Archive for March, 2010

The Roosevelt Bears at the Boston Public Library

March 5th, 2010

Seymour Eaton was the founder of the early 19th century Booklovers Library and the Tabard Inn Library. He was also the author of numerous books including The Roosevelt Bears: Their Travels and Adventures, the inspiration for the "teddy bear". I've collected a number of artifacts relating to his two libraries, but recently I came across this postcard which is based on an illustration in The Roosevelt Bears: Their Travels and Adventures. The illustration is by V. Floyd Campbell and it features the two bears sitting in the courtyard of the Boston Public Library. The caption under the illustration reads: "They took the books and down they sat, To read Emerson and the Aristocrat." The postcard was mailed on September 6, 1908 from Boston to Maine.

bake yer own bread – 9 delicious bread recipes from the students in green media

March 3rd, 2010
last week in green media, the students and professor baked bread. although the assignment included some readings on bread-making, it included no hands-on instructions. "bake bread," i told my students, "and if you don't know how, learn."

in class on friday, we broke bread. we sampled each other's creations and shared tips and suggestions.



(2nd pic: erin venables)

as usual, students were required to make and share their recipes. together, the students created an online cookbook. enjoy.

Marco Abellera's Making Bread: Focaccia
Daniele Dominguez's How to Make Sourdough Bread
Kate Greenspan & Sophia Lorenzi's Soph's Loaf of Chocolate Banana Bread
Christina Hammill's No-Knead Bread
Samuel Hernandez & Peter Thoene's rosemary rock salt focaccia
Michael Kao's Bread Noobie
Kelli McCloskey & Joseph Montana's Bread Making
Erin Venables' Rosemary Garlic Bread
Joel Weston's Mama D's Italian Bread

Hot Hearings

March 3rd, 2010

U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings are a great primary source for research papers. Included in hearings are:

  • expert testimonies
  • statistics
  • first-hand accounts of current events
  • political intrigue

What more could you possibly want?

Here are some examples of recent topics debated in Congressional Committee Hearings:

  • Steroids in Baseball
  • Medical Marijuana
  • Genocide in Darfur
  • Cost of War
  • Immigration Reform
  • Genetics & Discrimination
  • Health Care Reform
  • Violence in Music and on TV

Most hearings are shelved in the Government Documents Room. Check Ignacio for the exact location.  You can also access hearings online using the following resources:

Check out the display near the library’s entrance for examples of hearings from our collection.

For questions about finding and using congressional hearings contact Carol Spector (the Government Information Librarian) at csspector@usfca.edu.


USF Student Body President General Election Update

March 2nd, 2010

There was a tie reported last week in the student body elections for USF Student Body President so they were planning on having a run-off this week which has now been canceled and turned into a general election. Personally I hate the idea of runoffs or just re-voting because the initial voting group doesn’t come back out (because of time or lack of knowledge about it since it’s usually really close to the original election) and numbers just go down so it may not be as effective.

It has apparently been rescheduled though to after spring break due to voting software problems:

“After careful investigation into the recent general election voting database, we found that voter irregularities did exist in the voting software. After discussion with the Supreme Court, Election Rules Commission and Student Government Advising, Training and Operations, it is necessary to cancel the run-off election and to hold an expedited general election post spring break. This discovery only impacted the presidential/vice presidential race. Therefore, all other ballot items (i.e., senatorial) are exempt and were not affected by the voting deficiency. All original presidential tickets will be on the ballot. We want to thank the students who brought this electronic error to our attention. The times and dates of the expedited election will be released later this week. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused any of our candidates and their supporters.” Source: http://www.sg.usf.edu/?q=node/1