A Bi-Weekly Update
3/30/12
New York Times Reduces Free Access
The New York Times is revisiting how to strike a balance between for-free and for-fee. They are reducing free access to 10 articles a month, from the previous 20 per month. According to The Times:
We think 10 articles a month, plus free access to our home page, strikes a better balance between visiting and subscribing. Most of our readers will continue to enjoy their Times experience without interruption. At the same time, the change provides us with an opportunity to convince another segment of our audience that what The Times has to offer is worthy paying for.
New Arrivals at Trexler Library for FCT
Invigorate your pedagogy with ideas from these new titles, just added to the Faculty Center for Teaching Collection at Trexler Library:
Journal keeping: how to use reflective writing for learning, teaching, professional insight and positive change by Dannelle D. Stevens and Joanne E. Cooper
From brain to mind: using neuroscience to guide change in education by James E. Zull
Scholarship of teaching and learning reconsidered: institutional integration and impact by Pat Hutchings, Mary Taylor Huber and Anthony Ciccone
Transforming undergraduate education: theory that compels and practice that succeeds edited by Donald W. Harward
Understanding by design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
(The Faculty Center for Teaching Collection is located in the Muhlenberg Room, to the left as you enter the library.)
Rising from the Ashes (of Defunding)
Many have mourned the loss of a reference standby, the Statistical Abstract of the United States. This source was the go-to for finding statistical data on everything from wages to leisure activities to education. But government funds dried up, and the Statistical Abstract has been threatened with extinction–until now. A commercial outfit, Proquest, the company that supplies several of our library databases, has decided to rescue the dying publication, beginning with the 2012 edition. According to a story in No Shelf Required, Proquest will make the publication available in “both print and digital formats.” Bless you, Proquest!
Infomaniac Tip
Your iPhone As Scanner
Several inexpensive apps are available for use with iPhones that will transform your phone into a scanner.JotNot Scanner, TurboScan, Scanner Pro, and JotNot Scanner Pro all work pretty much in the same fashion, and all cost next to nothing to download, ranging from free to $7 in price. Once in place, the app takes a picture of the page you want to scan, then crops it. The image is now ready to share with others.
The New York Times recently published reviews of each of these products.
Calendar
Easter Recess Library Hours – Library closes Thursday, April 5, at 5 p.m.; reopens Monday, April 9, at 6 p.m.
4/12, 19 – Meditation Group. Open to all Muhlenberg faculty, staff, and students. (Fulford Room, 5:00-6:00 p.m.).
4/12, 26 – Common hour events: Muhlenberg Theatre Association performances, two of several MTA-sponsored performances across campus in March and April. Plays are written and performed by Muhlenberg College students. (Periodicals Reading Room, level A, 12:30-1:15 p.m.).
5/4 – Trexler Library Annual Book Sale (in front of library, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.).
