Take the survey!

For students in Jan Grieco's class

Please take this survey.

Betting the Farm at the Braden

The Braden Theater will be showing Betting the Farm on Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 10 and 11) at 7 pm.


Just featured at the Camden International Film Festival, the acclaimed film Betting the Farm will be shown at the Braden Theater this Wed & Thursday, Oct 10-11 at 7:00 pm. It features 3 families, including Vaughn & Laura Chase of Mapleton, owners of Chases Organic Dairy. At Wednesday's screening, a Q & A session with Filmmaker and the local farmers will follow. View the Trailer: http://www.bettingthefarmfilm.com/

In February 2009, H.P. Hood, one of the largest dairy companies in America, announces that it will not renew the contracts of eight organic dairy farmers in rural Maine. With no other dairy companies willing to send a milk truck to northern or eastern Maine, the farmers are left with two choices: quit farming altogether or find a new way to do business. (quoted from Wood Prairie Farm)

Farmers Vaughn Chase, Richard Lary, and Aaron Bell--along with the other farmers dropped by Hood--band together to launch a new, entirely local milk company, Maine's Own Organic Milk Co., or MOO Milk. (quoted from Wood Prairie Farm)

Resource Sharing

If you love inter-library loan (ILL), we want to hear from you.   We pay to participate in this great service.  You can borrow books and more from almost any library in the State of Maine.  Our library can provide so much more by participating.

We received one great comment from a regular user of ILL.  Keep those quotes coming.  We pay for this service and we get so much in return.   Nice to know it is being used and is appreciated.

Lately I've been watching fabulous movies, reading wonderful books, and listening to great music. I ♥ Inter-Library Loan!

Learn One New Thing on Monday, Constitution Day

Constitution Day Celebration!   Stop by the library at noon on Monday, September 17th.   NMCC instructor Dave Raymond will give a presentation on the 19th Amendment.    Come and learn a little about this amendment to our Constitution.   There will also be a table to register to vote.

Job Search Tips

Patty Perry, manager of the Career Center in Presque Isle, will be speaking at NMCC on Tuesday, September 18 at 9:00 am in the Library. She will cover resume writing, interviewing tips, and registering for the Maine Job Bank, as well as share feedback from employers. Join us for this informative session and learn how to be successful in your job search!

Career Center Presentation

Patty Perry, manager of the Career Center in Presque Isle, will be speaking at NMCC on Tuesday, September 18 at 9:00 am in the Library. She will cover resume writing, interviewing tips, and registering for the Maine Job Bank, as well as share feedback from employers. Join us for this informative session and learn how to be successful in your job search!

Read What You Like

We all have a favorite book or two and then there are those books that everyone else adores and we find boring.   This great post  (Ten Things Possibly More Boring Than Mrs. Dalloway) is funny and to the point.   Read what you like and don't try to like everything on the Top 100 Books of the Century list. 

Maybe we should form a book group to talk about books we didn't like or books we just could not finish.

If you can't find a good book in the library or in our ebooks, ask someone behind the desk.   We love to give recommendations and we won't be offended if you don't like it.   We'll just keep looking for your perfect read.

Stress Management Exercises for Nursing Students

Provided by the American Holistic Nurses Association

Stress Management Exercises for Nursing Students

Wellness LibGuide

Check out the library's new LibGuide on Wellness.   There will be a new health/fitness/wellness section in the library.   Let us know if you like it and how we can improve it for you.

Libraries and ebooks

If you have wondered why you can't find ebook titles from your favorite author/publisher at your library, read this to understand the issues. 

Commonwealth Short Story Winners

Read the winning selections for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize online at Granta.

Bing or Google?

Which do you use and why do you prefer using it?

Read this article from the Christian Science Monitor and comment:  

For Bing and Google, the future of search is social

Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will overhaul its Bing search engine to incorporate results from Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms.

Coffee mug for librarians

Thanks to the students in Jen Graham's Advanced Comp course for this wonderful coffee mug!  

Surprise! Abe Lincoln Did Not Invent Facebook

Via The Atlantic:

Abraham Lincoln Did Not Invent Facebook: How a Guy and His Blog Fooled the Whole Wide Internet

Databases versus Google

A video to enjoy.   How about using both Google and databases?

Google advanced search

Do you use this feature?  Google advanced search.

Flipped Classroom

What if we tried this for library sessions in classes?  What do you think of a flipped classroom?
Would you take time outside of class to watch videos?

Final Survey English 227 Spring 2012

Please take a few minutes and complete this survey for the library sessions in Jen Graham's Course / Advanced Comp English 227 Spring 2012.

Thanks!

Student Learning Outcomes

We asked students in Jen Graham's Advanced Comp course to select which of these items they thought were important and which ones they wanted to learn more about:

Here are the results

If you see anything on this list and want to know more, contact the library and we'll visit your class.

Can you predict your search results?

When you search for something, do you have an idea of what you will retrieve?  Do you feel confident that you can find what you need by searching the right source?  Does Google always get you what you want?
If not, what do you do?   If you have been search for more than 15 minutes and you are overwhelmed by what you retrieve or you retrieve things that aren't relevant, contact the library for some help.

Worth thinking about

This one is for the students in Jen Graham's Advanced Comp course.  Read it before our final library session and we can discuss in class.  If anyone else is interested, read it too and comment.

Science and Truth -- We're All in it Together by Jack Hitt via
New York Times Sunday Review Opinion Pages

Great New Yorker Cartoon

Something funny on a Friday:

New Yorker Cartoon

Ebooks via OverDrive

OverDrive Guided Tour

OverDrive Help / answers to your questions

Device Resource Center

Library lending policies

My Help page

OverDrive Media Console

K-5 iPads Apps

Here's a listing of apps according to Bloom's Taxonomy.


K-5 iPad Apps

Apps in the elementary classroom.

Apps for children with autism.

Primary Sources

ALA primary sources page.

100 terrific sites to locate primary sources.

Biases

Biases that can cripple smart decision making.

Your thoughts?

What do you think about this?

ZDNet article re:

Students file-sharing work on Facebook: Is it legal?

Primary sources at Yale

Another example of primary sources at a university library.

Library of Congress Primary Sources

Library of Congress page with links to primary sources.

Reading and Grammar Apps

Reading and grammar apps for early learners.

World Atlas App

We'll be loading this on the iPad on Tuesday.  Stop by and test it out.

Barefoot World Atlas App

ECE class and iPad Apps

Visiting Heidi Broad-Smith's class on Tuesday to highlight some children's apps on the iPad.

Here are a few links that may be of interest to the students in the program:


Do iPads raise literacy scores?

American families see tablets as playmate/teacher/babysitter

Kids/ebooks/future digital learning

iPads in classroom boost test scores

Babies with iPads

Google Search Changes

Google search changes.

Apps for Children on the iPad

The library has loaded many children's apps on the iPads for loan.   The following links may be useful to the students in NMCC's Early Childhood Education program.  Stop by and use the apps and see whether or not you think they increase literacy, heighten learning, and will a great way for children to learn.  If you have an app you would like to try, let us know and the library will purchase it.

iPads in Kindergarten  -  Will it help improve test scores and literacy?

Kids and ebooks: The future of digital learning

Great photos of babies/children and iPads

iPad apps according to Bloom's taxonomy

Edutopia:  Apps in the elementary classroom

Nielsen: American families see tablets as playmate, teacher, babysitter

Google Tips and Search Secrets

Well, maybe they aren't so secret.   See if you know and use any of these Google tips.

10 Google Search Secrets

LibGuides for NMCC Library

We just started creating LibGuides for our library to make it easier to locate information.

We'll be working on additional guides by subjects.   Look for updates soon.

Check out our first guide on e-books and tell us what you think.

How do you cite a Tweet?

If you come across something you want to cite and need help, contact the library.

We recently helped with questions about citing tweets and mobile apps.

So, how do you cite a tweet?   See this post from Alexis Madrigal at the Atlantic.

How to cite a mobile app

In Noodlebib, use the software drop down and enter the information you have about the app.

This applies to MLA and APA formats.

Here is an example.

Assessing online information

For the students in Jen Graham's class.  View the sites below and discuss why they are or are not reliable sources of information. 

How do you evaluate a source based on currency, reliability, authority, and purpose/point of view?  Read this.

Your topic is:   Genetically Modified Foods.

View the 3 sites below:

World Health Organization

Monsanto

Center for Food Safety

On a scale of 1 - 10  (low to high), how credible did you find the information on each of the sites?

What makes one site more or less credible than the other?

If someone asked you for information on this topic, which site would you send them to?

Can you locate another site that you would prefer to share with someone who needed information on this topic?

Try this with another topic like Bisphenol-A (BPA).

Huffington Post

Fox News

Tox Town

EPA

Endocrine Disruption

Google's new privacy policy

Beginning March 1st Google has a new privacy policy.  Take a minute to read this and see what you need to know.

Then do you own online search and find articles and posts that give me more information about this topic.

Do you think this will have an impact on you or are you too busy to worry about it?

How do you handle information overload?

Most of us receive too much information on a daily basis.  Just stop and think of the number of things you need to read, reply to, act on, and listen to each day.   How do you handle it?  Do you ignore some information?  Do you organize it in a way to make it easier to review and digest?  Have you found great ways to deal with the ever increasing information you are expected to process?   If yes, share some of your strategies here.

If not, then read this.  There might be some useful ways to gain control over the information you need to focus on each day.

New stuff in the library

Here's a quick way to see what's on the new shelf.   Look here.

Google Dashboard

Learn about Google Dashboard.  View this video.


Google Dashboard tells all.

How do you determine if research is trustworthy?

What do you look for to determine whether the studies you are reading are valid or meaningful?

How do you know to select one study over another in terms of accuracy?

Is it trustworthy and what does that really mean?

Here's one way to understand research.

Why you should spend time in libraries and archives

Because you never know what you'll find and learn:

Via NPR:  Lost Malcolm X Speech Heard Again Fifty Years Later

Quick survey

Why are you in the library today?

This survey will take you two minutes or less to complete.

Eric Pelkey Shares 10 Top Reads

Thanks to NMCC instructor Eric Pelkey for sharing his Top 10 Reads of All Time:


The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Devil on the Cross by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
The Trial by Franz Kafka
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 
American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Modern Library 100 Best Novels

If asked, could you create a list of the 10 best novels you have ever read?

Here's the Modern Library best 100 list to get you started.   Have a favorite you want to share?  Post it here, or stop by the library and add yourself to our reading recommendation shelf.

Policies and Privacy

Do you ever take the time to read the policies we are all sent?  Google just sent out an updated privacy policy and terms of service.   Effective date is March 1, 2012.

You can read it here.  Do you have any thoughts to share?

What is a digital object identifier (DOI)?

What is it?  Do you need to know?  How do you find one?   How do you use it in your citations?

This is what a digital object identifier looks like:   DOI 10.1007/s00464-009-0772-0

Need to know more about this?

APA blog has some great entries on this.

Use CrossRef to lookup a DOI.

DOI and URL flowchart.

DOI primer.

Some Google Tips to help your search

Take a look and see if any of these tips will help you get better search results.

Something fun to watch

Let's face it, you can't study all day long.  Take a few minutes to watch this video and learn a little about searching.

For English 227

These links are for the students in Jen Graham's English 227 Advanced Comp class.

Today I'll be visiting the class and talking about information literacy.  We'll review student learning outcomes for information literacy instruction at NMCC.

We'll discuss Eli Pariser's book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You and also view his video on TED. 

We'll take two quick surveys:

Info Lit Initial Assessment Spring 2012

Information Literacy Pre-Test Spring 2012

If there is time, we'll also look at Dan Russell's blog.  He's a research scientist at Google and has lots of helpful tips to make you a more effective searcher.

How to start a blog

Begin 2012 by creating your own blog.   Do you have one blog you read every day?   Share the link.

Best blogs of 2011.

Spring Common Read

We'll be reading The Help by Kathyrn Stockett as our first common read this semester.   Then we'll read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.   Details to follow.

Great video The Joy of Books

The Joy of Books.