After all the fuss

Last week Ebsco rolled out the new interface. I mentioned it twice then became so wrapped up in using it, I forgot to mention it again!

What makes it better? The colors are the same. The layout is different. It feels cleaner, spacious, easier to navigate. The search options seem straight forward and easy to follow. The limiters follow along nicely.

The real beauty is in the results screen. On the left you may narrow your search. In the center are the articles. To the right more options.

A cleaner, visually friendly way to display the results!

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

GALILEO is the library...Ebsco is a resource in the library!

-kls

Word Clouds

Wordle is a website that allows you to create word clouds/graphics out of text that you enter. You can enter song lyrics, poetry, nonsense, prose, jargon, etc. into Wordle and generate an interesting word graphic. You may then edit the graphic if you so choose to suit your personal preferences.

One great source for text for Wordle is LION (Literature Online), available through Galileo. LION allows you to search for poetry. Once you find a poem or bit of prose that you like, you can go to Wordle, paste in the text, and create your very own word cloud. Remember, your local public library in Georgia can give you the Galileo password if you are a state resident.

This blogger made a Wordle out of the French National Anthem in honor of Bastille Day a few weeks ago. -JWF

Privacy

This morning I read about bloggers being arrested for libel and slander because of what was posted. On a list serve I belong to there was vigorous discussion about forwarding what is sent with people not on the list. On another list there was vigorous discussion about Information Literacy. Yes, I read a lot.

All of which reminded me of George Orwell's Nineteen eighty-four : a novel.

In GALILEO, NoveList provides a good summary of the book along with an interesting discussion guide. The question in the discussion guide that struck me had to do with memory.

Why is the thought that he might be "alone in the possession of a memory" (p. 60) so troubling to Winston?

We spend so much time creating lists, journaling, writing things down so we don't forget that in the end we forget.

Something to think about privacy and memory.

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

-kls

Rolling over

Latest news from GALILEO (10:02am):

The EBSCOhost 2.0 switchover is in process.

EBSCO has reported to us that during the initial deployment today, EBSCOhost personal folders will not be available. They have also reported that some slowness with searching may occur. Both problems should resolve when the deployment completes later this afternoon.

Again, if you encounter any problems with the new EBSCOhost 2.0 interfaces, please report them to GALILEO using the Contact Us form.

-kls

Not yet

Ebsco sent an announcement through GALILEO that they would release the new Ebsco on July 16. I checked at 8:15 am through GALILEO and - nope - not yet. One may select the New Features link to experience the revised Ebsco right now.

Soon.

It will be released soon.

-kls

Plink, plink, plink

Early morning is the best time to pick blueberries, said the city girl. I just returned from picking a basket of Georgia blueberries. While I was picking I thought of Robert McCloskey's "Blueberries for Sal". Using GALILEO I looked at NoveList K-8 for extenders, ties ins and reviews.

NoveList K-8 has a slightly different look than NoveList. Both offer hints on what else to read, reviews, links to WorldCat so you can find the closest library that has the title. Yes, NMTC has the book for the Early Childhood literature classes to use!


-kls

Testing, testing

Something new this way comes.....

The next generation EBSCOhost user interface will become available to all customers in July 2008. Based upon results gathered from extensive user testing, EBSCOhost 2.0 offers a clean new look and feel, for a technologically sophisticated, yet familiar search experience, with the built-in flexibility to provide individual user customization options.

You may test Ebsco by going to GALILEO
-- select Ebsco from the Databases A-Z list
--- select the Ebsco database you'd like to use
---- click on New Features! (upper right hand side of the screen)

It does "look" better! Your Georgia Librarian will give you the current password to use GALILEO at home.

-kls

I'll drink to that

George Will noted in his Sunday column, Survival of the sudsiest: A toast to beer, The Ghost Map : the story of London's most terrifying epidemic and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world by Steven Johnson [RC 133 .G6 J64 2006]. Through GALILEO I looked in Book Index with Reviews. The review noted:

"An account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London--and an exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease in cities. In the summer of 1854, a devastating cholera outbreak seized London just as it was emerging as a modern city: more than 2 million people packed into a ten-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce, continually pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon as it's updated. Author Johnson chronicles Snow's day-by-day efforts as he risked his own life to prove how the epidemic was being spread. When he created the map that traced the pattern of outbreak back to its source, Dr. Snow didn't just solve a pressing medical riddle--he established a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.--From publisher description."--

You'll notice that World Cat has a link in BIR. It's easy to find the nearest library that has the title.

A mention in a column, a look in GALILEO and I think I'll read this book!


-kls

What did they say?

Are you searching for information and you run across a web site in French or Spanish or another language? What do you do? Grab a dictionary with English/French or English/Spanish? Muddle through with your high school language skills? How do you figure out what it means?

I read two articles* today about Bastille Day (July 14th) and the new web site that lists those who lost their heads to the Guillotine, Les Guillotines de la Revolution francaise.

Both authors referred to Google : Language Tools. I went and tested the site- very interesting. This is a helpful tool if you find a site in another language- or if you want to share a site with someone whose first language is not English.

I can see a teacher using the Language Tool in a conference with a student who just may not be very clear about what the English words mean. The tool might be helpful for a student (or anyone) who wants to hone their understanding of a language other than the one they use at home. For travelers this might be an easy tool to get hints about what that sign means.

Through GALILEO, ProQuest offers translators for the directions in their database. Once an article is selected, ProQuest also offers a Translate document box. See if you can understand what the author is trying to say when you read the article in another language.

To use GALILEO at home you will need the password which you may get from your Georgia librarian.



*articles:

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter : Guillotine Victims Listed Online

Genealogy / Kenneth H. Thomas Jr : Web site lists guillotine victims, AJC , Sunday July 13, 2008, M3

-kls

Another perspective

Looking at life through the eyes of another, is one way to broaden horizons and get that bit of perspective that opens us up to really living. Mark Haddon won the Whitbread Award for his first novel, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time [PZ 7 .H1165 Cu 2004]:

The Amazon.com review notes...Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers.

Our newest English Lit instructor highly recommended this title. I read it in one evening and have since recommended it to our Early Childhood instructors as they teach the classes for a Special Needs certificate. The story draws you in and illustrates how life looks from inside the head of a Special Needs teenager.

If you want a taste of the writers style - you may go to GALILEO and select NoveList- search for the title. There is link to the first chapter! A link to World Cat lists the libraries that have the book. Yes, NMTC is listed!

Ask your Georgia librarian for the password to access GALILEO from home!

-kls

The wings are flapping

Summer Quarter begins on Wednesday, July 9. If you've taken online classes you're familiar with Blackboard, Web CT, and Course Compass. A new format has been added to the mix.

Training for instructors began last week. For the student there may not be much change. The colors will be different but the folders, files, drop boxes, etc will feel quite familiar.

ANGEL for GVTC Online Classes, is a Web-based course management and collaboration portal that enables educators to manage course materials and to communicate with students. ANGEL can function both as a complement to traditional courses and as a site for distance learning. With ANGEL, you can take surveys, quizzes, and tests; send and receive course mail; post messages to threaded discussions and chat rooms; upload assignments using online drop boxes; and more. You can check your progress and grades at any time during a course.

I like the resources tabs. Right now Google and Wikipedia are listed. Soon GALILEO and the link for Resources related to your program of study and the NMTC Library catalog will be included to make it easier for students to find information to support their studies!

We'll all be learning how to spread our wings this summer.

-kls

Election 2008 Resources

Election Resources


Hello. The 2008 Presidential Elections are fast approaching. Here in Georgia, we will vote in federal and state primaries on July 15th.
You have probably been inundated with news about the elections on television and on the radio. Need we even mention the various ads on television, radio, and now even the web.
Here are some resources related to the upcoming 2008 Elections:
Okay, first are links to local county election boards and government sites. Also included is a link to the Elections Division of the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.
Cobb County Board of Elections
Bartow County Board of Elections
Paulding County Government-Elections Section
Cherokee County Elections and Registration
Elections Division of the Georgia Secretary of State

This next link is to a website/blog with really detailed information. It is called electoral-vote.com. This is a very well maintained website and is almost always updated daily. The key feature of this site is that the lead graphic is a map of the United States. Based on the most current polling data for each state, the particular state is shaded a degree of either red or blue. For instance, a dark blue state would mean that the state has currently polled very strong for Obama, and a dark red state would mean the opposite in favor of McCain. The colors of the states change as new polls for the state are reported. A running tally of electoral votes for each candidate is kept as new polls come in. Moving your mouse over a state you are interested in will give you even more detailed information. The website also keeps a close tab on US Senate races that are consider competitive. The website watches US House of Representative races that are competitive, though less attention is paid to these since there are so many to keep an eye on.
Electoral-Vote.com

Our next site is one that is of historical interest. This is a massive archive of results from previous Presidential elections. You may access results from these past elections in both graphical and statistical form. Results may be further broken down by state and in most cases even by county level. It should be noted that some information on this site requires a fee. Also, the author of this site reverses the red state/blue state color scheme by assigning blue to Republicans and red to Democrats.
Dave's Presidential Election Atlas

This site is a general political news site that is frequently updated. This site also provides polling data for Presidential, Gubernatorial (governor), and Congressional races. Interestingly, this site did a very clever NCAA bracket style mock tournament where users picked the Vice Presidents for both parties. The tournament featured head to head matchups of potential VPs over several weeks just like the NCAA’s. Users voting in the Republican bracket eventually picked former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as their choice for McCain’s VP and users participating in the Democratic side picked General Wesley Clark as their favorite for Obama’s VP choice.
CQPolitics
National Public Radio is public radio news service. However, they cover political stories and elections both on air and via their website. On the website you can find web articles about elections, and also listen to podcasts of related news segments.
NPR

This site is run by Larry Sabato, of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. However, the site is not updated as frequently as some others. Still has some good information though.
Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball

The following websites also explores political leanings and election predicitions. However, you have to pay for a good portion of the information.
The Rothenberg Political Report
the Cook Political Report


JF

Are we there yet?

Must be the season to look for relatives online. Dear Myrtle had "Kendall Hulet from Ancestry.com to discuss the New Ancestry.com Search options" on her podcast.

Notice in the screen shot below, Ol' Myrt has only typed in the name William, but Ancestry's computers are already working hard by comparing this with other known men by the name of William on my family tree. In this example, I was planning to research William Gist Froman (A) but if I wished to work on a client's family, I could change the tree Ancestry will search by clicking the down arrow button at (B) below. The "Advanced" button Kendall explains during this interview is shown at (C) below. If I wish to save data entry time, I can merely click the William Gist From on the list, and his birth and death info will be inserted in the new Ancestry.com search screen automatically. This certainly speeds up research time. For more info about Ancestry's new search capabilities, take the tour.

Georgia library users may access Ancestry.com at their Georgia public library. NMTC students may access Ancestry.com on campus!

You may wonder why a college student would use Ancestry? Yes, they might be doing Family Research but that's not likely. I showed the Nursing students how they could look up famous nurses in the census and note siblings, parents, neighbors. They were intrigued! It also would be helpful in American History projects - to add a touch of primary sources to the bibliography.

No need for the password to access Ancestry through GALILEO - it's only available at the library.

-kls

Search tips

Lots of folks need hints and tips on how to use a database (this is what librarians teach). Diane Haddad at the Genealogy Insider provides a few tips on searching the genealogy databases. I wonder if she's a librarian. She comments on Ancestry.com, which is available on campus through GALILEO

• Use One-Step Search Tools, which offer more-flexible searching of several databases in Ancestry.com [available on campus only-kls], Footnote, EllisIsland.org and other sites (to view results from a fee-based site, you need a subscription to the site). For example, the One-Step tools might let you search on a name fragment, more year ranges, or more combinations of terms.

NMTC students may get the current password via the Student E-mail login. All other Georgia residents may acquire the current GALILEO password from their Georgia librarian.

-kls

Now we are two!

The View has gained another perspective. The second librarian hired by North Metro Tech will begin adding his two cents about what it looks like from our front desk. Stay tuned for his first entry.

I'll bet you'll be able to tell us apart.

-kls (we'll add our initials in case you can't differentiate our styles)

Who has the book?

Mentioned before- but very worthwhile is the World Cat public site. This site helps you find the nearest library that owns the book you'd like to read.

Use your public library to test the worth of a book before you hit Amazon (not that I have anything against buying a book but when your library has it for you to borrow)- and they dust it and shelve it and.....well, I'm partial to using the library resources. If your library doesn't own the book you want to read - they can borrow it through Inter Library Loan!

Now's the time to wander through your library and borrow the treasures your taxes have paid for!

More suggestions

Everyone (well, lots of folks) have suggestions on what to read during the "lazy, hazy days of summer" - even The Wall Street Journal

Thanks to Sarah Hey at Stand Firm for pointing out the Wall Street Journal site.

See, everyone does have suggestions on what to read!

Still judging

Must be the start of summer- the numerous ways to judge a book are presenting themselves in a variety of locations. Just a bit ago I wrote about Zoomii and the ability to judge a book by its cover. Now, I've read useful hints and tips on judging a book from a conference participant who has had the chance to observe users selecting a book ....

The most common method is to pick up the book, look at the spine and/or cover title, check the index for a specific item, and then check for the price. I’d like to share a strategy to approach a new title that will enable you to use it more effectively...

Carolyn Barkley offers examples of why the initial approach may not work. She concludes her blog entry with

A thorough examination of a new resource is essential to its effective and efficient use. Consult the title page; don’t rely solely on the information on the spine or cover. Look at the table of contents to understand the organization of the content. Thoroughly read the introduction and/or preface to gain an understanding of the scope of the book as well as find the tips the author may provide about how to best use the resource. Consider the index carefully to understand what is being indexed and how the index entries relate to the text. I guarantee you’ll be able to put the information in the source to much better use.

I wonder if she's a librarian at heart?

Judging a book

A post on LM_NET suggested trying Zoomii. From the about section:

Why Zoomii?

"Because I love bookstores. Spending afternoons wandering the shelves. Happening across great books I didn't even know existed. But it's an experience I never found online. Online bookstores are wonderful. They've got amazing prices, huge selections, and they're open all the time. If you know exactly what you want, they're perfect. But somehow I kept coming back to the bookstore just to browse. Zoomii is my attempt to bring online as much of the real bookstore experience as possible.
-Chris Thiessen"

You have the option of a Canadian or an American version (look for the flag) - they tell you it works slowly with the new FireFox 3.0 but I didn't find any glitches. It is like browsing a book store with the covers in rows and shelf after shelf of titles. If you like browsing this might be the site for you!

Look, look

I'm catching up on reading the feeds of genealogy blogs. Yes, I enjoy the search, must be why I'm a librarian. Dick Eastman notes a graphical search engine that is in beta testing. It is pretty.

I've added this to my list of 40 search engines. Though I admit, I fall back on Google for my default search strategy.

Yes, "the search" is a large part of the fun.

Wild Thing

I did add an iRead app to the Library MySpace. It's an easy way to share what I like and what I'm reading. After 17 years in the K-12 environment, I'm quite fond of Children's Literature. The brevity, the clarity, and the illustrations keep my attention.

I'm going to add Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" to my list of books read!

Which brings me to the Britannica Blog entry by Greg McNamee in honor of the 45th anniversary of the book, "Where the Wild Things Are" and the 80th birthday of the author, Maurice Sendak.

Gnashing of teeth, rolling of eyes, but a warm meal upon arrival home. There's love for ya!

Ten days

Time flies when you're having fun.

It has been ten days since I shared. What in the world have I been doing? There has been the end of fiscal year inventory of AV materials, the spending of end of year money, the cataloging of materials found in offices, moving computers and phones in preparation of the new Librarians arrival!

And that's the best part of time flying.

The second librarian will be joining NMTC on July 1st. He has aready expressed interest in talking about his "View from the Library".

I'm looking forward to the pace of summer and the addition of another librarian!

Just the facts, Ma'am, just the facts

Genealogy is my hobby. I look for "proof" of a relationship in wills, deeds, church records, cemeteries, and old newspapers. Germaine Greer has done a remarkable job in "proving" the relationship of Ann Hathaway and William Shakespeare in "Shakespeare's Wife" [PR 2906 G74 2007].

From Ebscohost a review in Maclean's; 4/14/2008, Vol. 121 Issue 14, p80-80, 8/9p, 1c by Brian Bethune

Greer, 69, who in her day job is an academic expert in early modern English literature, waded through a mountain of poetry, plays, local court records and Tudor history.

That's what intrigued me - the noting of legitimate sources to prove the relationship. Genealogists use a "preponderance of evidence" from verifiable resources to tie people and places together. This is what Germaine Greer has done so well- used verifiable sources (and noted them) to show a better picture of Shakespeare's wife!

Wikipedia vs the others

The RSS feeds from library bloggers inspire, push and amaze me. Today I was introduced by The LibrarianInBlack to Digital Reference written by Stephen Francouer. I have added Digital Reference to my feeds.

Perusing past entries in Digital Reference, I came across a series of posts (see May 5) comparing Wikipedia to three subscription online resources.

"While most of the topics were covered in all four sources, I found it interesting which sources had a main entry on the topic vs. which ones covered the topic in some other entry. For all but two topics, Wikipedia had a separate entry on each topic. This is not surprising, given that in Wikipedia, which is born digital, there is all the space in the world for yet another page, while the other three sources are all born in print, where each additional page added means greater printing costs."

A podcast on the topic of small library marketing suggested creating ones own Wikpipedia entry for the library. I went to look at Wikipedia to do that for my library. I was surprised at the policies on verifiability and original research.

At this point Wikipedia doesn't exude the cachet of authority of a subscription resource like Encyclopedia Britannica. That shady reputation may be coming to an end as more articles in Wikipedia are footnoted with verifiable sources.

And the answers are....

1. Whom was Memorial Day originally intended to honor?
.....Memorial Day originally honored Civil War soldiers.

2. In what year did Memorial Day become an official holiday?
.....Memorial Day became an official holiday in 1971

3. Which city was the first to celebrate Memorial Day?
.....Residents of Waterloo, N.Y. were the first to proclaim a day to honor deceased soldiers on May 5, 1866

4. What was Memorial Day originally called?
......Memorial Day was originally called "Decoration Day" because of the practice of decorating soldiers graves.

5. In what year did "The Star Spangled Banner" become the national anthem?
......Francis Scott Key's "The Star Spangled Banner" became the national anthem in 1931.


Thank you to the Daughters of the American Revolution for posting the questions (and answers) in their magazine "American Spirit" May/June 2008, pg 10,12

Honor the memory

Flags are flying, cemeteries have been decorated, let us remember and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

The Daughters of the American Revolution, the largest womens service group in the country, was founded to honor and remember the first Patriots. "The American Spirit" is the award winning DAR magazine published 6 times a year.

The current issue has a quick quiz for Memorial Day:

1 Whom was Memorial Day originally intended to honor?
2. In what year did Memorial Day become an official holiday?
3. Which city was the first to celebrate Memorial Day?
5. In what year did "The Star Spangled Banner" become the national anthem?

I'll post the answers tomorrow but I'll bet you can find the answers through Encyclopedia Britannica in GALILEO.

Let us not forget.......

What was its name?

Do you ever wonder what a poem or story was called?

You can describe the plot, the characters - even come up with the ending...but you can't think of the title or the author so how can you find the book (or poem) at your library?

The Library of Congress has created a tip sheet with suggestions for finding that elusive title.

Fortunately, several of the resources they suggest are available to you through GALILEO. This list may help you remember the name of that favorite story!

- Book Collection Non-Fiction a cross-curricular research database that contains abstracts and searchable full text for more than 3,800 popular nonfiction books for youth on core subject areas, as well as information on careers, health, sports, adventure, technology, life skills, and more.
- Book Index with Reviews is a comprehensive database that provides information on over 3.8 million book titles in a wide range of formats, including large print and books on tape.
- Georgia Cat a customized, union catalog of Georgia Public Library System's bibliographic records. GeorgiaCat includes the records from the collections of all Georgia public libraries that have added their holdings to WorldCat.
-LION full-text library of over 330,000 works of British and American poetry, drama and prose.
- NoveList an online readers' advisory tool that helps readers find new books based on books they've read or on topics in which they are interested.

There are tools to help you "remember" that title!

Reading not Listening

This tip was picked up in conversation with a librarian while attending AABIG (Atlanta Area Bibliographic Instruction Group) at GSU. I had no idea I could do this.....if you open your e-mail and enter a cell-phone-number@teleflip.com as the e-mail address, then type your message, and hit send - it will deliver a text message to that cell phone number (fairly quickly)!

Quite handy if you want to send a text message to someones cell phone from your e-mail (especially if you know they need info but not conversation and your text messaging skills are rusty - or non-existent)

The caveat - and of course, there is always a caveat - my test message (I sent one to my cell phone as a test) came through twice- then I received a text message from teleflip offering me their online service. If your recipient pays to receive a text message - they won't be amused- or pleased.

Still - what a handy tool. I'll bet it could be used to share reference information....

Another reason to attend conferences- chatting with participants leads to revelations of "new to you" resources.

Click, click, click

I've started taking pictures in the library, posting them in the digital frame at the circulation desk and today....I uploaded two batches to Flickr.

Organizing the photos in "sets" is easy. My "free" account allows me three sets. I'm going for People, Places, and Things. I'll see if I can purchase a Pro Account with next years budget. It's not too pricey and it would allow me to organize the pictures in more sets. I could do award winners, events, class materials.......it could become a visual del.icio.us!

The circle grows

Thanks to Gerry McKiernan on the ili (Information Literacy / ALA) list for sharing this information that Gerry gleaned from Bernie Sloan:

OCLC and Google to exchange data, link digitized books to WorldCat DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 19 May 2008-OCLC and Google Inc. have signed an agreement to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services.

Under terms of the agreement, OCLC member libraries participating in the Google Book Search* program, which makes the full text of more than one million books searchable, may share their WorldCat-derived MARC records with Google to better facilitate discovery of library collections through Google.

Google will link from Google Book Search to WorldCat.org, which will drive traffic to library OPACs and other library services. Google will share data and links to digitized books with OCLC, which will make it possible for OCLC to represent the digitized collections of OCLC member libraries in WorldCat.

[snip]

WorldCat metadata will be made available to Google directly from OCLC or through member libraries participating in the Google Book Search program.

Google recently released an API that provides links to books in Google Book Search using ISBNs, LCCNs and OCLC numbers. This API allows WorldCat.org users to link to some books that Google has scanned through a *Get It* link. The link works both ways. If a user finds a book in Google Book Search, a link can often be tracked back to local libraries through WorldCat.org.

The new agreement enables OCLC to create MARC records describing the Google digitized books from OCLC member libraries and to link to them.
These linking arrangements should help drive more traffic to libraries, both online and in person.

[snip]

The new agreement between OCLC and Google is the latest in several partnerships between the two designed to increase the visibility of libraries on the Web and deliver information to users at the point of need. OCLC will be working with other organizations to include digitized content in WorldCat in the months to come.

[snip]

[ http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200811.htm ]

Gerry notes - "Thanks to Bernie Sloan for the HeadsUp! "

We keep sharing and sharing and sharing!

Does durable mean what you think it means?

When a database vendor notes a "durable" link, what does that mean?
The American Heritage Dictionary (available through Credo) defines durable as Lasting; stable
The Collins Dictionary (available through Credo) defines durable as Long-lasting; enduring.

LION offers a durable URL link to the information available - poems, etc. LION notes you may post the link in an e-mail or document. The implication is one may send the link and the recipient will be able to click on the link to access the LION document.

The durable link remains durable in the sense I think of "durable" on campus where we have direct access to GALILEO and LION. Yet off campus, the link opens up a screen in LION requesting a log in.

I'm missing something about the long lasting, stable enduring part of the the LION link.

"Life isn't an algebra problem"

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko : the last career guide you'll ever need [HF 5549.5.C35 P56 2008] notes"Well, actually it's like an algebra problem painted by Salvador Dali".

On the back cover :

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is America's first business book in the Japanese comic format known as manga."

LM_NET has been discussing "why boys don't read". This comic book might help convey pertinent information in a way that persuades the reluctant reader to head for the business section for titles that have just a bit more depth.

A rose by any other name

Words convey information. When I was in high school, I took Latin. One of the benefits of Latin as a universal language, is it doesn't evolve with additions to the vocabulary. Caeser would be able to attend a Latin class and participate. While Shakespeare might have a bit of trouble with the current use of English.

Which brings me to the Merriam Webster Open Dictionary. Peter Sokolowski noted five new words in his blog article. Mr. Sokolowski encourages us to participate in the ever growing lexicon : "When you notice a new word — on the radio, in a book or magazine, or online — and discover that it’s not in the dictionary, then it’s a good candidate for Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary."

I thought about the book Frindle by Andrew Clements. Amazon's Booklist review describes the story:

Ten-year-old Nick Allen has a reputation for devising clever, time-wasting schemes guaranteed to distract even the most conscientious teacher. His diversions backfire in Mrs. Granger's fifth-grade class, however, resulting in Nick being assigned an extra report on how new entries are added to the dictionary. Surprisingly, the research provides Nick with his best idea ever, and he decides to coin his own new word. Mrs. Granger has a passion for vocabulary, but Nick's (and soon the rest of the school's) insistence on referring to pens as "frindles" annoys her greatly. The war of words escalates--resulting in after-school punishments, a home visit from the principal, national publicity, economic opportunities for local entrepreneurs, and, eventually, inclusion of frindle in the dictionary. Slightly reminiscent of Avi's Nothing but the Truth (1991), this is a kinder, gentler story in which the two sides eventually come to a private meeting of the minds and the power of language triumphs over both. Sure to be popular with a wide range of readers, this will make a great read-aloud as well. Kay Weisman

You can find Frindle at your nearest Library by using WorldCat.

Ahh - now I see clearly

The test made a hyperlink of the title - which took one to the wav file. Looking around the screen, I noticed a "download" link. I'll have to play with that and see how it works!

One of the first podcasts I downloaded was from OPAL, Online Programming for All Libraries. I listened to the Library Thing presentation.

I have a personal Library Thing. I've created a Library Thing Local for the NMTC library. I noticed that Georgia Highlands College has a Library Thing page.

I haven't yet played with Library Thing for the NMTC Library. Looking through the GHC Library Thing, I'm getting ideas on how this could be useful. Yet, my catalog (Surpass) is easy to edit. I think I could "tag" materials. Is that heresy in the cataloging world?

Something to ponder- tagging versus subject headings. Can formal cataloging coexist with informal tagging? All this thinking brought about by a Mothers Day gift!

Can you hear me now?

This is a test...at the beginning of April I learned how to record and save audio to a "server" on campus.

Mothers Day came early with a Fed Ex delivery of an I-pod Nano. I'm inspired to create podcasts. Blogger.com offers a way to create podcasts in the blog. I'm going to try it with The Song of the Chattahoochee that I recorded in early April.

So we'll see if you can hear me now?

Weeding helps growth

From Merriam-Websters in GALILEO:

Main Entry: weed
intransitive senses : to remove weeds or something harmful
transitive senses
1 a : to clear of weeds b (1) : to free from something hurtful or offensive (2) : to remove the less desirable portions of
2 : to get rid of (something harmful or superfluous) -- often used with out

It's Spring-time and we're going through the collection looking for outdated and/or no longer appropriate materials for this collection. You know we have a "compact" physical space.

Everything on the shelves needs to support the current programs offered at North Metro Technical College.

While "weeding", we look at "holes" in the collection and decide what to purchase to fill those holes. When the fiscal year begins, we'll be ready to spend our budget wisely and the collection will grow in a healthy fashion.

To use GALILEO at home, get the current password from your Georgia librarian.

Page 6 and page 8

Carol Stanley and Jerry Stovall have written a compelling blog (only available in print through the Georgia Library Quarterly, vol. 45, number 1, Spring 2008, pgs 5-8) detailing the frustrations felt by librarians who are supposed to be helping patrons find information.

The librarians of the Technical College System of Georgia are dealing with the dichotomy of working in an academic library with a filter on internet access.

How can this be? How many universities in the Ivy League (or even the Georgia Board of Regents league) would stand for limiting access to information with a filter on the internet?

The students in the technical college system are being denied access to information under an arbitrary system implemented by the state of Georgia to prevent government employees from using the internet to "play" rather than work.

The managers of government employees can't manage therefore college students are denied access to information....and how is this helpful in a free academic environment?

It's what technical college librarians deal with as the powers that be push the technical colleges with one hand to be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools yet with the other hand deny access to academically useful resources available through the web with the filter Websense.

Read all about it in the Georgia Library Quarterly.

Oh, Carol and Jerry mention the View from the Library in their article on pages 6 and 8 of the GLQ. They can read this now...... Thanks for the mention!

Civil Rights Digital Library

The Atlanta Journal Consitution noted on April 27 "the Civil Rights time machine" .

In GALILEO the "more >>" describes "The Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL) as a vehicle that promotes an enhanced understanding of the Civil Rights Movement through its three principal components:

a digital video archive delivering 30 hours of historical news film allowing learners to be nearly eyewitnesses to key events of the Civil Rights Movement a civil rights portal providing a seamless virtual library on the Civil Rights Movement by aggregating metadata from 75 libraries and allied organizations from across the nation instructional materials to facilitate the use of the video content in the learning process

The CRDL links to primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. The CRDL features a collection of more than 30 hours of unedited news film from the WSB (Atlanta) and WALB (Albany, Ga.) television archives held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries. These moving images—about 450 clips--cover a broad range of key civil rights events, including the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957); the Atlanta Temple bombing (1958); Atlanta sit-ins (1960); Freedom Rides (1961); desegregation of the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech (1961); the Albany Movement (1961-1962); desegregation of Ole Miss (1962) and University of Alabama (1963); and Americus Movement (1963, 1965); Birmingham demonstrations (1963); among many other topics.

CRDL is a partnership among librarians, technologists, archivists, educators, scholars, academic publishers, and public broadcasters. The initiative receives support through a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services."

THE CRDL is accessible through GALILEO and on its own CRDL site. Learn from the past to prevent errors in judgement in the future!

Pictures on the desk

I read about using digital photo frames for PR. I bought a digital photo frame and an inexpensive digital camera. It's fun to take the pictures, save them to an SD card and load the frame. Visitors stop and get entranced with the show.

New books, old books, patrons reading, location shots....

Changing the "show" each week is very easy to do. I placed the frame on the front desk. It greets patrons as they enter!

Finished the Terrible Two's

The View turns three today!

Three years of commenting on the resources available through the North Metro Technical College library!

It's Cinco de Mayo and the view from the library is most entertaining. The celebration is being set up in the Lobby right outside the glass doors for a grand time to be had by all!

Pinata, games, food, and music. Even a talent show put on by the students. What fun! I have a front row seat.

And the winner is

Atlanta poet edged out of 'Out Loud' contest....

"Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, said the contest seeks to bring poetry to life. "Poetry was originally an oral art ... great words, powerfully spoken," Gioia said. The program "starts with the idea that poetry is to be experienced," he said. "We want to help restore the pleasure to poetry."

There's always next year! Congratulations to Elijah P. Orengo for making it to the finals.

One more step up the ladder

Georgia teen makes national poetry recitation!

Georgia's young poetry reciting champion has advanced to the final rounds in the national Poetry Out Loud recitation contest.

Elijah P. Orengo, 16, a sophomore at Westlake High School in Fulton County, emerged Monday as one of the top four poetry reciters in his region and will compete with 11 other students Tuesday night in the national finals........

-from the Atlanta Journal Constitution

They said it and they did it

Lexis Nexis had posted that on April 28 the look of their site would change. They didn't misinform us!

Go look
- they switched sides for the links
- more white space between lines
- where you used to have the links drop down when you selected Federal cases, now it goes to another page and there is a column headed by Federal Cases.

I'm going to show the Business Law class how to find information about businesses. I'm going to have to learn how to do it myself!

To access Lexis Nexis through GALILEO, you need to get the current password from your Georgia librarian. Be aware that some Georgia libraries do not have Lexis Nexis as part of their GALILEO offerings.

Better heard then read

Poetry seems to be best enjoyed when heard.

Todays AJC had an article about Elijah P. Orengo who will be particpating

in the finals of a versifying smackdown called Poetry Out Loud.

The Poetry Foundation notes:

Recitation and performance are major new trends in poetry. There has been a recent resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of hip-hop music. Poetry Out Loud builds on that momentum by inviting the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word, and theater into the English class.....

You may listen to previous years winners. Good luck to Elijah!

What a nice way to bring Poetry Month. to a close.

Civil Rights Digital Library

The Atlanta Journal Constitution had an article about the Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL) initiative in Sundays edition.

The Press release information:

......is the most ambitious and comprehensive effort to date to deliver educational content on the Civil Rights Movement via the Web.

The CRDL promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement trough its three principal components:

1)a digital video archive delivering 30 hours of historical news film allowing learners to be nearly eyewitnesses to key events of the Civil Rights Movement
2) a civil rights portal providing a seamless virtual library on the Movement by aggregating metadata from 75 libraries and allied organizations from across the nation
3) instructional materials to facilitate the use of the video content in the learning process.

The centerpiece of the site is a collection of more than 30 hours of historical news film held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries. These moving images—about 450 clips--cover a broad range of key civil rights events, including the following:

- desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)
- the Atlanta Temple bombing (1958)
- Atlanta sit-ins (1960)
- Freedom Rides (1961)
- desegregation of the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech (1961)
- the Albany Movement (1961-1962)
- desegregation of Ole Miss (1962) and University of Alabama (1963)
- the Americus Movement (1963, 1965)
- Birmingham demonstrations (1963)
- many other topics

The video archive covers both national figures and local leaders. There is more than two hours of film related to Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr.
King’s role in the Albany Movement is documented extensively, including clips of speeches at mass meetings, his arrest by local police, press conferences, and his visit to a pool hall to urge local African Americans to adopt non-violence in achieving change in Albany. Among the clips is coverage of King’s reaction to President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and his funeral in 1968.

In addition to the news film, the digital library includes related collections from 75 libraries, archives, and museums across the nation.
Most are original documentation of the period, such as oral histories, letters, diaries, FBI files, and photographs.

A partnership with the online New Georgia Encyclopedia is a key component, providing concise, authoritative articles on events and individuals associated with the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia, supplemented by images and multi-media files.

The CRDL initiative includes a special site for teachers, called "Freedom on Film" (currently in development) that relates civil rights stories from nine Georgia towns and cities, along with related news film, discussion questions, lesson plans, and related readings. Freedom on Film is being developed by University of Georgia faculty and students, along with scholars from other institutions.

The Civil Rights Digital Library receives financial support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Different hours

Just added "Different Hours" [PS 3554 .U49 D54 2002] by Stephen Dunn to the catalog. I was skimming the Pulitzer Prize winning book of poems and stopped at The Hours -

Worst was to live by somebody else's time,
the hours scheduled for him, smudged
with clarity and motives not his own.......

Struck me as a powerful truth- living by someone else's schedule is never fulfilling. The ability to have flexibility in life and work is so pleasing. It allows one to "feel" in charge of the effort being made.

LION Literature Online in GALILEO has over 200 poems written by Stephen Dunn. LION provides an easy way to get a poetry break during the workday when your hours are set by somebody else's time....

The password to use GALILEO off campus (at home or work) is available from your Georgia librarian.

It sounds like Spring

The sounds of Spring sports - the crack of the baseball, the pounding of the hoofbeats, the whoosh of the golf ball - all bring a smile to the lips after a long winter. If you want to bone up on your sports trivia as you share the joy of Spring sports - The The LibrarianInBlack refers to the Sports Illustrated archive (vault) where one may search for sporting information!

I did a search for Arnold Palmer (I like golf - not to play but to watch) and found 518 articles, 18 photos, 13 covers and 161 videos.

Yes, there is an advanced search feature (as noted by Gary Price at the Resource Shelf), you need to do a simple search first, then the "refine your search" boxes are available to limit your search by decade or date.

This wouldn't be the View from the Library without a reference to GALILEO....you can read Sports Illustrated articles (back to 1992) through EBSCOHost Academic Search Complete, ProQuest and LexisNexis.

I found this information by using the new Journals A-Z tab, typing in Sports Illustrated, then clicking on the title. I was taken to a search box where I could click on the link to the three resources (there was a search box that took me right into Lexis Nexis when I typed in Arnold Palmer).

Both ProQuest and EBSCO allow you to create an "alert" that will send you an e-mail when the new issue is added to the database.

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

Pictures, colors, options, oh my

You've read my moaning about the plain look of Ebsco. They have announced they are changing their interface (must be the season). Here's a Flash demo of the new look.

To use Ebsco products at home through GALILEO you will need the current password, which you may get from your Georgia librarian.

Late wife

English is such a delightful language with nuances and opposing meanings for a word that make it hard to pin down exactly what someone means. With "Late wife" [PS 3551 .N4155 L38 2005], Claudia Emerson has written one of those nuanced titles - is the wife not on time, is she deceased, is she the past wife....which late is she?

Amazon.com notes

Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In Late Wife, a woman explores her disappearance from one life and reappearance in another as she addresses her former husband, herself, and her new husband in a series of epistolary poems. Though not satisfied in her first marriage, she laments vanishing from the life she and her husband shared for years. She then describes the unexpected joys of solitude during her recovery and emotional convalescence. Finally, in a sequence of sonnets, she speaks to her new husband, whose first wife died from lung cancer. The poems highlight how the speaker's rebeginning in this relationship has come about in part because of two couples' respective losses.

Ms. Emerson's poems are clear, poignant, revealing - the late wife begins anew - April is poetry month- look at life from a different perspective - the perspective of a poet.

Open Vault

WGBH Boston has opened the vault on their collection of television shows! Open Vault "provides online access to unique and historically important content produced by public television station WGBH for individual and classroom learning. The ever-expanding site contains video excerpts, searchable transcripts, a select number of complete interviews for purchase, and resource management tools.".

Their Top Picks include Lucille Clifton reading the poem Turning as part of the show Poetry Breaks.

"Poetry Breaks," conceived by Leita Hagemann Luchetti and co-produced by Luchetti and WGBH New Television Workshop, is an ongoing series of over 100 thirty-second to four-minute spots presenting internationally known poets reading their work on location. These have aired individually on WGBH and public television stations across the country. The Workshop collaborated with Luchetti until its closing in 1993, at which point the works became co-productions of Luchetti and the larger WGBH Foundation.

Thanks to Sybil Finemel, Library Director MLIS.CIO., Contributor, lii.org, Librarians' Index to the Internet Virtual Reference Desk Volunteer
24/7 OCLC Reference Librarian for noting the Open Vault on LM_Net.

Nothing stays the same

It is the beginning of the quarter. I'm enjoying showing students the new GALILEO. It is easier to find articles with the search tab and steps 1-3.

The Business Law class uses Lexis Nexis Academic which is not included in the search list. As I prepare to meet a second time with Business Law, to show some tips and tricks of Lexis Nexis - I realized there is a little box at the bottom right, noting Lexis Nexis will change its interface on 26th April 2008.

LexisNexis Academic is getting a new look on April 26, 2008. The improved design is part of an ongoing global effort to improve ease of use for all LexisNexis users.

It feels like they just changed their format (and I'm struggling with finding information in the latest incarnation - though I keep taking the workshops)

It's a test to see if I can keep learning!

Remember you get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

Rolling, rolling,

Rolling down the river.... the tune just popped into my head as I was reading Sidney Lanier's poem Song of the Chattahoochee. The link takes you to LION in GALILEO.

It is National Poetry Month. We have the "Poems of Sidney Lanier" [PS 2205 .A2 L35 1999] on the shelf. It, too, has the Song of the Chattahoochee. I read the poem and created a .wav file with a link in the Poetry Reading section.

Someday, I'll learn how to create mp3 files....someday. I'm feeling quite pleased with my simple .wav!

To access GALILEO (and LION) at home, you need the current password which is available from your Georgia librarian.

It sounds like

In honor of National Poetry month, I'm trying to create audio files of Poetry Reading. I'm learning.

April Showers

Bring May flowers

April is poetry month. From the sublime to the ridiculous, poetry trips off our tongues. We have Poetry for Dummies [PN 1042 .P579 2001], which sounds simplistic but....it is described in Amazon this way:

Sometimes it seems like there are as many definitions of poetry as there are poems. Coleridge defined poetry as “the best words in the best order.” St. Augustine called it “the Devil’s wine.” For Shelley, poetry was “the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” But no matter how you define it, poetry has exercised a hold upon the hearts and minds of people for more than five millennia. That’s because for the attentive reader, poetry has the power to send chills shooting down the spine and lightning bolts flashing in the brain — to throw open the doors of perception and hone our sensibilities to a scalpel’s edge.

Poetry For Dummies is a great guide to reading and writing poems, not only for beginners, but for anyone interested in verse. From Homer to Basho, Chaucer to Rumi, Shelley to Ginsberg, it introduces you to poetry’s greatest practitioners. It arms you with the tools you need to understand and appreciate poetry in all its forms, and to explore your own talent as a poet.....

And you know what Mayflowers bring?....

yes, it's Pilgrims.

Fulbright Scholar

The "big" school systems (Board of Regents, etc) regularly have Fulbright Scholars, in the Technical College System of Georgia Patrick Blessinger is the first!

His recognition as a Fulbright Scholar and his experiences abroad will not only serve his students very well, but also the entire Technical College System of Georgia, said TCSG Commissioner Ron Jackson.

“The TCSG is pleased that one of our own received the Fulbright grant. It’s a tremendous honor for Patrick and a point of pride for us,” said Jackson. “He’s an example of the consistently outstanding caliber of 6,000 instructors who teach and assist the 140,000 students of the TCSG. It’s exciting to consider the myriad opportunities that Patrick will have to share his experiences with others, especially students, throughout our system.”

We do have outstanding faculty and programs in the TCSG (and at NMTC). Our mission is to prepare students for work. Patrick is doing that with his Marketing program!

More things change

I used the Oxford English Dictionary just this week to look up April Fool! Serendipity led this e-mail from Art Lowe at OED (through Karen Monton at GALILEO) to arrive with the suggestion that one take a quick look at the description of the major changes that are taking place. Vendors must have the Spring cleaning urge too!

*MAJOR CHANGE IN CHOICE OF REVISED WORDS PUBLISHED ONLINE! * .

The sequence of revised entries published online since March 2000 has proceeded from the letter "M" to "quit shilling" (representing between a fifth and a quarter of the dictionary). According to that model, the present publication batch would include words from "quits" to somewhere early in the letter "R".

But after several years of steady alphabetical publication, editors of the OED have decided a change was necessary. The latest update departs radically from the former model, in that its 2,116 entries consist for the most part of key English words from across the alphabet, along with the other words which make up the alphabetical cluster surrounding them.

From now on, the editors will alternate between these two models each quarter, with the next publication range (in June 2008) continuing from /quits/, and the subsequent one (September 2008) presenting a further range of major words and their associated alphabetical clusters.

The main purpose of this change is to revise, much earlier than would otherwise have been the case, important English words whose meanings or application have developed most over the past century. Some of these key words are, as one might expect, among those often looked up by readers of the OED.

Looking for titles

I really like the new interface for GALILEO. I'm looking forward to showing the SCT 100 (Intro to Computers) classes how it works! Ebsco is also changing how they present information to users.

NoveList is explaining their changes via their NoveList Notes. They did say "Please share by forwarding to any other colleagues who would benefit from this content."

We know that the new version of NoveList not only has a different look, but sometimes requires you to re-think how to use our product. We apologize for any inconvenience or extra time it has taken you to navigate this new version. We are committed to supporting you in this transition and while NoveList has a new look, we remain committed to supporting you in your work with readers and to delivering the best possible product to help you in that important work.

These 8 tips are from the March 2008 NoveList Notes:

1. Tour NoveList

Select this link from the "My NoveList" section to access the Training Help page with training and support materials that will help smooth the way to maximum use of this version of NoveList. In addition to a five-minute animated presentation that provides an overview and basic navigation tips of this version's home page and search results ("Tour NoveList"), there is a Quick Start Guide and Help Sheets on Series, Printing and Searching. Based on the feedbacks we received, we are also developing a training PowerPoint that you can use with your colleagues.

Also, check out our New Release Notes FAQ linked from the Spotlight section of the homepage which addresses some of our most asked questions that have come up with the release of the new interface.

2. Where Is My Favorite Search?

All searches--Author, Title, Describe a Plot, Series Name, Boolean and Article and List Search--can be done from the main search box on the homepage. You can just type the author name, title and/or subject term(s) in the Find box, and click the Search button. For power users, you can perform Boolean searches (AU Crichton AND TI Airframe) without clicking to the Advanced Search (or the Freehand Boolean Search found in the previous version).

As a side note, we found that our searching needed to be tightened up a bit after launch (thanks to many of you who sent us searching examples to look at). These changes are in effect and we encourage you to continue to send us examples when search results are not what you expected.
(I admire their being responsive to user input - KLS)


3. Searching Across All Content

Searching from a single search bar is a little different. When you enter an author or a title, it now searches not only the designated fields in the MARC record that make up our title database, but it also searches across all of our enhanced content (such as Series, Author Read-alikes, Book Discussion Guides, Grab & Go Book Lists.) Searching on "baseball" finds books related to baseball, as well as relevant items among the feature content, all of which is displayed in a tabbed Result List. The default tab brings you to the list of books retrieved by your search, but there will be additional tabs when your search finds relevant feature content.
The NoveList Tour contains a section on Results Lists and this new tabbed results feature.


4. Searching Styles and Approaches

The single search bar allows a tremendous amount of flexibility and accommodates a wide-range of searching styles. Whether you are a type-and-go searcher (like many of our Describe a Plot fans) or someone who appreciates the power of Boolean, all of these options are available to you from NoveList's home page. To learn more about searching in the current version of NoveList, you can consult the Help files or the Searching Tips Help Sheet contained in the Training page of Help.


5. Search Broadly and then Narrow Down Your Search

This concept was a mainstay of the previous version's Describe a Plot feature. When you are searching in the Basic Search box, your search terms will automatically be "ANDed." So for example, if you were searching by subject (or "Describe a Plotting"), for "women detectives New York" all of these terms would be joined with a Boolean AND. If you retrieve too few results, you can either reduce the number of terms you are searching on or re-enter your search terms separated with the Boolean OR operator ("women or detectives or New York"). If you retrieve too many results you can also narrow down your search using the Narrow Results By Subject feature to the left of your Result List. When you select a link from this column, the terms you selected will be added to your search and will work to reduce your results.


6. Browsing for Information

Many of you commented that in the previous version, you had difficulty remembering which home page tab the Book Discussion Guides or Author Read-alikes were behind. Now all of the customized feature content is accessible from the homepage organized by reading level:

Adults: 19 and above
Teens: 13-18
Older Kids: 9-12
Younger Kids: 0-8

All of the Explore reading lists have been updated and enhanced and are now called Recommended Reads. They are still organized by genre or topic as well as sub-genre or sub-topic.

In addition to the materials organized by reading level, we also have materials organized for adults who are Working with Kids. This section has content that teachers, media specialists, children's librarians and parents would like to access, grouped in a single area.

Finally, we have an updated Readers' Advisory section at the homepage.
If you haven't checked out the Genre Outlines yet, you are in for a treat. We will continue to enhance this and all of our feature content as we have in the past.

7. Browsing vs. Searching

In the old version, you did not have a choice. You searched the title database for books but had to browse various pages for any of the additional rich content such as Author Read-alikes or BookTalks.

If you are looking for an idea or don't really know the name of the item you are looking for, browsing may still be the right tool for you.

However, if you are looking for a specific feature such as the BookTalk for Stormbreaker, you can just enter Stormbreaker in the search bar.

Entering the title returns a tabbed Result List with all of the books and content related to your search. You can find the BookTalk you are looking for by clicking on the BookTalks tab, as well as explore all of the other content NoveList has relating to this title.

8. Fine-tuning Your Searches

NoveList's Advanced Search capability gives you even more flexibility and power when it comes to finding both books and NoveList's renowned lists and features. In addition to the limiters that were available in the old version, such as Lexiles, page numbers and publication dates, NoveList now offers limiters on author nationality and gender, as well as limiters to search titles with reviews and "NoveList Best" (all titles that are mentioned or featured in any of our features). Visit the Advanced Search Help page to learn more about how to use these limiters to find even more of the material you and your readers want to read.

Spring Joker

Tis the first day of April - truly, it is. A day when many a person plays little tricks on the unsuspecting. Yes, we call it April Fools Day. Be prepared.....

Oxford English Dictionary has a bit on the use of the phrase April Fool.

This particular use seems most appropriate as we continue slogging through the political process - "c1830 GEN. P. THOMPSON Exerc. (1842) IV. 518 It will be difficult to make April-fools of a whole people that can read and write."

Don't be a Fool, April or otherwise - read!

Playing with the Big Dogs and winning

North Metro Technical College hosted the top horticulture students from sixty-six colleges and universities around the country during the 32nd annual PLANET Student Career Days, March 26th- March 30th, 2008.

This is a record breaking event for the Professional Landcare Network which included nine hundred sixty two students in twenty-five competitive events.

NMTC took first place overall followed by:

2. Brigham Young University – Provo

3. Brigham Young University – Idaho

4. Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo

5. Cal Poly – Pomona

6. North Carolina State University

7. Penn State

8. Mississippi State University

9. Michigan State University

10. Columbus State Community College

...

19. University of Florida

...

22. University of Georgia

North Metro Tech student, Matthew Early, scored the greatest combined individual total winning the title of Superstar!

Ken Kwait of the University of Illinois placed second and Ken Beasley of Hinds Community College took third place.

To be eligible for this title these students competed in five different events.

With as many as 112 students entered in each event we are proud to announce that North Metro Technical College Students placed as follows in their events:

Annual and Perennial ID: Emily Schmidt – 5th, Cassie Templeton – 29th

Arboriculture Techniques: Monty Clark and Brian Watters – 29th

Business Management: Joel Corn – 8th, Lisa McKinney – 11th

Compact Utility Loader Operation: Matthew Early – 1st

Computer Aided Design: Alejandro Simmonds – 2nd

Construction Cost Estimating: Bill Lovelace – 44th

Exterior Landscape Design: Rob Moon – 9th

Interior Landscape Design: Heather Householder-Jones – 21st

Interior Plant ID: Emily Schmidt – 9th

Irrigation Assembly: Matthew Early and Tim Peterson – 2nd

Irrigation Design: Matthew Early – 2nd

Irrigation Troubleshooting: Matthew Early – 5th

Landscape Maintenance Operations: Kyle Harmon and Tim Peterson – 8th

Landscape Plant Installation: Chris Early, Matthew Early and Stephen Hudson – 1st

Leadership Skills: Joel Corn - 2nd, Shon Cameron – 43rd

Maintenance Cost Estimating: Scott Edwards – 1st, Chris Early – 9th

Paver Installation: Kyle Harmon and Kevin Porter – 31st

Pest Management: Vickie Bagby – 1st

Safety Management: Shon Cameron – 32nd

Sales Presentation: Brian Watters – 17th

Skid Steer Operation: Kevin Porter – 4th

Truck & Trailer Operation: Jason Caithaml and Kyle Harmon – 28th

Turf and Turf Pest Identification: Vickie Bagby - 15th

Wood Construction: Kevin Porter and Brian Watters – 23rd

Woody Ornamental Plant Identification – Jessica Logan – 2nd

Bursting with pride

An e-mail from Mr. Dougherty:

Today (Sunday March 30, 2008) North Metro Technical College capped off a highly successful hosting of the 2008 Professional Landscape Network (PLANET) Career Days by winning FIRST PLACE among the 66 colleges and universities from all over the country who competed.

The college is also extremely proud of the fact that the leader of our program, Rex Bishop, received the Educator of the Year award from this organization made up of landscape industry professionals.

And finally, as one of the smallest colleges to host this event, North Metro is especially proud that the organizers and other colleges frequently commented on the incredible teamwork and hospitality of the North Metro students, faculty, staff, family members, and community friends who helped put on the event. Several visitors noted that, every time they commended a North Metro Tech staffer or volunteer, the recipient of the praise was quick to share the credit with other team members.

With the other top five teams in the competition on North Metro’s campus this past weekend including Michigan State University, Penn State University, Brigham Young University – Idaho and Brigham Young University – Provo, the North Metro team was excited to have so many individual students and student teams place in the top three positions in their events.

Mathew Early of Cartersville won the overall super star competition, for example. Mathew is a remarkable young man who already runs his own landscape business, Integrity Landscape, and he did an outstanding job.

There were many other individual winners and we will be getting out an announcement Monday with many more details.


Steve Dougherty
President
North Metro Technical College*

Ninth cousin twice removed?

Presidential races bring out the genealogists who proclaim how various candidates are related to... well, you can almost pick anyone they might be distantly related to. If you're interested in gathering kith and kin - Ancestry.com Library Edition is available through GALILEO at your Georgia library.

The Ancestry Library Edition collection has approximately 4,000 databases including key collections such as U.S. federal census images and indexes from 1790 to 1930; the Map Center containing more than 1,000 historical maps; American Genealogical Biographical Index (over 200 volumes), Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage (over 150 volumes), The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1630, Social Security Death Index, WWI Draft Registration Cards, Federal Slave Narratives, and a strong Civil War collection. All materials may be searched at once (using a basic or advanced search screen), or various databases and indexes may be searched individually.

You may access Heritage Quest at home through your public library GALILEO account. Heritage Quest offers access to portions of the census and other traditional genealogy records plus the PERSI database (periodicals index) and full text published genealogies.

Another resource you may not have thought of using is Lexis Nexis to begin "leafing out" your family tree. Lexis Nexis offers a People search using 22 different resources from the New York Times - Biographical Materials to the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.

The key is to start with yourself and work back - one generation at a time!

You may get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian. Remember your public library GALILEO offers slightly different resources than the academic GALILEO!

It begins

The horticulture teams have begun arriving for PLANET. I had no idea there was so much involved in landscape care- a little watering, a little fertilizing, a little mowing. How big a deal could it be? It's a big deal!

NMTC students have been practicing for their events - (it is the "olympics", March Madness, etc for horticulture students). For my part, I added online resources for the Plant ID team. They have to be able to pick up a piece of the plant, identify it and spell its Scientific as well as common name (correctly).

Check out the Horticulture section - there are 39 Plant ID sites. How many could you spell correctly?

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?

Tomorrow the best and the brightest from 61 schools arrive at NMTC to participate in the annual PLANET competition. It's the equivalent of horticulture's "March Madness". Only one can be the winner!

The events are open to visitors....come on out Saturday March 29 to see the very best in the country show their stuff.


NMTC Library has a pretty good horticulture collection. There is another resource in GALILEO by Ebsco - Garden Literature Index which 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.

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

Fashion

Spring cleaning, Spring fashions, new looks to our favorite web sites. Thanks to Librarian in Black for noting the new look for World Cat. What struck me is how similar it is to the new GALILEO.

Librarian in Black reminds us to use the Wayback Machine if you need a refresher on what World Cat looked like before the updating.

You can't look at GALILEO via the Wayback Machine because:
13. "Some sites are not available because of Robots.txt or other exclusions.What does that mean?....


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

Spelling counts

Today is the first day of the season we call Spring! A search of GALILEO resources brought up zero articles- because I typed "spring sweason". The mind is willing but the fingers do their own thing.

Limiting the search to full text, peer reviewed, a time period, and assorted databases is so easy with the new interface. The clue in the search button on how many databases have been selected is interesting.

Exploring the new interface is not a chore. I keep having "ah ha" moments - like noticing the number changing on the search button as I select more databases.

If you find something unique or intriguing in the "new" GALILEO , please do share.

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

Something new

I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the
"new" GALILEO. I think you will enjoy it also. The tabs I spoke of from the "old" GALILEO used to show the topics in a subject area- no tabs now but links are available that do the same thing. It really does look cleaner and tidier. I think it is easier to use - we'll see.

Today the OPAC vendor we use at NMTC (Surpass) provided me with the HTML code to add a search box in GALILEO that goes right to the card catalog. I was also able to use the code on MySpace and the blog to create direct access points to our catalog. I can say very nice things about our vendor.

A lovely day for adding ways that our users can find the resource they need.

A tip of the day

Something else the GALILEO folks have done is add "tips". It's handy to have the "tips" right next to a choice. You can read what the options are and how best to find the information you need.

Exploring the new GALILEO is a delightful adventure.

You may get the password for home use of GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.

To tab or not to tab

In my first post I said I had noticed there were "no tabs" on the new GALILEO page.

Well - that's not correct.

The "old" GALILEO had placeholders that looked like file folder tabs. The new GALILEO has a straight box with text links. When you click on a link it highlights that area so it is a "tab" but it's not a "tab"- if you follow me.

This is fun. The folks at GALILEO have worked hard and we will reap the benefits!

Worth the wait

Today is the day. A day for everyone to be Irish - well, that too.

Last week, GALILEO folks sent encouraging e-mails reminding users that today was "the day". I checked over the weekend to see if maybe another day was "the day" but it wasn't.

This morning, I fixed breakfast, checked my e-mails- delayed, waited, not wanting to be disappointed. When I finally accessed GALILEO I was thrilled to see the new opening page. I was not disappointed - and you won't be either!

What did I notice first? No tabs. Then I saw my name - well, not my name but the library name, on the right side. A link to the NMTC Library page, a link to the NMTC catalog, and a link to Ask-A-Librarian which looks like it will come to me personally (and yes, I wrote a query to test the system). Nice, very nice. The query box reminds me of the InterLibrary Loan forms - clear, complete, and logical.

I'll be spending the day exploring and creating instructional videos to help my patrons find and use the resources for their program.

Happy St. Patricks Day and do enjoy the new and improved GALILEO.

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

An exploding star

I'm working my way through the Library Journals that have stacked up on my desk. The Feb 15 issue with the Reference Backtalk article Bibliographic Supernova by Steve Ostrem caught my eye. (I like how I could create a persistent link through Ebsco's Academic Search Complete in GALILEO).

Mr. Ostrem shares examples of "Ranganathan's Fourth Law (i.e., save the time of the reader)" with pithy stories of how GBS tied online resources to his own library.

The linkability of Google Books Search with WorldCat with a library catalog offers the book lover a way to find something interesting and find out where it is!

Easy reading

A note from Karen Minton at GALILEO:

New interfaces for NoveList and NoveList K-8 are now in production. The new interfaces feature direct access to much of the collateral content that was previously deeper in the site and often overlooked, in addition to more intuitive navigation. Below are some of the new features.

* A single search box where users will be able to enter the author name, title, genre or topic all at once, combining search types for convenience and efficiency
* BookTalks, Recommended Reads reading lists, Author Read-alikes, Book Discussion Guides, and other editorial features are directly accessible from the homepage. These features are also easily accessible through tabbed results after a search.
* A browse feature allows browsing for subjects, titles, authors, series, and Dewey numbers
* A revamped and expanded readers' advisory section includes Genre Outlines designed for librarians and a five-unit training series
* Expanded result lists include book jacket images, links to feature content, and more.
* Author nationality, gender, cultural identity, and pseudonyms for key authors in a new author information field
* RSS feeds, easier persistent linking and simplified alerts for keeping current on newly-added titles and content

Go and play- you will need to get the password for home use of GALILEO from your Georgia librarian!

I smiled when I opened this e-mail- the new rep for Ebsco had just been in to visit. Timing.

A birds eye view

Gas prices keep rising - wouldn't it be nice to lift off like a bird to get from here to there?

If you'd like to see what Georgia looks like from the air without spending oodles on gasoline....try the Georgia Aerial Photographs from the Digital Library of Georgia.

The Georgia Aerial Photographs database provides online access to approximately 50,000 black and white aerial photographs and indexes of selected counties from the State of Georgia.

It won't be quite the same as seeing the landscape from the air but still - you can imagine the flight!

Armchair traveler

Spring break begins in a week.

The Times Atlas of World History [G 1030 T54 1993] rests on the map stand beckoning the casual browser. One can imagine a trip through time as well as space by running ones fingers across the pages.

Amazon notes a review from Booklist that begins:

First published to considerable acclaim in 1978 (revised editions followed in 1984 and 1989), this atlas contains 600 visually exciting maps, 300,000 words of text, and 128 double-page spreads on major themes in world history. This fourth edition is the most radically revised, according to the publisher. Thirty maps have been replaced, and another 29 have been substantially changed. All the drawings that appeared in the last edition have been replaced by photographs.

Rest a bit and let your mind wander while you save on gasoline costs!

Three leaves on a stem

Leland Meitzler at Everton Publishers Genealogy Blog - found statistics on places in the United States named Shamrock!

My first thought was to use the Geographical Dictionary (my 1977 Websters Geographical Dictionary only lists 1 place in the US named Shamrock) but how many folks can lay their hands on a print edition - at home no less.

Then I thought about the World Almanac in GALILEO - no luck there noting locations in the US named Shamrock.

So I skimmed the rest of Leiland's entry- and (well, go read for yourself the sources he used). See if you would have thought to use those sites!