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Category: Resources

Mar 30 2021

It’s National Pencil Day!!

Posted on March 30, 2021March 31, 2021 by Carol Johnk

March 30th is National Pencil Day!!

I bet you don’t think much about the pencil when you think about picking it up and getting to work. Probably when it needs to be sharpened or when the mechanical pencil needs more lead, but most of us don’t think of the pencil often. It just is there. It just “is.” 

 

 

The pencil, as we know it, has a fascinating history, dating back to the early 16th century! So why would March 30th be National Pencil Day? March 30, 1858 was the date when Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil!

 

 

 

Lead stylus and bread eraser. A Visual History of the Pencil. The Museum of Everyday Life.

Back in the 16th century a storm in Cumberland uprooted a large tree exposing a black, gooey substance in Borrowdale near Kewsick. The substance was actually graphite and the nearby farmers used it to mark their sheep. That soon developed into sticks of graphite being wrapped in string so the fingers wouldn’t get so dirty. That developed into a casing that would hold the graphite – a predecessor to what we know of as the mechanical pencil. Sometime in the 16th century the pencil, much as we know it, was born. Graphite wasn’t exported so that area became the world-wide center of pencil manufacturing. The graphite in that area was the only known source of high-quality graphite so it was highly guarded and sold for large sums at auctions. 

I won’t go into long detail, but when France declared war on Great Britain in 1793, they needed to come up with an alternative to the pencils made in Great Britain.  So Nicolas-Jacques Conté was tasked with developing a pencil which did not require imported materials. He came up with mixing graphite powder with clay to produce fine rods which were fired in a kiln. It was patented by Conté in 1795 and is still the process by which pencils are made today.

After many iterations the Dixon Ticonderoga Company claimed to make “the world’s best pencil.” The Ticonderoga #2 pencil  is the familiar yellow pencil with the yellow and green ferrule (the metal sleeve holding the eraser in place). Chances you have one on your desk.

Little known fact: “[…] the pencil does have a dark side – George Lucas apparently used a Dixon Ticonderoga when he working on the first draft of the screenplay for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and so the pencil is, at least in part, responsible for Jar Jar Binks.” At least that is what James Ward, author  of The Perfection of the Paper Clip: Curious Tales of Invention, Accidental Genius, and Stationery Obsession, claims on page 96.

Stationery Fever: From Paper Clips to Pencils and Everything in Between author John Z. Komurki claims the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 is the “[…most gorgeous pencil the world has every seen […]”. It is a hexagonal pencil made with the unique mixture of wax, graphite and clay used in the lead. Because of that special mixture it claimed ‘half the pressure, twice the speed.’ The Blackwing was reportedly used by John Steinbeck, Truman Capote, Chuck Jones, Stephen Sondheim, and Eugene O’Neill, to name a few!

The history of pencils is fascinating and includes a book, How to Sharpen Pencils. Stationery Fever has a chapter devoted to pencil sharpening!

Here are interesting facts about “notable pencil users” from the National Day Calendar.

  • Thomas Edison had pencils specially made by Eagle Pencil. His pencils were three inches long, thicker than standard pencils, and had softer graphite than typically available.
  • Vladimir Nabokov rewrote everything he ever published, usually several times, by pencil.
  • John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and is said to have used as many as 60 a day. His novel East of Eden took more than 300 pencils to write.
  • Vincent van Gogh used only Faber pencils as they were “superior to Carpenters pencils, a capital black and most agreeable.”
  • Johnny Carson regularly played with pencils at his Tonight Show desk. These pencils were specially made with erasers at both ends to avoid on-set accidents.
  • Roald Dahl used only pencils with yellow casings to write his books. He began each day with six sharpened pencils and only when all six became unusable did he resharpen the

Here are 20 things about pencils that you probably don’t know! (Including are they poisonous? Can they be used as a weapon?)

1. There is no risk of lead poisoning if you stab yourself (or someone else) with a pencil because it contains no lead — just a mixture of clay and graphite. Still, pencil wounds carry a risk of infection for the stabees, lawsuits for stabbers.

2. And bad juju for anyone linked to Watergate: In his autobiography, G. Gordon Liddy describes finding John Dean (whom he despised for “disloyalty”) alone in a room. Spotting sharpened pencils on a desk, Liddy fleetingly considered driving one into Dean’s throat.

3. Graphite, a crystallized form of carbon, was discovered near Keswick, England, in the mid-16th century. An 18th-century German chemist, A. G. Werner, named it, sensibly enough, from the Greek graphein, “to write.”

4. The word “pencil” derives from the Latin penicillus, meaning — not so sensibly — “little tail.”

5. Pencil marks are made when tiny graphite flecks, often just thousandths of an inch wide, stick to the fibers that make up paper.

6. Got time to kill? The average pencil holds enough graphite to draw a line about 35 miles long or to write roughly 45,000 words. History does not record anyone testing this statistic.

7. The Greek poet Philip of Thessaloníki wrote of leaden writing instruments in the first century B.C., but the modern pencil, as described by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner, dates only to 1565.

8. French pencil boosters include Nicolas-Jacques Conté, who patented a clay-and-graphite manufacturing process in 1795; Bernard Lassimone, who patented the first pencil sharpener in 1828; and Therry des Estwaux, who invented an improved mechanical sharpener in 1847.

9. French researchers also hit on the idea of using caoutchouc, a vegetable gum now known as rubber, to erase pencil marks. Until then, writers removed mistakes with bread crumbs. 10. Most pencils sold in America today have eraser tips, while those sold in Europe usually have none. Are Europeans more confident scribblers?
11  Henry David Thoreau — American, but a confident scribbler all the same — used pencils to write Walden. And he probably got them free. His father owned a pencil-making business near Boston, where Henry allegedly designed his own pencils before becoming a semi-recluse.12. In 1861, Eberhard Faber built the first American mass-production pencil factory in New York City.13. Pencils were among the basic equipment issued to Union soldiers during the Civil War.   

14. The mechanical pencil was patented in 1822. The company founded by its British developers prospered until 1941, when the factory was bombed, presumably by pencil-hating Nazis.

15. Je suis un crayon rouge. After the 1917 Soviet revolution, American entrepreneur Armand Hammer was awarded a monopoly for pencil manufacturing in the USSR.

16. More than half of all pencils come from China. In 2004, factories there turned out 10 billion pencils, enough to circle the earth more than 40 times.

17. Pencils can write in zero gravity and so were used on early American and Russian space missions — even though NASA engineers worried about the flammability of wood pencils in a pure-oxygen atmosphere, not to mention the menace of floating bits of graphite.

18. Those concerns inspired Paul Fisher to develop the pressurized Fisher Space Pen in 1965. After the Apollo 1 fire, NASA banned pencils in favor of his pen on manned spaceflights.

19. The world’s largest pencil is a Castell 9000, on display at the manufacturer’s plant near Kuala Lumpur. Made of Malaysian wood and polymer, it stands 65 feet high.

20. At the other extreme, engineers at the University of California at Santa Barbara have used an atomic force microscope as a kind of pencil to draw lines 50 nanometers (two millionths of an inch) wide. Just because they could.

I hope you next time you pick up a pencil you’ll think of some of the history behind the development of today’s pencil! 

Resources:

Ward, James. 2015. The perfection of the paper clip: curious tales of invention, accidental genius, and stationery obsession. New York : Touchstone Engineering Library TS171 .W37 2015

Komurki, John Z. 2016. Stationery fever : from paper clips to pencils and everything in between. Munich ; New York : Prestel. Engineering Library TS1233 .K66 2016 

National Pencil Day. National Day Calendar. 2020

A Visual History of the Pencil. The Museum of Everyday Life. Date Accessed, March 30, 2021

20 Things You Didn’t Know About Pencils. Discover: The Magazine.  Kalmach Media Co. 2021 

Lipmann, Hymen L.  “Combination of lead-pencil and eraser.” Patent 19783A. 30 March 1858.

 

Posted in Blog, National "Holidays", Resources
Sep 11 2020

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Carol Johnk

Rain, Rain, Go Away?
or
Rain, Rain, Go Away? How about you come and stay?

 

Okay, we don’t really want the rain to come and stay, and stay, and stay . . .  But wouldn’t it be nice to have access to that rainwater when the rain does go away? And the sun comes out and dries up all the rain? (my apologies to the nursery rhymes).

 

Have you thought about where the rain goes that runs off your roof and down the driveway? Or that seeps (or runs) into your basement? Wouldn’t it be nice to have that rain water available when it is pouring?

How about planting a rain garden? Creating Rain Gardens: Capturing the Rain for Your Own Water-Efficient Garden can help you do just that! Conservation experts, Cleo Woelfie-Erskine and Apryl Uncapher provide step-by step instructions for planning and building your own rain garden! Why let one of our most precious resources slip down our storm drains? The authors also talk about rain barrels, simple living roofs, permeable patios, and planters that help harvest run-off! There are even ideas about planting an edible rain garden!

Projects to Get You Off the Grid: Rain Barrels, Chicken Coops, and Solar Panels is another resource that is full of full-color photographs and instructions on how to collect run-off in rain barrels (among other ways to help you get off the grid! 

Looking for ways to help provide urban water supplies? In Rainwater Tank Systems for Urban Water Supply the editors discuss how rain water tank systems have been adapted for use around the world. They can provide a safe local source of water in underdeveloped rural areas, a substitution for mains water for non potable end uses in water stressed urban areas, as well as providing flooding control. 

Water is a finite resource, let’s do our part and use rain barrels and rain gardens. 
And don’t forget to play a bit, too!

 

 

Resources:

Woelfie-Erskine, Cleo; Apryl Uncapher. 2012. Creating rain gardens : capturing rain for your own water-efficient garden. Portland : Timber Press. Engineering Library TD 657.4.W64 2012

Noah Weinstein, editor. 2013. Projects to get you off the grid : rain barrels, chicken coops, and solar panels. Selected by Instructables.com. New York : Skyhorse Publishing. Engineering Library TJ810.5 .P76 2013.

Ashok K Sharma (Ashok Kumar), editor; Donald Begbie, editor; Theordore Roosevelt Gardner, editor. 2015. Rainwater tank systems for urban water supply : design, yield, energy, health risks, economics, and social perceptions. London : IWA Publishing. Engineering Library TD418 .R35 2015

 

 

 

 

Posted in Blog, Resources
Jun 22 2020

Need to Return Some Library Material?

Posted on June 22, 2020June 23, 2020 by Carol Johnk

 

Wondering about returning the resources you’ve borrowed from the library?
It may be easier than you think!

University of Iowa students can return items to the Lichtenberger Engineering Library and to any of the UI Libraries from afar! You may drop items off at one of 46 participating libraries across the state and region. See a map of these locations or the list of locations at the end of this article. If you are without access to a drop-off library and live further than 30 miles from Iowa City can request a UPS shipping label.

Have tools or electronics you need to return? Schedule a time for a drop-off by emailing lib-engineering@uiowa.edu

Live near campus? Return books at the Main Library drop box (125 W. Washington Street, return slots available at both the south and north entrances) or the Hardin Library drop box (600 Newton Road, next to the entrance that faces University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics). 

Before returning library items, please observe the following safe-handling practices:

  • Do not clean, disinfect, or microwave library materials before returning them. For example, do not use water, Lysol, or any other cleaner on materials.
  • If you or your family members are sick or have been sick, seal materials in a zip-lock style bag if possible before returning.
  • Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before handling library materials for return and again after you have completed the return.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact us! You may email us at: lib-engineering@uiowa.edu. We have online chat available Mon-Fri from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. You may access this by going to our homepage and clicking on the link “Chat with a Librarian.” During those same hours you may text us at 319.250.2176.

 

List of locations for materials return

  • Iowa State University Parks Library, 701 Morrill Road, Ames, IA
  • DMACC Ankeny campus Library Bldg 6, 2006 S. Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny, IA
  • Scott Community College Library, 500 Belmont Rd, Bettendorf, IA
  • DMACC Boone campus Library, 1125 Hancock Drive, Boone, IA
  • Northeast Iowa Community College Library Student Center, 1625 Hwy 150 S., Calmar, IA
  • DMACC Carroll campus Library, 906 North Grant Rd., Carroll, IA
  • University of Northern Iowa Rod Library, 1227 W 27th Street, Cedar Falls, IA
  • Mount Mercy University Busse Library, 1330 Elmhurst Drive NE, Cedar Rapids, IA
  • Kirkwood Community College Library Benton Hall, 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA
  • Clinton Community College Library, 1000 Lincoln Blvd, Clinton, IA
  • Coralville Public Library, 1401 5th Street, Coralville, IA
  • Southwestern Community College Library, 1501 W. Townline Street, Creston, IA
  • Saint Ambrose University Library, 518 W. Locust Street, Davenport, IA
  • DMACC Urban/Des Moines campus Library Bldg 1, 1100 7th Street, Des Moines, IA
  • Drake University Cowles Library, 2725 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA
  • Grand View University Library, 1350 Morton Avenue, Des Moines, IA
  • Mercy College of Health Sciences Library Sullivan Center, 928 6th Avenue, Des Moines, IA
  • Loras College Library, 1450 Alta Vista, Dubuque, IA
  • University of Dubuque Charles C. Myers Library, 2195 Grace Street, Dubuque, IA
  • Grinnell College Library, 1111 6th Ave, Grinnell, IA
  • Simpson College Dunn Library, 508 N C Street, Indianola, IA
  • Kirkwood Community College Library, 1816 Lower Muscatine Rd, Iowa City, IA
  • University of Iowa Hardin Library, 600 Newtown Road, Iowa City, IA
  • University of Iowa Main Library, 125 W. Washington Street, Iowa City, IA
  • Southeastern Community College Fred Karre Memorial Library, 335 Messenger Rd, Keokuk, IA
  • Cornell College Cole Library, 320 3rd Street SW, Mount Vernon, IA
  • Muscatine Community College Library, 152 Colorado Street, Muscatine, IA
  • North Liberty Public Library, 520 W. Cherry Street, North Liberty, IA
  • Northwestern College DeWitt Library, 101 7th Street SW, Orange City, IA
  • William Penn University Wilcox Library, 201 Trueblood Avenue, Oskaloosa, IA
  • Indian Hills Community College Library, 525 Grandview Avenue, Ottumwa, IA
  • Northeast Iowa Community College Library, 8342 NICC Drive, Peosta, IA
  • Dordt University Hulst Library, 700 7th Street NE, Sioux Center, IA
  • Briar Cliff University Bishop Mueller Library, 3303 Rebecca Street, Sioux City, IA
  • Morningside College Library, 1501 Morningside Avenue, Sioux City, IA
  • Hawkeye Community College Library Main Campus, 1501 East Orange Road, Waterloo, IA
  • Wartburg College Vogel Library, 100 Wartburg Blvd, Waverly, IA
  • University of Illinois Main Library, 1408 W Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL
  • Indiana University Wells Library, 1320 E. Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN
  • Purdue University Library, West State Street, West Lafayette, IN
  • University of Michigan Hatcher Graduate Library, 913 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI
  • Michigan State University Main Library, 366 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI
  • University of Minnesota Wilson Library, 309 19th Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN
  • University of Nebraska Love Library, 13th & R Street, Lincoln, NE
  • University of Wisconsin Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI

 

Posted in Blog, Resources
Jun 05 2020

Designing Disney!

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Carol Johnk

It’s (almost) summer and time to think of vacations.
Do you love amusement parks?

 

It may be a little more difficult to go to an amusement park this summer, but when you are waiting in line for the your chance at surviving the Rock N Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith, have you ever wondered how secure that seat belt actually is? The “Pressure activated seat belt locking mechanism,” you know, the one that allows the operator to lock the seat belt from a remote location? It was invented by Alexander Burkat for the Disney Corporation. The patent application was filed by the Walt Disney Company in 1991 and granted in 1993. 

 

Want something a bit tamer than the Rock N Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith? The Teacups more your style? They could still move pretty quickly – and if you get dizzy they might not be a treat, but they don’t go upside down like roller coasters… Or, maybe you’d like the teacups if they weren’t quite so predictable and had a little more excitement? Well, in 2013 a patent was issued to Disney for a “Turntable racing system.” They created a teacup-like ride that incorporated a screen on the walls to provide imagery or a show element to the ride. There is a racing element to is because it also provides “selective vehicle orienting” so it also has a translational movement to each pod.

The summary section of the patent states: “The translational movement is used to allow the vehicles to be repositioned throughout the ride such that the vehicles may take turns leading, trailing, or being in the pack of vehicles as well as being near either side of the vehicle pack and display or show elements provided on the sidewall(s) of the ride facility.” 

Maybe your tastes run a little more toward the carousel or merry-go-round. Disney has updated those, too – making them less predictable and more interactive.

 

How about trying a “Ring carousel ride?” What makes it a “ring” carousel ride? From the patent:”…The new ride described may be labeled a ring carousel ride because the ride includes two or more ring-shaped vehicle support surfaces that are concentric and that are independently driven….”  Each ring of the ride can go in the same or opposite directions and the speed of each ring can vary. With all the rings moving in the same direction and at varying speeds it can provide a racing experience – including head-to-head racing and passing!

These are just 3 of the innovative and fun amusement park experiences that Disney has worked on! They developed haptic floor systems with a quake plate for virtual rides, avatar personalization, systems for adaptive gaming experiences, to name just a few more! Interested in exploring more Disney patents? Check our guide on patents. You can learn about what patents are, the most effective ways to search for them, and where to search! (And they don’t have to be only Disney patents – we have (and therefore YOU have) access to patents from all over the world! The European Patent Office has access to over 90 million patents!

Now, whenever you go to an amusement park and get on a ride (or just watch from the sideline!), you can think of all the engineering and innovation that goes into those rides – and where to find the information!!

 

 

Resources:

Burkat, Alexander, inventor.  Pressure activated seat belt locking mechanism.  Current Assignee: Disney Enterprise Inc. Patent number: US5182836A. 

Baxter, Anthony W., Edward A. Nemeth, Alfredo M. Ayala, inventors. Turntable racing system. Current Assignee: Disney Enterprise Inc. Patent number: US20140261052A1

Crawford, David W., Edward A. Nemeth, inventors. Ring carousel ride. Current Assignee: Disney Enterprise Inc. Patent Number: US20130040744A1

Patents; Library Guide.  Lichtenberger Engineering Library. 

Posted in Blog, Resources, Uncategorized
Jun 01 2020

Virtual Boot Camp! UPDATED

Posted on June 1, 2020June 10, 2020 by Carol Johnk

In conjunction with the #ShutDownAcademia, #ShutDownSTEM, and #Strike4BlackLives initiatives, the workshop has been postponed until tomorrow, June 11th, at 2 pm. We encourage everyone to take today and consider ways to combat the racism that is pervasive in the academia, the community, and our country. The Engineering Library has helped to compile an introductory reading list at https://bit.ly/37ibjf5.

 

 

 Virtual Boot Coming to a Computer Near You!
Wednesdays, June 10 – July 29
2:00 – 2:30 pm (CDT)

Calling all graduate and undergraduate students, researchers, faculty and staff!

Are you working on your thesis, dissertation, research paper, or an article to publish
and want some help putting it together? 

We’ve developed an informative series of eight workshops designed to aid researchers – at all levels – with technical writing tips, library resources, literature reviews, searches, citations, and more! Our goal? To help you write a more polished paper!

Virtual Boot Camp sessions will be on Wednesdays, beginning June 10th with the final one on July 29th. They will be held live from 2:00 to 2:30 pm, with the videos available later if you were unable to make the session, or if you’d like to review the information!

Registration is required for each individual live session. Once you are registered a link will be emailed to you an hour before the session begins! Check out the Virtual Boot Camp website for complete information!

If any questions or concerns, please email Kari Kozak (kari-kozak@uiowa.edu or lib-engineering@uiowa.edu). Presenters include those from: Lichtenberger Engineering Library, Graduate College, and the Writing Center.

Scheduled Sessions:

June 10: Finding Articles, Journals, Government Reports – Library Introduction 

Learn about the breadth of resources available in the engineering library – from the online databases and books to technical reports and standards.  Uncover the mysteries around how to access everything remotely.  Discover the 265+ tools now available for checkout, including new 3D scanners, EEG, oscilloscope, and VR headsets, just to name a few!  Learn how you can gain access to these items.

Taught by Kari Kozak, Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
Register here

June 17: Introduction to Comprehensive Literature Reviews 

Have you ever struggled with doing literature reviews? Although you do not have to conduct a literature review as thoroughly as a systematic review, some strategies from systematic reviews (defined as “a research method that aims to locate and summarize all available evidence for a research question in order to guide decisions and practices”) may help you tackle your research question in a more rigorous way This workshop will introduce three review types (literature reviews, scoping/mapping reviews and systematic reviews), the review process and research question frameworks, search strategy and some available resources and services.

Taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
Register here

June 24: Submitting Your Thesis/Dissertation 

Learn about the thesis submission process, issues related to copyright and embargo, and additional resources available from the Graduate College. Learn more about the Microsoft Word tools you can use to format your thesis.

Taught by Erin Kaufman, Graduate College
Register here

July 1:  Saving Time (& Citations) with Endnote Desktop 

Want to make your research and writing more efficient? Hate the last-minute rush of trying to create a correctly formatted bibliography? This workshop is for you! We will introduce Endnote Desktop, a citation management tool that can help you import, organize, share, and manage your citations and documents, as well as create correctly formatted in-text citations and bibliographies in almost any style — in seconds. Install Endnote Desktop before the class: this interactive workshop will cover everything that you need to know to get up and running with Endnote.

Please download EndNote onto your computer before the class. The full version of EndNote will be taught – the desktop version is freely available to graduate students, staff, and faculty.

Video Tutorial on Downloading Endnote

Taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
Register here

July 8: Lions and Tigers and Predatory Journals, Oh My!

In this workshop, you will learn strategies for navigating through the jungle of scholarly publishing. Have you ever wondered how to identify which journal to publish in? Want to learn how to avoid predatory publishers? What is the difference between traditional publishing and open access? This workshop will provide answers to these questions and more. Bring your own questions too!

Taught by Kari Kozak, Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
Register here

July 15: Demystifying Scholarly Metrics

How do you make a list of every single paper that cites you? How do you gather evidence and demonstrate potential values and research impact? This workshop will help you understand how to interpret “standard” scholarly metrics (h-index, impact factor, CiteScore etc.) and where to find them, explore three major sources of citation data (Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar), and identify best practices on broadening your research impact.

Taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
Register here

July 22: Keeping up to date: Searching while you are sleeping (Alerts and Notifications) 

Are you overwhelmed trying to keep up on the recent research done in your area? Many of the library’s databases allow you to set up alerts and notifications. Alerts can tell you when there is a new issue of your favorite journal, when work by a particular author is available, when a specific article is cited, and when new articles are published that match a saved search. These searches will run automatically overnight and will send you an email with the results. Learn how to set up these alerts and notifications so you can really learn to search while you sleep!

Taught by Kari Kozak, Head, Lichtenberger Engineering Library.
Register here

July 29: Finding and Using a Good Writing Model

In this workshop, we will discuss common challenges faced by students writing at the graduate level, and we will learn various ways to energize and organize your writing. Discover techniques to give your project momentum and motivate daily writing during this phase of your graduate research.

Taught by Deirdre Egan, The Writing Center
Register here

Let us help you with your research paper!
Register today!!

 

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Kari Kozak, at kari-kozak@uiowa.edu in advance of the event.

Posted in Blog, Boot Camp, Resources
Mar 25 2020

Color Your World!

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Carol Johnk

Looking for a relaxing, creative activity while social distancing? Does anyone in your household like to color? We have some of the best coloring pages around – and they are all FREE!!!

If you go to InfoHawk+ – the University of Iowa Libraries search engine – and search for coloring books, you’ll find you get over 400 results. But, on the left is a tab where you can sort your results by relevance and “full text online” – and voilà – you have a manageable list! The online resource link will take you to  coloring book which you may then save and print! 

We’re pretty much all working from home and wishing we had better office chairs. It’s no surprise that office chairs have patents – but did you know there are patent coloring books? Print a copy of your office chair and color it to be exactly the way you’d like it to be! Use your imagination! Fluorescent colors, smiley faces, cartoon characters – well, you get the idea! Go to “Selected Works of Paulina Borrego” where there is a drop down – “jump to category.” Click on that and select “Patent Coloring Books.” Have fun scrolling through the many collections of patents and get coloring!

 

Europeana’s Coloring Book for Grown-Ups

 

You’ll also want to check out the Open Culture website. They have “free coloring books from world-class libraries & museums.” Their list includes coloring books from The Met, New York Public Library, Smithsonian, Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Royal College of Physicians, and SO many more!!

 

Maybe you and/or your kids are into the outdoors – there are coloring books for you, too!

The US Fish & Wildlife service has coloring books, too. Head to their website, search “coloring books” and you’ll come up with a whole list of available, downloadable pdfs.

More into agriculture? You an access Biosecurity for Birds Coloring Book through InfoHawk+ – find the link to full text and you’ll be ready to download!

 

 

 

Resources: 

University of Iowa Libraries InfoHawk+. Limit search to “library catalogs,” search “coloring books,” narrow search by selecting “full text online” on the left side of the screen.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Homepage.  Search color books. Last updated March 19, 2020.

United States. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Biosecurity for birds coloring book. 2006. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Free Coloring Books from World-Class Libraries & Museums: The Met, New York Public Library, Smithsonian & More. Feb. 7, 2017. Open Culture : The best free cultural & educational media on the web.  Date Accessed: March 25, 2020

University of Massachusetts Amherst. Selected Works of Paulina Borrego. bepress. Date Accessed: March 25, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Blog, Resources
Mar 20 2020

Looking for Some Online Music & Video Entertainment?

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Carol Johnk

Need a break from all the usual streaming channels? We have access to online music and videos you can explore and enjoy!

 

Interested in music and the performing arts? Head over to this Alexander Street website for free access to links for all sorts of music and performing arts! This website has videos of operas, dance (all kinds!), Broadway musicals, jazz music, world music, and, oh, so much more!! If you like music and performing arts of all types – this is an amazing site to get lost in! They also have a section of Smithsonian Global Music for Libraries – this includes books and songs for children. These links are fully searchable by genre, places, artists, film, theater and more! 

 

Are you into silent films? Alexander Street also has a link for silent films – including The Great Train Robbery. The Great Train Robbery from 1903, is an American silent short western film written, produced, and directed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. This collection has silent films from Monkey Shines filmed in 1890 to Brandford City v Gainsborough Trinity filmed in 2016.

(Confession time – I may have found some fun steel drum music to listen to while writing this!)

 

Looking for educational videos and documentaries? Try Kanopy.  This site has everything from the Criterion Collection, Political Documentaries, Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, Italian Studies, the Great Courses, and many more! Check out the many, many videos available to watch for free!

Here’s another great website for movies! There is everything available from thrillers, westerns, sci-fi, romance, musicals, documentaries, and more, more, more! Check out the University of Iowa Academic Film Streaming! Hard to imagine you won’t find something there that you haven’t seen, but have always meant to watch!

Looking for academic video streaming?  Swank is another great resource. It includes feature films, documentaries, foreign films, and TV shows!

 

We want you to stay safe!
So watch our free resources while you are social-distancing and self-isolating!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Blog, Resources
Mar 17 2020

Check Our E-Resources While You Are Away!

Posted on March 17, 2020March 23, 2020 by Carol Johnk

Guest Blogger: Qianjin (Marina) Zhang

You may be far from the UI campus during the foreseeable future, but we here at the Engineering Library continue to support your study through thousands of online resources! Here are highlights some of our e-resources that you might want to check out!

If you need references and handbooks for mechanical engineering, chemical engineering etc. that help your self-learning, AccessEngineering is the best bet as it has thousands of ebooks, videos and tutorials.

 

You may know how to access IEEE journals and conference proceedings through the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. But do you know that you can also access thousands of ebooks through the same platform? If you’re studying bioengineering, computing & processing, power, energy & industry, robotics & control systems etc., you may want to check out the IEEE-Wiley ebooks and Foundations and Trends ebooks. If you’re studying internet of things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, wearable technology etc., you may want to check out the IEEE/IET ebooks. When you get to the IEEE Xplore Digital Library (hawkid/password required if you do not use VPN), you may search for a topic or browse Books as below.

 

If you would like to learn computer sciences or electrical engineering, Morgan & Claypool Synthesis ebooks would be worth checking out.

 

If you’re studying electrical, electronics, computing, control, biomedical and communications technologies, you may want to check out IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) ebooks.

 

If you’re studying other engineering disciplinaries, no worries. We also have thousands of ebooks available through Springer ebook collection and UI Libraries catalog. If you search a subject/topic in SpringerLink or UI Libraries catalog, you would be able to find more e-resources.

 

Last but not the least, we would like to thank publishers (Wiley, JOVE, Royal Society, Elsevier, etc.) for offering free access to the parts of their collections that are closely relevant to COVID-19 research, and individuals for sharing a crowdsourced list of online instruction/lab simulation resources.

  • Free access to COVID-19 research resources:  Wiley has made more than 5,000 COVID-19-related articles freely available in support of the global efforts in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. As always, you can access our Wiley Online Library Training hub should you need any tips on the platform
  • Free, real-time feed of the latest research and news on COVID-19 from Scitrus, powered by Atypon’s AI-driven personalized discovery application.
  • JOVE is offering free access to its videos through June 15th.
  • A colleague also shared a crowd-sourced list of online instruction/lab simulation resources for science courses.
  • The Royal Society has made special collection that comprises the subject of research findings and data relevant to the coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak.
  • 256 textbooks currently on ScienceDirect (Elsevier) are freely available to all active ScienceDirect customers for a period of 90 days. Users accessing ScienceDirect through IP or remote access are able to use these books.  

 

Stay Safe!

Posted in Blog, Resources
Feb 19 2020

Creating Citations! Learn & Create Workshop

Posted on February 19, 2020February 13, 2020 by Carol Johnk

Creating Citations Quickly & Easily with Endnote
Tuesday, March 3rd; 5:00 PM
Engineering Library Creative Space

 

 

Please bring your laptop.

You need to write a research paper. You aren’t looking forward to it. You really want a way to make your research and writing more efficient – AND easily create a correctly formatted bibliography. It really is possible! Hard to believe?  Come to this workshop and learn how easily it can be done!

This workshop introduces Endnote, a citation management tool that can help you import, organize, share, and manage your citations and documents. It will also create correctly formatted in-text citations and bibliographies in almost any style — in seconds! 

This workshop will be taught by Marina Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian.

It is a FREE workshop, but space is limited, so be sure to register today!! Visit our Learn & Create website to see what workshops are coming up! You don’t want to miss out!!

 

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Kari Kozak at kari-kozak@uiowa.edu in advance of the event

 

Posted in Blog, Learn & Create, Resources, Workshop
Dec 20 2019

Need Fun Activities for Break?

Posted on December 20, 2019December 30, 2019 by Carol Johnk

It’s the holiday break. You’ve opened presents, eaten, napped, and now what?
How about some fun DIY projects and crafts?

 

Maybe start out with something from The Star Wars Craft Book. Want to start with a holiday-themed craft? How about a Hanukkah Droidel? The appendix comes complete with the Droidel pattern (it also has patterns for many of the other crafts including Yoda finger puppet dolls and, yes, even a Jar Jar Binks Jedi Mind Trick Doll pattern!) There are instructions for a Ewok Fleece hat, an R2-D2 crocheted beanie, an AT-AT Herb Garden, and even a Jabba the Hutt body pillow! 

Ever dreamed of being a pioneer? Make: Like the Pioneers will take you through a “typical” day for a pioneer would have been! From the morning, which might include a bow drill to help you master fire, or what could be more fun that making bacon soap? Or learn to make apple cider right at your kitchen table! Learn to turn your junk mail into home made paper – your own personal stationery! In the afternoon you could learn to do some woodworking and make a “fool’s stool.” (The Fool’s Stool instructions use table saws and wood glue – so you’ve got an advantage over the pioneers!) There is also a section of full-color photos to teach the art of lashing! With some practice you could make a lookout tower! Think the evening is for rest? Well, a pioneer would no doubt be pickling grapes and beets or roasting pumpkin seeds. So, night calls for making an oil lamp, to keep the darkness at bay! 

 

Maybe you are more into LEGO® building and would like to try something more elaborate than usual…. The Art of LEGO Design : Creative Ways to Build Amazing Models can help you do just that! It has chapters that include inspiration, how to work with colors, shapes, sizes, and scales! It helps you make the perfect work space and takes you through the essential elements. The chapters include Wildlife & Foliage, Large-scale Figures, Cars, Wagons, & Watercraft, Buildings, and Science Fiction. You’ll certainly find something that will spark your creativity! 

 

Are you spending your holidays at the beach? How about making some Sand Stampers? Make: Fun! : Create Your Own Toys, Games, and Amusements tells you how!! Want to make custom cookie cutters? Make an oven using a light bulb and a can? Thinking ahead to Halloween? How about making a Tiki Mask? Cereal Box Sound Racers? There are even instructions n hot to make a talking booby trap, or a personalized talking doll? You got it – Make: Fun! has all the instructions for these – and more fun ideas!!

 

Make: Easy 1+2+3 Projects also fun projects – from a mini-foosball game, a clothes folding board, a simple lightup hoodie to tattooing a banana! 

 

These are just a few (very few!) of the fun DIY project books we’ve got! Check below for additional resources and find something to make this holiday break!!

Have a great winter break! DIY something!!

 

Resources:

Burton, Bonnie. 2011. The Star Wars Craft Book. New York : Del Rey/Ballantine Books.  Engineering Library TT157 .B87 2011

Schwartz, Jorday. 2014. The art of LEGO design : creative ways to build amazing models. San Francisco, Calif. : No Starch Press. Engineering Library TS2301.T7 S38 2014

Make Editors. 2015. Make : like the pioneers. San Francisco, CA : Maker Media. Engineering Library TT157 .M35 2015

Knetzger, Bob. 2016. Make: Fun! : Create Your Own Toys, Games, and Amusements. San Francisco, CA : Maker Media. Engineering Library TT174 .K58 2016

 

Additional Resources:

Cohen, Sahrye; Hal Rodriguez. 2018. Make it, wear it : wearable electronics for makers, crafters, and cosplayers. New York : McGraw-Hill Education. Engineering Library TK7870.C64 2018

Borgatti, Matthew, Kari Love. 2018.  Make : soft robotics : a DIY introduction to squishy, stretchy, and flexible robots. San Francisco, CA : Maker Media, Inc.  Engineering Library TJ211 .B665 2018

Baichtal, John. 2018. 10 LED projects for geeks : build light-up costumes, sci-fi gadgets, and other clever inventions. San Francisco : No Starch Press, Inc.  Engineering Library TK7871.89.L53 L4324 2018

Santos, Rui; Sara Santos. 2018. 20 easy Raspberry Pi projects : toys, tools, gadgets, and more! San Francisco : No Starch Press, Inc.  Engineering Library QA76,8.R15 S26 2018

Need more ideas? Go to InfoHawk and search Make. You can narrow it down to titles here in our library!

 

Posted in Blog, Holidays, Resources, Uncategorized

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