Featured Library Magazine This Week: Granta

Granta, the magazine of new writing, has published many of the world’s finest writers tackling some of the world’s most important subjects, from intimate human experiences to the large public and political events that have shaped our lives. Every issue since 1979 is still in print. In the pages of Granta, readers met for the first time the narrative prose of writers such as Bill Bryson, Romesh Gunesekera, Blake Morrison, Arundhati Roy and Zadie Smith; and have encountered events and topics as diverse as the fall of Saigon, the mythology of the Titanic, adultery, psychotherapy and Chinese cricket fighting. The latest issue, Aliens, explores the idea of what it is to be an outsider. Writing in this issue are Roberto Bolano, Robert Macfarlane, Juan Felipe Herrera, Ann Patchett, and Paul Theroux. The issue also includes "Here is What You Do", the first published story by Chris Dennis. Beacon writers, take notice!
Source: Granta Magazine

Celebrate International Women's Day

So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

Literacy Funding in Jeopardy

Congress appears on track to deal a heavy blow to federal aid for literacy.

The Republican-led House yesterday delivered a bipartisan vote of 335-91 on a stopgap spending measure that would abolish federal funding for several literacy programs at the U.S. Department of Education, part of a planned government-wide reduction of $4 billion.

The proposed cuts include funding for the $250 million Striving Readers program, the $66 million Even Start family-literacy program, the $25 million Reading Is Fundamental program, and the $26 million National Writing Project.

The Democratic-controlled Senate is widely expected to go along with the package, which is intended to keep the government running for two more weeks while lawmakers and the White House continue to negotiate a budget plan. A vote is scheduled there today.

Source: Education Week March 2

Smart Phones Make Book Citations a Snap

A new smartphone application helps you cite books in scholarly papers.

Quick Cite, which costs 99 cents and is available for both iPhones and Android-based phones, uses the camera on a smartphone to scan the bar code on the back of a book. It then e-mails you a bibliography-ready citation in one of four popular styles—APA, MLA, Chicago, or IEEE.

Point the phone at the bar code on the book and Quick Cite will send you the citations in APA style or in MLA style.

Source: Wired Campus February 14

March is National Women's History Month

The theme for National History Month this year is "Our HISTORY is Our Strength."

The stories of women’s achievements are integral to the fabric of our history. Learning about women’s tenacity, courage, and creativity throughout the centuries is a tremendous source of strength. Until relatively recently, this sphere of women’s history was overlooked and undervalued. Women’s achievements were often distorted, disdained, and denied. But, knowing women’s stories provides essential role models for everyone. And role models are genuinely needed to face the extraordinary changes and unrelenting challenges of the 21st century.

Source: National Women's History Project

Free Resource for Teachers

Academic Earth offers video lectures from elite universities, and it allows viewers to grade the professors. Academic Earth also offers a “Playlists” feature based around themes such as “Laws of Nature,” “Wars Throughout History,” or “You Are What You Eat.”

Free Access to Music Online!

Alexander Street's Music Online: Listening collection has tripled in size!

All the classical, jazz, American, and world music content you need—in every format. Cross-search all of our recordings, scores, reference, and video content from a single interface. Listen to the best recordings from the best record labels—while you follow along with the score and read the composer's biography.


Access the complete Music Online suite of recordings, scores, reference, and video content, now through March 15th by registering at:

http://alexanderstreet.com/MUSICtrial2011.htm

Using SQL Webcast February 17

Using SQL to Explore Any Data on Hadoop in the Cloud
- February 17 Webcast at 11 am PT/ 2 pm ET

This webcast will cover how to explore big data in the cloud from within a graphical SQL environment in five minutes, with virtually no learning curve. Attendees will see how to discover or create schema from existing data, whether structured or unstructured and then explore and visualize the results with SQL from your desktop. The webcast will also showcase customer implementations and how this solution delivers value to enterprises challenged with large, complex and quickly growing data.

Let the library staff know if you are interested in this.

Streaming Videos

Alexander Street Press (ASP) has been rapidly growing streaming media collections and is releasing three major new video products for libraries in early 2011. Some of these may work for us.

ASP has just acquired Filmakers Library, the highly regarded New York-based distributor of documentary films. For 40 years, Filmmakers Library has distributed high-quality, issue-based documentaries to the academic market. ASP plans to launch the complete Filmakers Library as a subscription-based online streaming database, Filmakers Library Online, in early 2011. The publisher will also make it possible for libraries and educational institutions to order individual films via the ASP streaming platform.

Education in Video is the first online collection of streaming video developed specifically for the training and development of teachers. More than 1,000 video titles totaling 750+ hours of teaching demonstrations, lectures, documentaries, and primary-source footage of students and teachers in actual classrooms.

World History in Video is an online collection of 1,750 global documentaries covering everything from early civilizations to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many of the critically acclaimed documentaries from filmmakers worldwide are the most used today in university-level classes.

Access to information about the Collections:
Filmakers Library
Education in Video
World History in Video

Let me here from you.

Free Access to Visual Arts Journals!

Taylor & Francis Offers Free Access to Visual Arts Journals Throughout February
February 9, 2011

Taylor & Francis is offering us free online access to their complete range of visual arts journals throughout the month of February. Read articles from each journal’s online archive, including the most recent issues.

Complete access to 19 Routledge visual arts journals is provided via Art Acess. The journals in this promotion cover art history, photography, art therapy, visual anthropology, visual culture and more. These visual arts journals are included in the T&F Arts & Humanities Online Collection and Arts & Humanities Online Archive.


Start your free access here:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/artaccess

Black History Month Resources

These resources will be freely available in the month of February, courtesy of ICONN.

EBSCO-African American Archives
The African American Archives provides over a million pages of original historical documents pertaining to the African American experience over several centuries, the earliest coming from the collection of Essential Records Concerning Slavery and Emancipation from the Danish West Indies (1672-1917). There are several other slavery-related collections, including letters, account books, annual reports, news clippings, and related manuscripts from the American Colonization Society. The African American Archives also includes Records of the Southern Claims Commission, government records, original muster and hospital rolls, descriptive books, lists of deserters, returns, notational cards, enlistment papers, casualty sheets, death reports, prisoner of war papers, and correspondence.

The African American Archives also includes Records of the Southern Claims Commission, government records, original muster and hospital rolls, descriptive books, lists of deserters, returns, notational cards, enlistment papers, casualty sheets, death reports, prisoner of war papers, and correspondence.

Gale Cengage
this resource includes biographical and historical resources.

ProQuest Black Historical Newspapers
ProQuest Historical Newspapers-Black Newspapers offers primary source material essential to the study of American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and the arts. Examine major movements from the Harlem Renaissance to Civil Rights, and explore everyday life as written in the Chicago Defender, The Baltimore Afro-American, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta Daily World, The Norfolk Journal and Guide, The Philadelphia Tribune, and Cleveland Call and Post.

Collection: American Environmental Leaders

American Environmental Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present
A comprehensive and diverse, award-winning collection of biographies of the most important figures in American environmentalism. As our environment changes, and environmental concerns become more and more prevalent, this encyclopedia provides much-needed information on the key players in the environmental movement.

The biographies are arranged alphabetically, from Edward Abbey to David Zwick. This is a full text reference book in the Credo Reference database accessible on and off campus.

Happy New Year

Happy Chinese New Year
Years 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023
If you were born in any of those years, the rabbit is your Chinese zodiac sign.

Rabbit personality traits
Although generally calm, gentle and loving, Rabbit people can be very ambitious and intuitively know how to get ahead in the world.


They are good listeners, kind and sweet by nature, and are therefore often sought out as popular and trusted friends. Generally noted for their physical beauty, Rabbits like to surround themselves with beautiful things. They have a good eye for art, design and fashion, and are usually at the top of anyone's Best Dressed list.

Others may call the Rabbit timid, but those born under this sign rightly view themselves as wise and cautious.

Disappearing Forests: Global CQ Researcher Report

"As the U.N. celebrates the International Year of Forests to promote forest conservation, thousands of square miles of the planet's woodlands are destroyed each year to make way for sprawling suburbs, palm oil and soybean plantations, cattle ranches and farms. Experts say deforestation threatens a delicate balance in which forests act as Earth's lungs: absorbing carbon dioxide — the biggest contributor to climate change — and expelling oxygen. Now, scientists say, deforestation could soon release enormous amounts of carbon gases stored in the trees, undergrowth and melting permafrost. Such a “carbon bomb,” experts warn, would exacerbate climate change, triggering even more deforestation and threatening a variety of crucial environmental functions forests perform, such as air and water purification, erosion prevention, rain production and the creation of fuel, shelter, medicines and endangered species habitat. Efforts by world leaders to slow deforestation are showing progress, but scientists say more aggressive action is needed."

Source: Global CQ Researcher January 28
Image: Jamanxim National Forest on Nov. 29, 2009, that has been illegally burned down. Brazil, which lost more rainforest over the past decade than any other country, is using a $1 billion grant from Norway to crack down on deforestation. (AFP/Getty Images/Antonio Scorza)

Managing Nuclear Waste: CQ Researcher Report

"Thousands of tons of lethal nuclear waste from civilian power plants and military sites are stored at more than 100 sites around the country. But the federal government doesn't have a long-term plan today for managing nuclear waste. In the 1980s, Congress decided to build a single underground repository for spent fuel and highly radioactive defense waste in the southern Nevada desert. But work on the Yucca Mountain complex has faced political and technical problems and was canceled by President Obama, who advocates a new storage solution. Cancellation has created uncertainty for the nuclear power industry and for states where military waste is stored. It also is forcing utilities to pay to store used nuclear fuel at reactors — costs they pass on to customers. Some utilities have won multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the federal government, and more cases are pending. Obama supports expanding nuclear power as a clean energy strategy, but if the waste problem isn't solved, new reactors may be a hard sell in many states."
Source: CQ Researcher January 28
Image: Spent nuclear fuel is moved to a storage area at Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna Nuclear Generating Station, which supplies electricity to Richmond and Northern Virginia. Nuclear plants around the country store such radioactive waste on-site because the U.S. does not have a nuclear waste repository. (AP Photo/The Daily Progress/Bill Clark)

Black History Month: Art Database

Database of Published Images of African Art from Yale Unuversity





The James J. Ross Archive of African Images presents approximately 5000 pictures of African art published before 1921. The Archive aspires to include all the figurative African objects in books, periodicals, catalogues, newspapers, and other publications appearing in 1920 and earlier - the oldest dates to 1591.
RAAI is a collection of rich historical data and images extensively catalogued and annotated. Its historic sources afford exceptional insight into early European and American views - literal and figurative - of Africa's art.

ACCESS DATABASE!

Source: Image and information Yale Art Gallery

APA: How to cite an interview

How do you cite an interview?
An interview is not considered recoverable data, so no reference to this is provided in the reference list. You may, however, cite the interview within the text as a personal communication.

Examples:

(W. Wilson,personal communication, February 2, 2011)
W. Wilson (personal communication, February 2, 2011)

Adapted from the APA Manual

February is Heart Month

Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are our nation's No. 1 killer. To urge Americans to join the battle against these diseases, since 1963 Congress has required the president to proclaim February "American Heart Month." The American Heart Association (AHA) led initial efforts to develop Annual American Heart Month.

Although heart disease is one of the most costly and widespread health problems in the United States, it is among the most preventable.

Each year, the AHA, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies, brings together the most up–to–date statistics on heart disease, stroke, other vascular diseases, and their risk factors and presents them in its Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update. The Statistical Update is a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, healthcare policy makers, media professionals, the lay public, and students who seek the best national data available on disease morbidity and mortality and the risks, quality of care, medical procedures and operations, and costs associated with the management of these diseases in a single document.
Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2011 Update
A Report From the American Heart Association

Source: American Heart Association

New Library Resources: Your Tax Money at Work

Fortunately for us, iCONN has added the following e-reference titles to our collection at no additional charge:

Alternative Energy
Crime and Punishment: Essential Primary Sources Diseases & Disorders, vol. 1-10 Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture Encyclopedia of Products & Industries - Manufacturing Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History, Government and Politics Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History, War

They also have added the following titles that are the parts of the Diseases and Disorders series:

Acne
AIDS
Anthrax
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Headaches
Hemophilia
Obesity
SARS
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
West Nile Virus



Source: iConn

Required Course Readings

The Goodwin Library works with faculty to make sure your required course readings are available. Most of them are on reserve. Yet despite our hard work you may encounter a problem. Please contact the library staff as soon as possible if you are having difficulties.

New Rules on Sharing Scientific Data

Last week, a significant change went into effect at the National Science Foundation: The agency will now require researchers to submit data-management plans with their grant proposals.

Open government advocates hailed the move as the latest in a series of steps that are expanding public access to work done with taxpayer money. The policy will not go so far as to mandate public sharing of all data, which in this context could mean anything from glacier images to scientific papers to computer code. But it will “require people to essentially justify why they choose not to be open,” says Beth Noveck, a professor at New York Law School.

You can find lots of detailed information about the change at the NSF and the Association of Research Libraries sites.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Start Meditating

Scientists say that meditators may be benefiting from changes in their brains. The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

Skeptical? Do you need evidence? MRI brain scans taken before and after participants’ meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

It is hard to pinpoint the benefits of meditation, but a 2009 study suggests that meditation may reduce blood pressure in patients with coronary heart disease. And a 2007 study found that meditators have longer attention spans.

So what are you waiting for? Start meditating today. It can't hurt.

Source: Illustration and article "How Meditation May Change the Brain" by Sindya N. Branoo. New York Times January 28

CT Digital Collections

CT Digital Collections













Connecticut History Online (CHO) is a digital collection of more than 15,000 primary sources. This collection has been here now for ten years. Have you used it? If you haven’t, it’s definitely time to try it now.

The collection focuses on digital capture of historical artifacts, including photographs, maps, broadsides, oral histories, and manuscripts. This collection documents events, people, and places of Connecticut. There are wonderful stories to uncover here for many classes and research projects.

The photograph above is a 1930 aerial view of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co in East Hartford. The automobiles are parked beside the large industrial building. I didn’t know they grew tobacco in East Hartford, but in the distance we can see tobacco fields with tobacco netting and tobacco barns. (I reduced the size of the photograph; it is bigger in the collection.)

Note: Personal or educational use of all images found in CHO is permissible. The site includes detailed information on how to cite text or images. This collection and two others are freely available to us through the Connecticut State Library, local libraries, and the Department of Higher Education.

Access here: CONNECTICUT HISTORY ONLINE

Does college make you smarter?

In a recent book titled "Academically Adrift," the authors contend that 45 percent of the nation's undergraduates learn very little in their first two years of college.

The study, by two sociologists, Richard Arum of New York University and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia, also found that half of the students surveyed did not take any classes requiring 20 pages of writing in their prior semester, and one-third did not take any courses requiring 40 pages of reading a week.

Not everyone agrees whti their study. Read the discussion.

Source: New York Times Today

State of the Union Address

January 26, 2011 18:45

Remarks by the President in State of Union Address

Source: White House

See also: Congressman Paul Ryan Delivers Republican Address to the Nation

See also: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann: Response to the State of the Union

Trial on Business Source Premier

Business Source® Premier, the industry's most popular business research database, features the full text for more than 2,200 journals. Full text is provided back to 1965, and searchable cited references back to 1998.

Journal ranking studies reveal that Business Source Premier's full-text coverage outshines its competitors in all business disciplines, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.

ACCESS ON CAMPUS HERE!

Trial on Environment Complete Datavbase

Environment Complete™ offers deep coverage in applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.

Environment Complete contains more than 2.4 million records from more than 2,200 domestic and international titles going back to 1888 (including over 1,350 active core titles). The database contains full text for more than 920 journals, including many of the most used journals in the discipline, such as Environment (back to 1975), Ecologist, Conservation Biology, etc. Additionally, Environment Complete provides full text for more than 190 monographs, such as Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (3 volumes), Advances in Water Treatment & Environmental Management, etc.


ACCESS ON CAMPUS HERE!

Respiratory Probems and Scented Products

A survey of selected scented consumer goods showw the products emitted more than 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including some that are classified as toxic or hazardous by federal laws. Even products advertised as “green,” “natural,” or “organic” emitted as many hazardous chemicals as standard ones.

Read the article!

This article was published in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP),a monthly journal of peer-reviewed research and news published by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services. EHP's mission is to serve as a forum for the discussion of the interrelationships between the environment and human health by publishing in a balanced and objective manner the best peer-reviewed research and most current and credible news of the field. With an impact factor of 6.19, EHP is the top monthly journal in public, environmental, and occupational health and the second-ranked monthly journal in environmental sciences. It is also free and online readily available for everyone.

New Journal Launched

A new open-access journal, Scientific Reports, will releast its first issue in June 2011. The peer-reviewed online publication will accept papers deemed scientifically sound and original without regard to the significance of the research.This policy is similar to that of the journal PLoS One Scientific Reports.

Quote of the Day

"Research in universities is so thoroughly embedded in universities that the line between the two has become difficult to discern. And research in universities requires solid undergraduate and graduate learning and teaching. It is foolhardy to weaken this foundation, because the modern research university is built on the energy and ideas of students. Students are not customers of a university; they are its very soul. The idea that research will prosper whle teaching and learning decay is a dangerous fallacy."
Source: "University cuts show science is far from saved" by Colin Macilwain in the January 13 issue of Nature, World View section, page 133.

Cool Web Tools! "Send to Kindle: Any Web Page Text, With One Click, Using Chrome Browser

While this blog has an earlier article on using Instapaper to send articles to the Kindle and a revision of Instapaper has made it even easier now, what's described here is a new feature possible via the Chrome browser.

With the new Send to Kindle option, you can specify that the text content of a webpage you're on be sent to your Kindle at [you]@free.kindle.com. This Kindle address avoids the 15 cents per megabyte charge for sending a personal document over 3G Whispernet instead. The [you]@free.kindle.com

NEW TITLES IN EBRARY

New in EBRARY Academic Complete
They have recently added over 1,100 multidisciplinary titles from National Academies Press, New Age International, World Trade Press, University of Chicago Press, and other leading publishers.Below is a sample listing of newly added titles.


Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal,by Ben Mezrich (Anchor, 2010)



Brain Sense: The Science of the Senses and How We Process the World Around Us, by Faith Hickman Brynie (AMACOM, 2009)



Discrete Mathematics,by B.S. Vasta and Suchi Vasta (New Age International, 2009)




Innocent Bystanders: Developing Countries and the War on Drugs,
by Philip Keefer and Norman Loayza (World Bank, 2010)




Spirituality and Aging, by Robert C. Atchley (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009)




Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce
(University of Chicago Press, 2009)

Don't Pass the Salt

The American Heart Association on January 13 issued a call to action for the public, health professionals, the food industry and the government to intensify efforts to reduce the amount of sodium (salt) Americans consume daily.

In an advisory, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the association sets out the science behind the American Heart Association’s recommendation for the general population, which is to consume no more than 1500 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day because of the harmful effects of sodium – elevated blood pressure and increased risk of stroke, heart attacks and kidney disease. Elevated blood pressure (hypertension) is a major public health problem – approximately 90 percent of all Americans will develop hypertension over their lifetime.

There is no direct conversion, but 1500 milligrams is about equivalent to 1.5 teaspoons of salt daily.

Source: American Heart Association

Pride and Prejudice for Feeley's ENG 102 classes

I have requested copies of Pride and Prejudice through Interlibrary loan. Students can also find this full text on line because it was written in 1813 and is no longer copyright protected. Any number of students can simultaneously read the novel online. Below is the link to the Gutenberg and other sites:

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pridprej.html
http://www.fullbooks.com/Pride-and-Prejudice.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1342

There are other full text sites online as well.

I will have multiple hard copies by tomorrow and the rest will come next week. Enjoy!

Urban Fantasy Reads

Urban fantasy is a subset of contemporary fantasy, consisting of magical novels and stories set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings--as opposed to 'traditional' fantasy set in wholly imaginary landscapes, even ones containing imaginary cities, or having most of their action take place in them.

Examples of urban fantasy:
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Tell us if you have any favorites or suggestions for the library. Just click on "Post a Comment" below and write to your heart's content.

Highlights in U.S. Women's History

January Highlights in US Women's History so far this month:
Jan 3, 1949 - Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine) starts her tenure in the Senate, where she stays in office until 1973; the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate as she previously served in the House (R-Maine, 1940-1949)
Jan 5, 1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross is inaugurated as the first woman governor in U.S. history (governor of Wyoming)
Jan 7, 1896 - Fanny Farmer's first cookbook is published in which she standardized cooking measurements
Jan 7, 1955 - Marian Anderson is the first African American woman to sing at the Metrop olitan Opera
Jan 8, 1977 - Pauli Murray, the first female African American Episcopal priest, is ordained
Jan 11, 1935 - Amelia Earhart makes the first solo flight from Hawaii to North America
Jan 12, 1932 - Hattie Wyatt Caraway (D-Arkansas) is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She was the first woman to chair a Senate Committee and the first to serve as the Senate's presiding officer as well

January Birthdays
Jan 3, 1793 (1880 ) - Lucretia Mott, women's rights pioneer, Quaker minister, pacifist; NWHP co-founder Molly MacGregor is honored to share her birth day
Jan 7, 1891 (1960) - Zora Neale Hurston, pioneering scholar of African American folklore
Jan 8, 1867 (1961) - Emily Greene Balch, economist and sociologist; co-founder of the Women's International League for Peace with Jane Addams (1919); won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946, shared with John Mott
Jan. 9, 1859 Carrie Chapman Catt, woman's suffrage leader and president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
Jan. 9, 1941 - Joan Baez, award winning singer and songwriter; human, civil, and peace activist; founder of Humanitas International Human Rights Committee (1979)
Jan 11, 1885 (1977) - Alice Paul, suffragist leader, founder of National Women's Party (1916); her strategies helped pass the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote (1920); initiated the Equal Rights Amendment (1923)
Jan 12, 1820 (1914) - Caroline Severance, early suffragist, social reformer; co-founded the American Woman Suffrage Association (1869); first woman to register to vote in California (1911)
Jan 13, 1850 (1911) - Charlotte Ray, fi rst African-American woman lawyer and first woman admitted to the bar in D.C.
Jan. 13, 1917 Edna Hibel the first woman to win the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts.
Jan 19, 1905 (1995) - Oveta Culp Hobby, second women in the U.S. Cabinet (20 years after Frances Perkins), first Secretary of the Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953); awarded the Distinguished Medal of Service for her work as Director of the Women's Army Corps (1945)

Zenyatta: Horse of the Year 2010

The charismatic mare, who captivated a nation with her pre-race antics, was named the 2010 Horse of the Year on Monday night at the 40th annual Eclipse Awards in Miami. Zenyatta lost the Breeders' Cup Classic, but she still won horse racing's biggest prize.

Zenyatta ended her career with 19 wins in 20 starts, but the last race was the toughest.The 6-year-old mare was defeated in the Breeders' Cup Classic by Blame, who was also one of the three finalists for Horse of the Year. After Zenyatta won the Breeders' Cup Classic a year ago, she was defeated for Horse of the Year by another mare--Rachel Alexandra.

Source: Albany Times Union

Free Chemistry Peer-reviewed Articles

Chemistry Central publishes peer-reviewed open access research in chemistry. Chemistry Central is part of the BioMed Central group.

Chemistry Central publishes a range of online open access journals, and provides links to other online open access journals of interest published by BioMed Central.

On of the most frequently accessed article in the last 30 days?
Chemistry in Second Life
Andrew SID Lang, Jean-Claude Bradley
Chemistry Central Journal 2009, 3:14 (23 October 2009)
(The image above is from Second Life.)

National Library of Medicine Site has New Look

The National Library of Medicine has just updated thousands of pages within its site. They now include site-wide navigation in the header so many of our favorite links should be just a click away. There is also a new “Share” feature so you can send content to your friends, colleagues or yourself via social bookmarking and networking. Plus, they have added links to make it easier to connect on Facebook and Twitter.

The National Library of Medicine, a component of the National Institutes of Health, is the world’s largest medical library. Don't overlook this great resource when you are doing research.

Libraries & Librarians Re-defined

Libraries are defined more by what they do than what they look like. While new technologies might be replacing print collections, they are not replacing librarians — whose roles as research guides have become more even important as available resources have multiplied. it’s important to look at the type of reference question that are asked. The number of directional and simple questions has dropped, because we’ve provided the tools to make answering those questions easier. “If you look at the number of more difficult, research-oriented questions, we find it has grown as the complexity of the tools to provide answers to those questions has become more intense. You still need us.

while the functions and appearance of libraries has changed, nobody is about to tear them down just because they have fewer books and more social spaces.Maybe the whole idea of is the library, as a place, dead or not is a red herring. Should the question be who knows what the library means anymore? That is what we are still trying to answer.

Blackboard expands

Blackboard, known for its course-management software, is moving into a whole new sector. Yesterday the company announced that it bought Presidium Inc., which provides outsourced call centers and consulting services for admissions, financial aid, and other student services, and also runs IT help desks for many colleges.

Blackboard paid $53-million to acquire the company. lackboard already held about 10 percent of the company, which was founded by former Blackboard employees. Presidium is based in Reston, Va., and has 160 full-time employees.

WELCOME TO NEW STUDENTS

Welcome to the Goodwin College Library.

Please consult the library page to help you become familiar with our library and identify key services and personal contacts you may find helpful in your first weeks here. www.goodwin.edu/library

The library supports the college's educational and service goals by ensuring that all students, faculty, and staff receive the best possible service, information, resources, and equipment in an environment conducive to learning. We look forward to meeting you and helping you become successful college students, college graduates, and employed members of the your chosen field of study.

Build a Tower Challenge

Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem" -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?

Watch the video.

MLA Format Hint

MLA Cover Page is not numbered. Here are directions for removing the number from the first page so that the second page will be number 1.

On the Insert tab, in the Headers & Footers group, click Page Number, and then click Format Page Numbers.
2. In the Start at box, type 0.

Embed YouTube in PowerPoint 2007

To embed a YouTube video in PowerPoint 2007 follow these simmple steps:

1. First turn on the Developer Tab on the Ribbon by clicking on the Microsoft logo at the top left of the window and selecting PowerPoint Options all the way at the bottom of the menu. Next put a check next to the unchecked item to show the developer Tab.
2. Go to YouTube and select a video to embed
3. Copy the URL
4. On the Developer menu choose "More Controls"
5. Select Shockwave Flash Object
6. Click and drag on the PowerPoint slide to add the Flash object
7. Right Click the object placeholder and select properties
8. Set the Movie property to the URL you copied
9. In the URL delete "watch?" and change the "=" sign to a ⁄
10. Adjust the options for Looping or AutoPlay if desired
Make sure to test the presentation and keep in mind that the video is streaming from YouTube, so an Internet connection is required at the time of presentation.

Good luck!

Solstice, Full Moon, and Lunar Eclipse

How great is this? The Winter Solstice, December 21st, the longest night of the year, coincides with a full moon and full lunar eclipse.

According to NASA, the total eclipse of the moon will occur on this schedule, EST
• Moonrise Monday, Dec 20 3:55 pm
• Moon enters penumbra Tuesday, Dec 21, 12:28 am
• Partial Eclipse Begins(moon enters umbra) 1:32am
• Total Eclipse Begins (moon fully within umbra) 02:40 am
• Middle of Total Eclipse 3:16 am
• Moon Leaves Totality (begins re-entry into penumbra) 3:53 am
• Partial Eclipse Ends (moon leaves umbra) 5:01 am
• Partial Eclipse Ends (moon leaves penumbra) 6:04 am
• Moonset 7:29 am

EXTENDED LIBRARY HOURS

EXTENDED HOURS WEEK BEFORE AND DURING FINAL EXAMS

Weekend Dec. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18-9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Weekdays Dec. 6-17-7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

NOTE: You must be out of the building by 5 p.m. on weekends and 10 p.m. during the week.

Free Music Download

Every two weeks, from Alexander Street and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the Goodwin Library is offering a free music download from Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries.

Currently available for download is:
"Tetigo" from Discover Indonesia, performed by M. Sarif and Kondang


Indonesia is a huge country, spread over hundreds of islands, encompassing peoples of many different languages, religions, and musical cultures. Fifteen tracks from the widely acclaimed 20-CD series Music of Indonesia have been selected to provide an exciting and varied introduction to musical styles from different parts of the country. This is a xylophone duet performed by Petalangan musicians of mainland Riau, Sumatra.

All tracks are owned by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and are available, free of charge, for a limited time only.

Download the mp3.

Library Advocacy Committee Event tomorrow

Friday, November 19 in the auditorium 10:30-11:30

Crossfire Clash
Conservatives vs. Liberals discuss the 2010 midterm election and where we go from here.
Participants:
Mike Rotondo
Dan Noonan
Janet Jefford
Howard Satinsky
Alex Nye
Seymoure Oliviera
Paul LaRocca will moderate.

GOODWIN COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION WELCOME!

Credo Reference Databases User Statistics

In October, library users consulted 94 titles from the Credo Reference database.
133 sessions
324 searches
129 entries views
970 pages viewed

Top Entries Viewed:
Gender socialization and gender stereotypes
Attention Deficit Disorder
Rape and rape prevention
Alcohol and alcoholism
Euthanasia
Pregnancy
Kashmir
Art, religious
Hartnup disease
Latora disease
Breast cancer
Prisons and punishment

Thank you, library users, for appreciating this great database!

National Book Award Winners announced

The National Book Award winners were announced last night at the 61st National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Fiction Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
Nonfiction Just Kids by Patti Smith
Poetry Lighthead by Terence Hayes
Young People's Literature Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Lifetime Achievement Award Tom Wolfe

The winners get $10,000,a statue, and probably increased sales.

1100 more books in ebrary Academic Complete

New in Academic Complete
Ebrary recently added over 1,100 multidisciplinary titles from National Academies Press, New Age International, World Trade Press, University of Chicago Press, and other leading publishers. Some of the titles include:
Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, by Ben Mezrich (Anchor, 2010)

Brain Sense: The Science of the Senses and How We Process the World Around Us,
by Faith Hickman Brynie (AMACOM, 2009)

Discrete Mathematics, by B.S. Vasta and Suchi Vasta (New Age International, 2009)

Innocent Bystanders: Developing Countries and the War on Drugs, by Philip Keefer and Norman Loayza (World Bank, 2010)

Spirituality and Aging, by Robert C. Atchley (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009)

Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals,by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce
(University of Chicago Press, 2009)

African American Experience Database

Even with the best of intentions, most librarians can't find the materials or the funding to satisfy students investigating the historical impact of African Americans on today's world. However, we now have a new resource offering students and teachers a wealth of cultural materials specifically designed for classroom research and personal inquiry.

The widest ranging and easiest-to-use online collection on African American life ever assembled, The African American Experience is the definitive electronic research tool for African American history and culture from one of the most respected publishers in the field. It provides rock-solid information from authorities in the field and to allows African Americans to speak for themselves through a wealth of primary sources. Drawing on over 450 titles, and designed under the guidance of leading librarians, this database gives voice to the black experience from its African origins to the present day.

-New material from print reference titles and multivolume sets, such as Barack Obama, the New Face of American Politics; The Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage; Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers [2 Volumes]; and Icons of Hip Hop [2 Volumes].
-A deep backlist of reference books and monographs, many now available in electronic format for the first time
-Over 5,000 primary documents: manuscripts, speeches, court cases, quotations, -advertisements, statistics, and other papers
-Over 3,500 interviews with former slaves-the WPA slave narratives-from the acclaimed The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, now re-indexed and for the first time fully searchable
-Sixty-seven University Press texts from the early 1800s to the early 1970s—classics in black scholarship.

Try it here.

Ebrary Academic Complete

Ebrary Academic Complete is a highly interactive eBook database that covers all academic subject areas. The collection currently includes more than 50,000 titles from more than 220 of the world’s leading academic publishers.




Each individual eBook in Academic Complete integrates with information in ourlibrary and on the web through the ebrary Reader™ and InfoTools™ software. Just by highlighting any word of interest in Academic Complete, you can instantly search against our OPAC or other online resources in the library, and information
on the Internet, without leaving the current document.

New Environmental Database

GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources) is a new online resource that offers authoritative content on the development of emerging green technologies and discusses issues on the environment, sustainability and more. GREENR is an important part of a new generation of solutions from Gale designed with users in mind.

GREENR is interactive and current, allowing users to navigate issue, organization and country portals. It's a one-stop site dedicated to studying sustainability and the environment.

This database will be available for Goodwin Students beginning Monday, November 15.

Latest Additions to Credo General Reference

Credo's General Reference collection continues to grow each month and now has over 515 titles.

The following well-regarded titles were added in October:
• Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, M.E. Sharpe
• Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Psychology, Hodder Education
• The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History, M.E. Sharpe
• The Essentials of Global Politics, Hodder Education
• The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey, M.E. Sharpe

Video: Academic gap widens for black males

A new study showing that most black American male students perform worse then their peers by almost every measure suggests that some of the obstacles to their academic success start before school the school bell even rings. NBC's Ron Allen reports.

WATCH VIDEO HERE.

Source: New York Times Novembeer 9 2010

Imagine Science Short Film

At the Imagine Science Film Festival in New York last month, Skhizein directed by Jeremy Clapin won honorable mention. It uses sophisticated computer graphics as its hero descends into schizophrenia.

SKHIZEIN is a strange film that begins with a man at a psychiatrist's office talking about his problem. It seems that since a meteorite struck nearby, he's been "out of phase". In other words, every thing he does is 91 centimeters off (that's a yard for all of us non-metric folks)!

Unique, compelling and clever--what more could you want from an animated short of about 13 minutes.
SKHIZEIN Part 1

SKHIZEIN Part 2

Source: "learning to Love Science Films" Nature November 4 2010

Environmental Health

"Our environment affects our health. Our average life span has almost doubled over the past century or so mainly because we have clean, safe drinking water. If parts of the environment, like air and water, or soil become polluted, it can lead to health problems. For example, asthma attacks can result from pollutants and other chemicals in the air and in the home.

Some environmental risks are a part of the natural world, like radon in the soil. Others are the result of human activities, like lead poisoning from paint, or exposure to asbestos or mercury from mining or industrial use."

MedlinePlus includes Environmental Health among its many topics. The site is available in Spanish as well as English and includes abundant additional information on related topics. You can sign up for an email update: www.medlineplus.org

Source: NIH: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Library Circulates Kill a Watt Monitor

It's more than books here, folks. The library is now circulating Kill A Watt EZ electricity usage monitor.

The device measures the energy consumption of electrical appliances. Just plug it into a wall socket and then plug in your appliance to assess how efficient it is. Program in your local utility rate and display projected costs. The meter will circulate with a protective case and complete instructions. Pick it up at the circulation desk. The knowledge you gain can save you thousands of dollars.

No Cureballs for Higher Education

WASHINGTON -- Final tallies of exactly how many seats Republicans gained Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are days -- if not weeks -- away (though by early Wednesday morning, the major news networks were projecting gains of more than 60 seats in the House). But anyone who didn’t stay up all night watching election results pour in has woken up to a GOP-led House of Representatives and a Senate guided by a small Democratic majority.

What do the results mean for federal higher education policy and the members of Congress who’ve played key roles in crafting those policies?

Read this article from Inside Higher Ed.

Source: Inside Higher Ed November 3, 2010

Sign at Rally to Restore Sanity

Do you think this sign at the Rally to Restore Sanity could be associated with a college?

The Gulf Between Us

"The oil is not gone. This story is not over. We smelled it in the air. We felt it in the water. People along the Gulf Coast are getting sick and sicker. Marshes are burned. Oysters are scarce and shrimp are tainted. Jobs are gone and stress is high. What is now hidden will surface over time.

Meanwhile, 1 billion birds are migrating through the Gulf of Mexico this fall, resting, feeding, and finding sanctuary as they have always done, generation after generation. The endangered piping plover will be among them. Seventy percent of all waterfowl in North America fly through the Mississippi Delta. Their energy will be compromised, with food not as plentiful. Their health will be vulnerable to the toxic traces of oil and dispersants lingering in the marshes."

Please read this article by Terry Tempest Williams in Orion Magazine:
"The Gulf Between Us:Stories of terror and beauty from the world's largest accidental offshore oil disaster."

A web extra, and companion to Terry Tempest Williams's article about the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill, containing extra images and audio narrative from photographer J Henry Fair.

CQ RESEARCHER REPORTS IN OCTOBER

Animal Intelligence October 22
Do animals think?
Australian scientists recently reported that octopuses were the first invertebrates to be observed using tools. In January, in a laboratory, a crow became the first bird to show “insight” — grasping the solution to a problem by mental activity, not trial-and-error behavior. Today virtually all animal scientists agree that animals — down through the insect kingdom — have amazing powers of mind.

States and Federalism October 15
Is the federal government usurping states’ rights?
Arizona enacted Medicaid cuts early this year only to have the action countermanded by the Obama administration's recently passed health care law. Arizona is now one of 20 states challenging the new law as unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the state is also tangling with the federal government over national immigration policy. The cases highlight the recurrence of high-profile clashes over federal power and state prerogatives.

Journalism Standards in the Internet Age October 8
Are the news media sacrificing news ethics online?
Press critic A.J. Liebling of The New Yorker wrote in 1960 that “freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” A half-century later, everyone with an Internet connection owns a virtual press. And many of them scorn the journalism standards that have guided America's mainstream media since before Liebling penned his famous aphorism.

Preventing Obesity October 1
Do Americans face too many obstacles to healthy eating?
The number of obese Americans has increased dramatically over the last 40 years, and in 2001 the nation's surgeon general went so far as to call obesity an epidemic. One-third of children and two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese, posing a daunting public-health challenge.

The last report of the month will be Democrats’ Future.

PROQUEST CENTRAL coming soon!

The library has signed up for a free trial of Proquest Central beginning November 1.

ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated full-text database in the market today totaling more than 13,970 titles—with over 10,910 titles in full text. It serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels in all markets.

While ProQuest Central provides access to millions of much-coveted full text articles from thousands of scholarly journals, it also provides access to information not available in other aggregated resources such as:

•Over 880 full text U.S., Canadian and international newspapers including exclusive access to the full text of The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times
•Over 34,200 full text dissertations in the areas of business, psychology, physical sciences, health, education and more, helping end users build a more robust results set
•Concise business information from nearly 9,000 market reports across 43 industries in 40 countries, spanning the UK, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Latin America.

Format: Abstract and index, Full Text, Full Image, Text+Graphics
Media: Electronic/Online
Coverage: 1905-Present
Total Sources Covered: 13,970+
MARC Records: YES | Counter COMPLIANT: YES | ATHENS enabled: YES
Open URL enabled: YES | z39.50 enabled: YES

Book Display in Honor of the Half-Moon

Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson by P. Mancall

Rhinecliff: A Hudson River History. The Tangled Tale of Rhinebeck’s Waterfront by C. Philip

The Hudson: A History by T. Lewis

Henry Hudson in Holland: An Inquiry into the Origin & Objects of the Voyage Which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River by H. Murphy

Peekskill’s African American History: A Hudson Valley Community Untold Story by J. Curran

Denning’s Point: A Hudson River History by j. Heron

Official Program, Hudson-Fulton Celebration; Discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson, 1609; Inauguration of Steam Navigation by Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission

Island at the Center of the World by R. Shorto

Henry Hudson and the Algonquins of New York by E. Pritchard

Dutch New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture edited by R. Panetta

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

Ethnographic Video Online From the Library

A new online resource lets you stream, cross-search, annotate, and share hundreds of classic and contemporary documentaries. The library has arranged free access to this exciting resource through December 31. Call the library for access information.



A comprehensive online resource for the visual study of human culture and behavior and the largest, most affordable streaming video collection of its kind, Ethnographic Video Online contains more than 750 hours of classic and contemporary documentaries produced by leading video producers in the discipline; previously unpublished footage from working anthropologists and ethnographers in the field; and select feature films. Wherever possible, videos include accompanying field notes, liner notes, filmmaker biographies, related articles, study guides, and other context-enhancing, full-text materials. Learn more about Ethnographic Video Online here

FREE COUPONS IN THE LIBRARY

FREE COUPONS IN THE LIBRARY
TAKE SOME
ADD SOME

What CT Government does for us

Interlibrary Loan Service 2010
Our Interlibrary Loan services is provided by the Connecticut State Library with delivery by Connecticar (Ccar). It serves 226 libraries with 2.75 million items shipped. The average delivery time is usually several business days.
Cost using Ccar =$580,000
Cost to do this using USPS =$7,101,000
Cost to our library =$0

ICONN
-over 8 million page views
-2,312,183 searches in statewide catalog
-200 libraries lent 130,448 items through reQuest, a 6% increase
-22.1 million items now in reQuest
-$27 million-the value of all iCONN databases to local communities

Source: Connecticut State Library/Division of Library Development

New England Library Association Conference

Yesterday, I attended the opening day of the New England Library Conference at Boxborough, MA. The New England Library Association (NELA) is a membership organization for library staff and supporters in the New England States. The theme of this year’s conference was “Outside the Box; Results Support Sustainability.”

The first session was “Meeting the Challenge: Libraries in a Time of Change presented by American Library Association Executive Director, Keith Michael Fiels” who refuted the many myths about libraries and librarians. The Jordan Miller Storytelling program featured Judith Black, nationally recognized storyteller, who explored expanding literacy through stories and the current problem of the rampant self-censorship of children's literature. In the annual discussion group, State of the States, representatives of each state agency provided gloomy status reports on coping with current realities of decreasing funding and increasing service demands. Featured speaker at the banquet was Joe Raiola, Senior Editor of MAD magazine and a long-time First Amendment champion. His Joy of Censorship presentation included an illuminating, satiric and sometimes disturbing look at censorship and related issues. He also traced the unlikely and colorful history of MAD magazine and presented a survey of MAD’s most controversial covers and articles.

Next year's conference will be at Burlington, Vermont, earlier in October.

Source: Marilyn Nowlan

Mark Twain's Autobiography just arrived!

The library has an early release of Volume One of Mark Twain's uncensored autobiography. This major literary event brings us the first of three volumes presenting Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave--as he intended. He left strict instructions that it not be published until 100 years after his death.

Who will be the first of the Goodwin Community to read it?

Autobiography of Mark Twain
Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith
University of California Press, 2010
PS1331.A2 2010

Highlighted Service: Text a Librarian (TAL)

Text a Librarian (TAL) allows members of the Goodwin community to text questions from mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Answers are disseminated by library staff who text messages back during library hours. Questions are responded to in turn and in brief (320 or fewer characters). Face-to-face research consultations can be scheduled, or patrons can be directed to other options such as real-time chat or web forms.See directions for accessing on the library page.

Some of the other libraries using TAL include Kresge Engineering Library, University California, Berkeley; Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University; BioMedical Library, University of Pennsylvania; biology and chemistry house librarians, CalTech; and Mann Library, Cornell University.

Librarian of Congress here October 12

All students, faculty, and staff are invited to join Congressman John Larson and the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, for a discussion about resources available on the Library of Congress website for teachers and students. The discussion will take place Tuesday, October 12, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Goodwin College auditorium.

Under Dr. Billington’s leadership, the Library of Congress has expanded its public outreach through the establishment of a new National Digital Library and other electronic services. The Library of Congress has made digitized versions of collection materials available online since 1994, concentrating on its most rare collections and those unavailable anywhere else. These services are your gateway to a growing treasury of digitized photographs, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, and books, as well as "born digital" materials such as Web sites. In addition, the Library maintains and promotes the use of digital library standards and provides online research and reference services.

By providing these materials online, those who may never come to Washington can gain access to the treasures of the nation’s library. Such online access also helps preserve rare materials that may be too fragile to handle.

Source: Library of Congress online

Recommended site: Population Reference Bureau

The Population Reference Bureau informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations.

•Inform. PRB analyzes complex demographic data and research to provide the most objective, accurate, and up-to-date population information in a format that is easily understood by advocates, journalists, and decisionmakers alike.

•Empower. Our commitment to putting information into action sets us apart. PRB builds coalitions and conducts workshops around the world to give our key audiences the tools they need to understand and communicate effectively about population issues.

•Advance. PRB works to ensure that policymakers in developing countries and in the United States rely on sound evidence, rather than anecdotal or outdated information, when creating population, health, and environmental policies.

Source: Populaton Reference Bureau

New Resources: Children's Lit Database

Goodwin College's subscription request for The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD www.childrenslit.com ) is active using the following:
User name: goodwin
Password: hartford
both are case sensitive

The CLCD is a subscription-based information retrieval service designed to meet the needs of organizations and individuals who work with children's books. Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) contains annotations, reviews, curriculum tools, and awards, honors, and reading lists for thousands of children's books. Overall, the database contains 200,000+ critical reviews of children’s literature, ranging from baby board books to novels and nonfiction for young adults. About 1,500 new reviews are added to the database monthly.

About Banned and Challenged Books

During Banned Book Week, perhaps you might wonder what is the difference between a challenge and a banning. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.

According to the American Library Association, there were 460 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2009. Among the titles are "And Tango Makes Three," by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson; "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky; and "Twilight," by Stephanie Meyer.

The ten most challenged books last year were:
ttyl; ttfn; 18r, g8r (series ) by Lauren Myracle
And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twilight (series) by Stephanie Meyer
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
My sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Source: American Library Association

Special Library Association 100th Anniversary

Marilyn Nowlan, Goodwin library director, attended the 100th anniversary celebration of the Boston Special Library Association (SLA)at the Artists for Humanity Epicenter in Boston Tuesday, September 28. Boston SLA now includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and all of Connecticut except for Fairfield County. Marilyn is a past president of the Connecticut Valley SLA Chapter that merged with Boston in 2007. Plans are underway to rename SLA Boston to reflect the regional membership. SLA is an international association of information professionals/special librarians in corporations, business, science, hospitals, government and academic institutions.

CT Science Education Conference October 30

Be sure not to miss the 2010 Connecticut Science Education Conference, held October 30th, 2010, at Hamden Middle School in Hamden, CT. This annual professional development conference draws educators from all across the state of Connecticut and Southern New England. There are over 60 workshops that address all grade levels from Kindergarten through University and all areas of science education, including life science, earth/space science, physical science, assessment, technology, and literacy. An Exhibit Hall features more the 50 commercial and non-profit organizations. The Keynote Speaker, Jeff Winokur, is nationally known for his work in the science-literacy connection. He is part of the author team for Science & Literacy, Heinemann’s groundbreaking professional development program.

Mark your calendars and vist www.csta.org to register and for more information.

Celbrating the Freedom to Read

Banned Book Week
September 25−October 2, 2010

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.

Watch this week for activities celebrating our freedom to read. Start with the display case in front of the elevators.

The Constitution and Religious Freedom

Speaker: Attorney Richard Voigt
Topic: The Constitution and Religious Freedom
Community Room
6:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 23
Sponsored by the Library Advocacy Committee

Freshman Reading

The library has a collection of topical titles that will stimulate conversation and critical thinking while engaging students in full discussions of timely, popular subjects. We proudly present you with a list of thought-provoking books ideal for freshman-year reading and first-year seminars.

The Soulful Science:
What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters (Revised Edition)
Diane Coyle

Lincoln on Race and Slavery
Edited and introduced by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Coedited by Donald Yacovone

On Bullshit
Harry G. Frankfurt

The Founders on Religion:
A Book of Quotations
Edited and Introduced by James H. Hutson

Cop in the Hood:
My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District
Peter Moskos

Scroogenomics:
Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays
Joel Waldfogel

Guesstimation:
Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin
Lawrence Weinstein & John A. Adam

The Invisible Hook:
The Hidden Economics of PiratesPeter T. Leeson

Constitution Day Today

Educational institutions receiving Federal funding are required
to provide educational programs or displays pertaining to the United States Constitution on September 17 of each year.

Notice Constitution resources in the display case in front of the elevators.Try answering sample questions from the naturalization test to see if you could become a citizen.

Please check the library page for lots of information about the Constitution and Constitution Day.

Next week we will continue our celebration of the Constitution by having a debate between two Goodwin professors on health care reform, a panel discussion on Constitution issues, and an attorney who will speak on the Constitution and religious freedom. Watch the library page for date, times and place!


Online today!
In the meantime log on to www.constitutioncenter.org/constitutionday ANY TIME today, September 17, 2010 for Constitution Hall Pass, an online event that will feature an introduction by former Supreme Court Justice and Trustee of the Center Sandra Day O'Connor, and teaches students about the importance of the U.S. Constitution, while escorting them on a staff-led virtual tour of the Center's Signers' Hall, an iconic interpretation of the Assembly Room where the signers of the Constitution met.

Source: The Goodwin Library and the Library Advocacy Committee

Accesing Library Off Campus with Shibboleth

The library is hoping to have a new method of accessing the library resources off campus. The Shibboleth System is a standards based, open source software package for web single sign-on access. It allows sites to make informed authorization decisions for individual access of protected online resources in a privacy-preserving manner. If all goes well, it should be operational in October.

The word shibboleth comes from ancient Hebrew and meant 'ear of grain'. Some groups pronounced it with a sh sound, but speakers of related dialects pronounced it with an s. In the story, two Semitic tribes, the Ephraimites and the Gileadites, have a great battle. The Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites, and set up a blockade across the Jordan River to catch the fleeing Ephraimites who were trying to get back to their territory. The sentries asked each person who wanted to cross the river to say the word shibboleth. The Ephraimites, who had no sh sound in their language, pronounced the word with an s and were thereby unmasked as the enemy and slaughtered.

News for Students Using EBSCO Databases

Results List Enhancements for EBSCO Databases

EBSCO has applied a fresh new design to the EBSCOhost interface, and enhanced the Result List for greater usability:
•Limiters and the date slider are now in the left column, consolidating all the ways to refine and work with results.
•To the right of the Result List are search/content expansion tools: Related Information, access to integrated search (EHIS) connectors, widgets.
•You can now select multiple clusters and source types when managing results.
•A "breadbox" tracks which limiters, expanders and source types have been selected and allows one-click removal.
•Menu organization for page options and alert/save/share has been improved.

The Library has these EBSCO Databases:
CINAHL (Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health)
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
PsycINFO
GreenFILE
LISTA (Library Information Science & Technology Abstracts)
Education Research Complete
ERIC (Education Resource Information Center)
Academic Search Premier

New Books Cartel, Cartel 2, and Cartel 3

The Cartel Trilogy by Ashley JaQuavis is now available in the Goodwin Library. Last November, these authors joined only a few others from the street literature genre to make the New York Times Best Seller list. Making the Times list establishes a stronger presence for street literature that tells stories about the struggles and realities of urban black life on the street. This is a new style of writing that has been mostly ignored by mainstream America until recently. It hasn't been ignored by the Goodwin College community.

World Water Day is Coming

On September 18th, World Water Monitoring Day will focus on protecting and preserving water resources around the world. American Leak Detection encourages everyone to conserve water in the home.

Do you have dripping faucets? If a drip fills an 8 ounce glass in 15 minutes, the faucet will waste about 180 gallons of water per month, or 2,160 gallons a year.

Pick up information in the library about World Water monitoring Day provided by Bruce Morton, Program Director and Associate Professor of Environmental Science.

Source: Water Efficiency

Happy 40th Birday

The Clean Air Act was 40 yesterday. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson hosted a day-long party to celebrate. We should celebrate, too. The Clean Air Act is an effective and beneficial pieces of public health legislation. For four decades this landmark law has successfully protected the health of millions of Americans from dozens of different air pollutants.