Yale University's Open Archives

Check out this article from "Inside Higher Ed" on Yale University's open access to 7 of their courses, covering astrophysics, modern poetry, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, and religion. Course documentation, videos and transcripts are available online, free!

Other links to open access courses are also mentioned.

E-text books coming this way?

An age-old argument is about the cost of textbooks to college students. Is it time for reading habits to change and for textbooks to go digital? Well, maybe... for further information, click here.

Can Google's New Open Encyclopedia Best Wikipedia?

Google in competition with Wikipedia - for more info, click here.

Cloud Computing

Have you ever had compatibility problems with Microsoft Office? Are you working on a Mac at home but printing on a PC at school? Do you only have the powerpoint viewer on your computer but need to create a slide presentation for class? Ever lose or break a Flash Drive? Is your Floppy Disk more corrupt than a Jack Abramoff dinner party?

Well, these and other issues can be a real headache for Students and Professors alike. A new way of thinking about document creation and storage is being led by (get ready for a really big surprise here) Google and it could alleviate, if not solve, many issues like this.

The concept is simple. Instead of creating your documents and storing them on your computer (which is liable to crash, freeze, melt, etc.) you create all your documents on the web and store them there. You would access them the same way you access your email, so only you would have access to your documents. Google Docs has all the basics covered: word processing, spreadsheets, a slide-presentation creator, and even a calendar; and each in a simple-to-use (ahem, Word2007...) layout. If you already have a Gmail account simply login to Google Docs using that information. Or, if you don't have a Google account, you can sign-up for one at no charge and test out all the features for yourself.

Click here for a New York Times article on the subject.

BOOKS ARE DUE!

Reminder: The end of the semester is near and all library materials need to be returned! Books for the fall semester are due by Wednesday, December 19th.

Just for FUN reading!

Stop over by our periodicals and check out the Ritz Library's "Just for Fun" reading collection. Every month new books are selected by our librarians to be added to this collection. Twice a year, books are weeded out and returned to the lending vendor, thereby ensuring a fresh rotation of titles. Here, you'll find both fiction and non-fiction titles ranging from mysteries and science fiction to politics and spirituality. So take some time and find a title that appeals to you, and READ!!!

RPM

Visit the Francis U. & Mary F. Ritz Library Display Case located on the 3rd floor of Hudson Hall and view library material on Rap, Poetry and Music.

Included are articles on Hip Hop by Professor Joe Allen.