We have moved!

Please go to http://blog.nus.edu.sg/linus/ for the latest news and happenings in NUS Libraries.

 

Library Daze

This is to all the NUS freshmen. Are you feeling lost, bewildered and disorientated? Fret not, every new student goes through the initial pain each year and most, if not all survive. As a little something to cheer you up, NUS Libraries has produced a little video clip for your enjoyment. Yes, go ahead and laugh at our clumsy and amateurish attempts at film-making (I never said we were experts!).  We hope you have fun watching it as much as we had bringing it to you

If you have trouble viewing the video, please view it here. You might also consider upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer or Firefox.

 

New Year

It’s the new year…

Officially, the vacation is over.

As far as I am concerned, it was over when groups of tired students led by smiling seniors descended into our library 2 weeks ago for tours. The library is usually one of the stops in a grand tour of the whole campus.

Some students looked like the only activity they wanted was to crawl back into bed to be woken up at lunch time. Some had faces that saw too much sun and others dragged bags stuffed willy-nilly with loose pieces of paper.

Don’t get me wrong – there were fresh-faced eager beavers ready to take on the academic world. “You mean I can book a discussion room? How?”, “There is a workshop on searching? When?” “Can you tell me how to access Factiva?” Woh….

Everybody wants to have a hand in stuffing them with information. Lots of it. Want or don’t want – nah, take, take, take…

Take it from a librarian working the circuit for the past 20 years, the time that all that information is going to matter is when they need it like yesterday. Seriously. Do you blame them? There is a ton to absorb and the worse is not knowing what is relevant and then, there is the just-in-case.

So let an old girl like me put it in a nutshell for you. You need to have these things with you at all times:

1. Student Matriculation Card – you need this to enter the library and computer labs and also to borrow books.
2. Cashcard or EZlink cards – you need either one of these to print from the library’s network printers or to photocopy.
3. NUSNET or Computer ID – you need this to access our databases to retrieve your readings, articles for your assignment, etc.

When you find yourself lost in the wild woods of too-many with too-little (those of you who are at the School of Business), remember this:

Your Librarian

Go and see her at the Information Desk at Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library

Call her at 6516 3131

Email her at hssmlib@nus.edu.sg

Chat with her online at http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/hlb/im.html

Enough said. Welcome, all ye new students – let the ride begin…

 

New feature in myLinc – My Reading History

My Reading History is a feature that allows you to save a list of everything that you check out from the library.

After logging in to myLINC, click My Reading History to activate your Reading History function.

Click on Opt In to view your Reading History.

The system will start tracking your reading history from that moment forward, beginning with titles that you check out AFTER you click ”Opt In”. Anything that you checked out before you clicked on Opt In will NOT be on the list even if you renew the items.

You can delete some or all of the titles on your list whenever you want. Alternatively, you may wish to save or export the list of titles in My Reading History.

Delete all titles listed in My Reading History should you wish to opt out of the function.

After all entries are deleted, click Opt Out to disable My Reading History function.

Library users need to be aware that using My Reading History means this information is being stored on the NUS Libraries’ server. Anyone with access to your library card number can check your reading history or any other information attached to your account.

Hayati Abdul
Central Library

 

Special Orientation Issue August 2008

Information on the various orientation programmes at the libraries for academic year 2008/2009 can be found on http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/linus/linusSpecial2008.pdf

 

Local Films

The 10th Singapore Short Cuts is here again. It’s an annual showcase of experimental, short films by aspiring Singapore filmmakers. I’ve been a faithful follower of the local film-making scene and have watched it grown for its earliest infancy to what it is today. But a funny thing has been happening recently. I haven’t been able to get tickets to watch the films since last year!

I was at the National Museum ticket counter last weekend to get tickets for this coming Saturday’s screening. And you guess right, they were all taken! Yep, no kidding. And there I was, surprised and flabbergasted saying to the museum staff; “But the ticket distribution starts today right?”. “I’m sorry, ma’am but the tickets are all out” came the apologetic reply. So within the space of 3 hours since the museum opened, there must have been a stampede from all over the island for the tickets, way before you could even finish saying” Speedy Gonzales”! It got me thinking, why is there such a sudden surge of interest in local films? I remember in the early years, late-nineties thereabouts where no one bothered to see Singapore-made films. So much so that organizers have to resort to giving away free tickets (a practice they still maintain) to entice audience to catch locally-made films. The early film-makers have it tough in those days as no commercial cinema wanted to screen their films so a lot of them have to resort to art venues like The Substation, the National Museum and the Singapore International Film Festival. It was normal to find largely empty halls whenever a local film was being screened. And it was at these screenings that I discovered the hidden talents of local film-makers like Royston Tan, Victric Thng, Eric Khoo and Tan Pin Pin; all of whom are very successful film-makers in their own right and have their films showcased and have won awards at prestigious film festivals like Cannes.

So maybe it’s a snob thing. Singaporeans are generally a snobby lot and we don’t appreciate our local talents until they have been judged and been critically acclaimed overseas. Or could it be there is a new appreciation to discover who or what we are as a people and nation. I would like to think this is the real reason. So instead of feeling peeved that I have been unable to get tickets to the films, I should be glad that more people are taking a genuine interest in Singapore films.

There’s only 1 more week left before the final screening of the Singapore Short Cuts season. Which means I have to be at the National Museum when the doors open at 10 am this Saturday if I want to get my hands on a ticket. Do I have a choice?

And a note to the organizers – Please start charging for the films.

 

Angels in the Sky

Like the Naked Librarian, I am a fan of our museums. They are so incredibly innovative and creative with their outreach programmes. I can only take my hat off to the museum staff for their sophisticated, insightful and thoughtful approach in curating the programmes.

Last weekend, as part of the inaugural Night Festival, the sky outside the National Museum literally danced with graceful ballerinas, twirling acrobats, giant painted balloons and a large floating ship. The aerial dance called “The Dancing Sky” was performed by Studio Festi, an Italian group famed for its outdoor theatrical performances and their creative use of light. One of the most eye-popping segments was that of a piano suspended 9 metres above the ground with the pianist playing away with an acrobat doing stunning acrobats tethered to 2 large cranes on either ends of the museum. It was a truly surreal sight and I could hear the gasps of astonishment and surprise from the audience gathered at the museum grounds and across the road at the SMU campus. A friend of mine who was with me commented that the performance would have been pretty spectacular with the piazzas as the background in Italy. Well, I think our National Museum has a beautiful neo-classical type of façade and the dances of the angels blend well with the building too.

If you weren’t at the museum last weekend, you’d have missed your chances of the aerial dance performances. The good thing is National Museum has a host of other exciting programmes this coming weekend. Local party powerhouse Zouk will present The Beatnik Picnic, a sprawling party that will run from 6.30pm till 2am in the museum grounds. There is also a 100-man street percussion performance as well as the night bazaar featuring flea-market stalls, traditional game kiosks and food stalls.

The main highlight will be a light installation by an Australian arts group who will transform the National Museum and the Singapore Art Museum into colourful spectacles.

Will I be there? You bet.

 

Great Habits to Cultivate

Warm greetings to this debut post of mine! Yes, there is always a first time for everything in life- the most important being our attempt to try & put our thoughts into action!

What really prompted me to write this is because I want to share what I’ve learnt from a recent 2-day course that taught and reminded me how important these following habits are:
Habit 1 : Be Proactive

Habit 2 : Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3 : Put First Things First

Habit 4 : Think Win-Win

Habit 5- Seek first to understand, then to be understood

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7 : Sharpen the saw

The first 3 habits give us private victory, the last 3 habits lead us to public victory and we have to continuously sharpen the saw so that we are able to grow and renew ourselves in 4-Dimensions (Physical, Social/Emotional, Mental and Spiritual). Don’t most of us want to be highly effective people in this dynamic, globalised and fast-changing world? 

I truly believe that we can if we really desire to do so as these sayings go -’What the mind can conceive, we can achieve’ and ‘It is not aptitude but your attitude that determines your altitude’. When we consciously grow with the process of maturity and align our paradigms with our principles in life, we can be strong, courageous, happy and enthusiastic people.

Human beings by changing the attitudes of the mind can surely change the outer aspects of their lives. Recognising one’s life values & principles, and one’s determination to achieve them and act on them is self-empowering. It is by spending on oneself that one becomes rich. Ask yourself a key question. What can I offer to others? Being able to make meaningful contributions, do what we love and to bless the lives of others are the cornerstone of having abundance & true happiness in life!

Fiona Kwan
Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library

 

Mummies with tummies

The oddest thing happened last Saturday. Every where I turned I saw pregnant women.

My eldest niece, darling little Hannah, came as usual for her dance class. The dance studio is in a shopping centre near my home. The usual routine is that the rest of the family will do their weekly grocery shopping at the supermarket while I watch Hannah at her dance class. Last Saturday, my sister-in-law joined me in watching Hannah dance. My sister-in-law is pregnant with her 3^rd child. The baby is due in October. Her tummy is fairly big but she doesn’t waddle as much as she did in the last 2 pregnancies. In fact she looked rather nice and comfortable in her baby-blue dress.

Then, I saw a lady in a spaghetti-strap denim top dropping off her daughter at the dance studio. At first, I just saw her back. She was bending down to get something and when she turned around to straighten up – there it was – a protruding tummy. Later on, as some other ladies came to drop off their kids or pick them up I started seeing more tummies. At first, it didn’t occur to me there was some weird pattern forming right before my very eyes. When you see one or two in one specific place, you don’t really think about it.

But then when I had to go to the supermarket to get Laura aka Peanut (the younger niece) who had fallen asleep on my brother, the number of pregnant ladies I passed was freaky to say the least. There were all sorts of shapes and sizes. One lady near the frozen foods section had a tummy that was small and sharp. Another who was at least 6 months pregnant struggled with a toddler in her arms while holding on to the hand of her 4 year old. Yet another wore a yellow baby-doll top with a frilly white border which suited her really well. There was a moment when I wondered whether I was imagining it all. Maybe, the ladies looked pregnant because of the clothes they were wearing. I mean the lady with the yellow baby-doll top – she could just be a little heavy around the tummy and the yellow top wasn’t quite so flattering after all?

So I started scrutinizing passing tummies while Laura slept peacefully in my arms. Yes, there were quite a number of women with baby-doll tops and billowy blouses. Some looked kinda like tummies with babies inside. Some looked like tummies. Period.

See – this is where fashion rules – when loose tops are the rigueur anything goes. Who cares what’s behind all that loose fabric or the rows of pleads? Asalkan fashion, boleh-lah (as long as it is fashionable, it will do).You need not worry about that extra little bit that hangs over your waist band showing. Pregnant? No need to buy budget-busting maternity dresses.

So you can’t really blame this blur bodoh if she starts seeing a parade of pregnant ladies, can you? Come to think of it, I do have a couple of baby-doll tops in my wardrobe I could dig out. Eh, I am not pregnant, ok!

 

Unleash Your Search Power!

 

LINC+

Our new and hotly anticipated enhanced library catalogue, LINC+, was launched on July 16th. This sleeker version seeks to provide users with a visually rich contents display and more features to enhance navigation. It sits next to our traditional LINC in our new library portal.

With LINC+, staff and students will find the availability of faceted searching, tag clouds, reviews and summaries, fuzzy searching, etc. all coming together to provide an improved user experience.

New Features in LINC+

That’s not all! More enhancements will be introduced in LINC+ and the library portal in phases. These cool enhancements include expanded search results from multiple sources, coverage information of e-resource titles, and a history of your loan record.

Want to know more about LINC+ and our Library Portal? Keep an eye out for our Portal Road Show in August. This road show will see librarians going from faculty to faculty, bringing the portal and its benefits to you.

Meanwhile, try it out for yourself at http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg!