Student-tested Tips for Surviving Finals

1.   Check out the Final Exam Schedule so that you know when your exams will be and plan ahead so that you give yourself plenty of time to study for each of them.
2.    Study in chunks.  Block off specific hours of your schedule to study for each test you have to take. A ten minute study break every few hours is also a good idea.
3.     Schedule in some exercise.  There’s no better way to relieve stress.  Don’t plan on studying non-stop the whole week.
4.    Take advantage of study groups.  A group can motivate you to get started and discussing difficult concepts with each other can aid in understanding.
5.    Take advantage of review sessions.  Most professors will touch on certain topics more heavily than others in review sessions and this might give you a better idea of what will be on the exam.
6.    Take advantage of your professor’s office hours.  If you’re unsure about anything, touch base with your professor or TA.
7.    Make sure you have the materials you’ll need for the test the night before.  Bring a back-up pen or pencil.
8.    Get a good night’s rest  and have a good breakfast before your test.  If you follow tip #1, you won’t have to stay up all night cramming.
9.    Don’t wait until your class is about to begin to get a bluebook.  If you need a blue book, you can pick it up at the Library Service Desk for 15 cents.
10.  Don’t psych yourself out.  You’ve studied, so don’t talk yourself into doing poorly.  Put yourself in confidence mode, visualize it all going right and think A+.

Forget Your Supplies?

 

Forget to bring supplies to the library with you? Need a blue book for tonight’s class?

The Milne Library Store offers a wide selection of products at a nominal cost; including blue books, highlighters, note cards, flash drives, and more. 

Just ask at the Service Desk!

Storytelling in Milne on Nov. 29, 2011

On Tuesday, November 29th, Milne Library will host a Storytelling Event for children and their caregivers! This event is open to SUNY Geneseo faculty, staff and students as well as the Geneseo community.

Come listen to stories about chipmunks, Native Americans and the Oregon Trail performed by School of Education students — and be entertained by songs and read-alouds performed by members of the Young Children’s Council.

Storytelling will last from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm, with refreshments provided. The event will take place in the Teacher Education Resource Center, located on the lower-level of Milne Library.

Password Security

With the holiday online buying season gearing up, it’s a good time to think about your online security. Mashable just published a list of the 25 Worst Passwords of 2011.  If any of your passwords are on the list, you might want to think about changing things up a bit. Lifehacker has some great tips for picking and remembering passwords.

Some have turned to password management software to help keep track of their many passwords.  The major issue with such programs is that you must download the software and can only access it from that single device. 

An alternative to downloading password management software might be Open ID, which allows you to sign into websites with a universal ID and password.  You can choose to use an account that you’ve already created.  Some of the more well known OpenID providers include Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL, and Twitter.  If you have one of these accounts, you already have an OpenID identity.

Webmail v.s. Gmail

If you were given the choice, would you prefer using a Gmail interface through your Geneseo Apps account or would you stick with the current RoundCube Webmail interface?

Don’t Forget to Set Your Clocks Back on Sunday

Daylight Saving Time Ends on Sunday and our clocks will need to be set back 1 hour.

Daylight-savings time is the advancing of the clock, usually in summer time, one hour ahead of the local standard time in order to increase the hours of daylight available at the end of the day. 

The idea originated with none other than Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s.  But it didn’t really catch on until WWI when England and Germany put it into practice as a wartime measure for making full use of daylight hours.  By 1925, it became permanent in England.

The U.S. also took advantage of daylight savings for both World Wars, but it didn’t become a permanent fixture for most states until the oil crisis in the mid-1960’s.

Summer Time. (2002). In Brewer’s Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/brewermod/summer_time

Top ten reasons to use Google Calendar

1. It’s FREE!  Geneseo Apps are provided through CIT (see these 3 easy steps for setting up your account).
2. You can import your class schedule into your Google Calendar right from myGeneseo.
3. Keep track of multiple calendars in one place and customize the color for each (work schedule, class schedules, extracurricular activities, etc…).
4. Share your calendar with classmates and friends.
5. It’s in the cloud!  Google Calendar is available on any device with access to the internet.
6. Get Google calendar on your phone (including Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry).
7. Get event reminders.  You can set up pop-up or email reminders minutes, hours, days or weeks ahead of the event.
8. Send invitations and track rsvp’s for any event.
9. Google Calendar also has a wide database of public calendars that you can subscribe to for free (i.e. U.S. Holidays).
10. With your Geneseo Apps account, you also have an account for nearly 50 other useful Google products.

Donna Ayers: Profiles of Milne Library Staff

Donna Ayers is a Keyboard Specialist II and the IDS Lending Manager.  Donna has worked in Milne Library for six years and began in the Acquisitions and Government Documents departments.  She has been in Information Delivery Services for four years and her duties include managing IDS lending operations and working with our IDS Manager to train and supervise student workers.  Donna also selects locations, provides backup assistance with borrowing requests and provides backup for the IDS Manager.

Donna states that she enjoys helping people and working with the students here at Milne.  She can be found in room 108 on the library’s lower level.

Halloween Storytime this Friday at 6 pm!

On Friday, October 28th, Milne Library will host a Halloween Storytime Celebration for children and their caregivers! Any age is welcome, though these mildly scary stories are geared toward ages 10 and under.

Storytime (performed by Milne Library’s Mark Sullivan) will last from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm, with refreshments provided. The event will take place in the Teacher Education Resource Center, located on the lower-level of Milne Library. Costumes are optional.

Tips for Surviving Mid-terms

The fall 2011 semester is flying by and mid-term exams are nearly upon us.  Here’s a few tips for making it through successfully.

1. Plan ahead so that you give yourself plenty of time to study.  Limit your extracurricular activities the week before your big tests.
2. Study in chunks.  Block off specific hours of your schedule to study for each test you have to take. A ten minute study break every few hours is also a good idea.
3.  Schedule in some exercise.  There’s no better way to relieve stress.  Don’t plan on studying non-stop the whole week.
4. Take advantage of study groups.  A group can motivate you to get started and discussing difficult concepts with each other can aid in understanding.
5. Take advantage of review sessions.  Most professors will touch on certain topics more heavily than others in review sessions and this might give you a better idea of what will be on the exam.
6. Take advantage of your professor’s office hours.  If you’re unsure about anything, touch base with your professor or TA.
7. Make sure you have the materials you’ll need for the test the night before.  Bring a back-up pen or pencil.
8. Get a good night’s rest  and have a good breakfast before your test.  If you follow tip #1, you won’t have to stay up all night cramming.
9. Don’t wait until your class is about to begin to get a bluebook.  If you need a blue book, you can pick it up at the Library Service Desk for 15 cents.
10. Don’t psych yourself out.  You’ve studied, so don’t talk yourself into doing poorly.  Put yourself in confidence mode, visualize it all going right and think A+.