4.30.2013

Library Resources After You Graduate

Many of you are graduating this semester! Congratulations!

When you graduate from Boise State University you lose access to all of those awesome resources, like Business Source Premier, eBooks, and the Oxford English Dictionary online. Here are some tips to get authoritative information after you've graduated.

1. LiLI.org  - Your state taxes contribute to many databases including Learning Express Library which holds timed practice tests for the GRE, CLEP and more! There are even great resources for kids - like child oriented encyclopedias that are way more authoritative than Wikipedia. Try Searchasaurus! You only need your zip code and city name to access these great resources.



2. Your local public library! Almost every city, and even in between, there are libraries that purchase content for you to use! No matter where you live, you can find a nearby library for you to use: http://www.publiclibraries.com/

3. Treasure Valley Libraries! If you're staying nearby in the Treasure Valley you have many to choose from depending on where you live! Garden City Library (whose motto is Not A Quiet Library), Ada Community Library, Meridian Library District, and Boise Public Library all have many branches to choose from, and bookmobiles too! Contact them for more resources. Now you can even use the Boise Public Library's Book a Librarian service to spend quality one on one time with a librarian about your research needs.

4. Local colleges and universities! Many universities and colleges will allow the general public to use our resources. We do! We have four public terminals where you may conduct research for up to an hour. Anyone can walk in to use our resources in print, too. You can check out up to ten books if you have a Special Borrowers card. Ask at the Circulation Desk. And help is always available from our Reference Desk.


4.29.2013

Lady Bluebeard in print and almost in Hollywood

Special Collections houses the papers of William C. Anderson (MSS 218), an Idaho author of several books, including the popular Lady Bluebeard published in 1994.

Anderson grew up in Boise and spent much of his adult life here. He was a recipient of the Boise State University Distinguished Alumnus Award and inducted into the Boise High School Hall of Fame.

His book Lady Bluebeard explores the life of Lyda Southard, an Idaho woman who married seven times and murdered four of her husbands, was convicted and sent to the Idaho State Penitentiary in the 1930s, escaped and was caught and sent back, and finally received a pardon in 1942.

Lyda was a Twin Falls resident and is one of the country's first female serial killers. As an April 1957 Argosy Magazine article in the collection stated, "Men hung around Lyda like flies over molasses."

The Anderson collection contains much of his research notes on the book, as well as attempts to get the book made into a movie. Letters to Anderson from readers of his book who had known Lyda are also included in the collection. Anderson’s correspondence with Idaho’s former governors Cecil Andrus and Phil Batt convey his attempts in trying to have a film made about Southard. As Anderson states in a letter to Governor Cecil Andrus from September 1993, "The notorious Lyda Southard lived in Twin Falls and dispatched a passel of husbands. After insuring them, she boiled the arsenic out of flypaper and put it in their apple pie."

Anderson submitted this letter requesting Andrus support his presentation of making the story of Lyda into a motion picture. Andrus did support his request and in a response letter wrote, 'Hers (Lyda) is certainly an intriguing tale and should capture the imagination of Hollywood."

As seen from his letter below, Andrus goes on to write in a separate letter that the Idaho Department of Commerce's Film Bureau will provide assistant to the project, and the Old Idaho Penitentiary where Lyda was an inmate could be used as a location for the film.



Anderson had completed a draft of the screenplay for the movie and was promoting a film version of his book at the time of his death in 2003.

Julia Stringfellow,
Archivist/Librarian and Assistant Professor

4.23.2013

"The Real Cost of Living" presentation

Carmen Wong Ulrich, financial author and CNBC commentator, will be at the Egyptian Theater, Boise (at the corner of Capitol and Main streets), Thursday, April 25, from 7-8:00 pm discussing her book, The Real Cost of Living: Making the Best Decisions for You, Your Life, and Your Money. The session is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:00.

Ulrich’s previous work, Generation Debt: Take Control of Your Money—A How-to Guide, specifically provided basic solutions about paying off student loans, using credit cards, getting a car, and related topics. This talk will be more of the same, offering Ulrich’s unique combination of “personal psychology and personal finance.”

This event is powered by Stash Your Cash, the financial literacy project sponsored by our friends at the Ada County public libraries. Please note other events at www.stashcash.org. They include Financial Game Night, Homebuyer Education for First Time and Previous Homeowners, Guarding Against Identity Theft, and Dollar Decisions: Learning to Make Ends Meet.

Melissa Gains,
Associate Professor, Librarian

4.22.2013

Study rooms available at the library

Are you looking for a quiet place to study? Need to hammer out the last edit of your book chapter?  

Albertsons Library has five study offices available for check-out. The offices have a desk and chair and are meant for one-person use and are located on the 4th floor of the building. 

Three offices: 401M, 401N, and 401O can be used by all Boise State patrons: faculty, staff, graduate students, undergraduates. Two offices: 401K and 401L can be used by faculty, staff, and graduate students only.  

Keys for the rooms can be checked-out with your Boise State ID at the circulation desk. You can use the room for as long as you need it, but keys cannot leave the building and must be returned if you leave the library.

Mary Aagard
Head, Access Services/Assistant Professor

4.17.2013

USB Drives now available on library copiers


Albertsons Library has three copiers with a "scan to USB" option: one next to Starbucks, one in the north end of the 1st floor near the maps, and one on the 2nd floor near the Curriculum Resource Center. You can plug in your USB flash drive and scan documents to the drive. Docs will save as PDF files.

The Library also has computer lab stations with flatbed scanners, but the copier is a great option for scanning if you have several sheets of paper or double sided pieces of paper that can be fed through the document feeder. Scanning is free, and if you'd like to print the documents, it is 10 cents per page. If you have any questions, please talk to someone at at the Circulation Desk.

Mary Aagard,
Head, Access Services/Assistant Professor

4.15.2013

Teaching Earth Science One Hundred Years Ago

Before Prezi® or PowerPoint® and even before overhead projectors, teachers used glass lantern slides for educational presentations. In the 1850s the Langenheim brothers developed and patented the technology of transferring photographic images to a glass surface for projection. By the 20th century this medium was widely used for educational purposes, but lost popularity by the 1950s.

Special Collections & Archives holds a set of lantern slides originally used by a Boise High School teacher from 1902 to 1917. Edward F. Rhodenbaugh, geologist and amateur photographer took extensive photos and field notes during his long tenure as an educator throughout Idaho, Oregon and Ohio. The lantern slide set combines international geological teaching examples with scenes of Idaho’s unique geologic attributes.

After teaching at Boise High School, Edward went on to work for the State of Idaho as the state chemist. It was during that time when he submitted forensic evidence to the infamous Lyda Southard murder trial of 1921. After retiring as the head of chemistry and geology at the Idaho Technical Institute (Idaho State University) Rhodenbaugh moved back to Boise in 1940. He quickly returned to the work force – teaching geology at Boise Junior College.

A new online digital collection highlights some of Rhodenbaugh’s photographs, field trip journals and lantern slides. The online collection includes many scenes of Idaho wilderness, unique rock formations, and emerging infrastructure including Arrowrock Dam and the North & South Highway (US Route 95).

To read more about the history of lantern slides visit the Library of Congress website


Jim Duran,
Special Collections & Archives

4.09.2013

We're in the top 5!


The Albertsons Library is ranked 5th according to "100 Most Social Media Friendly College & University Libraries for 2013"  It's an unexpected honor and we're thrilled to be listed in the top 5! Thanks Boise State (and beyond) for engaging your campus library through our social media channels; couldn't do it without you!

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4.01.2013

How to Save Your Family Treasures




Special Collections and Archives works hard to protect the collections we receive. We have a room with that regulates the temperature and humidity, custom shelving, and we use acid-free folders and boxes. Our goal is to preserve material for generations to come.

Everyone has their own personal treasures – photographs, certificates, memorabilia, newspapers. Some may be digital, some paper. So how can you care for them? There are many great resources online to provide guidance on taking care of your own personal treasures:

A question we often receive is about digitizing collections. Scanning your photos or other documents is a great way to have a backup copy or to share with others. But don’t just scan them and throw them away! Sometimes computers crash, files get accidentally deleted, or software becomes obsolete. Go ahead and scan, but keep the originals in a dark, safe place. Or donate them to an archives! Here are a few guidelines to help you decide how to care for digital treasures:

Cheryl Oestreicher, PhD
Head, Special Collections and Archives/Assistant Professor