Presidential Debate Coverage

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, campaign in swing states, Obama in Leesburg, Va., and Romney in Waukesha, Wis., in these Aug. 2012 file photos. (AP Photo)

A link to the Live Streaming of tonight's Presidential Debate and other Election 2012 resources are available on the library's Political Science research page.

See also . . .

What you need to know about [moderator of tonight's debate] Jim Lehrer's rules - from the Christian Science Monitor

Gwen's Take: Debunking Five Myths About Presidential Debates - from PBS

New Poll Reveals Stakes for Wednesday's Debate - from PBS

Commission on Presidential Debates - Transcripts and other information about past and future presidential debates, elections issues, candidate platforms and online voter education. 

New Voter ID and Voter Registration Information

An update to our August 7th post

A judge ruled this week that Pennsylvania state officials cannot enforce a new voter ID law for the upcoming Presidential election. Read full details on the judge’s decision here. 

Even with this ruling, there are still some important things you need to know:

In order to vote in any election, you must first be a registered voter.  In PA, you must be registered before October 9, 2012 for this general election in November.  You have the right to register where you live now, whether that is an on-campus address or off-campus location.  Or you may choose to register or remain registered and vote at your permanent home address.   Get information on registering in your home state here.  Please note that each state sets its own deadlines!

In Pennsylvania, you must be at least 18 years of age on November 6, 2012 and you must vote in the County you are registered in!

A list of local polling locations is available here. Go to VotesPA.com for more information, or call 1-877-VOTESPA.

Absentee Ballot:

If you intend to vote by way of absentee ballot, you will need to be able to provide either the last 4 digits of your SS#, or your driver’s license/PennDOT ID # as proof of identification.   Please contact your local County office for additional information.   

The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is October 30, 2012.  The last day for County Elections to receive the absentee ballot is November 2, 2012. 

FAQs

Where do I vote?

What if I have a problem at my voting location?  

Please ask to speak with the Judge of Elections who is always on site.

What is a provisional ballot?

A provisional ballot is used to record a vote when there is some question regarding a voter’s eligibility.   You have a right to vote by provisional ballot if:

1) Even though you are properly registered and eligible to vote in the election district/location, your name does not appear in the poll book and the election officials cannot determine your registration status

2) An Election Official asserts that you are not eligible to vote

How do I know my provisional ballot is counted?

Within seven days after the election, the County Board of Elections will examine your provisional ballot to determine if it is valid.   After this seven-day period, you can find out if your provisional ballot was counted, partially counted, or not counted by calling 1-877-VOTESPA.

The Future of the Voter ID Law

While you will not need an ID for the November Presidential Election, you may need an ID for future elections.  It is not too early to start planning ahead.  Please read the following if you would like to know more about acceptable forms of ID in PA:

All Photo IDs must contain an expiration date that is current, unless noted otherwise:   A Pennsylvania driver’s license currently valid or expired less than 12 months

•         An ID issued by PennDOT currently valid or expired less than 12 months
•          A currently valid U.S. Passport.   Expired passports will not be accepted
•          A currently valid CHC ID, issued by Chestnut Hill College containing a printed date on the front, bottom left, as the following example shows:

•          A currently valid military dependent’s ID.  Expired ID will not be accepted
•          A currently valid active duty or retired I.S. military ID, including the PA National Guard
•          A currently valid employee ID issued by the Federal, PA. State or PA County or PA municipal government
•          A currently valid ID issued by a PA Care facility 

If you DO NOT have any of the accepted forms of Photo ID as stated above and you are a currently enrolled Chestnut Hill College student, faculty or staff member, you can obtain a new ID (as shown above) by visiting Security on the Ground Floor of Fontbonne Hall.  Please note that free IDs will be issued to individuals who turn in their old ID.  However, free IDs cannot be given to anyone unable to surrender their old ID (this is for security purposes).

Please do not wait until the last minute to prepare for this election!

You may also obtain a FREE acceptable form of Photo ID at any PennDot Photo Licensing Center.  This ID will be valid for voting purposes only.  

Information reprinted from the Chestnut Hill College office of the Dean of Student Life

Sister Regina Maria Brimmer October 11, 1918 - August 11, 2012

Gentle woman, quiet light, morning star,
so strong and bright, gentle Mother,
peaceful dove, teach us wisdom; teach us love.*

Just before Lent. Sister Regina always
gave up her favorite: ice cream!

Many students, especially those in the Education programs, will already be missing a certain presence in Logue Library. Sister Regina had a disarming gift, an ability to relate one-on-one about anything and an empathy that is rare on today's college campuses.  As Sister Anne Myers said at her funeral mass, "Sister Regina was an amazingly flexible person who adapted to the times yet held firm to the values that were most important to her.  How many 93 year olds do you know who have both a cell phone and an e-mail address and relate well to all types of college students?" 

On Wednesday, August 9, in the company of many dear to her, Sister Regina lost consciousness as a result of a "cardiac event" and was taken to Chestnut Hill Hospital. After being surrounded by family & friends for two days, on Saturday, August 11, she died peacefully.

We remember Sister Regina as the engine that runs the library! Her energy, humor, and wonderful perspective kept all of us moving forward on an even keel. We miss her enormously, even as we still feel her presence here with us.

So many people have shared their memories of her with us. We would love to
hear yours! Leave a comment, or stop by any time.

Blessed are you among women,
Blest in turn all women, too.
Blessed they with peaceful spirits.
Blessed they with gentle hearts.*

*From lyrics by Carey Landry and North American Liturgy Resources, "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman." ©1978

PA Voter ID Law Leaves Some Students Out

Click the image to view a larger version

November's election is shaping up to be a complicated affair in Pennsylvania, and a few other states with Voter ID laws.  Logue Library's election resources web page includes a continually updated news feed of the latest issues in the PA Voter ID Law. Students should be aware of the challenges they face in voting this year in Pennsylvania.

"You think your vote doesn't matter? Then why are they trying so hard to take it away from you?" asks Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, a group that works to register young voters. "It does demonstrate the power they have." - USA Today

Under the PA Voter ID Law, a current photo ID with an expiration date is required to vote. Most student IDs in Pennsylvania  do not have an expiration date, including Chestnut Hill College student IDs printed prior to the 2011-2012 academic year, and all IDs for students of the School of Continuing Studies. Some colleges & universities are adding an expiration date this year in response to the law; others are providing expiration stickers for ID cards that have already been printed. Chestnut Hill College is researching all of the options available, to choose the best one to meet the needs of our students.

Why is a college ID so important? Why not just use a drivers license? Students from out of state will need a Pennsylvania ID to vote in Pennsylvania.

It's not uncommon for out-of-state students to vote where they think their vote has the most impact. So if they attend a school in a swing state, they often vote there. It also can simply just be a matter of convenience, and a way to avoid going through the process of getting an absentee ballot. - US News & World Report

It is important for students to decide where they want to vote, and then to take the steps needed to ensure that they are able to vote. It is your constitutional right, but as long as the voter ID law stands, it has become more complicated.

Once-or-Frequently Asked Questions

Ah-ha!! A recent question about our website let us know that at least one virtual user of the library wants to be able do more on-line.   I see how to find books, but what about putting them on hold? (Currently, holds cannot be placed this way; please contact a librarian!)

We are always looking for ways to make library research more efficient and intuitive, and the best way to know what is working and what isn't is to listen to you!  The "Start" tabs on all of the library's web pages have a place for sending a little feedback. We'd like to reply to follow up, but sometimes the comment is left anonymously. As we look for ways to improve, we are adding a tab to the About page of our website. This FAQ tab will give us a space to post the questions we get with answers.

Any time you have a question we hope you'll ask! If the question comes via one of the Feedback boxes, check the FAQ tab in the next day or two to see if an answer has been posted.

Thanks for your feedback!

Google Scholar Interface Update

Earlier this month we posted about the ups and downs of using Google Scholar (among other Google search tools) for academic research. Today, the Google Scholar interface is up and running, making searching this way far more expedient than it used to be. Clicking the "full text" link to the right of a search result will open the article in EBSCOhost.

Set Google Scholar preferences on an off-campus device:

1. Go to http://scholar.google.com/Click the link next to the search box called "scholar preferences"
2. Scroll down to where it says "library links"
3. Type chestnut hill college into the search box
4. Check the box next to chestnut hill college when it appears below the search box 
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "save preferences."

Now, go back to http://scholar.google.com/ and start searching!

Big news on the drive to work today! The New York City Department of Records has released a gallery of over 800,000 images and audio from the Municipal Archives, including glass-plate crime-scene photos from the NYC Police Department. Free and open access makes this historic resource a great tool for researchers in many subject areas ... history, political science, art, criminal justice, sociology, and others.

 In Oct. 7, 1914, painters are suspended from wires on the
Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Photo provided by the
New York City Municipal Archives

The link the the Gallery went live today after being up quietly for two weeks. It contains digital artifacts from as far back as the mid-1800s. Links to the gallery can be found on the Web Resources pages of the Library's website. Let us know what you think!

Using Google for College Research?

It wasn't all that long ago that librarians and educators at the college level admonished students to give up the googling habit they acquired in their primary and secondary schools. So why are so many of us changing our tune now, in a time when there is more information on line than ever, from more sources than ever, creating an even greater need than ever to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff?

Well, because that is exactly what some of Google's tools have been working at, and in the process there has been a collaboration with library systems that makes searching more interactive with the student's library. And that's a good thing because, lets face it, no matter how much we beg students to leave Google for lighter fare, they're never going to do it. The goal, then, is to make using Google work well for academic research.

Google Scholar

Until now we at Logue Library have adopted an "if you can't beat 'em join 'em" attitude," teaching the use of Google Scholar with the added step of how to copy information from the article citation, and plug it into our eJournals directory to see if the library subscribes to that particular issue of the journal that contains the desired article. It's clunkier than searching EBSCOhost, PsycNET or another of our subscription databases that already contains the full article content (or links to the full content) without being asked to pay $15-$35+ from the publisher.

This month, Logue Library is working with EBSCOhost to link its electronic subscriptions to Google Scholar search results. When the process is complete, students searching from locations on campus and using their ID from off campus will be a click or two closer to getting access to the content they find through Google Scholar. We will be asking for volunteers to help us test it in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to see a preview of this firsthand, volunteer!

Google Books (NOT Google Play Books)

Interaction between the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) - the world's largest public access online library catalog - and Google Books (not to be confused with Google Play Books) has been quietly available since 2008 but is still a little bug-gy on the OCLC end. When searching from a computer or mobile device,* select a book from the Google Books results list and look in the left menu. There will be one or the other of two links for searching a library catalog. If the book is not available as an eBook, the link Find In A Library is visible after a list of purchase locations. If it is an eBook, first click the link Get This Book In Print, and then Find This Book In A Library, which is below a list of places selling the book.

That link will take you to the web version of the OCLC catalog WorldCat. Students logged into a computer on campus or through the proxy server will see a box below the book description stating that they are connected to the Chestnut Hill College network, and providing a link to the library's catalog. A link to OCLC First Search is next to the catalog link, and serves as a back-up if the library's catalog link is not configured properly or the library does not have the book or this particular edition of the book. Clicking the First Search link will also give students the opportunity to request a book through interlibrary loan, rather than make a purchase.

*Note from Diane: When you search Google Play Books, you will not see any links to library holdings. When you are on your iPhone or Android and you type books.google.com into the browser, the page that displays contains a button that says, "Get the Andriod App." That app is the Play Books app. There is no app that I am aware of for books.google.com. Ignore that button and search Google Books on your phone the same way you would on your laptop browser.

Google Art Project

Yesterday, Google announced an extensive update to their Art Project, and we have added it as a resource to the Logue Library Arts Web Resources page. As of today it contains some 30,000 works from over 150 galleries worldwide, browsable and searchable by collections, artists and genres. Students and educators can create individual galleries to reference in research and presentations. It is interactive and allows students to not only collaborate with other students and professors, but contact experts directly.

Contact a Logue Librarian for help integrating Google into your academic research.

Help Wanted!

Have you located an awesome resource during your research that you think future students might find useful as well?

We try to include resources on our subject web pages that will make your research dynamic and comprehensive, including RSS feeds of the latest news headlines and blog posts from reputable, citable resources in your subject, podcasts, and current tables of contents from leading journals, with links to the full text.

One thing I've noticed is that there is always more out there than we can possibly collect ourselves. There are only so many hours in a day!

MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK!

Your recommendations will help us put the best and newest research and information on our pages for other students to find quick access to. Pop into the "Ask A Librarian" chat window (even if we aren't on line at the time) or send an email to librarians@chc.edu.

And while you're at it, check out our Readers Corner page and give us a short review of your latest favorite book. We'll feature it on our site.

Welcome Back!

As you begin your research using Logue Library's web page, please note that access to many of our resources are limited to the faculty, staff and currently enrolled students of Chestnut Hill College. If clicking a link presents you with a box like THIS:

Enter your CHC email username & password OR your library barcode number in the appropriate boxes. Come to the library's circulation desk to receive a barcode sticker for the back of your student ID.

We are here to help guide you through your research and welcome your questions. See any one of us, or type a question in the Meebo box for answers to quick questions. If you would like to spend a bit of time with one of us working on your research, ask to schedule an appointment, and we will sit with you for an entire hour if you need it.

We hope you have a very enjoyable & successful semester at Chestnut Hill College!

Librarians Do Gaga

It is amazing what you learn to do at library school these days . . .

Award-Winning Teacher a Chestnut Hill College Graduate

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently featured this year's 66 Lindback Distinguished Teaching Prize winners in an article titled In city classrooms, teachers with class.

One teacher from each of the Philadelphia School District schools is honored. Chestnut Hill College alumna Claudia DiCrosta was among them.

Claudia DiCrosta
Swenson Arts and Technology High School

Claudia DiCrosta was born and raised in Portugal. She holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Chestnut Hill College, where she minored in secondary education and psychology. Her first teaching position was at William Penn High School. Moving to Swenson Arts and Technology High School in 2006, she demonstrated her commitment to its students from the first day. She also mentors Temple and La Salle University students who are prospective Spanish teachers.

See the entire list of Distinguished Teachers profiled.

Buyer Beware!

FRONTLINE last night delved into the for-profit college industry in their program, College Inc.

These billion-dollar businesses are cashing in on a boom in degree-seeking non-traditional students . . . those who are already established in the workforce and are looking to upgrade or change careers.

From unsavory sales practices to fraudulent degree programs, students have a lot of homework to do before deciding to go this route.

The REAL Reason We Have a Blog!

. . . if anything is going to go wrong, it will go wrong just when you need it the most . . .

Recently the Chestnut Hill College web site server has been experiencing the effects of Murphy's Law. That is to say, if anything is going to go wrong, it will go wrong just when you need it the most. As stress mounts among the student population at the end of the semester -- and academic year -- the more likely access to the resources students depend on to finish their work will fail.

We feel your pain. We live it, too. That is why we created this blog three and a half years ago. On the left side of the page we have listed links to the most used journal article resources we subscribe to, the library's catalog, and a link to an alternative to our Web Resources pages. We use the bookmarking website "Delicious" for that.

We feel your pain.

You can also IM a librarian in the chat box under the links.

Please don't forget that this is here as an alternative! And if you were looking for an easy "'dog ate my homework'-for-the-21st Century" excuse to not have your work done... well, sorry about that!

Student Research in the Spotlight... From Today's Philadelphia Inquirer

Today's paper contains an excellent example of the impact student research can and does have on society and politics. Imagine the implications of YOUR research as you delve into your Senior Seminar project!

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Two debates over marriage

"Former President Harry Truman said yesterday he did not believe white persons should marry Negroes. He said that racial intermarriage ran counter to teachings of the Bible." - New York Times, Sept. 12, 1963

By Grant Calder

Last year, an 11th-grade student of mine wrote a paper examining the controversy over interracial marriage from the mid-1950s to the mid-'70s. My student, Susannah Ivory, wanted to know more about the public debate surrounding Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court decision that unanimously struck down laws banning interracial marriage.

To keep the project manageable, Susannah restricted herself to one newspaper, the New York Times. She ran a search of its historical database for all of the items in which miscegenation or interracial marriage were mentioned during the two-decade period. Since the advent of digitized, online newspaper archives, data of this sort can be gathered in minutes; research opportunities are limited only by a student's ability to pose good questions.

A graph of the results showed two striking peaks: a big one in the mid-'60s, which was no surprise, and a completely unexpected bump in 1956 and '57. The articles revealed that the mid-'50s spike stemmed from the relaxation of censorship laws prohibiting the depiction of interracial relationships in books and films. For the first time, the public had an opportunity to experience and react to this type of integration - a decade before the Supreme Court got involved.

A typical 1958 article began, "A new novel by Legette Blythe titled Call Down the Storm is planned for publication next month by Holt. It is a story of miscegenation and racial integrations from the closing years of the Reconstruction period to the present."

Mentions of miscegenation disappeared almost completely from the Times by the end of the decade, but they resumed again in the early '60s as couples began to challenge the laws against interracial marriage in state courts. This time, higher-profile individuals and groups began to weigh in.

"Interracial marriage is completely compatible with the doctrine and canon law of Roman Catholicism, a national church organization said today," one 1963 article read. " 'Races do not marry,' the statement declared. 'Nations do not marry. Classes do not marry. Only persons marry.' " So much for President Truman's claims, two months earlier, of biblical prohibition.

In 1964, an article reported that a group of scientists working for the United Nations had issued a study stating "there is no biological justification for banning interracial marriages, nor for any advice aimed at banning them."

Susannah ended her paper with a reference to our own era: "The striking down of the anti-miscegenation laws represented a major step forward toward a more open and accepting society, but the time has come again for such a leap. Homosexual couples are now in the same situation that mixed-race couples were a half-century ago, and they face the same challenges."

In Loving, the court wrote, "Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man.' ... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes ... is surely to deprive all of the state's citizens of liberty without due process of law." It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to suggest that these sentiments could apply to same-sex couples.

Today, the United Nations and the Catholic Church both find themselves involved in the debate over same-sex unions. Two years ago, on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a headline read, "In Europe, same-sex showdown moves to U.N." The accompanying article noted that 27 European countries supported a new declaration decriminalizing homosexuality, but the Vatican was resisting it. The Bush administration refused to sign on to that declaration, but the Obama administration joined 70 or so countries in supporting it last year.

Not surprisingly, the most cogent arguments in favor of personal freedoms often come not from governments or organizations, but from the individuals fighting for them. From a 1972 article, Susannah quoted the black mayor of Tuskegee, Ala., who was married to a white woman.

"A lot of things went through our minds," he said. "We felt there might be actual physical danger. We thought about hurting our friends and relatives. We even thought about the effect it would have on my political career. Finally we came to the point and said, 'To hell with it. I love you, and you love me. We're going to do the only honest and right thing.' " Sometimes it's that simple.

---

Grant Calder teaches history at Friends' Central School. The full text of the paper is available at researchproject.friendscentral.org.

Oxford's Word of the Year - "Unfriend"

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

Every year at this time, Oxford University Press announces a list of "words to watch" for possible inclusion in the next edition of their dictionary. The word at the top of the list becomes their Word of the Year.

An explanation on the OUPblog site says, "Unfriend has real lex-appeal” because friend has not, until now, been considered a verb.

• Interestingly, the word unfriend is not used on the configuration pages of Facebook. The phrase "Remove Connection" directs the unfriending action.

Curious about other Words of the Year? The website AskOxford published a hundred Words of the Year. Here are the past 10 years of words:

1998 • to Google

1999 • blogger

2000 • bling

2001 • 9/11

2002 • metatarsal

2003 • to sex something up

2004 • chav

2005 • biosecurity

2006 • bovvered

2007 • locavore

2008 • hypermiling

Which of those had staying power?

• Becoming the Word of the Year does not guarantee inclusion in the dictionary. The verb to google did not enter the Oxford or Webster's dictionaries until summer of 2006.

Should Everybody Go to College?

Photo by Noah Berger for The Chronicle Review

In the most popular item posted this week on the website of the Chronicle of Higher Education, experts in economics, education, management, political science, and career counseling in the field of higher education are asked if they think everyone should go to college.

The responses are widely varied. In Are Too Many Students Going to College? the experts do not agree. This makes sense. The decision to go to college is personal and quite often a family decision. Deciding to continue education beyond high school is a financial and time commitment, whether the choice is community college, a two year or a four year degree program, or a shorter program designed for specific career preparation.

The issue seems to not be, "should you go," but "where should you go." Clearly in today's world, post-secondary school education gives people a better chance of a higher income. It is safe to say that what high school used to give you in earnings now requires some higher education.

Which expert do you agree with? Is college a waste of time and manpower, is it essential to earning a living wage and finding fulfilling employment, or something in between?

Shuttle Schedule from Logue Library Changes During SEPTA Strike

Early this morning SEPTA drivers went on strike; this strike impacts bus lines, trolley lines and the subway. Regional Rail (which runs the SEPTA R7 and R8 trains into Chestnut Hill) is not impacted by the strike but is currently running up to 30 minutes late due to increased volume.

In response to the strike, the College’s shuttle system will be running on a modified schedule.

• One shuttle will run a continuous loop between the R8 station, the R7 station and Logue Library.
• The second shuttle will run between Logue Library and SugarLoaf approximately every 15 minutes.
• Finally, a third shuttle will make as needed runs depending on traffic patterns and train schedules.

We ask for your patience during these times; there may be delays in the shuttle due to increased ridership and traffic. We will keep the College community informed of any updates.

For information on the SEPTA strike and help in planning a different route to campus please visit http://www.septa.org/.

Schools of Education Deserve Praise, Not Scorn

by Stephen Krashen

(This was originally posted as an October 24th comment to a Newsweek blog post. The text of the post with a link to Duncan's speech appears below.)

Department of Education Secretary Duncan thinks that Schools of Education should be held accountable for student achievement. If so, American Schools of Education deserve praise, not scorn. If the role of poverty is taken into consideration, American children do very well in international comparisons.

The late Gerald Bracey pointed out that U.S. schools with less than 25 percent of their enrollments made up of children of poverty outscore all other countries in math and science. American children only fall below the international average when 75 percent or more of the students in a school live in poverty.

The obvious reason: The results of many studies confirm that the characteristics of poverty, hunger, poor diet, toxins in the environment, and a lack of reading material seriously affect academic performance. The United States has the highest level of childhood poverty of industrialized countries.

Clearly, poverty is beyond the control of Schools of Education.

Low scores on international tests are the fault of a society that allows so many children to live in poverty. Also, if we are to apply Secretary Duncan's logic, we should hold schools of business and departments of economics accountable for the current economic crisis.

-----

Duncan Offers Incentives for 'Revolutionary' Overhaul of TeacherColleges
by Patrice Wingert

As Wednesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan's major speech at Columbia University this week called on America's teacher colleges to follow the lead of Louisiana, which has been setting the pace nationally in terms of overhauling its schools of education. The state has turned the devastation wrought by Katrina into an opportunity to force through the kind of education reforms that other states just can't seem to muster. One of its mostcontroversial strategies has been to include data on how effectively new graduates are teaching and how much their students are learning when evaluating the quality of teacher colleges and other training programs.

As Duncan put it: "Right now, Louisiana is the only state in the nation that tracks the effectiveness of its teacher-preparation programs. Every state in the nation should be doing the same." Duncan said the U.S. Department of Education would "provide incentives for states" through the ongoing $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition to make serious upgrades in their teacher colleges.

Duncan also went out of his way to chide university presidents for their failure to take the lead in overhauling the nation's overwhelmingly "mediocre" teacher colleges while blaming everyone else for the fact that too many high-school seniors aren't prepared to handle college-level work." I do not understand when college presidents and deans of the arts and science faculty ignore their teacher-preparation programs—and yet complain about the cost of providing remedial classes to freshmen," Duncan said. "Simply put, incoming freshmen don't know the content because too often they have been taught by teachers who don't know the content well."

Chilly Fall Break!

It's fall break at CHC so things are a little quiet around here. Talking to you last week though, it was clear that you would be doing a lot of work over the break. Don't forget that we are still here if you have any research questions while you're getting it all done.

Check the library's Ask! page for a list of ways to contact us, or just type your question in the Meebo box on the left side of this page. (If we're not online at the moment, leave your email address and we'll shoot you a message as soon as we get back.)

Sorry you're missing our favorite tree's big annual display!

Here's hoping you're also having some fun! Fresh air and falling leaves might be just what you need to control that early afternoon crash! You know what they say. "All work and no play . . . "

See you in a couple of days!

The 7 Must Read SlideShare Presentations for Job Seekers

Grabbed from Slideshare.net:

These seven presentations are handpicked by the Applicant Blog at applicant.com. They also got some love from from getthatjobonline.com

1. Effective Job Interviewing from Both Sides of the Desk
It is gives great advice by looking at both sides of the job interview. My favorite tidbit is,
"Your Awesomeness is not self-evident."

2. 10 Job Search Attitudes that Will Get You More Interviews
Short, but sweet. I think attitude is often an overlooked piece in the job hunt puzzle. My favorite tidbit is, "I will search as if I don't need a job."

3. Rethink your Job Search
This reads a bit like marketing material for JobTiger, but is still has good content. My favorite tidbit is, "Tap into job openings that may not have been published."

4. Leveraging LinkedIn for the Job Search
A great little walkthrough on using LinkedIn for your job search. Favorite tidbit, "When you find a connection, leverage it to find other connections."

5. 10 Commandements of Job Search
This is the presentation by the Applicant Blog, and it stresses staying positive. "Ignore the fact that your friend, uncle, aunt and even your mother-in-law is unemployed. It's about you."

"It stresses Staying Positive"

6. Job Search with Social Media & Mobile
This is a great presentation that covers LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter & some mobile apps. "Maxims remain the same ... tactics are very different."

7. Converging Trends Impacting Your Job Search
It covers a lot of ground discussing marketing trends, social media and what networking means today. "Become a content expert ... shift, cull & create content"

Back on the Hill

Welcome! And welcome back to you old-timers!

If you're starting classes for the first time, don't forget to stop into Logue Library and have a look around. Get a library bar-code sticker for the back of your ID card so that you can check out books and other materials you'll be using to support your academic research.

If you're baaaaack after a fun summer, stop in and say hello and tell us what you've been up to! We missed you and are glad you're back!

SciFinder Scholar Incompatible with IE Version 8

We were notified of this today from the publishers of SciFinder Scholar:

"On March 19, 2009, a new version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 8, was released. Internet Explorer 8 is currently incompatible with SciFinder; however, researchers can use a built-in compatibility setting that allows you to view SciFinder as displayed in Internet Explorer 7.

"The Compatibility View Setting allows Internet Explorer 8 users to maintain a list of sites that can be displayed in Compatibility View. There are also options for viewing all websites and intranet sites in Compatibility View. To learn more about how to use the feature, visit the CAS web page titled Using Internet Explorer 8 with SciFinder.

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Logue Library Resources on Forgiveness and Reconciliation

(photo from hoyasmeg's photostream at the Flickr Creative Commons.)

"Chestnut Hill College’s Institute for Forgiveness and Reconciliation is designed to be a learning laboratory for research and scholarship where forgiveness and reconciliation will be explored as alternatives to violence and conflict in our culture."

The inaugural lecture of the Institute will be presented by John Dear on March 25, 2009 at 7 p.m. at Chestnut Hill College in the Social Room, Fournier Hall. The topic of John Dear’s lecture will be “To Change the World, We Must Change Ourselves.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

There are many ways to explore the topic of Forgiveness and Reconcilliation across many disciplines of college research. Below are some tips to begin with.

Books
Search the Logue Library catalog or WorldCat (CHC log-in required). Call numbers for books begin with (in parenthesis): Religion and Philosophy (B) Psychology (R) and Sociology (H), History (D-F)

A few titles are listed here, with their call numbers at the end. Check the books shelved near these for more titles.

• Minow, Martha. Between vengeance and forgiveness : facing history after genocide and mass violence. Beacon Press: 1998. HV6322.7 .M56 1998


• Griswold, Charles. Forgiveness : a philosophical exploration. Cambridge University Press: 2007. BJ1476 .G75 2007


• McCullough, Michael E. Forgiveness : theory, research, and practice. Guilford Press: 2000. BF637 .F67 F67 2000


• Keogh, Dermot. Northern Ireland and the politics of reconciliation. Cambridge University Press 1993. DA990.U46 N6654 1993

Search Terms
Forgiveness, Reconciliation
Related topics – Victim-offender relations, Mediation, Restorative Justice

Sources of journal & newspaper articles – some with electronic full text
(CHC log-in required)

• EBSCOhost – Academic Search Premier, SocIndex, and others as suit the topic


• PsycNet – for psychology related articles


• CIAO Columbia International Affairs Online (all full text)
  Including Conflict resolution Peace studies, Ethnic conflict, etc
  Extensive set of working papers and conference proceedings, as well as journals and case studies.


• LexisNexis – Legal (all full text)
  Use the Advanced Search for law reviews, reports from symposiums, and more. Good source for case studies.

Journals

Conflict Management & Peace Science
Routledge Press
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
International Relations; Politics & Political Science
Features original & review articles focused on news & events related to the scientific study of conflict & peace.
Available in SocIndex 2004-present, except the current 12 months.

Contemporary Justice Review
Routledge Press
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Provides information for scholars, practitioners & activists of justice around the globe who seek to explore new models & demonstration projects of justice that have applicability to social systems from the local to the international level.
Available in SocIndex 1998-present, except the current 12 months

International Journal of Peace Studies
George Mason University/Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution
Academic, peer reviewed; two issues/year
Articles in international conflict, peace building, human security, globalization, nationalism, ethnic conflict, & other related topics.
Available in SocIndex 2005-present

Journal of International Affairs
Academic, peer reviewed; two issues/year
“Affiliated with the School of International Affairs at Columbia University. Articles from a diverse group of scholars, business executives and government officials examining the defining issues of our time.”
Available in Academic Search Premier 1975-present

Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work (formerly Social Thought)
Haworth Press/Taylor and Francis
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Focuses on topics pertaining to institutional and noninstitutional religion, as well as sectarian and nonsectarian approaches to spirituality as it relates to social work and the other helping professions.
Available in SocIndex 2000-present, except the current 12 months.

Journal of Social Issues
Blackwell Publishing
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Articles for the professional psychologist and allied social scientists concerned with research on the psychological aspects of important social issues, sponsored by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
Available in SocIndex 1945-present, except the current 12 months.

Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health (Formerly American Journal of Pastoral Counseling)
Haworth Press (Taylor and Francis)
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Print (basement stacks) and electronic subscription (Logue Library Electronic Journals) Indexed in Academic Search Premier

Mental Health, Religion & Culture
Routledge Press
Academic, peer reviewed 8 issues/year
Aims to publish empirically-based work exploring the relationships between mental health & aspects of religion & culture. Also focuses on discussing conceptual & philosophical aspects.
Available in Academic Search Premier 1998-present, except the current 12 months.

Peace & Change
Blackwell Publishing Limited
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Scholarly and interpretive articles related to the achieving of a peaceful, just, and humane society. Topics related to peace and war, social change, justice, nonviolence and conflict resolution.
Available in Academic Search Premier 1975-present, except the current 12 months.

Peace & Conflict
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Publishes work on subjects concerning peace, nonviolent conflict resolution, reconciliation, & the causes, consequences & prevention of war & other conflict.
Available in SocIndex 1995-present, except the current 12 months

Peace Review
Routledge Press
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
International Relations; Politics & Political Science; Sociology; Sociology & Social Work
Focuses on current issues and controversies that underlie the promotion of a more peaceful world
Available in Academic Search Premier 1996-present, except the current 12 months.

Social Justice Research
Springer
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Acts as an multidisciplinary forum for the publication of original papers that have broad implications for social scientists investigating the origins, structures, & consequences of justice in human affairs
Available in Springer 1997-present.

Victims & Offenders
Routledge Press
Academic, peer reviewed quarterly
Provides an international and interdisciplinary forum of research, outcome studies, and evidence-based policies and practices on victimization, victim assistance, offender rehabilitation and treatment, and restorative justice.
Available in SocIndex 2006-present, except the current 12 months


Local Organizations related to Forgiveness or Reconcilliation

Good Shepherd Mediation Program
“Our mission is to empower Philadelphia community residents to creatively search for meaningful and lasting solutions to their conflicts without resorting to crime or violence”
5356 Chew Avenue Philadelphia PA 19138

Alternatives to Violence
National site –Under AVP contacts find Pennsylvania events and AVP leaders

American Friends Service Committee
1515 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Angela Berryman - Assistant General Secretary for Peace & Conflict Resolution

Friends Conflict Resolution Programs - Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
1515 Cherry StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19102
Caroline Packard, JD (215) 241-7029 carolinep@pym.org
Conflict resolution services & training for nonprofit organizations. Educational programs and mediation services.

Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation
Meets at Aqsa Islamic Society
1501 Germantown Avenue at 3rd & Jefferson Sts., Phila, PA 19122
Concern for Jewish–Islamic relations and situation in Palestine

Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia
3723 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3189
“Nonprofit organization that helps to strengthen and enhance awareness of the rich diversity of religious traditions in the Greater Philadelphia region. The Center arose to fill a void and emerged as the first multi-faith organization in our region principally dedicated to interreligious dialogue, education, and community building at the grassroots and leadership levels.”

Shalom Center
6711 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia PA 19119.
215/844-8494
Originally founded as a division of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, it is now an independent 501c3 tax-exempt religious institution with its own board.
Concerns: the Iraq war and its by-products, especially including the emergence of torture as a tool of US policy and of top-down, unaccountable presidential power; "Beyond Oil," an effort to address the dangers American addiction to over-use of oil poses to the planet through the climate crisis of global scorching and other dangers; the creating of deeper connections among Jewish, Christian, and Muslim teachings and communities in Abrahamic mode; an interfaith effort to identify and encourage the use and marketing of "Sacred Foods"; peacemaking in the broader Middle East; gay rights, especially in marriage and other sacred contexts; and immigrants' rights.

Mennonite Central Committee
East coast office - Akron, PA. (717) 859-1151 or Toll Free (888) 563-4676
Email: eastcoast@mcc.org
Philadelphia contact (215) 316-9464
MCC seeks to demonstrate God's love by working among people suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression and natural disaster. MCC serves as a channel for interchange by building mutually transformative relationships. MCC strives for peace, justice and the dignity of all people by sharing our experiences, resources and faith in Jesus Christ

Murder Victims Families for Human Rights
2161 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
National organization has local members

Peace Center – (Bucks County)
102 West Maple AvenueLanghorne, Pennsylvania 19047-2820
215-750-7220
Our programs are designed to help reduce violence and conflict in our schools, homes and communities through a multicultural, community-based approach. We are dedicated to furthering peace by understanding and managing conflict in our community, our nation and our world.

CentrePeace (State College Area)
3013 Benner PikeBellefonte, PA 16823
814.353.9081
The goals of CentrePeace are to promote Restorative Justice and decrease victimization and crime in our communities by improving the attitudes and capabilities of prison inmates through productive work and training in job and interpersonal skills.

Lehigh Pocono Committee of Concern
313 W 4th Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
LEPOCO members share a vision that we can build a sane and more just world. Gathering strength from our diversity, we work together and as individuals for nonviolent change, starting in our own community

Brandywine Peace Community
PO Box 81 Swarthmore, PA 19081
brandywine@juno.com

Mural Arts Program
Restorative Justice
info@muralarts.org 215.685.0750
For years we have taken a pro-active role in dealing with issues around crime and delinquency by increasing the programs available to adult inmates at local correctional facilities, ex-offenders re-entering their communities, juveniles arrested for minor crimes and in residential placement, chronically truant youth, residents of crime-impacted neighborhoods and victims of crime

Action Reconciliation Service for Peace
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
German peace and volunteer service organization founded in the aftermath of World War II to confront the legacy of the Nazi regime…. Each year 25 German volunteers start a one-year peace service with ARSP in the U.S. ARSP also runs an international volunteer program in Germany.

Making Geek Chic... Attracting Women to the Science Professions

A January 19th New York Times article is hopeful that the science-friendly Barack Obama administration might make the sciences a more women-friendly career choice. The article titled, In ‘Geek Chic’ and Obama, New Hope for Lifting Women in Science quotes studies that show career advancement in the sciences require a level of sacrafice that most women aren't willing to make. "One must spend one’s 20s and early 30s as a poorly compensated and minimally empowered graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, and the remainder of one’s 30s and into the low 40s working madly to earn tenure" as a research scientist at a university.

An enlightened adminiistration could make the sacrafice less costly. "Legal experts suggest that President Obama might be able to change things significantly for young women in science — and young men — by signing an executive order that would provide added family leave and parental benefits to the recipients of federal grants, a huge pool of people that includes many research scientists."

And — of all the sciences — why do far fewer women choose Physics? That's a question that requires more scientific research!

Find more articles on this topic from EBSCOhost.

[photo: Karen S. Wendling, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Chemistry]

Presidential Inaugurations Quiz - Answers!

1. Dwight Eisenhower
2. John F. Kennedy
3. 1949, Harry Truman
4. Article II, Section 1
5. Rutherford B. Hayes
6. John F. Kennedy
7. Franklin D. Roosevelt
8. James Madison
9. Theodore Roosevelt
10. George Bush
11. Samuel Morse
12. James Buchanan
13. William McKinley
14. Calvin Coolidge
15. Herbert Hoover
16. George Washington
17. 20th amendment
18. Abraham Lincoln
19. Chester Arthur
20. Harry Truman

Presidential Inaugurations Quiz

Test your knowledge about past Presidential inaugurations in this activity.
(From the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum web site.)

1. Who was the first President inaugurated after the 22nd Amendment, which limited Presidents to two terms in office?

2. Who was the youngest President-elect at the time of his inauguration?

3. When was the first televised inauguration?

4. Where is the oath of office found in the Constitution?

5. Who became President as a result of the Compromise of 1877?

6. Whose inaugural address contained the phrase, "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans . . ."?

7. Who was the first President inaugurated on January 20th?

8. Following whose inauguration was the first inaugural ball held?

9. Which President wore a ring to his inauguration that contained a lock of hair cut from Lincoln's head after he was shot?

10. Whose was the Bicentennial Inauguration?

11. Who was the first person to report an inauguration by telegraph in 1845?

12. Whose inauguration was the earliest to have been photographed?

13. Whose inauguration was the first recorded on movie film and gramophone record?

14. Whose inauguration was the first broadcast by radio?

15. Whose inauguration was the first broadcast by sound newsreel?

16. What president was inaugurated more than a month later than the March deadline, on April 30?

17. What amendment to the Constitution established January 20 as Inauguration day?

18. What future president lost his hat at President Zachary Taylor's inauguration?

19. What president was sworn in at his home in New York?

20. Whose inauguration came only 82 days after he became Vice President?

Try your hand at it... Answers will be posted on Inauguration Day!

Facebook Virus Warning from the BBC News - December 10, 2008

Facebook users hit by virus
By Dan Whitworth Newsbeat technology reporter

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Facebook's 120 million users are being targeted by a virus designed to get hold of sensitive information like credit card details.

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'Koobface' spreads by sending a message to people's inboxes, pretending to be from a Facebook friend.

It says "you look funny in this new video" or "you look just awesome in this new video".

By clicking on the link provided they're then asked to watch a "secret video by Tom".

When users try and play the video they're asked to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.

If they do, that's when the virus takes hold and attacks the computer.

Guy Bunker works for Symantec, who make Norton AntiVirus, and says there are two ways Koobface gets people's credit card details.

"It can either wait for you to buy something online and just remember the details you type in on your keyboard.

"Otherwise it can search your computer for any cookies you might have from when you've bought something in the past, and take them from there."

Networking threat

The Facebook case is the latest example of hackers using social networking sites to try to cash in. MySpace was targeted by Koobface in August.

Security experts say people are far less suspicious about viruses on sites like Facebook because you need to be a member to log in.

Facebook won't give any specifics on how many users have been hit by the virus, only saying it's a small percentage. But they have posted some advice on the site about what to do if you come across it.

"We're currently helping our users with the recently discovered 'Koobface' worm and phishing sites.

"If your account has recently been used to send spam, please visit one of the online antivirus scanners from the Helpful Links list, and reset your password."

Guy Bunker from Symantec says the virus is easy to get rid of. He said: "You can either just download some anti-virus softrware from the web. Or you can do it yourself.

"Just go to your Windows directory and search for these two files: tmark2.dat and mstre6.exe.

"If you find either of them delete them straight away."

Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2008/12/10 11:44:48 GMT© BBC MMVIII