Research Guides: Stress Less at the Library: SCW Library Is Here For You

The staff of the Samuel C. Williams Library is here for you during spring finals.

🌸 The Library Pets Think You'll Bee Great!

The staff of the Samuel C. Williams Library and our pets are rooting for you and your friends.

Submit your contact info or that of someone you know who needs a lift on the Message from the Library Pets form to get a special note of encouragement from the Library staff’s cats, dogs, and other special guests.

The pets are also excited to celebrate a new graduate! Use the form to let us know who’s graduating and we’ll send them our congratulations.

🌸 Library Activity Tables in the Great Hall (starting May 5):

Jigsaw puzzles
Games
Sudoku
Coloring

🌸 Always Available on the Stress Less Guide:

Digital escape rooms
White noise apps
Remote games to play with your friends
And more!

🌸 Library Hours

🌸The Library wishes you good luck on your finals and a wonderful summer! 🌸

Fun things for a quick distraction.

Look

There are all sorts of beautiful image collections online, of flowers and space and objects and the planet; here's a random assortment.

Earth: An Animated Map of Global Wind and Weather
Earth.nullschool.net, created by Cameron Beccario, is a beautiful and everchanging visualization of global weather conditions, ocean surface current estimates, ocean waves and surface temperatures, and aurora, forecast by NOAA supercomputers and updated regularly.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Photojournal (NASA)
Images and animations captured by space exploration programs and released by the Jet Propulsion Library (at the California Institute of Technology).
The Pattern Library
Patterns! Pick one to use on your computer or just explore the endless collection.
Things Organized Neatly
This blog is a soothing balm for the stressed mind.
WindowSwap
Open a new window somewhere in the world!

Listen

Localingual
Languages and dialects from around the world, pronounced by the people who live there. Listen to the speakers of the regions, or contribute your own!

Word Nerdery

Etymonline Etymology Dictionary
"This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago."
OneLook Thesaurus
A rich thesaurus that "lets you find any kind of word for any kind of writing." As with a traditional thesaurus, you can find synonyms and antonyms but are also able to search by description of the kind of word you need.

Miscellany

10 Fast Fingers Typing Test
Test your typing skills in several languages! Compete with yourself or play against others.
Barry Martin's Hopalong Orbits Visualizer
Explore the designs and patterns as you orbit the environment.
CAUTION: visualizer moves quickly and in circles, avoid if that kind of thing messes with you.
Essay Typer
Will write an essay on any topic! Try to trick it!
NOTE: NOT TO BE USED FOR AN ACTUAL ASSIGNMENT. This is a toy, not a means to cheat.
High-Performance Particles
What do 100,000 interacting particles look like? This.
Marginalia Search Engine
An open source "independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of." Who knows what you'll find?
The Periodic Table of the Elements, in Pictures and Words
The elements plus what they do and where they're used.
Symbols.com Online Encyclopedia
Fall down the rabbit hole of this symbols encyclopedia and find "everything about symbols, signs, flags and glyphs arranged by categories such as culture, country, religion, and more."

Stress Less at the Library