From Clement C. Maxwell Library...

WASHINGTON -- Will 2010 be the warmest year on record? How do the recent U.S. "Snowmageddon" winter storms and record low temperatures in Europe fit into the bigger picture of long-term global warming? NASA has launched a new web page to help people better understand the causes and effects of Earth's changing climate.

The new "A Warming World" page hosts a series of new articles, videos, data visualizations, space-based imagery and interactive visuals that provide unique NASA perspectives on this topic of global importance.

The page includes feature articles that explore the recent Arctic winter weather that has gripped the United States, Europe and Asia, and how El Nino and other longer-term ocean-atmosphere phenomena may affect global temperatures this year and in the future. A new video, "Piecing Together the Temperature Puzzle," illustrates how NASA satellites monitor climate change and help scientists better understand how our complex planet works.

The new web page is available on NASA's Global Climate Change Web site at:

http://climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld

The Library has a trial of Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcripts, Client Narratives, and Reference Works through the end of March. This resource contains more than 2,000 transcripts of actual therapy sessions together with 25,000 pages of major reference works. Materials include diaries, letters, autobiographies, oral histories, and personal memoirs along with full-text of the sessions. Please explore this resource and send your comments to Kendra St. Aubin at kstaubin@bridgew.edu by April 2, 2010. Thank you

The Library has a trial for Counseling and Therapy in Video through the end of March. This database contains more than 300 hours of training videos, reenactments, and footage of actual therapy sessions conducted by renowned psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Please explore this resource and send your comments to Kendra St. Aubin at kstaubin@bridgew.edu by April 2, 2010. Thank you.

The Library has a trial of Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database through the end of March. This resource includes reviews from respected publications about children’s books, video and audio recordings, and other children-focused media for professionals who work with Pre-K to 12 students. Please try the database and send your comments to Kendra St. Aubin at kstaubin@bridgew.edu by April 2.

IUPUI Launches Unique Global Project to Save World's Public Art

Students and faculty from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have developed and launched the nation’s first organized effort to document public art information in Wikipedia.

Wikipedia Saves Public Art (WSPA), a growing collection of articles prepared for the online open access encyclopedia, makes monuments and outdoor sculpture – from the famous to the overlooked – accessible to all. It is a unique and major step toward sharing and preserving an often underappreciated segment of the world’s cultural heritage.

“No other university, museum or municipality has created a public art collection within Wikipedia—this is a first, even though Wikipedia has been around for almost a decade and now has over 3 million articles. Our effort is also unusual because we have included global positioning system (GPS) coordinates in all of our articles, which allows linkages via location-based computer applications like Google Maps,” said Jennifer Geigel Mikulay, Ph.D., assistant professor and public scholar of visual culture at IUPUI, who has spearheaded the project.

Read more.

From Science News

Scientists finally do know beans about soybeans, thanks to a newly unveiled genome sequence. The plant's DNA contains a surprising amount of duplication, says geneticist Scott Jackson of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Having the soybean's genetic blueprint, he says, should help scientists both improve crop varieties and study the evolutionarily important process of genome doubling.Soybean's set of chromosomes has copied itself at least twice, approximately 59 million years ago the first time and then again about 13 million years ago, Jackson and his colleagues report in the Jan. 14 Nature. Redundant genes often retool or vanish, but soybean plants still have multiple copies of almost three-quarters of their genes, the researchers say.

Read more.

Below are selected Congressional Research Services (CRS) Reports which are just updated:

1. Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile

"This report presents a profile of the membership of the 111th Congress. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age and length of service, occupation, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service." -- from the Summary of the report

2. Women in the United States Congress: 1917-2009

"A record 93 women currently serve in the 111th Congress: 76 in the House (59 Democrats and 17 Republicans) and 17 in the Senate (13 Democrats and 4 Republicans). Ninety-five women were initially elected to the 111th Congress. Since the 111th Congress convened, two of these—SenatorHillary Clinton (D-NY) and Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA)—resigned to take cabinet positions in the administration of President Obama, and a third, Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), resigned to become Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and international Security. Also, Representative Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) resigned from the House when she asappointed to fill the seat vacated by Senator Clinton, and Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) was elected in July 2009 to fill the seat vacated by Representative Solis." -- from the Summary of the report

3. U.S. Periods of War

"Many wars or conflicts in U.S. history have federally designated “periods of war,” dates marking
their beginning and ending. These dates are important for qualification for certain veterans’ pension or disability benefits. Confusion can occur because beginning and ending dates for “periods of war” in many nonofficial sources are often different from those given in treaties and other official sources of information, and armistice dates can be confused with termination dates. This report lists the beginning and ending dates for “periods of war” found in Title 38 of the Codeof Federal Regulations, dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It also lists and differentiates other beginning dates given in declarations of war, as well as termination ofhostilities dates and armistice and ending dates given in proclamations, laws, or treaties. This report will be updated when events warrant. For additional information, see CRS Report RL31133, Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications." -- from the Summary of the report

Hunger in America 2010 is the largest study of domestic hunger, providing comprehensive and statistically-valid data on our emergency food distribution system and the people Feeding America serves. Hunger in America 2010 is extremely detailed, drawing on data from more than 61,000 interviews with clients and surveys of 37,000 feeding agencies.

The report shows that hunger is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States, and our network is expanding its reach in response:

* Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. This is an increase of 46 percent over 2006, when we were feeding 25 million Americans, including 9 million children, each year.
* That means one in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America for food and groceries.
Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks is feeding 1 million more Americans each week than we did in 2006.
* Thirty-six percent of the households we serve have at least one person working.
More than one-third of client households report having to choose between food and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities and medical care.
* The number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50 percent since 2006.

To learn more:

Key findings
Executive Summary (PDF)
Full Report (PDF)

Below are the new titles:

Art:

National Gallery collection

Literature:

Encyclopedia of women's autobiography

Medicine:

Encyclopedia of women's health

Social Sciences

Encyclopedia of sex and gender

Encyclopedia of special education

Gender and education

Power and succession in Arab monarchies

Praeger handbook of Latino education in the U.S

The Library's Credo Reference database contains more than 450 dictionaries and encyclopedias covering a wide range of subject areas. It's a valuable research tool. The link to the Credo Reference database is included in the Research Tools page.

Community activist Carmen A. Pola was born Carmen A. Villanueva Garcia in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1939. In 1955, she moved to the continental United States with her family, settling briefly in the Bronx, New York, before moving to Oakland, California. While in California, Pola became involved in community activism, participating in a number of grassroots organizations concerned with education and youth activism, including La Raza Educators and young Catholic Workers. In 1972, the Pola family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, settling in the neighborhood of Mission Hill. Pola quickly became involved in community activism in a number of ways. In 1975, she was coordinator of the Festival Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Festival), held annually in Boston since 1967. From 1977 to 1980, Pola was the coordinator of the Community District I Advisory Council (CDAC), part of the Citywide Parents Advisory Council (CPAC), Inc., which operated from 1974-2004 under the court-mandated desegregation of Boston Public Schools (Morgan v. Hennigan). Pola was also involved in the Bilingual Masters Parents Advisory Council which oversaw the implementation of the Voluntary Lau Compliance Plan, a 1979 agreement that outlined the responsibilities of the Boston Public Schools in providing education to bilingual students.

The 16 cubic feet of materials date from 1970-2006 and document Pola's work with the Puerto Rican Festival, the Boston Public Schools, the Project to Monitor the Code of Discipline, Mayor Raymond Flynn's Administration, and Roxbury Unites for Families and Children. The collection includes photographs, correspondence, grant proposals and reports, surveys, charts, organizational records, legal materials, political campaign literature, catalogs, booklets, and meeting minutes.

The Carmen A. Pola papers are open for research Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., in Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, 92 Snell Library, Boston, Massachusetts. A guide to the collection is available online at: http://www.library.neu.edu/archives/collect/findaids/m159find.htm.

By Monica Ramirez Basco
Guilford Press, 2010

Everyone waits till the last minute sometimes. But many procrastinators pay a significant price, from poor job performance to stress, financial problems, and relationship conflicts. Expressly designed for people who want to make changes but would be easily daunted by an elaborate self-help program, this guide is packed with highly practical tips and suggestions.

Author and cognitive-behavioral therapy expert Monica Ramirez Basco peppers the book with easy-to-relate-to examples from "recovering procrastinators"—including herself. Inviting quizzes, exercises, and practical suggestions help you:

• Understand why you procrastinate.
• Start with small changes that lead to big improvements.
• Outsmart your own delaying tactics.
• Counteract self-doubt and perfectionism.
• Build crucial skills for getting things done today.

The February eBook of the Month is provided through Guilford Press. Don’t miss the opportunity to share this concise and motivating self-help guide. This ebook will be available with free, unlimited access February 1-28, 2010.

You can go to the Library's NetLibrary eBooks web site to read this book online. (If the link doesn't work, please use the refresh button to reload the page.)