What is the secret of the Mediterranean diet, considered by nutrition experts to be one of the healthiest in the world? I'm still wondering about that after our recent trip to Italy.

On our arrival, our Italian-born guide Valeria, clued us in on some secrets of the area. If you want coffee, for example, she advised us to order "Americano coffee. Otherwise you will get espresso; and do not-a order cappuccino after 11 a.m. If you do, the Italians will look at you funny. Wine, yes. But not cappuccino."

Ah, wine ... yes. As we drove through the rolling green hills of vineyards in northern Italy, Valeria pointed out that every hill has a different name. "This is very important-a," she said, since the three ingredients needed to produce good wine are soil, climate, and location. (The best grapes are at the top of the hills, for example.) However, when it comes to making wine, "the heart-a and the passion are the same-a."

Italians have a passion for all their food and how it is produced, I learned. From the 4th generation Orlando Abrigo winery in the "Pied-eh-mont" (Piedmont) region of Italy to the producers of prosciutto-type ham in Parma, who tell us the only preservative they use is sea salt, the pride in their work was evident.

Still, I wonder, what is the secret of these vibrant Mediterranean people? Here's one clue: A recent analysis of 16 individual studies that involved more than a million people worldwide confirmed, once again, that our lifestyle _ the choices we make every day _ largely determines our risk for life threatening diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

These researchers evaluated the effect of lifestyle choices such as exercise and sleep habits, alcohol intake and smoking on long term health. What they found: People who practiced the healthiest lifestyles reduced their risk for type 2 diabetes by 75%. And those with diabetes who had the healthiest lifestyles had a lower risk for heart disease and cancer than those with less healthful lifestyles.

On our trip, we saw very few Italians who were overweight although their diet is rich in pasta and cheese. They drink a fair share of wine with their meals. And we saw many people who smoke.

Walking, however, seems more popular than driving. And meals revolve around fresh ingredients in a more relaxed atmosphere than we sometimes see here at home. What gives?

Our last night in Italy was spent enjoying several courses of food and wine in the company of new friends, both American and Italian. I realized then that, in many respects, our hearts and our passions were the same, just as Valeria had said. Perhaps that is part of the secret? Stay tuned...

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Quinn on Nutrition: Secrets of the Mediterranean diet - News-Press Now

In October 2019 we received multiple inquiries from readers about the accuracy of reports claiming that a drag queen who performed at a public library in Houston, Texas, was a registered sex offender who had been convicted of sexually assaulting an eight year-old boy.

Back in March 2019, The New American website posted an article with the headline Drag Queen Who Read to Kids at Houston Library is Convicted Pedophile, which reported that A drag queen who read stories to children at a Houston public library last year is a convicted pedophile considered to be at risk of repeating his offense a fact uncovered by parents opposed to Drag Queen Storytime, not by library officials, law enforcement, or the supposed watchdog news media.

Houston television station KHOU had reported at the time that:

A registered child sex offender has been reading to children at Houston Public Library as part of its Drag Queen Storytime. A group called Mass Resistance, which has been trying to put an end to the program, contacted KHOU about the child sex offender A media spokesperson for the library confirmed one of the programs drag queens, Tatiana Mala Nina, is Alberto [sic] Garza, a 32-year-old child sex offender. In 2008, he was convicted of assaulting an 8-year-old boy.

It wasnt clear why the nearly seven-month-old story re-emerged on social media in early October 2019. But the revelation of Garzas sexual assault conviction has been used periodically as a rhetorical weapon by various online commentators who are opposed to Drag Queen Storytime, an initiative in which drag performers read books to children, usually in libraries.

The initiative has become popular in libraries in the United States and beyond in recent years, but its spread has also brought fierce opposition and protests, largely from Christian and/or conservative parents and activist groups.

Both KHOU and The New American were accurate in their descriptions of the basic facts of the March 2019 controversy involving Albert Garza, the 32-year-old drag queen who performs using the name Tatiana Mala Nia. (In an August 2017 interview, Garza described herself as a transgender female. On the basis of that self-identification, the most recent we found, this article will refer to her accordingly.)

Background

The following outline of the facts contains descriptions of sexual assault against a child which some readers might find disturbing.

In September 2009, a jury in the 232nd Criminal Court in Harris County, Texas, found Albert Alfonso Garza guilty of aggravated sexual assault namely that in June 2006, Garza performed oral sex on an eight-year-old boy. Under Texas law, the offense was a first-degree felony and carried a punishment of between five years and life imprisonment.

Judge Mary Lou Keel imposed a suspended 10-year sentence including five years of probation, meaning Garza avoided a prison term. Garzas probation was scheduled to end in September 2014, but for reasons that were not immediately clear at time of this publication, it was continued for an additional two years and finally ended in June 2016.

Garza appealed the conviction, arguing that prosecutors should not have been allowed to include as evidence testimony given by the boy asserting that Garza had also perpetrated two similar sexual assaults on him earlier in the summer of 2006. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Texas later summarized that testimony as follows:

Without providing any specific dates, the complainant testified that he was sexually assaulted sometime in the summer of 2006, when his family was visiting appellants family for a weekend of barbecuing and swimming. The complainant was in appellants [Garzas] bedroom when he asked appellant for permission to play a video game. Appellant consented, but only on the condition that the complainant first remove his clothes. After taking off his pants, the complainant testified that appellant performed oral sex on him for about five seconds. The complainant testified that appellant then exposed himself and asked that the complainant perform oral sex on him as well. The complainant complied for two or three seconds before ultimately feeling uncomfortable and leaving the room.

In December 2010, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals rejected Garzas appeal and upheld the trial courts judgement. As of October 2019, Garza was listed as a lifetime sex offender, with a risk level of moderate, on the Texas Sex Offender Registry.

Garza has performed as Tatiana Mala Nia (Bad Girl Tatiana) since 2012 at the latest. In September 2017, she was one of the performers in the inaugural Drag Queen Storytime program at the Freed-Montrose public library in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. She took part in the same event at the same library on at least two subsequent occasions, in June and September of 2018.

In March 2019, the pro-family activist group Mass Resistance revealed the fact that Garza had been convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 2009. As a result of the backlash that followed, Drag Queen Storytimes organizers ended their involvement in the event, writing that What started as a fun community event shared between us, a couple of drag queens and kings, and a few families has become a national controversy. People are being threatened. People are being hurt. We believe in what were doing, but we dont believe in putting our friends, our families, or our children in danger.

Opponents of the event had begun demonstrating outside the library in 2018, and in January 2019 a right-wing radio personality was found to be carrying a concealed handgun when he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing after he refused to leave the library. Shortly afterwards, the event was moved from the Freed-Montrose public library to Kindred, a nearby church.

The events organizers stated that Garza was able to take part in Drag Queen Storytime because they only began performing background checks in October 2018, shortly after Garzas final appearance at the event. Houston Public Library does its own background checking on all volunteers, but according to KTRK-TV, Garza slipped through the cracks because she gave her name as Nicky Salazar and did not provide a date of birth or Social Security number. On March 15, 2019, Houston Public Library (HPL) apologized for the oversight in a press release:

We were made aware today that one participant for Drag Queen storytime who read at the September 29, 2018, Drag Queen Storytime has a criminal background that should have prevented him from participating in the program. We assure you that this participant will not be involved in any future HPL programs.

In our review of our process and of this participant, we discovered that we failed to complete a background check as required by our own guidelines. We deeply regret this oversight and the concern this may cause our customers. We realize this is a serious matter.

Every program sponsored by HPL is supervised by HPL staff, and all children are accompanied by a parent and/or guardian. No participant is ever alone with children, and we have not received any complaints about any inappropriate behavior by participants at storytimes.

We are taking the appropriate action to ensure that the status of every participant in every program throughout our system is verified. We will continue to review our process to ensure that this cannot happen again.

Once again, we apologize for our failure to adhere to our own process in this matter and to the hundreds of parents and caregivers who have enjoyed this program with their children.

More here:
Did a Convicted Sex Offender Read to Children at a Houston Public Library? - Snopes.com

The purpose of the Salem Public Library is to serve and meet the needs of the community. For more than 20 years, the library has had a program called Books on the Run. In this program, the library works with enrichment services to deliver books to Salem citizens who are homebound due to health problems or age. Library staff puts together a collection of books that suit ones desires, and then enrichment services delivers them. Within city limits, readers can receive deliveries once every two weeks. If interested, stop in the library to pick up an application.

Other events

October is Teentober at the library. To celebrate, the library is holding a teen photography contest. In the past, the contest has had good participation from teens and good responses from the community. Over the summer, the contest had over 40 entries. Teens can enter their photos beginning Oct. 1. The deadline is Oct. 18. Winning photos will be printed in The Salem News.

From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 9, the library will celebrate the premier of the new Disney movie, Frozen 2, with an Olaf Frozen Fun Party. Kids in kindergarten through sixth grade are welcome to enjoy stories, games, crafts and snacks. The event will be held in the north basement.

Book Talk is the fourth Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. If that isnt the time for you, join the Thursday Night Book Club. They gather on the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. in the north basement.

The Dent County Astronomers are coming 6-7 p.m. Dec. 5. They will be set up in the library parking lot and north basement to observe the moon and many of its features. Come check out the sky with the telescopes. The astronomers are great with people of all ages and backgrounds, so bring the whole family.

There is something fun to do at the library every day. Puzzles and coloring sheets are laid out each day for something relaxing to do. On a rainy or snowy day, you can visit the library to get involved in the Rainy STEM Fun. During this time, toys that get to kids to think like engineers are available to play with all day, including building blocks, legos, and more.

Salem Public Library is located at 403 N. Jackson in Salem. They are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday, they open at 10 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.; Saturdays you can visit from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call 729-4331.

The rest is here:
Upcoming fall events at the library - The Salem News

Vailey Oehlke

Oehlke is director of libraries at Multnomah County Library.

Your public libraries are being threatened by corporate interests.

Multnomah County Library and other public libraries provide open access to books, materials, programs, technology and first-rate customer service. Public libraries are unique institutions because they exist solely to further the common good and to serve you regardless of how you look, what you believe, where you were born, what language you speak, who you love or any other way that you identify.

Public libraries are far more than buildings with books. As technology and the internet have transformed the way we live, work and connect with one another, libraries have also transformed to the digital age. Multnomah County Library offers more than 800,000 digital titles, including e-books, downloadable audiobooks, streaming videos and music. More than 300,000 of those titles are e-books.

Large publishers are now trying to restrict digital content lending at public libraries by excessively hiking prices for e-books and audiobooks. They also announced plans to require libraries to re-purchase digital content after a certain number of months or checkouts; and restricting libraries ability to buy new e-books.

Share your opinion

Submit your essay of 500-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.

Macmillan Publishers, one of the nations biggest publishers representing authors including Oprah Winfrey, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, and Rainbow Rowell, has announced an eight-week embargo on new e-books for libraries. This embargo means that for the first eight weeks after a book is released, libraries will only be able to purchase a single copy of new Macmillan e-books.

This new policy will hurt readers across Oregon, because all libraries, no matter the size of the community they serve, will be limited to one copy. That means one copy to share for the 800,000 living in Multnomah County and one copy for the 138 people living in the town of Agness, in southern Oregon.

These restrictive policies from publishers will shut out those in our communities who rely on public libraries for access to books and resources they couldnt afford otherwise. For many people, borrowing books in an e-format is critical because of an accessibility need. As one patron said, I love reading [e-books] with enlarged fonts and white text on a dark display, it is so much easier on my deteriorating eyes. Another said ...our family has first-hand experience with how necessary e-books are for people with dyslexia.

Like many industries, libraries have been disrupted by the technological revolution. Over the past five years, the popularity of e-books has exploded. What once began as a complementary collection to our core print collection has become an essential service for many. Multnomah County Library is now the sixth top-circulating library in the country for digital content, with 5,000 e-book checkouts every single day (1.7 million annually). E-book checkouts in Multnomah County have grown by 210% in the past five years.

Libraries purchase e-books at a price that is often four times the price of a retail copy. For example, the book Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell published by Hachette Book Group costs $15.99 for a retail copy on Amazon Kindle but libraries pay $65 per copy for a two-year license. Publishers require libraries to re-purchase e-books after a specific number of checkouts or every two years, no matter how many times theyve been checked out.

With these limitations in place, we estimate that Multnomah County Library will soon spend at least 25 percent of its e-book budget on re-licensing items already in the collection. These excessive costs will prevent the library from buying a broader range of titles or buying more copies of popular titles in order to reduce wait times.

Publishers unfair e-book practices not only hurt libraries and readers but also authors, who are now being forced to choose between making a living and supporting the mission of the public library. Libraries have a long history of supporting authors. Every day, patrons browse the shelves or the online catalog to find new books to enjoy; they get reading recommendations from library staff; and they attend author readings and programs. Libraries generate revenue for authors and publishers and serve as a free source of marketing in fact, there are more public libraries in the United States than McDonalds or Starbucks.

These harsh and unfair restrictions on public libraries are a troubling trend that we must stop.

This issue will impact public libraries big and small. Whether you are a patron of Multnomah County Library or one of the other numerous public libraries across Oregon, your voice matters. Please sign the American Library Association petition to stop Macmillans e-book embargo at ebooksforall.org.

The rest is here:
Opinion: Publishers are blocking your access to e-books at local libraries - OregonLive

Parx Casino is already a juggernaut in Pennsylvania gaming. Now it has crossed the Delaware River.

You can now play on Parx Online Casino in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The site launched in New Jersey last week. It is operating under Ocean Casinos online gambling license.

Thats a major boon to its cross-border customer base. New Jersey patrons of the casino can now choose between spending time on property in Philadelphia or playing games at home.

The biggest problem in the Pennsylvania online casino business is the lack of games for players to choose from. Currently, Parx PA has 57 titles. It launched with less than 30 games.

Most of them are slots, with a limited number of table games. For the first couple of months, Parx was the only online casino in the state with blackjack.

By comparison, the NJ Parx site launched with 94 titles, including multiple blackjack formats and a much larger choice of table game titles.

Parx partnered in the move to NJ with GAN, a leading European-based supplier of internet gambling software. The companies have worked together in PA since 2014.

GAN has expanded rapidly. The growing company recently announced its third-quarter gross revenue had risen 203% year-over-year.

Extending to NJ via online came quickly. Parx had only entered the PA online sports betting market in June. Parx then launched an online casino in Pennsylvania in July.

Parx formally launched Monday in NJ following a three-day soft opening period last week.

Dermot Smurfit, the CEO of GAN, explained the move:

Launching the largest casino in Pennsylvania online has now logically extended across the border into New Jersey, extending its reach into New Jerseys fast-growing and established internet gambling market.

This represents an incremental revenue opportunity for GAN and is a logical extension of our technology infrastructure to serve Parx Casino patrons who routinely cross the invisible border between these two populous states.

The leader of GAN said growth was better than better than expected.

One major factor he pointed to is the fact that NJ sports fans who attended games across the river in Philadelphia are already accustomed to betting online.

John Dixon, the chief operating officer of Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, Parxs parent company, added GAN can serve our business needs in multiple states which aligns with the cross-border nature of our existing retail gaming customer base.

The expansion means Parx patrons can now gamble online in either Pennsylvania or New Jersey, as they wish, added Dixon.

Additionally, because GAN has a patented integration system, the Xclub reward card for Parx can be linked so it works in both states.

According to GAN, Parxs land-based casino in PA accounts for about 18% of the total market in the bricks-and-mortar segment. That makes Parx the top land-based casino among the 12 retail properties in the state.

The rest is here:
New Jersey Now Has A Parx Online Casino With More Games Than The PA One - PA Online Casino

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October 2019

Naseej The Regions Leading Knowledge Solutions Provider will be a gold sponsor of the First Annual Conference & Exhibition for Electronic Resources in Libraries, Middle East Chapter, to be held in Dubai, UAE, from 9th to 10th October 2019.

The Conference is expected to attract library specialists, providers of professional information services, and publishers of electronic resources from across the region and beyond, who will have the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and discuss critical issues related to the industry, while exploring the latest solutions related to improving electronic resources collection, management, maintenance and accessibility, in the ever-changing online environment.

On this occasion, Mr. Abdullah Al-Turaifi Naseej VP stated We are excited to take in this conference. It represents an excellent networking opportunity for to library and information professionals in in the region. This gathering will help facilitate more efficient workflow in information and library institutions and will support better acquisition decisions.

Mr. Al-Turaifi also confirmed Naseejs support for librarians and information professionals across the Middle East, by empowering them with innovative services and solutions, some of which will be displayed at Naseejs stand in the conferences exhibition. Naseejs information management specialists will greet visitors at Naseejs stand and address their issues and challenges.

Its worth noting that Naseej is partners with the leading publishers like IEEE, IET, EBSCO, ProQuest, Elsevier, IGI Global and CABI.

About Naseej

Naseej is the leading knowledge solutions provider in the Middle East serving the regions top Academic institutes, cultural centers, and government organizations since 1989. Naseej provides Academic and Higher Education institutes in the region with comprehensive and integrated solutions and services designed to enable Academic institutions to actively contribute to the success of their students. Naseej employs over 400 highly skilled professionals throughout the region in the fields of Knowledge management, Information Technology and Business Development that work together to deliver cutting-edge solutions to its partners that includes, e-learning solutions and services, Campus Management Systems, Knowledge Management Solutions, and much more.

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Naseej Gold Sponsor in the First Annual Conference & Exhibitionfor Electronic Resources in Libraries - Middle East Chapter -

By Mike Selby

Cranbrook Public Library

Snowden Wright tells the saga of one familys quest to start to the worlds first soft-drink company in his newest novel American Pop.

A teenage Edgar Allan Poe finds his plans to attend university and marry the love of his life destroyed in the Cat Winters The Ravens Tale.

Preschool Story Time is this Wednesday at 11 a.m., 1:15 p.m.; Family Story Time is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.; and Toddler Story Time is 10 and 11 a.m. Both will be all about Trees! Baby Laptime is every Thursday at 11 a.m.

Database of the month: IndieFlix: Watch award-winning shorts, features, and documentaries from more than 50 countries. Streaming movies available on all Internet-enabled computers, tablets (including iPad and Android), smart phones through the Web browser, and on Roku and Xbox. Simply visit HERE and enter your library card number.

Our website has all kinds of great information and links.

Worried about internet privacy and safety? Check out our new TECH HELP page, which offers a comprehensive yet easy to learn steps to protect yourself.

The Cranbrook Public Library Endowment Fund gives people an opportunity to create a meaningful legacy, to build a strong foundation in the present for the future of the Library. For more information about how you can contribute, please phone us at 250-426-4063 Ext: 1001, or visit this link.

The provincial interlibrary loan service has updated their website and have changed their name from OUTLOOK to ILLUME. It is much easier to navigate, but please contact the library should you need any help.

On display this month is Kathy Simons wonderful Celebration of Tea.

ADULT NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:

Ningiukulu Teevee: Drawings and Prints from Cape Dorset (700.92)

The Millennial Mosaic Reginald W. Bibby (305.2420971)

Leaving the Witness Amber Scorah (289.9)

Fentanyl, Inc. Ben Westhoff (362.29)

What No One Tells You: A Guide to Your Emotions from Pregnancy to Motherhood (618.2)

Chenille or Silk Emma Mckenna (819.16)

Trudeau Jon Ivision (971.07)

Promise and Peril: Justin Trudeau in Power Aaron Wherry (971.07)

Permanent Record Edward Snowden (bio)

Valencia and Valentine Suzy Krause (fic)

Memoires of the Future Siri Hustvedt (fic)

American Pop Snowden Wright (fic)

Unbury Carol Josh Malerman (fic)

The Age of Light Whitney Scharer (fic)

True Fiction Lee Goldberg (fic)

Under the Table Stephanie Evanovich (fic)

The Forbidden Door Dean Koontz (fic)

Albatross Terry Fallis (fic)

The Paris Orphan Natasha Lester (fic)

The Witches of St. Petersburg Imogen Edwards-Jones (fic)

Moondust Lake Davis Bunn (fic)

The Secrets We Kept Lara Prescott (fic)

The Irishmans Daughter V.S. Alexander (fic)

Such Good Work Johannes Lichtman (fic)

The Woman in the Lake Nicola Cornick (fic)

Before She Was Found Heather Gudenkauf (fic)

Ill Never Tell Catherine McKenzie (fic)

Mrs. Jeffries Delivers the Goods Emily Brightwell (mys)

Almost Midnight Paul Doiron (mys)

Liar Liar James Patterson (mys)

Reckoning of Fallen Gods R.A. Salvatore (sci fic)

YOUNG ADULT & CHILDRENS NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:

The Lovely and the Lost Jennifer Lynn Barnes (ya fic)

The Ravens Tale Cat Winters (ya fic)

Eat This Andrea Curtis (j 659.19)

On the Internet: Our First Talk about Online Safety (j 004.67)

View post:
At the Library | Cranbrook - E-Know.ca

The University Libraries at the University of Nevada, Reno was recently invited to participate in the inaugural, four-day, Elko Mural Expo. The event took place in Elko, Nev., over the weekend of September 26-29 and was a spin-off of Art Spot Renos highly successful Reno Mural Expo.

Luka Starmer and Laura Rocke, part of the University Libraries @One Digital Media Technology team, traveled to Elko to document and preserve activities taking place at the event. In addition to capturing photographs and 360 degree virtual reality footage of more than 40 murals, they lead a workshop for Elko VR enthusiasts and community members. In the workshop participants were loaned VUZE cameras and were taught how to create their own 360 degree video content. The inspiration for the workshop evolved from an idea TEDx University of Nevada, Reno speaker Michelle Rebaleati shared earlier this year lets teach people to use VR to preserve their personal memories.

With the Reno Mural Expo we approached Art Spot Reno in 2017 to see if the Libraries VR team could participate in documenting the ephemeral street art local and other muralists were installing across the city, Libraries Reno Street Art Project manager Laura Rocke said. Because we successfully demonstrated the value in preserving this important artform in VR, Art Spot Reno invited us to participate in the Elko Mural Fest to document and preserve the artwork being installed over the course of the four-day event.

In addition to the partnership with Art Spot Reno, the Libraries team established a new relationship with Vuze. Vuze by Human Eyes is the creator of the first consumer virtual reality 360 3D camera and the new Vuze XR a dual camera that gives anyone the power to create and share immersive experiences in 360 degree or VR180 (3D) Photo and Video. The Vuze camera has won several awards and has been used in the depths of the oceans and in space - on-board the International Space Station.

Working with a premiere camera manufacturer like Vuze was awesome, Libraries VR and Multimedia Specialist Luka Starmer said. Vuze understands the value in creating original VR content. They saw Michelles TEDx talk online and liked the idea of using VR to capture everyday memories and experiences in VR.

The Libraries have an edge when it comes to doing this type of work, Starmer said. We are one of few academic libraries using the innovative medium of VR to preserve and archive ephemeral art and more. Documenting the Elko Mural Expo creates a record and provides access to anyone interested in seeing amazing street art in that city. You dont have to make the trip to Elko to enjoy this art. You can put a headset on and teleport yourself to the exact mural in Elko you want to see."

Starmer added, We are creating new ways to archive and document important pieces of culturally and historically valuable content thanks to VR technology. We are essentially building archives in real time to serve the needs of audiences of the future.

The Digital Media Technology Team at the University Libraries will continue to position itself as an innovator in how the University uses and incorporates VR into the academic curriculum.

We experienced success through the Reno Street Art Project and it just keeps evolving in new, meaningful ways, Starmer said. We have partnered with a variety of researchers across campus ranging from Nursing to UNRMed, Anthropology and more.

The team is currently working to establish a virtual reality-based anthropology museum. This project is scheduled to launch in late Fall 2019. The Libraries have incorporated 3D scanning into its preservation toolkit and will have more than 100 highly valuable Native America baskets on display in the in the museum, as well as in a digital collection that is accessible to anyone with a computer. Museum guests can wear a VR headset and walk through galleries in the museum to view the collection of baskets. Guest can also hold, pick-up and turn baskets over thanks to the use of VR technology.

This is a unique offering by University Libraries because many of the baskets featured in the museum are not available for browsing by the public, Starmer said. The baskets in this particular collection are too delicate and valuable to be handled. VR breaks the mold and allows guests to touch and interact with what is typically behind the glass in brick-and-mortar museums.

Campus and community members interested in learning how the University Libraries and others on campus are using VR are encouraged to attend the annual VR|AR Meet-Up. This years event is scheduled for Friday, November 1. The Meet-Up begins at 3 p.m. and will take place in the Wells Fargo Auditorium and the Whittemore Gallery located on the first floor of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. For more information on this event please contact Luka Starmer via email at lstarmer@unr.edu.

The University Libraries embrace intellectual inquiry and innovation, nurture the production of new knowledge, and foster excellence in learning, teaching and research. During each academic year, the Libraries welcomes more than 1.2 million visitors across its network of three branch libraries: the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library and the Savitt Medical Library. Visitors checked-out more than 90,000 items and completed more than 2 million database searches.

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University Libraries invited to participate in Elko Mural Expo - Nevada Today

Since 2018, online shopping has outstripped the high street1 with seven out of 10 people in the UK now banking online2 . Our always-on digital world means we want everything done more quickly, and more conveniently.

So how does that translate to house-buying? We have already seen the move from advertising through high street estate agents to advertising online, and more recently the proliferation of DIY selling or buying using digital platforms to set up the deal. But so far, thats more or less where digitisation stops. The transaction itself is still heavily reliant on paper-based processes that involve multiple exchanges of information and take considerable time.

Securing Local Authority data can be a particularly time-consuming process. A search into planning permissions, Tree Protection Orders or light obstruction, for example, can often cause lengthy delays of weeks, if not months. The Local Land Charges (LLC) process was therefore a logical priority for digitisation and a pilot scheme was launched across five Local Authorities as a first wave in 2018 (with the aim of full rollout in due course).

Benefits of a digital LLC Register include 24/7 access to data, freeing up council resources in searching for and providing information and, crucially for the consumer, dramatically speeding up the search process. For local authorities that are already participating, its been a resounding success and is due to roll out across a further 18 Local Authorities over the next 18 months. The plan is for all 326 Local Authorities within England to be offering digital LLC within the next five to seven years.

And its not solely Local Authority searches that are set to benefit from digitisation. HM Land Registrys Digital Street research and development project is leading the charge here, exploring how new technology can make the homebuying experience simpler, faster and cheaper for consumers. From the use of blockchain in payments to embracing the technology that will ensure transparency of property-related information, the project is looking at the overall process from numerous angles and engaging with a broad community of stakeholders.

Half of all UK house sales currently fall through before completion3 , so there is plenty of room for improvement, and plenty of scope to make the data that we have work for rather than against us.

Information collected along the way includes environmental data, local authority data, surveyor reports, details on significant property improvements and various aspects of local services. While these records are useful, managing the sheer volume of repetitive data associated with the housebuying process is often cited as a major cause of delay in transactions going through and even leading to ultimate failure.

Could we imagine a future when holders of flood data, contaminated land data, or drainage and water information make these details accessible through an online portal, attributed to every registered address and summarised instantly for potential buyers (and their legal representatives) at the touch of a button and for a set fee?

In other words, each property would come complete with its own set of data at the point of being offered for sale. And of course, just because the information becomes accessible online, it doesnt mean that its commercial value to providers reduces it just means that they need to be smarter in the way that they provide it.

There is obvious scope for monetisation on a pay-per-view basis, such as the 15 fee already in place on the Digital LLCR for official copies of search returns as well as the ability to review the search over the next six months.

In fact, data in the 21st century has been described as the equivalent of oil of the 18th century an incredibly valuable resource with potential for immense rewards for those who learn how to extract and use it4 .

Digital transformation is here to stay those that embrace it (and keep up with the Joneses) will be the ones to reap the rewards, across the home-buying process as much as anywhere.

Read more from the original source:
Keeping up with the Joneses: digital rollout in the home-buying process - Lexology

A woman who was trespassing at a downtown Jamestown library was arrested early Monday morning on several charges, according to the Jamestown Police Department.

Crystal L. Depew, 27, of Jamestown, was arrested just after midnight after an incident at the James Prendergast Library, 509 Cherry St.

Police said that officers patrolling near the library saw multiple people trespassing, and while speaking with them, Depew gave officers a false name. She began quickly walking away, then ran from officers, before she was tracked down "a short distance away," police said. Depew was taken to Jamestown City Jail, where she was found to be in possession of cocaine, fentanyl and a digital scale, police said.

Depew was arrested on charges of second-degree criminal impersonation, second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.

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Police: Woman trespassing at library booked on a volume of charges - Buffalo News