ALABAMA SUPERCOMPUTER AUTHORITY

During the last legislative session, the Alabama Legislature and the Governor provided additional funds for the Alabama Virtual Library to restore databases that had been eliminated by proration. After careful consideration, the AVL Council authorized the renewal of existing databases and the purchase of additional resources to balance the collection to better support the diverse client base. ASA has been an active member of the AVL Council from the beginning and is honored to serve as its technical partner. At the end of this communication is a brief description of the NEW databases that are now available. If you are unable to access any of these resources, please contact the AVL Help Desk, a resource of the AVL that is maintained by the Alabama Supercomputer Authority.

READING ABOUT EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Copyright Hall Davidson's article published in Techlearning is a great resource for teachers on copyright. http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright.html
Think you understand all the nuances of multi-media and copyright? Take the test to see what you do and don't know. http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright_quiz.html There is also a handy chart available at http://i.cmpnet.com/techlearning/pdf/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright_chart.pdf

National Education Technology Plan On Friday, January 7, the U.S. Department of Education will release the National Education Technology Plan. The National Education Technology Plan is being developed as part of a long-range national strategy and guide for using technology effectively to improve student academic achievement—either directly or through integration with other approaches to systemic reform. The new plan should be available for viewing on the release date at http://www.nationaledtechplan.org If you need additional information, send an email to feedback@nationaledtechplan.org. Plans are in place for a live webcast (2:00 p.m.) of the event. Please go to www.kidzonline.org/edtech to register.


EDUCATION AND THE INTERNET

The Lewis Carroll Scrapbook Collection contains 130 newspaper clippings, photos, and materials from a scrapbook kept by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Better known as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's "Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) and "Through the Looking-Glass" (1871), Dodgson was a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Oxford.
http://international.loc.gov/intldl/carrollhtml/

Mathematics Across the Curriculum features an "electronic bookshelf" of materials for teaching math in art, history, literature, and music, as well as science, engineering, and other disciplines traditionally associated with math. Topics include misleading averages, bar codes, crime statistics, DNA, data analysis, expert systems, gasoline, information theory, medical testing, music and computers, nutrition, polls, population growth, probability, remote sensing, SIDS, and vaccines. http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/eBookshelf/index.html

Project Links provides 7 web-based modules for teaching advanced math methods, probability and statistics, differential equations, discrete mathematics, linear systems, and calculus. http://links.math.rpi.edu/

Center for a Sustainable Future includes lessons on land use patterns, ozone and particulates, population growth and transportation, fossil fuels and global warming, air pollution, forests, usable water, and other topics related to designing sustainable communities. http://csf.concord.org/esf/index.php

ChemLinks Coalition offers resources for the first 2 years of college chemistry. Topics include global warming, ozone, fats in our diet, computer chip thermochemistry, making water safe to drink, what's in a star, acid rain, reducing air pollution from automobiles, copper, and building a better CD player (getting light out of a solid). http://chemistry.beloit.edu/modules.html

Experiencing War (Voices of War): Stories from the Veterans History Project is the companion website for a book from the Veterans History Project. Video interviews, photos, and letters relate war through the eyes of 60 veterans and civilians. Stories are organized by book sections--answering the call, a day in the life, combat, coming home -- and by themes: courage, life-altering moments, hurry up and wait, D-Day, POWs. http://www.loc.gov/folklife/vets/stories/

Exploration and Explorers looks at Europe's view of North America before and after Columbus, Martin Waldseemuller's 1507 map of the world, Diego Gutierrez's 1562 map of America, Spanish and Portuguese encounters in America, the Dutch in America, exploration and settlement of America from British and American points of view, Lewis and Clark, Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and early images of the U.S. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_exploration.php

From Slavery to Freedom, 1824-1909 presents nearly 400 pamphlets written by African-Americans and others about slavery, emancipation, African colonization, Reconstruction, and related topics. Materials range from personal accounts and public orations to reports and legislative speeches. Authors include Frederick Douglass, Charles Sumner, Mary Church Terrell, Booker T. Washington, and others. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aapchtml/aapchome.html

The Floating World of Ukiyo-e: Shadows, Dreams, and Substance showcases Japanese "Ukiyo-e" -- pictures of the floating, or sorrowful, world. More than 100 prints, drawings, and books are presented, mostly from 1600-1900. Ukiyo-e was born in Edo (now Tokyo) when merchants, relegated to low social status by shogun rulers, turned to art and culture as arenas where they could participate with elites (warriors, farmers, and artisans). This is the first public viewing of this collection. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/

Pearl Harbor Raid is a detailed account of the December 7, 1941, attack. More than 100 photos and descriptions look at the 7 U.S. battleships moored along Battleship Row that morning, attacks off Ford Island, attacks in the Navy yard area, attacks on airfields, Japanese aircraft and midget submarines used in the attacks, aerial combat, and more. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm

Presidents: The Secret History exposes quirky facts about our first 42 presidents. What would kids do if they were president? What qualities do kids think make a good president? http://pbskids.org/wayback/prez/

Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection features 185 manuscripts and a 40-foot funerary scroll of the Naxi people of Yunnan Province, China. This is the largest collection of Naxi writings outside of China and is considered among the finest in the world. The Naxi use a unique pictographic writing system. It is the only living pictographic language in the world today. http://international.loc.gov/intldl/naxihtml/naxihome.html

What in the World Is That? examines 16 inventions: the submarine, battery radio, cotton gin, reaper, electron microscope, telephone, gramophone, telecommunication cable, snow gauge, ornithopter, airphibian, and others. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/science/flash.html

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona invites high school physics, chemistry, and physical science teachers nationwide to enroll in summer graduate courses in physics pedagogy, interdisciplinary science, and contemporary physics. Modeling Workshops are included. The program can lead to a Master of Natural Science degree. An NSF grant provides stipends, some free tuition, and free housing. Families are welcome! E-mail Jane.Jackson@asu.edu, or visit http://modeling.asu.edu.

Announcing FREE Feed Fridays! Connect to SeaTrek for FREE! to experience a narrated shark feeding videoconference originating LIVE from a 135,000-gallon shark tank. Free connections are available between 10:50am-11:10am on designated Fridays between January 1, 2005 and March 1, 2005. See the Vidcon Calendar for available dates.You must register for this event. Please contact Laurie for additional details. First come, first served, so hurry, before the offer swims away!

Furl It! Furl is a free service that saves a personal copy of any page you find on the Web, and lets you find it again instantly by searching your archive of pages. With Furl, you can share the content you find on the Web and recommend new Web pages that may interest you. You can also search Furl to find the best sites that other people are saving.Thousands of people use Furl every day to save, share and discover information that is important to them. http://www.furl.net/index.jsp

Education Policy Studies Lab (EPSL) Arizona State University has designed a research tool to help educators, policy makers, and other stakeholders understand key aspects of national education policy. Directed by Professor Alex Molnar, EPSL conducts and coordinates original research in areas such as student performance standards, assessment, commercialism in schools, curriculum, and language policy issues. The research is conducted and disseminated online through three specialized units: the Commercialism in Education Unit, the only research unit in the world dedicated to exploring commercialism in the schoolhouse; the Education Policy Research Unit, which provides independent analyses of research and policy documents to help inform the public debate about education policy issues; and the Language Policy Research Unit, which confronts the challenges and opportunities posed by learning in an international context. Educators interested in deepening their understanding of the policy issues facing America's schools will find several scholarly publications and journal articles covering topics from the privatization of public education to policy briefs on large-scale school reform initiatives.http://www.edpolicylab.org

AVL Update

Academic Search Premier (replaces Academic Search Elite) - Full text and images from over 4,700 journals covering biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, psychology, religion and theology, etc.

Alt HealthWatch - provides in-depth coverage across the full spectrum of subject areas covered by complementary and alternative medicine. It offers libraries an immediate resource of full text articles, from 140 international, and often peer-reviewed, journals, reports, proceedings and association and consumer newsletters. In addition, there are hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts.

Annals of American History Online - search 5.2 million words, graphics, and multimedia from the Annals of American History Online, including: 2,100 entries from 1493 to the present, and original source documents such as speeches, essays, biographies, and editorials.

Auto Repair Reference Center - includes automotive repair information supplied by Nichols Publishing, the former publisher of the Chilton information. It contains information on most major manufacturers of domestic and imported vehicles. Database content includes approximately 25,000 vehicles covered from 1954 to present; over 100,000 factory drawings and step-by-step photographs; over 65,000 technical service bulletins and recalls issued by the original equipment vehicle manufacturer; wiring diagrams for easy viewing and printing; specifications and maintenance schedules; Labor Time Guide and Estimator; and Quick Tips, a complete guide to vehicle ownership and maintenance.

Biography Reference Bank - Biography Reference Bank is the ultimate biographical database from Wilson, encompassing all the trusted Wilson resources including Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated, Current Biography, the Junior Authors and Illustrators Series, the Wilson biographical series on world artists, authors, composers, songwriters, musicians, film directors, plus more than 70,000 profiles licensed from high-quality publishers.

Book Source: Nonfiction - A rich research database for public libraries, it contains informative abstracts and full text for more than 2,000 popular nonfiction books. The database includes full text entries on social studies and science, as well as information on careers, health, sports, adventure, and technology.

Business Source Premier (replaces Business Source Elite) - Full text articles and images from nearly 7,600 periodicals and other sources covering business, marketing, management, MIS, POM, economics, finance, banking, accounting, and much more. Datamonitor Company Profiles are also available.

History Reference Center - features cover-to-cover full text for more than 650 historical encyclopedias and other non-fiction books. The database also includes full text for nearly 60 leading history periodicals; 58,000 historical documents; 43,000 biographies of historical figures; more than 12,000 historical photos and maps; and 87 hours of historical film and video.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center - draws on the acclaimed social issues series published by Greenhaven Press, as well as core reference content from other Gale and Macmillan Reference USA sources to provide a complete one-stop source for information on social issues. Access viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

Oxford English Dictionary - The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books. The OED covers words from across the English-speaking world, from North America to South Africa, from Australia and New Zealand to the Caribbean. It also offers the best in etymological analysis and in listing of variant spellings, and it shows pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Oxford Reference Online Premium - Oxford Reference Online Premium brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross searchable resource.The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of these books, giving subscribers unprecedented access to a comprehensive information resource.The Premium Collection offers all of the above, plus added functionality and more detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series, to enhance the coverage already provided by the award-winning Core Collection.