Genders, Majors and Money

"These are great days for female undergraduates, who with their greater numbers are excelling in higher education, leaving their male counterparts in the dust. That's the increasingly common view, at least, leading to calls in some quarters to focus more on male students.

But what if the enrollment totals are obscuring a major equity issue that may not favor women at all? That was the idea behind research presented here Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. The research links women's and men's college majors with earning gaps by gender, after graduation. And even as the earning gaps nationally have declined, the study says, the share of the gap attributable to college major has grown." Read the article in Higher Education Today.

Child's Play: How They do Math

Would we need elaborate, expensive, high-tech methods to improve preschoolers understanding of number? Robert Siegler, in his article "Improving the Numerical Understanding of Children from Low-Income Families" (Child Development Perspectives, 2009, Vol. 3(2), pp. 118-124), reports on the effectiveness of a cheap, old-fashioned method which is fun for everybody: the board game. Siegel reported that an hour of playing a simple board game produced gains in 4- and 5-year-olds' abilities to compare the size of numbers, to estimate where on a number line a point should be placed, to count, and to identify numerals. Siegler suggests that all of these benefits could come from a board game like Candyland or Chutes and Ladders.

The library will soon have Candyland and Chutes and Ladders available for checkout to the Goodwin College community. The Library Advocacy Committee is sponsoring this opportunity for you to borrow Candyland or Chutes and Ladders as well as other games and toys from the Goodwin Library. If you happen to have games, books, or toys to donate, they would be greatly appeciated. Watch this blog for the starting date.

Source: The first paragraph in Child Myths: Straight Talk About Child
Development by Jean Mercer, Ph.D. July 29, 2009

CQ Researcher: Afghanistan Dilemma

Nearly eight years ago, U.S. forces first entered Afghanistan to pursue the al Qaeda terrorists who plotted the Sept. 11 terror attacks. American troops are still there today, along with thousands of NATO forces. Under a new strategy crafted by the Obama administration, military leaders are trying to deny terrorists a permanent foothold in the impoverished Central Asian country and in neighboring, nuclear-armed Pakistan, whose western border region has become a sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaeda forces. The Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict — “Af-Pak” in diplomatic parlance — poses huge challenges ranging from rampant corruption within Afghanistan's police forces to a multibillion-dollar opium economy that funds the insurgency. But those problems pale in comparison with the ultimate nightmare scenario: Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, which foreign-policy experts say has become a real possibility.

Source: CQ Researcher Online

New Title on Credo Reference Database

Key Concepts in Early Childhood Education and Care
Cathy Nutbrown, a leading academic in early childhood education, identifies and explains key terms and practices central to the work and study of early childhood in this accessible reference text.
A must for practitioners working with children from birth to the end of the foundation stage, and for students following courses in early childhood education and care, it details key issues, identified in a survey of over 300 practitioners in the field, and provides reading and reference sources to assist practitioners and students in identifying further material to support their work.
The book includes:
• Origins and definitions
• Research issues
• Examples from practice
• References and indicative further reading
• Links
• Key words
Highly readable, with clear cross referencing, this is an ideal book to turn to as a starting point for learning more about national and international issues in early childhood education and care.

Best Free References: BBC Country Profiles

BBC Country Profiles

This site supplies information on the history, economy, and politics of countries and territories. Each profile includes an overview, map, facts, and current leaders. A media overview provides information on the press, television, radio, news agencies, and number of Internet users. Links provided on the side of the profile connect to the latest news and key stories, BBC links, background articles, related Internet sites and video and audio clips from the BBC archives. Additional features include timelines, recent news links, background articles, Internet sites, and BBC archive video and audio clips. Information on over 20 key international organizations is also included.

Source: Association of College and Research Libraries MARS division

Using the Federal Register

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. OpenRegs.com from George Mason University is an alternative to the government site. That site can be confusing and difficult to use for average citizens and experts alike. The goal of OpenRegs.com is to make the proposed and final regulations published in the Federal Register easier to find and discuss, so that we can become better informed and more involved in the regulatory process.

The most recent issue of the Federal Register published 25 final regulations, for a total of 1974 this year. It also published 15 proposed regulations, and the issuing agencies are seeking comments from the public on each one. On OpenRegs.com you can find these regulations, read about them, discuss them, and submit your comments to the agencies. Thank you, George Mason University!

(Please note, though, that using OpenRegs.com is not a substitute for visiting Regulations.gov. That site is ultimately the official site.)

Book Alert

The Beautiful Tree : A Personal Journey into How the World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves by James Tooley."Tooley documents his surprising finding that private schools are providing quality education to millions of poor children in the developing world. Whereas development experts insist that the path out of poverty lies in investment in public schools, the author draws on his fieldwork in India, China and Africa to argue that small entrepreneurs are educating the poor. Contrary to accepted wisdom, the modest fees of private schools are within reach of most, and parents find them superior to public schools that are often riddled with corruption and incompetence. Tooley argues that development funds be invested to support these institutions, through vouchers to parents and microfinance loans to the schools. The author's engaging style transforms what could have been a dry if startling research report into a moving account of how poor parents struggle against great odds to provide a rich educational experience to their children." This book is in the Goodwin Library.
Source: Review from Publishers Weekly

Evolution of Evolution

Almost 150 years after the publication of Darwin's On the origin of Species, scientific understanding of evolution continues to take some remarkable twists and turns. A new National Science Foundation interactive Web site and report includes essays, interviews, and extensive timelines chronicling challenges and triumphs of the evolution of evolution. The site includes a bibliography and links to additional Web resources on anthropology, astronomy, biology, geoscience, and polar sciences.
Source: Association of College and Research Library News July/August 2009

Science Times

Every Tuesday the New York Times includes a Science Times Section, a favorite of some of the Goodwin faculty. Today's section includes:
1)Scientists have discovered that the spleen, long consigned to the B-list of abdominal organs and known as much for its metaphoric as its physiological value, plays a more important role in the body's defense system than anyone suspected.(Page 1)

2) Does a nation's mood lurk in its songs and blogs? A pair of statisticans at the University of Vermont argue that linguistic analysis--not just of song lyrics but of blogs and speeches--could add a new and valuable dimension to the growing area of mass psychology: the determination of national well-being. Do I see a research paper topic here? (page 5)

3) Three new movies revolve around Asperger's syndrome: "Adam", a romance; "Mary and Max", animated feature; an HBO film about Temple Grandin,well-known university professor with high functioning autism, premiering next year. (also page 5)

Source: New York Times August 4

Wall Street Journal Today

In the Wall Street Journal Personal Journal section today you will find:

1) how researchers are using zebrafish in efforts to find ways to regenerate hearing-essential cells,
2) how patients are given tools to handle an overwhelming array of treatment decisions,
3) how a new earplug draws water out of the ear after swimming preventing swimmer's ear.

Tuesday is a good day to read the Wall Street Journal in the library.

Source: Wall Street journal August 4

'%&*#$!' Makes You Feel Better

Don't tell your children, but a new study finds swearing like a sailor may alleviate pain. Four-letter words may help alleviate pain, suggests a study in the August 5 NeuroReport. Swear words "are really the link between the languge system andthe emotional system," according to psychologist Timothy Jay. The inspiration for this study came to a psychologist as he listened to his wife let loose with some unsavory language during the throes of labor.
Source: Science News August 1

Straining the Safety Net: CQ Researcher

As unemployment keeps mounting, millions more Americans are being forced to rely on a network of federal and state programs to meet their basic needs. The added pressure on the so-called safety net has prompted increases in unemployment insurance payments and expanded food-stamp and welfare caseloads, authorized under this year's $787 billion stimulus package. Budget crises, however, are forcing some states to cut back on safety-net programs, including health care and meals for disadvantaged children. At the same time critics say welfare reforms enacted in 1996 requiring aid recipients to work don't mesh with the reality of today's job shortage. But supporters of the reforms say the extra spending on benefits shows the system is working. With employment growth unlikely any time soon, a renewed debate on government responsibility to the disadvantaged is gathering force. Read the full report online (password protected).
Source: CQ Researcher

Crap Detection 101

Howard Rheingold,well-known writer and lecturer, posted this about evaluating online resources on SF Gate (home of the San Francisco Chronicle)last month.

"The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception. Learning to be a critical consumer of Webinfo is not rocket science. It's not even algebra. Becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of web credibility testing is easier than learning the multiplication tables. The hard part, as always, is the exercise of flabby think-for-yourself muscles."

Librarians have been saying this, too, but perhaps in not so colorful a style. Read and distribute the article.

Source: SF Gate

Systems Administrator Appreciation Day Tomorrow

Friday, July 31, 2009, is the 10th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. On this special international day, give our System Administrator and IT Department something that shows that we truly appreciate their hard work and dedication--perhaps an expensive sports car,large piles of cash or something within reason. It's the thought that counts.

Advice From Veteran Teachers

Advice from Veteran Teachers is a collection of resources and tips for new teachers on a variety of topics, from teaching methods to assessment. You'll find great advice from experienced educators in two formats: slideshows or text. We hope that every teacher who spends his or her days making a difference in the life of a child will appreciate these choice bits of wisdom from veteran teachers.
Source: Teacher Vision Online

New Books

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) annually sponsors nominations for the top ten books for young adults. The 2009 nominations, chosen by young adults in 15 book groups throughout the country, are listed here. The library has recently purchased some of these for our young adults (and those who wish they were). The top ten chosen from this list will be announced in October.
Graceling*
Untamed*
City of Ashes*
The Hunger Games*
Truancy*
Trunacy Origins*
The Graveyard Book*
Paper Towns*
Runemarks*
Identical*
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks*
Daughter of the Flames*
Wake*
Breaking Dawn*
Bloodline*
The Knife of Never Letting Go
Evermore
Geek Charming
Melting Stones
Living Dead Girl
Eternal
Flygirl
Wherever Nina Lies
Impossible
Absolutely Maybe
Those marked with an asterisk are in the Goodwin Library. The others may be borrowed through interlibrary loan.

Essential Men's Movie Library

And for better and for worse, film has had a huge impact on masculinity in the 20th Century. Movies have produced archetypes of manliness that many men judge themselves against today. To view how male characters of cinema have been portrayed over the decades, is to see clearly the ways in which our perception of masculinity has changed and continues to change. Thus it seemed only proper that The Art of Manliness take a stab at creating a list of essential movies every man should see.
Source: Art of Manliness

History of Medicine Database

The History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, has launched a new image platform for its database, Images from the History of Medicine (IHM). You can now view search results in a multi-image display, download high-resolution copies of images, zoom in on image details, move images into a user-defined workspace for further manipulation, and create media groups for presenting images and sharing them via email or posting on blogs. Comprising almost 70,000 images,IHM is one of the largest image databases in the world devoted to images of medicine, dentistry, public health,the health professions, and health institutions. IHM is available online, free of charge.

Source: Medical Library Association News June/July 2009

Environmental Public Health Tracking

CDC Launches New Environmental Public Health Tracking Network

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today the launch of the Web-based Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, a surveillance tool that scientists, health professionals, and – for the first time – members of the public can use to track environmental exposures and chronic health conditions.

The web-based tool unites vital environmental information from across the country, including air and water pollutants and information for some chronic conditions, including asthma, cancer, childhood lead poisoning and heart disease into one resource. While scientists know exposures such as air particle pollution and lead contribute to illnesses, many environmental and health connections remain unproven since detailed health and environmental data existed in separate silos until now.

For more information Watch the YouTube video.

Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Emerging Student Loan Crisis

Drowning in Debt: The Emerging Student Loan Crisis

Higher education has never been more expensive. The price of attending a public university doubled, after inflation, over the last two decades, and family income and student financial aid haven’t kept pace.1 As a result, students have no choice but to borrow, and more college students are borrowing more money than ever before.
But a new analysis of federal financial aid records reveals more than just surging debt levels. Students are taking on more of the riskiest debt: unregulated private student loans. Here, students have the least protection and pay the highest rates. For-profit colleges are leading the way in this trend, and minority college students appear to be borrowing a disproportionate share. If this continues, the consequences will be severe: reduced access to higher education, diminished life choices, and increasing rates of catastrophic loan default.

Source: Education Sector July 9 2009

Twitter Gains Entry in Dictionary

Twitter has gained academic respectability with inclusion in the Collins English Dictionary. The social networking tool, which has 1.8 million users, will be listed in the 30th anniversary edition to be published later this year.

The word Twitterati, referring to users of the website, will also be entered, as will Twitterverse, which defines the website and its users.

Source: The Telegraph July 7, 2009

New Books Just In

Trophy Wife by Ashley
White Lines by Tracy Brown
Pleasure by Eric Jerome Dickey
Sensuality by Zane
Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah (additional copy)
Dutch by Teri Woods
Beowulf on the Beach by Murnigham
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth G. Smith

What You Need to Know About Goodwin Library

The Goodwin Library provides some of the very best electronic reference resources for students,faculty,administration, and staff. Just go to the library page www.goodwin.edu/library, look under "find articles" and they are listed. Faculty teaching distance learning classes should find these resources particularly valuable. The library staff will provide training and tutorials upon request. Today I am highlighting just a few for you:

Credo Reference
The simple search field on the front page belies the sheer volume and quality of information in Credo Reference. You can get to one of the three million-plus entries contained in over 400 reference sources from about 60 publishers through precise searching or a more general concept map.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
There are now three million documents in 2,025 ebooks on this well-known platform, available to us through ICONN. Many of the titles ae highly specialized, thus offering excellent depth and quality of results. Features like quick higlight dictionary search, citation tools, and persistent URLs should not go unnoticed.

History Reference Center
This file from ICONN provides a wealth of material from pe-Columbian America through the Bush administration, with integrated searching and cross-linking to 5000-plus primary source documents, 39 reference titles, 110 plus full-text journals, 200-plus country overview, and scores of images.

Biography Resource Center
This produce, now available to academic libraries through ICONN, draws from 135 Gale-publihed sources to offer 440,000 engaging biographies. Also available in full-text are articles from more than 325 magazines and newspapers like the New York Times and USA Today. Via add-on modules, the database interfaces with Marquis Who's Who and opens access to scholarly biographies by Macmillan and Scribner. Noteworthy amenities include timely biographic spotlights and detailed lessonp plans for teachers--well structured and attractively designed.

PsycINFO
With almost 2400 journals dating back to the early 1800s and including a broad spectrum of psychological aspects across many fields-e.g., business, education, law, medicine, and social work--PsycINFO is by far one of the most comprehensive psychological databases available. Since it lacks full-text access, users can use the sister database PsycARTICLES with full-text access to the journals of the American Psychological Association and other sources.

Science Reference Center
This is the last one highlighted this week. Students will appreciate the initial page of this rich resource (boasting 2.5 million full-text articles), with its unique approachable layout and a comprehensive A-Z listing of common topics. An interactive time line features hyperlinks to relevant entries, while the "Science Standards" tool displays benchmarks and grade level expectations by state. "Person Search" brings up a wealth of biographical information, and results pages are fairly easy to navigate. This is also from ICONN. Check back next week for more.

CQ Researcher This Week: Treating Depression

"Depression and suicide always increase in tough economic times, as indicated by a rash of suicides by men despondent over their families' financial troubles. Meanwhile, a wave of suicides and mental disorders — mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression — has hit military personnel returning from repeated deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, swamping military health-care systems. Depression, the most common serious mental illness, is sometimes caused by genetics, but it also can be triggered by stress or trauma. Access to treatment has expanded in recent years, as more and more primary-care doctors screen for the disease. And a new mental-health-care “parity” law passed by Congress in 2008 is expected to increase insurance coverage as well as access to mental-health services. But many people with severe depression remain uninsured and dependent on public health-care programs, which recession-plagued states are cutting back as revenues dwindle."

Source: This is the introduction to the full report in CQ Research June 26 2009 (online; Goodwin College access requires user name and password.)

What They are Reading on College Campuses

Love the One You're with
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Uaccustomed Earth*
Angels and Demons*
Olive Kitteridge*
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man*
Twilight Series*
The Shack*
Pygmy
Outliers:The Story of Success*

The titles marked with an asterick are in the Goodwin Library collection.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education July 1

ICONN Changes Start Today

ICONN Changes on Wednesday, July 1, 2009
•Gale’s U.S./World History and Science Resource Centers will replace the corresponding title from EBSCO.
•Gale’s What do I Read Next will be added.
•50 e-reference books will be added.
•Access to the biography Resource Center will be extended to all academic librries.
•We lose access to Consumer Reports, but will retain access to the full-text backfile from 1/1/1999 to 6/03/09.

Time Magazine: Health Issue

Time magazine's annual health issue looks at how to avoid illness rather than just treat it. Articles in this issue:
This Doctor Does not Want to See You (Cleveland Clinic)
Getting Well While You Shop
Staying Sane May Be Easier Than You Think
Food as Pharma
A User's Guide to Good Health at Every Age

Take a mental health break and sit by the window overlooking the river while you read this issue--good for your health immediately.

DVDs

We have three new DVDs

Twilight
Memory Keeper's Daughter
slumdog Millionaire

Event Supporting State Library Funding

FRIDAY, June 19th 10AM

The House of Representatives will convene in special session on Friday June 19 at 11:00am to take up bills regarding Medicaid deficit mitigation and bills necessary for the receipt of federal stimulus money for summer youth employment programs. We are hoping to bring some awareness to the issues facing each and every library in the state. We are asking people to join us in helping get the word out not to cut support to the Connecticut libraries. Librarians will begin to gather about 10:00am outside the Legislative Office Building cafeteria.

Source: Library Advocacy Committee

Congratulations Graduates

CONGRATULATIONS
GOODWIN GRADUATES

World of Change

World of Change
Inspired by our 10th anniversary, the Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—has changed during the previous decade--really fascinating!

New Resource: Earth Portal

Earth Portal describes itself as a "timely, objective, and science-based portal for environmental information. The three branches of Earth Portal set out to build a global collection of scholarly information regarding the earth and its environment. "Encyclopedia of Earth" is a free digital reference work developed by international scholars. "Earth Forum" is a moderated conversation space that allows us to converse with selected experts on issues of environmental science. "Earth News" distributes current, authoritative, nonpartisan, and science-based information.

The content of Earth Portal makes it a valuable information source. Users will find authoritative and scholarly conversation and information. They will also easily find the policies and processes by which the content is selected and evaluated, which will lead to increased information literacy in reflective users of this source.
Source: Internet Review in College & Research Library News June 2009

Green Patriot Debuts

Environmentalist author David Steinman has created The Green Patriot Web Site to teach Americans how to practice sustainability, and that all of our pro-environmental efforts will directly or indirectly strengthen our economy and national security, and build a safer and more secure future for our children.

Steinman also wants to connect Green Patriot environmentalists and shoppers with green consumer product resources so they can use their purchasing power to support businesses that have Green Patriot policies. "Emphasizing the importance of our purchasing decisions is part of our mission-as is helping you to find great patriotic companies intent on being Green Patriot leaders themselves."

Source: Socially Responsible Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association

jUST OUT OF THE BOX

JUST OUT OF THE BOX!
NEW BOOKS EXHIBITED IN THE LIBRARY







ALREADY CHECKED OUT
Health Care Ethics: Critical Issues for the 21st Century
Outliers: The Story of Success
Outsider in Amsterdam
Resistance
Rethinking Substance Abuse
Seeing Voices
Validation Breakthrough
Pictures at a Revolution
Understanding Disabilities
Nothing About Us Without Us
New Disability History
Handbook of Disability History
Quickest Way to Navigate Blackboard
Curse as Dark as Gold

PICK UP SOME READING FOR THE WEEKEND!

Cradle to Prison Pipeline

Marian Wright Edelman's article on the Children's Defense Fund web site, "The Cradle to Prison Pipeline: America’s New Apartheid" opens with...

"Incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid and poor children of color are the fodder. It is time to sound a loud alarm about this threat to American unity and community, act to stop the growing criminalization of children at younger and younger ages, and tackle the unjust treatment of minority youths and adults in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems with urgency and persistence. The failure to act now will reverse the hard-earned racial and social progress for which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others died and sacrificed. We must all call for investment in all children from birth through their successful transition to adulthood, remembering Frederick Douglass's correct observation that 'it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.'

"So many poor babies in rich America enter the world with multiple strikes against them: born without prenatal care, at low birth weight, and to a teen, poor, and poorly educated single mother and absent father. At crucial points in their development after birth until adulthood, more risks pile on, making a successful transition to productive adulthood significantly less likely and involvement in the criminal justice system significantly more likely. As Black children are more than three times as likely as White children to be poor, and are four times as likely to live in extreme poverty, a poor Black boy born in 2001 has a one in three chance of going to prison in his lifetime and is almost six times as likely as a White boy to be incarcerated for a drug offense."

The Cradle to Prison Pipeline campaign is a national and community crusade to engage families, youth, community leaders and institutions and those in power in every sector in the development of healthy, educated children. The Campaign advances policies that put children on track to productive adulthood and opposes those that criminalize children at younger and younger ages.
Source: ExchangeEveryDay May 27 2009

CQ Researcher: Regulaing Fertility

Nadya Suleman, an unemployed, 33-year-old, single mother from Southern California, felt her six children weren't enough. Last January, after a fertility doctor implanted six embryos she had frozen earlier, Suleman gave birth to octuplets — and was quickly dubbed “Octomom.” Many fertility experts were shocked that a doctor would depart so far from medical guidelines — which recommend implantation of only one, or at most two, embryos for a woman of Suleman's relatively young age. Although multiple births often do result from in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted-reproduction technologies, the number of multiples has dropped over the past few years, they point out. Other analysts note, however, that government statistics show a large percentage of clinics frequently ignore the guidelines on embryo implantation. In response, lawmakers in several states have introduced proposals to increase regulation of fertility clinics. Read the whole report on line (password protected)
Source: CQ Researcher Abstract

Americans and Healthy Activity

"Yet another negative result of the bad economy: Americans are cutting back on healthy activities such as eating fresh foods and exercising regularly.

In a national omnibus survey of 1,000 people conducted in March 2009 by the American Heart Association:
57 percent said the economy has affected their ability to take care of their health.
32 percent have made a change in the last six months to save money, such as delaying preventive care appointments, not taking medications or skipping the dentist.
25 percent of those with gym memberships have cancelled in the previous six months.
42 percent plan to make changes in the next six months that may impact their health, such as buying fewer fruits and vegetables.
Results of the study spell trouble for Americans’ overall well-being and heart health in particular, said Timothy Gardner, M.D., President of the American Heart Association."

View the video here
Listen to the podcast here
Source: American Heart Association

Focus on Nursing Ethics

Nurses deal with difficult ethical issues, even dilemmas. They can sometimes be even more challenging than the physical care provide for patients. Take some time to explore this great collection of FREE articles addressing ethical issues in nursing practice. Lisa M. Bonsall, MSN, Rn, CRNP, compiled these resources to help define terms, give guidance and support, and generate discussion. This source includes information in these areas: general, specific areas of practice, end-of-life issues, personal moral dilemmas, and case studies.

(Written by Bonsall with minor revisions)
Lisa M. Bonsall, MSN, RN, CRNP
Clinical Editor, NursingCenter.com

New This Week

Make it a habit to check the Librarians' Internet Index every Friday morning here.

Every Thursday morning LII sends out a free newsletter, New This Week, which features dozens of high-quality websites carefully selected, described, and organized by LII's team of librarians. Topics include current events and issues, holidays and seasons, helpful tools for information users, human interest, and more.This is a web site you can trust! Below is the highlight on business this week.

Business New Monthly Data Series on the Employment Status of People With a Disability

This monthly series, which began in February 2009, provides "labor force data from the CPS [Current Population Survey] for persons with a disability." Includes employment rate, employment-population ratio, and other data for men and women 16 years and older. Also provides a FAQ and archived data starting with October 2008. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor.
URL: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsdisability.htm
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/28310

Internet Access to Congressional Publications

S. Res 118: A Resolution to provide internet access to certain Congressional Research publications [Open Congress]
Though you as taxpayers fund the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service, its useful reports on public policy issues are not released to the public unless outside groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology obtain copies and publish them. This bill would require that these reports be released online. You might also be concerned about HR 801, The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, which would nullify the National Institute of Health's requirement that the research it funds be made freely available on the internet soon after its publication in professional journals.

New Books Already Checked out

The following new books reported here yesterday are already checked out:

101 Boardroom Problems and How to Solve Them
Love Dare
Admission
Reflections From a Different Journey
Lavender Morning
Star Wars
Disciplinary Blueprint for the Assessment of Information Literacy
Practicing Catholic

REQUIRED READING: Skilled Lab Workers Needed

"Staff Shortages in Labs May Put Patients at Peril"
Wall Street Journal May 13 2009
Click on article title for full text.

"Like the growing shortages of primary-care doctors and nurses, the shrinking ranks of skilled lab workers pose a potential threat to the safety and quality of health care, medical experts warn. Hospitals say it currently can take as much as a year to fill some job openings. And the American Society for Clinical Pathology, which certifies lab professionals, says average job-vacancy rates currently top 50% in some states. The group is lobbying for federal and state funds to keep some academic training programs alive and raise awareness of the problem.

Besides testing for deadly viruses and infections, lab technicians, who currently number about 300,000 nationwide, perform such vital tests as diagnosing heart attacks and identifying cancerous tumors. There is no firm evidence to link the growing shortage of lab professionals to an increase in errors or a national slowdown in getting results to patients. But to head off that eventuality, hospitals and professional groups are taking new steps to increase funding for training and to lure new recruits."

This is a must-read for the Goodwih Community!

Pharmacology Library Database News

Lexi-PAL Drug Guide, a source now included in Health Source Nursing/Academic database, provides access to up-to-date, concise, and clinically-relevant drug monographs for all U.S. prescription drugs, hard-to-find herbal and nutritional supplements, over-the-counter products and new and investigational drugs. Lexi-PAL Patient Advisory information covers over 1,000 generic medications, 100 natural products and 19 vaccines. Among the key benefits users will enjoy are: 1) increased currency, 2) a higher volume of qualified search results, due to the inclusion of EBSCO's abstracting & indexing functionality, and 3) a more streamlined presentation of drug information, making the interface easier to use. The Lexi-PAL content can be accessed in the Health Source database on and off campus by adding the search term lexi-pal to your search.

New Books

These new books just arrived in the library:

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Practicing Catholics by James Carroll
The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick
Art and Politics of Science by Harold Varmus
Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux
Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary
Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer
Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution by Richard Beeman
Reflections from a Different Journey by Klein and Kemp
101 Boardroom Problems and How to Solve Them by Eli Mina
Disciplinary Blueprint for the Assessment of Information Literacy by D. Warner
There are more on the way.

H1N1 Flu Resource Centre

The Lancet has partnered with over 40 Elsevier-published journals and 11 learned societies to launch a new H1N1 Flu Resource Centre for healthcare professionals at TheLancet.com. Developed by The Lancet editors, this new online information clearinghouse aggregates infectious disease and public health information from across Elsevier's spectrum of content.

To upgrade the level of expert analysis and advice on the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of the influenza A H1N1 (swine flu), The Lancet today announced the launch of its H1N1 Flu Resource Centre at www.TheLancet.com/H1N1-flu, a complimentary microsite for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and healthcare professionals across the globe. Among the many H1N1-related websites, TheLancet.com's H1N1 Flu Resource Centre offers an unparalleled scope and depth of content.
Source: The Lancet

Book for Admissions

We have a new novel in the library called Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Admission is at once a fascinating look a the complex college admissions process and an emotional examination of what happens when secrets of the past return.

Issues of Censorship in Wisconsin Library

Dismissal of Wisconsin Board Members Draws National Censure
The American Library Association has joined publishing and free-speech groups in condemning the West Bend, Wisconsin, common council for not reappointing four library board members after they failed to act on a citizens group’s call to restrict the availability of sexually explicit books. At its April 21 meeting, the council voted 5–3 to reject Mayor Kristine Deiss’s recommendation to reappoint the four library board members whose terms were concluding. It might be a good time to read the American Library Association Freedom to Read document. (This last sentence is my suggestion.)


Source: American Library Association Direct

New Additions to Credo Reference

Here are new additions to Credo Reference this week:
Penguin Dictionary of Biology;
Jablonski's Dictionary of Medical Acronyms & Abbreviations;
Marquis Who's Who in the World
Penguin English Dictionary.

These are full text, searchable online reference books accessible from the library web page in the list of databases under "Find Articles."

Web Site for Educational Materials

Gateway to Education Materials is a search engine site for teachers looking for Web resources targeted to specific academic subjects. The site’s resources are searchable by keyword phrases or users can browse the site’s catalogs. These sections are broken down by grade levels, subjects, or activity types. There are more than 50,000 educational resources available within the site’s domain, much of it provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Public Broadcasting Service, National Science Foundation and more than 700 other content providers. The site, sponsored by the National Education Association, also features a digitized database of academic standards from each state, allowing teachers to select resources that align with their content needs.

Source: Education Week Online: Digital Directions April 2009

Keep Doors to Learning Open

As a growing number of schools temporarily close their doors in an effort to prevent the spread of swine flu, administrators are taking a closer look at the role of technology in delivering education during school closures.

Nearly 300 schools around the country had closed as of April 30 as a result of the flu, according to the Associated Press. States with closings include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, South Carolina, and Texas. In addition, all high school sports in Texas and Alabama were suspended, according to Associated Press reports.

“Schools at all levels should be using this time to prepare for a possible swine flu pandemic, with online instruction being an important option to consider,” Thomas E. Chandler, the manager of technology and educational applications for the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said in an e-mail. “And if swine flu does not materialize as a major pandemic, having an online distance-learning plan in place will always be useful, in the event of the next [crisis]. This issue is not going away."

Source: Education Week Online May 1 2009

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo or the Fifth of May is a national holiday in Mexico commemorating the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the invading French forces of Napoleon III. Although the battle itself represented only a temporary setback for the French, the Mexicans’ victory against overwhelming odds gave them the confidence they needed to persevere until finally triumphing on April 2, 1867. Celebrate!

Three Beta Releases Worth a Look

+ CaptionTube
With CaptionTube you can create captions for your YouTube videos.

+ twitfunr
twitfunr is a twitter-based service which is integrated with event planner and lets you do following while you are planning your event.
+ Post event information on Twitter.
+ Post event messages on Twitter from personalized event page.
+ Broadcast event proceedings live on Twitter as well as personalized event page from mobile phone.

+ BlindSpeak
Send Synthesized Messages Online

Source: MoMB

Shakespeare"s Birthday?

"Another myth must be dispelled at the outset. There is no evidence, alas, to support the popular belief that William Shakespeare was born — as fifty-two years later he was to die — on 23 April, the date celebrated in England since 1222 as the feast day of dragon-slaying St George. As the poet's posthumous fame grew, securing a unique niche for his country in the cultural history of the world, it was a natural enough temptation for posterity to unite the birthday of England's national poet with that of its patron saint. But the tradition is based on a false assumption, that Elizabethan baptisms invariably took place three days after the birth." Still, happy birthday anyway, Mr. Shakespeare.

Source: from William Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Genius
by Anthony Holden

New GI Bill

There is a new education benefit available to service members - the Post-9/11 GI Bill (also known as chapter 33 benefits). The Post-9/11 GI Bill is the most comprehensive education benefit package since the original GI Bill was signed into law in 1944. Individuals who are eligible for the new benefit may begin using the benefits August 1, 2009, for training that begins on or after that date.

Eligible servicemembers are entitled to a tuition benefit. The tuition benefit covers the cost of tuition and fees and will be issued directly to the school. The student will be responsible for any overpayment that results from a change in enrollment. If a servicemember receives military tuition assistance, the tuition benefit will pay the amount not covered by the military tuition assistance.

For more information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, visit www.gibill.va.gov.

Source: Headquarters Marine Corps Keith M. Wilson


VA Education Service

Ready for a Vacation?

"Commentary, news, and life in America's parks" includes a feature article, the Park Photo of the Week, and news about the parks.

Some other sites that might make it easier to plan a national park vacation include the National Park Service and L. L. Bean's Park Search. Ken Burns is preparing a series for PBS in September callec "The National Parks: Americ's Best Idea."

Source: Mary Laine

Week of the Young Child April 19-25

This is the Week of the Young Child. The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world's largest early childhood education association, with nearly 100,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state, and regional Affiliates.

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8) lay the foundation for children's success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child is a time to plan how we--as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation--will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

The theme for WOYC 2009 is:
Bring Communities Together for Children
– Children Bring Communities Together

CQ Researcher: Wrongful Convictions

"Until March 2009, few Americans had heard of Ronald Cotton, who was convicted in North Carolina of raping a college student and served 11 years in prison before being exonerated by DNA testing. Now Cotton is a household name because of a book about his case and appearances on “60 Minutes” and NBC's “Today” show. As recently as 10 years ago, the proposition that innocent men and women regularly end up in prison failed to find traction. Today, thanks to the power of DNA evidence, media coverage and the establishment of innocence projects, there is general acceptance that wrongful convictions indeed occur. Dozens of states have passed laws to prevent wrongful convictions and compensate those wrongly imprisoned. Defense attorneys and many academics say wrongful convictions are a recurrent problem requiring substantial changes in the criminal justice system, but prosecutors, police and other academics say mistaken convictions are such a small percentage of all cases that the system should mostly be left alone."

The full report includes introduction, overview, background, current situation, outlook, Pro/Con, Chronology, short features, maps/graphs, bibliography, next steps, contacts, and footnotes.

Source: Quoted from "Wrongful Convictions: Is Overhaul of the Criminal Justice System Needed?" by Steve Weinberg in this week's CQ Researcher. The complete report is available online to the Goodwin Community. Contact the library for the user name and password.

Across America, Waters in Crisis

For decades, the Clean Water Act has broadly protected America’s lakes, rivers, streams, and drinking water sources from unregulated pollution and destruction, rescuing them from the dire straits they were in during the late 1960s and early 1970s. But because of a concerted effort by polluters and developers, and muddied rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, up to 60 percent (at least 15,000 important waters) have lost these vital protections and countless other waters (including more than 50 percent of our streams and 20 million acres of wetlands) are at risk of losing protections.

Today, Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Water Action, Earthjustice, Environment America, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, and Southern Environmental Law Center are releasing a new report entitled “Courting Disaster: How the Supreme Court Has Broken the Clean Water Act and Why Congress Must Fix It,” which details the threats to America’s waters and highlights the urgent need for Congress to act immediately and restore full Clean Water Act protections to our waters.

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Water Action, Earthjustice, Environment America, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, and Southern Environmental Law Center

Intellectually Challenging Classroom

Be part of a school wide solution. Participants in NCTE's Pathways for Teaching and Learning with English Language Learners program engage in study and discussion around topics such as:
Facilitating students' language development while engaging learners in rigorous content.
Creating effective learning environments that facilitate student achievement.
Providing opportunities for students to use language, learn language, and learn about language.
Helping ELL students actively engage in learning.
Learn more about this unique professional development program during a free Virtual Open House on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 1:00 EDT.

Source: National Council of Teacher's of English

National Library Workers Day

National Library Workers Day, celebrated today during National Library Week, is a day to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers. Congratulations, Goodwin College Library Staff. Our library works because you do.

Playaways in the Library

The library now has PLAYAWAYS for you to try. PLAYAWAY was the first pre-loaded digial audio book. It is the easiest way to listen to a book on the go. Simply plug in the earphones and enjoy. No Cassettes or CDs. No Downloads. Just Play. At the moment we have the following available:
Finn by Jon Clinch
Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard
Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp
Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith
Day of Tears by Julius Lester
Marker by Robin Cook
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Academic Librarian on Student Research

Students at Goodwin are researching and writing for class assignments now as the end of the semester is fast approaching. In today's Inside Higher Ed Daily Update, Princeton University Librarian Mary W.George comments on her experiences with undergraduate library projects. You may be surprised by what she says. Here is a quote from that article:

"When professors assign a library project to undergraduates, just what do they expect students to learn from the research part of the experience? What do professors think students are doing to come up with the sources in their papers? If there is a discrepancy between pedagogical intent and actual student research behavior, how do faculty members address it? Does the end of a well-written, well-supported argument justify whatever means a student uses to acquire sources?

These are issues I often fret about, both in private and aloud when I compare notes with other academic librarians. My concern arises not from a general suspicion that students are engaging in what I call WIGWAM research (Wikipedia – Internet – Google – Without Anything More), but from what students themselves have been telling me for decades. It is clear from e-mail, reference encounters, research consultations in my office, and questions that arise in library instruction sessions, that most students simply do not retain the concepts and logic involved in discovering information sources — never mind the principles for evaluating the sources they do turn up. Even students whom I’ve counseled extensively in the past, and whose projects turned out well, seem clueless the very next semester when they face a research assignment in a different course."

Mary W. George is senior reference librarian at Princeton University Library.

Reading on the Rise

For the first time in more than 25 years, Amerian adults are reading more literature, according to a study by the National Endowment for the Arts. The overall rate at which adults read literature (novels and short stories, plays, or poems) rose by 7 percent. Reading rates have increased among African Americans by 15 percent and among Whites by 8 percent.

Source: National Endowments for the Arts study January 12 2009

National Library Week

National Library Week is observed this week with the theme, "Worlds connect @ your library®."

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.

National Library Workers Day, celebrated the Tuesday of National Library Week (April 14, 2009), is a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.

Where Have All the Teachers Gone?

"Over 50 percent of the nation’s teachers and principals are Baby Boomers. During the next four years we could lose a third of our most accomplished educators to retirement. The wave of departures will peak during the 2010-11 school year, when over one hundred thousand veteran teachers could leave. In less than a decade more than half of today’s teachers – 1.7 million – could be gone.

We can’t recruit our way out of this problem. Wholesale replacement of accomplished veterans with inexperienced beginners is a bad bet. Beginning teacher attrition rates have been rising steadily for more than a decade. By some estimates, over a third of the nation’s new teachers leave the profession within three years. In some school districts half of the new hires are replaced every five years. The schools in these districts struggle to close the student achievement gap, because precious resources and time are consumed by constant efforts to rebuild their staff."
Source: Report "Learning Teams: Creating What's Next" from the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future April 7 2009

CQ Researcher: Extreme Sports

The wild world of so-called extreme sports ranges from motorcyclists executing double back flips to kayakers navigating deadly Class 5 rapids to mixed martial arts (MMA) — also known as “ultimate fighting” — where combatants use kicks, punches and stress holds. But many “extreme” athletes reject the label, arguing that the term marginalizes their sports as the sole province of adrenaline and violence junkies, when they actually require high degrees of skill. Now legislatures in New York and other states are considering bans on MMA. Proponents say the matches, legal at the pro level in 37 states, are safer than boxing and emphasize fighters' broad-based martial-arts training. But opponents argue that allowing such a wide variety of aggressive moves in a single fight is barbaric. However, skateboarders and other extreme athletes cite statistics showing that traditional sports such as boxing and football cause injuries and deaths at a higher rate than any of the extreme sports. The new CQ Researcher report comes out every Friday and is available online for the Goodwin community (password protected).

Source: CQ Researcher April 3 2009
Image: Georges St. Pierre pummels BJ Penn during their mixed martial arts title match last Jan. 31 in Las Vegas. St. Pierre won when the fight was stopped after four rounds. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)

Public Health in General Education

Ask 10 people what an educated citizen should study and you’re bound to get 10 different answers (albeit with some overlap). The Educated Citizen and Public Health Initiative continues to make its case that public health should make any such list, and recently released a set of recommendations for integrating public health into general and liberal education. “This is not about professional education. This is about citizenship,” said Susan Albertine, co-author of "Recommendations for Undergraduate Public Health Education." Read more here.
Source: Inside Higher Education April 2 2009

Before Your Time: Universal Newsreels

Friday's history lesson introduces you to the newsreel. Most of your are too young to know what a newsreel is. In the pre-TV era, people saw the news every week in their neighborhood movie theaters. Newsreels were shown before every feature film and in dedicated newsreel theaters located in large cities. Universal Newsreel, produced from 1929 to 1967, was released twice a week. Each issue contained six or seven short stories, usually one to two minutes in length, covering world events, politics, sports, fashion, and whatever else might entertain the movie audience. These newsreels offer a fascinating and unique view of an era when motion pictures defined our culture and were a primary source of visual news reporting.

Universal City Studios gifted Universal Newsreel to the American people, put the newsreels into the public domain, and gave film materials to the National Archives in 1976. Surviving materials from the entire collection are available at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.
Browse the collection.
source: Universal Newsreels. The image is from Flickr.

Robot Scientists Make Original Discoveries

In recent decades, robots have replaced millions of manual laborers; now they're moving in on scientists, too. Computer scientist Ross King of Aberystwyth University along with systems biologists at the University of Cambridge, U.K., developed a robot named Adam to identify genes involved in yeast metabolism. Adam doesn't look so much like an android as a huge box of Rube Goldberg–type equipment. But it does far more than just analyze cells.

Using algorithms programmed by scientists, Adam formulates hypotheses about the origins of "orphan enzymes": enzymes for which scientists have been unable to identify the encoding genes. The robot then plans and executes experiments to test its hypotheses--selecting yeast mutants from a collection, incubating cells, and measuring their growth rates. As King's team reports this week in Science, Adam came up with 20 hypotheses about genes encoding 13 enzymes, 12 of which it confirmed.

Computer scientist David Waltz says "There's an interesting message from this and perhaps a daunting one for some scientists." In the future, he says, scientists, in order to carry out their work, "might have to learn how to program computers and express knowledge about the world the way people in artificial intelligence have done."
Source: Constance Holden in ScienceNOW Daily News 2 April 2009

CQ Researcher: Future of Newspapers

"Thomas Jefferson once famously remarked that if he had to choose between government without newspapers or newspapers without government, he wouldn't hesitate to preserve newspapers. Today, however, newspapers across the country are declining in circulation, advertising and profitability. Some are ceasing to publish. Others are reducing or closing Washington and state-capital bureaus, laying off staff and cutting back the news coverage they provide.

Many journalists, scholars, political activists and government officials worry that government without newspapers could be on the horizon, and that citizens then would be unable to obtain sufficient information for effective self-government. As more Americans turn to the Internet and cable television for news, however, others are hopeful that new forms of journalism will fill the gaps. Meanwhile, newspapers are attempting to give themselves new birth online."

Source: CQ Reearcher March 27
Image: After publishing for 150 years, Denver's Rocky Mountain News shut down on Feb. 27, ending daily newspaper competition in the city. Scores of other papers are cutting staffs, closing bureaus or facing bankruptcy. (Getty Images/John Moore)

Preventing Medical Mistakes

"The terrifying truth: Our big, complex, and imperfect health-care system can sometimes make you sicker. In this three-part series, Health investigates why more than 100,000 people a year are dying from medical errors and millions are being injured, what safety measures may help, and how you can protect yourself during your three points of vulnerability—at the hospital, your doctor’s office, and the drugstore."

Source: Health online

Nursing Procedures Video Series

The library just purchased Lippincott's video series entitled Nursing Procedures Student set. Students can follow a team of nursing students and their instructor as they perform 90+ nursing procedures in realistic clinical settings. The videos are organized into basic, intermediate, and advanced procedures. They are on reserve to be used only in the library or classroom.

New Features in Goodwin Catalog

There was a system upgrade yesterday to our reQuest Goodwin Catalog. This update includes the following new features:

1. Creating Lists – any reQuest user will be able to create and view a list of items in reQuest they would like to read, have read, or would like to request through ILL by easily creating a password-protected account, then checking the items in reQuest that they would like to add to their account. Each user will be able to create multiple lists for different purposes.

2. New search indexes for Title and Subject searches:

- Title Begins With
- Title Exact
- Subject Begins With
- Subject Exact

These indexes will appear in the Advanced Search and Browse screens.

Soon after this upgrade takes place, there will be links from records in reQuest to Google Books (both preview-only and full-text, where available). This capability is close to being completed and we will send out another announcement as soon as we have an implementation date.

Source: ICONN

Another Free Trial: American History in Video

American History in Video is a massive, first-of-its kind collection of streaming video covering the entire gamut of American history–it will total 2,000 hours of video / 5,000 total videos at completion (currently it’s at about 420 hours and growing fast). It includes a wide range of documentaries (like those from The History Channel), newsreels–including the complete series of both Universal News and United Newsreel–and other contemporaneous films. It’s all deeply indexed, and the technical features make it easy to zoom in on exact moments of footage, make clips, create playlists (of clips by theme, entire films, and anything else anywhere on the Web) and share them with a class, for example.There are synchronized scrolling transcripts for every video (and those are searchable, too).

This trial is available to all through April 30. No login/password is required during the trial. The new database comes from Alexander Street Press.

More Technology, Please

The physics department at M.I.T. has replaced the traditional large introductory lecture with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. M.I.T. is not alone. Other universities are changing their ways, among them Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Harvard. In these institutions, physicists have been pioneering teaching methods drawn from research showing that most students learn fundamental concepts more successfully, and are better able to apply them, through interactive, collaborative, student-centered learning.

Today M.I.T. students meet in high-tech classrooms, where students sit at 13 round tables equipped with networked computers. The walls are covered with white boards and huge display screens. Circulating with a team of teaching assistants, the professor makes brief presentations of general principles and engages the students as they work out related concepts in small groups. Teachers and students conduct experiments together. The room buzzes. Conferring with tablemates, calling out questions and jumping up to write formulas on the white boards are all encouraged. The new approach at M.I.T. is known by its acronym, TEAL, for Technology Enhanced Active Learning.

Source: New York Times January 19 from article by Sara Rimer

Literary Reference Center Free Trial Now

The library has just arranged a free trial of Literary Reference Center,a full text database that combines information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals as well as original content from EBSCO Publishing.

This database contains full text for 31,098 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticism, nearly 140,000 author biographies (including more than 22,000 in-depth bios), more than 430 literary journals, more than 613,000 book reviews, more than 67,000 classic and contemporary poems, more than 17,000 classic and contemporary short stories, more than 5,400 author interviews, more than 8,200 classic texts and much more.

In addition, the Reference Center also includes Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Beacham's Research Guide to Biography and Criticism (six volumes), The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, The Literary Encyclopedia, The Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story, all of MagillOnLiterature Plus™, and much more.

This is one of the most highly recommended electronic literary references available for two and four year college students. PLEASE TRY IT! Access will be available from the library page today.

Source: Fact Sheet on Literary Reference Center from the publisher

Global Researcher Monthly Report: Aiding Refugees

Some 42 million people worldwide have been uprooted by warfare or other violence, including 16 million refugees who are legally protected because they left their home countries. Most live in refugee camps and receive aid from the United Nations or other agencies but cannot work or leave the camps without special permission. Another 26 million people who fled violence are not protected by international treaties because they remained in their home countries. The number of such “internally displaced persons” (IDPs) has risen in the last decade, largely due to wars in Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and Colombia. Millions of IDPs live in harsh conditions, and many receive no aid. Some critics say the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees should do much more for IDPs, but the agency already faces severe budget shortfalls and bleak prospects for more donations from wealthy nations. Meanwhile, scientists warn that the number of people displaced by natural disasters — now about 50 million a year — could rise dramatically in coming years due to climate change. The photo shows Somali refugees waiting to be admitted to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

CQ Global Researcher monthly reports provide Goodwin students with definitive, in-depth coverage of global affairs from a number of international viewpoints. Access to the full report is available on and off-campus. Ask the library staff for the user name and password.

Source: Global Researcher March 2009
Photo source: IRIN/Manoocher Deghati

Historic American Sheet Music

We are indebted to Duke University and other colleges and universities that share their special collections. The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University holds a significant collection of 19th and early 20th century American sheet music. The Historic American Sheet Music Project provides access to digital images of 3042 pieces from the collection, published in the United States between 1850 and 1920. This is only one of Duke's digital collections arranged alphabetically and by subject.

Source: Information and image from Duke University
Digital Collections at http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hasm/

Women Striving Forward Image

Lowell, MA - Portuguese mill girls between 1910 and 1915






At the time, there were few respectable ways for a girl to earn money. She could hire herself out as a domestic to work in someone else’s home for no more than fifty cents per week. She could set up her own business as a seamstress, or she could teach school, but only in the summer. During the regular school year, that position was reserved for men. She might also have worked as a book binder. Starting wages were $1.00 per week.

Source: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

About Music and the Brain

The Library of Congress's Music and the Brain events offer lectures,podcasts, conversations and symposia about the explosion of new research at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and music. Project chair Kay Redfield Jamison convenes scientists and scholars, composers, performers, theorists, physicians, psychologists, and other experts at the Library for a compelling 2-year series, with generous support from the Dana Foundation.

So far, these podcasts are available at Music and the Brain: Your Brain on Jazz: Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Improvisation; The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature; The Music of Language and the Language of Music; and Dangerous Music.

Source: Library of Congress: Music and the Brain

Global Gateway: Internet Resource

The Library of Congress (LC) calls Global Gateway a portal to its"unparalleled internatinal collections and those of other major repositories worldwide." Users will find it sensational. It is a stunning portal to primary sources from countries across the globe. It is an excellent starting point for both beginning and experienced researchers
Source: Sarah Goodwin Thiel, University of Kansas in C&RL News March 2009

Alternative Search Engines

An article by Adrian Janes in Free Pint last month urges us to search the Web with alternatives to Google, Yahoo, Ask, and Live. "The alternatives are useful, he says, "because it can be more efficient to search with something that may have a smaller but more focused, index." It is also important to encourage smaller comp[anies so as to prevent companies like Google from taking over. Janes provides links and mini-reviews for Zuula, Hakia, Agent 55, Mednar, Clust, and others. Read the article.
Source: College and Research News March 2009

Women Striving Forward Images

Women Striving Forward is a collection of 23 photos from the Library of Congress that highlight the many arenas in which women have striven individually and collectively not only for their own betterment, but for better conditions and greater justice in the world at large. The photos show the resilience, determination, and humor that it takes to survive and flourish, sometimes against great odds. For the rest of Women's History Month, the blog will be including pictures from this collection.

This photo, taken between 1910 and 1915, shows women suffrage hikers General Rosalie Jones, Jessie Stubbs, and Colonel Ida Craft, who is wearing a bag labeled "Votes for Women pilgrim leaflets."
Source: Flickr Commons project, 2008)
George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication

Environmental Chemicals Database

EPA has released a new online database that collects information on more than 500,000 man-made chemicals from over 200 public sources. The Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (ACToR) database allows access to hundreds of data sources in one place, providing a new level of transparency and easy access for environmental researchers, scientific journalists and the public. Sources of information include EPA, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. National Institutes of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and other federal agencies; state databases, Health and Environment Canada, the European Union, the World Health Organization and other international groups; and non-governmental organizations, private companies and universities.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

FREE Has a Twitter Feed

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) is a wonderful and growing searchable directory of education resources. Now they have their own Twitter feed.
+ Direct to FREE Twitter Feed

Source: U.S. Department of Education March 14 2009

CQ Researcher:; Vanishing Jobs

The news is grim and getting grimmer. The jobless rate recently hit 8.1 percent — the highest level in a quarter-century. American workers lost 651,000 jobs in February alone. All told, more than 12.5 million Americans are jobless — including 2.9 million who have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks. The nation is banking on the Obama administration's newly enacted, $787 billion “economic stimulus” bill to spark job growth through government spending on infrastructure projects and other programs. Conservatives argue that the spending won't help, and some liberals say the magnitude of the crisis calls for still more stimulus money. The huge spending measure also includes funds to encourage states to expand eligibility for unemployment insurance, though some governors are resisting on the grounds that their states will wind up footing future bills. With no quick turnaround predicted, creating or saving jobs will remain the top priority for President Barack Obama and the millions of citizens counting on his administration's rescue plan. Read the full report online(password protected).

Source: Introduction from CQ Researcher March 13 2009
Photo AP by Paul Sakuma

New in the Library

Just in to the Goodwin Library:
Act Like a Lady: Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
Best Short Stories by Black Writers: Classic Anthology edited by Langston Hughes
Children of the Night: Best Short Stories by Black Writers edited by Gloria Naylor
Leading Quietly by Joseph Badaracco
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen
Sleeping with Strangers by Jerome Dickey
Tell me How this Ends: General David Petraeus & the Search for a Way Out of Iraq by Linda Robinson
ASP.NET 35 Unleashed +CD
Sense of Wonder (Life of Rachel Carson) DVD
Silent Spring DVD
The Gamble by Tom Ricks
Justice Talking: Women's Rights 3 DVDs
There is no Such Thing as Woman's Work DVD
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson DVD
Year's Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois
and many more!

Why Go to College

This week the U.S. Department of Education announced their new higher education resource Web site. The Web site, wwww.college.gov, is designed to motivate students to want to attend college, acting as a resource for high school students by providing information about planning, preparing, and paying for college. The site provides interested students with first-person accounts of college students who have faced—and surmounted—great challenges to attend college.
Source: National Council of Teachers of English

MLA Format Updated

"Even in citations, print is the default no more. The seventh edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, released yesterday, states that the Modern Language Association no longer recognizes print as the default medium, and suggests that the medium of publication should be included in each works cited entry.

Moreover, the MLA has ceased to recommend inclusion of URLs in citing Web-based works – unless the instructor requires it or a reader would likely be unable to locate the source otherwise. “Inclusion of URLs has proved to have limited value… for they often change, can be specific to a subscriber or a session of use, and can be so long and complex that typing them into a browser is cumbersome and prone to transcription errors. Readers are now more likely to find resources on the Web by searching for titles and authors' names than by typing URLs,” states the handbook."
Source: Inside Higher Ed March 11 2009
View the article.

National Faculty Survey

The report, "The American College Teacher: National Norms for the 2007–08 HERI Faculty Survey," was just issued recently by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA, which puts out the national faculty report triennially. Here are some of the results:

"Compared to just three years ago, a significantly greater number of today's college teachers consider civic engagement and appreciation of racial and ethnic diversity important educational goals for undergraduates, according to a UCLA report on teaching faculty at the nation's colleges and universities.

The majority of college faculty (55.5 percent) nationwide now consider it "very important" or "essential" to "instill in students a commitment to community service," an increase of 19.1 percentage points since the survey was last conducted in 2004–05, and 75.2 percent indicate that they work to "enhance students' knowledge of and appreciation for other racial/ethnic groups," a gain of 17.6 percentage points over three years." Read the entire press release and view the executive summary powerpoint here.

Did You Know?

The First Friday in March is the World Day of Prayer.The idea of designating a day for Christians to pray together was suggested in 1887 by the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Today, the observance has spread to other denominations, all of which hold the same service—translated, of course, into the appropriate language—on the first Friday in March. In each community, one church is selected for the service, and throughout the day women of all denominations come and go, each staying as long as she wishes, to take her place in this world-wide chain of prayer.
Source: Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary in the Credo Reference Database
Painting: Melozzo da Forli (1438-1494), Angel Musician (fresco) from The Bridgeman Art Library Archive, also available from Credo Reference

Adult Online Learning

“About 70 percent of adult learners taking classes online do not finish their courses,” according to a study by Shawna L. Strickland, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The report says that while more introverted or shy personality types, or individuals with schedule conflicts, can thrive in online-learning programs, difficulties with operating the required technology or heavy workloads can stand in the way of course completion. The author drew from academic journals and studies on distance learning for the report, which examined adult learners ages 20 to 40.
Source: Mary C. Breaden, Adult Online Learning, Education Week, March 5, 2008, Vol. 27, Issue 26. Original Report, “Understanding Successful Characteristics of Adult Learners.”

National Women's History Month

In 2009, the National Women's History Project honors women who have taken the lead in the environmental or "green" movement. We are featuring Rachel Carson, the founder of the contemporary environmental movement, as the iconic model of the theme. Rachel Carson's work provides an admirable model for comparison. The 2009 Honorees are scientists, engineers, business leaders, writers, filmmakers, conservationists, teachers, community organizers, religious or workplace leaders or others whose lives show exceptional vision and leadership to save our planet.
Source: National Women"s History Month Project

Recommended New Book

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton M. Christensen
Library call number: LB1027.C4662 2008

This paragraph comes from the book cover:
"According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive--academically, economically, and technologically--we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our committment to learning. In other words, we need 'disruptive innovation.'"

This book is highly recommended and available in the library.

Is America safe from terrorism today?

Homeland Security
Is America safe from terrorism today?
By Peter Katel
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government created the Department of Homeland Security, giving it stepped-up power to shadow and detain terrorism suspects. Then-President George W. Bush credited these measures — and intelligence and military operations abroad — with preventing new attacks on U.S. soil in the nearly eight years since 9/11. But some intelligence. . . .read the full report on CQ Researcher online (password protected). Call or stop in the library for access information.
Source: CQ Researcher February 13, 2009

Recommended New Book

Human: The Science Behind What Makes us Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga

"Readers interested in an overview of current research will find much of it conveniently packaged here. Those looking for answers will instead find ample reminders of how far brain science has to go before speculation and metaphor can be replaced with concrete models. Gazzaniga does not offer any grand conclusions. Despite all we have learned about the brain, we cannot yet explain how it makes us who we are. What Human resembles most is a voyage through Gazzaniga's own left hemisphere, which has amassed a wealth of information to be digested and pondered. Finding yourself in such a rich setting, you may well agree with Gazzaniga's closing sentiment: "Am I ever glad I am not a chimp!"

Source Citation:Semeniuk, Ivan. "We're special and you know it: something in the human brain sets us apart from other animals. Ivan Semeniuk follows an expert guide as he attempts to pin it down.(Book review)." New Scientist 199.2669 (August 16, 2008): 45(1). Academic OneFile. Gale. Goodwin College. 19 Feb. 2009
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Two New Beta Releases to Know About

+ WizeHive

Manage your activities, collaborate with others, and organize your life (or business) all in one integrated platform. Note: At the moment, you need to register for this Beta release. Free!

+ iTrackmine.com - Aggregating Your Collection Online

In a nutshell, iTrackmine stands as a web-based collection manager that lets you import your collection online and easily manage it and share it with whomever you want.

Source: KillerStartUps.com and MoMB

Academic Earth Offers Free Video Lectures

Academic Earth is "building a user-friendly educational ecosystem that will give internet users around the world the ability to easily find, interact with, and learn from full video courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars. Our goal is to bring the best content together in one place and create an environment that in which that content is remarkably easy to use and in which user contributions make existing content increasingly valuable."
Source: Academic Earth on Facebook
Image: Image from Academic Earth Facebook page