Four New Electronic Encyclopedias Now Available

Olympic College Librarians have selected and purchased subscriptions to four new electronic encyclopedias that we feel will be of high value to the studies of OC students. These encyclopedias will likely be useful tools to many assignments given in English classes as well as psychology, history, philosophy, sociology, and more. In fact, the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime has already been used for Jody Delay's English 102 assignment for articles on "Ethnic Cleansing" "Genocide" and "War Crimes". The four encyclopedias are:

Encyclopedia of Journalism
"The encyclopedia...present[s] a current and comprehensive analysis on all aspects of journalism—including the trends, issues, concepts, individuals, institutions, media outlets, and events that go into making journalism a pivotal part of contemporary media." --referenceworld.com

Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society
450 academic multidisciplinary articles explore the major cultural form of play. Includes fields such as learning theory, game theory, history, psychology/sociology, and education.

Encyclopedia of Race and Crime
Examines historical and contemporary issues involved with race and crime. It covers 14 categories including biographies, cases, concepts and theories, courts, drugs, juveniles, media, police, violence and crime, and specific populations.

Encyclopedia of Gender and Society
"Editor O'Brien (Seattle Univ.) provides readers with a "gender lens" on society, while emphasizing both individual and global aspects of social life."--Choice

Welcome to Winter 2010! Ask Us!

Welcome to 2010 new and returning students! For new students we want you to know we are part of a cooperative reference service where you can ask a question via online chat in real time, 24/7. Some questions will be initially answered by librarians outside of Olympic College, but every question is reviewed by one of us. We make sure your information needs for your classes and assignments are met promptly and to your satisfaction. Remember to "Ask a Librarian"!

End of Quarter Crunch Help is Here!

Hello Students! As finals week approaches quickly, you may be struggling to wrap up those final papers and presentations and we want you to know librarians are here to help you!

• Do you need a couple more articles or reference sources?
• Do you have questions on how to cite your sources in MLA or APA format?
• Do you need to locate a particular book?
• Or, __________________?

For help, Ask a Librarian! using the 24/7 live chat reference service QuestionPoint or call an Olympic College librarian at the reference desk at 360-475-7252.

Library Hours:
Monday-Thursday 8am-9pm
Friday 8am-5pm
Saturday 10am-4pm
Sunday Noon-6pm

If you need a quiet place to study up for exams, the library has some wonderful spaces. Group study rooms are available in the Haselwood Library basement.

"Unfriend" - Arguable choice for Word of the Year

Should "unfriend" have been chosen by the New Oxford American Dictionary as the Word of the Year? Should other words such as "sexting", "tweet", "intexticated", "teabagger", or "tramp stamp" have won out? How about this as an argumentative or pro/con paper topic!

You could argue that "unfriend" is a great choice because this word has been around for centuries. The term can be traced back to 1659 when it was first included in the dictionary. Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer of U.S. dictionaries for Oxford University Press, in a CRM Daily story said "It is a very old word that has been adopted by a new generation..." "Now it has a very explicit designation as a verb used for social networking." Lindberg further supports the choice by saying "Unfriend represents an entire social-networking culture."

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines unfriend as:

(verb) – To remove someone as a “friend” on a social networking site such as Facebook. As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight."

On the other hand, blogger Angie Pascale, a communications specialist at Location3 Media, Inc. bemoans the choice of "unfriend" as Word of the Year in her post on expertSEM blog. Angie believes the word does not represent an entire culture but rather is specific to Facebook. Besides, she says, it should be defriend, not unfriend!

Decide for yourself on the merits of this Word of the Year but like it or not... unfriend is the "it word" of 2009!

(by Leslie Hassett, Adjunct Librarian, Olympic College)

Flu Facts and Info - Up to Date and Evidence Based

A wealth of quality, reliable, well-organized information regarding the seasonal flu and the H1N1 "Swine Flu" is available from Federal government and Ebsco Publishing websites.

1) http://www.ebscohost.com/flu/ - Ebsco Publishing has collected Evidence-based information from their clinical reference databases and scholarly literature and made it available from one convenient website.

2) Flu.gov - Health and Human Services Department from the Federal government provides comprehensive government-wide information on pandemic influenza and avian influenza for the general public, health and emergency preparedness professionals, policy makers, government and business leaders, school systems, and local communities.

At these websites you can find the below listed features and more:

• An interactive map - with links to states with YouTube videos and Twitter sites
  
• A "newsroom" for up-to-the-minute information


• Consumer education guides - lists definitions, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention

National Information Literacy Awareness Month

President Obama has declared October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. He states in part, "Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decision making. National Information Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age." Click here to view a copy of declaration in its entirety.

New Online Encyclopedia on Social Issues!

Social Issues In America: An Encyclopedia is a new online encylopedia purchased by Olympic College libraries. The Encyclopedia can be accessed 24/7 online from any internet capable computer. This reference work adresses nearly 170 timely American issues in breadth and detail, providing an introduction to the basic concepts, terminology, historical background, competing points of view, statistics, and research materials associated with each one.

This online encyclopedia can be accessed from the Haselwood Library Website by clicking on the Finding Articles link and scrolling down alphabetically under the "Reference Works" heading.