Games! Games! Games!

The Smithsonian (a museum group in the US) has gathered online games from a variety of websites and put them together in one place! If you're interested in polar animals (penguins!), vikings, dinosaurs, or many other fascinating topics, check it out!

Entertainment Weekly's modern classics

Entertainment Weekly, which reviews movies, books, television and other media, recently published their top 100 list of New Classic Books. The lists consists of "the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008."

There are some great young adult offerings on the list, for example:

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)

There are many others that are aimed at adult audiences, but would be great reads for our high school students. Come see which we have in the library!

I've read about a quarter of these, how many have your read?

New Google Earth available for download

Are you a Google Earth fan? The new version 4.3 is now available for download! Get all the information and details from the Google Earth Blog.

Rowling vs. lexographer

JK Rowling, famous author of the Harry Potter books, recently testified in New York against Steven Vander Ark, a lexographer of her series. The Michigan man in question put together a comprehensive dictionary of the Potter world and wishes to have it published. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment are suing, stating that the proposed dictionary is plagarism. For more details on the case, read a recently published New York Times' article.

After reading the article, let us know if you think it is biased in Rowling's or Vander Ark’s direction. Is it completely balanced?

Reference question

Have you ever come to the library to ask a reference question? Reference questions are what you ask when you're looking for information. Recent SCCS reference questions have centered on Mrs. Battistoni's World War II research project and Ms. Skidmore's poetry extravaganza.

"What were storm troopers?" and "What is a concrete poem?" both qualify as reference questions.

For a funny look at reference questions at academic (university) libraries, check out the video at this link that the American Library Association posted as part of Library Week in the US. (All examples are of real references questions!)

YouTube vs. Flickr

You've heard of YouTube, right? If not, you're surely living under a rock! It's a video sharing website that allows you to upload your own videos and watch other people's. Recently Flickr, a well known photo sharing site has decided to try video sharing, as well. If you've used YouTube, you might want to compare it to Flickr...though it seems like YouTube is already winning the competition by simply being there before its rival!

Have you tried both? Which do you like better? Why?

110 books you must have in your library?

English newspaper The Telegraph recently published a list of the 110 books that are needed to create the perfect library. After looking through the list, I'm sad to report that we don't have all of the books, especially some of the older titles. Luckily, though, we do have quite a few of the recognized classics and the newer books! The list is separated into the following categories for easy browsing:

CLASSICS
POETRY
LITERARY FICTION
ROMANTIC FICTION
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
SCI-FI
CRIME
BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
BOOKS THAT CHANGED YOUR WORLD
HISTORY
LIVES

Here are some of my favorites from The Telegraph's list (which we also have in the library):

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
War and Peace, by Lev (Leo) Tolstoy
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
1984, George Orwell
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Which ones are your favorites? Are there any titles that we don't have in the SCCS library that you'd like to see?

Free software? Show me where!

According to PC Magazine, this list shares the best free software.

Here's a little teaser:

"We did the math: If you bought popular apps instead of trying their gratis counterparts, at the manufacturers' list prices you'd be out $5,183 and change! Why spend money when you can get what you need for nothing? Sometimes, you do get what you don't pay for."

Jon Scieszka, our new ambassador

The Library of Congress has named Jon Scieszka National Ambassador for Young People's Literature! Scieszka (which rhymes with "fresca") is well known for books such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Stinky Cheese Man, and the popular Time Warp Trio series. We have these books in the library, if you'd like to come check them out.

The Library of Congress's press release on the naming of the new ambassador further explains post and responsibilities.

Scieszka has a fun website to check out, too!

Santa Cruz History

Ms. Zapata, the elementary principal, just let me know about a great web site on Santa Cruz history. It's in Spanish, but should be fairly easy to read for all our students.

Thanks Ms. Zapata!

Computer safety

Worried about downloading a virus, or letting someone steal all your personal information? Here's a great list from PC Magazine that has 72 Tips for Safer Computing. Take a look and see which ones will work for you.

Best websites for kids

Attention parents, teachers and web savvy kids. The Association for Library Service to Children has collected a great list of best web sites for children. They cover all sorts of topics from dinosaurs to art sites "for kids, by kids".

One of my favorites is the Dinosphere at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Check it out!

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger, a 28 year-old Australian actor, passed away this week. Ledger has been in a variety of films, including 10 Things I Hate about You (which was based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew), The Patriot (a US Revolutionary War story, in the library this subject matter is found at 973.3), Brokeback Mountain and A Knight's Tale. Before his death he finished filming Dark Knight, a sequel to Batman Begins; he plays the Joker.

Please check out the Internet Movie Database for more information on Heath Ledger, or other actors and movies.

Old Newbery awards

Yesterday's post was about the newest addition to the Newbery Award family, and today's is about previous ones. You can read some of the older Newbery winning books, like The Story of Mankind, through a service provided by the University of Pennsylvania. Check it out here.

There are also links to Nobel and Pulitzer winning authors.

Volunteer opportunities, local and international!

Are you looking for something to do to help you community or the world at large? Here are a couple of ideas and ways to get started:

Mr. Vande Loo has put together an extensive list of contact information of local volunteer opportunities. Check it out on the SCCS website!

Amnesty International focuses on human rights and political detentions. If human rights are important to you, look at this website to see what opportunities there are to become involved.

PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, focus on animal rights. If treating animals in a humane and responsible way is something you believe in, see what you can do to contribute to their mission.

Locally, contact VEDA if you are interested in working with animals.

Greenpeace “exists because this fragile Earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action.” If you are interested in the environment this is a great organization to support!

For more volunteer ideas, check out the Idealist website.

And, come to the library to check out a book from our display on community service! From leaders like Gandhi and President Carter, to fiction books about helping the environment, we have something to interest and inspire you!

Interlibrary Loan

Have you ever heard of Interlibrary Loan? It's when two or more libraries have an agreement to share their stuff with each other. It can be between school and university libraries, public libraries or special libraries. In Santa Cruz we do not have an interlibrary loan (ILL) agreement, but we can now "borrow" things from the Library of Congress in the US! The Library of Congress has put digital resources on their website for anyone to use. The resources are PDF versions of the original documents. All of the documents are in the public domain which means that they are free for anyone to use, and mostly older resources.

If you are interested in this resource, check out the Library of Congress's Digital Interlibrary Loan. This resource will be especially useful for people interested in history.

Interlibrary loan is an incredibly useful tool for university students. If your library doesn't have the resources you need, you can borrow books from almost anywhere in the United States, and even some international libraries. Also, it's a good way to save money on text books...instead of buying 15 books for a class, you can borrow them from another library and read what you need before returning them!

Flickr vs. Picasa, the web picture show down

Are you interested in posting and sharing your photos on the web? Flickr and Picasa are two photo hosting sites that offer this possibility. I personally prefer Flickr as it allows you to tag pictures you like for easier searching and retrieval. If you'd like to sign up for one of these services, check out this great comparison chart (from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay) to see which will fit your needs.

Nobel Prize in Physics

This year's Nobel Prize for Physics was jointly awarded to Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance. What the heck is that?

According to wikipedia.com, it "is a quantum mechanical effect, a type of magnetoresistance effect, observed in thin film structures composed of alternating ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic metal layers." I have to admit, that doesn't really clear it up for me.

According to NPR Giant Magnetoresistance "allows manufacturers to pack a lot more data on a single hard drive" and has "revolutionized computer memory." They add that the concept has revolutionized how engineers and computer scientists think about computer memory. Perhaps that doesn't really tell us what it is, but it does explain how it can be usefully applied!

If you're interested in a career in computer science, keep an eye on this idea, and have fun in your physics class! If you'd like more information on giant magnetoresistance, ask Mr. Kondro or Mr. Kadow.

We're in the newspaper!

Did you see the El Deber article on Monday (October 1, 2007) about our sports league? Wow, Mr. Boldt worked very hard to get reporters to cover our games, and this is the great result! If you missed the El Deber article, you can visit the Santa Cruz Interscholastic Sports League blog for more coverage. Also, the SCISL blog is always recruiting new student reporters and photographers to enhance their coverage. Why not volunteer?

Classic novel about Andean life

Have you ever heard of the book Secret of the Andes? It was the Newbery Medal winner in 1953 (the same year Charlotte's Web was published). I admit I just learned about it, but after having read it, I'm glad it came to my attention!

In Secret of the Andes a young llama herder is raised to carry out a secret mission, but must first decide if he is willing to do so. Cusi, the boy, is given the opportunity to live a normal life, but decides that the his foster father's Incan secret is more important to protect.

While this book was published more than fifty years ago, it has what appears to be a balanced perspective on Andean life. I really enjoyed reading about Cusi's first contact with Peruvians of Spanish and mixed heritage.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure or mystery, or to those who are interested in Peruvian and Andean culture.