Collins Unbound

This year marks the centennial of one of the 20^th century’s most enduring playwrights, Arthur Miller (1915-2005).

His works continue to resonate with today’s audiences as the themes wrestle with issues of personal integrity and social responsibility.

On the stage, there has been a surge of revivals to celebrate Miller’s birthday, with more than 130 productions of The Crucible, and numerous productions of Death of a Salesman and A View from the Bridge scheduled this year. If you aren’t lucky enough to attend a performance, consider reading one of his works or viewing a film from the library collection.

As the political campaign season heats up, the race for the Presidency is in full swing, and “factual” claims are flying across the airwaves fast and furious, ever wonder about the accuracy of politicians statements?

Then check out PolitiFact.  And their Truth-O-Meter. 

“PolitiFact is an independent fact-checking journalism website aimed at bringing you the truth in politics. PolitiFact’s reporters and editors fact-check statements from the White House, Congress, candidates, advocacy groups and more, rating claims for accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter. Every fact-check includes analysis of the claim, an explanation of our reasoning and a list of links to all our sources. PolitiFact tracks President Barack Obama’s campaign promises on our Obameter.

PolitiFact, a division of the Tampa Bay Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for its fact-checking of the presidential election. The Times, Florida’s largest newspaper, is independently owned by the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla.”

Over the summer, Collins Library added a new database to our collection: Proquest’s Environmental Science Collection, a welcome addition to our existing primary environmentally-focused database, Greenfile.

The new database greatly increases our access to both scholarly articles and what is known as “grey literature,” which includes technical reports, trade journals, white papers, and environmental impact statements.

There are also several excellent advanced searching options. For instance, organisms may be searched for using their exact Latin names, while students interested in business and economic aspects of environmental studies can search by company name or NAICS code.

Coverage includes information on a vast array of topics within the fields of ecology, environmental engineering, water management, fisheries, endangered species, toxicology, and other areas of interest to those studying environment science. Students in Environmental Policy & Decision Making (EPDM) courses will find this new database particularly helpful, and it will have applications in Politics & Government and Biology, as well. Students who are finishing the literature review section of a lab report, or working on a summer research proposal, will find Environmental Science Collection very useful!