Ohrstrom Blog

Lura Sanborn April 12th, 2010

Berkshire Encyclopedia of China edited by Linsun Cheng, Berkshire, 2009.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 951 B45

Just in time for writing your Ma Prize essay, Ohrstrom Library has acquired this five-volume set with 800+ articles about historical and modern day China. Includes articles that focus on: art, philosophy, economics & development, people, social & cultural history, the natural world and international relationships.

Examples include:  Bamboo; Clothing, Traditional – Hong Kong; Dragon Boat Festival; Energy, Renewable; Ming Dynasty; and Yungang Caves

Helpful for:  Asian Studies, Global Studies, Ma Essay Prize, Humanities V

Tags: Asian Studies, China, Global Studies, Humanities V, Ma Essay Prize, New Reference Book, reference, Research, Topics in Global Events

• History , Humanities , Research , Social Sciences
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Lura Sanborn January 19th, 2010

Encyclopedia of the United Nations 2nd ed., by Jerry Pubantz and John Allphin Moore, Jr., Facts on File, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 341.23 M78U

Two volumes of essays related to the U.N. including topics about and related to:

• International law
• Disarmament W
• Women
• Sustainable development
• Human rights and more

A variety of appendixes conclude the second volume including:

• Charter of the United Nations
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• United Nations Member States and year of admission
• Statute of the International Court of Justice
• Important United Nations Resolutions
• Selected U.N. Conventions and Declarations
• United Nations web sites
• United Nations Chronology.

Helpful for: Humanities IV, Model U.N., Global Awareness, Humanities IV.

Tags: History, Humanities IV, Humanities V, Model U.N., New Reference Book, reference, Research, Topics in Global Events, United Nations

• History , Humanities , Research
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Deb Baker April 21st, 2009

Here are two new reference books in Ohrstrom Library’s collection with special significance for Earth Day:

Human Development Report 2007/2008 Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), director and lead author Kevin Watkins, 2007.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: Ref. 303.44 Un3 2007/2008

UNDP’s annual report measures the health, welfare, economic and physical security and well being of people in 175 UN member nations plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian Territories, as well as the status of international treaties on human rights, the environment, and labor. Each year, the report opens with an extensive analysis of a key international development issue, and this year’s focus is climate change and the responses, projected outcomes, and potential impact on human development around the world. Both cautionary and hopeful, this is a useful and fascinating read.

HELPFUL FOR: Leadership for Social Justice, Topics in Global Events

FUN FOR: global citizens, Eco-Action members, debaters, future pundits and policy wonks, tree huggers, activists, voters

Deb Baker – Interim Reference Librarian

The Facts on File Dictionary of Environmental Science by Bruce C. Wyman and L. Harold Stevenson, Facts On File, 3rd ed., 2007.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF REF 363.7 W98

Over 4,000 terms are defined, including: nuclear winter, silviculture, and ethanol.

Several appendixes conclude the volume, including: environmental acronyms, plastic recycling codes & earth, atmosphere and water statistics.

Helpful for: Ecology, Eco-Action, Earth Day.

Lura Sanborn- Reference Librarian

Tags: Earth Day, Eco-Action, Ecology, environmental science, Leadership for Social Justice, New Reference Book, Topics in Global Events

• Natural Sciences , Research , Social Sciences
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Lisa Laughy November 18th, 2008

Deb Baker – Interim Reference Librarian

Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate by Michael Allaby, illustrated by Richard Garratt, Facts-On-File, 2007.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: Ref. 551.5 AL5 v.1 & v.2

Allaby, author or editor of over 90 books on environmental science, has revised, updated, and reorganized this two volume set to reflect the latest science, with over 1400 entries, 350 illustrations, and 10 appendices. Looking for maps of ocean currents? Wonder why ice storms occur, when thermometers were invented, how wine harvest records help climatologists, or what in the world a cloud street is? Look no further.

HELPFUL FOR: Terrestrial Ecology, Topics in Global Events, Limnology and Marine Biology, Origins of Modern Science

FUN FOR: Weather Channel fans, amateur meteorologists, Eco-Action members

Image courtesy of ms4jah under this Creative Common license.

Tags: climate, climatology, global warming, Limnology, Marine Biology, New Reference Book, Origins of Modern Science, Terrestrial Ecology, Topics in Global Events, weather, Web Resources

• Natural Sciences , Research
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Deb Baker October 10th, 2008

Deb Baker – Interim Reference Librarian

Because this year’s Concord Reads book, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, focuses on eating locally, our first post on Ohrstrom library’s “Inspirations for Sustainable Living” display featured resources helpful for learning about the ethical, environmental, and health impact of food choices. The display also includes a diverse selection of books on global warming, from Bill McKibben’s activist handbook Fight Global Warming Now to Eric F. Lambin’s The Middle Path: Avoiding Environmental Catastrophe and Bjorn Lomborg’s Cool It: the Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming. Are you concerned about the social justice impact of environmental issues?  Check out Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came in To Being, and Why No One Saw It Coming.

For an overview of the scientific and governmental response as well as data on the social impact of global warming, explore a new reference book at Ohrstrom, Human Development Report 2007/2008, Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), by director and lead author Kevin Watkins. UNDP’s annual report measures the health, welfare, economic and physical security and well being of people in 175 UN member nations plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian Territories, as well as the status of international treaties on human rights, the environment, and labor. Each year, the report opens with an extensive analysis of a key international development issue, and this year’s focus is climate change and the responses, projected outcomes, and potential impact on human development around the world. Both cautionary and hopeful, this is a useful and fascinating read.

No time to pore over a book?  Check out a film instead, such as Design e² , a six part PBS series on green architecture narrated by Brad Pitt; or The 11^th Hour , Leonardo Di Caprio’s film on earth’s human footprint. With so many sustainability resources at Ohrstrom library, you are bound to find something to intrigue and inform.

HELPFUL FOR: Leadership for Social Justice, Topics in Global Events

FUN FOR: global citizens, Eco-Action members, debaters, future pundits and policy wonks, tree huggers, activists, voters

Tags: global warming, Leadership for Social Justice, Sustainability, Sustainability at SPS, Topics in Global Events, UNDP

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