DCCC Library Books and Bytes http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog News and Information about DCCC Library Services Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:51:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Create a mini search engine with Rollyo http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/20/create-a-mini-search-engine-with-rollyo/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/20/create-a-mini-search-engine-with-rollyo/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:50:38 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=107 rollyo.com allows you to gather a few favorite sites to create a customized search engine on a particular area of interest such as movie reviews, health sites, genres in literature, etc. You can choose from some ready made groups or create your own by listing the web sites you want to include. This site would be useful to an instructor who wants students to research within a selected group of  websites only and for any student with a hobby or area of interest. (mg)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/20/create-a-mini-search-engine-with-rollyo/feed/ 0 Web browser redux http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/18/web-browser-redux/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/18/web-browser-redux/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:38:14 +0000 pproces http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=97 You are probably familiar with Internet Explorer (IE) for looking at websites considering its huge market share in the past. That is changing now with IE only holding 64% of internet users.

Firefox is the biggest competition with 26% of the market. Firefox was originally a branch of Netscape Navigator (now defunct, but the team now does the Flock browser), but became famous for making tabbed browsing popular, quick loading, being open source, and allowing third party extensions.

Recently you made have see some commercials for a new browser from Google called Chrome (the ads are all over Hulu). Chrome is based on the Webkit engine that powers Safari (Apple’s browser) and it’s gaining market share for being very quick to load and its simple streamlined functions. Not to mention some really neat themes (any browser where I can set my theme to a bird sticking out its tongue is okay by me).

Also worth mentioning is Lunascape, which is three browsers in one (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome/Safari).

Now, go forth and browse!

(Paul Proces)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/18/web-browser-redux/feed/ 0 Eat Smart, Don't Gobble http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/12/eat-smart-dont-gobble/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/12/eat-smart-dont-gobble/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:08:04 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=90 Did you know that the average American consumes 3,000-6,000 calories on Thanksgiving?  Get tips about having an enjoyable but healthy meal in “Eat Smart, Don’t Gobble,” an article from Science World available in the library’s MasterFile database.  In “Have a Healthy Thanksgiving,” from Essence, you’ll find a calorie-saving recipe for sweet potato pie that saves 363 calories per serving!

For more information about using the library databases for magazine articles and recipes, just ask a librarian at library@dccc.edu OR 610-359-5146. (jt)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/12/eat-smart-dont-gobble/feed/ 0 Diigo: highlight the web http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/09/diigo-highlight-the-web/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/09/diigo-highlight-the-web/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:13:28 +0000 pproces http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=87 We’ve had social bookmarking tools like delicious for a while now, but a new site called Diigo is adding some more features to the concept.  Diigo allows you to highlight, bookmark and comment on live web pages.  Have a paper where you are doing some research on a website?  Login to Diigo and you can highlight and take notes right on the page.  Then every time you come back, you can see your notes and save yourself some time.  There are also educator accounts for professors and students so that your teachers can highlight and write notes on a web page and have a class look at that information.  They call it “social bookmarking 2.0.”

(Paul Proces)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/09/diigo-highlight-the-web/feed/ 0 What is a DOI? / APA Citations and DOIs http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/03/what-is-a-doi-apa-citations-and-dois/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/03/what-is-a-doi-apa-citations-and-dois/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:55:32 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=82 Each book has a unique ISBN number.  An example is 9781597776387 for The Obama Revolution by Kennedy-Shaffer published in 2009.  With the explosion of information, we need to identify other resources with unique numbers like journal articles, books, and book chapters. DOI represents digital object identifier.  CrossRef is the official association that collects DOIs for scholarly publications.  The DOI is assigned by the publisher and registered with CrossRef.  An example is 10.1037/a0015919 for the article “Are There Developmentally Limited Forms of Bipolar Disorder?” by Cicero, Epler, and Sher in Journal of Abnormal Psychology.  The DOI is a required element in APA format which is used by Psychology and Science disciplines.  The DOI provides a consistent link to content.  All publishers have not complied yet but in the future we will be using another long string of numbers and letters to identify sources.  Here is a sample entry for a journal article:

Ferretti, R.P. Lewis, W.E. & Andrews-Weckerly, S. (2009, August). Do goals 

     affect the structure of students’ argumentative writing strategies? The

    Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 577-589.

     doi:10.1037/a0014702

For more information, go to http://crossref.org
(cv)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/11/03/what-is-a-doi-apa-citations-and-dois/feed/ 0 Searchpath module under construction http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/28/searchpath-module-under-construction/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/28/searchpath-module-under-construction/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:17:07 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=81 APA and MLA tutorials under construction

The module of the library’s Research Skills Tutorial (also known as Searchpath at http://www.dccc.edu/library/tutorials.html) that explains how to create a works cited list is being revised to reflect updated guidelines from MLA and APA. We’ll get it back in action as soon as possible, but in the meantime we suggest visiting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ for good explanations and examples. Sample citations for many of the resources used by DCCC students are available from the library web site at http://http://www.dccc.edu/library/citations/.
(jt)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/28/searchpath-module-under-construction/feed/ 0 No tricks – just treats! http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/26/no-tricks-just-treats/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/26/no-tricks-just-treats/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:59:28 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=80 Most students use the library databases to find an article to support an assignment or their research but did you know that some of these databases also have thousands of recipes? The EBSCO database, Masterfile Premier can be searched by Document Type – which includes recipes – from a variety of magazines including Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Health and Redbook. So no matter what you plan to cook – recipes are available online for everything from Apple Pie to Watercress Salad to Halloween-themed desserts. Another great free web site for recipes is http://www.101cookbooks.com/ (esd)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/26/no-tricks-just-treats/feed/ 0 A Play by Any Other Name . . . http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/21/a-play-by-any-other-name/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/21/a-play-by-any-other-name/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:34:33 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=79 Using plagiarism-detection software, Sir Brian Vickers, a professor of literature at University of London, has discovered a new play co-written by William Shakespeare. Authorship of The Reign of Edward III, a play from the late 1500s, has been the subject of debate among scholars for centuries. Employing the software Pl@giarism, Vickers was able to compare strings of words in this play with those in Shakespeare’s known body of work and discovered an overlap of 200 such phrases. Similarly, this method was used by Vickers to determine the identity of Shakespeare’s co-author of the play, namely Thomas Kyd, a successful playwright who was one of the Bard’s contemporaries. Read more about this discovery at http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091020/us_time/08599193097100 (hb)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/21/a-play-by-any-other-name/feed/ 0 Google Fights for E-Books http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/13/google-fights-for-e-books/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/13/google-fights-for-e-books/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:49:18 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=78 Librarians, relatives of deceased authors, researchers, book publishers and The Author’s Guild have objected to Google’s plan to digitize millions of out of print books.  On October 9th, the Federal Court of New York ordered Google to modify their plan which allows for 1 free station per public library and one station for every 4,000 students at an academic institution with the customer paying Google for printing!  Benefits to users include access to millions of out of print books and audio editions for visually impaired readers.  Objections include: copyright infringements when the authors cannot be located; a monopoly which violates antitrust laws; a for-profit company (Google) securing rights to public resources and possible violation of patron privacy.  Google must make its revised plan known by November 9th, 2009; however, it may take months or years to reach an agreement.  For more information about this important case, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/technology/internet/04books.html.
(CV)

]]> http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/13/google-fights-for-e-books/feed/ 0 Soshiku, anyone? http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/12/soshiku-anyone/ http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/2009/10/12/soshiku-anyone/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:49:01 +0000 mgillett http://www.dccc.edu/library/blog/?p=77 Not another version of Soduku, Soshiku is a free online service for students.  Set up courses, assignments, notes, and even text reminders.  Soshiku can even simplify your life when it comes to group projects with file sharing features.  http://www.soshiku.com     (ms)

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