Author Archives: Brenda Ellis

Learning about Tor and the Dark Web

I participated in DLINQ’s Crypto Party for Activists and Allies and learned a lot about Tor. Of course I’d heard of Tor beforehand, but I didn’t know how it worked and I only associated it with criminal activity and spy stuff. Turns out it is also an important resource for reporters needing to communicate privately with sources and for activists who also need privacy and may need to thwart a home country’s censorship of the internet. I prepared for the session I was part of by reading about Tor from the resources about web browsers we were given. After the Crypto party, some things were still a little, well, cryptic for me, so I wanted to learn even more. There’s an hour long course on Linked In’s Lynda.com that is very clear and explained Tor and encryption in more detail. The instructor is really good and explained it in plain English (with graphics) for the non-specialist. Here’s the link for the Lynda course Learning Tor and the Dark Web (you’ll need to login with your Midd credentials – we are subscribers).

If you want to know about the other topics from the Crypto party and see all of the resources that were provided, visit the Crypto Party page.

FREE Reference Books!!

The Library recently reviewed our Reference Collection and we have a number of withdrawn volumes Midd faculty, students, and staff are welcome to take for FREE.

All of these have an X over the call number.  No X ? – don’t take it.

  • travel guides
  • English dictionaries
  • Foreign language dictionaries (Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew…)
  • Bible dictionaries and related titles
  • Art & Music & Literature reference works
  • and much more!

There’s a cart by the Research Desk with FREE travel books and a sample of dictionaries.  Many more titles are on the lower level of the library – Please ask where to find these.

Puzzles in the Davis Family Library

We now have some puzzles for use in the Library.  Currently there’s a spot set up behind the Research Desk on the main floor. Take a study or office break and put together a few pieces or a whole puzzle.  We will leave out several options at a time and rotate what we have.  If you want to take one elsewhere in the Library, just stop by the Research desk and ask to see the selection.

We will gladly take more puzzle donations (it would be nice to get some featuring foreign places for summer) and we are still looking for donations of GAMES (rubics cubes, monopoly, etc).  Just drop your donation at the front Circulation desk.  Anything we don’t use will be given away.

New in the Library: Mobile Standing Desks!

The Davis Family Library now has 3 mobile standing desks.

“The Nomad Stand”

Students can use these anywhere in the library.  If one is not in use, just take it to a spot that is the right height for your comfort level.

They were designed by Franklin Dean-Farrar in Athletics and made here in Middlebury by Maple Landmark Woodcraft.

If these are popular we’ll order more.

Students have asked for standing desks, and we listened!

— The Library Space Team

New Library Water Fountain Helps the Environment and Those with Disabilities

Facilities installed a new ADA-compliant water fountain in the Davis Family Library that is designed to fill water bottles too.  The Library Space Team successfully applied for an Environmental Council grant to cover the cost for one.  The fountain will calculate the number of disposable plastic bottles that are saved by using it.  Next time you are thinking of buying bottled water, think instead about using a refillable container (and thus avoid landfill waste or the energy and financial costs of recycling).  It will also be the only ADA-compliant fountain in the Library, so if someone in a wheelchair needs a water fountain, be sure to direct them to this one, which is just opposite the print copy room on the main level.