Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wild Urban Plants

Wings of Knowledge Lecture Series

Wild Urban Plants

Dr. Peter Del Tredici

Tuesday, May 3, 7–8:30 p.m.

Library Living Room

Free admission. Open to the Public.

Peter Del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University presents a lecture based on his studies of plants found in cities, along highways and near abandoned factories.  

Dr. Tredici’s book, Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast, acts as a field guide to identify 222 plants that grow spontaneously in the urban environment, filling vacant spaces between roads and taking over abandoned factories. The book offers photographic illustrations of each plant accompanied by a clearly written description that explains a plant’s ecological functions, habitat and characteristics.

Other books in the library collection that appreciate the virtues of weeds are:

A Weed by Any Other Name: The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don’t Plant The author, Nancy Gift,  is a weed scientist who has learned to accept that weeds aren’t so bad and not all deserve to be eradicated.  She reviews the garden year, beginning with spring when she is most tempted to cook wild foods and includes recipes for Dandelion Wine (p. 44-5) and Camping Pesto (p. 18) made from wild garlic.

Wicked Plants: the Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart. The author, in her introduction, says she didn’t write this book to scare people away from the outdoors; on the contrary, she wanted people to understand its power and to give plants respect.  She says, “I love the ocean, but I never turn my back on it” (p. xv) because she lives on the northern California coast, where the Pacific Ocean takes lives.  Within in the category “Dangerous” are common houseplants, such as the Peace Lily and Philodendron, the reason for many calls to poison control centers. The introduction refers to a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne,  Rappaccini’s Daughter, (full-text available in Net Library) in which an elderly doctor cares for a walled garden of poisonous plants.  There are poison gardens around the world (p. 231-2) and links to poison plant databases at www.wickedplants.com.


Del Tredici, Peter (2010) Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast.  Ithaca, NY:
          Cornell.  QK118 .D45 2010

Gift, Nancy (2009) A Weed by Any Other Name: the Virtues of a Messy 
          Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don’t Plant.  Boston: Beacon. 
          SB611 .G54 2009

Stewart, Amy (2009) Wicked Plants: the Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & 
          Other Botanical Atrocities. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin.  QK100 .A1 S74

Monday, April 18, 2011

Observe Earth Week

Do you remember when the first Earth Day was held? Hint: Check The Seventies in America in the Decade Series database from Salem Press History. Students held the first observance of an environmental education day on college campuses April 22, 1970.  President Richard M. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by executive order that year bringing environmental issues onto the political agenda. Congress passed the Clean Air Act of 1970, legislation to limit the amount of air pollution. This movement created lots of new words, too, such as “eco-politics” according to the Oxford English Dictionary timeline.

Have we made any environmental progress since 1970? Check this article from the Points of View Reference Center database:  HAS ANYTHING GOTTEN BETTER SINCE THAT FIRST EARTH DAY? By: Yarett, Ian, Newsweek, 00289604, 4/26/2010, Vol. 155, Issue 17

Check out the posters around campus to learn the NHTI events planned for Earth Week.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Easter Egg Hunt

Governor Lynch and the First Lady will be hosting the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday April 16 on the Bridges House lawn, 21 Mountain Road, East Concord.  The event starts at 11 a.m. and the hunt happens rain or shine.

Interested in the origins of this tradition? Read this article from the Point-of-View database-  
The Easter Bunny 101: Christian festival includes a basket of pagan traditions, symbols by Jeff Brumley

Another good source for Easter traditions around the world is the Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, an eBook included in Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale can be accessed from the Library's database page. 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Columbia Granger's Poetry Database

As stated in the Ebsco Database Information Screen, “Columbia Granger's Poetry Database contains works of poetry found in anthologies, and volumes of collected works and selected works for individual poets. Currently, there are more than 425,000 poem citations and over 219,000 poems in full text. Supplemental information includes nearly 1,000 commentaries and some 450 biographies. Hyperlinking exists throughout the commentaries, biographies, and poem full text. Users can easily jump from poems to relevant commentary or author biographies when appropriate. A glossary is also provided, giving users detailed definitions for over 300 poetry specific terms." 

While researching  your favorite poem about New Hampshire or locating a verse by  Donald Hall,  listen to selected  poems  with a choice of an American, British or Australian accent or download the file to an MP3 and take it with  you.  If you would like to share a poem with a Norwegian friend it can even be translated into Norsk.

Columbia Granger's Poetry Database can be accessed from the EBSCO Host Services menu on the Library's databases page. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The fire claimed 146 lives in just eighteen minutes and brought needed attention to the deplorable conditions of sweatshops throughout the nation.

Using the Library’s subscription to America’s Historical Newspapers you can read articles written about the fire during the months that followed. America’s Historical Newspapers can be accessed from the Library’s homepage, listed under “Trial Databases.”

The Library’s collection also contains several books on the tragedy including
  • Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle F128.5 .V688 2004
  • Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin F128.5 .M122 2011
  • The Triangle Fire by Leo Stein HD9940.U5 N717 2001

Monday, April 11, 2011

Chester is in the Library!

Chester
Melanie Watt

JUV PZ7.W3884 C44 2007

Meet Chester, Melanie Watt’s lovable and charming pet cat. As Melanie attempts to write a new story about a mouse, meddling Chester continuously interrupts her work, changing the story’s text and illustrations. A must read for cat lovers and fans of children’s literature.

Stop by the Library to read Chester’s story and check out some of these recent additions to the children’s literature section:
  • Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type- JUV PZ7.C88135 C55 2000
  • Fancy Nancy- JUV PZ7.O222 F363 2006
  • The True Story of the Three Little Pigs- JUV PZ7.S41267 T79 1989
  • A Sick Day for Amos McGee- JUV PZ7.S8084 S535 2010
  • Bark, George- JUV PZ7.F33345 B37 1999

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

New DVDs

  • Angels & Demons Revealed - DVD. BX 1766 .A54 2008
  • The Codes of Gender - DVD. P 96 .S5 C6 2009
  • Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood - DVD. HF 6415.32 .C6 2008
  • Generation M: Misogyny in Media & Culture - DVD. HQ 1233 .G46 2008
  • The Gloucester 18: The Realities of Teen Pregnancy - DVD. HQ 759.64 .G568 2010
  • Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women - DVD. HF 5822 .K55 2010
  • The Mean World Syndrome: Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear - DVD. P 96 .V5 M33 2010
  • Plunder: The Crime of Our Time - DVD. HB 3722 .P58 2010
  • Remote Control: Children, Media Consumption & the Changing American Family - DVD. HQ 784 .M3 R46 2009
  • Solar System: Cosmos - DVD QB 44.3 .C67 2008 v.1
  • Sports and Celebrity: Role Models or Marketing Vehicles - DVD. GV 706.5 .I58 2010
  • This Land is Our Land: the Fight to Reclaim the Commons - DVD. HB  846.5 .T55 2010
  • Violence and Aggression in Sports and Society - DVD. GV 706.7 .V5654 1999
  • Waiting for Superman - DVD.  LA 217.2 .W348 2011