Delicious Update: Math, Tech, and Design

This week’s Delicious links offer some Math, Computer Courses from Harvard Extension, tech talks from Google and a little design thrown in for good measure.

The Wolfram Mathworld site offers encyclopedic entries on different math terms and functions. Each entry provides information on the selected topic as well as a list of linked references. Another helpful feature in each entry is the ‘cite this as’ area which provides a citation of the page. Search alphabetically or by subject area.

Find this and other math resources in the Math tag.

In the Computers tag and also in the Tutorials tag, watch a series of video lectures on computers and the internet from instructor David Malan at Harvard Extension. The course “Understanding Computers and the Internet” arms students with a new vocabulary and readies them for further exploration of computers and the Internet. Topics include hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, website development, programming, and dotcoms. This course is designed both for those with little, if any, computer experience and for those who use a computer every day. The videos of the lectures are available in QuickTime or flash formats. Oh, and did I mention- they are FREE.

Take a look at the two new links in the Videos tag. The first is from Google; “Tech talks at Google”. *There are a large number of technical talks at Google. Many of these are videotaped, and some are made available for external viewing.* Topics of the talks range from “What is the Mind?” to “So you want to be a programming rock star.” Fun!

Too much Tech? Check out the second video site added. It is from WGBH Forum Network. “The WGBH Forum Network is an audio and video streaming Website dedicated to curating and serving live and on-demand lectures given by some of the world’s foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policy makers and community leaders. These events are hosted by world-class cultural and educational organizations in Boston and beyond.” A lecture from artist Nathalie Miebach, offers a look into her art practice of gathering meteorological data that she uses to create sculptural weavings.  Or listen to a lecture from Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz as they discuss the previously un-reported American epidemic of living in social isolation in their new book, The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the 21st Century.

And finally, some great new links to websites for our Interior Designers and other design fanciers. A link for a custom modern furniture designer in Boston, MA, as well as a site for modern and contemporary lighting fixtures supplier, and last but not least; Karim Rashid’s website showcasing his world renowned designs. These are additions to the growing collection of Interior Design websites in the Interior_Design tag.

Delicious Update: Job Skills and Job Search

Finding jobs and improving job skills continues to be a theme on our Delicious site, where we save bookmarks to websites which we think would be useful for the CPCC community.

A link to Microsoft Office Online was added. It offers Free self-paced training courses for Office programs; a great way to keep up to date and in the know about all things Office. It can be found in the Tutorials or Microsoft tag. Don’t forget the keyboarding tutorial links there as well that will allow people to test, practice and improve their typing skills.

There are some great resources for locating jobs under the jobs tag. Two new ones this week are elance.com, this site offers opportunities for designers, programmers, engineers, just to mention a few.

Also listed is indeed.com a job search engine– search by job title and city and the results page displays job listings from thousands of company career sites and job boards. Find these two new listings as well as several others under the jobs tag.

Delicious Update: Julius Chambers, White House Artwork, and Census Scams

We added some quality bookmarks on our Delicious page last week. All of the items listed below can be found under the current interest tag.

• Interviews and biographical information on Julius Chambers, who was honored by Action for Children North Carolina
• A Wall Street Journal article on how artwork in the White House changes with each administration
• Advice from the Better Business Bureau on steering clear of identity theft scamers that imitate census workers

New eBooks on Careers and Jobs

Need help preparing for your chosen career path?  Thinking about switching careers? We have just the thing for you!  204 eBooks on careers and jobs have been added to our NetLibrary collection.

These titles are easily accessible through the Library Catalog (Find-a-Book).  Once in the catalog, simply type in your search terms and select electronic book from the item type drop-down menu.

Here are some sample cover images to give you an idea of the kinds of titles in this collection.

Resources for Planning your Summer

Whether you are traveling, getting outdoors, reading, tending your new garden, heading to the beach or looking forward to your ‘staycation’; CPCC Librarians have some helpful information to help you make the most of your summer plans.

Check out these and many other books from your CPCC Libraries:

50 hikes in the mountains of North Carolina : walks and hikes from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Great Smokies by Williams, Robert Leonard
Harris Campus Library GV 199.42 N66 W55 2001

The hiker’s companion : 12,000 miles of trail-tested wisdom by Ross, Cindy.
Levine Campus Library GV 199.4 R67 1993

Go there now! : a boomer’s guide to budget travel by Stewart, Don
Levine Campus Library HQ1062 .S74 2007

Best garden plants for North Carolina by Beck Pam
Cato Campus Library SB453.2.N8 B42 2006

The cook’s garden : growing and using the best-tasting vegetable varieties by Ogden, Shepherd.
Central Campus Library SB 321 O35 1989

If you are planning on doing some reading for pleasure this summer, use Novelist to find that perfect fiction book. It provides recommended reading, author profiles, as well as “author read-alikes” suggestions. Novelist is available through CPCC Library’s homepage. Click Find an article and select browse databases by name to find Novelist.

Also take a look at the websites we have selected on our Delicious Account list. Explore these and other pages on the list under headings such as travel, outdoor_recreation, gardening- and many more. Here are a few interesting sites from our list:

Travel:
http://www.frommers.com/
Planning on travelling? Use Frommer’s online to find articles written by ” Frommers.com experts”, read hotel and restaurant reviews for travel destinations, as well as gather valuable travel tips under the ‘planning a trip’ section for each city destination, also provided are excerpts from Frommer’s Guidebooks.

Outdoor Recreation:
http://www.webwalking.com/
Use Web Walking.com to find resources for walking, hiking, and trail mapping. It also provides information on gear, trails, and more.

http://gorp.away.com/index.html
GORP (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages) offers backpacking, hiking, camping, fishing, caving and biking information. Plan your adventure by destination or activity- use the packing guides for help in what to bring or read the gear reviews to find the best accompaniment for your activity. The City Guides feature suggests nearby outdoor locales “for turning your weekends into outdoor adventures”

Gardening:
http://www.garden.org/home
This website for the National Gardening Association. Provides “gardening content for consumers and educators, ranging from general information and publications to lessons and grants.” Search the term organic to find articles on organic gardening. Provides tips for city gardens, ‘edible gardens’, videos, and message boards.

Currency Exchange:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Traveling to other locales? Use the Universal Currency Converter website- It offers currency and foreign exchange rates based on “up-to-the-minute mid-market currency rates”

Have a great summer!

Library Receives Collection Enhancement Grant

CPCC librarians were hard at work during the fall semester selecting new titles to enhance the library’s math and science collections.

In June 2008, the CPCC Library was awarded a $10,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Strengthening Library Collections grant by the State Library of North Carolina. An additional $2,500 in matching funds was received for a total of $12,500.

The CPCC Library was one of six libraries to receive a Strengthening Library Collections grant. The grants were announced in June 2008 for the July 2008-June 2009 fiscal year. These awards were made possible by LSTA grant funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant making agency.

Approximately 362 items have been added to the collection in the subject areas of General Science, General Math, Algebra, Statistics, Mathematical Analysis, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Human Anatomy. Items purchased will be distributed to each campus library.

Selections of new titles received are on display at the Central campus library. Stop by to check them out….literally!

Got Library Fines? Get “1 for 1” Amnesty in May!

What is amnesty? am•nes•ty [am-nuh-stee] “an act of forgiveness for past offenses, esp. to a class of persons as a whole”.

Starting Friday, May 1 through Thursday, May 14, 2009 the CPCC Libraries will be offering a “1-for-1 deal” as part of “fine free forgiveness days”. During this period, fines accrued from overdue items (e.g., books, DVDs, videos, CDs, etc.) will be forgiven.

How does this deal work?

1. Return overdue library materials to any CPCC library along with a canned good or non-perishable food item. For each item returned and brought, the associated fine will be waived.
2. Bring in a canned good or other non-perishable food item for each previously returned overdue item and unpaid fines will be waived.
3. All materials must be returned in good condition. This deal excludes replacement fees for lost and damaged materials.

This deal is too good to pass up, so get busy looking under your bed, in your closets, in the trunk of your car, or any other place you think you have library materials. This is your chance to bring ‘em back without any questions being asked.

Library materials and food item donations will be received at all campus libraries until May 14th. Food contributions from students, faculty and staff without current fines or overdue materials are also welcomed.

All food items collected will be donated to the local Loaves & Fishes charitable organization.

Online Resources for Art Images

Looking for good online sources for art images to use in presentations for assignments or lectures or perhaps just for your own personal edification? CPCC Library has some great suggestions!

Subscription Databases

CAMIO
This database features many high resolution images of art and sculpture with authoritative descriptive information. It can be found in the Find an Article section of our website, then use the browse databases by name link to find the CAMIO database.

Free Web Resources

There are also many authoritative websites freely available on the web. Here are a few favorites:

Google Life Magazine Image Archive
Search millions of photographs featured in Life magazine.

The Art Images for College Teaching (AICT)
This is a good collection of high-resolution free-use images provided by Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s art-historian and visual resources curator Allan T. Kohl. He has photographed all of the images and provides them free for educational use. It is certainly not an exhaustive collection but it provides high quality images from Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque, 18^th-20^th century and some Non-Western images. A good feature is the text-book concordance, providing the page numbers for many popular art history text-books. Very useful for someone putting together a lecture or presentation.

Art cyclopedia
A database providing references to “sites on the World Wide Web where artists’ works can be viewed online.” The database is searchable by artist name, work title or museum. The most represented artists are painters and sculptors. It is a good source for listings of modern and contemporary artists. And while it is a truly ugly interface it is effective in finding museum websites with access to the artists’ work for which you have searched.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Many cool collections such as Egyptian Art, African Art, Chinese Art, Islamic Art, Latin American Art, ancient Greek…to name a few. They also have large photography, contemporary and modern art collections as well as a fantastic costume and textiles collection. (you can search the costumes by era) The collections are searchable by title, subject, or artist. Or you can simply browse the collections. Thumbnail images are available for all the images. The only drawback is copyright restrictions prevent viewing enlarged images of many of their contemporary or modern works.

The Mint Museum’s Mint Wiki
It provides “Mint Museum exhibition information and resources”, as well as “a place for curators, educators, docents and other users to add their expertise, knowledge and insight about the exhibitions in an immediate and accessible way!”

For more CPCC Library website suggestions on a variety of topics check out our Delicious.com page at http://delicious.com/CPCCLibrary

For more information on visual art resources contact Jennifer Ballance — jennifer.ballance@cpcc.edu.

National Library Workers Day — April 14

In conjunction with National Library Week, April 12-19, TODAY is designated as National Library Workers Day (NLWD)! National Library Worker’s Day was first implemented in 2003 to honor library employees service and contributions.

Many people are unaware of the work and team effort it takes behind the scene to select, purchase, and get a library resource on the shelf. ALL CPCC library employees work hard every day, all year long to ensure that we provide the best possible resources, services and customer service with a spirit and attitude of EXCELLENCE!

Throughout the month to show your appreciation, we encourage you to take a moment to stop by the library (or send an email, drop off a small token of appreciation, take them to lunch, etc.) to let a library employee know that they are appreciated. In addition, you can check out the display at Central campus, which includes a selection of “staff picks”, employee photos, interesting library facts and trivia. A thank you note card can be picked up at the circulation and reference desks on Central campus.

The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association is also accepting nominations for “star” library employees. Nominations for CPCC library staff can be submitted online. All entries will be featured until June 30, 2009.

We appreciate your support! “Libraries Work Because We Do!”

Darren “Jaz” Vincent to Speak in Honor of National Library Week

In recognition and celebration of National Library Week, motivational speaker Darren “Jaz” Vincent, will share how one book-as a “twenty-something” year old adult- inspired his quest for knowledge and literacy and ultimately connected him to a world different from the one to which he was accustomed. Darren is the owner of RealEyes Book-store, located in the NoDA district and founder of the Charlotte Literary Festival. This program is being sponsored by the CPCC Libraries in partnership with Student Life. For more information, contact Retha Hall (x6113) or Amy Burns (x6106).

When: Monday, April 13, 2009 — 11:30am

Where: Central Campus — Overcash Building in Tate Hall (2nd floor)