What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works page!

October is National Information Literacy Month

By Presidential Proclamation:

"Though we may know how to find the information we need, we must also know how to evaluate it. Over the past decade, we have seen a crisis of authenticity emerge. We now live in a world where anyone can publish an opinion or perspective, whether true or not, and have the opinion amplified within the information marketplace. At the same time, Americans have unprecedented access to the diverse and independent sources of information, as well as institutions such as libraries and universities, that can help separate truth from fiction and signal from noise."

Contact us today for help using information resources, or to schedule an information literacy workshop for your class.

Have a question? Ask your librarian online.

Students, faculty and staff at Centralia College can now receive assistance from reference librarians at Kirk Library even if they cannot visit the library in person. And the librarians are available anytime of the day or night.

Anyone who needs help finding information may submit questions through a link on the library's web site. Questions are answered by librarians at Kirk Library or by any librarian participating in our worldwide network of reference librarians.

The service is very easy to use. All you do is click on the "Ask a Librarian!" button, and you're on your way!

Give it a try today!

New database: World Conflicts Today

We are proud to announce the acquisition of a new database that we hope will come in handy. World Conflicts Today provides detailed information about current military conflicts throughout the world and includes timelines, origin of the conflict, key groups involved, implications, statistics, and more.

Biologists use Google to "destroy" ecosystems

By applying PageRank, the search algorithm that powers the world famous search engine Google, to the food chain of an ecosystem, Biologists have found a way to predict which species may be the most essential to the balance of that ecosystem. By virtually "destroying" the ecosystem by removing certain species from the food chain and observing simulated results, scientists are able to rank species by their importance, according to an article published in Wired magazine.

J.D. Salinger vs. Resurrected Caulfield

Reclusive author J.D. Salinger, now 90, has emerged from the shadows to attempt to stop the publication of an unauthorized sequel to his classic novel The Catcher in the Rye. An author writing under the nom de plume "J.D. California" has penned 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, which features "Mr. C," presumably Holden Caulfield, the resurrected slacker protagonist of the earlier work. The sequel has already been published in Britain. Salinger has filed a lawsuit to keep 60 Years Later from going to press here in the U.S.

Tens of thousands of electronic books

Access complete versions of books online!

Centralia College library subscribes to eBrary, which provides access to over 18,000 books on a wide variety of topics that are likely to be relevant to community college students.

If you're into classics, you'll love Google book search. It's free, and though it only offers limited previews (featuring, in many cases, most of the book) of millions of books, complete versions of most classics by well-known authors are available for free. (That's because the copyright protection for books published before 1923 has expired, so they are now public domain.)

Top Ten Challenged Books of 2008

Each year, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top ten most frequently challanged books, or books for which someone files a complaint about it being carried in a library.

The 10 most challenged books of 2008 reflect a range of themes, and are:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman. Reasons, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, violence
3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz. REasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, violence
5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya. Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, violence
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group
7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen. Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited to age group
9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper. Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

MLA citation style: big changes in 2009!

The 7th ed. of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers has been ordered and is on the way to Kirk Library. When it arrives, we'll need to update our handouts to reflect the new guidelines. Until then, here's an excellent guide to the changes from Purdue University's "Online Writing Lab."

"Ultraviolent zombie mayhem" in classic fiction!

Some of you may be aware of the zombie craze that's sweeping the globe. Of course, zombie movies and zombie video games are nothing new. And for several years, "zombie swarms" have been organized by text message in large cities around the world, where revelers recreate what resembles a city-wide version of the movie "Night of the Living Dead." But how about this: a contemporary author has added zombie characters and plot elements to Jane Austen's classic, Pride & Prejudice. The resulting mashup is entitled: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Amazon.com's description promises gore: "The classic... romance - now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem."

Free newspapers from all over the world!

The Internet Public Library Newspapers collection will connect you with free daily online newspapers from all over the world. Though most of the newspapers probably won't provide free access to the archives, at least you will be able to see what's happening currently all over the world, from a variety of perspectives (and languages)! This sounds like a great way to keep up those foreign language reading skills even after you finish taking Spanish, French or German classes here at Centralia College!

New CC Library Website!

When you get back from spring break, you'll notice that big changes have taken place on the Kirk Library website! We hope that you'll like what you see, and that you'll give us your feedback so that we'll be able to improve the site continuously. Speaking of feedback, please complete this brief survey to let us know which aspects of the current site you definitely want to be a part of the new site, and if there are any new features you'd like to see added to it. We can't guarantee we'll be able to incorporate all suggestions, but we'll do our best.

Time travel on the web!

The image to the right shows what the Centralia College site looked like on Feb. 10, 2006. Plug an internet address into The Wayback Machine and you'll see a list of dates that represent points in time that The Wayback Machine captured a snapshot of the site. Just click on a date in order to see the site as it appeared in the past. It's fun to time travel with The Wayback Machine!

Infotopia: New CC Library News Blog

Welcome to the new Centralia College Library news blog! Here are some examples of what you'll find here:

• new online tools that will help you locate, evaluate, and use information more effectively!
• tips that will help you ace your research assignments
  
• library news and updates
• random fun stuff!
• more!
  

OnDemand5 (from Mitchell1): Use IE

Dear Fans of OnDemand5 (automotive database from Mitchell1):

I was attempting to access the OnDemand5 online automotive database yesterday via the Firefox web browser and was getting nothing but strange error messages. After a quick call to Mitchell1 tech. support, I now know that the database doesn't jibe with Firefox. So if you're having trouble, try Internet Explorer!

If you're not familiar with OnDemand5, here's a quick description from the Kirk Library website:
"...provides repair, maintenance, and diagnostic information for all vehicle makes and models from 1983-present. Also included are technical service bulletins, a parts and labor cost estimate guide, and recall information"

~B_Havens