Winter is on its way, and with it comes thoughts of warm fires, hot chocolate, and maybe even snow here in the South. But for people working with the homeless, winter is an even more stressful time, making sure everyone has someplace warm to sleep on cold nights.

 The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration (SAMSHA) has a new website called the Homelessness Resource Center, designed to share ”state-of-the art knowledge and promising practices to prevent and end homelessness through”:

•    Training and technical assistance.
•    Publications and materials.
•    On-line learning opportunities.
•    Networking and collaboration.

The website currently has a Knowledge Base of over 2,000 articles, reports, research, and resources on many different aspects of homelessness.  They also have newsletter you can subscribe to and a list of upcoming training opportunities and events.

The Homelessness Research Center also has a rotating feature section, which highlights news, current research, tools and assessments, and other resources for specific topics. Features have included youth, trauma, self-care, and health.

Homelessness Research Center: http://homeless.samhsa.gov/

Are lists taking over your life? Can’t seem to get started on your next project, lecture, or assignment? Need a different way to take notes?

Mind maps might be an effective way for you to organize your thoughts and concepts-and even make note-taking fun!

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. There is a good article from Wikipedia with the basic history and idea behind mind maps.

Useful for:

• Taking notes during a lecture
• Brainstorming
• Group discussions
• Problem solving
• Notes while reading
• Outlining talks or reports

Reasons to use a mind map:

• Visual representation and key words make important concepts stand out quickly.
• Associative quality of map helps reinforce memory-the brain remembers associations and links, not lists of items.
• You can work in all directions when you start in the middle.
• Lots more information can fit on a page (one page of notes for a presentation)
• Using color and drawing helps use creative side of the brain
• Mind Maps are fast to create and no effort is wasted
• Hierarchy and categorization are visually and clearly defined

Examples:

• Flickr has lots of pictures of different kinds of mind maps
• Here is a directory of mind maps organized by subject

Directions:

• How to make a Mind Map
• Make a Mind Map on paper
• How to Mind Map

Mind map software:

Some people like to make mind maps online using free or bought software or websites. Here are a few to try out for free!

• Mindomo-Web-based mind mapping tool with a free account option
• FreeMind - A free and open source project
• MindJet - A commercial desktop tool with free trial
• Bubbl.us – Free web-based tool

The South Carolina State Library has been a depository for federal documents since 1970, receiving documents from the Government Printing Office in Washington on a regular basis.

Over the years, documents of all shapes and sizes, including teaching kits, maps, catalogs and photos of collections in the National Archives, Public Papers of the Presidents, congressional committee reports and agency brochures, reports, and publications have been received.

Older documents of historical value, such as the Agricultural Yearbooks and Census reports for most of the decennial censuses have also been added to the collection. Much of the collection is cataloged, so entries come up in a search of WebLion. However, our cardholders are welcome to get a pass to browse through the stacks through a collection of secrets.

Recent additions to the Federal Documents Collection include:

Botanic Garden for the Nation (Y1.1/2:Serial 1000 Display area). A beautifully illustrated book which includes a tour of the conservatory. LINK to Catalog LINK to online access

Annual Statistical Supplement to the Social Security Bulletin 2006 (SSA 1.22/2:2006) A major resource for data on our nation’s social insurance and welfare programs. Incredibly detailed.  LINK to Catalog  LINK to online access

Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution (D 114.19:C76/2007) Second printing of this volume focusing on individuals in the Revolutionary War and on the role of the United States military. LINK to Catalog

Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD (Prex 3.2:IR 1 v. I-III) LINK to Catalog LINK to online access

The August edition of New Resources@SCSL is now available online!

Browse new books, documents, and articles available at the South Carolina State Library on Business Communication, Digital Publishing/Photography, Education, Environment, Management, Public Health, Social Work, and South Carolina.

One of our valuable electronic resources, the Thomson Gale’s PowerSearch platform, has a number of new, key features. With Powersearch, you can search up to 10 databases at once, including Academic OneFile, Custom Newspapers, Health Reference Center Academic, and the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Read the rest of this entry »

A patron came up to the reference desk the other day and asked me to point him to the encyclopedia.

And I froze for a moment, sure we had a set or two, but not knowing exactly where they would be located. Sure, I knew where the -online- encyclopedia was through DISCUS, but in print? Then I unfroze, led him to the reference section and hoped I could scan the shelves quickly for the encyclopedia. We found two sets and he left a few minutes later, a happy patron.

But that is the first person in two years to ask for a general encyclopedia. So is the usefulness of them limited in this time of online searching, Wikipedia, and even just abundant print specialized reference sources? Part of the answer at the State Library is that we do only adult reference in general, so no sending middle school students to the encyclopedia for their homework. But an encyclopedia is still a good resource for a general overview of a topic with a minimum of wading through irrelevant webpages or books with too much information. Also, they are good to hand to adult readers that may have a lower reading level or where English is not the first language. So what is available at the State Library?

Print

• World Book Encyclopedia 2003 edition
• Encyclopedia Americana 2001 edition
• many, many great reference books with the name encyclopedia in the title such as The food encyclopedia, The water encyclopdia, The ESPN pro football encyclopedia, The South Carolina encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Encyclopedia of Christianity, Encyclopedia of American gospel music, Encyclopedia of North American immigration, The encyclopedia of censorship, and Encyclopedia of school psychology, just to name the most recent.

Online access through our Online Resources webpage

• Encyclopedia Americana (from DISCUS)
• Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (K-12, from DISCUS)
• The New Book of Knowledge (K-12, from DISCUS)
• Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia

Online on the web

• Wikipedia (edited by the public)
• Columbia Encyclopedia 2001 edition

Just for fun: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (scroll down the page)

The fine folks at the Ideas Sandbox blog have a great quick tip on how to make meetings more effective and not just another hour drain on your valuable time. Result-Based Agendas in meetings focus on the results hopefully gained from the meeting, rather than a set time schedule. Subscribe to the Ideas Sandbox blog for more ideas “to help you think and work more creatively.” They also have a monthly email newsletter on various topics to help make you a more creative problem solver.

When that multi-syllable medical term pops up in your reading or your prime-time TV watching, no need to feel ignorant.  At MedlinePlus, you can search  in the Merriam-Webster medical dictionary and the A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia.

The A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia has over 4,000 physician-reviewed articles on diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.  It is also available in Spanish.

Now you can find out that libraries in the medical world can have a very different definition: “a collection of cloned DNA fragments that are maintained in a suitable cellular environment and that represent the genetic material of a particular organism or tissue <inserting segments from a library of human DNA into yeast cells — Science News>”