available) and October. The library also has other jazz serials.

Check out the Mudd's latest CD acquisitions. Mouse over an image to get a description and click on "Check here" to see if it's available.

April is National Poetry Month, and the Mudd is celebrating by inviting people to share their favorite poems. Bring your poem of choice to the library and put it on the Poetry bulletin board.

To learn more about National Poetry Month, visit

http://poets.org/ or the library's National Poetry Month page!

Need a quick answer to that research or library related question? IM a reference librarian from our Ask a Librarian page. You can use our convenient chat box or add our screen name to your buddy list.

Welcome back from break! Hope you had a relaxing one and are ready for a productive spring. A couple of reminders:

1. The library offers nine individual study rooms that can be used for one term at a time by students. Preference is given to seniors working on honors projects and then to students whose research depends heavily on library materials. Complete this online form to request an office for Spring Term. Deadline is Thursday, March 29.

2. RefWorks, a web-based "Personal Database and Bibliography Creator," is a convenient way to collect citations for that big paper and keep track of them all. Courtesy of your friends at the Mudd...

The Estelle Ray Reid Scholarship in Library Science is awarded during the spring term and is meant to assist a female student, past or present, planning to pursue the graduate study of Library Science. To apply, or for more information, please see the Estelle Ray Reid page.

Members of the library staff were talking togther and wondered how we could engage our users in a conversation about the library. We decided that one simple step would be to set up a flip chart, ask a question, and let people respond. We had no idea what would happen, but we thought we'd give it a try.

So we asked the question, "If you could change one thing about the library building, what would it be?"

The answers we received are summarized below. One of my favorite parts of this was the way the pages became a discussion of sorts. The numbers following some of the suggestions represent the people who said, "Yes!" or "Word!" in response to an initial suggestion. In other cases, comments elicited responses like, "Already done" or "Can already do this."

We do take these suggestions seriously and, while we can't implement them all (as much as we'd like to move the library to Bermuda), we will take them into account as the library begins planning for future services and possible building renovations.

And because we want this to be a continuing conversation, feel free to comment on this list through the comment feature on this blog. We look forward to hearing from you.

• Coffee Bar (9)
• Or at least some coffee makers
• Other caffeinated beverages
• Better organize the music scores
• Wider selection of music
• More variety: world, metal, gypsy
• More movies
• Better lighting (6)
• More environmentally-friendly lighting
• More natural lighting (windows)
• Being able to log into Library account with username and password instead of Library Barcode #
• MS Office on 1st floor PCs (4)
• MS Word on all PCs (2)
• New furniture (13)
• Updated and modern
• More cozy
• New chairs on 3rd floor (3)
• More outlets for laptops
• Faster elevator (2)
• Extended hours (12)
• Especially during finals week and end of term (3)
• Open 24 hours (2)
• Open earlier on Saturday, at 8 or 9am
• Open earlier on Sunday, at 7am (2)
• More group and individual study rooms to cut down on the noise (8)
• With dry erase boards
• Soundproofed (2)
• More carrels
• More small computer rooms
• Color printer (2)
• Less sedate and depressing beige
• Air fresheners on 3rd and 4th floor (2)
• Another computer lab that is always open
• Move it to Bermuda or Tahiti or Russia
• Snacks or café (2)
• Printers on 3rd and 4th floor
• Access to more scientific journals
• Access to online sources while studying abroad or off-campus.
• Better air quality (2)
• Bring back Ceramics Monthly
• Student shredders
• Cots for overnight study
• Tall chairs around all the 1st floor computers

Monday, January 15, 2007 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Please attend the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, "For the Common Good -- Is King's Dream Still Relevant Today?," on at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The keynote speaker will be Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Butler, Jr. '73.

Some MLK resources:

• Search the library catalog for Martin Luther King, Jr.
• "I have a dream..." page for Freshman Studies
• Martin Luther King Encyclopedia from Stanford University
• Martin Luther King papers Project, also from Stanford University
• The King Center
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Newspaper Archive from NewspaperArchive.com
• More resources from the ResourceShelf blog

Paul Revere, a music engraver? Who knew? Each year the Music Publishers' Association recognizes excellence in music publishing with the Paul Revere Awards. This national traveling exhibit is making a stop at the Mudd Library (first floor) during January. Come on over and see the best music publishers have to offer.

More information about the awards and past winners can be found here.

"The library offers nine individual study rooms that can be used for one term at a time by students. Preference is given to seniors working on honors projects and then to students whose research depends heavily on library materials." Complete this online form to request an office for Winter Term. Deadline is Thursday, January 4.

The Fall 2006 edition of @Mudd: Trends and News from Lawrence University's Seeley G. Mudd Library is now online for your reading pleasure. Find out what's going on in Archives, get some tips about using Interlibrary Loan, and keep up with new music resources in "Conservatory Corner"...

The last day to submit an interlibrary loan request for Term 1 is Friday, November 17th. After that, you probably wouldn't get your stuff in time to be useful.

The Library resumed regular hours now that classes have started. Come early and stay late!

Check out the Library's new student welcome page for all kinds of helpful information about the Mudd.

Web of Science is the premier online citation index in the sciences and social sciences. In case you're wondering: "A citation index contains the references cited by the authors of the articles covered by the index. You can use these references to do cited reference searching. A cited reference search enables you to find articles that cite a previously published work."

"The library offers nine individual study rooms that can be used for one term at a time by students. Preference is given to seniors working on honors projects and then to students whose research depends heavily on library materials." Complete this online form to request an office for Fall Term. Deadline is Thursday, September 21.