Once again the Gleeson Library joined the USF Farmstand on the lawn outside Library. We offered books and DVD’s about organic gardening, real food, and healthy cooking all for check out on the spot.
This was USF’s Farmstands first International Farmstand offering different delectable dishes from around the world. The event also coincided with USF’s Dance Program show
The Gleeson Library joined the USF Farmstand this past Thursday, on the lawn outside Library. We offered books and DVD’s about organic gardening, real food, and healthy cooking for check out from right there out on the lawn.
USF Farmstand is part of Community Garden Outreach (ENVA 145) and offers homemade meals made with fresh veggies, fruits, and herbs grown in the organic garden on campus.
While our April meeting is coming up in a couple days, the Book Club had the foresight to pick our May selection ahead of time.
In May we will discuss The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, translated from the French by Alison Anderson.
I’m looking forward to this book because folks were raving about it on last year’s summer reading episode of Philosophy Talk, and while I don’t consider myself a philosopher per se, I like novels that are educate as well as inform.
To get The Elegance of the Hedgehog, you can put a hold on Gleeson’s copy, request it through Link+, check it out of the SF Public Library, or check out one of our iPads or Kindle, which are loaded with the book.
We will meet in the Electronic Classroom in Gleeson Library from 12 noon – 1 pm on Thursday May 12, 2011.
In a bourgeois apartment building in Paris, we encounter Renée, an intelligent, philosophical, and cultured concierge who masks herself as the stereotypical uneducated “super” to avoid suspicion from the building’s pretentious inhabitants. Also living in the building is Paloma, the adolescent daughter of a parliamentarian, who has decided to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday because she cannot bear to live among the rich. Although they are passing strangers, it is through Renée’s observations and Paloma’s journal entries that The Elegance of the Hedgehog reveals the absurd lives of the wealthy. That is until a Japanese businessman moves into the building and brings the two characters together. A critical success in France, the novel may strike a different chord with some readers in the U.S. The plot thins at moments and is supplanted with philosophical discourse on culture, the ruling class, and the injustices done to the poor, leaving the reader enlightened on Kant but disappointed with the story at hand. –Heather Paulson, Booklist
Email kbaughmanmcdowell@usfca.edu to sign up for the book club email list.
Hope to see you there!
The iPads and the Kindle have been extremely popular. Thank you! Two things we’ve heard from people who have checked them out from the library so far – they are difficult to get and the reservation process is confusing. We hear you. To make borrowing one of these devices a little easier:
The 2 new iPads should be here late January or early February. This will bring the total number of iPads to five.
Starting tomorrow, all you will have to do to request one of these devices is search library catalog for iPad or Kindle and click on the “Request It” button.
Clicking “Request It” will place a hold on the item for you. When your turn comes around we will email you a note asking you to swing by the library and pick up the device.
We hope these changes make things a bit easier and as always let us know what you think in the comments.
I left my ‘cart’ in San Francisco
The “I left my ‘cart’ in San Francisco” Cable Car[t] created by the Student assistants (with a little help from their staff friends) in the Access Services Department of Gleeson Library won 1st prize in the 2010 “Unshelved: Pimp my Bookcart” contest.
The Judges commented: “This year’s first prize was an easy choice for both judges. We passed on the opportunity for our yearly fistfight and settled on this fabulous cable car lookalike. The fit and finish on this one is spectacular, including the signage and the bronzed desk bell on top.”
Come in and view the “I left my ‘cart’ in San Francisco” Cable car[t] on display in the Gleeson lobby.
The Gleeson Library is now loaning Video Games for Play Station 3, Xbox 360 and Wii! We currently have over 50 games and will be ordering more in the coming months.
Video games can be checked out at the Circulation Desk and are loaned for a period of 7 days with a potential for 3 renewals.
You can request a hold or recall of a video game via Ignacio, Gleeson library’s online catalog.
Take a look at all the awesome video games available at Gleeson:
Video games for Play Station 3
Or stop by the Circulation desk and request to browse the Video Games.
Some of our future releases will be:
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Final Fantasy XIV
Star Ocean: the force unleashed
Star Ocean: the force unleashed II
Ghost Recon
Medal of Honor
If you have ideas for what we should get next please let us know in the comments.
Its official! Starting October 1, 2010 USF students, faculty and staff can check out an Apple iPad from the Gleeson Library circulation desk.
The iPads will circulate for 5 days and you can read all the fine print here. If all three of the iPads are all checked out, you can make a reservation (booking) for a future date.
There are a few apps, books (including the Library Book Club selections) and other resources on the devices now. Based on your feedback (see survey below) we’ll be adding more resources soon.
We’ve built a very brief online survey – please let us know what you think of the iPad and our efforts to bring new technology (like the Kindle) to the library.
If you aren’t familiar with Foursquare, the social media location-based game, a brief explanation comes from their website: “We’re all about helping you find new ways to explore the city. We’ll help you meet up with your friends and let you earn points and unlock badges for discovering new places, doing new things and meeting new people.” Foursquare is not only a great way to explore San Francisco, it is also a fun and easy way to explore USF and connect with other Dons.
Just getting started with Foursqaure? Once you’re on Foursquare via your smartphone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry), be sure to connect with your friends (via email, Twitter, Facebook) and meet new Dons along the way. When you check into a location, you’ll see who else is there at the same time and the mayor if there is one. 
One of the fun features of Foursquare (along with badges) is becoming the mayor of a location (called venues you 4SQ) you’ve checked-into. Some mayorships are easier to come by than others. For now, its much easier to become the mayor of Gleeson than it is to become the mayor of the Golden Gate Bridge. If you become the mayor of Gleeson, we’ve got a little library schwag for you – an official, limited edition Gleeson mug.
There are dozens of other locations on the USF campus in addition to Gleeson you can check-into with Foursquare. If you’re somewhere on campus that does not have a location, add it right from your smartphone!
So, let the battles for mayorships commence. For those lucky few how become the Mayor of Gleeson, we salute you. Stop by the circulation desk to pickup your schwag.
PS – Julie H. Since you’re the mayor of Gleeson right now, feel free to stop by the Circulation Desk at the library to pick up your super-awesome library mug. Yea, the mugs are that cool.
Its official – students, faculty and staff can now check out a Kindle at Gleeson Library.
Because the Kindle will likely be quite popular for the next few weeks, the best way to borrow it is to make a reservation (we call it a booking). To make a booking, you need to stop by Gleeson with your OneCard and ask anyone at the circulation desk to help you. When you make your booking, we’ll tell you the date you can pick up the Kindle and you’re good to go.
The Kindle will circulate for one week. We realize that 5 days is not long enough for many to read an entire novel and it is certainly not enough time to read everything we’ve pre-loaded on the Kindle. For now, that’s the best we can do – we only have one Kindle for everyone at USF. That’s where your feedback comes in. If enough folks enjoy using the Kindle and tell us via our online survey, we’ll have the info we need make a case to buy more.
The Kindle will come pre-loaded with a selection of books and other reading materials. If there is something you’d like us to have on the device you can let us know in the user survey or just shoot me an email. I can’t promise that the library will be able to get a hold of everything that’s requested – but either way your feedback is key to the success of this pilot program.
Enjoy!
P.S. Next up, iPads! Stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks.
The Ignacio Catalog now displays the status “New Book Areas” for all the new material displayed in Gleeson Library!
There are three New Book Areas to browse.
The first New Book Areas is located just west of the main entrance between the Circulation and Reference desks. 
The second highlights new art books, and is located on the far side of the Reference desk near the entrance to our Government Documents Room.
The third New Book Area is located in the study lounge just beyond the Thacher Gallery.
Puzzle Mania Now has Take-Out service.
To show appreciation and expand opportunities to our PUZZLE loving patrons Jig Saw Puzzles are now available for borrowing.
To see available puzzle pictures look up in Course Reserves, under either Faculty or Course Name: “Puzzle Mania“.
Request puzzles at the Circulation Desk. Loan period is 1 week.
It has been a fun year with patrons completing close to 20 puzzles. I hope everyone enjoyed this addition to the library and look forward to more Puzzle Mania fun next year.
If you would like to donate a puzzle you can drop it off at the circulation desk.
Thank you to all who participated and made this work.
