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Issue 4 August 2015

Texas A&M University—Texarkana

The John F. Moss Library

In this issue: Library Calendar

Welcome!

As we all begin a new semester

Events Recap New Resources Book Review Database Connection Tech in the Library

at Texas A&M University—Texarkana, the John F. Moss Library is

Bestsellers

here to support, train, and encourage students and faculty in all

Art in the Library

academic endeavors. We have several upcoming events and inspiring new resources this fall for you to enjoy and explore.

Join us

for our monthly Book Club, where faculty and staff lead students in discussing recent reads in a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere. Come experience our Art in

the Library program that decks out the walls of your library in a rotating array of works by local artists. Check out the database training sessions and learn all about the multitude of resources the library has for you online.

Above all, your library asks that you feel welcome. Welcome to visit, welcome to borrow, welcome to ask. Stop by and say hello!

cALenDar oF EvEnTS (=]__________) To register for any events, go to http://tamut.libcal.com/ and choose the event to enter your information.

[August] 24th—Join us for the library’s Pirate Social 10am-12pm 27th— Come to our student-led discussion group at 2pm, the topic is “From Comic Book to Movie.”

[September] 3rd—Join us for an art reception on the 3rd floor 7th—Closed for Labor Day 9th — Student Database Training, UC 324, 3:30pm-4:30pm 17th — Student Database Training, UC 324, 10:30am-11:30am 17th—Come to our student-led discussion group at 2pm, the topic is “Video Game Trends.”

24th—Join us for Book Club 11:45-1pm, lunch provided; the book is “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.”

24th—Virtual Database Training 5:15pm-6:15pm 27th—Beginning of Banned Book Week

[October] 6th & 13th—Student Database Training, UC 324 10:30am-11:30am 15th—Virtual Database Training, 5:15pm-6:15pm 22nd—Join us for Book Club 11:45-1pm, lunch provided; the book is “The Spook’s Apprentice”

Follow Texas A&M Texarkana—John F. Moss Library on Facebook for updates or changes on events at: http://www.facebook.com/TAMUTLIBRARY

RECAP

by Kendra Harrell

Library Week 2015 went great! Our theme was the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Book Club featured the 2nd book in the series, “Insurgent,” and staff and students were invited to dress up as their “faction” and enter to win a Kindle Fire HD!

The Edible Book Festival & Contest is another fun, interactive part of Library Week. We had several creative and delicious entries. Check out the winners!

New Library Resources

by Kendra Harrell

LibGuides LibGuides are a new way to explore the resources and services available to you through the library.

Overdrive is a BYOD (bring your own device) eBook and audiobook resource for some academic books, but mostly leisure reading. You can check out a book, send it to your Kindle or Nook, or read it on any computer or tablet with your browser. When the book is due back, it will return automatically! Overdrive is accessible through the library’s webpage and your TAMUT login.

The guides are created by librarians at the John F. Moss Library, and are separated into different subject categories. By navigating the tabs at the top of each category’s subpage, you can access lists of books available on the subject, databases that will be the most effective tool to research your subject, web resources, audio/video resources, and more depending on the individual subject.

LibGuides are available online at http://libguides.tamut.edu or through a link on the library’s homepage.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is the authoritative resource for clinicians and researchers in the field of psychology. Through the library, you have access to the DSM Library, which includes DSM–5, DSM–5 Handbook of Differential Diagnosis, DSM–5 Clinical Cases, and the Spanish edition of the desk reference. Access the DSM through the library’s webpage.

In addition to our existing access to Key Business Ratios and Mergent Online, you can now access the full Key Business Ratios archives, dating back to 1979. This collection includes data on US Corporations, partnerships, and proprietorships for publicly and privately held companies. Key Business Ratios includes solvency ratios, efficiency ratios, profitability ratios, industry norms, and extensive research capabilities.

Knovel is an online library dedicated to engineering and technical reference. It includes tools for data analysis, as well as interactive tables and charts that can be exported to Excel. Knovel is a wealth of resources for any engineering-related field, and includes searchable subcategories like Biochemistry, Biology & Biotechnology, Safety & Industrial Hygiene, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics & Toiletries, and Computer Hardware Engineering.

Knovel is available through the library’s webpage.

Science is a well-known journal of original scientific research, science news, and commentary. With the university’s subscription, you have full access to the current publication as well as archives of the journal online. Science will be accessible through the library’s webpage.

1

Having been in the public eye for well over a month now, Go Set a Watchman has proven to be one of the most controversial literary releases in a very long time. Reviews, to say the least, have been mixed—love it or hate it, this novel is now an irrevocable milestone in the lexicon of American Literature. Rather than focus on an analysis of the novel, I’d instead like to call attention to an aspect of this novel many reviewers don’t appear to mention: that Go Set a Watchman, as a nascent draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, reveals a depth to the writing process many might take for granted.

Various blogs and reviews have debated Go Set a Watchman’s role in the original publication of Harper Lee’s masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird, but a few consistent points should be noted: first, that Watchman, without a doubt, was written first; second, observant readers will notice that some portions—in some instances, entire paragraphs—are repeated verbatim in both novels; and third, one very crucial plot element is entirely different when told during flashbacks in Go Set a Watchman. Of course, this is par for the course in a rough draft, when an author is still toying with ideas and themes. Writers do not always have their perfect idea fleshed out when they begin writing; characters may grow and evolve, dramatic twists may not be executed in the right ways, and in the case of this novel, the authorial voice may not even be firmly set.

Where Go Set a Watchman will likely never have the mainstream appeal or cultural importance of To Kill a Mockingbird, I maintain this book may just dominate Creative Writing lessons for years to come for those very reasons. That’s not to say either book is better—if you want to answer that question, then this is definitely a book you need to read yourself (which our library will happily lend you!) before making a judgment call. If you would like an opinion then please feel free to visit my review blog, where I recently posted an indepth critique and analysis of the novel.

On August 13th the library held a Book Club discussion over Go Set a Watchman, where many members of the library staff, faculty, and even community members who found it through the newspaper discussed at great length various elements of the novel. Overall opinions were mixed—some deeply loved the internal struggle of the protagonist while others found the novel overly pedantic.

The discussion was so in-depth, in fact, that the heated topic of Atticus was not even brought up for nearly an hour, and if not for the set time the discussion could have lasted far longer. I encourage all readers to drop in when the library holds its next Book Club meeting—I certainly learned a lot!

I host a slew of reviews, including a longer review of this novel, on my blog at http://www.subjective-objective.blogger.com!

by Kendra Harrell

Many people have problems navigating academic databases. There’s a wealth of information, but how do you get to it? It can be intimidating, and very tempting to turn to iffy resources like Wikipedia. But don’t lose hope! The library is here to help! Think of a database as a curated mini-internet, full of reliable, peer-reviewed articles and real data. Each database has it’s own specialty — for instance, LexisNexis is great for legal information, and ScienceDirect will get you lots of useful science resources. Oftentimes, just learning which databases fit your topic can be confusOur Top 5 ing, though.

Most-used Databases: You have over 200 databases at your 1. Academic Search Complete disposal through John F. Moss Library.

2. Business Source Complete We offer classes that give an easy introduction to database 3.CINAHL Complete research! See the calendar at the beginning of this newsletter for 4.ERIC dates and times, and check our Facebook page for changes. In addi5. Education Source tion, you can look through our LibGuides on the library’s webpage for information on which databases to use for a specific field, you can use LibAnswers or LibChat to speak directly to a librarian, and call or stop by the library and chat with us in person.

The library is here to help you succeed, so take full advantage of our resources to get every tool you need to be the best student you can be!

Excerpt from Amy Morin’s book “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” Visit our Little Free Library on the first floor of the UC for some fun reads!

Bring a book, Take a book, see what exciting stories are waiting for you!

1. They don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves.

2. They don’t give away their power.

3. They don’t shy away from change.

4. They don’t focus on things they can’t control.

5. They don’t worry about pleasing everyone.

6. They don’t fear taking calculated risks.

7. They don’t dwell on the past.

8. They don’t make the same mistakes over and over.

9. They don’t resent other people’s success.

10. They don’t give up after the first failure.

11. They don’t fear alone time.

12. They don’t feel the world owes them anything.

13. They don’t expect immediate results.

A copy of the book will be available at the library this fall.

Technology in the Library

by Stephanie Bogle

Last year, the library unveiled the Knowledge Imaging Center, or as we affectionately call it, the KIC. Many students still do not know about it, though!

What’s to love about the KIC? How about a scan rate of 20 pages per minute, making it a faster scanner than your traditional flatbed scanner? And with only a turn of the page, you’re ready for the next scan; there’s no awkward flipping the book around on the copier only to realize you missed the bottom line on the page! The KIC offers and array of options for scanning, modifying, and saving images and connects directly to the LPT One printing system.

Thanks to its versatility, the KIC can help you make your study time more effective and flexible. Need to scan your lecture notes and email them to your study group? No problem! Want to read your notes on your phone while you exercise? The KIC works with the QR scanner app; just snap a picture of the barcode and your documents will be downloaded to the device! You can even upload your documents to a flash drive or cloud account, making it easier to study from your tablet of laptop while you’re away from home.

With various save options, the KIC promotes a more eco-conscious library. By emailing or saving your documents, you can help us reduce paper and ink waste. Texas A&M University—Texarkana strives to become a greener campus, and the KIC is a vital part of the library’s contribution to that goal. It also saves you money! Instead of paying for copies, use the KIC for free scans!

Please bear in mind that the KIC is not Designed for reproducing entire copies of books, including textbooks.

If you’d like a walkthrough of the KIC’s features or would like to know more about copyright laws for digital copies, please visit the Circulation Desk, and a staff member will be happy to assist you.

For a little “old-school” tech, check out the Project Center inside the computer lab! If you are making a poster or display, you can use the die cutter to make various letters and shapes from paper to spruce up your visuals. There is also a paper cutter available to use.

New Bestseller Titles Find these on the Bestseller display inside the library on the 3rd floor

by Sandra Holmes

“Wake up, genius.” So begins King’s instantly riveting story about a vengeful reader. The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Finders Keepers is spectacular, heart-pounding suspense, but it is also King writing about how literature shapes a life—for good, for bad, forever.

This volume of American Vampire collects eight amazing stories set in the world of American Vampire, with "lost tales," new characters and old favorites. Don't miss these stories brought to you by series creators Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, as well as Becky Cloonan (BATMAN), Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon (DAYTRIPPER), Jeff Lemire (SWEET TOOTH), Greg Rucka (The Punisher, BATWOMAN), Gail Simone (BATGIRL) and others. Also collected here is the stand alone tale of Fan-favorite character Travis Kidd-the vampire hunter who likes to "bite them back" in American Vampire: the Long Road to Hell.

In the Unlikely Event is vintage Judy Blume in which she creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by unexpected events.

The author of Water for Elephants brings her talent for creating spellbinding period pieces. At the Water’s Edge is a gripping and poignant love story about a privileged young woman’s awakening as she experiences the devastation of World War II in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands.

Iles continues the electrifying story begun in Natchez Burning with this second installment of an epic trilogy of blood and race, family and justice, featuring Southern lawyer Penn Cage.

Art in the Library

by Ann May The John F. Moss Library is currently hosting

“The Three Musketeers,”

an art exhibit featuring artists Lena Hall, Linda Larey, and Sally Papich. These talented ladies have degrees in art and have studied under several well-known artists. All three have had multiple showings in various art exhibitions in the region and have received many awards for their works. Traveling extensively, they have painted in various areas of the united States, as well as in other countries. Since they are good friends, they often travel together to paint, sometimes even stopping along the road to do plein air painting.

Abstract in Red · Oil Sally Papich

Both Lena Hall and Linda Larey live in the Texarkana area. Lena paints in several mediums, including watercolor and acrylics. She says that she enjoys all of the trials and triumphs of painting. Linda specializes in watercolor, pen and ink, and pastels. She likes compositions that include people, who are infinitely fascinating. Sally Papich lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Working Canal Bridge, Italy · Watercolor in all mediums, she Lena Hall considers herself primarily an oil painter. To Sally, art is an expression of one’s soul.

Each artist has her own distinct style, as shown in this exhibit. There are about 75 paintings, many of which were inspired by the artists’ travels in the US and overseas.

Their paintings include landscapes, florals, portraits, still life, abstracts, and more. Many of the paintings are in watercolor and oil, and the pieces vary from pastels to vibrant colors.

Japonica and Forsythia· Watercolor Linda Larey

Everyone is invited to the library to enjoy this wonderful exhibit, which is on display from July 6 to August 28, 2015.

Our next exhibit, “The Way We See It Two,” will run Sept. 3rd—Oct. 30th. Join us for a reception September 3rd to celebrate artists Nancy Martin & Ronnie Sladovnik.

Discover your library

at Texas A&M University - Texarkana

Newsletter content by Sandra Holmes, Ann May, Chris Depineda, Kendra Harrell, and Stephanie Bogle Edited by Ginger Mann Layout by Kendra Harrell Questions about this newsletter?

Contact kendra.harrell@tamut.edu