Tutt Library News

Prospector Is Back

The Prospector servers in Denver are up and running again, so we should all be able to request as many summer Prospectors as ever!  However, they are still cleaning up a few weird glitches; please contact tuttcirc@coloradocollege.edu (or comment here, or call 389-6184) if you encounter any issues while making your requests.

Special Collections closing June 4-8 for minor renovation

Special Collections will be closed, or offering very limited services, from June 4-8. We are getting a brand new ceiling in our reading room, including new light fixtures, and the work will take about five days. During that time our reading room and some of our materials will be inaccessible. For more information, contact Jessy Randall, Curator of Special Collections, jrandall@coloradocollege.edu, 719-389-6668.

Temporary Prospector Outage

Due to a hardware glitch, Prospector went down this morning around 8 am.  Folks at the Alliance are working hard to fix the problem, so it should be back soon.

Introducing the Aristotle Library Apps Project

We are excited to announce a new open-source project Aristotle Library Apps, a forked and re-factored project incorporating many elements of our larger FRBR Redis Datastore and Aristotle projects. Aristotle Library Apps is a simplified Django 1.4 framework for creating and deploying HTML5- and Twitter Bootstrap- based apps for discovering, accessing, and managing bibliographic information and operational data of our library that is stored in our Redis datastore instances.

Why a new project?

My vision for the Aristotle Library Apps project is directly a result of the work I've done on Aristotle and the FRBR Redis Datastore project. The Aristotle Library Apps project is for non-programmers to be able to create and manage easy-to-use mobile and table apps that access in real-time a library's core catalog in a large, extremely expressive, and scalable infrastructure.

The original Aristotle project has a few areas that are unnecessarily complex mainly due to the legacy code from the original Kochief project and the complicated HTML that was part of externally designed user interface for the Discovery Layer. A talented external design firm didn't focus on mobile or a tablet version in their web design for the College, Library, and Discovery Layer. The User Interface was geared towards a full PC or laptop web experience. We are pulling functionality but not the design into stand-alone apps in Aristotle Library Apps project.

Finally, as Jon Driscoll and I prepare for our CoALA presentation next Friday, we plan on devoting the majority of the time to a hands-on session where participants will be able to create their apps for use their libraries. We found a free application stack provider called dotCloud that offers a easy way to deploy Aristotle Library Apps with back-end running on`Amazon's cloud infrastructure`_. You can see an example of at Aristotle Library Apps running on dotCloud at http://aristotle-jermnelson.dotcloud.com/. You are not limited to just dotCloud to run your Aristotle Library Apps portfolios.

Aristotle Library Apps flexibility has allowed us to development and test the code on multiple platforms including a Rackspace Ubuntu Virtual Machine, our own campus VMWare Ubuntu Virtual Machine server, Windows 7, and Mac OS X.

To get Django running on dotCloud, we needed to re-factor the existing Aristotle apps in FRBR Redis Datastore mainly migrating from Django 1.3 version to Django 1.4. This also gave us the opportunity to simplify and standardize our app development framework. This migration was relatively quick and painless with the biggest change being directory structure changes for each individual app in Aristotle Library Apps project.

Closing thoughts

The Tutt Library Systems group is pleased with the new project as we expand the types of apps we develop for the library. It is our hope that Aristotle Library Apps will be easy enough to use that libraries of all sizes and technical expertise will be able to create and use their own apps for their bibliographic and operational needs.

Hooray! Our Seniors Are Graduating! Hooray! The School Year is Almost Over! Hooray! We Made a Haiku Zine!

This post is a bit of a mish-mash: we just wanted to share some images with you that reflect our end-of-the-year joys.

First, congratulations again to the winners of our Fifth Annual Tutt Library Haiku Contest.  Their haiku, along with some of our other favorites, can be perused at your leisure in the free limited-edition Tutt Library Haiku Zine - stop by the library and pick one up. You should be able to find some at the ID, reference, and circulation desks - if we're out when you come by, there will be more next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second, the student/staff Cinco de Mayo party was a sunny outdoor success again this year!  Emma Mitchell handily decapitated our piñata.

 

 

Finally, and most importantly, we congratulate ALL of CC's graduating seniors, but especially those of you that we've been lucky enough to work with over the last few years: Rashidah, James, Abdoulaye, Kate, Mandy, Banele, Hannah, Tori, Lahya, Emma, Tashnika, Eleanor, and Hanna.  Best wishes to everyone at CC who's graduating; please come back and visit us!

 

Desperately Seeking Student Book Returns

As the year draws to a close, we ask all students to please remember to check your library account and return all material before you leave for the summer. If you will be staying in the Springs over the summer, let us know at the circulation desk any time after May 18th, and we will adjust your account. Graduates: If you are graduating and live in Colorado Springs, you can apply for an alumni card. If you have been using a carrel, please clear it ASAP or talk to circulation staff about extending your carrel privileges over the summer. Congratulations, and we will miss you! We wish you the very best of luck in all your future endeavors. Questions about this post? Please call the circulation desk at (719)389-6184, or email tuttcirc@coloradocollege.edu .

 

Haiku Contest Winners 2012

Once again this year, we had a marvelous time reading all the creative and witty haiku submitted to our Annual Library Haiku Contest. Entries underwent blind judging by a panel of 17 staff and student workers at the library and the press, and we are now happy to announce the 2012 winners! 

CC student Jamie Shapiro won both third and second prizes this year, for these haiku:

Night. huge concrete bulk
Floats above brilliant light.
Tutt, you're beautiful.

Outside: Vast blue sky
But in the Tutt basement
Lights go off again.

The first-place haiku turned out to have been penned by one of our own CC librarians, Lisa Lister:

These are not mere books
But hearts and souls on display
Hold me, check me out

Finally, CC student Toni Pizza stretched the rules of the contest beyond what our blind voting process could handle, but we liked her "haiku cluster" so much, we've awarded her a special prize.  We hope you love it too!

the library / the lover:

i enter your lair
and am swept away by your
musty perfume, your

infinite knowledge.
we're not exclusive lovers--
you rendezvous with

most of my friends and
perhaps my worst enemies.
it's a non-issue,

for your beauty, wit,
charm, and drama--alongside
steady guidance, that

perpetual and
confident guise of knowing;
forever sustains.

your omnipresence,
almost pernicious, draws me
back, page after page.

your timelessness, your
anthology of always--
never go away.

Congratulations to all our winners, and our deepest thanks to everyone who participated!

Saturday May 5th: Free Comics at Tutt Library

Tutt Library is celebrating Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 5. The library opens at 10AM, so come early for the best selection.  We're still eagerly awaiting our box o' free comics, so they will be a surprise to us too; but you can expect a wide variety of vintage, kid-friendly, superhero, and alternative titles. Thanks to Escape Velocity, our local comic book shop, for hooking us into the free comic book pipeline!

We will also be highlighting the library's growing collection of comics and graphic novels, with works by authors and artists like Neil Gaiman, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware, and Lynda Barry (just to name a few). So come by the library on Saturday for a free comic book of your own or a free 30-day loan of a graphic novel / memoir / collection / what-have-you.