The last post....

for 2011, that is.

It's been a crazy and exciting year for your library, but the time has come for a bex and a good lie down. 

Your library will be closed from 1pm, Thursday 22nd December 2011. 

In 2012, Fulham campus library will return to normal business hours from 16th January.

Limited services will resume at Forestec from 3rd January 2012, with a return to normal business hours from 30th January.

Bairnsdale campus will be occupying it's new space from 3rd January. Limited services will be in operation from approximately 23rd January.

Until then, happy holidays and thanks for helping us make your library what it is.

Peter, Ruth, Anne, Emily, Helen, Barb and Jannelle

Exciting times ahead

Advance TAFE is revamping our services to students and here’s a couple of ways we’re doing it: 

1. Whether you visit, phone or email, the brand new Bairnsdale Learning Common will be your one-stop-shop for advice, enrolment, support and library access.

2. All Advance TAFE students will be able to use the new online catalogue system, featuring improved ways to search, research and collaborate with your library.

To support all this, we’re building a brand new student computer network. Between 19 December 2011 and January 31 2012 you won’t be able to use the:

• library and FLC student computers
• student labs and loan laptops
• student email and network storage
• student on-campus Wi-Fi.

You’ll still be able to log in to Online Campus from any computer with internet access so you can view your online grades and finish any work you might still have to do.

We’re sorry we have to shut down for so long, but if you need help to deal with the outage, contact your library.

If you are currently using your student email account, e.g. 'ABC12345678@student.egtafe.vic.ed.au', you should:

• get an alternative email account, e.g. G-mail
• advise all your contacts to use the new email account
• change your email address in your Online Campus profile

As happens every year, your student account will expire on 19 Dec. so you should copy any files you may have on H:\ drive to a memory stick, etc. 

If you are returning to study next year, you will create a new account and email address on the new Advance TAFE network. 

Have a great holiday and a happy new year!

From the rubble...

The most recent view of the almost learning common at Bairnsdale campus, as captured by a passing librarian with a smart phone.

Champagne across the bow

From the Bairnsdale Advertiser, 18 November 2011

Obssession, information, the internet, learning, and the whole damn thing

Improving your library service

There will be a minor change to our hours of operation Tuesday 15th through Thursday 17th November as we undertake training to improve the service we offer.

Fulham campus will be closed between 1 and 1.30pm. 

Forestec campus library will remain open - please see reception if you have any issues. 

If you intend to visit Bairnsdale library, please ring ahead for confirmation on the days mentioned above.

More than just hard copy

Journals are great; they can give you recent and relevant information; many are peer reviewed and add scholarly weight to your essay or research.

Journals are also more than hard copy; they are online, full-text, indexed, and available through your library. They can be accessed on-campus or from anywhere with an internet connection.

A publication search through the library’s subscription databases turned up any number of full text journals, including Australian Nursing Journal, Harvard Business Review, Architecture Australia, Image, Contemporary Nurse, Modern Painters, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, Gourmet Traveller, Camerawork, and Australian Geographic.

Access them online, wherever you are, whenever you want.

Brave New World (in the best possible sense)

BLOW YOUR MIND

Google down the gurgler..?

Well, not quite.

Mary Ellen Bates recently drew attention to statistics from a Hitwise press release in her Web Search Pacific newsletter:

Most people have assumed that Google will always be their go-to search engine. In fact, the verb "to Google" suggests that, for many of us, Google defines what a search engine is. I'm reminded of Velcro, Kleenex and Escalator, all brands that have come to represent the generic product because they were the first and the best in their field. (OK, Google wasn't the first search engine, but it was the first to use link analysis to calculate relevance.) .

I recently saw a press release from Hitwise, a firm that studies web market share and consumer activity. According to Hitwise, Google's share of the search engine market is down to 66%, from 71% a year ago, with Bing its nearest competitor at 28%, up from 25% last year. Even more interesting to me was that, based on Hitwise's analysis, the "success rate" of searches was significantly higher for Bing (80%) than Google (68%). Wow! [cue the music from "Jaws"]

Google earned the market share it has by consistently delivering better, more relevant search results than its competitors. While it still owns the lion's share of the market, that percentage is inexorably dropping, and Bing-powered search is gaining. (Since searches on Yahoo are actually powered by Bing, Hitwise combines the market share of bing.com and search.yahoo.com.) And the fact that Google has a relatively poor success rate compared to Bing means that we may start talking about "Binging" a question rather than Googling it.

Google has made its search results page attractive to info pros and researchers; the left margin is full of ways to filter or spin your search. Try it on blogs! Search discussion groups! Limit to the last six months! Narrow it to your local area! It's hard to resist the impression that you are conducting a comprehensive search as you work your way through all of Google's search options.

Bing has some search features worth considering, though. In addition to the usual specialized searches -- news, images, video, map and shopping -- it has an interesting Visual Search feature. Right now, there are 90 "galleries", collections of information on topics ranging from world leaders to the top Twitterers. Within each gallery is a browsable collection of images representing each item in the collection; in the World Leaders gallery, for example, there are close to 350 photos of heads of state, each linked to a profile compiled from the CIA World Factbook. You can further filter the gallery by region, title or type of leader, or skim the images to identify a particular person. These galleries may turn into valuable tools for quick answers, particularly if info pros could create their own galleries.

I have just switched my default search engine on my browser to Bing and I'll report later on how it works with research queries. So long, Google. We'll still be friends, but we're no longer dating. I've got my eye on a good-looking search engine over there who just might make me happier than you do.

Published in Web Search Pacific newsletter.

An ongoing exploration of contemporary cinema...

In the mood to stay out of the out-of-doors over the winter weekend? Could we suggest a evening with a DVD?

Blue Valentine

Director Derek Cianfrance’s unflinching observation of the first flush of love and the devastation wrought when it slowly comes apart.

See what David and Margaret think. Hard to watch, but highly recommended by this librarian.

True Grit

The Cohen Brothers remix and remake the 1969 classic starring John Wayne.

Rabbit Hole

Something different from the director of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus.

How do Margaret and David rate it? Find the trailer here.

Me and Orson Welles

Before things got all crazy with Citizen Kane, Orson Welles cut his creative teeth on New York theatre. Me and Orson Welles tells the behind the scenes story of the 1937 Welles directed, Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar.

A Single Man

Adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s novel of loss, the burden of love, outsiderdom, and loneliness and the will to life. Watch the trailer.

Winter’s Bone

I couldn’t write anything better to describe this film than the good people at Wikipedia:

“It explores the interrelated themes of close and distant family ties, the power and speed of gossip, patriarchy, self-sufficiency, and rural poverty in the Ozarks as they are impacted by the pervasive underworld of illegal methamphetamine labs”.

Enough said.

And then (more) stuff happened

An ongoing pictorial tour of the work site that will become the learning common at Bairnsdale campus. As these pictures attest, things are certainly coming along.

Hell in a handbasket..?

Your library strives to include resources that approach current thinking on the global stage. Sustainability and environmental issues are forefront at this time - politically, economically and socially - and continue to impact on classroom education. These books and DVDs encourage debate whilst offering an informed grounding in an ongoing international discussion.

Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty (DVD)

Small Fortunes explores microcredit as a growing answer to poverty Borrowers from around the world tell their own stories, while microfinance luminaries share perspectives about this important new movement. Find it: Sale campus 332.1091724 SMA

Climate Change: What is the future of our world? (DVD)

Sir David Attenborough undertakes a personal journey to discover how global warming is changing the planet he knows so well. Examining the evidence for this confusing phenomenon, Sir David finds out what’s causing it and whether mankind is to blame. Find it: Sale Campus 551.6 CLI

147 Practical Tips for Teaching Sustainability: Connecting the Environment, the Economy, and Society

Exploring ideas about sustainability, the authors of this volume demonstrate exciting situations in which sustainability is critical. Find it: Sale campus 338.927071 ONE

Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education

This book maps out the ground, both for those already some way down the sustainability road and those wanting to take first steps, whether policy makers and senior managers or curriculum developers and deliverers. Find it: Sale campus 338.43378 SUS

An Inconvenient Truth(DVD)

Former US Vice President Al Gore presents a compelling view of the future of our planet. Find it: Bairnsdale and Sale campus 363.738 INC

The Story of Stuff (DVD)

From the time we arise in the morning until after we fall asleep, we participate in a continuous cycle of using stuff that affects ourselves, other people, animals and the planet. Find it: Bairnsdale and Sale campus 339.47 STO

e2 Energy (DVD)
e2 Transport (DVD)
e2 Design (DVD)

e2 is a series which systematically examines the environmental viability of all aspects of modern living. Whether it is where we live and play, what we eat and drink, how we travel, the air we breathe or how we clothe ourselves.

Also on DVD: Climate Wars, The Greenhouse Effect: Climate Change and Global Warming, Clean Energy – Clean Nature: a Climate Friendly Region, Recipes for Disaster.

Thoughts from the famous, not so famous, the wise, and almost forgotten

Number four:

"Information is the currency of democracy." Thomas Jefferson

The Festival of Chocolate

Crikey!

How did we get to April? I swear it was only yesterday I was chowing down on roasted turkey. Never mind, it will soon be time to contemplate our girth once more as we head into The Festival of Chocolate. Your library will close it's doors over the Easter break as seen below:

Good Friday: Friday 22 April

Easter Monday: Monday 25 April

Anzac Day: Tuesday 26 April (substitute for Monday 25 April)

You can find the remaining public holiday dates for Victoria here.

More new resources than you can poke a stick at (3)

So. Many. New. Resources.

Check 'em out:

Sustainability in Australian business : fundamental principles and practice

Cindy Sherman : the complete untitled film stills

The Gruen Transfer

Creating an Australian garden

The Victorian naturalist – vol 127 (6) Dec 2010

Incredible : the amazing story of the birth and rebirth of a natural treasure

Grassfires : fuel, weather and fire behaviour

The good work of The Blue Shield

The Blue Shield is the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross. It is the protective emblem specified in the 1954 Hague Convention (Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict) for marking cultural sites to give them protection from attack in the event of armed conflict. The Blue Shield network consists of organizations dealing with museums, archives, audiovisual supports, libraries, as well as monuments and sites.

Blue Shield Statement on Libya

"Following the recent events in Libya, the Blue Shield expresses its great concern about the safeguarding of the country's invaluable cultural heritage amid the existing turmoil. The Blue Shield deplores the suffering and loss of life this conflict has imposed on the Libyan population.

Between 1982 and 1986, five sites in this vast country, bearing witness to the rise and fall of sophisticated cultures stretching from prehistory to Islamic civilization, were chosen to become part of the UNESCO World Heritage List. Three of these sites, Cyrene, Leptis Magna and Sabratha, are evidence of the civilization that flourished in Libya during the Punic, Greek and Roman eras. The prehistoric site of Tadrart Acacus and the ancient city of Ghadames are proof of the importance of heritage sites in this territory.

The ongoing armed conflict in Libya gives reason for concern, not only amongst academics but for everybody concerned with the preservation of cultural heritage, about the vulnerability of cultural institutions, sites and monuments. Especially aerial bombardments and artillery pose a grave danger to fragile cultural sites. Any loss of Libyan cultural property would seriously impoverish the collective memory of mankind."

Blue Shield Statement on Christchurch

"Following the recent earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, the Blue Shield expresses its great sorrow for the loss of lives and the destructions the city's cultural heritage sites and institutions suffered.

The city of Christchurch has been rocked by a major earthquake (magnitude 6.3) on last Tuesday, 22 February 2011, half a year after the 7.1 earthquake of 4 September 2010. Besides the serious casualties, the toll on heritage is to be high. It appears that there is very important damage to the historic area of the city and its built heritage.

Among others, the Anglican cathedral, the Catholic basilica, and the Victorian Gothic Provincial Buildings, symbols of the city's cultural heritage, has been severely damaged. Some major cultural institutions and conservation places, such as museums, libraries and archives, are also reported to be significantly affected. What happened in Christchurch once again underlines the vulnerability of cultural institutions, sites and monuments in case of natural disaster.

In addition to the tragic loss of human lives and the country's prevailing state of shock, the loss of these significant aspects of Christchurch's heritage will have profound and lasting consequences on the self-conception and the collective memory of its inhabitants. The intangible values of a people's cultural heritage can support the processes to regenerate normality and help people to move forward. Cultural heritage is a fundamental aspect in the rebuilding of community identity and dignity, as well as in keeping up hope after such a catastrophe.

The Blue Shield trusts that the emergency authorities will take appropriate measures to ensure the preservation of heritage features of the city in the aftermath of the disaster. The Blue Shield Mission is "to work to protect the world's cultural heritage threatened by armed conflict, natural and man-made disasters". While it strongly supports the priority to find the missing, and to help the injured and homeless; it places the expertise and network of its members at the disposal of their New Zealand colleagues to facilitate their work in assessing the damages, and, for subsequent recovery, the restoration and repair measures.

The Blue Shield calls on the international community, responsible authorities and local population to give the fullest support to all efforts underway to protect or rescue the heritage of Christchurch and avoid further damages to museums, libraries, archives, monuments and sites. The member organisations of the Blue Shield are currently liaising with New Zealand colleagues to obtain further information on both the situation and on the possible needs and types of help required so as to mobilise their networks accordingly. A more complete report on damages, needs and actions will be published subsequently, in order to facilitate coordination."

The International Committee of the Blue Shield, founded in 1996, comprises representatives of five Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in this field:

the International Council on Archives (http://www.ica.org/),
the International Council of Museums (http://www.icom.museum/),
the International Council on Monuments and Sites (http://www.icomos.org/),
and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (http://www.ifla.org/)
the Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (http://www.ccaaa.org/)

National Blue Shield Committees have been founded in a number of countries. The Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS), founded in December 2008, is coordinating and strengthening international efforts to protect cultural property at risk of destruction in armed conflicts or natural disasters. The ANCBS has its headquarters in The Hague.

The Googles.

Quoted Phrases

Search term

Keywords

The + Operator

The – Operator

The ~ Operator

The OR Operator

The .. Operator

Wildcards

What the..? Need some explantation to what these mean? Can't find what you're looking for, or spending all of your time looking for something amongst the 767,000,000 results Google returned? Google Guide can offer you some assistance. Google Guide is an online interactive tutorial and reference for experienced users, novices, and everyone in between. Google Guide's developer Nancy Blachman says "I developed Google Guide because I wanted more information about Google's capabilties, features, and services than I found on Google's website." Hard to argue with. Give it whirl.

Graphic images.

Youtube is populated with videos promoting the idea of library. Many of these videos contain graphic and disturbing images of library staff singing or dancing or singing AND dancing.

The good people of Irish Libraries have gone without singing or dancing or singing AND dancing to bring us this. Warning: might contain metaphor.

And then stuff happened...

An ongoing pictorial tour of the work site that will become the learning common at Bairnsdale campus.

More new resources than you can poke a stick at (2)

Cogito is busy tearing the wrapping off the new resources arriving at library services.

Follow the call number and login to the catalogue to reserve any of the items below. If you can't login or need assistance then contact a librarian - it's what we do.

Here is a taste thus far and in no particular order:

The Adventure of English DVD 420.9 ADV

Therapeutic Guidelines: Palliative Care 2010 Version 3 616.029 THE

Greening services: Practical sustainability 372.357 KIN

Enough Rope: Angels & Demons DVD 616.89 ANG

The Story of Stuff DVD 339.47 STO

This is Family DVD 306.85 THI

A Muslim Education 371.0770994 MUS

Better Health for our Children: A Guide for Parents 618.9200994 FIT

An inconvenient truth DVD 363.738 INC

Understanding the Brain and Behaviour DVD 611.81 CRE

Food for thought

"Today we are witnessing the early, turbulent days of a revolution as significant as any other in human history. A new medium of human communication is emerging, one that may prove to surpass all previous revolutions - the printing press, the telephone, the television - in its impact on our economic and social life. The computer is expanding from a tool for information management to a tool for communication... enabling a new economy based on the networking of human intelligence... For individuals, organizations, and societies that fall behind, punishment is swift."

Tapscott, D. (1996). The digital economy: promise and peril in the aged of networked intelligence. New York: Mcgraw Hill

Answers to questions about library services you might have (now that you're enrolled)

(or meant to ask but never really got around to).

Answer number one: ALWAYS ASK A LIBRARIAN IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE!

Answer number two: ALWAYS ASK A LIBRARIAN IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE!

Answer number three: Your student card can be used for a variety of things including borrowing of resources, setting up a student account, accessing the internet and photocopying. We strongly encourage you to carry your student card at all times.

Anwer number four: EGTAFE library services is one library that just happens to be in three different locations - Bairnsdale, Sale/Fulham, and Forestech (near Lakes Entrance).

EGTAFE students can borrow resources from any location. For example, if you're standing in the Bairnsdale campus library wanting to borrow a copy of The life and works of Dali but find that it is held at Sale/Fulham, then the good people at Sale/Fulham will courier the resource to the Bairnsdale campus library from where you can collect it. (See answers number one and two).

Answer number five: EGTAFE library services hold a number of laptops, digital cameras and camcorders that students can borrow. Some conditions apply but none that should discourage your intent.

Answer number six: We are open, can be contacted and are located here.

Answer number seven: You can find a link to the library services Delicious account to the right of this post. We bookmark library essentials and... well anything that could be of use to you during your studies. We welcome bookmark suggestions. You can also follow us on twitter and find us on facebook.

Answer number eight: ALWAYS ASK A LIBRARIAN IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE!

Thoughts from the famous, not so famous, the wise, and almost forgotten

Number three:

"Libraries are not just for reading in, but for sociable thinking, exploring, exchanging ideas and falling in love." Ben Macintyre

Not quite a wrecking ball

Work on the new learning common at Bairnsdale campus is well underway.

The buliding previously housing the library, canteen and various bits and bobs has been transformed into a magnificent shell.

The last of these images shows the progress from the site of the temporary library.

Crossing the Red Sea

Visual Arts students might find interest in the conservation work being undertaken to restore Nicolas Poussin's Crossing of the Red Sea. Follow the conservation process through the National Gallery of Victoria's online diary.

Visit MoMA from the comfort of your laptop...

...or perhaps The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

Art Project allows you to take a virtual tour of thirteen galleries and museums in locales we would normally need a plane ticket to visit.

Art Project employs the same technology that lets you to see your house on google maps. This blogger has recently strolled through the Uffizi Museum in Florence and taken in the detail of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. On a whim I visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art and took in El Greco's The Death of Socrates.

All without leaving my desk. Its virtually like being there.

Thoughts from the famous, not so famous, the wise, and almost forgotten

Number two:

"The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history." Carl T. Rowan

So, when are we open?

EGTAFE Library is open Monday to Friday - excepting public holidays - throughout the year, including term breaks.

Bairnsdale

Monday-F riday
8.30 - 5.00

Sale/Fulham

Monday - Thursday
8.30 - 5.00
Friday
8.30 - 4.30

Forestech

Monday - Friday
8.30 - 5.00

Even more at your library...

Bairnsdale, Forestech and Sale all have wireless laptops available for students to use on campus during the day. Sit out under the oak tree at Bairnsdale, relax in the student canteens, take a laptop to class and access the Internet. Just come to the library in the morning with your student card and borrow a laptop for the day. Laptops need to be returned at the end of the day to ensure that everyone gets to share the service.

You're on a winner...

Visit the libraries during February and you can enter our Lucky Dip competition. Just write your student number and phone number on a slip of paper and add it to the competition box. On the 1st March we will draw out a number of students and they will be able to have a lucky dip in our prize box. if you are unable to attend the library just email your student number and phone number to either

library.b@egtafe.vic.edu.au

library.s@egtafe.vic.edu.au

library.f@egtafe.vic.edu.au

Get yourself

...a habit.

One and a half minute makeover

Toward the close of 2010, Fulham campus decided to move the furniture around. We have created a "study nook" separate to the computer area, as well as a social area from where the fiction, newspapers, and new journals can be enjoyed. We documented how it went down through our digital cameras and iPhones. It didn't quite take one and a half minutes, but through the marvels of modern technology you can pretend that it did.

Thoughts from the famous, not so famous, the wise, and almost forgotten

Number one:

"Why buy a book when you can join a library". Ricky Gervais