Category: General News

If you’ve ever wanted to print and publish your own work, or have your very own copy of one of the many public domain titles scanned into the Google Books collections, now is your chance! The BPL has recently obtained an Espresso Book Machine, now located in the Central Library’s lobby.

LibX – NYCCT Library Edition has been updated to a new edition. Unlike the previous updates, this time we upgraded to the new Libx 2.0 version.
What’s New?
– Google Chrome lovers can also use LibX now.
– This latest edition of LibX will be detected by Firefox and Google Chrome and either automatically install it (Google Chrome) or prompt to update (Firefox).
– LibX toolbar will be displayed on the upper right corner of the browser navigation bar, and it can be toggled between a Full View and a Simple View.
However, if you are still running LibX on Internet Explorer, LibX will not be compatible with versions higher than v.7(until further notice from the LibX developers).
Installation:
For Google Chrome: http://libx.org/releases/gc/libx2-latest.crx?edition=B5039614
For Firefox (compatible with Firefox up to v. 10): http://libx.org/releases/ff/libx2-latest.xpi?edition=B5039614
For more information, please visit our updated LibX page on the library website:
http://library.citytech.cuny.edu/instruction/how/libX.php

Check out this list of recommended reading over at the Awl, and then explore CUNY collections, or the contents of the David Foster Wallace Archive, located at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
Image by BjorneOfDanmark (CC BY 2.0) More info here.

Not to worry, this image of Jonathan Swift is in the public domain.
Well, this is one way to address it. If this solution sounds a little drastic, you might be interested in knowing some of the ways librarians are working to ensure that academic communities retain access to copyrighted content in the 21st Century.
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Image by Michael Eisen, via (CC BY 3.0)
Library blog readers may be interested in listening to this week’s On The Media, which discusses the current state of academic publishing and the recent boycott of Elisevier, initially inspired by this blog post, and discussed further here.
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(Charles Dickens visits New York, 1860)
Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. Celebrate by checking out one of his books from the City Tech Libary! And if you want to know more about Dickens, why not peruse our library databases for some information about Charles Dickens and his varied interests (which included mesmerism, hairstyles, magnetic fields, and international copyright).

Please be advised that CUNY+ and all Library Databases will be unavailable from Thursday, 1/19 until Monday, 1/23, so if you need to find a book or access database content, please make sure you do so today!
While CUNY systems are down, you can continue to do research (public library card needed for database access) through The Brooklyn Public Library, The NYPL or through numerous, freely available online collections. Some of our favorite places to research online include:
The Internet Archive
WorldCat.org
The Directory of Open Access Journals
Also feel free to explore the list of Open Access Resources in our Open Educational Resources Subject Guide (under “Content Tools”)
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You may have noticed that some webpages (including Wikipedia, above) have displayed banners or gone dark today to protest two pieces of legislation before the House and Senate, SOPA, the Stop Online Privacy Act, and Pipa, the Protect Intellectual Property Act. For more information about these bills and the protests happening online today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has gathered information on their website, and Wikipedia has a statement, here.
Having trouble getting your research started without Wikipedia? You can wait until tomorrow, but you can also stop by the library where reference librarians are available to help connect you with the information you need!
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