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