Government: United States Government Manual

When students are looking for a copy of the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution, I will often show them the United States Government Manual.

The 2006-2007 edition of the Manual is now available on GPO Access . As the official handbook of the Federal Government, the United States Government Manual provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees.

Question of the Week Winners!

Congratulations to Pamela Blessinger and Huette Poynsenby for being the ninth and eighth-week winners of the Mountains Beyond Mountains Question of the Week contest. A new question will be posted every Monday morning here, with the final question posted on November 6, 2006.

Weekly winners will be randomly selected from appropriate responses the following Monday. On November 13, 2006, a grand prize winner will be selected from all appropriate responses sent in over the 12 week period. Have you tried it?

"What Might Have Been" in Special Collections

Special Collections in the library has prepared two web exhibits on the theme "What Might Have Been."

Instead of focusing on documentation of what happened in the past, these two exhibits highlight some plans never fulfilled: Redisigning Downtown: Plans for Boise's City Center, 1980 and The Roads Not Taken: Boise and the Interstate Highway, 1960

Alan Virta, Head of Special Collections

Government: IdahoVotes.gov

The Idaho Secretary of State provides a good web site to inform voters about the forth-coming elections at http://idahovotes.gov/ .

This is Good CRAAP!

Asking questions about the world around you and learning to evaluating the responses you discover are one of the core skills you develop throughout your life. College is one of the prime places you hone these life-long skills through learning to interrogate the information you hear in class, put in your research papers, and use in your daily interaction with your peers. Librarians like to call these information evaluating skills: Information Literacy.

One of the best places to apply your Information Literacy skill set is the internet. But to use it effectively one must understand how to best evaluate the information it returns. A good place to begin for suggestions about evaluating information you find on the internet is provided by the Albertsons Library website. But another resource I like to use is called CRAAP. CRAAP stands for:

Currency: The timeliness of the information.
Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.
Authority: The source of the information
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the informational content
Purpose: The reason the information exists

(CRAAP is Courtesy of Meriam Library -- California State University Chico)

I find that if something passes the “CRAAP Test” then it is a pretty reliable source of information to use in my research. It is also fun to say. Say it with me: CRAAP, CRAAP, CRAAP. Okay, now that we got that out of our system…. we can move on.

It is important to remember that one of the strengths in starting your research with library-related resources is that this material has already been pre-evaluated through the library’s collection development process for relevance, authority, accuracy, etc. So the library and its resources is always a safe and efficient place to begin your research.

If you forget where the CRAAP website is, you can just plug the term CRAAP into Google or any other search engine and it should come back with the website.

Good luck with your research.

Rick Stoddart, Reference Librarian

Government: I-Docs

I-Docs is an online collection of paper and digital resources selectively chosen from published Idaho Government Documents.

With 637 titles currently available, you can choose titles such as:

• 2005 Annual Report on Consumer Protection, Competition and Tobacco Enforcement Activities
• 2006 Campaign Disclosure Manual for Candidates and Political Committees
• Annual Report of the Idaho Supreme Court 2005
• Basque Museum and Cultural Center website
• Crime Report - Ada County 2005
• Idaho Ethics in Government Manual, October 2005

Event: International Connections Brown Bag Luncheon

You are invited to attend the October International Connections open brown bag luncheon seminar being held this Thursday, October 19, 2006 from 12:30 to 1:30 in the Student Union Building's Lookout Room.

Nick Miller, History, will present Testifying at The Hague. Professor Miller "is acting as an expert witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. He will discuss the nature of the case in which he is testifying and the process of preparing testimony.

Albertsons Library and International Programs co-sponsor the monthly International Connections Luncheon Seminar Series.

Event: West Campus Library Open House

Deb Teater, West Campus enrollment counselor, out-guessed 28 other contest entrants to win a McCain Challenge book bag at the West Campus Library Open house Wednesday, October 11th.

The West Library serves the students at West campus as well as students from the Canyon County Center. Information about the West Campus Library and pictures of the Open House are available at their web site.

Janet Davis, Orientation Librarian & Coordinator of User Services

Question of the Week Winner

Alex Williamson (week 7) is the newest winner of the Question of the Week contest sponsored by Albertsons Library and the Boise State University Bookstore.

A new question will be posted every Monday morning here, with the final question posted on November 6, 2006. Weekly winners will be randomly selected from appropriate responses the following Monday.

On November 13, 2006, a grand prize winner will be selected from all appropriate responses sent in over the 12 week period. C'mon, you can win it!

Event: Library Legends Retire

Albertsons Library and the University community extended heartfelt thanks for over six combined decades of service to Reference Librarians Beverly Miller and Adrien Taylor, on September 28th and October 9th, respectively.

During Beverly's thirty-eight years at Albertsons Library she was responsible for a wide variety of subject areas for collection development. Beverly provided thousands of hours of reference service and bibliographic instruction, served as a member of numerous library committees and was involved in many campus activities to promote the Library and its resources.

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Adrien's service to the Library, the University and the community has been varied and notable. As Coordinator of Reference Services he helped guide the library and its service to patrons.

He has been a mentor to all new librarians, whether assigned as such or just the day to day teaching to help each person be the best librarian they can be.

Adrien has participated on numerous Library and University committees throughout his years here at Albertsons Library. And according to Adrien, he has "enjoyed every moment".

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Beverly and Adrien have been the glue for the Library over the many, many years they've served us all, patrons and staff alike. We will miss them immensely and hope they both drop in from time to time to say hello (and show us where that particular book is they mentioned one time).

Beverly retired on September 29th and is off and running on her new adventure.

Adrien retires October 17th, so for the next week be sure and drop in to say "hey", take a gander at his photos, and sign his memory book at the Reference Desk with any special thoughts or memories of Adrien over the years.

Albertsons Library Staff

Question of the Week Winners

Amanda Ostyn (week 5) and Zhunshuai Li (week 6) are the newest winners of the Question of the Week contest sponsored by Albertsons Library and the Boise State University Bookstore.

A new question will be posted every Monday morning here, with the final question posted on November 6, 2006. Weekly winners will be randomly selected from appropriate responses the following Monday.

On November 13, 2006, a grand prize winner will be selected from all appropriate responses sent in over the 12 week period. You could be next!

Celebrating BSU Authors @thelibrary

Albertsons Library is pleased to announce its second annual Boise State University Author Recognition.

The recognition events celebrate all Boise State University faculty and employee authors who published a book, article, or creative work between September 1, 2005 and August 31, 2006. A draft of this bibliography is now available online at http://library.boisestate.edu/faculty/

Citations for the 2007 recognition are now being accepted online also. The citation deadline for this year's recognition events is November 15, 2006.

On February 7, 2007 Albertsons Library will host a reception from 3:30 - 5:00 pm where the university community is invited to meet the authors and celebrate their scholarship. Contact Barbara Glackin for additional information.

Albertsons Library Publishes Church Records Book

Albertsons Library has just published a new book on Silver City that is generating a great deal of interest in the historical and genealogical communities. "Early Records of the Episcopal Church in Southwestern Idaho, 1867-1916: Silver City and DeLamar" transcribed by Patricia Dewey Jones, has just rolled off the presses and is now available for sale at the Student Union bookstore.

The book is a transcription of old handwritten church registers from the mining towns of Silver City and DeLamar up in the Owyhee Mountains. Special Collections holds the original church registers, which are now fragile and written in script that is often difficult to decipher.

Old church records like these are important because the State of Idaho did not begin compiling birth and death records until 1911. So before that date, church records (with baptisms, burials, etc.) are often the only vital records there are. Copies of the book will be available for $10.00 at the BSU Bookstore (208) 426-BOOK or http:www.boisestatebooks.com

Alan Virta, Head of Special Collections and Associate Professor