Homeland Security Critical Releases

Critical Releases in Homeland Security [March 2008]
Every two weeks, the Homeland Security Digital Library identifies "Critical Releases in Homeland Security," a targeted collection of recently-released documents that are expected to influence homeland security policy & strategy development.

Review of the FBI's Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL Usage in 2006, March 2008
United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of the Inspector General

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation: Special Report 209
National Academies Press (U.S.)

Financial Action Task Force: Terrorist Financing
Financial Action Task Force

Federal Guidance to Assist States in Improving State-Level Pandemic Influenza Operating Plans
United States Government

Air Force Cyber Command Strategic Vision
United States. Air Force

Source: Homeland Security Library

Power to the People?

Are our customers (students) talking about our brand right now on MySpace--probably in ways we wouldn't approve? Are conversations with students showing up on YouTube intercut with sarcastic comentary? This may have somone in administration tearing his or her hair out--no names mentioned. Like a flood, it can't be stopped in any one place and perhaps not at all. This is all leading up to--yes, you guessed it--a new book out in May called Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. They explain how you can turn this "threat" into your greatest asset. With tools and data straight fromm one of the nation's top research firms, you'll learn how to evaluate new social technologies as they emerge and how to make them a part of your strategies. Who is first to reserve this book?? (Some of the clever comments here are revised a little from the book.)
Source: Harvard Business Review

Connecticut-Sized Ice Shelf Crumbling in Antarctica

Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf is a plate of permanent floating ice that covers an area the size of Connecticut. The shelf started to collapse late last month, when a large iceberg 25 miles long broke off and floated away. Since then, an area the size of Chicago has broken up, probably because of warming and the action of waves.
Source: National Public Radio today

What is Grey Literature?

Grey Literature: That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers. This includes materials that never make it into our databases.

But help is at hand. The Grey Literature Report is a bimonthly publication of The New York Academy of Medicine Library alerting readers to new grey literature publications in health services research and selected public health topics.
The current Grey Literature Report Vol. 10, No. 1 - January 2008 is available.

Women in Politics: CQ Researcher

The number of women holding political office in the United States has grown substantially over the past two decades. But even with a record number of 86 women in Congress today, men still outnumber women by more than 5-to-1. Historically, women faced significant disadvantages in running for office and winning voter approval. Experts say those barriers are lower today, but perhaps not completely gone.. . .
Source: CQ Researcher

NEW BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

FICTION
Away by Amy Bloom
Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
True to the Crime by Teri Woods
Five Forty-Five to Cannes by Tess U. Holthe
Complete Stories by David Malouf
Pesthouse by Jim Crace
Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

NONFICTION
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Holler if You Hear Me by Michael Eric Dyson
Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Spirituality in Nursing by Mary E. O’Brien
Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
Life in the Soil: Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners by James Nardi
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
Right to Vote: Contested History of Democracy in the United States by Alexandr Yessar
World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Oxford Companion to English Literature edited by Margaret Drabble

Belated Happy Pi Day!

I was at a meeting Friday, March 14 (3.14) and missed Pi Day. It's not too late to celebrate! (Picture comes from GeekDads blog.)

Arthur C. Clarke 1917-2008

This week the worlds of science and science fiction lost one of their true visionaries, Arthur C. Clarke, author of seminal works like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama. Mr. Clarke increased our fascination with science and technology. As one admirer wrote, "the sky is filled with one more star now."

This Week's Brain Teaser: All Things Blue

This week's brainteaser is all about things or people that are called blue.
1. "Big Blue" is a nickname for which computer company?
2. Which creature, with "blue" in its name, is generally considered to be the largest living animal?
3. The "Blue Peter" is a flag flown on a ship when it is about to do what?
4. "Blue berets" is the name by which the military members of which kind of operation are often described?
5. "Ol' Blue Eyes" was a nickname for which popular US singer?
6. In skiing, is a "blue run" an easy run or a difficult one?
7. The famous Blue Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I, is in which country?
8. Which 1968 cartoon film incuded bizarre malevolent ogres called the Blue Meanies?
9. What was the title of the 1924 composition for piano and orchestra by George Gershwin with "blue" in the title?
10. "Bluenose" is an informal word for a native or inhabitant of which province?
(Answers Friday!)

New Book: Stressed Out About Nursing

Stressed Out About Your First Year of Nursing is a survival guide for new graduate nurses that steers them through the transition from student nurse to competent RN.

They will get the whole truth on what they didn’t learn in school and find out what to expect during the first year. Easy-to-read and full of sound advice, the book helps new graduates navigate through the first year on the job, from orientation and preceptors to communication and collaboration, including all the tips and tools they need to succeed.

With helpful icons that highlight tips to remember and secrets of success, they will find out all about:
why nursing is so demanding and how to survive
what to expect during orientation
the common causes of stress and how to handle them
how to transition from student nurse to new graduate
the stages of competence
how to handle horizontal hostility
survival skills
how to avoid legal pitfalls and stay out of trouble

This book just arrived in the library!

Change in LexisNexis Academic Database

Major improvements have been announced in the appearance and navigational elements of LexisNexis Academic. The change is scheduled to take place on Saturday April 26, 2008. With the exception of one enhancement to the Source Selection interface, these changes are purely related to visual design. The functionality of the product will not be changing, and we expect that most users will not be disorientated for more than a few moments by the change.
Source: News from LexisNexis

Women in Higher Education: Legacy of Leadership

The legacy of women in higher education is well documented and the legacy continues. Women in high level positions at colleges and universities across the country are spearheading the adoption of technology and shaping the future of higher education in the process. Join an exciting FREE webinar March 25th at 2 p.m. focusing on the use and benefits of class-capture technology in leading higher education institutions.

A panel of highly accomplished women, will discuss the impact of this new institution-wide technology on the core of educational mission, with-out changing tried and true teaching practices. The result is improved satisfaction and performance among students.

New to webinars? All you need is a computer with internet access and a telephone. Once you register, they will email easy-to-follow instructions. If you cannot attend just click on Send me a link to the Tegrity-recorded session.
Source: Tegrity

Academic Twittering: Breaking Down the Classroom Walls

We've noticed lots of interest in Twitter (and other micro-blogging services) at colleges, and so it's worth noting that David Parry, an assistant professor of Emerging Media and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas, explains his philosophy for using Twitter. He offers some fresh pointers to others who have experimented with the service. For instance, he expands on what he means by using Twitter to break down the classroom walls: "Students attend college where their identity as a student is just part of what they do and who they are. Many of them have jobs, commute to school, etc., and thus the social aspect of the campus life has changed," he writes. "If this is the case then these 'new' ways of socializing such as Facebook and MySpace are where students are forming their learning communities, ones which do not entirely, perhaps only minimally, overlap with their classroom experience. Thus to extend the walls of the classroom, make education relevant to all aspects of students lives rather than just what they do four-five hours a day we need to think of ways to extend the ways we form and foster learning communities." What do you think?
Source: Wired Campus

Young Children Journal Now Online!

The new interactive version of the Young Chldren Journal is now online. Using the digital version of Young Children NAEYC members can:
Learn more about a topic by clicking on live links.
Search quickly for specific topics then save to your computer for offline viewing.
Zoom, turn pages, and scroll allowing for easy online reading.
View and search a growing archive (all future digital issues will remain accessible online in the archive)
Click on advertiser ads to get more information on their products or services.
Gather and save timely information on professional development.
Source: Young Children Journal

College Presidents: Tech Therapy Warning

Tech Therapy: 'If We Don't Pay Attention to IT, We're Dead in the Water.'

Robert E. Dunker, the president of Western Iowa Tech Community College, joins Warren Arbogast and Scott Carlson on Tech Therapy this week to talk about why presidents should pay attention to technology. The short answer: to keep the college doors open. “We see our face-to-face interaction going down and our online attendance skyrocketing up,” Mr. Dunker says. “As presidents, if we don't pay attention to IT and the impact IT has on our institutions, we are going to be dead in the water.” Mr. Dunker describes how he pays attention to what’s going on at the Detroit Auto Show or the Consumer Electronics Show, and how the college might take advantage of the technologies discussed there. For example, now that people can plug iPods into car stereos, how can colleges let people download lessons so that education can be part of their commutes? “Heck, I don't know how to do it,” Mr. Dunker says, “but we better make sure we're on top of it.” “A president who says, ‘I don't know,’" Warren responds. “I love it.”
Source: Quoted from Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus Newsletter

Writing Classroom Web Seminar

Free Web Seminar: Changing the Landscape of the Writing Classroom
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is offering a special free opportunity to participate in Chris Jennings Dixon's "7 Ways to Change the Landscape of the Writing Classroom" on Thursday, March 27, 2008, 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. EDT. The online session will discuss how collaboration, a common denominator in altering the writing classroom, promotes student reflection, analysis, and empowerment. Logins are limited, so be sure to sign up early. Can't make it on Thursday? Don't worry -- you can order the free archive version of the seminar online.
Source: Nationcal Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

English Teachers: Writing Poetry

Start planning your National Poetry Month celebration with the following lesson plans and classroom-ready resources, all of which invite students to write their own poetry:
"Found & Headline Poems," from Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises (M-S-C)
"Sestinas and Villanelles from the Inner City" (C)
"Novices Encounter a Novice Literature: Introducing Digital Literature in a First-Year College Writing Class" (C)

For more ideas for teaching poetry, see the Poetry Teacher Resource Collection, which includes links to additional articles, lesson plans, and other resources.
Source: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

Science Journal Weekly Podcasts

Science's weekly podcast takes you on a tour of some interesting stories in the journal and on its sister sites. You can listen to these audiocasts on your own computer simply by clicking on the "Listen to MP3" links of podcast announcements. If you use a podcast aggregator like iTunes or Juice, you can subscribe to the podcast feed to automatically download the files for syncing to portable audio devices. Science is the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The journal is available in the library.
Source: Science Journal

WomenWatch for Women's History Month

For Women's History Month the library suggests WomenWatch, the central gateway to information and resources on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women throughout the United Nations system, including the United Nations Secretariat, regional commissions, funds, programs, specialized agencies and academic and research institutions. This site includesUN news and research on international issues such as violence against women, women in power, and human rights of women.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/

Website of the Week: GetBodySmart

GetBodySmart: An Online Examination of Human Anatomy and Physiology is a fully animated and interactive resource. Developed and owned by Scott Sheffield, who has taught this material at the university level for over twenty years, the website is appropriate for students and instructors. Aiming to explain the body's complex physiological interactions and to illustrate its important anatomical landmarks, the site includes diagrams and drawings as well as quizzes and a tutorial. General subject breakdowns thus far are: skeletal system, muscle tissue physiology, muscular system, nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, urinary system, and histology. Adobe Flash Player, which is required to view the animations, can be downloaded without charge by following a linke from the site.
http://www.getbodysmart.com/
Source: Medical Library Association News March 2008

More on Wikipedia

Author Nickolson Baker entertainingly reviews Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton in the current issue of the New York Review of Books. From the review:
"Wikipedia is just an incredible thing. It's fact-encirclingly huge, and it's idiosyncratic, careful, messy, funny, shocking, and full of simmering controversies—and it's free, and it's fast. In a few seconds you can look up, for instance, "Diogenes of Sinope," or "turnip," or "Crazy Eddie," or "Bagoas," or "quadratic formula," or "Bristol Beaufighter," or "squeegee," or "Sanford B. Dole," and you'll have knowledge you didn't have before. It's like some vast aerial city with people walking briskly to and fro on catwalks, carrying picnic baskets full of nutritious snacks.

More people use Wikipedia than Amazon or eBay—in fact it's up there in the top-ten Alexa rankings with those moneyed funhouses MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. Why? Because it has 2.2 million articles, and because it's very often the first hit in a Google search, and because it just feels good to find something there—even, or especially, when the article you find is maybe a little clumsily written. Any inelegance, or typo, or relic of vandalism reminds you that this gigantic encyclopedia isn't a commercial product. There are no banners for E*Trade or Classmates.com, no side sprinklings of AdSense."

He recommends the book and I recommend his review, "The Charms of Wikipedia."

Congratulations UCONN Women

Renee Montgomery scored 20 points and No. 1 Connecticut held off No. 23 Louisville 65-59 on Tuesday in Hartford to win the Big East tournament championship.

Charde Houston earned Most Outstanding Performer in the Big East Tournament. It was Connecticut's 14th Big East tournament title, including three of the past four. Congratulations!

Online Courses and Copyright Issues

Elsevier Agrees to Let MIT Use Bits of Journal Articles Online

Publishing courses online each year involves tracking down permissions for copyrighted items. A major challenge for colleges that want to post lecture materials on the Web involves making sure they have permission to use the copyrighted images from journals and other sources that professors have put in their power point presentations. This week the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that it has reached a deal with Elsevier, one of the largest journal publishers, to allow a limited amount of material from its journals to be used in MIT’s OpenCourseWare project.

The publisher hasn’t exactly given away the store: The agreement allows the project to use up to three illustrations per journal article, and up to 100 words of text. But what if you are not MIT??? Good question-no anwer.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus

Brainteaser: Famous Women Answers

Here are the answers to last week's brainteaser:
1. Sigourney Weaver
2. Edith Piaf
3. Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. Dolly Parton
5. Jane Goodall

Was this too easy???

Women's History Month: Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts of America is founded

Juliette Gordon Low started the all-girls club in Savannah, Georgia in 1912 with the aim of promoting social welfare by encouraging members to participate in community service and outdoor activities. Among the many famous girl scouts alumni are: Lucille Ball, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Reagan and Gloria Steinem.Today the organization has around 3.7 million members.

Source: The Smithsonian

Brainteaser: Famous Women

Try to identify these five famous women from the descriptions of them.

1. American actress who rocketed to stardom as the astronaut Ellen Ripley in the 1979 movie "Alien".
2. French singer, born in Paris, she became a street singer at the age of 15. She was nicknamed "the kid sparrow" by a night-club owner in 1935. She was famous for such songs as "Non, je ne regrette rien" and "Milord".
3. American author of nine autobiographical novels about growing up on the frontier in the 1870s and 1880s, starting with "Little House in the Big Woods".
4. American country singer born in Locust Ridge, Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children of a mountain farmer.
5. British zoologist who gained fame for her research on chimpanzees in the wild, having conducted the longest continuous field study of wild animals in their natural environment.
(Answers provided next week)

CQ Researcher Weekly Report:Buying Green

The Chevrolet Volt concept car, a plug-in hybrid not yet on the market, will get 150 miles per gallon, according to General Motors. Americans will spend an estimated $500 billion this year on products and services that claim to be good for the environment because they contain non-toxic ingredients or produce little pollution and waste. While some shoppers buy green to help save the planet, others are concerned about personal health and safety. Whatever their motives, eco-consumers are reshaping U.S. markets. To attract socially conscious buyers, manufacturers are designing new, green products and packaging, altering production processes and using sustainable materials. But some of these products may be wastes of money. Federal regulators are reviewing green labeling claims to see whether they mislead consumers, while some critics say that government mandates promoting environmentally preferable products distort markets and raise prices. Even if green marketing delivers on its pledges, many environmentalists say that sustainability is not a matter of buying green but of buying less.

Read the article and CQ Researcher every week--available from the library homepage (password protected).

Science Podcasts

The library subscribes to the Science Journal published weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Science's weekly podcast will take you on a tour of some interesting stories in the journal and on its sister sites. You can listen to these audiocasts on your own computer simply by clicking on the "Listen to MP3" links on the podcast announcements. If you use a podcast aggregator like iTunes or Juice, you can subscribe to their podcast feed to automatically download the files for syncing to portable audio devices.

March is National Women's History Month

The National Women's History Project, founded in 1980, is an educational nonprofit organization. Their mission is to recognize and celebrate the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing information and educational materials and program.The Project chose its 2008 national theme “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision” to honor the originality, beauty, imagination and multiple dimensions of women’s lives. Women in the arts have left their valuable mark upon history. Theirs is the story of amazing accomplishments often acclaimed at the time but later forgotten.This year’s theme provides a special opportunity to discover and celebrate women’s visual arts in a variety of forms that help expand the perceptions of each other and ourselves.

Source: National Women's History Project and the Library of Congress

Women's History Month Feature: Hester Prynne

National Women's History Month: Women's Art, Women's Vision.

Hester Prynne, protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterwork The Scarlet Letter, is among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature. She's the embodiment of deep contradictions: bad and beautiful, holy and sinful, conventional and radical. I heard Professor Jamie Barlow on All Things Considered earlier this week suggest that this "proud adulterss is a mirror revealing readers' true feelings about the role of women in society." Listen to the twelve minute segment and you may want to re-read the book. I know I do.
Source: National Public Radio All Things Considered

Digital Aerial Views of Connecticut

Connecticut was the first state to complete a statewide aerial survey. Now Connecticut is the first state to put a complete statewide aerial survey online.The aerial survey of Connecticut was taken before the Hurricane of 1938 radically changed the topography of the state, but after a statewide paving project called "Get Connecticut Out of the Mud" enabled the popular new-fangled automobiles to climb the state's hills and cruise its valleys.The original photographic prints have long been one of the most heavily used collections at the Connecticut State Library.

The State Library has now digitized the 8,731 original 1934 aerial photographs, and published them as part of the State Library's DigitalCollections at http://cslib.cdmhost.com/cdm4/aerials.php. You can search for the aerials photos by town name, or by using either a street map locator ora topographic index sheet locator.

What makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

Did you miss this article in the Wall Street Journal last week? "Finnish high-school students rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.
Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world's C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules." Read the article. Read the Wall Street Journal everyday in the library so you won't miss articles like this!
Source: Wall Street Journal February 29, 2008

Prisons vs. Colleges

A report by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that Vermont, Michigan, Oregon, Connecticut, and Delaware spend more on their prisons than they do on institutions of higher education.
Source: Inside Higher Ed, February 29, 2008

The Next Subprime Mortgages?

Private student loans are booming, and a consumer-advocacy group has taken a critical look at those nonfederal loans, which now account for nearly one-quarter of all education loans. The outlook: a feeling of “sad déjà vu” when compared to the subprime-mortgage industry.
In a report released yesterdat that outlined some of the dangers of private student loans, the National Consumer Law Center reviewed 28 private loans issued from 2001 to 2006. The group found all the loans to have variable rates, with initial annual percentage rates ranging from 5 percent to 19 percent. The average initial APR was 11.5 percent. The survey also found an average origination fee of 4.5 percent (the highest origination fee for a loan in the study was 9.9 percent). Federal direct loans now have an origination fee of 2.5 percent.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Women's History Month

Women's Art: Women's Vision

The National Women's History Project, founded in 1980, is an educational nonprofit organization. Their mission is to recognize and celebrate the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing information and educational materials and program.The Project chose its 2008 national theme “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision” to honor the originality, beauty, imagination and multiple dimensions of women’s lives. Women in the arts have left their valuable mark upon history. Theirs is the story of amazing accomplishments often acclaimed at the time but later forgotten.This year’s theme provides a special opportunity to discover and celebrate women’s visual arts in a variety of forms and mediums that help expand the perceptions of each other and ourselves.

Source: National Women's History Project and the Library of Congress