Trying to save the earth? Interested in the environment?“Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Earth, a new electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other’s work. The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.” These words are from the web site  http://www.eoearth.org/. It is a very good resource for the student and layperson alike. A keeper. Who’s responsible for it? The National Council for Science and the Environment with editorial support from the Department of Geography and Environment and the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University.

On another note, if you want to know the lay of the land, Lincoln Land in particular, visit http://www.dot.state.il.us/maps/generalmaps1.html. Put out by the Illinois Dept. of Transportation, these are PDF maps of Illinois. Although Google Maps will give you directions and streets, these maps, rather, show the features of regions in Illinois according to Township, County, and City, with only the main thoroughfares plotted. Not all cities in Illinois are on the list. 

And finally, try to learn something new by visiting www.monkeysee.com. You will have to get through a lot of ads to get to your video, but as a neophyte, you will be treated to step-by-step instructions or information on various topics from handling corn snakes to putting on mineral make-up to advanced pole dancing.

Kudos to Moraine Valley librarian Marie Martino for telling me about this nifty new online presentation tool: prezi.com.  This is a neat resource that helps users create dynamic presentations without having to mess with slides or static layouts.  Users have the ability to zoom in on specifc sections, create custom, nonlinear layouts, and post images and media links.  Prezi’s basic account is free, can be accessed over the internet, and offers users 100 MB of storage space.  Interested users can sign up for paid accounts and desktop versions, which offer more storage space, accessories, and the option to work offline.  You don’t need to load anything on your computer (apart from a web browser) to use Prezi, and there are several online video tutorials on the site to teach users the basics of building and modifying presentations.  There are a few quirks and bugs that the folks at Prezi are still trying to fix, so do test your idea before you try this for a class, but if you’re getting tired of Power Point and want to try a different method for sharing ideas with an audience, this is a good place to start.

On Wednesday, historian Howard Zinn passed away at the age of 87. He was a historian who served in WWII, was active in the Civil Rights Movement, and was a vocal activist on a range of issues. Importantly for students of history, Zinn’s book A People’s History of the United States helped to transform the ways we think about history. Instead of looking at history from the top through the eyes of presidents, generals, and political leaders, Zinn looed through the eyes of those at the ground level. These were people who were generally left out of the history books. For more information on Zinn, visit:

• Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/28/howard_zinn_1922_2010_a_tribut
• Or search for works by Zinn in the Moraine Valley Library Collection: http://library.morainevalley.edu/search/?searchtype=a&searcharg=zinn,+h&SORT=D&submit=Search

The library has added broader coverage of some key news sources that are not freely available on the Web. We have added the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and broader coverage of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and LA Times. We have also added historical coverage of the NY Times and Chicago Tribune. To access these databases you need a valid MVCC ID and then visit:

• News Database Page Page for access to the last 10 years of these papers
• History Database Page for historic access to the Times (back to the 1850s) and Tribune (back to the 1840s).

As much as we LOVE to have students working in the MVCC Library, students may want or need to work from home.  Not everyone has access to MS Office 2007 on their laptops, netbooks, or desktop computers.  Furthermore, the electronic file formats that instructors use on Blackboard or other teaching and learning technologies may vary, and sometimes, this may create issues for students who do not own the latest version or type of software that supports these files.

Microsoft has released a number of free applications that allow users to view (meaning read-only) or to convert MS Office 2007 files to other compatible file formats for editing in different programs.  Additionally, one can find a bunch of  free, albeit reputable and reliable productivity tools that let users save or export documents as MS Office files, and are available online for quick and easy download.

Access or Edit MS Office 2007 Files

For those who need to read or edit documents generated on Microsoft Office 2007, but do not own the software, Microsoft has a number of document viewer and file converter apps available for Word, Excel, PowerPoint.   See: Office Online File Converters and Viewers

Also quite handy is this new add-on for Microsoft Office 2007 users that allows you to save any document as a pdf.  See: Save a PDF Add-in for Microsoft Office

Docx2Rtf is a freeware file converter for MS Word 2007, as well as OpenOffice. It enables the user to open files and convert them to RTF or PDF format.  Docx2Rtf does not require MS Office 2007 or OpenOffice installed in order to work. Word 2007 docx files and OpenOffice files will be converted with formatting, but without images.

We have not forgotten about our Mac users! The Open XML File Format Converter for Mac can convert MS 2007 Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations, making it possible to open, edit, and save such files in earlier versions of Office for Mac.

Also, remember current versions of Apple’s iWork (NOT a free productivity suite), allow users to open and save files in all of the MS Office formats.

Programs Available for Download

Below are some alternatives to some of the commonly used MS Office 2007 applications.

AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to MS Word that works on both Windows and Mac OS.

Gnumeric is a spreadsheet program. It allows the user to import and export data in several file formats, including Microsoft Excel and it offers some customizable features.  This works on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

OpenOffice.org 3 is a full software suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.  This works on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

Work in the Cloud

There are a number of free online applications available.  Work online and save your work there for easy access from any location with an internet connection.  Save and/or export to MS Office files.

Google Docs  allows the user to create and edit web-based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Zoho offers a suite of online web applications.

ThinkFree.com provides a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation package.

*Please note: This list was compiled in December 2009.  Due to rapid changes in technology, this list may not reflect the most current program versions if accessed some time after its publication date.

Today, we helped a student who was doing research on Aphra Behn’s 1688 text, Oroonoko, for a literature class. This work is notable for the following:

1. It is an early form of the novel, which was a new form of writing at that time.
2. It is one work from that time about an African slave (and slave revolt) written by a women.
3. It has a pretty gruesome scene where a slave is pretty much barbecued over a fire.  (See page 208 of the text)

This got us looking at the use of the word barbecue.  We discovered that the way we (in 21st century America) think about barbecue is different than they way the word was thought about in the past.

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the term is originally from the Spanish word barbacoa which is derived from the Haitian word barbacòa.  This refers to “a framework of sticks set upon posts.”  There is also evidence that this was related to the French term babracot, which came from the Indians of Guyana.  If you want to know more, take a look at the OED.

Anyway, the word Barbecue actually refers to the physical cooking structure and not to the style of cooking or to a particular sauce.

I wanted to pass along this cool timeline from NPR.  It highlights the highs and lows in music during the decade of the 00s.  Click on the link below to check it out.  It includes NPR stories about many of the key events.

Decade in Music

Description From the NPR Site: “NPR Music highlights some of the most significant musical moments of the ’00s in culture, business and technology using our archival news coverage.”

Looking for resources about the swine flu, a.k.a. H1N1?  Here’s a short list of free, authoritative, and timely web sources about this virus.

General Information:

Center for Disease Control– H1N1 2009

MedlinePlus (NLM)–H1N1 Flu

Flu.Gov–Swine Flu FAQs

Department of Homeland Security–Response to H1N1

Enviro-Health Links (NLM Specialized Information Services)–H1N1 Flu

Ebsco–Influenza Evidence-Based information Portal

Information for Specific Groups

Center for Disease Control–H1N1 Information for Specific Groups

Vaccines:

Center for Disease Control– H1N1 Flu Vaccination Resources

Flu.Gov–Vaccines, Vaccine Allocation, and Vaccine Research

Multimedia:

Medline Plus (NLM)–H1N1 Interactive Tutorial

Center for Disease Control–CDCStreamingHealthVideos on YouTube

Flu.Gov–Multimedia

 The library has just added Joe Nick Patoski’s book Willie Nelson: An Epic Life to our collection.  This book can be found at call # ML420 .N4 P38 2008.  Here is the book’s description:

From his first performance at age four, Willie Nelson was driven to make music and live life on his own terms. But though he is a songwriter of exceptional depth - “Crazy” was one of his early classics - Willie only found success after abandoning Nashville and moving to Austin, Texas.

Red Headed Stranger made country cool to a new generation of fans. Wanted: The Outlaws became the first country album to sell a million copies. And “On the Road Again” became the anthem for Americans on the move. A craggy-faced, pot-smoking philosopher, Willie Nelson is one of America’s great iconoclasts and idols.

Now Joe Nick Patoski draws on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family, band, and friends to tell Nelson’s story, from humble Depression-era roots, to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey, women, and weed; from his triumph with #1 hit “Always On My Mind” to his nearly career-ending battles with debt and the IRS; and his ultimate redemption and ascension to American hero

Looking for TV scripts?  The library’s Newspaper Source database has transcripts from news shows.  Yes, I know it is called a newspaper database, but it has newspapers and TV shows.  For instance, here is a link to ABC’s Goodmorning America (MVCC ID requried from off campus).  If you are looking for non-news scripts.  Here are a few sources to try:

• TV Scripts (TWIZTV): Description: ”TWIZ TV.COM - Free TV Scripts and Television Transcripts. Listing of more than 200 shows. Including Alias, Charmed, Gilmore Girls, The OC, One Tree Hill, Smallville and more.”
• Television Transcript Project : TVTP 1000 Description: “Transcripts to TV shows, commercials, and a few interviews. Has some links to more and background, including how-to.”
• Simply Scripts Descritption: “1000s of free, downloadable movie scripts and movie screenplays on the ’net. Searchable database of movie, television, radio, anime scripts, transcripts and plays. A screenwriter’s resource.”
• Movie-Page.com: Scripts A-M: Description: “The movie script section features new, old and rare movie scripts.”
• Drews Script O Rama: Description: ”#1 free screenplay site for movies and television”

These descriptions are provided by Infomine: Scholarly Internet Source Collections.