Preventing Memory Loss: CQ Researcher

As the nation's baby boomers age, they are increasingly worried that their memories will deteriorate — and with good reason. An estimated 10 million boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease or another memory-destroying neurodegenerative condition in the coming years. Policy makers and health officials worry that the resulting bulge in the number of sufferers will burden the nation's already strained health-care system. In the wake of these concerns, a vibrant brain-fitness industry is offering a variety of ways to help people keep their brains healthy, including the use of cognition-enhancing drugs and exercise. But many experts say much of what the public is being told is of limited value, at best. Intensified brain research begun years ago at the National Institutes of Health is just now beginning to produce data that scientists hope will advance efforts to prevent memory loss, but they worry that flat federal funding since 2003 may compromise the drive for solutions. Read the entire report available online from the Goodwin Library.
Source: CQ Researcher April 4, 2008

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Shrug Off Remediation with Learning Communities

"Opening Doors" by Scrivener, Bloom, LeBlanc, Paxson, Rouse and Sommo

Currently one of the most significant challenges facing education is how to meet the needs of students who lack basic reading, writing and math skills. This problem is ever present in the need for remediation as 29% of incoming college freshmen enroll in at least one development/remedial class. To help these students, schools have turned to "learning communities" wherein students take remedial classess linked with other college-level courses. A new study of a one-semester learning community for freshmen offers the first experimental evidence that learnintg communities help students make a successful transition to college and move more quickly through developmental English requirements. The program places freshmen in groups of up to 25that take three classes together during their first semester. Also included is enhanced counseling and tutoring. Read the article.

Challenges of Low Literacy

How can we better communicate the challenges of low literacy in the 21st Century? Share your thoughts on this issue. The National Center for Family Literacy is launching a blog, Literacy Now, to provide an opportunity for anyone engaged or interested in the cause of literacy to share information, news, and insights. You can access the blog anytime at http://www.famlit.org/blog.
Source: National Center for Family Literacy

USPTO Rejects Blackboard Patent Claims

Blackboard's e-learning patent looks to be going down. The United States Patent and Trademark Office last week sent out a "non-final" determination on the reexamination of Blackboard's patent in which all of the claims on the patent were rejected. Blackboard still has a period of two months to respond to the determination.

We spoke with representatives from the two parties that filed for the reexamination of the patent: Desire2Learn and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). Their comments follow. Blackboard itself chose to release a statement (approximately 3:30 p.m. PDT) rather than speak directly with us today, although we might have additional comments next week.

While Desire2Learn and the SFLC celebrated the decision, Blackboard said that its patent still stands, that the company does not intend to back down, and that the decision has no effect on Blackboard's patent infringement suit victory over Desire2Learn.
Source: Campus Technology online March 28, 2008

Homeland Security Critical Releases

Critical Releases in Homeland Security [March 2008]
Every two weeks, the Homeland Security Digital Library identifies "Critical Releases in Homeland Security," a targeted collection of recently-released documents that are expected to influence homeland security policy & strategy development.

Review of the FBI's Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL Usage in 2006, March 2008
United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of the Inspector General

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation: Special Report 209
National Academies Press (U.S.)

Financial Action Task Force: Terrorist Financing
Financial Action Task Force

Federal Guidance to Assist States in Improving State-Level Pandemic Influenza Operating Plans
United States Government

Air Force Cyber Command Strategic Vision
United States. Air Force

Source: Homeland Security Library

Power to the People?

Are our customers (students) talking about our brand right now on MySpace--probably in ways we wouldn't approve? Are conversations with students showing up on YouTube intercut with sarcastic comentary? This may have somone in administration tearing his or her hair out--no names mentioned. Like a flood, it can't be stopped in any one place and perhaps not at all. This is all leading up to--yes, you guessed it--a new book out in May called Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. They explain how you can turn this "threat" into your greatest asset. With tools and data straight fromm one of the nation's top research firms, you'll learn how to evaluate new social technologies as they emerge and how to make them a part of your strategies. Who is first to reserve this book?? (Some of the clever comments here are revised a little from the book.)
Source: Harvard Business Review

Connecticut-Sized Ice Shelf Crumbling in Antarctica

Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf is a plate of permanent floating ice that covers an area the size of Connecticut. The shelf started to collapse late last month, when a large iceberg 25 miles long broke off and floated away. Since then, an area the size of Chicago has broken up, probably because of warming and the action of waves.
Source: National Public Radio today

What is Grey Literature?

Grey Literature: That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers. This includes materials that never make it into our databases.

But help is at hand. The Grey Literature Report is a bimonthly publication of The New York Academy of Medicine Library alerting readers to new grey literature publications in health services research and selected public health topics.
The current Grey Literature Report Vol. 10, No. 1 - January 2008 is available.

Women in Politics: CQ Researcher

The number of women holding political office in the United States has grown substantially over the past two decades. But even with a record number of 86 women in Congress today, men still outnumber women by more than 5-to-1. Historically, women faced significant disadvantages in running for office and winning voter approval. Experts say those barriers are lower today, but perhaps not completely gone.. . .
Source: CQ Researcher

NEW BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

FICTION
Away by Amy Bloom
Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
True to the Crime by Teri Woods
Five Forty-Five to Cannes by Tess U. Holthe
Complete Stories by David Malouf
Pesthouse by Jim Crace
Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

NONFICTION
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Holler if You Hear Me by Michael Eric Dyson
Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Spirituality in Nursing by Mary E. O’Brien
Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
Life in the Soil: Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners by James Nardi
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
Right to Vote: Contested History of Democracy in the United States by Alexandr Yessar
World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Oxford Companion to English Literature edited by Margaret Drabble

Belated Happy Pi Day!

I was at a meeting Friday, March 14 (3.14) and missed Pi Day. It's not too late to celebrate! (Picture comes from GeekDads blog.)

Arthur C. Clarke 1917-2008

This week the worlds of science and science fiction lost one of their true visionaries, Arthur C. Clarke, author of seminal works like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama. Mr. Clarke increased our fascination with science and technology. As one admirer wrote, "the sky is filled with one more star now."

This Week's Brain Teaser: All Things Blue

This week's brainteaser is all about things or people that are called blue.
1. "Big Blue" is a nickname for which computer company?
2. Which creature, with "blue" in its name, is generally considered to be the largest living animal?
3. The "Blue Peter" is a flag flown on a ship when it is about to do what?
4. "Blue berets" is the name by which the military members of which kind of operation are often described?
5. "Ol' Blue Eyes" was a nickname for which popular US singer?
6. In skiing, is a "blue run" an easy run or a difficult one?
7. The famous Blue Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I, is in which country?
8. Which 1968 cartoon film incuded bizarre malevolent ogres called the Blue Meanies?
9. What was the title of the 1924 composition for piano and orchestra by George Gershwin with "blue" in the title?
10. "Bluenose" is an informal word for a native or inhabitant of which province?
(Answers Friday!)

New Book: Stressed Out About Nursing

Stressed Out About Your First Year of Nursing is a survival guide for new graduate nurses that steers them through the transition from student nurse to competent RN.

They will get the whole truth on what they didn’t learn in school and find out what to expect during the first year. Easy-to-read and full of sound advice, the book helps new graduates navigate through the first year on the job, from orientation and preceptors to communication and collaboration, including all the tips and tools they need to succeed.

With helpful icons that highlight tips to remember and secrets of success, they will find out all about:
why nursing is so demanding and how to survive
what to expect during orientation
the common causes of stress and how to handle them
how to transition from student nurse to new graduate
the stages of competence
how to handle horizontal hostility
survival skills
how to avoid legal pitfalls and stay out of trouble

This book just arrived in the library!

Change in LexisNexis Academic Database

Major improvements have been announced in the appearance and navigational elements of LexisNexis Academic. The change is scheduled to take place on Saturday April 26, 2008. With the exception of one enhancement to the Source Selection interface, these changes are purely related to visual design. The functionality of the product will not be changing, and we expect that most users will not be disorientated for more than a few moments by the change.
Source: News from LexisNexis

Women in Higher Education: Legacy of Leadership

The legacy of women in higher education is well documented and the legacy continues. Women in high level positions at colleges and universities across the country are spearheading the adoption of technology and shaping the future of higher education in the process. Join an exciting FREE webinar March 25th at 2 p.m. focusing on the use and benefits of class-capture technology in leading higher education institutions.

A panel of highly accomplished women, will discuss the impact of this new institution-wide technology on the core of educational mission, with-out changing tried and true teaching practices. The result is improved satisfaction and performance among students.

New to webinars? All you need is a computer with internet access and a telephone. Once you register, they will email easy-to-follow instructions. If you cannot attend just click on Send me a link to the Tegrity-recorded session.
Source: Tegrity

Academic Twittering: Breaking Down the Classroom Walls

We've noticed lots of interest in Twitter (and other micro-blogging services) at colleges, and so it's worth noting that David Parry, an assistant professor of Emerging Media and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas, explains his philosophy for using Twitter. He offers some fresh pointers to others who have experimented with the service. For instance, he expands on what he means by using Twitter to break down the classroom walls: "Students attend college where their identity as a student is just part of what they do and who they are. Many of them have jobs, commute to school, etc., and thus the social aspect of the campus life has changed," he writes. "If this is the case then these 'new' ways of socializing such as Facebook and MySpace are where students are forming their learning communities, ones which do not entirely, perhaps only minimally, overlap with their classroom experience. Thus to extend the walls of the classroom, make education relevant to all aspects of students lives rather than just what they do four-five hours a day we need to think of ways to extend the ways we form and foster learning communities." What do you think?
Source: Wired Campus

Young Children Journal Now Online!

The new interactive version of the Young Chldren Journal is now online. Using the digital version of Young Children NAEYC members can:
Learn more about a topic by clicking on live links.
Search quickly for specific topics then save to your computer for offline viewing.
Zoom, turn pages, and scroll allowing for easy online reading.
View and search a growing archive (all future digital issues will remain accessible online in the archive)
Click on advertiser ads to get more information on their products or services.
Gather and save timely information on professional development.
Source: Young Children Journal

College Presidents: Tech Therapy Warning

Tech Therapy: 'If We Don't Pay Attention to IT, We're Dead in the Water.'

Robert E. Dunker, the president of Western Iowa Tech Community College, joins Warren Arbogast and Scott Carlson on Tech Therapy this week to talk about why presidents should pay attention to technology. The short answer: to keep the college doors open. “We see our face-to-face interaction going down and our online attendance skyrocketing up,” Mr. Dunker says. “As presidents, if we don't pay attention to IT and the impact IT has on our institutions, we are going to be dead in the water.” Mr. Dunker describes how he pays attention to what’s going on at the Detroit Auto Show or the Consumer Electronics Show, and how the college might take advantage of the technologies discussed there. For example, now that people can plug iPods into car stereos, how can colleges let people download lessons so that education can be part of their commutes? “Heck, I don't know how to do it,” Mr. Dunker says, “but we better make sure we're on top of it.” “A president who says, ‘I don't know,’" Warren responds. “I love it.”
Source: Quoted from Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus Newsletter