Homeland Security: Reference Guide

The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released a new reference guide that outlines existing legal requirements and standards relating to access for people with disabilities. A Reference Guide for Accommodating Individuals with Disabilities in the Provision of Disaster Mass Care, Housing and Human Services is the first of a series of disability-related guidelines to be produced by FEMA for disaster preparedness and response planners and service providers at all levels.

“Federal law is very clear about accommodating people with disabilities in emergencies and disasters. Everyone involved in emergency management needs to understand and know what their responsibilities are in preparedness, response and recovery operations,” FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said. “This Reference Guide is an important tool for emergency planners, responders and government agencies as they work toward meeting the needs of people affected by emergencies and disasters. FEMA is committed to ensuring that its programs and emergency operations meet the needs of people with disabilities.”

The Reference Guide summarizes equal access requirements for people with disabilities within Disaster Mass Care, Housing, and Human Services functions. The Guide explains how applicable Federal laws relate to government entities and non-government, private sector and religious organizations.
Accommodating People With Disabilities In Disasters: A Reference Guide To Federal Law
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Beloit College Mindset List

Beloit College has released its annual Mindset List -- 70 items that offer a glimpse of the "cultural touchstones" of this year's college freshmen, most of whom were born in 1989, the graduating class of 2011. For them, Nelson Mandela has always been free. They have never rolled down a car window. The expression "off the hook" does not bring images of a telephone. But think of the things they do and use that did not exist in 1989. The Mindset List is not a chronological listing of things that happened in the year that the entering first-year students were born. The effort is to identify a worldview of 18 year-olds in the fall of 2007.
Here is the list for the Class of 2011.

Lens That Distorts

No child Left Behind (NCLB) put schools under the microscope by requiring that they report, annually, the test-score performance of students in grades 3 through 8, and, again, for grade 10. As President Bush said shortly before he signed the bill into law, “We need to know whether a curriculum is working. We need to know whether the teachers, the methodology that teachers use is working. We need to know whether or not people are learning. And if they are, there will be hallelujahs all over the place. But if not, we intend to do something about it.”

Five years later, it has become clear that the microscope NCLB uses to get the information the president said he wanted contains a lens that distorts. Many good schools—both charter schools and inner-city public schools serving the disadvantaged—are not recognized as such, while many poorly performing schools are given a pass. If NCLB is to fulfill its mission, Congress needs to make some major repairs or risk seeing those opposed to all forms of school accountability assume control of the political battleground.
Source: Will NCLB Hit the Wall? (Forum)

Princteon Review Rates Colleges

It is rankings season once again, and on Monday the Princeton Review added its annual "best" and "worst" lists to the fray. Gone this year is its "best overall academics" category, leaving room for a new one: "best career/job-placement services."

The University of Texas at Austin offers its students the best career counseling, according to the test-preparation company's rankings. But it is no longer home to the best parties, having dropped from last year's No. 1 spot on that notorious list to third place, behind West Virginia University and the University of Mississippi.

Princeton Review does not decide who ranks where on its lists; students do. This year 120,000 of them from 366 colleges responded to the company's survey. "It is the opinion of current college students informing college-bound students," said Mr. Franek. "We're simply the messengers." All 62 "best" and "worst" lists are available on the Princeton Review's Web site.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education August 21 2007

Art for College Teaching

Art Images for College Teaching (AICT) is a personal, non-profit project of its author, art historian and visual resources curator Allan T. Kohl . AICT is intended primarily to disseminate images of art and architectural works in the public domain on a free-access, free-use basis to all levels of the educational community, as well as to the public at large. The images displayed on this site have been photographed on location by the author, who consents to their use in any application that is both educational and non-commercial in nature. Pictured here is Guanyin (Bodhisattva of Compassion) in posture of "Royal Ease," 12th century from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Source: http://www.arthist.umn.edu/aict/html/

Problems with High School Math and Science

Results from the ACT test's science section show that a meager 20 percent of those who took general science, biology, and chemistry -- the minimum core courses in science -- were ready for college biology, while 40 percent of those who took physics instead of general science met or surpassed the benchmark.

"These data make it clear that students are not, by and large, learning all the essential skills they need to succeed in college simply by taking the minimum core curriculum in high school," Richard L. Ferguson, chief executive of ACT Inc. and chairman of its board, said during a telephone news conference. "It suggests also that these courses, in most cases, lack the proper level of rigor. Taking the minimum courses should enable most students to be ready for their first year of college, and, unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case, particularly in math and science."
Source: Today's News in the Chronicle of Higher Education August 15

Take a closer look at students

"Put this story down for a moment and take a look at the undergraduates around your desk, outside your office, or out on the quad. Do you know what makes them tick? Where and how they study, the ways they spend each hour of the day, the steps they go through when writing their papers? Or are they enigmas?

Perhaps, to get some clues, you've read books about the so-called Net Generation, which brand them all as technophiles, gamers, and multitaskers. Or you might see them as younger versions of yourself during your college years — more plugged in, of course, but essentially the same. You're probably wrong." Read the rest of this article by Scott Carlson in the August 17th Chronicle of Higher Education--available in the library and online (password protected)
Source: " An Anthropologist in the Library" by Scott Carlson

Another Reference: Africana

Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African & African American Experience, 2nd edition
Kwame A. Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editors

Appiah and Gates, both eminent African American scholars at Harvard, have edited a massive encyclopedia covering virtually every facet of Africa and the African Diaspora, although the focus is on political, social, and cultural history. With more than 400 contributors and 3000 articles, the work includes 12 Featured Essays by internationally known scholars like Cornell West ("W.E.B. DuBois") and David L. Lewis ("Harlem Renaissance"). These well-developed analyses are ten to 15 pages in length. Shorter entries, usually from half a column to five pages in length, run the gamut of topics from Nelson Mandela to Tupac Shakur. The contributors include major figures like Gates as well as junior scholars from a number of countries. While obviously focusing on Africana, the compilation avoids extreme ideological stands. The entry on "Afrocentrism," for example, is a model of balance and clarity. The editors have admirably fulfilled the dream of African American scholar and leader W.E.B. DuBois, who worked for much of his life to create such a monument. Africana is a very useful tool for Goodwin students.
Available in the Goodwin Library

Reference: Countries and Their Cultures

The four-volume Countries and Their Cultures is based on the collection of ethnographic information known as the Human Relations Area Files based at Yale University. This work's strength is that readers who know very little about a country can quickly obtain a good orientation to the major issues, history, and social structure of a nation. The 225 entries are between ten and 20 pages long and read like a cross between a well-written encyclopedia article, a travel guide, and a social science essay. They provide a good general overview of a country without greatly oversimplifying or distorting. All entries have the same structure, with sections on geography, history, demography, languages, food, economy, etiquette, politics, family, religion, and arts and humanities. A country's degree of cultural unity as well as its cultural variations are described in the sections on national identity, ethnic relations, and social stratification. Each entry has a map with a regional insert, black-and-white photographs, and a bibliography of recent scholarly books. This series is highly recommended for college students taking courses in history, literature, art history, women's studies, family studies, education, political science, religion and economics.
Source: Library Journal Review
Available in the Goodwin Library

GeoBee Challenge

"If you need a short break in your day, or are preparing for your Jeopardy debut, take the National Geographic GeoBee challenge, which pulls questions from the National Geographic Bee. There are ten new questions each day that test your knowledge of geography, climate, and history. If you miss a day, you can access the quizzes from the previous two days." (Carolyn Sosnowski, SLA information specialist)
Source: www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/index.html

Zamzar File Conversion

Azmzar may sound like a magic potion from Harry Potter, but it is free online file conversion. File conversion used to be difficult; now with Amzar there aren't any software requirements. Just upload the file (from your local directory or a Web page, choose the format, and receive the converted file via e-mail. File types are split into four categories--documents, images, audio, and video-so your everday needs will be covered.
www.zamzar.com
Source: Carolyn Sosnowski, SLA information specialist

Yale Pulls out of BioMed Central

Citing rapidly rising costs, the science and medical libraries of Yale University are stopping paying for faculty members’ articles to be published by BioMed Central, one of the two largest open-access publishers. (The university is keeping its membership in the Public Library of Science, the other well-known open-access publisher.)

The libraries paid BioMed Central less than $4,700 in 2005, but in 2006 had to pay $31,625, to publish articles in the journals, which are all freely available online. “This experiment in open-access publishing has proved unsustainable,” wrote Ann Okerson, R. Kenny Marone, and David Stern, of the Yale libraries.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education August 13, 2007

National Trends : U.S. Environment

The draft 2007 Report on the Environment (ROE): Highlights of National Trends (2007 ROE HD) was released today for public comment and independent review. First issued in 2003, the ROE is a plain, easy-to-understand guide that provides the average citizen a resource to follow national trends in the condition of the air, water, and land in the United States.
Read the draft and submit comments.

Homeland Security Report

1) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has released the latest version of doctrine for Homeland Defense as performed by the Armed Forces of the United States. From the doctrine: ” This publication provides doctrine for the defense of the US homeland across the range of military operations. It provides information on command and control, interagency and multinational coordination, and operations required to defeat external threats to, and aggression against, the homeland. ” Specifically, this includes command relationships and interagency responsibilities and considerations, air, land, maritime and space operations, and other operations key to homeland security and defense.
Source: DOD Joint Doctrine for Homeland Defense Released181 pages; PDF.

Early Childhood: Who's Ready for School?

Most parents and teachers are concerned about the school readiness of America’s youngest children, says a new study by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.. But for those parents who may worry that their children don’t know the alphabet, numbers or colors before kindergarten, the findings may come as a surprise. In fact, teachers say they value social skills - such as following rules and directions, and being able to play and share well with others — over academic skills as a better predictor of children’s success in school.

Few parents (25 percent) and teachers (7 percent) describe U.S. children as being extremely or very prepared to learn upon entering kindergarten, PNC found, meaning that they know the basics like counting, spelling their names and that they are prepared to listen in class. Nearly three of five parents (57 percent) and two-thirds of teachers (66 percent) say that U.S. children are only somewhat prepared.
Source: Survey Highlights: Home and Classroom-Views of Parents and Teachers

CQ Researcher: Corporate Social Responsibility

Is good citizenship good for the bottom line?
Corporations across the country are embracing efforts to improve society. Unlike traditional efforts by businesses to appear socially responsible, the current movement emphasizes profit and long-term company success along with good works. Firms such as Whole Foods and Nike strive to make good citizenship a recognized part of their brand. General Electric, Coca-Cola and other more traditional corporations also support corporate social responsibility (CSR), motivated by advocacy group pressures, threatened government regulations and demands from employees, customers and investors. Some conservatives oppose CSR activities, arguing a company's only legitimate purpose is to enhance shareholder value. Some critics from the left label CSR a public relations ploy and say the government should expand corporations' legal responsibility to employees, the public and the environment.
Source: CQ Researcher August 3 available online (Goodwin subscription password protected)

Did You Know?

Today, August 10th is:Gutzon Borglum Day On this day in 1927, sculptor John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum began carving the faces of four American presidents out of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He chose this site because of its smooth-grained granite and the way it dominated the surrounding terrain. It took 14 years to bring the mountain sculpture to its present appearance, but because of delays caused by lack of funds and bad weather, only six and a half years were actually spent in carving. Gutzon Borglum died before the national memorial could be completed, but his son, Lincoln, continued to work on the project until funds ran out in 1941. Since that time no additional carving has been done, nor is any further work planned other than maintenance of the memorial.

Apollo Missions Online

For nearly 40 years, the photographic film from the Apollo moon missions has remained literally frozen in time, sitting in a freezer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, untouched by anyone but a handful of researchers. Now a team from Arizona State University, led by a geological sciences professor, Mark S. Robinson, from the university’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, has collaborated with NASA to create a public digital archive of each frame of the film -- more than 36,000 shots in all. The resulting archive will be made available to the general public via a Web site run by Arizona State students. It’s the first time the body of film from the nine manned moon missions has been digitized in its entirety, and t he first time that most people, even most lunar scientists, will get to see the images at such a high level of detail.

New Poet Laureate

Charles Simic was named the new U.S. poet laureate by the Library of Congress last week. Simic is the author of more than 20 books of poetry, including The World Doesn't End, a collection of prose poems for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990.

Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Simic emigrated with his family to the United States after World War II. As a teenager, he learned English and began writing poetry. He is now a professor emeritus at the University of New Hampshire.