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Rhonda The Librarian's Random Reading & Research Review | March 2021 | Weather

03/08/2021
profile-icon Rhonda Kitchens

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Rhonda The Librarian's Reading & Research Review March Weather by rhondakwrites

 

Shakespeare’s representation of weather, climate and environment : The early modern “Fated Sky”.

"While ecocritical approaches to literary texts receive more and more attention, climate-related issues remain fairly neglected, particularly in the field of Shakespeare studies. This monograph explores the importance of weather and changing skies in early modern England while acknowledging the fact that traditional representations and religious beliefs still fashioned people's relations to meteorological phenomena" (Chiari, 2019).

 

Necroclimatism in a spectral world (dis)order? Rain petitioning, climate and weather engineering in 21st century Africa. 

"Deemed to constitute disposable bodies, disposable cultures, disposable polities, disposable societies, disposable epistemologies, disposable religions, disposable laws and disposable economies, the sacrificed are, in the age of climate catastrophism, once again reminded that they 'have duties to die', to become extinct in order to save the global spaceship that is sinking due to climate change and global warming." -- Project Muse

 

Variability of the sun and sun-like stars : from asteroseismology to space weather.


"However, we are still far from fully understanding what and how causes this variability. Why does the Sun continue to go on, on a rhythmic scale, the so-called solar cycle, without damping? How to better understand the complicated relationships between the Sun, the heliosphere and the many proxies of long-term solar activity?" - From Publisher

 

A hard rain: America in the 1960s, our decade of hope, possibility, and innocence lost.

"In the end, there is the disastrous Democratic National Convention of 1968, the driving from office of Lyndon Johnson, and the election of Richard Nixon. Gaillard quotes historian Todd Gitlin in commenting on the rise of violence and disenchantment as the decade dragged on: 'Rage was becoming the common coin of American culture (Esposito, 2018).
 

Rain shadow.

"Your heart traps mine as summits catch storms. Call this to calm the rain shadow. What will remain?" From poem The Same Mountain Twice.

 

A storm of witchcraft : The Salem trials and the American experience.

"Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers--mainly young women--suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters." Publisher

 

References 

Baker, E. (2015). A storm of witchcraft : The Salem trials and the American experience. Oxford University Press.

Read Online.

Bradley, N. (2018). Rain shadow. University of Alberta Press.

Read Online.

Chiari, S. (2019). Shakespeare’s representation of weather, climate and environment : the early modern “Fated Sky”. Edinburgh University Press.

Read Online.

Esposito, J. A. (2018, December 18). A hard rain: America in the 1960s, our decade of hope, possibility, and innocence lost [Book review]. Washington

     Independent Review of Books. 

Read Online.

Gaillard, F. (2018). A hard rain: America in the 1960s, our decade of hope, possibility, and innocence lost. NewSouth Books.

Read Online.

Mawere, M., & Nhemachena, A. (2019).Necroclimatism in a spectral world (dis)order? rain petitioning, climate and weather engineering in 21st century

     Africa. Project Muse.

Read Online.

Rozelot, J., & Babayev, E. (2018). Variability of the sun and sun-like stars : from asteroseismology to space weather. EDP Sciences.

Read Online.

 

 

 

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William C. Bonaudi Library's Down the Research Rabbit Hole | Issue 11 | Mattias Olshausen, eLearning Coordinator | Truth Seeking
01/12/2021
profile-icon Rhonda Kitchens
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Image of Mattias Olshausen with Issue 11 of the William C. Bonaudi Library's : Down the Research Rabbit Hole

 

 

In your last job at Central Washington University (CWU), you were working on a research project.  Tell us about it. How many people were involved? What was the topic? Where are you at with this research? Did you discover anything interesting or find more questions?

 

I worked as a Research & Instruction Librarian at CWU for about two and a half years. It was my first full-time job out of grad school. In that position, I had faculty status, and part of my professional development involved doing my own research and getting peer-reviewed articles published. For the last such project I undertook at CWU, I teamed up with a couple of my colleagues, Elizabeth Brown and Lauren Wittek. Since we all taught library research skills, both in credit-bearing courses and one-off lectures, we were interested in finding out how much of an impact our teaching, and exposure to library services in general, had on students’ command of these skills over the course of their studies at CWU.

To this end, we sent out a survey to the whole student body. It’s difficult to sum up the results in a paragraph or less, but we did find evidence that students typically had more confidence in their research skills the higher their class standing was. It was hard to tell how much credit we ourselves could claim for that improvement. If nothing else, though, our instruction of first-year students in introductory classes gave them a place to start by demystifying some of the multitudes of resources at their fingertips.

I’ve moved on to other projects here at Big Bend, but Lauren and Elizabeth can use the results of the survey to further develop library programs and services at CWU.  This is the nature of academic research – it often does not produce earth-shattering conclusions, but it’s still worthwhile if it produces evidence on which we can base decisions, as well as spur future research, either by ourselves or others who read our work.

 

As a Librarian, what is the hardest question you have ever been asked.  How did you solve it?

I can’t recall a particular “hardest question” I’ve been asked. As a rule, though, the more challenging reference questions are the half-formed ones. Sometimes patrons aren’t really sure what they’re looking for or have a hard time putting it into words. Good reference librarians learn how to help patrons flesh out their research topics/questions, partly by teasing out what the patron really is and isn’t interested in. If you have a choice in the matter, there’s not much point in writing a research paper on something you find boring.

 

In your off-work life, do you have an area you casually research as more of a hobby and intellectual interest?

There are many such areas for me. I love history, and there are some historical topics I’m passionate about to the extent that I’ll willingly read dense textbooks on them, such as modern German and Russian history. Partly, I do this to better understand how human societies evolve, rise, fall, and recover; but also because history contains endless stories of triumph and tragedy that can be more thrilling than fiction.

I also have more obscure interests. Since I was a kid, I’ve enjoyed watching hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey. At the moment, I’m obsessed with observing golden eagles, which are much more reclusive than the magnificent baldies I grew up seeing in Western Washington. I use maps and information from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Nature Conservancy, and other agencies or organizations to know where to look for them. Watching falconry and rescue videos on YouTube has helped me identify the few goldens I’ve been lucky enough to spot so far.

 

What book, poem, or study have you read that engaged you so deeply you were changed?

One of the most interesting books I read in the last couple of years was Lying About Hitler, by Richard J. Evans. It was about a Holocaust denial-centered libel case at which the author, a distinguished British historian, appeared as an expert witness. The testimony of Evans and his fellow historians were critical to winning the case, as it proved both that the plaintiff (writer David Irving) was a Holocaust denier and that there could be no honest, reasonable basis for Holocaust denial. They made a powerful statement about the importance of serious, truth-seeking, evidence-based research.

This book didn’t change me per se, but it confirmed my respect for history as an academic discipline. Before getting my Library & Information Science degree, I earned an MA in History. While I am on a different career path now, I remain proud of that accomplishment. 

 

Mattias and friends mountain climbing

History, Library and Research Skills
Override The Security Warning Page: Help Is On The Way
10/14/2020
profile-icon Rhonda Kitchens
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Many of the Library's subscription databases now have a security screen that comes up to prevent users from going any further.  Once the user overrides the warning, that link is added as OK.  

However, for many users, the warning is frightening. We have a warning on our Databases A-Z page, but many users do not see it.

We thought this was a user side browser error, but have found we need to invest in a new level of authenticating service.

Meantime, please communicate to students it is safe to override, bypass, to go to these sites.

 

 

Google Chrome Warning

Select Advanced and proceed to the site. 

 

Warning from the databases

 

 

Firefox Warning

Accept Risk and Continue.

Firefox warning

 

 

Another Example

Go the SHOW DETAILS and select the link to the database. 

 

Image of security warning

Library and Research Skills
William C. Bonaudi Library's Down the Research Rabbit Hole: Sarah Bauer and Cognitive Learning | Issue 1
02/26/2020
profile-icon Rhonda Kitchens
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William C. Bonaudi LIbrary Down the Research Rabbit Hole with two photos of Sarah Bauer

Interview with:  Sarah Bauer, Chemistry Instructor, Big Bend Community College

 

 

Do you remember the precise moment, book, or class that cognitive learning captivated you?

I have always really loved learning about the science of just about anything: the science of habit formation, the science of willpower, the science of memory, etc.  I love to know the “why?” and the “how do we know that?” about things. My favorite things to read tend to be along these lines: "The Science of..." books.  And of course, as a teacher, I have always been interested and in love with learning. The precise moment when I realized that I could merge those two interests into one passion was when I read Teach Students How to Learn by Saundra McGuire.  It really inspired me to want to become a resource for students and faculty on learning and I have been captivated ever since. 

 

In your educational research, you have found frustration to be more of a happy place than how many of us might describe frustration.  What advice do you have for learners that hit that wall?

 

Oh heavens, I hate being frustrated and I have had to come a LONG WAY in this.  In the past, my tolerance for mistakes and frustration was pretty low; it did not take much struggle before I was devastated, probably in tears, and convinced that I couldn't do it and never would. If I stuck with it, I eventually would see progress and feel better and keep going. I've experienced this "despair/elation" cycle enough to realize that the messy "middle act" is part of my journey and I have to accept it and walk through it to get to the part that feels good again.  I also read Mindset by Carol Dweck and had to really face the way my mindset and fear of failure were limiting me and also making me rather miserable and obnoxious.

My advice for learners (which is all of us) is going to sound pretty Pollyanna-ish, but I mean it with every atom in my body.  (It's also research-based too, of course!):

Remember that mistakes, frustration, and struggle are an absolutely critical part of the learning process.  It’s the messy, middle act. They mean you are trying, that you are challenging yourself, and it is frustration that triggers the brain to engage in the hard work of long-term learning. Frustration means you are on the right track.

  • Watch your self-talk; do not let the mean voice in your head have a megaphone; remember to argue against it.  Only talk to yourself the way you would to a friend in a similar situation.
  • Give yourself permission to make mistakes and not be perfect.  Let go of your 4.0 and focus on learning.  I mean this.  Write yourself a literal permission slip if you have to.
  • When the frustration feels too big, take a break.  Go for a walk, do some mindfulness etc.  Frustration can lead to cognitive tunnel-vision, which can block the creative process.  Step away and do something else for a while. 

 

What is something people are surprised to learn about you?

Probably that I really struggle with imposter syndrome sometimes, with the deep-down feeling like I do not belong here; that I am a fraud, a charlatan, that has tricked everyone into thinking that I am intelligent, that I know things, that I am a good teacher; and the fear then that someday people will figure it out.  I’ll do or say something, fail at some project, and everyone will suddenly realize the truth: that I am just a country bumpkin who received free lunch in school and never really left her hometown, who pretends to know things but actually just knows a few things and says them with confidence, who is embarrassingly directionally challenged, cannot remember names to save her life, and really isn’t that special after all.

However, I believe in the importance of wrestling with our demons, naming our struggles, and removing their power by confessing them out loud; and so while I do scuffle with these feelings often, they are not currently winning or defining me.  One of my favorite quotes of all time (which I have framed in my office as a reminder) is from the author Neil Gaiman:

"Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things.  And I felt that at any moment they would realize that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.

On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”

And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”

And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.

                It reminds me that we are all imposters, which means of course, that none of us really are." (Alan Baxter Tweet)

 

 A suggested reading list of 3-5 things including cognitive learning passion and anything else.

 

Everything.  Read it all.  Read as much and as often as you can.  I love audiobooks for this reason so that I can be “reading” while I am driving or cleaning or running.  I take breaks from reading too much and am always happy to remember how much I love it when I do again.  Here are a few that you must:

Education, Library and Research Skills