Job-seeking resources at ASL

The Arkansas State Library has developed several online resource lists on the RAISE section of the website to help job-seekers. RAISE stands for Resource Assistance in Seeking Employment. The two pages that I would like to highlight here are the Job Links page and the ASL Resources page.

The Job Links page lists websites of recruitment websites for state and national jobs, many of which also include other resources for job seekers. It includes several links specifically for veterans, as well as two for librarians.

The ASL Resources page contains lists of print and electronic resources available through the library to help job seekers improve their resumes, prepare for tests, and conduct efficient job searches. It is only a partial list, so be sure to check our catalog or contact our reference staff for more information.

Poem in Your Pocket Day

April is National Poetry Month, and tomorrow, Thursday April 26th, is Poem in Your Pocket Day. What is Poem in Your Pocket Day? Here is the description from Poets.org:

The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends. You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Need help finding a poem? There are many good resources available online, including the Poetry and Literature page of the Library of Congress,  the Scottish Poetry Library, the Poem-a-Day email from Poets.org, and Poetry Archive. Check out Arkansas poets Maya Angelou, Miller Williams, and C.D. Wright. And of course, your local library will have plenty of books of poetry to choose from - we even have some here at the Arkansas State Library.

So go find a poem and share it tomorrow.

April Fools' Day facts

Sunday is April 1st, a day many people use as a chance to play pranks on friends, and a day many of those friends learn to hate. Here are some websites that provide some history and facts about the day.

• First is Snopes.com, a great place to go to check on hoaxes and urban legends. Here is their investigation into the origins of April Fools' Day.
• Here is an animated video about the history of April Fools' Day and some famous pranks.
• Finally, here are some safe but fun pranks to pull on your friends and family on April Fools' Day.

Weather resources online

This is a topic we have discussed before on the blog, but after the epic amounts of rain followed by flood warnings that we have had this week, it seems timely to revisit it. There are several good places to go online for up-to-date information regarding possible severe weather and weather warnings for your area.

The primary one is the National Weather Service Forecast Office for Little Rock. You can also choose another area to view by entering a city and state or zip code. The website has maps that show any warnings for the general area, specific warnings for your town or county, radar images, and forecasts for up to five days.

The Weather Channel website (http://www.weather.com/) is a slightly slicker, more user-friendly website that also shows warnings, radar images and forecasts for the country and local areas. These may be less detailed than the National Weather Service, but easier to glance through quickly.

Many of the local news stations and meteorologists have Facebook and Twitter accounts these days, and you can often sign up to follow them for breaking weather news. Just search for the channel's main webpage using a search engine, and once on the webpage, there will be links to social media sites as well.

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, about 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women will be diagnosed in 2011. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer. For more information about breast cancer, please visit the American Cancer Society, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month website, and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure website. Locally, the Little Rock Race for the Cure will be held on October 22nd, and many staff members from the Arkansas State Library will be participating.

At the library, we also have many resources to help you understand and deal with a cancer diagnosis. While we cannot offer any medical or legal advice, we are ready to assist you in finding books, articles, and websites that can help you or a loved one. If you would like to know more about our databases or books in our collection, you can call the reference desk at (501) 682-2053 or send us a reference question using our Ask a Librarian form.

Arkansas History Hub

There is a new resource for Arkansas state history teachers: the Arkansas History Hub. Its mission, as taken from the website is "to improve the quality of Arkansas history education across the state by providing comprehensive access to online resources, as well as facilitating the open exchange of ideas and materials between teachers, institutions and history professionals."

There are lesson plans for all ages and grade levels, a database of potential Arkansas history field-trips, and listings for professional development opportunities. You can also sign up to become a member and contribute links and plans.

Here at the Arkansas State Library, we also a range of Arkansas history-related materials, including our Arkansas Collection and Arkansas government documents.

Stay safe on and in the water

With all the hot weather we have been having here in Arkansas, many people are heading to the rivers and lakes to go boating and swimming. An increase in traffic means an increase in potential accidents. Here are some websites with tips and information to help you stay safe.

• Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Boating Education: According to their website "Anyone born on or after January 1, 1986, and of legal age to operate a motorboat, must have successfully completed an approved Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Boating Education Course and carry proof while operating a motorboat on Arkansas water. The law also affects operators of sailboats." Classes and testing are provided by the AGFC. 
• The United States Coastguard also has a wealth of information about boating safety, as well as links to other organizations, such as the National Safe Boating Council.
• The Centers for Disease Control has a Fact Sheet about unintentional drowning that provides statistics about drowning (nearly 80% of all drowning victims are male) and a list of signs to watch for. This great blog entry written by a Coast Guard marine safety specialist also points out that drowning in real life doesn't look like drowning in the movies.
• Don't forget to keep your pets safe as well. While some dogs, like Labradors and Portuguese Water Dogs, are natural swimmers, others like bulldogs and Dachshunds are not. And even natural swimmers can become distressed and tired. Here is a list of 5 water safety tips for dogs.

Here at the Arkansas State Library, we also have numerous books on boating - from repair manuals to travel guides for cruises. If you are interested or want more information, please call the reference desk at (501) 682-2053, or send us an email request using the Ask a Librarian web form.

Coping With Extreme Heat

We have been experiencing some extreme heat here in Central Arkansas this past week, and it doesn't look like it is going away any time soon.  The Center for Disease Control has an Extreme Heat page with a lot of helpful information about how to deal with the heat, including how to spot the sign of heat distress in the elderly and guidelines for how much water you should drink and how often you should be drinking it.

Don't forget about your pets during the heat of summer. The ASPCA has hot weather tips for keeping your cats and dogs safe.

Here in Arkansas, most counties are under a burn ban because of the heat and dry conditions. To check if your county is affected, visit the Arkansas Forestry Commission's website.

If you do not have air conditioning at home, the Salvation Army has set up a cooling center at 1111 West Markham that will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. on days when the heat index is above 100. In addition, the City of Little Rock has opened Alert Centers and some community centers to the public. Check this article for more details.

If you need help paying your energy bills on account of the high temperatures, the Central Arkansas Development Council and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program are holding mass enrollment days for low-income residents. Today is the last day for Little Rock and Pulaski County, but other counties in the area still have days scheduled. For more information, please visit the CADC website.

To check the temperatures and the heat index, visit Weather.com or the Weather Underground. NOAA also has weather information and drought status updates for Arkansas.

Stay cool - come to the library!

Disaster Resources for Libraries

Here are a few more disaster recovery resources, specifically for libraries.

LYRASIS, "the nation’s largest regional non-profit membership organization serving libraries [with a] mission of supporting libraries and information professionals by offering creative solutions and increased savings opportunities through collaboration, consulting, digital and preservation services, professional development, and group purchases," offers a number of planning resources, as well as connections to recovery assistance and volunteers.

The National Archives provides information about how to deal with papers, books, artwork, and other materials that may have been damaged in a disaster such as a flood or fire.

Weather Resources On-line

We sure have been having wild weather here in Arkansas this spring. After the tornadoes came the rain and now floods. Here are a few resources to help you keep on top of it all.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration : NOAA has everything from weather forecasts to analysis of past weather, to weather and climate related research information.
• Weather.com : The online branch of cable's Weather Channel. You can find forecasts and monthly totals for your zip code, as well as severe weather alerts and warnings.
• Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department : Get information on road closings for everything from traffic to ice to flooding.
• And a repeat from last week, Arkansas Red Cross. Give time and monetary donations to help your fellow citizens affected by the storms.

Earthquake preparedness and Relief options

We are all touched and saddened by the news that has been coming out of Japan this week following the earthquake and tsunami on Friday. If you are interested in making a monetary donation to relief organizations, consider using a charity rating system, such as Charity Navigator, to help decide which group to support. Charity Navigator ranks charities based on a variety of areas, including how much donor money actually gets to the people the charity serves.  Doctors Without Borders is rated as a 4-star (out of 4 stars) charity, as are World Vision and Save the Children. There are many 4 and 3 star charities to choose from.

Here in Arkansas, the earthquake in Japan, as well as the recent earthquake swarm near Greenbrier and Guy, should remind us to have emergency kits and plans in place, before a natural disaster strikes. For more information about how to prepare, visit Ready.gov, FEMA, and the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut.

Disaster Preparedness

On Sunday evening, we had the most powerful earthquake in Arkansas in 35 years. It even made the New York Times!  The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has provided a page with helpful tips to help you get prepared, in case the next earthquake is even bigger.

Earthquakes aren't the only natural disasters that hit Arkansas - we also get tornadoes, fires, floods, and the occasional ice storm. The best way to stay safe in such events is to be prepared. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has information about disaster preparedness kits, for home, work and school.

Spring is on its way here in Arkansas. Why don't you take some time out of your spring cleaning to make an emergency kit for your family?

How to get an Arkansas birth record

For genealogists, vital records, such as birth, death, and marriage certificates, can provide valuable information. If you too are searching for a record of a relative, or perhaps you just need a copy of your own birth certificate, the best place to start is with the Arkansas Department of Health Vital Records Office. There, you can find the forms to order certificates, as well as a Frequently Asked Questions section for each type of record. 

Birth and death records are available from 1914 t the present, marriages from 1917, and divorces from 1923.  Some rules do apply about who may request records for individuals, but those circumstances are covered in the FAQ.

Food Safety Resources

You may have heard about the massive egg recall that has been in the news for the past two weeks and wondered if it affects you.  Here are several websites that you can use to check on this and other food safety issues:

•  Foodsafety.gov : This site is "the gateway to food safety information provided by government agencies," and includes information about recalls, preventative measures you can take to keep food safe, and food poisoning. It also has an Ask the Experts section that provides phone numbers, email addresses, and links to live chats where you can ask your specific questions.

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety : the FDA is one of the government agencies that provides information to the Food Safety website, but it also has its own website with news about current recalls (food, drug, and medical devices) and food safety.

• Arkansas Department of Health : For information specific to Arkansas, check out the state's Healthy Arkansas site, which includes information about recalls, as well as information pages about diseases, healthy living, tobacco cessation programs, and heat safety tips.

Back to School Homework Help

It is back to school time here in Arkansas (the continuing summer notwithstanding) so here are a few links to resources for the students in your life:

• Internet Public Library: A web page with links to thousands of resources on a multitude of topics. You can also ask questions and have them answered by library professionals and librarians-in-training.

• Infoplease Homework Center: Another great site for finding links and documents.  "Information Please has been providing authoritative answers to all kinds of factual questions since 1938—first as a popular radio quiz show, then starting in 1947 as an annual almanac, and since 1998 on the Internet at www.infoplease.com."  

• LibrarySpot: According to their website, LibrarySpot is "a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information." The resources and links available " are hand-selected and reviewed by our editorial team for their exceptional quality, content and utility."

• Refdesk.com:  Refdesk is "a free and family-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources."

  
  
  

Historic Military Records for Arkansans

One question we get fairly frequently is how to find military records for Arkansan ancestors who may have fought in the Civil War. While we have many books on the subject in our Arkansas Collection (just type Arkansas Civil War into the search box on our catalog), we do not have any of the actual service or pension records here at the Arkansas State Library.

There are two local archives, however, that do have military information.  The first is the Arkansas History Commission.  They have Confederate Pension Records as well as Confederate Home Records. To find links to more information about these and the other records the History Commission holds, look at their Military Records page.

The second archives in Little Rock is the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, part of the Arkansas Studies institute which is a joint venture between the Central Arkansas Library System and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  The Butler Center was created "for the purpose of promoting a greater understanding and appreciation of Arkansas history, literature, art, and culture."

Both of these institutions are great resources for anyone looking for more information about the history of Arkansas and their own family's place in that history. And don't forget to check out our own Arkansas Collection of books.

Oil Spill Information

One of the biggest news items right now is the continuing oil spill in the gulf of Mexico.  If you are interested in following the story more closely, here are a few resources:

Live video feed of the spill is available many places.  Here is the feed provided by the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

The Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness has a website with projected trajectories for the spill, using Google Earth, along with phone numbers for people interested in volunteering, reporting oil on the shore and other related matters.

Both Alabama and Florida also have web pages set up to provide more information to their citizens about the spill.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Response and Restoration has an incident page with information about the spill that is updated daily.

New databases at ASL part 3

Here are a few more of the new databases available at the Arkansas State Library.

Diversity Studies Collection: This collection explores cultural differences, contributions and influences in our global community. This set includes 150 full-text journals. Coverage begins in 1980.

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues Collection: This collection of over 30 largely full-text journals aims to provide balanced coverage culture, covering such topics as gender studies, family and marital issues, health aspects, and many more. Coverage begins in 1980.

Religion & Philosophy Collection: Users of this collection can research different religions and philosophies and how they impact our daily lives. The collection is comprised of 250 periodicals, many of which are full-text. Coverage begins in 1980.

To try these and other databases, start at the database page on our website. For questions, please use the Ask a Librarian form on our website.

From Planting to Harvest

As we move into fall, it is time to harvest some crops and plant others. If you are a beginning gardener or a professional farmer, we have resources that can help you decide what to plant, learn when to plant it, and care for your crops throughout the year.

• Year-Round Home Garden Planting Guide: Produced by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension services, this booklet provides a quick and easy guide to planting for home gardeners in Arkansas. It is available on-line through our catalog, and in hard-copy at the library.
• For home farmers and professionals, the Agriculture Collection may also be of use. It is one of the databases that ASL has recently acquired. With broad coverage of agriculture and its related fields, this collection provides a comprehensive view of this growing body of knowledge. Comprised of nearly 200 titles, researchers will have access to current and authoritative content that spans the industry, from practical aspects of farming to cutting edge scientific research in horticulture.
• Another new database, the Gardening, Landscaping, and Horticulture Collection has resources for farmers, landscape architects, and biotechnologists alike, with this collection of nearly 50 journals focused specifically on key issues in gardening, landscaping, and other areas of horticulture. A fertile and growing collection, this collection includes content relating to both the practical aspects as well as the scientific theory of horticulture studies.

To try these and other databases, start at the database page on our website. For questions, please use the Ask a Librarian form on our website.

Find Your Roots

The Federation of Genealogical Societies is meeting in Little Rock this week for their annual conference. Yesterday, I had the pleasure to attend the Librarian's Day sessions and learn more about doing genealogical research in libraries. Although most of the documents necessary for doing in-depth genealogical research into Arkansas history are at the Arkansas History Commission, Arkansas State Library does have books to help guide beginning genealogists. Here are just two:

• The Genealogist's Companion and Sourcebook by Emily Anne Croom (CS 47 .C75 2003) - A guidebook to the numerous sources available to genealogists, including Federal Census records, county and courthouse records, and libraries. There is one chapter on documents unique to African-American genealogy and one chapter on Native American genealogy.
• Black Genesis: A Resource Book for African-American Genealogy James M. Rose an Alice Eichholz (CS 21 .R57 2003) - African-American genealogy poses some unique and difficult challenges, but Rose and Eichholz have provided and in-depth, state-by-state look at what documents are available.

In addition to books, there are now many genealogy websites that can facilitate your genealogical search. One of the most well known is ancestry.com. While you must become a subscriber to make use of all the features on the website, there are still many resources available for free. There are special collections for African-American and Jewish family history, as well as reference works and search tips.

We can help you find the books listed here to guide you, as well as others in our collection, and we can do some obituary searches. Take advantage of these and other resource to start searching your family tree today.