Updates to Science Online

The latest update to Science Online includes more than 250 new or updated color illustrations, more than 25 new photographs, more than 300 biographies and essays, and more.
Looking for science experiments, videos, essays, images, definitions, and more, turn to Science Online for complete, visual science coverage!


Hundreds of New Essays
This latest update adds more than 300 biographies and essays focusing on topics in Earth science, space science, and scientific exploration. Based on the NSES Content Standards, this new content is the perfect complement to the material typically taught in high school and college science classes. Students can refer to this information for clear explanations of everything from ecology, oceans, sociobiology, and conservation to geological and astrophysical phenomena--along with profiles of the people behind the development of these sciences.
New essays include:
North American geology
Stellar evolution
Black smoker chimneys




Hundreds of New or Updated Color Illustrations
The more than 250 new or updated full-color illustrations--each with clear labels--enhance the already highly visual, accessible Science Online and help to clarify important science concepts. As with all the material in Science Online, the illustrations can be enlarged, saved, emailed, or printed and feature dynamic citation information.New illustrations include:
Aqueducts in California
Main Causes for Mass Extinctions
Separation of Electrical Charges in a Storm Cloud.



New Photographs
This update to Science Online adds more than 25 new full-color photographs, providing vivid, colorful images of core-curriculum science topics. Students can take an up-close look at the Lena delta in Russia, the Helix Planetary Nebula, and many other fascinating real-life examples of the science studied in class. Explanatory captions provide pertinent information about each photograph.New photographs include:
Helix Planetary Nebula
Protalus Ramparts
San Andreas Fault.

Tutor.com is Going Mobile!

Tutor.com has just announced that customers and students may begin accessing the Tutor.com SkillsCenter Resource Library using the new Tutor.com To Go App for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Keep in mind that there will be subsequent releases incorporating other types of SmartPhones as well as additional features coming to the Tutor.com Learning Suite soon. Keep a lookout for more things to come in early 2011!

NewsBank Special Reports

NewsBank’s Special Reports are news articles, maps, images and other useful content grouped for convenience under specific topics and themes. Easily accessible within NewsBank resources, they enable users to quickly locate information on a specific subject while helping them gain better insight into current issues and events on a global scale. Each Report features current and retrospective coverage, and new articles are added daily. Special Reports are a unique value to you the users, and are included with our NewsBank subscription.

Following is a listing of current Special Reports.

November Topics and Monthly Themes

U.S. Mid-Term Elections – 2010
World Health – Haiti Cholera Outbreak
World Environment
World Economics
Native American Indian Month
Additional featured Reports covering current issues and events

Natural Disasters
Conflict and Terrorism
Education Around the World
Science and Health in the News

All NewsBank Special Reports are located on the left side bar on your online resource menu page at infoweb.newsbank.com, on search screens and the Other NewsBank Products link in full-text newspaper products.

Ask A Librarian

So you’ve just finished watching your favorite TV or news program, or listening to your favorite radio show. For the last hour, they touted the brilliance of someone’s latest novel or nonfiction read. The damage is done – your interest is piqued. All you’re thinking now is, "I’ve got to read this book."

You… and maybe just a few other people. (Anyone remember Tickle-Me Elmo?) Well, the first step is to head straight to your library’s catalog – either in-person or online – and see if you’ve beaten the rest of those viewers or listeners to the punch. Your library may have anticipated the wave of heightened interest and ordered extra copies, so you may be able to stake your claim then and there. But if not – if your library’s copies are already checked out – make sure you place a hold on that title. Your library will put you on a waiting list just for that title. As the items are returned, they are set aside for those next on the waiting list. Your library will notify you as soon as your book is ready. And if for some reason your library doesn’t own a copy of the book, don’t despair - your library’s Interlibrary Loan service may be able to borrow the book from another library system.

Your library’s catalog lets you place holds – and sometimes even Interlibrary Loan requests – online from the convenience of your computer. If you need help finding a book, placing a hold, or just getting more information on how to place an Interlibrary Loan request through your library, visit Ask a Librarian today and get live help from a real Florida librarian. No matter what you’re looking for, we’ll help you find it.

What can we help you with today?

Changes to come with Overdrive

Do you download ebooks? Has this ever happened to you?

You are searching in the local OPAC for say "61 Hours" by Lee Child. You choose the ebook version, click the link, and find myself at "61 Hours" in the OverDrive catalog.

But, you can't add it to your cart until you log in. And after you log in, you are dumped back to the default landing page, not back at "61 Hours"?

So, then you have to search for it within the OverDrive site to get myself back there.

Annoying Right?

Well by annoyed no more! Tweaking this feature has actually been added to the new Overdrive Feature Request list and is under review. Hopefully this functionality will be updated in the future for their sites as they definitely do not want the user experience to be ‘annoying’!

So look forward to better things to come in the future from Overdrive!

Foundation Center Updates

GrantSpace
The Foundation Center launched GrantSpace.org on October 5, 2010. This website places information about grants and fundraising within reach of organizations of all sizes, providing the grantseeker with a one-stop shop for knowledge, community and expert guidance. GrantSpace compliments the Foundation Center with recent news, reports, documents, etc. that relates to the most pressing social change issues of the day. There are links to FAQ’s as well as a calendar that lists and allows registration for upcoming Foundation Center training opportunities around the U.S. and online.
GrantSpace has an assortment of tools and resources designed to get you up to speed on what you will need to finance and operate a nonprofit organization.
TRASI
Tools and Resources for Assessing Social Impact (TRASI) is another new resource on the Foundation Center database. This database has guidelines for creating and conducting an assessment and ready to use tools for measuring social change. TRASI is a partnership project with the Foundation Center and McKinsey & Co. and with experts in the field to address the growing interest in measuring social impact.