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• All Journeys Begin at SPS

  27Feb

  Categories: Geography, Library News Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  The Ohrstrom Library gang wishes you ALL an enjoyable and healthy break.

  Happy Trails in particular to the SPS:

  • Baseball Team – traveling to Florida for spring training and early games
  • Choir Members – traveling to South Africa
  • Habitat for Humanity – traveling to Mississippi
  • French students – traveling to Paris to study at Ecole Alsacienne
  • German students – traveling to Leipzig to study at Humboldt Schule
  • England Cultural Exchange students – traveling to London to study at Eton College and St. Paul’s Girls School
  • Sweden Cultural Exchange students – traveling to Sweden to study at Sigtuna School

  Enjoy your journeys, and we look forward to your safe return.

  ———————————————————————-

  Ohrstrom Library will be open during the March break and will follow the schedule below:

  Sunday, March 1	10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
  Monday, March 2 – Friday, March 6	8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
  Saturday, March 7 – Sunday, March 8	CLOSED
  Monday, March 9 – Friday, March 13	8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
  Saturday, March 14 – Sunday, March 15	CLOSED
  Monday, March 16 – Friday, March 20	8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
  Saturday, March 21	CLOSED
  Sunday, March 22	1:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
  Monday, March 23	8:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

  Tags: Florida, Happy Trails, Leipzig, London, Mississippi, Paris, South Africa, Sweden

• New Reference Book: New Encyclopedia of Africa

  26Feb

  Categories: Geography, History, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Deb Baker - Interim Reference Librarian
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  Deb Baker – Interim Reference Librarian

  New Encyclopedia of Africa edited by John Middleton and Joseph C. Miller, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2008.

  Find it in Ohrstrom at: Ref. 960 M858 2008 v.1-v.5.

  

  A comprehensive introduction to Africa past and present, these five volumes contain over 1200 cross referenced entries with bibliographies, covering geography, human and natural history, politics, and culture, from ancient times to the present. The fifth volume’s reference aids include a chronology, charts of ethnic and other identity groups, a detailed index, and a thematic outline, grouping related entries.

  HELPFUL FOR: Humanities III & V, Leadership for Social Justice, American Foreign Policy, The Cold War World, Introduction to Islam: Its Literature and Practice, Topics in Global Events

  FUN FOR: global citizens, armchair travelers

  Tags: Africa, American Foreign Policy, Humanities III, Humanities V, Introduction to Islam, Leadership for Social Justice, New Reference Book, The Cold War World

• New Reference Book: Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence

  23Feb

  Categories: History, Research Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

  

  Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient Times to the Present edited by George Childs Kohn, 3rd ed., Fccts On File, 2008.

  Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 614.4 K82

  Recall the Clark House email encouraging us to be extra good about hand-washing/sanitizing, and to consider using a fist-bump greeting during cold & flu season?

  Perhaps this new reference book is all the inspiration we need!

  Check out entries on: Bubonic Plague, Conjunctivitis, and/or the French Influenza Epidemic of 1740.  The back of this volume contains a geographical list of sickness & disease as well as a timetable of plague and pestilence.

  Helpful for:  Humanities, History, Health Research

  Image above: Policemen in Seattle Wearing Masks Made by the Red Cross, During the Influenza Epidemic. Photograph. December 1918. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Regional History from the NationalArchives. National Archives and Records Administration. 17 Jan. 2009.<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html>.

  Tags: Bubonic Plague, Conjunctivitis, flu, influenza, influenza epidemic, New Reference Book, pandemic., pestilence, plague, Research

• The Physics of . . .

  19Feb

  Categories: Library News, Natural Sciences, Technology Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Lisa Laughy – Archives Assistant

  . . . just about everything!

  A new book display in the Baker Reading Room brings together over a dozen books from the Ohrstrom Library collection that share a common thread: They all have “The Physics of” as part of their titles.  Beyond that connection it is a very diverse selection, covering topics that range from sports, music and sailing, to NASCAR, Star Trek, Superheros, and even James Bond movies.

  Did you know that:

  • A baseball compresses from a round shape to an elliptical one when the bat-ball impact approaches 140 MPH?
  • When a hockey puck is tilted at a positive angle relative to the ice there is a lift force directed upward?
  • The idea behind the deflector shield on the Enterprise originated with the concept of a coherent gravitational field that creates a curvature of space?
  • Spiderman swinging on his web from building to building is a good illustration for the principle of conservation of energy?
  • Having the ideal tire slip angle on a NASCAR race car can mean the difference between spinning off the race track or speeding across the finish line?
  • The first watch camera was made in 1886, but James Bond’s ring camera worn in the film A View to a Kill is too small to actually function?

  Come check out one of these interesting titles and find out some of the different ways that physics functions in your day-to-day world.

  Tags: baseball, Hockey, James Bond, NASCAR, new book display, physics, Sports, Star Trek, The Pysics of

• Google for LIFE

  17Feb

  Categories: Fine Arts, History, Library Tech, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Lisa Laughy – Archives Assistant

  

  A few months ago Google began offering access to an unprecedented collection of photographs available as part of the Google Image search.  Google has partnered with LIFE Magazine to offer the LIFE Photo Archive, a fully searchable database of images from the extensive collection amassed over the years by LIFE Magazine.

  According to the Official Google Blog:

  “This collection of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.

  Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We’re digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos.”

  This incredible visual resource is available for “personal non-commercial use only” providing students a valuable research tool.  Fourth Form students working on their research papers may find inspiration by browsing the image collection for their assigned date range.  Additionally, students researching a particular photographer could search for works by that artist, and students researching specific events could find images related to that event.

  Whatever your research needs are, be sure to take time to browse through the LIFE Photo Archive.

  

  Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard & Elgar Mitchell practicing moon landing procedures inside LM simulator, 1970.

  Tags: Fourth Form Paper, Google, image database, LIFE, LIFE Magazine, LIFE Photo Archive

• Inspired by the Fiske Cup? Read a Great Play!

  12Feb

  Categories: Literature Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Kevin Barry - Library Director
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  Kevin Barry – Library Director

  Have you read Equus by Peter Shaffer?

  By now, most students have noted that Daniel Radcliffe, star of the popular Harry Potter films, has assumed the haunting role of the tortured stable boy in the Broadway production of  Equus, written by Peter Shaffer.

  In this fascinating 1973 play, a psychiatrist works closely with a boy hospitalized because he has brutally blinded several horses with a metal spike.  While trying to reorient the boy through psychotherapy, the  doctor is anguished by his realization that in order to normalize the boy, he must also deprive him of his unconstrained passion and what has become a sort of mythic religion to the boy.  The doctor begins to envy the boy’s obsession because it is so potent, so magical, so intense … and also so unlike the mundane, passionless life that the doctor’s existence has become.  We are left to consider the question of what psychotherapy heals and what it unleashes.

  Equus : a play by Peter Shaffer. Find it in Ohrstrom at: 822 SH1.

  The collected plays of Peter Shaffer ( Includes Equus and Amadeus for which Shaffer won a Tony Award).  Find it in Ohrstrom at:  822 SH1C.

  Tags: Equus, Peter Shaffer, psychotherapy, recommended reading

• New Reference Set: Milestone Documents in American History

  11Feb

  Categories: History, Humanities, Research Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

  Milestone Documents in American History (four volumes) edited by Paul Finkelman.  Dallas: Schlager, 2008.

  Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 973 F495M

  133 primary source documents key to U.S. history are included in this set.  Each primary source is provided alongside a history of the source, its impact and information about the creator(s).

  Examples include: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor” speech, Federal-aid Highway Act and Bush v. Gore.

  Also available online through the Ohrstrom Library website HERE.

  Helpful for:  Humanities IV, U.S. History Research, Primary Source Research.

  Tags: American History, Humanities IV, milestone documents, New Reference Book, primary sources, Research, U.S. History

• New Book Display: Black History Month 2009

  10Feb

  Categories: Library News Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Lisa Laughy – Archives Assistant

  

  The Quest for Citizenship in the Americas -  this year’s theme for Black History Month -  is the inspiration for a book display now on view in the Baker Reading Room.  Library Assistant Meredith MacLeod has assembled a wide range of books that inform and illuminate this powerful and resonant theme.

  Each year, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History chooses a theme for Black History Month. This year’s theme celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP.  The ASALH website offers this description of the theme:

  A century ago, an interracial group of Americans joined together and formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  Two generations after emancipation, a tide of racism had betrayed the promise of first-class citizenship. In the South, whites had stripped Blacks of the right to vote and constructed a society based on racial segregation.  In the North, African Americans confronted myriad forms of discrimination that thwarted their aspirations.  The Supreme Court turned a blind eye to the denigration of American citizenship taking place across the land and in the government itself.

  The story of the NAACP is the story of struggle to create and maintain equal citizenship for all Americans.  Through exposing the horrors of lynching, keeping the issue of equality before the courts, and organizing branches throughout the country, the NAACP drew a national following and inspired others to form organizations for racial change.  The NAACP’s work gave hope not only to blacks in the North, but to men and women in the South like Rosa Parks and Medgar Evers.

  The centennial of the NAACP is an occasion to highlight the problem of race and citizenship in American history, from the experiences of free Blacks in a land of slavery to the political aspirations of African Americans today. The centennial also provides an opportunity to explore the history of other nation’s in the Americas, where former slaves also sought the fruits of citizenship.

  The books assembled cover a wide range of subjects around the theme, and make for a rich exploration of what it means to strive for equal citizenship – throughout the history of America as well as today.  Take time to browse through the books and consider reading one of these titles in celebration of Black History Month this year.

  Tags: ASALH, Baker Reading Room, Black History Month, NAACP, new book display, The Quest for Citizenship in the Americas

• Desperately Seeking Primary Sources: The 4th Form Paper Research Guide

  04Feb

  Categories: Databases, History, Library News, Periodicals, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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  Lisa Laughy - Archives Assistant

  

  Just in time for the Fourth Form research paper assignments, Ohrstrom Library staff members have prepared an online research guide to help you through the process.  The Fourth Form Paper Research Guide has been added to the Ohrstrom Blog and contains key information, such as:

  • A list of reference books in the library that are chocked full of primary source materials
  • A list of reference books in the library that feature chronologies and timelines
  • Search strategies for finding other books on your topic
  • Tips on finding periodical articles in magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, reports, and more
  • A list of librarian approved web resources for accessing photos, census data, artwork, video and other documents

  You can access this research guide by clicking HERE.  There are also permanent links in the blog sidebar under the “Research Guides” list heading, a link in the fly-out menu of the Ohrstrom Library website under “Research > Research Guides”, and a link on the Ohrstrom Library main page in Blackboard (Click on “Ohrstrom Library” in your course list).

  This research guide will be your best friend over the next few weeks, so be sure to bookmark it and visit it often throughout the research phase of the assignment.  For additional research assistance contact Ms. Sanborn or any of the Ohrstrom Library Staff.

  Tags: Fourth Form Paper, primary sources, reference, Research, Research Guide

• Spotlight On: Historical Newspaper Collection Timelines

  03Feb

  Categories: Databases, History, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

  By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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  Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

  Looking for a quick collection of newspaper articles related to significant events in U.S. history?  Try using the Timeline feature in the Historical Newspaper Collection database.

  First, access the Historical Newspaper Collection database through the Ohrstrom Library website by clicking HERE.

  Once at the Historical Newspaper Collection website select the “Timeline” tab near the top of the screen:

  

  Choose your time and topic:

  

  Select the subtopic of your choice:

  

  And behold, a list of newspaper articles about that particular subject:

  

  Fantastic!

  Tags: American History, Databases, Historical Newspaper Collection, History, Spotlight On, timeline, U.S. History