Don’t spend your money on magazines or books when you can get them at the Pollak Library for free.  Walk by the new book display on the first floor by the Circulation Desk, or browse the Book Loft and popular periodicals section on the 2nd floor of Library South.  You can also look for that book you’ve been meaning to read in the Library Catalog.

An Interview with Carol Bednar: Documenting the Past and Moving on to the Future
Carol Bednar is retiring after 36 years at Cal State Fullerton. Carol has served as Government Documents Librarian for the last 20 years and has been actively involved in many facets of academic libraries’ transitions during the last two decades of technological change. Read an interview with Carol as she reflects on her many and memorable contributions during her distinguished career.

We have all benefited immensely from the availability of high-quality information available online.  Or have we?  Some researchers are now considering what we have lost with the way scholars are discovering information through databases. Databases tend to have better access to more recent articles and citation analysis showed that new research references a smaller pool of articles. In short, we have lost or reduced serendipitous discovery of new ideas and perspectives. The author of a recent study argues that the internet may “tighten consensus” and drive out diversity rather than fuel the proliferation of new ideas. Not all agree though.  Read a news story or read the article in Science.

Two of the library’s main information providers have given us free access to important and timely information about swine flu.

Ebsco Publishing has paired with DynaMed to make free access to its  clinical information about swine flu. This information is designed for health care providers, but may also be of interest to Cal State Fullerton faculty, staff and students.

Gale has also given us free access to news and information about swine flu, through its Global Issues in Context portal. If you wish, you may download a widget for use on a web page of your own.

Both information providers will be updating these sites.