And the groundhog saw....

The Non Sequitur comic strip says it all!

But if you'd like to read a bit of history - a Quick Search in GALILEO brought up this article in Ebsco's Academic Search Complete. The abstract teases us with:

The article focuses on the tradition of Groundhog Day, celebrated every February 2 in the U.S. While the origin of Groundhog Day remains uncertain, one explanation is that the tradition derives from the European celebration of Candlemas, which falls roughly halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal equinox. It asserts that the most celebrated Groundhog Day ceremony occurs just outside the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

Georgia does have their prognosticator in General Beau Lee, Ph.D., Georgia’s Official Weather Prognosticator. See what he says for those of us in Georgia!

Bundle up, get ready, it may not end soon.

Glad you asked!

from Amazon.coms Book Description:

• Which brilliant mathematician broke enemy codes during World War II, laid the foundation for artificial intelligence, underwent 12 months of "hormone therapy," and then was found dead in his bed, poisoned by cyanide?
• Which bank relies on peer pressure as collateral for loans?
• Which fitness champion walked barefoot to work carrying a 40-pound bag of sand and preached the virtues of nudity and sleeping on the floor?
• And the monks of which world religion cover their mouths with cloth to prevent them from ingesting insects and violating their belief in nonviolence?

Stay tuned for the answers . . .

If something is worth knowing, it’s in Encyclopaedia Britannica, one of the most exhaustive and definitive sources of information and knowledge in the world.

In Glad You Asked, you’ll find many facts and ideas, some novel, some essential, but all interesting, culled by Encyclopaedia Britannica and presented in a descriptive and accessible manner. The results are the names, dates, facts, events, phrases, and ideas all readers will want to have in their arsenal of knowledge

Check it out from our library - Glad You Asked [AG 106 .G57 2006] from the editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (and only 211 pages long).

Throw me something, mister!

A faculty member went to New Orleans last weekend and returned with beads galore. The colorful, shiny, plastic beads are the traditional "throw" from the floats to all those people in the street.

Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the last fling before Lent. I used Credo (our new reference database) to look for information. Limiting my search to the Religion collection didn't pull up any references for Mardi Gras. I was a bit surprised. A search through all of Credo did provide the information I thought should have been pulled up the first time. Mardi Gras - French for Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday or the two week season just before Lent. A time to eat up the fats and sweets before fasting begins!

Credo works like GALILEO in sifting through multiple resources to provide you the information you requested.

Better than shiny beads are the resources at your fingertips through our library resources.

The Show Must Go On

And where have I been? Sick, teaching, covering the library with one less staff person.....oh my.

The screen writers are on strike so producers are coming up with a variety of ways to fill the air time.

I noticed the International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance (IBTD) a database in GALILEO which expands on the 16-year coverage of its multi-volume predecessor with an additional 100,000 articles, essays and book chapters mined from internationally selected publications in drama, dance, media, mime, mixed entertainment, storytelling, music-drama, and puppetry. IBTD is a research tool for university theater and language departments, theater organizations, primary schools, social scientists and professionals within the field.

International Bibliography of Theater & Dance with Full Text includes nearly 100 journal titles and over 120 full-text books not included in Academic Search Complete.

IBTD is an Ebsco product (green & blue) fairly straightforward to use- the PDF files will include color pictures!

I did a search for Tony awards and retrieved over 1000 articles. When I looked for Oscar awards - a few hundred but I noticed the other subject term Academy Awards (motion pictures) and that pulled up over 1000! Using the correct search term provides useful results.

The Georgia Blue Book

Karen Minton, GALILEO Support Services, sent this announcement : Georgia Official and Statistical Register: "Georgia’s Blue Book," a new resource from the Digital Library of Georgia has been added to the GALILEO demo system and is available for your preview at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/.


The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to announce its newest Web resource: Georgia Official and Statistical Register: “Georgia’s Blue Book.”

The Georgia Official and Statistical Register, published from 1923-1990 by the Georgia Department of Archives and History, is commonly known as the Georgia Blue Book.

The 1989-1990 volume was the last published volume. Considered an important reference work for historical research, the Register covers Georgia’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, providing biographical sketches of elected and other state officials.

Georgia members of U.S. Congress and federal judges are included, as are county officials and regents of the university system.

The Blue Books contain election returns, provide basic reference data on Georgia counties, and cover Georgia miscellany, such as the state flag, state flower, state song, rosters of Georgia governors, and legal holidays.

The Georgia Official and Statistical Register site is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia as a part of the Georgia Government Publications program.

The Register is full-text searchable and is available in JPG, PDF and DjVu versions.

Generalities

The ENG 111 instructor likes her students to focus on the ProQuest Databases for their initial foray into research. Her feeling is ProQuest has enough general information that all students should be able to find at least one article on their topic.

It is a learning curve for our students to learn what a database can contain and how to use one.

I like the analogy that databases are like cars- if you can drive a Ford you can drive a Chevy. Cars are cars- steeering wheel, stick shift somewhere, accelerator, brake, etc. It might take a few minutes to get acclimated but a car is a car and you can drive one! The same with databases. They have similar features- basic, advanced searches, limiters.

ProQuest Databases has the Basic, Advanced search tabs, Topics, the Publications tab.

For Eng 111, I show the Basic tab, the Full Text limiter, and the Scholarly Journals limiter.

We're pushing the full text limiter with the thought that our students aren't doing academic research, they need an article for a "report".

I know I waited till it was too late to order articles through InterLibrary Loan when I was an undergrad. The full text limiter eliminates the wailing and gnashing of teeth as they realize there was a perfect article but all they could see was the abstract and it's too late to order.

The Scholarly Journals limiter weeds out the Good Housekeeping articles and begins to help students "see" there is a diference in the writing and content that scholarly journals allow.

It's a step toward Information Literacy- showing the students there are ways to weed through the tsunami of information that is available.

The awards again

Yesterday, I was so pleased to find a link that noted the American Library Association awards that I forgot to remind you where you can find information about books in GALILEO.

NoveList (an Ebsco database that is not green and blue) has lists, links, suggestions and more for finding the perfect book to read for fun!

To find the Caldecott Medal books:
Select Browse lists
...Best Fiction, Children
......Literary (there are 81 different Literary Children's awards) This years winner is not listed, yet.

The book descriptions have a picture of the cover (most of us do judge a book by its cover).

It's a fascinating database with tools to help you keep track of what you've read!
Test it out. You get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

And the winner is.....

The American Library Association has announced the Award winners (Caldecott, Newbery, etc)!

2008 ALSC Literary and Related Award winners!

In order to post the winning information as expeditiously as possible, we are providing a straight list of 2008 ALSC award winners, including book title, author, and publisher. Additional information, including annotations and book cover images for each award-winning title, will be posted to the individual award pages as soon as possible.

Cleaning out files

I'm moving offices. It is giving me the opportunity to look through and weed files. While sorting through folders I ran across a tip (Sept 2003) for finding sites linked to the original.

This tip lets you see the connections and gives you clues based on who else linked to it.

The tip - using Google search for link:http://www.galileo.usg.edu (or whatever site you're interested in). The results show who else has linked to that site.

Yahoo search for link:http://www.galileo.usg.edu pulls up slightly different results.

Wonder what else I'll find amidst my files?

Lies, damned lies, and statistics

Joseph Lane wrote Fuzzy Math : Why the primaries mean whatever we want them to mean in the Britannica Blog. The article pushed me to think about statistics and how we can use numbers to say whatever we want by using percentages or graphs or comparisons with unrelated topics or.....which led me to search out the phrase Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Mark Twain has definitely left an impact on our culture.

I began to wonder what statistical resources I could find in GALILEO. Using the search box - not Quick Search but the one that says Find databases by name (scroll down a smidgeon to see that box) - I typed in statistics and fifteen databases were pulled.

The standards- Academic Search Complete and Research Library (at ProQuest), but there are others- the World Almanac and World Data Analyst that are likely places to find statistics.

Go forth, fimd the numbers to support your favorite cause! You may get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian.

Speedy

When I have a favorite database in GALILEO I use the Express link and save it in my del.icio.us account. I can click on it (then enter my GALILEO password) and use the information!

To find and use the Express link:
GALILEO
...Go to Databases A-Z
......Scroll or jump to your favorite resource (you see the "push pin" at the end of the line)
........Click on the push pin

PC users can right-click on one of the links below and add it as a Bookmark or Favorite. Mac users can open their Edit Bookmarks or Open Favorites window and drag one of the links into that window to add it.

You may copy and paste the link, too.

This is a nice feature if you want to pull your favorite GALILEO resources and have them quickly available through your favorites list or del.icio.us. You will still need to use your GALILEO password to open them up.

You are saving a step or two to get to the information you need by using the Express links.

First day!

The first day of the quarter is always exciting. Students seem eager and nervous.

The school has implemented a log in system to use the computers on campus.
Students will have official school e-mail.

It's something new for us!

It will be better

I admit- I got up early and logged into GALILEO- hoping to see the "new" version, nada. When I arrived at school and checked e-mail, I was greeted with this information:

---------------------
Dear GALILEO Users,


We had hoped that the release of four new interfaces for each of our GALILEO user communities would occur at the transition between Fall and Winter school calendars in order to have the lowest possible impact on users, given the year-round services libraries provide, and had been aiming for the week of December 17th. When that didn’t happen, we had hoped with some intense work over the holidays we would still be able to make that transition in early January. However, due to some challenges discovered as we prepared to move from beta into production, the new interfaces will not be ready until March. A fifth interface intended to replace the Kid's interface now in production is being revisited based on feedback from usability and K12 stakeholders; the current Kid's interface will continue to be in use through March.

Thank you for providing help and assistance with this release and the many positive comments you have shared – I know that a delay is not what any of us were expecting, but we hope that we will have a better product that will serve your users well in the early Spring. Please let me know if you have specific questions about this. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

Merryll

Merryll S. Penson
Executive Director, Library Services

--------------------------

So we'll be patient and wait till March. Better to do it right than do it over.

What did they say?

The Iowa Caucus is over. The results are in. What are the newspapers saying about the results?

In GALILEO the Ebsco database Newspaper Source has articles with the dateline 2 Jan 2008. That's no help.

A trip to Lexis Nexis with a search limited to todays date (4 Jan 2008) pulled up 514 articles. There are interesting things being said by all the pundits on why and what is next!

Use GALILEO to access current information quickly!

The password for home use is available from your Georgia librarian.

Judge not

Students and faculty are coming back. I went looking for information on the common cold. I'm hoping to ward off a winter illness.

A search in Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition for "common cold" pulled up 392 articles. The articles are in date order (newest at the top of the list).

The most current (Dec 2007) article "Partied too much? Tummy-soothing tricks" is about colds but the title seems to be more appropriate after New Years Eve partying:

The article presents information on preventing stomachache. It discusses an imbalance of bacteria in the digestive system as the cause of gastrointestinal distress. It suggests avoiding the combination of alcohol and holiday sweets, avoiding antibiotics as treatment for common colds, and taking a daily dose of probiotics. It discusses the benefits of prebiotics and probiotics and offers a listing of fortified products.

Judging an article by the title is like judging a book by the cover. Dig into the article before dismissing it over the title.

2008 has begun

The library is open, a few faculty are on campus, a few new students are wandering about.

Tomorrow (January 3) is open registration, advisement and orientation.

The Winter Quarter begins on Monday, January 7.

Happy Holidays

We'll be on break till January 2, 2008.

The warm smells surround us

Holiday baking is proceeding full oven ahead. The scents of spices waft through homes and businesses as bakers share the joy!

How do you find new recipes to enthrall your friends and family? Magazines have recipes by the thousands. Is it possible to weed through all those beautiful issues to find the best recipe?

The ProQuest database in GALILEO has a way for you find new recipes. Proquest indexes Gourmet, Southern Living, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and others that provide culinary delights on a regular basis.

Do a basic search, open More Search Options, limit your document to recipes. They provide a drop down screen with Document types- recipe is an option.
You may Set up Alert, which will provide you with regular e-mails of new recipes!

Ebsco's Visual Search update!

Some time ago I wrote about Visual Search and my confusion with its usefulness.

Ebsco sent this out today:

"On 11/21/07, we announced plans to upgrade the Visual Search option on EBSCOhost and other user interfaces, at the end of this calendar year. We are pleased to announce that the new version of Visual Search is about to become available to your users.

Please note that a comprehensive tutorial will open automatically when a user clicks on the Visual Search tab in EBSCOhost, to guide them through the functionality of the new Visual Search screens."

That comprehensive tutorial just might do the trick in helping those of us who just don't get the picture!

Waiting for the day

You know how you wait and wait for an event? The anticipation builds. The day arrives, your heart is beating wildly- you go and ---- you know the feeling?

This morning I went to my computer before the crack of dawn to try out the new GALILEO interface. It wasn't up. At school I opened this e-mail from Lauren Fancher, Director, GALILEO Support Services:

Dear GALILEO Users,

GALILEO is pleased to announce the upcoming release of four new interfaces for each of the GALILEO user communities: Scholar (academic), Library (public library), High-School, and Teen. The initial designs have been available for review and testing in beta since early October.

During that time, revisions have been prototyped based on the findings of usability testing, development for these revisions has been in process, and critical issues uncovered in beta testing are now being addressed prior to the production release.
The majority of the usability findings addressed the need to further clarify differences in navigation between the user views through color and design; functionality will not undergo major changes. Screen shots of the final designs are available for review at:
http://www.usg.edu/galileo/about/planning/projects/upgrade/redesign.phtml

We had hoped that the release would occur at the transition between Fall and Winter school calendars in order to have the lowest possible impact on users, given the year-round services libraries provide, and had been aiming for the coming week of December 17th.

Work continues to prepare the four new interfaces to appear in production within that window; however, the revisions will not be ready until the first week of January; a fifth interface intended to replace the Kid's interface now in production is being revisited based on feedback from usability and K12 stakeholders; the current Kid's interface will continue to be in use through January.

Thank you for providing help and assistance with this release and the many positive comments you have shared – we hope that the timing of the release will be acceptable and appreciate your understanding.

As the saying goes- if it's worth having, it's worth waiting for...and better to do it right than to do it over. We go back to waiting. I'm glad the staff at GALILEO want to get it right.