Cheap Library Dates

Ever wonder about when and where you can take your girl or spouse on a date for no cost? I know the exact place for you to take your date for free of charge and when that place is open. The Masland Library at Cairn University is open for couples to go on library dates! Library dates are a fun experience for couples to have if they are broke and want to have an excellent but studious time together.

A library date occurs when a guy (or girl) wants to take their loved one on a date that is free of charge. The first thing that they need to know is when the Masland Library is open. The library is open on Monday to Thursday from 7:30 AM to 11:00 PM; Friday from 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM; Saturday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; and Sunday from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM.  For special hours please see our library hours page here. When the library is open, the date will begin when once a couple enters the library. The order of events that will be described does not have to be done chronologically.

If the couple has a love of art and romance then the first place they should go together in the library is to see the Grace Livingstone Exhibit and also see the other art that is featured on the Mezzanine level. Second, they will go to the downstairs computer lab where a lovely student assistant will greet them. In the computer lab, they will sit at two different computers and get on Facebook (if they have Facebook accounts) and Facebook chat with each other. They will continue to send each other adorable messages for a little while. Next, while they are still at their computers, they will show each other their favorite databases that are offered on the library website: library.cairn.edu. Some of those databases may include ARTstor (which is famous for Lit/Arts projects), Business Source Elite (which is very helpful for business research), JSTOR Arts/Sciences Collections, and many more!

After sharing some memorable moments in the computer lab, the couple will go to Juvenile Lab which is located next to the Curriculum Lab on the Mezzanine level. As they browse the various children’s books, they will have an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and will grab their favorite children’s books from the shelves and proceed to read to their loved ones. The time in the Juvenile Lab is a great time to pour your childhood feelings into someone else so that they may love you all the more. The books in the Juvenile Lab are also useful for the elementary education majors. When the couple finishes with their stories, they will find one of the small cubicle desks in the library and share it. The cubicle desks are very useful for all students to use when they want to do homework with peace and quiet. So with peace and quiet, the couple can sit together and whisper sweet little nothings to each other. The couple will leave the library very much in love and still without money. Nonetheless, they will treasure those sweet moments together during their library date for the rest of their days.

Some of these ideas are simple ideas for loved ones to invest their time in if they want to have cheap library dates. Enjoy the Masland Library and all of the wonderful dates you may have there. I trust that the student body at Cairn University will also have ideas to contribute to the concept of a cheap library date, and I hope they will treasure those moments.

~Daniel Wright

Utilizing Journals

What are they?

No, don’t worry, we don’t have people’s diaries on display in the library…so what are they? A journal is a collection of articles published by a particular reliable academic source by a specific magazine or group that addresses particular topics.

So for example, when searching for an article published in the TIME magazine several years ago, the way to find that would be to go to the TIME Journals, which are the bound TIME magazines all set in one location for you to use!  If you’re interested in the hard copy, you will find all the journals alphabetically organized on the first floor of the Masland library. Not only can you access them in hard copy at the Library, but some journals are also found online.

One way to access the electronic journal is through the databases. If you’ve searched for an article and find that the source is from TIME magazine but don’t like this article you found, you can easily look at other articles that TIME magazine has published.

In this sample picture of an article, you can see the Title, Author, and Source. Clicking on the Blue “TIME” by the Source, the database will take you straight to a page where you can access the journal articles from those in the early 90s up to the most recent ones.

 Then select your year, your issue, and scroll through the articles in this particular journal. Or if you’re interested in searching within the entirety of TIME magazine, click “Search within this publication” and find if there are any articles relating to your topic in TIME magazine.

 
It’s as easy as that! Start with the database; find your magazine, access your journal, search or browse within your publication and viola! You will have found the sources you need in no time. So next time you write a paper, remember that the first floor Journals may have more to help than you think!

~Grace

Completing the Course

The end of the semester is finally here! The final challenge awaiting all of the students is finals week. There is something about finals week that is just so, well, final. To put it simply, finals week is the culmination of all of the hard work that has been done all semester long. For each class, it comes down to one final paper. What better place to write your final papers then the library? To help the student body, the library is staying open until 12 AM from Sunday to Tuesday.

This week will be a little hectic for the library since everyone is finishing up with books that they checked out. For final papers, the library has an immense selection of books for students to use as resources. I am working on a final paper for my New Testament class, and I have selected a number of helpful books to guide my argument. I have chosen eight commentaries that I thought would be helpful. The BIB REF section on the lower floor of the library includes many commentaries and books on Hebrew and Greek translations. I may use some of these books as well, however books from the BIB REF section may not be checked out.

The paper concerns I Corinthians 8-11 and the idea of food that is sacrificed to idols. I cannot say anymore in regards to this paper because I have not started it. However, the idea of food sacrificed to idols has appeared in other places in the New Testament (Romans 14-15 and Revelation 2 for example). For other classes, the final may come down to one more class presentation. The computer labs on the lower and upper level of the library supply the sufficient technology for students to use on their presentations. If any of the students need any help with operating one of the systems or finding resources, there will normally be a student worker in the computer lab on the lower floor. Perhaps some of the finals next week are exams (possibly cumulative). The librarians and sometimes student workers work hard trying to keep the library a quiet and productive environment for people to do their work. The student can even isolate himself from everyone by going to one of the small cubicles in the library to try to concentrate on studying for his exam.

The library will also provide students with coffee and hot chocolate so that they may take a short break. Truly the library is prepared to help students get through finals week. The remaining question is this: are the students prepared to finish this semester strong? The final grades on Self-Service represent a semester’s worth of hard work, or maybe not so hard work…

-Daniel Wright aka Superfly

Asking the right questions

What better to do on a beautiful Thursday in February than venture to the University of Penn. Museum of Anthropology and Archeology on a class field trip? Filled with excitement that brought on flashbacks from elementary school field trips, several Pentateuch Classes got themselves together for a day in Philly looking at artifacts from Canaan and Israel, Egypt, Rome, Ancient Iraq and many others. Although this trip was interesting and fun there is always a project in the end that brings on a level of stress. My class was required to do a group presentation that involved further research using outside resources, namely books.

 Amidst the many other assignments due from other classes, research can be tedious, especially when it feels like there are no books on your subject; but trust me there are! When I initially did research for my section of the project I saw only 5 books that contained to my subject. I was nervous that I may not have enough information, but eventually found just the book I needed. The next day when I arrived at work there were over 60 books containing the subjects we needed for this project that needed to be re-shelved! Imagine my surprise when I had previously assumed there were only 5. Many times people, including  myself, just don’t put in the right terms in the search bar to find what we are looking for; but don’t worry you are not alone! There are many student workers here who would love to help you and our lovely librarians Laura and Alice are amazing at finding just the source you need to make your project a breeze. So don’t hesitate to ask for help! We would love to give you a hand.

~Leia Brunette

Image: http://www.penn.museum/collections/object.php?irn=117842 

ILL. No, not ill, rather I L L. What is ILL?

ILL is a library service that we offer that allows you to borrow books from other libraries around the area. Hence, it’s called Inter Library Loan. And, it’s my favorite part about my afternoon shift.
            

What happens sometimes is that our library may not have a book that you’re looking for. In order to accommodate for when this does happen, we have a catalog searching system (maslandlibrary.worldcat.org) that will search for the book that you want at other cooperating libraries, and once it’s found it, we can ask for it to be sent to PBU so that you can utilize it for your research. This way when for some reason we can’t provide you with the book you’re looking for, you can still get it from somewhere else. It takes about 2 weeks for a book request to get processed and sent here, so you do need to think ahead on bigger assignments. But other than that, once you’ve placed your request and had it approved, you’ll be notified of the books arrival, I’ll unpackage it , and set it aside for you to pick up!
           

How do you make use of such a wonderful tool? Easy! Go to the library website (www.library.pbu.edu), and under the Services section, select the first option for Inter Library Loan. Read up on the instructions; create an account, and your ready to place a request. I hope you can make use of such a great tool!  

~Grace Sulaiman

(Picture: Shepherd University, WV)

Seven Reasons to Appreciate the Library

1. People are nice here. Seriously, we are. We like books, so as long as you aren’t bringing open cups into the main library or sneaking cookies from the MAC, we’ll continue to be nice to you. (Yes, we DO see you eating your Cheez-Its back there. Don’t even think that you can hide in one of the workstations, because the Library Police WILL catch you.)

2. We possess the secrets to limitless knowledge, better grades, and unstable amounts of pure awesomeness. It’s a fact, and you would know about it if you bothered to come and research the Periodic Table in the library.

3. Come on, people. It’s FREE! Books cost money. If you do your research for that big paper here instead of buying lots of books you’ll only look at once, you’ll have more money to spend on food. Which you’ll have to leave at the desk. Don’t eat in the library.

4. The library transcends these four walls. Because of this library, you have access to hundreds of databases and e-texts filled with all that scholarly information that your professors love. Give them what they want, and do your brain a favor. You don’t even have to get out of your pajamas, though I suggest leaving that Diet Coke a good distance away from your Macbook.

5. Printing. You can use your student ID’s here for a fixed amount of free prints every semester so that you can save money on ink when you have to print out that thesis four times. Take advantage of the computers and the printing. Besides, you’ll make some lonely computer lab worker’s day just by showing up.

6. We have an entire room filled with childrens books! Spending half an hour with a stack of old favorites from your childhood can be a great way to take the edge off being an adult with responsibilities.

7. It’s quiet in here. Our study areas are wonderfully non-distracting, and it’s really easy to get work done when you don’t have to listen to your roommate’s Toby Mac CD blasting at full volume in the background.

That being said, I would really like to encourage you to take advantage of the resources made available to you through the library. You just might be surprised at what you can find.

See you soon!

-Gabrielle Cerberville

ARTstor

Did you know that PBU recently added another database to our collection? If you are in Lit and Arts this semester this could be the perfect database for you as you finish up all those projects. And even if you aren’t, it could be beneficial to look this new database over beforehand so you know how to use it when due dates start approaching far too quickly, as they often do.

The new database is named ARTSTOR. Its’ digital library is made up of more than one million images. Although a database of images may not seem entirely helpful when your task is to find how culture and values are represented in various art pieces, I found it to be extremely beneficial.

Last weekend I was working on my project studying Greek art. Using JSTOR, another helpful database, I found the sculpture that I planned to study, but I could not find a picture of it in color anywhere on JSTOR. Since I needed to print the picture in color for the assignment, I immediately felt frustrated and wondered if I would have to pick a new art piece altogether. Thankfully, I decided to take a quick peak on ARTSTOR and I am so glad I did. Within seconds of typing my sculpture’s name into the search bar I was given many choices of my sculpture IN COLOR! I even squealed a little bit in excitement…or maybe it was relief.

So, go on the library website, click online databases, click ARTSTOR, click “go” on the pop up, type in your subject, and get going! There are even fancy little pamphlets at the library front desk if you want some more information.

Worry no longer, my friends about those Lit and Arts projects. ARTSTOR can save the day.

~Christa Joy Ciotta

Sikyon, Euthychides Of. Tyche of Antioch. Digital image. ARTstor. Italian and Other European Art (Scala Archives). Web. 7 Dec. 2010. .

Holiday break woes

Has the thought of not being able to use the library over the holiday break got you down?…..

It’s hard to believe it, but the holidays are approaching ever so quickly. To most students, this means finally being able to catch all of those ZZZZ’s that were missed during the semester. However, there are a few who just can’t seem to get rid of the school bug. For those of you who just have a hankering to do some sort of research over the break (holiday related maybe), I have some FANTASTIC news for you! The PBU Online Databases are AMAZING!!! I’m sure by now you are extremely tired of hearing about online databases and how beneficial they are…blah, blah, blah. It is a topic that has almost worn out its welcome. I am here though, to tell you that the online databases, JSTOR in particular, have been my lifesavers throughout this semester. I was assigned many projects this semester that required art pictures as well as analysis of them. I was at a loss to know how and where to find them until I stumbled across JSTOR. We as students at PBU have so much knowledge and information right at our fingertips, but I find that we don’t often use it. This is just another reminder that the online databases are WONDERFUL, and should be used for any type of research!

One last note on these resources…Did you know that some database platforms will formulate a citation for you?! One that I have found that does this is EBSCO Host. This is just another one of the many reasons why you MUST try out the online databases! Have fun with it!

~Denae

The Revelation of the Not-So-Secret Databases

With midterms quickly approaching, you almost certainly have some sort of research paper due. Chances are, you’re procrastinating, freaking out, or both. But what if something could be done to change your approach to writing papers? What if researching the exegetical gobbledygook of blah blah blah could actually be an ADVENTURE?! What if you didn’t have to wake up at 3 AM the night before a paper is due with no resources because the library isn’t open?

“Impossible!” you scoff. “Nobody ever likes research! It’s torture, designed by professors to steal our free time and keep us off Facebook and online TV! It’s time-consuming, it’s boring, and you have to sift through tons of stuff you don’t need!” Well, my friends, allow me to introduce you to…

THE MASLAND LIBRARY DATABASES!!!!!

Imagine this situation. It’s six hours before your paper on the effects of television on cognitive development is due for an 8 AM class. The library is closed, and you’re not allowed to use Wikipedia (duh). How do you do your research? (Note: You should have done it earlier, but we’re waaay past that now.) Simple. Go to http://library.pbu.edu/ and click on the second tab (the one that says “online databases”). There are lots and lots of these (over 70). A lot of students prefer EbscoHost databases, but believe me, all of them are fantastic. Current students of Philadelphia Biblical University can go to specific databases for specific subjects (e.g. psychology, music, Old Testament), or you can just use one of the general databases. You can search through thousands upon thousands of subjects, it’s very easy to narrow down exactly what you’re looking for, and it’s legitimate research. You want to find something on peanut butter allergies in seventh grade boys with blond hair? Chances are it’s in there somewhere. Lots of them will even cite themselves so you don’t have to figure out how to cite an article in a particular format at 4 am in the morning. Convenient, huh?

Now, you don’t have to slack off on your homework in order to use the databases! They’re even more useful when you prioritize your time and do diligent, thorough research. Some databases, including EbscoHost, will allow you to email PDF and HTML versions of articles to yourself so you can keep them and look over them without having to search again or print them out. The databases are accessible anywhere, so you don’t even have to get up in order to do your research.

Well, that’s about it, folks. The secret is out. Research papers just got easier for everyone. If you want to know more about the databases, just ask a library student worker (or a Librarian)! We all know how they work, and we’d be thrilled to help out!

~Gabrielle Cerberville

Keeping Afloat

Today, Wednesday 29, Philadelphia Biblical University held its annual boat raise. After creating their own devices for crossing the water – as I can I hardly deem them boats – a few brave individuals ventured across the pond. Unfortunately, a number of the boats failed to perform adequately enough to support their crew across the water. Thus, they subsequently sunk bellow the murky (to say the least) water. If, as I, you were reminded of the scene in the film Cast Away in which Tom Hanks’ character flees from his island prison on his self-constructed raft, and wish to watch this awesome film, it is available at the front desk of the PBU library along with many other classic titles.

Although the boat race was very funny, the individuals manning the sunken vessels could have easily prevented the occurrence if they would have simply spent some time investigating the physical properties of flotation on the databases available through the library. Listed on the PBU database web-page are numerous databases that relate not only to science but a multitude of other topics including everything from food to politics. For example, Victor L. Streeter, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, wrote an article that explains how buoyancy works on the Access Science database from McGraw-Hill. If, however, you are looking for a more in-depth study of buoyancy to drastically increase the success of your own personal homemade boat, the Article First database offers large number of articles that pertain to the different highly complex aspects of buoyancy. Next time you are attempting to design a homemade boat, or even writing a research paper for a class, check out the databases available on the PBU Masland Library website.

~Matt Ostrow