Early Childhood Education: StoryPlace

StoryPlace, presented in both English and Spanish, offers children the opportunity to view online stories, participate in interactive activities, and print activity pages. Five themes are currently available in the Pre-school Library: colors, teddy bears, crocodiles, animals, and monkeys. Each section features activities centered on the theme. For instance, in the teddy bear theme, children can choose to view and listen to the story 6 Little Teddy Bears, help Bella Teddy Bear choose the correct clothing for the weather, or print a teddy bear doll to cut out and put together. There is also an annotated booklist for each theme. The site developers plan to add an Early Elementary Library soon.

Homeland Security: Risk Reduction

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has adopted a focused approach to risk reduction. DHS is moving increasingly to risk analysis and risk-based resource allocation, a process that is designed to manage the greatest risks instead of attempting to protect everything. This report applies a probabilistic terrorism model that is broadly applied in the insurance industry to assess risk across cities, to assess risks within specific cities, and to assist intelligence analysis.
Terrorism Risk Modeling for Intelligence Analysis and Infrastructure Protection
Source: RAND Corporation

Teacher Sourcebook

The publisher of Education Week has launched a new, twice-yearly resource guide on teacher professional development, available online for free. The first issue examines the role of teacher collaborative work in improving instructon and student achievement.
http://www.teachersourcebook.org/
Source: Education Week October 31, 2007

Campus Safety and Student Privacy

The U.S. Department of Education released new guidance on Tuesday to parents and educators about the circumstances under which information about troubled students can be disclosed under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, a federal law governing student records that is often criticized for being too complicated. The brochures have been sent to colleges and schools across the country and are available on the Department of Education's Web site.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Website Worth a Look: JAMA Patient Page

This is a public service of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This online collection currently contains over 400 topical overviews to assist in communicating medical information to patients. They are written with the patient in mind and address a wide variety of topics. Color and graphis are used, but the content can be photocopied in black and white. The AMA holds the copyright to these overviews, but health care professionals are encouraged to make copies to share with patients. Many are available in English and in Spanish.
www.jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/collection/patient_page
Source: Medical Library Association News October 2007

Suspension of Books

Pat Conroy Raps Nitro High's Suspension of His Books The Prince of Tides and Beach Music have been suspended from use at Nitro High School in Kanawha County, West Virginia, and author Pat Conroy has responded. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has sent a letter to the school board in support of retaining these texts. The Charleston Gazette, October 24, 2007.

NCTE's Anti-Censorship program is founded on the belief in the Students' Right to Read and teachers' right to teach meaningful quality literature.
Source: NCTE Online Newsletter

With World Growing Smaller, IB gets Bigger

Amid heightened concern about preparing students for a global economy, the academically demanding International Baccalaureate program is catching on fast in U.S. schools. The perception that the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Baccalaureate Organization’s academic programs offer just what American students need in today’s more globally competitive environment seems to be catching on.

After decades of obscurity and slow expansion, the pace of growth in IB—including courses of study for the primary and middle school years as well as the better-known high-school-level programs—has quickened considerably.

Favorable word of mouth among educators—along with an endorsement from President Bush and glowing accounts in national magazines—has helped catapult IB into U.S. classrooms. More than 225 American schools so far this year have started offering at least one IB program, bringing the U.S. total to 800.
Source: Education Week October 31, 2007

It Takes a Miracle to Sell Your House

Cari Luna is Jewish by heritage and Buddhist by religion. She meditates regularly. Yet when she and her husband put their Brooklyn, N.Y., house on the market this year and offers kept falling through, Ms. Luna turned to an unlikely source for help: St. Joseph. After Ms. Luna and her husband held five open houses, even baking cookies for one of them, she ordered a St. Joseph "real estate kit" online and buried the three-inch white statue in her yard. "I wasn't sure if it would be disrespectful for me, a Jewish Buddhist, to co-opt this saint for my real-estate purposes," says Ms. Luna, a writer. She figured, "Well, could it hurt?"

With the worst housing market in recent years, St. Joseph is enjoying a flurry of attention. Some vendors of religious supplies say St. Joseph statues are flying off the shelves as an increasing number of skeptics and non-Catholics look for some saintly intervention to help them sell their houses. Existing-home sales fell 8 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units, the lowest level in nearly 10 years, according to the National Association of Realtors. (The picture is from a St. Joseph real estate kit.)

Source: Wall Street Journal October 30, 2007

It was 6:30 p.m. The lights were still on at Needham High School, here in the affluent Boston suburbs. Paul Richards, the principal, was meeting with the Stress Reduction Committee. On the agenda: finding the right time to bring in experts to train students in relaxation techniques. No one is busier than Josh Goldman. Captain of varsity tennis, president of the Spanish club and a member of the student council and the Stress Reduction Committee, Josh was not able to squeeze in the meeting at all.

Mr. Richards is just one principal in the vanguard of a movement to push back against an ethos of super-achievement at affluent suburban high schools amid the extreme competition over college admissions. He has joined like-minded administrators from 44 other high schools and middle schools — most in the San Francisco Bay Area but others scattered from Texas to New York — to form a group known as S.O.S., for Stressed Out Students.
Source: New York Times October 29, 2007

Power of Birth Order

Of all the things that shape who we are, few seem more arbitrary than the sequence in which we and our siblings pop out of the womb. Maybe it's your genes that make you a gifted athlete, your training that makes you an accomplished actress, an accident of brain chemistry that makes you a drunk instead of a President. But in family after family, case study after case study, the simple roll of the birth-date dice has an odd and arbitrary power all its own.

The importance of birth order has been known—or at least suspected—for years. But increasingly, there's hard evidence of its impact. In June, for example, a group of Norwegian researchers released a study showing that firstborns are generally smarter than any siblings who come along later, enjoying on average a three-point IQ advantage over the next eldest—probably a result of the intellectual boost that comes from mentoring younger siblings and helping them in day-to-day tasks. My older sister always said she was smarter, but I didn't believe it. Now I wonder.

Source: Time Magazine October 29

Evaluating College Courses

Miami Dade College believes there are 10 key skills that graduates should take away with their diplomas. They are things such as the ability to communicate clearly, think creatively, and analyze data. So the college is examining every single one of its 2,000 or so courses to make sure that no student can go through an entire degree program without being exposed to all 10 skills.

The college then plans to test graduating students on what they have learned. The massive undertaking is an answer to the increasing push from lawmakers, businesses, and college leaders themselves to ensure that students leave higher education able to function in the modern work environment. The U.S. Department of Education, which has been pushing colleges to track student learning, has applauded the effort.

10 Key Skills That Miami Dade College Wants Students to Acquire
1. To communicate effectively using listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
2. To use quantitative analytical skills to evaluate and process numerical data.
3. To solve problems using critical and creative thinking, and scientific reasoning.
4. To formulate strategies to locate, evaluate, and apply information.
5. To demonstrate knowledge of diverse cultures, including global and historical perspectives.
6. To create strategies that can be used to fulfill personal, civic, and social responsibilities.
7. To demonstrate knowledge of ethical thinking and its application to issues in society.
8. To use computer and emerging technologies effectively.
9. To demonstrate an appreciation for aesthetics and creative activities.
10. To describe how natural systems function, and recognize the impact of human beings on the environment
What do you think?
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Section: The Faculty Volume 54, Issue 10, Page A6

Did you Know?

28 billion plastic water bottles are purchased annually in the United States.
1.5 billion barrels of oil are used to make those bottles.
Americans spend $11 million on bottled water annually.
115 million African children could be fed for a year with that money.
Only 16% of plastic water bottles get recycled annually.
Americans discard 2.5 billion plastic water bottles every hour.
Tap water has to meet higher standards than bottled water.

So why not use your own tap water? Consider buying a washable stainless-steel water bottle and using the water you already pay for.

Source: Fussy Environmentally-friendly librarian

Classroom Copyright Crisis

College professors receive next to no training on copyright law and fair-use doctrine, a new report argues, and their students are suffering as a result. “The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy,” released by American University’s Center for Social Media, is based on interviews that university researchers conducted with more than 60 media-literacy educators. Those interviews paint a fairly grim portrait of teachers, unsure about the specifics of fair-use doctrine, cowed into avoiding perfectly valid uses of copyrighted material.

“Too many teachers fear they will misinterpret fair use or are simply unaware of its expansive nature,” write the study’s authors, including Peter A. Jaszi, a professor of law. Because they are afraid of violating copyright, “teachers use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit erroneous copyright information, fail to share innovative instructional approaches, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms.” This would be a good topic for an in-service workshop.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Surfing History

Created by the University of Connecticut Libraries, these digitized volumes of public records of Connecticut during the colonial period include the transcription of the original records of the General Assembly. For those seeking more information on Connecticut's history online, here are some reliable starting points:

Colonial Connecticut Records 1636-1776 (colonialct.uconn.edu). Created by the University of Connecticut Libraries, these digitized volumes of public records of Connecticut during the colonial period include the transcription of the original records of the General Assembly.
Connecticut Historical Society (chs.org). Founded in 1825, this nonprofit center has special online exhibits highlighting the state's history and demographics.
Connecticut State Library ( http://www.cslib.org/). This portal provides access to state and local history, genealogy and public records.
Godfrey Memorial Library (godfrey.org). Based in Middletown, this celebrated collection of approximately 200,000 books and periodicals can be tapped into via its Godfrey Scholar Program, which enables members to access to a vast number of online databases.
iCONN (iconn.org). A part of the Connecticut Education Network, this service provides students, teachers and state residents with essential library and information resources, including access to The Courant and other newspaper archives. Specialized research information is also available to college students and faculty.

Source: (Hartford Courant)

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

zCollege campuses across the United States and Canada are stepping up green practices and policies, with more than two out of three schools showing improved performance over the last year, according to the new College Sustainability Report Card 2008.
College Sustainability Report Card 2008
Source: Sustainable Endowments Institute

APA 2007 Stress in America Report

One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. Stress is taking a toll on people — contributing to health problems, poor relationships and lost productivity at work, according to a new national survey released today by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Money and work continue as the leading causes of stress for three quarters of Americans, a dramatic increase over the 59 percent reporting the same sources of stress in 2006. The survey also found that the housing crisis is having an effect on many, with half of Americans (51 percent) citing rent or mortgage costs as sources of stress this year.
APA 2007 Stress in America Report
Source: American Psychological Association

CQ Researcher: Baby Boomers

In January, the oldest baby boomers will turn 62 — and become eligible to collect Social Security benefits. For the next 18 years, a member of the baby boom generation — the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — will reach that age every eight seconds. Boomers have long been famous for their desire to stay or at least act young. What will they be like as seniors? Many predict they will reshape the nation's view of old age, as healthier boomers continue to work and stay active longer than their parents. Others worry that the vast expansion of the nation's senior population will put unaffordable strains on government entitlement programs.Still others worry boomers could upset the economy as they begin spending down their assets all at once. Boomers have left their imprint on every stage of American life they've passed through, and there's no reason to think that the senior years will be any exception. Read the entire CQ Researcher report online. Contact the library staff for user name and password.

Source: CQ Researcher

Web Site: Knowledgespeak

Knowledgespeak is the world's first online news service to report all the relevant developments within the STM publishing industry, on a daily basis. This is a free service that also offers additional resources including a blog area, calendar of events, articles, white papers and a directory of STM publishers.

Who is STM? STM is an international association of about 100 scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishers, collectively responsible for more than 60% of the global annual output of research articles, over half the active research journals and the publication of tens of thousands of print and electronic books, reference works and databases.
Source: Mary Laine, Librarian

New Recruiting Idea

Have we been missing out? Should we be recruiting at Mohegan Sun? Can poker capture — and improve — the minds of young Americans? Charles R. Nesson, a Harvard law professor, insists that it can. He has set up a group called the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society with a clear mission: "the legitimation of poker."

While Congress has severely restricted online poker, Mr. Nesson and colleagues are creating an open, online poker community that hopes to persuade young, sharp-minded players to consider college. A good poker player makes a great college student, argues Mr. Nesson, an expert on evidence who has appeared several times before the U.S. Supreme Court and who founded and co-directs Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The organization (http://www.gpsts.org/) is forming chapters at several universities, including Boston, Brown, Tufts, and Stanford.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Education's End

I recommended this book, Education's End, in the Four Year Task Force meeting yesterday. According to author Anthony Kronman, the question of what living is for—of what one should care about and why—is the most important question a person can ask. Yet under the influence of the modern research ideal, our colleges and universities have expelled this question from their classrooms, judging it unfit for organized study. In this book, Kronman explores why this he thinks this has happened and calls for the restoration of life’s most important question to an honored place in higher education. Anthony T. Kronman is Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School. Since stepping down as Dean of the Law School in 2004, he has been teaching in the Directed Studies Program at Yale. It will soon be in the Goodwin collection.

Economics and Murder: New books in the Library

Murder at the Margins by Marshall Jevons is an amusing mystery story that introdced a new method of detection: Professor Henry Spearman's "little grey cells" use the framework of microeconomic analysis to solve a sequence of murders. This novel is used as text book in colleges and high schools. The novel, also valuable as supplementary reading for introductory economics courses, gives a vivid display of how economic choices affect human behavior. Marshall Jevons is the pseudonym of William Brett and Kenneth G. Elzinga, both university professors of economics. The library has two more mysteries by Jevons: The Fatal Equilibrium and A Deadly Indifference--a painless and enjoyable way to learn some economics.

MRSA in Health Care Settings

MRSA has been featured in the news and on television programs a great deal recently. MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This type of bacteria causes “staph” infections that are resistant to treatment with usual antibiotics. MRSA occurs most frequently among patients who undergo invasive medical procedures or who have weakened immune systems and are being treated in hospitals and healthcare facilities such as nursing homes and dialysis centers.

MRSA in healthcare settings commonly causes serious and potentially life threatening infections, such as bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, or pneumonia. In addition to healthcare associated infections, MRSA can also infect people in the community at large, generally as skin infections that may look like pimples or boils and can be swollen, painful and have draining pus. These skin infections often occur in otherwise healthy people.
Source: Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Berkeleyh puts Courses on YouTube

University of California, Berkeley began making its course lectures and special events freely available on YouTube. At present, this amounts to more than 300 hours of captured courses and events. The university said it will continue to expand the volume and range of videos it makes available to the public. "UC Berkeley on YouTube will provide a public window into university life--academics, events and athletics--which will build on our rich tradition of open educational content for the larger community," said Christina Maslach, UC Berkeley's vice provost for undergraduate education, in a prepared statement.
Source: Campus Technology

More Power to Government Regulators?

Americans have been alarmed by recent product recalls, including toothpaste containing an ingredient found in antifreeze, tainted pet food and millions of Mattel toys containing toxic lead paint. The recalls — all involving Chinese-made products — prompted government hearings that spotlighted problems at the underfunded and, critics say, overwhelmed Consumer Product Safety Commission. Meanwhile, inspectors found contamination in imported seafood as well as millions of pounds of U.S.-produced ground beef, triggering concerns that the two agencies responsible for food safety — the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture — were also understaffed and underpowered. While food and product safety scares are not new, the skyrocketing growth of Asian imports has forced even industry groups to call for stepped-up consumer protection. Consumer advocates salute the trend but warn that some industries may be seeking to regulate themselves in an effort to preempt Congress from passing tougher laws.

Source: CQ Researcher 10/12/07 (available in the library, password protected subscription)

Nobel Literature Prize to Lessing

It's about time. "Doris Lessing, the Persian-born, Rhodesian-raised and London-residing novelist whose deeply autobiographical writing has swept across continents and reflects her engagement with the social and political issues of her time, yesterday won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature." (first paragraph from the New York Times article today)

Ms Lessing is best known for her series of novels Children of Violence , written in the 1950s and featuring her heroine Martha Quest, whose growth in consciousness reflected the author's concerns over social justice. Her first, semi-autobiographical novel, The Grass is Singing , addressed the culture clashes and racial discrimination she encountered during her childhood in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

She was most influential with her 1960's novel, The Golden Notebook, which examined the multiple aspects of the life of a woman, Anna Wulf, in an experimental style. The feminist movement regarded it as a pioneering work. She went on to experiment with a variety of styles, publishing her most recent novel, Cleft, in January. She is 88 years old. The previous two winners were Orhan Pamuk of Turkey and Harold Pinter of Britain.

New Sunday Library Hours

TheGoodwin library will be open Sundays from 12 to 5:30. This is in reponse to student requests for expanded hours.

Racial Diversity in the Public School

Has the Supreme Court dealt a blow to integration?

CQ Researcher 9/14/07

Fifty years after the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools, a new ruling has raised doubts about how far local school boards can go to integrate classrooms. The court's 5-4 ruling in cases from Seattle and Louisville bars school districts from using race as a factor in individual pupil assignments. Like many other school districts, the two school systems used racial classifications to promote diversity in the face of segregated housing patterns.

This 20 page report is available online, password protected. Contact the library staff for the user name and password.

New Feature: Famous Libraries I Have Seen

The Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford and one of the highlights of any visit to Oxford. Its collections are used by scholars from around the world.

The Bodleian Library is really not one library but many, housed in buildings all over the city of Oxford. The historic core of the Bodleian is located around Radcliffe Square, however, with the oldest parts being the magnificent Duke Humphrey's Library (1488)--shown here. It is now the second largest library in the UK (after the British Library in London).

The Bodleian receives a copy of every new book printed in Britain, a practice that began in 1610, so that the library contains an unrivaled 400 year record of British literature. The Bodleian is unique in that it is not a lending library - no books can be borrowed, only read on the premises. The Bodleian takes this restriction seriously; in a famous case, King Charles I was refused permission to borrow a book.

Open Course Ware

Tufts University http://ocw.tufts.edu/

Here's a treasure trove from one of our most prestigious universities: the site provides free access to the syllabus, calendar, lectures, and slides for a variety of courses, primarily in the health sciences.
Source: Mary Laine, Librarian

Play the Candidate Match Game

It seems like everyone is running for president. How will you decided whom to support? This quiz from USA Today asks you 11 questions on issues ranging from Iraq to taxes. Answer each question and see how the candidates stak up. When you're finished, see how that changes which candidates are on your side. Take the quiz!
Source: USA Today

Astronomy Media Player

This is a collection of the best astronomy podcasts from around the world." Includes astronomy courses, observations of the night sky, "ask an astronomer" podcasts, and podcasts from observatories and space agencies. The media player was created as something that will play both audio and video - specifically for astronomy (that includes the night sky, planetary science, astrophysics and cosmology). The aim was to make it easier for everyone to find the astronomy multimedia resources that are out there and perhaps be entertained at the same time.

http://www.jodcast.net/amp/index.html

Crowded Course at Harvard

The final numbers came in this week: Positive Psychology, a class whose content resembles that of many a self-help book but is grounded in serious psychological research, has enrolled 855 students, beating out even Introductory Economics.

Every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:30 a.m., students crowd into Sanders Theatre to learn about creating, as the course description puts it, ''a fulfilling and flourishing life," courtesy of the booming new area of psychology that focuses on what makes people feel good rather than the pathologies that can make them feel miserable.

In the last several years, positive psychology classes have cropped up on more than 100 campuses around the country. But with such an enormous course enrollment, Tal D. Ben-Shahar, the lecturer who teaches Harvard's course, ''is the leader of the pack right now." Ben-Shahar has written book that covers some of the material in the class; it is called "Happier."
Source: Boston.com Local News

Evaluating Teaching under NCLB

Evaluating Teacher Quality Under No Child Left Behind
This research brief summarizes the progress that states, districts, and schools have made in implementing the teacher qualification provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Source: RAND Corportion
Available in HTML or PDF (117 KB

Educator's Reference Complete

This collection of more than 1,100 periodicals and 200 reports is a great resource for any educator -- from the school teacher and administrator to those studying in the field at the collegiate and graduate level. Educator's Reference Complete is the perfect complement for any library that utilizes the ERIC database, because it provides full-text results for nearly half of the journal titles found in ERIC. This database covers multiple levels of education from preschool to college, and every educational specialty -- such as technology, bilingual education, health education, and testing. Educator's Reference Complete also focuses on issues in administration, funding and policy. Find it under "Electronic Resources A-Z" on the Goodwin library page.

Where is IT in Higher Education?

Where Is IT in Higher Education Headed?
Join The Chronicle of Higher Education editors Thursday at noon for the Brown Bag, an online discussion on technology in higher education.

Technology changes at a rapid pace, yet higher education traditionally moves slowly to adopt new ways. How will the growth of technology change the college campus, from the classroom to the backroom? Gartner Inc., a technology-research and information company, publishes an annual report, the "Hype Cycle for Higher Education," that looks ahead to the predicted effects of technology on colleges and universities. The latest report highlights claims that technologies integral to the transformation of higher education in the next 10 years will be global library-digitization projects, personal devices with campus-network access, Internet2, e-learning repositories, quantum computing, and virtual worlds.

Join the discussion
Submit a question

Don't Forget the Internet Public Library

Drexel University took the reins of the Internet Public Library at the beginning of this year, and the institution is now starting to put its stamp on the project. Drexel announced this week that it intends to turn the online library — which was created by researchers at the University of Michigan — into “a virtual teaching and learning laboratory for digital reference."Now would be a good time to visit this great resource.

SOSIG: Social Science Information Gateway

SOSIG (pronounced, yes, "sausage") is now known as Intute: social science. No matter what it is called, this is a great place to start if you are looking for resources in the areas of social science, government, politics, or business.
Source: Web Search Pacific

Newly Licensed RNs: Job Retention Study

The September issue of AJN features an article, "Newly Licensed RNs' Characteristics, Work Attitudes, and Intentions to Work" The objective of the study was to understand turnover rates in hospitals. The authors surveyed new RNs in 35 states and DC. More than 41% reported that if they were free to go into any job, they would want another job. Those whosse first professional degree was an associate's degree were more intent on leaving than those whose first professional degree was a bachelor's degree. This is recommended reading for nursing faculty and students.
Source: AJN September 2007, 58-69

Future Students: Make it in Scrubs

http://www.makeitinscrubs.com/

Youth and young adults interested in working in health care can go here to explore job options, research financial aid possibilities and take a quiz that matches their personalities with careers in the field. They can find details on duties, salaries and educational requirements for more than 100 jobs, and advice about what high school and college courses to take.

Don't Miss Sicko!

Now playing at Cinestudio in Hartford today and tomorrow! For times and directions, go to http://www.cinestudio.org/.

"Sicko may not tilt next year’s elections one way or the other, but Michael Moore’s devastating and hilarious documentary will make it harder to ignore the disasters of our health care system. Returning to the gentler populist humor of Roger & Me, Moore interviews patients and doctors in France and Canada (happy), doctors in the U.S. (less happy) and American patients (very much less happy). But before you think Moore has lost his confrontational edge, he’s hauling a boatload of 9/11 rescue workers off to Cuba, to take advantage of what the administration boasted were the excellent medical facilities for enemy combatants held at Guantánamo Bay. '...generates a feeling of outrage that seems to be reverberating in every theater.'" Andrew Sarris, New York Observer. " (quoted from Cinestudio online calendar)

National Preparedness Month: Homeland Security

Throughout September there will be activities across the country to promote emergency preparedness. Over 1,300 organizations – national, regional, and local public and private organizations – are supporting emergency preparedness efforts and encouraging all Americans to take action.
You can join the effort by following 3 steps:
• Get a kit.
• Make a plan.
• Be informed.

September 2007 marks the fourth annual National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security. One goal of Homeland Security is to educate the public about how to prepare for emergencies, including natural disasters, mass casualties, biological and chemical threats, radiation emergencies, and terrorist attacks. As part of National Preparedness Month, CDC has launched a new Web site, Emergency Preparedness and You. CDC has teamed up with the American Red Cross to identify and answer common questions about preparing for unexpected events.
Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

What is ChemSpider?

ChemSpider is a chemistry search engine. It has been built with the intention of aggregating and indexing chemical structures and their associated information into a single searchable repository and making it available to everybody, at no charge. I am told that ChemSpider offers the fastest chemical structure searches available online and delivers them with the flexibility and usability necessary to encourage repeat usage. Try it.
Source: http://www.chemspider.com/

Early Childhood Education: Reading Event

Jumpstart and Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) invites you to share The Story of Ferdinand with children in your community on Thursday, September 20, 2007.

By taking part in Jumpstart's Read for the Record (http://www.readfortherecord.org/) you will be a part of this nationwide movement connecting children and adults and reinforcing the importance of providing all children with the learning experiences they need in order to be successful.

Source: Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

Challenges of 21st Century Classrooms

Some students are "speaking" the new language of IM while other students are struggling to learn academic English. These earmarks of today's classrooms can give a teacher pause. But two NCTE policies provide insight on how to work with our students in this challenging 21st century environment: the CCCC Position Statement on Teaching, Learning, and Assessing Writing in Digital Environments and NCTE Position Paper on the Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners (ELLs).
Source: National Council of Teachers of English

Reading Connects Faculty, Students

College campuses are discovering the possibilities that open up when students, faculty and staff make a point to read the same book. In the process, such "common readings" serve a range of purposes, especially for incoming students who are navigating a big transition.

"When students have more active involvement in school, when they have closer relationships with faculty, they're more likely to persist and more likely to graduate," says Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. "The common readings are a signal to students that this is going to be a very intentional, very engaging first year of college."

In recent years, hundreds of colleges and universities have come to assign common readings for new students to complete over the summer. The readings seldom include classics but instead feature today's hot-selling books on timely topics. Among this year's themes: justice for developing nations, global warming and individuals making a difference in society. Here are a few examples:

College of Holy Cross: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
LaGuardia Community College: An Inconvenient Truth
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology: Life of Pi
University of Vermont: Long Way Gone and a screening of "Blood Diamonds."
Meredith College: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Texas State University: The Water Planet: A River Runs Through It
Goucher College: The Death of Vishnu
Source: National Council of Teachers of English from USA Today story

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.

Every Child is Average

The current No Child Left Behind legislation is based on the idea that every student is capable of being proficient, with performance that falls “in the middle,” between basic and advanced achievement. The problem is that striving for an average level of proficiency actually dilutes student achievement. As the Education Week article “NCLB Seen as Curbing Low, High Achievers’ Gains” reports, the focus on teaching to the average level of student proficiency leaves students who achieve at higher and lower levels behind. Teachers work to to ensure students reach the mandated adequate yearly progress scores, but in the end, students who are above or below average lose. High achievers aren’t challenged to move beyond average performance, and struggling students are not given the support they need to reach proficiency.
Source: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Inbox

Case for Intelligent Consumption

Part of the mission of this college is to build “a foundation for students to become responsible citizens and enhance their quality of life.” I thought of that when I read what other colleges are doing to promote intelligent consumption. Recently educators at Oregon State University developed an intelligent consumption program called “Sustainable Living Project.” “Creating a sustainable Community” is under development at the University of Connecticut now. “Educators with backgrounds in environmental sciences, psychology, economies, group facilitation, social sciences, youth development, communication and outreach”, according to the author Tom Worthleyof UCONN, “can be part of the educational effort to create and encourage communities of people committed to living in a more sustainable way.” Incorporating concepts of sustainable living across programmatic lines and into existing and new outreach programs—how cool would that be for Goodwin College?
Source: “The Case for Intelligent Consumption” by Tom Worthley in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Journal September 2007
Suggested Sites: Environmental News Network and OSU Sustainable Living Project

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It's here! The library has several copies of the final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter. An astonishing 11,000,000 copies were sold in the first 24 hours! Don't miss the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's bestselling series.

Higher Education Act in Senate

The Senate continues debate on the Higher Education Act today, with final passage of the sweeping bill expected in the late morning or early afternoon. They voted on Monday to reject an amendment that would have created a federal loan program that would compete with private loans. Before adjourning yesterday, the Senate also passed a handful of amendments including: a federal clearinghouse that would allow students to shop around for the best loan terms, study the feasibility of collecting information on the employment of college graduates , federal funds for 80 Upward Bound programs that lost their grants this year, including 21 programs at historically black colleges and universities. The Upward Bound Program provides grants to colleges and organizations to prepare low-income high-school students for college, and program of technology grants for minority-serving institutions.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Classic Short Stories for English Classes

This Web site is dedicated to the short story and to those interested in reading light prose.Fewer and fewer people these days read short stories. This is unfortunate--so few will ever experience the joy that reading such fine work can give. The goal of this site is to give a nice cross section of short stories in the hope that these short stories will excite these people into rediscovering this excellent source of entertainment. This collection of classics includes Poe, Twain, Melville, James, and more. Enjoy!
Source: Classic Short Stories http://www.classicshorts.com/

Last Harry Potter Update

Book 6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort and his Death Eaters are wreaking havoc across Britain as Harry, now 16, enters his sixth year at Hogwarts. Harry learns that Voldemort has split his soul into seven objects known as Horcruxes which will give him immortality. Two Horcruxes have already been destroyed, and Harry and Dumbledore set out to retrieve another. Finding one in a locket, they return to Hogwarts. There they are ambushed by Death Eaters and Dumbledore is killed by Snape. Harry pursues Snape, who reveals he is the Half-Blood Prince before escaping. Harry discovers the Horcrux he has is a fake -- the real one was already destroyed by someone named "R.A.B." who has left a note in the locket. Harry decides not to return to Hogwarts the next year so that he can destroy the remaining Horcruxes, thereby killing Voldemort. Ron and Hermione vow to join him.

Book 7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
This is the last book in the series and is out this weekend. Reserve a copy in the library now!

Generation Hex

They grew up together, if in two different worlds, the boy wizard and a generation of college students. The darkest of Dark Arts, they say, couldn't keep them from diving into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series, on July 21. Lucky for them, they won't need a "time-turner" to hold on to the magic.

Universities and colleges across the country are adding Harry Potter to the curriculum in a variety of disciplines — English, philosophy, Latin, history, and science — and professors say courses fill up as quickly as Honeydukes on a Hogsmeade weekend.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education July 18, 2007

Colldge Accreditation System Fails

The federal government's system for accrediting colleges is a misguided failure that should be largely replaced with a simpler method that relies on key institutional data about cost and quality, a trustees group is arguing.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a conservative-leaning lobbying association led by Anne D. Neal, proposed in a report released on Tuesday that a process of "expedited accreditation" might begin to repair a system that the council regards as detracting from academic quality rather than improving it.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education July 18, 2007

Histology Laboratory

The July issue of Lab Medicine features an article on the automation of the histology laboratory. The field of histopathology has been enriched with new discoveries and technological advances during the last decades. This article presents a review of the specimen flow through the various stages of tissue handling from surgery to molecular assays, the steps facilitated by automation, and improved instrumentation. This issue is available in the library now.
Source: "Automation of Histology Laboratory" Lab Medicine July 2007

Harry Potter Update Continued

Book 4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry, now in his fourth year at Hogwarts, is selected to compete in the ancient and dangerous inter-school Triwizard Tournament, even though he is too young. Harry completes two tasks in the tournament alone, and the third -- a trip through a maze -- simultaneously with fellow Hogwartian, Cedric Diggory. The two winners touch the trophy together and are transported to a graveyard, where Peter Pettigrew kills Diggory on the spot and ties up Harry. Pettigrew then enacts a ritual that transfers some of Harry's blood to Voldemort, making him immune to the magic that protects Harry, as well as giving the Dark Lord a body. Voldemort and Harry enter a duel, but because their wands are "brothers," they connect (the Priori Incantatem effect if you really want to impress), causing spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Harry's parents, to spill out from his wand. These odd ghost-like beings help Harry escape back to Hogwarts. Barely an hour later, Harry's life is again threatened, this time by a Death Eater masquerading as a teacher, but he is saved by Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall.

Book 5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
After Dementors attack Harry and his bullying cousin Dudley during the summer, our hero is escorted to the secret headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret group of wizards fighting the Dark Lord who is rallying his forces and trying to retrieve a secret weapon: a prophecy hidden in a glass sphere. Harry has a vision that Sirius Black is being held captive by Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries. Determined to retrieve Black, Harry, Ron and others are lured into a trap, but are saved from Death Eaters when Order members arrive. A battle ensues, the glass sphere is broken and the prophecy is lost. Black is killed by a Death Eater. Voldemort appears, fights Dumbledore, and then escapes. Dumbledore later reveals the prophecy: in effect, Harry must either destroy Voldemort or be killed by him. The movie version of this book is out now and getting good reviews. Tomorrow the Potter update will finish with Book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

New Books

Assessing Academic Achievement by David E. Tanner
The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan (edited by Douglas Brinkley)
Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China by Peter Hessler (National Book Finalist)
The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage
Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny by Suze Orman
Triple Crown: Three Complete Novels by Dick Francis
Learning to Breathe by Karen White
Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos
The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate by Tim Flannery
Famous by Kathleen Flenniken (Poems)
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Harry Potter Review Continued

Book 2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Despite dire warnings about returning to Hogwarts, Harry does so, only to learn that a monster has escaped from Hogwarts' chamber of secrets. It attacks several students -- including Hermione -- leaving them paralyzed. Because he is able to speak to snakes, Harry is suspected of being the Heir of Slytherin, the villain who has unlocked the chamber of secrets and is controlling the monster. Ron's sister Ginny is kidnapped and hauled off to the chamber, forcing Harry and Ron to take action. In the chamber, Harry encounters and kills Tom Riddle who -- it gets a bit confusing here -- is a sort of ghost-memory version of the teenage Voldemort, the real heir of Slytherin. (Bonus point: "Tom Marvolo Riddle" is an anagram of "Lord Voldemort.") That closes the chamber and Harry leaves Hogwarts for summer break.

Book 3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry is back at Hogwarts for a third year, eager to play Quidditch. Instead, Harry finds himself in apparent danger from the convicted murderer Sirius Black, who has escaped from Azkaban prison. Soul-sucking Dementors, who guard the prison, have been sent to Hogwarts, supposedly to protect Harry from the escapee, but who more than once attack our hero. Eventually, Harry learns that Black was once his parent's best friend and accused of having betrayed their whereabouts to Voldemort. Worse, Black, it turns out, is Harry's godfather. But when Harry finally confronts Black, he discovers that Black was framed for giving up Harry's parents and that he escaped Azkaban to kill the actual murderer, Peter Pettigrew (a.k.a. Wormtail), Voldemort's servant. Black is captured by the Dementors but, thanks to Hermione's time-travelling device, she and Harry return to the recent past to help Black escape.

Tomorrow--Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Global Researcher: Energy Nationalism

A world thirsting for imported oil and gas is seeking new supplies in Central Asia and Africa, where many nations have nationalized their energy resources. In a dramatic reversal from 30 years ago, government-owned or controlled petroleum companies today control 77 percent of the world's 1.1 trillion barrels of oil reserves. While the emergence of these rising petrostates has helped diversify the world's energy sources, many are considered oil “hot spots” — vulnerable to disruption from international terrorists or domestic dissidents. In addition, many of the petrostates are blending politics and energy into a new energy nationalism, rewriting the rules of the world's energy markets and restricting international oil corporations' operations. Russia's confrontational energy policies alarm its neighbors, and critics say a booming China is combing the world for access to oil and gas resources without concern for suppliers' corruption or human rights violations. Many also worry that growing competition for dwindling oil supplies will lead to greater risks of international conflict.

Source: summary from the report Global Researcher July 20, 2007. Read the report by going to CQ Researcher.

Harry Potter Review

The seventh and last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, arrives in bookstores Friday, July 21. If Harry Potter is little more than a name to you, some background is in order so that you won't feel left out as the talk over the next few days swirls around all things Harry. Each day this week I will provide a summary of one of the previous books.

The story's backdrop is that Harry was left an orphan at the tender age of one when his wizard parents were killed by the evil curse of the dark Lord Voldemort. Harry survived the curse -- although it did leave a distinctive scar on his forehead -- and was raised by the singularly ordinary Dursleys, a Muggles (non-magical) family.At 11, Harry is enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is where book 1 really gets rolling.

Book 1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
On the train to Hogwarts, Harry meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, with whom he's to become fast friends, as well as the hateful Draco Malfoy, a subsequent player on the side of evil. At Hogwarts, he encounters the kindly headmaster Albus Dumbledore and other professor-wizards like Minerva McGonagall, Harry's head of house, and the evil-seeming Severus Snape, who are to play roles throughout the series. Harry turns out to be an expert flier, allowing him to play the school sport Quidditch, a kind of soccer on broomsticks, for his house team Gryffindor. He also joins forces with Ron and Hermione to find out what is being hidden in Hogwarts -- and guarded by a three-headed dog. The three discover that it's the Philosopher's Stone, which produces the elixir of life. Voldemort wants the stone and he and Harry battle it out. Harry saves the stone, but Voldemort escapes. Harry returns to the Dursleys for the summer.

Tomorrow: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

America's Wildest Places on DVD

From the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service the library has acquired a three DVD set of America's Wildest Places

Volume 1--A Video Tour of Eight National Wildlife Refuges.This two hour DVD contains a tour of refuges from Alaska to the Caribbean.
Volume 2-National Wildlife Refuge Overview Plus Six Refuge Tours. This DVD takes you to six more of Americans outstanding refuges from Missippi's Noxubee refuge to the majesty of Alaska's Yukon flats and includes a 12 minute overview of the whole system.
Volume 3-Touring America's National Wildlife Refuges.The theme for this volume is water in Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts, Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Vermont and four others.

Summer Science Reading

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

Although best known as a novelist, Barbara Kingsolver is also a biologist, mom, wife, and former science writer. In this lively and informative book, all those facets of her life shine through. Husband Steve Hopp and daughter Camille also contribute to this family story of " a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew...and how our family was changed." Highly recommended.

Book Reviews from Critical Compendium

ABOUT CRITICAL COMPENDIUM, a daily dose of book reviews from around the world!
What you'll find at this site: Book reviews, and lots of them. Every day they post links and a few lines from or about reviews from newspapers, journals, magazines and web zines. You will also find a sizable list of links to book review sections around the world. For a librarian, this is too good to be true!

The goal of Critical Compendium is to maximize the economy of mouse clicks in getting you to book reviews and book review sites. Some sites - like Mother Jones and The Nation - only list their book reviews on general arts/entertainment pages or home pages and require an extra click or two. Unfortunately, this cannot be avoided.
http://criticalcompendium.com/index.html

Bottled Water Information

Estimated amount of oil, in barrels, used to make the bottled-water containers sold in the U.S. last year: 16,000,ooo

Ratio of the amount of water used to make the containers to the amount of bottled water consumed: 2:1

Average number of liters of bottled water delivered to U.S. troops in Iraq eacxh day: 1,400,000
Source: Harper's Magazine August

Xrefer is now Credo Reference

Xrefer is now Credo Reference! They have changed the name of the company and the online reference service to Credo Reference, a name which is easy to remember and stands for a place where you can find dependable information.

The following updated titles were recently added to the database. Expect more soon!
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, 2006, Encyclopaedia Britannica (North America only)
Collins Dictionary of Astronomy, 2006
Mosby’s Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, & Health Professionals, 7th edition, 2006, Elsevier
Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2007, Elsevier

See a complete list of all titles.

One Million Life Sciences Articles Free

PubMed Central (PMC), the National Library of Medicine's free digital archive of full-text journal articles, reached the one million-article mark in June. The millionth article reportedly came from the American Journal of Pathology. Now in its seventh year, PMC is enhanced each week with articles from over 350 important life sciences journals whose publishers have agreed to deposit current issues. All of the content submitted to PMC is converted to a normalized electronic format for long-term storage and display on the web.

Recommended Business Site

Doing Business Guides <http://www.buyusa.gov/home/worldwide_us.html
The US Department of Commerce maintains this fantastic website that will answer just about any question you have on doing business in a given foreign country. It hasn't always been this easy.

Content Management Challenge

Temple University solved the content management challenge. With roughly half a million pages of content on more than 500 well used Web sites, Temple University faced a huge challenge in getting content management under control. Temple has some 34,000 students across 17 campuses around the world. Using a Web publishing product from Adobe called Contribute, thousands of users--literally anyone at the university with the right permissions--now can participate in posting and updating website content themselves. The decentralized system is saving the university significantly by allowing university departments, rather than the IT department, to create, edit, publish, and control their own Web content….
Read Complete Article:
http://www.1105newsletters.com/cghbblu_dzhchgyq.html

Visual Sources and Elementary Education

The Language Arts article "Let's Go to the Movies: Rethinking the Role of Film in the Elementary Classroom" argues that elementary language-arts teachers should expand their definition of "text" to include film, a valuable instructional resource. The article notes that today's elementary students come to class with a great deal of knowledge about films -- prior experiences which teachers can tap into -- and discusses the application to film of reader-response theories.
Source: National Council of Teachers of English Notes

Eye Generation

We should know by now that students do not all learn the same way. The "Eye Generation", for example, prefers not to read all abou it. Students today take in as much as 50 percent of the information they receive through visual images. Teachers are using visual media such as television, movies, video games, photography, and Facebooking both to engage this "eye-curious" culture and to help students think critically about what they see. The National Council of Teachers of English have focused on nonprint texts as part of their focus in English language arts and composition classrooms for decades. Read about it in this week's NCTE Inbox Blog.
Source: Washington Post July 6, 2007

World's New Wonders

Yes, the Great Wall of China was voted one of the new seven wonders of the world. The new seven wonders of the world were finally announced in Lisbon on Saturday. Not everybody was happy with the results. In the end, of course, it was a popularity contest. Not a single site from North America was selected.

By midnight on Friday, the number of people who had cast their ballots had risen to 100 million. The winners are: the Great Wall of China, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Brazil's Christ the Redeemer statue, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, Rome's Colosseum and India's Taj Mahal.

See them all here.

Bachelor degrees for Head Start Teachers

On June 19th, the U.S. Senate approved the Head Start for School Readiness Act (S. 556), which would: 1) terminate the use of the National Reporting System, the controversial test that was required of all four-year-olds enrolled in Head Start; 2) increase the set aside for Early Head Start; 3) create state early learning councils for systems coordination; 4) establish state training offices; and 5) set a goal that by September 2013, 50 percent of all center-based Head Start teachers in each state attain a bachelors degree.

The House version of the Head Start reauthorization bill, H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007, was passed on May 2nd. The House and Senate versions of the bill now go to conference in order to work out the differences between the two bills and agree on a single version.

Source: NAEYC e-News

Locating Free Full-Text Articles

While PubMed can often point to the location of free full-text articles for allied health and nursing students, it does not link to all potential sources of free full text. Consider using PubMed Gold that saves time and effort by searching PubMed and Google simultaneously. Search results are returned with links to a wider selection of matching full-text articles.
www.neurotransmitter.net/ftsearch.html

Vote for New Wonders of the World

This is the last day to vote! From India’s Taj Mahal to Mexico’s Mayan ruins or New York's Empire State building, suggestions for seven new Wonders of the World have flooded in from more than 60 million people in one of the biggest global polls ever conducted. The leading sites so far included the Taj Mahal, the Coliseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the mysterious stone statues of Easter Island. The results will be announced in Portugal’s Benfica Stadium of Light tomorrow. Cast your votes here today!
http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=351

The Pyramids of Giza are the only one of Seven Wonders of the ancient world still standing. Quick, what are the other six?

Hartford Circus Fire

Sixty-three years ago today, one of the deadliest fires in the nation's history struck the circus in Hartford. Nearly 9,000 people had crowded into the big top that day. Shortly after the show began, the tent caught fire. It was waterproofed with a mixture of gasoline and wax, causing the tent to be completely consumed in less than 10 minutes. The fire claimed 167 lives — more than one-third of them children.

Maureen Krekian, who was 11 at the time, survived the disaster and recounts the day's harrowing events for National Public Radio's Story Corps. Listen to her telling her daughter's about that day.

New iCONN Databases

iCONN has announced that it will be providing Gale's Biography Resource Center and Biography and Genealogy Master Index beginning August 1, 2007 - for all Public and School ibraries. These resources will replace iCONN's subscription to Wilson's Biography Illustrated Plus.

The iCONN Database Committee evaluated these resources and highly recommended this change. The Gale interface was considered to be superior for its ease of use and the reference content was evaluated as being highly desirable for biographical research needs. For more information about these resources:
Biography Resource Center Click Here
Biography and Genealogy Master Index Click Here

Points of View Reference Center: Global Warming

Global warming is spotlighted this week in the Points of View reference Center. Points of View Reference Center is a full text database designed to provide students and schools with a series of controversial essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. Essays provide questions and materials for further thought and study and are accompanied by thousands of supporting articles from the world’s top political and societal publications. You can reach it from the library home page.

CQ Researcher This Week: Justice Department

The CQ Researcher this week examines the politicalization of the justice department. The Bush administration's firing of nine U.S. attorneys has left Attorney General Alberto Gonzales clinging to his job while accusations of undue partisanship at the Justice Department intensify. Gonzales has admitted misleading Congress in minimizing the White House's involvement in the dismissals — an unprecedented step midway through a president's term. Some of the fired prosecutors say they may have been targeted for their handling of politically charged corruption and vote-fraud cases, but Gonzales and his former top aide deny any political motivations. Another former Gonzales aide, however, has admitted taking political affiliation into account in some Justice Department hiring decisions. Democrats in Congress want top White House aides to testify about the firings. Many Democrats — and a handful of Republicans — have called for Gonzales to resign. But he is vowing to stay, and President Bush says he has confidence in his longtime friend and aide.
Source: CQ Researcher Abstract

New Journal for Health Professionals

The library recently received the inaugural issue of Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity: Research, Education, and Policy. This new journal is dedicated to the education and professional development of diverse students for careers in health professions. There simply are not enought people of color entering health careers. While they represent over 23 percent of the current population, less than 10 percent are health professionals. This issue has seven articles, including "A splash of color: Increasing diversity among nursing students and faculty" by Dana Carthron. The book, Ethniciy, Race and Health in Multicultural socieites is reviewed and recommended for health professionals engaged in teaching and related work with ethnic populations.

Floating Wind Turbines

While our oceans house not only diverse ecologies and possibly the lost city of Atlantis, they now have something else to brag about: serving as prime real estate for some very renewable energy. Norwegian energy group Norsk Hydro is to place giant floating wind turbines in the North Sea that will provide a reasonable, environmentally-friendly and economically feasible alternative to standard energy generation processes. Will they be in our future, too?

Source: inhabitat.com