Paperback swap

It's chilly outside. It's going to stay cold. It's a great time to wrap up in a blanket, snuggle on the sofa and read fun fiction! We don't purchase fun fiction for the library.

We do provide a swap cart- you bring your paperback and swap for someone elses paperback. This meets the need for fun fiction for our patrons. Stop by and swap out your fiction.

Get ready for a snow day.

Who's got the link?

Social bookmarking is a relatively new phenomenon.

The "social" part is we get to see how many others have marked that web link. In a del.icio.us account, if you click on the "saved by others" you can see who else saved the site. You click on their link to see what else they have saved. If I like A and you like A, maybe I'll like your Z!

It's a way to share information. Two technical colleges in Georgia have del.icio.us accounts. Check out North Metro Tech and Savannah Tech. We're collecting web links that will help our students succeed.

Number crunching

Reports, projects, and presentations all look "better" with graphs and charts.

World Data Analyst includes current and historical statistics on 217 countries of the world. Highlights of the database include the following:

----Country Snapshots--maps and statistics
----Country Comparisons--create tables and graphs comparing countries using recent and historical statistics
----Ranked Statistics--compare economic or population measures or significant geographic features

Users can use tools in the database to create tables and charts and export the information to a spreadsheet for data crunching and deeper analysis.

World Data Analyst is an Encyclopedia Britannica product available through GALILEO.

The password for home use of GALILEO is available to the citizens of Georgia from your librarian. Some resources noted in this BLOG are only available to NMTC patrons.

What do I want to be?

Students just beginning their program are encouraged to visit the
Georgia Careeer Information Center and take the interest survey and the skill survey. These free assessments tell the student where their interests and skills might best be used!

(GCIC needs to accept cookies. These are the steps to allow cookies.)
Internet Explorer
…Tools
…..Internet Options
…….Privacy
……..Move slider to “low”

There is a GCIC user ID and password that you can get from either the NMTC Counselor, Kim Duff , or the Librarian!

Can access the site through the NMTC Web site collection (Guidance, Careers)

and through GALILEO (need the GALILEO password for home use) (Databases A-Z, Jump to G)

I took the surveys last spring and was told I should be a librarian. It made me smile!

Day 5

I lurk in the hallway outside of Room 124 waiting to start my session in SCT 100 (Introduction to Computers). This is my opportunity to reveal the wonders of using GALILEO! I talk to all 10 sections. Whoo-eee.

Moving Pictures

Last week I wrote about pictures being worth a thousand words.

The NMTC marketing department uploaded these NMTC videos to YouTube… check us out!


TV Commercial


Recruiting Video

Beauty in Stone

Talked earlier about how a picture is worth a thousand words and how you can find videos in the NMTC catalog. Two movies in GALILEO (The Digital Library of Georgia) tell volumes about Georgia workers and the marble industry. Watching the short films is a lesson in the changes that have been made in video presentations!

"The online collection consists of two short industrial films made by the Georgia Marble Company in the 1950s-1960s that document the company's history, operations, skilled laborers and craftspeople, and the widespread use of their marble, limestone and serpentine products.

Georgia Marble Company's use of the industrial film medium served to promote its products by capturing in live action the skill and industry required to create "beauty in stone."

The first film, New Face on Capitol Hill, depicts Georgia Marble Company's role in the reconstruction of the east façade of the U.S. Capitol building prior to John F. Kennedy's inauguration, and includes footage of president John F. Kennedy at his 1961 inauguration, the former vice president Richard M. Nixon, and Architect of the Capitol J. George Stewart.

The second film, Producing America's Buried Treasures, focuses more closely on the company's overall history, its quarrying and finishing facilities in Georgia, Tennessee and Vermont, the breadth of applications for Georgia marble products and related limestone and serpentine industries in Alabama and Virginia. Unique to this film are its highlights of uses for processed marble in products that include roofing material, and turf marking for athletic fields.

Both Producing America's Buried Treasure and the New Face on Capitol Hill feature the company's marble quarrying and finishing operations in Pickens County, Georgia; both include pictorial examples of marble-quarrying and marble-shaping machinery, of stone cutters working in the quarry, and of craftsmen sculpting the marble.

Many beautiful high-quality products were produced by the Georgia Marble Company, and a number of well-known structures comprised of Georgia marble are interspersed throughout both films. Most notable are the statue Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, and the façade of the U.S. Capitol Building, the centerpiece of New Face on Capitol Hill. "

GALILEO
...Databases A-Z
.....Jump to B
......Beauty in Stone

The password for home use of GALILEO is available to the citizens of Georgia from your librarian. Some resources noted in this BLOG are only available to NMTC patrons.

Calling cards

In the "olden days" ladies and gentlemen left calling cards to document that they had visited a home.

Today we pass out business cards to help others remember us after a networking opportunity. One can purchase kits at office supply stores to create a business card using the computer and printer.

What do you put on your business card? How do you make it positively memorable? We have several Best of Business Card Design (NE 965.2...) books to give you examples of the best!

Leave a positive impression for positive results- start with your business card.

What is a picture worth?

The saying goes - "a picture is worth a thousand words". Have you ever tried to describe an emotion or an action? You keep talking but if you could show a picture or better yet a video- you would have no trouble saying - "that's it!"

We have hundreds of videos to illustrate our programs.

You can find the videos we own by using the catalog .
1. Go to Advanced search (left hand side of the screen under Search)
2. Select Keywords
3. Type in the topic you're looking for
4. Scroll down to Material type
5. Select VHS or DVD from the drop down menu (we have more VHS)

Most videos are checked out to the program areas. We'll help you locate the video for use in the library or check out for home use if the instructor agrees.

See what they mean by watching the action.

Safe conversation

One can always discuss the weather. If you'd like to see what is happening across the country - look at the NOAA site National Weather Service Enhanced Radar Image Loop . Facinating to see the whole country.

Notice how the cursor turns to a hand over a state and the info box tells you the local radar location. Click and you see that area!

This site has been added to the web sites collected for NMTC programs for Horticulture. EHO students need to know the weather for their program. Check out the other weather site for EHO. Soil temperature!

Each program has their list of favorites.

Have to keep it

We've only had this database for a year. It isn't getting widespread use. I thought we might cancel it but I want to give it another year.

There is a monthly report sent with statistics on use of Garden Literature Index. The index is noted on the student survey at the end of each class (for every program not just horticulture). Folks are using the database - just not enough folks.

There are tons of articles in Garden Literature Index. They are helpful for every type of gardener not just the pros!

• It does have full text articles. You can limit your search by clicking on full text.
• It does not have a link to see what publications are used. You can figure that out by doing a search and scrolling through the articles pulled up.

GALILEO

....Databases A-Z

......Jump to G

........Garden Literature Index

The real thing

Researchers thrive on primary resources - the original document and not some interpretation or synopsis or.....but the real thing! Most of us can't get to the primary sources. GALILEO offers us a chance to read the original document.

Annals of American History Online includes the full text of over 2000 primary documents in American history, including historical accounts, speeches, memoirs, poems, editorials, landmark court decisions, and cultural criticism. The resource also has multimedia files, including more than 500 pictures and hundreds of video and audio clips of famous speeches. This chronicle may be explored year by year using a timeline dating from 1493 to 2002, browsed by author or topic, or searched by keyword.

I will admit to some frustration with this database. I'm trying to find primary sources for Martin Luther King - for the celebration on Monday.

• He's not listed by author.
• I didn't find him under Civil Rights leaders.
• I searched under the time period 1961-1968: The Burdens of World power- limited to multimedia and scrolling way down the list found a video clip Civil Rights Leaders: Martin Luther King

It's not intuitive and the search boxes I'm using aren't pulling up what I'm sure must be in there..... if you have any tips on using this database- please share. It looks like it should be chock full of great information but getting it seems to be a problem.

Habla Espanol

There are resources available in GALILEO for those who read in Spanish or would like to practice their Spanish.

One resource is "Enciclopedia Universal en Español database includes more than 47,000 articles and 8,300 photographs and images. The resource also includes a Spanish-language dictionary with more than 65,000 entries. Most articles are brief or of moderate length and discuss people, places, institutions, things, or concepts. Longer articles are divided into separate sections for easier access and more accurate searching. Special features include an atlas that focuses on world countries, maps, and statistics; major world cities; and distribution of languages & religions and also a timelines that outline general history plus art and cultural history. "

When you type spanish in the Find a Database box - 6 specific sources will show up.

The password for home use of GALILEO is available to the citizens of Georgia from your librarian. Some resources noted in this BLOG are only available to NMTC patrons.

Narrowing the field

GALILEO offers so much information. It seems hard to narrow down what you're looking for to a manageable level.

In ProQuest, there is a subset database "Career & Technical Education (a ProQuest database) which contains over 400 titles, all in full text and many in full image, which contain the charts, diagrams, graphs, tables, photos, and other graphics originally published with the text. Subjects include automobile, electronic, and computer technology; the building trades; graphic arts; medicine, nursing, and pharmacy; child care; food service and hotel management; office skills; veterinary technology; retail work; public safety; and other practical studies. "

In bold are program areas offered at NMTC.

GALILEO
...Find a Database box on the front page
....type in Career & Technical Education

What site?

• Faculty recommend a web site that will be helpful for a program.
• Faculty hand out lists of web sites that will be helpful.

Who remembers them?

You can find web sites for some NMTC programs by going to http://del.icio.us/NMTC_Librarian
The web sites are arranged by program area.

It's a growing resource for the programs at NMTC.

Beluga Whales

Gaspar, the beluga whale at the Georgia Aquarium, died this week. A Google search turns up information about Gaspar and beluga whales.

You can search the Encyclopedia of Animals by Ebsco in GALILEO for text information. They don't have pictures of beluga whales.

Sea World offers an interesting site of Beluga whales with a list of references and a list of books for young children.

Wikipedia has Beluga Whale information with pictures.

One source doesn't have everything you need. Research means looking again and again. Check the authority of the information.

If you know nothing about a topic using the Encyclopedia is one way to build your foundation of knowledge. Then when you skip through Google if you already know a little bit you won't get tripped up by scam web sites.

Where are we going?

Three times today we'll be orienting students to NMTC. Oxford English Dictionary (in GALILEO) notes for its second definition b. trans. By extension: to position or align (a structure, etc.) with, or in a particular way relative to, the points of the compass, or other specified points; (also occas.) to determine the bearings or relative position of. Also with to, toward, with.

We'll be pointing students in the way they should go to be successful in their program.

The password for home use of GALILEO is available to the citizens of Georgia from your librarian. Some resources noted in this BLOG are only available to NMTC patrons.

Clearing space

Our storage space is limited. We keep two years of periodicals. We're discarding the 2004 issues to make space on the shelves. Faculty have been notified that the magazines are available. The magazines are on two tables in the library for folks (faculty, staff and students) to take away. The remainders will be recycled Friday morning.

Thousands of periodical articles are available through GALILEO.

Inventory continues

For a small library, inventory takes a long time. We're almost finished though.

Equipment has been checked.
Shelves are straightened.

We're getting ready for the new quarter.

There is a new password for GALILEO. Check with the librarian.

We are back

Happy New Years

Our holiday library hours continue-
Wednesday and Thursday from 8AM to 5PM
Friday from 8-4

Registration continues this week
New student orientation on Thursday