Coe Etiquette Book 1941 - the digital exhibit!

Good morning all and sundry!!

The last page of Coe's 1941 Etiquette Book was posted last Saturday.  If you are missing your weekly fix you can find the book in its entirety on the archive's digital exhibit page.  You can also go back and look at past blog posts and comment on the various intricacies of etiquette in 1941, or etiquette today!

Can you believe I was only planning on this taking up a month of blog posts?  Now we are approaching a new semester and I need to find something else to blog about.  It shouldn't be too hard, there are numerous Coe treasures in the archive to choose from.  Do I have any requests?  Cosmos cartoons, campus buildings, past student events, George T. Henry photos...?

I hope everyone is having a great holiday break.  I will see you in 2013.

Have a great day

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe Etiquette Book 1941 - Other Suggestions and Do's and Don'ts

The rules for smoking on campus are much different today due to government laws.  Does anyone want to take a stab at writing an equivalent etiquette note for smoking today?

I find the last part of number 1, under Do's and Don'ts, rather curious "Don't persistently borrow from your friends and forget to return things  -- especially their favorite dates."  I wonder if there is a story behind that tag line.

What are your thoughts behind these suggestions?  I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but there is a place to leave a reply at the bottom.  Your welcome (and heartily encouraged) to pitch in your two cents on the etiquette rules described.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

 

Coe Etiquette Book 1941 - Date Problems

 

Thoughts?   Most of this seems like practical advice that is still applicable today.  Is there anything that isn't?  Are you surprised to see a section on dating in a college etiquette book?

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Take a break from finals

Most people think the library is just a place to go to study and write papers.  However, the library has a lot more to offer.  My new favorite place in the library is the hidden rooms on 2^nd floor with the comfy chairs and pictures.  Whenever I find myself at the library unable to study, I usually go to the one of these rooms to take a break.  I also use them when I just don’t have ambition to sit at a desk and focus intently on my homework.  I think these rooms offer a unique twist the library.  People usually imagine the cold desks, tiny lamps, and hard chairs.  This room, on the other hand, has oversize chairs and the walls are decorated with paintings that are a good thing to look at, especially to avoid that homework.

As finals come around, it is good to know that the library doesn’t have to be just a place to concentrate and study hard.  Long hours in the library during finals lead us all to hate the library, but it’s really just finals that we hate.  Take a break, visit the rooms and look at the paintings, sit in the chairs and take a break.  You deserve it after all.  Molly-Reference student

Zeitgeist 2012: The year that was thanks to Google

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xY_MUB8adEQ]

Today Google released its "Zeitgeist 2012" video which shows the past year in terms of what users searched on Google.  The video is pretty great, very much worth the 2.5 minutes to watch and enjoy.

Books!!!!

             My favorite thing about working at the library is seeing just what an extensive collection of books that it has to offer. Although I had spent time studying in the library last year (before I had a job at the circulation desk) I hadn’t taken advantage of using the books for various research products. I think one of the reasons why I didn’t do this is because I went to an extremely small high-school that didn’t have a very extensive collection of books. They had always encouraged us to use the library in high-school, but most of the time they just didn’t have enough books for me to find what I was looking for.

            So this year, after I got the job at the library and started doing tasks like shelving and inventory, I was amazed by the multitude of different book topics that the library housed. Even now, four months into the job I still get shocked that there are shelves and shelves of books on a single topic. So last month when I had a big research paper due for Chemistry, instead of only using online sources I checked the library database and was able to find tons of books about my topic. They were very helpful tools for my paper and I’m glad that I now go to a school that has a great library!~Bellamy, Circulation Student

Coe Etiquette Book 1941 - Addressing the Faculty, Illness, and Telephones

Any thoughts on this weeks etiquette advice from 1941?

I find the telephone system interesting.  In 1941 it was one telephone a floor (1 telephone for 25 students), Murray hall was built in the 60s with a telephone in every room (1 telephone for 2 students), and today there is no more need to warn against "hog-calling" in Green Hall since everyone has their own cell phone.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Unbroken by Hillenbrand

One of the best books that I have ever read is Unbroken. The story of an Olympic level sprinter, he was in the 1936 Games in Berlin, who was drafted into the Army Air Force during World War II. The book details Louis Zamperini’s incredible story of being shot down during a mission, spending over two months floating in a small rubber raft in the Pacific and being rescued by a Japanese boat. He then spends the remainder of World War II stuck in a variety of prison camps. Written by the same woman as Seabiscuit, also a really good book and movie, this tale runs the full gamut of emotions. ~Andrew, Reference student

The library owns a copy of this book.  The call number is D805 J3 Z364 2010 and is located on the 2nd floor.  I agree with Andrew.  This book was an amazing testament to human suffering, loss of dreams and the ability to forgive. ~Sandy

Time for Finals

The library is one of the best places to go study if you need to get out of your dorm room for a while. There are so many nooks and crannies here that you can curl yourself into and just get work done without any distractions. Every floor has some sort of study area, whether it's an actual enclosed room or just a bunch of comfy couches up in the Over-Sized Reading Room.

For me, I really love working either up on the second floor in one of the study rooms, if I can get one, or down on the first floor in the reference area. The study rooms are great if you're working with a couple other people and you need to chat about what you're working on or if you can't study in open spaces. Be careful, though, if you're working in there with friends; work might not actually get done if you spend too long chatting!

I also like working in the reference area. It's secluded enough that if you need to be on your own there are spaces for it, but if you want to work near a friend, there's place for that too. The good thing about working on the first floor is that there aren't any places where you can shut the door, so you can actually get work done instead of chatting (which is something I've been guilty of in the past.) Of course, the library isn't the only place on campus you can study, but if you need to work in almost absolute silence or absolute silence, the library is a wonderful place to come to work.

The great thing about it is there are a lot of places to try and work. If you're not sure what works for you, try out study areas on all four floors (people seem to forget about third floor a lot for some unknown reason) and figure out what works for you. Maybe you need walls around you or light or something. You'll probably find a perfect place somewhere in the library.~Anita, Reference student

Problems with EBSCO

Yesterday the library received a heads up that some students were having trouble accessing EBSCO from off-campus.  Computing services has been doing some work updating the proxy server that the campus uses to authenticate off-campus users, and that might be causing the issue.  We're working on resolving the problem, but in the mean time, remember that users should be able to access ALL of the library databases via the library website as long as they are on campus (this includes the new apartments across the street.)  If you are on campus, you never have to go through My.Coe to access the databases, you need simply to go the library's webpage.  Also, if you ever do have issues accessing any of the databases from off-campus, please let the library staff know so we can take care of it!  Good luck with your finals!

-Katelyn, Head of Reference

Massages are back!

Here at the library, we try to offer support to students in a variety of way during finals. Today we can officially announce that the library will be offering chair massages once again as a stress-buster for students prior to finals on Reading Day!  The chair massages will be Tuesday, December 11th from 10-3:30 PM, in the Perrine Gallery.  Massages will each be 10 minutes long, and they will be free!  So how do you get one, and what’s the catch?

• Sign up will start at 10 AM on Friday, December 7th.  Sign up will occur on both Friday, and the following Monday.


• You go to the Reference Desk to sign up.  If the reference desk is not staffed when you come, check in the Reference Office.


• Only current Coe students are eligible to receive a free massage


• You must come in person to sign up (no signing up for a group of friends, or by phone/email.)


• The day of the massages, you must check in 5 minutes prior to your massage.  If you do not check in prior to your massage, you are liable to lose your spot to students on the waiting list.

Sound good?  Great!  Swing by the library to sign up for your free massage, and good luck on your finals!

Coe Etiquette Book 1941 - Table Manners and Rooms

Thoughts?  Any etiquette suggestions still valid today?  Any that are most definitively not valid today?

Eating arrangements are much different today.  For one there are no longer dinning rooms in the halls.  Everyone eats together in the cafeteria.  For another meals are no longer served to tables, but buffet style.  Do you like the cafeteria or would you rather go back to the more formal meals of the past?

I found it interesting that the women get a lecture on how her room is "the key to her personality", and the men get a list of dos and don'ts.  I do find number eight amusing, and have to wonder if there was an incident that prompted its inclusion.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant