Doing research on this topic requires not only knowing the definition of the topic but looking at all of the racest involved and breaking down and analyzing the topic of research to insure looking in all the relevant sources available. Here is a list prepared by Kay Collins, U.S. government information librarian at the University of California.
Source: CRL News June 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Global Researcher: Race for the Arctic:
With oil prices soaring, revelations that the Arctic could contain up to 22 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas have given extra impetus to an international race to claim the region's $1 trillion in oil and other riches. Russia kick-started the race last summer when it stunned the world by planting its flag on the North Pole seabed — two miles below the Arctic Ocean. Global warming has dramatically shrunk the ice covering the ocean, raising the prospect of new, shorter transcontinental shipping routes and spurring the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark and Norway to begin gathering data to prove they own large swaths of offshore Arctic territory. But environmentalists warn that tougher international rules are needed — possibly an Arctic treaty — to prevent energy exploration from exacerbating global warming and damaging the fragile region. The Inuit and other indigenous groups also fear their concerns will be ignored in the dash to extract riches from the region.
Source: Full report available online (password protected)
CQ Researcher: Political Conventions
Political Conventions
Have they outlived their usefulness?
The Democrats and Republicans share a fundamental goal for their upcoming national conventions: to produce scripted television shows that will boost their candidates' prospects in the general election without showcasing any intra-party squabbling. Under that scenario, convention delegates seem to have nothing to do but cheer Barack Obama and John McCain, whose nominations were virtually assured before. . . .
Source: CQ Researcher August 8 available online (password protected)
What the Goodwin Community is Reading This Month
Blindness (Saramago)
Boleyn Inheritance (Gregory)
Cheating at Canasta (trevor)
Eat Pray Love (Gilbert)
Flat Belly Diet (Vaccariello)
Friday Night Knitting Club (Jacobs)
Game Changer (Lafley & Charan)
Gravedigger's Daughter (Oates)
Twenty Years at Hull House (Addams)
Last Lecture (Pausch)
No Country for Old Men (McCarthy)
Secret Life of Bees (Kidd)
You Never Call! You Never Write! (Antler)
Boleyn Inheritance (Gregory)
Cheating at Canasta (trevor)
Eat Pray Love (Gilbert)
Flat Belly Diet (Vaccariello)
Friday Night Knitting Club (Jacobs)
Game Changer (Lafley & Charan)
Gravedigger's Daughter (Oates)
Twenty Years at Hull House (Addams)
Last Lecture (Pausch)
No Country for Old Men (McCarthy)
Secret Life of Bees (Kidd)
You Never Call! You Never Write! (Antler)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Focus on International Education
In a set of policy recommendations for the next administration released this week, NAFSA: Association of International Educators urges presidential leadership for a “revived public diplomacy” that would put international education and exchange front and center in the effort to repair the country’s reputation in the world and advance its global leadership.
The report goes on to set out specific policy recommendations in the areas of attracting international students and scholars; internationalizing U.S. education, especially through study abroad; and bolstering educational exchanges and volunteer-service programs. Among the priorities outlined in the report are: passage and implementation of the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act; security and immigration policies that strike a better balance between control and openness; a proactive approach to attracting the world’s talented students and scholars to the United States; and expanding support for time-tested educational exchanges and the Peace Corps. Read the entire report HERE.
The report goes on to set out specific policy recommendations in the areas of attracting international students and scholars; internationalizing U.S. education, especially through study abroad; and bolstering educational exchanges and volunteer-service programs. Among the priorities outlined in the report are: passage and implementation of the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act; security and immigration policies that strike a better balance between control and openness; a proactive approach to attracting the world’s talented students and scholars to the United States; and expanding support for time-tested educational exchanges and the Peace Corps. Read the entire report HERE.
Online Journal of Nursing Informatics
The Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI) is a professional, refereed, electronic journal for healthcare professionals who are interested in nursing informatics. Topical areas covered deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of nursing informatics as it relates to the art of nursing.
OJNI is published every 4 months and is launched at the end of February, June, and October. OJNI publishes peer-reviewed, original, high quality scientific papers, review articles, practice-based articles, and databases related to nursing informatics. And it's free!
OJNI is published every 4 months and is launched at the end of February, June, and October. OJNI publishes peer-reviewed, original, high quality scientific papers, review articles, practice-based articles, and databases related to nursing informatics. And it's free!
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Have You Read?
Now that we are more than half way through 2008, have you read any of the 10 best books of 2007 (New York Times list)? Here is the list:
FICTION
Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas*
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson*
Savage Detectives by Robert Balafio
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris*
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson*
NONFICTION
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Little Heathens: Hart Times & High Spirts on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish*
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by J. Toobin*
Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History by Linda Colley*
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Rosa*
*Available in the Goodwin Library. The other two are available through interlibrary loan.
FICTION
Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas*
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson*
Savage Detectives by Robert Balafio
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris*
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson*
NONFICTION
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Little Heathens: Hart Times & High Spirts on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish*
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by J. Toobin*
Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History by Linda Colley*
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Rosa*
*Available in the Goodwin Library. The other two are available through interlibrary loan.
An Academic in America: On Stupidity
A cartload of recent books suggests that it's time to reverse the customer-service mentality plaguing academe. Here is an excerpt from English teacher Thomas Benton's article in the Chronicle of Higher Education yesterday. Read the entire article here.
"'No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public,' said H.L. Mencken in the era of Babbitt and the Scopes "monkey" trial. Several generations later, one might speculate that no publisher has ever lost money with a book accusing Americans — particularly young ones — of being stupid.
As an English professor, I can attest to the power of that element in American culture, as can just about anyone in any academic field without direct, practical applications. When a stranger asks me what I do, I usually just say, "I'm a teacher." The unfortunate follow-up remarks — usually about political bias in the classroom and sham apologies for their poor grammar meant to imply that I am a snob — usually make me wish I had said, "I sell hydraulic couplers," an answer more likely to produce hums of respectful incomprehension.
Now, in the post-9/11 era, American anti-intellectualism has grown more powerful, pervasive, and dangerous than at any time in our history, and we have a duty — particularly as educators — to foster intelligence as a moral obligation. Or at least that is the urgent selling point of a cartload of books published in the past several months."
(Thomas H. Benton is the pen name of William Pannapacker, an associate professor of English at Hope College, in Holland, Mich. He welcomes mail directed to his attention at careers@chronicle.com.)
"'No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public,' said H.L. Mencken in the era of Babbitt and the Scopes "monkey" trial. Several generations later, one might speculate that no publisher has ever lost money with a book accusing Americans — particularly young ones — of being stupid.
As an English professor, I can attest to the power of that element in American culture, as can just about anyone in any academic field without direct, practical applications. When a stranger asks me what I do, I usually just say, "I'm a teacher." The unfortunate follow-up remarks — usually about political bias in the classroom and sham apologies for their poor grammar meant to imply that I am a snob — usually make me wish I had said, "I sell hydraulic couplers," an answer more likely to produce hums of respectful incomprehension.
Now, in the post-9/11 era, American anti-intellectualism has grown more powerful, pervasive, and dangerous than at any time in our history, and we have a duty — particularly as educators — to foster intelligence as a moral obligation. Or at least that is the urgent selling point of a cartload of books published in the past several months."
(Thomas H. Benton is the pen name of William Pannapacker, an associate professor of English at Hope College, in Holland, Mich. He welcomes mail directed to his attention at careers@chronicle.com.)
Friday, August 01, 2008
Is Information on the Internet Reliable?
Wikipedia banned Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," from editing articles on the popular online site after he made joke edits. So how reliable is the Internet really?
That is the subject of this week's CQ Researcher available online in the library. The Internet has been a huge boon for information-seekers. In addition to sites maintained by newspapers and other traditional news sources, there are untraditional sources ranging from videos, personal Web pages and blogs to postings by interest groups of all kinds — from government agencies to hate groups. But experts caution that determining the credibility of online data can be tricky, and that critical-reading skills are not being taught in most schools. In the new online age, readers no longer have the luxury of depending on a reference librarian's expertise in finding reliable sources. Anyone can post an article, book or opinion online with no second pair of eyes checking it for accuracy, as in traditional publishing and journalism. Now many readers are turning to user-created sources like Wikipedia, or powerful search engines like Google, which tally how many people previously have accessed online documents and sources — a process that is open to manipulation comic and otherwise.
Source: CQ Researcher
Image Source: Getty Images for Meet the Press/Alex Wong
Fitness Pill: A Dream Come True
Scientists are moving closer to developing a pill which could deliver some of the benefits of exercise - even for those who do not move a muscle. The journal Cell reports US researchers now have two possible pills which appear able to build muscle, increase stamina and even burn fat. In tests, mice were able to run 44% further - suggesting humans may be able to do the same without prior training.
Source: BBC World News August 1
Source: BBC World News August 1
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Around the World in 80+ Books
"It's just a book, just ink on paper. But be careful when you open it. There's a universe inside. A good travel book has wings and the ability to transport us, word by word, tale by tale. It introduces us to the people and places that make travel—and, one could argue, life itself—worthwhile. Good travel stories are, in a word, magic. Not only do they show us the world, they help us define our place within it."
(National Geographic)
National Geographic has asked dozens of travelers (writers, photographers, explorers, editors, and others) to name the books that have most enriched their sense of place. The editors of National Geographic added their own to complete the ultimate library of travel books—not guidebooks, but novels and narrative nonfiction and classic photography books--organized by geographic region. If the price of gas is keeping your travel plans low or non-existent, live vicariously by reading one or more. Bon voyage!(If we don't have it, we can usually get it for you through Interlibrary Loan.)
Around the World in 80+ Books
National Geographic July/August 2008
Future of Reading
The Future of Reading
Digital Versus Print
Last Sunday, July 27, the New York Times printed the the first in a series of articles that will look at how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read. Access first article HERE.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
African Americans in Connecticut
Citizens All: African Americans in Connecticut 1700-1850
Yale University
"Citizens All" is the collaborative work of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition (GLC) and the Center for Media and Instructional Innovation (CMI2) at Yale University. Aimed at both students and teachers, this project illustrates the importance of local history in creating as well as challenging how national and global histories are retold. The stories of international history begin with local events, with the stories of individuals, real people and places in our own backyards.
The project provides a scholarly introduction to the history of slavery in Connecticut, the process of gradual emancipation, and the struggle for citizenship rights by free blacks and abolitionists both within and beyond the state's boundaries.
The story of African Americans' efforts to become full citizens raises important questions about the very definition of "citizenship" and the ideals upon which the United States was founded. We hope that the project contributes to larger discussions of issues such as freedom, education or citizenship and stimulates new discoveries about the legacies of slavery and racism at local, regional, national and international levels. "Citizens All" grew out of GLC involvement with the US Partnership of the UNESCO Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project: Breaking The Silence.
Don't forget other resources for local history.
CT Freedom Trail.Developed by the CT Historical Commission, this site includes information on ites in the state that are associated with the movement towards freedom of African-American citizens.
CT Historical Society. This website includes an online guide to African American Resources at the historical society.
Connecticut State Library. The library has a research guide on African Americans in CT and Slavery in CT.
Yale University
"Citizens All" is the collaborative work of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition (GLC) and the Center for Media and Instructional Innovation (CMI2) at Yale University. Aimed at both students and teachers, this project illustrates the importance of local history in creating as well as challenging how national and global histories are retold. The stories of international history begin with local events, with the stories of individuals, real people and places in our own backyards.
The project provides a scholarly introduction to the history of slavery in Connecticut, the process of gradual emancipation, and the struggle for citizenship rights by free blacks and abolitionists both within and beyond the state's boundaries.
The story of African Americans' efforts to become full citizens raises important questions about the very definition of "citizenship" and the ideals upon which the United States was founded. We hope that the project contributes to larger discussions of issues such as freedom, education or citizenship and stimulates new discoveries about the legacies of slavery and racism at local, regional, national and international levels. "Citizens All" grew out of GLC involvement with the US Partnership of the UNESCO Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project: Breaking The Silence.
Don't forget other resources for local history.
CT Freedom Trail.Developed by the CT Historical Commission, this site includes information on ites in the state that are associated with the movement towards freedom of African-American citizens.
CT Historical Society. This website includes an online guide to African American Resources at the historical society.
Connecticut State Library. The library has a research guide on African Americans in CT and Slavery in CT.
Does Google Go Deep Enough?
Does Google's Web Search Go Deep Enough Into Scholarly Archives?
Many scholarly archives on college and public Web sites don’t show up in Google because the search engine doesn’t index them — they’re in what many call the “deep Web,” below the level that most search engines look. A new study found that fewer than half — just 44 percent — of a sample group of deep-Web pages from scholarly archives showed up in Google searches. This is just another reason to use the databases provided by the Goodwin Library.
Source: Wired Campus: The Chronicle of Higher Education July 29 2008
Many scholarly archives on college and public Web sites don’t show up in Google because the search engine doesn’t index them — they’re in what many call the “deep Web,” below the level that most search engines look. A new study found that fewer than half — just 44 percent — of a sample group of deep-Web pages from scholarly archives showed up in Google searches. This is just another reason to use the databases provided by the Goodwin Library.
Source: Wired Campus: The Chronicle of Higher Education July 29 2008
Digital Collection: New York Public Library
New York Public Library Digital Gallery.
Launched in 2005, the NYPL Digital Gallery is one of the largest open-access image databases available on the Internet. Featuring more than 600,000 digital images, content covers a variety of subjects from the arts to science and technology and includes all kinds of primary materials, such as manuscripts, maps, photographs, prints, restaurant menus, sheet music covers, and much more from the special collections of the NYPL Research Libraries and the Mid-Manhattan Library Picture Collection. The Digital Gallery offers basic and advanced searches and also allows users to browse alphabetized lists of names, subjects, and libraries. As an added enhancement, users may select and store around 50 or more images for later viewing using the “selections” option.
(Illustration: Charting North America: Maps from the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection: Part of New England, New York, east New Iarsey and Long Iland)
Access: New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Frontiers of Science
U.S. News & World Report features "Frontiers of Science" in the August 4-11 issue. The editors pulled together some of the big scientific questions with these stories:
How will humanity evolve?
What will we eat?
Where will global warming hit home?
How did life begin?
Will we find it in the heavens?
The magazine is in the library and may be checked out. This issue makes for very interesting reading.
How will humanity evolve?
What will we eat?
Where will global warming hit home?
How did life begin?
Will we find it in the heavens?
The magazine is in the library and may be checked out. This issue makes for very interesting reading.
Try a New Search Engine: CUIL
Welcome to Cuil—the world’s biggest search engine. (Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge--pronounced "cool".)
The Internet has grown. It’s time searching did too. The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.
Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When it finds a page with your keywords, it stays on that page and analyzes the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.
Then Cuil offers you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. Cuil developers believe that analyzing the Web rather than users is a more useful approach. Cuil doesn't collect data about you and your habits. With Cuil, your search history is always private. Very cuil!
Source: www.cuil.com
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Highlighting Academic OneFile
This week's highlighted database is Academic OneFile. Academic OneFile is a comprehensive, subscription-based database that currently contains more than 12,000 journals covering topics from Science, Technology and Medicine to the humanities. This easy-to-use database is the perfect fit for academic libraries, providing both academics and students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels with the ultimate periodical resource for serious research.
Use Basic Search to define your own search strategy. Results are presented in reverse chronological order. Choose Basic Search from the navigation bar. For a broader or more limited search, you may use and, or and not connectors, or limit the results to documents with full-text, peer-reviewed publications, documents with images, publication date or publication title. You may select one or more articles for viewing from the results list in full-text. Academic OneFile is available 24/7 and effortlessly delivers quality content researchers can trust.
Use Basic Search to define your own search strategy. Results are presented in reverse chronological order. Choose Basic Search from the navigation bar. For a broader or more limited search, you may use and, or and not connectors, or limit the results to documents with full-text, peer-reviewed publications, documents with images, publication date or publication title. You may select one or more articles for viewing from the results list in full-text. Academic OneFile is available 24/7 and effortlessly delivers quality content researchers can trust.
Occupational Outlook-Summer 2008
Occupational Outlook Quarterly — Summer 2008
Occupational Outlook Quarterly provides practical information on jobs and careers. Articles are written in straightforward, non-technical language and cover a wide variety of career and work-related topics such as new and emerging occupations, training opportunities, salary trends, and results of new studies from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In this issue:
+ Working in politics (PDF; 881 KB)
+ The class of 1993: Earnings and occupations by college major, 1 and 10 years after graduation (PDF; 2.1 MB)
+ Healthcare jobs you might not know about (PDF; 664 KB)
+ Brief items of interest to counselors and students
+ You’re a what? Home stager (PDF; 216 KB)
+ Job openings by industry (PDF; 280 KB)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Outlook Quarterly provides practical information on jobs and careers. Articles are written in straightforward, non-technical language and cover a wide variety of career and work-related topics such as new and emerging occupations, training opportunities, salary trends, and results of new studies from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In this issue:
+ Working in politics (PDF; 881 KB)
+ The class of 1993: Earnings and occupations by college major, 1 and 10 years after graduation (PDF; 2.1 MB)
+ Healthcare jobs you might not know about (PDF; 664 KB)
+ Brief items of interest to counselors and students
+ You’re a what? Home stager (PDF; 216 KB)
+ Job openings by industry (PDF; 280 KB)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Monday, July 28, 2008
Randy Pausch
Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture, died Friday morning at his Virginia home.
Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three to six months to live, Pausch responded last September 12 by delivering a last lecture at Carnegie Mellon called "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." A videotape of the lecture became a YouTube hit and Pausch expanded its text into the best-selling book, The Last Lecture. Full of humor and common sense, and addressed to his three young children, the lecture urged listeners to dream and play and to not allow obstacles to discourage them. The book is available in the Goodwin Library.
Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three to six months to live, Pausch responded last September 12 by delivering a last lecture at Carnegie Mellon called "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." A videotape of the lecture became a YouTube hit and Pausch expanded its text into the best-selling book, The Last Lecture. Full of humor and common sense, and addressed to his three young children, the lecture urged listeners to dream and play and to not allow obstacles to discourage them. The book is available in the Goodwin Library.
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