What's New Library Blog - LaGuardia Community College Library Media Resources Center

Kill Your Computer

Wired has a very funny diary of a man who tried to kill his computer with spyware and viruses (new window).
How long did it take?
Just 18 days for Best Buy's Geek Squad to tell him to just reformat his computer and start over.
Of course, if you do the opposite of everything the author does, you should wind up with a pretty safe computer.

posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Perils of Plagiarism

New York magazine critic David Edelstein wrote a piece two weeks ago, criticizing writers who plagiarize (new window).
The best part?
He plagiarized just about the whole thing! (new window). All he wrote was the first sentence and the last sentence.
Edelstein said it was an experiment to see how long it would take people to catch him. He did this with the permission of his editors, so it was an above-board thing.
It took around 25 minutes for Edelstein to get "caught."
And that's why it's so important to attribute all of your work. The Internet and online databases (new window) make it very easy to track down familiar-sounding sentences.

posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, May 23, 2006

RSS Feeds

Tomorrow is our RSS Workshop. It's from 3:30-5 in the Library Classroom. We'll give away a flash drive.
RSS is used to bring content, like blogs and news stories, to people, in one browser window. It's a great way to get a lot of information.

posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, May 22, 2006

The Power of Browsing

The St. Petersburg Times had a great article on the joys of browsing (new window).
The author, journalism professor William McKeen, makes a great point:

Think about the library. Do people browse anymore? We have become such a directed people. We can target what we want, thanks to the Internet. Put a couple of key words into a search engine and you find - with an irritating hit or miss here and there - exactly what you're looking for. It's efficient, but dull. You miss the time-consuming but enriching act of looking through shelves, of pulling down a book because the title interests you, or the binding. Inside, the book might be a loser, a waste of the effort and calories it took to remove it from its place and then return. Or it might be a dark chest of wonders, a life-changing first step into another world, something to lead your life down a path you didn't know was there.

CUNY+ (new window) is great for finding books, but consider getting the call number of just one good book and then just walking over to the shelf and looking around. It could end up being a very exciting thing.

posted by Steve in the Library on Friday, May 12, 2006

Content vs. Interface

Last week, Slate had a great story on why video-sharing sites like YouTube and Google Video are so popular.
The story is here: http://www.slate.com/id/2140635/ (new window).
The article says that people like and use these sites because they're so easy to use, both in terms of updating videos and in terms of watching them.
It's a great reminder that interface is often almost as important as content. You can have the greatest Web site in the world, but if it's too hard to use, people will just skip it.

posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, May 08, 2006

Delgado the Researcher

New York Met slugger Carlos Delgado is my kind of guy.
According to the New York Times, he keeps a notebook of all of his at-bats (new window).
Why not use videotape and scouting reports, like everyone else on the team?

Because Delgado dates every game and numbers every at-bat, he finds the notebook easier to reference than videotape. Before the Mets start a series, he checks to see how the opposing team has pitched him in the past. In the middle of the game, if the opposing team makes a pitching change, Delgado will sometimes go back and look at how the reliever has approached him.

As if his personal knowledge database wasn't cool enough, he also backs everything up to his computer.
Delgado is a great hitter and a great researcher.

posted by Steve in the Library on Thursday, May 04, 2006

Library Notes

The latest issue of Library Notes, the Library's newsletter is now online as a PDF. You can read it here: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/librarynotes/pdf/spring06.pdf (new window).

We also have a New Books section, highlighting our new books (as the name implies...). You can see that here: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/newbooks/ (new window).
Everyone is busy writing papers or marking papers, so these could be fun areas in which to take a break.

posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, May 01, 2006

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		Kill Your Computer Wired has a very funny diary of a man who tried to kill his computer with spyware and viruses (new window). How long did it take? Just 18 days for Best Buy's Geek Squad to tell him to just reformat his computer and start over. Of course, if you do the opposite of everything the author does, you should wind up with a pretty safe computer. posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 The Perils of Plagiarism New York magazine critic David Edelstein wrote a piece two weeks ago, criticizing writers who plagiarize (new window). The best part? He plagiarized just about the whole thing! (new window). All he wrote was the first sentence and the last sentence. Edelstein said it was an experiment to see how long it would take people to catch him. He did this with the permission of his editors, so it was an above-board thing. It took around 25 minutes for Edelstein to get "caught." And that's why it's so important to attribute all of your work. The Internet and online databases (new window) make it very easy to track down familiar-sounding sentences. posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 RSS Feeds Tomorrow is our RSS Workshop. It's from 3:30-5 in the Library Classroom. We'll give away a flash drive. RSS is used to bring content, like blogs and news stories, to people, in one browser window. It's a great way to get a lot of information. posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, May 22, 2006 The Power of Browsing The St. Petersburg Times had a great article on the joys of browsing (new window). The author, journalism professor William McKeen, makes a great point: Think about the library. Do people browse anymore? We have become such a directed people. We can target what we want, thanks to the Internet. Put a couple of key words into a search engine and you find - with an irritating hit or miss here and there - exactly what you're looking for. It's efficient, but dull. You miss the time-consuming but enriching act of looking through shelves, of pulling down a book because the title interests you, or the binding. Inside, the book might be a loser, a waste of the effort and calories it took to remove it from its place and then return. Or it might be a dark chest of wonders, a life-changing first step into another world, something to lead your life down a path you didn't know was there. CUNY+ (new window) is great for finding books, but consider getting the call number of just one good book and then just walking over to the shelf and looking around. It could end up being a very exciting thing. posted by Steve in the Library on Friday, May 12, 2006 Content vs. Interface Last week, Slate had a great story on why video-sharing sites like YouTube and Google Video are so popular. The story is here: http://www.slate.com/id/2140635/ (new window). The article says that people like and use these sites because they're so easy to use, both in terms of updating videos and in terms of watching them. It's a great reminder that interface is often almost as important as content. You can have the greatest Web site in the world, but if it's too hard to use, people will just skip it. posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, May 08, 2006 Delgado the Researcher New York Met slugger Carlos Delgado is my kind of guy. According to the New York Times, he keeps a notebook of all of his at-bats (new window). Why not use videotape and scouting reports, like everyone else on the team? Because Delgado dates every game and numbers every at-bat, he finds the notebook easier to reference than videotape. Before the Mets start a series, he checks to see how the opposing team has pitched him in the past. In the middle of the game, if the opposing team makes a pitching change, Delgado will sometimes go back and look at how the reliever has approached him. As if his personal knowledge database wasn't cool enough, he also backs everything up to his computer. Delgado is a great hitter and a great researcher. posted by Steve in the Library on Thursday, May 04, 2006 *Library Notes* The latest issue of Library Notes, the Library's newsletter is now online as a PDF. You can read it here: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/librarynotes/pdf/spring06.pdf (new window). We also have a New Books section, highlighting our new books (as the name implies...). You can see that here: http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/newbooks/ (new window). Everyone is busy writing papers or marking papers, so these could be fun areas in which to take a break. posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, May 01, 2006