Y’all should install a vending machine that sells highlighters, pens, pencils, note cards, paper clips, caffeine pills, etc. I think it would be really helpful and an economic boon for the library

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: We had one of these in Perkins back before the construction of Bostock and the renovation of the first floor of Perkins. I’ll pass on your suggestion to those who make decisions on these sorts of things. However, I don’t think the library made a lot of money on this.

If i had never worn glasses, would my eye sight be as bad as it is now? Or would I have at least not gotten bad not so fast?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: According to the American College of Ophthalmology, on their web page entitled “Eye Care Facts and Myths: A Closer Look,” it’s just an old wives’ tale that glasses make your eyes degrade faster. To quote them:

“Wearing eyeglasses will cause you to become dependent on them.” True or False?

False. Eyeglasses are used to correct blurry vision. Since clear vision with eyeglasses is preferable to uncorrected vision, you may find that you want to wear your eyeglasses more often. Although it may feel as if you are becoming dependent on your eyeglasses, you are actually just getting used to seeing clearly.

http://www.medem.com/medlb/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ8BUZTYIE&sub_cat=0

If I dial 911 on my mobile phone, which 911 does it go to? The one from my area code or the one near where my phone actually is in the country?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The system knows which “cell” you’re in (which receiving antenna you’re going through), so it should connect you with the 911 operator near where you currently are, not across the country.

Furthermore, the next level of sophistications currently being implemented will automatically send the fairly precise location of your phone using GPS and/or triangulation between cell towers, but since implementation depends on the technological modernity of your phone, the local 911 service, and perhaps the cell towers, it’s still very important to tell the operator where you are.

When doing up a bibliography, when do you use the city with state? In some cases it seems obvious not to bother to cite the state = Washington:Smithsonian Institution Press. It also seems obvious when the publisher is a university = Gainesville:University of Florida Press. However, I have seen it cited like this: Gainesville, FL:University of Florida Press. Is there some rule about when to cite the city plus state?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: In general, you can get away with leaving out the state if it’s a “well-known” city, like New York or San Francisco. That’s fuzzy, but has always seemed to be the case. The examples that we give at http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/workscited/index.html show “New York” and “Chicago,” but “Greenwich, CT” regardless of the style being used. But you should still consult the particular style manual that you’re supposed to be using (MLA, APA, Turabian, etc.) for guidance to see if/how they address this.

Don’t quote AP on this, since it’s often forgotten, but the bottom line is that the citation is supposed to provide sufficient information for a reader to look up your source, so just try to keep that in mind.

How do you pronounce the name of that delicious sandwich-type food, the gyro? I don’t want to sound ignorant, but also not like I’m trying way too hard to sound greek or intellectual.

I thank you.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The Oxford English Dictionary says the first consonant sound is a soft “g,” like “j” or maybe like “dj” and the first vowel sound is either “ai” (like an English long “i”) or “ee” (like an English long “e”. The Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary says “yee-ro” or “zhir-o”. The “ro” part is pretty clear, but the first syllable is all up to you. I think I’ll go with jzhee-ro. The fine folks in the Perkins Reference department will be happy to show you many other dictionaries to peruse for that perfect gyro.

Is there someplace to go curling in New York City? Even just outside the city would be cool. Thanks, eh!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There are a number of New York clubs listed here, even one right there in Manhattan: http://www.gncc.org/gnccclubs.html
You’ll have to contact them to see if you need to be a member to play.

I am currently on second floor Bostock, and it is absolutely freezing up here–with no way to turn down the air. A girl across from me is wearing scarf and gloves, I am wearing a sweatshirt and still freezing, and someone just walked past me wearing a heavy winter coat with her hood on. This is ridiculous! It is 30 degrees outside and the air is set on 73. Granted, it doesn’t need to be a sauna in here or we will all fall sleep, but a little bit of warmth on especially cold nights would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I think you mean that it’s cold despite the fact that the thermostat says 73. I believe you. You’re correct that the heat and a/c can be erratic over time and inconsistent through the building. Be aware that in the fall and spring when seasons change, there are hiccups when they switch from chilled water to steam and vice versa and that sort of thing. There are rumors that when all the renovations are complete in the Perkins/Bostock library complex, the HVAC systems will work evenly and comfortably, but your concern will be passed on.

how many high school students were there in the United States in 2005?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The National Center for Education Statistics projected 14,847,000 in public high schools (grades 9-12) and 1,439,000 in private high schools. That’s 16,286,000 total. See: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=65

I was recently told by someone that Bruce Springsteen played a concert in Cameron at one time. Is there any information about this concert: set list, student impressions, etc.? Also, related to the Springsteen question, can students access archived issues of the chronicle?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: March 28, 1976, seven months after the release of *Born to Run*. He was 26 years old. He’s now 57. See: http://www.brucebase.org.uk/gig1976.htm for a setlist, although it says there were some other unknown songs also played. It credits Rolling Stone and The Chronicle for information (no dates given). Here’s another version: http://db.etree.org/lookup_show.php?shows_key=7292

The Chronicle is electronically archived and searchable from their website at http://www.dukechronicle.com back to 1993. There’s an electronic subject index covering 1989 to June 1996 (six months at a time) at the University Archives website: http://www.lib.duke.edu/archives/pubs/chronndx.html
Earlier printed indexes to The Chronicle are available if you visit the Archives, on the third floor of Perkins Library: http://www.lib.duke.edu/archives/pubs/ Many years, however, aren’t indexed.
The Archives keeps all the old issues of The Chronicle in paper, so you can look in those just after March 28, 1976.

In the Archives you can also see if they have other records of musical events at Duke besides what’s in The Chronicle.

You can get the microfilm of Rolling Stone for March 1976 from the Microforms Dept. in Bostock Library at call number S71, or request the paper issues from the Library Service Center using the library catalog.

I have tried in vain over the course of the last week to find space for my group to study in Perkins’s new group study rooms. On each occasion every room was occupied and at least a few of the rooms were occupied by individuals studying (not in a group).

Could the library put up some sort of policy guidlines stating that groups have priority in the group rooms? It would only make sense.

Also, I tend to scan a lot of documents and the scanning computers in Perkins are seemingly always in use by people that DONT need the scanners. Could you put up signs stating that people wanting to scan documents have priority??

thanks.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Right now, there is no official written policy on this, but there is a de facto policy that groups have priority in these rooms. (Actually, there’s a clearly worded statement on the door of Bostock 312, but not on other group study rooms, nor, it seems, on our website.) If you contact a librarian, they will ask a single person to leave so that a group can use the room. We do need to advertise and post this policy more, so thanks for the reminder.

There are priority statements on the scanners in Bostock, so thanks for reminding us about the need for such statements in Perkins. (Once again, you can ask a librarian to intervene on your behalf.)