May is Healthy Vision Month (HVM), a national eye health observance devoted to promoting the vision objectives in Healthy People 2010. HVM 2007 focuses on Healthy People 2010 Vision Objective 28-6: Reduce visual impairment due to glaucoma. Keep Vision in Your Future is the theme for HVM 2007.
The focus this year is to educate people at higher risk for glaucoma. An estimated 2.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease. An additional 2 million Americans have glaucoma and don’t even know it.
People at higher risk for glaucoma include the following:
African Americans over the age of 40
Everyone over the age of 60, especially Mexican Americans
People with a family history of glaucoma.
Glaucoma has no warning signs and, if left untreated, can result in permanent vision loss. NEI recommends that people at higher risk for glaucoma have a comprehensive dilated eye examination every one to two years. For more information, please visit the Glaucoma Education Webpage at www.nei.nih.gov/glaucoma.
Source: MedlinePlus
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
New Audio-Visual Material
DVDs (all in color) just arrived!
Gang terror (45 minutes)
Domino: interracial people and the search for identity (45 minutes)
Understanding prejudice (47 minutes)
Heart of the nation-competing in the new global economy (58 minutes)
Speaking to power with Bill Moyers (60 minutes)
Wefare reform: social responsibility (29 minutes)
Sexual exploitation of children: taking a stand (51 minutes)
These DVDs are all on reserve. Ask for them at the circulation desk.
Gang terror (45 minutes)
Domino: interracial people and the search for identity (45 minutes)
Understanding prejudice (47 minutes)
Heart of the nation-competing in the new global economy (58 minutes)
Speaking to power with Bill Moyers (60 minutes)
Wefare reform: social responsibility (29 minutes)
Sexual exploitation of children: taking a stand (51 minutes)
These DVDs are all on reserve. Ask for them at the circulation desk.
High School Students not Prepared
Only one-quarter of high school students who take a full set of college-preparatory courses — four years of English and three each of mathematics, science and social studies — are well prepared for college, according to a new study of last year’s high school graduates released today by ACT, the Iowa testing organization. The study concluded that only 26 percent were ready for college-level work in all four core areas, while 19 percent were not adequately prepared in any of them.
Source: New York Times May 15, 2007
Source: New York Times May 15, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Homeland Security Database
The International Security and Counter Terrorism Reference Center database (ISCTRC) offers information on virtually every dimension of security & counter-terrorism and is designed to inform the analysis process, as well as enhance the general understanding of security and terrorism-related issues. ISCTRC provides a comprehensive Open Source Intelligence Resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students. Content includes hundreds of full text journals and periodicals, hundreds of thousands of selected articles, news feeds, reports, summaries, books, blogs, FAQs, and proprietary Background Information Summaries that pertain to terrorism and security. ISCTRC also combines deep background from scholarly writings with expert commentary from a variety of organizations, agencies and publisher and timely reviews of recent developments across the international political, military, economic, social and technical spectrum. The Goodwin Library has a free trial of this EBSCO database accessible from the library page.
Source: The database information is provided by EBSCO.
Source: The database information is provided by EBSCO.
Educating Students About Plagiarism
"Who would have thought educating students about plagiarism could be this entertaining? Rutgers University's Paul Robeson Library has produced a four-part video that tells students not to steal one another's work and warns them that they could receive a failing grade from a course or be expelled from the university if they are caught. It's a serious message but an amusing video, with a photograph of a bobblehead professor speaking in an exaggeratedly schoolmarmish tone to students, represented by 1950s-style headshots, who respond with gasps and bulging eyeballs." --Andrea L. Foster
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education Daily Report May 15, 2007
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Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education Daily Report May 15, 2007
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Friday, May 11, 2007
Take me Out to the Metaphor
As a Cub fan and friend of Yankee and Red Sox fans, I could not resist this report from the Pierce Law Review that a fellow Cub fan shared with me. Please forgive me for calling attention to each time the Cubs are mentioned and including something that has nothing whatsoever to do with any programs offered by this college.
"Comparatively speaking, a couple of patterns emerge from my examination of judicial references to the Cubs, Red Sox, and Yankees. First, the Cubs and the Red Sox are about even in terms of the raw numbers of references. Both teams trail the Yankees, but by a small margin. References to the Cubs and the Yankees skew a bit up the judicial food chain. Yankees references appear in four opinions from the federal courts of appeals, three federal district court opinions, one opinion from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, one intermediate state appellate court opinion, and two state trial court opinion, while Cubs references appear in a United States Supreme Court opinion, two opinions from the federal courts of appeals, four federal district court opinions, and one intermediate state appellate court opinion. By contrast, Red Sox references appear in two federal trial court opinions, one state supreme court opinion, two opinions from intermediate state appellate courts, and four state trial court opinions. Consequently, about half the Red Sox references appear in unreported decisions, compared with less than a third for the Yankees and none at all for the Cubs.
There are geographic patterns as well. Opinions referring to the Cubs tend to cluster in the midwest. Those referring to the Red Sox tend to cluster in New England. But there are outliers, and, rather remarkably, the Texas Court of Appeals has issued one opinion referring to the Cubs and one referring to the Red Sox, albeit rather tangentially in both cases. On the other hand, references to the Yankees do not tend to cluster in or around New York; rather, they come from courts around the country as if, gulp, the Yankees are somehow “America’s Team.” "
If you should be interested in the entire article, here it is: Take Me Out To The Metaphor,
"Comparatively speaking, a couple of patterns emerge from my examination of judicial references to the Cubs, Red Sox, and Yankees. First, the Cubs and the Red Sox are about even in terms of the raw numbers of references. Both teams trail the Yankees, but by a small margin. References to the Cubs and the Yankees skew a bit up the judicial food chain. Yankees references appear in four opinions from the federal courts of appeals, three federal district court opinions, one opinion from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, one intermediate state appellate court opinion, and two state trial court opinion, while Cubs references appear in a United States Supreme Court opinion, two opinions from the federal courts of appeals, four federal district court opinions, and one intermediate state appellate court opinion. By contrast, Red Sox references appear in two federal trial court opinions, one state supreme court opinion, two opinions from intermediate state appellate courts, and four state trial court opinions. Consequently, about half the Red Sox references appear in unreported decisions, compared with less than a third for the Yankees and none at all for the Cubs.
There are geographic patterns as well. Opinions referring to the Cubs tend to cluster in the midwest. Those referring to the Red Sox tend to cluster in New England. But there are outliers, and, rather remarkably, the Texas Court of Appeals has issued one opinion referring to the Cubs and one referring to the Red Sox, albeit rather tangentially in both cases. On the other hand, references to the Yankees do not tend to cluster in or around New York; rather, they come from courts around the country as if, gulp, the Yankees are somehow “America’s Team.” "
If you should be interested in the entire article, here it is: Take Me Out To The Metaphor,
What's Wrong with Bottled Water?
The world’s fastest-growing beverage is a boon to the industry but a bust for the environment and for the more than 1 billion people worldwide who lack access to clean drinking water, according to a new Vital Signs Update from the Worldwatch Institute. Which country consumes the most bottled water? Find out here: Consumption of bottled water, total and top 10 countries, 2000 and 2005
Excessive withdrawal of natural mineral or spring water to produce bottled water has threatened local streams and groundwater, and the product consumes significant amounts of energy in production and shipping. Millions of tons of oil-derived plastics, mostly polyethylene terephthalate (PET), are used to make the water bottles, most of which are not recycled. Each year, about 2 million tons of PET bottles end up in landfills in the United States; in 2005, the national recycling rate for PET was only 23.1 percent, far below the 39.7 percent rate achieved a decade earlier. Here is the report: Bottled Water Pricey in More Ways than One.
Source: Worldwatch Institute
Excessive withdrawal of natural mineral or spring water to produce bottled water has threatened local streams and groundwater, and the product consumes significant amounts of energy in production and shipping. Millions of tons of oil-derived plastics, mostly polyethylene terephthalate (PET), are used to make the water bottles, most of which are not recycled. Each year, about 2 million tons of PET bottles end up in landfills in the United States; in 2005, the national recycling rate for PET was only 23.1 percent, far below the 39.7 percent rate achieved a decade earlier. Here is the report: Bottled Water Pricey in More Ways than One.
Source: Worldwatch Institute
Homeland Security Information
Avoiding the Plague: an Assessment of U.S. Plans and Funding for Countering Bioterrorism
Biological weapons can cause massive casualties under the right circumstances. Moreover, compared to nuclear weapons, they may be substantially easier for a terrorist group to acquire. CSBA’s newest study, Avoiding the Plague: An Assessment of US Plans and Funding for Countering Bioterrorism, examines the nature of this threat, and both budgetary and non- budgetary aspects of current US efforts to counter bioterrorism.
Source: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) May 11, 2007
Biological weapons can cause massive casualties under the right circumstances. Moreover, compared to nuclear weapons, they may be substantially easier for a terrorist group to acquire. CSBA’s newest study, Avoiding the Plague: An Assessment of US Plans and Funding for Countering Bioterrorism, examines the nature of this threat, and both budgetary and non- budgetary aspects of current US efforts to counter bioterrorism.
Source: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) May 11, 2007
Observing Your Government
Observing Your Government In Action: Protecting your Right to Know
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is pleased to announce the release of Observing Your Government In Action: Protecting your Right to Know. This comprehensive resource guide, part of the League’s Citizen Transparency Initiative, provides useful best practices and tips for observing government activities and promoting transparency.
Source: League of Women Voters from Press release
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is pleased to announce the release of Observing Your Government In Action: Protecting your Right to Know. This comprehensive resource guide, part of the League’s Citizen Transparency Initiative, provides useful best practices and tips for observing government activities and promoting transparency.
Source: League of Women Voters from Press release
CQ Researcher This Week: HPV Vaccine
Should it be mandatory for school girls? A new vaccine that prevents infections from a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that causes cervical cancer is being hailed as a major achievement in women's health. The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil, is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for girls ages 11-12, and could be used by females ages 9-26. Some state lawmakers moved quickly to make inoculations mandatory for school attendance to ensure vaccine access regardless of socioeconomic status. The requirement was approved in the District of Columbia and Virginia. But reactions to an aggressive lobbying campaign by vaccine manufacturer Merck coupled with general concerns about immunization safety stalled efforts to mandate the shots in many states. Conservative groups joined the opposition, saying the vaccine would encourage inappropriate sexual activity and override parental autonomy.
Source: This is the summary from CQ Researcher May 11, 2007
Source: This is the summary from CQ Researcher May 11, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Free Web Resource for Education & Research
Intute is a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners. Subject specialists select and evaluate the websites in our database and write high quality descriptions of the resources. The database contains 115645 records.
A number of new FREE Internet tutorials for the Social Sciences have been released in the Intute Virtual Training Suite this term. The tutorials are designed to help students develop Internet research skills for their university or college work, and can be used by instructors to support research methods, information literacy and study skills.
Source: Mary Laine, Librarian Without Walls
A number of new FREE Internet tutorials for the Social Sciences have been released in the Intute Virtual Training Suite this term. The tutorials are designed to help students develop Internet research skills for their university or college work, and can be used by instructors to support research methods, information literacy and study skills.
Source: Mary Laine, Librarian Without Walls
Debates as Entertainment
"With the first debate of the Republican presidential candidates, the second primary season debate, now over, there's one clear loser: The American people. Aside from the war in Iraq, nothing looms more among the legitimate concerns of the American electorate than health care. But not a single question was asked to draw out the candidates' thoughts on this major issue. The hallmark legislation of the Bush administration, currently up for reauthorization, is No Child Left Behind. Yet, not a single question on No Child Left Behind in particular or education in general was asked. The press today, unfortunately, wants to be in the entertainment rather than the information business. We're all losers as result. The public deserves better. "
Source: Some quotes from "Debates as Entertainment" by Star Parker in the Washington Times May 9, 2007
Source: Some quotes from "Debates as Entertainment" by Star Parker in the Washington Times May 9, 2007
Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped
The Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is a network library of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. The participating library in Connecticut is the state library in Rocky Hill.
The state Library provides free mail loan of recorded and Braille books and magazines and necessary playback equipment to eligible state residents unable to read conventional print because of a visual or physical disability.
Recorded materials are provided by the National Library Service. The NLS Catalog lists these titles. Additional materials of interest to Connecticut readers are recorded by the Connecticut Volunteer Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Catalogs of these recordings are available from the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Please contact the Goodwin Library Staff for further information.
The state Library provides free mail loan of recorded and Braille books and magazines and necessary playback equipment to eligible state residents unable to read conventional print because of a visual or physical disability.
Recorded materials are provided by the National Library Service. The NLS Catalog lists these titles. Additional materials of interest to Connecticut readers are recorded by the Connecticut Volunteer Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Catalogs of these recordings are available from the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Please contact the Goodwin Library Staff for further information.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Cheating in the Information Age
"The recent cheating scandal among first-year M.B.A. students at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business -- 33 students were found guilty of inappropriate collaboration on a take-home test and one was found guilty of lying (The Chronicle, April 30) -- reflects how technology has changed the world, why the notion of what constitutes cheating may need to be re-evaluated, "and how academia and corporations are confused about it all, sending split messages," according to Michelle Conlin, a senior writer at the magazine.
We're told it's all about teamwork and shared information," one of the accused students writes, "But then we're graded and ranked as individuals. We assess everybody as single entities. But then we plop them into an interdependent world and tell them their success hinges on creative collaboration."
While professors and employers "need to be able to test individual ability," according to that student, " it may be time for a fresh take on the assessment process. At Stanford University's Institute of Design, for instance, the emphasis on collaboration makes cheating almost impossible. As one professor at the school said, "If you found somebody to help you write an exam, in our view that's a sign of an inventive person who gets stuff done."
What do you think? Is learning becoming more and more of a social process embedded in a larger network?
We're told it's all about teamwork and shared information," one of the accused students writes, "But then we're graded and ranked as individuals. We assess everybody as single entities. But then we plop them into an interdependent world and tell them their success hinges on creative collaboration."
While professors and employers "need to be able to test individual ability," according to that student, " it may be time for a fresh take on the assessment process. At Stanford University's Institute of Design, for instance, the emphasis on collaboration makes cheating almost impossible. As one professor at the school said, "If you found somebody to help you write an exam, in our view that's a sign of an inventive person who gets stuff done."
What do you think? Is learning becoming more and more of a social process embedded in a larger network?
What to Do ABout Darknets?
Ohio University's new ban on peer-to-peer networking may well be cutting down on piracy. But if they want to do a thorough job of stamping out unauthorized file swapping, college administrators will have to show that they can take down "darknets."
Darknets are private hubs that let students trade music, movies, and software without connecting to the broader Internet, and the networks' obscurity is their chief asset: A darknet is much harder to find and police than a typical peer-to-peer service. Plenty of colleges have darknets, and as The Post of Athens reports, Ohio is no exception.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education May 9
Darknets are private hubs that let students trade music, movies, and software without connecting to the broader Internet, and the networks' obscurity is their chief asset: A darknet is much harder to find and police than a typical peer-to-peer service. Plenty of colleges have darknets, and as The Post of Athens reports, Ohio is no exception.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education May 9
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
September Eat Local Challenge
Please take a moment to mark your calendars for the September 2007 Eat Local Challenge. In association with the Locavores, The Daily Table blog will sponsor an international month-long event in which over 1000 participants will challenge themselves to eat within a pre-determined radius of their home. Because this challenge will be occurring during the harvest season in most locations, there will be a particular emphasis on canning, preserving, and learning to put food up for the winter.
If you are interested in participating in this challenge, please sign up for email updates on the Locavores site.
If you are interested in participating in this challenge, please sign up for email updates on the Locavores site.
Free Chronicle today
You are invited to experience The Chronicle of Higher Education absolutely for free today on the last day of their special open house. And enter to win an iPod just for stopping by. Click here for more information.
Greetings From Your Library and Xrefer
Do you need to check a definition, understand a literary reference or a scientific term? Tired of getting too many irrelevant results from Web search engines when you need quick, accurate answers? Need trustworthy reference information with properly formatted citations for your footnotes? Let your library and Xreferplus help.
Xreferplus is now a part of your library’s online reference collection, and it features full-text content from hundreds of reference books covering a broad range of subjects. It’s a search engine like Google, but instead of searching the entire Internet, your results come from a comprehensive library of trusted reference sources without advertisements, clutter, or irrelevant hits.
With Xreferplus, you get content from hundreds of reference books covering every major subject. There are over 2.5 million entries, 65,000+ images (art, diagrams, maps and photos) and over 93,000 audio pronunciation files. The content is enriched by a network of cross-reference links that cut across topics, titles and publishers to give you accurate, contextual results.
Xreferplus is now a part of your library’s online reference collection, and it features full-text content from hundreds of reference books covering a broad range of subjects. It’s a search engine like Google, but instead of searching the entire Internet, your results come from a comprehensive library of trusted reference sources without advertisements, clutter, or irrelevant hits.
With Xreferplus, you get content from hundreds of reference books covering every major subject. There are over 2.5 million entries, 65,000+ images (art, diagrams, maps and photos) and over 93,000 audio pronunciation files. The content is enriched by a network of cross-reference links that cut across topics, titles and publishers to give you accurate, contextual results.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Portal Keeps Students, Alumni in Touch
By giving current students and all alumni a lifetime e-mail account accessed through a portal, Plymouth State University has enhanced its ability to stay in touch with graduates long after they leave the university.
Beginning in 1999, the New Hampshire university began giving graduating seniors lifetime e-mail accounts; in 2005, with the creation of a portal called MyPlymouth.com, every alum--some 25,000 people--received a lifetime e-mail address hosted by the university, along with use of other services offered free of charge through the portal site--something to think about.
Read Complete Article:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/47764/
Beginning in 1999, the New Hampshire university began giving graduating seniors lifetime e-mail accounts; in 2005, with the creation of a portal called MyPlymouth.com, every alum--some 25,000 people--received a lifetime e-mail address hosted by the university, along with use of other services offered free of charge through the portal site--something to think about.
Read Complete Article:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/47764/
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Goodwin's MySpace account?
Is it time for Goodwin College to have a MySpace account? Drury University (MO) has had a MySpace account since 2006: www.myspace.com/druryuniversity. The web editor at Drury also runs www.myspace.com/collegesanduniversities and www.myspace.com/nonprofitorganizations.
The web editor, Heather Mansfield, says "every target audience that colleges and universities are trying to cultive is on MySpace in massive numbers: prospective students (traditional and nontraditional, international), current students, parents, alumni, athletics fans, nonprofit organizations, etc." She also publishes MySpace best practices for the higher education and nonprofit sectors: www.diosacommunications.com/myspaceforhighereducation.htmz and
www.diosacommunications.com/myspacebestpractices.htm.
Mansfield suggests that administrators often overreact when it comes to MySpace or Facebook because they do not social network themselves and they only hear about the worst case scenarois. A Pew Report this January showed that teens are much smarter and more cautious on MySpace than the media give them credit for.
Every major presidential candidate now has a profile on MySpace. The last time I looked, Barack Obama had 160,549 friends--MySpace friends. When I imagine colleges and presidential candidates with MySpace accounts it somehow makes me think of Prospero's lines from The Tempest: "O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!"
Source: Campus Technology May 2007
The web editor, Heather Mansfield, says "every target audience that colleges and universities are trying to cultive is on MySpace in massive numbers: prospective students (traditional and nontraditional, international), current students, parents, alumni, athletics fans, nonprofit organizations, etc." She also publishes MySpace best practices for the higher education and nonprofit sectors: www.diosacommunications.com/myspaceforhighereducation.htmz and
www.diosacommunications.com/myspacebestpractices.htm.
Mansfield suggests that administrators often overreact when it comes to MySpace or Facebook because they do not social network themselves and they only hear about the worst case scenarois. A Pew Report this January showed that teens are much smarter and more cautious on MySpace than the media give them credit for.
Every major presidential candidate now has a profile on MySpace. The last time I looked, Barack Obama had 160,549 friends--MySpace friends. When I imagine colleges and presidential candidates with MySpace accounts it somehow makes me think of Prospero's lines from The Tempest: "O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!"
Source: Campus Technology May 2007
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