Another Neat Election Resource

One interesting resource related to the Presidential election is 270toWin.com. This website has a wide variety of maps, polls, and historical data that allows you to look at past elections. The website does a good job of explaining the complicated electoral college system and what it takes to become the President. One of the neatest features offered by the website is a simulation of the upcoming election, which is generated by polling data collected by the website. If you don't like the way the simulation turned out, then you can run it again and get a different result.

You may examine an individual state's page on the site. This will give you a current graphic barometer of polling data in the state. It will also show you how the state has voted in recent Presidential elections, as well as the number of electoral votes the state has had historically.

The site is very current with RSS feeds available, and there is a blog maintained by the website. There is a small section on the 2008 Senate races, and there is an interactive Senate map that allows you to pick the winners of these races. You can tell that the website has done their homework because they are aware that both Wyoming and Mississippi have two Senate seats up for grabs this year. You have the ability to pick one of each party as the winner in each of these states or each for the same party.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the website, to me at least, is the answers section. You can find this under the 'more' tab. This section allows you, among other things, to find out when the last time the Democrats/Republicans won the election while losing both 'state x' and 'state y.' Doing this, you learn that no Republican has ever won the White House while losing Maryland and Massachusetts and Kansas. You can also learn that Minnesota has not voted Republican since 1972 (making it the only state Ronald Reagan never won an election in.)

This section is also a good tool for teaching Boolean Logic. Connecting two or three states using an 'and' or 'or' is a simple way to demonstrate to students just what Boolean logic is. The fact that the Boolean is represented graphically may also help visual learners.

Highest possible personal recommendation on this website.

JWF

Interesting Election Resource

This resource may be of interest if you are a political junkie. The American Past allows you to look back upon past Presidential elections and related data. You can use the maps on the site to examine previous margins of victory, among other data, on a county by county level.

The neatest feature of this site is the interactive movies section. One interactive movie will take you through every Presidential election since 1840 and show you the results on a county by county basis. It takes about three to four minutes to watch the film. It is interesting to note how the north and south have flip-flopped over the last 150 years on supporting the Democrats and Republicans.

The website has been created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.

JWF

Bidenmania

Unless you've been living under a media and/or digital rock, you should know that Senator Joe Biden, Democrat from Delaware, has been tapped to be the Vice-Presidential nominee of Barack Obama. Some of you may have even received a text message at 3:30 am Saturday morning informing you of Biden's nod.

Who is Biden? The USA Today for today described him as Pennsylvania's Third Senator (perhaps due to the proximity of Delaware to Pennsylvania and the fact he was born in the Keystone State). Many talking heads on the television have noted Biden's tendency to talk and talk and talk and talk . . . Well, you get the idea.

One place to find information about Biden is his official US Senate website, which you can access here. Understand that is this is an official Senate website maintained by Biden and his staff, it is not the best place to look for hard-hitting, critical analysis of Biden or his record. You can learn that by looking in the biography section that he won election to the US Senate at the age of 29. Under the terms of the Constitution, this would make him too young to serve as a US Senator. However, Biden did turn 30 by the time he took office in 1973. Also, you can sign up to receive the aptly named 'Biden Bulletin' which is an email newsletter.

One source of information about Biden is our old friend Galileo. From Browse by Subject, you can go to Social Sciences and select Political Science. Once there, you can do a search for 'Joe Biden' in the first search bar. The third result you get is actually a piece from USA Today that Biden wrote about Afghanistan.

Notice though, that when you change the search to 'Joe' in the first search bar and 'Biden' in the second search bar, the results are slightly different. This is also true when you change Joe to Joseph. A search for 'Joseph Biden' in the search bar gives us a set of results where the third result in Academic Search Complete is an an article relating to the future possible makeup of the Obama cabinet.

Another possibility is to go to Galileo and click on the 'Search' tab. At this point, you have the ability to search many databases by clicking on the show more databases link and selecting each database you want to search in. A search for 'Biden' and 'plagiarism' in Academic Search Complete and Research Library gives us a handful of results related to some incidents involving Senator Biden and accusations of plagiarism from his first presidential campaign in 1988.

Get ready for an information glut on Biden over the next week, just as you will get one when John McCain announces his VP pick on Friday (probably).

JWF

It begins tonight

The political junkies are salivating as the Democratic convention coverage begins tonight. Where can one read about the conventions - past and present?

Current information can be gathered with a Google search, a scan of CNN or Fox. What if you'd like to read about the last convention or even the 1980 Democratic Convention. You know I'm going to send you to GALILEO!

I selected Browse by Type because I knew I wanted newspaper articles. The Newspaper link opens with a list of newspaper sources. I can't search through them the way I can search when I use the Browse by Subjects tab. I tried the New York Times links (both current and Archive) only to discover they end up being "I pay" sites.

What can I access as part of GALILEO? ProQuest offers The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, (plus the Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal through the Newspapers database.

ProQuest is easy to use. The Advanced tab allowed me to limit my search by year. I wanted to check out the 1980 convention - there are 69 articles from 1 Jan 1980 to 31 Dec 1980 about the Democratic Convention! The drawback is I found nothing for the 1976 or earlier conventions.

Now what? I went to Browse by Subject, selected Social Science, selected Political Science and Administration - limited my search for Democratic convention (no quotes) to 1976 and several articles came up through Academic Search Complete. There were even a few with a search limited to 1972.

For the confirmed political junkie, GALILEO offers access to resources to feed your addiction for information about the political process!

Your Georgia librarian has the password to use GALILEO at home! Watch the coverage and read the articles!


-kls

Access limited to location

It is very frustrating to have vendors limit access to a database based on IP addresses. Our auto guys are having difficulty using the Shop Key / Mitchell 1 resources because they are only available on campus. We had password access last year to Shop Key which made it very handy for students to do homework and for the instructor to prepare lesson plans. This year when we added the Mitchel 1 resource for the diesel program - slam - IP address access only....and the Mitchell 1 costs 4 times as much as the Shop Key...

What can a library do?

We offer Auto Repair Reference Center by Ebsco through GALILEO

The Auto Repair Reference Center database includes automotive repair information supplied by Point 5 Technologies, Inc., under license from Nichols Publishing, the former publisher of Chilton® Information and information from Delphi Integrated Service Solutions. Auto Repair Reference Center contains information on most major manufacturers of domestic and imported vehicles, with repair information for most vintage makes starting as far back as 1945. Database content includes approximately 28,350 vehicles covered from 1945 to present; over 191,000 drawings and step-by-step photographs; approximately 72,000 technical service bulletins & recalls issued by the original equipment vehicle manufacturer; over 114,000 enhanced wiring diagrams for easy viewing and printing; specifications & maintenance schedules; Labor Time Guide & Estimator; Auto IQ; Quick Tips, a complete guide to vehicle ownership & maintenance; unlimited remote access and much more. New repair procedures and updates will also be added continuously. All of the content in Auto Repair Reference Center has been created by ASE certified technicians.

I admit I haven't played with either enough to do a clear compare and contrast. The auto guys prefer the Shop Key resource. It could be they haven't played with the Ebsco product.

I do like the videos in the Ebsco Auto IQ tab. I tried to look up my car but it's too new- the ARRC only goes to 2007.

Maybe I'll offer treats and they can show me Shop Key and I'll show them ARRC!


-kls

Sharing stories

On LM_NET, Judy Freeman posted a thank you to another member for reminding us to use NoveList for curriculum ideas. At the beginning of the year many of us need a jump start on what to read. Parents may find these tips useful as well.

If you're looking for a way to extend your story time, the Desperate Librarians or . . . When You Need a Few New Ideas newsletters offer suggestions for the latest titles. I've attended Judy's workshops and can attest to the originality and timeliness as Judy shares how to make a story stay firmly attached in the memory of the listener.

Go to GALILEO
Select Databases A-Z
Type in NoveList
Search for "Desperate Librarians" (you need to use the quotes)
Voila - ideas galore!

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


-kls

Now What?

Supposing that there may be those of you who haven't heard, the Olympics games are being held in Beijing, China. (Technically they are not called the summer Olympics, even though the winter Olympics are officially called the Winter Olympics).

Over the past two weeks you may have caught footage of the opening ceremonies, stayed up till near dawn to watch gymnastics, or experienced the agony of tape-delayed covergage. Those of you who are home during the day may have seen unfamiliar sporting events that are often just a blip on the radar, even during the Olympics, such as badmitton or water polo.

Next week, the Olympics and the sporting events that make them up, will recede back into the level of obscurity that they inhabit except for a two week period every four years. (Not including the Winter Olympics naturally.) Still, life goes on for the sports and the Olympics beyond Beijing.

Most sporting federations will hold one or more world championships between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. One such event will be the 13th FINA World Swimming and Diving Championships, to be held in Rome, Italy in 2009. (FINA oversees International Swimming and Diving.) Learn more about this event here.

And before you know it, the 2010 Winter Olympics will be upon us. These games will be held in Vancouver, Canada. (Translation=less tape delay). You see, those fine folks at the International Olympic Committee have this well thought out and organized idea of picking the host site for the Olympics about six to seven years out from the date of the games. That allows the host city/nation time to prepare. London will host the 2012 summer Olympics. Sochi, Russia will host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Chicago, Rio de Janiero, and Madrid, Spain are the finalists for the 2016 summer Olympics. Whew. That's a lot of Olympics to look forward to.

Still, as you are watching the hurdles, pole vault, diving, swimming, and judo, just remember the Olympics once had events such as the Hop, Step, and Jump (similar to the Triple Jump) and even the Tug of War. Wasn't life so much simpler . . .

JWF

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

The new librarian strongly recommended "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms" by Will Richardson.

Jeff read and learned from the first edition while working at Chattanooga State. We purchased the second edition this summer for NMTC. I finished flipping through the book and read the section, "About the Author". The URL for Mr. Richardson's blog jumped out at me. I went exploring and found Weblogged-ed at http://weblogg-ed.com/. (I've added it to my Bloglines.)

Mr. Richardson's entry for today discusses del.icio.us. I had an "ah ha" moment. I've regularly copied and pasted the "About Us" description from web sites. I'm glad del.icio.us has increased the character limit.

I noticed the new "look" to del.icio.us a few weeks ago. I had a few issues with it - I felt like it was a "new" site. There was a learning curve. Yesterday I realized I could sort the additions alphabetically (which was one of my pet peeves). Obviously, I'm still learning.

How do we use del.icio.us at NMTC? We've been checking the curriculum posted at the TCSG site for the programs offered at NMTC. We use that information to look for resources to add to the NMTC del.icio.us. We're tagging by class to make it easier for students to find just what they need.

I've recently shown del.icio.us to the Intro to Early Childhood class. They can use this for an electronic portfolio. ECE students collect information about agencies they may need to contact. Del.icio.us makes a perfect portable favorites.



-kls

The Truth Really is Out There

The web is filled with information. When you think about it, anyone can post information to the web. This information can be true or false, and sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference. There are times when you hear a story and think, 'There's no way that's true.' Well, think again, because it is often as important to verify that something is false as much as it is to verify that something is true.

One such true tale that is often dismissed as false is the case of the exploding whale. The time was 1970, the place was Oregon. A whale beached near Florence, Oregon and died. The Oregon Department of Transportation was given jurisdiction over disposing of the whale's remains. The plan was to destroy the whale's body using dynamite. The resulting whale kibble would serve as food for seagulls.

However, the plan went awry. The whale was destroyed, but the amount of dynamite used was only sufficient to blow the whale into large chunks, rather than the planned for kibble. Spectators ran for their safety and cars were damaged as huge whale chunks rained from the skies. The spectacle was captured for posterity by a local tv news crew.

Sounds incredulous? Perhaps. Yet another internet hoax? Not this time. The tale is true, yet lay largely forgotten until the mass adoption of the web in the lat e1990's, which gave it a resurrection and new life.

How to find information that verifies this story? First, we can turn to Galileo . Once there, we will select the option of 'databases by type.' Then we will go to 'newspapers.' Finally, we will select the database 'Newspaper Source.'

Once in Newspaper Source, we will do an advanced search for 'exploding' and 'whale' and 'Oregon,' and we will limit the search to full text. We will get one result, which is a transcript of an interview from National Public Radio from 2005.

Exploding Whale/NPR Transcript

Another source in Galileo to try is LexisNexis, which can be found be going to the tab 'databases A-Z' and looking under 'L.' Within LexisNexis, do a power search and set 'major world publications' as your source, and search for 'exploding' and 'whale' and 'Oregon.' This search will produce numerous results, many of which relate back to our search topic.

Finally, for those interested, there is a YouTube video of the event. Exploding whale on YouTube. Also, the urban legends reference website, Snopes, has a good page on the exploding whale. Exploding whale on Snopes

JWF

What day is this?

I'm creating a display. I pulled The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (GV 551.G47 2003) by Mordicai Gerstein. I went to pull the movie review for Man On Wire. I was going through the Saturday paper. The movie section wasn't there! Did someone pull the movie section? I looked a bit further only to discover - it was in Friday's paper.

Friday's AJC had the review by A. O. Scott of the New York Times.

-kls

Walking the wire

When I read the movie review by A. O. Scott for "Man On Wire" in the Saturday AJC, I thought there was a children's book about this event - and I couldn't think of the title.

I went to GALILEO and did a Search for Philippe Petit. I limited my search to Academic Search Complete, Research Library, NoveList and Book Index with Reviews. I figured I'd get something in NoveList and Book Index with Reviews.

Voila - there it was in NoveList. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Michael Gerstein. NoveList offers a curriculum extender for many titles- including this one. You can use this title in Math, Language Arts, PE, and Social Studies.

You might not want to take your elementary age child to the movie (it is rated PG-13) but the book would be appropriate for any age!

I looked in WorldCat to see who has the book. Yes, NMTC has the book- it is a Caldecott Winner- we do have an Early Childhood class on Children's Literature. Having the award winners in our library supports their program.

I gave you the link to the "public" version of WorldCat. If you use the WorldCat available through GALILEO, there is a "Borrow This Item From Another Library" link. That is helpful for you to get the book quickly from another library!

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


-kls

All the luck

On NPR I heard that 8-8-8 is thought to be a lucky day by the Chinese (and others - see the Associated Press on MSNBC about marriages). My RSS feed this morning from The Ancestry Insider wrote about the lucky day and noted Ancestry.com has a Chinese site. I did a quick visual compare and contrast with the Ancestry Library Edition available through GALILEO (remember you can only get to Ancestry Library edition at your Georgia library). I see the search boxes! I like the Chinese header with the blowing leaves.

I just noticed at the bottom of the Ancestry.com screen that it is distributed by ProQuest.

ProQuest has an option to change the interface language on its regular databases. I wonder why Ancestry doesn't offer that option?

You can do a compare and contrast at your Georgia Public Library (or Tech College Library). Ancestry Library Edition is only available on site.


-kls

Where is that web site?

I started the morning teaching the Intro to Early Childhood class why Social Bookmarking is a useful tool. I started the session with Common Craft's Social Bookmarking video. I really like the Common Craft tutorials.

Sharing the Resources related to your Program of study demonstrated a way to gather up resources with tagging and bundling.

The instructor is going to use the students del.icio.us sites as their portfolio. This allows the beginning ECE students to gather web sites, tag them, and bundle them as the student progresses through the program. Upon completion of the program, they'll have a healthy set of web sites for their professional use!

I'm going to this class again and demonstrate the usefulness of the persistent links available through Ebsco and ProQuest. You've noted my complaining about how permanent is persistent. Hope springs eternal!

The instructor is quite excited about eliminating the three ring binders and the mounds of paper!


-kls

Yes, we're here

A staff member sent me this link Libraries Shine In Tough Economic Times : NPR Nice story. It was very nice to be thought of!

I went looking in Lexis Nexis, where I used to look for NPR transcripts and I did find this particular story very easily:

GALILEO
..Databases A-Z
...L
....LexisNexis
......General Search
........I copied and pasted the entire title
........I limited the search to TV and Radio Broadcast transcripts
........I limited it to the previous week
Search and there it was!

I admit I first tried a general search in GALILEO without success. Lexis Nexis isn't one of the options.

You may access current TV and Radio Broadcast transcripts through LexisNexis in GALILEO.

You know you may get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian!

-kls

Looking at the new interface

Ebsco is trying to make their interfaces "friendly". This came out on July 29th from NoveList:

We are continuing to hear from our users with suggestions and comments concerning the new version of NoveList. We encourage and welcome this feedback, as it helps us to make the changes that mean the most to you in your libraries. As a result of your feedback, we have released the following enhancements which now available in NoveList:

* Quick Print has a new display that is designed to reduce the
amount of paper needed to print your results. Each title or item
has been reduced to a two or three line display, with only the
most valuable information.
* The citation that displays above NoveList articles and lists is
shortened, so you will not need to scroll down as much to find the
content that you are looking for.
* When you select links to feature content, you will no longer see
the search string ("PD 430716," for example) in the Find box.
* The Clear button at the Find Similar Books page now clears all
boxes of their checkmarks, instead of returning to the default page.
* The Search History will now be available at the Basic Search, as
well as at the Advanced Search.

I like the effort to listen and "fix" for the patron.

Stupid is as...

The ALA Information Literacy list is discussing how best to teach students the skills to find the best information. Many instructors let students settle for "good enough" resources found with a Google search.

Leonard Pitts noted in his article Not voting for stupid 07/27/2008 the difference between ignorance and stupidity.

Ignorance is a lack of information. We're all ignorant in one way or another.....I'm talking about stupidity, which I define as an inability to analyze, draw conclusions from, or otherwise "use" information even when one has it.

We just finished Day 5 of SCT 100. That's where we show students the resources available. We deal with the ignorance by demonstrating the resources. There's no time to walk through the thinking process on how to differentiate what is useful (accurate) and what is not.

GALILEO offers a page of FAQ's on how to find a database or an article. This deals with the ignorance factor.

I want ways to teach the thinking process, to deal with the stupid factor:

I selected Browse by Subject
...I selected Education
......I selected Colleges & Universities
.........The only database noted is Career & Technical Education. I decided that wouldn't do.
......I selected Education and the search list has 7 databases that seemed reasonable (including ERIC)
I typed in critical thinking, limited to full text, 2008-2008 -
A nice selection came up with some titles pointing to specific curriculum.

I think I'll go and read a bit!

-kls

You get what you pay for

I did a search on Google for "universal remote" review.

What did I find? Several snazzy looking sites with reviews on universal remotes that cost $60-$400 (and up). I admit, I only spent $8.95. That could be why the universal remote doesn't do what I want.

Still trying- a search using "universal remote" "under $10" review turned up individual reviews. That will have to do.

On to real library research - you get what you pay for.


-kls

Chirp, tweet

I'm still thinking about universal remote reviews.

I was scrolling through the All Databases list in GALILEO and ran across this addition All About Birds which "is a website from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that includes information about watching birds, learning their nesting behaviors, attracting birds, identifying them, recording observations, and getting involved in bird conservation. The site includes guides, images, maps, sounds, videos, and much more. There is also a link to the Macaulay Library, an archive of animal sounds and videos. "
Database Provider: National Science Digital Library (NSDL)

I regularly sit on my deck enjoying the birds in the yard. This resource will help me figure out which bird is which!

I'll go back to thinking about universal remote reviews. I may do a Google search and see what appears. I think I can evaluate the sites to find the one that will really have accurate information.

-kls

How universal is universal?

I bought a universal remote because our remotes seem to get away from the equipment they control. I've thought about velcro straps and links to the stand. Yet, I know I like to wander around a classroom and aim the remote. I don't want to be tethered to a cart or TV. So we "lose" remotes.

The universal remote I purchased isn't working with the specific equipment. Would it have made a difference in what I purchased if I did a little research?

Consumer Reports popped into my head. You know where I'm going - to GALILEO.

I selected the Journals A-Z tab
Typed in Consumer Reports and saw several databases that have the magazine.
I selected Ebsco - well they do have the new interface.

The Consumer Reports Buying Guide in Ebsco's Academic Search Complete came up.
I selected search within this publication (teeny tiny print above the list of years)
And this is where I got confused - the search box was filled in with JN "Consumer Reports Buying Guide"
I stared at the screen and thought- where do I fill in my query?
I selected Advanced Search
OK- there were the extra search fields
I typed in Universal Remote -
Nothing came up - How can that be?
Ah- I did not change the "Select a Field" drop down
I changed the field search to TX - All Text
and - 27 articles came up.

Yet- as I skim the titles- I'm not seeing a specific article for universal remotes. The first article PRODUCT RATINGS AND BRAND RELIABILITY might be helpful. I opened it and choose to search through the 140 page PDF file to find mention of remotes. Lots of remotes noted but not a section on universal remotes (that I saw)

Hmm. I think I need to rethink the process. I'll try something else and let you know how it works!

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

-kls

Carnivore, herbivore, locavore

And what are you?

In yesterdays New York Times "Getting That Locally Grown Flavor With Fuss but No Muss" noted new businesses springing up to support those who would like to eat locally grown produce but don't want to garden (or can't garden because they live in a high rise). I shared the article with our Horticulture department. It could be a growing (no pun intended) business market.

I found the article for you by using GALILEO.

I selected Databases A-Z and scrolled looking for newspapers.
I found the New York Times (ProQuest databases).

I searched for locavores limiting my search to the previous seven days. Nothing came up but ProQuest suggested using the terms Farmers Market or Farmers Market AND Fruit.
I selected Farmers Market, limited to the previous seven days and victory! The article was there.

Yet, it was the article in today's Britannica Blog by Robert McHenry that made me smile -

"Yes, locavoracity is yet another application of that grand green dictum, Think Glibly and Act Vocally."

.

I'm delighted to have the variety of foods I find in my huge grocery store- though I do admit the fresh tomatoes from my neighbors garden and the fresh eggs from my friends chickens do taste better.


-kls