A New Look for the Ramaker Homepage

Please join with the Ramaker staff in thinking about a new design for the library homepage.  During the past year, the library staff has discussed how to improve the homepage.   Along with our discussions, we have received feedback from students.  As the discussion continues, we invite you to use the blog to give us your recommendations and feedback.  Also, keep an eye on the blog as library staff uses it as a place to post thoughts and questions on design issues that we still thinking about. 

WINNERS!! ~ National Library Week ~

Congratulations to all of our winners from National Library Week!

  Door Prizes – Students - $10 gift card to iTunes, Quiznos, or Walmart

 Danielle Arnone

Elicia Camarigg

Morgan De Jong

Justin Karmann

Leon Li

Marly Melsh

Michelle Mether

 

Door Prizes – Faculty/Staff

 Randy Jensen – $10 gift card to The Coffee Mill

Anila Karunaker – $10 gift card to De Koffie Hoek

Carly Miller – $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble

Brett Wieking – $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble

 

Where in the World Is the Library Staff?

Student Winner – Moriah Anderson – $15 gift card for iTunes, Quiznos, or Walmart

Faculty/Staff Winner – Karen Barker – $15 gift card for iTunes, Quiznos, or Walmart

To see the correct answers, click the world below.

 

Prize Code Winners - $5 gift card to the Hub

TJ Noble

*kudos to TJ for searching through the trash to find 3 winning postcards!

Andy Boone

Natalie Johnson

Ansley Griesse

 

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US CELEBRATE!!

National Library Week – WINNING PRIZE CODES!

Check the prize code on the National Library Week postcard that you received through campus mail.  The winning prize codes are listed below.

To claim your $5 gift card, bring your winning postcard to the library!

GOOD LUCK!

Winning Prize Codes

 H8SR7N

J8AS2K

A9VM2Z

K6TT7T

L4TV5T

X1HY1V

H3YR9J

G2HP4J

B2GM5M

G6RP7S

Where in the World Is the Library Staff?

STUDENTS, FACULTY, & STAFF

How strong are your geography skills?

Find out by playing our Where in the World Is the Library Staff game!

You could win a $15 gift card to Walmart, Quiznos, or iTunes!

Click the world to play.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 21.

National Library Week – STUDENT DOOR PRIZES!

Students!

Type your NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS in the box below to register for our DOOR PRIZES!

You could win a $10 gift card to your choice of Walmart, Quiznos, or iTunes!

Thank you for helping us celebrate!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Library Week – FACULTY/STAFF DOOR PRIZES!

Faculty & Staff!

Type your NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS in the box below to register for our DOOR PRIZES!

You could win a gift card to Barnes & Noble, De Koffie Hoek, or The Coffee Mill!

Thank you for helping us celebrate!!

New History Database Added

Ramaker has just added another history database to our collection – and it’s one particularly helpful to those needing primary sources.

Picture from the Library of Congress.

ArchiveGrid is an online resource for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world.  Thousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.

ArchiveGrid is a great source to see what primary sources are available. In some cases, you may find documents and photos that have been digitized and are available on the web, but in most cases you will need to contact the collection owner to access the materials. 

It’s worth a search, though, because of the depth of collections compiled on this site.  If you have questions about this resource or any others, please ask a Ramaker librarian for help.

Day of Learning in Community

For the Day of Learning in Community, the hours at Ramaker will be as follows:

7:30am – 9:00am: Open
9:00am – 10:45am: Closed
10:45am – Midnight: Open

While the library will be open for most of the day, library staff will not be available between 9:00am and 4:00pm.

New Education Materials at Ramaker

In the past month, Ramaker has added a number of materials in the field of education to our collection. Topics range from classroom management and instruction to standards development.  New titles include the following:

• America’s public schools : from the common school to “No Child Left Behind” by William J. Reese (New Book Display, LA212 .R423 2005)
• The new meaning of educational change by Michael Fullan (New Book Display, LA412 .F85 2007)
• How to use an interactive whiteboard really effectively in your primary classroom by Jenny Gage (Main Collection, LB1555 .G3 2005)
• Making standards useful in the classroom by Robert J. Marzano (Main Collection, LB3060.83 .M379 2008)
• Designing & assessing educational objectives by Robert Marzano (Main Collection, LB17 .M393 2008)

To see a list of all the new materials at Ramaker, visit our New Books page.

NEW…Chat with a Librarian!

An online chat feature has now been added to….

        

Ramaker librarians will be available to answer questions or help with research projects online at the following times:

     Monday – Wednesday:  8 – 5 p.m. and 6 – 9:30 p.m.

      Thursday:  8 – 5 p.m.

       Friday:  8 – 5 p.m.

       Sunday:  6 – 9 p.m.

We look forward to chatting with you!

Government Documents

At Ramaker, we’ve recently compiled some of the most useful links for federal, state  and international government web sites. We’ve posted these links on our new Government Documents web page. 

I’ve found the following sites to be particularly useful and interesting:

• Library of Congress – THOMAS
  This site contains current and archives legislative information. You can follow a bill from its introduction to its enaction. 
• US Census Bureau
  If you like statistics and numbers, this is the place to go. You can get information on subsets of the American population, plus on businesses and industries.

Visit the new government documents pages to see even more great resources.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Ahhh. This novel was a great read.  In fact, I’m sad I’m finished with it. 

The title is straightforward; the book is indeed the story of Edgar Sawtelle. Edgar is born completely mute; he can hear yet he cannot speak. (In fact, he cannot even cough. He is unable to vocalize anything.) The Sawtelle family breeds and trains dogs, a special breed they engineered. Like Edgar, the dogs read different hand signs, and their ability to understand their trainers and owners is unsurpassed. Edgar’s relationship with his dogs, particularly his beloved Almondine, is touching; he knows his dogs and, more remarkably, they know his heart and mind.

There’s so much more to this story than Edgar and his dogs, though. There’s a family drama based on Hamlet (a father, mother, a nefarious uncle), a beautiful setting on a small Wisconsin farm and a large red barn that’s almost a character in itself.

This is one of those novels that still has me contemplating the story days after I finished it. If anyone else has read it, I’d love to know what you thought.

Congratulations to Jesse Nieuwenhuis, our Lincoln Quiz Winner!

Jesse Nieuwenhuis won $10 in cash by answering all quiz questions correctly!

Here are the quiz questions along with the correct answers.

1.  What was the name of the Lincoln family dog?  Fido

2.  Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old girl, suggested that Lincoln grow a beard to become President.  True

3.  When was Abraham Lincoln born?  February 12, 1809

4.  How tall was Abraham Lincoln?  6ft, 4in

5.  What did Lincoln carry in his famous tall stovepipe hat?  Letters, bills, notes

6.  How many children did Lincoln have?  4

7.  The cabin where Lincoln was born had how many rooms?  1

8.  What is the name of Abraham Lincoln’s grandfather?  Abraham Lincoln

9.  What other jobs did Lincoln hold before becoming president?  Store clerk, rail splitter, lawyer

10. Lincoln was born outside of the original 13 colonies.  True

11. What was Lincoln’s favorite poem?  Mortality by William Knox

12. What political party did Lincoln help start?  Republican

13. What were the names of Lincoln’s siblings who did not live to see him as president?  Sarah, Thomas

14. Which 3 states are associated with Abraham Lincoln?  Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana

15. Which of Lincoln’s sons lived to adulthood and was present for the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial?  Robert Todd Lincoln

Thank you to everyone who participated in our quiz! 

Happy Birthday, Lincoln!

February 12, 2009 marks what would have been Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

What do you know about Abraham Lincoln?

Take our quiz to find out AND have the chance to win $10 in cash!

Click on the following link to access the quiz.

Lincoln Quiz

Entries will be accepted February 12 through February 22.

The winner will be announced on February 23.  Good luck!

New Books at Ramaker

Ramaker has added a number of  books to our Browsing Collection. These books, located near the entrance of the library, include current best-sellers and other contemporary titles. Recent additions include:

• My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen
  An Orthodox Jew spends a year visiting various Christian churches and events, trying to better connect with Judaism.
• The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig
  A native Montanan, Doig writes about 11 starters from a Montana college football team who enter WWII together. One is assigned to be a press correspondent and writes stories on his teammates.
• The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
  In this romance best-seller, a man sets off to find a woman whose picture he carries and feels brings him good luck.
• The Rope Walk by Carrie Brown
  The Iowa Reads selection for 2009. The story is about a man who transformed the public library into the place to be after he returns home, dying of AIDS.  Two children visit him in the afternoon, reading aloud the journals of Lewis & Clark.

If you’ve read any of these, we’d love to know what you thought; just leave a comment here.