One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

Swing by the library to check out our newly stocked Discards Shelf (over by the computers at the Circulation Desk). We have a range of book titles from Theft and Mortgage: What "They" Don't Want You to Know to dated Cambridge Encyclopedias of China, India and Russia. There are also back issues of magazines such as W, CosmoGirl, Marie Claire (in French), and The New Republic.

All items on the discard shelf are up for grabs. We will leave them on the shelf for 2 weeks before sending them on to be recycled. Come by to see what we have!

New DVDs in the Library

New Entertainment DVDs Are Available in the Library!

We would like to hear from you about what movies you would like to see added to our DVD Colletion. Please email us at: library@stgoerges.edu

Our newest titles include:

Roman Holiday

Ground Hog Day

Shrek

Rush Hour

Indiana Jones Trilogy

The Incredibles

A Fish Called Wanda

Jennifer Lawless Speaking at SG Friday 2/22

Jennifer Lawless, author of It Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office, will be addressing the SG community Friday, February 22, 2008. Lawless is a professor of political science and public policy at Brown University.

Her book It Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office "constitutes a systematic, nationwide empirical account of the effects of gender on political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Study, a national survey of 3,800 "potential candidates" conducted by the authors, it relates these findings: --Women, even at the highest levels of professional accomplishment, are significantly less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to run for elective office. --Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office. --Women are less likely than men to consider themselves "qualified" to run for office. --Women are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for a future office. According to the authors, this gender gap in political ambition persists across generations, despite contemporary society's changing attitudes towards female candidates. While other treatments of gender in the electoral process focus on candidates and office holders, It Takes a Candidate makes a unique contribution to political studies by focusing on the earlier stages of the candidate emergence process and on how gender affects the decision to seek elective office." (synopsis from Amazon.com).

Come to the library and check out our copy of It Takes A Candidate today!

RISD Grad Wins Caldecott Medal

From the Providence Journal- Sunday, February 17, 2008

Brian Selznic wins Caldecott Medal for The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Synopsis: ORPHAN, CLOCK KEEPER, AND THIEF, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together...in The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

This 526-page book is told in both words and pictures. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is not exactly a novel, and it’s not quite a picture book, and it’s not really a graphic novel, or a flip book, or a movie, but a combination of all these things. Each picture (there are nearly three hundred pages of pictures!) takes up an entire double page spread, and the story moves forward because you turn the pages to see the next moment unfold in front of you. From theinventionofhugocabret.com

Come by the library and check it out!

New Research Tools Available

The NEW Evaluating Web Sites Resource Guide is now available in the library and is also posted on the library web site http://dragon/library/ (located under the General Reference button). The guide provides information about deciphering web addresses and lists criteria for examining authorship, content and quality of a site. HAPPY SEARCHING!

Chicago Style Bibliography and Footnote Ciation Sheets have been updated! For the latest version of the citation sheet, you can pick up a copy in the library or you can find it posted on the library web site http://dragon/library/ under the General Reference button.

Exam Week Wrap-Up

Well, it's the the first day back after exam week and the library (and the students) have survived. The library was the hot spot last week for studying, snacking, and the occasional down time for the students inbetween studying for exams.

Overall, the library was a productive, quiet space for students last week with the students self-monitoring the space and creating an academic atmosphere. Please be on the lookout for a student survey on Blackboard regarding how the library was used during this past week so you can give us your feedback.


We in the library would like to thank everyone for their help exam week in keeping the space cleanproductive and intellectual. It's great to see students working hard and cleaning up after themselves in order to keep the library functioning. Now that exams ended, please keep up the excellent work ethic and behavior of which you are definitely capable.


It was a busy week, hope you enjoyed your time off this past weekend!

Library Use During Exams

As mid year exams approach, the Library will definitely be a busy place so we are going to tighten up the ship for exam week (January 20-25th).

• The library will be a silent study space with individual study only during study hall.
• During the day, there may be some students taking exams here so be respectful of them.
• The library will be open its normal hours (7:30am-10:00pm) from Monday, January 21 - Thursday, January 24th and will be open during the day on Friday, January 25th.

Good Luck and Happy Studying!

Accessing Government Information

With Spring fast approaching, the season of research papers will soon be upon us and the thought of accessing information will be at the forefront of most students' minds. panther.indstate.edu/tutorials/govdocs/index.jpg

Government information, usually a worthy source for most research papers, is often the most difficult to access and decipher. However, there are two new alternative sites to the U.S. Government Printing Office (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/). Government Attic (http://governmentattic.org/) and Government Docs (http://governmentdocs.org/).

Government Attic makes materials that are unavailable available to the public. There is no real theme to the content of the site; it is supposed to similar to rummaging around in your grandparents' attic.

Government Docs is a more organized, user-friendly site. Government Docs is a joint project between Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Project Oversight, Public Citizen, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Sunlight Foundation. The documents are fully searchable and users are allowed to comment and tag the documents. All documents are downloadable in PDF format.

Hopefully, these sites will help you in your research quest this Spring. Stop in the Library any time and we will be happy to help you find any information you need. Happy Reasearching!

Study Hall Sign In Sheet

Ms. Tuleja and Ms. Kelly would like to commend the students who came to the library last night for study hall. The study hall sign in sheet was almost filled in almost perfectly with all directions on the sheet being followed by most thanks to a Ms. Alison Ann Fornell starting the group off right with her AMAZING sign in.

Let's see if we can get a perfect sign in sheet tonight!

In all seriousness though, the students have been great this semester in the library during study hall. The library has been an overall productive place to work and is left in great shape at the end of the evening. We would like to thank both our student and faculty proctors for their help. Please keep up the great work!

Censorship At It's Best

View The Golden Compass Movie Trailer here

As posted on the ALA website: Decemnber 4, 2007
ALA President Loriene Roy responds to attempts to remove "The Golden Compass" from library shelves

CHICAGO - The following is a statement issued by American Library Association President Loriene Roy regarding efforts to remove "The Golden Compass" from libraries and schools.

"This week, the movie, ‘The Golden Compass,’ based on the first book in Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy entitled ‘His Dark Materials,’ will debut in theatres across the United States. The movie has triggered a boycott campaign sponsored by conservative religious organizations that believe the movie and the books are an attack on Christianity and the Catholic Church. The groups are urging parents not to see the movie or purchase the books.

"The call to boycott the filmed version of ‘The Golden Compass’ has inspired a parallel effort to remove the novel and its companion volumes from libraries and schools. Much like efforts to ban the Harry Potter books, fear and misinformation are driving the effort to deprive students and library users access to Pullman's critically praised books, which are recommended by both religious and secular critics.

"It is one thing to disagree with the content of a book or the viewpoint of an author; it is quite another thing to block access to that material because of that disagreement. Removing a book from a school or library because the author is an atheist, or because a religious group disagrees with the book's viewpoint, is censorship that runs counter to our most cherished freedoms and our history as a nation that celebrates and protects religious diversity.

"We encourage librarians, teachers and parents to resist the call to censorship. Censorship results in the opposite of true education and learning. Young people will only develop the skills they need to analyze information and make choices among a wide variety of competing sources if they are permitted to read books and explore ideas under the guidance of caring adults.

"We realize, of course, that not every book is for everyone. Parents know their children best and should guide their children’s reading. If parents think a particular book is not suitable for their child, they should guide their child to other books. But they should not impose their beliefs on other people’s children.

"By resisting the call to censor and boycott ‘The Golden Compass,’ we send the message to young people that in this country they have the right to choose what they will read and that they will be expected to develop the ability to think critically about what they read, rather than allowing others to do their thinking for them." -from www.ala.org

World Digital Library

From the Library of Congress Website:

October 17, 2007

Library of Congress and UNESCO Sign World Digital Library Agreement

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and UNESCO Assistant Director for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan today signed an agreement at UNESCO headquarters in Paris pledging cooperative efforts to build a World Digital Library Web site.

The World Digital Library will digitize unique and rare materials from libraries and other cultural institutions around the world and make them available for free on the Internet. These materials will include manuscripts, maps, books, musical scores, sound recordings, films, prints and photographs. The objectives of the World Digital Library include promoting international and intercultural understanding, increasing the quantity and diversity of cultural materials on the Internet, and contributing to education and scholarship.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Library of Congress and UNESCO will cooperate in convening working groups of experts and other stakeholders to develop guidelines and technical specifications for the project, enlist new partners and secure the necessary support for the project from private and public sources. A key aspect of the project is to build digital library capabilities in the developing world, so that all countries and regions of the world can participate and be represented in the World Digital Library.

To test the feasibility of the project, the Library of Congress, UNESCO and five other partner institutions -- the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt; the National Library of Brazil; the National Library of Egypt; the National Library of Russia; and the Russian State Library -- have developed a prototype of the World Digital Library. The prototype is being demonstrated to national delegations at the UNESCO General Conference currently underway. The World Digital Library will become available to the public as a full-fledged Web site in late 2008 or early 2009.

The prototype functions in the six U.N. languages -- Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, plus Portuguese -- and features search and browse functionality by place, time, topic and contributing institution. Input into the design of the prototype was solicited through a consultative process that involved UNESCO, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and individuals and institutions in more than 40 countries.

"UNESCO has been an exceptional partner of the Library of Congress during the development of this important global resource," said Billington. "We look forward to strengthening our collaboration with UNESCO as we work with current and future partners in this exciting enterprise to bring the cultural treasures of the world to the world."

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States and the largest library in the world, with more than 134 million items in more than 450 languages. Its collections are universal in scope and available in all formats in which information is recorded. The Library seeks to further understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge and by celebrating human achievement.

Additional information about the World Digital Library can be found at http://www.worlddigitallibrary.org/.

The Future of Books

In case any of you are pondering the future of print books like us here in the library, I would like to share with you all the cover article from the November 26, 2007 issue of Newsweek.

The cover claims "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)" The article discussed how CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos is releasing his newest component of Amazon.com, the Amazon Kindle. The Amazon Kindle is an electronic device for reading e-books. The Kindle is light and about the size of a paperback book. Bezos believes that it will be the next "it" tech gadget.

Surely we are all moving towards a digital environment but our question is does the introduction of this new and improved e-book reader from a technically savvy company like Amazon.com hold the fate of the printed word in it's hands? Take a look around campus, as everyone walks by with i-Pod earbuds in, imagine everyone reading books on a little handheld screen. Can't picture it? We're having a hard time too, but check out the full article in Newsweek. Like Bezos says "it's so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as a the book and improve on it. And change the way people read." It's defintely Kindled our interest.

NEA Report Finds Teens Are Reading Less for Fun

A report published by the National Endowment for the Arts in November 2007 entitled, To Read or Not To Read, analyzes reading trends for youth and adults, and readers of various education levels. Among the key findings:

Americans are reading less:

• Teens and young adults read less often and for shorter amounts of time compared with other age groups and with Americans of previous years.

• Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.

• On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading

Source: National Endowment for the Arts website http://www.nea.gov/news

Let's get reading....proove them wrong and read for fun over the holiday break! Stop by the library and check out the Books for Fun display.....all of the books can be checked out and many more are avilable in the Fiction section....come by the library and have a look!

2007 Top Ten List of Teen Books

2007 Top Ten List of Books Voted on by Teen Book Groups
source: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/teenstopten.cfm

1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
2. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Viking Children’s Books, 2006)
3. How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles (Flux, 2006).
4. Maximum Ride: School’s Out – Forever by James Patterson (Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
5. Firegirl by Tony Abbott (Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
6. ll Hallows Eve (13 Stories)by Vivian Vande Velde (Harcourt, 2006).
7. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2006).
8. River Secrets by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury, 2006).
9. Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe (HarperCollins, 2006).
10. Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks (Chicken House, 2006).