Leaves of three, let them be

While out in the wilds watching the birds, you may notice what the bird is nesting in or sitting on or hovering over. You might even wonder what you are nesting in or sitting on or hovering over.

Is that what you think it is? Do you really want to touch it?

Our Horticulture library guide has links to a plethora of plant ID web sites. We collect these sites for our students to use while studying to compete at PLANET : Student Career Days.

Before you wander in the woods, you might want to get an idea of what you'll encounter!

-kss

Look, look

Birding for beginners : a comprehensive introduction to the art of birdwatching by Sheila Buff [QL677.5 .B793 2010] shelved at the Marietta campus.

Whether you're traveling to an exotic bird habitat or just interested in better appreciating the avian wonders in your own backyard, Sheila Buff helps novice birdwatchers get the most out of the popular pastime of birding. Starting with where and how to find birds to identify, Birding for Beginners offers an engaging explanation of the basics-- the jargon used, the equipment needed, how to use a field guide, how to create and maintain lists, how to plan a trip into the field, etc. And, of course, the brightly illustrated pages are chock-full of detailed identification techniques, both visual and aural.[more...]

Though this title is at the Marietta campus, we move books from campus to campus through the courier system. Ask your campus librarian to have the title sent to your campus- just in time for a cool autumn afternoon spent watching the birds.


-kss

Tweet, Tweet

It's not about Twitter but All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). This is a website from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that includes information about watching birds, learning their nesting behaviors, attracting birds, identifying them, recording observations, and getting involved in bird conservation. The site includes guides, images, maps, sounds, videos, and much more. There is also a link to the Macaulay Library, an archive of animal sounds and videos.

The nice thing about GALILEO is that it is a 'library' for online learning in Georgia. The librarians at GALILEO gather not only subscription databases but quality web sites that are of interest to Georgians.

To supplement the web site, All About Birds , Georgia Wildlife Resources Division provides lists of wildlife management areas in the 7 regions of Georgia that are perfect for bird watching.

With the moderate temperatures and the leaves beginning to thin a bit, who knows what you might see when you take a moment to just watch what is going on around you.



-kss

68

I just presented Library resources to an English 1010 class. I noticed we have 68 Library Guides not 67. We are a prolific bunch of resource sharers. We are adding new guides weekly. You may search by Librarian to see at a glance who has done what.


-kss

Ah that feels better

Yes, I'm looking forward to being an exam subject this afternoon.

Our PTA (Physical Therapist Assistant) program has its own Library Guide. The guide pulls together CTC resources the student will find useful while completing their program.

We have 67 Library Guides. There are guides for programs, special topics (like citations), and for specific classes. Our library guide layout seems fairly clear with a tab for Books, Articles, Internet, and How do I information. Please do check them out!





-kss

The back is grateful

Our PTA (Physical Therapist Assistant) program offers massages to faculty and staff once a year. The massage is an exam for the students. It's a great way for the students to demonstrate to their instructor that they do know what they are doing with a real live person. It's a treat for the faculty and staff to have an hour of massage. A win/win for everyone.

To support our health science programs, we subscribe to Anatomy TV : Systemic Anatomy (there's a green check next to the the portion we subscribe to). The systems I looked at are broken down into line drawings with multiple slides showing different views of the same system. Rolling the cursor over a portion of the drawing allows you to select that portion and have a detailed explanation on the right.

Anatomy TV does require a separate login or access through GALILEO. Your campus librarian can give you the passwords for both ways of accessing Anatomy TV.

-kss

Minutes only tell part of the story

Have you ever read the minutes of a meeting you did not attend? Especially the minutes from an organization you have no tie to?

American Turpentine Farmers Association Minute Books, 1936-1999 provide the administrative record of the American Turpentine Farmers Association (ATFA), which was established in March of 1936 by Judge Harley Langdale of Valdosta, Georgia, along with 900 other men from the Southern turpentine industry. ATFA was formed to represent the interests of gum naval stores factors, producers, and dealers in the United States "turpentine belt" (Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas). Activities of the American Turpentine Farmers Association (ATFA) document the interconnection of land use and environmental stewardship to the broader issues and policies of modern Georgia's rural development.

The minutes are arranged in blocks of years. You can read them straight through. There is a full text search box. The timeline gives one an overview of the association.

As I read the minutes, I was intrigued by Judge Harley Langdale. I do genealogy research for fun. From reading the minutes, Judge Langdale seems like an interesting and focused person. The timeline notes Langdale died in 1972. I read the 1972 and 1973 minutes looking for a memorial for him. There wasn't anything. I did a search for his name in the minutes. The last mention of him in the minutes was in 1965 when he resigned as President and Director. He was elected President emeritus at that meeting.

I wonder why they didn't mention him in the 1972 or 1973 minutes? There is a book about the Langdale family : Judge Harley and his boys: the Langdale story By John E. Lancaster. There are 19 references to ATFA in The Langdale Story.

The minutes don't tell the whole story but they lead one to wonder what the back story might be. American Turpentine Farmers Association Minute Books, 1936-1999 are available through GALILEO and the open web.


-kss

Searching

There is an art to creating a successful search strategy. In the 'olden' days when only print resources were available, one went to the largest library collection one could access. Large libraries were usually in a big city or connected with a university level academic institution. Once inside the building, one sought the skills and knowledge of the Reference Librarian to guide you to those resources that would best answer the question at hand. What do you do now?

Do you go to Google and type in the word or phrase? Do you trust that Googles' search algorithm will pull up just what you're looking for?

Several TCSG librarians attended a GALILEO webinar on the way federated search works in GALILEO. It was a fascinating history of buyouts and change among the vendors who provide federated search software. The bottom line was- no federated search program will be perfect. The programs look inside individual databases and pull information. The difficulty is coordinating with how each database searches for information inside themselves?

It's not like going to an apple orchard and picking apples. There are pumpkin vines, blueberry bushes, potato vines and pecan trees mixed in this information orchard. Each one requires a different way of plucking the produce. Google skims the surface of public information while the federated search goes into private orchards where each vendor has arranged the information in a special way!

It begins to explain why the new federated search at GALILEO isn't bringing up results in the way one might expect.

The vendor will keep tweaking the system! Remember that your librarian can help you find information.



-kss

The coughing begins

The doors to the library open, accompanied by a cough. A cough without a hand over the mouth. A cough spreading those little germs everywhere. The pictures of people wearing masks always troubled me but today, I wish I had one.

We do have two library guides that support our specific programs dealing with health issues : Nursing and ECCE 1105 Health, Safety and Nutrition.

Side note - I received an email from a teacher who had used our ECCE 1105 Health, Safety and Nutrition guide with her high school health class. It's always nice to hear when a resource we put together for our particular programs helps someone else.

Back to our regularly scheduled program - Library guides. The two guides that were created forNursing and Early Childhood Care and Education both have books, articles and web sites that provide accurate and up to date information on health issues dealt with by those programs.

I'm pretty sure that Early Childhood Care and Education deals with preventing colds and flu from running through a pre-school center! I should go check those links out. Maybe there's something I could do here in the library to ward off the seasonal ills.


-kss

Naturally healthy

I am focusing on health today. The air feels full of 'something'.

I looked at Alt Health Watch in GALILEO. I found articles I could read, print, and email.

I think I'd really like something I could snuggle up with (and I don't have a tablet).

A search in the CTC catalog for Cold and flu pulled up 7 titles. The everything guide to herbal remedies : an easy-to-use reference for natural health care by Martha Connors, seems most likely to have something helpful. Chapter six has a section on kids, colds, and flu. Chapter 13 describes better cold and flu remedies.

It's not helpful for prevention but if I'm being prescient about what is in the air, I may need the cures sooner rather than later.


-kss

Sniffle, sniffle

A change in the outside temperature sometimes causes the body to succumb to a little bug or two. Are there authoritative hints and tips to avoid picking up that virus? Yes, I know a Google search would provide a ton of sites to wade through, but where might I find science based articles that I could share with friends and family?

In GALILEO, the Ebsco database AltHealth Watch "focuses on multiple perspectives of complementary, holistic, and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. Full-text content comes from more than 180 international peer-reviewed and professional journals, magazines, reports, proceedings, and association and consumer newsletters, plus hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research, and book excerpts. "

I went to GALILEO
...Selected Databases A-Z
.....Selected A
.......Scrolled to AltHealth Watch
I did a search for viruses, limited the search to 2007-2011. Viruses pulled up all sorts of articles on topics from HIV to weight gain. From a quick scan the results weren't what I thought I wanted.
I then did a search for colds and flu, again limited to 2007-2011. This time 71 titles were retrieved. The second title specifically addressed prevention. When I opened that article, I noticed the specific subject "COLD (Disease) -- Prevention". Clicking on this link brought 70 articles that specifically addressed my concern- how to avoid getting sick!

Now this is what I was looking for. There is an e-mail icon to the right that allows me to send this article to myself and others. A handy way to share accurate, timely information about a subject we are all interested in.

The current GALILEO password is available from your Georgia librarian.



-kss

Scanner

Lauren Barnes, campus librarian at the Woodstock campus, shared directions for utilizing the scannner/e-mail component on the Ricoh Aficio MP 3351. This is a nifty aspect for students who, instead of copying, would rather scan an article and e-mail the result to themselves. It does not cost to scan. This saves the ten cent copier cost!

I realized the North Metro campus copier did not have the function activated. Now it does! Thank you, Lauren for sharing. Thank you, IT for quickly implementing this feature.

Scan away!



-kss