Cinco de Mayo

Almost summer break. What are you going to read over the summer? Try this UK site:

whichbook.net

". . . gives readers an enjoyable and intuitive way to find books to match their mood. Instead of starting from the overwhelming choice of books available, whichbook.net starts from the reader, and enables each individual to build the elements of that elusive 'good read' we are all looking for but don't quite know how to define. "

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy

I've never been a fan of E. D. Hirsch's and his idea of "cultural literacy." Whose culture? If there are certain things everyone should know, education would sure be a lot easier--we could pretest, memorize a bunch of things and posttest and have a great old time measuring how smart we are, however . . . it IS kind of fun to see how many things on the lists we can actually identify. Jeopardy without the risk of embarrassment. And a few of the lists might actually be useful, like the idiom list for international students. Hmmm, wonder if there are simple lists like this for other cultures--what allusions, proverbs and myths you should know when you want to understand Egyptians or Argentinians or or techies, for instance. js

I was reminded that it is Earth Day today by some interesting flyers attached to the library exterior about Earth Day, and maybe extraterrestrials, and maybe politics. Very Jenny Holzer-ish. js

Today is Earth Day.

Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz to find out how much you as an individual consume as compared to the average earthling. And pick up one piece of trash on campus today, and tomorrow and the next day. . . .

Yagoohoogle

Search Google and Yahoo at the same time and get your results side-by-side. (From Marylaine block's weekly list)js
http://yagoohoogle.com/

Finding Literary Criticism

If you are writing a research paper in an English class, you might be interested in this webpage about doing library/database research. It's called Finding Literary Criticism. There are other more specific course-related webpages under the Instruction link from the Library's homepage. Check them out and if you are still having trouble head over to the 2nd Floor of the University Library and ASK FOR HELP! Don't despair, Don't give up and for heaven's sake--DON'T grab a paper from the web. Even if it's hard, and maybe boring to you right now, think of it as practice for all those reports you are going to be required to write when you get that great job right after graduation. P.S. If you think writing is just for school, think again--every job that requires a college degree is going to require some kind of writing--memos, reports, executive summaries, student evaluations, blogs, letters of application, letters of recommendation, letters of resignation . . . .
js

Coke or Pop or Soda, Which is it?

Want to know county by county which one the natives understand?
Try this map.

http://popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.html

Friday, April 15

National Library Week

Friday's entry for National Library Week:

Thurs. April14th of

National Library Week

A website for the library staff who aren't Librarians with a big "L," but who keep libraries functioning day after day with or without, and sometimes inspite of, the big Ls.

Mentioned in Marylaine Block's weekly "Neat New Stuff"

Library Supporter: A Weblog Dedicated to Library Support Staff

"A brand new blog from Marianne Lenox, of the Huntsville Madison County
Public Library, who plans 'to address the major issues confronting Library
support staff and to provide information and resources that can be used in
our careers.' http://librarysupporter.blogspot.com/

Wed. April 13th

National Library Week

HOT DOCS

by Vickey Baggott

In celebration of  National Library Week, take a look at these documents relating to libraries and librarianship.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum  National Archives and Records Administration, [2004]
AE 1.102: L 61/2

The Status of Public and Private School Library Media Centers in the United States, 1999-2000  U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004.
ED 1.328/3: L 61/6 http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS56070

Library of Congress Family Guide  Library Congress, Interpretive Programs Office, [2003].
LC 1.6/4: F 21

United States Senate Library  U.S. Senate, [2003].
Y 1.3: S. PUB. 108-7

Programs for Adults in Public Library Outlets  U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Office of Education Research and Improvement, [2002].
ED 1.328/5: L 61/4

Friday!

10:30 A.M: Try this Google Beta site: Google Suggest

A good site to use to start thinking about a nice vacation! ". . .enter an address, and our system will put you at the controls of a bird's view aerial imagery to explore your digital earth."

Aerial and satellite images of almost anyplace in the U.S. Put in your address and see a god's-eye view of your neighborhood--a little 'theatre of the world.'js

Thurs, April 7th

April is National Poetry Month

Hmmmm, libraries get a week -- and poetry a whole month? But. . .

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
—from “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand

http://www.poets.org/npm/
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/pmonth1.html

And just to balance this coverage, here's a little anti-poetry month rhetoric and this bitter little ditty from Charles Bernstein, poet:

Go ahead, don't read any poetry.

You won't be able to understand it anyway:
the best stuff is all over your head.

And there aren't even any commercials to liven up the action.

Anyway, you'll end up with a headache trying to figure out
what the poems are saying because they are saying
NOTHING.

Who needs that.

Better go to the movies.

Tues, April 5th

Next week is National Library Week. We want to celebrate libraries and our freedom to read. One way is to ask you to tell us very briefly (25 words?) about a book that has had significant influence on you. Let us know your name, class or department (anonymous if you insist), the title, author and how this book has affected you. Nothing fancy. We all have one book--mine might be Make Way for Ducklings--I think of it daily as I cruise past the geese in the Municipal Park!

Send this info to Dennis or Alla or Vera or me. You'll get to see what books inspired others too. See the plasma screen in "the Pit" next week.

Last Words

Howell Heflin just died, as did Johnnie Cochrane; we have Good Friday and Terri Shiavo. We have to learn to respect death even as we cling to life. Here's a site that let's us see how some have left this life with great panache.

Marie Antoinette's reputed last words were ""Pardonnez-moi, monsieur" as she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner on the guillotine platform.

Or Thomas de Mahay, Marquis deFavras, (1744-1790) "I see that you have made three spelling mistakes." Convicted of treason after a two month trial, he was handed his official death sentence by the court clerk as he was led to the scaffold."

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6537/

The Most Important Peeps Research:

http://www.millikin.edu/staley/fluff/peep_research.html

http://www.peepresearch.org/

http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/

Biography Reference Bank under E-Reference on the Library Homepage

Press Release: New York, New York, March 18th, 2005
"H.W. Wilson's popular Biography Reference Bank database now includes some 5,000 profiles from Oxford University Press's American National Biography, a premier biographical reference series on people who have shaped American history and culture.

American National Biography, a 1999 Dartmouth Medal winner, is described by Library Journal as "a masterpiece of scholarly distillation." Biography Reference Bank, honored in years past as a Library Journal Best Reference Source and as a Reference Books Bulletin Top 10 Biography Reference Source, is also described as "a top of the line biographical reference tool" by School Library Journal, and is "highly recommended" by Choice.

In all, Biography Reference Bank covers over 500,000 people. This latest expansion follows the recent addition of some 100,000 names to the database, reflecting all personal names cited as subjects in more than 50 WilsonWeb periodicals reference databases. Besides the high-quality narrative biographies, Biography Reference Bank helps users find biographical information from nearly 8,000 periodicals: profiles, features, interviews, essays, book reviews, performance reviews, speeches, and obituaries--including over 175,000 full-text articles. The daily addition of new information from periodicals helps keep research on any individual up to date.

In addition to Oxford University Press, Biography Reference Bank also features licensed profiles from other distinguished publishers, including Grove's Dictionaries, Harvard University Press, Greenwood Press, Houghton Mifflin, and others. Content from all other H.W. Wilson biography reference books and databases is included as well--data from Biography Index, Current Biography, World Authors, Junior Authors & Illustrators, and more."

Official NEW Words

The OED publishes a list of the latest new entries to the dictionary -- without their definitions. Perfect for the "Dictionary Game" where contestants have to write out, in good dictionary grammar, their own definition in order to fool all the others into thinking that it is the correct definition. Here are a few of my favorite new additions:

http://dictionary.oed.com/help/updates/latest-additions.html js

Monday, March 21
The Vernal Equinox

The perfect site for those who are: Gullibleinfo (http://gullible.info/)

Friday before Spring Break!

(I'll be back on the 21st)

New York Public Library Digital Gallery

It opened last week with "over 275,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more."

NYPL plans to continue to add to this collection.These are copyright free images you can use directly from the web for your papers or webpage. If you need higher resolution images you can order them for a fee from the library. However, remember to give the collection credit if you use any of them. js

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

Podcasting

Finally I've learned what "podcasting" is! It is what I've been looking for -- a news- addict's use for my iPod. I've recorded classes. Downloaded some audio books, but now find that I can download some NPR programs and listen to them whenever I want. Here's an article that talks about this newest/oldest media. I'm going to try it this weekend and let you know if it is really possible.js

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/001770.php

"Your account needs to be updated"

Everyday I get another email looking to dupe me into providing my personal and financial identifiers. Ebay phishers. USBank phishermen, Charter Bank phisherwomen. Check out this page at Fraud Watch International to understand how many ways these crooks can hide their own identities behind fake URLs. js

http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/internetfraud/phishing/website.htm

Tues. March 1st

For those EH 102 Freshmen looking for current topics of interest for your research papers, you couldn't find a better source of topics and background information on them than from the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. At the request of congressmen, it compiles reports containing background, as well as current, information on important issues facing the legislators. Since CRS will not post its reports online itself, there are a few other websites that post them so we also can benefit from this knowledge.js

Here are a few:

Federation of American Scientists
Department of State
National Council for Science and the Environment

Here's some good clean fun for a Friday. Try putting your stomach in the right place and facing it in the right direction! Requires Flash 5 and comes from Marylaine Block's recommendation.

Interactive Body - BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml

Then, when you are finished being humiliated by how little you know about your very own body, start working on your mind. What sex is your brain? and other questionnaires. js

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/index_surveys.shtml

Mercury in the Environment: Sources and Health Risks

This government report should be of particular interest to those of us who enjoy the fish and game caught in this area. The link is to an abstract which in turn links to the pdf version of the full report with tables like this:

Shrimp <0.01 Moderate
Tuna, white, canned (solid and chunk albacore)0.36 High
Tuna, light, canned (chunk) 0.12 Moderate
Salmon 0.01 High
Catfish 0.05 Low (Channel); Moderate (Brown Bullhead)

http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRS/abstract.cfm?NLEid=53166

Budget of the United States, Fiscal Year 2006 [Proposed]

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy06/

and

The Consumer Price Index or "Cost of Living"

A student in a recent class I was teaching asked about where to find "cost of living" statistics. I just ran across this source with its real name -- The Consumer Price Index. With 1982-84 as the base of 100, one can see what inflation has done to our purchasing power for food, shelter, transportation, medical care, energy and a total number. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=economic_indicators&docid=23ja04.txt
js

St. Valentine's Day

Google Maps

Once again Google has beaten the competition soundly and roundly in an area I hadn't even thought as a competitive space. Mapquest has been my favorite website for finding out where to go and how to get there. On Friday Google came out with http://maps.google.com that allows a user to mouse-drag to move the map right/left/up/down. No more of the E-W-N-S arrows and waiting, waiting, waiting only to have to do it again. I've also tried the directions and route planner. It is super. I never remember zip codes and I didn't need them. Just gave the address I was leaving including city and state, typed a "to" then the address I wanted to reach and got both the mapped route and the written directions. Having traveled this route almost every weekend for four years, I was surprised that even my favorite shortcuts showed up. Where was I when Google was selling for $80 and Apple for $15 just a short time ago???? js
http://maps.google.co

Ash Wed. &
Chinese New Year

HOT DOCS at USA

Chinese New Year

In celebration give these brand new titles a try. They are located in the Government Documents Department on the 2nd floor, South of the University Library.

Dragon bytes : Chinese information – war theory and practice from 1995-2003 / Timothy L. Thomas. Dept. of Defense, Foreign Military Studies Office, 2004.
D 101.2: C 44

The Chinese openly discuss computer network attacks and electronic preemption as well as the development of IW (information-war) units and an ‘integrated network-electronic warfare’ theory.”

Tracking the dragon : national intelligence estimates on China during the era of Mao, 1948-1976. National Intelligence Council, 2004.
PREX 3.21: C 44 (book) and
PREX 3.21: C 44/CD (CD-ROM)

This collection of reports covers the period from the Chinese civil war and the rise of the Communist regime through the time of the Cultural Revolution.  It looks at the power struggles that went on within the top leadership, the buildup of the Chinese military, and the evolution of the split between China and Russia.

Google Zeitgeist

http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/weeks-jan05.html

HOT DOCS at USA

Here are a couple of new titles for the New Year. These publications are located in the Government Documents Department on the 2nd floor, South of the University Library.

World War II memorial, Washington, D.C. American Battle Monuments Commission, General Services Administration, 2004.
GS 1.2: M 51

A history of the newest monument in the nation’s capitol which includes beautiful, full-color photographs in addition to drawings and diagrams.

Exploring the unknown : selected documents in the history of the U.S. civil space program: vol. VI: Space and Earth Science / edited by John M. Logsdon. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2004.
GS 1.2: M 51

This volume of the series covers solar and space physics, life sciences, and Earth science.

With all the talk about who's running for mayor and governor I thought that these sites might be useful to the politic-addicted on campus. I've taken this recommendation word-for-word from MaryLaine Block's Neat New and ExLibris, a listing of her weekly best of the web choices. js

"Governing [the magazine] http://www.governing.com/
This, and Stateline.org, <http://www.stateline.org/stateline/>, are my
favorite sites for news and policy information information about state
governments. Governing posts news, reference materials like the State and
Local Sourcebook, Otis White's Urban Notebook (a great column about good
city management), innovative government web-based services, and the
opportunity to search the web site plus the complete archive of Governing
Magazine (though you need to pay close attention to the mouseovers on the
nav bar to find some of these). Stateline posts politics and policy news,
searchable and browsable by state and issue. It is posting the schedule and
text of each governor's "State of the State" address."

OOPS! We have to be careful. We wouldn't want to take away all those lovely profits the publishers are making by charging us big bucks for tax-funded research. Why not just give our tax dollars directly to the multinational publishing companies?

NIH Revises Plan for Quick, Free Access to Study Results
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2005; Page A15

"An ambitious proposal to make the results of federally funded medical research available to the public quickly and for free has been scaled back by the National Institutes of Health under pressure from scientific publishers, who argued that the plan would eat into their profits and harm the scientific enterprise they support."
Type the article title into LexisNexis>General News to find the full story.js

http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl

"a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. Sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy (http://www.prwatch.org), the Disinfopedia was started in February 2003 and contributors are now working on 6194 articles." js

Here are a couple of fascinating sites (suggested by MaryLaine Block) to peruse on a Friday before classes start. js

Blinkz: search engine for TV broadcasts(and radio shows)

"Searches for video and audio clips through CNN, BBC News, C-SPAN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, and other networks; also searches NPR, BBC and Voice of America for radio programs. http://www.blinkx.tv"

EDGE: The World Question Center

120 of the most educated persons in a range of disciplines answered this question this year: "WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?" http://www.edge.org/

They have ways of making you spend

"From shelf psychology to 'triangular balance', shoppers need to be wise to the tricks used to manipulate them during the sales, warns David Derbyshire There are two golden rules to surviving the post-Christmas sales: never shop on an empty stomach and never shop on an empty head. Concentration is key."

Answers.com

Academic libraries have always been great places to get your questions answered with reference librarians as your guides. Well we are still your guides for finding the tough answers to those "why" and "how" questions, but there are some neat tools on the Internet which even we librarians use when we need a quick "what" or "who" answer. Try Answer.com, previously known as gurunet.com. It's free and searches a bunch of different reference sources like the Wikipedia, and unnamed dictionaries, encyclopedias to return an answer quickly. You can also install it as "1-Click Answers", on your browser and just type in questions as they come up--easy ones, of course!

As with all easy answers--BE CAREFUL! Always verify the answer with a second reliable source(maybe even a librarian1) if it is important to an argument or a decision. Don't base your academic reputation on any one source!

Attend a library tour today at 2:00. See below. js