The First Emanicpator

[F 229 .C34 L 48 2005]

Black History month is a time set apart to emphasize the contributions of African Americans. There have been Caucasians who assisted African Americans on the long road to being freely integrated in society. Andrew Levy wrote a biography of one Caucasian who put words into action at a time in our countries history when the words of liberty were frequently used. Robert Carter, a Virginia Planter, Founding Father of the United States, and neighbor to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, freed his slaves in 1791. Mr. Levy pieces together the path Robert Carter took to doing something others said would be nice but they just couldn't do right then.

A search in GALILEO using the basic search tab and typing The First Emancipator as a Keyword search, turned up several reviews of the book including this review from Journal of Southern History.

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

-kls

Slave Narratives

My co-worker attended an Ancestry.com webinar. She was sharing a feature I wasn't aware of- the slave narratives.

go to GALILEO.
..select Databases A-Z.
....select A.
......Ancestry.com (only available on campus).
Click the Search tab (middle tab).
Notice on the right side- a column with Browse records.
Scroll down to Stories and Publications.
Select Slave Narratives.

Now here's where the fun begins! See Type and Location?
Click on the drop down box under type - here are wonderful options from Famous Personalities to War stories! You may limit your search to a specific state.

Keep in mind that the stories told by the former slaves were collected by the Works Project Administration. Federal Writers Project. Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. Washington, D.C.: n.p., n.d. in the 1930's. The people telling the stories and remembering would have been over 70 years old.

This is a wonderful resource to use with students during Black History month. Ancestry.com is only available on campus but it's available through any computer on campus!

A caveat- I searched for Lincoln as a surname, limited the search to Georgia and Lincoln county came up in the results.


-kls

Only the Shadow Knows!

Today is Groundhog Day. The day men in fancy dress disturb Punxsutawney Phils rest to see if spring will come soon to the north east!

For fast news:
GALILEO.
..Databases A-Z.
....L.
.....LexisNexis.
Search for groundhog.
Limit to previous week and newswire services.

LexisNexis has posted multiple articles from the AP wire (8:45am, 2 Feb 2010).

Meanwhile in Lilburn, Georgia General Beauregard Lee noted:

It's an early spring! Beau did NOT see his shadow when he emerged at 7:35a in rainy, 40 degree weather

Georgians are looking forward to living into the truth of Gen. Beau Lee, Ph.D's forecast!

-kls


For those too young to remember, the title refers to the classic mystery, The Shadow!

Grammy

The 52nd Grammy awards were given out on January 31. The official award site has a cornucopia of information about winners past and present!

GALILEO has resources that will offer a different perspective than the industry promotes. I started my quest with
Browse by Subject
...Arts and Humanities
.....Music.
I was disappointed in the search options. I was offered Academic Search Complete and Research Library with GIL and Encyclopedia Britannica as the Show More Options. I thought there might be something more musical in the list.

I went to the Basic GALILEO Search tab at the far right.
I typed in Grammy Awards
...Selected full text
......Selected 2010 only
Clicked on Show More Options which allowed me to add Newspaper Sources and ProQuest Newspapers (though I can not add Lexis Nexis or NewsBank) to the Basic Search alongside Academic Search Complete and Research Library .

Voila- enough articles to satisfy my curiosity about what happened and why!

Interesting to see that Research Library and ProQuest Newspapers offered more stories dated February 1 than the others!

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


-kls

Full Moon Names

Saturday you experienced the Full Wolf Moon. This is the old Native American name for the full moon of January. Lacking formal calendars, some Native American tribes attached names to the full moon for each month as a way of marking the seasons. January is the Full Wolf Moon due to the packs of wolves that were often found near villages during the cold months. You can read more about the various moon names here.

JF

Howard Zinn

Historian Howard Zinn passed away today. Zinn was 87.

Zinn is best remembered for his book, A People's History of the United States [E 178 .Z75 2005]. The book takes a bit of a populist and left leaning stance toward US history. Zinn's history grew in popularity over time, by word of mouth. The book was briefly mentioned in one of the therapy scenes between Matt Damon and Robin Williams in the film Good Will Hunting.

A copy of the book is available at the North Metro campus library. Remember that if you are not a student at the North Metro campus, you can contact your Chattahoochee Technical College campus librarian to have the book sent to the campus location most convenient for you.

JF

and we say farewell

J.D.Salinger ,RIP

I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, ...I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.

~The Catcher in the Rye , Holden Caulfield in Chapter 22

The Catcher in the Rye [PS3537 .A426 ] was published in 1951 to horror and acclaim, depending on whether you were young or old. If you missed reading this classic work of adolescent angst- you can read the cliff notes version in our electronic collection.
Go to Chatahoochee Technical College
...Select Quicklinks
.....Select Library
.......Select Find books
Search for Catcher in the Rye, limited to Just Electronic Books.

There are two electronic books - both in NetLibrary - the Cliff notes and Blooms. You will need to create your 'free account' [library card] on campus to use NetLibrary.

-kls

What's it about?

A few days ago, I wrote how you may find the new titles added to our catalog by:
...going to Chattahoochee's main page
.... selecting Quicklinks
......selecting Library
....... selecting Find Books
.........clicking on the blue New Books box in the top left corner

Some of our fiction titles do not have a complete description. The title, author, publisher and a few subject descriptions are displayed - but what about the plot?

If you go to GALILEO
....select Databases A-Z
......select N
.........go to NoveList where you'll find more information about many fiction works!

NoveList is an online readers' advisory tool that helps readers find new books based on books they've read or on topics in which they are interested. NoveList provides enhanced subject access to over 125,000 fiction titles and more than 90,000 full-text book reviews or annotations.

As an experiment let's look for one of our newest books which was mentioned in the PeachBuzz in Sundays AJC [link from NewsBank], The Help by Kathryn Stockett. We have a brief description of the story in our catalog

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

That might give me enough of a clue on whether I wanted to read this book but what if it wasn't quite enough.

A search for The Help in NoveList limited to title and adult pulled up 6 titles. The Help I was looking for was on this list.

NoveList has a slightly different summary

Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project.

There are two book reviews, three study guides, a Find Similar Books link and the World Cat link which allows me to see the closest library to my IP address that carries this book!

If you aren't getting enough information in any catalog about a fiction title - open a second internet tab and go to NoveList in GALILEO.


-kls

What's it worth to ya?

Instructors regularly suggest that students look for information to compare and contrast. History, Sociology, Marketing, Accounting and the Allied Health programs look for statistics to use in these academic comparisons.

It seems like it ought to be easy to find statistics from one historical period that can be compared to the same type of event from another historical period. I've had trouble doing this online. I've rediscovered a book that pulls numbers from 1860 to 2004. These economic indicators can be used by a variety of program areas.

The Value of a Dollar 1860-2004, 3rd edition [REF HB 235 .U6 V35 2004] by Scott Derks is reviewed on Amazon by Booklist:

This engaging statistical summary presents the history of the American people through the prices they paid for a wide variety of products and services. The first section is organized into six chapters covering 20-year periods and then into subchapters covering 5-year spans. Each subchapter presents a chronology of mostly economic events; tables showing typical wages and incomes, expenditures, and investment yields; a representative "food basket" comparing prices in different cities; prices on items from alcoholic beverages to travel; and more. Following these summaries is a new section called "Pricing Trends," which tracks changes in the costs of goods and services in various categories and also show values compared to today's dollar.

Sometimes a print resource is easier to use than wandering through the wild web! Stop by your library and peruse the Reference collection. Let your fingers do the walking through the print information.

-kls

Australian Coups

Today is Australia Day, which is the national holiday of Australia. The holiday celebrates the arrival of the 'First Fleet' under the command of Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove in the year 1788. This British fleet would mark the first permanent European settlement of Australia. (Remember that the Aboriginal peoples were living in Australia for centuries prior to the first Europeans doing so.)

Twenty years to the day after the arrival of the first fleet, Australia went through its first and only coups. The Governor of the colony of New South Wales, one William Bligh (yes, that William Bligh), was overthrown by elements of the military and economic and political elements within the colony. This event is called the Rum Rebellion. The government of Australia has remained stable since then, although Prime Minister Harold Holt did disappear while swimming in 1967.

Going to the History Reference Center database in Galileo and performing a search for Australia and Rum Rebellion yields some articles related to the event.

JF

What's new on the shelf?

An anonymous benefactor has gifted the North Metro campus library with 121 hardback books from their collection. Mostly fiction, mostly current fiction which is even better for our readers!

How do you figure out what's new to a campus library? Each Friday our catalog updates and produces a list of titles added to the catalog. Go to our catalog.

Chattahoochee Technical College
..Click on Quicklinks (upper right corner)
....Select Library
......Select Find Books (middle of column in red letters)
Now you're in the catalog. In the upper left corner right under Web cat- there is a blue box that says NEW BOOKS.
Select that blue box.
Click on the campus you're interested in or select All New Books!

That's it! Now you can explore what's new on our shelves.



-kls

Happy Birthday season, Mr. Burns!

Encyclopedia Britannica blogger, Robert McHenry, notes the poet Robert Burns 251st birthday was January 25th. I like to celebrate birthdays for weeks before and weeks after the actual day.

We have access to Encyclopedia Britannica through GALILEO. We also have several literary databases that can give an indepth look at the poet.

I went to the Browse by Subject tab inGALILEO
..selected Literature, Language, and Literary Criticism
...then selected the Literature and Literary Criticism link

Here I can do a bulk search of 5 resources.
I chose to search for Robert Burns and limit my search to the Subject.
This definitely limited the results to under 50 hits.

The Literature Resource Center (Gale) had no results at all, which I admit I thought was odd.
I went to Databases A-Z, selected L, and directly selected Literature Resource Center (Gale).

The same search pulled up 96 biographies of Robert Burns. I quickly realized that I needed to limit my search to the radio button person- by or about. I continued to have to drill down through the various Robert Burns (who knew there were so many authors named Robert Burns) till I found the correct Robert Burns.

Literature Resource Center (Gale) allows you to create a bookmark that can link you to the specific article you found. Literature Resource Center (Gale) also offers the opportunity to listen to the article or download it in an mp3 file!

Learn more about poets who have literary longevity by using the resources in GALILEO.

You may get the password to access GALILEO resources from your Georgia librarian!

-kls

Monday morning quarterback

Big games on TV with exciting finishes will lead to intense discussions about who did what best and when. Getting sports stats is pretty easy- just go to ESPN.

If you're looking for analysis there are resources in GALILEO that are used by the students in the Sport and Recreation Management program. They need access to something a little more indepth than just numbers for sports management.

You are already aware I really like LexisNexisfor news articles. Chattahoochee Tech Library subscribs to NewsBank with articles going back to 1985.

Here's another source that the Chattahoochee Tech Library subscribes to: Facts.com.

Facts.com highlights articles on current issues and controversies in society and science. Additionally, Facts.com contains a World Almanac Reference Database, World Almanac Encyclopedia, Reuters news articles, and World News Digest special features and articles from 1940 - present.

Go to GALILEO
...Databases A-Z
.....Select F
.......Select Facts.com
In the right hand column, they offer a News Services Cross Search
This will search three of the Facts. com resources - World News Digest, Todays Science and Issues and Controversies.

A search for "Minnesota Vikings" (put the words in quotes or you'll get references to Norway and vikings) turned up 195 articles. Facts.com
doesn't put the results in any order. I discovered I can click on the date link at the top of the right column and sort the articles with the most recent at the top.

There's another handy tool in Facts.com. The last tab is Reference Shelf. Clicking on that tab reveals the source for the articles - either encyclopedia or almanac. There is the citation in MLA and APA at the very bottom of the article!

Go looking for something to wow the folks around the water cooler with your indepth understanding of the recent sports event.

-kls

the Poe Toaster

The Poe Toaster was a mysterious visitor to the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. Each year, the toaster would leave some roses and a bit of cognac at Poe's grave in Baltimore on the anniversary of Poe's birthday. 2010 marked the first time in over sixty years that the toaster failed to arrive. This disappointed a crowd of observers at the grave, many of whom gather each year just to watch the toaster's early morning visit.

Information on Poe and his macabre works can be found in Galileo. One good database to use is Literature Resource Center. A search for Edgar Allen Poe in this database provides you with links to biographies on Poe, news about Poe, and critical analysis of Poe's works.

JF

The Birthday season begins for GALILEO

News from the GALILEO staff:

Believe it or not, GALILEO will turn 15 on September 21, 2010.

Way back in 1995, long before Google, GALILEO helped bring the University System of Georgia libraries, students, faculty, and staff the ability to search indexes and retrieve full-text materials on this new thing called the “World Wide Web” using something called “ASCII text.” For many of these users, GALILEO was their first introduction to the Internet, much less graphical interfaces, as well as the benefits this technology had for learning and research.

In fact, GALILEO helped put public computers into the University System libraries and provided fax machines for interlibrary loan articles, at time when some campuses had a single fax machine in the President’s office. Institutions that had only a few journals suddenly had access to hundreds of journals. GALILEO’s delivery over PeachNet helped people understand the benefits of robust networks for transmitting data, providing the impetus and legislative support for bringing both internet access and GALILEO to public libraries and schools.

Even in this era of ubiquitous information that has followed its early innovation, GALILEO still provides the core resource for the libraries and media centers of Georgia, fulfilling its mission to be “One Statewide Library” by bringing quality, authoritative, and secure digital materials of all kinds to the citizens of Georgia, including encyclopedias, books, thousands of periodicals, and unique materials of historical and cultural significance. Over one billion user experiences attest to the success of GALILEO.

The spirit of innovation and collaboration that has been part of GALILEO since the beginning continues, as today GALILEOhas multiple interfaces that serve different audiences and communities of interest, special tools for federated searching and linking to ejournals across all resources, a toolbar for easy use in common browsers, online training for library staff, and video tutorials for users. The future promises to continue apace, as new discovery tools and tools to assist the integration of library resources into online learning environments enhance the GALILEO environment.

As a teenager, GALILEO will continue to need the support, encouragement, and thoughtful guidance of the GALILEO community; the birthday is a great opportunity to share and express the value that GALILEO provides to the state of Georgia.

• GALILEO Life Contest: Use your creativity to show support for and use of GALILEOby making a video, poster, powerpoint, or a library “fan.” Contribute entries by May 14th. Prizes will be awarded for the 5 age groups in each of the three media (poster, video, and powerpoint) categories and the 3 library types (public, academic, and K12) in the fan category. See details about the contest guidelines and submission instructions.

• GALILEOScrapbook: Collect your stories, quotes, and pictures and share with GALILEO to post in an online scrapbook of community and sharing. Details will be available soon.

• GOLD/GALILEO User Group Conference: Our annual gathering will include special events and activities to recognize GALILEO’s birthday and contributions to libraries in Georgia and your participation in the contest and scrapbook activities. Details will be available later in 2010.

• Virtual Birthday Celebration, September 21, 2010: A special online event to share and recognize the 15th birthday and the GALILEO community.

The celebration starts today — watch for regular news and information in the coming months, and in the meantime, remember: you are part of GALILEO, so this is your 15th birthday too!

-reposted by kls

Have You Seen . . .

The Mountain View campus library has a new book for you to checkout. 'Have You Seen . . .?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films' is a 2008 book by David Thomson (call number-PN1997.8 .T46 2008). Thomson is a noted writer and has done works on film in the past. The book is really quite simple, with the author giving just what the title says, a personal introduction to 1,000 different films. The rear of the book has an index that notes the titles that are covered by year of theatrical release. It is interesting to note that some years have several films listed in the book, such as 1977, while 2002 has only one (the Nic Cage film Adaptation). Many favorites of film are found within the book, including the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars, along with some great films a bit less known to general audiences, ex. Wild Strawberries and Belle du Jour.

The book is quite thick at over 1,000 pages. You might not want to read the whole book. However, you can use the work to gain some perspective on some old favorites, or get an opinion on a film you considering renting through Netflix or your local video store.

JF

The weather is

The weather is a neutral topic of conversation. Wherever you are, you can make a comment about the weather to a perfect stranger. This may start up a conversation that will pass the time pleasantly. Casual conversation does build the web that keeps society civil.

What if you're looking for weather information that will inspire an in depth conversation? Where do you go to get the clever facts for your area? Most folks might peruse The Weather Channel before going out. Yet, there are other weather fact sites where you might find that odd little fact that starts the conversation going in a direction that has a bit of character - more than the usual- "yes, it is warm/cold/wet/dry/humid,etc".

How do you find those sites?

Our Environmental Horticulture department uses weather information in their classes. They have found these sites to be useful. I admit to being fond of Trippish. It's like Google maps but with weather pictures. Now there's a conversation starter!

-kls

Starting anew

On NPR I have heard two stories about eco travel in Egypt. Tour groups are taking small groups of visitors out into the desert away from the classic pyramid sites to really experience Egypt. Today the story mentioned a blacksmith who's bread and butter business is making farm implements. With the tourist trade arriving, he is starting to make trinkets for the guests. He's wondering if this is just a blip on the economic radar or a true growth opportunity for his business.

Listening to the story, I thought about a resource Chattahoochee Technical College Library subscribes to - Entrepreneurship by Proquest.

Search worldwide publications and multi-media related to the topic of Entrepreneurship. Intended to bridge theory with practice, the Entrepreneurship database covers a wide spectrum of resources useful to educators, researchers, students and practitioners. Content ranges from the scholarly - including journals, dissertations, working papers and conference proceedings - to a full toolkit of practical guides, templates, forms, sample business plans, and tips from successful entrepreneurs.

Small business owners don't need to guess if what they are doing has promise, they can read articles that note the experiences of other business people. Learn from others success and failure!

You can access Entrepreneurship from the Chattahoochee Technical College Library page or through GALILEO (it's under E in Databases A-Z).

-kls

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

High tech vehicles

An article in the 27 Dec 2009 AJC on pg 4B (High-tech vehicles pose trouble for some mechanics by Daisy Nguyen) tweaked my interest enough to clip it out and plan to talk about Auto Repair Reference Center in GALILEO

I went looking for the article in GALILEO so I could give you a durable URL to the article about auto repair shops not being able to access the latest information for car repair. Then I'd say - here in Georgia you can access Auto Repair Reference Center for information about your car!

Auto Repair Reference Centerdatabase includes automotive repair information supplied by Point 5 Technologies, Inc., under license from Nichols Publishing, the former publisher of Chilton® Information ...

- The quick search in Academic Search Complete and Research Library (at ProQuest) did not bring up the article.
- My search in NewsBank revealed nothing.
- Newspaper source had articles by Daisy Nguyen but not this current article.
- I did find the exact article in Lexis Nexis

Hie thee hence to GALILEO
Select Databases A-Z
...Select L
.....Select Lexis Nexis
Search under the News tab
...limit your search to wire services
...search for Nguyen as author and the word Humming in the lead paragraph

-kls


The current password to use GALILEO from off campus changed on January 4th. Stop by your Chattahoochee Tech campus library to get the current password!

Bring one, take one

Did you know that just inside the doors of Room 103 (the North Metro campus library) there is a book cart with a sign that says “Paperback swap - bring one, take one”?

Over the break a fan of reading weeded their paperback collection and we are overflowing with different (new to us) titles.
Stop by room 103 (library), step inside the door and peruse the swap rack.
Take a book and promise to bring the book back or promise to bring in a different paperback! We really don’t keep track. It is the honor system.

If we get a snow day this week… you might like to have something non-electronic at home for entertainment (if the power goes out- oh my)….

-kls