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.