Thursday, December 18, 2008

Fast Facts - United States Population

Projected population of the United States on January 1, 2009:

306,095,000

"U.S. POPClock Projection," retrieved November 11, 2008, U.S. Census Bureau, population Division, Washington, D.C., www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Achieving the Dream to Go Green

In today fashion world, green is another black. The same is extended for graphic design and interior design. The technology specialists are in the same shoe by articulating “to go digital and get green.”
Navigation capabilities and other virtualization features are going through their paces to contests, pages, search, and list of Web links. In addition, they share the info by sending an e-mail to an associate with a thumbnail or reach a direct link to the current page.

In today’s world, working digital means working smarter, faster, and greener.
The high latitude needs new attitudes. So far, we are enjoying the digital drive. I hope, you will enjoy it, too.

“High latitudes
Need new attitudes!

I hope you enjoy
The digital drive!

Just, get green
And go digital!”

Green Means Digital

Peace and joy
At the holiday’s ride!
I hope you enjoy
The digital drive!

Just, get green,
Don’t be mean!
Let’s go digital
Green is seasonal!

High latitudes
Need new attitudes!
Girls and boys,
Everybody enjoys

Eco-friendly toys
Making a lot of noise.
They dominate and employ
The growing digital ploy.

December 2008 © Ida Tomshinsky

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

New Books for LRC

The LRC continue to obtain new books for the new programs. Last quarter the emphases were made on Health Information Management program. This quarter the new books arrived for Visual Communication program. The goal is to build a core collection. The picks were followed from recommendation bibliography list that was introduced by the national LRC Advisory Committee:
1. The Big Book of Design Ideas 3
2. Digital Media Tools
3. Graphic Design Solutions: 3rd/Ed
4. Graphic Design: The New Basics
5. Graphic Design that Works: Secrets for Successful Logo, Magazines...
6.AIGA Professional Practices in Graphic Design: 2nd/Ed

We fulfilled Mr. Pino's request for CEET/ECET program: "Digital and Analog Communication Systems" by Leo Couch: 7th/Ed.-2006.
In addition, we purchased the new reference book for the CDD school. It was Mr. Victores request: "Architectural Graphic Standards": Student/Ed by Ramsey.

Monday, December 15, 2008

December Activities

There are two main activities at the LRC. Both are concentrated on spotlighting the Virtual Library. Professor Javier Sanchez Rodriguez adopted the poster idea to advertise "Ask-A-Librarian" feature for the class project in Photoshop CS3, and professor Silvio Sanchez will use this blog "to spice up it" with his students in the Media Graphic Production course.

Richard Perez is a Multimedia student and a work-study student in the LRC. Last Friday, he used his creativity and humor to merge the Virtual Library's interface design with Google interface. What he did not know that the Googleganger phenomenon was reported by Newsweek magazine in October 2007. The term "Googleganger" is now being used to refer to a "virtual double" that exists only on the Internet. (Nextspace, N0. 10, 2008, p. 9.)

My point is that our online library is based on academic resources to support educational programs. "To google" information is all right, but the information you find on Google is not always on academic level. There are commercial, recreational, exploration type, and other sort of information. The Google Scholastic database is more direct and includes information and library resources from major national universities. We are living in a digital age in the 21st century. It is easy to focus on conversion of analog materials into digital formats, such as Google's mass book digitization project. You can visit http://books.google.com/ and see that Google has reached a groundbreaking agreement with authors and publishers. The books.google.com includes divisions for fiction, non-fiction, random subjects, and magazines.

Our students who are born in late eighties or in nineteen ninety represent the "Google Generation." They study, work and play on the Web. They spend more time online than offline. The good news are that we are not very far away. Our staff and faculty members are using digital tools as well - from PCs and laptops to cell phones, digital cameras, and other devices. We are connected to one another and to the Web on a daily working day base.

Once again, the ITT Technical Institutes' Virtual Library proved itself to be at the edge of the technology. When your library resources are at the tips of your fingers and available 24/7, the role of the Learning Recourse Center is changing to a crossover between information educational center, meeting point, hangout spot and place of leisure.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

2008’s Top 10 Business Books Posted

2008’s Top 10 Business Books Posted
by Business Week Magazine Editors

1. Charles R. Morris “The Trillion Dollar Meltdown”
2. Alice Schroeder “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life”
3. Charles E. Ellis "The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs”
4. Diarmuid Jeffreys “Hell’s Cartel: I. G. Fargen and Making of Hitler’s War Machine”
5. Dan Ariely “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions”
6. Michael Heller “The Gridlock Economy: How Too Much Ownership Wrecks Markets, Stops Innovation, and Costs Lives”
7. A. G. Lafley and Ram Charan “The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation”
8. Thomas L. Friedman “Hot Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution-and How It Can Renew America”
9. Leslie T. Chang “Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China”
10. Malcolm Gradwell “Outliers: The Story of Success”

Monday, December 8, 2008

LRC in Review: Top Library Story 2008

The 2008 year will be remembered as the year of change. On September 30, the LRC had been packed and prepared to move to the new location. The books were placed to store in the faculty lounge room together with other faculty materials. Later on, the LRC’s boxes moved to the student lounge room. The students were limited to access the traditional library collection. Meantime, bingo, students and faculty were using the online digital resources at the famous ITT Technical Institute’s Virtual Library. We did not cut much-needed support, did not reduce the hours, or close library's doors. The good Samaritans put the computer network back in use. Sometimes, you have to suffer a little bit, to make things run better in the future. We patiently waited for the construction work to be continued and to turn our Learning Resource Center into spectacular place, “the Empire" of the local campus. The quotation belongs to the campus Director, Mr. R. Hayward.

Then, October passed, and November passed, too. The Fall Quarter 2008 came to the end and its finals, too. On December 1, the first day of Winter Quarter, the construction workers came to work on the LRC renovation and the Student Internet Café. The remodeling will have the great ramification on both the learning center and education.

No secret, that the library has been helping people for a long time. Positioning ourselves as means of providing help in confusing information world, digital and otherwise, is another big win. The up-to-date LRC will have a powerful chance to demonstrate to our students and faculty members the library resources and services. The LRC will facilitate its use in a new environment for many years to come.

After all, the value of any library is in return.

Bibliotheca

Bibliotheca

The old traditional bibliotheca
Has a thunderous sound as echo.

The new airflow
Brought the hope of nouveau.

The new alma mater
Is a Mecca for info and supra.

The traditional library is not expired.
Nowadays, it is wired.

Sometimes, it is wireless,
Nevertheless, it will be worthless.

The complete transformation
Throughout virtualization

Created the renovation
Of facts and information.

Library science captains
Moving to new destinations.

2008 © IT

Let's Use the "Ask-A-Librarian" Services

There are top ten reasons to "Ask a Librarian":

1. We’re available 24/7 – whether it's 2 am or 2 pm.
2. We work with users wherever they are...at school, at home, at work…anywhere.
3. Responses can be in real-time through chat or usually within a few hours through e-mail.
4. We provide step-by-step instructions to utilize Virtual Library resources.
5. We can help students, faculty, or staff develop search strategies for various resources.
6. We post Frequently Asked Reference Questions and answers on the Virtual Library's AAL page.
7. We offer suggestions for sources of information that may help users find answers they need.
8. During chat sessions, librarians demonstrate on-screen how and where to search.
9. We provide users with either a transcript of a chat session or an e-mail reply for future reference.
10. It's an information maze out there, and; with "Ask a Librarian", you are not alone.

Ask a Librarian Chat service provided by Tutor.com Librarians.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Brief Memo: Requests for General Education

List of LRC Acquisition for WQ'08:
December

Professor V. Pino requested a book for the LRC's Library Collection -
  1. "Brief Calculus" by R. Larson: 8th/Ed. - 2007. $126.36

This could be a new addition for the acquisition list for the Winter Quarter 2008 (WQ'08.)

In addition, we should add the following books:

  1. "Gray's Anatomy" by Henry Gray 2007 $29.98
  2. "A Guide to Matlab: for Beginners and Experienced Users" by Brian R. Hunt 2006 $27.98

Professor Robert Powell requested for the LRC audio-visual collection-

1. "The Best of the First 48": DVD Set $19.99

Books for CJ Library Collection:

1. "The Color of Guilt and Innocence: Racial Profiling and Police Practices in America" by Steve Holbert and Lisa Rose $34.30

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Style Guide

"The Chicago Manual of Style" advises the following
style of writing in the Style Guide
  • a.m., p.m. -lowercase with periods
  • DVD-capitalize
  • e-mail-hyphenate
  • home page-two words
  • Internet-capitalize
  • intranet-lowercase
  • numbers-spell out numbers from one to one hundred, round numbers, and numbers at the beginning of a sentence, numerals in an address, with percentages, money and dates
  • online-one word, lowercase, do not hyphenate
  • percentages-use the numeral, followed by the word percent (e.g., 50 percent)
  • URL-capitalize
  • Web site, Web page -each is two words. Web is capitalized
  • World Wide Web-three words, capitalize. Use the Web on second reference

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

ACRL 14th National Conference Has a Call for the "3Es"

The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) 14th National Conference pushing the edge: explore, engage, extend. The ACRL calls for the 3Big Es. It would be great to have a little break from everyday e-mails and techno-clutter! It could be very rewarding to experience something quite rare: to meet other librarians, in person, and have this special face-to face time with colleagues of the same profession. In addition, to attend targeting programs and exciting speakers would be wonderful, too! The workshop, conferences and meetings are for learning!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Eco-Friendly Practice

The implementation of the "LRC Digital Newsletter" is one of the modern eco-friendly practices.
The FREE virtual access saves money, time, paper, and reduces the meeting's ecological footprint by communicating online. Eco-friendly practice means a combo of social networking and transportation needs at any place and at any time - 24/7.

The newsletter has more then one possibilities
  • to explore new ideas
  • to engage in new learning
  • to extend collective vision of the future of the LRC and the traditional academic/or research library

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Winter Quarter 2008 Arrived and Is On!

The Winter Quarter 2008 (WQ'08) arrived on December 1st of this year.
For this moment, the main goal is to get LRC users on board to use the LRC Digital Newsletter.
If the objective is the student adoption to the LRC novelty, it doesn't matter how many faculty have embraced the technology.
Even a tiny percentage of faculty using a technology can still impact a huge percentage of students.