Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Government Scientists Earn their Pay [updated]

When there's a crisis involving something technical, scientific, and complicated it's nice to know that your taxes are paying experts to keep on top of things. That's why the current swine 'flu scare is a good lead-in to our new government information display: Government Science.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have put up this informative website that's chock full of details, and links to more details, that go a long way toward explaining this scary—but, at least for now, still manageable—new threat. Scientific information from the government, while being a human-run enterprise and thus capable of containing errors of fact and judgment, is still 'way more reliable than the Center for Stuff That I Heard from Some Guy, recently reported from on the Daily Show.

One thing we've been hearing from both reliable sources and Some Guys, has been how important personal hygiene is to foil this outbreak. Note the sudden appearance of hand sanitizers all over campus, including at our Reference Desk. If there's anything more you want to know about the benefits of hand-washing, or how to do it properly, the CDC provides this factsheet.

As important a role as the CDC plays in keeping informed, it's only one of scores of government agencies working in all areas of science and technology. We pulled some samples from our tangible collection and from the voluminous government scientific web for our current display. Hope you enjoy it!

[Update: curious about our previous experience with swine 'flu? An Ohio librarian has updated a history/bibliography of the 1976 swine 'flu scare.]

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Just in time for Earth Day

Now through May 1, you have free access to Environmental Studies & Policy Collection and select eBooks from Gale. Environmental Studies & Policy Collection is a compilation of over 700 journals, periodicals and magazines, which provide robust coverage of environmental issues and policies, including diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests. You'll find familiar, reliable content from periodicals and magazines, such as: Audubon, Mother Earth News, Natural History, American Scientist and many more.

You also have free access to select eBook titles, including:

Gale
Climate Change in Context
Environmental Science in Context
World of Earth Science
Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America
Environmental Encyclopedia
Environmental Issues: Essential Primary Sources
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
Weather Almanac

Macmillan
Animal Sciences
Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy
Plant Sciences
Pollution A to Z
Water: Science and Issues

U*X*L
UXL Encyclopedia of Biomes, 2nd ed.
Alternative Energy
Endangered Species
Grzimek's Student Animal Life Resource
UXL Complete Life Science Resource
UXL Encyclopedia of Biomes
UXL Encyclopedia of Landforms and Other Geologic Features
UXL Encyclopedia of Water Science
UXL Encyclopedia of Weather and Natural Disasters


Enter your search in the following box and take a test drive!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Congratulations to 3rd Annual Library Undergraduate Research Award recipients



On Friday, April 3, 2009, the recipients of the Third Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award were recognized at the Tenth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The awards recognize student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

Patricia Amalia Sipes and her poster exhibit
The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Patricia Amalia Sipes for her project, "Beth, Babel, Boibel: Robert Graves and the Ciphering of Hidden Meanings in Celtic Poetry." The faculty mentor for the project was Dr. Alice Kersnowski.

Kristina Kay Lindsey and her poster exhibit
The Second Place Award of $100 was given to Kristina Kay Lindsey for her project, "The Business of Charity: The Mindsets, Marketing Trends, and Solutions of Incorporated Non-profits during Times of Financial Downturn." The faculty mentor was Dr. Stephanie Ward.

We thank all the students who took the time and effort to submit an application and proposal for the Award. We encourage students who are eligible to apply next year for the Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award.

Congratulations to Patricia and Kristina!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

News flash!

Government launches new ‘Print Your Own Money’ website! Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink! Redcoat Holdouts Still Fighting American Revolution! Shaq Finds Mysterious Inscriptions Written On Basketball!

Sound a little fishy? But they are headlines! I found them on the internet!

In honor of April Fools Day I made this selection of headlines from fake news sites (plus the one that's linked—it's from a real site, but a very clever April Fools joke). Feel free to pass any of them on to gullible friends!

Fake news makes for great comedy, as fans of the Daily Show know. The Onion and NewsBiscuit are internet sites that churn it out, too. And while the news tidbits featured on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, aren't fake, they're awfully funny and crazy enough to be fake. Fans of fake news will tell you, though, that the more real news you know, the funnier the fake stuff is—good motivation to keep current with current events.

Presumeably readers of and viewers of the foregoing know when they're hearing fake news, but what if you come across something you're not sure of? Snopes is a good site for sorting true from false stories, and Museum of Hoaxes has good stories about hoaxing as well. And there was an InBlume post a while ago with other ideas of places to check to debunk (or confirm) urban legends.

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On a more serious note, a group of concerned bloggers have made a cute pun and are encouraging donations to local food banks today. Check it out at April Food Day. Many of these organizations are hurting due to increased demand for their services and reduced resources. The San Antonio Food Bank website gives you an easy place to join this effort—and if you want to help more, there's information on volunteering with them. InBlume is happy to do its blog-bit in this worthy cause.