More and more often, college professors around the country are assigning new projects instead of a traditional research paper.  We recently had a Social Problems class in the library that were developing 2-3 minute viral advertisements to promote awareness on a specific social issue or problem.  Doing multimedia projects can be fun, but it comes with all kinds of new rules and responsibilities for using, adapting, and distributing information.  Did you know, for instance, that the production of any work of any kind, whether it be a snapshot, a term paper, or even a doodle, is copyrighted the moment it’s produced?  That means it’s FULLY protected against others taking, adapting, and republishing it — including you, even for a school project.  Fortunately, there are also sites out there that are willing and eager to make their content free for the taking and/or the adapting – mostly under a Creative Commons license.  Check out our Library Toolkit about finding multimedia resources for adaptation, and watch this video from the Creative Commons site that explains the restrictions of copyright and the benefits of using Creative Commons.  It’s incredibly important in this day and age to become a responsible user of information, but we also need to become responsible producers.  As you develop multimedia projects, think about sharing your own content under a creative commons license, too!

With the onslaught of new forms of media ushered in by fast-evolving technologies and the growth of the internet, the world of print is changing rapidly.  Magazines are discussing the doomsday prophesies of the book industry, as smaller publishers get gobbled up by large conglomerate companies interested mostly in the bottom line (this article from the magazine New York lays out the tumultuous road the book industry faces).  Newspapers are commenting on the demise of the magazine (check out this cool graphic from the New York Times that shows the number of ad pages plummeting for some mags), and bloggers are announcing that the age of the newspaper is drawing to a close (this blog entry is one among many).   As publishing drastically changes in the new information economy, libraries do try and keep up, and it is no stretch to say that the libraries of the future will look drastically different than the ones of the past.   Yet, as of now, we need to remember that projections and predictions aren’t the same as reality — we’ll continue to collect print materials as long as there are important print materials published.  And let’s hope that the really quality materials will be skillful enough to adapt to new markets and new readers!

Thanks to Cynthia Slater for the New York Times graphic!

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As many of you probably know, February is Black History month, and, in the spirit of celebrating African American contributions to society and culture, the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English sponsors a nation-wide read-in of African American literature.  All across the country, all month long, schools, college campuses, churches, libraries, and other community and cultural centers will host gatherings where people can come, listen, and read their favorite writing from African American authors.

The Drexel Library, too, has a history of joining in with their own hosted read-in, which will take place on Monday, February 2, at 3:30 p.m.  Come join in by bringing your favorite African American writer’s work to read, or just come by to listen and reflect.

We hope to see you there!

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I am sometimes shocked and dismayed by how much I see Wikipedia open on computers within the library.  Okay, we know why you go to Wikipedia: it comes up within the top 10 results list of just about any Google search; it provides you with quick background information; it’s just so easy.  But, we also know that Wikipedia is written and edited by anybody and everybody who feels a hankering to share information of any kind about things they don’t necessarily know a whole lot about.  And, we know that citing Wikipedia on a paper or using it for studying just might be academic suicide.  If you need proof, check out this article from The New York Times discussing an error students consistently made on a history exam, due to the notorious Wikipedia.

If you need an alternative to Wikipedia, try Credo Reference from the library (in our Resources A-Z list, accessible from the library’s homepage).  It searches across 350 general and subject-specific encyclopedias for any topic you might want to know more about (information on just about all disciplines are included), and they’re reputable, so you don’t have to worry about citing them in a paper.  Just think – a few clicks away from Google and Wikipedia, there’s an information source that you can really trust!

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Hello, and welcome to the Francis A. Drexel Library’s blog!  This running ‘lifeline’ will help you wade through the good and the bad of information in all shapes and formats, and it’s for anyone looking to brush up on their researching techniques.  If you’re a tech-savvy practiced searcher or a student just looking to jump-start the research process, we’ll have tips, tricks, and library tools spotlighted here for your researching pleasure.  Come, browse, and enjoy!

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