From the Campuses of Monash University
.....Performing Arts Week and the Information Services Building (ISB) Opening Celebrations
Branch Library Homepages - Monash Library on the Web
Tours of the New Rare Books Library in the ISB
Internet Hands-On Training Sessions
Reading Lists and Reserve Requests for 1996
.....Any Question Answered for Twenty Cents
Performing Arts Week March 18 - 22
Performing Arts Week and the Information Services Building (ISB) Opening Celebrations
Several free musical performances will be presented in the new Information Services Building during Performing Arts Week.
The Information Services Building (ISB) is a 4,000 square metre addition to the Sir Louis Matheson Library. It houses a new Music and Multimedia Library, and a new Asian Studies Research Library. The building also provides accommodation for the Library's extensive rare books collections and excellent exhibition space.
On Tuesday, March 19 there will be performances of Indonesian and Japanese music. Gatramun, the Gamelan Orchestra of Monash University led by Mr Poedijono, will perform in the Bamboo Garden at 4pm. At 5pm in the Asian Studies Research Library Reading Room, Koto music will be played by Yuka Nakayama, Valina Rainer, and Andrew McGregor on the Shakuhachi.
On Wednesday, March 20, Acord will perform in the Rare Books exhibitions area at 6pm. Acord, formed in 1979, is one of Melbourne's leading early music ensembles. The five member ensemble plays music from the ninth to fifteenth centuries with what they describe as a blend of integrity and entertainment.
Acord has played at festivals including the Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord, and has been invited to perform at the 1997 International Medieval
Conference in Leeds. The group takes its name from "acord", a word found in Old French, Provençal, and Middle English that signifies agreement in general, and musical consonance in particular.
This performance follows the official opening of the Information Services Building by Chancellor Mr Bill Rogers.
On Thursday, March 21, guitarist Matt Fagan will play in the Rare Books exhibitions area at 5.45pm to celebrate the opening of Music to Delight the Eye: Highlights from the Monash University Music Library.
Matt Fagan has studied guitar since the age of 12, including classical, flamenco, jazz and rock guitar. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, and he has participated in masterclasses with John Williams, Paco Pena and Ike Isaacs. He is a young musician with a wealth of experience as a performer. Matt will record his debut solo CD this year. He will also tour Europe this year with Solstice, a group he formed.
The exhibition, Music to Delight the Eye will be opened by Professor Margaret Kartomi, Head of the Music Department. All staff are invited to join with the Friends of Monash Library and the Friends of Monash Music for this event, in the Rare Books exhibitions area on the first floor of the Information Services Building, at 5.15pm on March 21. Staff may wish to buy dinner afterwards at the Monash Club. Please ring Mrs Marcia O'Shea x52670 if you wish to do so.
Branch Library Homepages
Monash Library on The Web -
In the last issue of Library News we featured the homepages of the Caulfield, Peninsula, and Gippsland campus libraries. Here are highlights of the homepages of the Biomedical, Hargrave, H&SS (Main), and Law libraries.
Biomedical Library Homepage
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/biomed/bml.htm
Features of our homepage include:
Internet resources in biomedicine including links to full-text electronic journals, reference tools, and a select list of general biomedical sites, with an emphasis on Australian sites
A new books list
Information about the collections, services and library staff
Coming soon:
Links to publishers' and booksellers sites in medicine and biology
Library Help Sheets including
CD-ROM guides and other in-house publications
Hargrave Library Homepage
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hargrave/h-home.htm
Features include:
Guides to research in Computing, Engineering, and Physical Sciences
Access to networked information services
Links to subject specific Internet sites
Copyright information
New books lists
A list of Hargrave subject librarians and other staff, including photographs and contact details
General information about the Hargrave Library including services, hours, and a brief biography of Lawrence Hargrave
Under construction:
Hargrave Library floor plans
More links to useful sites
H&SS (Main) Library Homepage
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hss/index.htm
The Matheson Library homepage features a "What's New" site that lists coming events, exhibitions, and new services
Other features are:
Library guides and Internet connections arranged by subject area
Networked services including Sesame2, Nexis, ABS Time Series, UnCover, and Current Contents
Request forms for electronic reference services and document delivery
Information about our special libraries: Rare Books, Music & Multimedia, and the Asian Studies Research Library.
A full staff directory with information for contacting individuals and groups.
A suggestions page where library users can comment on our service and suggest improvements
Monash Law Library Homepage
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/law/
This site, frequently updated, provides access to a range of Law Library publications, including research guides, library guides and maps, bibliographies, and our holdings list of primary material and journals.
Links connect the browser to useful law-related sites from a variety of Australian and world-wide locations, major legal databases and law-related discussion lists.
Other features are:
A new books list
Monash law online and monthly notes
Copyright information
Pacific law information
A staff directory
MONINFO Information Audits
MONINFO is the part of the Monash Library that provides a commercial information service to business, industry, and the professional sector.
By means of an information audit, MONINFO can assess the current information resources and information channels of an organisation. They can identify duplication and gaps in information resources so they may be improved.
The audit can help ensure an organisation's strategic business information needs are satisfied.
For further information please contact Leigh Oldmeadow x52690.
INTERNET HANDS-ON TRAINING SESSIONS
MONINFO's Internet training sessions are designed to give practical experience in using the Internet and designing Web pages. The training sessions are for anyone who wants to know how to access the Net's vast resources.
Day 1 - Introduction to the Internet
Saturday March 23rd $130
Wednesday April 24th $110
Day 2 - Advanced Networking
Friday April 26th $130
Both courses for $220
Tours of the new Rare Books Library in the ISB
As part of the celebrations surrounding the opening of the Information Services Building (ISB), library staff are offering tours of the Rare Books collections.
Rare Books is now located in the Information Services Building, the new wing of the Matheson (Main) Library.
Tours are offered on Tuesday, March 19 at 3pm and at 3.30pm. Each tour will last approximately half an hour.
For bookings please contact the Rare Books Library staff on x52689.
Staff who have access to the Internet can take a virtual tour of Rare Books and other parts of the Information Services Building at:
http://elecpress.lib.monash.edu.au/open
or go directly to the Rare Books homepage at:
http://elecpress.lib.monash.edu.au/open/rarebks.htm
Reading Lists and Reserve Requests for 1996
Staff lists are available on branch library homepages
To ensure that high demand material is available to a large number of students, academic staff are asked to submit lists of reserve readings as soon as possible.
Reserve information sheets and request forms are available from all campus libraries.
For more information please contact these library branch staff :
Biomed Joyce Key x52636
Caulfield Cheryl Kilgour x32299
Gippsland Kay Steel x26536
H&SS Yasmin Wimalasena x52696
Hargrave Kim Arndell x52651
Law Dawn Goldberg x51585
Peninsula Joyce Jenkin x44254
If you have any queries about ordering new items, please contact your subject librarian. Staff lists are also available on branch library homepages.
Any Question Answered for Twenty Cents
by Bill Garner
Senior Teaching Fellow
Monash Politics Department, 1970-72
One morning in 1972, a card appeared on a table in the Monash coffee shop. It read "Any Question Answered for 20c." At first it was ignored, then one bolder student came forward and asked, "Is that serious?" The answer came quickly: "Yes. And that will be twenty cents."
Although that student backed off rapidly, without paying, others soon followed and willingly parted with twenty cents to have their questions answered. The fame of the table quickly spread. Silly questions received silly answers, but people soon realised that they could get a serious answer to a serious question for the same amount of money
Students would park at adjacent tables, thinking up especially tricky questions. They were usually satisfied, even though there was no guarantee attached to the truth or usefulness of the answer. As payment could not be enforced, it was up to customers to decide if they had been well served. Nearly all paid up. Some even offered a bonus.
Many of them went to the library, an invaluable resource for the little business.
Soon a little group of answerers formed to cope with the rapidly growing demand. Runners were being sent off all over the university to fossick for answers. Many of them went to the library, an invaluable resource for the little business. When the questioner learned this, they sometimes asked why they should pay for what they could do themselves for free? The answer was of course that they were being provided with a service.
In those days, the notion of privatising... information was anathema to the idea of a university.
In those days, the notion of privatising or profiting from the provision of information was regarded as anathema to the idea of a university. And yet this small business proved extraordinarily popular. Over the next two days the whole coffee shop became transformed into a microcosm of the university. It became a working model of a sophist cafe society. The tables and chairs in the shop were re-arranged in a vast circle around the Twenty Cent Table. It became an information entertainment. Coffee sales went up, too.
The questions were now getting very serious, ranging from personal, and the vocational, to the metaphysical. Some questions were so good they would be greeted with applause. Providing an answer now often involved a lengthy and excitable debate. Such was the demand that several questions had to be dealt with simultaneously. An informal debating society sprang up as bystanders joined in. For a single twenty cents some seekers got several, often incompatible answers, but they didn't complain.
The university was revealed as a vast repository of information and wisdom of all sorts, which could be exercised merely by asking questions. It became obvious that a huge pool of knowledge was held in common by both staff and students.
Answering methodology quickly developed in response to the type and volume of questions. If the answer could not be provided on the spot, discussion would ascertain where, in the whole university, the answer might be found, and a runner dispatched. These runners, no respecters of authority, went everywhere. If the Vice-Chancellor was believed to be the person most likely to be in the know, then that was where the runner went.
A nearby table started offering cut-price ten cent answers, but soon withered when the old table countered with "The ORIGINAL Twenty Cent Answer". A sideline developed when, in order to sustain the quality of the questions, the table offered to BUY good questions for twenty cents. By the end of the second day, a complete buy-sell market had been established and the university had been revealed as the perfect environment for it.
The Twenty Cent Table was a joke, and we closed it down before it got completely out of hand. But it may have been the serpent's egg.
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Comments to Angela Prior
(Last updated 26/3/96)