Where's my bus?

As someone who works at an Academic Library reference desk but has an interest in Public Library reference, I sometimes get a little dizzy from learning all the separate terminologies and procedures for these two similar, yet different institutions. Which is why it’s nice when the two areas overlap.

One thing that public library and academic library patrons have in common is they all need to get somewhere. And as gas gets ever more expensive, more and more students and academic staff, as well as city residents and tourists, are turning to mass transit as their primary means of transportation. In Madison, this means people are riding the Metro Bus.

What does this mean for the reference desk? No matter what type of library you’re in, chances are, you'll get frequent inquiries about Metro routes, schedules, and arrival information. In Madison, up until now, this has been a dicey proposition, since bus departure and arrival times are notoriously unreliable due to traffic, weather, construction, and other such annoyances.

Reference staff need not worry though. With the arrival of the Madison Metro's "WebWatch" software, you can get real-time Madison Metro bus information via the Internet. In case the link doesn't work, use this URL: http://webwatch.cityofmadison.com/webwatch/default.aspx

Here are the main features of the site:

• Real-time bus stop arrivals: You will need to know your bus' route number and direction, as well as the stop number for the location at which you are waiting. (Click "View Live Stop Times" for this info


• Stop information for Smart Phones: If you have an Internet capable Smart Phone (Blackberry, BlackJack, etc) you can even view stop information right on your phone. (Click "Accessible Text Live Stop Times" for this info)


• Real-time bus location: Perhaps the coolest feature of the site, Metro's GPS network allows you to view real-time bus location over Google Maps and Google Earth. When combined with the bus stop arrival info, you can know exactly where your bus is, as well as when it will get to your stop. (Click "View Map- Virtual Earth" OR "View Map- Google Maps" for this info)

Hopefully, with this information in hand, SLIS students can be not only more informed Metro riders, but also more knowledgeable and helpful Librarians!

NOTE: Users of the site should be aware that this is a Beta version of the program, so there may be occasional glitches, delays, and crashes.

The SLIS Library is having a Game Show night!

Friday, Oct. 3, 6-8 pm

It's going to be a great way to bond with your fellow SLISers and anyone else in libraryland who wants to join us, have fun, and maybe learn something zany about the wonderful world of libraries.

The Games:

Who Wants to Be a Librarian? Contestants will be tested on how much they know about library and SLIS trivia. They'll get lifelines from the audience.

Match Game: We'll have a panel made up of celebrity librarians. Players will get points for every answer that matches a celebrity's.

Here's a clip to show you how the original Match Game worked. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGZun6FoXTw

We'll also have plenty of board games. Feel free to bring games to share.

Pizza will be provided, and there will be fabulous prizes!
Following the games we'll head out for cocktails and more bonding.

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.