Odum Library marks the 225th anniversary of the signing of the 1787 U.S. Constitution  with an online exhibit of resources about the U.S. Constitution.

For instance, you can interact with the U.S. Constitution, courtesy of the National Constitution Center.

Both the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) offer Constitution Day resources especially for teachers, as does the U.S. Department of Education.  NARA even provides instructions for a game to help teach students about the Constitution.

Be sure to visit the Government Documents display for Constitution Day 2012, located in the Odum Library 2nd floor Reference area, to see copies of the Constitution, Congressional hearings, and other documents related to the U.S. Constitution and citizens’ constitutional rights.

Opening page of the U.S. Constitution, Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division

Are you tired of fumbling with pencils and paper when you need to write down a call number? Is your handwriting so bad that you can’t even read it?

Don’t bother scribbling your call numbers down any more! When you find a book in the catalog that you want to check out, send yourself a text message with all the information you’ll need.

Let’s say you found this book in the catalog: http://gilfind.valdosta.edu/vufind/Record/412390 Sure, you could write down the title, the call number, and the location of the book. But you could also use the “text this” button to send all of that information straight to your mobile phone!

This is where you'll find the magical "text this" button in the catalog.

We use this feature all the time and hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do!

It seems that in all the commotion surrounding the first days of Fall Semester, a thief has made off with one of the paintings from the new art displays in the library. Investigators think that the thief has hidden the painting somewhere in the library for safe keeping until they can come back to claim their prize.

Come help us search the library for clues and use your deductive skills to help find the painting before the thief comes back and it slips through our hands for good.

Join in the mystery. It’s happening this Friday, August 17th, at 4pm. Meet in room 1604 on the first floor of the library if you think you could help us out.

If you finish the mystery you’ll get free pizza and drinks! There will also be prizes, including a drawing for an 16GB iPod Nano courtesy of the VSU Tech Shop! Bring your friends for an afternoon of fun in the library.

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to moholt@valdosta.edu. If you have any more questions about the mystery, don’t hesitate to contact the Reference Desk at the Library for answers!

Mark Dickson’s “The Guardian” being installed by the south side of the library.

Steel and stainless steel

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, but sunshine on your shoulders doesn’t have to make you unhappy!  Just follow this sun safety advice from the U.S. Government:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers Sun Safety: Save Your Skin! with guidance on spending time in the sun safely, including an update on Broad Spectrum Sunscreen products.

Remember to use broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher.

Basic information about skin cancer and additional tips on saving yourself from sun damage are available from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

You can help save someone else you care about by sending a free e-card reminder about sun protection, courtesy of the CDC.

Another good reason to monitor your sunny days is to reduce the visible effects of aging upon your skin:

Image courtesy MedlinePlus, from NIH.gov

The U.S. Supreme Court has just issued its decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Read the majority opinion and the dissenting justices’ views.

You can view the case filings, orders, and other documents leading up to this decision, available now on the web site of the Supreme Court.

The complete Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is available online, but you might prefer to review the 900+ pages in paper, located at call number AE 2.110:111-148 in Odum Library’s Government Documents collection.

Our Government Documents collection has a number of hearings before Congressional committees that discuss this legislation. Click this link to access a list of these hearings in our online catalog. Records marked “Access Online” are also available to read online as PDFs.

Two reports published by the Library of Congress’s Congressional Research Service discuss the PPACA:

• Health Care: Constitutional Rights and Legislative Powers, by Kathleen S. Swendiman
• TRICARE and VA Health Care: Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, by Sidath Viranga Panangala and Don J. Jansen

These CRS reports are available online as PDFs courtesy of the University of North Texas Digital Library.

June is an important month for the North American Breeding Bird Survey, which monitors the North American bird population.  The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Division of Migratory Birds also monitors the paths birds follow during their seasonal migrations.

North American migratory birds flyways, courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service

Plenty of Georgians are involved with the North American Breeding Bird Survey and related birding activities, for good reason:  Georgia is a great state for birds.

Georgia is also a great state for government web sites and publications about birds.  See the rare birds of Georgia, including the American Oystercatcher:

American Oystercatcher. Photo credit Brad Winn, Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources

You can view many more publications about birds in Georgia at the current display The State of the Birds, including Have You Seen This Bird? Painted Bunting and Georgia’s state bird, Brown Thrasher, Toxostoma Rufum. Just come by the Reference Desk on the 2nd floor of Odum Library to view the display and learn more about birds and other government information on wildlife and the environment from the Government Documents collection.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Alan Bernstein as Odum Library’s next university librarian and dean of the Master in Library and Information Science program!

——————–

From http://www.valdosta.edu/news/releases/bernstein.052512:

Alan Bernstein To Lead VSU’s

Odum Library Into The Future

VALDOSTA — Effective July 1, Dr. Alan Bernstein will be Valdosta State University’s new university librarian and dean of the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) Program.

“I am very excited,” he said. “I appreciate the search committee’s trust in me, and I am anxious for the opportunity to take the library forward. I love the library. I love the people who work for the library.”

In 2011, Bernstein was appointed interim associate university librarian and made responsible for all areas of Odum Library, as well as the administration, leadership, and management duties for the MLIS Program.

“Being associate university librarian was the next step up for me in my career,” said Bernstein, who first joined the Odum Library team in 1990 as a library assistant and worked his way up through the ranks as opportunities became available.

“Dr. Bernstein brings a wealth of experience and leadership to this position,” said Dr. Louis H. Levy, interim VSU president. “Libraries are changing; they are no longer just a repository of books, journals, and educational publications. They continue to evolve as the academic hub of activity and serve as the focal point for research and scholarly endeavors for students, faculty, and the broader university community.”

Bernstein began his career at Valdosta State College as a student in 1978. He and his family had, just one year earlier, relocated from their home in New Jersey to South Georgia, and he wanted to study philosophy.

Before discovering his passion for working in a library, he said, “My goal was always to remain in academia. I really enjoyed the idea of working on a college campus.”

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1981, Bernstein moved to California to pursue graduate studies. He spent a couple of years working as a teaching associate in the Philosophy Department at the University of California in Irvine, Calif. By 1984, he realized he did not want to pursue his philosophy studies any longer.

“Teaching, however, was still on my mind,” he said.

Bernstein returned to Valdosta State in 1985 and worked as a part-time instructor in the Philosophy Department until 1993. Five years into that teaching job, he came across an advertisement for a part-time job in Odum Library.

“Working that job while I went back to school convinced me I wanted to stay in the library,” said Bernstein, who worked as a library assistant at the circulation desk until 1993. “I told the director that I would forget all about teaching if he could get me a full-time job in the library.”

Bernstein went on to spend the next decade working as circulation manager in the library.

“Working in Circulation was great,” said the self-described lifelong student who earned a Master of Education in secondary education in 1992, a Master of Arts in history in 1995, and a Master of Library and Information Science in 2003, all from Valdosta State. “It’s a public service. I was able to work closely with students and learn what they were studying, what they were reading, listen to their stories ….”

“I jumped at the chance to get a library degree,” he added. “I was the second person to graduate from the program, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

In 2003, Bernstein was named associate professor of library science and circulation librarian. Six years later, he graduated with yet another degree from VSU, this one a Doctor of Education in curriculum and instruction. His dissertation was titled “The Nether World of Academic Librarians: Issues of Classification, Educative Mission, and Sense of Place.” His areas of scholarly interest and publication include library patron services and library administration.

“I knew that someday I wanted the chance to lead the library,” he said, “so I pursued the doctoral program. I knew that I really liked the library and enjoyed the work and had no plans of leaving.”

Having grown up at Valdosta State and in the Odum Library, Bernstein said that he has a real feel for the campus community’s past, present, and future. He understands the university’s commitment to students, faculty, and staff and believes that ongoing relationship will only enhance his ability to serve library patrons and MLIS Program personnel and students.

Bernstein has worked in a variety of positions in the library, from the lowest to the highest and has a vested interest in fostering the growth of library employees, from students to staff to faculty. His accomplishments as interim associate university librarian include encouraging and overseeing a record number of funding pool proposals that have resulted in new classrooms, digital signage, and two new fine arts materials rooms for the library, and overseeing the creation of a successful plan for the MLIS Program to remove the “conditional” from its American Library Association accreditation.

Bernstein is married to Deborah Davis, certified archivist and director of Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections. They first met as students on campus in the 1980s and have been married 14 years.

For more information, please contact Dr. Alan Bernstein, university librarian and dean of the Master of Library and Information Science Program, at (229) 333-5860 or at abernste@valdosta.edu.

On the Web:
www.valdosta.edu/library

by Jessica R. Pope
Communications Specialist

Patriotic song collection, courtesy the Music Division, Library of Congress

Monday, May 25, 2012 is Memorial Day in the United States. Learn about the history of Memorial Day, which began as Decoration Day in 1868, just three years after the end of the Civil War.

View digitized collections of patriotic song music from the Library of Congress Music Division.

Listen to and read the stories of veterans’ experiences of war at the Veterans History Project, also from the Library of Congress.

The Veterans Administration provides the Nationwide Gravesite Locator, a search site for locating the burial locations of veterans. Complete records for military cemeteries are available, and records for burials in private grounds are available back to 1997.

From USA.gov, learn more about flying the United States flag, volunteering to help veterans and their families, and sending mail and care packages to those overseas in military service.

Please remember that Odum Library, along with the rest of Valdosta State University, is closed Memorial Day.