HAVE YOU TRIED SINGLE SEARCH

HAVE YOU TRIED SINGLE SEARCH? With the information explosion, the literature in any subject is increasing not only in volume but also in variety. Today, a typical library has to manage the following information sources: library physical holdings, digital repository, electronic journals, web and other e‐resources. Each of these resources has different web interface, making it difficult to a user to learn all of the interfaces and also time consuming to search a particular information. By offering a one-stop resource that allows the patron access to all of the library’s materials from one place, the library can truly begin to leverage its resources and deliver them to its users more effectively. Discovery tools make it possible to search multiple resources with one query. THAT’S WHY WE HAVE SINGLE SEARCH!

HUGO AWARD BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

The Hugo Awards, “science fiction’s most prestigious award,” took place recently, and taking home the award for Best Novel was John Scalzi’s Redshirts. For those wanting a fresh and interesting take on science fiction, Redshirts is worth a read. The book draws comparisons to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in that it pokes fun at the genre.

UNTIL THE MORNING AFTER BY GHANIAN POET

On Saturday, September 21, the Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor was shot dead at Nairobi's Westgate mall by terrorists. His poems evoke the traditional dirges of his southern Ewe-speaking Anlo people of Ghana. Because of our connection with Ghana, the library staff has purchased a collection of his poems from 1963-1985 called Until the Morning After.

SHUTDOWN

Due to a lapse of appropriations and the partial shutdown of the Federal Government, the systems eric.ed.gov have been shut down. Services will be restored as soon as a continuing resolution to provide funding has been enacted.

OUR STONE AGE BODIES

“If you got sick, you probably wouldn't go to an evolutionary biologist to get treated. But Daniel Lieberman, professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard University, says that his field can help you understand why you got sick, and make you more aware of healthy and harmful behaviors.” That quote is from an interview with Terry Gross yesterday on Fresh Air. He talked about some of the noninfectious diseases that may result from our Paleolithic bodies not being well-adapted to modern conditions. It's a list of ailments big and small, including acid reflux, acne, anxiety, asthma, certain cancers, depression, Type 2 diabetes, flat feet, high blood pressure, iritable boel syndrome, lower back pain, and osteoporosis. In his new, fascinating book, The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease, Lieberman traces these troubles back to their origins. The book will be available in the library before the end of the week. Source: Fresh Air Terry Gross NPR

JSTOR REGISTER & READ

Register & Read is an experimental program to offer free, read-online access to individual scholars and researchers who register for a MyJSTOR account. Launched in March 2012, Register & Read follows the release of the Early Journal Content as the next step in efforts to find sustainable ways to extend access to JSTOR, specifically to those not affiliated with participating institutions. How does it work? When you find an article that’s part of Register & Read, click on the “Read Online Free” option. Register for a free MyJSTOR account, or log into your account if you already have one. Add the content to your shelf to read the full-text online. After 14 days, you may remove it and add new items to your shelf. PDF versions of some articles will also be available for purchase and download. If you purchase articles from your shelf, the PDF versions may be stored and accessed in your MyJSTOR account at any time. JPASS, a new subscription service for individuals, aims to get more of JSTOR’s archives into the hands of people who might otherwise be cut off from them. For a smallish monthly or yearly fee, researchers can buy the right to read an unlimited number of articles from about 1,500 journals in JSTOR’s archival collection, and they can download up to 10 articles a month or 120 annually. Source: JSTOR

SCRIBLE AND EASYBIB INTEGRATION

EasyBib has partnered with a FREE online annotation tool--scrible! With scrible, you’re able to annotate and highlight webpages and articles right from your browser and save them to your scrible Library. you never have to worry about losing your work AGAIN. Now, our EasyBib users can export citations of articles in their scrible Library to EasyBib. All you have to do is select the articles in your scrible Library and click the “Export to EasyBib” button at the top of the scrible Library menu. A new browser tab opens up and you’ll see the corresponding citations in an EasyBib bibliography. Source: information paraphrased from scrible blog September 26, 2013

GHANIAN POET KILLED IN NAIROBI

The Ghanaian poet and statesman Kofi Awoonor was killed Saturday by terrorists in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. One of Ghana's best-known literary figures, Awoonor had formerly been a United Nations envoy and an ambassador to Brazil and Cuba. The 78-year-old writer was reportedly in Kenya for the Storymoja Hay literary festival, which has been suspended following the attacks. Ghana's president, John Dramani Mahama, said in a statement, "I am shocked to hear the death of professor Kofi Awoonor in the Nairobi mall terrorist attack. Such a sad twist of fate." The library has purchased "Until the Morning After Collected Poems 1963-1985" by Mr. Awoonor. SOURCE: National Public Radio, September 23, 2013

Banned Book: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Challenged as required reading in at least three freshmen English classes at Westfield, NJ High School (2012) because of "some very sensitive material in the book includng excerpts on masturbation among other explicit sexual references, encouraging pornography, racism, religious irreverence, and strong language." Challenged at the West Valley School District in Yakima, WA (2013) because some parents found the sexual references and profanity in the novel inappropriate for high school students. Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom May 2012 pp. 105-106; Marh 2013 pp. 51-52

BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2013

Act now to protect your right to read. 1. Stay informed The best way to fight censorship is to be aware that it's happening. The American Library Association publishes the Newsletter on Intellectual Fredom and provides regular news updates. 2. Challenge censorship The Hoffman Family Library this week will call your attention to a number of well-known books that have been challenged or taken off the shelves of libaries. We have a display across from the elevators on the first floor. In the library we will display some of the books from our library that have been challenged or banned. We will frequently be in the lobby with information about the freedom to read that is firmly rooted in the First Amendment. 3. Support your libraries Volunteer to talk about a favorite book of yours that has been challenged. Please come to the library to get and wear a Banned Book button! We have a list in the library of books challenged, restricted, removed, or banned in 2012 and 2013 as reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom from May 2012 to May 2013. Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; PEN American Center and and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

MAN BOOKER SHORT LIST

Man Booker Shortlist 2013 10 September 2013 We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus) The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta) The Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador) The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury) A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate) The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (Penguin)

APA STYLE BLOG

I found this wonderful resource! It is the APA Official Style Blog. It is really offical and has so much wonderful information for using the APA format. The APA Style Blog is the official companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. It's run by a group of experts who work with APA Style every day. They publish weekly posts to talk about what they love—writing, publishing, and APA Style. Who knew? They explore what APA Style is and how it works in a variety of areas, including reference citations of every sort, grammar and usage, the publication process, and social media. Occasionally they feature guest bloggers who write about more technical issues. Wait, wait--there's more. Best of the APA Style Blog: 2013 Edition Each fall the APA Style Blog Team puts together a “best of” feature, and this year they they did it again continuing the tradition with an updated set of posts from the APA Style Blog and the parent site, apastyle.org. I hope this will be helpful as new and returning students--not to mention librarians and faculty-- set upon the task of learning and implementing APA Style. Find it HERE.

BEST EMVIRONMENTAL COVERAGE

 

 The Utne *winner for Best Environmental Coverage for 2013 is High Country News

Utne  explains explains best why they chose HCN: “If it weren’t for High Country News, we might never have heard about the effects of Twilight-inspired tourism on the Quileute tribe, about abandoned subdivision developments at the foot of the Grand Tetons, or the struggles of a California ski town facing warming temperatures and unpredictable snow falls. With riveting reports from people tapped in to the shouts of the wild, HCN sheds light on what’s happening in America beyond the edges of the daily, urban-focused news cycle.”

The Hoffman Family Library subscribes to HCN published bi-weekly 22 times a year.

The runners-up in this category were Grist, OnEarth, and Resurgent/Ecologist.

*Note. Utne Reader and Utne.com are digests of independent ideas and alternative culture--not right, not left, but forward thinking. For 20 years, they have created “a conversation about everything from environment to the economy, politics to pop culture.” The quotes are from Utne’s webpage.” Read more: http://www.utne.com.

This month CLCD is sharing not one, not two, but three apps for you-the professionals who read! Keeping track of what you read used to be done on slips of paper or perhaps a notebook. Today there are several excellent apps for going green and having those notes with you at all times. Read these brief descriptions of apps for bookworms, then bite the bullet and add one to your phone.

Goodreads From Goodreads Inc.
IndieBound From American Booksellers Association
Book Crawler from Chiisai App Solutions

Source: Children's Literature Comprehensive Database   (CLCD)

Scholarships APP: Scholly

Scholly is an easy way for high school seniors, current undergraduates, and graduate students in the United States to find money for their education. Designed to ease the scholarship search process, Scholly’s adaptive matching engine delivers a smarter, targeted list of scholarships for each student. Scholly remedies the current outdated process which requires that each student fill out long, tiresome forms only to receive irrelevant, useless results. View it in iTunes. Only costs $0.99, it works for both iPhone and Android.

Read about the inventor of Scholly in the current issue of eCAMPUS NEWS.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE FIRST INCOME TAX

It was on this day in 1861 that Abraham Lincoln signed the first income tax into law. It taxed imports, provided for a direct land tax, and imposed a tax of 3% on individual incomes over $800 (in current dollars, $18,000). Lincoln could only tax the northern states and the Revenue Act of 1861 lasted only 10 years. The federal income tax returned for good in 1913 with the passage of the 16th Amendment. 

SAVE FUNDING FOR NEH

We need to help protect federal funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and for Connecticut Humanities. Last week, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee sent a budget bill for FY 2014 to the full Appropriations Committee that includes a drastic 49% cut to NEH (and NEA) funding, which would come on top of a 19% cut over the past three years. This bill threatens the viability of the 56 state and territorial humanities councils -- including Connecticut Humanities -- which receive significant funding from the NEH.  

  

Before the full House Appropriations Committee votes on the bill, I urge you to contact your representatives, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, to thank them for their long-standing support for the NEH and Connecticut Humanities, to voice your opposition to cuts that would devastate the NEH and the state humanities councils, and to urge them to do all they can to keep these cuts from happening.   

The House Appropriations Committee has scheduled a markup of the FY 2014 Interior Appropriations bill for Wednesday, July 31, so it is essential that you not delay! 

Please use this link to send an electronic message to your representative.

 
http://www.congressweb.com/fshc

   

  

BOOKER PRIZE LONG LIST ANNOUNCED

The Man Booker Prize Long list for 2013 was announced last week by this year’s panel of judges.  The prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonweatlh or the Republic of Ireland. The winner of the prize receives £50,000, and, like all the shortlisted authors, a check for £2,500 and a designer bound copy of their books.

The Long List includes 13 novels:

Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki*

Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw

Harvest by Jim Crace*

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Kills by Richard House

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris

The Spinning Heart by Donl Ryan

The Testament of Mary  by Colm Toibin*

Transatlantic by Colum McCann

Unexploded by Alison MacLeod

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo*

*These books have been ordered. Transatlantic is owned by the library and has been checked out. The short list will be announced in September and the prize awarded in October. Last year’s winner was Hilary Mantel for Bringing Up the Bodies.

NEW SERIES BY RICHARD PAUL EVANS

The library has the first two books in the Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans.
The Prisoner of Cell 25 (2012)
Rise the Elgen (2013)

We also have the first book in Evens The Walk series. All three are highly recommended by members of the Goodwin community.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Space is intrinsically political. That is, it is a medium for the distribution of power, rights, fantasy, and pleasure. In an age increasingly dominated by issues of shortage, inequality, and the corporate manipulation of desire, space--and the city in particular--is the territory on which the struggle for good lives and good planetary citizenship must be waged."

By Michael Sorkin, Professor of Architecture and director of the graduate program in urban design at the City College of New York in Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books.