From Reading Room to Nesting Room..... Bringing birds to book

Librarians on Level 4 have been plying their skills in a different way for the last month or so. A pair of red-wing starlings have persistently tried to build their nest in the Margaret Kenyon Reading Room. Keeping windows and doors permanently closed during the day has helped, but students open windows at night. So our clever ‘bird couple’ have used those opportunities and outwitted us and succeed in building a nest on one of the electricity duct ledges. Errol kindly organized the removal of that nest.

These determined birds started another nest immediately, and on Wednesday night, they must have had a great deal of time on their hands (beaks!!!) because they almost finished their new home with wet moss, mud and long strands of grass. Sadly for them, they made an enormous mess on the tables, carpet, and walls. So we had to find a way to outwit them. This is where Prof. Adrian Craig was brought into the situation.

We learned that these birds usually nest on cliffs and that is why they are choosing to nest in buildings rather than in trees. He set three apple-baited traps in the room after lunch yesterday. By 4pm one bird had been trapped and Linda managed to trap the other in the room. Prof. Craig, accompanied by Prof. Hulley, returned with nets and bags and caught the “free” bird. Neither bird was injured and they have been relocated to Fort Fordyce, where we hope they will be very happy! (We have grown attached to them – we can’t help admiring their persistence and intelligence!)

And then, we will just hold thumbs that a new pair doesn’t decide that this is the perfect place to bring up a family! Prof. Craig informs us that starlings carry on nesting well into March!

Using our Subject Guides to promote special collections??

The subject librarian and the virtual learning environment (RUConnected)

Abstract
Purpose – The prevalence of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in higher education is well
documented and has been promoted in the UK by government funded projects, but there has been little
empirical research on the level of involvement of subject librarians with VLEs. A survey was designed
to investigate how VLEs are affecting the work of subject librarians and to examine factors
influencing their use in providing electronic information resources and developing information skills.
The aim of this paper is to document the results

Cry not for books

 Norm Medeiros, (2011) "Cry not for books", OCLC Systems & Services, Vol. 27 Iss: 2, pp.84 - 86

Quoted in this article!
 
"The e-book is not a passing thing, but here to stay as it becomes cheaper and improved. Nonetheless, it is really no more than a screen upon which to read and it is clear that when enough people start reading them, electronic books will do for the ophthalmologists what taffy and caramels did for dentists." Arnold, M. (1999), "From Gutenberg to cyberstories", The New York Times, Vol. January 7 pp.E3

New Digital Tools Let Professors Tailor Their Own Textbooks

Those looking to create their own texts have lots of options now, from build-your-own-book sites as well as traditional publishers.

see: look at this"Our application provides real-time copyright clearance and an ever-expanding content library along with the ability to add your own materials and articles from the web. And - peer recommendations from colleagues in your discipline can present new possibilities to enrich your courses."

exploreanother one (free stuff): Connexions is one of the most popular open education sites in the world. Its more than 17,000 learning objects or modules in its repository and over 1000 collections (textbooks, journal articles, etc.) are used by over 2 million people per month. Its content services the educational needs of learners of all ages, in nearly every discipline, from math and science to history and English to psychology and sociology. Connexions delivers content for free over the Internet for schools, educators, students, and parents to access 24/7/365. Materials are easily downloadable to almost any mobile device for use anywhere, anytime

Finding images

I was skimming through this article, describing research done into where students find images, and thinking back to the many times I have been asked for these by students doing projects.

Just a reminder that the Library subscribes to or has links to image databases which you might like to explore.

For example:  

CAMIO : An online collection documenting works of art from around the world

Images/Pictures/Photographs/Clip art

Europeana

SpringerImages (free) -provides a new way to access hard-to-find scientific content of the utmost value to researchers: images. (over 300,000 free images)

I'm sure there are lots more - please tell us about others you know