Each year books are challenged, restricted, removed or
banned in public and school libraries throughout the country.  Banned Books Week begins on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Take a QUICK survey about 5  books. Learn why they were banned or challenged and weigh in with your opinion. 

Click Here to take survey

Click Here to see responses

However, we don’t know whether NMH students, faculty and staff actually look at it.  Please help us figure this out!

Please go to the link below and complete the short survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mAHKbnMJmfjhKdDwa2kdjg_3d_3d

Thanks for your help!

Alison Ernst
Director of Library and Academic Resources

– Tech Crunch, Feb.22, 2008

Read about Facebook fatigue.  Recognize yourself? What do you think?

• Suffering From Facebook Fatigue? By Anita Hamilton. Time,  Apr. 16, 2008.
• Facebbook – Back to the kids? By Rory Cellan-Jones. BBC News, Feb.22, 2008.

 ^|^  VOTE in the poll   HERE

^|^  VIEW poll results HERE

 ^|^  Vote in the poll   here

     ^|^  View poll results  here

From salon.com

A few years ago, I was browsing in a bookshop in Paris when my eye was caught by a quote on the cover of a paperback:

"To be psychologically alive means either being in love, or in psychoanalysis, or in the spell of literature." (continue reading…) 

Homework, sports, workjob, DL meeting, clubs, all-school meetings, SLC… NMH students are BUSY!!! Do you find time to fall under "the spell of literature"?

          ^|^  View poll results here 

From School Library Journal…

Café Society: Do school libraries need a double shot of espresso? Do school libraries need a double shot of espresso? By Debra Lau Whelan — School Library Journal, 1/1/2008

When Jim Chadwell, the former principal of Northwest High School in Texas, renovated his media center four years ago, he had two things in mind: Starbucks and Barnes & Noble.

“He wanted a place where students could read, do research, and work on classroom assignments, but also socialize,” says Media Specialist Naomi Bates. And that’s exactly what he got—a Java City that sells coffees, lattes, cappuccinos, and smoothies, as well as soups, salads, panini, and wraps—right inside the media center. “It’s like a magnet,” says Bates, explaining that her circulation has more than tripled since the coffeehouse opened.

Finish reading the article @ www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6515244.html

- No. The information may not be accurate.    (4 responses)   12.5%

- Yes. Collaboration allows the best thinking to emerge.      (28 responses)   87.5%

2. After reading the posted article, would you use wikipedia as a resource for a research project?

- Yes.      (15 responses)  46.9%

- No.       (3 responses)  9.4%

- Yes, but only to get an initial overview of my topic.      (14 responses)  43.8%

Click on COMMENTS below to read opinions.

If you’ve ‘Googled’ any topic recently, you’ve probably found links to a website called Wikipedia
near the top of your results list. Wikipedia is a free online
encyclopedia that differs from other encyclopedias in a significant
way: along with reading the articles in Wikipedia, anyone can add or
edit articles however they like. According to their website, Wikipedia
was created in 2001 and has since grown to be one of the largest sites
on the web, passing one million entries
in the English-language version of the encyclopedia in March of 2006.
It is a collaborative effort with articles written by individuals from
around the world using wiki software that allows content to be added or changed by anyone. As a result, Wikipedia is a dynamic work that is always growing, always changing.

Limitations and Advantages of Wikipedia

Many of the articles in Wikipedia are long and comprehensive, and
many entries exist in Wikipedia for which no equivalent entry may be
found in any other encyclopedia. As a result, it can be quite tempting
to use the information found there in essays and lab reports. Those who
would do so, however, are advised to use caution. While Wikipedia is
without question a valuable and informative resource, there is an
important concern to take into account when using it:

Because anyone can add or change content, there is
an inherent lack of reliability and stability to Wikipedia. Authors of
articles may not necessarily be experts on the topics they write about,
leaving a lot of room for errors, misinformation, and bias.

The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, has recently stressed
that Wikipedia may not be suitable for academic uses, saying, "It is
pretty good, but you have to be careful with it. It’s good enough
knowledge, depending on what your purpose is."

While it is important to be aware of the limitations of Wikipedia,
there are some advantages as well. It is easy to access online for free
at www.wikipedia.org. Articles
are often added quickly and, as a result, coverage of current events
and new technology in particular is quite extensive. Printed
encyclopedias can take years to add new entries and those entries may
not cover a topic in as exhaustive detail as those in Wikipedia.

Appropriateness as a Source

Whenever you do research it is important to think about the type and
quality of resource required for your current assignment. Consider
whether you are looking for fact or opinion, the depth into which you
want to explore a topic, the importance of reliability and accuracy,
and the importance of timely or recent information. Also ask yourself,
"Is an encyclopedia, print or online, an appropriate source of
information for this project?" Then decide if Wikipedia is an
appropriate resource for your current needs. If you’re still unsure, talk to your professor or to a librarian.

You may decide that the best use of Wikipedia might be as a starting
point at which to gain contextual information about a topic before
moving on to more detailed or more reliable information sources. Other
starting points for research can be found in the library’s Subject Research Guides.

As with any source of information, in print or on the web, you may also want to explore and evaluate additional equivalent resources simply to be sure that your facts are correct.

Citing Wikipedia

Wikipedia: Citing Wikipedia
Wikipedia provides a page informing its users how to cite its content
using the following styles: APA (American Psychological Association),
MLA (Modern Language Association), MHRA (Modern Humanities Research
Association), Chicago Manual of Style, CBE/CSE (Council of Science
Editors), Bluebook, BibTeX, and AMA (American Medical Association).