Need some help setting up your computer for Net-Print? Using Zoom? Accessing a cloud-based application through Cornell? Getting set up to use Cornell’s virtual private network (VPN) service? Making sure your devices are secure? Or anything else computing-related?
The new IT Consulting Desk now open in the Consultation Area on Mann’s first floor is a great place to start.
As of Thursday, August 29th, Cornell Information Technology (aka CIT) will be staffing this new service point @ Mann Library from 9:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for the regular Fall 2019 semester. This desk complements the new IT Service Desk that also recently opened in B40 Olin Library. You will get computing-related help at both service points on a walk-in basis. Depending on demand over the course of the Fall semester, CIT will continue their Consultation Desk at Mann Library into the Spring semester as well.
For more info on the full range of services offered by IT@Cornell, visit their website homepage or their overview of email contacts.
Author: eeh53
Important E-journal Access Update for Cornell Researchers
Earlier this year, Cornell University Library began implementing an important change in the Library’s subscription to some electronic journals. The goal of this adjustment is to achieve greater fiscal sustainability in library spending on journal subscriptions while still meeting the needs of all Cornell scholars. What does this adjustment mean for Cornell researchers using electronic journals? Here’s what you need to know:
- The way Cornell University Library is subscribing to journals published by Wiley for 2019 has changed. The package of Wiley journals that Cornell Library subscribes to has been fine-tuned to include the most frequently used journals. Lower use journals are no longer part of our subscription package.
- If a Cornell user needs an article in a journal for which the Library has no current subscription, the Library will still be able to acquire the article “on demand” with a 2-3 business day turn-around time. There is no fee for this service. Patrons should follow the steps outlined at Interlibrary Loan to make an article request. (If you have made Interlibrary Loan requests on the Cornell Library website below, you can jump straight to the request form ).
- What about journal articles published before 2019? The Cornell Library has perpetual access rights to every issue of all Wiley journals published from 2016-2018, and, through our previous subscription agreements, to many of those published before 2016. Additionally, we can scan articles on demand from our print journal collection.
- For next calendar year, it may be possible to re-subscribe to some journals that have been dropped from the Library’s subscription package with Wiley. We encourage Cornell researchers to ask a librarian for help in getting access to Wiley-published journals and to give us feedback on any particular journal titles where lack of subscription hinders your work.
For more information about the issues and needs being addressed with these changes in the Library’s subscription packages, and about the Library’s process for making them, please visit . You are also welcome to contact Mann Library Director, Mary Ochs.
What Are We Reading This Summer?
Who picks up a 704 page tome on the art and science of a 19th century German marine biologist for some summer leisure reading? Well, we have to admit, that would be Michael Cook, the indefatigable Head of Collection Development and Preservation at Mann Library. We are a life sciences library after all.
As summer set in on campus, we asked Mann Library staff to share what book(s) they’d be been spending time with over the (at least in theory!) more languid hot weather weeks of the season. And while Michael’s pick is certainly a serious (and seriously gorgeous) life sciences doozy, in gathering together all the reading suggestions submitted so far, we’ve learned that our Mann colleagues are actually fairly eclectic in their reading tastes, ranging from Norse mythology to modern Russian literature and from biotech science fiction to some refreshing thinking on being an activist for healing and happiness. What about you? If you find yourself with a spare moment on Cornell’s upper campus, do drop by the library to check out the small book display of staff-recommended titles that we’re putting up for the 2nd half of the Cornell summer break next Monday. And if you feel so inclined, don’t be shy about letting us know of any good summer reads you might recommend too—we’d love to include them in our display as well!
What are Mann Library staff reading this summer? Here’s a list of select titles:
| アキラ/ AKIRA | Ōtomo Katsuhiro | “Set in a dystopian future, AKIRA’s brutal and chaotic story popularized the cyberpunk genre and influenced several other famous series.” – Jimmy M. |
| Are We Not Men? We Are DEVO! | Jade Dellinger | “As a de-evolved DJ and musician I’m a lifelong fan of these brilliant absurdists. The most authoritative book on DEVO.” – Michael C. |
| The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel | Gigantic book of total eye candy. Most stunning biological artwork ever. I bought my own copy – hey, it’s Taschen!” – Michael C. | |
| Autonomous | Annalee Newitz | “A Biotech and AI sci-fi novel with a pertinent question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?” – Chris J. |
| Bug Music: How Insects Gave us Rhythm and Noise | David Rothenberg | “A lovely angle on one of the best features of late summer nights” – Eveline F. |
| Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative | Mark Fisher | “Fisher addresses the quote that ‘it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism’ (quote attributed to Jameson & Zizek).” – Daisy W. |
| Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods | Christine Byl | “I am just starting this book, but one reviewer said, “a must read for anyone who’s worked in the dirt,” which I did for my first couple jobs” – Mary O. |
| Don’t Make Me Pull Over: An Informal History of the Family Road Trip | Richard Ratay | “An informative and humorous look at family car trips in the U.S. interspersed with historical perspective on how the interstate highway system, fast food restaurants and hotel chains factored into the mix. Will bring back memories for anyone who has ever shared a back seat in a station wagon with siblings in the pre-seat belt era!” – Mel J. |
| The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: the Story of Stalin’s Persecution of one of the Great Scientists of the Twentieth Century | Peter Pringle | “A case study of the suppression of science, sadly a story that seems to repeat itself. Vavilov is my hero.” – Michael C. |
| Nature’s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology, | Mark Barrows | “The topic has an urgent edge to it, but Barrow’s elegant prose makes this a rewarding read as well.” – Eveline F. |
| Norse Mythology | Neil Gaiman | “An excellent introduction to Norse Mythology based off of the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. Great for anyone interested in Norse mythology or planning a trip to Iceland!” – Ryan T. |
| Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good | adrienne maree brown | “Can the political be pleasurable? brown explores the politics of healing and happiness, rethinking the ground rules of activism.” – Karina H. |
| Rock, Paper, Scissors, and Other Stories | Maxim Osipov | “Osipov is a cardiologist whose lyrical stories involve medicine, crime, art, and the joys and frustrations of provincial Russian life.” – Matt K. |
| Seveneves | Neal Stephenson | “One day, the Moon suddenly shattered into pieces. Humanity now has a very interesting problem on its hands.” – Jimmy M. |
| Severence | Ling Ma | “Beautiful descriptions of NYC and China, apocalypse, coming-of-adulthood in the early aughts – and more! Ling Ma is a Cornell grad.” – Kate G-K. |
| The Solitary Twin | Harry Mathews | “What do you want from a book? … To stand on the threshold of the unfamiliar, the inevitably familiar viewed unfamiliarly …” – Keith Jenkins |
| Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 | Antony Beevor | “Well told, well researched story of the horrific clash of two madmen. Incredible heroism by people in a bad situation.” – Michael C. |
| The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming | David Wallace-Wells | “An extremely urgent analysis of climate catastrophe that addresses not just science but climate change’s social and everyday impacts.” – Daisy W. |
New Course: Navigating Today’s Information Chaos
In 1987, a weekday edition of the New York Times contained more written information than the average person was likely to encounter in a lifetime in seventeenth-century England. Imagine what we could say about the amount of information we encounter in our daily lives today–if you can! For a citizenry to be constructively engaged, it must be well-informed. Yet, as more information floods the information landscape, worrisome material also spreads, often quickly. What puts some information into the “worrisome quality” category? What makes it valuable? A new course led by librarian Ashley Shea, Head of Instruction Initiatives at Mann Library, aims to help students master these questions for a lifetime of success as critical thinkers, professionals and citizens.
This new 1-credit course will equip students with the skills needed to navigate today’s vast sea of (dis)information. By analyzing different information platforms, students will develop a nuanced, critical approach to finding, evaluating and using information responsibly in the digital age. Will meet on Fridays, 11:15 am – 12:05 pm.
1200, or “Information Chaos: Navigating Today’s Information Landscape,” will cover the theoretical, methodological and practical concepts and skills needed to understand and evaluate today’s vast information landscape. The course will focus primarily on information systems in the U.S., although several prominent examples of international information systems will also be included. At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Compare various information types that exist and articulate the value(s) and problems(s) of each;
- Recognize the structural and ideological differences between various information systems (I.e., News sites, academic databases, federal repositories, etc.) that produce and disseminate information;
- Translate complex research questions into a search strategy with appropriate search tools and platforms;
- Apply various assessment tools to evaluate the credibility of information;
- Utilize citation management software to organize information conceptually and thoughtfully;
- Demonstrate understanding of attribution by properly citing the work of others.
Most of the readings and videos for this class will be open education resources (OERs) that are openly licensed and freely available online. In addition to assessing the quality of information available to researchers today, the topic of access to information will be an important component of this class. By making materials that are freely available to anyone regardless of location or means central to class assignments, the course will underscore this point.
As a 1 credit course, ALS 1200 will involve a final assignment: Students will be charged with creating an infographic that profiles a chosen information platform to effectively communicate its key features (scope, scale, history, financing, verifiability, transparency) for a broad but robust assessment of its quality as an information resource. We look forward to seeing what they come up with as newly minted pathfinders on the information frontier!
Visit ALS 1200 information & registration.
Fledgling alert! Turning a blind window for young hawk survival
Big Red and Arthur’s baby hawks above the Athletic Field on Tower Road have fledged and are busy testing their wings around the Ag Quad. During this time, large window areas pose a particular risk to their survival as inexperienced flyers are unfortunately prone to mistaking any reflection (of trees, sky, etc.) they may see in large exterior windows for the real thing.
What can we do to help these vulnerable teenagers avoid catastrophic collision? Keeping the blinds lowered in the large windows in Mann’s various individual and group study spaces is one good strategy. Mann staff will be lowering the window blinds each morning for the rest of the summer. We are hoping that our study room users will help us in this effort by keeping the blinds down while using these rooms. Or, if you find it necessary to raise the blinds, we ask that you be sure to lower them again when leaving the space. We thank you for your help getting these young birds through their risky teenage years!
It’s a Women’s World Cup Soccer Summer!
The summer soccer thrill has started. While only one national women’s soccer team will win the World Cup title on July 7, between now and then the whole world will share in the excitement, glories and, yes, agonies, of the tournament, played on a global stage. You in? Following our usual tradition when it comes to this world sport, in the Mann Lobby we will be streaming almost all matches that fall during our summer hours of operation—that means all games between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and between 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. Friday, and generally most games that fall on Saturday afternoon between 1:00 though 5:00 p.m. We’re hoping that we’ll see many of you soccer lovers in the lobby in the next few weeks—and that we’ll catch at least some of you wearing your favorite national team colors. Let’s hear it for the beautiful game!
View the full World Cup tournament schedule.
Earth Week @ Mann Library & Manndible Café
For Earth Week celebrations at Cornell this year, Mann Library and Manndible Café have teamed up to turn you on to some fun ways to help shrink the Big Red environmental paw print on campus. Join us for any (or all!) of the events we’re holding in and around the library between April 22 and April 26.
You’ll notice that we’ve settled on a “Go Reusable” theme for the week, mainly in an effort to help us cut down on the amount of waste, particularly plastic and plastic-coated materials, that we do see pile up in the trash bins around the library in the course of any given day. As the feature movie that we’ll be screening on Thursday (4/25) points out, growing piles of throw-away plastics are having a worrisome effect on the health of our oceans and landscapes. But, as we hope our Earth Week events will show you, cutting down on the use of throw-away materials isn’t so very hard—and can be pretty fun. An all-around win-win. Hope you can join us!
All week:
- Earth Week Research Challenge! Participation gives you a chance to win a new reusable Mann Library mug and a $20 Manndible gift card.
Monday, 4/22, 5:00 – 7:00 pm:
- Re-usable Snack Bag Making mannUfactory makerspace
Tuesday, 4/23, 4:30 – 5:30 pm
- Put an Earth Week Logo on Your T-shirt! (bring your own shirt; we supply all other materials) mannUfactory makerspace
Wednesday, 4/24
- All day: FREE regular coffee if you bring your own mug! Manndible Café and many other eateries on campus.Fire sale of Mann Library mugs,($5/mug), Mann Service Desk
- 11:00 am – 2:00 pm: Ithaca ReUse Sale (mugs, cutlery, bowls, & plates), Mann Lobby
Thursday, 4/25
- 10:00 am – 1:00 pm: Make your own reusable drink-&-lunch jar, Mann Lobby
- 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Put an Earth Week Logo on Your T-shirt! (bring your own shirt; we supply all other materials) mannUfactory makerspace
- 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Make your own reusable snack bag, mannUfactory makerspace
- 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Film screening: “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garden Patch” Room 160
Friday, 4/26 2:00 – 4:00 pm:
- Look for the Mann & Manndible Café table at CALS Day. Info, tips and prizes to help you shrink your pawprint on the Big Red campus.
Downsizing the Big Red Pawprint @ Mann
April is around the corner, and with that comes the prospect of all the great Earth Day celebrations that happen at Cornell each spring (which, after all, was named one of the top 20 “Coolest Schools,” by none other than the Sierra Club in 2018!). For the spring semester, Mann is getting an early start on celebrating green-minded thinking with a series of special activities focused on reducing the waste “pawprint” made here at the Library.
Why the waste focus? Most members of the Cornell community have probably heard: A decades-long boom in the market for recyclable paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metals—driven by the flow of over 40% of American recyclables to China just a few years ago—took a sudden nosedive as China announced its 2017 decision to stop taking recyclable materials from the U.S.. The key reason for the new policy: The problem of contamination (food residue, wax, often also hazardous substances) plaguing American recyclables, which seriously gummed up the recycling process in China and in some cases made it dangerous. The key impact: A steep drop in the market for American recyclables and a corresponding hike in the cost of recycling for U.S. towns and cities. Where towns like Ithaca may have once actually seen an income stream from the recyclables gathered by their residents, in many cases they are now facing growing net costs. Faced with a 50% drop in the price it can garner for recycling materials, the Tompkins County Recycling and Materials Management Center has issued some new guidelines for our area.
So what’s the implication for us here at Mann Library, where a considerable amount of trash piles up in both the recycling and the trash bins located on all floors of the library? The way we see it, it’s an opportunity for us to work with our library users to do better—both in terms of recycling correctly and, even more importantly, reducing what gets thrown away in the first place.
With that in mind, here’s what we’ve been up to and what we have in store for the weeks ahead:
- New reusable mugs (covered ones, so they’re OK to use in the Library) have gone on sale at the Mann Service Desk—Between their low cost ($10 a piece) and the discount you get at Manndible Café for bringing your own mug, you’ll very likely recoup the full cost of one of these beauties within the year!
- A display of interactive booths in the Top Shelf Gallery through 3/23, created by Ecology House, Student Assembly Dining, the Cornell Society for Natural Resource Conservation (SNRC), Epsilon Eta and Cornell Sustainability Consultants to raise awareness about about how waste can be more sustainably managed on the Cornell campus;
- New signage all around the library is guiding our users in proper recycling practices to minimize contamination;
- Earth Week program activities to include:
- Monday 4/22 & Thursday 4/25: Reusable snack bag making sessions in the mannUfactory makerspace
- Wednesday 4/24: A one-day-only fire sale of reusable Mann mugs ($5 per mug–get ’em while they last!)
- Thursday, 4/25: A fun craft activity re-using old glassware to create some very cool drink-&-lunch jars, in collaboration with Manndible Cafe and the mannUfactory makerspace (all children and parents on campus for Bring a Child to Work Day welcome to join us for that activity too);
- Friday, 4/26: Look for our table at CALS Day on the Ag Quad–for tips and prizes to promote recycling awareness.
With these initiatives, Mann hopes to do our part towards a smaller waste stream on our beloved Cornell campus—and we hope to have a little fun doing it. We’re pretty sure good old Touchdown is game. Are you?
Go Reusable! New Mann Mugs Now Available
Mann Library is pleased to announce that new Mann Library mugs are now available for purchase at the Mann Service Desk. Every year, mountains (truly!–you’d be shocked at the number!) of disposable coffee and other beverage cups make their way into the Cornell campus waste stream. Wondering how you can do your part to reduce that serious landfill load? Going reusable is a great way to start! Our classy new (now teal-colored) porcelain mugs—they come with a cover, so you can also use them IN the Library—are available at $10 / piece, while supplies last.
And don’t forget: Cornell’s Recyclemania contest is on through March 30th this year. In the spirit of helping to shrink the waste stream at Cornell Mann Library will be focusing on some reduce-reuse-recycle programming over the next couple of months. Stay tuned for more info, fun challenges, and hands-on activities coming up!
Mann’s Digital Collections Get an Upgrade
Dig deeper into agricultural history with Mann’s Digital Collections, which were recently given a makeover and migrated to CUL’s Digital Collections Portal. The Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (CHLA) is primarily a collection of landmark agricultural texts published between the early 19th century and the late 20th century. These full-text materials cover agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, animal science, crops and their protection, food science, forestry, human nutrition, rural sociology, and soil science. With more than 2000 books and 36 journals together comprising over a million pages CHLA is one of the largest digital collections of printed works at CUL.
Also newly updated, The Hive and the Honeybee showcases selections from the E. F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection, one of the largest and most complete apiculture libraries in the world. Initially begun with just ten historically significant books in the Phillips library, the collection has since grown to include over thirty key monographs as well as the first forty volumes of the landmark publication, American Bee Journal, covering 1861 through 1900. Each volume of this growing digital collection is available in full text format and is fully searchable.
For more information about the E. F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Mann Library, please visit our virtual exhibit