PSH library adds diverse resources to assist students in their studies LIBRARY cont. from 2 selection, as well as local publi cations. If newspapers aren’t your thing, try reading a maga zine such as Popular Mechanics or Sports Illustrated. There is also a microforms office avail able to view older issues of newspapers. If students are look ing for a paper citing a winning Philadelphia sports team (they’d probably have to go back a thou sand years or more), it can be found here. A library wouldn’t be complete without an area for quiet study and reading. The floor plan is comfortable, with generously spaced bookshelves and seat Photo by Kathryn Herr Ryan Goss, Finance major, and Nancy Gimbanco, a Finance and Marketing major study together at a small table in the study friendly CyberCafe in the library. PSH students get their hands on sewage By Mike Green SXatt Reporter mrg222@psu.edu While most classes at Penn State Harrisburg are held in the Olmsted building, and with all of the student amenities else where, the Science and Technology building is often overlooked. However, in one of the labs in the Technology building, Shannon Irvin is busy working on a project that most students would not consider- the treat ment of sewage. Irvin’s research is designed around the treatment of sewage, or more precisely, the removal of nutrients from sewage. While the discussion of sewage is usually reserved for humor, the treatment and disposal of sewage is a major environmental concern in Pennsylvania. Everyday, mil lions of gallons of wastewater are generated by normal daily activities by the roughly 14 mil lion people who call the com monwealth home. Almost all of this wastewater will end up in our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Napster takes a bite out of crime NAPSTER cont. from l Kathleen Nycz, 21, Education. “It keeps telling me that I am getting an error message, so I went back to Kazaa.” Nycz is quick to add that her computer is not exactly a top of the line com puter either, but regardless, her experiences with Napster have been unpleasant. Haldeman mentioned that in order to get the service to work properly, students should have a fast connection speed, such as DSL or cable ing areas. It also doesn’t hurt that the furniture throughout the building is probably the most comfortable that has ever been invented. Andrew Meyers, a 3 rc * year Computer Science major, enjoys relaxing and reading a book while looking out at the Vartan Plaza on the third floor balcony area. “For me, this is probably the best place on cam pus,” Meyers said. “It’s an easy going place where I can just relax and read a book or study for an exam.” The third floor houses a hidden gem that is not well known among the campus community. The Special Collections room is home to the Alice Marshall While the exact composition of \he was\ewa\er \s Pest \eft \o the reader’s imagination, most of this wastewater is actually generated by such things as cooking and bathing. Only a small portion is what most peo ple think of as sewage. Photo by Michael Green While most people in this region are on some sort of sewage system, many people live too far from a sewage sys tem for economical use. These people often will hook up a modems, and that wireless connections, such as the one available on campus, work fine, but download speeds could be slower than high speed access. One other drawback is that downloading from Napster is restricted in the PSH library. Users may download songs at home or elsewhere on campus, and save them to a play list and load the play list. However new songs may not be purchased or downloaded in the library. Haldeman hopes the serv ice, along with being used for entertainment purposes, will Women’s History Collection. This collection is one of the largest privately compiled research collections in the country and is housed here in the PSH library. More than 7,000 books, one of which dates back to 1684, pamphlets and other very rare items such as letters, broadsides, posters and advertisements complete the collection. These items are stored in a climate-controlled room for best possible preser vation. Martha Sachs is the curator of this collection and is responsi ble for the care and. organiza tion of the materials. “We don’t have many students that even know about the collection, but there is a lot of useful informa tion here,” Sachs said. “If women’s studies is your field of study or if you are just interest ed in histbry, this collection is something worth checking out.” The special collections room also features old newspapers dating back to the early 1800’s and an extensive section of materials relating to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Sachs said that although none of the materials are available for checkout, students are always welcome to browse. With everything this library has to offer, why do students some times feel overwhelmed when trying to write a paper or do research? Jason Jones, gradu ate student and employee at small septic tank to their house anrt discharge \he contents into a local body of water. While harmful bacteria and contami nants can and are eliminated by disinfectants such as chlo rine, the nutrients in the water are still present and can still harm the environment. This will cause the nutrient levels to build up in the local bodies of water and contami nate water all the way down to the Chesapeake Bay and into also act as an educational mechanism “Another reason is definitely to educate students on legal, moral and ethical practices when doing file sharing,” he said. Services such as iMesh and Kazaa are still in use, however Haldeman feels the best asset Napster provides for students is the quality of the music they will download. “When you find a song you want, you are getting the song you want. There is no skipping, because you get the real track,” he said the library, said that students probably do not know that assistance is available if they are unsure where to begin researching. “I honestly don’t know why students are scared because there is a lot of help ful information that students can get about the library itself, and there are always people here to help with any problems they may have,” Jones said. Gregory Crawford, head of public services, is one of five reference librarians at the library. Each librarian special izes in a specific area of study within PSH majors. Jones said students should feel good about this concentration of diverse subject matter. "I myself spe cialize in the school of Humanities so students in the school of Humanities can come to me if they have specific ques tions about research,” Crawford said. The librarians are willing to give unscheduled tours of the library if students feel uncom fortable. “Students can set up appointments if they like or if a reference librarian is not busy, we could possibly do a quick tour,” Crawford said. There are workshops available for interested students through out the semester. The next workshop is scheduled for October 4 th from 12:30-5:30 p.m. inside room 106 in the library. For more information on policies for the library, visit the Atlantic Ocean. The buildup of nutrients in the water causes algae and other undesirable organisms to build up in water, and those organ ism’s waste products poison the water to the point that fish and other desired organisms are driven out of the water. The appearance of nutrient rich water is often cloudy, over ly green, and generally unpleasant to see, smell, or touch. To avoid this, some sort of means must be found to remove the nutrients. Therefore, Irvin is attempting to remove these nutrients from the wastewater before it is dis charged. Her solution is to introduce the treated sewage (after sanitizing) to what is referred to as a “reaction tank,” where bacteria will convert the nutrients into a short lasting bacteria growth which can be easily and safely disposed of. In the Science and Technology building, a “small” 500-gallon tank of simulated sewage sits, and Irvin attempts to locate a “sweet spot” of conditions for these helpful bacteria to grow. Since trucking several thou sand gallons of raw sewage FAST. SAFE. LEGAL. uiuiui.napster.psu.edu Photo by Jennifer Kauffman Dinesh Asnani, a junior Electrical Engineering major flips through the magazine collction during a break from studying in the library. Titles include Rolling Stone, National Geographic and Popular Mechanic. library website at su.edu/librarv/index. the PSH html or visit the library itself. Regular hours for the Fall semester are Monday-Thursday 7:45 a.m. - 10:30 p.m., Friday 7:45 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., Saturday Photo by Michae Green onto campus would be difficult, as well as offensive to most student’s senses, a substitute material is used, powdered milk. Ironically, powdered milk is chemically very close to raw sewage, and is used as a stan dard simulated substance for research, as is dog food. Since the process does require a small amount of raw sewage to begin the growing process, Irvin often has the task of unloading a barrel of live sewage from the local sewer system, and pouring the items napster 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., and Sunday noon - 10:30 p.m. CyberCafe will remain open 24 hours. These hours are subject to change without notice. Please call (717) 948-6070 to confirm times. into the reaction tank “One time, I poured it onto my shoes, just a little bit. The shoes were fine a few months later,” said Irvin. The basic concept of produc ing sewage-eating bacteria is the same as brewing beer, through most persons would prefer that you found a new reaction tank. A larger version of the sewage system is used in the United States Embassy in Baghdad, and the tanks are sold locally in Harrisburg. It is not recommended that one go out to buy sewage.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers