From: Jo Falcon (jofalcon@exploratorium.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 21 2001 - 12:01:16 PDT
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 12:01:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Jo Falcon <jofalcon@exploratorium.edu> Subject: Re: Mechanical Universe Videos: Learning Studio does NOT have Message-ID: <Pine.GSU.4.10.10109210949440.27612-100000@isaac>
On Thu, 20 Sep 2001, "Eric Muller" <emuller@exploratorium.edu> wrote:
> You can get the Mechanical Universe from Annenberg/CPB. You can
> purchase on-line at their website
> http://www.learner.org/catalog/ordering/seriesprice56.html.
> The Entire Series is $699.00.
> Do you need to buy it or can you check it out?
> If our library doesn't have it, they might be able to get it shipped
> via inter-library loan.
Eric -could- have told you whether we have it -- but NOOOooooo.....
A SHORT LESSON IN FINDING STUFF
(at the end of which is a
short lesson in Interlibrary Loan)
To check the Learning Studio catalog on-line, go to
http://library.exploratorium.edu/
(easy to remember), click where it says "click here," and a search box
comes up. From there, you have several choices.
-- You can use the simple search for title alone, either adding
[videorecording] (in square brackets like that) or highlighting Video and
checking the box for Medium in the "Define your limits" table below. Want
to see all 600+ videos we have? Enter [videorecording] in the Title
field, click Search, and let'er rip.
-- Or you can go to the Combined Search (the button is at top right
under the red "Start Over" button), which gives you three search boxes to
combine with "and" (for instance, [videorecording] AND mechanical), "or"
(which you won't need here, but, for instance, reptiles OR amphibians),
and "not" (say, [videorecording] NOT "Bill Nye").
Better yet, all the things that seem to say only Title, Author, and
Subject pull down to reveal a LOT more choices, including Series,
Publisher (you could search for other Annenberg videos, for instance) and
the secret weapon -- the magic bullet -- ANY. This will find your
keyword no matter where in the record it's hiding. For example, looking
for our founder Frank Oppenheimer in ANY field will bring up books by him,
about him, or donated from his personal collection.
Once you've found your book (or video, or CD-ROM, or model, or ant farm)
the record for that individual item will tell you whether it's available
or out on loan, and where on the shelves to look for it -- general or
activities section. Those of you who are geographically disadvantaged can
check the catalog remotely and e-mail us the titles you want put on
reserve, or mailed to you if you can't make it to the Museum. (This much
you may remember from orientation.)
Checking the catalog first is about to get much more important. Since the
shelves are so tight we can't add new books, we've begun pulling some of
the less-often-used ones and putting them in storage in the Rotunda. This
means that though we may have exactly what you need, you'll never know it
from browsing the shelves. As long as it's in the collection, we can pull
it from storage for you -- but the catalog will be the only way you know
it's there. Remember: http://library.exploratorium.edu/ .
-- Okay, I take it back. Lesson on Interlibrary Loan will follow
separately; this has been 'waaaay too long. But full of useful stuff,
really. And to reward you who've read this far:
http://www.learner.org/catalog/previews.phtml
Turns out Annenberg has free previews for educators and will send you a
couple of tapes from the series for up to 21 days. That -may- be enough
to save you the $700 purchase cost.
Next message: Interlibrary Loan -- how to borrow almost anything from one
of over a million libraries. No exaggeration. Stay tuned.
Jo Falcon, MLIS
The Exploratorium Learning Studio
415 561-0343
"We unscrew the inscrutable."
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