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."