"Our subject is not death or evil .....

our Subject is the law. "

And that is how “Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain” begins. The print version has arrived and is on the shelf- maybe not for long since Jeff told the faculty about its existence.

The Afterword, which is subtitled "Why Three Stodgy Academics Wrote a Comic Book", has a sentence that made me smile broadly:

"For some strange reason, none of our intended audiences seem eager to read scholarly law review articles."

In fact, I laughed as I finished reading the afterword - the law is serious but this book makes copyright understandable and even enjoyable. I might even enjoy these academics law classes if they teach the way they share copyright information.


-kls

Boy and dogs = great story

The latest Oprah's Book Club book arrived this week- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

The summary from our catalog : “A tale reminiscent of "Hamlet" that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father's death.”

I will confess – I borrowed this book the day it was processed and read very late- the tale does catch you and grab you….

We have 25 titles from Oprah’s list-
Look in our catalog
On the left side (blue column)
Look for Browse
Select Recommendations
You’ll see lists we’ve compiled for Award winners, the Doran Fuller Horticulture Collection, and Oprah!

-kls

What is the answer?

Libraries are using Instant Messaging, e-mail, Ask A Librarian links, phone reference, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, wikis and text messaging as life lines for the sinking researcher- the person who is overwhelmed by resources and just wants an answer.

netconnect, the supplement to Library Journal, has an interesting article titled "Mobile Delivery :Information Anywhere". (neither Ebsco nor Proquest have posted the Fall 2008 Net Connect issue - but they will - so you will be able to read this article in GALILEO - you can set up an RSS feed in both databases that will alert you when the new issue is posted).

Back to my point - throwing out the lifeline, getting the answers - the other librarian shared this with our faculty:

Kate and I came across an article pointing out that reference information services are now often available for cell phones. Cell users can text a question to one of several services and have the question answered within a few minutes.

The two services I used in a test run were Google and ChaCha (google.com/sms) and (chacha.com). I asked both services ‘what is the capital of Canada?’ The google service responded very quickly with the correct answer, as did the chacha service. Chacha uses live humans to answer their questions while google’s service is automated to some degree.

Google-466453 and ChaCha-242242. Please note that if you have to pay for texts or other cell fees then the cost of that will show up on your cell bill. Otherwise the services are free.

This should come in handy for when you are broken down on the side of the road and need to know the name of the British Prime Minister (Gordon Brown).

Now there's another way to get the answers.....

-kls/JWF

to get the password to use GALILEO at home, ask your Georgia librarian

Using Galileo for Book Reviews

One useful feature of Galileo that you might not be aware of is finding book reviews. You can find reviews of fiction books through a database entitled NoveList. If there is a particular title that you are interested in, you can look up the book in NoveList. The listing for the book in this database will give you publication information, as well as a few books reviews from various sources. This will help you in making selections when reading for pleasure.

What to do if North Metro Tech does not have the book you are interested in? Simply use another Galileo database, entitled WorldCat, to find libraries worldwide that own the book. If you are interested, contact the library and we will request the book for you from a library that owns it through a process called interlibrary loan.

I used NoveList to find a review on a book I just read entitled Three Day Road. The listing in NoveList contained several reviews on the book. The novel tells the story of two Cree/First Nation Canadian snipers during World War II as well as the experience of their aunt, one of the last Cree to live according to very traditional values. A good story if you are into Canada, First Nations, World War I, and/or snipers.

JWF

Canadian Election Update

Greetings friends.

The 2008 Canadian federal election was last night. If you read my posting from a few days back, you got a bit of a preview of Tuesday night's action. Some of you may have even watched the election feed from the CBC, via CSPAN, last night in prime time. (You actually might have seen more than some Canadians did as the USA received the feed when it kicked on in Atlantic Canada. The rest of Canada did not get the feed as early.)

Check out this map of the results that has been released into the public domain. Note that the darker the shade of one color a province is, the stronger the share of the vote for the party that received the most votes was in that province.

The results were not much of a surprise in some respects. Canada will have its third straight (one Liberal, two Conservative) minority government as the ruling Conservative party failed to gain over 50 percent of the seats in the House of Commons. The reason the Conservatives had called for an election was because polls in the late summer showed that they could very well gain enough seats to get a majority, which would have been their first since 1988 when they were known as the Progressive Conservatives. Analysts are saying that their failure to do so can be blamed on two things. First, they ran a poor campaign in Quebec, managing to hold their seats in that province, failing to make any real headway against the Bloc Quebecois. Second, the provincial Progressive Conservative party in Newfoundland and Labrador ran an 'ABC' (Anybody But Conservative) campaign against the federal Conservatives. The ABC campaign was a result of the provincials feeling that the federal party was too conservative in the American mold and was too far adrift from the 'Red Tory' philosophy of the Atlantic provincial conservatives. As a result, the Conservatives lost all three of their seats in Newfoundland and Labrador. Still, three more seats would not have given them a majority.

However, while Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives failed to gain a majority, they did pick up a net of 17 seats, giving them a total of 143 in the new house. Despite the results of ABC in Newfoundland, the Conservatives/Tories picked up seats in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They even picked up a seat in Prince Edward Island, their first in the province since 1988, when they held three of the current four PEI seats (the one they picked up being the one of the four they didn't have in 1988 naturally). All in all, Atlantic Canada was a win for the Tories and saw Liberal losses, which was unexpected.

Quebec saw the Bloc Quebecois stiffle any dreams of Conservative majority. They lost one seat to the Liberals, to the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and they gained one seat from the Tories. This demonstrates a problem the Conservatives seem to have. When the Tories make gains in Quebec, as in 2006, they don't seem to make headway in Ontario. Gains in Ontario, as in 2008, are not accompanied by gains in Quebec.

Ontario was a score for both the Conservatives and the New Democratic Party. Both parties took seats from the Liberal party. The Liberals lost 16 seats in the province. The Liberals poor performance has many questioning if Liberal leader Stephane Dion will make it through an upcoming leadership review. He may find himself replaced by a fellow Liberal MP as Opposition Leader. The New Democrats as a whole made gains in most of Canada, not quite approaching their best ever performance in 1984 under Ed Broadbent.

The Prairies and Alberta saw little change. Conservative strength was solid here, as expected. One surprise was the Conservatives losing their complete hold on Alberta when the NDP candidate won by less than 500 votes in the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona. Still, it is difficult for any one party to hold all the ridings in any province and the Tories typically do not hold one of the Edmonton ridings. The Tories now control all but two of the ridings in Alberta and Saskatchewan combined.

British Columbia saw the Tories make headway against the Liberals. They performed better than they did in 2006. The three northern/arctic ridings are now split among each of the three main parties. The Conservatives won the seat in Nunavut from the Liberals. Commentators have suggested that this may be due to the increased focus on Arctic Canada by the Conservatives.

One election down, one to go with the US election coming up in early November. Political pundits are in a bit of heaven right now.

JWF

Paddington Bear is 50

Check out the Google logo for Monday October 13.

I went to GALILEO and selected from the Subject list Literature, Language and Literary Criticism, then I selected Literature and Literary Criticism.

There are 5 databases offered for searching:

• Academic Search Complete
• LION (Literature Online)
• Literary Reference Center
• Literature Online Reference Edition
• Research Library (at ProQuest)

I was able to add NoveList and Book Index with Reviews to the list

I searched for Paddington bear. Delightful articles came up.

Remember that NoveList has curriculum guides that help extend a story!

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

-kls

Sailing, sailing

over the Ocean Blue...today we remember Christopher Columbus and his adventures that began in 1492.

There are several books available on-line that might open your eyes to the man, the myth, and the perception. Columbus Then and Now: A Life Reexamined by Miles H. Davidson takes primary and secondary sources to pull together the facts. Mr. Davidson in the epilogue notes he is neither a historian nor a biographer but an accumulator of facts. He has placed the sources he used and why at the beginning of the book. It's not a traditional bibliography but a telling of what, where and why the information came to be used in this history.

Amazon shares the review by Margaret Flanagan from Booklist:

Davidson offers a comprehensive overview of the life of Christopher Columbus while analyzing a host of modern versions of the Columbus myth. Rather than relying on secondary sources, the author utilizes fifteenth-and sixteenth-century manuscripts, diaries, letters, naval records, and shipping logs to compile a detailed chronology of the facts and events that shaped the life of the much lauded and much reviled navigator....

The facts add up to more than the myths. Read about the man - online through netLibrary!

-kls

Canadian Federal Election 2008

You Yanks aren't the only ones with a market on elections this season, eh?

That line, uttered by an imaginary Canadian who lives in my own mind, refers to the fact that there are two major elections in North America this fall. The first, long planned on a regular schedule that dates back to the late 1700's, is the US Presidential and Congressional election. The second, which will occur first, has only been in the works since September.

Canada will be having a general election on October 14, 2008. This will be the 40th Canadian federal election. The election was called when Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call elections. The Prime Minister and Governor General split the roles of the US President. The Governor General is a ceremonial position, while the Prime Minister is acknowledged as the leader of the country, fulfilling the decision making roles that our President does.

The Prime Minister is also similar to our Speaker of the House of Representatives. Like the Speaker of the House, the Prime Minister is elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a representative of an election district and is not elected directly to the office by a vote of the whole country. The members of the House of Commons, including the Prime Minister, are called 'MPs' for Members of Parliament. The district they represent is called a 'riding.' The Prime Minister's riding is called Calgary Southwest. Most of the ridings have geographic names rather than the generic state and number labels given to US Congressional Districts, ex. the Georgia First Congressional District. Some of the ridings in Canada are named for people in the province of Quebec, and some riding names are quite creative, such as Wild Rose in Alberta.

Canada operates under a Westminster system of government similar to the United Kingdom/Great Britain. As in our American system, there is both an upper house and a lower house in the legislative branch. The main difference is that in Canada and Britian, most of the executive power rests in the lower house of the legislative branch. Both nations call the lower house the House of Commons. The Canadian upper house, the Senate, is made up of appointed members whose function is ceremonial to a great degree.

Power in the Canadian House of Commons rests with the political party that gets the greatest number of its members elected to the House. The last election in 2006 saw the Conservatives come out with the greatest number of MPs. Their win ended a thirteen year run in power for their main competitors, the rival Liberal party. However, the Conservatives did not get over half the seats in the House, meaning that they are called a minority government. The Conservatives elect one of their own as Prime Minister, they appoint member to the cabinet, they are the governing party, but the other parties have more total members.

Which brings us back to the upcoming election. Prime Minister Harper decided to call for elections to try and increase his party's numbers in the House of Commons. Elections have to be called no later than five years from the last election, but can be called at anytime in between. This often occurs when the governing party thinks its popularity is at a peak, allowing them to maintain or increase the number of MPs they have in Parliament. Sometimes the governing party will wait until the last minute to hold an election if they are unpopular, hoping that their polling will improve before time. The old Progressive Conservative party tried this in 1993 to no avail. All of their members but two were defeated.

When elections were called, things looked good for Harper and the Conservatives. However, polls have tightened due in large part to a decline in the Canadian economy as a result of the financial office here in the US. It now looks as though the Conservatives will maintain their current amount of representation, with perhaps a slight increase. Still, anything could happen. Liberal leader Stephane Dion, referred to as the Leader of the Opposition in the House, is not viewed as the Liberal's greatest leader ever. Jack Layton leads the New Democratic Party, the third largest party in Canada, which is strong in Ontario and British Columbia. The fourth party, the Bloc Quebecois, is lead by Gilles Duceppe and is a regional party concerned with independence for the provence of Quebec. The Bloc does not field candidates outside Quebec. The Green Party has seen a slight rise in its modest support. The Conservatives, also called the Tories, are seeing a dip in their popularity as the election approaches.

It may all come down to Ontario. If the Conservatives take away seats in Ontario from the Liberals, it will probably be viewed as a successful election for them, especially if they come to hold the majority of the Ontario seats. The Conservatives will also be looking to take away seats from the Bloc in Quebec. Atlantic Canada is a strong area for the Liberals, while the Prarie Provinces, especially Alberta, are strong for the Conservatives.

Here are some links related to the Canadian election:

Election Prediction Project
A Blog on the election
Hill and Knowlton Election Prediction Project

The election should be covered by C-SPAN or C-SPAN2 here in the USA. They usually show the feed from the CBC for a few hours. Will the Conservatives Party continue to drop? Will the New Democrats close in on the Liberals as the second biggest party? Will the Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup this year? Tune in and find out.

JWF

Who do they look like?

Have you played the 'who do they look like' game with babies? You gather family photos and look at the photo and look at the baby and everyone says 'oh, he has their nose' or 'oh she has their eyes'....it's a fun game. I love to play. But what if you don't have any pictures of ancestors? Folks who've lived through floods may no longer have their collection of family memorabilia.

I attended a webinar for Ancestry.com Library Edition yesterday. I learned about the photos section.

I have used the census section a lot. I had not checked out the photos though. Ancestry Library Edition has US Yearbooks!

About U.S. School Yearbooks
This database is a collection of middle school, junior high, and high school yearbooks from across the United States.While yearbooks may not provide information about the vital events that are usually associated with genealogical research, they do provide other information about individuals' lives. This information helps place people in historical context as well as provides detail that helps turn individuals, sometimes only known by names and dates, into actual people.

They provide the approximate birth year, the school name, the school location, and the year the yearbook was published. School pictures are school pictures - even those from 1915. They do capture the era. These pictures can provide a link with your family!

Ancestry.com Library Edition is only available at the library.

-kls

Saving arm muscles

You're looking for snippets of information. The Reference section has book after book with brief explanations arranged in dictionary style. Grab the book and flip to the page and voila- just the correct amount of information. Sometimes you need to pull one reference book after another to find the right fact but the facts are there. It's good for triceps and biceps- reach, pull, lift...

What if you're not in the physical library? A quick search in Google or even Wiki-pedia might turn up that elusive smidgen of information. Can you rely on those sources?

Credo Reference offers 354 reference books online. To test the search results in Credo, I tried to think of something I would need just facts about. A person's biography seemed the way to go. (Yes, I like genealogy so looking for folks birth dates and death dates was a natural choice.) I searched for Edison.

1706 results came up. Sources like The Columbia Encyclopedia from Columbia University Press, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists, The Crystal Reference Encyclopedia and more....

Nice. I didn't have to stand in the library pulling volume after volume off the shelf.

NMTC has purchased access to all of Credo Reference. A search box for Credo is on the NMTC Library page and the Blog and the MySpace. Students can pick up the login password from the library or they can access it through GALILEO.

Save those arm muscles - use the online reference works!

A little color showing

Fall is in the air and the trees are beginning to turn just a bit. The color in autumn is so cheerful. It gives me a psychic lift just as we enter the cold and dark season. The "American household botany : a history of useful plants 1620-1900" [SB 108 .U5 585 2004] by Judith Sumner notes practical uses for plants.

The review from Booklist posted on Amazon

Sumner examines nearly two hundred years of American know-how, offering a captivating perspective on how plants have been used in the home. The foodstuffs of Native American agriculture and the gardens of European settlers are first studied, from the preparation of many kinds of grains to arrays of fruits, berries, and vegetables found in the kitchen gardens at Monticello. Early "herbals" and cookbooks provide background, which is supplemented by descriptions of botanical aspects such as toxic compounds or helpful medicinal properties..."

Ms. Sumner doesn't mention color as a useful feature of plants but I know the change of seasons helps this city person get through life!

The view changes a bit

North Metro will be joined by Chattahoochee Tech in Marietta to form the largest technical college in Georgia. Today the President of the new school was announced.

We'll have different resources to talk about!

Now this is a library!

Thanks to The Distant Librarian who thanked Darlene for this portrait of a spectacular personal library noted in Wired.com.

What an amazing space!

-kls

Pretty is, as pretty does

Shelving horticulture books is such a pleasure. The pictures are magnificent. I stand and flip through the pages all for the purpose of being able to tell students where the best books on horticulture may be found. At least that's what I tell myself.

Yet, sometimes one can't get to the shelves to peruse the pictures. Our netLibrary collection has 37 titles published by Timber Press. I found them by using the advanced search link in netLibrary and typing in Timber Press for the publisher. There are more books for gardeners in netLibrary just search by your favorite plant!

Hort folks know that Timber Press publishes some 'fine' books for gardeners!

You do need to create your 'free account' (your library card) in netLibrary either on campus or through GALILEO.

And where do you get the current password to use GALILEO? Yes, your Georgia librarian.


-kls

Online resources

There is a gas crunch in the Atlanta area. The lack of gas makes our online resources very attractive!

You may use the over 45,000 e-books in netLibrary (register for a netLibrary account at your Georgia library)) and the over 300 Reference books in Credo Reference, not to mention the over 2000 periodicals available through GALILEO(password from your Georgia librarian)!

We do offer a full service library online.

-kls

Registration

Four orientations today.
A full house at the first session.
Students coming to the library to register.
The Fall Quarter begins on Wednesday.

-kls

Calling all cars

In honor of Constitution Day- read the Preamble. This art piece was created by Mike Wilkins.

Please note the states are in alphabetical order! Mr. Wilkins must be a librarian at heart.


-kls

Shh, We're writing....

They wrote and wrote and wrote...fortunately the Library of Congress has collected and digitized some of the writings at the Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention.

The Continental Congress Broadside Collection (256 titles) and the Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection (21 titles) contain 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most broadsides are one page in length; others range from 1 to 28 pages. A number of these items contain manuscript annotations not recorded elsewhere that offer insight into the delicate process of creating consensus. In many cases, multiple copies bearing manuscript annotations are available to compare and contrast.

My title came from the book by Jean Fritz, "Shh! We're writing the Constitution".

Using GALILEO I found the title in Book Index with Reviews. The first time I searched in BIR, I had too many h's in the Shhhh. When I tried by author, the title came right up. Spelling does count.

I looked for the title in NoveList and couldn't find it by author or by title.I was surprised it's not listed in NoveList. I really was looking for extenders for the classroom. I noticed the NoveList K-8 as I was scrolling through the GALILEO list - so I thought- well, maybe it's in that database - nope - not there either.

All three databases are published by EBSCO. Interesting. You get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.


-kls

Reference Wiki

Greetings.

One resource that we would like to make you aware of is our reference wiki North Metro Tech Reference Wiki.

First, what is a reference wiki? A reference wiki is a tool that is being increasingly used by libraries and librarians. The purpose of a reference wiki is to allow library staff, and in some cases library users, to create editable information about the library and its resources.

There are several reasons for creating this wiki:

The wiki provides alternate routes to valuable library resources in case that the other routes are disabled.

The wiki provides basic information about the library and its resources.

Librarians post received or asked questions to the wiki. This allows librarians to share with other librarians their past experiences in helping a patron. It also allows a librarian to remember how they did something in the past.

The wiki is easily editable in case resources become out of date or there is a better way of helping a patron with a particular issue.

The format we chose to use for the reference wiki is Wetpaint. We felt that this was the format that was capable of being edited the easiest. There have been some complaints about Wetpaint being too commercial. However, you can request Wetpain remove any ads from your wiki if you declare yourself to be an educational wiki.

JWF

violating copyright

I went looking for YouTube videos about the Preamble of the US Constitution. Someone has uploaded the School House Rocks version- which is very clever, easy to sing and probably violates copyright- but it is Constitution week- you may be tested on your knowledge of the Preamble and this is an easy way to learn it!

We the People

We the People of the United States,
.....(that’s all of us- you and me)

in Order to form a more perfect Union,
.....(better than the old country)

establish Justice,
.....(everyone is equal under the law)

insure domestic Tranquility,
.....(my neighborhood should be safe and so should your neighborhood)

provide for the common defense,
.....(we’ll fight together against attackers)

promote the general Welfare,
.....(we’ll look out for each other)

and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,
.....(we’ll be free people and so will our children and grandchildren)

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Read All About it

Just in from Karen Minton at GALILEO:

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to announce the availability of a new online resource:

The Macon Telegraph Archive (1826-1908).

The Macon Telegraph Archive provides online access to early issues of the Macon Telegraph ranging from its inception as a weekly newspaper in 1826, through the daily issues of the early twentieth century. Consisting of over 50,000 newspaper pages, the archive provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date.

Launched just three years after the city of Macon was incorporated, the Macon Telegraph provides an inside view into the initial years of the city’s growth. Macon’s central location within the state provided the paper with a unique perspective of the news through a period when middle Georgia was both geographically and politically a focal point of the state. During the early publication of the newspaper, Macon and its surrounding areas were guided politically, economically, and racially by the growth of cotton. Through that lens the paper provides historical insight into the development of the state during the sectionalism of the antebellum period, the devastation of the Civil War, and the rise of the “New South” in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Macon Telegraph Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative. The project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

-kls

The sky turned green

News from the Digital Library of Georgia:

Explore the dramatic story of “The 1936 Gainesville Tornado: Disaster and Recovery” at the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) – now substantially expanded and enhanced through completion of the second phase of a collaborative digitization project with the Hall County Library System and the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, as part of Georgia HomePLACE.

The initial phase, completed last year, provided online access to a digitized version of original historical film depicting extensive storm damage in Gainesville from the severe 1936 multi-funnel tornado strike, generally regarded as the fifth deadliest in U.S. history. An interactive map provided geographically-based access to selected film clips for which shooting locations have been identified.

The recently completed second phase adds a multi-media online exhibit to tell a more complete story covering both the tornado strike as well as the extensive recovery effort afterwards (including the important role of President Franklin D. Roosevelt). Website visitors can follow the exhibit narrative sequentially through chronological stages (tornado outbreak, damage and destruction, relief and rescue, rebuilding) or alternatively drill down to specific information about any particular aspect of the disaster or recovery. The exhibit integrates selected clips from the film footage, related still images (photographs and
postcards) from the Hall County Library Historic Photograph Collection and the Vanishing Georgia collection, and dramatic quotes from eye witnesses.

To accommodate the more complex selection and presentation of digitized historical materials, DLG also redesigned and enlarged the project website, which now includes separate tabbed sections for the exhibit, primary sources, the interactive map, and additional resources (archival, reading, related links). The project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

-kls

Career Advice for Those Who Don't Like to Read Books

Okay, let's admit it, not everyone likes to read books. There are a lot of reasons for this, which we shall not digress into at this juncture.

The growth of graphic novels, books that present their content in a format similar to comic books, is in part due to the preferences of some to not read traditional books. Even so, those who choose not to read or are uncomfortable doing so may find that they still need the advice and help that is available through books. This may be especially true of many of our students, who often seek guidance as to their future and their future career.

A solution has presented itself. The library has a copy of the book 'the Adventures of Johnny Bunko: the Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need.' This book is a career/work/life guide, but one that is presented in the format of a graphic novel. The book may be a career guide solution for those of you who don't want to read through a 'normal' book about careers or work choices. The book's website claims that you should be able to read the book within an hour. The graphic style of the book is manga, a Japanese format that is quite popular with younger readers in the United States. The website has other information about the book, including a brief trailer for the book, done in the anime style (which is animated manga). The book may offer some brief tips about career paths and choices while holding your attention with its unusual style.

JWF

Ping, whoosh, shush, ping, whoosh

What is that sound?
Did it come from the left front, the right front, the back left, the back right, under the hood.....
Is it rhythmic or sporadic?
Can the car make that sound for anyone but me?

When the automobile works, it works very well.
When it doesn't - oh my!

Fortunately most automobiles work very well with just the minimum of maintenance. What do you need to do to keep your vehicle running well? If you purchased a new car, the owners manual gives hints and tips. If you purchased from a large dealer they may send letters or e-mails reminding you when routine service needs to be done. What if you didn't buy a new car? How do you keep up with those oil changes, etc?

We purchased Auto Upkeep : Basic Car Care, Maintenance, and Repair 2nd edition [TL 152 .G6387 2007]by Michael E. Gray and Linda E. Gray. The Preface notes:

Auto Upkeep : Basic Car Care, Maintenance, and Repair is an introductory book that is intended to provide individuals with the knowledge to make economical decisions and take preventative measures to enhance the overall satisfaction of being an automotive consumer

Auto Upkeep is used by some as a textbook. The Gray's provide links both in the text and online to resources pertaining to each chapter (manufacturers, oil companies, etc).

Don't forget that Auto Repair Reference Center in GALILEO has the Chilton manuals for most vehicles. You remember how to get the password to use GALILEO at home?

Prevent odd and unusual noises from emanating from your vehicle by keeping up with the routine maintenance and care! We have print and online resources to keep you moving.

-kls

And their job was?

Labor Day always reminds me of the hymn "Come Labor On". I think about all the people who've worked to make our lives better. I started wondering how I could find statistics about how many people did a certain job at a certain time.

I played with Ancestry.com (Library edition) in GALILEO. It's not able to sort by job but then I got distracted. You know how it is to get distracted while online.

I typed in Scott Joplin as a person to search for- I'm not sure why I thought of Scott Joplin but there you go. He shows up in the 1880 Texas census as Going to School, in the 1900 Missouri census as Musician, and then in the 1910 NY census as a Musician Composer! This little be of searching helped flesh out what I "know" about Scott Joplin.

You may only access Ancestry.com through GALILEO on campus but it is a very intriguing primary source for any content area not just for your own personal genealogy.

-kls

Another Neat Election Resource

One interesting resource related to the Presidential election is 270toWin.com. This website has a wide variety of maps, polls, and historical data that allows you to look at past elections. The website does a good job of explaining the complicated electoral college system and what it takes to become the President. One of the neatest features offered by the website is a simulation of the upcoming election, which is generated by polling data collected by the website. If you don't like the way the simulation turned out, then you can run it again and get a different result.

You may examine an individual state's page on the site. This will give you a current graphic barometer of polling data in the state. It will also show you how the state has voted in recent Presidential elections, as well as the number of electoral votes the state has had historically.

The site is very current with RSS feeds available, and there is a blog maintained by the website. There is a small section on the 2008 Senate races, and there is an interactive Senate map that allows you to pick the winners of these races. You can tell that the website has done their homework because they are aware that both Wyoming and Mississippi have two Senate seats up for grabs this year. You have the ability to pick one of each party as the winner in each of these states or each for the same party.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the website, to me at least, is the answers section. You can find this under the 'more' tab. This section allows you, among other things, to find out when the last time the Democrats/Republicans won the election while losing both 'state x' and 'state y.' Doing this, you learn that no Republican has ever won the White House while losing Maryland and Massachusetts and Kansas. You can also learn that Minnesota has not voted Republican since 1972 (making it the only state Ronald Reagan never won an election in.)

This section is also a good tool for teaching Boolean Logic. Connecting two or three states using an 'and' or 'or' is a simple way to demonstrate to students just what Boolean logic is. The fact that the Boolean is represented graphically may also help visual learners.

Highest possible personal recommendation on this website.

JWF

Interesting Election Resource

This resource may be of interest if you are a political junkie. The American Past allows you to look back upon past Presidential elections and related data. You can use the maps on the site to examine previous margins of victory, among other data, on a county by county level.

The neatest feature of this site is the interactive movies section. One interactive movie will take you through every Presidential election since 1840 and show you the results on a county by county basis. It takes about three to four minutes to watch the film. It is interesting to note how the north and south have flip-flopped over the last 150 years on supporting the Democrats and Republicans.

The website has been created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.

JWF

Bidenmania

Unless you've been living under a media and/or digital rock, you should know that Senator Joe Biden, Democrat from Delaware, has been tapped to be the Vice-Presidential nominee of Barack Obama. Some of you may have even received a text message at 3:30 am Saturday morning informing you of Biden's nod.

Who is Biden? The USA Today for today described him as Pennsylvania's Third Senator (perhaps due to the proximity of Delaware to Pennsylvania and the fact he was born in the Keystone State). Many talking heads on the television have noted Biden's tendency to talk and talk and talk and talk . . . Well, you get the idea.

One place to find information about Biden is his official US Senate website, which you can access here. Understand that is this is an official Senate website maintained by Biden and his staff, it is not the best place to look for hard-hitting, critical analysis of Biden or his record. You can learn that by looking in the biography section that he won election to the US Senate at the age of 29. Under the terms of the Constitution, this would make him too young to serve as a US Senator. However, Biden did turn 30 by the time he took office in 1973. Also, you can sign up to receive the aptly named 'Biden Bulletin' which is an email newsletter.

One source of information about Biden is our old friend Galileo. From Browse by Subject, you can go to Social Sciences and select Political Science. Once there, you can do a search for 'Joe Biden' in the first search bar. The third result you get is actually a piece from USA Today that Biden wrote about Afghanistan.

Notice though, that when you change the search to 'Joe' in the first search bar and 'Biden' in the second search bar, the results are slightly different. This is also true when you change Joe to Joseph. A search for 'Joseph Biden' in the search bar gives us a set of results where the third result in Academic Search Complete is an an article relating to the future possible makeup of the Obama cabinet.

Another possibility is to go to Galileo and click on the 'Search' tab. At this point, you have the ability to search many databases by clicking on the show more databases link and selecting each database you want to search in. A search for 'Biden' and 'plagiarism' in Academic Search Complete and Research Library gives us a handful of results related to some incidents involving Senator Biden and accusations of plagiarism from his first presidential campaign in 1988.

Get ready for an information glut on Biden over the next week, just as you will get one when John McCain announces his VP pick on Friday (probably).

JWF

It begins tonight

The political junkies are salivating as the Democratic convention coverage begins tonight. Where can one read about the conventions - past and present?

Current information can be gathered with a Google search, a scan of CNN or Fox. What if you'd like to read about the last convention or even the 1980 Democratic Convention. You know I'm going to send you to GALILEO!

I selected Browse by Type because I knew I wanted newspaper articles. The Newspaper link opens with a list of newspaper sources. I can't search through them the way I can search when I use the Browse by Subjects tab. I tried the New York Times links (both current and Archive) only to discover they end up being "I pay" sites.

What can I access as part of GALILEO? ProQuest offers The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, (plus the Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal through the Newspapers database.

ProQuest is easy to use. The Advanced tab allowed me to limit my search by year. I wanted to check out the 1980 convention - there are 69 articles from 1 Jan 1980 to 31 Dec 1980 about the Democratic Convention! The drawback is I found nothing for the 1976 or earlier conventions.

Now what? I went to Browse by Subject, selected Social Science, selected Political Science and Administration - limited my search for Democratic convention (no quotes) to 1976 and several articles came up through Academic Search Complete. There were even a few with a search limited to 1972.

For the confirmed political junkie, GALILEO offers access to resources to feed your addiction for information about the political process!

Your Georgia librarian has the password to use GALILEO at home! Watch the coverage and read the articles!


-kls

Access limited to location

It is very frustrating to have vendors limit access to a database based on IP addresses. Our auto guys are having difficulty using the Shop Key / Mitchell 1 resources because they are only available on campus. We had password access last year to Shop Key which made it very handy for students to do homework and for the instructor to prepare lesson plans. This year when we added the Mitchel 1 resource for the diesel program - slam - IP address access only....and the Mitchell 1 costs 4 times as much as the Shop Key...

What can a library do?

We offer Auto Repair Reference Center by Ebsco through GALILEO

The Auto Repair Reference Center database includes automotive repair information supplied by Point 5 Technologies, Inc., under license from Nichols Publishing, the former publisher of Chilton® Information and information from Delphi Integrated Service Solutions. Auto Repair Reference Center contains information on most major manufacturers of domestic and imported vehicles, with repair information for most vintage makes starting as far back as 1945. Database content includes approximately 28,350 vehicles covered from 1945 to present; over 191,000 drawings and step-by-step photographs; approximately 72,000 technical service bulletins & recalls issued by the original equipment vehicle manufacturer; over 114,000 enhanced wiring diagrams for easy viewing and printing; specifications & maintenance schedules; Labor Time Guide & Estimator; Auto IQ; Quick Tips, a complete guide to vehicle ownership & maintenance; unlimited remote access and much more. New repair procedures and updates will also be added continuously. All of the content in Auto Repair Reference Center has been created by ASE certified technicians.

I admit I haven't played with either enough to do a clear compare and contrast. The auto guys prefer the Shop Key resource. It could be they haven't played with the Ebsco product.

I do like the videos in the Ebsco Auto IQ tab. I tried to look up my car but it's too new- the ARRC only goes to 2007.

Maybe I'll offer treats and they can show me Shop Key and I'll show them ARRC!


-kls

Sharing stories

On LM_NET, Judy Freeman posted a thank you to another member for reminding us to use NoveList for curriculum ideas. At the beginning of the year many of us need a jump start on what to read. Parents may find these tips useful as well.

If you're looking for a way to extend your story time, the Desperate Librarians or . . . When You Need a Few New Ideas newsletters offer suggestions for the latest titles. I've attended Judy's workshops and can attest to the originality and timeliness as Judy shares how to make a story stay firmly attached in the memory of the listener.

Go to GALILEO
Select Databases A-Z
Type in NoveList
Search for "Desperate Librarians" (you need to use the quotes)
Voila - ideas galore!

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


-kls

Now What?

Supposing that there may be those of you who haven't heard, the Olympics games are being held in Beijing, China. (Technically they are not called the summer Olympics, even though the winter Olympics are officially called the Winter Olympics).

Over the past two weeks you may have caught footage of the opening ceremonies, stayed up till near dawn to watch gymnastics, or experienced the agony of tape-delayed covergage. Those of you who are home during the day may have seen unfamiliar sporting events that are often just a blip on the radar, even during the Olympics, such as badmitton or water polo.

Next week, the Olympics and the sporting events that make them up, will recede back into the level of obscurity that they inhabit except for a two week period every four years. (Not including the Winter Olympics naturally.) Still, life goes on for the sports and the Olympics beyond Beijing.

Most sporting federations will hold one or more world championships between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. One such event will be the 13th FINA World Swimming and Diving Championships, to be held in Rome, Italy in 2009. (FINA oversees International Swimming and Diving.) Learn more about this event here.

And before you know it, the 2010 Winter Olympics will be upon us. These games will be held in Vancouver, Canada. (Translation=less tape delay). You see, those fine folks at the International Olympic Committee have this well thought out and organized idea of picking the host site for the Olympics about six to seven years out from the date of the games. That allows the host city/nation time to prepare. London will host the 2012 summer Olympics. Sochi, Russia will host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Chicago, Rio de Janiero, and Madrid, Spain are the finalists for the 2016 summer Olympics. Whew. That's a lot of Olympics to look forward to.

Still, as you are watching the hurdles, pole vault, diving, swimming, and judo, just remember the Olympics once had events such as the Hop, Step, and Jump (similar to the Triple Jump) and even the Tug of War. Wasn't life so much simpler . . .

JWF

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

The new librarian strongly recommended "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms" by Will Richardson.

Jeff read and learned from the first edition while working at Chattanooga State. We purchased the second edition this summer for NMTC. I finished flipping through the book and read the section, "About the Author". The URL for Mr. Richardson's blog jumped out at me. I went exploring and found Weblogged-ed at http://weblogg-ed.com/. (I've added it to my Bloglines.)

Mr. Richardson's entry for today discusses del.icio.us. I had an "ah ha" moment. I've regularly copied and pasted the "About Us" description from web sites. I'm glad del.icio.us has increased the character limit.

I noticed the new "look" to del.icio.us a few weeks ago. I had a few issues with it - I felt like it was a "new" site. There was a learning curve. Yesterday I realized I could sort the additions alphabetically (which was one of my pet peeves). Obviously, I'm still learning.

How do we use del.icio.us at NMTC? We've been checking the curriculum posted at the TCSG site for the programs offered at NMTC. We use that information to look for resources to add to the NMTC del.icio.us. We're tagging by class to make it easier for students to find just what they need.

I've recently shown del.icio.us to the Intro to Early Childhood class. They can use this for an electronic portfolio. ECE students collect information about agencies they may need to contact. Del.icio.us makes a perfect portable favorites.



-kls

The Truth Really is Out There

The web is filled with information. When you think about it, anyone can post information to the web. This information can be true or false, and sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference. There are times when you hear a story and think, 'There's no way that's true.' Well, think again, because it is often as important to verify that something is false as much as it is to verify that something is true.

One such true tale that is often dismissed as false is the case of the exploding whale. The time was 1970, the place was Oregon. A whale beached near Florence, Oregon and died. The Oregon Department of Transportation was given jurisdiction over disposing of the whale's remains. The plan was to destroy the whale's body using dynamite. The resulting whale kibble would serve as food for seagulls.

However, the plan went awry. The whale was destroyed, but the amount of dynamite used was only sufficient to blow the whale into large chunks, rather than the planned for kibble. Spectators ran for their safety and cars were damaged as huge whale chunks rained from the skies. The spectacle was captured for posterity by a local tv news crew.

Sounds incredulous? Perhaps. Yet another internet hoax? Not this time. The tale is true, yet lay largely forgotten until the mass adoption of the web in the lat e1990's, which gave it a resurrection and new life.

How to find information that verifies this story? First, we can turn to Galileo . Once there, we will select the option of 'databases by type.' Then we will go to 'newspapers.' Finally, we will select the database 'Newspaper Source.'

Once in Newspaper Source, we will do an advanced search for 'exploding' and 'whale' and 'Oregon,' and we will limit the search to full text. We will get one result, which is a transcript of an interview from National Public Radio from 2005.

Exploding Whale/NPR Transcript

Another source in Galileo to try is LexisNexis, which can be found be going to the tab 'databases A-Z' and looking under 'L.' Within LexisNexis, do a power search and set 'major world publications' as your source, and search for 'exploding' and 'whale' and 'Oregon.' This search will produce numerous results, many of which relate back to our search topic.

Finally, for those interested, there is a YouTube video of the event. Exploding whale on YouTube. Also, the urban legends reference website, Snopes, has a good page on the exploding whale. Exploding whale on Snopes

JWF

What day is this?

I'm creating a display. I pulled The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (GV 551.G47 2003) by Mordicai Gerstein. I went to pull the movie review for Man On Wire. I was going through the Saturday paper. The movie section wasn't there! Did someone pull the movie section? I looked a bit further only to discover - it was in Friday's paper.

Friday's AJC had the review by A. O. Scott of the New York Times.

-kls

Walking the wire

When I read the movie review by A. O. Scott for "Man On Wire" in the Saturday AJC, I thought there was a children's book about this event - and I couldn't think of the title.

I went to GALILEO and did a Search for Philippe Petit. I limited my search to Academic Search Complete, Research Library, NoveList and Book Index with Reviews. I figured I'd get something in NoveList and Book Index with Reviews.

Voila - there it was in NoveList. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Michael Gerstein. NoveList offers a curriculum extender for many titles- including this one. You can use this title in Math, Language Arts, PE, and Social Studies.

You might not want to take your elementary age child to the movie (it is rated PG-13) but the book would be appropriate for any age!

I looked in WorldCat to see who has the book. Yes, NMTC has the book- it is a Caldecott Winner- we do have an Early Childhood class on Children's Literature. Having the award winners in our library supports their program.

I gave you the link to the "public" version of WorldCat. If you use the WorldCat available through GALILEO, there is a "Borrow This Item From Another Library" link. That is helpful for you to get the book quickly from another library!

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


-kls

All the luck

On NPR I heard that 8-8-8 is thought to be a lucky day by the Chinese (and others - see the Associated Press on MSNBC about marriages). My RSS feed this morning from The Ancestry Insider wrote about the lucky day and noted Ancestry.com has a Chinese site. I did a quick visual compare and contrast with the Ancestry Library Edition available through GALILEO (remember you can only get to Ancestry Library edition at your Georgia library). I see the search boxes! I like the Chinese header with the blowing leaves.

I just noticed at the bottom of the Ancestry.com screen that it is distributed by ProQuest.

ProQuest has an option to change the interface language on its regular databases. I wonder why Ancestry doesn't offer that option?

You can do a compare and contrast at your Georgia Public Library (or Tech College Library). Ancestry Library Edition is only available on site.


-kls

Where is that web site?

I started the morning teaching the Intro to Early Childhood class why Social Bookmarking is a useful tool. I started the session with Common Craft's Social Bookmarking video. I really like the Common Craft tutorials.

Sharing the Resources related to your Program of study demonstrated a way to gather up resources with tagging and bundling.

The instructor is going to use the students del.icio.us sites as their portfolio. This allows the beginning ECE students to gather web sites, tag them, and bundle them as the student progresses through the program. Upon completion of the program, they'll have a healthy set of web sites for their professional use!

I'm going to this class again and demonstrate the usefulness of the persistent links available through Ebsco and ProQuest. You've noted my complaining about how permanent is persistent. Hope springs eternal!

The instructor is quite excited about eliminating the three ring binders and the mounds of paper!


-kls

Yes, we're here

A staff member sent me this link Libraries Shine In Tough Economic Times : NPR Nice story. It was very nice to be thought of!

I went looking in Lexis Nexis, where I used to look for NPR transcripts and I did find this particular story very easily:

GALILEO
..Databases A-Z
...L
....LexisNexis
......General Search
........I copied and pasted the entire title
........I limited the search to TV and Radio Broadcast transcripts
........I limited it to the previous week
Search and there it was!

I admit I first tried a general search in GALILEO without success. Lexis Nexis isn't one of the options.

You may access current TV and Radio Broadcast transcripts through LexisNexis in GALILEO.

You know you may get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian!

-kls

Looking at the new interface

Ebsco is trying to make their interfaces "friendly". This came out on July 29th from NoveList:

We are continuing to hear from our users with suggestions and comments concerning the new version of NoveList. We encourage and welcome this feedback, as it helps us to make the changes that mean the most to you in your libraries. As a result of your feedback, we have released the following enhancements which now available in NoveList:

* Quick Print has a new display that is designed to reduce the
amount of paper needed to print your results. Each title or item
has been reduced to a two or three line display, with only the
most valuable information.
* The citation that displays above NoveList articles and lists is
shortened, so you will not need to scroll down as much to find the
content that you are looking for.
* When you select links to feature content, you will no longer see
the search string ("PD 430716," for example) in the Find box.
* The Clear button at the Find Similar Books page now clears all
boxes of their checkmarks, instead of returning to the default page.
* The Search History will now be available at the Basic Search, as
well as at the Advanced Search.

I like the effort to listen and "fix" for the patron.

Stupid is as...

The ALA Information Literacy list is discussing how best to teach students the skills to find the best information. Many instructors let students settle for "good enough" resources found with a Google search.

Leonard Pitts noted in his article Not voting for stupid 07/27/2008 the difference between ignorance and stupidity.

Ignorance is a lack of information. We're all ignorant in one way or another.....I'm talking about stupidity, which I define as an inability to analyze, draw conclusions from, or otherwise "use" information even when one has it.

We just finished Day 5 of SCT 100. That's where we show students the resources available. We deal with the ignorance by demonstrating the resources. There's no time to walk through the thinking process on how to differentiate what is useful (accurate) and what is not.

GALILEO offers a page of FAQ's on how to find a database or an article. This deals with the ignorance factor.

I want ways to teach the thinking process, to deal with the stupid factor:

I selected Browse by Subject
...I selected Education
......I selected Colleges & Universities
.........The only database noted is Career & Technical Education. I decided that wouldn't do.
......I selected Education and the search list has 7 databases that seemed reasonable (including ERIC)
I typed in critical thinking, limited to full text, 2008-2008 -
A nice selection came up with some titles pointing to specific curriculum.

I think I'll go and read a bit!

-kls

You get what you pay for

I did a search on Google for "universal remote" review.

What did I find? Several snazzy looking sites with reviews on universal remotes that cost $60-$400 (and up). I admit, I only spent $8.95. That could be why the universal remote doesn't do what I want.

Still trying- a search using "universal remote" "under $10" review turned up individual reviews. That will have to do.

On to real library research - you get what you pay for.


-kls

Chirp, tweet

I'm still thinking about universal remote reviews.

I was scrolling through the All Databases list in GALILEO and ran across this addition All About Birds which "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. "
Database Provider: National Science Digital Library (NSDL)

I regularly sit on my deck enjoying the birds in the yard. This resource will help me figure out which bird is which!

I'll go back to thinking about universal remote reviews. I may do a Google search and see what appears. I think I can evaluate the sites to find the one that will really have accurate information.

-kls

How universal is universal?

I bought a universal remote because our remotes seem to get away from the equipment they control. I've thought about velcro straps and links to the stand. Yet, I know I like to wander around a classroom and aim the remote. I don't want to be tethered to a cart or TV. So we "lose" remotes.

The universal remote I purchased isn't working with the specific equipment. Would it have made a difference in what I purchased if I did a little research?

Consumer Reports popped into my head. You know where I'm going - to GALILEO.

I selected the Journals A-Z tab
Typed in Consumer Reports and saw several databases that have the magazine.
I selected Ebsco - well they do have the new interface.

The Consumer Reports Buying Guide in Ebsco's Academic Search Complete came up.
I selected search within this publication (teeny tiny print above the list of years)
And this is where I got confused - the search box was filled in with JN "Consumer Reports Buying Guide"
I stared at the screen and thought- where do I fill in my query?
I selected Advanced Search
OK- there were the extra search fields
I typed in Universal Remote -
Nothing came up - How can that be?
Ah- I did not change the "Select a Field" drop down
I changed the field search to TX - All Text
and - 27 articles came up.

Yet- as I skim the titles- I'm not seeing a specific article for universal remotes. The first article PRODUCT RATINGS AND BRAND RELIABILITY might be helpful. I opened it and choose to search through the 140 page PDF file to find mention of remotes. Lots of remotes noted but not a section on universal remotes (that I saw)

Hmm. I think I need to rethink the process. I'll try something else and let you know how it works!

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

-kls

Carnivore, herbivore, locavore

And what are you?

In yesterdays New York Times "Getting That Locally Grown Flavor With Fuss but No Muss" noted new businesses springing up to support those who would like to eat locally grown produce but don't want to garden (or can't garden because they live in a high rise). I shared the article with our Horticulture department. It could be a growing (no pun intended) business market.

I found the article for you by using GALILEO.

I selected Databases A-Z and scrolled looking for newspapers.
I found the New York Times (ProQuest databases).

I searched for locavores limiting my search to the previous seven days. Nothing came up but ProQuest suggested using the terms Farmers Market or Farmers Market AND Fruit.
I selected Farmers Market, limited to the previous seven days and victory! The article was there.

Yet, it was the article in today's Britannica Blog by Robert McHenry that made me smile -

"Yes, locavoracity is yet another application of that grand green dictum, Think Glibly and Act Vocally."

.

I'm delighted to have the variety of foods I find in my huge grocery store- though I do admit the fresh tomatoes from my neighbors garden and the fresh eggs from my friends chickens do taste better.


-kls

North Metro Tech Library Reference Wiki

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

Hello. Last week I decided to create a reference wiki for North Metro Technical College Library, North Metro Tech Reference Home. You may, or may not, be asking yourself why. There are several reasons for doing this.

1. This is a useful tool for the librarians at NMTC. We are not always working at the same time. One of us may help a patron with a unencountered area of need and forget (gasp) to tell the other. This wiki allows each of us to examine ways that the other has been helping our patrons.

2. The wiki will prove a useful off campus tool. Hopefully, the wiki will be a site that patrons can access from home to avoid an unnecessary trip to campus. There will be lots of 'how to's' on the wiki, along with general and basic information about the library.

3. This wiki is separate and apart from the Policies and Procedures NMTC wiki at North Metro Technical College Library Policies and Procedures. Yes, some of the information may be redundant. However, I hope that this new wiki will enable you the patron to access information on how to use library resources and also to get help when a librarian just may not be available (namely at 2:00 a.m.).

4. Other college and university libraries have developed their own reference wikis. This one will be unique, as the others are already unique, and its aims, purposes, services may not exactly match up to those of other libraries.

The format I selected to use for the wiki was Wetpaint. Comparing it to Wikispaces, I felt that it was more easily edited and updated. However, one drawback to Wetpaint is that there is some commercialization in the form of banners. I do hope that these banners will not become too much of a distraction.

The wiki will be a long work in progress and will never truly be finished. Stay tuned . . .

JWF

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?