SPiDERDAWG® (SML '67, Cornell '68) is a professional web researcher with over 35 years experience working, learning and teaching in academic libraries. He specializes in teaching environments where students--of all ages--control the pace, direction and duration of their instruction.
You are welcome to visit SPiDERDAWG's "home", Cornell University, where his responsibilities include coordinating the Mann Library Computing Centers. As the first computer lab in any of the Cornell Libraries, the Stone Computing Center faced many challenges on its founding. They are described in the thirty-page 1983-84 Annual Report of the Information Technology Section by Howard Curtis, the original Head of Information Technology at Mann Library, who was responsible for making Director Jan Olsen's vision a reality. The Computing Centers strive to make our areas a "Safe Place" for all to work and study by promoting a friendly, diverse and scholarly atmosphere.
Mann Library holds the principal collections in agriculture, biological sciences and human ecology of the Cornell University Library (CUL). The Annual Report of the University Library will give you a good idea of how close the Library has come to achieving its goals for carrying out its mission.
Many exciting web-based projects are now under development in the Cornell University Library. Some are designed by individual Librarians, such as Westbrooks' Guide to African American Documentary Resources on the WWW. Others are collaborative efforts involving the whole library system as described on the Cornell University Library Digital Projects and Initiatives page. The latest is the Cornell Alumni and Friends Access Service, which provides special access to Cornell University Library resources for alumni and friends of the University.
SPiDERDAWG's family has made two significant donations to the University Library. In 1958, Edith Fox and Barbara Shepard of the Regional History Collections solicited the Ontario and Western photographs archive that can now be seen by searching for its author's name, DeForest Diver, in the Cornell Library Catalog. In 2004, the Arnold collection of 1500 Advertising postcards was donated. Using PowerPoint Viewer (free from microsoft.com) you can--with some patience if you are on a slow connection--see the Arnold Collection preview on this SPiDERDAWG site.
Would you be interested in working with us in one of the many units of the Cornell University Library? Here's your invitation to join the Cornell University Library staff!
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni can subscribe to a monthly e-mail newsletter on updates from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Cornell University, by sending an email to listproc@cornell.edu Leave the subject field blank, and send the following command in the body of your email message:
"Subscribe als_alumni-L (your first and last name without the parenthesis)". This would be a good way for you to keep informed of the evolution of the New Life Sciences Initiative. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will have a crucial role to play in collaboration with other Cornell units as the many possible benefits of this effort are applied to everyday life.
Cornell's gardens, its campus gorges, its landmark buildings and its classic views are championed by Cornell's Web Production Group on their splendid site,"Explore Cornell".
In addition to Cornell, the city of Ithaca, NY, is the home home of the world-renowned Ithaca College School of Music, EcoVillage, the Sciencenter, the Paleontological Research Institution and the famous Citizen Science Portal of Cornell's superb Laboratory of Ornithology.
Ithaca is the county seat for Tompkins County. The people of Tompkins County, whose demographics are outlined in Quickfacts, are the beneficiaries of unique geological circumstances. They have organized to protect their dramatic landscape through the efforts of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, which owns the preserve nearest SPiDERDAWG's Etna residence. The flavor of Etna life is best conveyed by the Etna Community Association's publication, The Volcano.
Tompkins County is a mecca for naturalists, with a number of "Unique Natural Areas" , as featured on this map, courtesy of Tompkins County GIS. Other local maps are also available. Those who seek knowledge of the natural environment can enjoy such treasures as the botanical collections of the Cornell Plantations. Gardeners will find us to be in zone "5A" according to the National Arboretum's latest rendition of the USDA's Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
In addition to its outstanding educational opportunities, such as Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland community College, Tompkins County also boasts a thriving medical establishment with excellent health facilities including the Cayuga Medical Center and the Guthrie Clinic. Additional health maintenance options are locally available, such as those outlined in Catalyst Touch. Human Service Organizations can be located on the site of the Human Resources Coalition of Tompkins County.
If this area sounds right for your home or business, SPiDERDAWG advises that you check the full-value assessments of property in the County at the Tompkins County Division of Assessment.
Visitors interested in attending Cornell University will find a great deal of useful information about the application and admission process on Cornell's International Students and Scholars Office site. You will find much to interest you, too, in our local news media, which is lively and diverse, from the official paper of record, The Ithaca Journal to Ithaca Community News, an independent publication.
The Cornell Library is one of many great libraries on the web. The worldwide Faculty that supports these libraries has begun to post their lecture materials on the web in the World Lecture Hall. Tired of hearing academic lectures? Then add to your wisdom by hearing what the rest of the world is saying at the Speech and Transcript Center.
Links on the navigation bar at the top of this page will lead you to sites that SPiDERDAWG uses to answer questions he's asked daily as part of this job as an Information Assistant. SPiDERDAWG is happy to share other good reference sites at SPiDERDAWG'S READY REFERENCE AREA.
As a service to SPiDERDAWG's fellow Cornell Statutory Employees, the standard Empire Plan Health Insurance Claim Form is now available for download. Please let SPiDERDAWG know if it would be helpful to post other forms here.
Latest Weather Radar for our area from the National Weather Service, Binghamton, NY
This site does not monitor the names of its visitors.
SPiDERDAWG is a member of The Multimedia
Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
(MERLOT) community.
Copyright © 1997-2006 Jeff Diver.
Although "All Rights are Reserved,"
SPiDERDAWG hereby grants you permission to link to this page
or mirror it in its entirety on your server.
