"Our subject is not death or evil .....

our Subject is the law. "

And that is how “Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain” begins. The print version has arrived and is on the shelf- maybe not for long since Jeff told the faculty about its existence.

The Afterword, which is subtitled "Why Three Stodgy Academics Wrote a Comic Book", has a sentence that made me smile broadly:

"For some strange reason, none of our intended audiences seem eager to read scholarly law review articles."

In fact, I laughed as I finished reading the afterword - the law is serious but this book makes copyright understandable and even enjoyable. I might even enjoy these academics law classes if they teach the way they share copyright information.


-kls

Boy and dogs = great story

The latest Oprah's Book Club book arrived this week- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

The summary from our catalog : “A tale reminiscent of "Hamlet" that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father's death.”

I will confess – I borrowed this book the day it was processed and read very late- the tale does catch you and grab you….

We have 25 titles from Oprah’s list-
Look in our catalog
On the left side (blue column)
Look for Browse
Select Recommendations
You’ll see lists we’ve compiled for Award winners, the Doran Fuller Horticulture Collection, and Oprah!

-kls

What is the answer?

Libraries are using Instant Messaging, e-mail, Ask A Librarian links, phone reference, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, wikis and text messaging as life lines for the sinking researcher- the person who is overwhelmed by resources and just wants an answer.

netconnect, the supplement to Library Journal, has an interesting article titled "Mobile Delivery :Information Anywhere". (neither Ebsco nor Proquest have posted the Fall 2008 Net Connect issue - but they will - so you will be able to read this article in GALILEO - you can set up an RSS feed in both databases that will alert you when the new issue is posted).

Back to my point - throwing out the lifeline, getting the answers - the other librarian shared this with our faculty:

Kate and I came across an article pointing out that reference information services are now often available for cell phones. Cell users can text a question to one of several services and have the question answered within a few minutes.

The two services I used in a test run were Google and ChaCha (google.com/sms) and (chacha.com). I asked both services ‘what is the capital of Canada?’ The google service responded very quickly with the correct answer, as did the chacha service. Chacha uses live humans to answer their questions while google’s service is automated to some degree.

Google-466453 and ChaCha-242242. Please note that if you have to pay for texts or other cell fees then the cost of that will show up on your cell bill. Otherwise the services are free.

This should come in handy for when you are broken down on the side of the road and need to know the name of the British Prime Minister (Gordon Brown).

Now there's another way to get the answers.....

-kls/JWF

to get the password to use GALILEO at home, ask your Georgia librarian

Using Galileo for Book Reviews

One useful feature of Galileo that you might not be aware of is finding book reviews. You can find reviews of fiction books through a database entitled NoveList. If there is a particular title that you are interested in, you can look up the book in NoveList. The listing for the book in this database will give you publication information, as well as a few books reviews from various sources. This will help you in making selections when reading for pleasure.

What to do if North Metro Tech does not have the book you are interested in? Simply use another Galileo database, entitled WorldCat, to find libraries worldwide that own the book. If you are interested, contact the library and we will request the book for you from a library that owns it through a process called interlibrary loan.

I used NoveList to find a review on a book I just read entitled Three Day Road. The listing in NoveList contained several reviews on the book. The novel tells the story of two Cree/First Nation Canadian snipers during World War II as well as the experience of their aunt, one of the last Cree to live according to very traditional values. A good story if you are into Canada, First Nations, World War I, and/or snipers.

JWF