It's also Candlemas

Not only are we celebrating waking up the Groundhog to get word of Springs arrival, some Christians celebrate Candlemas today. What pray tell is Candlemas?

The majority of databases in GALILEO contain articles published in magazines. There are some encyclopedic databases, like Credo that give facts about a subject.

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half of winter’s to come and mair.
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half of winter’s gone at Yule.

Candlemas from Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary
This ties nicely with Groundhog Day.

I think I want more than plain facts, though Credo's offering was definitely not just plain facts. There is a Religion and Philosophy Collection by Ebsco that has informative articles. My search for 'candlemas' retrieved seven items. The articles being longer than a reference blurb had just a bit more 'local color' about the celebration.

Using more than one resource in GALILEO gets you the most information for the least amount of searching. Your CTC Librarian can give you the passwords to access these resources off campus!


-kss

Who to believe?

It's Groundhog Day. A furry animal is awoken, peaks out of his burrow, and men in top hats pronounce the forecast! Will Spring come sooner or later?

"Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his lair to "see" his shadow on Thursday, in the process predicting six more weeks of winter". Yet, "on a rainy Groundhog Day reminiscent of the September floods that nearly swept away his Gwinnett County home, a slightly wounded and very reluctant Gen. Beauregard Lee declared that spring is just around the corner."

There you have it. The definitive answer is "Spring will come sooner or later"!

Image Quest provided the picture of Punxsutawney Phil.

Finding pictures is very easy in the Encyclopedia Britannica product.There are drop down options to help you narrow the search to specific collections and subjects.

Staring at the Groundhog Day images, I couldn't see a way to use them. The quick Guided Tour cleared up my confusion. There are two icons at the upper left corner of each image. Clicking on the top icon provided a larger picture, the citation, and information about the picture. The + sign icon, adds the image to the 'Lightboard'. The 'Lightboard' allows one to print, download and e-mail the image. I did e-mail the image to myself. The caption and credit information arrived as a separate text file.

This is a great resource for finding pictures that can be used in presentations by students. It eliminates the hassle of finding copyright usable pictures!

Your CTC librarian can give you information on accessing Image Quest off campus.


-kss


Image Credits: Gregory K. Scott / Photo Researchers / Universal Images Group

Easy as pie

How hard is it to do a citation? It seems so simple - who did it, what did they do, where does my reader get it. That's all there is to a citation - author, title, publisher. Really! What makes a citation difficult to do correctly is capitalization, spacing, and punctuation.  The content and the pattern is the same for all citation styles- Who, What and Where.

Many database vendors offer the citations at the end of each article. They include the database information. It is very handy when you e-mail an article from these vendors to have the citation included. Unfortunately, not every vendor includes the citation.

Easy Bib is the latest tool we've added to our library resources. Some faculty are thrilled with the addition, some are not as happy. It isn't any different than using the vendor provided citations. It does help students do it 'right' the first time.
What astounds me is the Research tab provided by Easy Bib . You search for your topic. Resources cited by others in Easy Bib are pulled up. There is a tab for Academic (print) sources and Online sources. Each list shows how often the resource was cited. There is also a green check mark if Easy Bib thinks it's a credible source. That is handy for the Online selections.

A tip for using the Academic tab, some links go directly to the article, some provide the option to purchase the article. If you're confronted with a Buy now button, check in GALILEO to see if the article is available full text.

Your CTC librarian can give you the login information to use Easy Bib . It's more than a citation creator.

-kss

Compare and Contrast

Country Comparisons, by Encyclopedia Britannica, allows one to compare the basic information of two countries (size, population, etc). It is very easy to use. Each search box at the top of the screen has a drop down list of countries. The statistics are limited to a standard grouping.

When you scroll down a bit there is a link to explore more statistics in World Data Analyst, which has a delightful array of choices to compare.

The map block has a link to the World Atlas. When you click on the map, there is a magnifying block that appears. That is handy!

I can see Country Comparisons used for quick fact checking. World Data Analyst would be used for an in depth research project.

GALILEO
..Databases A-Z
....C
......Country Comparisons

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

-kss

Memory Eternal

Bill Wallace will live in the hearts of his readers. The first time I read The Christmas Spurs aloud to a class there was stunned silence and then quiet tears at the ending. It's a gift to be able to draw emotions out of readers with the written word.

If you haven't read his books, check NoveList K-8 for information. You'll see a WorldCat link with each title. If your library does not have the book, they can borrow it from a neighboring library for you to pick up at your local library.

Bill Wallace will be missed.


-kss

ZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZ refers not to snoozing but to the hum and buzz of electricity. Chattahoochee Tech offers a program in Electronics.

Last week one of our librarians published a library guide for Electronics. It's interesting to note how the guides are similar in look and 'feel' but can be dramatically different in terms of content.

The Electronics guide has a tab for 'Careers, companies, and conferences' with links to a long list of opportunities to network. The 'Tips, training, and tutorials' tab has a wealth of online videos.

Our library guides offer more than suggestions on which book to read. Unlike our physical libraries, the library guides are available 24/7. See where a guide can take you anytime of the day or night.

-kss

Something old, something new

To bring good luck to a marriage there is a tradition noting the bride should wear 'something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue'.

The phrase 'something old, something new' ties nicely into my topic this morning, a topic that has nothing to do with marriage or weddings. Our Systems Librarian has discovered a source for MARC records for Project Gutenberg. She is downloading the records into our catalog a batch at a time.

Why is this helpful when Project Gutenberg has all the books at their web site? Project Gutenberg offers over 38,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. It's helpful because you don't have to remember to go search in a second place!

The 'something old' is each title in Project Gutenberg.
The 'something new' is the MARC record in our catalog.

A Literature instructor has already commented how helpful this is for their classes. Students have access to the 'classics' without having to search and search.

This has nothing to do with weddings but it is a nice marriage between the old and the new.

-kss