Credo Reference Concept Map

Have you used the Credo Reference Concept Map lately? The Concept Map is a great tool that enables you to quickly find information when you don’t know exactly what to look for or want to expand your knowledge of a given area. Students have had great success in using the Concept Map to help brainstorm and focus a topic, or to help them find a new angle or direction to research.

The concept map needs Java 1.4.19 or newer to work. That is the only requirement. For the users that don’t have Java installed this link provides installers for all operating systems: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp. After installation the browser will need to be restarted. Windows users might need to reboot their computer.

In some cases Java is already installed but it is disabled in the browser. How to enable it is browser-specific but it usually means opening the browser’s Preferences dialog and enabling Java. In Firefox the checkbox to enable Java is in the Preferences window under the ‘Content’ tab. In Safari the option is under the ‘Security’ tab. The option is usually placed besides the option to enable Java Script. It is important to note, though, that ‘Java’ and ‘Java Script’ are two completely different/independent things and enabling one does not enable the other

New Gale Resource Centers

On Sunday, August 1, the following resources will have a significantly different look/feel in order to improve the relevancy and currency of search results:

History Resource Center: U.S.
History Resource Center: World
Science Resource Center

The names of these resources will change from Resource Center to In Context (e.g., Science Resource Center will become Science In Context). The Biography Resource Center will undergo a similar redesign in late August to early September. Other resource centers (Health, Business) will follow later.

We hope you like the changes!

You Thought the Library was Small? THINK AGAIN!

You thought the library was small? Think again! Besides what you see on the shelves in the library, we have 70,000 books you do not see. That's right--70,000. Where are they, you may ask?

They are electronic or ebooks. Libraries of the future,and we are one of them, want expanding space for users and less for books sitting on shelves. That’s why Goodwin Library has eBrary Academic Complete, a database with full text books. Ebrary has just added 1,100 new titles and they added 5,100 in June. They also provide 140 full-text books and other materials specifically for librarians and knowledge managers. That means that we now have that database of over 60,000 full text books. You won’t see them on the shelves, but you will if you go to the library page and click on eBrary. If you add Credo Reference’s full text reference books—also online-we have at least 70,000 electronic books. (By the way, we still plan to fill up the existing shelves.)

Letting Go: A Healthcare Issue

Atul Gawande, Doctor and author, has an article in The New Yorker called "Letting Go" about what medicine should do when it can't save our lives. It is an important discussion for healthcare students of how we deal with end of life issues.

"People have concerns besides simply prolonging their lives. Surveys of patients with terminal illness find that their top priorities include, in addition to avoiding suffering, being with family, having touch of others, being mentally aware, and not being a burden to others. Our system of technological medical care has utterly failed to meet these needs, and the cost of this failure is measure in far more than dollars. The hard question we face,then,is not how we can afford this system's expense. It is how we can build a health-care system that will actually help dying patients achieve what's most important to them at the end of their lives."

This is a quote from the article. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a professor at Harvard Medical School, His most recent book, A Checklist Manifesto, is available in the library as is the article.
Source: The New Yorker August 2 2010

CPR with Chest Compression Alone

The current issues of the New England Journal of Medicine has three articles on CPR with chest compression alone. There was interesting commentary on these articles on the radio this morning. This might make a good research paper topic.

"in CPR, Less May Be Better" M. Weisfeldt
"CPR with Chest Compression Alone or with Rescue Breathing" T. Rea et al.
"Compression-Only CPR or Standard CPR in Our-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest L. Svensson et al.

New England Journal of Medicine
July 29

500 million Facebook Users

This week Facebook reached 500 million users. To give an idea of what 500 Million people would look like, using world population, the Resource Shelf staff built an estimate. 500 million people would mean that every citizen in the following countries were active Facebook Users (in alphabetical order):

The ENTIRE Populations of:

+ Australia
+ Bermuda
+ Canada
+ Cayman Islands
+ Guatemala
+ New Zealand
+ Singapore
+ South Africa
+ United Kingdom
+ United States

Source: BBC Press

Have you got anything by the Ugandan xylophonists?

The new BBC archive of indigenous music from around the world has!

BBC will tomorrow launch a globally-accessible online archive that features indigenous music from some of the world's most dangerous conflict zones, as well as its most inaccessible states. There are audio clips of singing waitresses performing sea shanties on the coast of North Korea, and harp-playing cowboys in rural Venezuela. In all, there will be 100 hours of programming on the BBC's World Music Archive, alongside dozens of photographs of recordings being made in the most remote locations. Essentially the resource comprises the output of Radio 3's world music programmes from the past decade an extraordinary collection of some of the most unlikely and most beautiful music ever recorded.

Listen here. new BBC archive of indigenous music from around the world

Source: The Independent July 22, 2010

Development Reading & Learning communities

Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Reading: An Impact Study at Hillsborough Community College

This report presents results from a rigorous random assignment study of a basic learning community program at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa Bay, Florida. Hillsborough is one of six community colleges participating in the National Center for Postsecondary Research’s Learning Communities Demonstration. The demonstration’s focus is on determining whether learning communities are an effective strategy for helping students who need developmental education. Hillsborough’s learning communities co-enrolled groups of around 20 students into a developmental reading course and a “college success” course. Three cohorts of students (fall 2007, spring 2008, and fall 2008) participated in the study, for a total of 1,071.
Full Report
Source: Education on Docuticker

Retaining Experienced Nurses

With the nation’s nursing workforce aging and many nurses approaching retirement just as the population ages, creating a greater demand for hospital care, retaining experienced nurses will be critical in coming years. Hospitals, medical centers and other health care organizations can keep more veteran nurses at patient bedsides by implementing a variety of employee-retention strategies identified in a new study supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Read the full report.
Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Livemocha for Learning Languages

Livemocha is a Web site for learning languages. The site was started by a group of former Microsoft employees who saw a need for language skills in the growing international economy. It combines immersion language learning with Web 2.0 features, allowing students to connect with others who are learning the same language as well as native speakers so that they can practice conversation, exchange study tips, and contribute new learning materials.

Livemocha is a useful resource for people who want to study a language without investing in expensive products such as Rosetta Stone. It is also a good way to supplement a language class or learn basic expressions for travel.

Source: Reference on the Web By Barbara Bibel

Students Not Encouraged to use Technology

According to the 21st-Century Classroom Report: Preparing Students for the Future or the Past? students think technology is important now and will be in the future, but their schools aren’t adequately preparing them to use technology in college and their careers. Students use technology extensively as a learning tool and expect to use technology in college and the workforce. 94% anticipate using technology to complete assignments in college.

Call to Action for Goodwin College
Survey students to understand their technology expectations. Consider using the 21st-Century Classroom survey tool, or your own survey, to get an accurate picture of what students and teachers want and need
Bring together faculty and IT to discuss must-have resources. Use that discussion to create or augment your district's technology plan
Leverage 21st-century tools to achieve educational goals. Focus on professional development to ensure faculty understand and use technology

Source: T.H.E. Journal, June 28, 2010

Recommended Books This Week

Patrons recommend this week:

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition by Jack Trout
Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook By James Stevens
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch
Trick Baby by Iceberg Slim
No More Sheets by Juanita Bynum
American Women and World War II by Doris Weatherford

What are you reading??