New ScotsRead Titles

The following ScotsRead titles have just arrived and are now available:

• The Wedding Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
• I Didn't Ask to be Born (but I'm glad I was) by Bill Cosby
• Zero Day by David Baldacci
• Dear Me: A Letter to my sixteen-year-old self edited by Joseph Galliano
• House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes novel by Anthony Horowitz

Title Highlight: Wall Street Dictionary

Wall Street Word (Credo Reference)/The Wall Street Dictionary: The Wall Street Dictionary is a book found in the reference section which contains over 5000 phrases and terms used in the stock market by traders, investors, brokers, market analysts, bankers and others. The definitions in this book are all quite short and to the point, quickly explaining the many complicated terms used in the world’s financial markets.

The online Wall Street Words defines more than 4600 phrases and terms and includes detailed examples for some terms; for instance, the “leveraged buyout” and “Dutch auction” entries are followed by short case studies that illustrate the concepts more fully. This resource also has a question and answer section for a few entries that explain one facet of the term in more detail. For instance, the entry on “buy on margin” includes the answer to the question: “What are the risks inherent in buying securities on margin?” Lists of terms that have detailed examples called case studies and terms that have a question and answer section are found on the headings tab of the resource.

Both books contain many of the same phrases and terms and it is interesting to see how many familiar words and terms have a completely different meaning on Wall Street, such as “tailgating”, “sweetener”, “killing”, and “shark”.

Coming Soon! Annual Juried Student Exhibition in Gallery 204

Starting next week on November 4, Gallery 204 on the upper level of the Hewes Library willl be featuring the Annual Juried Studen Exhibition.  This will run from November 4 - December 7, 2011.  Friday, November 4 will be the opening day with a Gallery Talk at 3:15pm followed by a reception from 3-5pm in the lobby area.

Title Highlight: Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science

The biographical dictionary of women in science: pioneering lives from ancient times to the mid-20th century

2 vol.: List of scientists by occupation (vol. 2), List of scientists by Time Period (vol. 2), List of scientists by Country (vol. 2)

This two volume dictionary is really more of an encyclopedia in that the entries range in length from a dictionary sized paragraph to 7 pages (Marie Curie). It covers women of all nationalities and time periods with entries on women engaged in scientific pursuits from pre-450 A.D. such as the physician Olympias of Thebes and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria, to women of the Middle Ages like the physician Agnes of Jerusalem and the nurse Saint Catherine of Sienna to twentieth century scientists including Marie Curie and Margaret Meade. The indexes arranged by occupation, time period and country at the end of the second volume are useful in seeing the wide range of women represented.

Although most of the scientists mentioned are British or American, there are also biographies of women from many other countries, Egypt, Peru and Sri Lanka for example. There are suggestions for further reading given after each entry and each entry’s reading suggestions are divided into one of three categories: primary sources, secondary sources or standard sources.

New Items at Hewes Library

New items are added to the Hewes Library Collection on a continual basis. Recent titles have included:

• Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans by Peter Abelard
• Flamingo Rising by Larry Baker
• Thought of Work by John W. Budd
• Education Reform by Ian C. Friedman
• Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience by Donald W. Mitchell
• TTYL by Lauren Myracle
• Stage Lighting Design by Richard Pilbrow
• How the Cold War Ended by John Prados
• Deepest Wounds by Thomas D. Rogers
• American Film in the Digital Age by Robert C. Sickels

Just Released! New ScotsRead Titles

Newly released ScotsRead book titles have just arrived.  Check them out from the ScotsRead Collection on the main level of the library.

• Stealing Mona Lisa: A Mystery by Carson Morton
• Acceptable Loss: A William Monk novel by Anne Perry
• Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, adapted by Seymour Chwast
• Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
• The Night Circus: A Novel by Erin Morgenstern

Homecoming 2011: Dream Big

Good luck to the Monmouth College Fighting Scots!  And welcome to all of the Monmouth College friends, family, and alumni!

Dictionary of Paradox

Dictionary of Paradox:  This small dictionary illustrates many of the examples used to demonstrate the concept of paradox. Paradox is defined by the authors as a statement that is absurd because it flies in the face of what is correct, proper or logical. For instance the Abilene paradox illustrates a phenomenon often observed by managers. It tells of a family relaxing on a hot afternoon in Texas when one of them suggests driving to Abilene for dinner. None of the family wants to make the four hour round trip to Abilene, but none wants to be the first to say it, so the entire family gets in the car and drives to Abilene. The paradox is that no one wanted to go, yet everyone did. Why would people do this? This entry examines the reasons behind this strange, counterproductive behavior and suggests ways for managers to avoid it. This story and many more like it are found in this intriguing volume.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, paradox is explained under its own heading and the well-known paradoxes from many branches of knowledge (science, philosophy, literature, mathematics, etc.) are found under the title of the paradox such as the Acting paradox, the Bystander Paradox, Infinite Series Paradox, Zeno’s Paradox and others. Suggestions are given at the end of each entry for further reading and research into each example.

New Books Every Friday!

Just a reminder for students, staff, and faculty to check out the New Books Display area on the main level of the library.  While titles are added throughout the week, large updates of all new titles appear on the bookshelves on Friday mornings.

Abbreviations Dictionaries

Many people are familiar with the shorthand language of texting and know that the abbreviation  LOL means “laugh out loud”.  But did you know that it can also mean little old lady, lots of love, or lots of luck? According to the entry in the American Heritage Abbreviations Dictionary such is the case.   But shorthand ways of referring to things are not new.  There are many shorthand references used in articles and books, heard on the news or even in general conversation.  For instance, anyone listening to the news has heard the abbreviation NASDAQ referred to, but, how many of you know that it stands for National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotation (system)? 

A few of the dictionaries available at Hewes Library.

To find that out and to decipher the many abbreviations found in books, articles and the news you should turn to an abbreviations dictionary.  Two good abbreviations dictionaries are found in the Hewes Library, the first is the 10^th edition of the Abbreviations Dictionary found in the reference collection, the second is the American Heritage Abbreviations Dictionary found in the Credo Reference collection, an online database subscribed to by Hewes.  The print dictionary, in addition to its abbreviations entries also contains such useful information as the abbreviations for airlines, birthstones, the Greek alphabet, the International Radio Alphabet and Code, musical nicknames and superlatives, national capitals, astronomical and zodiac symbols and many other interesting things.  The online dictionary contains more slang and technology terms like LOL, LDR (long distance relationship is only one meaning) and ROTFL (roll on the floor laughing)  Both dictionaries are good places to look to decipher unfamiliar terms and phrases. 

So take a look and discover the meanings of many of the shorthand terms and phrases you see all around you, YKWIM?