Selected Poems

Selected Poems by Carl Sandburg [PS 3537 .A618 A6 1991] sits quietly on the shelf, a thin volume of poetry. The front flap notes "This volume contains the poems upon which Sandburg's reputation and career were established."

The NPR Morning Edition interview with the editor, Paul Berman, refers to this as a new collection focusing on the Midwestern poet's early works, what the editor calls Sandburg's "great period."

On the back flap of the book, 'eminent critic Malcolm Cowley once observed that Carl Sandburg 'turned the Mid-western voice into a sort of music". Paul Berman divided the poems into seven sections. 'Fog' is not in the 'Chicago' or 'Fogs and Fires' sections but in 'Handfuls' (page 81). I wonder why he put it there?

The fog comes...
...and then moves on.


-kss

Fog

Every time I see the fog hovering over the ground, I remember Carl Sandburg's poem "Fog".

I used LION (Literature Online) which "is a full-text library of over 330,000 works of British and American poetry, drama and prose" to find the poem.

Entering the word 'fog' brought up 206 poems. I knew the author so I could scroll through the alphabetized list to find the specific poem. What if I had forgotten "Sandburg"?

I went to the Texts search page. There I have limiters that might help find the poem. I selected the tab Poetry.
1. I typed in cat's feet as keywords and fog as in the title. Sandburg's poem did not come up. Guy Carryl and Kenneth Rexroth have written poems that include cat's feet and fog.
2. Trying again, I entered cat and fog- 6 entries and Carl's poem was there.

I was able to scan the list which included a few lines for each poem to get to Carl Sandburg:
...The fog comes on little cat feet....
...sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then

Using cat's was my downfall. I think cat feet might have produced better results. I'll try a third search.

3. Yes, searching under the poetry tab, cat feet as the key word, fog as the title pulled up just one result- Carl Sandburg's, Fog.

Teaching students how to process the search results and finagle what you ask for until you get the correct response is tricky. You just have to keep trying!

CTC Library subscribes to LION. It is available through GALILEO. Your Campus Librarian can give you the current password.

-kss

Just the facts

CTC Library subscribes to Facts.com aka Facts on File. Facts.com offers 5 databases covering Today's Science, Health, Writing, World News, and Issues & Controversies.

In ENG 1101, when the students are assigned a paper involving research into a topic with two sides, we encourage them to use Issues and Controversies. There are several tips I share with students to help them find exactly what they are looking for, without as much trial and error as I go through.

I admit I haven't explored the other Facts.com resources. Because of Mole Day and Avogadro, I decided to look at 'Today's Science' which "bridges the gap between the science that students learn in the classroom and the discoveries pushing the boundaries of science today."

There are two routes to access Today's Science in Facts.com. The easiest way is to go to the CTC Library page and scroll down to Social Issues, Current Events & History. You'll need the login/password from your CTC Librarian to get in.

The other route is through GALILEO (you need the password from your Georgia librarian)
..Databases A-Z
....Select F
......Select Facts. com
........Select Today's Science (you still need the login/password but it's right there in the red link on the Select F page before you click on Facts.com)

Now that we're in, I did a search for Avogadro. I searched a couple of times because I am having trouble keeping the vowels in the correct location. I finally did a search for 'mole' so I could get the correct spelling for the scientists name.

What did I find on Avogadro? 4 articles, one as recent as 2007, and 12 encyclopedia entries. The first article, "Pick A Number, But Not Any Number: Redefining Avogadro's Number and the Kilogram", provided the mug picture in the upper corner. Ms. Bai also had a portrait of Avogadro. At first glance I thought of Gollum. The eyes are so large. I digress. The article reviewed the history of Avogadro's number and tied in the current field of science with references to two scientists at Georgia Tech, who are redefining the exact value of the Avogadro's number!

My brain is fogging as I think of the size of the numbers. Many ways to get more information. Check with your CTC Librarian for access to current and reliable information.

-kss

Picture from : Bai, Nina Yu. "Pick A Number, But Not Any Number: Redefining Avogadro's Number and the Kilogram." Today’s Science. Facts On File News Services, Oct. 2007. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. .

Better living

At this point, we don't have a Chemistry Library Guide. There are a dozen Chemistry classes being offered in the Spring. I think we'll want to create a Chemistry guide.

The question becomes- should there be one for inorganic, organic, just plain old chemistry or a combination of the three with tabs for type of chemistry?

Something to ponder.


-kss

Mole Day

My brother-in-law finds the most interesting 'days':

Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM, making the time/date 6:02 10/23 in the American style of writing dates. The time and date are derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×1023, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance, one of the seven base SI units.

My sister-in-law remembered "That's 10 to the 23rd - pretty much the only thing I remember from high school chemistry!" I had no clue as to what they were talking about. I must have drifted that day in class.

A little research helps fill in the blanks of knowledge. Our catalog notes over 150,000 titles. Surely there will be answers to be found. I did a search in our catalog for 'mole'. Nada. I did a search for 'Avogadro'. Still nothing in the catalog.

Where could I find Avogadro? E-books are easy to search through, individually and as a group. A search for the subject 'chemistry' turned up a few titles. I selected an EBSCO e-book, Organic Chemist's Desk Reference.
..To search within a title, you must first select 'E-Book Full Text' (on the left side of the screen).
.....The second step is to select the search icon that looks like a magnifying glass over a piece of paper (right side of the screen at the top on the tool bar that runs down the right side of the document).
I searched in that title for Avogadro. Zero results.

To search throughout all of the Ebsco e-books for Avogadro, I used the main search box at the top of the screen. I needed to clear the box of the number for , Organic Chemist's Desk Reference. That search retrieved 13 titles! More books than I wanted to look through to sate my curiosity.

Where could I find just enough information about Avogadro? Reminds me of Goldilocks- first too little, then too much- what would be just right?

Among the more than 500 reference books, Credo Reference has just the right amount of information on both the man and the concept. Avogadro from Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary gives the definition. Avogadro , (Lorenzo Romano) Amedio (Carlo) (1776 - 1856) from The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists tells about the man, himself!

Credo Reference is available on our Library page with the password. It is also available through GALILEO.

Your CTC campus librarian can give you the logins!


-kss

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Today the World Series begins. The only way to find out what was going on in sports, before radio, television and the internet, was to read the newspaper. Admittedly, my knowledge of current sports is minimal. My knowledge of sports history is absolutely nil. Where could I go to get a taste of historic sports information?

I looked in the Atlanta Historic Newspapers, which is a part of the Digital Library of Georgia. This is available without going through GALILEO . I searched for "world series". I put the phrase in quotes to hold it together. I didn't want to search for world and for series. 173 articles were retrieved. Most of the articles were dated late October, in the 1907-1911 time frame. To read the articles, I did need to download the DjVu plug-in.

While I was reading the sports pages, I noticed mention of Marist events. Marist is an Atlanta Catholic school that was founded for boys in 1901. Their sports activities were prominent on the sports pages of the turn of the century newspapers. Fascinating to read how excited people were over high school sports. But then this is the south.

Wandering while searching is an occupational hazard. One search leads to another. Go read about your favorite team from the turn of the century! You might be surprised at what you'll discover. Digital Library of Georgia has other newspapers from Georgia available.

-kss

Bulb carpeting

In GALILEO, the Ebsco database, Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index

provides access to articles about gardens and plants, including topics such as horticulture, botany, garden and landscape design & history, ecology, plant and garden conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy. A highlight of the database is its focus on environmentally sustainable horticultural and design practices. This index and abstract product is designed for gardening enthusiasts, professionals, and students of horticulture and of garden and landscape design & history. It covers more than 300 core serial titles that include general gardening titles of national, international, and regional interest, and titles devoted to specialty gardens and plant groups.

The title refers to the database as an index. However, you can limit your search to full text and find plenty of articles.

I searched for bulb planting and limited my search to 'full text'. 37 articles were retrieved. The first article The Changing World of Bulb Designs, fits nicely with my thoughts about planting now for a long lasting display. "The author suggests several methods of bulb planting in combination with perennial plants to avoid blank patches of land after the bulbs die, including tapestry design, bulb carpeting, and naturalistic designs of landscape designer Jacqueline van der Kloet."
I have something to think about as I get ready to design my spring display.

Go to GALILEO
...select Databases A-Z
....select G
.....select Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index
Limit your search to full text to find informative articles about gardening.

You will need the current password for GALILEO to use Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index. Your Georgia librarian can give you the password!




-kss

Thinking of Spring

Yes, I know Fall has barely begun, Winter is still months away but I'm thinking about Spring. A friend noted she had prepared a large pot with layers of bulbs that will bloom consecutively creating a long lasting spring floral display. She planted pansies as the last layer in the container, to give color for autumn.

We have an extensive collection of horticulture books to support our Environmental Horticulture program. This title might give you ideas on how to prepare your Spring display.Garden bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden [SB 425 .O44 2007]

There are hundreds of choice bulbs that revel in southern warmth and humidity, and Scott Ogden profiles the best of them in this fascinating, comprehensive volume. In a series of chapters that takes us through the gardening year, Ogden introduces the plants that help to give southern gardens their distinct regional flavor, many with charmingly descriptive names: rain lilies, oxblood lilies, jonquils, crinums, and scores of others. Weaving in bits of history and lore, Ogden details each plant's appearance and growing requirements. [more]

-kss

Cool, cooler, coolest

This morning the weather prognosticators noted a cool down is coming. We may have seen the last of the 80's for awhile. Knowing when the temperature will change and how low it will go is crucial for the agriculture industry.

The agriculture industry ranges from the commercial farmer to the patio container gardener. Each one has a vested interest in protecting their crop (no matter the size of the field).



The award winning Environmental Horticulture program has a page of weather information on their Library Guide. Stay tuned to the weather, your plants depend on your knowing what is going to happen next.



-kss

Hard hats

I saw men in hard hats wander by the door this morning.

I hear saws running.

The View from our front door will change over the next few months.

The auditorium will become a student area with three TV viewing spaces, vending machines and tables and chairs.

We will have a Student Commons area with the Student Success Center, Student Services, and the Library surrounding the new gathering space.



-kss

Noah Webster we salute you!

Dictionary Day is celebrated on October 16th.

The American Library Association noted on their FaceBook page -

My favorite online dictionary is still Merriam-Webster.com but another good source is the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, a part of Yahoo/reference. This is a clean site devoid of flashing advertisements, etc. which defines a word, has its part of speech and etymology. For some words there is a photo of the entry which is a hallmark of the print edition. A new edition of the dictionary will be published this fall and it is hoped that it will be incorporated into the Yahoo education site.

The OED (Oxford English Dictionary)is the grand master of dictionaries. We used to have access to the online edition but we do not subscribe any longer. We have the print edition in our reference collection [PE1625 .O87 1991 REF]. Our English instructors have created an assignment to have their students come to the library to use the OED. I'm grateful they are encouraging students to use this grand print resource.

-kss

Let's try this

Cool, hot, wet, or dry, weather is what it is! The American Museum of Natural History has experiments to help students understand climate and climate change.

Sometimes you want something fun to illustrate the serious nature of science. A search in our catalog for a weather book turned up Crafts for Kids Who Are Learning About Weather.This is an electronic book available through Ebsco. A hint- to open the book you need to click on the link on the left that says 'E-book full text'. It seems natural to click on the book cover but that's not the way it works.

It is a crafts book, not a book of experiments. The art activities illustrate a concept. Each craft follows a pattern with a page for 'Here is what you need'. The list of supplies is illustrated. There are several pages, if need be, for 'Here is what you do'. Illustrations accompany each numbered step.

If you're thinking of using this craft book to plan activities for guests, you could e-mail the specific pages to those attending. There is an envelope on the right side of the screen that takes you to the email option. I sent myself a section. The body of the e-mail gave me the citation information. The pages were attached as a pdf file. On the left side of each page is the copyright information. Scout leaders, Sunday School teachers, and babysitters would find this book helpful in coming up with something 'new' to do while learning about a scientific principle.

Ebsco has begun to let some titles be downloaded to an e-reader. This does not seem to be one of those titles. I'm not sure which titles are available and why. I'll do a little research and report back. In the mean time, have fun planning your craft activities!


-kss

How do you like this weather?

A safe topic of conversation is the weather. It's a neutral topic. Hardly anyone has an impassioned response to a question about the rain, or lack thereof. Stepping outside can tell you a great deal about what the weather is like right now.

What if you want to know more than just the facts of the immediate situation?

Following up on Abraham Lincoln's advice to read and study till one understands, I thought I'd explore Resources for Learning .

Resources for Learning [in GALILEO]is a collection of activities, curriculum materials, articles, scientific evidence, exhibitions, and reference lists developed by the American Museum of Natural History for students, educators, parents, and anyone interesting in exploring science. Topics include anthropology, astronomy, biology, earth science, and paleontology.

This site is one of the freely available information sources that GALILEO links to. Yes, GALILEO is a library that gathers information for Georgia citizens.

Back to American Museum of Natural History : Resources for Learning.
From the 5 broad topics listed, I selected Earth Science.
I have a choice between 7 links in Atmosphere or 44 links in Climate/Climate Change.
I selected Climate/Climate Change.
The lessons are sorted by grade level. The topics deal with climate change more than climate (weather).It's not what I thought might help me learn about the weather.

I can see this as being very useful for homeschooling. It also came to me that during the holidays this might be a fun, and free, place for families to go and find an experiment they could do together. The topics are current. The activities are laid out in a way that reminds me of lesson plans. Clear and detailed. Most adults would be able to walk through the experiments with their children or guests!

Begin planning "what to do" with the holiday company by exploring this resource!

I found the site in GALILEO
...Databases A-Z
.....selected A
........scrolled to American Museum of Natural History : Resources for Learning

-kss

Read and study

After Lincoln became a well-known lawyer, he sometimes received inquiries from people who aspired to become lawyers. He wrote: “Get the books and read and study them till you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing….It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at New Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places.” April 2004 [More}

In GALILEO articles from thousands of newspapers, journals, and magazines are available. One can create an RSS feed or an e-mail alert in several of the 'big' databases to have current articles delivered as they are made available. With wi-fi, GALILEO is a portable library. One isn't constrained by opening hours or a physical location. keeping Lincoln's remarks in mind, it doesn't matter where you are, just read and study till you understand.

To access this portable treasure ask your Georgia librarian for the current password.



-kss

Early birds

Early registration for Spring Semester started on Monday. The registration rush didn't impact the library, but I could see students in the Success Center working with advisors. Access to Banner was calculated on the number of hours a student had completed. Tomorrow (October 13th) Banner is open to all currently enrolled students.

Early registration ensures a place in the very class you need to finish your program. The first Fee Payment deadline is December 2nd at noon.

The early bird does get a seat in the desired class.

-kss

Hunting

Looking for information about the Hunters Moon, I ran across a blog that referred to the Harvest Moon poem by Mary Oliver. Mark Zeiger shared that his Dad sang "Shine on Harvest Moon" in a Barber Shop quartet.

Could I find the lyrics in one of the GALILEO databases?

I used the search box in the Databases A-Z tab.
...I looked for lyrics- nothing.
...I looked for music - and 5 resources were retrieved.
The two Ebsco databases looked most promising.

I opened Academic Search Complete. It took me awhile to remember to use Advanced Search to be able to limit my search to a type of article. I figured 'poem' might pull up the lyrics. I was wrong. A search for the phrase "Shine On Harvest Moon" pulled up 9 articles that referred to the song. None had the complete lyrics.

It still was informative to read a few of the articles. I picked the obituary, the article about a seniors music group, and a description of a seniors camping trip.

The seniors music group started with the first four lines of the refrain.

I did find a portion of the lyrics - just not the complete song laid out in a way I could count as 'lyrics'. Exploring on the official Columbus Day, I found something, just not what I was aiming for!


-kss

To use GALILEO off campus you need the current password. You may get the current password from your Georgia librarian.

Hunters Moon

image by joiseyshowaa

Farmers Almanac shared the October

... full Moon is often referred to as the Full Hunter’s Moon, Blood Moon, or Sanguine Moon. Many moons ago, Native Americans named this bright moon for obvious reasons. The leaves are falling from trees, the deer are fattened, and it’s time to begin storing up meat for the long winter ahead. [more...]

Roland Leach lectured about Mary Oliver's work. In ‘Hunter’s Moon - Eating the Bear’ [from Twelve Moons : Poems by Mary Oliver] "the Indians eat the meat of another creature but are shown to respect all life as sacred. Moreover, the death is not an end but the bear now becomes part of a greater cycle where it is a source of energy that infuses other life.... The Indian persona speaks respectfully and with awe of the relationship that now exists exists between himself and the dead bear"[more..]

Hunters Moon -- Eating the Bear, begins with a greeting:

Good friend,
it is a long afternoon.
The shadows of the pines are blue on the field
When I find you,
I am going to turn the world inside out.
The rocks around you will melt,
your heart will fall from your body.
And I will step out over the fields.......

and ends with

the pines you can no longer see
will be twisted and small, their shadows
stretching out, still turning around
in the small sinews of my prayers
some invisible dead center.

Read the complete poem on page 50, when you check out Twelve Moons : Poems by Mary Oliver [PS 3565 .L5 T9].

-kss

Go where?

To find the valuable intel. Thank you, Parker and Hart.


-kss

Go West, Young Man

Go west, young man! [electronic resource] : Horace Greeley's vision for America by Coy F. Cross takes the phrase we are familiar with and explains what it all means:

When twenty-year-old Horace Greeley arrived in New York City to start a printing business in 1831, he did not suspect that his faith in hard work and frugality would soon be tested by the worst financial depression in U.S. history to that date. Although Greeley survived and prospered, his concern for the urban unemployed prompted him to search for a universal solution—the safety valve of land in the West.
For the rest of his life, Greeley used his position as editor of the New York Tribune and occasional politician to promote his agrarian utopian ideology. Cross examines here Greeley's efforts in favor of four important factors in westward expansion[more...]

This title is available through our electronic book collection. It can be downloaded onto a variety of electronic readers.

I went to look at how this might work, though I don't have an electronic reader. You will first create a free account in Ebsco, which will be useful for any of the Ebsco databases. Maximum check out is for 7 days. I checked a title out for 1 day. When I go look at the book, the timer is running to tell me how many hours I have left to use the title. When I have the book checked out, no one else can use it.

I'll let you know what happens when the 24 hours are up.



-kss

Looking East

Columbus was trying to reach the East by going west. The plan was to find a shorter (quicker) trade path to the delicacies westerners had come to desire. The world was a bit bigger than he realized.

Today we marvel at how small the world has become because of the speed of information access.

The internet has tied us together in ways Columbus could never imagine. A Google search can reveal information about companies and products that are available world wide. But if we aren't sure of the name of a company or what could be available, how do we know what terms to use in our search?

I was scrolling through GALILEO and noticed ProQuest Asian Business and Reference which 'offers detailed information on companies, economies, markets, and overall business conditions throughout the Eastern Hemisphere'.

This could be a source for foundational information about Asian business. I clicked on publications. They have 318 publications. There are 67 Trade Journals. I scrolled through the list of Trade Journals.

The longest running trade journal in the database is The Banker [ISSN 0005-5395‎] from 1971 to the present. The issues from 2006 to the present are full text. Earlier issues offer a link to search for a library that has the issue. An intriguing note about the current issue of The Banker [ISSN 0005-5395‎]is the articles concerning Nigeria and Guatemala. It's not just about Asian businesses.

Explore the East without venturing across uncharted waters!




-kss