New Books at the Dick Smith Library

Do you know you can check a monthly list of new books added to the library collection? Go to http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/newbooks.html for lists through February 2008. Some of the latest titles include:

The complete idiot's guide to learning Spanish
Making the team: a guide for managers
A guide to writing sociology papers
A woman for president: the story of Victoria Woodhull
"Ace" any test
Picasso: painting against time

Don't see the book you want? Remember that you can suggest book titles for the library to purchase at http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/purchase.html We will even let you know when the book is ready to check out!!

Colleges deliver basic skills of all kinds. Should agriculture be part of the mix?

Last month the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was officially opened. The seed vault was created as a global effort to protect the world's food source in the event of future natural or man-made disasters. The vault contains 268,000 distinct samples of seeds from across the world.

“With climate change and other forces threatening the diversity of life that sustains our planet, Norway is proud to be playing a central role in creating a facility capable of protecting what are not just seeds, but the fundamental building blocks of human civilization,” said Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

In an article this month from the Chronicle of Higher Education, some are wondering "even if seeds survive climate change and mass extinction in a bombproof vault, will anyone remember how to cultivate them?"

Women's History Month -- Learn More about American History

American Women through Time (created by Ken Middleton, a reference librarian at Middle Tennessee State University Library) provides "two approaches for the study of specific time periods in American women's history."

• Timelines in each section link to "specific events with relevant online sources, such as diaries and letters, photograph collections, and lectures by historians."
• The sections offer guides "to research sources that are appropriate for the specified time period." Categories included advertising, historical statistics, newspapers, and quilts.

This easy-to-use, informative site offers access to interesting, wide-ranging information about American Women.

Stayin' Alive on Spring Break! '08

Stayin' Alive on Spring Break - the #1 college spring break safety seminar - Great Site that includes Travel Tips, Safety Tips, and additional resources. Have a GREAT Spring Break...and stay safe.

Spring Break Reading

This is a little early, in order to give you time to collect some good reads for Spring Break.

George Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, and offers a list of books concerning libraries and murder mysteries. "Murder in the library, as a literary plot, holds a certain peculiar fascination for many readers.... Some of the plots revolve around specific rare books, but most are set in mythical academic and research libraries in the United States and United Kingdom...."
Read more from Mr. Eberhart here.

Reading is not known to be hazardous to your health, so get the hammock out of storage, and curl up with a pile of good books for Spring Break!

To help celebrate E-Book Week, March 2-8, Epublishers Weekly came up with 30 Benefits of Ebooks.
Here are the top 10:

1. Ebooks promote reading.
2. Ebooks are good for the environment.
3. Ebooks preserve books.
4. Ebooks, faster to produce than paper books, allow readers to read books about current issues and events.
5. Ebooks are easily updateable.
6. Ebooks are searchable.
7. Ebooks are portable.
8. Ebooks (in the form of digital audio books) free you to do other activities while you are listening.
9. Ebooks can be printable.
10. Ebooks defy time: they can be delivered almost instantly.

Youth vote matters to candidates

The electoral landscape looks like it may be changing as candidates work hard to earn the votes of the under 30 crowd. Some of the issues concerning today's younger voters are the rising cost of college tuition, student loans and global warming. As the Texas primary approaches, who gets your vote?


Check out Elizabeth Holmes' article in the Wall Street Journal: Young America May Lift Democrats, Shape Agendas.

Social Networks & Privacy

Much has been said and written about social networking (Facebook, blogs, MySpace, etc.) regarding privacy concerns (personal safety, identity theft, etc.). Lately, these conversations have focused on another topic -- the effects that online activities can have on employment (current and future).

Several campus venues have been used to inform the Tarleton community about these effects. For example, Career Services in the Division of Student Life has offered workshops, seminars, and presentations about "cleaning up digital dirt."

The articles listed below provide more information about this timely topic. Take a look.

• How Blogging and Social Networking Can Impact Your Job Search


• Employers Are Viewing Your Profile on Social Networking Sites
  
• Employers Using Facebook for Background Checking: Is It Legal?
  
• How to Use Facebook Without Losing Your Job Over It

Presidents Day - February 18th.

From about.com - When is Presidents Day and How Can I Celebrate Online?

U.S. Presidents Day is today! - Take a look at the link above.

Sometimes the clearest answer is a MAP

Check out
100 Things To Do with Google Maps Mashups - gmapsmania!
This site can help you simulate a flood to show damage effects, see where UFOs have been sighted (not complete: no record for Stephenville when I checked!), find the nearest Starbucks, and best, make your OWN Google maps mashup!! And 96 other Cool Maps...

http://gmapsmania.googlepages.com/100thingstodowithgooglemapsmashups

Undecided about your Career???

Undecided about your Career?

US News & World Report recently issued the "Best Careers for 2008." If you like to write, try "ghostwriting or "editor." Are you good with math? Become an "engineer" or "investment banker." Or would you rather work with people in a career in the "clergy" or as a "politician." And if you want to stay in college forever, then "professor" or "higher education administrator" is perfect for you. Check out the entire article at:
http://www.usnews.com/features/business/best-careers/best-careers-2008.html

Be my Valentine

Valentine’s Day is approaching and many of us are thinking about our loved ones, but do you know why we celebrate Valentine’s Day? Check out this video clip on the History of Valentine’s Day @ http://www.history.com/minisites/valentine/.

Need to get inspired?
Here are just a few suggestions from our collection:

E-Books
Personal Author: Aron, Paul, 1956 Sept. 15-
Title: Count the ways [electronic resource]: the greatest love stories of our time / Paul Aron.
DICK-SMITH CALL NUMBER -HQ801 .A2 A76 2002 EB

Personal Author: Shafer, Ken, 1970-
Title: Happy together [computer file]: 500 things to do for and with your sweetheart / Ken Shafer ; illustrated by Tom Szafranski.
DICK-SMITH CALL NUMBER - HQ801 .S466 1996 EB

Books to Checkout
Title: Nothing but you : love stories from the New Yorker / edited by Roger Angell.
DICK-SMITH CALL NUMBER - PS648.L6 N68 1998
Location: STACKS

Personal Author: Fisher, Helen E.
Title: Why we love : the nature and chemistry of romantic love / Helen Fisher.
DICK-SMITH CALL NUMBER - BF575.L8 F53 2005
Location: STACKS

Also, checkout our lobby display of the 100 Greatest Love Poems Ever Written!

Hillary or Obama? McCain, Romney or Huckabee?

This is a neat website to go to for Super Tuesday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Tuesday