Houses

The children's book by Virginia Burton, The Little House [PZ 7 .B954 LI 1978], is a "powerful, visually appealing story of a little country farmhouse that gets slowly engulfed, year by year, by the encroachment of a nearby booming metropolis. Eventually, the house is left derelict in a seedy neighborhood ..." [More]

I'm thinking about the changes going on around me. This book may be 'old' but it has a timeless appeal.

-kss

De-construction

Pondering the renovation of the changing view, brought to mind how buildings around town have evolved.

consists of 4,445 maps by the Sanborn Map Company depicting commercial, industrial, and residential areas for 133 municipalities [within Georgia]. Originally designed for fire insurance assessment, the color-coded maps relate the location and use of buildings [frequently naming the business that was housed in the building], as well as the materials employed in their construction. The maps indicate which city utilities--such as water and fire service--were available.

Fire insurance maps document the changing face of towns and cities, providing highly detailed information for each neighborhood and block. The Library of Congress web site refers to them as "probably the single most important record of urban growth and development in the United States during the past one hundred years."

Not every city in Georgia has a map. I used this with an intro to college class that was looking at Cartersville history. (Cartersville is in Bartow County, as is this campus). For Cartersville, there are maps for 1885, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1905, 1909, 1916,and 1921. 36 years of detailed city maps!

It's not too difficult to navigate the maps. There is a tool bar with zoom in/out and pan left/right arrows at the top of each map. The search boxes are self explanatory and yes, the more accurate an address you have, the better your results on the map!

In conjunction with Google Earth one could see how much an area has changed in over a 100 years!


-kss

Building

Thinking about the construction going on (well, destruction at the moment), I went to our catalog to see if there was a book that might help me understand what is happening to the building.

My first search for construction as a word or phrase turned up 1883 titles. As I scrolled down the list, nothing popped right up that would be applicable.

Switching my search for construction to a subject term narrowed the field to 1020 titles. That was better but not much.

Skimming the list, Slope stability, retaining walls, and foundations [electronic] showed possibilities, but it was "selected papers from the 2009 GeoHunan International Conference, August 3-6, 2009, Changsha, Hunan, China". It's subject terms might help my search. Foundations - design and construction looked to be the best option (after eliminating Congresses). No success.

What term could I use? Building might work as a subject. 428 titles. We're narrowing the field of results.

This time I found a book that had possibilities. It is for new construction but one of the subject headings gave me an idea - Building Superintendence. Yes, that's it. 21 titles retrieved. Really that's what I'm going to be doing for the next few months, superintending from the circulation desk!


-kss

What do I see?

The wall comes down. The wall goes up.

Outside the retaining walls have been removed from around the exterior of the auditorium.

Inside a temporary wall has been erected to protect us from flying debris as interior demolition begins.

The renovation of the current auditorium just outside the North Metro campus library has picked up speed. In 2012 it will be an entry/student space. Glass walls will replace the concrete and brick exterior. The interior will have TV's, tables, chairs, and a few sofas. The furniture will be artfully arranged on swooping carpet spaces.

My view is being obstructed for a time but soon it will be expanded!


-kss

A view of an event

Annals of American History includes the full text of primary documents in American history, including historical accounts, speeches, memoirs, poems, editorials, landmark court decisions, and cultural criticism.

This being my Frederick Douglass day, I looked him up in Annals of American History and found two articles that he wrote. The title of the first article, "An African American View of the Mexican War", leads one to believe that there is a racial side to the discussion. "The treaty was opposed in America both by those who wanted more territory from Mexico than the treaty secured and by those who wanted no territory at all." After reading his editorial, I wondered why in the world did the editors title this as an African American view?

I searched for Mexican War in Annals of American History to see what other sources might be included. Not one title mentioned the race of the author. Fascinating. What are the editors saying?

You can get to Annals of American History by going to GALILEO (the current password is available from your Georgia librarian).
...Select Databases A-Z
.....Select A
.......Select Annals of American History

-kss

Dedication

Learning about dedication from the life of Frederick Douglass is available as an electronic book in EBSCO. This is one of the many titles that can be downloaded into an e-reader.

The School Library Journal review noted in Amazon.com

"Although the need for books about values and character building is real, these series titles seem like a marketing ploy. The texts are basic, providing essentially the same or less information found in standard encyclopedias. No sources are listed. The material is simplified sometimes to the point of being misleading."

The review gave me pause - so I read the book online. It is a children's book under 26 pages long. It is simplistic and choppy. There is a glossary but no references. There is a bit of biographical information but not as much as an encyclopedia. I agree with the reviewer. This could have been done so much better, even if it's part of a series on character aimed at children. Children deserve the very best in writing.



-kss

Primary sources

Showing English 2130 students how to find and use Primary Sources gives me a chance to advocate the use of Ancestry.com Library Edition. The Library Edition is only available on campus through GALILEO.

My favorite primary source in Ancestry is the Federal census. Each Federal census provides slightly different information. Since the beginning of Federal census taking in 1790, the name the head of the household was enumerated. The Head of the Household was usually the oldest male but sometimes a woman was noted as Head of Household. Starting in 1850, each person who lived in the household, whether kin or not, was named. Some census noted the relationship of each person to the head of the household.

I was showing Mrs. Alden's American Literature class how to find Frederick Douglass in Ancestry. I did a search with thousands of hits. Showing the Advanced search and the exact limiter brought our results to a manageable level of a little over 1600 names. The 1930 census (latest census available) had quite a few Frederick Douglass' noted. My question was- what do you know about Frederick Douglass? Could the author, Frederick Douglass, be in the 1930 census?

Credo Reference serves as a quick (and authoritative) search option - Douglass, Frederick (1818 - 1895). The brief biography lets me know that the Frederick Douglass enumerated in 1930 is not the Frederick Douglass I'm looking for. I also learn that Mr. Douglass was born in Maryland. The location is another piece of information I can use when looking in the census (or any other primary document).

Back to Ancestry. Since Mr. Douglass died in 1895, I start my search with the 1880 census (the 1890 census was burned and is incomplete). F W Douglass is noted as being born in 1820 in Maryland. I point out the census is notorious for getting the ages not quite right. When we look at the original census image, we see F.W. as head of household, his wife Anna, and four granddaughters (now there's a story). His occupation was U.S. Marshall. On one side of the Douglass family lives a white family, on the other side a black family. Mr. Douglass is noted as mulatto. An integrated neighborhood documented in the 1880 census.

Watching students eyes light up as they see the possibilities for adding primary source information to their projects is priceless.



-kss

Poetry Sherpas

Sherpas are guides for the traveler through the mountains of Nepal. They carry and assist without being 'in charge'. If the traveler says I want to go that way, the sherpa will help them.

I happily point out that our Library Guides act as sherpas for the researcher. If an instructor requests a specialized guide for their class, we create one. There are English guides that list poets on drop down lists. The American Literature guide has a Reading List tab with many of the poets and authors that are covered in the term.

My theme for today is Carl Sandburg and 'Fog'. The page under the Reading List tab for Carl Sandburg includes a You Tube video, links to poems, and links to GALILEO resources LION and Literature Resource Center.

Like a good sherpa, we carry the load and point you in the best direction.



-kss

Selected Poems

Selected Poems by Carl Sandburg [PS 3537 .A618 A6 1991] sits quietly on the shelf, a thin volume of poetry. The front flap notes "This volume contains the poems upon which Sandburg's reputation and career were established."

The NPR Morning Edition interview with the editor, Paul Berman, refers to this as a new collection focusing on the Midwestern poet's early works, what the editor calls Sandburg's "great period."

On the back flap of the book, 'eminent critic Malcolm Cowley once observed that Carl Sandburg 'turned the Mid-western voice into a sort of music". Paul Berman divided the poems into seven sections. 'Fog' is not in the 'Chicago' or 'Fogs and Fires' sections but in 'Handfuls' (page 81). I wonder why he put it there?

The fog comes...
...and then moves on.


-kss

Fog

Every time I see the fog hovering over the ground, I remember Carl Sandburg's poem "Fog".

I used LION (Literature Online) which "is a full-text library of over 330,000 works of British and American poetry, drama and prose" to find the poem.

Entering the word 'fog' brought up 206 poems. I knew the author so I could scroll through the alphabetized list to find the specific poem. What if I had forgotten "Sandburg"?

I went to the Texts search page. There I have limiters that might help find the poem. I selected the tab Poetry.
1. I typed in cat's feet as keywords and fog as in the title. Sandburg's poem did not come up. Guy Carryl and Kenneth Rexroth have written poems that include cat's feet and fog.
2. Trying again, I entered cat and fog- 6 entries and Carl's poem was there.

I was able to scan the list which included a few lines for each poem to get to Carl Sandburg:
...The fog comes on little cat feet....
...sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then

Using cat's was my downfall. I think cat feet might have produced better results. I'll try a third search.

3. Yes, searching under the poetry tab, cat feet as the key word, fog as the title pulled up just one result- Carl Sandburg's, Fog.

Teaching students how to process the search results and finagle what you ask for until you get the correct response is tricky. You just have to keep trying!

CTC Library subscribes to LION. It is available through GALILEO. Your Campus Librarian can give you the current password.

-kss

Just the facts

CTC Library subscribes to Facts.com aka Facts on File. Facts.com offers 5 databases covering Today's Science, Health, Writing, World News, and Issues & Controversies.

In ENG 1101, when the students are assigned a paper involving research into a topic with two sides, we encourage them to use Issues and Controversies. There are several tips I share with students to help them find exactly what they are looking for, without as much trial and error as I go through.

I admit I haven't explored the other Facts.com resources. Because of Mole Day and Avogadro, I decided to look at 'Today's Science' which "bridges the gap between the science that students learn in the classroom and the discoveries pushing the boundaries of science today."

There are two routes to access Today's Science in Facts.com. The easiest way is to go to the CTC Library page and scroll down to Social Issues, Current Events & History. You'll need the login/password from your CTC Librarian to get in.

The other route is through GALILEO (you need the password from your Georgia librarian)
..Databases A-Z
....Select F
......Select Facts. com
........Select Today's Science (you still need the login/password but it's right there in the red link on the Select F page before you click on Facts.com)

Now that we're in, I did a search for Avogadro. I searched a couple of times because I am having trouble keeping the vowels in the correct location. I finally did a search for 'mole' so I could get the correct spelling for the scientists name.

What did I find on Avogadro? 4 articles, one as recent as 2007, and 12 encyclopedia entries. The first article, "Pick A Number, But Not Any Number: Redefining Avogadro's Number and the Kilogram", provided the mug picture in the upper corner. Ms. Bai also had a portrait of Avogadro. At first glance I thought of Gollum. The eyes are so large. I digress. The article reviewed the history of Avogadro's number and tied in the current field of science with references to two scientists at Georgia Tech, who are redefining the exact value of the Avogadro's number!

My brain is fogging as I think of the size of the numbers. Many ways to get more information. Check with your CTC Librarian for access to current and reliable information.

-kss

Picture from : Bai, Nina Yu. "Pick A Number, But Not Any Number: Redefining Avogadro's Number and the Kilogram." Today’s Science. Facts On File News Services, Oct. 2007. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. .

Better living

At this point, we don't have a Chemistry Library Guide. There are a dozen Chemistry classes being offered in the Spring. I think we'll want to create a Chemistry guide.

The question becomes- should there be one for inorganic, organic, just plain old chemistry or a combination of the three with tabs for type of chemistry?

Something to ponder.


-kss

Mole Day

My brother-in-law finds the most interesting 'days':

Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM, making the time/date 6:02 10/23 in the American style of writing dates. The time and date are derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×1023, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance, one of the seven base SI units.

My sister-in-law remembered "That's 10 to the 23rd - pretty much the only thing I remember from high school chemistry!" I had no clue as to what they were talking about. I must have drifted that day in class.

A little research helps fill in the blanks of knowledge. Our catalog notes over 150,000 titles. Surely there will be answers to be found. I did a search in our catalog for 'mole'. Nada. I did a search for 'Avogadro'. Still nothing in the catalog.

Where could I find Avogadro? E-books are easy to search through, individually and as a group. A search for the subject 'chemistry' turned up a few titles. I selected an EBSCO e-book, Organic Chemist's Desk Reference.
..To search within a title, you must first select 'E-Book Full Text' (on the left side of the screen).
.....The second step is to select the search icon that looks like a magnifying glass over a piece of paper (right side of the screen at the top on the tool bar that runs down the right side of the document).
I searched in that title for Avogadro. Zero results.

To search throughout all of the Ebsco e-books for Avogadro, I used the main search box at the top of the screen. I needed to clear the box of the number for , Organic Chemist's Desk Reference. That search retrieved 13 titles! More books than I wanted to look through to sate my curiosity.

Where could I find just enough information about Avogadro? Reminds me of Goldilocks- first too little, then too much- what would be just right?

Among the more than 500 reference books, Credo Reference has just the right amount of information on both the man and the concept. Avogadro from Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary gives the definition. Avogadro , (Lorenzo Romano) Amedio (Carlo) (1776 - 1856) from The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists tells about the man, himself!

Credo Reference is available on our Library page with the password. It is also available through GALILEO.

Your CTC campus librarian can give you the logins!


-kss