Archives for November 2021

Best Books of the Year

As the year draws to a close, various book-related publications and news outlets post their picks of the best books of the year. There are also several book awards that choose finalists and winners each year. Your librarians compile these best books of the year lists and award winners on a guide, and also create a link to books from these lists the CU library has ordered or already added to our collection that you can find in our catalog. Take a look to find some of the best reads of the year!

We can’t purchase all the books on these lists, so if you see a book on one of these lists that the CU library doesn’t own, you can request the book through interlibrary loan (for CU students, faculty and staff only) or suggest the library purchase the book.

Of course the library has lots of books not on these lists for you to peruse and find the ones YOU think are best!

Librarians are here to help

Miranda Axworthy
Charlotte Gerstein

It’s that time of the year when final papers and projects are being assigned, many involving independent research. Like many things at Castleton, support is available. In addition to the Academic Support Center, librarians are here to help too.

Miranda Axworthy and Charlotte Gerstein are the two Reference and Instruction Librarians at Castleton. We are ready to help with any information or research needs you may have. Often we help students refine their topic or find relevant, appropriate sources for a research project.

Author Neil Gaiman said, “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.” While there isn’t always a right answer, librarians can help you quickly find the kinds of sources you need.

You can make an appointment with either of us through the Appointments link on the library website or here. We can meet with you in person or by Zoom. You can email us at miranda.axworthy@castleton.edu or charlotte.gerstein@castleton.edu or simply reference@castleton.edu. You also can get help 24/7 through our chat service. This link pops out a chat widget. We cooperate with librarians in other time zones, so a trained librarian will answer and chat with you about whatever you need help with.

Don’t be shy! We are here for you. And look at our friendly faces! We don’t bite and we love to help students.

Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend

Image by Gabe Raggio, from Pixabay

It’s that strange and disorienting time of the year when we turn back time, or, rather, we turn our clocks back an hour to end daylight savings time. To be on time for whatever you have going on from this Sunday on, turn back your clocks one hour by 2:00 a.m. Sunday, November 7.

Since this time of year gets us thinking about time, the library put together a display of books related to the concept of time, like the physics of time, stories of time travel, ways we measure time, work-life balance, advice on time management, and more. Click above to see the list of books included in the display or come in any TIME the library is open to check it out.

To learn more about why we have daylight savings time, see a recent article from NPR: Daylight saving time ends soon. Here are 4 things you should know.

Here is a video from Michael Downing, a Tufts University professor who wrote the book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.

Whether you are a fan of Daylight Savings Time or not, it’s the law of the land for the TIME being, and TIME heals all wounds, so you’ll get used to it, all in good TIME.