JollyLibrarian

Sally Robertson

Librarian

Recommends

You are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That does to Our Planet

By

Thomas M. Kostigen

Why? 

“ Because, it goes around the world and tells what is happening in some key cities and how we are all connected by the six degree principle.   The first city Jerusalem, where the 3 major religions started, is being affected by the changing climate which is destroying our past.   It is a very well written and eye opening book for anyone at all concerned about our planet Earth.”

Wayne Neuendorf

Music Technology Faculty

Recommends

Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom

By

Peter Guralnick

Why? 

“This is the definitive history of rhythm & blues and soul music in the American South.”

The Monday Motivator yesterday talked about narrowing down choices in life as a way of increasing happiness. But the same is also true when conducting research. When I was in high school, I could occasionally get away with telling my teacher that I couldn’t find enough sources. Now, if a student used that excuse, he or she would be laughed out of the room. For example, a search on “depression” in Academic Search Premier brings up 87,917 hits. Pretty overwhelming, isn’t it?  So how do you narrow down your sources so that you can get what you need.  There are some quick and easy tips that will help:

• Know your databases.  If you are doing a literature or philosophy search, you might decide to start with JSTOR or Literature Research Center. WilsonWeb has a business database. By starting with the most likely database for your topic, you can narrow down your search. If it’s too narrow, you can go and search one of the larger, multidisciplinary databases.
• Limit your search options. Remember that 87,917 hits in AcademicSearch Premier? Well, if you choose the following search options:
  • Full Text
  • Scholarly Journals
  • Limit the date to those articles after 2004

Then suddenly you’re down to 16,760. Still a lot. So let’s go to our next step.

• Narrow down your search terms. Let’s say that your study on depression only involves the elderly. Now you’re down to 823.
  • But perhaps you can go another step. You’re only interested in depression and older men. Now we’re down to 58.
  • And the final step: Take a look at the summaries and abstracts. See if the information is what you need. Only then do you have to read the entire article.

Remember it’s not the number of sources that count. It’s the quality!

You might think that the title this week is a typo. We all like  having choices. No one wants to be told what to wear, what career to pursue, what church to go to, or even what television show to watch. But research shows that after a certain amount, people’s happiness actually decreases when faced with a myriad of choices.

Why?

• It is simply overwhelming to face the sheer number of choices available. You might expect to have to do some research on cars or careers. But now it seems that every decision requires sorting through choice after choice.
• The sheer number of choices can paralyze some people and keep them from ever making a decision at all.
• Folks often have raised expectations about what they’ll get or how they’ll feel once they make a choice.
• Folks often feel a sense of regret after making a choice, that perhaps they didn’t make the right one.

So in the world of too many choices, how do we wisely limit ours?

• Decide on the front end how important a choice is and then budget your time accordingly. Buying a house merits taking months to research and consider all your options. Buying a cell phone not so much.
• As much as overachievers will hate this, some choices are fine if they are simply good enough. If all I need a washing machine to do is clean my clothes, then do I really need to research all the capabilities of all the models to find the perfect one?
• Don’t expect perfection, no matter how many choices you have.
• Once you’ve made your choice, stop the investigation! Let it go.
• And though this may seem to contradict the previous bullet, keep in mind that very few choices in life have to be permanent. You can always choose a new path, whether it’s a new career or a new cell phone.

Michael Kiggins

English Faculty

Recommends

Maus I and II

By

Art Spiegelman

Why?

“This landmark work is a gripping account of the Shoah (or, the Holocaust) as narrated primarily from the perspective of the son of two survivors. This graphic novel is drawn in simple but stark black-and-white style, and it portrays people of different ethnicities or nationalities as different animals (e.g., Jews are drawn as mice, Nazis as cats, Poles as pigs, etc.). This work blurs the boundaries of biography, autobiography, fiction and meta-fiction, and it should be read by anyone who is interested in learning more about the long-term effects of the Shoah on both survivors and their children.”

According to Wikipedia, resilience is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and  catastrophe.

We’ve all known resilient people, those who have undergone traumatic events or illnesses and yet have remained positive and optimistic, still working towards goals. We’ve also all known people who are not, the folks, for whom every bump in the road, is a catastrophe, who are carrying hurts from a decade ago as if it were yesterday.

Obviously, resilience is a trait that makes people happier and more productive. Therefore, it is a trait worth developing in ourselves, our children, and our students. So what are the characteristics of the resilient?

• They know how to manage stress.
• They don’t quit too easily.
• But they don’t stay committed to an unaccomplishable goal.
• They ask for help.
• They break down big goals into smaller ones.
• They celebrate little victories along the way.
• They see things realistically.
• They see the humor in life.
• They have self control.
• They are happy.

In general, all of these characteristics can be developed in ourselves and in others. And resilience is a skill worth developing since we can’t control all what happens to us, only our response to such events.

The Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL) is 10 years old this October.  TEL is a great resource for all Tennesseans to use to find information.   It is a virtual library that gives access to over 400,000 electronic resources, and is available anywhere there is internet availability:  at home, school, work, or even on your iPhone.    (www.tntel.info)

In May 1997 TEL began with 18 databases, now there are 34 databases.  They range from EBSCO’s Points of View Database, which includes essays and audio and video full text content on all subjects, to Tennessee specific databases.   For research there are the Gale Databases that give people access to articles from both scholarly journals and popular magazines.  Many of the articles contain the full text right in the database. 

For finding out Tennessee news there is a link to newspapers that goes to NewsBank’s Tennessee Newspaper Collection.  Right now it contains the Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis newspapers.   Up until July 1, 2009 the Tennessean was included, but now the Tennessean is only provided through ProQuest.  The Tennessee State Library is working on getting the Tennessean back.  

TEL does have a genealogy database through ProQuest called: Heritage Quest Online.  It contains family history books, federal census records, Freedman’s Bank records and more. 

There is also a test preparation site called Learning Express Library.  Here you will not only find interactive practice tests for elementary through college students, but also exercises and skill-building courses.  There is also a whole learning center devoted to helping you find the right job.    You can create your own account in Learning Express Library so you can actually take practice tests. 

For historical research check out Tennessee’s Landmark Documents, Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA), and Volunteer Voices.    Tennessee’s Landmark Documents is a part of TeVA.  It is a digital collection of Tennessee’s most significant historic documents taken directly from the originals.  The documents can be browsed or searched by keyword.  TeVA can  be searched by keyword or by browsed by collection. 

If you are having trouble deciding what to read next you might want to check out the Gale database What do I Read Next?  Searchable by author, title or series.  You can also browse the award winning books or search by genre.

Everything in TEL is provided free for all state of Tennessee residents, through the Tennessee State Library and Archives.  The statewide password is: elvis.  (This stands for: Electronic Library Virtual Information System.)   Check it out!  If you think it is useful thank your legislators.

This week is Banned Books Week, sponsored by American Library Association. Each year, the association keeps statistics on book challenges throughout the nation. Most books are challenged at the K-12 level, and most are challenged by parents. The reasons are across the board and across the political spectrum.

What are some of this year’s challenged books?

• The Color Purple—Concerns about homosexuality, rape, and incest in the book.
• A People’s History of the United States—Claimed to be “leftist, un-American propaganda.”
• In Country—Claims of inappropriate sexual content and graphic language.
• To Kill a Mockingbird—Concerns that black children would be upset.
• Bless Me, Ultima—Claims that the book is profane and anti-Catholic.
• Black Hawk Down—Claims that the book violates the school district’s policy on cursing.
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil—Claims the book is too pornographic and at odds with student behavior promoted in the school handbook.

Time magazine also compiled a list of the most banned books in history. They include the following:

1. Candide
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3. Brave New World
4. Nineteen Eighty-Four
5. The Catcher in the Rye
6. Lolita
7. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
8. The Anarchist Cookbook
9. The Satanic Verses
10. Harry Potter Series

Why should we care about books being challenged and banned? Perhaps the second list above might provide the answer. A glance over it shows that some classic books have been considered too obscene, risky, and revolutionary during various time periods. We can always decide that a book is too obscene, radical, or even stupid for us to read, but most librarians’ stance would be this: It should be our decision, not someone else’s.

Emily Naff

Photography Faculty

Recommends

The Americans

By

Robert Frank

Why? 

“Robert Frank’s “The Americans” is one of my all time favorite photo books.   The book was controversial when first released because it showed a darker side of America that many people didn’t want to acknowledge existed at the time.   Jack Kerouac described it best, “…with that little camera that he [Robert Frank} raises and snaps, with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world.”  The work in this book is a powerful illustration of the fact that photographs can evoke the same emotions as poetry.”

The seasonal flu vaccine is here, and you can get your flu shot in most places: your doctor’s office or any drugstore or grocery store that has a pharmacy. Although the H1N1 flu is getting all the press this year, it is still important to get the regular flu shot as well. Why? According to the CDC, 200,000 people are hospitalized, on average, each year from complications of the flu, and 36,000 die. Even if you are not in a high-risk category, by getting the shot, you help protect those you live and work with who might be.

For more information, go to the CDC website.