Seeking First-Year Undergrads

Want to have a say in how the libraries work for you? The Sheridan Libraries are looking for first-year undergraduates to join the Libraries’ Student Advisory Committee.

You’ll meet periodically during the academic year to advise the Dean of Libraries and JHU’s Library Advisory Council on new and existing library policies and services. Interested? Please tell us why at asklib@jhu.edu.

Taxes

Yes, it is that time of year—tax time.

The Government Publications/Maps/Law (GPML) Library has paper tax forms for the State of Maryland—both the 2007 Maryland State and Local Tax Forms and Instructions and the 2007 Maryland Tax Forms for Nonresidents. Maryland forms and publications can also be found online. For those who need forms for other states, they also have their own websites.

The IRS no longer sends us paper forms and publications, but all the forms and instruction books are on their website. If you need help locating the forms, come to GPML on A-Level for assistance.

LaTeX and FireFox on Library Computers

In response to your requests, two additional applications have been added to the MSEL public computers. We now have LaTeX, which was suggested in a blog Suggestion Box comment late last year. Now mathematicians and engineers can work on papers in their preferred document preparation program while in MSEL. And thanks to JHU alum Dr. Vogelstein, we have updated LaTeX thesis templates available.

Another highly requested item has been added - Firefox. And within Firefox, we’ve added several plug-ins to allow for easy searching of heavily-used web sites. These include the JHU library catalog, WorldCat, Nature, and other sites like Amazon, Wikipedia, and IMDB. If you need to use a site that requires IE, you will still have access to the Public Web Browser from the desktop.

EBSCO Databases Available Again

The EBSCO databases are available again. Thank you for your patience.

EBSCO Databases

All EBSCO Databases are down. We called EBSCO technical support and learned that they are suffering from a power outage. At the moment we do not have a time-frame for when services will be restored. We will let you know when their issues have been resolved.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

Happy Birthday Wikipedia

One of the most beloved sources for information on the web, Wikipedia, turns seven this week. According to Alexa: The Web Information Company, Wikipedia is the 9th most popular site on the internet! And no wonder. While JHU students, faculty, and staff have access to a wide range of subscription online encyclopedias, such as Britannica Online and AccessScience, others rely solely on Wikipedia for their encyclopedic needs. It’s free, after all, and is arguably the largest, fastest growing and most popular general reference work currently available on the Internet.

“What’s my favorite Wikipedia tool?” Well, since you asked, it’s WikiCharts. This tool reveals which articles from the English Wikipedia are viewed most. WikiCharts is still in testing, though, and may report wrong results.

Happy birthday, Wikipedia.

Big Think

So, like going to Disney World and having “It’s a Small World” insidiously infect your very being, you’ve seen and heard the “Leave Britney Alone” video on YouTube once too often. And you just can’t take another cutesy clip of a cat jumping up to flick on a light switch. Or Jimmy Junior playing his soulless and off-rhythm—though note-for-note correct—rendition of the guitar solo from “Stairway to Heaven.”

What to do?

For those seeking edification over entertainment (something we all should do, 40% of the time?), you might want to check out bigthink.com. Big Think is internet video for the smart set—YouTube without the snoring doggies. It’s video-based snippets of insight, yet only snippets, from Very Important People.

At Big Think you will find Dana Gioia reading his poem,”Unsaid”; Steven Pinker discussing evidence for the minimal impact of parents on the future success of their children; Amy Gutmann citing the major impact of her parents on her success; Calvin Trillin disclaiming having any personal philosophy whatsoever, yet abiding by his father’s advice: “You might as well be a mensch.” (Surely good advice if ever there was?)

Questions for discussion on Big Think are grouped into the large categories you might expect: What do you believe? Can love be taught? What is happiness? But they also include more mundane, though still general, questions about economics, the arts, politics, science: Why does fiscal responsibility matter? What is art’s role in society? Is the U.N. still relevant? How has science shaped humanity?

I suppose starkly contrasting edification and entertainment as I did above is not really fair. Sometimes a simple talking head on your computer screen is exactly what you need for both.

bigthink.com

Rockville and D.C. Library Locations

Live or Work in the D.C. Area?

You should know that the Sheridan Libraries includes two locations that might be convenient for you:

• Montgomery Library Resource Center (MRC) in Rockville
• Washington Library Resource Center (WRC) near Dupont Circle.

You can think of the regional resource centers as branch libraries of Homewood’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library: offering research help, book delivery service from Baltimore, print reserves, and computer labs, including wireless access.

Hours, directions, and contacts after the break.

Continue reading Rockville and D.C. Library Locations…

Collaborate with Freeware Wikis

New Years is a time for lists and resolutions. Go to the gym, eat more healthily, learn a foreign language, study more, more efficiently, and harder. Why not use free online tools to reach some of those goals? When it comes time to collaborate with your classmates on homework, group projects, everyday assignments, why not use one of the freeware wikis that are available?

Freeware is computer software which is made available for use — for free — for an unlimited amount of time. You can use freeware wikis to:

Collect assignment details in one place;
Schedule and manage a shared project calendar;
Brainstorm, share, and comment on ideas;
Compile research; and
Create and edit an outline and rough drafts.

Below, you can find a few of the freeware wikis that are available out there in the e-ther. Happy New Year and good luck with those resolutions!

• Jot Spot
• MediaWiki
• PB Wiki
• TiddlyWiki
• WikiSpace

Friends of the Library: Recent Acquisitions Display on M-level

Each year the Friends of the Johns Hopkins Libraries generously designates 20% of member contributions to fund the purchase of special collections materials. The display, located on the main level of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library and exhibiting through January 31, presents four selected items from the twelve that were purchased this year.

These selections include Gertrude Stein’s Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia; the 1924 German periodical Der Sturm; two editions of 1851: or, the Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Sandboys and Family, Who Came Up to London to ‘Enjoy Themselves,’ and to See the Great Exhibition, a comic novel by Henry Mayhew; and an alabaster peep egg commemorating the Thames Tunnel.

The books will be housed at the Sheridan Libraries special collections locations and are available for use by the Hopkins community.