It's coming!

Back in September, I wrote about the beta testing for Auto Repair Reference Center.

Today this e-mail arrived from EBSCO:

We are pleased to announce that, as a current subscriber to Auto Repair Reference Center (ARRC), you will soon (in about one week) notice that your ARRC interface has been automatically replaced by the new version announced last spring.

We hope that you found it helpful to have the opportunity to try the new interface for several months in advance of its automatic upgrade to the new design. Key features of the updated interface include:

• Intuitive, user-friendly navigation
• Enhanced searching within content collections
• Ability to print/email/save high-quality PDF records
• Increased repair coverage – more than 37,000 vehicles covered
• Expanded, in-depth repair information from the major original equipment manufacturers, including Ford, Honda, and GMC
• On-Board Diagnostics (OBD II) codes with description and troubleshooting information

To learn more about the new Auto Repair Reference Center, please sign up to attend one of our free online training sessions at http://training.ebsco.com.

My quick spin with it in September inspired me!

-kss

To use GALILEO, get the current password from your Georgia Librarian
...Select Databases A-Z
.....Select A
........Select Auto Repair Reference Center.

Saturday night

From Time and Date.com: Many people in North America and the United Kingdom (UK) use the term “spring forward” and “fall back” when they refer to the daylight saving start and end dates. This is mainly due to the fact that DST occurs in the spring season and ends in the fall (or autumn) season in the northern hemisphere, where Canada, the UK, and the United States (USA) are located.

The term “to spring forward” refers to when people set the clocks one hour forward, marking the start of DST. It is a term that is easy to remember for many people in countries such as Canada, the UK and the USA. This is because the DST start date coincides with the spring season in these countries. It is the time of the year when the days begin to have longer hours of sunlight after the winter’s end, in addition DST, which brings forth an extra hour of daylight in the afternoons or evenings.

The term “to fall back” suggests that one must set the clocks one hour back when DST ends. [more from Time and Date.com]


-kss (This is not my original work and there's more to read. What I admire about Time and Date.com is the way they credit every photo. It's a very nice example of appropriate citing.)

11022011

A palindrome date for us.

As someone noted it was this number nine months ago in Europe. Why do they put the month in the middle and we put the month at the beginning?

-kss

Pen in hand

We're coming up on the time of year when families gather to reminisce. November is National Novel Writing Month! You could start today and have the great American novel ready (well almost ready) for Thanksgiving.

I started thinking about family stories. Little Women is the first that came to mind. I know there are other novels that use the family as their foundation. I just can't think of any- well, I thought of Little House on the Prairie but I couldn't think of any adult titles. A search in NoveList for Little Women revealed the genre tagged as 'family sagas'. That gave me a clue on what to search for.

The advanced search option in NoveList has a drop down box with GN genre. The search for family sagas as genre turned up over 1800 titles!

Now I need to narrow my search again. On the left side there are boxes to help narrow results. I picked Location. That dropped down to reveal a number of areas. I selected Southern States and then North Carolina. Three titles turned up. I wasn't interested in their characters so I x'd out North Carolina and tried Georgia.

I can see this might take some time!

Once you find the right book, click on the World Cat link to see which library has the book. There is a request a copy link. Because I went into NoveList through GALILEO I can request a copy be sent to my campus library.

Start writing or start reading to get ideas for your great American novel.

-kss

Get the password to use GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.
Select Databases A-Z
..Select N
....NoveList

Dem Bones

The spate of CSI programs with crusty but clever doctors deciphering the clues left by the body have inspired many a student to go into Criminal Justice.

Beyond the body farm (GN69.8 .B35 2007) in which "Forensic anthropologist Bass nicely complements his memoir, Death's Acre, with this unnervingly cheerful collection (ably co-written by science journalist Jefferson) of case studies and anecdotes from the field of corpse identification. With careful attention to detail and the occasional darkly humorous aside, the authors describe charred maggot cocoons; the grotesquely dismembered victims of a fireworks factory explosion; and the forensic uses of sonar, scanning electron microscopes and computer databases. [More]" You can get a hint of what you'll learn by reading the excerpt at the author's site.

This book is available at our Woodstock campus. We do move books around the system through the courier. Check with your CTC Librarian for your reading needs.

-kss

Rattling bones

Now that Halloween has passed, the neighborhood skeletons are back in their closets.

You have time to learn the names of the bones before they rattle their way out next year. We have access to two online skeletal resources which make it possible for our Anatomy and Physiology students to study bones anywhere and anytime.

ESkeletons,from the University of Texas at Austin, Department of Anthropology,"provides an interactive environment in which to examine and learn about skeletal anatomy. The purpose of this site is to enable you to view the bones of both human and non-human primates and to gather information about them from our osteology database." Access to this resource can be had through GALILEO.

CTC Library subscribes to Anatomy.TV which is a 3D anatomy resource. The Systemic Edition covers Skeletal, Muscular, Surface, Cardiovasular, and Lymphatic systems. Students do need the login and password for this resource off campus.

There is a difference between the two- ESkeletons has photographs of bones, Anatomy.TV has line drawings.

Between the resources, you can learn the names of the bones before they shake loose.


-kss

Another financial thought

From the overview for An anatomy of the financial crisis.

How did the US financial crisis snowball into USD 15 trillion global losses? This book offers a clear synthesis and original analysis of the various factors that led to the financial crisis of 2007-2010 - namely, an asset price bubble and excessive leverage. The focus is on the ingredients of and dynamics within the international financial system, and as such is the most comprehensive publication in scope to date in terms of market, country and instrument coverage.[more]

An anatomy of the financial crisis is one of our electronic books, available 24/7. To access the title off campus ask your CTC Librarian for the login information for ebrary.

-kss

The Law

Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2- Dick the Butcher says "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" and laughter ensues in the audience. Seth Finkelstein wrote in July of 1997 how lawyers take this phrase and explain it as praise for lawyers rather than contempt. If we did get rid of all the lawyers, would being run by political innocents be any better? Dictators regularly purge the educated (lawyers, professors, teachers, clergy, doctors) to keep the ignorant truly in the dark.

Honest, good, ethical lawyers try to protect the innocent from the powerful. The good lawyers try to keep the playing field level for all participants, no matter their economic power. We teach Business Law to our Marketing students. To help the students find legal information, we've created a Library Guide for MKTG 1130. We refer them to print and non-print resources. The information we provide opens their eyes to the need to understand there are rules (laws) designed to protect both consumer and retailer.


-kss

Money, money, money

The Occupy Wall Street movement is angry at the greed and corruption of the financial industry. Folks regularly say that money is the root of all evil, but the Bible notes it is the "Love of money" that is the root of all evil [1 Timothy 6:10]. What is going on in the Banking industry that has turned a fair return on investment into an addiction for more and more?

GALILEO has over 100 databases with current journals, magazines, and newspapers at your fingertips. Banking Information Source (Proquest) combines the currency of the Internet and the perspective of industry journals to provide the ultimate financial services research tool.

In today's banking world, keeping informed of what's happening in economic markets is as important as monitoring national and international developments. Banking Information Source (Proquest) can help users predict future market trends, monitor the rise of future competition, and even pick up ideas that have worked successfully in the financial services market. The database brings together leading journals from the most important international markets and allows you to analyze and compare articles from 360 full-text sources in a manner of seconds.

My complaint with the banks is the new charge for debit card use. I understand that the unintended consequence of the Dodd-Frank bill, which was an effort to help retailers, by putting a halt to the fees banks could charge the retailers for debit card use, ended up pushing banks to make up the loss in income by charging the consumers. Unintended consequences can turn a good idea into a terrible one.

My search in Banking Information Source (Proquest) for debit card charges (no quotes) turned up a hodge podge of articles. A second search for "debit card charges" (in quotes) turned up a few appropriate articles. The drop down list under the search box caught my eye with the phrase, 'debit card fees'. Using that phrase and sorting by most recent date gave me just what I hoped to find. Among the 12617 'hits' pulled up The November 5th, Investment Weekly News and the November 1, American Banker came first, followed by the Credit Union Journal and the Economist. Each has multiple articles referring to 'debit card fees'.

To access Banking Information Source (Proquest)
Go to GALILEO
..Select Database A-Z
....Select B
......Select Banking Information Source(Proquest)
You may get the password to access GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.


-kss

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

Tonight is the night when Linus sits waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive.


Why does he wait? What is he waiting for? It does seem like the wait must be a theological response to something Linus feels is greater than himself. A search for "great pumpkin" in the Religion (Proquest) database in GALILEO turned up 15 articles dating to 1989. There are humorous, serious, reflective, even German responses to Linus, the Great Pumpkin and God. But no one seems to really know why Linus waits. It's a puzzle.

-kss

The password to access Religion (Proquest) in GALILEO is available from your Georgia librarian. Just ask.

Analyzing Popular Music

The Credo pop music quiz had me searching for popular music in our catalog. I wondered what we had that might help me with the Credo questions. My search for facts was derailed when I ran across two e-copies of Analyzing Popular Music by Allan F. Moore [MT146 ONLINE RESOURCE 2003]. A trip through Google looking for more info on the title led me to Amazon which has a 2009 print edition for sale.

To see if there had been a seismic shift in the six years between editions, the "Look Inside" option allowed me to compare the Table of Contents and the first page of the index of the two editions. With my, admittedly quick, skimming I couldn't see any differences between the 2003 and 2009 versions.

The book description offered at Amazon gives hints on the content

How do we "know" music? We perform it, compose it, sing it in the shower; cook, sleep and dance to it. Eventually we think and write about it. This book represents the culmination of such shared processes. Portraying a wide range of genres (rock, dance, TV soundtracks, country, pop, soul, easy listening, Turkish Arabesk), the essays cover methodology, modernism, postmodernism, Marxism and communication.

This title does offer an erudite look at popular music. It didn't help with the Credo quiz but it did offer thought provoking entries.

To use the e-books in our collection you do need a log-in. Check with your CTC librarian.




-kss

Singing along

Credo Reference sends out a weekly trivia quiz:

This week: Pop Albums

This week's brainteaser is about albums of popular music. Can you say which group or artist released these albums in the years indicated?

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

2. The Dark Side of the Moon (1973).

3. Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) and Sticky Fingers (1971).

4. Pop (1997) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004).

5. Aladdin Sane (1973) and Heroes (1977).

6. Californication (1999) and Stadium Arcadium (2006).

7. The College Dropout (2004) and Graduation (2007).

8. Songs in the Key of Life (1976).

9. Heart of Stone (1989) and Believe (1998).

10. Such Sweet Thunder (1957).

Questions set by Tony Augarde (www.augardebooks.co.uk)

The only one I 'knew' was the first one. That dates me doesn't it? It also shows I just didn't keep up with pop music. The answers to these 'teasers' can be found in the music collection of Credo Reference!

Check with your CTC librarian for the log-in to Credo. You may also access Credo through GALILEO. You know who can give you the password to GALILEO?

-kss

Houses

The children's book by Virginia Burton, The Little House [PZ 7 .B954 LI 1978], is a "powerful, visually appealing story of a little country farmhouse that gets slowly engulfed, year by year, by the encroachment of a nearby booming metropolis. Eventually, the house is left derelict in a seedy neighborhood ..." [More]

I'm thinking about the changes going on around me. This book may be 'old' but it has a timeless appeal.

-kss

De-construction

Pondering the renovation of the changing view, brought to mind how buildings around town have evolved.

consists of 4,445 maps by the Sanborn Map Company depicting commercial, industrial, and residential areas for 133 municipalities [within Georgia]. Originally designed for fire insurance assessment, the color-coded maps relate the location and use of buildings [frequently naming the business that was housed in the building], as well as the materials employed in their construction. The maps indicate which city utilities--such as water and fire service--were available.

Fire insurance maps document the changing face of towns and cities, providing highly detailed information for each neighborhood and block. The Library of Congress web site refers to them as "probably the single most important record of urban growth and development in the United States during the past one hundred years."

Not every city in Georgia has a map. I used this with an intro to college class that was looking at Cartersville history. (Cartersville is in Bartow County, as is this campus). For Cartersville, there are maps for 1885, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1905, 1909, 1916,and 1921. 36 years of detailed city maps!

It's not too difficult to navigate the maps. There is a tool bar with zoom in/out and pan left/right arrows at the top of each map. The search boxes are self explanatory and yes, the more accurate an address you have, the better your results on the map!

In conjunction with Google Earth one could see how much an area has changed in over a 100 years!


-kss

Building

Thinking about the construction going on (well, destruction at the moment), I went to our catalog to see if there was a book that might help me understand what is happening to the building.

My first search for construction as a word or phrase turned up 1883 titles. As I scrolled down the list, nothing popped right up that would be applicable.

Switching my search for construction to a subject term narrowed the field to 1020 titles. That was better but not much.

Skimming the list, Slope stability, retaining walls, and foundations [electronic] showed possibilities, but it was "selected papers from the 2009 GeoHunan International Conference, August 3-6, 2009, Changsha, Hunan, China". It's subject terms might help my search. Foundations - design and construction looked to be the best option (after eliminating Congresses). No success.

What term could I use? Building might work as a subject. 428 titles. We're narrowing the field of results.

This time I found a book that had possibilities. It is for new construction but one of the subject headings gave me an idea - Building Superintendence. Yes, that's it. 21 titles retrieved. Really that's what I'm going to be doing for the next few months, superintending from the circulation desk!


-kss

What do I see?

The wall comes down. The wall goes up.

Outside the retaining walls have been removed from around the exterior of the auditorium.

Inside a temporary wall has been erected to protect us from flying debris as interior demolition begins.

The renovation of the current auditorium just outside the North Metro campus library has picked up speed. In 2012 it will be an entry/student space. Glass walls will replace the concrete and brick exterior. The interior will have TV's, tables, chairs, and a few sofas. The furniture will be artfully arranged on swooping carpet spaces.

My view is being obstructed for a time but soon it will be expanded!


-kss

A view of an event

Annals of American History includes the full text of primary documents in American history, including historical accounts, speeches, memoirs, poems, editorials, landmark court decisions, and cultural criticism.

This being my Frederick Douglass day, I looked him up in Annals of American History and found two articles that he wrote. The title of the first article, "An African American View of the Mexican War", leads one to believe that there is a racial side to the discussion. "The treaty was opposed in America both by those who wanted more territory from Mexico than the treaty secured and by those who wanted no territory at all." After reading his editorial, I wondered why in the world did the editors title this as an African American view?

I searched for Mexican War in Annals of American History to see what other sources might be included. Not one title mentioned the race of the author. Fascinating. What are the editors saying?

You can get to Annals of American History by going to GALILEO (the current password is available from your Georgia librarian).
...Select Databases A-Z
.....Select A
.......Select Annals of American History

-kss

Dedication

Learning about dedication from the life of Frederick Douglass is available as an electronic book in EBSCO. This is one of the many titles that can be downloaded into an e-reader.

The School Library Journal review noted in Amazon.com

"Although the need for books about values and character building is real, these series titles seem like a marketing ploy. The texts are basic, providing essentially the same or less information found in standard encyclopedias. No sources are listed. The material is simplified sometimes to the point of being misleading."

The review gave me pause - so I read the book online. It is a children's book under 26 pages long. It is simplistic and choppy. There is a glossary but no references. There is a bit of biographical information but not as much as an encyclopedia. I agree with the reviewer. This could have been done so much better, even if it's part of a series on character aimed at children. Children deserve the very best in writing.



-kss

Primary sources

Showing English 2130 students how to find and use Primary Sources gives me a chance to advocate the use of Ancestry.com Library Edition. The Library Edition is only available on campus through GALILEO.

My favorite primary source in Ancestry is the Federal census. Each Federal census provides slightly different information. Since the beginning of Federal census taking in 1790, the name the head of the household was enumerated. The Head of the Household was usually the oldest male but sometimes a woman was noted as Head of Household. Starting in 1850, each person who lived in the household, whether kin or not, was named. Some census noted the relationship of each person to the head of the household.

I was showing Mrs. Alden's American Literature class how to find Frederick Douglass in Ancestry. I did a search with thousands of hits. Showing the Advanced search and the exact limiter brought our results to a manageable level of a little over 1600 names. The 1930 census (latest census available) had quite a few Frederick Douglass' noted. My question was- what do you know about Frederick Douglass? Could the author, Frederick Douglass, be in the 1930 census?

Credo Reference serves as a quick (and authoritative) search option - Douglass, Frederick (1818 - 1895). The brief biography lets me know that the Frederick Douglass enumerated in 1930 is not the Frederick Douglass I'm looking for. I also learn that Mr. Douglass was born in Maryland. The location is another piece of information I can use when looking in the census (or any other primary document).

Back to Ancestry. Since Mr. Douglass died in 1895, I start my search with the 1880 census (the 1890 census was burned and is incomplete). F W Douglass is noted as being born in 1820 in Maryland. I point out the census is notorious for getting the ages not quite right. When we look at the original census image, we see F.W. as head of household, his wife Anna, and four granddaughters (now there's a story). His occupation was U.S. Marshall. On one side of the Douglass family lives a white family, on the other side a black family. Mr. Douglass is noted as mulatto. An integrated neighborhood documented in the 1880 census.

Watching students eyes light up as they see the possibilities for adding primary source information to their projects is priceless.



-kss

Poetry Sherpas

Sherpas are guides for the traveler through the mountains of Nepal. They carry and assist without being 'in charge'. If the traveler says I want to go that way, the sherpa will help them.

I happily point out that our Library Guides act as sherpas for the researcher. If an instructor requests a specialized guide for their class, we create one. There are English guides that list poets on drop down lists. The American Literature guide has a Reading List tab with many of the poets and authors that are covered in the term.

My theme for today is Carl Sandburg and 'Fog'. The page under the Reading List tab for Carl Sandburg includes a You Tube video, links to poems, and links to GALILEO resources LION and Literature Resource Center.

Like a good sherpa, we carry the load and point you in the best direction.



-kss