The library has a few shelves of extra books to give away for free. You can find them right through the entrance and a little to your right, on the first shelving unit facing the Pearson Commons.
We’ve arranged for a free trial of Credo Reference, which includes concept maps and an image search in addition to the usual encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions. From their Website:
“Credo Reference is a full-text online reference service. Our collection includes over three million entries from hundreds of well-regarded titles from some of world’s the best reference publishers. Credo’s collection is intelligently integrated with millions of cross-references and contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles covering everything from art to accountancy, science to Shakespeare and law to literature.”
Zotero is a free add-on for the Firefox Web browser which allows you to manage your research resources. Save citation information and URLs for books, articles, Web pages, images, videos, sound files and other media, all accessible from your Web browser. See for yourself:
The CSP Library’s e-Books can now be accessed from one location! Look for the e-Books link on the library’s home page under the “Books, Media, & More” section.
Two of Concordia’s e-Book resources, Oxford Reference Online and Gale Virtual Reference Library, focus on reference, while the other two focus on regular books like you would check out from the lower level of the library. NetLibrary is our largest collection, and covers a wide array of subjects with current titles. The ACLS Humanities E-Books collection also covers a wide array of subjects, but focuses more on historically significant titles.
Here’s a list of books recommended by the Concordia librarians which they’ve read this summer. Happy reading!
Jeanine Gatzke – Cataloging, Acquisitions, & Technical Services Librarian
A memoir that reads more like a novel, I had a hard time putting this book down. It is the story of two sisters, Janine and Amy Latus, who to the outside world both seem to be strong and successful women, but whom each end up in one disastrous, abusive relationship after another, beginning with their father. Moments of humor and insight alternate with descriptions of abuse and victimization that will both break your heart and make you wonder how this can happen.
I loved the perspective of the story being told by the 90-something year old Jacob, trapped in a nursing home and remembering his induction into the world of the travelling circus instead of the life he had planned in joining his father in veterinary practice upon graduation. I did not see the end coming…
A vampire story unlike any I’ve read before (admission: I have never really considered myself a fan of vampire books. That may be changing though…). Spanning a search over three generations, multiple historians are – for different reasons – looking for the “real” Dracula. Makes you wonder if it really could happen…
Tamara Buetow – Reference & Curriculum Librarian
This book is well written with excerpts and quotes from the My Lai courts-martial from the Vietnam War by William Calley and other famous people as well as others who know main character John Wade. O’Brien weaves together the story of the Vietnam village massacre, and deals with post-traumatic stress and psychological secrets of a hidden past, which cause people to act in mysterious ways. It would be a fascinating read for people intrigued by mysteries of missing persons or unsolved cold cases.
Written by a doctor/professor from the Mayo Clinic who had gone to India and was haunted by a child prostitute outside her cubicle writing in a notebook, this novel is based on a true story and was written it in a very short period of time — 68 hours. All proceeds from the book go to the International Organization Against Child prostitution. It could be a companion book for Slumdogg Millionaire…
Greg Argo – Reference, Cataloging, & Electronic Resources Librarian
To research this book, Amanda Petrusich got into her car and drove south from Brooklyn, in search of the meaning of the musics that have collectively come to be known as Americana. Driving through Memphis, Clarksdale, Nashville, and other points in between, she traces the roots of blues, folk, rock, and country through the American South, tells the stories of the major innovators and players, and looks at the present to try to see where Americana is headed. Using the road as a metaphor, and mixing travelogue with a history lesson and personal quest, she draws the broad contours of the idea of Americana, finding the similar threads connecting “Old Weird America” heroes like Leadbelly and the Carter Family with popularizers like Elvis and Chet Atkins with more recent acts like Uncle Tupelo, Iron & Wine, and the freak folk musicians now being touted as the “New Weird America”.
After reading a story by J.G. Ballard called “The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D” in which a few fellows sculpted art into clouds by flying in gliders which emitted chemicals, I found this novel, also by Ballard, titled The Crystal World. It follows Dr. Sanders, a specialist in leprosy, as he chases a professional and personal thread from his recent past into the jungle of Gabon in Africa. The curious thing is that this part of Africa is crystallizing into a landscape of jewels and gems. As the physical landscape transforms, so do the characters’ psyches and their interpretations of survival and salvation. This is an offbeat book loaded with symbolism and breathtaking descriptions of a future world which may be horrifying, transcendent, or both, depending on how you react.
This short story collection was originally published in 1981. Carver writes with extreme brevity, and one could read most of these stories in fewer than five minutes. His characters inhabit a barren and desolate American landscape, where the characters seem beat down by bad decisions, broken relationships, and dead-end jobs. Despite leading emotionally shell-shocked existences, the characters continue to care for each other, communicate directly (if laconically), and are still intrigued by the possibilities of interacting with other humans. Amid alcoholism, transience, and betrayal, the persistence of the human spirit to treat others with dignity is the silver lining in these cloudy skies. Though not a typical summer read, these jarring stories provide perspective that is valuable in any season.
Geruth Buetow – Reference & Interlibrary Loan Librarian
This is a collection of unusual short stories. In one, an African family sings their sister/daughter to death as she sinks into the tar. They are subtly defiant of her death sentence for murder, as they give her love and solace until the end. In another, a noble woman leaves her castle, and its privileges and loveliness, to go dance with the gypsies. Her husband follows and is mad, but joins her in a dance at the end. Great!
Addy Shadd tells her life story. She lives in a Canadian town settled by runaway slaves from the Underground Railroad in the 1800’s. Written in the 1st person, events comingle between the present and past. This story tells of a strong, strong woman who remains healthy in her mind and has a gentle and forgiving nature even with losing so many people she loved in her long life. Lovely book and a wonderful character.
The Love of Impermanent Things: A Threshold Ecology by Mary Rose O’Reilly
Memoir of Mary Rose O’Reilley, a woman with a Quaker and Zen Buddhist religious background. I really liked the way she brought her individual thoughts about religion to the forefront of her consciousness; her life experiences resonated with my own life experiences and I found I wanted to have her words around me all the time. The ideas and experiences in the book were sad, lovely, graceful and a satisfying read.
A haunting story set in Egypt about a woman named Findaus. She tells her story to a reporter just hours before she is hung. Her story is the story of many women who are abused physically and culturally, not only by individual men, but also by the laws and norms of society. A powerful statement about the place of women in many places.
This is a very interesting book about the flower trade. Three areas are discussed: the breeding, growing, and selling of flowers. I was very intrigued by the fascinating facts and history. For instance, at one time in Europe tulips were worth more than gold, and were imported from Persia as exotic items. Other important facts about the flower industry were shown which have implications regarding poorly paid workers in 3rd world countries, pollution, carbon footprint value, and other current issues which are important for making socially informed decisions. I also enjoyed this book because I love gardening.
From the Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) website:
“The MN Video Vault is a new, web-based, on-demand video service that contains hundreds of hours of TPT shows, from documentaries to performances.”
Search the site by keyword, or browse videos by Program Title, Interest Area, or the Educator’s area where you can select videos by subject and grade levels.
Visit at: http://www.mnvideovault.org/
Committed to presenting a simple, easy-to-use website, we have redesigned our main web page, http://concordia.csp.edu/library, to provide a more lively, immersive experience. Goals for the new design included opening new avenues of communication with students and faculty, a cleaner look and feel, and the promotion of some of our lesser known services and resources.
New features include:
- -The Featured Service area which highlights different resources and services available at the library
- -More prominent display and use of the Library blog, fed through the column on the right-hand side of the page
- -The Connect Online area where users can interact with the library via Twitter, Facebook, RSS Feeds, and (coming in mid-July during normal reference hours) Chat.
- -More prominent display of useful tools like eFolio and the Assignment Calculator
- -Linkage to related services: Writing Center, WebCT, and the Help Desk
We hope you find the new design helpful and easy to use! Send feedback about the site to argo@csp.edu.
A Turning Technologies representative will be on campus July 9 at 9 am in LTC 219. If you can make time, please join us!
This student response system is designed to help engage the computer generation. It can be used for everything from taking attendance, checking if students understood the reading, verifying if students understood the main concepts, giving you a sense of students’ base knowledge, etc. The two Semester Research project managed by the Reed Group, LLC in partnership with Thomson Learning, Turning Technologies and the University of Illinois found that 87% of students were more likely to attend class and 72% more students were likely to participate in class.
2 New Trials:
CQ Global Researcher and IBISWorld
Access these new trials directly from our trial databases page.
CQ Global Researcher: Modeled after the award-winning CQ Researcher, CQ Global Researcher provides students with definitive, in-depth coverage of global affairs from a number of international viewpoints. Available exclusively online, CQ Global Researcher offers focused, readable, single-topic reports on vital world issues. During this trial CQ Global reports are available through our CQ Researcher platform, check the right hand sidebar.
IBISWorld: “…provides independent, accurate, comprehensive, and up to date research on over 700 industries, including statistics, analysis and forecasts. We also have reports on 8000 companies, as well as Risk Rating Reports on every industry.”
On Monday, June 23 the library will open at noon, not 9. Due to a power outage, we will be opening later.
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