Event - Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing

What do women wear when they want to feel powerful?

This is the question behind the book, Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing by Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki. The authors will be discussing their work and signiing copies at the Regulator Bookshop here in Durham on Friday, April 3.

For more information, visit the event web page:
http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents&eventId=411205

[The Library does not currently have a copy, but I'll be placing an order soon.]

Saveur - Dining in America

The current issue of Saveur magazine is titled 'Dining in America' , a special issue devoted to 'the country's most inventive, dedicated, soulful chefs and restaurants...'.

Step Inside Design: Trends and Directions 2009

The March / April issue of STEP Inside Design is the 'Design 100 Annual' where the magazine lists the '100 trend setting [graphic design] projects' of the past year. Entries are arranged in categories: annual reports, editorial/book design, packaging, posters, etc.

Eric Carle's Caterpillar Turns 40

Today Google celebrated both the first day of spring and the 40th anniversary of Eric Carle's classic children's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, with a special logo on the site's search page.


According to an article on the Telegraph, The Very Hungry Caterpillar currently sells at a rate of one copy every 30 seconds:

"Google celebrates Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Urmee Khan, Telegraph.co.uk, March 20, 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5021384/Google-celebrates-Eric-Carles-Very-Hungry-Caterpillar.html


The Official Eric Carle Web Site has a short video on the making of the book:

"A short video of Eric Carle talking about his book The Very Hungry Caterpillar"
http://www.eric-carle.com/short_video.html

An archive of Google's special logos, known as Google Doodles, can be found here:

More Google: Holiday Logos
http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html

For more background on Google Doodles see:

Doodle 4 Google: Doodle History
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/doodler.html

Google runs an annual Google Doodle design competition for school-age children:

Doodle 4 Google
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/index.html

Job Hunting at Fan Conventions

According to a report from NPR, some job seekers and employers are making unconventional use of pop culture conventions. For example, Lucas Licensing held portfolio reviews for artists at WonderCon, a comic book and popular art convention.

To listen to the full story, follow the link below:

"Job Seekers Eye Conventions For Work, Tips" by Beth Accomando, NPR, March 9, 2009
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101628000

Glue Stick Ressuscitation

Glue sticks are quite useful in the library setting, where many things need to be stuck to other things - book pockets to back covers, call number labels to spines, and so on. There are even 'some assembly required' items such as the set of fabric reference books we just received with fabric swatches that need to be stuck in specific spots.

In an effort to economize, I purchased a box of 30 glue sticks - Elmer's, non-toxic and acid free, perfectly safe for books and people. Unfortunately, I found that buying in bulk may not have been such a good idea. Some of the glue sticks had dried out and were unusable.

So yesterday I attempted to re-hydrate the glue sticks by placing them in a sealed ziploc bag, caps off but fully retracted, along with a wet paper towel overnight. It worked! I intend to store new glue sticks in a ziploc to prevent dry-out problems in future.

I am now happily back to sticking stuff together. The fabric swatches will have to wait until I get some permanent archival roller adhesive, however.

Speaking of gluing things, we recently received a book on collage techniques:

Collage techniques : a guide for artists and illustrators
http://www.librarything.com/work/300238/details/42297562

NC LIVE

According to the organization's web site, 'NC LIVE is a statewide collaborative among the nearly 200 public and academic libraries in North Carolina'. The organization buys access to a large array of online databases and makes them available to the patrons of member libraries. I'm currently investigating whether our library is eligible for participation [update 5/22/09: unfortunately, we don't qualify for membership]. In any case, all residents of the state can access NC LIVE through their county public library system.

• Durham County Libraries Web Site
• Wake County Libraries Web Site

In addition, Art Institute students can access NC LIVE through the Durham County Public Library system, regardless of whether they are a resident of Durham County. To get a Durham County library card and an NC LIVE password, visit the main branch of the Durham County Public Library (just a couple of blocks away from campus: map) and bring your Art Institute student ID card and one other form of ID. Once you have a library card you will be able to get the NC LIVE password, as well as borrow books and videos.



Highlights of NC LIVE (truly a huge collection of databases):

Academic Search Premier
Multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text for nearly 4,700 publications, including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed publications. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for nearly 8,200 journals in the collection.

CAMIO
Provides rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites, lectures, presentations, and research resources. [This resource may be discontinued in future due to low usage.]

Career Library
Career Library offers a comprehensive information resource for career and college research. Five user-friendly components help users match their interests to occupations, education prospects, and more.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Gale Virtual Reference Library provides respected authoritative essays on varied topics from numerous subject areas, all in E-Book reference title format.

NetLibrary
NetLibrary e-books offers easy access to the full text of more than 22,000 refrence, scholarly, and professional full-text books online. [This resource may be discontinued in future due to low usage.]

PBS Video Collection
A selection of nearly 250 PBS programs, including films from award winning documentarian Ken Burns, and series such as Scientific American Frontiers, American Experience, and Frontline. These videos are available using video stream and require Adobe Flash Player Version 9.0 or higher.

Simply Map
SimplyMap is a web-based mapping application that lets users quickly create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using powerful demographic, business, and marketing data.