Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library
Materials on Course Reserves circulate for 2 hours because they are high-demand items that are set aside for class reading at faculty members’ request. The number of copies the libraries can purchase is limited by budgetary, space and copyright restrictions. What the BC Libraries are doing to address this issue is prioritizing the purchasing of ebooks for Course Reserves.
I am fortunate and grateful to have many friends who are part of the Libraries’ staff. They are always willing and delighted to help answer questions. (Sometimes they learn a lot themselves.) Works for everyone, don’t you think?
Yes, but not without limits: bit.ly/MA-weed. And it’s out of bounds at BC: bit.ly/BC-student-code4 (scroll down to the entry on marijuana).
It could be a setting on your laptop that makes it disconnect when not in use to save energy. You might be able to Google your specific laptop for instructions; otherwise, you can stop by the Technology Help desk in O’Neill or call 617-552-HELP (4357) for assistance. Hope you are able to eliminate this annoyance!
As a driver or as a passenger? Either way the answer is that it will be very difficult if you don’t already have one. Drivers especially make so many trips that the chances of keeping a perfect rating over and over again becomes extremely small. As a passenger, it’s all about respecting the driver and their car. Have a profile pic that looks like you, be ready to go when the driver gets there, don’t slam doors, don’t eat or drink food in the car, don’t track mud in the car. If the driver wants to talk, then talk; if they don’t, then don’t. Being a 5.0 passenger is all about being empathetic to each other, which is good advice generally I think.
Unfortunately, early voting ends today at 5pm, but there’s still Tuesday! The College Democrats of Boston College were involved in Joe Kennedy’s campaign in the primary (bit.ly/heights-cdbc). I’m sure they could use your help if you lean that way; Boston College Republicans might also have some plans underway. The library created a guide with links to voting info, including polling places: bit.ly/bc-vote-resources. There’s a talk on Monday at noon by BC’s David Hopkins about the midterms: bit.ly/midterms-hopkins. Get out there and ROCK THE VOTE!
It’s true that if everyone behaved with integrity it wouldn’t be needed. Same problem with the legal system, actually. But since you can’t rely on that to be 100% true, it’s useful to have independent professionals checking the work of everyone according to the same rules. That way every company doesn’t have to individually do all the same work to check on its partners and competitors, and regulators can use it as a baseline also.
Thanks for the tip; we’ll have someone look into it immediately. In fact, by the time you’re reading this, it should already be corrected. (Often, people unplug desktops in order to plug in their own devices, and then don’t plug them back in again. Sigh. But this could be a different problem entirely.)
It depends on how one defines “rich.” If you are thinking money, you may want to rethink your perception. Time Magazine explains “How Winning the Lottery Makes You Miserable:” bit.ly/lottery-misery. And according to the National Endowment for Financial Education, 70% of the winners go bankrupt within five years: bit.ly/lottery-bankrupt The people most satisfied in life have cultivated strong relationships with others. Look around, you may be richer than you thought!
Good question, and hang in there! We all need some extra inspiration once in a while! One of my librarian friends recommends the following: “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” -Rabbi Hillel. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” -Theodore Roosevelt.
Have you ever heard of Walnettos? An old fashioned choice, but so chewy and rich. That would be my favorite treat. I had a terrific Halloween; I dressed up as a door….
:-/ Money and poor leadership. Durkin’s buyout would have been expensive, and Maryland’s Board of Regents isn’t well-known for their strong moral conviction. The subtext of this entire thing is pretty clear: UM President Loh refused to have Durkin come back and was overruled by the Board of Regents, so he quit (“retired” at the end of the year) rather than lead a school that would act in this way. Looks like the ACC got rid of Maryland at just the right time and picked up some quality schools (Go Eagles!). UPDATE: Durkin has been fired after an outcry from students and parents. Never let someone tell you that the peoples’ opinion doesn’t count. This was a moral failing of the UM Board that the citizens of the State of Maryland had to force them to fix.
When you see an injustice, there are basically two ways of trying right it: 1) try to correct that instance of injustice: feed a homeless person, or perhaps even help them get to a soup kitchen, or even help them find a job and a home. 2) try to address the systemic social problems that cause an injustice such as widespread homelessness: expensive health care, unemployment, inequity in schools, or a social safety net full of holes. Path #1 requires generosity and is hard to scale up to solve widespread social ills. Path #2 requires a lot of struggle for slow changes you may not see in your lifetime, and is therefore hard to convince people to undertake. It’s possible that BC’s focus on path #1 leads people on path #2 to attend other schools.
Sorry! Problem remedied: Halloween candy is at the reference desk in the jack-o-lantern container. Hope you get some! Happy Halloween!
This sounds very frustrating! If you visit the Walk-in Help Desk on the 3rd floor of O’Neill by the printers, they should be able to take a look at what’s going on with your phone and laptop. They provide computer assistance from 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday.
Yes! I have answered “IDK” 8 times. In addition, there 27 instances where I have answered that I “don’t know” something and another 32 where I’m “not sure” about something. That makes 67 instances of not knowing the answer for a student, which makes me sad. But, it’s important to acknowledge the limits of your abilities (or knowledge). There are plenty of things I don’t know, and it would be worse for me to lie or act like I do know something and give someone bad information.
No! No person ‘sucks.’ Sometimes my human friends are tired, or cranky, and they act a little ‘sucky,’ but they don’t ‘suck’ to the core, which means you don’t either. It might be cliché,’ but have you ever heard the phrase, “fake it till you make it?” Scholarly warning…this link is not a scholarly source!…But, there are some good ideas and an interesting chart that might help you ‘make it’ better. bit.ly/wikipedia-fake-it If you still feel like your life is cruddy, the people in Counseling Services (bit.ly.BC-counseling) are definitely the people you could talk with about your life.
I was horrified to hear of this terrible event, and I’m sorry you feel like BC doesn’t care. Though I know it might not ameliorate the lack of a public statement, my library assistants have heard nothing but care and concern from BC staff, students, and faculty. As to the population: a recent Pew survey estimated that nationally, recent college graduates were about 3% Jewish, and Boston College Hillel estimates BC’s Jewish population at 2%. I doubt that’s enough of a difference to influence concern about antisemitism. I’m sure BC as a whole cares; perhaps student groups could help encourage BC to turn that care into a public gesture of some kind.
I’m sad that you’re that sad. If the sadness is impacting on your life, please contact the folks at University Counseling (bit.ly/BC-counseling). They’re there to help.
I’m still hanging. What’s up with you?
