Summer and research at the Library

It's almost Summer, and we're glad to have you in our temperature controlled, Wi-Fi enabled, air-conditioned building! We strive to make your research and study spaces as comfortable and useful as possible. Enjoy: 

• Hundreds of computers running Microsoft Office, Mac and PC laptops for checkout, scanners, and multiple BroncoPrint stations, including wireless printing from your laptop
• Access articles from journals and magazines from 280+ research databases
• Printing stations on 1st and 2nd floors, and color printing on the 1st floor
• Check out iPads, MacBooks, and netbooks from the Circulation desk on the first floor
• Streaming video databases on a wide range of subjects--watch online or on your portable device
• The library catalog sports a large & growing collection of eBooks--read books online or download it to your portable device
• Extensive subject guides in fields such as Public Administration, Anthropology, Kinesiology, Educational Technology and many more, via the library's subject guides
• Did we mention a Starbucks in the building? First floor, next to the library's entrance
• When is the library open? Check here http://library.boisestate.edu/about/hours.php
• A collaboration room (L109C) with scanners & computers
• Have questions about research, campus, or anything at all? We’re available to help you via our Help page, on Facebook, and on Twitter. We're well represented on Pinterest and Instagram too. Or you can text us your questions at (208) 546-9982

Here's to a fun & research-rich summer semester!

Library Closed on Memorial Day

The library will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday May 26th. Access the library's resources at http://library.boisestate.edu/ and library hours at http://library.boisestate.edu/about/hours.php

Regular Summer hours will resume on Tuesday, May 27th.

Don't Forget to Vote!

Photo by jamelah

In celebration of Idaho's May 20th primary election and our right to vote, here are a few samples from ScholarWorks to get you in the political mood.

• Urban West Revisited: Governing Cities in Uncertain Times
  
• Political Advertising in the 2012 Presidential Election: How Visual and Aural Techniques Are Used to Convey Meaning
  
• Towards Improved Paper-Based Election Technology
  
• Unauthorized Televised Debate Footage in Political Campaign Advertising: Fair Use and the DMCA
  
• A Bold, Hopeful, Tolerant, Progressive Way” – Progressives in the Idaho Legislature, 1908-1915

"Democracy is not just voting for your leaders; it's really premised upon ordinary citizens understanding the issues." --Howard Rheingold

Michelle Armstrong,
Scholarly Communications and Data Management Librarian

Congratulations to all of our excellent graduating seniors!

Each semester Albertsons Library honors senior graduating student assistants by placing a name plate dedicated to the student in a book of his/her choice. This semester we have 7 graduating student workers.

The Library could not function without our student employees. They tirelessly help patrons, check-out materials, pull books for staff and students, reshelve books, mail items, process new items, scan documents, assist patrons in the computer lab, move furniture and many other tasks.

Our graduates and their books:

Bader -- Don't Be Sad by Aid Quarni
Melissa -- Practical Botany for Gardeners by Geoff Hodge
Brittanie -- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Osciel -- Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara by Jorge Castaneda
Belinda -- Illustrated Guide to Korean by Chad Meyer and Moon-ung Kim
Russ -- Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius by Brian Copenhaver
Cassi -- The Flower Man by Mark Ludy

Congratulations to all of our excellent graduating seniors!

Mary Aagard,
Head, Access Services 

Yarn Bomb the Library!

Are you a knitter? Want to share your love of knitting with others? Maybe you're not a knitter, but inexplicably inherited your great aunt Sigrid's knitting stash. Want to learn to knit? Perfect, let's yarn bomb the library and relieve some stress! Drop-ins and all skill levels welcome, some supplies provided.

What’s yarn bombing? It’s a little bit renegade and a little bit grandma. From Mandy Moore’s book, "Yarn Bombing", it is defined as merging "the disciplines of installation art, needlework, and street art, yarn bombing takes many forms. It generally involves the act of attaching a handmade item to a street fixture." In our case, each participant will knit a square to be stitched together into a collaborative yarn bomb. It will be installed around one of the columns in the library’s lobby, in time to celebrate International Yarn Bombing Day, Saturday June 7th.

Can knitting really relieve stress? Yes, it can! According to a study published by Riley, Corkhill, and Morris in the February 2013 issue of The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, “The results [of the study] show a significant relationship between knitting frequency and feeling calm and happy. More frequent knitters also reported higher cognitive functioning.” I’m pretty sure you’d like to feel calm and have higher cognitive function during dead and finals weeks.

Knitting can also help you achieve what Csikszentmihalyi refers to as a state of “flow.” He found that people engrossed in activities, such as knitting, experienced a loss of fear and anxiety. This melting away of everyday worries is one of the characteristics of the “flow” state of mind.

Want to be a part of the yarn bomb? Stop by the Starbucks entrance in the library, Monday through Thursday of dead and finals week at 2pm. We’ll be knitting up a storm! Can’t make it to one of the sessions, but still want to participate? Just knit a square on your own time, and drop it off with me before the end of the semester. I’ll make sure it gets included in the finished collaborative piece! We've even created a guide with links to knitting videos, patterns, books, and articles on the connection between knitting and stress relief. Check it out here, http://guides.boisestate.edu/stressrelief.

Happy knitting!

Deana Brown,
Assistant professor/Librarian

Extended Library Hours for Dead Week & Finals

Ready for finals? We'll help! The Albertsons Library will be open 24 hours a day for dead week AND Finals week. This includes the second floor as well, which includes the library's computer classroom (L203) and its 30 additional computers.

Here's the schedule for dead week & finals week (1st & 2nd floors only):

• Sunday 5/4: 10 am to midnight
• Monday 5/5: Open at 7 am and close at midnight on Friday, 5/9
• Saturday 5/10: Open 10 am to midnight
• Sunday 5/11: Open 10 am and close at 7 pm on Thursday, 5/15
• Friday 5/16: Open 8 am to 5 pm
• Saturday 5/17: Closed

During the late night hours staff will be on hand to answer questions and check out first-floor reserve materials. Free coffee and treats will be provided each night (while supplies last!) by the Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU). An officer from the Boise Police Department will be on duty in the library all night and can provide escort service as needed.

Please refer to our calendar for a complete list of library hours. Of course, you can always access our online resources 24/7 at http://library.boisestate.edu/

Best of luck on your finals!