BOOKENDS September 2024, Volume 8, Issue 1

We are excited to announce our extended plan for hosting and conducting a variety of workshops, training, and events throughout Fall 2024. These activities aim to enrich the academic experience for students, faculty, and staff, offering opportunities for personal growth, professional development, and community engagement.

This semester, we are engaging in our most ambitious slate of offerings ever. While in the past, the library has hosted at least one event each week, this semester we are offering multiple sessions almost every week. Over the course of the semester, we cover the gamut of services and products that the library provides to our university community. Our staff arrange workshops that show users how best to utilize the dozens electronic resources that we provide, resources that can enable and enhance your scholarly output. We offer sessions that explain how to get your research published, including choosing a publisher and journal, using tools that improve and simply your work, and even provide information on how to get your paper's Open Access fees paid. 

We cover topics for improving your teaching, such as how you can use social media and artificial intelligence in your work, how to present more effectively and how to use internet tools, such as citation managers. Our librarians will show you how to improve you research impact by registering and maintaining your ORCiD account, which ensures that you will receive full credit for each citation and reference to your work. We will even help you navigate the sometimes-confusing world of patents and standards.

You can always find out what events are coming up by reading our weekly announcement emails, by visiting the library's homepage, or by visiting the library calendar. Or, of course, you can ask your favorite librarian, who is always ready to help in any way.

We hope to see you soon at a workshop designed for you!

Sunlight powers the Earth: light generated by the nuclear fusion reaction at the Sun reaches our planet, enabling life.
Light also plays a crucial role in our society: data flows between continents in optical fiber cables, which are tiny glass fibers about the diameter of human hair,  that guide light between far-away destinations. Together with lasers and light-emitting diodes, this are the technologies that enable the Internet and its various applications such as social media, online banking, AI bots.
Lasers are light sources that have been engineered for special application, either for data transmission, precision clocks and rulers, sensing and metrology, materials characterization and processing, being everywhere from your fiber-to-home internet box, to the robotic laser welders in the automotive industry, to medical applications in eye surgery. You also find them in 3D scanners, barcode readers, intrusion detection. Some more powerful lasers are used in nuclear fusion attempts to recreate a mini-Sun on Earth: an immense source of clean energy. Other applications of lasers to rain enhancement and cloud seeding are also surfacing. 
Photonics is the field of science that studies and develops new materials, devices and systems that manage light. From all the applications mentioned above, to endeavors onto the forefront of quantum technology and artificial intelligence, the future of computing.
In fact, when I was an undergraduate student, the courses where we learn the physics and engineering of lasers, were named Quantum Electronics, the original name of the field.
That brings me further along memory lane to my adolescence, recalling an exhibition I saw at the University of Porto, Portugal, about the secrets of the micro and nanoscale world, organized by the Physics Department. In that exhibition, the magic of hologram could be experienced live, as well as doing some laser experiments. Also in the exhibition, a there was a demonstration of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and images obtained from Electron Microscopes giving an insight of the nanoscale world. I found the topics amazing and inspiring and set course for my studies in Physics for the following years.
This demonstrates the power of academic outreach, as a way of informing the general population and to attract interested students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).  A picture is worth a thousand words; an experience is worth a thousand pictures. 

At the beginning of September, the library made an important upgrade to the university proxy server that all users need to be aware of.

As you probably know, the proxy server allows the KU community to access, from anywhere in the world, the dozens of electronic resources that we subscribe to. All you need to do is authenticate via the university's Single Sign On server, and all the thousands of journals and e-books that we provide are yours to use.

The upgrade to the service will increase the speed and reliability of this service. However, it has required us to change the URL of the service. We have updated all the URLs on the library's Electronic Resources Page; if you are using these links to access the resources, you will not need to make any changes to access the sites. 

If, however, you have bookmarked a page that you use frequently, you will need to update this link. You can probably most easily do this by accessing the site via the links on the electronic resources page and creating a new bookmark. But, if you want to directly edit the URL, you can do this as well. 

Just right mouse click on the bookmark you want to change and choose Edit from the popup menu. Find the URL field, and look for the string kuconnect.ku.ac.ae. Simply replace this string with khalifa.idm.oclc.org. 

If you need any additional help, please contact us at libse@ku.ac.ae.

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

"It Ends with Us" by Colleen Hoover is a powerful novel that explores the complexities of relationships and the impact of past experiences on the present. The story follows Lily Bloom, a young woman who moves to Boston to start her own flower shop. She meets Ryle Kincaid, a successful neurosurgeon, and their connection quickly deepens. However, as their relationship progresses, Lily is forced to confront painful memories of her childhood and her first relationship with Atlas Corrigan.
Hoover's first-person narrative allows readers to engage deeply with Lily's thoughts and emotions. The novel's strength lies in its exploration of the cycle of abuse, portraying the harsh realities of domestic violence and the difficult choices that victims face. Through Lily's experiences, the novel highlights the challenges of breaking free from toxic relationships and the lasting effects of trauma.
While often categorized as contemporary romance, "It Ends with Us" goes beyond the typical boundaries of the genre by addressing significant social issues with nuance and depth. Themes of resilience, forgiveness, and the struggle for self-respect are central to the narrative, making the novel a compelling study of human behavior and relationships. Hoover’s writing is engaging and thought-provoking, with a well-paced plot that keeps readers absorbed.
In summary, "It Ends with Us" is a poignant and impactful novel that offers valuable insights into the depths of human relationships and the enduring effects of past experiences. It is a meaningful read for those interested in exploring the more difficult aspects of human connection and the challenges of overcoming personal and societal obstacles.

Goodreads is a mobile app and website that is great for discovering new titles and connecting with avid readers across the globe! Since its launch in 2007 it has become the world’s largest site for personalized book recommendations. You register with your Apple ID, Amazon account or any email address. Then you can customize your profile by listing your interests and the type of books you like to read. After rating 20 books, the Goodreads algorithm will recommend books based upon genre and the books you have on your shelf!  If you are still stuck looking for that next late-night page-turner, Goodreads’ Listopia feature allows readers to create and vote for booklists by tag. Here you explore lists like “The book was better than the movie”, “Best strong female fantasy novels”, and “Best Humorous Books”.

Top Features

•    Register for reading challenges
•    Track what you are currently reading 
•    Sync your reading progress from your Kindle
•    Manage your personal bookshelves 
•    Explore community groups and join discussions

You can become a part of the Goodreads community by going to www.goodreads.com or downloading the app form Google Play or the App Store.

Librarians as Codebreakers
Did you know that librarians helped crack enemy codes in support of the US war effort during World War II? Librarians played a crucial role in the U.S. during World War II, by serving as codebreakers. Their skills in cataloging and analyzing information made them valuable assets in cracking enemy codes, particularly at places like Bletchley Park in the UK, where many were involved in decoding encrypted messages. Richard Hayes was one of the most prominent librarian codebreakers during the war.

A Library on the Back of a Camel
In Kenya, there is a mobile library service that delivers books to remote communities via camelback. The Kenya National Library Service's Camel Mobile Library started in 1996 and travels across arid regions where access to books is limited, providing education and reading materials to children and adults alike.

Library of Alexandria Revived
A revival of the legendary Library of Alexandria is found in Alexandria, Egypt. Dubbed the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, it has shelf space for 8 million books and houses books in English, French and Arabic. It also hosts museums and exhibitions within its wide expanse. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina also houses the Digital Assets Repository which contains digital library collections.
 

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina
https://www.knls.ac.ke/mobile-library-services/
https://nlmdirector.nlm.nih.gov/2019/04/30/code-breaking-librarians/