Jen Library Reference Department

Some important institutions, including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, have been placing historical photographs online on Flickr Commons.  The goal of these projects are to get the public to look at and tag photos.  Oregon State University has now joined in and this week placed some of their images from their agriculture, environmental and other collections online. The Chronicle of Higher Education talks about the image collection in today’s issue.

Take a look at some of the tags and see what you can find!

Wondering why some professors say you can’t use Wikipedia?  Check out this video on YouTube.  It’s a pretty funny take on the pitfalls of Wikipedia.  Enjoy!

If you’re interested in learning how to discern an authoritative web site from one you shouldn’t use in your papers, check out the Research link on the library’s homepage.  Scroll toward the bottom to the Evaluating Information section and you’ll see something called the CRAAP test.  This is very useful when trying to determine whether or not to use a web site for a source for papers or projects.

C urrency:  Is the information on the site current and up-to-date?

R elevent:  Does it truly relate to your topic?

A uthority:  Who is the author?

A ccuracy:  Can you trust the information?

P urpose:  Why is the information there–to persuade you or sell you something?

For those of you who study Museum Studies, it is probably no surprise that not all museums or exhibition showcase works of art.  For those of you who have studied any art theory, or modern art, you might argue that our exhibition of it in a space makes it art!  If you’re an industrial designer, gadgets and gizmo history is probably right up your alley.

And for the rest of us, this just might be a really cool show.  The San Bernadino County Museum opened its new exhibit, Gadgets and Gizmos:  Inventing the Modern World on February 14.  Showcasing the tools of everyday use from the past, the museum hopes “…visitors will be inspired to contemplate all of the gadgets in their own lives, and compare them to those used by folks in years past…”

If you are from California, or have the opportunity to go to the area soon, this looks like a great show to catch.  For more information, check out the museum’s web site, or this article in San Bernadino’s paper, The Sun.

But what do you think?  Do you think gadgets derserve an exhibition?  What kinds of implements do you think should be on display?  What kinds of museums do you think would want to host such exhibitions?  Science and technology museums only?  What do you think artists and industrial designers can learn from such exhibitions?

Today, a small story was in SCAD’s very own District.  Check out the commentary by Travis Walters.  Walters brings up some very interesting questions, especially about the photographer that took the photo Fairey used for inspiration.  It will be interesting who the court decides owns the photograph.

This case could have implications for SCAD graduates’ work in the future.  This is definitely an important story to follow.

So, last week the AP was suing Shepard Fairey over copyright infringement for the image used for the Obama HOPE poster.  Then, the artist was arrested in Boston before the opening of his show at the Institute of Contemporary Art.  Now, Fairey is suing the AP alleging that he is protected under fair use.  This is a story that the SCAD community should be following!  Check out the latest in the New York Times.

Other newspapers carrying this story include the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Post and more.

To track Fairey’s Boston arrest for charges of graffiti, check out the Boston Globe.

That’s right, copyright strikes again!  Learn what illegal file sharing is and how to avoid it.  An article in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education mentions possible new laws to deal with “student pirates.”  Don’t be one of them!

Places to get good quality information on copyright:

1. UCLA has a good overview of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.  You might want to be familiar with the basics.
2. Art Law for Everyone is a blog by Elizabeth Russell out of Madison, Wisconsin.  She is a lawyer who represents those in creative industries (such as artists!).  She is also a frequent speaker at art library conferences and a columnist in Art Calendar magazine.  She often blogs on copyright.
3. Simply do a keyword search in the library catalog for “copyright.”  There’s a wealth of information right in your own library!

We’ll post more on copyright issues as we learn about changes, challenges, etc.  Or, feel free to ask one of the Reference Librarians if you have questions.

The New York Times published an article in its online edition on Friday, February 6.  The article details a study recently published in the journal Science by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada.  The article might be of interest to those in color theory classes or by artists and designers wondering how color impacts the works they do.

Check it out here.

Have you ever had a hard time finding a new book in Jen Library, even though the catalog said it was on the 2nd or 3rd floor?

Well, now we are listing our new books as “on exhibit.”  So, if you see a book in the catalog that you want and the status does not say AVAILABLE, but instead says NEW BOOK SHELVES, you just need to look for it on the 1st floor.  The New Book shelf is the first set of shelves that you see on the 1st floor and it is marked with a sign.  Many of these books are propped up on display so that you can see some of the great covers of the new art books we get.

If you need any assistance, don’t be afraid to ask a friendly Reference Librarian.