Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Issues in the news : 2008 Presidential Election

Its difficult to pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV or browse news on the internet without finding many articles discussing the upcoming Presidential Election. How does a person make sense of it all? Sometimes starting at the beginning is the best route--

The political parties - Democrats / Republicans - have web pages advertising the candidates as well as information about what each group believes. The candidates have pages: McCain, Clinton, Obama.

Since the Democratic nomination is to be determined, delegates and super-delegates are part of every discussion. The DNC web site also has information on how to become a delegate -- there may still be time!

And news sources all have coverage~ CNN, the Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, New York Times, Google News, and of course Wikipedia. The Wikipedia entry contains an election timeline that helps to track important dates for both past and upcoming events.

And finally, library books. The Lexington Campus library has the following books that would provide informative reading:
  • Inside the presidential debates : their improbable past and promising future. By Newton N. Minow and Craig L. LaMay. 324.7 M666i
  • Media spectacle and the crisis of democracy : terrorism, war, and election battles. By Douglas Kellner. 302.23 K29m
  • Presidential election process. 324.6 P933 2008
  • Presidential facts : topical lists, comparisons, and statistics. By Edward S. Skinner. R 973.099 S628p

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Some of the newest books--

New books processed this week in the Library. These are just a few items, if you'd like to see more new items OR need a particular title, stop by the Reference Desk and the staff will be happy to help you!

  • Breakthrough Imperative : How the best managers get outstanding results. By Mark Gottfredson and Steve Schaubert with John Case and Katharine Tsakalakis. 658.409 G685b
  • Crunch : Why do I feel so squeezed? (And Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries). By Jared Bernstein. 330.973 B531c
  • Food 2.0 : Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google. By Charle Ayers, with Karen Alexander and Carolyn Humphries. 641.5 A977f
  • Invisible Bar : The Woman Lawyer in America, 1638 to the Present. By Karen Berger Morello. 340.023 M842i
  • Is there a right to remain silent? : Coercive Interrogation and the Fifth Amendment after 9/11. By Alan M. Dershowitz. 345.73 D438i
  • Luxury Brand Management : A World of Privilege. By Michel Chevalier and Gerald Mazzalovo. 658.827 C527l
  • Splendid Table's How to eat supper : Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-winning Food Show. By Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift. 641.53 K19s
  • Value Creation : The Power of Brand Equity. By William Neal and Ron Strauss. 658.827 N344v
  • What Does China Think? By Mark Leonard. 951.06 L581w
  • Weird Kentucky : Your Travel Guide to Kentucky's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. By Jeffrey Scott Holland. 917.69 H735w

More information on each title can be found in the catalog.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Free Comix!

We all know Saturday is Derby Day -- but did you know it is also Free Comic Book Day?

An annual event, it is the one day a year when-

-participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores.

Participating stores can be found at the website as well as a list of comics available for 2008. Mark your calendars now!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

This week's new books~

New books processed this week in the Library. These are just a few items, if you'd like to see more new items OR need a particular title, stop by the Reference Desk and the staff will be happy to help you!
  • Accidental Branding : How ordinary people build extraordinary brands, by David Vinjamuri. 658.827 V785a
  • Bon Appetit, y'all : stories and recipes from three generations of Southern cooking, by Virginia Willis. 641.5975 W734b
  • Chef's Story: Colicchio, Trotter, Cora, Bayless & Bourdain. Hosted by Dorothy Hamilton, Soho Culinary Productions. DVD 641.5092 C515
  • Compassionate Carnivore : or how to keep animals happy, save Old Macdonald's Farm, reduce your hoofprint, and still eat meat, by Catherine Friend. 641.36 F911c
  • Fat : It's not what you think, by Connie Leas. 612.397 L438f
  • Freedom of Religion, the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court : how the Court flunked history, by Barry Adamson. 342.7308 A221f
  • the Kids are Alright : how the gamer generation is changing the workplace, by John Beck and Mitchell Wade. 658 B393k
  • Peace : Biography of a symbol, by Ken Kolsbun with Mike Sweeney.
  • Presence : Exploring profound change in people, organizations, and society, by Peter Senge.

More information on each title can be found in the catalog.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Looking for Something Great to Read?

Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm by Nicola Smith

While working on a library project, I discovered the book, Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm, which featured the life of a couple managing their organic farm in Vermont. Having traveled to New England a few years ago and having taken somewhat of an interest in organic food, I thought I would enjoy reading about the Fat Rooster Farm in Royalton, Vermont. Not only did I enjoy the well-crafted narrative that Smith penned, I learned more about life in Vermont, life on a farm, and the organic food industry.

After an introduction about the inspiration for writing this book, Smith begins her story of Jennifer Megyesi and Kyle Jones, owners of the Fat Rooster Farm, with the search for an animal that has been killing their chickens and turkeys. Finally, after nights of waiting for the culprit to make itself known, Jennifer and Kyle trap the raccoon that has wreaked havoc on their farm. The story continues with their personal histories interwoven with the day to day activities of the farm. I learn of the hardships the couple faces early in the farm’s life when their son Brad suffers from an illness that nearly blinds him. I also realize the struggles Jennifer and Kyle have balancing their work on the farm with the jobs they perform off-site. Smith does not shy away from the graphic details either, especially when she relays what happens in the slaughterhouse or recounts a sheep’s labor. The author concludes with a reflection on Fat Rooster Farm’s history and the mark that Jennifer, Kyle, and Brad have made there.

Each detail, from the descriptions of the bartering system the couple has with their neighbors and associates to the remarks about the blustery winter weather, makes the story of Fat Rooster Farm and its owners more personal. Smith creates for me a sense that I am also waking up nearly every hour during lambing season or smelling the sweet maple syrup boiling in the sugaring house.

I appreciate Jennifer's and Kyle’s willingness to let their story be told and Nicola Smith for telling it. Their story endears me to the farmers in my family’s past too, my grandparents and great-grandparents. I recommend Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm to anyone who has an interest in learning about another way of life, food and animal production, or organic farms.

Reviewed by Hilary Writt

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Be all you can be?

What do you think of when you hear the slogan - be all you can be? U.S. Army recruiting - right? But that slogan hasn't always belonged to the Army -- in 1968 it was the theme for the American Library Association's National Library Week commemoration. In those years, l-o-n-g before e-mail, advertising was sometimes done on mailed items by using customized metering stamp on envelopes:

April 2008 marks the 50th Anniversary of National Library Week celebrations in the U.S. -- watch this space for more information about activities happening in your library!

Monday, April 7, 2008

New books, week of April 7-11

New books processed this week in the Library. These are just a few items, if you'd like to see more new items OR need a particular title, stop by the Reference Desk and the staff will be happy to help you!

  • Back of the napkin : solving problems and selling ideas with pictures, by Dan Roam. 658.403 R628b
  • Bridge at the edge of the world : capitalism, the environment, and crossing from crisis to sustainability, by James Gustave Speth. 333.7 S752b
  • Decoding Ferran AdriĆ”, hosted by Anthony Bourdain, produced and directed by Christopher B. Collins, Lydia Tenaglia. DVD 641.5946 D296
  • Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's : three men, five great wines, and the evening that changed America, by Charles Cerami. 973.41 C411d
  • Kitchen culture in America : popular representations of food, gender, and race, edited by Sherrie A. Inness. 641.3 K62
  • Leading teams : setting the stage for great performances, by J. Richard Hackman. 658.4 H123l
  • Open innovation : the new imperative for creating and profiting from technology, by Henry W. Chesbrough. 658.514 C524o
  • Ramen noodles, rent and resumes : an after-college guide to life, by Kristen Fisher. 331.7 F534r
  • Scholarship in the digital age : information, infrastructure, and the Internet, by Christine L. Borgman. 001.2 B733s
  • Where does the money go? : your guided tour to the federal budget crisis, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson. 336.73 B624w

More information on each title can be found in the catalog.