Library Database Trials

If you've visited the library's webpage in the last few weeks, you might have noticed a new link dead-center on the site.  Under the "Databases" tab on www.library.coe.edu, there is a new link to direct users to databases with which we currently have trial access.  Every once and a while, different publishers will allow the library and our users to test out new databases in order to evaluate them and decide if they might be a good addition to our collection.  At any given time, we might have 1-3 trials running, though sometimes we may have more; other times, no trials at all.  Here at the library, we wanted our patrons to be able to find and use these products (what kind of test can you have without users?) while at the same time making sure that they knew that these databases were not necessarily permanent additions.  It would be rough to get used to using a database only to have the access mysteriously disappear mid-semester.  To meet this need, we thought it most appropriate to create a new page that explicitly stated that these were trials.  We also describe the databases, along with the timeline for the trial.  We hope that people will be able to use these databases and the resources therein, and we also hope that users will give us feedback.  Find a database that you like a lot?  Email the library at khandler@coe.edu and let us know what you think.  If you want to be anonymous, you can always drop a note in the library's virtual suggestion box.

We can't promise that we always add new databases, as unfortunately we can't subscribe to everything that we want.  What we can promise is that we'll use your feedback to help us figure out how best to expand our collection, and in the mean time, you'll have access to some great new databases.  Give them a try today!

They're ba-ack...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="194"] She's reviewing the Periodic Table of Elements in her head, we promise.[/caption]

Making a triumphant return this Reading Day, one of the most popular stress busters offered by the library will be available to students here at Coe once again.  That's right, the library will be offering chair massages once again as a way for students to unwind on Reading Day prior to finals!  The chair massages will be Tuesday, December 10th from 10 AM-3 PM, in the Perrine Gallery.  Massages will each be 10 minutes long, and they will be free!  So how do you get one, and what’s the catch?

• Sign up will start on Friday, December 6th.  Sign up will occur on both Friday, and the following Monday.


• You go to the Reference Desk to sign up.  If the reference desk is not staffed when you come, check in the Reference Office (right behind the Reference Desk.)


• Only current Coe students are eligible to receive a free massage


• You must come in person to sign up (no signing up for a group of friends, or by phone/email.)


• The day of the massages, you must check in 5 minutes prior to your massage.  If you do not check in prior to your massage, you are liable to lose your spot to students on the waiting list.

Sound good?  Great!  Swing by the library to sign up for your free massage, and be on the lookout for other Finals Week treats from the library as we try to support our students as they wrap up the semester!  Good luck on finals, and please feel free to stop by the Reference Office if you have additional research questions that you need some help with.

More notes from a Circ worker...

My name is Bellamy and I’m an Elementary Education major at Coe. This is my second year working at the library and I love it. This semester I’m taking a class on children’s literature that requires me to read and bring in a selection of children’s books to class every Friday. I’ve been able to find all of my literature selections for this class from the children’s section of the Coe library. This area is located in the basement of the library and houses picture books on one side and chapter/young adult books on the other. At first I wasn’t sure if the library’s children section would have enough of a variety for all of different types of genres that I had to obtain. But now it’s halfway through the semester and week after week, I’ve been able to find great quality children’s literature books. The children’s section in the library may appear small, but there’s lots of great material!

Notes from a Circ worker.....

I am a senior nursing student and Stewart Memorial Library has been my second home for the past couple years. Whether it is studying, researching, or working I am normally here in the library. Apart of the nursing program we are expected to learn and know how to find evidence based research, I often use the library web site to help guide me. Because we are expected to know evidence based research so well I have become very comfortable with the databases we have here at Coe. I prefer to use Pub Med or CINAHL. I can normally find good sources that pertain to my topic which helps to strengthen my papers. The staff in the Reference office have helped me many of times and are always willing to help if problems or issues ever occur. ~~Allie

Book Thief

The end of September and start of October are always punctuated by Banned Book Week, which is, in short, a celebration of books that tend to be challenged by various groups because of content, word choice, characters, titles, covers, and so on. And while that could be a perfect excuse to wax poetic about Mark Twain, Voltaire, or yes, even Harry Potter, my annual celebration of Banned Books is to reread a very ironic book on that list:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 Why is it an ironic choice? Because The Book Thief is not only a surprisingly funny and heartfelt story about World War II Germany, it centers on books and book burning.

The New York Times described the book as “not really… ‘Harry Potter and the Holocaust.’ It just feels that way.” It’s narrated by Death, who shouldn’t be as fabulous as they are, but they’re fabulous (even if I can’t shake the image of Death being a tiny, sassy Australian woman). The main character (the titular “Book Thief” who is really named Liesel) is an adolescent girl whose life has been tinged with death, but has remained resilient, warm, kind, and sweet. The first book she steals is a manual for grave diggers, and her love of learning proves insatiable. She and her adopted family show a tiny slice of the War from the perspective of German citizens and every act of defiance her family commits feels like a victory.

It’s completely worth the read, and the film version is set to be released in early November. ~~Maisie

Editor's note--If interested, call # is PR 9169.4 Z87 B66 2006

What I did last summer.......

Over the summer I worked in the library archives developing a finding aid for part of the William Shirer Collection. Shirer, a journalist from Cedar Rapids popular for his memoirs of fascist Germany and Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, donated his entire collection of documents to the college archives near the end of his career. My job was to read through a collection of his personal correspondence from the year 1979 and create a document that summarized the collection and contained subject headings for important events and persons of note mentioned in the letters.

It was interesting to get a peek into the personal life of a famous author and journalist, as well as see the sorts of acquaintances Shirer had made throughout his life. Many of the letters Shirer received were from aspiring journalists and novelists hoping to get some advice about the writing process. Overall I enjoyed the experience, even if it did get a bit tedious sorting through his letters for the third time. ~~Eric

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