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.

Books and Authors Available from FEL

You can now access Books and Authors via the Florida Electronic Library free.

Books and Authors, a Gale product can be used to enhance the experience of the book you are currently reading, digging deeper into its themes and origins, or learning how the author′s life and times contributed to the work. Books and Authors covers fiction and non-fiction titles as well. It also has lists of Read-alikes and Expert Picks of titles that are the Best of the Best in different genres or subjects. The next time you are stumped check out Books and Authors located off the FEL page.

http://bna.galegroup.com/bna/

Florida Electronic Library - FEL

The Florida Electronic Library—your gateway to superior electronic resources that offer access to comprehensive, accurate, and reliable information—offers a training program designed to meet the needs of all library staff. With its blended curriculum, you can take advantage of the training that best suits your learning style: on demand, live webinar, or on-site in your library.
Homework Help Using FEL Resources
Get an overview of the best FEL resources to use when assisting elementary, middle, and high school students with homework assignments. A multidisciplinary approach will be used to teach attendees about the FEL resources geared to the library staff and a student audience. Reference questions and assignments will be provided to help teach the practical application of the database to real life student research. The attendees will be taught the most effective and efficient search strategies to obtain the best results for student questions and research.

This session is ideal for children and youth services staff, media specialists, and anyone helping students with research.

· Always available on demand
· Live webinar Thursday, October 7 at 11:00 a.m.

Register online at http://www.flelibrary.org/training/.

Other courses available include:
· The World of FEL/Gale Resources: A General Product Overview
· Patron Outreach: Creating Easy Access and Increasing Usage of FEL Resources
· A Healthy Perspective: Health Research Using FEL Resources
· FEL QuickStart: General and Academic OneFile Searches
· The Power of Web 2.0: Best Practices Using FEL Resources
· Getting Down to Business: Effective Use of FEL Business Resources
· Following the Trends: Understanding FEL Reports and Analysis Data
· Making It Personal: Customizing Your FEL Products

More TumbleBooks News

NEW!!! Did you know that the smallest seahorses are about the size of a quarter? How do seahorses eat without teeth? Get fact-packed answers to these facinating questions in the new, interactive non-fiction TumbleBook, 'Seahorses'!!

TumbleNews

INTRODUCING... TumbleBooksToGo's newest Applications in iTunes!! "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Best Excuse"!! If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, go to the App store to download these two Apps today!!! Now you can take your favorite TumbleBooks with you wherever you go!! Just go to the Apple iTunes' App Store and search "TumbleBooks" And while you're there, check out their other exciting TumbleBooksToGo Apps!!

STAT-USA Office to Cease Operations September 30, 2010

After more than 25 years of operation, STAT-USA will cease operations. The world of access to government information has evolved to the point that STAT-USA's business model ,as a fee for service office, is no longer viable.
USA Trade Online will continue, provided by the Foreign Trade Division of the Census Bureau- a key source of STAT-USA data.
STAT-USA/Internet (which includes all State of the Nation and GLOBUS & NTDB databases) and their syndication services will cease Sept 30, 2010.
Please check the STAT-USA website for where your customers can find similar information in the future.

Ask a Librarian

Everyone’s headed back to school – from first-time kindergartners to non-traditional college students, teachers and faculty, parents, and even your library’s friendly staff, no one is immune to the Back to School bug. And every fall, when classes roll in, Ask a Librarian – Florida’s statewide virtual reference service - helps countless users find what they need to make a strong start. Not sure what you need? No problem! We can help you find books on certain topics, books for specific ages, grades, or reading levels, books in different languages, print size, and other formats, and much more. You tell us where you are or where you want to be, and we’ll help you locate the resources to get you on your way. Librarians across Florida are standing by and ready to help you through live chat. What are people asking?

My 3rd grade daughter has to do a book report. Can you recommend any books for her?
Need help finding a book for my history class! It needs to be about colonialism.
I am a teacher looking for books appropriate for 5th graders (not too easy; not too hard).
As an education major, how can I find age-specific books for children? Are there any resources to get me started?

Your library has tons of resources available, in print and online, to help everyone move to the head of the class. No matter what you’re looking for, we’ll help you find it!

What can we help you with today?

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 constitute a unique value to your users, and are included with your NewsBank subscription.
The following is an updated listing of current Special Reports:
Continued coverage of Current Reports of particular interest:
The World Cup-coverage of the 2010 games in South Africa
World Environment-the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
World Economics-the global financial situation and its market impact
2010 U.S. Mid-Term Elections-the candidates and issues
Additional featured Reports covering current issues and events:
Natural Disasters
World Health
Conflict and Terrorism
World Travel
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.

Free Reference: CDC

Summer vacation is now upon us, and with that comes travel. Among the many databases and web sites librarians access to gather vital information for international travel is the traveler's site prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): TRAVELERS HEALTH wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

The drop down menu in the Destinations window yields a listing of 238 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The bulk of the narrative information on the homepage concerns trip preparations, necessary vaccinations, traveling with pets and special-needs individuals, prevalent diseases, items to bring and how to maintain good health during your trip.

The CDC Traveler's Health site is an invaluable source of detailed and authoritative information covering every aspect of international travel as it pertains to health and safety concerns.

So HAPPY SUMMER and HAVE A GREAT VACATION!

Getting to Know Urban Literature

Hip-Hop lit. Ghetto lit. Gangsta lit. No matter what they're calling it - your patrons are asking for it. Urban Literature has become immensely popular among patrons of all ages since rapper and political activist Sister Souljah wrote The Coldest Winter Ever a decade ago. And while some may question its literary merit, the genre deserves recognition for bringing a new generation of reluctant readers into the library. Readers are drawn to the realistic characters in urban settings and the slang-infused dialogue that depict situations similar to what they, or their friends, are experiencing.
Many librarians have yet to include this genre in their Readers' Advisory repertoire, maybe because they don't know enough about it, or simply don't get its appeal. That's why Adult Services Librarian Jessica Zellers has written "Getting Up to Speed in... Urban Lit" to help you understand the who, the what, and the why of Urban Literature. This in-depth genre outline describes the three main sub-genres -- Street Lit, Urban Drama, and Urban Erotica -- and offers background information on some of the most popular authors and titles. For a more general overview, check out "Hot Topics: Street Fiction" by librarian David Wright, in which he discusses the genre and provides annotations for Urban must-reads.
On the other hand, you might shun Urban lit because you are familiar with the genre and are uncomfortable with the explicit descriptions of sex, violence and drug use. While the majority of Street Lit does deal with street life and use urban talk, not all titles are shockingly graphic. Urban Dramas, for example, tend to be less scandalous, focusing on the emotional interactions among characters. Even the bawdiest authors don't glorify street life, but are careful to depict the grim reality of it.
However, the underlying message may not be strong enough to justify handing some titles - especially Urban Erotica - to young patrons. There are authors who write cleaner, less violent titles appropriate for the age group. NoveList contributor Autumn Winters has compiled a list of series and titles to consider in "Serving Teen Urban Fiction Readers in Your Library." Here, she suggests possible titles for libraries, and illustrates how Urban Literature can be used to reach out to teen readers.
You can find all three feature articles mentioned in this newsletter by entering the title in the Find box on the NoveList home page, selecting the Title radio button, and clicking Search. So the next time a young patron asks about rapper 50 Cent, you'll know that they're looking for his Urban Lit books and a not his new CD.

Spring/Summer Database Updates 2010

Reference database publishers often update their products in the spring and then provide that information to their customers. Here are the updates for some of the databases we subscribe too.

EBSCO NoveList and NoveList Plus . Effective July 2010, a new interface incorporates the use of appeal terms for elements such as pacing, mood, writing style, and tone. For browsers, new genre pages feature book that are well known in the genre along with immediate links to NoveList content and articles as well as award lists specific to the genre. An expanded "Teaching with Books" section supports school librarians and teachers.

Fact on File Science Online. New essays on subjects within the physical sciences as well as new color illustrations.

Gale, part of Cengage Learning Grzimek's Animal Life. New biomes map with Google integration allows users to select a biome and see an overlay of it on the world map. New content includes the Encyclopedia of Biomes (2d edition.)

World Book Enciclopedia estudiantil hallazgos. Relaunched with a new design, a search engine, updated content, and new interactive features.
Advanced Differentiated feature offers read-aloud capability and translation into 30 languages for World Book Kids, World book Online Reference Center, and World Book Discover.
Time line feature on World Book Discover now allows students and educators to add their own images.

Something about the Author- In Gale Virual Reference Library

Is the end of school close? Have students been working on reports about authors? Well searching for those authors has never been easier. Just by searching our catalog, you can search for a biographgy for say Gary Paulsen and this leads you right to the online version of "Something about the Author" in the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). Within three easy clicks your students can have everything they need to create a report about an author, right from this wonderful source. GVRL contains a wealth of information from many subject areas, so remember to look here when you need a little extra to complete your search.

Footnote.com Available Remotely

It has been a long time coming but the Footnote.com database can now be accessed remotely from your home computer. You will get there through the libraries Web site at hcplc.org and then select "Databases and Websites" and from there you will go to the Genealogy page and it is listed under the databases. Footnote contains such information as Civil War documents, Newspapers, Milestone Documents, Census information, Photos, World War 1 papers and Naturalization records.

NoveList K-8 Adds Interface Enhancements

Over the past year NoveList has spent a lot of time listening to their customers. What they have told them is that we want even more of the great resources they provide, and we want to be able to get to those resources quickly and easily.
As you may already know, they have been working on enhancements to the NoveList and NoveList Plus interfaces, but they are also working on updates and enhancements to K-8 and K-8 Plus.
Design for the K-8 and K-8 Plus interfaces is underway and the release is scheduled for later this summer. While there won’t be a Beta version for these interfaces, you can still see what’s coming by using the NoveList or NoveList Plus Beta.

The new versions of K-8 will search, browse, and make recommendations just like the new NoveList, with a few slight differences:
The new K-8 will use a different color palette and larger font than NoveList.
The K-8 homepage will be slightly different, most notably with the addition of juvenile-related links in the menu on the right.
The K-8 Search box will include Reading Level limiters.
You can see what the new K-8 will look like by visiting their Support Center. On the preview page, you’ll see screenshots of the new interface, and you can find additional information and promotional materials for the new K-8 under the FAQ and Promotion tabs.

Auto Repair Reference Center (ARRC) Interface Updates Coming Soon

Ebsco is excited to announce that later this summer, we will see significant user interface, content and functionality updates made to our Auto Repair Reference Center subscription.

Some of these upgrades are listed below:
All repairs classified by OEMs, such as Ford, Honda, etc., on a given vehicle will be categorized and made available in the new ARRC user interface
Thousands of repairs (as opposed to hundreds in print repair manuals) for each vehicle will provide the most comprehensive repair coverage available to the Do-it-Yourselfer
Coverage will be provided for many more vehicles than Chilton, with historic repair information dating back to the 1940s
Content indicies will make finding repair information much easier, and will include wiring diagrams, specifications, maintenance intervals, TSBs, recalls and labor guide estimates
A streamlined content update system will ensure currency superior to the manual methods used by other sources
Researchers using the new interface will have more complete access to what they need, by being able to find content from PDFs, including graphics in the repair procedures

Here are some examples of the new, intuitive screens coming in the ARRC updated interface:
http://crm.ebscohost.com/app/crm/marketing/campaignlistener.nl?__lstr=__cl&c=392875&__r=5861002&__h=64dce20078f6ab3facbd&_od=aHR0cHM6Ly9mb3Jtcy5uZXRzdWl0ZS5jb20*&url=http://support.epnet.com/uploads/kb/arrc_screen_shots.ppt/ohttp://support.epnet.com/uploads/kb/arrc_screen_shots.ppt
This release is expected in the summer, and will simply replace the existing ARRC as soon as it is ready.