Banned Book Week

Start getting ready! September 27 through October 4 is Banned Books Week! Banned Book Week's theme this year is "Celebrating the Freedom to Read." The ALA offers many suggestions on how to celebrate banned books - this week and year round. Here are just a few:

• Read a banned book. Check out the most frequently challenged books here
• Join the Freedom to Read Foundation http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/othergroups/ftrf/freedomreadfoundation.cfm
• Tell others - friends, co-workers, family, teachers, press, and politicians about Banned Books Week
• Find Banned Books Week on Facebook and MySpace
• Check out the Banned Books displays in the SLIS Library this week and next week

Most importantly, have fun reading a banned book!

Class of the Week, Workshops, and More

Hi All! Check out the New Students Display outside the library and get to know your new peers by site. Also, look for the class of the week book display over the catalog computers near the reference desk. Keep your eyes open for your class’ week and some great print resources to accompany the topics of your class.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Web Basics workshop. It will be offered September 24th at 4 pm and again on September 30th at 3:15pm. The sign up sheet is available on the circulation desk in the library. The workshop schedule for October will be up shortly and will include workshops for LibGuides, Google for Academic Research, Jing, and More. Keep checking back for more information.

SLIS Library Workshops

We have many great workshops coming up over the next few weeks. Below is a list of some upcoming ones. For the most part, these workshops are drop-in and no pre-registration is required, but please note any that ask for pre-registration. (We just want an idea of how many people will attend when we ask for pre-registration. Registration is at the library circ desk.) We hope you can make it to one or more of the workshops. Feel free to give us feedback if you attend and also let us know what other kinds of workshops you'd like to see in the future. All workshops are in the SLIS Library Computer Lab.

Workshop Schedule

• Workshop Friday on September 5!

• RefWorks
  • Instructor:Peggy Cruse
  • Friday, September 5, 3:00pm
• ProQuest
• Instructor:Peggy Cruse
• Friday, September 5, 4:00pm
• Proquest is a large vendor -- we can access 45 of their databases. The workshop will offer an overview of the Proquest interface and search features.

• Workshop this Saturday, September 6!

  • 10:00 Refworks
  • Introduction to web citation management software.
  • 11:00 Madcat
  • Finding books and more for your UW-Madison research.
  • 12:00 Ulrich's Periodical Directory
  • Overview of a great database with detailed information on serials published throughout the world.
  • 1:00 My WebSpace
  • Primer on the web-accessible file storage system provided by the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) to all UW Madison students.
  • 2:00 Library Literature & LISTA
  • Learn about two key library and information science bibliographic databases that index articles, book reviews and more, and includes some full-text coverage.

September 9th and beyond:

• RefWorks
  • Instructor:Peggy Cruse
  • Tuesday, September 9, 3:00pm
• ProQuest
• Instructor:Peggy Cruse
• Friday, September 12, 1:00pm
• CSA Illumina
• Instructor:Peggy Cruse
• Tuesday, September 16, 3:00pm
• CSA Illumina
• Instructor:Peggy Cruse
• Monday, September 22, 1:00pm
• Web Basics (pre-registration)
  
• Instructor:Sheilah Harrington
• Wednesday, September 24, 4:00pm
• Web Basics (pre-regstration)
  
• Instructor:Sheilah Harrington
• Tuesday, September 30, 3:15pm

Welcome All Students!

The SLIS Laboratory Library staff extends a big welcome back to all new and returning students! We hope everyone had a great summer and is ready for an exciting and productive fall semester. Here at the library we are almost ready and are putting (with our incredible IT staff's help, of course) the finishing touches on the newly remodeled computer lab. We hope everyone will enjoy the new equipment and more seats that are the result of this project. We've also spent some time this summer trying to spruce up the library a little bit. We hope you'll find our efforts pleasant and useful. Always feel free to let us know what you think about our little library.

We are planning several workshop sessions over the next few weeks of the semester. Some sessions are still being scheduled so stay tuned for those dates and times. We do have a stupendous, blow out, Saturday Workshop session on the calendar for September 6. Feel free to attend one or all of the sessions on this day. The sessions will be held in the SLIS Lab Lib computer lab. (Did we mention it was redone this summer?) Here is the schedule for that day:

10:00 Refworks. Introduction to web citation management software.

11:00 Madcat. Finding books and more for your UW-Madison research.

12:00 Ulrich's Periodical Directory. Overview of a great database with detailed information on serials published throughout the world.

1:00 My WebSpace. Primer on the web-accessible file storage system provided by the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) to all UW Madison students.

2:00 Library Literature & LISTA. Learn about two key library and information science bibliographic databases that index articles, book reviews and more, and includes some full-text coverage.

As other workshops get scheduled, we'll post fliers around the library and update this space with information, so be on the lookout.

Again, welcome and have a wonderful semester!

Pardon our dust!

The SLIS Laboratory Library computer lab is being upgraded! The lab will be closed the rest of the summer. Apologies to those of you for whom this may be a surprise. The good news is we'll have more seats and much updated equipment for the fall.

Thanks in advance for your patience. It will be rewarded! Besides the improved lab, the upgrade allows us to shift furniture from the lab into the library and -- when we can get a circuitry upgrade and some wires pulled -- we'll have improved laptop space in the library.

Remember that until our lab is back online, there is a large computer lab on the second floor of College Library.

Library Associations Pages Online

It's the end of the semester and all the work is done - what's to be done with all that newly found free time? Spend some of that time looking at our new LIS Associations pages! Check out various LIS associations and organizations by location, library type, and by topic. See what's really out there for professional organizations - there's a lot more out there than just ALA. Happy browsing!

Extended hours this weekend!

It's that time again - the end of the semester where everything is due all at once. And, typically, the weekend is the time to get those assignments done. The SLIS Library will be extending its hours this weekend (5/3-5/4) for those that need those extra hours to finish those final projects! We will be open from 12pm to 9pm both Saturday and Sunday. Good luck with the semester's end!

Image: "Making History" by NRGthedude via Flickr