Ray Marcotte

To Approach or to Avoid: That is the Question

raymarcotte — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:59:00 +0000

A recent survey from the Project Information Literacy Progress Report found that only 30% of 8,353 college students spread across 25 campuses in the United States ask for help at their college’s Reference Desks. And I, as an academic Research and Instruction Librarian find this percentage to be disturbing. I wrote a paper in Library School about nonverbal language in the reference encounter, and discovered that two-thirds of what we communicate is done so noverbally.

I think academic libraries have done a great job of reconfiguring their physical reference desk spaces to be more welcoming, but we (Reference Librarians) still need to improve on our nonverbal communication skills. I’m suggesting that if our collective nonverbal communication skills improved, students would be much more willing to approach the desk and ask for help.

Filed under: Librarian

Students Still Prefer Paper Textbooks

raymarcotte — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:08:12 +0000

According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges, “76 percent of students would pick a printed book over an e-textbook if the choice was left entirely up to them.” Why? Because they can sell back their paper textbooks at the end of the semester, and rent them–and this saves them money. Read the article from the Chronicle of Higher Education. In these tough economic times, expense is often the bottom line for students.

Filed under: Librarian

Texting Reference Service

raymarcotte — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:33:12 +0000

According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled “YU Luv Texts, H8 Calls”, the “average 13- to 17-year-old sends and receives 3,339 texts a month–more than 100 a day” (Nielsen Co., the media research firm). And, since many of these teenagers will soon be college students, should all academic libraries be looking into using services like Text a Librarian? Elms College doesn’t currently have a texting reference service in place. Have other academic libraries found texting reference services to be useful?

Filed under: Librarian

Alumnae Library – Our First Newsletter

raymarcotte — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:43:37 +0000

Elms College’s Alumnae Library just published its first Library Newsletter. My “Reference Ramblings” are on page 3: Check it Out! Library Newsletter – Fall 2010

Filed under: Librarian

Will Paper Books Eventually Go the Way of Vinyl Records?

raymarcotte — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:07:01 +0000

I haven’t yet read an ebook yet, have you? I was sitting in a Jiffy Lube waiting room the other day, and noticed there was a woman sitting beside me reading an ebook on her Kindle. She was kind enough (thrilled actually) to let me have a look at the Kindle and explore its many pleasing features. I was struck at how easy the screen was on my eyes–no irritating glare–and how many (“around 100″ she said) ebooks she had stored in the darn thing.

When I was in high school in the early 1980s, I was obsessed with music and used to buy a new vinyl record every week. Audio cds came on the scene in 1982, but I was skeptical of this new technolgy at first. I can remember thinking that these new digital discs didn’t sound as “warm” as the analog vinyl. And I loved album cover art–the packaging of conventional LPs. I haven’t leaped into the world of ebook technology yet, but I can defintely say that I will in the near future. People say “I can’t curl up on the sofa and read an ebook the way I can a paperback.” Well, as the old saying goes, “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Isn’t it the riveting prose that takes us away when we read, not the “feel of the book in our hands” as anti-ebook people tend to argue? I would argue that the “warm” feeling we get from reading comes from the prose itself, not the book’s medium. I think conventional paper books will be around for a long time to come (just as vinyl records still are 28 years later), but I also believe that ebook technology will become mainstream in the future. Has it already? Not with the librarians I know.

Filed under: Librarian

Yellow Tea

raymarcotte — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 14:04:08 +0000

I have been exploring the six classes of tea lately, and I recently discovered yellow tea.

Yellow Tea is often miscategorized as green tea, but, unlike green tea that is unfermented, yellow tea is lightly fermented or oxidized. Harvested leaves are either basket-fired or pan-fired, smothered, and then finish-fired. “The smothering step, known as men huan, or ‘sealing yellow,’ is how yellow tea leaf develops its special flavor characteristics.”

This information was taken from Mary Lou and Robert Heiss’ book, The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook–a must for all tea enthusiasts. Ditch the tea bags and give the six classes (green, white, yellow, oolong, black, and pu-er) of loose-leaf tea a try! You can purchase good quality tea online from www.teatrekker.com.

Filed under: Yoga & Health

My New LibGuide!

raymarcotte — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:10:14 +0000

Elms College just purchased LibGuides. Now students can access all the materials for their classes in one place! Check out my new LibGuide for ENG 101 (Rhetoric).

Filed under: Librarian

Try Using Tea in Recipes for Health Benefits

raymarcotte — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:09:10 +0000

Most of us have heard about the health benefits of drinking tea, but did you know you can also “eat your tea”? Robert and Mary Lou Heiss, the authors of two fabulous books about tea–The Story of Tea and The Tea Enthisiast’s Handbook–provide several enticing recipes for cooking with tea in this article from Delicious Living Magazine. Bon appetit!

Filed under: Yoga & Health

Sardines: “One of the Best Sources of Omega-3″

raymarcotte — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:54:30 +0000

There’s a great deal of nutritional information written about the health benefits of Omega-3 fats in our diets. A recent article from Eating Well Magazine adds to the growing literature. Do you like sardines? If so, you’re in luck as they are “the #1 food you should eat (and probably don’t)” according to health and environmental experts. “These nutritional powerhouses are one of the best sources of omega-3 fats, with a whopping 1,950 mg/per 3 oz. (that’s more per serving than salmon, tuna or just about any other food) and they’re packed with vitamin D. And because sardines are small and low on the food chain, they don’t harbor lots of toxins like bigger fish can.” Because more and more people are consuming fish oil pills to receive the health benefits of Omega-3 fats, there is a growing concern about the sustainabilty of this practice. Sustainabilty is not a major concern with sardines, however, because “they’re . . .one of the most sustainable fish around. Quick to reproduce, Pacific sardines have rebounded from both overfishing and a natural collapse in the 1940s, so much so that they are one of Seafood Watch’s ‘Super Green’ sustainable choices.”

If you simply can’t bear the thought of consuming sardines, try these recipes (scroll down to find the “Healthy Sardine Recipes”) to make them more palatable.

Filed under: Yoga & Health

Pick Up Your Requested Books–and Groceries–at the Public Library?

raymarcotte — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:17:12 +0000

The Health Department in Baltimore, Maryland has come up with a “Virtual Supermarket Project” which is designed to make healthy food more accessible to people “in communities where major supermarkets are scarce.” Residents of Baltimore can order their groceries online, and then go to two local branch libraries to pick up their food items the next day! Public libraries exist, after all, to serve their communities, so this is a wonderful way to be an even more integral part of the community. I’m guessing that many more city communities will give this idea a try as the word of its success spreads.

Filed under: Librarian