The Community Read


The Community Read is a project to involve the community in reading, reflection, and awareness of issues facing our community. This is an annual event held in the spring. This year the group is promoting the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. This is a book that focuses on the effects of war on the people who fight these battles. It is a semiautobiographical story about a platoon leader’s experiences in Vietnam.

As part of the Community Read there will be lectures, group discussions, and exhibits around the area. There will be an opening reception and exhibit at the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library on April 1, 2012, from 2pm to 4pm. The public library will be hosting an exhibit of veterans art, war posters and images from recent conflict in Iraq that will be on display for the month if April. There is similar display on the first floor of the David L. Rice Library.

One of the premier collections that will be exhibited is Outsider Folk Art work from a Mt. Vernon resident, Rick McCarty. Rick served in the Vietnam War and found a way to express his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through drawings and poems. These pieces depict the continuing nightmares from his memories of the war. The images are centered on a particular mission where a village was destroyed in the province of Bien Hoa in 1971. During this mission Rick lost two close friends and a young villager, Mimi, who he became close to while in the area.

There are re-occurring motifs like the Boy of Peace, often shown preaching or holding a book. Another is the Demon Face representing the enemy or the god of war. McCarty’s work has been shown at many places. These include a traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Mt. Vernon High School, Alexandrian Public Library, and the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science. These are moving images of the effects of war on the people who serve.

Also at the exhibit will be World War II bond posters from the Sonntag Collection that is part of the permanent collections at the University of Southern Indiana and some candid photographs of military personnel life during the Iraq War donated by a USI student, Jason Hayes.

For more information on the Community Read or to see a listing of events and organizations involved, see the Community Read website, http://www.usi.edu/communityread/index.shtml .

Award-Winning Database Arrives at Rice Library

Voted "Best in Media" by Library Journal's Best Databases of 2011, McGraw-Hill's AccessScience® is a fully re-designed database providing a powerful platform to search a vast array of science and technology-related topics.  Searches generate instant, well-organized results, categorized as encyclopedia articles, research updates, multimedia, news feeds, biographies, a Q&A session, and precise dictionary definitions. 

The content available to users is derived from the latest and most updated versions of the following resources:

• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 10th Edition
• McGraw-Hill Yearbooks of Science & Technology
• McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
• Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography®
• Headline news from ScienceNews® magazine and ScienCentral® videos
• Questions answered during regular Q&A sessions

In addition to the content above, AccessScience® multimedia offerings include more than 15,000 illustrations, graphics, images, animations, videos, and podcasts - all fully searchable and regularly updated.

Users can employ a variety of flexible search options, or can browse by specific area of interest to locate resources on the more than 7,000 scientific topics. Students will enjoy the links to data and tables directly from topic pages as well as the printing, emailing and citation-building help.  To enhance their class lectures, instructors may download high-quality images or use the Study Center, which provides useful tools and resources including study guides and essay topics. 

Readers may wish to watch the AccessScience® site demo; an interactive tutorial highlighting many of the database's search capabilities and useful features.  AccessScience® is accessible from Rice Library's Databases A TO Z list, several subject discipline lists, and numerous subject-specific LibGuides.  One limitation to its use is that Rice Library's licensing allows only two simultaneous users; please try again if not successful on the first try.

For questions about AccessScience® or any of the resources provided to you by Rice Library, please contact a Reference Librarian. 

BR

Insatiable APPetite

Apple celebrated a major milestone this week. 25 billion apps have been download to iPhones, iPads, and iPods from their App Store. Chinli Fu of China was the lucky 25 billionth downloader and received a $10,000 App Store gift card.


While we're on the subject of apps , we thought we'd suggest a few that might help you with your studies at USI.


Evernote is  a great tool for note taking and project management. The best part is that whether you use Evernote on your phone, the web, or on your computer- it's all synced. You can share notes with friends and even capture screenshots of entire webpages.

Forget flash drives, say hello to The Cloud. Dropbox allows users to save all types of files to their cloud-based servers. You can also share documents with friends and classmates. No more emailing different versions back and forth with groupmates-all documents saved on Dropbox sync automatically. 

EasyBib makes creating those pesky citations virtually painless. Whether you're using MLA, APA, or Turabian, EasyBib has you covered. Create book citations on the go by simply scanning the book's barcode. Save all your citations and export them to Google Docs or Word.

All of these apps are available for free! Check your platform's app store for details.

 

Nicole Tekulve
Instructional Services Librarian

EasyBib Trial Extended to April 13

For the past few weeks Rice Library has been providing trial access to EasyBib, a citation-generation program which allows users to easily create, annotate, and store bibliographies for nearly 60 different types of sources in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles.  The service includes a number of additional quality features, including a way to identify relevant, credible sources; note-taking and organizing capabilities; instruction in information literacy skills; and citation guides and user tutorials.  A few days ago it was announced that Rice Library’s trial period has been extended through April 13.  Additionally, here are links to support materials that may be useful to students and faculty:

Trial Feedback Form:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HH7QHBZ.  Let us know what you think!

EasyBib Guide for Students:  http://media.easybib.com/guides/schooledition-flyer-2012.pdf

For assistance with this or other library resources and services, stop by or contact the Rice Library Reference Desk (812/464-1907, 800/246-6173; libref@usi.edu).

PO