Suspension of Books

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

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

With World Growing Smaller, IB gets Bigger

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

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

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

It Takes a Miracle to Sell Your House

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

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

Source: Wall Street Journal October 30, 2007

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

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

Power of Birth Order

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

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

Source: Time Magazine October 29

Evaluating College Courses

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

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

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

Did you Know?

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

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

Source: Fussy Environmentally-friendly librarian

Classroom Copyright Crisis

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

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

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Surfing History

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

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

Source: (Hartford Courant)

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

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

APA 2007 Stress in America Report

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

CQ Researcher: Baby Boomers

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

Source: CQ Researcher

Web Site: Knowledgespeak

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

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

New Recruiting Idea

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

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

Education's End

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

Economics and Murder: New books in the Library

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

MRSA in Health Care Settings

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

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

Berkeleyh puts Courses on YouTube

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

More Power to Government Regulators?

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

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

Nobel Literature Prize to Lessing

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

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

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