More than searching

Everyone is familiar with Google for searching, but how familiar are you with Google's other products?  You may be more familiar with:

• Google Scholar- an academically oriented subset of Google
• Gmail - their popular email client
• Blogger - free blogging platform
• YouTube - videos

But you may want to check these out...

• Google Docs - an online suite of products including word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. It's free and web-based so it's available anywhere, it also offers offline capabilities.  The spreadsheet has a forms feature which is really handy if you're running the registration for a conference.  One of the best features is the ability to work collaboratively, synchronously or asynchronously on a document, perfect for group projects!
• Picasa - photo organizing software.  Allows you to organize your photos into albums, do some minor editing, and upload to Picasa Web.  Consistently one of the best photo organizing programs on the web.
• Chrome - a tabbed browser, that allows for extensions and themes so you can customize it based on how you want to search, it also uses less system resources than other browsers
• Google Public Data Explorer - mines public dataset and presents them in an easy-to-understand, visual manner.  Interesting sets include: Unemployment in the US, Historical Population in the US, and  World Development Indicators.

Check out what Google has to offer beyond searching.  Here are some handy cheat sheets for Google Spreadsheet, Google Reader, and more!

Plagiarism, it's not just for US students

A very funny plagiarism video from the University of Bergen Search & Write program.

Finding Book Reviews

There are many sites on the web to find book reviews for items both academic and popular. Most of the databases to which the library subscribes allow you to narrow your search to a particular document type (i.e. book review). If you would like assistance with a particular database please contact a Reference Librarian.  Some examples:

In JSTOR, click on 'Advanced Search' and limit by type.

In an EBSCOhost database (in this case, Academic Search Premier) look through the 'Search Options' on the lower half of the page for 'Document Type'.

In OVID, choose 'MultiField Search'.  Use the pull-down menu on the first search box to select 'Document Type'.  Type 'book review' into the search box and your topic in the second search box.

Additionally, there are many good places on the web to find book reviews. Some suggestions:

• The New York Review of Books
• The NY Times Books page and it's blog Paper Cuts
• Book reviews from Salon.com
• H-Net Reviews book reviews from Humanities and Social Sciences Online

And if you're looking for some fiction:

• Bookslut
• Stop!  You're Killing Me - mystery fiction
• ChickLit Reviews

If you want to catalog your home library and see how it compares to others, try LibraryThing.  LibraryThing offers the opportunity to catalog your home library, reviews, and suggestions of other titles you might like.

Have sites to recommend?  Leave them in the comments or let us know!

(Not so) Current Events

The University of Texas hosts an online digital collection of Mike Wallace interviews recorded from his television  show in the 1950's. They are available from the School of Information or from the Harry Ransom Center at UT-Austin.  Interviewees included actors and actresses (Gloria Swanson, Tony Perkins), politicians (Eleanor Roosevelt, Orval Faubus, Henry Kissinger), and other celebrities of the time (Elsa Maxwell, Pearl Buck, William Douglas).  A fascinating collection, and snapshot of a particular time in US history.

Another interesting and useful site is the American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank. This site lists what they consider the Top 100 Speeches in US history, most with transcripts, some with audio or video; Figures in sound, listing rhetorical devices; and Movie Speeches giving clips of some famous movie monologues.  

Timelines from the British Library

The British Library has been digitizing large portions of their collection to share with the world.  Go to their main page to search their collection, or browse through history by looking at the fabulous Timelines which walk you through history from the 1200's to the present.  The emphasis is on British history, but well worth the trip for the connections to European history.  Each entry links to primary source material which can be viewed online, some may be downloaded.

Timelines is a fantastic resource for learning about culture, politics, technology and everyday life through the ages.

 Highlights of the timeline include:

•  Manuscripts by great figures in history, including Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mozart, Wordsworth, William Blake, Jane Austen, Florence Nightingale and Dickens
• Original records of major events in history, from the Black Death and the Great Fire to the French Revolution and the abolition of the slave trade
• The first Western printed book, the first English cookery manuscript, the first English language bible and the first postage stamp
• Posters, advertisements and illustrations documenting everything from public executions and magic shows to plague cures and freak shows

Use thematic timelines, such as ‘everyday life’ and ‘politics, power and rebellion’ and 'literature, music and entertainment', to make fascinating comparisons, both within time periods and across time. Save or print individual timeline items or add them to your own timeline of favourites. (http://www.bl.uk/timeline)