Who lived there?

Carolyn L. Barkley notes:

"I have written on several occasions about the exhilaration of moving beyond names and dates and adding detail about the lives of our ancestors. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to put their feet on the ground in a specific place and time. A significant resource in that effort can be found in Sanborn fire insurance maps."... here's the rest of the article

If you are traveling to visit family this holiday season, it seems appropriate to share the two resources available through GALILEO that can help you find the information to flesh out the story about the family home.

The two resources are the Georgia Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and the US census in Ancestry Library Edition.

Go to GALILEO
Select Databases A-Z
....A for Ancestry Library Edition which is only available for use at the public library
.......Select census collection, US census.
.......It's not easy to search by location but once you have the township you can browse through the list. It's easier to find a person in the census than a house.
....S for Sanborn Fire Insurance or go directly to the Digital Library of Georgia (no password needed).
........It's easier to find the house than a name in the Sanborn collection.

You'll need to use your detective skills to figure out how to find the people in one source and find the house in the other. And let me know how you do it!

Happy holidays.... see you in January.

-kls

It's the busiest day

The news reports are noting how busy the post office, Fed Ex, and UPS will be in helping move presents around the country! We are a generous group of folks who live too far apart.

I wondered where I might statistics on the mail. Yes, I could do a Google search but, well, I'm fond of starting in GALILEO. I know the stats probably won't be in Academic Search Complete or Research Library. They are great resources for articles but not for statistics.

I clicked on Databases A-Z, searched for 'statistics". 16 databases came up. I scrolled through and I'm not sure any of them are just right but I'll try World Data Analyst. I selected United States from the list of countries. A seven page pdf file was revealed with all sorts of statistics on the United States - the most current seem to be from 2006. None have anything to do with the post office or Fed Ex or UPS.

Still thinking- where else might these numbers be? I went back to Databases A-Z, selected all database and just 'browsed' through the list till I came upon the Feds sites USA.gov. This is not a proprietary site. I could have found it through Google but - it's nice it's in GALILEO(our virtual library). A search for postal statistics pulled up an assortment of pdf files that show use per quarter. 2009 is listed!

-kls

Festival of Lights

At sundown Jews begin celebrating the Festival of Lights that we also know as Chanukah or Hanukkah. I wanted to find information that I could rely on - not just any old web site freely accessed on the web. I went to GALILEO and did something a bit different - because sometimes one wants to narrow the search for information by using "off the beaten path" databases!

I selected the search tab
..typed in my search term
....left full text and peer reviewed unclicked
....did not change the years
Unclicked Academic Search Complete and Research Library (yes, these are the big boys but I wanted to try something a bit different)...
Then selected Show more databases
Scrolled down and clicked on Encyclopedia Britannica, the Religion database, and World History

I searched this group three times. I used Chanukah, Hanukkah, and Festival of Lights.

Using the word Chanukah turned up 1 article in EB, 1 in World History and a few more in the Religion database.

Hanukkah resulted in 14 EB, 2 World Historyand 32 in Religion.

Changing the search term to Festival of Lights brought up 32 in EB, 6 in Religion and 5 in World History.

Fascinating what a difference a word makes in the search. Get off the beaten path- explore different databases using the search tab and the Show more databases option!

-kls

You may get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

Just browsing

When a sales clerk asks if I need help in a store, I regularly respond with "I'm just browsing". Patrons in the library respond the same way when I ask if they are finding what they need on the shelves -"just browsing, thanks".

ABI Inform (a Proquest resource) has a Browse tab (fourth tab from the left) for those who don't know exactly what they want but are looking to see what's available. Most ProQuest resources do not have this feature.

What does Browse do for you that a regular search does not? ABI Inform has noted specific topics and categories:
-- Industry and Market Research
-- Commodity Reports
-- Company Reports
-- Country Reports
Under each heading are links that focus the browsing.

When you aren't sure what to search for but you have some general ideas on what you might like to know- use the Browse tab in ABI Inform.

-kls

The password to use GALILEO at home is available from your Georgia librarian.

Weeding and New Stuff

Greetings,

Weeding is the term librarians use to describe the process of sifting through the collection and removing materials that are out of date or no longer necessary. This is done so that the library's users won't be given false or incorrect information in a book. Indeed, the accrediting bodies related to our college's programs often check to see that the materials in the library are current and up to date. Medical books in particular are removed in most cases no later than five years after their publication.

Often there are those who see this as a waste. My own father does not believe old encyclopedias should be discarded. The 'someone might get something out of them' argument is used to defend this position. But what if the 'something' were incorrect? This could potentially be harmful, particularly if it is medical information.

This week I have gone through the reference section at the Mountain View campus and have removed some items. These were items of a statistical nature for which we had a more recent version. A few other items I left on the shelf, but made a note to order the most recent version the next time I do a book order.

The weeding of the reference collection freed up some shelf space. I have decided to dedicate this space to the creation of a new materials section. This small area will house books that are new to the library. The idea is to make faculty and students more aware of the books' existence. Just one more way to promote our materials.

Remember friend, you can find out the new materials in the library's collection. Just go to the library's catalog. Click on the button that says 'new books,' located in the top left corner of the page. You will then be able find out the newest materials in the collection by campus.

JF

Listening

Are you a visual or an aural learner? Gale Literature Resource Center offers an audio icon with the option to download the text as an MP3 file. I'm listening to a file as I type - the female voice is pleasant but there is an electronic quality to the reading that is a bit like listening to a good SciFi movie.

From Gale's help screen:
What types of content can be read aloud?Full-text documents. Citation-only or abstract-only documents will not display the Listen icon. You will also be able to listen to Help pages and Dictionary definitions.
The audio player may not read aloud all links within the document. In addition, it will ignore image captions.

I can see this being used by athletes, travelers, and folks who just want to listen! Being able to select articles on topics I'm interested in, then downloading the article to my MP3 player makes it possible for me to create a library of short audio titles for free!

Chattahoochee Tech users may access the Gale Literature Resource Center through GALILEO. Stop by your campus library to get the current password.

-kls

Let's not forget

Hat Tip to Dear Myrtle

Footnote.com Opens Their WWII Collection Free To The Public During December
Lindon, UT – December 7, 2009 – In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, Footnote.com announced today that they will make the largest interactive WWII collection on the web including the Interactive USS Arizona Memorial free to the public during December. Featuring over 10 million records, documents and photos from the National Archives, this collection helps family members and historians better understand the people and events of WWII......

GALILEO offers Ancestry Library Edition in the library. There are ten resources in Ancestry Library Edition that have World War II in the title.

- U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 Military USA
- U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 Military USA U.S.
- Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945 Military USA
- World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas Military USA
- World War II Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualties, 1941-1945 Military USA
- World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946 Military USA
- Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II Military USA
- World War II Japanese-American Internment Camp Documents, 1942-1946 Court, Land, Wills & Financial USA
- World War II Young American Patriots, 1941-1945 Military USA
- New York Southern District, World War II Military Naturalization Index, 1941-1946 Immigration & Emigration USA

If you're looking for the person in your family who served during World War II, come to your Georgia library and use Ancestry Library Edition

Go to GALILEO
..select Databases A-Z
....select A
......select Ancestry Library Edition
scroll down to More Collections, click on list all databases
type in World War II for the title


-kls

What's new at GGP

An announcement from the Digital Library of Georgia:

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to present the redesign of the Georgia Government Publications.

Developed in 1996 as GALILEO's first digital conversion initiative, the Georgia Government Publications database contains born-digital publications and scanned print documents produced by Georgia state agencies. The GGP provides a comprehensive repository of state publications 1994 to the present, and project participants are actively scanning documents printed before 1994 to provide researchers with a valuable source for online historical research.

The Georgia Government Publications(GGP) database consists of over 44,000 documents produced by 100 Georgia state agencies. Georgia agencies are required by law to submit print and electronic publications that they produce for the public to the official depository at the University of Georgia Libraries. These publications are all included in the GGP, which features such publications as Guide to Alligator Hunting in Georgia, Members of the General Assembly of Georgia, rack cards on the Georgia state parks, images of Georgia's song birds from the Traveling Songsters poster, and thousands of other items generated by Georgia's executive branch of government.

The Georgia Government Publications database is part of the Digital Library of Georgia, a GALILEO initiative.

I will say the Guide to Alligator Hunting in Georgia looks especially intriguing to this city girl!


-kls

the Great Game

The term the Great Game denotes the imperial struggles between Russia and Great Britain in central Asia during the 1800's. The nation of Afghanistan was used as a buffer state between the Russian and British colonial holdings in southern Asia. It has been suggested that some of the blame for the recent geopolitical troubles in Afghanistan can be traced back to the playing of the Great Game. The Great Game started a long history of involvement in Afghanistan by foreign powers for various reasons.

Doing a general search in Galileo for 'Great Game' and 'Afghanistan' (don't put in the quote marks when searching) then sorting the results by relevance, yields some good results. Some of the highest relevancy ranked results deal with a new playing of the game in Afghanistan, now involving India and Pakistan.

JF

Afghanistan

Did you do a Google search on Afghanistan after the Presidents speech? Google pulled up Wikipedia (the 122 references in the Wikipedia article had more than a few Find It buttons connecting to GALILEO ) and the CIA Factbook.

Thinking about those reference links in Wikipedia, I did a search on Afghanistan in GALILEO, I selected:
Browse by subject
..History
....History
......Typed in Afghanistan
........ I unclicked the Digital Library of Georgia. I selected more resources and clicked on Encyclopedia Britannica.

Thousands of articles were pulled going back years. The Google search did give me resources for basic facts. GALILEO provided depth for my quest for information about the topic.

Sometimes "just the facts" is enough. Sometimes depth is necessary.


-kls

You may get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

Little cat feet

When I see fog, I think of the poem by Carl Sandburg that I had to memorize in elementary school. This picture of Fog is copyright © copyright-free-pictures.org.uk

CTC Library subscribes to Literature Resource Center which provides biographies on thousands of authors, as well as literary criticism, historical context, and social implications of literature .

A basic search for Carl Sandburg turned up 56 biographical references. As I scrolled the list, I noticed only 4 that seemed to be specifically about Carl Sandburg. I'm guessing the others referenced him in some way. I started playing to see how I could narrow the search to just biographies on Carl Sandburg.

At the Basic Search page, I typed in Carl Sandburg
..I clicked on the radio button Person - By or about
....I unclicked the content type options leaving only biographies
Search pulled up 5 biographies - a much easier to peruse selection!

Narrowing the search by learning what buttons to click is worth the time and effort! Play with the databases till you can create a search that pulls just what you want - not too much and not too little (as Goldilocks might say - it's just right)!

-kls

Get the current password to access GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

How does your garden grow?

Frost was again on the roof (and yard) this morning. People who like to garden are curling up with seed catalogs. They are preparing for the spring planting!

What if you aren't sure what you might be able to do with your garden? Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index in GALILEO provides access to articles about gardens and plants, including topics such as horticulture, botany, garden and landscape design & history, ecology, plant and garden conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy. A highlight of the database is its focus on environmentally sustainable horticultural and design practices. This index and abstract product is designed for gardening enthusiasts, professionals, and students of horticulture and of garden and landscape design & history. It covers more than 300 core serial titles that include general gardening titles of national, international, and regional interest, and titles devoted to specialty gardens and plant groups.
Because Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index is an index - you'll mostly pull up citations with a Find It button to let you know which library has the journal. If you select Linked Full Text- this will limit your search to those articles available in the database full text. PDF files have full color pictures.

Curl up with your lap top and peruse the articles. You can beginning planning your spring garden while enjoying the warmth of the fireplace!

-kls

The password to use GALILEO at home is available from your Georgia librarian.

More H1N1 resources

Online vendors are sharing their expertise and resources to help all of us get the most accurate information available to help us weather the flu season.

ebrary understands there is a lot of anxiety, confusion, and frustration regarding H1N1. In fact, we are experiencing it ourselves.

This site was created by ebrary employees, who in the course of researching H1N1 to protect our families and friends, realized that our technology can help.

While some of the most important information in the world is contained within PDF documents, it is a very difficult format to search, use, and manage online. To enable people to discover valuable H1N1 data, we created a highly interactive database of PDF documents from government agencies and other authoritative sites (copyrights permitting or with permission).

We plan to continually grow this collection and welcome your feedback by emailing h1n1@ebrary.com.


-kls

The sky is falling!

Do you remember fire drills in school? Some were a surprise to instructors, some were noted on a faculty calendar. All were intended to prepare students (and staff) to exit the building in an orderly fashion without panic or confusion. At an education conference, meeting in a hotel banquet room, there were over 300 instructors seated for a meal. The hotel fire alarm went off. 300 adults calmly stood up, pushed in their chairs and exited the space. The hotel people were trying to tell us it was a mistake and we should stay inside. We continued to exit down the stairs, not taking the elevator and gathered at a safe distance from the building - practice does make it possible to cope with an emergency without chaos.

Which brings me to disaster movies (and books). Are they the fire drill for the mind? Do we watch the end of time movies and get ideas on how to best respond when the end appears?


The Road [PS 3563 .C337 R63 2006] by Cormac McCarthy which won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize has been turned into a movie.

The book discussion guide in NoveList through GALILEO offers thought provoking questions, several responses to the questions noting that each reader brings their own thoughts to the task.

The book discussion guide concludes with 6 other titles to read that have similar themes. I was glad to see Alas, Babylon c1959 mentioned.

The survivors of a nuclear holocaust are forced to rely on their own resources as they join together in the struggle for survival amidst the ruins of Fort Repose, a small town in Florida.

I was intrigued that 50 years ago the apocalyptic story revolved around a group gathering together to help each other rather than individuals struggling on their own.

What do we learn from these two stories? Has our societal response changed so much in 50 years? Books can be fire drills for the mind!

-kls

Get the password to use GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.

What to watch?

What will you be doing this weekend? Will you be looking for a movie to watch, a book to read, or an event to attend? Do you want to know what someone thinks about the movie, book, or event before you invest your time and money? How do you find a review?

You can find Movie Reviews (and other reviews) in GALILEO by:
Selecting Databases A-Z
...Select P
.....Select ProQuest Databases
........Select Advanced Search (second tab)
..........Type in the movie title
Leave the citation and abstract as the search.
....Scroll down a bit - and click on More Search Options. This opens up the bottom of the screen.
........Scroll down to Document Type
..........Click on the drop down box
............Select Film review (for the movies)
Press enter

Now you have the opinions of others to help you decide if you want to invest your time and money!

Hope your holiday weekend is just what you want it to be.

-kls

Get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

Visual Learning

Are you a visual learner? Does seeing someone do something help you process the directions?

ALA Facebook suggested the Flu videos for kids posted by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Yes, our Government has a You Tube channel.

If you're looking for visual information on how to protect your self or teach your child how to protect themselves from the flu - just watch a video.

And don't forget to read about the latest news in flu protection at the EBSCO Influenza: Evidence based portal or checking Flu.gov.

Stay healthy over the holidays.

-kls

On the go searches

Have you started using your mobile device for quick searches?

News from the GALILEO folks:

Beginning today, you will find the following custom EBSCOhost Mobile links appearing in GALILEO - EBSCOhost Mobile Academic.

Each of these interfaces has been configured to provide a direct multi-database search of EBSCOhost databases that are appropriate for the indicated audience. For detailed information regarding which databases are included in the search, please see the “More” link that follows the database name within the Databases A-Z list.

Please note that your phone must have javascript enabled in order to use EBSCOhost Mobile. Although EBSCOhost Mobile should work on all javascript enabled smartphones, it was exclusively beta tested on the most popular models:

Blackberry

Dell Axiom

iPhone

Palm 750

To get more information about this service
go to GALILEO
...select Databases A-Z
.....select E
........scroll to EBSCOhost Mobile Academic - click on the More... link to find out more about this resource.

I admit- I do not have a 'fancy' phone. I can't test how this works. If you do have a 'fancy' phone- please do share how well you can search with EBSCO on your phone. Or if it has glitches- you can share that too.

You will need the current password to use GALILEO. You may get that password from your Georgia librarian.

-kls

Can you find it?

Sometimes professors have students search for information that might not be as easy to find as the professor thinks. Case in point- an unnamed professor at another educational institution told his class to find an article he had written that was in an Ebsco database. The task was to write an APA citation for an article by the professor. The professor gave his name and the database. That should have been enough information. You know from the way I started that - no, this is not enough information.

One of the professor's students has a friend who is a librarian. The student had searched and figured they just weren't doing it correctly. They asked their friend the librarian. This librarian couldn't find an article in the noted database either. The librarian asked me. I also did not have any success searching in the particular Ebsco database for the professors name. I used initials, quotes, full name, last name only- and nothing came up. It could be Ebsco.

I did a Google search for the professor. This professor fortunately has an educational biographical web site. The professor happily lists their publications. Publish or perish being the mantra for many higher education institutions. I was able to note in which journals this professor had published.

...With the journal information
......I could search in the Ebsco database using publication search
........Ebsco offers a search this publication link
Victory! I found several articles. They aren't full text but they do give enough information that the student can complete the assignment.

I have no idea why the professor's name did not pull up articles in the Ebsco database. There are ways to work around a problem!


-kls

Carl Hayden

Until today, Carl Hayden was the longest serving member of Congress in United States history. Originally a sheriff in Phoenix, Arizona, Hayden was elected as the first Congressman for the new state of Arizona. He represented the entire state, which at that time was still a rural state with very few people.

Hayden was later elected to the US Senate and served for over forty years. He retired in early 1969 when his last term expired and died in 1972. He lived to see his sleepy state grow into one of the fastest growing in the country.

Much of the information here was gleaned from Hayden's entry in the Biographical directory of the United States Congress, an official government resource. The photos of former members of Congress on the website are considered government property and are in the public domain, hence they are often used for Wikipedia entries.

JF

Historical Fiction

After writing about finding book reviews for Wolf Hall, I began to think about finding other historical fiction to read. NoveList in GALILEO is a useful Readers Advisory tool.

A search in NoveList for Wolf Hall provided links to Find Similar Books, reviews, Subject headings, and the public World Cat.

When you select the Find Similar Books link, you are given a check list to limit your search to Required or Desired subject headings. I think that's a very interesting distinction- is the topic required in the story or just desired? The default setting is for desired. What would you choose as a required subject or a desired subject in your Find Similar Books choice?

You may get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.


-kls

Wolf Hall

One of the English instructors encourages students to read award winners. The 2009 Man Booker award winner, Wolf Hall : a novel, has arrived at the North Metro campus library.

I'm not familiar with either the book or the author. I wanted to know a bit about the book before I lept in to read it. I admit - it's almost two inches thick and I'm thinking- oh my, do I have time or energy to read this book?

To find reviews for this title, go to GALILEO
..Select Databases A-Z
.....Select P
........Scroll to ProQuest Newspapers

Here's where selecting a specific database can be more helpful then a general search.

Click on the Advanced Search tab.
...Type in Wolf Hall
.....Click on more search options
........Select Document Type - the drop down box offers me many options
........Select Book review
Search and 5 reviews came up!

If you want to know what others think about a book, movie, television show, poem, etc before you spend your time or money .... use the Advanced Search features in ProQuest and Ebsco to limit your search to a specific document type!

You can get the current password to use GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.

-kls

Keeping up with the story

To get a mammogram or not to get a mammogram? What's a person to do when the scientists change their opinions so radically?

There are multiple medical resources in GALILEO. You can create RSS feeds or e-mail alerts to receive the latest articles posted in the professional journals.

Look in your favorite database to see if they offer alerts/RSS feeds. The Ebsco databases like Academic Search Complete and the ProQuest databases like Research Library offer fairly obvious ways to create an alert or set up an RSS feed.

Having the latest and most reliable information is the only way to make an informed decision!

Get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

-kls

Nature vs. Nurture

The Psychology instructor asked me to show the students how to find peer reviewed articles on the Human Growth and Development topic, Nature vs. Nurture. The timing for this topic couldn't be better with the holidays spinning towards us. All those kin around the table - are they the way they are because of genetics or did birth order (and the improving parenting skills) define the people? Do you really act like your relatives because of your genes or because of the environment you grew up in? Something to think about as we share a meal with the people we claim as family.

Back to the initial question - how do you find those peer reviewed articles? Professional Journals with peer reviewed articles won't be on the magazine racks at the grocery store or book store. GALILEO offers a video explanation on how to find peer reviewed articles:



You may get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.


-kls

Busy bees

A Short History of the Honey Bee [SF 523.7 .I45 2009] by E. Readicker-Henderson. History can be a recitation of facts in chronological order. This history reads like a story weaving between the authors childhood, Greek myths, Egyptian pharaohs, Medieval authors and 19th century scientists until the author comes to the current science of beekeeping. Photographs by Ilona are sprinkled liberally amidst the 160 page book.

I searched GALILEO for suburban beekeeping - peer reviewed, full text- but retrieved no hits. I tried again and used only the term beekeeping and full text. This turned up 125 articles in Academic Search Complete and 198 articles in Research Library.

I think I might like a bee hive in my back yard!

Get the current password to use GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.



-kls

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

At the Sirsi Users group meeting held at the Robert Woodruff library at Emory, we had time to explore the library a bit during breaks. Just outside the meeting room was a lovely display of new books, both fiction and non-fiction. The books were displayed in a way to entice the browser to try something just for fun.

I selected The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I had just enough time during the breaks to get drawn into the story:

January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

I found myself at page 90 by the end of the day. I wondered if my public library would have the book?

I went to GALILEO
...clicked on Databases A-Z
.....selected W
.......and scrolled to WorldCat
.......... I searched for Guernsey literary
The search pulled up 38 records for books by this title.

I selected the first record (over 2000 libraries hold this title).
I clicked on Libraries Worldwide that own the item. The Georgia libraries are at the top of the list in alphabetical order.
I scrolled to my public library and clicked on the link. The public library catalog opened and I could see which branches had copies on the shelf.

Voila. My local branch had the book. I went the next morning and borrowed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

If my public library had not owned a copy, I could have clicked on the Borrow this item from another library link and filled in the Inter Library Loan form which would have started the process to borrow the book from another library.

Get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.


- kls

Louis Riel

Today is the anniversary of the death of Louis Riel. Riel was a political figure in Canada during the late 1800's. Riel was a leader of the Metis, a people of Canada who have a mix of French and First Nations (Native American) heritage.

Riel is considered the father of the Manitoba, being associated with a provisional government in that province as part of a rebellion against the Canadian government. He was later exiled to the United States, only to return and be executed for his part in a second rebellion in 1885.

The legacy of Riel is a bit complicated. He is considered a hero to French Canadians, particularly in Quebec, and has been associated with the Quebec movement for independence. Riel was actually elected to the Canadian Parliament twice for the riding (district) of Provencher, which is still a riding in southeastern Manitoba. Bills have been introduced by MP's (member of Parliament) over the years to call for an official pardon of Riel, but none have passed in the House of Commons.

There are several good articles on Riel available in Credo Reference. These articles are entries from various reference books and are considered reliable sources of information that you could use when writing a report or reference paper. If you need information to access Credo Reference off-campus, please contact your Chattahoochee Technical College campus library staff.

JWF

Links to Louis Riel, Metis, and Manitoba are from Encyclopedia Britannica in GALILEO. Get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

Triskaidekaphobia

Today is Friday the 13th. Except in Australia, which by the time I write this it is Saturday the 14th I should think.

Triskaidekaphobia is the term given to the fear of the number 13. This is a fear common in North America and Europe. This fear has morphed into a fear of the date Friday the 13th. Fear of Friday the 13th has given rise to a slasher film franchise, which subsequently created higher sales of ice hockey goalie masks (but that's another story).

A search for triskaidekaphobia in Galileo yields 4 results in Academic Search Complete and 4 results in Research Library. The results span all the way back to 1980, and most of the articles deal with the psychological aspects associated with the number 13 and its perceived lack of luck.

And in unrelated news, the people of Sweden voted to join the European Union on this day in 1994.

JWF

Opening a business

I've heard pundits say real job growth is created by small businesses. How do you start your own business and grow it enough to hire a few folks who then help it grow even more?

Chattahoochee Technical College library subscribes to the ProQuest database Entrepreneurship.

Search worldwide publications and multi-media related to the topic of Entrepreneurship. Intended to bridge theory with practice, the Entrepreneurship database covers a wide spectrum of resources useful to educators, researchers, students and practitioners. Content ranges from the scholarly - including journals, dissertations, working papers and conference proceedings - to a full toolkit of practical guides, templates, forms, sample business plans, and tips from successful entrepreneurs.

The Basic (opening) page has Start-up tools links [right side toward the middle of the screen] to the tools mentioned in the description of Entrepreneurship.

The third tab [Data & Reports] offers options for searching for reports. I tried Pizza Delivery as my search term. I clicked on Articles (profiles/case studies). Over 61,000 articles were pulled up. I noticed the default Boolean term is OR. That makes the search huge. I went to advanced search. I entered pizza delivery as a general search AND Case studies as a subject term. That narrowed the field to 6 articles. I was intrigued that most of the articles are from the 1990's. Entrepreneurship suggests other search terms. One suggestion was case studies AND Pizza. This search turned up 19 articles - with three from 2006-2008.

Check Entrepreneurship out. See what ideas and lessons learned by others, you can gather to make the leap into being a small business owner who creates jobs.

The password to use Entrepreneurship at home is available through your CTC campus librarian.



-kls

Long distance users

At the Sirsi users group, Steven Abram noted that our military can use their public library resources from overseas! That had not occurred to me.

This morning when I was at my local library, I noticed the down loadable audio books poster. I asked how one used them? The instructions are online- you do need to create an account with the library. The books are checked out for 7, 14 or 21 days. They can be downloaded to your computer, mp3 player or i-pod!

If my local library offers this - I'll bet many others offer this great way to listen to books. Remind your military friends and family they can use their public library card even while overseas. I'll bet you could get the GALILEO password for them too....

-kls

Bob Kalsu

Bob Kalsu was the only professional football player to be killed while serving in the US Military during the Vietnam War (although not the only player to serve). Kalsu had played one year for the Buffalo Bills, then in the American Football League, before being sent to Vietnam. Kalsu's story first gained large attention in the media through a piece produced by NFL Films in 1999.

Information on Bob Kalsu is available through Galileo. Once in Galileo, click on the yellow 'search' button. Type 'Bob Kalsu' as your search term and select the full-text option. You will then get four results, two from Academic Search Premier and two from Research Library. Perhaps the best result is the one for the 2001 article from Sports Illustrated.

JF

Finding aids

How easy is it to find information on a web site? The Chattahoochee Technical College Library site is going through an upgrade. Check out the left column with the hints and tips on using the resources available to CTC students!

If you're a visual learner the How Do I... videos will be most helpful. They are short and sweet. Just enough information to get you on your way to successfully using a resource.

We're doing our best to help our students succeed not only in school but as life long learners!


-kls

What's new?

Yesterday I talked about the new books arriving at the North Metro campus. How would you find out what's new in the collection if I didn't tell you?

The catalog has a link just for NEW BOOKS [upper left corner]. When you click on NEW BOOKS a list of the campus libraries is revealed. You have a choice of a specific campus, all new books and new electronic books.The system is set to run the new books report each Friday evening at 9pm.

Now you know how you can find out what is new on the shelves of the Chattahoochee Technical College libraries.


-kls

the Berlin Wall

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall separated communist controlled East Berlin from West Berlin, which was under democratic rule.

An oft remembered event related to the wall's end is the singing performance of American television actor David Hasselhoff.



Hasselhoff, quite the star in Germany and Austria, is best known in the States for his early 1980's work on the tv series Knight Rider and the 1990's lifeguard drama Baywatch. A few weeks after the wall's collapse, Hasselhoff was invited to perform near the wall, singing a collection of his musical tunes, songs that never really caught on in America, but were very popular in Europe. The singer's attire, a self-illuminating jacket, is remembered as much as is his performance. Some commentators have even suggested a reason the East Berliners poured into West Berlin in 1989 was to get their hands on copies of Hasselhoff's music.

JF

Potager

The new book orders are starting to arrive! It feels like Christmas to open the boxes and see what we've ordered.

Timber Press books have amazing photographs. The book that caught my eye was Design the New Kitchen Garden : an American Potager Handbook [SB 324.3 .B38 2006] by Jennifer R. Bartley. I admit to not knowing what 'potager' meant.

A potager garden is the French counterpart to the English kitchen garden, but with an emphasis on growing vegetables.

This seems to tie into the slow food movement - getting fresh food close to home. The potager brings the food right outside the kitchen door yet seems to provide the visual appeal of a formal garden. The gardens that inspired Ms. Bartley are Renaissance potager gardens (Chapter 2). They remind me of Williamsburg gardens, formal yet useful.

If you don't have the space or energy to create a formal potager, Ms. Bartley offers a section on container potager gardening (pg 186). Her suggestions for container gardening might meet the need for fresh food, right outside the kitchen door!


-kls

What do you think?

The folks at GALILEO really want your opinion:

How useful have you found the GALILEO Toolbar? Would you like to search GALILEO from your mobile device? How would you improve GALILEO? Your answers and your students' and patrons' answers to these questions matter.

When you open the GALILEO website today, you will see an invitation to participate in a the annual user survey. Don't miss this chance to provide your feedback on your experience with GALILEO and to enter the drawing to win an iPod Nano. Be sure to encourage your users to complete the survey to be entered into the drawing. The survey will be conducted November 9-15, 2009. Just click on the GALILEOUser Survey link on the GALILEO home page to participate.

Thank you for taking the time to contribute your opinions and ideas and for encouraging others to participate.

-kls

Another chance

Here's another opportunity to express your opinion:

The annual user survey offers you the chance to sound off on your experience using GALILEO and the chance to win an iPod Nano. The link to the survey will appear on the GALILEO website Monday, November 9—Sunday, November 15.

Questions on the survey are designed to measure the satisfaction and identify the issues experienced by everyone who uses GALILEO. To help ensure a broad representation of users, please encourage others to participate, including students, teachers and faculty, parents, your colleagues, and all your patrons.

Your feedback and that of the end users you work with is important, so add a note to your calendar or to-do list to look for the survey link on the GALILEO home page next week. If you have any questions or need more information, please use GALILEO's Contact Us feature or contact OIIT Customer Services at helpdesk@usg.edu.

Seventh Inning

Thanks to Britannica Blog for posting the Harpo Marx YouTube video "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in honor of the World Series.

You can read about the World Series in GALILEO through NewsBank. CTC Library subscribes to this resource!

You may also peruse "Sports Illustrated" (back to 1992) in GALILEO.
..Select Journals A-Z
...type in Sports Illustrated
....Find it pulls up several versions of Sports Illustrated. Select one- notice which vendor has the magazine (Ebsco, ProQuest, Lexisexis).
Ebsco and ProQuest offer alerts and RSS feeds for magazines and searches!

There are a variety of ways to get the latest information. Don't limit yourself to a Google search.

-kls

Naked to the Bone

The information for x-rays in Credo Reference gave me the facts (Just the Facts, Ma'am). My interest was whetted and I wanted a bit more. A search in the CTC catalog turned up a fascinating history of X-rays in the 20th century - Naked to the bone [electronic resource] : medical imaging in the twentieth century by Bettyann Kevles [RC 78.7 D 53 ONLINE RESOURCE]. The best part is, the book is available 24/7 through NetLibrary.

From the Introduction:

On a warm summer afternoon in 1996, six middle-aged people sat around a conference table. It had been a long day and the men's ties lay limp on the backs of chairs while one of the women, her high-heeled shoes discarded nearby, wriggled her toes to restore circulation. ''That reminds me of Berlin in 1936," a man observed. "My mother used to take me to a shoe store where I put my feet under a fluoroscope to watch my bones." The group sat up, revived by nostalgia. They were all children again, recalling the same experience in Indianapolis, Bakersfield, Manhattan, Wellington, and Shanghai. The memory triggered grins at first, and moments later, the barefoot woman was the first to shudder. She was trying to estimate the quantity of radiation....

A little research is the impetus to life long learning!
This video walks you through creating your free account to use NetLibrary
Go to GALILEO
..Select Databases A-Z
...Select N
....Scroll to NetLibrary
......In the upper right corner select Create your free account

Your Georgia librarian can give you the current password to access GALILEO.

-kls

X-Rays

Today (Nov 4, 2009) is RAD TECH DAY at the North Metro Campus! You’re invited to stop by the RAD lab, room 221 in building 200 for “goodies and games” from 11:00am until 1:00pm. Our current RAD students will be there to answer any questions you may have about the program.

X-rays are a tool that I take for granted. My dentist uses X-rays to check the condition of my teeth and gums. My doctor uses X-rays to 'see' the broken bone in my arm. My doctor uses the mammogram to look for unusual features that might signal a cancer.

I don't know much about x-rays other than they are useful tools! A search in Credo Reference found over 4000 entries for "X ray" (put x ray in quotes or as x-ray to limit your search).

Credo Reference offers other ways to limit the search. Look at the left column which offers you links to search by entry types (articles noted as long or brief), media, person, and date published. Credo Reference is using Boolean logic to narrow the search for you with the links on the left.

I like the options offered by Credo Reference to narrow my search by clicking on a link. It's quicker. Yet, I think I have more control by using the search boxes and the And, Or, Not features of Boolean logic through the Advanced Search feature.

I accessed Credo Reference by going to GALILEO
...selecting Databases A-Z
.....selecting C
.......scrolling to Credo Reference

Try both options and see which one gives you more of what you are looking for. You get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.


-kls

Election Day

In many parts of the country, today is Election Day! By now you should feel pretty comfortable with the touch screen voting machines. However, if you need a refresher----



It's a beautiful day in the metro-Atlanta area neighborhood. No excuses not to exercise your right (and obligation) to participate in the democratic process.

-kls

The Discoveries

Alan Lightman wrote The Discoveries [Q 180.55 .D57 L54 2005] a science review of the 20th century.

Lightman outlines the intellectual and emotional landscape of each discovery, portrays the personalities and human dramas of the scientists involved, and explains the significance and impact of the work. In doing so, he explores such questions as how do scientists think, whether there are common patterns of discovery, the nature of creativity in science, which discoveries are accidental and which intentional, and whether the scientists are aware of the significance of what they have discovered. Finally, Lightman gives an exhilarating tour through each of the original discovery papers. In their own words, here are Einstein, Bohr, McClintock, and Pauling, grappling with the nature of the world. The Discoveries is an exploration into the process of scientific discovery and into the minds of the men and women who do it.

Mr. Lightman brings the familiarity of friendship to each scientists own words. It's a fascinating and enjoyable read!

-kls

Bones and more

Posters around the North Metro campus are filled with dancing skeletons to advertise the Rad Tech annual open house which will be held on the North Metro campus on Wednesday, November 4, from 11 to 1 in room 221.

The plethora of skeletons on view reminded me of the rollicking song, Dem Bones. While reading the lyrics (and humming the tune), I began to wonder about the scientific names for the bones.

Medical dictionaries are readily available online. I searched MedLine Plus for hip bone and quickly found

the large flaring bone that makes a lateral half of the pelvis in mammals and is composed of the ilium, ischium, and pubis which are consolidated into one bone in the adult -- called also innominate bone, os coxae, pelvic bone

I wondered if I might find a Medical Dictionary in GALILEO? Looking in Browse by Type and selecting Dictionaries did not reveal any medical dictionaries.

Going to Browse by Subject, selecting Medicine and Health, then Nursing and Allied Health, clicking on the tab Articles & Databases, scrolling down to Other databases in this category, I selected the Merck manual, which really is not a Medical Dictionary. A search for hip bone pulled up all sorts of diseases, treatments, etc but not the scientific name for the bone.

Checking Health Source : Nursing showed a Medical Dictionary link (4th tab from the left). I typed in hip bone, then selected hip bone from the list and the definition appeared....

the large flaring bone that makes a lateral half of the pelvis in mammals and is composed of the ilium, ischium, and pubis which are consolidated into one bone in the adult— called also innominate bone, os coxae, pelvic bone

To answer my question - yes, I can find a Medical Dictionary within a database in GALILEO. Not easily but it can be done!

Your Georgia librarian can give you the current GALILEO password to use GALILEO at home.

-kls

Who has it?

Ebsco offers the option to show a link in NovelList that connects to the public WorldCat. When I've demonstrated the feature, the students eyes get wide with delight. The public WorldCat shows which library holds the book, how far that library is from the computer you're using, reviews, how to purchase the book, and what other books have been read by folks who read the book you're looking at.

What the public WorldCat does not offer is the option to request the book through inter-library loan. For that option, you need to go to GALILEO
...select Databases A-Z
.....select W
.......select WorldCat

This WorldCat is not as 'pretty' as the public WorldCat. The borrowing feature makes the clunky look acceptable. After you've searched for a title and found the one you'd like to read, click on the title. Scroll down a bit to the Availability section - see the link Borrow this item from another library? Select that link and complete the form. Make a note in Comments which campus you'd like the item delivered to. The request is sent to the main library. The Inter Library Loan assistant searches for a library to borrow the item from. Within ten days the item will be at the branch you noted for pick-up.

Knowing who has the book is important but knowing how to get the book delivered to your local branch - is priceless!

Ask your Georgia librarian what the current password is to use GALILEO at home.

-kls

All Hallows Eve eve

It's drizzly, overcast, and cool feeling today. I'm wearing my skull and crossbones knee socks in honor of the holiday weekend.

Halloween has evolved into a more grown up holiday from my childhood experience where we wore home made costumes and gathered in groups to trudge around the neighborhood collecting treats.

For current articles about the growth of Halloween as an adult holiday, I decided to check the Religion And Philosophy collection which "includes more than 300 full-text journals covering topics such as world religions, major denominations, biblical studies, religious history, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of language, moral philosophy, and the history of philosophy." A search for All Hallows Eve only turned up three articles. Halloween, though, brought up 81 articles.

The Economist article (yes, the Economist is in Religion And Philosophy) ,The Nightmare Before Christmas notes the economic engine powered by the purchasing of consumables.

Using GALILEO can provide you with interesting articles to read while the weather outside is less than ideal!

Get the current password to use GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.





-kls

Time flies

On Sunday morning at 2 AM, we set our clocks back one hour. Encyclopedia Britannica offers a bit of history on Daylight Saving Time.

Each time we change the clocks, I hear grumbling about the hazards of sleep deprivation, the efforts to change all the clocks, the aggravation of being too late or too early for an event! Having used Facts.com several times this week, I went to check in Issues and Controversies to see if there were any arguments over the implementation of Daylight Savings time. There were three references in the Almanac but no controversies.

A search in GALILEO for daylight savings using Academic Search Complete and Research Library turned up over 1100 articles.

I was taken by this poem.

The article presents the poem "Time Change," by Jesse Mountjoy.
First Line: Daylight-saving time ended early;
Last Line: Was a light, forgetful matte color.

Which led me to wonder if the poem was noted in any of the Literature databases in GALILEO. I had no luck using
Browse by Subject
..Literature, Language and Literary Criticism
....Literature and Literary Criticism.
search for Time Change

Though a search for the author, Jesse Mountjoy, revealed 62 poems in Academic Search Complete and 17 in Literary Reference Center, all published in Legal Studies Forum.

Is he a lawyer? You know where I'm going - to Lexis Nexis. Yes, there is a Jesse T Mountjoy noted as an attorney in Kentucky! A Google search confirmed my theory.

I started out thinking about Daylight Savings time, was side tracked by a poem, then drifted off to find out if the author is an attorney.

Use the resources in GALILEO to find information.

Your Georgia librarian can give you the current password to access GALILEO at home.


-kls

Color

Each autumn as I drive around the delightful state of Georgia, I marvel at the gorgeous display of color provided by the variety of flora! I am impressed by the landscapers ability to bring color to our surroundings by selecting trees and bushes that add fire and light to the end of the summer greens.

We have a book on the shelf with delightful pictures of the Fall garden, Fallscaping : Extending your garden season into autumn by Nancy J. Ondra and Stephanie Cowan [SB 423.4 2007]. The authors offer hints and tips for selecting just the right plant to add that touch of color to an area.

Get ready for next year by admiring what others have done, learning how they did it, and then planting your contribution to the beauty of our state.

-kls

Slow Food

Greetings.

The Chattahoochee Technical College Mountain View campus library has quite a few books related to all matters culinary. Several of these books are related to the Slow Food movement. Slow Food is a movement that was envisioned as a way to counter the 'fast food' we all know and love in modern day North America. Slow Food also seeks to preserve elements of local culture and tradition that are endangered the disconnect between the foods eaten by people in general and the interest in where those foods came from and how they were produced.


The Slow Food movement is worldwide. There are branches specific to various countries, including that of the United States of America. Local chapters, including one for Slow Food Atlanta, also exist. You can find links related to Slow Food at the Chattahoochee Technical College Library's website at Delicious.

JWF

The stronger chain

Links to links to links. Bill Badke, noted Librarian and author, shared with the ALA Information Literacy list,

If your institution has Google Scholar set up with links to your resources, an easy way to get to full text quickly is to search for part of the title (in quotation marks) and the last name of an author.

I had no idea Google Scholar could be personalized. I tell students that Google Scholar will have scholarly articles. I point out there will be a fee to access those articles. It's part of my pitch to send them to GALILEO.

I went to Google Scholar and selected Scholar Preferences. It's in teeny tiny print next to the Search button.
I searched for GALILEO and Georgia Library Services EBSCOHost Full text appeared.
I clicked on it.
I searched for Georgia Library and Georgia Library Services Board of Regents (FindIT Full Text) - Full Text@GALILEO appeared.
I selected that also.
I saved my preferences

When I did a search, if the article could be found in GALILEO, there was a link (and the purple Find It button).

You will still need the current GALILEO password to access the articles off campus but if you're hooked on the availability of Google Scholar - editing the preferences to pull up GALILEO resources will save you money!

-kls

Exploring a Health Resource

As I was looking at Issues and controversies in Facts on File, I noticed the Health Reference Center icon. Health Reference Center is a new resource for the Chattahoochee Technical College library.

Since I wrote about Ebsco's free resource a few days agao, H1N1 is on my mind. I did a Basic search in Health Reference Center for H1N1. 4 Topics (articles from 3 books) and 41 news articles were retrieved. Not as extensive as the Ebsco resource but still enough reliable information to get started.

As I scanned the page I noticed links to other resources that may prove helpful for students in the Allied Health or Early Childhood programs.

I looked under Subjects (second tab in). There are 5 major headings.
I selected Body Systems because the Anatomy classes are regularly looking for more information about the body.
Selecting Images and Videos from the right side of the screen opened up an opportunity to view movies or illustrations. There are 61 movies and over 500 illustrations for the Body.

The big test for usefulness for the anatomy students in the Health Reference Center is the musculoskeletal system. Toward the end of the quarter, the instructors leave bones in the library for students to handle, study and learn the exact names of each bone.

I clicked on musculoskeletal system. There is an illustration of a skeleton. It notes the axial and appendicular portions of the skeleton. It's not tagged with the names of the individual bones. There is a list noting the axial and appendicular skeleton parts but no pictures. This would not be very helpful for the Anatomy students.

The handiest tool I noticed is the Conversion Calculator! Going from grams to kilograms or ounces to pounds. A very handy tool.

I'll keep exploring. This Health Reference Center in Facts on File will provide another resource for accurate information!



-kls

Just the facts

Chattahoochee Technical College Library subscribes to several databases that supplement what is available through GALILEO. One of those resources is Facts.com by Facts On File.

Facts.com highlights articles on current issues and controversies in society and science. Additionally, Facts.com contains a World Almanac Reference Database, World Almanac Encyclopedia, Reuters news articles, and World News Digest special features and articles from 1940 - present.

The English 1101 classes must write an argumentative paper. One that shows there are two sides to a topic.Facts.com has a section noted as Issues and Controversies which explores more than 800 hot topics in business, politics, government, education, and popular culture. This makes it a bit easier for students to see the two sides to a topic.

What I like best about Facts.com is the Need A Research Topic box in the lower right hand corner. They offer a lengthy list of topics that have two sides! There is a bibliography which might offer further information. Scroll to the very end and the MLA and APA citations are noted. It is extraordinarily helpful for undergraduates to have the correct citation noted.

How do students get to Facts.com?
There are two ways- one may access the CTC Library page- #3 is Facts.com (You will need the login and password. Check with your CTC campus librarian for that information).

Or- one may go to GALILEO
..select Databases A-Z
....select F
.....select Facts.com.
By going this route you can click on the Click here link to get the password to access Facts.com .

You will need the current GALILEO password, which you may get from your Georgia librarian.


-kls

Polls

It's getting close to election time. A poll seems an appropriate way to participate in the democratic process.

The upgraded layout option for Blogger.com offers several gadgets. One is a poll.

JWF suggested we ask about the movie Heathers and Citizen Kane. He thinks Heathers is a better movie than Citizen Kane.

I admit I haven't sat through either one- so I don't have an opinion. The poll is a test - to see how it works! We may play with polls just to see what thoughts are flying around.

-kls

The silver screen

JWF is adding Film resources to delicious. He shared with the CTC librarians:

Tribeca is an entertainment company, established in part by Robert DeNiro, that produces independent film and a film festival. A section of their website, called the Reelist, produces insightful commentary related to films along a certain theme. Interestingly, the links to various elements within the postings refer back to Wikipedia. Perhaps this represents a small part of the long slow legitimization of Wikipedia as a reference source. I would suggest that Wikipedia beats ‘authoritative’ reference sources hands down in a matching of comprehensive information on pop culture. I doubt you’ll find an entry for the film ‘Heathers’ in Credo Reference.

That sounded like a challenge to several of us - one librarian did a quick search in Credo and by golly 33 references to Heathers came up. Admittedly most are for the greenery but there are references that include biographies of the stars and the director, the mineral water being mentioned in the movie, and the movie’s release date in Hutchinson Chronology of World History.

I went to GALILEO, looked in Browse by Subject, selected Arts and Humanities, then selected Movies and Film. The Articles & Databases tab mentions International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text includes full-text articles and books for those studying theatre and the performing arts. This database was initiated by the American Society for Theatre Research, and the Theatre Research Data Center (TRDC) at Brooklyn College has published 14 volumes of the IBTD since 1984. I did not find much on Heathers (Film.)

Wikipedia does offer a comprehensive look at this teen flick. Because I have the GALILEO tool bar loaded on my computer, the Find It buttons show up in the References!

If you don't have the GALILEO toolbar - go to Galileo, look at the Getting Started column on the right side of the screen - select Get Your GALILEO toolbar. Follow the directions to load the toolbar (Firefox and IE are supported). Then you'll have best of both worlds- using Wikipedia while GALILEO tags the references!

Your Georgia librarian can give you the current password to use GALILEO at home.

-kls

Scams, etc

The Government is reminding folks to be careful when they hear, read or see information about preventing the spread of the H1N1 virus. EBSCO is providing a free resource.

Due to Pandemic H1N1 Influenza (formerly known as Swine Flu) and concerns about the 2009/2010 flu season, the EBSCO Publishing Medical and Nursing editors of DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™ (NRC) and Patient Education Reference Center™ (PERC) have made key influenza information from these resources freely available to health care providers worldwide.

The EBSCO Editorial Team performs daily literature surveillance of thousands of journals and generates reports on the most significant research.

You can create your own daily literature search through resources in GALILEO.
1. Select one of the databases (Academic Search Complete or Research Library).
2. Do a search for H1N1
3. Near the top of the screen will be a Create an Alert or RSS feed link.
Click on that link and fill in the form (In EBSCO for Academic Search Complete, you will need to create a free account)

Keep up with the latest H1N1 information by using GALILEO and EBSCO!

-kls

A little history

The North Metro campus COL101 class was assigned Summer Hill School in Cartersville as their research topic. The Chattahoochee sports team is called the Blue Devils in honor of Summer Hill. When asked, several students happily admitted to using Google for their search. There are good resources online from The Summer Hill Project which has primary sources (newspaper articles) to the Georgia Interscholastic Association. A Living Stories video has been created and shown on PBS with more information.

When I looked in GALILEO I found a few things that could add pizazz to the story of Summer Hill.

In the Digital Library of Georgia I searched for Cartersville. 62 items were retrieved. The items I found most fascinating were the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps - in particular the 1916 map which showed the location of the Negro Public School (on sheet 8 ). Searching the Sanborn maps isn't for the faint of heart. You need to search Digital Library of Georgia then click on the map picture to bring up the map and other search features inside Sanborn (like an address search). As I stood in front of the class I had to quick try to remember how to find that particular section of the map. It's not as easy to navigate as I had hoped. Lots of clicking in and out, left and right arrows to actually see what is on the map.

Comparing the 1916 Sanborn map with the Google map for the current Summer Hill complex made for an interesting compare and contrast.

The other resource I used was NewsBank (provided by the Chattahoochee Technical College Library). I did a search in the Georgia News Sources, limited to Atlanta and Marietta. Several stories came up with Summer Hill in the articles. The obituaries for people who graduated from Summer Hill gave an insight to the people who lived in Cartersville.

A Google search can help get you started but don't forget to check GALILEO for information that cannot be found on the free web.

-kls

Gadgets and more gadgets

Just some musings on the new Credo Reference Gadgets tool . . .

The gadgets tool will appear as a frame on the right side of the Firefox window. If the frame does not appear, you may need to click on the gadgets link in the top center of the Credo homepage.

Not all gadget options will appear on the frame initially. You may click on the + symbol to see what additional gadgets are available and add them to the frame.

Searching within the gadgets is rather straightforward. A search for a word under ‘define’ will take you to entries for that word. The location search appears to have some issues. A search for ‘Atlanta, GA’ did not take me to the desired articles. A search for ‘Atlanta’ did take me to the desired entries.

The conversions tool is a bit simple and compares laterally to similar tools on websites found through a search engine. The conversion answers appear in script below the tool itself and the display is a bit untidy in my opinion.

The quotations tool will take you to entries from quotations books related to the searched for person, as with a search for George Bush, which included both elder and younger. However, due to the slightly dated nature of the Credo materials, a search for Barack Obama through quotations yielded no hits.

The crossword tool allows you to look for a crossword answer. Enter the letters you have and place a ? in the stead of the letters you desire. The tool will pull up a list of suggested answers. There is a drop down list explanatory device that appears with this tool in the form of a question mark icon.

I tested the holidays tool by typing Sweden in the search bar. This took me to a list of entries for holidays that originated in Sweden, followed by entries for holidays associated in some way with Sweden.

A useful tool for ready reference. The image search may lead to students/others using copyrighted pictures in their presentations though. (Even though it is Wikipedia related, Wikicommons is a good source of public domain images.)

-JWF

Credo is available through GALILEO. The password to use GALILEO is available from your Georgia librarian.

Cows

At COMO, Carmen Agra Deedy talked about (and read aloud) her new book 14 Cows for America. It's the true story of the response to 9/11 of a Maasai warrior who was in NYC on Sept 11, 2001. The pictures are magnificent. The story is touching. I bought several copies and asked her to sign them for my children who were in NYC on that fateful day.

You know how I like to search in GALILEO for news stories and articles to confirm what I hear. I did a search for Kimeli Naiyomah (the Maasai warrior) in Academic Search Complete, Research Library (ProQuest), and Newspaper Source. I limited the search to 2001-2003. In both Newspaper Source and Academic Search Complete there was the abstract for the New York Times story "Where 9/11 News Is Late, but Aid Is Swift" [Jun 3, 2002].

I wondered if I could find the story full text some where else. You're already thinking- she's going to Lexis Nexis. Yes, that's where I went. I limited my search to News, entered the headline exactly, limited the search to The New York Times, and the past ten years. The complete story is available!

Now some folks think Lexis Nexis is difficult to use so I went to a resource provided by Chattahoochee Tech, NewsBank. This database is "complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community."

I admit, it is a bit easier to use. I selected United States, typed in the entire headline and selected headline, limited the years to 2001-2003. The entire story is available. I noticed the e-mail link on the right in NewsBank allows me to send the citation to myself. I received the entire article but not a citation. I looked again and noticed a bibliography export link. In the center of that screen there is a box that tells me I can choose either citation format (MLA or APA). That citation help is very, very useful.

Maybe I'll go straight to NewsBank the next time I'm looking for a news story.

You may get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

-kls