A Visual Dictionary

New tool for all you visual learners out there; if you haven’t already made use of the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, be sure to check out their new reference resource called the Visual Dictionary Online. It’s great for all those frustrating times where you have an image in your mind but struggle to find that matching word or phrase, or vice-versa. Search by browsing a set of themes, images (there’s over 6,000 for the 20,000 terms listed), or through their index to see just what it is you’re curious about. So when someone asks what exactly it is you mean, now you can show them.

A virtual campus for U

From lectures on the physics of baseball, astronautics and aeronautics at MIT, to concerts of Mozart requiems at Duke, to even recordings of humpback whales, whatever you’re looking for, it might just be found at iTunes U. iTunes U is a relatively new feature from iTunes that allows anyone to access lectures, presentations and other content delivery through the submission of audio and video files from participating educational institutions. The potential for finding supplemental research material, study aids, presentations, or even just an interesting topic is virtually endless. Browse for your content by university, highlights from “beyond campus”, or even from the most popular downloads of the day. Institutions can limit access to what they offer, but generally, most of the content is free for anyone to use.

Don’t worry if you don’t have an iPod; iTunes is a free download that allows people to mange, listen to, or watch content from your desktop. And if you do have an iPod, automatically download your favorite institutions’ podcasts, and listen to them whenever you may be (though hopefully not while in your “non-virtual” class!). Listen/watch for class assignments, your upcoming term papers (remember to cite your sources!), or just for the sake of learning itself! Expand your learning with iTunes U! Perhaps in the future, you just might just see something from Marian listed in the directory.

Attention all biologists

New Resource Alert for all you interested in, well, life itself. A new, freely-available, online biology reference has recently been announced, and with lofty ambitions. The Encyclopedia of Life will seek to serve as the authoritative database for all known and newly discovered species that inhabit our planet. So far the tally is estimated around 1.8 million critters, so the leaders of this project definitely have their work cut out for themselves.

Think about that, though, we know only about 2 million of the world’s organisms. How much remains undiscovered, just waiting to be found and described? Therein appears the essence of this project: to more thoroughly educate ourselves about what we do know about life on Earth and then concentrate on what we haven’t found yet. The project will be up and running around the middle of 2008 with a full, working version ready in about ten years. So for all you taxonomists, catalogers, librarians, and those in-between who just love life in all its forms, set your bookmarks to the EOL.

Increase your CARMA with a new database!

For anyone interested in the issues of global warming, carbon emissions and the general state of the planet, there’s good news. A new tool has just been unleashed to help both monitor and measure the top producers and locations of carbon dioxide emitters throughout the world. CARMA, or Carbon Monitoring for Action, has crunched the numbers and compiled a huge, freely-accessible and regularly updated database measuring the CO2 emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4000 companies worldwide. Limit your search by power plant, company, geographic region or even compare the emissions of your local power provider with others elsewhere in the world! And if you’re fired up about carbon emissions, whether locally or globally, feel free to participate in their blog. You may ask, and rightly so, how this data is compiled. The CARMA team summarizes just one of its methods:

For several thousand power plants within the U.S., CARMA relies upon data reported to the Environmental Protection Agency by the plant operators themselves as required by the Clean Air Act. CARMA also includes many official emissions reports for plants in Canada, the European Union, and India. For non-reporting plants, CARMA estimates emissions using a statistical model that has been fitted to data for thousands of reporting plants in the U.S., Canada, the EU, and India. The model utilizes detailed data on plant-level engineering and fuel specifications. CARMA reports emissions for the year 2000, the current year, and the future (based on published plans).

Sounds like a very helpful resource. And it’s free (we librarians especially love our free resources)! Who knows, you might just help rejuvenate the planet!

New Face

Hello all you HML stopper-byers. I’m Edward Mandity, a new addition to Marian College, more particularly its library staff. I’m excited to be here, and rather than going straight to the details of what I’ll be doing, I’ll just say that I have the daunting task of filling in for the departed Chadwick Seagraves; roughly though, I’ll be working on the library’s OPAC, digital projects, and whatever else is thrown my way. Suffice it to say, I’ll be around and at your service.

A little bit about myself…after recently receiving my librarian degree (yes, there is a degree) while working at IUPUI’s University Library, I now have the ability to concentrate on my passions in life in addition to being a good librarian: reading Christopher Moore novels, snorkeling, kayaking, watching movies, learning languages, playing video games and traveling. So if you see me running frantically around the stacks babbling incoherently, don’t be afraid to say hello or ask any questions, library related or otherwise. Oh, I’ve been getting a lot of questions as to my name preference. Just to make it easy, call me what you will…Edward, Ed or Eddy. Chances are I’ll stop babbling.

Cavemen or Clan of the Cave Bear?

According to the message board on abc.go.com the primetime show of Cavemen has finally hit its stride. But for those of you of the opinion that primitive Cro-Magnum is a bit “been there/done that” and would rather fill this particular TV slot with some leisure reading check out Whichbook.net a very different sort of reader’s advisor. Whichbook.net guides you to titles not by title but by what you are in the mood to read. Looking for a book that is funny, unusual and short but don’t have a ready title in mind? Set your preferences and Whichbook.net will respond with a list of recommended titles. A singular drawback to Whichbook.net is that the site is operated in the U.K. and many of the titles are British and may be hard to come by. Still the concept is unique and directs you to many titles that might have otherwise been missed.

If Hackelmeier Library does not own the recommended title simply search WorldCat.org. This database is a resource free to all citizens of Indiana and a link can be found on the library’s website. WorldCat.org allows you to search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. Once you locate an item of interest you can link to the libraries that own the item and check for availability. Items may be borrowed by either taking advantage of Hackelmeier Library’s interlibrary loan service or the various borrowing partnerships held with local libraries. The interlibrary loan service is free of charge and simply requires patrons to complete a request form for each title requested and turn the form in at the circulation desk on the main floor of the library. Requested items will be delivered to the Hackelmeier library and can be picked up at the circulation desk. Borrowing times vary from library from library and items must be returned in a timely manner. Interlibrary loan requests for newly published titles are difficult to fill but for those of you attempting to avoid the expensive charges of Amazon this free service can’t be beat!