How the government shutdown affects libraries

You may say, "What effect does the government shutdown have on libraries?  Langsdale is not a federal agency." True enough, but much of our information comes from government agencies. Federal information centers and archives were displaying messages like this on their websites yesterday:

Libraries rely on government information on a daily basis, whether for labor or criminal justice statistics, historical archival materials or finance and trade information. As these federal services are impacted by the shutdown, so may librarians ability to gather data for students, faculty and staff.

Kathy Karn-Carmichael, from the University of South Carolina Aiken, has a Research Guide which has government information from non-government resources.

Maryland sources such as the State Data Center still have lots of census data for Maryland.

The Ranking Jangle in Higher Ed

Mark Twain via Wikipedia

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. - Mark Twain

How does one chose a single university out of all the stellar universities in this country? Answer: Rankings?

Earlier this month, US News and World Report put out their annual ranking of US colleges. Happily, the University of Baltimore was ranked in the "Top 25 Public Universities in North Region." And considering how many public colleges there are in the northern region of the US, that ain't too shabby. The university has come a long way, even since I started in 2009.

But what exactly does that mean? How did all those highly-caffeinated statistician's in their binder-clogged offices come up with that number? What was taken into account? And how could they possibly have quantified some of the most intangible, and arguably the most important, aspects of a great education--like engaging teachers or peer groups that challenge you to always do better, etc?

When you're finished with books you've browsed...

Have you ever been shopping, brought stuff with you to the dressing room, and were unsure of what to do with the merchandise after you’d finished trying it on? Some folks opt to put clothing back on the rack where they originally found it; others hang the contents of their reject pile on the return rack for salespeople to deal with later. Here at Langsdale, we don’t want you to have to play the guessing game. If you’ve pulled a book off the shelf, given it a once-over, and are finished with it, just drop it on one of the return carts located nearby. There is no need for you re-shelve it yourself—that’s what library staff is here for. Also, did you know that Langsdale keeps statistics on books that are perused in-house? We use the stats to determine patrons’ reading habits, which informs our future book purchases. Please help us keep our library tidy, and our statistics on your reading preferences current: just drop books, periodicals, and government documents in the return cart. Thanks!