Philosophy and Innovation at the TED conference

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a conference bringing together people from these three worlds. "The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)." It also brings innovated people to discuss their current projects, some of them very practical. View some of the major speech at the TED site.

Use Doodle for scheduling a meeting

Ever try to schedule a meeting with a couple or several people? You get emails and calls sent back and forth and it gets confusing. Well, Doodle.com "makes it easy to find a date and time for a group event. This free online coordination tool does not requires either registration or software installation." It is easy to set up and coordinate a meeting.

Compare Nations by Statistics

NationMaster.com allows users to build charts that measure and compare countries on a wide range of information, everything from "Most Taxed" to "Cotton Production." In fact, there are some 4,350 stats available for exploration, culled from sources including the CIA World Factbook, the World Health Organization, UNESCO, the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In addition to being informative, the site is a lot of fun to browse. -- review from Harvard Business School

Library also subscribes to OECD Economic Surveys (NSU only). OECD Economic Survey provide in-depth reviews of Member countries' economies and selected non-Member countries. A minimum eighteen surveys are issued during a calendar year. Each issue provides a solid analysis of developments in the subject country, special reports on topics of current interest, and extensive statistical information. All surveys are full text searchable and available in PDF format.

$150 student essay contest

In conjunction with the Alexander Mitchell Public Library’s “All-Aberdeen Reads” program, the Williams Library is sponsoring an essay contest. The public library has chosen the book, This I Believe: Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women. The book is a collection of essays from the NPR show This I Believe. The Williams Library student essay contest will culminate with the ten finalists reading their essays on April 7, 7pm. Judges will select the winners (first, second and third places). Contest Details

William Library presents: Big Read - Egypt

The Williams Library is participating in the Big Read: Egypt program sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council (SDHC). The book selected for the program is The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz. Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.

• SDHC has provided the library with 30 copies* of the book for the NSU community to check out (three week periods). Stop by the library and get a copy. Let your students know about the program.
• On March 24, the library will host a program.

The Program:

• When: March 24
• Time: 7pm
• Where: Williams Library
• About: Professor Pen Pearson will lead the book and literature discussion. Assistant Professor Raouf Zaidan, an Egyptian, will speak on the cultural/political background of the book and author. This insight will provide not only a better understand of the book, but also of modern Egypt. He will also read excerpts in Arabic.

*The books will be returned to SDHC.
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The South Dakota Center for the Book, a program of the South Dakota Humanities Council (SDHC), has coordinated THE BIG READ for three years. For the 2008 - 2009 program cycle, SDHC is hosting The Big Read Egypt. This is a new initiative of The Big Read program designed to deepen and broaden cultural understanding through literature.

THE BIG READ is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and bring the transformative power of literature into the lives of its citizens. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment.