Cute as a (library) button

Last spring we asked you to design the next round of library buttons.  We had a great response and choosing the top 10 was no easy task.

You can find a different winning design available in the library each week, so make sure you drop by to complete your collection (and maybe even learn something).

Bunny on the loose!

In a brazen violation of the Library's 'no food' policy, a GIANT chocolate Bunny has broken into our Library!

Can you help us find him?

If you can figure out where he's hiding, you may be able to take him home with you!  That's right, all 2lbs, 3ozs of his Lindt chocolate goodness could be yours!

For the next week the Bunny will be giving us daily clues about where he's hiding.  If you think you know, you can fill out a ballot in the Library to win him!

Clues will appear daily at the Musagetes Architecture Library circulation desk, on our blog and on our Twitter feed.

Here's your first clue: "Brrr... it's a good thing I have fur, it's COLD in here!"

Quick! Catch that Bunny!

Design the next Library button!

Don't you just LOVE those cute little buttons they hand out at all the uWaterloo Libraries?

One of your designs could be featured on the newest edition buttons!

We'll pick the top 10 designs to produce for distribution at all library locations starting in September.  The #1 button design will win $250! Cash!

Every entrant will get 5 buttons made of their design... just for entering!

Visit the contest webpage for all the rules and more information about how to enter.

Winter Workshops

Discover what your Library has to offer (which is a lot more than just books!) at one of our workshops.

Don't see what you're looking for?  Drop by for one-on-one research help with Michele, or email me to request additional workshops here in Cambridge.  Check out the full list of Library workshops and get registered here.


Introduction to GIS for Architecture:
Maps are an eye-catching and dynamic way to support your research and design work.  GIS software and data allow you to create easy-to-understand, thematic maps that highlight the importance of place in the field of Architecture.  By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• access a variety of GIS resources available at the School of Architecture
• find online data resources and mapping applications
• create basic topographic and demographic maps using ArcMap 10
• insert standard map elements and export your finished product

Held in the Seminar Room, Musagetes Architecture Library
Thursday January 26, 2012      1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Introduction to RefWorks:

Learn how to manage your references, create bibliographies, and format your papers in a variety of citation styles using RefWorks, a web-based citation software freely available to all Waterloo students, faculty, and staff.  By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• create a RefWorks account
• import references from databases, the Library’s catalogue, and other sources
• navigate RefWorks and edit your citations
• create and format bibliographies in a variety of citation styles
• identify options within RefWorks for reference sharing
• access your account and citations from anywhere
• and more! 

Held in the Seminar Room, Musagetes Architecture Library

Thursday February 2, 2012      1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Book our Seminar Room online!

You can now reserve the Library's Seminar Room all by yourself!

Simply click on the Study Room Booking link found on the library's webpage and log in with your WatIAM account.

All bookings must adhere to the Booking Terms:

• 3 hours per booking
• 2 bookings per day
• 10 hours within the current 7 day period (including today)
• Room must be left in good condition
• No-show Rule: After 15 minutes the room will be available to others
• Disputes and complaints should be referred to staff at the Service Desk.

Questions? Ask us!

Library Day 2011

Wednesday October 26th is Library Day!

The staff at Musagetes Architecture Library want to show our appreciation for all the students, faculty, staff and community members that make our job worth doing.

Please drop by the library for some refreshments and other goodies... all day long!

Confirm your name release status with us (yes OR no) and you will be entered into a draw to win great prizes from the Melville and Grand Cafes!

Open Access Week

"Open access" is the term used to describe scholarly literature available free of charge that can be copied, distributed, and used with proper attribution.  There are a lot of benefits to Open Access.  To find out more, check out our Open Access FAQ.

For more information about Open Access Week, drop by the Library.  You can also check out the list of Open Access Architecture Journals.

You could win an iPad 2!

The Library needs student, faculty and staff participants for a usability study of Primo Central.  

Primo Central allows you to find articles, books and more with a single search.  No previous experience with it is necessary.

The study team is coming to Musagetes on Thursday October 27.  Participation will only take an hour, and you will be entered into a draw for an iPad 2!

If you would like to give your feedback, please email Marian Davies and tell her you want to register for the Musagetes study next Thursday.  Choose from the following sessions: 10-11am, 11:30-12:30 or 1:30-2:30pm.

We encourage you to volunteer and make your voice heard.  This is an opportunity to win a great prize and help the library decide if Primo Central is right for our users...YOU!

Welcome back!

It's the first day of the fall term and the library is already bustling with students!  This is the library staff's favourite time of year... we love to see the space full of new faces and students we haven't seen in a while.

A lot is new this year.  Most importantly, we have new hours:

Monday to Thursday: 9am to 9pm
Friday:                       9am to 6pm
Saturday & Sunday:   1pm to 5pm


Some of you might be surprised to see Linda Finn in the library.  She was only on loan to ACM last year and we're happy to have her back.

We have received lots of new materials over the summer, including a large addition to our film collection.  We also purchased some moveable white boards that you will notice around the library... use them!  We have markers, erasers and cleaner... just ask at the desk.




What's really exciting for us is a brand new scanner, and it's great!  No need to log in to any computer... just press one button and the images get saved directly to your USB memory.  And thanks to the overhead camera, you can take scans of almost anything - not just books!  I've already used it, and it's fun and easy to use.

There will be a lot happening this year at Musagetes, so keep and eye on the blog or follow us on Twitter.




For those of you who were not around this summer, the 2A class put on a spectacular play called Ilion, their take on the legend of Troy.  You can watch the whole play on YouTube, starting with part one:

Sweet Hearts

Got deadlines on the brain?  Crits haunting your dreams?  Pulling too many all-nighters?

It's that time of year again, but the library has something that will keep you going... sugar!

Step away from your desk and come take a guess at how many candies are in our Valentine's jar.  Not only will guessing the closest number win you a ridiculous amount of candy to share with the people you love, but we will also throw in a $10 Shoppers Drugmart Gift Card and... wait for it... A MONKEY! A monkey holding a heart!!!

We even have a prize for the runner-up because really, if you even come close you deserve something.

We will be picking the winners first thing on Valentine's Day... So put your spatial senses to the test today!

(*limit one entry per person please)

RACER Upgrades

...are a good thing!  Unfortunately it means that RACER will not be available between 6pm on Friday December 3rd and 9am on Tuesday December 7th.

So if you're looking for items outside of the TUG library system, order them now!

As always, we're extremely sorry for any inconvenience.

Get to know your library...

...at our 3rd annual Open House!

This Thursday, October 28th from 5-7pm

Come meet your library staff, learn more about our services and browse some highlights from our Rare Book collection. You can also borrow a movie from our Film Collection for FREE! (*limit one per person)

There will be drinks, treats and prizes to be won! All you have to do is show up... see you there!

Tonight: Get some sleep

The second of the 1/4 to 9 film series is playing tonight. Come check out Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep in the School of Architecture theatre.
You can support your friendly neighbourhood film club in a number of ways:
- attend film screenings
- borrow movies from the library
- suggest new DVD purchases
and most importantly...
- submit your short film for the 1/4 to 9 closing event! It's easy, just send a link to your video via Twitter or email!

It's a 1/4 to 9...

The Waterloo Architecture Film Club is kicking off its fall film series tomorrow night with A Single Man - the first film by designer Tom Ford.

"1/4 to 9" will feature four other films to follow throughout the term, ending with a night of short films created by the school community. For more information about the films to come, keep an eye on our blog. If you want your film screened on closing night, send your entry to us via Twitter.Support the film club by checking out their collection of films available in the library!

Knit CamBRIDGE - the finished product

Knitting was contributed by staff, students and faculty here at the School of Architecture, as well as some nervous-looking parents during admission week! Thanks to everyone who took some time to add a few stitches to the knitting in our basket.

Congratulations to Cambridge Artist-in-residence Sue Sturdy for bringing the community together to pull off such a large scale project. See our earlier post for more information about the project.

We have a great view of the bridge from our reading corner in the library... drop in and check it out!

Why Architecture Matters

Because this guy says so.

Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic for The New Yorker, will be part of the Critical Mass speakers series on May 3rd in Toronto (tickets at hotdocs.ca). The conversation will also include Sasha Frere-Jones, Robin Givhan, Eric Friesen, Michael Enright and Jeanne Beker.

If you can't make it to the lecture you can watch his interview on The Colbert Report, in which Paul and Stephen argue about whether or not American architecture still has "big tits".

You can also check out his latest book, Why Architecture Matters, and many others on display in the library.

Do you have a burning desire...

...to express yourself in verse? Well get your imagination warmed up for the 2nd Annual

Musagetes Poetry Contest!
February 10th - 24th
This year's theme is: FIRE

Poems can be any length and any style, ranging from witty one liners to passionate epics spanning continents and generations.

Drop your entries into the bag in the library, or post them on our contest board for all to see! You can win Hot, Hotter and Hottest prizes!

Main Entry: FIRE

Pronunciation: \ˈfi(-ə)r\

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fȳr; akin to Old High German fiur fire, Greek pyr

Date: before 12th century

Function: noun

1 a : the phenomenon of combustion manifested in light, flame, and heat b : burning passion : ardor : liveliness of imagination : inspiration
2 : fuel in a state of combustion
3 a : a destructive burning b : death or torture by fire
4 : brilliancy, luminosity
5 a : the firing of weapons b : intense verbal attack or criticism c : a rapidly delivered series

— on fire 1 : being consumed by fire : aflame 2 : eager, burning

Function: verb

1 a : to set on fire : kindle : ignite b : to give life or spirit to : inspire : to fill with passion or enthusiasm c : to light up as if by fire
2 a : to drive out or away by or as if by fire b : to dismiss from a position
3 a : to become irritated or angry —often used with up b : to become filled with excitement or enthusiasm
4 a : to emit or let fly an object
5 : to tend a fire
6 : to transmit a nerve impulse

Not just another pretty face...

Bjarke Ingels, from Denmark's hottest architecture firm, talks about some BIG ideas in this inspiring and humourous lecture from TED:



Like what you see? Check out BIG's book Yes is More: An archicomic on architectural evolution in our collection!

Fresh and crisp

New books to get the season off to an invigorating start:

How to Build an Igloo and Other Snow Shelters

Norbert E. Yankielun

TH 4890 .Y36 2007

In this instructive, whimsical manual, U.S. Army engineer and seasoned cold-regions explorer Norbert Yankielun takes readers through the process of constructing and inhabiting a range of useful snow structures step-by-step. Whether you want the know-how to protect yourself from adverse weather conditions while back-country skiing or want to try your hand at building a backyard igloo just for fun, this book can show you how.

Extreme Architecture: Building for Challenging Environments

Ruth Slavid

NA 2543.35 .S624x 2009

Architects face some of their m

ost difficult challenges designing for extreme environments. Divided into sections titled Hot, Cold, High, Wet and Space, Extreme Architecture showcases 45 recent buildings designed for these challenging environments, giving valuable insights into the extremes of architectural thinking. Projects range from the fantastic – a lunar hotel – to those already built, including a school in Burkina Faso, a floating sauna in Sweden and an underground seed vault in Norway.

Smart Surfaces and Their Application in Architecture and Design

Thorsten Klooster

TA 418.7 .K56x 2009

Luminescent wallpaper, curtains which generate electricity, self-cleaning windows: new developments in the field of surface technologies will continue to influence the

ways in which materials can be used in architecture and design. Smart surfaces expand the range of design options available to architects, leading to new concepts which can meet the changing requirements of buildings and design. Smart Surfaces provides background and technical information for the categories of surfaces, nano, energy, light climate and information, with samples of amazing and often mind-boggling projects from around the world.

Albert Speer & Partner: A Manifesto for Sustainable Cities: Think Local, Act Global

Jeremy Gains & Stefan Jäger

HT 166. G24x 2009

For more than forty years, Albert Speer & Partner have been designing ecologically sensitive communities throughout the globe. As one of the world’s most forward-thinking architectural and urban planning practices, many of their trailblazing projects are discussed and analyzed for their success in satisfying the array of social, economic and environmental demands of the twenty-first century. Focusing on projects in cities such as Shanghai, Baku, Cairo, Changchun and Abuja, this book explores themes like the redeveloping of aging cities, resource conservation, urban density, zoning and new technology.

Out of the darkness and into the light

From the same students who brought us cake, come more enlightened creations. You can't find these lamps at Ikea, but you can find them here! These lamps and more will be on display in the library for the rest of the year.


(Click on the images to see the incredible detail!)