Summer reading suggestions

You read all this past year, textbooks, research for papers you were writing and so on, now it is summer, and hopefully you have some time to read simply for your own personal pleasure! Here are some lists of possible good reads.

• Good Reads is a popular reader site, and these are some suggested titles from them.
• Here's a list from the "Bookish Brunette!"
• Amazon has some good suggestions too.
• Here is a guide to ebooks to read this summer from a blogger at the Huffington Post.

   If you have any suggestions for reading lists, please feel free to post them in the comments here!

Students: preserve your memories

It's busy right now with finals week, and of course for many graduation is coming soon (congratulations!) It probably isn't anything you're thinking about, since it is all still so immediate, but have you ever thought about preserving your memories of college? You have emails from friends and professors, digital photos on a phone or Facebook, maybe other sorts of materials too, print copies of an article a friend wrote in the Stylus and so on. Years from now it would be nice to revisit those memories, but will you still have these things to remember your school years by?

The Library of Congress has a helpful page that makes good suggestions about how to preserve and archive your personal documents, emails, photos and similar items. Your blogger is also the college archivist, and is currently helping members of the Class of '63 plan their 50th Reunion. They have brought in many photos and other items to use in making slideshows and so forth for their reunion, and it would be great if you have some similar materials in 2063 when it is time for your 50th Reunion!

Book Sales!

Just a random suggestion for something fun to do this summer; visit a used book sale! This site lists many that are held in our region and beyond. What could be nicer on a rainy summer day than browsing through stacks of old books?

Presidential Libraries

The George W. Bush Library was in the news recently as they prepared for their public opening on May 1. There are a number of presidential libraries, and the National Archives has a page that lists them all.

End of semester help

Here's a few tips to help you finish out the semester in good shape before going off for the summer!

• Wondering how to do APA, MLA etc.? Try our online citation and style guides.
• Trying to track down a particular journal, magazine or newspaper? Try this list of all the things like this that we have access to.
• Wondering about our hours at the end of the semester? Visit this page.
• Need more help? Ask one of us!

Study Break: "A Charming Excursion"

If you're looking for a study break have a look at this just posted in the Digital Commons. It is a short collection of letters written in the late 1860s and early 1870s to the local Brockport Republic newspaper describing various carriage and train excursions taken by local residents. They describe taking a carriage ride up to Troutburg, a then popular resort on Lake Ontario, or a train ride to Portageville, where William Letchworth still was living in the house that is the basis of today's Letchworth Park.

Sociology (or history or...) journals ONLY

Once in awhile a person is told to look for articles in journals from only a certain discipline, sociology for example, or history or education etc. The challenge is that our online article databases are often broad based and include journals from a wide range of disciplines. So, what to do?

One option is to go to JSTOR. In JSTOR click on the "advanced search" link. On the advanced search page below the search boxes you'll see a line saying "Narrow by discipline.." You can skim the list and check the box next to the discipline you're interested in, and then you will be searching sociology journals only for example.

There are other options too, and if you want to know more, just ask one of us!