Tree of Codes

Starting with Polish artist and writer Bruno Schulz’s book The Street of Crocodiles as a source, Jonathon Foer cut away at portions of the text to create an entirely new story to be read through layers upon layers of windows within pages. It took the printing company a whole year of preparation and prototyping to actually produce the finished book.

According to Visual Editions, Tree of Codes is

• "a new book by Jonathan Safran Foer, is as much a sculptural object as it is a work of masterful storytelling. With the story literally carved out of another book, Tree of Codes has a different die-cut on every single page. Telling the haunting story of “an enormous last day of life”, it is a book that looks every bit like it feels: unlike anything else."
  

Find out more about the detail that went into making the book here

This book is soon to be added to the CSU library collection - Check Availability

Library Tips

With Orientation Week in mind for all our commencing students, here are some library tips:

For a great place to start, the Library Toolbox will provide you with information about library services. You can also find out more about what services apply to you as a Distance Education or On-campus student at our Information for ... page

Don't forget that there are lots of different ways that you can contact us for help, so don't hesitate to ask. Our help options are available on the left hand side of the Library Homepage under the heading Library Help.

Highlights of This Weeks New Titles

• iPhone programming : the Big Nerd Ranch guide - Leads beginners through the essential facets of iPhone application development. Check Availability

• Libraries for users - Services in academic libraries. Check Availability

• Movies and mass culture - Looks at the ways in which American identity shapes and is shaped by motion pictures. Check Availability

• Chocolate wars : from Cadbury to Kraft - 200 years of sweet success and bitter rivalry. Check Availability

• The effective teacher's guide - 50 ways to engage students and promote interactive learning. Check Availability

• Words fail me - A journey through Australia's lost language. Check Availability

• Lifestyle medicine - Managing diseases of lifestyle in the 21st century. Check Availability

• Clinical skills for pharmacists - A patient-focused approach. Check Availability

• Medicinal plants in Australia - Designed to enhance our appreciation of the medicinal history of Australia’s flora, its unique contributions to everyday life, and its extraordinary future potential. Check Availability

• Designing and managing a research project - A business student's guide. Check Availability

• World on film : an introduction - Provides a comprehensive introduction to international film. Check Availability

The complete list of new titles can be accessed here

Orientation Week @ Your Library

Welcome to Orientation Week @ Your Library for all our commencing students. Don't forget to keep checking CSU Library Twitter for the latest news and keep watching this space for pictures of Orientation Week.

Take part in the library scavenger hunt to win iTunes vouchers, there are five $20 vouchers up for grabs.

Library Tip: To borrow from Your Library both on campus and distance education students need a current CSU Student card. If you haven't already got a CSU student card you can apply for one by filling out this form here and sending it to Student Central.

Visit the CSU Orientation Week site for all other O'Week information.

Highlights of This Weeks New Titles

• Interact with web standards - A holistic approach to Web design. Check Availability

• Truth about facebook - How to use facebook for marketing and advertising, and much more; the facts you should know. Check Availability

• E-publishing and digital libraries - Legal and organizational issues. Check Availability

• Surviving Hitler's war - Family life in Germany. Check Availability

• Australian tax analysis - Cases, commentary, commercial applications and questions. Check Availability

• Wildfires and wildfire management - Begins with a brief overview of the nature of wildfires, followed by a discussion of protecting structures. Check Availability

• Biochemistry illustrated - Biochemistry and molecular biology in the post-genomic era. Check Availability

• Mosby's pocket guide to nursing skills & procedures - Presents 83 key skills in an easy-to-use A-to-Z format. Check Availability

• Plant science - Growth, development, and utilization of cultivated plants. Check Availability

• Fantastic TV - 50 years of cult fantasy and science fiction. Check Availability

• Game programming gems 8 - The eighth volume of the must-have reference series for game developers. Check Availability

• Casino Royale - DVD Check Availability

The complete list of new titles can be accessed here

Horizon Report 2011

"Each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education and creative expression over the next one to five years. The areas of emerging technology cited for 2011 are:

Time to adoption: One Year or Less

• Electronic Books
• Mobiles

Time to adoption: Two to Three Years

• Augmented Reality
• Game-based Learning

Time to adoption: Four to Five Years

• Gesture-based Computing
• Learning Analytics"

Text from the EDUCAUSE website.

If you're interested in how accurate these yearly forecasts of technology in higher education have been in the past, be sure to check out their archive of Horizon Reports dating back to 2005: See the EDUCAUSE website for more details.

Highlights of This Weeks New Titles

• The demise of the library school - Personal reflections on professional education in the modern corporate university. Check Availability

• Indigenous Australian health and cultures - An introduction for health professionals. Check Availability

• Classroom management - Creating positive learning environments. Check Availability

• The clinical placement - An essential guide for nursing students. Check Availability

• Youth leadership in sport and physical education - Useful for teachers, coaches, and youth agency program leaders, this work compiles ideas suitable for children in fourth grade through high school. Check Availability

• Top 100 drug interactions - A guide to patient management. Check Availability

• Art + soul - A journey into the world of Aboriginal art. Check Availability

• The Siege - Fiction. Check Availability

• Men from the boys - Fiction. Check Availability

The complete list of new titles is available here

CSU Regional Archives Historical Photo: First Computer Purchased By RCAE 1974

How times have changed! The CSU Regional Archives are currently highlighting historical photographs, starting with the first computer purchased by the Riverina College of Advanced Education (RCAE). This was the Digital PDP 11/45 Computer.

The 1974 RCAE Annual Report contained the following information about the computer:
“Early in 1974, the College took delivery of a Digital PDP 11/45 Computer, and this has been steadily expanded by attaching punch cards, card readers and some remote terminals. The Computer is used mainly as a teaching tool for courses in Business Studies and Applied Science, but with the appointment of a Systems Analyst early in 1975 and other staff, the Computer will be used increasingly in the administration work of the College, for the Library and will be available to local business, professional an industrial users.”

Visit the CSU Regional Archives website for more photographs from CSU's precursor institutions.

Book Recommendations

Want something to read (other than textbooks) before university session begins again? Check out these book recommendation sites.

What Should I Read Next? This site analyses the databases of real readers favourites to provide book recommendations and suggestions for future reading.

Whichbook Gives readers a chance to match books according to their mood. Whichbook starts with the reader and enables the individual to select the elements of a book that they would consider a 'good read'. At the bottom of the traits you can also change to character, plot, setting by clicking the button; this enables you to select the kind of plot and protagonist you are in the mood for.

The Book Seer Suggests books along very similar lines to one that you have just read and enjoyed. It makes suggestions based on Amazon and LibraryThing.

Safer Internet Day 2011

It's more than a game, it's your life

That's the message to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones. Safer Internet Day, on 8th February 2011 will focus on the topic "our virtual lives". This is designed to help children and teens learn essential skills about safe social networking.

Key messages for Safer Internet Day are:

• Control your digital reputation – things you post online now can affect you in the future.
• Protect your privacy – make decisions about who sees your information.
• Be a good friend– treat others online as you want to be treated.

For more information on Safer Internet Day visit Cybersmart.

Wiley Online Library downtime

CSU Library has a subscription to Wiley Online Library - also known as Wiley InterScience - and we have been advised that this resource might be unavailable (owing to essential site maintenance) for up to 2 hours from 9 pm Saturday 5 February (ADST).

We apologise for any inconvenience.

Ebooks overtake paperbacks: is this the death of the printed book?

From the Telegraph in the UK:

There is a certain inevitability in the news that eBook sales have now overtaken paperback sales on Amazon’s US site. Amazon’s Kindle 2 is so light and so cheap that it’s easy to see why people have rushed to buy it and is a vast improvement on its predecessor.

The eBook trend is nowhere near peaking. Over the next five years we can expect to see more and more readers move away from printed books and pick up eBooks instead.

There are however some who prefer printed books. They like having shelves filled with books they’ve read and books they plan to read; they like the feel of the book in their hands and the different weights and typefaces and layouts of different titles.

There’s no reason to think that lovers of printed books will change their minds. But there will undoubtedly be fewer of them as time goes by because more people will grow up with eBooks and spend little time with printed ones.

Read the full article here

And in another article Amazon has revealed that it has sold more Kindle eBooks than paperbacks in the US during the final three months of 2010. A similar pattern has continued during January 2011 with 115 eBooks being sold for every 100 paperbacks.

The figure only relates to the US market and the number of eBooks sold on Amazon’s own e-reader device, the Kindle, which now accounts for 41.5 per cent of the e-reader market.

Read this article here

Intellectual refreshment at the pub

In Nagykovacsi, Hungary (near Budapest) an ex-librarian turned publican offers patrons the chance to have a drink, sit with friends and colleagues and enjoy reading. It's a library with a difference - there are no registration or borrowing fees and the library works on a 'bring one, take one' basis. It all began with some controversy as the village already has a public library, and it was feared that the pub library would attract more people; this has proven to be the case. The pub library attracts people who would otherwise be unlikely to use the public library, and has been deemed a complete success.

The books have already come in handy to solve a pub debate over the winner of the first world cup. The diversity of the collection includes sports encyclopedias, historical works right through to bibliographies.

Read more about this initiative project.

The fight to save libraries continues...

In an attempt to stop their local library from being shut down, residents in Stony Statford (located near Milton Keynes, in northern Buckinghamshire) protested by borrowing all 16,000 items from the library. To achieve this feat patrons took home the maximum allowance of 15 books, including old manuals and dusty paperbacks. This left the library shelves bare, and at one point nearly 380 books were stamped out for loan every hour. The protest was in order to oppose council plans to close the library as part of budget cuts. This campaign called 'wot no books' was organised by Friends of Stony Statford Library. Read here to learn more.

The final decision will be made by Milton Keynes Council on February 22nd. You can help show support for the library by signing the petition. Merchandise for the library has been designed to help raise awareness, and can be viewed online here

The campaign to save Stony Statford continues on the 5th February when the library takes part in a national scheme by the Save Our Libraries group. The campaign involves libraries holding a read-in between 11am and 12pm.

In the UK right now libraries are facing a 28% cut. This means as many as one in five libraries and one in four full-time librarian jobs are at risk. This comes despite the fact more than 300 million books were borrowed last year and tens of thousands of people use the internet in libraries every day. Read more about the political situation for UK libraries.

Libraries in Australia don’t currently face the same threat as UK libraries, instead funding has increased steadily over the past five years. There is still a need for improvement though, especially while half the Australian population does not hold a library card. Libraries need to be proactive about engaging with the community and display the value of a library. Read more about the situation in Australia here