Winter Reads: SCTC Suggestions

Looking to earn your pizza party by reading a book over winter break?  Here are some recommendations from your library's bookshelf - perfect books to keep you going during the cold winter months.

Griffin Campus Library

61 Hours
by Lee Child

Summary:  A tour bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces--and Reacher will risk his own to save her from a coldly proficient assassin who never misses.

Call Number:  PS 3553 .H4838 A614 2010



The Devil in the White City
by Erik Larson

Summary: Erik Larson intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Call Number: HV 6248 .ML37 2004

A Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin

Summary: A tale of court intrigues in the land of Seven Kingdoms, a country "blessed by golden summers that go on for years, and cursed by cruel winters that can last a generation." The story that inspired the HBO series.

Call Number: PS 3563 .A7239 G36 1996




The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson

Summary:  The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance. Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker assists Blomkvist with the investigation.

Call Number:  PT 9876.22 .A6933 M3613 2008


Flint River Campus Library



Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell

Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, the author reveals that great decision makers aren’t necessarily those who process the most information or spend the most time thinking.

Call Number: BF 448 .G53 2007


The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Lily and her companion, Rosaleen, an African-American woman who has cared from Lily since her mother’s death, flee their home after Rosaleen is victimized by racist police officers. The story takes place in 1964 when racial unrest and civil rights were in high mode in the South.

Call Number: FIC KIDD



Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides

Summary: "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."

Call Number: FIC EUGE


The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon

Summary: Imagine if Franklin Roosevelt had opened Alaska to unlimited Jewish immigration during and immediately after World War II. In Chabon's alternate history, millions of Jews emigrated to Sitka, establishing a vibrant Yiddish-speaking culture. Now, sixty years after the creation of this independent Jewish settlement, Alaska is about to revert to U.S. control. What will happen to the population?

Call Number: FIC CHAB

Winter Break Reading Challenge

Tired of those boring textbooks? Want to snuggle up with some mind candy during Winter Break?

We do too, and that's why we (the libraries) are allowing currently enrolled students to check out library materials over the Winter Break.

Your challenge, should you accept it, is to read any book over the break and write a short (100-200 words) review of the book. Select entries will be published on the library blog PLUS everyone who participates will be able to attend a Pizza Party in the library.

Entries are due January 19th to the library circulation desk or by emailing tnesbitt@sctech.edu.

Technology Tuesday: Wired's Top 10 Tech This Week

Take a break from studying to check out some of the wild, remarkable and sometimes disturbing tech inventions unveiled this week in Mashable's Top 10 Tech This Week.  From shoes that can 'see' to tiny projectors that fit in your pocket, this list is a good representative of some of the amazing innovations we're making in the world of technology.

Check out the list here.

Oprah's Best Fiction of 2011

As 2011 draws to an end, Oprah's O Magazine takes the chance to step back and review this year's crop of new fiction.  Visit her website here to learn more about the books and why they won.

Most Ambitious Book of 2011
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

Remembering childhood stories her grandfather once told her, young physician Natalia becomes convinced that he spent his last days searching for "the deathless man," a vagabond who claimed to be immortal. As Natalia struggles to understand why her grandfather, a deeply rational man would go on such a farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the extraordinary story of the tiger’s wife.

Find it at the Griffin Library: PS 3615 .B73 T54 2011

Most Of-The-Moment Book of 2011
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

What if the Rapture happened and you got left behind? Or what if it wasn't the Rapture at all, but something murkier, a burst of mysterious, apparently random disappearances that shattered the world in a single moment, dividing history into Before and After, leaving no one unscathed? How would you rebuild your life in the wake of such a devastating event?

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

Most Layered Book of 2011
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

A sweeping, multigenerational drama, set against the backdrop of the raw, roaring New York City during the late 1980s. Adoption, teen pregnancy, drugs, hardcore punk rock, the unbridled optimism and reckless stupidity of the young - and old - are all major elements in this heart-aching tale of the son of diehard hippies and his strange odyssey through the extremes of late 20th century youth culture.

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

Most Cinematic Book of 2011
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year-old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

Most Deceptively Deep Book of 2011
Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell

From a reader review on LibraryThing: "It is a series of short stories that center around women and the relationships we have with one another, with our lovers, with our spouses, our children, our parents. Most of the stories intersect with another story in some way. There was laughing, there was crying. There was one particular 8 page section that I had to read out of the corner of my eye because I just couldn't face it head on."

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

December 1: World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, a day to remember the victims of HIV and to encourage education on this virus.

To learn more, check out the World AIDS Day display at the Griffin Campus Library for a great selection of DVDs and both fiction and non-fiction books.

You can also learn more through some of the fantastic AIDS education resources online.  Here's a list to get you started:

A Timeline of AIDS
This timeline does a great job of showing the development of the AIDS epidemic, year by year.  Starting with 1981, each year has its own blurb and series of relevant links to news and issues of that time.

Southern AIDS Living Quilt
This site focuses on the stories of women in the South living with AIDS.  Watch these video testimonials, or consider contributing one of your own.

NAM AIDS Map
Find resources in your area supporting those with HIV/AIDS.

Kaiser State Health Facts
The Kaiser Foundation’s State Health Facts site allows users to begin their information search either through searching by category or by state.  The ‘state’ search is incredibly helpful for educators looking for grassroots-based initiatives in their local community to provide guest speakers or resources for students living with AIDS.  If searching by the ‘HIV/AIDS’ category, users will be taken to an incredibly comprehensive page of fact sheets, prevention programs and resources, funding sites, and drug assistance programs.

Peer Corps - Teen AIDS
As its title suggests, this site is primarily directed toward educating teens, as well as providing youths with HIV/AIDS with a creative and social outlet.  The site also encourages HIV+ teens to tell their own stories by submitting art, videos, written stories and surveys.

Technology Tuesday: Finals Edition

December is just around the corner - and with it, the finals crunch! This Technology Tuesday features tools to help you cope, whether you're cramming for a test or trying to churn out another paragraph for a research paper.

Noodle Tools
*What: Noodle Tools walks you through the whole research process, from information gathering to writing the paper to citations and bibliographies.  You can use Noodle Tools to help you organize your resources, format your paper, and even set up 'To Do' lists to keep you on track with your assignments.  Check out the online tour for more information!
*How: You can access Noodle Tools through the library website.  To create your account, you will need the school/library password, which you can get by talking to your librarian.

Scholarly vs. Popular Resources
*What:  One of the hardest parts of any research project is figuring out how trustworthy your sources are.  This video is a great starting point for judging any information resources you might think about citing.



Internet Public Library
*What:  Google not giving you the resources you need?  Search through the Internet Public Library (IPL) for free, reliable online resources.  You can search by subject or by resource type.  Still not enough?  You can submit a research question, and a librarian will help you find relevant resources.
*How:  Click here to browse IPL's resources, or here to ask a question.

Write or Die!
*What:  If you need that extra boost to get you writing, Write or Die gives great motivation - if you stop writing for too long, it'll slowly start erasing what you've done so far!  You can adjust the speed and the length of the 'crunch time' before it starts deleting.  This is a life saver for procrastinators.
*How:  Visit Write or Die, set your time and word goal, and start typing directly into the text box.  When you're done, you can download or copy/paste what you've written to Word.

Technology Tuesday: Robotic Bears and Singing Butlers

Call me old fashioned, but I usually don't expect to be woken up by a stuffed bear smacking me in the face.  But as we look to the future of robotics, alongside surgical aids and car manufacturing, one of the next big advances is... the teddy bear snore-preventer.



This video shows a demo from 2011's International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, featuring a visibly uncomfortable test subject as the robotic bear reacts to the sound of snoring and strokes the side of his face to get him to turn to his side.  Another bear attaches to your hand and measures your oxygen levels as you sleep.  The robot's developers hope that, by encouraging sleepers to lie on their sides, they can reduce the incidence of snoring and sleep apneas.

Aside from working as the snoring police, robotics engineers also see a future for robots as musical butlers.  The company Ologic presented the AMP, or 'Automated Music Personality' at this year's RoboBusiness Conference in Boston, MA.  Aside from rolling around and serving you drinks, this remote-controlled robot also streams music through its speakers, making it an instant dance party on wheels.  That is, if you're willing to shell out $300-$400 for a roaming set of speakers.  Personally, until the AMP goes more mainstream, I would suggest taking a tip from Parks and Recreation's Tom Haverford and just strapping an iPod to Roomba.

Scholarships Available!

The Southern Crescent Technical College Foundation, Inc. offers scholarship opportunities to students. Application deadline for Spring Semester 2012 is Wednesday, November 9, 2011.

Click the link to access available scholarships: http://www.sctech.edu/student/grants.php.

Available scholarships:

GED/Advancement-to-College Textbook Scholarship is a $250 textbook scholarship awarded to a recent Southern Crescent Technical College GED graduate (completed within the last 12 months) who scored over 500 on the GED test and who has enrolled part-time or full-time in Southern Crescent Technical College to begin work on a certificate, diploma, or degree program of study.

High School-to-College Textbook Scholarship is a $300 textbook scholarship awarded to a recent high school graduate (graduated within the last 24 months) who is planning to attend Southern Crescent Technical College as a full-time or part-time student enrolled in a certificate, diploma, or degree program of study.

John Bradley Memorial Toolbox Scholarship is a $250 scholarship awarded for the purchase of program-required tools, uniforms, equipment, and/or supplies to a currently enrolled part-time or full-time student in good academic standing. The student must demonstrate a need for financial assistance in purchasing the required tools.

Textbook Scholarship is a $300 textbook scholarship awarded to a currently enrolled part-time or full-time Southern Crescent Technical College student in good academic standing in a certificate, diploma, or degree program of study.

Tuition/Completer Scholarship is a $900 tuition/fees/books scholarship awarded to a currently enrolled part-time or full-time Southern Crescent Technical College student in good academic standing who is NOT eligible for the HOPE Grant/Scholarship or PELL Grant financial aid. Applicants for this scholarship may also include those who have capped-out on HOPE financial aid.

For additional information on scholarships contact:

PH: (770) 227-3417

FAX: (770) 229-3236

Email: scholarships@sctech.edu

National Book Month: Finding Books Reviews and Literary Criticism

Reposted from GALILEO News and Announcements:

October is National Book Month, an annual celebration of writers and readers. In honor of this celebration, we have been offering tips each week on how to use GALILEO resources to find books and authors along with reviews and criticism.

This month, we have learned how to find book lists, find the next book to read, and find more authors like a favorite.

For our last tip in this series, we will see how to quickly find reviews and literary criticism for books and authors.

In Literary Reference Center, search for an author or book title (or even a theme). Click the Literary Criticism tab to see work analyses and criticism, or click the Reviews tab to see book reviews from a variety of sources.

David's 2nd Blog Ever!!

Ok folks so how bout I'm just now getting around to finding out the "scientists" of the world have disowned Pluto as a planet!! What the *&^% happened there?? Everyone I know says Pluto is a planet because these same scientists have been telling us it was since (for most of us) day one! Now they say it's too small and its gravity is too weak and its orbit isn't uniform enough... so based on this type of logic a Chihuahua isn't a dog, a South African Black-Footed Cat isn't a cat and anyone born under like 6 lbs isn't human!!! BOGUS! Trust me, I know it is. So yea, now poor lil Pluto is a dwarf planet and is in a new list of about 40 other celestial bodies that don't have a name yet...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-pluto-planet.html

Technology Tuesday: Google Games and Typing Sharks

Here on the blog we try to highlight fun, free and easy ways to sharpen your research and computer skills.  Today's Technology Tuesday tips are A Google A Day and Typer Shark, games that painlessly improve the way you type and search for information online.

A Google A Day

What: Google releases a new puzzle every day that puts your googling skills to the test.  Race against the clock to find answers to these daily questions, and improve your searching skills in the process!
Example: You just ordered “κρασί” from a menu in the southernmost country in Europe. What will be brought to your table?
Where: A Google A Day
How: Looking for search help, or want to work with other daily googlers?  Check out this online community where people try to crack A Google A Day together.


Typer Shark

What: No matter what your typing skills, this free online game is a fun and stress-free way to brush up on your speed and accuracy.  Even if you hardly ever touch a keyboard, the game has a tutorial mode that takes you step-by-step through new typing skills.  Once you master the tutorial, you move on to zapping sharks by typing the words spelled on their sides.  Too slow, and you're shark bait!
Where: Typer Shark!
How:  No download necessary; you can play this game directly online through the PopCap website.


Have any online learning games you'd like to recommend?  Let us know in the comments section!

November Book Club Meeting: Super Freakonomics

Join the Flint River Book Club this month in reading Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner's book Super Freakonomics!

These two authors made a huge splash with their first collaboration - you guessed it, Freakonomics - a book which dissected social issues from an economist's perspective.  They expand their reach in this sequel, tackling questions such as:

*Which is more dangerous: driving drunk or walking drunk?
*How can eating a kangaroo help save the planet?
*How effective are car seats?
*Are people naturally selfish or naturally selfless?

Each chapter tackles a different unexpected question - from an economist's perspective.  As someone who wouldn't know what to do with money if you threw it at her, I highly recommend this book as a super-interesting, super-readable introduction to the economist mindset.

We will discuss this book in the Flint River Library at 4.00 PM on Thursday, December 1st.

Technology Tuesday: Conversations with Robots

Honda's ASIMO robot: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-3543338099 

Pop culture is filled with talking robots - from Star Wars' C-3P0 to Haley Joel Osment in A.I.  But while these chatty robots may seem like total science fiction, they may be closer to becoming reality than you'd think.  Some robotics software is so advanced, it tricks people into thinking it's human.

Meet Cleverbot, the software that talks back.  When visiting the Cleverbot website, you'll find an empty text field inviting you to chat.  You can enter a comment or question to start the conversation.

IMing Cleverbot can feel surreal, as the program 'learns' from past conversations and builds up knowledge. For example, check out this conversation I had with Cleverbot about Lady Gaga:

Cleverbot: I love music! 

User: What kind of music? 

Cleverbot: Pop/electro/dance. 

User: Like Lady Gaga? 

Cleverbot: Exactly like Lady Gaga. 

User: What's your favorite Gaga song? 

Cleverbot: Poker face. 

User: Good choice. 

This ability to 'learn' and adapt sets Cleverbot apart, and gives the program its human-like quality.  In fact, Cleverbot is so clever that it's passed the Turing Test, which was developed to identify humans from robots.  In a test in India, more than half of the test's participants thought they were speaking to a human when they were actually talking to a machine!

What do you think - would you have been fooled?  Drop by the Cleverbot website for a conversation to decide for yourself.

Henry County Course Survey

Live near Henry County and want to make an impact on the courses offered in the spring semester?  Take this quick 8 question survey to share your thoughts on course times, types and methods.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/crjusurvey

Book Burning or Mercy Killing?

This article from Cracked.com entitled "Six Reasons We're in Another Book Burning Period" has gotten librarians all over the country fired up. The article discusses one of the more controversial aspects of library weeding (or picking out what materials need to be removed from the collection): the disposal of unwanted books. Due to a number of reason, most libraries end up destroying their unwanted books. This could be through defacing them, placing them in the trash or shredding them.

Many people are upset by the idea that books are disposed of in such a manner, but libraries are quick to defend their actions. Read the article for yourself and the comments below the article. There are many mixed opinions on this topic that range from "No one wants this useless book so we're putting it out of it's misery!" to "All books must be protected and saved forever!"

What do you think?

WANTED: Your Opinion

Take a library survey today or tomorrow at either the Flint River or Griffin Library and you will get:

$5 free printing at Griffin OR $5 free copies at Flint River

All surveys are anonymous. See the Library Desk for more details.

Student Spotlight: "Wasn't Meant to Be"

Wasn't Meant to Be
A short story by SCTC student Jeremy Cato

 It was a cool morning on this fourth day of the tenth month. The wind was cold and seemed to cut through me like a knife going through soft butter. The sun was just starting its rise from the horizon. It would take just enough time for it to reach the point that was needed to start the day. After all, one just doesn’t get in a hurry on days like this. As a matter of fact none of us really wanted to be out on a day like this.  We arrived on the job well past our set schedule. I didn’t think this would be a problem, for the fact that we needed the sun’s light as its warmth. The house seemed to be never ending. It wasn’t a spiffy looking home but large enough to be considered a house for middle to upper class.

   As my crew and I unloaded the material that was needed for our project at hand, I walked around the job site, looking at the places we needed to repair. The house was in bad shape to only have been around for twelve years. As I was looking at a particular part of the top portion of the house I hear her soft and pleasant voice. “Good morning,” she said. I began to look around to see where this amazing voice was coming from. It didn’t take too long before my eyes met hers.

    As I looked upon her, the beauty she possessed was mesmerizing. My breath left me quickly. Her hair was golden blonde. Her eyes blue like the ocean. A figure of a goddess. Even in this weather she was protected from the cold by her looks.  The curves of her body warmed me from the inside out. She introduced herself. Her name was Karen. I introduced myself as Ned the contractor and began telling her what my crew and I were going to accomplish by the end of the day. As we talked I could feel the vibes we both were sending to each other. I asked her if she would like to have dinner with me and to my surprise she accepted.

    I picked her up at around 7.30 and took her to my favorite place to dine. We talked the whole way through dinner. It was as if there wasn’t enough time in the world to talk about simply nothing. Afterwards we took a walk in the park. I dropped her off and went home. We went out several times after this. I was beginning to fall for this lovely woman. I had to tell her. The two of us went on a picnic in the park one Sunday afternoon. After a few hours of talking and laughing I just looked at her and spoke my feelings. She said nothing. The look upon her face was a state of shock or so I thought. With a smile she told me she felt the same. A warm and happy feeling came over me, so I asked her hand in marriage. She said yes and a date was set. Karen and I would sit for hours talking about how we would decorate the church and where we could go for our honeymoon. It seemed like nothing fit our taste. As the planning went on simple was the way to go. Fancy décor just couldn’t amount to the two of us being together forever.

  The day of the wedding I was extremely nervous.  The church was decorated in white roses. The ceremony got under way. I stood at the altar awaiting my beautiful bride. Several minutes passed as the bride’s music filled the church. Why isn’t she coming down the aisle? I looked around at everyone hoping for a hint of her tardiness but there was no answer. A few minutes later a young man burst into the church with news of an accident. A sick feeling entered my very soul. I dashed from the church and headed towards the wreck. I saw my beloved’s car on its side. I burst from my truck like a caged animal. I headed for my loves car only to see her lifeless corpse being covered by the paramedics. I fell to my knees in astonishment. Were my eyes playing a trick on me?  No, what I saw was real. I burst into tears. That warm and loving feeling I had felt all this time left me. It felt like my soul had been snatched from my body. Emptiness filled me like milk does a crystal glass. How could it be? What would I do without her?  It finally hit me; I had lost my love on the happiest day of the rest of our lives together. 

Snap Judgement

Ok bloggers, so this is my first blogging attempt but I think you'll like it. This video is a clip of Snap Judgement; it's story telling with a beat. Not so much about the music (although the band is epic too) these are people just like the rest of us, and they are simply telling a story with personal feeling and charisma that is all their own....


David Mayfield

Do You NaNo?: find out more about national writing month!

Calling all writing fans!  Whether you've been writing for years or just have some fantastic ideas for a story that you never had time to put on paper, here's some great motivation to sit down and plug out that novel you've always wanted to write.  November is National Novel Writing Month (or 'NaNoWriMo' for short), a time when writers across the world challenge themselves to come up with 50,000 words worth of a novel in the space of thirty days.



This may sound a bit crazy at first.  Fifty thousand words in thirty days is no slouch, especially if you're balancing school, a job, or any sort of life at all.  But what better way to make yourself finish a project than setting a deadline and sticking to it?  Many writers can tell you how hard it can be to find the motivation to not just start writing a novel, but plowing through the stress and self-doubt of actually finishing it.  Through NaNo's website, writers find a community of support where they can trade ideas, encouragement, and review each other's work.

Interested in signing up, or just checking out what all the fuss is about?  Check out their website here, take a look around and set up a free account!

Book Review: Mercy by Julie Garwood

Reviewed by Jennifer Turner


Plot: Theo and Michelle (Mike), the lovers and main characters of the story, have an interesting meeting which involves him regurgitating his food upon her expensive dress.  She ends up performing surgery on him, not knowing that they will meet up again soon.

The Sowing Club - a group of twisted people who started off committing white collar crimes just to gain money, but end up being some hard-edged, murderous and dangerous people - seek to kill Michelle because one member killed his wife with his greed.  The wife was smarter than anyone gave her credit for; she had information that endangered the club as a whole and could send them to prison.

Review: An eye-catching, action-packed, heart throbbing, lovesick romance... sounds like a cheesy advertisement for a movie.  Mercy is a mystery-romance that leads you by the nose, giving the appearance that this is going to be an average romance story - nothing new or captivating about it.  Well, not quite true - the book does start with a slow pace for a few chapters, but once the storyline progresses the romance and action blossom.  The story will hold you in captivation for many hours without being able to stop once the first page has been turned.  With all the murdering, twists, turns, and shocks, the story ends like a dream; everyone got what each earned, whether death, love, marriage or jail.

Check it Out: You can find this book on the Flint Campus, listed under FIC GAR.  If you're a student on another SCTC campus and still want to check this book out, you can fill out an Interlibrary Loan request form to have it sent to you!

Interested in writing a book review for the library blog?  Contact Teresa Nesbitt at tnesbitt@sctech.edu for more information!

Banned Book of the Day: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." - Mark Twain

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn couldn't catch a break from the very beginning.  As early as 1885, the book was locked out of library collections for using slang - imagine, the scandal of a book that used "sweat" instead of "perspiration"!

Today, this kind of reasoning seems crazy.  But Huckleberry Finn is still getting heat today.  A school in Arizona was sued for making the book required reading, and a recent publication of the book has censored certain words.

So what's the fuss?  This book is a classic; why a lawsuit to keep it out of schools?

The answer is: the "n-word."  Commonly used in Twain's time, the term has incredibly offensive connotations today; the parents of Tempe, Arizona didn't want their children exposed to that kind of language.  The repetition of the word has been enough to make some English teachers hesitate to use Huckleberry Finn in class.

This debate is especially interesting considering Twain's strong disgust for racism; he would probably be horrified if he knew Huckleberry Finn was being taken as racially offensive.  

So what's in a word?  Should an entire book be dismissed for using language no longer acceptable today?  Is it better to censor the "n-word" out of the book and sanitize it by today's standards, or is it important to remember a terrible part of America's history when racism was a natural part of life? 

Banned Book of the Day: And Tango Makes Three

As we covered yesterday in our post on Harry Potter, children's books are a big target for banning.  Adults worry about the influence books will have on their children and the way they see the world.  Today we're looking at another kid's book - And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

Looking at the cover, it's hard to see why this book - based on a true story of a family of penguins in the Central Park Zoo - should cause such a fuss.  Why is this book the fourth most-banned of the last decade?

The answer?  Silo and Roy, the two penguins who fall in love and adopt a baby over the course of the story, are both male penguins.  Once their story hit the shelves, it was targeted for "promoting a homosexual lifestyle," and schools warred over whether or not it should be included in library collections.  While some parents felt the book didn't contain information that was necessary or appropriate for school children, others felt this book was a great way to introduce their kids to different types of families and loving home environments - and gay parents found it was a story that their kids could relate to.

If you haven't read And Tango Makes Three, you can check out a reading of the book in the video above.  What do you think?

Banned Book of the Day: the Harry Potter series

Book burning!  Setting books on fire is a sure way to make a statement - just ask Pastor Terry Jones in Gainesville, FL.  But the Qu'ran isn't the only book that barely escaped the flames this past decade in America- did you know that in 2001, the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling was nearly set ablaze in a small town in Maine?  The fire department swept in to save the day - only to see the books get chopped up with scissors.

Why so much rage over such a popular, well-loved book?  For the parents of Lewiston, Maine, the answer was clear: Harry Potter was promoting witchcraft and devil worship.

Lewiston isn't the only town to object to Harry Potter.  The series faced challenges in schools across the country - some successful, and some not.

The argument to kick England's favorite wizard out of American schools is one we hear again and again in book challenges: Protect the children! These parents are asking libraries to be gatekeepers, monitoring what people read.

What do you think?  Should librarians guard what information comes in and out of the library?  Or should parents - not librarians - be responsible for what they want their kids to read?

Book Review: The Blessing by Jude Deveraux

Reviewed by Jennifer Turner
Score: 3.5/5

Background information:  Amy is a poor but proud widow and single mother living in a small town in Kentucky.  Jason Wilding is a millionaire who lived in the town as a child.  Jason's brother, David, tricks him into returning to the town.  David is in love with Amy, but Amy is so busy with her infant son, Max, that she will not date.  David cons Jason into being a short term live-in nanny for Max.

Review: From a rating of five stars, this book would be 3.5 out of 5.  The book was good reading material.  The story captures you right in the beginning; the humor and romance captivate your attention.  Jason pretending to be gay while being attracted to Amy is too amusing.  Amy may live in poverty and with the pride of ten men, but her character is someone you can relate to with her simple pleasure of receiving simple things and working hard to earn what she wants.  Jason may have worked to gain what he earned, but with time he became too comfortable in his money, assuming everything can be bought to make someone happy.  The story is simple, sweet, and bittersweet in ways.  If you are a hopeless romantic thinking a woman will meet her knight in armor, I'm sorry to say it does not quite go that way.  The book has its own modern twist of two lovers separated between lies, pride and love.  But happily, it finally comes to a Cinderella-meets-prince ending.

Check it out: You can find this book at the Flint Campus, listed under FIC DEVE.
Are you a student at another campus, but still want to check it out?  Fill out an Interlibrary Loan Form to have the book sent to you!


Interested in writing a book review for the library blog?  Contact Teresa Nesbitt at tnesbitt@sctech.edu for more information!

Test your Banned Books knowledge!

What makes To Kill a Mockingbird such a controversial book?  And which Roald Dahl books have made the top 100 banned books list?

Know the answer to these questions, or curious to find out?  Take this quick 9 question banned books quiz!  You can also win a 20% discount at Books-A-Million or Bookland by printing out your quiz score and bringing it to the library front desk.

Channel 1 Banned Books Quiz

Banned Books Week: September 24-October 1

Where's Waldo.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  The Bible.  Gone with the Wind.  The Odyssey.

What do all of these books have in common?

At some point in their history, all of these books have been challenged, censored or banned - some of them for the strangest reasons.  Even the dictionary hasn't escaped getting banned!

On its surface, censorship may seem like a simple, straightforward issue - why would anyone want to ban A Very Hungry Caterpillar? - but arguments for and against the freedom to read can be very complex, ranging from protective parents to restrictive governments to concerns about racism.

In celebration of Banned Books Week, from September 24 - October 1 the SCTC Libraries will be tackling some of the difficult questions surrounding censorship and book banning.  Keep an eye on the SCTC Library Facebook page and the blog as we look at different banned books, talk about why they were censored, and think about whether libraries should defend the public's freedom to read or work as gatekeepers to control and limit 'dangerous' information.

What do you think?  Do you have any opinions about censoring books, or have you ever seen a book in a library that you really think didn't belong there?  Start a discussion in the comments section!

September Book Club meeting: The Help

The new SCTC book club is kicking off its first semester with the book that inspired a movie with the same title - The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

The book follows three women from Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 as they join forces on a dangerous project to expose the hypocrisy, racism and abuse they endure in their town.  Set against the larger backdrop of the civil rights movement, the book narrows its focus to domestic spaces and how racism impacted  the lives of working African American women in the sixties.  You can find reviews and a more in-depth summary of the book here on Goodreads.

Interested in reading and discussing this book?  Come to the book club meeting for discussion, new officer elections and free coffee!
Where:  The SCTC Library
When:  Thursday, September 22 at 5.00 PM


Need to get a copy of the book?  Ask an SCTC librarian for a voucher that will get you 20% off a copy of The Help at Books-a-million or Bookland.

We hope to see you there!

Groupon: College Scholarships of the future?

If you've ever used Groupon, you know that it's a fantastic way to find local discounts and deals on restaurants and supplies.  What you may not know, though is that one Chicago university is now using Groupon to give away 60% discounts on tuition.

According to this article on Mashable, National Louis University is trying to attract students to its graduate teaching program with this deal, which cuts tuition for student teachers from $2,232 to $950.  The offer goes live today and is open to 25 lucky graduate candidates, so don't be surprised if Groupon is a little slow today.

What do you think?  Is this just a marketing gimmick to get the university's name out there, or do you think this could set a trend for other colleges and universities in the future?

DC Comics Reset Series Back to Issue 1

"Starting on Wednesday, the publisher is resetting all 52 of its continuing series, including venerable titles like Action Comics and Detective Comics that introduced Superman and Batman in the 1930s, at issue No. 1, and using the opportunity to revise or jettison decades of continuity in the heroes’ fictional lives."

How do you feel about your favorite story lines starting over?

NY Times Book Blog Article

NPR Interview with Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment/DC Comics

Printing in the Libraries

Every term, students are allowed 200 pages of free printing. After that, students must pay 10 cents per page.

When printing remember that your account number is your student ID number (900 number). Do not use the 31_ before your number like you do to log in to ANGEL.

Your password is your 6 digit birthday. That's MMDDYY.

Then walk to the release station, enter your account number and password, select your job, and click "Start Printing." Enter your password one more time. The job is then released to the printer.

Library Computers

Reminder: to access the library computers you must be a current student and have a current student ID. Please see the library desk for the computer password.

Library Hours for Fall 2011

The Griffin Campus library is open Mon-Thurs 7:30am-10pm. The Flint River Campus is open Mon-Thurs 8am-8pm.