AIDallas Library

Library Update 01/20/2012

2012-01-20T15:08:00.000-06:00

Yes, this is the first post of 2012. It's been a busy and I seem to be posting more in Facebook than here. Mr. Mullins is encouraging me to use Twitter, I just can't seem to find the time and I'm not convinced that people would care to follow us. Still, I am thinking about it.

It's the end of week two and we've already had nearly 20 classes come to the library for some kind of instruction on library resources.

During the break we had a lot of days off because we had to use our vacation by the end of the year or lose it and no one wants to lose time off, right? We did manage to do some shifting so your favorite section might have moved just a little bit. We also hired two new student workers, welcome to Claudia and Kenneth.

Some of the database passwords changed. Please remember that all you need to do is log into the student portal and go to the library page to see the new passwords. The Gnomon Workshop no longer requires a separate log-in and password, once you have logged into the portal, you are logged in to Gnomon. Their interface changed and probably not for the better, it is kind of ugly. Click on the Training tab to search it.

New books are going out on the New Book shelves this afternoon. Here are some of the titles:

The Creative Professional's Guide to Money: How think about it. How to talk about it. How to manage it.
NEW HG 179 .B423 2011

The Bollywood Reader
NEW PN 1993.5 .I8 B596 2008

We also got four more of the Web Design Index which are great resources for web designers.
NEW TK 5105.888 W372 2007-2010

Microstock Money Shots: Turning downloads into Dollars with Microstock Photography.
NEW TR 690.6 .B68 2010

And two books recommended by Mr. Alimo:

Twelve Stories by Guy Davenport
NEW PS 3554 .A86 A6 1997

NEW The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
PR 6045 .Y64 D39 2009

It looks like we are going to have to cancel some magazine subscriptions if they are available in our online services. No sense in paying twice for the same content. If you are looking for a magazine in our online services, the A-Z of Online Journal Titles is the place to go. You can find it all over the library portal.

I hope everyone has a great quarter. Remember that 11 weeks goes really fast so procrastination is not a good idea.

Library News 11/15/2011

2011-11-15T14:20:00.001-06:00

The new hours seem to be going okay, we've heard from a few students that they wish we were open our old hours but not too much kvetching that I've heard. We miss seeing the faculty since we don't check out equipment to them any more.

Survey

Students, please, please, please take our library survey! We want to know what you think of our library. It is short!! The survey is anonymous so if you want a response from us, please include your contact information.

New Resources

Sound effects
We have new sound effects and have updated the PDF file, it is now 286 pages of sound effects. We do not recommend printing that puppy out.

We added these disks:

•CDR MM 204 Home & household.

•CDR MM 205 Transportation.
•CDR MM 206 Bells, bangs, whistles.
•CDR MM 207 Nature & animals.
•CDR MM 208 Weapons & technology.
•CDR MM 209 People & ambiance.
•CDR MM 210 Rips & breaks.
•CDR MM 211 Tools, industry & mechanics.
•CDR MM 212 Business & money.
•CDR MM 213 Doors, cartoons & effects.
•CDR MM 214 Games, music & entertainment.

Editor'sTheme Kits
Editor's Themekits are matched collections of themed animated graphics that make it is easy to create a professional, coordinated look designed around specific symbols or themes such as worship, entertainment, sports and education. Each Themekit contains a set of matching elements such as backgrounds, overlays, lower thirds and animated wipes in both SD and HD resolutions. This allows producers and designers to instantly create a thematic look for a program, while still providing enough variety and customization for a unique, signature style that viewers will identify with, recognize and remember.

The list is on the Dallas Library web page under Media or click on the link above.

Gnomon Workshop
You might have noticed that The Gnomon Workshop will no longer require a log-in and password if you go to it through the Library Portal on the Student Portal. The log-in and password will continue to work through the end of the year.

Holiday Hours
We will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday from Wednesday to Friday, we will be open our normal hours 1-6pm on Saturday. Do I need to tell you when Thanksgiving is? Nov. 24th this year.

Change is good, right?

2011-10-26T21:28:00.000-05:00

So, in case you haven't heard (maybe you aren't our friend on Facebook?), the Library's hours of operation are changing starting this weekend.

Effective Saturday, October 29th, there will be changes to services that may impact you. The new hours are based on staffing changes and analysis of traffic over the past year.

Monday –Thursday 7:30 am to 8:30 pm

Friday 7:30 am to 7:00 pm

Saturday 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Sunday Closed

Note that there is a book return located outside of the library and materials may be returned at any time the building is open. You may access library services through the student portal 24/7.

We have had a busy beginning to the quarter with more than 25 classes coming to learn how to use our resources. We are going to start requesting students and faculty who participate in library classes to complete a survey so keep your eyes open for that. Your input is valuable to us so we can try to make the classes really helpful for you.

Did you know that Credo Reference has access to several books that can be helpful to your studies? The links will only work if you have logged into the Student Portal.

Bridgeman Art Archive

Founded in 1972, the Bridgeman Art Library works with museums, art galleries and artists to make the best art available for reproduction. The result is an outstanding archive of images drawn from collections throughout the world. Every subject, concept, style and medium is represented, from the masterpieces of national museums to the hidden treasures of private collections. Fine art is just one of the sources of images; design, antiques, maps, architecture, furniture, glass, ceramics, anthropological artefacts and many others also feature in the collection.

For Culinary students, Credo has several good reference books that will help you with your definitions. Try these:

Dictionary of Food: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z

The language of English cuisine is unusual in that it uses many words of foreign origin, often in their original spelling. The purpose of this dictionary is to give short definitions of these words so that both the practising chef and the amateur enthusiast, the gastronome and the student may quickly determine the meaning. It is not a recipe book or a repertoire, but it does give the ingredients of classic and well-known dishes (chicken tikka masala, for example), together with a brief summary of the cooking processes. A picture of a chef's hat indicates dishes that the professional or amateur cook could, after a little experimentation, roughly reproduce.

I understand that the chefs really like this one:

The New Food Lover's Companion, Barron's

A-to-Z entries, from Abalone to zwieback, describing foods, cooking techniques, herbs, spices, desserts, wines, and the ingredients for pleasurable dining.

And for our Interior Design friends:

Time Saver Standards for Architectural Design: Technical Data for Professional Practice

Since its release in 1946, this has been one of the most widely recognized and respected resources for architects, engineers, and designers, bringing together the knowledge, techniques, and skills of some of the most well-known experts in the field. The new Eighth Edition takes a fresh, visual approach to the information architects need to access quickly (from Substructure to Electrical systems), helping them save time and money by assuring they get it right the first time

Remember! The links will only work if you have logged into the Student Portal.

Hope your quarter is going well and that you pass all your mid-term exams!

End of Summer 2011

2011-09-24T09:57:00.000-05:00

Last day of the quarter, the weather is extraordinarily beautiful today. Classes resume on Oct. 3rd, see you then.

Here is a link to a fascinating show on pattern and ornament. You'd have to fly to the east coast to see it but there are some photos you can look at. It's called Deep Surface. We get a lot of students from the 2D design class looking for motif books. This is a good opportunity for applying your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

If I search the library catalog for "motif", I get 8 titles. Some are good, some, not so much.

I need background information. What is another word for motif? I can use the online dictionaries in Credo (one of our databases) to get a definition. One that I like is "a shape repeated many times within a pattern". The citation for that is:

motif. (2001). In Chambers 21st Century Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/chambdict/motif

Now I have some other ideas. If I search the library catalog for "pattern" I get lots more titles (127) but they seem to be mostly about pattern-making for fashion design. Grr.

As I browse down the list of titles, I see a book called Victorian Ornament and Pattern Designs to Color (there really is a good reason for the library to have coloring books). Since this title looks pretty good, I take a look at the full record by clicking on the title.

Woo, I think I hit the jackpot, I see a subject that will probably get me lots of good titles, "Decoration and Ornament". I can search the catalog using either of those words. "Decoration" gets 1530 titles but they look like mostly interior design books. "Ornament" gets 370.

What if I combine them by using Advanced Search? I see some furniture books but I also see titles like The Greek design book, Ancient Mexican designs, Handbook of decorative motifs, or even Italian Renaissance textile designs which gives me another idea.

Where are there repeating patterns? Textiles, rugs, quilts and fabric are all good alternative words for finding things with patterns. How about tessellations? That leads me to the subject "Geometrical Drawing" which has 14 good titles. It also takes me to M. C. Escher who used a lot of repeating patterns in his work.

Do you see how this works?

Magazines

Cristina analyzed the magazine usage for the past year. Remember that we ask you not to put magazines back on the shelf after you look at them, because we count them for usage? Here is some of the information that we get from that. The most viewed magazine for each program:

Advertising

Luerzer's International Archive

Culinary

National Culinary Review

Digital Filmmaking

American Cinematographer

Fashion Design and Fashion Retail Management

Women's Wear Daily

Graphic Design

Computer Arts/Computer Arts Projects

General Education

Rolling Stone

Interior Design

Architectural Digest

Web Design and Interactive Media

Wired

Media Arts and Animation

3-D World

Photography

WAD

Anyhoo, enjoy your break! Don't forget the library is closed to students during the break except for the DMM graduate students and those who need to return items and/or take care of fines. We will be open 9-5, Monday to Friday during the break.

Library News 09/09/2011

2011-09-09T20:22:00.000-05:00

Working late on a Friday night because it is someone's birthday and she deserved the day off. Quiet as a tomb as is usual for a Friday night. I understand there is a dance so maybe we will see some dressed up people.

Two new services from the library that you might want to know about:

ebrary is a new service available only on the library section of the student portal. It is a big collection of electronic books relating to all programs as well as general education. Check it out, I think you will like it. The quickstart guide is here.

A-Z of Online Journal Titles is also on the library page on the student portal, it's a great way to find out if a magazine is in any of our databases. Don't forget that in some of the databases the magazine may be the PDF which can be like a color photocopy of the article. Heck, you can even set up RSS feeds on a bunch of these so the articles get delivered to you!

There is a nice little tutorial for the A-Z list under Help on the home page for the library.

Only two more weeks left in the quarter, I guess time does fly when you are having fun! We only have one library class next week. I haven't added up how many classes we had this quarter but last quarter we did 48 classes and library tours. That is a lot of talking and explaining.

Here are some new book titles that look interesting:
Black velvet art:
New ND 1572 .E45 2011

Never use more than two different typefaces : and 50 other ridiculous typography rules
New Z 246 .N484 2001

Smashing CSS : professional techniques for modern layout
New TK 5105.888 .M496 2011

Fashion & textiles : the essential careers guide
New TT 507 .B685 2010

Greenlit : developing factual/reality TV ideas from concept to pitch
New PN 1992.75 .L34 2010

Exploring leadership : for college students who want to make a difference
New LB 3605 .K64 2007

Time for my rant. You know, there is more to life and learning than doing the bare minimum to get by. It makes me a little crazy for a student to come to the library and say, "I need two books on this subject" because that's what the instructor has put as the minimum. Doesn't it make sense to get the right information or as much information as possible when you are starting to do research? If you had an employee who did just the bare minimum of what you asked for and another employee who did it right or at least did more than the minimum, which one would get the raise or promotion? And especially the more interesting work which is usually more challenging. Don't be a lazy bum! Get the best value for the money you are spending on your education and do more than the minimum!!!

Library News 08/13/2011

2011-08-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am going to tell the big secret but just to the people who read this blog, all three of them (Hi, Mom!).

This is something that we've wanted for a long time--and it should be in effect on August 18th!

There will be a link to the new library portal on the student portal! Why is that exciting? Well, it means that all you will have to do in order to access the library databases is log into your student account. No more picking up the database password brochure in the library! Think of the trees we will save!

There will be a few services that require a separate user name and password but the information will all be there on the portal page.

And there are some really cool new services and lots of good tutorials to explain library resources and services. One that I especially like is the A-Z Online Journal Search. You can search to see if a particular journal is included in our online services, sweet!

• Simplified sign-in process – Access the Library via the student portal with no additional login required.

• Automatic login to databases – Browse most databases directly from the Library, no separate user names and passwords needed.

• Unified search engine – Search combinations of multiple library resources simultaneously with our new discovery and federated search tool, Quick Search.

• Targeted Subject Resources – Easily locate resources best suited to areas of study.

• Voyager Database – Materials can be searched across all Art Institutes or by individual campus.

• Targeted, Campus-Specific Content – Access campus-specific news, announcements and Librarian contact information.

• Helpful tutorials – Get up to speed on how to use library resources, apply citation style guidelines, and more.

Has Facebook killed the blog?

2011-08-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

Not really, it's just that I can post things quicker on Facebook and I think more people read it.

I am working the late shift on Friday night so someone here can enjoy their spouse's birthday dinner. It's awfully quiet, no surprise since most people are ready for a break by Friday night. I always think I will get so much done and then things take longer than I expected or I get distracted. Sound familiar?

Anyway, the heat is starting to wear people down. I know a good number of our students ride the train, please be careful and be sure to drink lots of water.

Check out this image which comes from StyleSight, we usually show it to fashion classes but it also has some royalty-free graphics and clip art that you can use. You must be on campus to create your account and don't forget, it's only for school related use, not for internships or other jobs.

We are so close to being able to launch something really cool for students; hopefully August 18th is the big day!!

Lots of new books have hit the shelves, be sure to check them out.

I want to make sure that everyone knows about Safari Tech Books Online. You can access it on campus through the library web page, it's the first one on the database page. Off campus, you will need the user name and password, available in the library when you show your valid student ID. It has 12,400 software and business books online. You might be surprised at what is in there. Just remember that only four people at a time can use it. If you can't get into it, wait a little bit and try again. Here are some of the new titles that look interesting.

Get Organized Fourth Edition
GET ORGANIZED shows you how to create your ideal study environment by using simple time-management tips to develop to-do lists, daily schedules, monthly calendars, and project boards. Now updated to include electronic and online planning tools, this new edition also provides strategies that help you prioritize, avoid time trap activities, and anticipate opportunities.

The Digital Matte Painting Handbook
The only how-to guide dedicated to mastering the technique of digital matte painting! Matte painting affords seamless integration between an artist's painting with live action film footage and allows for greater flexibility and creative input in the appearance of movie settings. This unique book reveals a variety of tools and techniques that are both industry and classroom tested and will enhance your existing skill set.

Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences
Product Description Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action. Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action.

The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting Perfect Type
Beautifully designed and richly illustrated The Complete Manual of Typography, Second Edition, is the fully updated version of THE seminal book on typography by Jim Felici. This book is about how type should look and how to make it look that way – in other words, how to set type like a professional. It explains in practical terms how to use today’s digital tools to achieve the secret of good design: well set type. An essential reference for anyone who works with type.

Pro ToolS® 9 Ignite!
Get ready to explore the world of computer music creation with Pro Tools 9! Even if you've never created music on your computer, PRO TOOLS 9 IGNITE! will give you the skills required to record and mix with confidence. This book presents everything you need to know about this amazing digital audio workstation, with easy-to-follow instructions and screenshots that make it simple to dive into the features. Begin with the basic techniques of recording, editing, and mixing MIDI and digital audio.

If you haven't looked at our map lately, check it out, Davon redesigned it for us. The computers are numbered so we can have students show us which one isn't working and he also added icons for where the electrical outlets are so you can charge your laptops, etc.

And finally a big howdy to Emily who has joined us as a student worker, Emily has a couple of years experience in a big college library so we feel luck to have her!

Welcome to Summer 2011

2011-07-15T17:25:00.001-05:00

Tempus fugit, people!

Good news and bad news

New Databases:

Berg Fashion Library is the authority on world dress. Interdisciplinary and integrated text, image and journal content on world dress and fashion. It covers all regions of the world with in-depth content from pre-history to the present day.

Infotrac Culinary Arts Collection contains recipes and other culinary information including 250+ major cooking and nutrition magazines, and nearly 20 Delmar reference books. Access to restaurant reviews, industry information and practical instruction.

Infotrac Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure Collection contains more than 800 journals and 29 subject specific reference titles and travel handbooks from Fodor's. It provides well-rounded coverage of both the historical and current state of affairs in the hospitality and tourism fields.

Credo Reference provides full-text content from hundreds of reference books covering every major subject. Over 3 million entries, 200,000+ images (art, diagrams, maps and photos) and over 100,000 audio pronunciation files and sound clips. It includes encyclopedias, dictionaries and quotations.

More to come, stay tuned!!!

Cancelled Databases (buh-bye!):

CQ Researcher (similar content in SIRS Issues Researcher and Credo)
Britannica Online (similar content in Credo)
Oxford Reference Online (similar content in Credo)

Other changes:
We separated SIRS into the two databases that are part of that service.

We will probably be hiring again soon, our student workers are soooo good that the other departments keep stealing them away. It makes sense that someone would want to work in the department for their major and we always want to do what is best for the student so we don't stand in their way. We may start charging a finders fee, though.

Library News 05/06/2011

2011-05-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

Working late and it is so quiet, you might think that mid-terms were over and that the weather was nice or something?

Emails
If we have a good email in Voyager for you, then you can get email reminders that your library materials are due. That could save you money! Check your account on Voyager or stop by the library and let us check to see that we have the correct email for you.

New Stuff
We've put a lot of new books out in the last month. They might not be new books but they are new to our library. Check out these titles:

Anatomy of story : 22 steps to becoming a master storyteller / Truby, John, 1952- NEW GR 72.3 .T78 2007

Beyond bodegas : developing a retail relationship with Hispanic customers / Perkins, Jim (James Edward) NEW HC 110 .C6 P47 2004

Interviews with American artists / Sylvester, David. NEW N 6512 .S945 2001 (highly recommended by Danny)

Boy named Shel : the life & times of Shel Silverstein / Rogak, Lisa, 1962- NEW PS 3569 .I47224 Z85 2007

Location lighting solutions : expert professional techniques for artistic and commercial success / Neubart, Jack. NEW TR 590 .N48 2006

Jean-Georges : cooking at home with a four-star chef / Vongerichten, Jean-Georges. NEW TX 725 .A1 V666 1998

Elements of pop-up : a pop-up book for aspiring paper engineers / Carter, David A. NEW Z 1033 .T68 C37 1999

We've been introducing classes to RefWorks, the great tool for managing citations for your written papers. Now you can use their plug-in Write-N-Cite with Word to do in-text citations. And their RefGrab-It to cite web pages that you find. Log in to your RefWorks account to learn about both of these. Don't have a RefWorks account? Stop by the library with your valid student ID and we will give you the directions.

Did you know that it's time to register for the next quarter? See your advisor soon to make sure that you get the classes you need.

Sunday is Mother's Day. Here is an interesting video from the History Channel that might tell you something about the day that you didn't know!

Library News

2011-04-15T15:14:00.000-05:00

Next week the library will be closed on Friday, April 22nd and Sunday, April 24th. We will be open on Saturday, April 23rd though. Friday is a holiday, take it easy, people. You can always access the library services through our web page, right?

Databases
Stylesight- if you set up your account last quarter it may be expiring. It's a lot easier to reactivate your account if you do it before it expires. If it has expired, you will need to ask the library to reset your password. I wrote about this on the Facebook page this morning.

First Research isn't working off campus while we renegotiate the contract. Hopefully that will be corrected soon. Stay tuned for updates.

Let's talk about textbooks...

The library doesn't know that something is a textbook unless it is sold in the Supply Store or the teacher requests it to be on Reserve. Teachers do not always let us know that they need something to be placed on Reserve. We do send them an email every quarter to remind them.

We only get one copy of the book and you must have your ID in order to use it in the library. You may not take textbooks or Reserve books out of the library. It is first come, first served and there isn't a time limit. We don't take reservations either. The purpose of our textbook collection is not so you don't have to buy the textbook. You are in college, you need to buy your textbooks!

Also, we have over 200 books in the textbook collection and they are in title order. We do not get information about what class the textbook is for. We generally don't know which teacher uses the book. So, if you don't know the title of the textbook (it's on your syllabus, silly) then we might not be able to find it for you. We will try but really, asking for "the white Fashion book" is kind of frustrating for all of us. They are not in order by color!!!!

BTW, the library knows almost nothing about your e-textbook. Your instructor should be the one setting you up for your e-textbook. We have some handouts on how all that works but that is about it.

Facebook
The library has a Facebook page. The kind of page that we have means you can see it without being logged into Facebook, heck, you don't even need a Facebook account to see it. And if you like our Facebook page (and we hope you do) then don't worry, we can't see your Facebook page. We aren't actually friends, Plus, we don't really want to see what you post on your Facebook.

Other news
We just hired a new student worker, welcome to Chance!

Wow, we bought a banana layer cake from Culinary this week (for National Library Week) and it was fabulous. You can not beat that deal, $5 for a big, gorgeous cake. If you frequently check your student email, then you will know about great deals like that. Any goodies from the Culinary folks seem to sell out fast!

2011-04-01T17:16:00.000-05:00

The break is nearly over and we got a few things checked off of our to-do list. Hope your break was a good one!

Break
We shifted the magazines so the 2010 magazines are along the windows on the south short shelves. We created an oversized books section at the front of the library. We cleaned equipment. We interviewed for a new student worker. We had some cake for Richard's birthday. Some of us took a day off. We had a lot of meetings, including a Library Committee meeting with amazing attendance. AND we got a new heavy duty stapler for students to use. It takes up to 60 pages at a time!

Food for Fines
From April 1 through April 15, students may exchange one can or jar of food* (at least 10 oz.) for each dollar of library fines**. All food collected by the library will be donated to the Student Food Pantry.

Bring your food to the library for credit on your fines. The most needed food items are:

Tuna

Pastas

Spaghetti sauce

Peanut butter

Canned soup

Canned corn

Individual meals

*The library reserves the right to refuse any items that are too weird or icky for student consumption.
**This offer does not apply to lost materials, cash, check or card will be accepted for those costs.

Statistics for Winter 2011

Held 52 library classes and tours
Checked out an average of 2751 items each month
3124 average weekly visits to the library in person
2254 average monthly visits to our web page

Sound Effects
The Sound Effects PDF was updated. This file went from 116 to 179 pages. Turns out the Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers sound effects weren't on the list. Many thanks to the student who let us know they were missing. She gets a gold star.

Getty
Good news about Getty Images! We no longer need people to fill out the form in order to get the log-in and password. The log-in information is now available on the Library Database brochure available in the library when you show your ID. You still must abide by the Terms of Use.

Safari
Check out the usage of Safari Books Online. You may access this service on campus through IP recognition or off campus with the log-in and passwords available in the library. The service only allows 4 users at at time.
Ai Dallas accessed 286 books in 2010. These are the top 20 most used titles for 2010:

1. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web

2. Adobe® Illustrator® CS4 Classroom in a Book®

3. Professional Digital Compositing: Essential Tools and Techniques

4. Microformats Made Simple

5. The Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 Book for Digital Photographers

6. Complete Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 for Digital Photographers

7. Real World Print Production

8. Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4 on Demand

9. My Droid

10. Advanced Photoshop® CS4 Trickery & FX

11. ASVAB Exam Cram

12. Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook, Special Edition

13. Designing a Digital Portfolio, Second Edition

14. Coping with Toxic Managers, Subordinates & and Other Difficult People

15. Fluid Web Typography

16. Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style

17. Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities

18. Dreamweaver CS4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide

19. Adobe Illustrator® CS4 Digital Classroom

20. Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 7 Advanced Editing

Library News 2/7/2011

2011-02-07T16:47:00.000-06:00

The great Snowpocalypes of 2011. We survived. The library was open 10-5 on Thursday and Saturday from 8:30-5:00. We are forgiving fines for materials that were due Tuesday, Feb. 1st through Sunday, Feb. 6th. I think people are still in recovery mode, walking around sharing their stories of what they did with all those unexpected days off. I am sure that the teachers are feeling challenged to squeeze all their lessons into fewer days.

If you haven't checked out RefWorks yet, you should. Especially if you are doing any work that requires you to manage your citations or turn in MLA or other kinds of citations. You will need the group code that is available in the library when you show your current valid student ID.

I am sorry to report that Wizard magazine has gone out of business. It was very popular with our animation and graphic design students. We will keep the back issues around for a while.

A nice new feature of Voyager is the ability to email your search results to yourself. If you can get email on your phone, you can email the list of books you want and then go to the shelves with your phone instead of a piece of paper. And of course, your phone will be on silent, right?

Check out a new way of seeing information about our library at

http://aii.campusguides.com/AiD_eResources

We will be adding more guides to this service, let us know what you think about it.

Welcome Back!

2011-01-07T17:10:00.000-06:00

Jeepers, this break went fast. I didn't get near as much done as I hoped but at least I tried. Here is what we did during the break:

Hired another new student worker.
The student workers, led by Joe, took the tops off all the shelves in the back half of the library and spread the shelves further apart so more books can stand upright. It also lets more light in so you can see the books better. It did mean moving all the books on that side of the library but everything is back in the same place so don't worry about finding your favorite section.
For the faculty, we took all the PowerPoint mice out of the kits since they are always used. There are several standalone PowerPoint mice kits for faculty to borrow.
Added new resources (more about that later).
Took the holiday decorations down.
Did a training session for faculty on library resources.
Cleaned out the video storage and shifted the DVDs in the back.
Laminated lots of books.
Added new books.
Got new equipment for faculty to borrow.
Had a Library Committee meeting.
Called all the students with overdue materials.
IT guys updated the library lab computers to Windows 7 and Adobe CS 5.

So, about those new resources on the Database page...

ProQuest is revamped with new content including the arts, a really nice new interface and the ability to create your own research folder that you can use as long as you are in school.

The new service SIRS includes two modules, SIRS Issues Researcher, covering the Leading Issues most studied and debated by students and SIRS Renaissance for Current Perspectives on the Arts & Humanities. This database will also read the story out loud to you and includes a lot of graphics.

RefWorks is a great tool for managing citations and bibliographies, you can create your own account on it after you pick up the handout in the library that has the group code.

There are 11 classes scheduled in the library during week 1 so the lab may not be available some of the time.

Happy New Year!
Welcome back!

New Digital Tutors tutorials

2010-12-01T17:36:00.000-06:00

One of our tutorial services, Digital Tutors has these new tutorials plus a bunch more.

Keying Greenscreens in After Effects CS5 In this series of lessons we'll learn how to key green or bluescreen footage in After Effects. Using greenscreens is a common practice in today's VFX workflow, so understanding how to get a good alpha from greenscreen footage is very important.

Creating High Resolution Characters in ZBrush 4 In this course we'll use ZBrush to build and detail a high resolution biker character.

Restoring Old Photographs in Photoshop CS5 In this collection of lessons we will focus on restoring old photographs in Photoshop.

V-Ray Hypershade Nodes in Maya 2011 In this collection of lessons we will be exploring several of the V-Ray rendering nodes that can be found in Maya's Hypershade.

Introduction to 3ds Max 2011 In this course we'll cover a wide range of topics in order to get you quickly up to speed using 3ds Max 2011.

Creating Advanced Shapes in Illustrator CS5 In this collection of lessons we will focus on creating advanced shapes in Illustrator using both the pathfinder panel and shape builder tool.

Visual Guide to Vertex In this lesson we will learn about one of the basic components of 3D modeling, the Vertex, which is the smallest component of a polygon model.

Dover books

2010-11-22T17:29:00.000-06:00

We get a good number of students in the library looking for the Dover books. I think some of the teachers send them our way but maybe don't explain too much about what a Dover book is. Dover is a publisher of copyright free books on many, many subjects. Dover has been around since 1941. They seem to specialize in publishing materials that are out of copyright, they also publish royalty free materials.

Our library currently owns 374 books from Dover. Where they are located in the library depends on what they are about. Some Dover books come with a CD so that you can easily download the images to use in your work. The Dover books can include:

Fonts
Clip art
Borders/Frames
Classic books
Lettering

The best way to find a Dover book is to go to Advanced Search in the catalog and search Dover in the Publisher:Name in the pulldown menu in the last box on the right on the first line. Then in the second box down, you can put in the subject you need.

Here are some of the more popular Dover titles in our library:

1,100 designs and motifs from historic sources

NK 1535 .L62 A4 1995

24 Gothic display fonts : CD-ROM and book

Z 250.3 .T844 1998

Women a pictorial archive from nineteenth-century sources 488 copyright-free illustrations for artists and designers
NE 962 .W65 W6 1982

Mucha's Figures decoratives : 40 plates
NK 1535 .M82 A4 1981

Full-color old-time label art : CD-ROM & book.

NC 1002 .L3 F85 2003

Psst: There is an old collection of uncataloged (not in the library catalog) Dover and other clip art books on the low bookshelves between the annual reports and the tabloids (oversized magazines).

If you are so inclined, Dover also publishes fancy coloring books and paper doll books.

Bottom line, there is not a Dover Books section in the library. It generally doesn't make sense to organize books by publisher. Organizing by subject is what we do. No, really!!

Library News 10/23/10

2010-10-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

A rainy Saturday in Dallas means a dead library. Maybe people are recovering from the Ranger's win last night?

I am starting a list of least favorite phrases in the library. Here is what I have so far, in no particular order:

"I'm the only one who uses this book, DVD, piece of equipment etc." (yes, we bought this just for you because we know that you are more important than everyone else at the school--wrong!)
"I don't have my school ID but I know my number" (big whoop, you need to show us your current student ID, how many times do we need to tell you this?)
"I can't log-in, can you help me?" (this one makes me sad because the library has no control over your access to the computers, we can't reset your password and we can't log you in on our accounts, you are going to have to take that long trip down one flight to the 3rd floor, room 330 and the tech folks will fix you right up)
"I didn't know I had to bring back the book, video, CD" (that's funny, did you think we were running some kind of donation center?)
"I think my book/DVD/video/CD is overdue" (well, I bet if you look at the piece of paper we gave you aka the date due slip, then you will know the answer to that question)
"I pay xx amount of money to the school" so you should give me anything I want and tolerate my rudeness and foul language (hello, part of your education is learning to be professional and follow directions, your money is paying for us to teach you that lesson, you are very welcome)
"What!!! The friend that I checked out the book/DVD/video for because they didn't have their ID, didn't bring it back and now I owe money?!!" (hey, call this a consequence of your action or maybe poor decision-making and um, yes, you do because it was checked out to you)
From the student having the loud conversation on their cellphone when we remind them that cellphone conversations aren't allowed in the library "But it's my mom/minister/lawyer/grandma/bank!" (tell your mom/minister/lawyer/grandma/bank that you aren't supposed to be on the phone in the library and that you will call them back when you get out of the library)
"I need to see a textbook" but I don't know the name of it or the teacher's name or the class name and I don't have my syllabus (let's play 20 questions, what gender/age/program is your teacher and we really hope you know this because the questions are going to get harder or maybe you can find someone in your class who has it a little more together than you do today and they will know the name)
"Will you keep my laptop/portfolio/child for me while I go to class or lunch or out to my car?" (do we look like a coat check/babysitter/storage facility? No room for your stuff here, sorry, and if we do it for you because we know you then to be fair, we would need to do it for everyone and we don't have room or time for that)

Comments we do like:

"My paper isn't due for 3 weeks but I want to get an early start on the research." "Can I renew from home?" "Will you show me how to operate the copy machine?" "How many things can I check out?" "When is this due?" "Can I use the databases or catalog from home?" "Will you help me a find a book or article or image for my topic?" "Can I recommend a book/DVD?"

New DVDs continue to be added, check this list:

Culinary Arts

American brew : the rich and surprising history of beer . DVD CU 1721
Digital Filmmaking and Video Production
Bagdad Café. DVD VP 1795
Beat Street. DVD VP 1783
Blowup. DVD VP 1813
Blue = Bleu. DVD VP 1818
Born into brothels. DVD VP 1781
Boy in the striped pajamas . DVD VP 1805
Broken embraces. DVD VP 1847
Buffalo '66. DVD VP 1806
Camelot . DVD VP 1833
Day at the races . DVD VP 1777
Days of heaven. DVD VP 1791
Departed . DVD VP 1803
Dirty pretty things. DVD VP 1816
Downfall . DVD VP 1821
Fille sur le pont = Girl on the bridge. DVD VP 1817
Flor de mi secreto = The flower of my secret. DVD VP 1826
Further off the straight and narrow new gay visibility on television . DVD VP 1785
Go West ; The big store. DVD VP 1779
Gummo. DVD VP 1782
Hable con ella = Talk to her. DVD VP 1827
Harold and Maude. DVD VP 1792
Hype! DVD VP 1807
Landmarks of early film. DVD VP 1749
Landmarks of early film, vol. 2 the magic of Milies. DVD VP 1750
Like water for chocolate. DVD VP 1830
Mala educacion = Bad education. DVD VP 1825
Moulin Rouge. DVD VP 1788
Movies' story. DVD VP 1775
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de "nervios" = Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown . DVD VP 1829
Music of the heart DVD VP 1799-1800
Naked lunch. DVD VP 1796-1797
Night at the opera. DVD VP 1776
Night in Casablanca. DVD VP 1780
Pecker. DVD VP 1793
Personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American movies. DVD VP 1773-1774
Pianist . DVD VP 1802
Red = Rouge. DVD VP 1820
Requiem for a dream. DVD VP 1798
Room service; At the circus. DVD VP 1778
Roozi keh zan shodam = The day I became a woman . DVD VP 1794
Salvador. DVD VP 1794
Station agent. DVD VP 1801
The lives of others. DVD VP 1824
The seventh seal . DVD VP 1822-1823
Treasures IV American avant garde film, 1947-1986. DVD VP 1834-1835
Un long dimanche de fiancailles = A very long engagement. DVD VP 1814-1815
Visitor . DVD VP 1804
Volver = Return. DVD VP 1828
White = Blanc. DVD VP 1819
General Studies
American hardcore. DVD GE 1787
Big Brother and the Holding Co. with Janis Joplin nine hundred nights. DVD GE 1811
Canned Heat live at Montreux 1973. DVD GE 1810
Decade under the influence. DVD GE 1812
Doors live in Europe 1968. DVD GE 1808
Fly Jefferson Airplane. DVD GE 1809
Grapes of wrath. DVD GE 1789
Great Gatsby. DVD GE 1790
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. DVD GE 1786
Othello. DVD GE 1831
William Shakespeare's The merchant of Venice. DVD GE 1832
Media Arts and Animation
Simpsons : the twelfth season. DVD CA 1836-DVD CA 1839
King of the Hill : the complete 6th season. DVD CA 1840-DVD CA 1842
Coraline. DVD CA 1843
The twelve kingdoms. DVD CA 1844
The Naoyuki Tsuji : animation collection. DVD CA 1845

Photography
Evelyn Cameron pictures from a worthy life. DVD PH 1846

It's really feeling like autumn out there, enjoy the change of seasons!

Library News 09/18/2010

2010-09-18T16:15:00.001-05:00

A really dead Saturday in the library, it's almost creepy, is there a Cowboys game or something?

One more week left in the Summer Quarter. It's been a busy one with lots of new resources in the library, feel free to browse back through the blog to see what is new.

One big announcement last week was that we now have Women's Wear Daily (WWD) Online. It's only on campus right now, I hope we can get off campus access soon. Remember that you need to log in through Clean Access to use our databases. To access WWD or The Chronicle of Higher Education, go to the library web page under Periodicals and then click into Fashion for WWD and Faculty Development for CHE.

I understand that one of our new databases, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, is already changing it's interface, the new version should be up on Monday. They have a little video to promote their service. Please note, I hope you don't hate the music as much as I did!

All library materials are due on or before Sept. 25th. Fines will continue to accrue during the break. We will be open 9-5 Monday through Friday during the break for students to return overdue materials and take care of fines. We do not check materials out during the break and the computer labs will be closed for updates. If you have fines or overdues, you may not be able to get your Fall schedule so take care of business. Don't make us get the Librarian Avenger after you. Check this video she put out on "the typography of greenwashing"--serifs hate the earth!!

I meant to post this picture of the 3 pound (!) cinnamon roll that Pam brought back from San Antonio. It was big enough to do some serious damage.

3 pounds of cinnamon roll

Library News 09/03/10

2010-09-03T17:47:00.000-05:00

I wonder why some students have such a potty mouth? I was in the lab today and a young woman dropped the f-bomb loud enough for the whole lab to hear it. This was when we announced that the printers were down so I guess her day was ruined. If a person like that applied for a job with me, I probably wouldn't hire them, would you?

Sorry to say, we no longer subscribe to the AP Media database. We have a lot of new services so we need to reallocate our dollars. Getty is a good substitute.

New DVDs

Digital Filmmaking & Video Production
Avant-garde. experimental cinema, 1922-1954. DVD VP 1712 and DVD VP 1713
Avatar. DVD VP 1742
Battleship Potemkin. DVD VP 1716
Before the rains. DVD VP 1728
Black Hollywood the way it was. DVD VP 1715
Breakfast club. DVD VP 1724
Bronze screen 100 years of the Latino image in Hollywood cinema. DVD VP 1711
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. DVD VP 1736-1737
Dead. DVD VP 1723
Gabbeh. DVD VP 1731
Good Will Hunting. DVD VP 1738
Inglourious basterds. DVD VP 1739
Kids. DVD VP 1719
King Kong (1933). DVD VP 1729-1730
Memoirs of a geisha. DVD VP 1726-VP 1727
Picture snatcher. DVD VP 1720
Professionals. DVD VP 1725
Saved from the flames 54 rare and restored films 1896-1944. DVD VP 1708-1710
Sins of the fleshapoids. DVD VP 1707
Slumdog millionaire. DVD VP 1741
Twin Peaks. DVD VP 1732-1735
Uzak = Distant. DVD VP 1718
Valkyrie. DVD VP 1740

Fashion Design and Fashion & Retail Management
September issue. DVD FD 1766 -1767
Valentino the last emperor. DVD FD 1765

School of Design
70s dimension. DVD GD 1706
Between the folds a film about finding inspiration in unexpected places . DVD GD 1744
Cats of Mirikitani. DVD GD 1702
Chinese art treasures of the National Palace Museum. DVD GD 1746
Conceiving and creating the Hellboy movie poster art. DVD GD 1768
Impressionists: Monet. DVD GD 1752
Impressionists: Degas. DVD GD 1753
Impressionists: Manet. DVD GD 1757
Impressionists: Pissarro. DVD GD 1755
Impressionists: Renoir. DVD GD 1754
Impressionists: Seurat. DVD GD 1756
Post impressionists: Munch. DVD GD 1762
Post-impressionists: Cezane. DVD GD 1758
Post-impressionists: Gaugin. DVD GD 1759
Post-impressionists: Rousseau. DVD GD 1763
Post-impressionists: Toulouse-Lautrec. DVD GD 1761
Post-impressionists: Van Gohg. DVD GD 1760
Superstar. DVD GD 1705
Victorian nude. DVD GD 1745

General Studies
To kill a mockingbird. DVD GE 1751
Rape of Europa. DVD GE 1743
Elegant universe. DVD GE 1747-1748

Interior Design
Chihuly over Venice. DVD ID 1764

Media Arts and Animation
Aeon Flux the complete animated collection. DVD CA 1698-1700
Anxious animation. DVD CA 1691
Bitter films. 1995-2005. DVD CA 1714
Cartoon adventures starring Gerald McBoing Boing. DVD CA 1692
Felix the cat the complete 1958-1959 full-color series. DVD CA 1703-1704
Gay purr-ee. DVD CA 1693
I married a strange person! DVD CA 1697
Little mermaid. DVD CA 1694 and DVD CA 1695
Persepolis. DVD CA 1701
Tokyo godfathers. DVD CA 1696

Photography
Annie Leibovitz life through a lens. DVD PH 1682
Captured light the invention of still photography. DVD PH 1771
Chased by the light a photographic journey with Jim Brandenburg. DVD PH 1621
Eloquent nude the love and legacy of Edward Weston & Charis Wilson. DVD PH 1717
Photographer. DVD PH 1614
Richard Avedon darkness and light. DVD PH 1632
Tony Sweet's visual literacy. DVD PH 1769 and DVD PH 1770
William Eggleston in the real world . DVD PH 1722

Library News 08/27/2010

2010-08-27T17:38:00.000-05:00

Hurrah for cooler weather, everyone seemed in a better mood.

We continue to get more and more new stuff, DVDs, databases etc.

Databases

You can use both of these off campus if you have the log-in and password brochure available in the library when you show your valid student ID.   It is amazing to me how many students get home and decide they need to use the databases and call the library to ask for them. WE WILL NOT GIVE THE PASSWORDS OVER THE PHONE OR IN EMAIL!! We really, really mean it!

Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition provides the Encyclopaedia Britannica, plus statistics, magazine articles, biographies, evaluated web sites, timelines, country information, educational videos and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, quotes, an atlas and news feeds from The New York Times.   Wikipedia wants to be Britannica when it grows up.

CQ Researcher is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Each issue has an introductory overview; background and chronology on the topic; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources. Updated online 44 times a year.

Media

Firstcom is a production music and sound effects service with 140,000 tracks and 6,000+ new track releases every year. Searching is by keyword, styles, eras, tempos, instruments, moods, countries and dances. Sign in using the log-in and password available in the library when you show your valid AiDallas ID for on and off-campus access.   Please set up your own folder for your projects.
Turn off your pop-up blocker. This site will not function properly with your pop-up blocker on.

Videos

Business

90 minutes to killer presentation skills. DVD BUS 1557
Extreme project management a flight plan for success : how to survive fast-track projects. DVD BUS 1543
Managing people for project success. DVD BUS 1555
Professionalism and ethics video. DVD BUS 1541
Soft skills in the workplace. DVD BUS 1556
Your resume first they must see you in writing! DVD BUS 1558

Culinary
Art of Korean cuisine. DVD CU 1604
Brave new foods the biotech revolution. DVD CU 1513
Cuisine of southeast Asia. Indonesia. DVD CU 1679
Cuisine of southeast Asia. Thailand. DVD CU 1680
Cuisine of southeast Asia. Vietnam. DVD CU 1681
Etiquette hotline table manners . DVD CU 1514
Food additives why so many chemicals? DVD CU 1516
Food and fire the science (and magic) of cooking. DVD CU 1517
From farm to table. DVD CU 1518
Global eating learning from other cultures. DVD CU 1509
Kitchen math and measuring how it all adds up. DVD CU 1515
Kitchen tools & utensils. DVD CU 1510
Real food the cost of convenience. DVD CU 1511
What should we eat? the vegetarian debate. DVD CU 1512

Digital Film and Video Production
300. DVD VP 1594 and DVD VP 1595
Afro promo. DVD VP 1597
Bad taste. DVD VP 1613
Bass on titles. DVD VP 1531
Constant forge a film. DVD VP 1670
Devil wears Prada. DVD VP 1660
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. DVD VP 1649
Dune. DVD VP 1599
Electric Company's greatest hits & bits the public television retrospective . DVD VP 1633
Eragon. DVD VP 1620
Faces. DVD VP 1664
Faces. DVD VP 1665
Field audio. DVD VP 1540
First draft. DVD VP 1573
Freestyle the art of rhyme. DVD VP 1642
Gandhi. DVD VP 1596
Gone with the wind. DVD VP 1601 and DVD VP 1602
Green screen lighting. DVD VP 1546
Hellboy. DVD VP 1623 and DVD VP 1624
How to direct actors. DVD VP 1575
Independent movie making on budget, on schedule. DVD VP 1397, DVD VP 1398 and DVD VP 1399
Introduction to color temperatures. DVD VP 1576
Killing of a Chinese bookie. DVD VP 1668 and DVD VP 1669
Laberinto del fauno Pan's labyrinth. DVD VP 1673 and DVD VP 1674
Legend. DVD VP 1634
Live audio basics : a comprehensive and entertaining instructional DVD for Sound reinforcement. DVD VP 1537-1539
Marie Antoinette. DVD VP 1661
Mixing the audio. DVD VP 1574
Opening night. DVD VP 1666
Serenity. DVD VP 1622
Shadows. DVD VP 1667
Sleepy Hollow. DVD VP 1609
Special effects. DVD VP 1547
Spencer Williams remembrances of an early black film pioneer . DVD VP 1587
Tarnation. DVD VP 1657
Thief of Bagdad an Arabian fantasy. DVD VP 1603
This film is not yet rated. DVD VP 1637
Twilight zone. DVD VP 1589, DVD VP 1590, DVD VP 1591, DVD VP 1592 and DVD VP 1593
Unbreakable. DVD VP 1675 and DVD VP 1676
Underworld. DVD VP 1646 and DVD VP 1647
V for Vendetta. DVD VP 1677 and DVD VP 1678
Woman under the influence. DVD VP 1663

Fashion Design and Fashion Retail Management
Chinese silk. DVD FD 1553
Clothing fibers. DVD FD 1552
Fashion victim the killing of Gianni Versace. DVD FD 1598
Ladies trouser cutting. DVD FD 1572
Manufactured fibers to fabrics & beyond. DVD FD 1550
Natural fibers to fabrics & beyon. DVD FD 1551
Pattern cutting (Ladies jackets) . DVD FD 1570 and DVD FD 1571
Pattern cutting (Ladies shirts). DVD FD 1568 and DVD FD 1569
Smart textiles. DVD FD 1554

Graphic Design
Art:21 art in the twenty-first century. DVD GD 1527
Art:21 art in the twenty-first century. DVD GD 1528
Best of Layers magazine. DVD GD 1535
Color & fire. DVD GD 1533
Objectified. DVD GD 1532
General Education
Atomic age classics. DVD GE 1685-1690
Geronimo and the Apache resistance. DVD GE 1615
Guns, germs, and steel. DVD GE 1606 and DVD GE 1607
Qusair-Amra : a structural manifesto. DVD GE 1605
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? DVD GE 1600
Why man creates. DVD GE 1529
Why we fight. DVD GE 1608

Interior Design
Career confessions interior designer. DVD ID 1542
Careers in interior design the business of structure & style. DVD ID 1549
Decorate by design scale & balance. DVD ID 1588
Designing and constructing a kitchen. DVD ID 1545
Interior design project step by step bathroom remodel. DVD ID 1544
Legal aspects of construction. DVD ID 1566 and DVD ID 1567
Real life 101 [bathroom design]. DVD ID 1548

Media Arts and Animation
Aqua Teen hunger force. DVD CA 1627 and DVD CA 1628
Best of Astro Boy. DVD CA 1618
Cat returns Neko no ongaeshi. DVD CA 1345
Charlotte's web. DVD CA 1659
Chicken Little. DVD CA 1610
Creative essence : the face. DVD CA 1530
Curse of the were-rabbit. DVD CA 1619
Dinotopia. DVD CA 1625 and DVD CA 1626
Dragon ball Z. DVD CA 1636
Final fantasy the spirits within. DVD CA 1640 and DVD CA 1641
Flushed away. DVD CA 1648
Happily n'ever after. DVD CA 1616
Happy feet. DVD CA 1635
Happy tree friends winter break. DVD CA 1617
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at law. DVD CA 1350
Hercules. DVD CA 1629
Lady and the tramp. DVD CA 1644 and DVD CA 1645
Madagascar. DVD CA 1630
Metropolis. DVD CA 1683 and DVD CA 1684
Monster house. DVD CA 1631
Mr. Magoo show. DVD CA 1653, DVD CA 1654, DVD CA 1655 and DVD CA 1656
Mulan. DVD CA 1671 and DVD CA 1672
Naruto. DVD CA 1643
Open season. DVD CA 1662
Peter Pan. DVD CA 1611 and DVD CA 1612
Ren and Stimpy show. uncut. DVD CA 1650, DVD CA 1651 and DVD CA 1652
Shorts drawer 2004. DVD CA 1577
Shorts drawer 2005. DVD CA 1578
Shorts drawer 2006. DVD CA 1579
Shorts drawer 2007. DVD CA 1580
Transformers the movie. DVD CA 1638 and DVD CA 1639
Up. DVD CA 1658

Photography
Location lighting with Drew Gardner. DVD PH 1536

Feel free to stop by the library and see my button jewelry in the display case. My pieces won the employee art competition in the amateur jewelry category and not just because the pieces were displayed in the library. Heck, the judges didn't even know who made the works.

Library News 08/13/2010

2010-08-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday the 13th!

Here is what is new:

Changes to Stylesight
Access to Stylesight is changing. The generic log-in and password are no longer needed because you can set up your own account! You must be ON CAMPUS TO SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT, then you can use it from on or off campus. The account will be active for 90 days, then you need to be on campus to set it up again. Don't worry, you won't lose your folders, it keeps them even after your account expires. To set up your account, click on this link.

New Market Research database
The library has a new subscription that should be useful for your more business-oriented classes. I am really pleased that we are able to offer this service which provides an amazing and extensive collection. It’s Market Research.Com Academic. You can use it on campus with IP recognition and off campus with the log-in and password available in the library when you show your valid student ID.

MarketResearch.com provides market intelligence on consumer demographics, market size and growth trends, industry forces and structure, product trends, competitive environment analysis, and company profiles in complete market research reports which may be downloaded.

More to come

NEW DVDs
Business

Extreme project management a flight plan for success : how to survive fast-track projects. DVD BUS 1543
Managing people for project success. DVD BUS 1555
Soft skills in the workplace. DVD BUS 1556
90 minutes to killer presentation skills. DVD BUS 1557
Your resume first they must see you in writing! DVD BUS 1558

Media Arts & Animation
Cat returns Neko no ongaeshi . DVD CA 1345
Creative essence : the face. DVD CA 1530

Culinary
Kitchen tools & utensils. DVD CU 1510
Global eating learning from other cultures. DVD CU 1509
Real food the cost of convenience. DVD CU 1511
What should we eat? the vegetarian debate. DVD CU 1512
Brave new foods the biotech revolution . DVD CU 1513
Etiquette hotline table manners. DVD CU 1514
Kitchen math and measuring how it all adds up. DVD CU 1515
Food additives why so many chemicals? DVD CU 1516
Food and fire the science (and magic) of cooking. DVD CU 1517
From farm to table. DVD CU 1518
America's test kitchen : season 6. Disc 1-4. DVD CU 1519-1522
America's test kitchen : season 7. Disc 1-4. DVD CU 1523-1526
Modern marvels : distilleries. DVD CU 1534

Fashion Design
Manufactured fibers to fabrics & beyond. DVD FD 1550
Natural fibers to fabrics & beyond. DVD FD 1551
Clothing fibers. DVD FD 1552
Chinese silk. DVD FD 1553
Smart textiles. DVD FD 1554

Graphic Design
Art:21 art in the twenty-first century : season four. DVD GD 1527
Art:21 art in the twenty-first century : season five. DVD GD 1528
Objectified. DVD GD 1532
Color & fire. DVD GD 1533
Best of Layers magazine. DVD GD 1535

General Education
Why man creates. DVD GE 1529
Introduction to critical thinking. DVD GE 1559
First comes hola meeting and greeting.. DVD GE 1560
Socially speaking what to say and when.. DVD GE 1561
Getting from here to there: donde esta’? DVD GE 1562
Out and about having fun the Spanish way. DVD GE 1563
Dining and traveling in Spain paella and more. DVD GE 1564

Interior Design
Designing and constructing a kitchen. DVD ID 1445
Career confessions interior designer. DVD ID 1542
Interior design project step by step bathroom remodel. DVD ID 1544
Real life 10 : home improvement. DVD ID 1548
Careers in interior design the business of structure & style. DVD ID 1549
Legal aspects of construction. DVD ID 1566 & DVD ID 1567

Photography
Location lighting with Drew Gardner. DVD PH 1536

DFVP
Bass on titles. DVD VP 1531
Live audio basics : a comprehensive and entertaining instructional DVD for Sound reinforcement. DVD VP 1537-1539
Field audio. DVD VP 1540
Special effects. DVD VP 1547

Hot, hot, hot. Here are some pictures to cool you off:

Library News 7/31/2010

2010-07-31T15:52:00.002-05:00

Where to begin? There has been so much going on that I could probably make this a really loooooong post but I will resist, so read on...

New Online and On-Disc Tutorials

Digital Tutors is new to Ai Dallas, it's really nice, you can read all about it on the library web page under Tutorials. Sign up for your own account and you can use it from on or off campus. It's especially good for Media Arts and Animation but the School of Design and Digital Filmmaking students and faculty might like it also. It's more project-based tutorials vs VTC which teaches you the software from beginning to end. Stay tuned for one more online tutorial announcement.

We have some new tutorials on disk from Gnomon and TurboSquid plus others.

Media Arts Animation / Gnomon
• Advanced visual effects CDR TUT 176
• Advanced visual effects 2 CDR TUT 177
• Classical sculpting: anatomy and figurative art for digital sculptors CDR 017
• Creature design with Terryl Whitlatch v.1, bovine creature CDR TUT 350
• Creature design with Terryl Whitlatch v.2, avian creature CDR TUT 351
• Creature design with Terryl Whitlatch v.3, marine creature CDR TUT 352
• Fountain, The. Part 1: hi res modeling CDR TUT 012
• Fountain, The. Part 2: low res UVing and baking CDR TUT 013
• FumeFX essentials. CDR TUT 171
• FumeFX adavanced. d.1 CDR TUT 172
• FumeFX adavanced. d.2 CDR TUT 173
• Next-Gen texturing techniques CDR TUT 014
• ParticleFX for film CDR TUT 170
• Pflow toolbox office. V.1 CDR TUT 133
• Pflow toolbox office. V.2. d.1 CDR TUT 134
• Pflow toolbox office. V.2. d.1 CDR TUT 135
• Unreal materials CDR TUT 018

Other Tutorials on Disk:

Adobe CS 5
• Total Training for Adobe Flash CS5 Professional CDR TUT 005 (DVD-ROM)
• Total Training for Adobe Illustrator CS5 Professional CDR TUT 008 (DVD-ROM)
• Total Training for Adobe Indesign CS5 : essentials CDR TUT 006
• Total Training for Adobe Photoshop CS5 CDR TUT 007 (DVD-ROM)

ProTools (on Reserve for a class until after week 8)
• Pro Tools 8, level 1 CDR TUT 001
• Pro Tools 8, level 2 CDR TUT 002
• Pro Tools 8, level 3 CDR TUT 003
• Pro Tools 8, level 4 CDR TUT 004

Sound Production
• Audio mastering with PC workstations. v.1 CDR TUT 353
• Audio mastering with PC workstations. v.1 CDR TUT 354
• Audio mastering with PC workstations. v.1 CDR TUT 355
• Internal mixing v.1 CDR TUT 356
• Internal mixing v.2 CDR TUT 357

Library News 07/06/2010

2010-07-06T15:02:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned for some really exciting changes to our online services.

Updates

Stash gets better and better. Now you can create your own playlist and save it.

New

We are getting many new magazines thanks to recommendations from faculty and students. Have a look at these when school starts July 12th. Most of our subscriptions for these started in June.

Ten Men began in 2003 and it was the innovator in the world of men’s luxury fashion. It is published quarterly, following the four seasons, and aimed at fashion-forward audience. Ten Men offers a platform for creative and respected designers, stylists and photographers.

Ten Women began in 2001 and it brings exclusive interviews, groundbreaking editorials features, and powerful and opinionated journalism. It is published quarterly, following the four seasons, and aimed at fashion-forward audience. Ten Women offers a platform for creative and respected designers, stylists and photographers.

American Artist Drawing magazine is a quarterly publication focused entirely drawing-related content. It introduces new and interesting artists. It covers a variety of mediums and art styles, with a focus on Fine Art. It includes tutorials on fundamentals of drawing, more advanced technique, academic study, and in-depth studies of old masters with good quality reproductions.

AnOther Magazine launched in 2001 and its blend of high fashion and world-class photography with features on the arts, politics and literature. Published twice a year, AnOther Magazine quickly established a reputation for highly original content brought together in its pages by an emerging set of photographers, stylists and writers bound by a search for creativity and authenticity. AnOtherMag.com brings web-exclusive fashion editorials by its leading writers.

Computer Music’s goal is to help create music with PC or Mac by bringing step-by-step tutorials on all aspects of software-based music production, unbiased reviews of the latest products, technical Q&As, and a dual layer DVD-ROM packed with exclusive software and samples.

Design Tools Monthly has been published since 1992, and has subscribers in more than 41 countries. Contributors come from all branches of the graphic arts industry: page layout, illustration, photography, retouching, printing, technical support, and more.

The FADER is the definitive voice of emerging music and the lifestyle that surrounds it. Through in-depth reporting and a distinct street sensibility, The FADER aggressively covers the most dynamic breadth of music and style emanating from the fringes of the mainstream to the heart of the underground. It is published six times a year.

Launched in 1980, i-D has built a reputation for being a consistent source of inspiration for all involved in fashion culture. i-D began as a fanzine dedicated to the street style of punk-era London in 1980 and soon became essential reading for the fashion-aware. i-D has now developed into a glossy magazine that documents fashion and contemporary culture, and has gone a long way toward defining it.

Illustration is a high quality soft cover magazine, with superb production & numerous uncommon, full color illustrations. This is a beautiful, educational, and scholarly magazine devoted to the history of American illustration art.

Packed with beginner-friendly workshops, reader galleries, tips and reviews, ImagineFX is geared towards the digital artist and goes behind the image to find out more about artists, deconstructing their work and getting to grips with their thoughts and working processes.

Nylon magazine has a unique sense of style and a keen pop culture sensibility. Each issue of Nylon magazine gives today's young woman a modern twist to fashion, beauty, music and more.

Purple Fashion offers a unique editorial context unavailable in biannual fashion magazines market, based on integrity, creativity and style. The most famous international fashion and luxury brands advertise in PURPLE FASHION in order to be associated with it¹s unique philosophy and strong creative identity, bringing an independent expression to homogenous media landscape.

V Magazine was launched in September 1999 as the younger sibling publication to the limited-edition quarterly Visionaire. If Visionaire is a couture book, V is ready-to-wear. V is large-format and visually driven, international in scope and collaborative in spirit.

WAD (We Are Different), a quarterly magazine about urban fashion and culture

Wonderland is a uniquely positioned, independent bimonthly publication for both men and women spotlighting contemporary visual culture - art, design, film - both the influences and developments, together with the very latest fashion, shot by some of the most innovative photographers working today.

Library News 06/05/2010

2010-06-05T17:54:00.000-05:00

Quick update.

We now have more electrical outlets for laptops and other electronics. Look for signs that say "Charging Table". The power strips are under the tables at the far edge. They have surge protectors. Several students and faculty members mentioned this on the library survey as something that we could improve soooo, there you go.

OMG, we have put so many new books out, you should definitely check them out.

You do know where the New Books shelves are, don't you? Underneath the DVD/Video sleeves!

Don't know where the DVD/Video sleeves are? Oh, dear!

You do know where the magazines are, right? There is a low bookshelf in the middle of the library, that is where the new books and the DVD/Video sleeves are, along with oversized magazines (AKA tabloids) and annual reports and a wee and weird collection of ancient clip art booklets.

We are very close to being able to launch the new and much improved interface to the library catalog (which is another thing that students thought could be improved on the recent survey). If you want a sneak peek at it, let me know.

Only a couple more weeks until the summer break which is 3 weeks! We have lots of tasks for the break, no rest for the library. Okay, maybe we will have a little bit of fun, who knows?

Best of Animation/Visual Effects/Motion Graphics!!

2010-05-20T13:34:00.000-05:00

We are very happy to announce a new service for all you visual effects/animation/motion graphics junkies out there.

We've subscribed to Stash for years but since it was a sort of magazine, we didn't let them leave the library. Now Stash is available online on campus. The whole thing!! 120 hours of the best in advertising and broadcasting. Big fun. One of the nifty things about the service is that they give useful information like who the client was, who did the effects or animation, what software they used, etc.

Stash is an online archive of the world's most outstanding commercial animation, visual effects and motion graphics for advertising and broadcast, updated monthly. You can find it on the library web page under Periodicals List.

--You must have Quicktime in order to view the archive.

--Stash is available on campus only.

--From the main page, click on "IP-based login" on the right of the screen.

If you are interested in watching some of these at home, you can check these disks out:

Motion graphics
DVD MM 1252-1253

Music videos
DVD VP 1250-1251

Stash best of 2007
DVD GE 1215-1216

Library News 05/15/10

2010-05-15T18:32:00.000-05:00

Rainy Saturday, a little busy to start the day but quiet now.

We have the results of our biennial survey. I am debating the best way of reporting it out. I don't know about you, but I hate to do surveys that just seem to disappear into never-never land. We really do study our survey results and try to make changes that will make the library a better place.

We are on the verge of announcing a really nifty new service. As soon as the link is up on the library web page, we will be blasting it all over the place. If you are interested in motion graphics, animation or visual effects in advertising and broadcasting, comment on this post or the Facebook page and we will give you a sneak peek!

We have continued to put new books out, be sure to stop by and check them out. Don't forget to look at Safari Books Online on the database page for new titles, such as Lesa Snider's Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual. If I remember correctly, Lesa graduated from Ai Dallas.

Another way to look at books online is to use Oxford Reference Online which has 211 books including one of my favorites, The Visual English Dictionary which has 6,000 colour illustrations from 800 subjects across 14 themes. It's good when you are illustrating something and you need to see what an object looks like. Don't forget that you need the database passwords from the Library to use these off campus.

Frank Frazetta died recently, he was a big influence on a lot of pop culture people (illustrated Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian). We have several things by and about him if you want to find out more:

Frazetta painting with fire
2 DVD set
DVD GD 811-812

Li'l Abner, the Frazetta years
NC 1429 .C25

Icon : a retrospective by the grand master of fantastic art/ Frank Frazetta
NC 975.5 .F739

The ultimate triumph : the heroic fantasy of Robert E.Howard (illustrations by Frazetta plus an essay on the two of them)
PN 6071 .F25 H693 1999

Tomorrow is Lakewoodstock where our friends The Sutcliffes are playing at 4:45. Hope the rain clears up.

2010-05-13T11:08:00.001-05:00

Davon drew a sign about the printer's latest weirdness.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2010-05-05T17:38:00.001-05:00

Danny drew on the whiteboard to promote our survey. 114 students so far!!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Library News 04/30/2010

2010-04-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

Hey!!! Want something sweet today? The first five students to do the library survey and drop off their entry to the drawing for the Border's gift card get a cupcake or a cookie, your choice.

We drew 3 names from the students who have already done the survey and gave them treats too!

Only 30 students have complete the survey, we really want to hear from more of you.

In other news:

WilsonWeb, one of our article databases has added podcasts and video podcasts from various museums around the country, it's pretty cool. You can limit it to searching just the podcasts under "Document Type". I especially like that they have some from a program on NPR called Earth and Sky.

Crafty types might want to go to Southside on Lamar this weekend for the Etsy Dallas Spring Bash. It's 11-5 Saturday. As usual, I have a busy weekend so I'm not sure if I will make it.

Watch for the Library Survey

2010-04-23T15:25:00.000-05:00

Hey, let us know what you think about the library and our services. We are conducting an online survey starting Monday, April 26th. The link to the survey will be sent to your school email. AiD students who complete the survey will have the opportunity to print out a form to be completed and dropped off in the library to win a $25.00 gift card to Borders Books and Music. The survey ends on May 7th and the drawing will be on May 12th.

I really, really, really want to know what the library is doing right and what we can improve. You are the only ones who can answer that question!!

Tax Day!!

2010-04-13T13:47:00.000-05:00

So, it seems like students might be confused about taxes. The IRS has links for ways to file for free. And links to help you decide if you really do need to file. Taxes are due on April 15th, that's why they call it Tax Day! Disclaimer: we are not tax specialists and we don't keep tax forms in the library!!

2010-04-08T11:08:00.001-05:00

This is Davon after a class came to the library looking for short stories. He's behind all the books!!

Library News 03/27/2010

2010-03-26T16:25:00.000-05:00

Finally Friday, although since I am working tomorrow, I'm not all that excited about it. It's going to be a short break, only 4 days since next Friday is a holiday for the school.

If you are out and about tomorrow night, stop by the Sons of Hermann Hall and see my husband's Rolling Stones cover band, Black and Blue, play for a Lollipop Shoppe show. I'm not sure if I'm going since I have other things going on this weekend. They probably won't start playing until close to midnight. He's the bass player, tell him I said hi.
I hope everyone has a good break. Don't forget to take care of returning anything you have checked out from the library and paying your fines (if you have any).

Tutorials
If you want to keep learning stuff over the break, you should check out VTC, our online tutorial service. I won't change the passwords for it until the end of the break. You can brush up on everything from Office to Adobe products, Maya, or Apple products, even AutoCAD. Faculty members can have their own account on VTC by contacting Lisa Casto. Students share a generic account.

Shifting
During the break, we will be shifting the magazines. That's hard work because it means putting hundreds of them in order and moving them to the back issue shelves. By the end of the week, there should only be 2010 magazines on the current shelves. The 2009 issues will be moved to the shelves along the south windows.

Valid Stickers
Please remember that continuing students pick up their valid sticker for the Spring quarter at the Registrar's Office or wherever they get their schedule. The library gives the valid sticker to the new students when they pick up their new student ID.

Slides
Over the last two quarters, we've given away thousands of slides. I'm curious about what people did with them? If you want to see what I did, stop by the library and I'll show you.

I've had the pleasure of going to the new Whole Foods twice now and both times I've run into Ai students working there which is kind of cool. It's weird too because we are seeing each other out of context. And funny because they say things like "oh, you're the librarian". What's a snappy response to that? All I can think of is, "yes, I am". Usually when I go to the store, people don't know my profession. It kind of throws me off. I guess they must expect me to tell them to get off their cellphones, put their food and drinks away and to shush them. Maybe not.

Library News 03/20/2010

2010-03-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

Another quiet Saturday in the library. The weather is dreary and snow is in the forecast. Dallas does not do well with precipitation of any form and especially not the frozen kind. I expect it will stay dead even though it's the end of the quarter.

Technology Survey

Hey Students!! The Technology department wants to know what you think of their services! This is a great chance to give your 2 cents.

The survey is here.

Database Passwords

I can't even pretend to imagine how many times we tell students, "you must show your valid student ID in order to pick up the database passwords". We do not give them out over the phone or through email. And yet, yesterday a student called on the phone and asked for the passwords and argued about it. Dang, people!

All Library Materials are Due by March 27th.

Don't forget that everything is due before the break. Fines will continue to accrue so you want to make sure that you return everything!

Another quarter is winding down. It's a short break so you can be assured that we won't be moving a lot of books around. We will probably clean and organize stuff in the back. The library will be open Monday to Friday from 8 to 5 break week.

Library News 03/13/2010

2010-03-13T17:38:00.000-06:00

I see the sunshine but it doesn't see me, since I'm working all day today.

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight, Spring Forward!

Art Culinaire

Art Culinaire comes out quarterly, we have it in the Design Annuals so it can't be checked out. It is a gorgeous work, I've heard it called "porn for chefs". I recently discovered that they have an index to chefs and recipes on their web page which makes it even more useful. I've put the link on Delicious. Art Culinaire would be an excellent resource for profiles of contemporary chefs because they do interviews. The latest issue (94) has profiles of olives, mangosteen, seaweed, green restaurants and Iceland. How can you beat that? Because of the incredible photography, it would also be worthwhile for the digital photography student. And now I am hungry and the turkey sandwich planned for my lunch today doesn't sound so good.

It's been a really quiet Saturday. I unfortunately found more slides that need to leave the library, come and get them while they last.

Don't forget to enter the juried art show for the Pegasus Gallery if you are so inclined. I can't wait to see this show.

Want to know more about Irish legends?

A Treasury of Irish myth, legend, and folklore /
GR 153.5 .T734 1986

Tales of the Celtic otherworld /
BL 900 .M388

The Celtic breeze : stories of the otherworld from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales /
GR 137 .M33 2001

Next week is spring break for public schools and I plan to be off a few days since I have family visiting. Hopefully we will go to the art museums and I'll have time to make some jewelry. Enjoy your Saint Patrick's Day.

Library News 3/5/2010

2010-03-05T10:43:00.000-06:00

Week 8 is nearly over!!! This quarter is going fast.

What's new in the library?

ProQuest has some features that we don't talk about much but they are pretty cool. It's the My Research page. Here is what they say about it: "My Research lets you save documents you find useful and view details from your searches during your ProQuest session. You can then print a bibliography and email or export several documents at once. You can use the links to documents and publications, as well as searches you have run to create web pages. "

Create a web page?! Yes, you can make a web page for your research in ProQuest. I think this would be useful for team projects or for an instructor to select articles for their class to read. Check these articles I put together on the new Alice in Wonderland movie. If you are off campus, you will need the log-in and passwords to see the links.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland, that story has been made into many movies over the years. How about this story from NPR that includes a clip of a 1903 version?

The Library has the Disney movie version and the book for your viewing/reading pleasure.   And yes, we will buy the Burton movie when it comes out on DVD.

Alice in Wonderland
DVD CA 1347-1348

Alice’s adventures in Wonderland
PZ 7 .C234937 Ak 2002

OUCH!!

The purple, red, blue and black around my eye is not the result of sloppy application of eyeshadow! Okay, it's true, I do have a black eye but the rumors about me beating up someone who was eating soup in the library are simply untrue. I was hit by a street sign!  Please note that despite what my friend Maury said, I was not texting while walking and ran into a sign.   The sign hit me, I did not hit it.

The truth is that most accidents do happen in the home. I was getting a heavy box down from a high shelf for my mother-in-law and there was a street sign on the shelf that no one knew was until there until it clonked me in the head.   I did not see stars or little birds circling around my head but I did exercise some colorful language. Just in case you are curious, it was Milby street.

Library News 2/27/2010

2010-02-27T16:50:00.000-06:00

Another Saturday creeps to a close. I heard there was sunshine today, I've been here since 8:30 and won't be leaving until 6 so I'm probably not at risk for sunburn. I've been ordering new materials and fighting jams in the copier.

There seems to be lots of buzz about an animation production for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, they are doing it in claymation. I am sure that patience really is a virtue in a production like that. It's great to see how excited people are about it, even students with other majors are helping out when they can. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project.

Since even animation students who work in the library don't know about the Texture disks, I thought I should write about them here. They are listed on the library web page under Media. We have these:

CDR CA 001 People n motion: business attire, v. 1

CDR CA 002 People n motion: business attire, v. 2

CDR CA 003 People n motion: casual attire, v. 1

CDR CA 004 People n motion: casual attire, v. 2

CDR CA 011 Dosch designs: human eyes

CDR CA 011 Dosch designs: human eyes

CDR CA 012 Dosch designs: animal & creature eyes

CDR CA 013 Dosch designs: 3D comics, vol. 1

CDR CA 014 Dosch designs: 3D comics, vol. 2

CDR CA 020 Seamless textures you can really use

CDR CA 021 Seamless textures 2 : rustic exterior surfaces

CDR CA 022 Seamless textures 3 : ultimate interior surfaces

CDR CA 023 Seamless textures 4 : classic stonework

CDR CA 024 Seamless textures 5 : downtown surfaces & signs

CDR CA 025 Seamless textures 6 : classic architectural ornament

CDR CA 026 Seamless textures 7 : great textures of Europe, vol. 1

CDR CA 027 Seamless textures 7 : great textures of Europe, vol. 2

CDR CA 028 Seamless textures 8 : absolute metal surfaces

CDR MM 046 Total textures, v. 1 : general

CDR MM 047 Total textures, v. 2 : aged & stressed

CDR MM 048 Total textures, v. 3 : bases & layers

CDR MM 049 Total textures, v. 4 : humans & creatures

CDR MM 050 Total textures, v. 5 : dirt & graffiti

CDR MM 051 Total textures, v. 6 : clean textures

CDR MM 052 Total textures, v. 7 : sci-fi

CDR MM 053 Total textures, v. 8 : vehicles

CDR MM 054 Total textures, v. 9 : ancient tribes & civilizations

CDR MM 055 Total textures, v. 10 : trees & parks (DVD-ROM)

CDR MM 056 Total textures, v. 11 : alien organic

CDR MM 057 Total textures, v. 12 : textures from around the world 1

CDR MM 058 Total textures, v. 13 : textures from around the world 2

CDR MM 059 Total textures, v. 14 : fantasy

CDR MM 060 Total textures, v. 15 : toon textures

Students may borrow one disk at a time for one hour at a time with their valid student ID. It helps a lot if you know the CDR number because that's the order they are in. I plan to order some more disks in the next week or so.

On Monday I will be out of the office all day at the annual Board of Advisors meeting for the library school at UNT in Denton.

Keep the people in Chile and around the Pacific in your thoughts.

Library Computer Lab Schedule

2010-02-26T11:48:00.000-06:00

Next week (3/1-5), there are five classes in the library lab:

Monday 3/1, 8-9:30 pm
Tuesday 3/2, 9-10:30 am and 3-4:30 pm
Thursday 3/4, noon-1:30 pm
Friday 3/5, noon-1:30 pm

Classes 2-22 through 2-26

2010-02-19T12:36:00.000-06:00

Next week we have one class in the Library Computer Lab--

Tuesday 2/23 9-10:30 am

Knock yourselves out.

Voting in Texas

2010-02-18T09:30:00.000-06:00

There is a primary election coming up in Texas. You should vote because that's an important part of participating in our democracy and being an American (if you are a citizen, that is).
Here is the League of Women Voter's Guide, they are non-partisan ( in other words, they aren't Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, TeaBagger or any other political position).

EARLY VOTING IN PERSON
All registered voters may vote early by personal appearance at any early voting location in their county. Check with your local newspaper or the county clerk or elections administrator for early voting times and locations. Early voting days for the March 2, 2010, primary election are February 16-26, 2010.

Check here to see if you are already registered to vote.

Click here to find your polling place.

I've voted lots of times and it doesn't hurt at all.

Library Class Schedule this week

2010-02-15T21:06:00.000-06:00

The library computur lab is reserved for classes this week on:

Tuesday 2/16 9 am to 10:30 am
Wednesday 2/17 1 pm to 2:30 pm
Friday 2/19 8:45 am to 11 am (two classes) and 2 pm to 3 pm

Evening classes cancelled-check AiDFuser

2010-02-11T14:41:00.000-06:00

The library will be open until 8 unless the weather gets worse. School is closed tomorrow (Friday) for Presidents' Day. The library will be open normal hours for the weekend.

Make some Snow Ice Cream! Don't eat the yellow snow!

Just in case you were

2010-02-11T10:03:00.000-06:00

Just in case you were wondering--school is still open. The snow is beautiful and the roads are slushy.

Library News 02/06/2010

2010-02-06T17:11:00.000-06:00

Ah, Saturday, so quiet, so very, very quiet...

I did actually get a few things done. I went through a long list of lost stuff to decide what to replace and what to withdraw. I think people get confused about that word "lost", most things that are lost aren't really lost, someone checked them out and then didn't return them for various reasons out of our control. If a current student loses something, they need to pay the cost of the item plus a $15 processing or restocking fee, plus their overdue charges up to $10. We do this so that we don't become some unscrupulous person's private bookstore. If a student drops out of school with library materials, these charges are added to their account.

It was a heck of a week. Had 11 college orientation tours which means 11 scavenger hunts which means lots of stuff to put away. Plus we had 4 regular library instruction classes and a bunch of meetings. Next week is looking a little better (maybe because we are off on Friday?).

Tip of the Day

I have observed that students tend to ignore books that don't have pretty covers. You should really be careful about that. Some books that are so good the covers get worn off may end up being sent to the bindery in Waco and come back with boring covers but extended lives. It is absolutely true that you can't judge a book by its cover.

Also, for some reason, we've had a run of people wanting to print 11 x17 on the computer lab printer. Um, that won't work because it doesn't fit into the paper trays. If you want to print bigger than 8.5 x 11 then you should send it to the Print Lab.

And another thing, please try to get the word out that changing the student email to Gmail doesn't mean that your email address changed. Gmail is just how it's running now and it has some bonuses like more having more room for messages and web pages and stuff like that.
I want to send a big thank you to Davon for inviting his friends to fan the Library Facebook page. The number of fans doubled in one week!! He is obviously a man of great influence.

Next week, no classes are scheduled in the computer lab. That’s unusual for week 5.

Hope you all have a good weekend. I hope to go see The Fantastic Mr. Fox at the dollar movies.

How to renew materials all by yourself!!

2010-01-29T14:51:00.000-06:00

Voyager Renewals

Here are the directions (for now, this could all change, hopefully to be simpler) for renewing materials from home. Make sure you have your student ID card with you.

RENEW

NOT available if items are overdue

Search Catalog
Go to Advanced Search

Click on Patron in the red bar at the top.
To log-in:

If your ID barcode starts with 2066--use 22017000 plus your 6 digit ID number, ignore any letters :

22017000123456
If your ID barcode starts with 22017-- enter the entire barcode, ignore any letters
Enter your last name below your barcode.

It should display what you have checked out and let you renew them as long as they aren't overdue and you don't have any fines and you haven't exceeded the renewal limits of 2 times for a book, once for a video or DVD.

Working again

2010-01-22T17:58:00.000-06:00

We're back!! All is well in internet land, everything is working, time for me to go home now.

It's Friday afternoon and the

2010-01-22T16:52:00.001-06:00

It's Friday afternoon and the internet is down at school. We can't check things in and out or access the databases on campus. Some fun!

Library News 1/20/2010

2010-01-20T10:15:00.000-06:00

Week 2 is half over. We had 11 library classes week 1 and only 3 classes this week. Kind of strange. Next week we have 4 scheduled.

Databases

The sign-ups for the new Getty service have been kind of slow, what's wrong with you people? It's a great service, maybe when students get further into their assignments, the usage will pick up. I hope I'm not forced to have our student workers walk around with sandwich boards or dressed up like the Statue of Liberty standing on the skybridge from the student garage.

Some good stuff from Stylesight, they added two new sections in the Images, one on advertising campaigns that should be useful, also a section called Brushes and Fills that has pre-designed patterns and details that can be used with Illustrator. If you want to use this service off campus, come by the library with your valid student ID to pick up the passwords which change every quarter.

Voyager

The reaction to the new catalog, Voyager, has been pretty good. Just a few people have looked for books that are actually at other libraries. Here are a few tips:

Make sure you are searching Ai Dallas
Use the wild card, which is the question mark, ?

If you want to renew a book, you can log in as a patron. In order to do that, you need your barcode on your ID; the old IDs have the wrong prefix so pay close attention here:

If the barcode on your ID starts with 22017000 then you are OK, go ahead and log in. Ignore the letters at the begining and end.

If the barcode on your ID starts with 20660200 then use the prefix above instead, 22017000 plus your six digit student ID number, ignore any letters at the begining and end.

Other stuff
Woo-hoo, the Library Facebook page has 37 fans! I'll freely admit that 2 of them live at my house; still, I'm pretty happy with it.

Haiti

2010-01-14T21:16:00.000-06:00

If you want to help the people of Haiti, here are some options:

Got no money? Give blood if you are eligible.

Carter

Red Cross

And speaking of the Red Cross, they are doing an awful lot to help as they always do. You can donate $10 to Haiti relief by texting “Haiti” to 90999. This is legit, they've raised more than $3 million that way so far.

Here is a list of religious and spiritual organizations that are working to help in Haiti. Take your pick, depending on your preference.

InterAction

If you find a good way to help, please feel free to let me know so I can post it.

We're back!!

2010-01-14T07:03:00.002-06:00

Happy to report this morning that the library web page and catalog are working again. Many thanks to the IT folks who I suspect were at work very late last night.

Network probs

2010-01-13T22:05:00.000-06:00

If you are having trouble getting to the library web page or the catalog, please be patient, they are working on it as I write. Hopefully it will be working in the morning. Crossing my fingers...

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-11T09:40:00.000-06:00

The library was busy during the break!

Stop by to see how the books were rearranged to take advantage of the shelves left empty by Argosy’s departure. The Reference section is expanded to two ranges and the unusable top shelves were removed.

If you take a look at the library web page, you will see links to our blog, Facebook page and Delicious links. The new catalog, Voyager is up and running. Voyager replaces Athena. With the new catalog, changes to circulation policies were made:

Videos and DVDs are now a 7 day check-out instead of 3 days, the fine remains $1 a day
In the past, books that came with disks were checked out for 7 days only and couldn’t be renewed, those items may now be renewed the same as books without disks
Overdue notices will be mailed out automatically

There may be some kinks in circulation as the Voyager system is rolled out, please be patient with us, it will be a wonderful service when it’s all worked out. Don’t forget that canned goods will be accepted in lieu of fines for the first two weeks of the quarter.

Media

The Omnimusic service will now be available on or off campus using the log-in and password which is available when you show your valid student ID in the library. Passwords are not given out over the phone or through email. Our Omnimusic service includes sound effects.

On the Media page, you will see a link to the new Getty service. Getty Images+Video will allow faculty, staff and students to download stock photographs and illustrations along with stock footage from any internet connected computer. A music and sound effects service from Getty will be announced soon.

In order to use the service, you must agree to the Terms of Service which are available on the library web page under Media. Please note these important points:

• Premium Access must be selected in order to receive the materials included in our subscription.

• You may NOT use any of the materials from Getty for anything but Art Institute of Dallas education related work. In other words, you may not use these materials for other employment or freelance work.

• All materials must be properly credited; directions on how to cite are included in the documentation on the library web page.

• Download limits are 50 high resolution images and 15 clips per quarter.

Students will share a generic account, faculty and staff will share their own generic account. The passwords will be changed every quarter; the new passwords will be mailed to your school email address if you have completed the agreement. You must complete the Terms of Service agreement annually in order to continue to use the service.

So what’s in Getty? Getty Images + Video contains nearly one million non-digitally watermarked royalty-free images and more than 300,000 rights-ready and royalty-free video clips.

Bring 'em back!

2009-12-15T10:48:00.000-06:00

The quarter is coming to an end. That means all library materials are due on or before Dec. 19th.

Fines will continue to accrue during the break.
The library and the computer lab are closed to students during the break.
We will be open for faculty and staff Monday through Friday from 8am to 5 pm except for the holidays.
Students may return materials and take care of fines during our business hours.

When the students return after the break, these changes will have happened:

All the books will be moved so we can use the shelves that Argosy left empty.
An oversized book collection will be created (hopefully).
Athena will be replaced with Voyager, a new library management system.
The Getty Images service will be launched.
The library blog, Delicious links and Facebook page will be on the library web page.

It's likely that we will also make these changes:

Videos and DVDs will be a 7 day loan instead of 3 day.
Students, faculty and staff will be able to renew their materials online.
We will renew loans for for books with disks (these use to be 7 only loans).

Have a good break, people!

2009-12-03T17:40:00.001-06:00

Lots of drinks waiting for people using the library today.

StyleSight Update

2009-12-02T09:51:00.000-06:00

Here is StyleSight's monthly newsletter. It's worth a read if you are into that kind of thing (fashion, trends, etc.).

Library News 11/24/2009

2009-11-24T16:43:00.001-06:00

Nearly Thanksgiving.

The library will be closed on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. We will be open regular hours on the weekend, Sat. 8:30-6:00 and Sun. 1:00-6:00.

Wouldn't you like to be able to download stock photos, footage, sound effects and music directly from the web? Stay tuned, the library is about to make a big announcement!! HINT: Getty.

Another exciting change will be replacing our catalog and library management system, Athena, with Voyager which is the same system used by the Library of Congress and SMU.

This past couple of weeks, we've had lots of students working on papers on Othello and Death of Salesman. Not the same people of course!

A student actually asked me if we had any books on painters...

We are still giving away slides, I made some nifty earrings out of some of the 80s fashion shows.

Many many slides

2009-11-19T15:30:00.001-06:00

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Remember slides?

2009-11-18T14:51:00.003-06:00

The library is getting rid of old 35mm slides, some are in good condition, some are not. Subject matter ranges from fashion to construction to art to old graduation pictures. I know you will love the 1980s fashion shows. I'll be putting boxes out over the next few days. I am sure some creative student can come up with a good use for them. Come and get them.

And lest you feel compelled to tell me that we can donate them, the Dallas Museum of Art is also getting rid of their slides, or if you think we should digitize them, we don't have the rights to do that, plus some of the slides were already legally digitized. We need the room, they don't get used any more. They have got to go. Spread the word.

Library News 11/11/09

2009-11-11T19:27:00.006-06:00

A big thank you to all the veterans and their families for serving our country.

So what's new in the library?

The Mildred M. Kelley Library has a large number of software tutorials in CD-ROM and DVD format available for student use as well as an online tutorial service, VTC. Tutorial discs may be checked out for three days. Many tutorials are multi-disc sets, but because of the demand for these items, only one disc at a time may be checked out. The call number of each disc follows the author. In order to check out a tutorial disc, present the call number and a valid AiDallas ID card at the Circulation Desk.

We have new Gnomon tutorials, this is a list of tutorials we have added in 2009:

3D matte painting and camera mapping
Stoski, Chris.
CDR TUT 345

Character design for production concept techniques /
Han, Richard Peter.
CDR TUT 339

Character modeling for production character modeling and texturing techniques with Ian Joyner /
Joyner, Ian.
CDR TUT 257

Character modeling in Maya and ZBrush the making of Jester, volume one / with Alex Alvarez.
Alvarez, Alex.
CDR TUT 340

Character texturing and rendering the making of Jester, volume two. /
Alvarez, Alex.
CDR TUT 342

Character texturing for production materials and texturing techniques with Ian Joyner /
Joyner, Ian.
CDR TUT 256

Character texturing for production texturing techniques /
Neall, Ben.
CDR TUT 338

Creature design. designing with Photoshop, XSI and ZBrush / with Aaron Sims.
Sims, Aaron.
CDR TUT 337

Creature detailing for production
Pierlot, Laurent.
CDR TUT 259

Creature modeling for production
Pierlot, Laurent.
CDR TUT 260

Creature texturing and rendering for production
Pierlot, Laurent.
CDR TUT 258

Digital creature painting design and technique using Adobe Photoshop /
Zar, Chet.
CDR TUT 328

High resolution 3D vehicle illustration 3D rendering and compositing /
McCaffrey, Brendan.
CDR TUT 344

Introduction to ZBrush 3 tools and workflow /
Meier, Meats.
CDR TUT 335

Matte painting production techniques matte painting for film /
Stoski, Chris.
CDR TUT 346

Mental ray fundamentals /
Hartle, Matt.
CDR TUT 325

Mental ray global illumination /
Hartle, Matt.
CDR TUT 326

Mental ray lighting and shaders /
Hartle, Matt.
CDR TUT 327

Practical light and color theory and application /
Vickery, Jeremy.
CDR TUT 333

Sculpting comic book style
Brown, John.
CDR TUT 332

Texture painting weathered surfaces : photorealistic texturing /
Campion, Paul.
CDR TUT 347

The digital maquette. art direction and digital sculpting /
Petroc, Zack.
CDR TUT 334

The techniques of Scott Robertson. basic perspective form drawing /
CDR TUT 323

The techniques of Scott Robertson. how to draw aircraft /
CDR TUT 330

The techniques of Scott Robertson. how to draw cars : foundation techniques /
CDR TUT 329

The techniques of Scott Robertson. how to draw hovercraft and spacecraft /
CDR TUT 331

UV mapping for games
Escalante, Mayan.
CDR TUT 349

We've talked to a bunch of classes this quarter and mid-start is tomorrow so here we go again. So far, this quarter we've had 25 classes in the library plus around 15 tours. There are still a good number on the schedule for the rest of the quarter.

Some students are making me crazy by doing exactly what we advise them not to do which is write the stupid paper and then come to the library to find references to add to their paper. PEOPLE!! The point is to do research, find information related to your topic, note your references and then write your paper. It's ever so much easier that way, really! The tried and true method.

We are in the process of implementing a new catalog to replace Athena. I think it will be an improvement but it might be a bumpy road getting there. The new system is Voyager and is used in many colleges around the country.

I'm working on Christmas crafts and I could use old Christmas cards if you have some that you want to put into a good retirement.

Voting Tuesday in Texas

2009-11-02T16:45:00.002-06:00

Here are some good links about the voting tomorrow:

https://team.sos.state.tx.us/voterws/viw/faces/SearchSelectionPolling.jsp

There are a large number of state constitutional amendments so it helps to have them translated into plain language. I like The League of Women Voters for that.

http://www.lwvtexas.org/2009VG/2009CAVG[FINAL].pdf

Why vote? It's one of the obligations of living in a democracy, you need to participate to make it work.

Halloween in the Library

2009-10-30T10:52:00.005-05:00

It's Halloween. I had a great idea for a costume but just didn't have time to put it together, maybe next year. If you stop by the library today, we have a treat for you.

So, what's new?

Safari has a new release with some nice enhancements. Don't forget that Safari Books Online has more than 7,785 books on technology, creative professional and business topics. You can use their sophisticated search functionality to locate a specific book or to find the best content available across several books on a given topic. You can get to Safari from the library web page. If you are off campus, you will need the log-in and password which is available in the library if you show us your valid AI Dallas student ID card. We don't give the passwords out over the phone.

Omnimusic

Last week, students were having problems with downloading from Omnimusic in the Audio lab in the culinary building. It turns out the right version of Quicktime wasn't on those computers. I believe this has been corrected. As always, let us know if you have any problems with any of our services.

Speaking of Problems...

In the last couple of weeks, students had trouble getting to the library webpage from their laptops. It turns out there is some kind of problem with putting www in front of the web address. Don't do it and you should be fine. aidlrc.aiiresources.com is the way to go.

We did 11 College Orientation tours this week. It was a bit of a beating but completely worth it if the students learn to use the vast resources in the library.

Registration is coming up! Don't wait until the last minute!! Here are some reasons to register as soon as you can:

Better selection of classes and times

Late fee kicks in at a certain point

Easier to arrange for classes with your friends

Saves the advisors and school directors from tracking you down

Save a tree, don't make them send you paper reminders

If you have to make arrangements at work or for childcare, then the sooner you know your schedule, the better

The early bird gets the worm

If you sign up for a class, you might be the one that keeps them from dropping the class for lack of interest

Shorter lines

The first step to breaking the procrastination habit!!

Library News 10/21/2009

2009-10-21T15:11:00.004-05:00

I haven't been to see Where the Wild Things Are yet, I will soon. I was sure that someone would come and ask us what the library has on Spike Jonze who directed the movie. Since no one has asked, here is a preemptive list:

DVD VP 196

The work of director Spike Jonze [videorecording] : a collection of music videos, short films, documentaries and rarities

Side A: Music videos: California (Wax), Sure Shot (Beastie boys), Drop (The Pharcyde), Cannonball (The Breeders), Sabotage (Beastie Boys), Da funk (Daft Punk), Whjat's up Fatlip? (Fatlip), Undone (Weezer), Praise you (Fatboy slim), Sky's the limit (Notorious B.I.G.), Weapon of Choice (Fatboy Slim), Buddy Holly (Weezer), Elektrobank (The Chemical Brothers), It's oh so quiet (Bjork), Feel the Pain (Dinosaur Jr. If I only had a brain (MC 900ft Jesus) -- The interviews -- Making of drop with the Pharcyde -- audio commentaries. Side B: Rarities: How they get there, Mark Paints, Oasis video that never happened, Rockafella Skank, The woods -- Documentaries: What's up Fatlip, Amarillo by Morning, Torrance Rises.

We also have these movies:

DVD VP 014

Being John Malkovich

DVD VP 1262

The Fall

Dave Eggers was one of the writers for the screenplay, we have an anthology that he edited, which means he help select the stories in it.

PS 645 .B47 2002

The best American nonrequired reading, 2002

For more on Maurice Sendak, who wrote Where the Wild Things Are, we have these books-

NC 975.5 .S44 K87 2003

The art of Maurice Sendak : 1980 to the present

and a book that Mr. Sendak put together:

NC 1850 .S44 A4

Posters / by Maurice Sendak

Hey, if you look to your right (unless you are getting this in email), you will see that the library has a Facebook page, as Mr. Rogers used to sing, it's such a good feeling , the feeling you know that we're friends.

Library News 10/14/2009

2009-10-14T14:45:00.004-05:00

We are nearly to the end of our food drive. Today we delivered 82 food items to the student food pantry. Here is a picture, courtesy of Kari Doyle.

The criteria for stuff that was icky caused some debate among the library staff.

I turned my nose up at canned new potatoes while several people said they were delicious.

Cristina questioned the jelly but I said all the peanut butter that we received really needed some jelly to go with it. I half expected Joe to steal it before it got to the food pantry. Now we know what to get him for Christmas.

There were a lot of cans of corn and really enormous cans of tuna along with some Vienna sausages that I have my doubts about.

Don't forget that you can pay your fines with food until Sunday.

Food for Fines

2009-10-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

Canned Food Drive

From Oct. 1 through Oct. 16, students may exchange one can or jar of food* (at least 10 oz.) for each dollar of library fines**. All food collected by the library will be donated to the Student Food Pantry.

Bring your food to the library for credit on your fines.

The most needed food items are:

Tuna           Pastas           Spaghetti sauce
   Individual meals   Canned soup
Canned corn                Peanut butter



*The library reserves the right to refuse any items that are too weird or icky for student consumption.
**This offer does not apply to lost materials, cash or check will be accepted for those costs.

Industry Information--Plunkett's

2009-09-22T14:44:00.001-05:00

If you are looking for an overview of an industry, you should see the Plunkett research guides in our Reference collection. We also have their books on advertising, e-commerce, apparel, entertainment and food. Here is what Plunkett has to say about their Retail almanac.

Plunkett's retail industry almanac 2009 : the only comprehensive guide to the retail industry

Ref HF 5429 .P586 2009

"This exciting new book covers competitive intelligence, market research and business analysis--everything you need to know about the retail business, including:

1. Analysis of major retailing and retail store business trends and markets.

2. Historical retail industry statistics and tables.
3. Profiles of major chain store and specialty store operators, such as The Gap, Barnes & Noble, Intimate Brands and many, many more.

4. Profiles of food retailers of all types, from convenience store operators like 7-11 to giant supermarket chains like Albertsons and HEB.

5. Emerging technologies, including self checkout and RFID (radio frequency ID tag).

6. Profiles and trends of top department store chains, including Dillards, Saks, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus.

7. Profiles and trends of leading discount store and warehouse club operators, like Wal-Mart, Costco and Target.

8. A discussion of trends in e-commerce and Internet-based retailing, including synergies of “bricks and clicks.”

9. A discussion of trends and profiles of leading companies in such non-store retailing and direct-marketing areas as consumer catalogs, party-based sales, multi-level marketing, television shopping and mail order.

10. Retail opportunities in China.

11. Entertainment and travel-based retail opportunities.

12. Distribution centers and logistics.

13. Retail mergers, acquisitions and private equity.

You'll find a complete overview, industry analysis and market research report in one superb, value-priced package. This book also includes statistical tables, a retail industry glossary, retail industry contacts and thorough indexes. The corporate profile section of the book includes our proprietary, in-depth profiles of the 500 leading companies in all facets of retailing, retail technologies and retail support services. "

Library News 09/19/2009

2009-09-18T09:04:00.005-05:00

The quarter is drawing to a close. It's the last day of week 10. A sad time for us due to the tragic loss of a student.

Stylesight has added streaming video of runway fashion shows along with clips of vintage fashions going back to the 1950s. Plus the new feature has a screen grab so you can capture shots from the video.

We are continuing to put out lots of new DVDs. A couple that you might want to check out are the Stash DVDs. We have the best of 2007, Music Videos and Motion Graphics. You might think the 2007 disk is old but check out this description:

Available for the first time on disk, this superlative collection delivers 40 of the most inspired and spectacular commercials, music videos, virals, broadcast designs, game cinematics and short films of 2007.

Stash best of 2007 / DVD GE 1215-1216
Motion graphics. DVD MM 1252-1253
Music videos. DVD VP 1250-1251

Don't forget that we subscribe to Stash and you can view the DVD magazine in the library.

New AiD Blogs!!

2009-09-04T14:07:00.003-05:00

The Career Services folks are putting together some really good blogs for each program. You can find them on AIDFuser. The ones that are already up are here:

Animation
Fashion
Design
Digital Film/Video
Photography

Ballistic

2009-09-02T16:46:00.002-05:00

If you like incredible digital art then you will probably be pleased to hear that Ballistic is offering our students a 15% discount on their publications. The library currently owns these Ballistic titles with more to come:

Character modeling / T 385 .C5373 2004
Matte painting / T 385 .M3884 2005
Character modeling 2 / T 385 .C5373 2007
The art of Oddworld inhabitants / GV 1469.25 .O32 A77 2004
Expose : finest digital art in the known universe. N 7433.8 .E96
Machine phase : booby trap / Fowler, Dean. N 7433.8 .F685 2004
Digital painting / T 385 .D5557 2004
Painter : the world's finest Painter art / N 7433.8 .P34 2006
Grand space opera / N 7433.8 .G736 2005
Machineflesh / N 7433.8 .V354 2005
Elemental : the world's best discreet art / N 7433.8 .E546 2004
Vesage / N 7433.8 .V473 2005
Concept art / T 385 .C663 2006
Creative essence : the face / TR 897.7 .F44 2007

Library Card Month!!!

2009-08-31T14:52:00.005-05:00

September is National Library Card Sign-Up month!

As a student at The Art Institute of Dallas, your student ID is your library card for the Mildred M. Kelley Library. Why stop there? Why not get a library card from your public library?

How much does it cost? Nothing, because your tax dollars already paid for it!

Many public libraries provide access to online databases, movies, CDs, downloads, computers, photocopiers, a quiet place to study and much more.

If your area isn’t on this list, check the closest city, they may provide services to your town or county.

Click on the city below for information on getting a public library card.

Dallas

Allen

Carrollton

Denton

Euless

Farmers Branch

Frisco

Fort Worth

Irving

McKinney

Garland

North Richland Hill

Richardson

Wylie

Library News 08/25/2009

2009-08-12T15:16:00.004-05:00

Maybe you've noticed some empty places in the library? The Argosy library moved to their new location this weekend. You will see us gradually moving into the empty space. One immediate change is to take one of the scanners out of the library computer lab and move it to the old reference desk in the middle of the library. That is so students will have access to a scanner, even when the lab is closed for class. Please remember, this computer is for scanner use only.

We hired a new student worker to help us cover the hours that are left open by Argosy moving. The library is open 89.5 hours a week and we need to have two people here at all times because of the layout.

VTC
Virtual Training Corporation (VTC) is an online software training service. You have access to all VTC content. Movies can be streamed over any Internet connection directly to your computer. Connect to VTC via the library web page under Tutorials

• 81,350 Video Tutorials
• Video available as Flash or Quicktime
• Over 715 Courses

AiD has ten simultaneous users. VTC is available on or off campus. A certificate is available upon completion of a course.

Categories
Animation & 3D
Audio
Business Applications
Certification
Databases
Graphics & Page Layout
Internet & Web Design
Multimedia & Video
Networking & Security
Operating Systems
Programming
QuickStart!

Products or Publishers
Adobe
Apple
Cakewalk
CompTIA
Corel
Dreamweaver
FileMaker
Macromedia
Microsoft
Oracle
Photoshop
Sony

Top 10 Most Used VTC Tutorials (in the past year)

1. Pixologic ZBrush 3.1
2. Adobe After Effects CS3
3. Adobe InDesign CS3
4. Adobe Photoshop CS3
5. Apple DVD Studio Pro 4
6. How to Build a Basic Website
7. Adobe Photoshop CS4
8. Autodesk Revit Building 9
9. Adobe InDesign CS
10. Microsoft Visual C# .NET

Library News 08/07/09

2009-08-07T15:43:00.003-05:00

Week 4 done. Many College Orientation tours this week. It's so interesting how a student will argue that we said one thing and the other 27 get it right on the quiz. The students have for the most part been attentive, interesting and friendly. The student who was mouthy and couldn't follow the verbal or written directions on the quiz and then asked about the job opening in the library made my day.

We added a bunch of new VHS tapes, we probably won't buy many more of those although, surprisingly, there are still some things that are only in VHS, imagine that!

Integrated marketing communications VHS BUS 1806
Advertising, sales promotion & public relations VHS BUS 1808
Beef value cuts new cuts for the new consumer. VHS CU 124
Rice cookery VHS CU 1809
Body language skills for actors VHS GE 1839
All my sons VHS VP 1813
The monster that ate Hollywood VHS VP 1818
The Motion picture VHS VP 1828
Creating critical TV viewers anatomy of a newscast / VHS VP 1834
The impact of television VHS VP 1840
And nothing but the truth VHS VP 269
Film as art VHS VP 687
Distribution retailing and wholesaling strategies / VHS BUS 1807
Cutting their own cloth VHS FD 1351
Cotton production seed to shirt / VHS FD 1819
From fabric to 501's Levi Strauss & Co. / VHS FD 1820
What is a short story? a discussion by Clifton Fadiman / VHS GE 1814
Dot con VHS GE 1817
Ernest Hemingway wrestling with life / VHS GE 1822
Not so long ago VHS GE 1823
Straight talk Getting straight / VHS GE 1825
Straight talk starting early / VHS GE 1826
The story of English. VHS GE 1829-1832
The story of English. a look into the future / VHS GE 1833
The evolving world economy VHS GE 1842
The functions of mass communications VHS GE 1843
Emily Dickinson a certain slant of light / VHS GE 474
You can make it on your own VHS GE 747
Make all your clients good clients / VHS BUS 1815
Creating winning presentations in A/E/P & environmental consulting firms VHS BUS 1816Project management for improved productivity VHS BUS 1827
Business basics supply & demand. VHS BUS 1841
Color perceptions VHS GD 1810
The power of color VHS ID 1811
Engineering secrets VHS ID 1824
Contemporary Estonian animation VHS CA 1835
Chinese animation. VHS CA 1844
Chinese animation. VHS CA 1845

I went to the Ai Cines showing last night at the Studio Movie Grill, the films were excellent. I am amazed at the talent and creativity of our students. Check them out.

The Library is Hiring!

2009-08-03T15:54:00.002-05:00

Is this you?

o Art Institute student, 2nd quarter or later but not near graduating

o Good grades

o Enrolled in least 10 hours

o Responsible (known for showing up to work on time)

o Reliable transportation

o Able to work some nights until 10:30 pm and some weekends

o Knows the alphabet and can read

Looking for a job on campus that works around your classes, lets you work with fun people, often gives you time to study, and gives you the chance to help other students and faculty?

A job in the library is waiting for you!

Bring a copy of your current schedule and fill out an application in the library because we are hiring!!

Week 2 Not so Hot

2009-07-24T09:42:00.003-05:00

Really not so hot, the weather cooled off and people are getting into the groove of school in the second quarter. This week we had three classes, Interior Design and Culinary. Next week we will have Career Development classes. I will be gone next week for something personal, a leadership program.

This week the questions were around mythology, short stories, logos, architects, obscure software, start-up info for a wedding planner and as usual, anatomy and drawing.

I was sorry to hear that the artist responsible for the Beatles's Yellow Submarine, Heinz Edelmann, passed away. He was a significant illustrator and graphic designer.

A big accomplishment for the library is figuring out how to send overdue and fine notices via email. We can also notify people when materials they put on reserve are available. We won't be putting holds on people unless they have really overdue items. So, less paperwork for students but it means you can't use the holds as reminder that something is due.

Here is what I have been repeating over and over and over to students: "The Library is not responsible for your computer access". Students come to the desk and want us to help them get logged into the computers. This is out of our control. We have a handout that explains how to log in but if you have problems, we can't fix it. Technology on the 3rd floor, room 330 is the place to go.

If I weren't so busy this weekend I would go to the Monty Python Madness in Grapevine and enjoy the Silly Walks and skits. Sing it with me "Oooh, I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..."

First Saturday

2009-07-18T17:39:00.003-05:00

So, I worked the first Saturday of the quarter, mostly it was Argosy students but I did have a nice Interior Design class come to learn about building codes. The first week of class was a busy as we expected with 10 classes for instruction plus the many (at least 8) classes that came in with their instructor. Tuesday and Wednesday may be our busy days this quarter.

Have I talked about my fascination with Top Chef Masters on Bravo? I love that show. I like the creativity, I like seeing the chefs I've read about, in action. I like how the chefs help each other even though they are extremely competitive. I recommend this show, it may be the only reality show I've ever watched with any frequency.

This week the interesting questions were: Caribbean cuisine, croquis, textures, fantasy reading for leisure (who has leisure? must be the beginning of the quarter), ugh, I know there were more interesting questions but this sloooow day and being all by myself has dulled my brain.

Reference USA and BigChalk eLibrary both redesigned their interfaces (GUI) for the better, be sure to check them out. I'll write more on that later.

I added a lot to Delicious for building codes and found some nice floor plans. Next week we have a couple of sanitation classes and career development classes coming to visit.

And now, I am ready to close up and go home, just waiting on the security guard to help me encourage people to GO HOME!!!!

Break is winding down or gearing up?

2009-07-08T17:18:00.005-05:00

It's nearly the end of the summer break. It's a long one but it went really fast! My desk is still a mess (this is a never-ending situation). On the other hand, we moved a lot of books around, cleaned up the AV room, reorganized the fashion predictives (GAP collection), checked all the kiosks, added new textbooks, already have 14 library classes scheduled for next quarter, switched out new books, added old editions to the Design Annuals to complete collections, gave two sessions on copyright and plagiarism, worked on a Facebook page for the library, sent out overdues and fines, repaired books, read the collection, shifted things around so the fire marshal doesn't scold us, dusted a lot, figured out a better way to handle the cables for the opaque projector, had a library staff meeting (a rare event), helped faculty work on the graduate degrees, wore jeans and tennis shoes every day, had no problems parking, observed the new skybridge connecting to the 4th floor, had trouble getting Argosy students to leave nearly every single day, made stickers to cover up the OLS URL with the new student portal on student IDs.

Did you know you can follow the development project around the school on Facebook or Twitter?

For a direct link to Park Lane’s Facebook page, please click below:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Park-Lane-Dallas/91433778207

For a direct link to Park Lane’s Twitter page, please click below:
http://www.twitter.com/ParkLaneDallas

Hear ye, hear ye!

Cristina put all the sound effect track descriptions into a PDF and Richard put it on our web page so from the convenience of your computer you can search for tracks, note the CD number and bring your list to the library to check out the disk. Remember you must have your current student ID to borrow anything. It's one disk at time for one hour at a time.

Check out our new shelf labels! Since we were moving almost all the books, we took the opportunity to put up a new kind of shelf label. We've listed the highlights of what is located on each range. Remember, we can't list everything that's on each shelf, we just hit the main three or four subjects for each section. Let us know what you think of them.

Welcome back students!!!

Summer!

2009-06-25T16:50:00.003-05:00

The first week of the break is nearly over. We have started shifting the entire circulating collection, lots of dust as a result. We are making room in crowded sections. Another benefit to shifting is that people will discover books they didn't know about. Our students and faculty get used to going to their particular favorite section so moving things around is a little frustrating for them but on the other hand, it refreshes the collection for the browsers. It's good exercise, I won't have trouble sleeping tonight, that is for sure.

I presented two sessions on copyright and plagiarism for faculty, the turnout wasn't great but hopefully it was helpful. We all went to the all faculty and staff meeting. I am one of the weirdos who enjoys this meeting because I like to hear what is going on in other parts of the school. Plus we got a free lunch.

I am now the campus administrator for TurnItIn, a tool for discovering plagiarism in student work. I hope to encourage more faculty to take advantage of it.

Just now I added two new gadgets to this blog, a search box and a daily work of art and quote.

One of the meetings I went to this week was a discussion of how holds work at the school. It is likely that the library will change how we handle holds, most probably we won't put anyone on hold unless they have been very, very bad. We need to figure out an efficient and effective way to remind students when materials are due.

The library's hours during the break are 9-6 Monday through Friday, closed on the weekends. If you need to pay fines or return overdue items, those are our hours. We will be closed on July 3rd. Watch out for those firecrackers, people.

StyleSight seminar

2009-06-02T15:33:00.001-05:00

Students and faculty are invited to meet StyleSight* Site Genius (that’s her title!), Amanda Gilbert, who will be presenting on StyleSight in the library computer lab.

The presentation will include an overview of Stylesight, how to navigate, where to find specific images as well as how to use all the great tools. And she says she will answer any questions.

It’s first come, first seated.

Monday, June 8th at 2 pm
Library Computer Lab
4th floor

Check out StyleSight on campus on the Library Web page under Databases.

*Stylesight is an image library that contains over two million images of Women's, Men's & Children's fashion as well as Interiors, including coverage of all Designer Collections from New York, Paris, London, Milan, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and more. It includes fashion buzz on the streets and store windows of key fashion & interior design stores of all of these major cities as well as Tokyo, Hong Kong and the South of France. Vintage, Denim, Color, Trade Shows, Celebrity Fashion, Flats Sketches, original Graphic Design, and Mood Images are some of the topics covered. New content is uploaded daily.

Library News 05/23/2009

2009-05-23T16:42:00.004-05:00

Hmm, why do I seem to end up working holiday weekends? Probably just my imagination. It's actually been pretty steady today.

This week we had environmental science classes along with a writing class. Some interesting questions, history of Fiesta ware, etymology of barbecue, villas, anatomy for drawing (don't we get that one every week?), sound of paper ripping, symbol for infinity and pop-up books.

The nicest thing happened, a student told me that he likes the Delicious links and he's been using them for about three quarters. That really made my day!

New books are coming in, you might want to check out some of these:

How sweet it is (and was) : the history of candy / Swain, Ruth Freeman. New TX 792 .S92 2003

Film as a subversive art / Vogel, Amos. New PN 1995 .V64 2005

Designing and patternmaking for stretch fabrics / Richardson, Keith. Text TT 520 .R497 2008

Don't miss out : the ambitious student's guide to financial aid / Leider, Anna J. LB 2337.4 .L44 2009

Sargent portrait drawings : 42 works by John Singer Sargent / Sargent, John Singer, New NC 139 .S27 A4 1983

The power of IP video : unleashing productivity with visual networking / New TK 5105.15 .P69 2009

Guidelines for the rehabilitation of existing buildings. Ref KF 5701 .G85 2000

Holding on to home : designing environments for people with dementia / Cohen, Uriel. New RC 523 .C653 1991

MoCap for artists : workflow and techniques for motion capture / Kitagawa, Midori, New TR 897.7 .K58 2008

The Photoshop Lightroom workbook : workflow not workslow in Lightroom 2 / Resnick, Seth. New TR 310 .R476 2008

Remember that New Books means new to our library, not necessarily newly published.

So, I will at out of state meetings almost all of next week. You all have a good one.

Library News 05/15/2009

2009-05-15T16:59:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks.

Here is a little lesson for you. This week a student came to the library to take care of a very large fine for two DVDs that were kept out for weeks. Turns out she had checked them out for a friend and thought the friend had returned them. I hear this sad story fairly often. You probably have really trustworthy friends but it is a recipe for disaster to check things out for them (or to loan them money, generally). Be smart and don't check things out for your friends. The best intentions can often go awry.

Two cool things happening this weekend (probably more than that but these are the ones I hope to attend).

Etsy Dallas Bazaar, Saturday 11-5 at Southside Lamar. Super duper craft fair from our friends at Etsy.

Lakewoodstock Sunday from 2-8. My husband's band (Black and Blue) is playing at 4 and then his old band, The Sutcliffes at 5 plus lots of other good bands.

TIME TO REGISTER FOR THE SUMMER QUARTER!!!!

2009-05-01T13:38:00.003-05:00

Week 4 is coming to a close. This week we had college orientation tours. It's fun and, as usual, creates a lot of work for the student workers so here's a big thanks to Chris, Danny, Joseph and Phillip for getting that stuff back on the shelves so quick.

Questions this week included, how to draw eyes, poster art, short stories, how to draw DVDs, Hattie Carnegie-fashion designer, and where to buy Women's Wear Daily?

It looks like the StyleSight database will be launching a new version on Monday, don't be surprised if looks different and has some new features.

OOo, Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book Day is a single day - the first Saturday in May - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE* to anyone who comes into their stores. *Check with your local shop for their participation and rules.

I suspect you are as tired of the whole swine flu freak-out as I am. If you really want to know more, here are some reliable sources:

Center for Disease Control

Flu Definitions and Overview

PandemicFlu.gov

I may write more tomorrow since I'm working another Saturday. Stay healthy.

Library News 04/24/2009

2009-04-24T16:31:00.003-05:00

This week was a big disappointment in some ways because we had a student try to steal a reference book by vandalizing it. Needless to say, they have suffered the consequences of their actions.

New Tutorials as promised!!

Total training for Adobe Photoshop CS4 extended essentials. Desk CDR TUT 009
Total training for Adobe Illustrator CS4 essentials. Desk CDR TUT 029
Total training for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design workflow Desk CDR TUT 065
Total training for Adobe InDesign CS4 essentials. Desk CDR TUT 178
Total training for Adobe Soundbooth CS4 Desk CDR TUT 066
Total training for Adobe After Effects CS4 essentials. Desk CDR TUT 070
Total training for Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro essentials. Desk CDR TUT 084
Total training for Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 essentials. Desk CDR TUT 118
Total training for Adobe Flash CS4 Professional essentials. Desk CDR TUT 137
Total training for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 essentials. Desk CDR TUT 157
Total training for Adobe Encore DVD workflow Desk CDR TUT 183

The techniques of Scott Robertson. basic perspective form drawing Desk CDR TUT 323
Hard surface texture painting. vehicle texture painting with Ted Davis Desk CDR TUT 324
Mental ray fundamentals / Hartle, Matt. Desk CDR TUT 325
Mental ray global illumination / Hartle, Matt. Desk CDR TUT 326
Mental ray lighting and shaders / Hartle, Matt. Desk CDR TUT 327

Motion Design Elements are isolated elements with alpha channel transparency that work with other onscreen graphics and draw attention to them. For example, MDEs are commonly used to add color, motion and sparkle behind what would otherwise be a static logo or station ID tag.

Autumn collection Desk CDR MM 362
Beaches & islands Desk CDR MM 363
Christmas & holiday Desk CDR MM 364
Fireworks collection Desk CDR MM 365
HD variety pack Desk CDR MM 366
Las Vegas collection Desk CDR MM 367
Winter & snow Desk CDR MM 368
Skylines of America Desk CDR MM 369
Ultimate collection Desk CDR MM 370
New York City Desk CDR MM 371
Nature & animals Desk CDR MM 372
Looping backgrounds Desk CDR MM 373
Revealers Desk CDR MM 600
Revealers 2 Desk CDR MM 601
Revealers 3 Desk CDR MM 602
Line items Desk CDR MM 603
Line items 2 Desk CDR MM 604
Motion plaques Desk CDR MM 605
Global intentions. Desk CDR MM 609
Global intentions. Desk CDR MM 612
Flags. Desk CDR MM 616
Flags. Desk CDR MM 620
Logo revealers Desk CDR MM 625
Motion grab bag. Desk CDR MM 626
Motion grab bag. Desk CDR MM 629
Motion grab bag. Desk CDR MM 632
3D spinners Desk CDR MM 635
Future tech Desk CDR MM 639
Motion slats and bars Desk CDR MM 643
Control panels Desk CDR MM 646
Animated frames. Desk CDR MM 648
Animated frames. Desk CDR MM 652

More new stuff:

The Photoshop Lightroom workbook : workflow not workslow in Lightroom 2 / Resnick, Seth. New TR 310 .R476 2008

Photoshop CS4 bible / Cates, Stacy. New T 385 .C38 2009

Going to a friend's opening at Luminarte tonight and to see my husband's old band, The Sutcliffes, play in their performance space. I strongly recommend them for a good time.

Library News 04/14/2009

2009-04-15T14:04:00.003-05:00

The second week of Spring 09 already!! During the break we did some cleaning up and organizing and I went to lots of meetings.

You might notice that the blog page looks a little different. I added a link that shows the new pages I've added to Del.ici.ous.

Coming Soon
--Redesign of StyleSight
--Adobe CS 4 Tutorials
--Motion Design Elements DVD collection

And now for my Andy Rooney moment: What is it with people these days and pushing in chairs? Hardly anyone pushes in their chair anymore. It's remarkable how much better the library and the lab look when chairs are pushed in. It might be a feng shui thing. As an aside, we have books on feng shui if you want to know more. I read something recently that said pushing in your chair after an interview can make a favorable impression. Really it's about attention to detail and consideration. Little things like pushing in your chair can be an indication of how you see yourself in the world. Are you oblivious to the impression that you make on other people? Do you think that you are more important and therefor someone else should pick up after you? An attitude like that won't get you very far.

In the past week some of the things we looked up were Robert Frost's poetry, short stories for Southern Fiction, German cookery, Hieronymus Bosch, a creative Photoshop book and lots of demographics.

On a personal note, I am waging war with squirrels who are performing acrobatic feats to get into our bird feeders. They are greedy varmints. And this Saturday is Live Green Expo in Plano, a great environmental festival. Ed Begley, Jr. will be the keynote speaker.

End of Winter

2009-03-27T09:03:00.006-05:00

It doesn't really feel like the end of the winter quarter today. It's cold out there! I tend to work the last Saturday of the quarter so I can call the ne'er-do-wells who have overdue items. It's a courtesy call, really, because I am trying to save them money and frustration when they come to pick up their schedule and find that they have something overdue. I called 50 students this morning in the space of two hours. I got some parents who rousted their kid out of bed, I got some disconnected numbers but mostly I had very pleasant conversations and several people have already returned their overdues.

This from the Shelf Awareness newsletter:

This year's Diagram Prize for oddest book title of the year went to The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Philip M. Parker, the Associated Press reported. The book edged out shortlist contenders Baboon Metaphysics, Strip and Knit With Style, The Large Sieve and its Applications, Curbside Consultation of the Colon and Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring.

The last week of the quarter and there were still a few people wrapping up last minute projects. I am amazed at the people who think it's okay to start a research paper the day before it is due.

During the break there will be training and meetings for departments and committees. The Library Committee is meeting on Thursday at 1 pm.

I was off work for a week, spent most of one day in Ikea, went camping, had family in town, went to the Texas Music Revolution and saw a bunch of bands. I especially liked the Tejas Brothers, Corb Lund and his Hurtin' Albertans and Mickey and the Motorcars. The elves did not come clean my office up while I was off, alas.

Library News 03/13/2009

2009-03-13T20:30:00.004-05:00

Friday night quiet in the library. The quarter is winding down or up, depending on how many things you have due. Between the weather and the start of the weekend, there aren't many people here tonight. We are checking out a lot of sound effects CDs.

This week we answered questions on Leonardo Da Vinci, perspective drawing, tutorials for Adobe CS 4, chick flicks and usage of kiosks.

New books are going out on the shelves, keep checking it out.

I am working tonight and Monday night and then I am off for a few days for public school spring break. My family is going camping for a couple of days, I do hope the weather gets better because if it stays like this, I am not sleeping in a tent.

A student called this evening to let us know that First Research wasn't working off campus. It is really important that you let us know when one of the databases aren't working for you. We can make a call and find out what's wrong and get it fixed. We don't know that it doesn't work unless you tell us. Thanks Brandon!

During 12th week, the faculty attend lots of meetings and training. I am offering two sessions, one that is an overview of the library databases and the other is for new or curious faculty on services that the library has to offer. We will also have a meeting of the Library Committee.

So, if the library was on FaceBook would anyone be our friend?

If we had board games like Scrabble or chess to check out, would anyone use them?

If we had a book club, would anyone participate?

These are questions I am pondering...

Library News 3/10/2009

2009-03-09T12:22:00.005-05:00

Last week I didn't find the time to blog, this week, I have no classes scheduled so far. I am talking to a class at the University of North Texas tonight, it's a small library school class and my fascinating topic is strategic planning and budgeting. This is a talk I give nearly every year. It's fun to meet upcoming librarians. Really!!

So last week we had a writing class and a couple of beginning fashion classes come to visit. Questions we answered included carnival glass, pictures of The Rat Pack, how engines work, who did the painting of the dogs playing poker, female rock musicians.

The Wall Street Journal had a great story on a guy who has compared Facebook data on what music and books college students like and compared it to SAT data from the same colleges. Great example of using statistics erroneously. His "theory" is that certain music or books make you dumb.

Library News 02/27/2009

2009-02-27T12:49:00.003-06:00

I've realized that people don't know about the excellent tutorials for the library databases. So if you want to know more, try some of these:

Oxford Reference Online

WilsonWeb (remember that we get Omnifile Fulltext Select)

ProQuest

Reference USA

Lexis

eLibrary

First Research

Visual Thesaurus

Oxford Art Online

Questions this week: Floribbean cuisine, product placement, illustration, human spine, black and white photographs, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams, Death of a Salesman, mythology (the Lotus-Eaters) and legalization of marijuana.

Classes this week: Writing 2, Environmental Science, Writing 1.

The library staff continues to suffer from various illnesses. I'm hiding behind hand-washing and a good night of sleep.

It's the end of week 7. Please don't be the student who writes their paper and then comes to the library looking for citations to support what they've already written. It's really hard to do that. Especially if you wait until the very last minute to do it.

I'm waiting to see if I have to work tomorrow if someone is still sick, maybe I will actually clean my messy desk off. It's possible.

One of the really nice things about working as a librarian is when a student comes back and says they loved a book or resource that you showed them. It's a great feeling. Not so nice is having to tell a different student over and over not to talk on their phone or eat in the library. What is so hard to understand about that?

I see that the Assassination City Roller Derby girls are hosting an art show and auction at Club Dada tonight, Keep Dallas Deviant 2009. Wish I could go but my darling child is in a play at school and parental obligations prevail.

Library News 02/20/2009

2009-02-20T14:14:00.005-06:00

It is such a slow Friday afternoon, the weather must be nice and mid-terms must be over for most people. Wish I were outside. With the construction, I can see just a bare sliver of sky from my office. It looks blue this afternoon.

Perhaps you've notice the empty shelves on the north side of the library? We plan to shift the entire collection to make room for new books. Some sections are getting tight. Unfortunately, the timing of the shelf construction meant we didn't have time to move things around over the break. Moving the whole library takes time and makes a mess so we don't want to do it when both schools are in session.

Questions we've answered this week: profiles of donors for non-profit organizations, turtles, Egyptian furniture, Watchmen book, graphic design vs. graphic art and a TV static clip.

Over the last three weeks, we had the College Orientation tours come to the library. It's a quick tour, a quiz and a sort of scavenger hunt. Since we started doing these tours, we've seen an increase in the usage of the library and fewer overdues. It makes a lot of work for us because we ask each student to pick up a book, a video/DVD sleeve, a magazine and a reference book related to their program. This is intended to help the students learn where their information is located in the library. It means our student workers have a lot of shelving to do on those days. I think it's a worthwhile investment. It's funny to us that the new students say they've had a library tour when the Admissions person has walked them through. There are tours and there are TOURS! Ours is much more in depth since this is our primary area. We like for Admissions to bring prospective students in the library but we want current students to know that the library has a lot more than meets the eye.

The library staff and a student worker are going to compete in the upcoming Dysfunctional Family Feud Tournament. I think it will be hilarious. Our team name is 20 Eyes, you are invited to come cheer for us.

Next week the school will be conducting the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey, there are questions about the library in the survey and we take it very seriously.

At my house, we got a Wii Fit for Valentine's Day. All three of us are having big fun playing on it. My husband's Rolling Stones tribute band is playing at the Barley House Saturday night, I probably won't go but I am sure it will be a good time.

Library News 1/30/2009

2009-01-30T13:38:00.004-06:00

So, did you enjoy your ice days? It was nice to have a day and half off unexpectedly but I know this has creating some real problems for our classes. I took advantage of the time to make candied ginger and play on the Wii with my daughter.

Last Friday I went to a middle school in Plano for Career Day. I talked to two classes of 6th graders about our school and library and how I became a librarian. It was fun for me and some of the kids enjoyed it too. One young man, AKA Random Boy, asked if we'd ever considered a water feature in our library. The answer is "no".

This week we've continued to help students find old masters, skeletons, translations, directions on using a matcutter, and how to import photos into Photoshop.

The Texas Black Film Festival is next weekend at the nearby Studio Movie Grill. It looks pretty interesting.

Next Thursday (2/5) is AID Day when there are no classes and the faculty and staff have meetings and get a sort of "state of the school" presentation. We are all so busy in our individual areas that it's nice for us to get together once in a while in one big room.

If you are interested in graphic design, you probably know about Seymour Chwast, he has an amazing little publication called The Nose. Stephen Heller wrote about it in his blog. This issue is on cults and superstitions.

WilsonWeb, one of our article databases, has a cool new feature:

"New ReadSpeaker “text-to-speech” is available for English language, full text HTML records. You can now listen to these records in addition to reading these records." What this means is that you can have the article read out loud for you. Pretty nifty.

It's dead quiet on a Friday afternoon, the sun is shining the ice is gone. Life is good.

Working on MLK Day

2009-01-19T10:09:00.004-06:00

People, the weather outside is frightful! The school is closing at 1 pm today. Be careful out there. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do with the gift of an afternoon at home. Maybe make some jewelry or bake bread or play games with my family.

I promised that the library had new stuff so here goes:

We have an incredible new resource for Fashion, Fashion Retail Management, Interior Design and even Graphic Design.

Stylesight is an image library that contains over two million images of Women's, Men's & Children's fashion as well as Interiors, including coverage of all Designer Collections from New York, Paris, London, Milan, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and more. It includes fashion buzz on the streets and store windows of key fashion & interior design stores of all of these major cities as well as Tokyo, Hong Kong and the South of France. Vintage, Denim, Color, Trade Shows, Celebrity Fashion, Flats Sketches, original Graphic Design, and Mood Images are some of the topics covered. New content is uploaded daily. On campus you are automatically logged in to the student account. Off campus, you will need the user name and password which is available at the front desk.

We added many new stock photo disks. The thumbnails of each image may be accessed via the library web page under Media Disks. Media disks may be borrowed one at a time for one hour at a time. A valid AI Dallas student ID card is required.

CDR GD 200 Holiday magic
CDR GD 201 Dimensional designs
CDR GD 240 Concept icons
CDR GD 241 Web photos icons
CDR GD 242 Environmental issues
CDR GD 243 Legalities
CDR GD 400 & 401 Home improvements (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 402 & 403 Retail therapy (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 404 & 405 Pets (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 406 & 407 Hotel (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 408 & 409 Restaurant (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 410 & 411 Baby accessories (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 412 Gay lifestyles
CDR GD 413 & 414 Soul teen (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 415 & 416 Plus size (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 417 & 418 Kids & teens body parts (Discs 1 & 2)
CDR GD 500 Complete produce library
CDR GD 501 The arts - symbols
CDR GD 502 Trees and Flowers - Disc 1 (Flowers)
CDR GD 503 Trees and Flowers - Disc 2 (Trees)
CDR GD 504 Glamour tools

The Library has a Color Copier!!

2009-01-12T13:32:00.001-06:00

We now have a coin-operated color copier. Color copies are .50 a page. You can still make black and white copies for .10.

Welcome Back!

2009-01-08T10:10:00.006-06:00

The students are coming back! And the faculty! It's been pretty quiet around here without you.

During the break the library was open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. We cleaned, we organized, we added new resources. We were off the normal holidays. I shifted the Reference section to make more room in some sections and found enormous dust bunnies like this:

Books tend to generate dust and Reference is a high traffic area which also creates dust. Dust is bad for books because dust mites eat paper. These dust bunnies looked like a stuffed elephant had exploded.

Cristina and our intrepid student workers shifted the old issues of the magazines, this is a major chore. People often ask us what we do with the old issues. We mark them up and give them to the various departments and recycle the rest.

Another chore we did during the break was to go through several boxes of books that were donated a year or two ago. We were able to fill in gaps in some of our design annual collection. As soon as we finished that, another big donation came in.

The Library Committee met. Hopefully we can breathe new life into the committee. The Committee is going to help us revise the library survey which is overdue.

STAY TUNED FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT ON NEW STUFF FROM THE LIBRARY!!

My daughter spent a week in Oklahoma with my dad and stepmom. When we went up to get her, we met in Pauls Valley, home of the Toy and Action Figure Museum. I highly recommend it. It was a hoot. Plus, you could ride the Amtrak train up, the stop is a couple of blocks from the Museum.

For Christmas, I got a soda syphon (look it up) and we made homemade marshmallows for the New Year. Most people I've offered a homemade marshmallow to are a bit baffled by them. They either say "I didn't know you could make marshmallows!" or "why would you make marshmallows when you can got to the store and buy them?". Sillies. They taste much better than store bought ones (as most things do) and I did it because I could.

Library News 12/09/2008

2008-12-09T13:08:00.004-06:00

I hear that the temperature is dropping. This is only a rumor because I almost never leave the building during the day since parking is such a challenge. Sadly, I eat lunch at my desk and do work. Sometimes I listen to NPR. At least I'm saving money.

Another good Christmas idea is Kiva. My husband I use it and we've given accounts on it as gifts. It's microcredit. You pick a person who needs a little bit of money to do something entrepreneurial and loan them as little as $25. They pay you back over time. You won't make money but you will help lift someone out of poverty which will have a ripple effect on the world.

Next to last week of the quarter and we are signing graduation forms. It's one of the nice things about this job, seeing people graduate. Our president often quotes a statistic at graduation that blows me away. Something like two in ten people are college graduates in Texas. That makes graduating a pretty amazing accomplishment and one that is well worth it when you consider that college graduates earn on average more than twice as much as high school graduates. A college graduate is also significantly less likely to be unemployed.

I was surprised to learn that the magazine DNR (Daily News Record), which covers menswear, has folded.

Questions we've answered this week, lots of interior design proposals, the color brown, Grant Woods, modern interiors, how to get to StyleSight...wait those questions were just today!

The library will be closed to students during the Christmas break except for returning materials and taking care of fines. The computer network will not be working and our lab will be closed. We will be open to faculty from 9 am to 5 pm except for holidays and weekends. Students need to be sure to return all their library materials and take care of their fines so they don't have trouble getting their schedules for the Winter quarter.

During the break we hope to have some shelves added and to shift the library so there is more room for some tight sections. We will also clean up including lots and lots of dusting.

Library News 12/01/2008

2008-12-01T14:37:00.004-06:00

Well, I survived Thanksgiving. I had a nice time making Christmas goodies. It seems like everyone that I've talked with today also had a nice break. It's all downhill to Christmas now! Ran across a couple of interesting websites. For the person who has everything or is charitable, you might give the Good Card. It lets you have the tax deduction and allows the receiver of the card to choose their charity for the money. Also, if the consumerism of the holiday is getting you down, you might want to look at Simplify the Holidays

The next book buy deadline is Friday, Dec. 5th.

And speaking of books, as you do your Christmas shopping, remember that books make good gifts. Here are ten reasons from Herr Memorial Library in Mifflinburg, PA.

10 Reasons Why Books Make Great Gifts

1. Books don’t require batteries.
2. Books don’t require assembly.
3. Books don’t contain trans-fats.
4. Books are lead-free.
5. Books have a long shelf life.
6. Books are sized to fit everyone.
7. Books rarely go out of style.
8. Books have no small parts that could get caught in your throat.
9. Books won’t poke your eyes out.
10. Books won’t shatter when you drop them.

All library materials will be due on Dec. 19th. No materials may be kept over the holiday break. If that seems unhelpful, remember this, you are supposed to be on break!, it's too easy to lose things when you go out of town, and we hope to do an inventory during the break so we need everything back.

Library News 11/19/2008

2008-11-19T16:12:00.002-06:00

Busy, busy, busy.

The best thing happened this week, Argosy had their new librarian start and she's made big improvements in her first days here. Welcome to Lee Anne.

The bad news is that the plague or something like it is sweeping through our student workers. Wash your hands, get lots of rest, eat right!

If you want something cool for a Christmas presents then you might want to go to the Sons of Herman Hall on Saturday from 3-10 for Etsy's Christmas bazaar.

The LIFE magazine photo archive has been added to Google Images. This collection of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.

Library News 11/13/2008

2008-11-13T10:40:00.004-06:00

Morgan Spurlock will be speaking at the University of North Texas tonight

He directed Supersize Me and has a series on FX called Thirty Days. The library has Supersize Me, it's DVD GE 685. It's worth watching.

This week we've had copyright and patents classes, lots of college orientation tours, a sanitation class and a color theory class. Plus questions on mousseline, great artists, fonts, how to draw hands and feet.

Very soon we will be making a big announcement about a new fashion service so stay tuned.

Rumor has it that the new Argosy librarian will start work on Monday, I can hardly wait!

I worked on statistics for the past year and found the following:

July 2007 to June 2008

160,232 people came through the library doors
143 classes or library tours were offered
3438 items were checked out each month on average
1336 items were looked at and left on tables to be reshelved each month on average

Monthly circulation was up 5% over the previous fiscal year. In-library usage was up 4%. It sure feels busier!!

This weekend, the husband is playing Saturday night at the Moon Bar in Fort Worth with his band, we will sadly attend a funeral for a good man on Saturday, I hope to work on Christmas presents some time this weekend. Last weekend we watched a documentary on Badfinger, it's funny that I don't remember them but nearly every song, I remembered. I have a soft spot for a power pop band.

A bit of advice, if you have a USB drive, please hold it in your hand right now. Turn it around and look for your name. If your name isn't written on it, then you are just a little bit dumb. We find lots of USB drives with no name on them. You probably don't want us to open them up and look around for the owner.

A new day in America

2008-11-05T11:19:00.004-06:00

I love democracy. I really do, especially this week.

It's midterms and people are at the point that they would lose their heads if they weren't attached. We've found USB drives (please write your name on your USB drive), glasses, phones, projects, you name it. It's the forgetful season.

Since I last blogged we have shifted a lot of the new books over to the regular collection. That shelf looks bare for now but will soon be populated with more new books.

Thanks to the IT department, the library has a super-duper new data projector in a bag for faculty and staff to use.

We've had career development classes, color fundamentals and a writing class in the last week. Next week is College Orientation tours, woo-hoo.

Last weekend we went to Fort Worth to see our niece compete in a fencing tournament. It was pretty interesting and she did very well. We went to the Impressionist show at the Kimball, it was the last weekend and there were way too many people for me. The paintings were exquisite, though. I outlasted my husband and daughter in the museum. I especially liked seeing so many of Van Gogh's haystack paintings together.

I am happy to say that we got tickets to Polyphonic Spree's Christmas show again this year. It's at the Granada which should be good.

Did you know that you can see AiDallas student work on YouTube?

Library Update 10/21/2008

2008-10-20T12:29:00.004-05:00

It was a good weekend. We went to the fair, had a big time. Avoided the chicken-fried bacon. Rode the Texas Star at night, beautiful to see downtown and the midway.

We now have headphones to use in the library. As always, you need your ID to borrow the headphones.

What else is new? Still more DVDs.

We got animated versions of several Shakespeare plays. They've gotten good reviews. DVD GE 1033-1034

Tex Avery's Droopy. The complete theatrical collection
DVD CA 1059

William Wegman: video works, 1970-1999
DVD VP 1028

Grave of the fireflies
DVD CA 892

I've continued to add links to Delicious, I'm at over 300 now. I recently ran a link checker on it and fixed a few broken links. I hope that you will feel free to recommend additional links.

This week we have the career development classes visiting as well as a digital filmmaking class who will be writing a paper on a film director. We've answered questions on emulsion sauces, 1920s fashion, and business card design.

The Recycling Club has a blog so you can keep up with meetings and good ideas to make the world a better place.

If you like spoken word performances, Jeff Liles is performing on Friday, October 24, 8 pm at Priya Yoga Studio, 6337 Prospect. He sometimes performs as Cottonmouth, Texas as he did for Lollapalooza tours. On Saturday, my husband's Rolling Stones tribute band is playing at the Barley House. I will be doing make-up for a haunted shopping mall that night so I won't be at the gig.

The library rocks (I say immodestly)

2008-10-10T10:03:00.003-05:00

The results of the Noel-Levitz survey Student Satisfaction survey have been published by the Student Affairs department and the library is at the top of the list for student satisfaction. That really makes me happy! I love the students and faculty at The Art Institute of Dallas and I am so glad that the library is helpful for them.

I have neglected to mention that the great State Fair of Texas is going on. My family goes to the fair every year, my daughter has been every year of her life. It's not cheap but it's big fun. We are going late this year, on the 18th.

This week, we've talked to Interior Design classes and we've answered questions on 3D Max tutorials, men's retail trends, tried to find info on Spanish Colonial architecture, various artists, perspective drawing and fashion doll makeovers.

We were asked to put AutoCAD back on the library computers but unfortunately, the latest version of AutoCAD requires more power than our computers have.

I've added a lot of interior design links to my Delicious. Check it out. I also added a link to podcast interviews with cinematographers that the DFVP students and other movie buffs ought to like.

So, the Dallas Morning News redesigned again. They dumped a good number of their comics and added a Briefing section that is sort of like Quick, short summaries of the news. I'm not crazy about it because I read the entire paper every day (except the sports section, I leave that to my husband and the classifieds) so the Briefing is redundant for me. On the other hand, my daughter loves it. Newspapers are struggling to survive in this Internet age.

I hope that everyone out there gets to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend. I plan to spend some quality time with my roses and maybe pull up the tomatoes and plant some greens.

Day 2 of Fall 2008

2008-10-07T13:35:00.003-05:00

I worked last Saturday and spent the entire day ordering materials for the library, lots of weird things that required research to track down.

It's the second day of the fall quarter and soo very much quieter than the first day. Most of the new students have picked up their IDs and lots of continuing students have taken care of their fines. Teachers are starting to schedule library classes and put books on reserve. Some new instructors have started this quarter.

I am happy to have one of our former student workers back in school and working in the library. It takes a surprising amount of training to get a student worker up to speed so bringing him back is a big help for us.

Gee, what did I do over the break? Went on a cruise to Cozumel with my husband. It was fun but I don't really think that's my kind of vacation. I ended up getting a cold and we both had vertigo for days after returning. It's not fun to have the room spin without taking a single drink.

We continued to add new DVDs to the library collection, feel free to stop by and check them out.

I am getting excited because I love Halloween. Did you know we have books and videos about scary things?

TT 633 .H347 1997
Halloween costumes

GT 4965 .P58 2006
Halloween propmaker's handbook

GT 4965 .G35 2002
Dressed for thrills : 100 years of Halloween costumes & masquerade

PZ 8.3 .B42 W56
Winter's eve
Describes the traditional English festivities designed to ward off the spells of the evil ones from Winter's Eve, on September 28, to Halloween night.

VHS CA 798
The best of the Simpsons, volume 4. "Tree house of horror" (The Simpsons Halloween Special)

DVD GE 047
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

TR 858 .T56 1996
Men, makeup and monsters : Hollywood's masters of illusion and FX

PN 1995.9.H6 J46 1996
The men who made the monsters

PN 1995.9 .H6 M335 2001
The horror movie survival guide

DVD VP 149
Little Otik

DVD VP 230
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

DVD VP 058
The cabinet of Dr. Caligari

DVD VP 205
The Blob

DVD VP 216
Them!

DVD VP 202
Experiments in terror

DVD GE 560
Edgar Allan Poe's Tell-tale heart

DVD VP 923
Black Christmas

VHS VP 1295
The innocents

PN 6728 .T25 D54 1997
Tales from the crypt : the official archives

PS 3523 .O853 Z536 1991
The cosmical horror of H.P. Lovecraft : a pictorial anthology

DVD CA 178
The Simpsons. The complete second season. Disc 1, Treehouse of horror

PN 6728 .V36 V35 2004
Vampirella, crimson chronicles. Volume 1.

New N 8217 .H68 B37 2005
Visions of heaven and hell / Clive Barker.

N 7153 .G48 R4 1997
HR Giger retrospektive 1964-1984.

where have you been?

2008-09-12T12:08:00.004-05:00

Okay, I've been busy with Institutional Effectiveness stuff, working my behind off in it. It's related to our accreditation and is kind of like continuous improvement. Basically it helps make the school a better place. It's kept me away from updating the blog.

So, it takes working on Saturday for me to have time to update the blog. Just waiting for Ike to pass through DFW about the time I get off work, wish I'd brought my umbrella in from the car!

I did make time to watch some of the recent political conventions because I do love a good speech and we don't see them much in American life anymore. And how about that Sarah Palin action figure?

OMG, we've put a lot of new videos and DVDs out. Feel free to come check them out, just remember it's a 3 day check out and the fine is $1 per day per video.

For Fashion Design we now have a great series, Designer Marathon, it includes 26 different DVDs on designers like Bill Blass, Kenzo, Anna Sui, and Prada. See DVD FD 852-877.

For Digital Film making and Video Production we now have a 10 DVD set on screenwriting called Anatomy of a Script, it's DVD VP 837-846 plus we put out:

DVD VP 912 The gods must be crazy I & II
DVD VP 789-790 Women behind the camera
DVD VP 826 Seven chances (Buster Keaton)

For Media Arts and Animation some of the new ones are:

DVD CA 888 Nausicaä of the valley of the wind
DVD CA 830 The secret of NIMH
DVD CA 655 Robot chicken

New General Education DVDs:

DVD GE 895 The chronicles of Narnia. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe
DVD GE 914 What the bleep!?

Clearly, you need to come check out some new video. Remember you can look them up in the library catalog, Athena, by going to advanced search and selecting format, videotape which includes DVD in our library.

Questions we've answered this week? Lots on perspective and architecture, some furniture, Atlas (couldn't find what she wanted, alas), Mucha, pose files, logo design, and South American cuisine.

I am jetting off to Tennessee for an accrediting visit, I'll be gone Tuesday and Wednesday, that flight Tuesday is entirely too early. Fortunately I am reading a fascinating collection of mysteries that were written at the same time that Arthur Conan Doyle was writing the Sherlock Holmes stories. I hope that I'll have time to finish it this week during my travels.

The quarter is winding down, we start signing graduation clearance forms next week. Keep south Texas in your thoughts, they are going through a tough time.

Saturday AGAIN

2008-08-23T10:48:00.004-05:00

It's another quiet Saturday in the library, probably the last one I will work for a while due to some staffing changes. I don't mind Saturdays (much) because I get a lot done and it's kind of informal.

The Argosy librarian resigned and I believe they are looking to replace her. I've seen the job posting. Argosy is on break although the grad students seem to keep coming. They have new student orientation today.

We are putting out a ton of new videos and DVDs. I promised in my last post to name some of the new Chef's Story DVDs. This was a series on PBS, the disk includes the show plus lots of extras, most of them run well over an hour. How about learning more about the careers of Charlie Trotter, Alain Sailhac, Tom Colicchio, Cat Cora or Daniel Boulud? There are 26 different chefs covered in the series. Look at DVD CU 734-751.

Other new video titles:

DVD VP 790 Women behind the camera

DVD VP 787 Scanning television--Fifty-one excerpts from television programming and commercials to illustrate the media's ability to persuade and influence thinking.

DVD GE 775 Origin of writing and the alphabet

Also a 7 DVD set called Test-Taking Strategies for Students which includes:

DVD GE 772 Study skills
DVD GE 770 Answering test questions
DVD GE 768 Effective note-taking
DVD GE 773 Taking reading comprehension tests
DVD GE 767 Taking essay tests
DVD GE 771 Taking math tests
DVD GE 769 Test anxiety

Registration for the Fall quarter starts on Monday! Register sooner than later and you are more likely to get the classes you want!

I went to orientation for the big new class that started on Thursday. Looks like another bunch of smart people. We've been handing out IDs and explaining over and over and over how to log-on to the computers.

Topics this week: use of color in religion, fantasy drawing, pictures of bicycles, codes books, the Odyssey, and Shakespeare.

Funny story, two young women were having trouble with the copier and they asked me for help because it quit working for them and they were frustrated and in a hurry. I went over to look at it and then asked them if they had put money in it. Turns out they'd run out of money. They were embarrassed but really, they shouldn't be because that happens fairly often. The copier has a weird message on the screen when it needs money: "Please Enable the External Control Device". Seriously?!

The next deadline for faculty to recommend materials to the library is this Friday, August 29th.

Know how people complain about the parking situation here? One of the librarians is taking classes at UNT and he had to play $180 for a parking pass. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?

That's also my husband's birthday and his band is playing at Tolbert's in Grapevine. I, unfortunately, won't be there because my daughter is in a play and it's the opening night. What to get a bass player for his birthday? They got me a Wii for my birthday, I don't know if I can come up with something as good as that. On the other hand, I already whacked my knuckle on the coffee table bowling. It is a lot of fun but I don't know too much about the games that are out there for it. I got one game that has things like you'd find at Dave and Busters, skeeball, darts, hoops, air hockey, trivia and my favorite, shuffleboard.

Okay, I promised myself I would try to clean up my office some. It's on the verge of being condemned by the EPA or maybe OSHA.