Welcome to NWUS - Digital Library ( Library on Flash )
GENERAL INTERESTS
Resources on this page provide links to external sites. An internet connection is required.
Select one of the links below to start your research
If you're preparing for the bar exam or a gross anatomy quiz, you may want to give Cerebral Imprint the once over. Created by developer Alex Rose, this open source application allows users to create a wide range of flash cards. Visitors can import card decks from existing text files and also export card decks to text files, if necessary. It's an easy-to-use application and compatible with computers running Mac OS X 10.5 and newer.
- A Chef's Table [Real Player]
The website for Chef Jim Coleman's show, A Chef's Table, offers podcasts of his WHYY show for those whose day doesn't regularly include listening to the radio. The written content of the website nicely expands on the radio show, and also lists the books that are featured on the week's show. In the middle of the homepage there is a featured recipe of the week, and on the menu on the left side of the page can be found "Recipes" from past shows, "Cooking Tips", "Cookbook Reviews", and "Archives". The archives contain one show per week, and are available from November 2008 to the present.
In a networked world where computer viruses can spread as fast as the news about James Frey's fabricated roman a clef, it's important to have effective and thorough antivirus software installed. This latest version of the Avast program is just such a piece of software, and it's one that is worthy of time and consideration. With this latest version, users can select which parts of their computer they wish to scan and they can also scan downloaded files and emails. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, and Vista.
NASA can really put together a website, and the dramatic visual and audio introduction to their online interactive guide to the world of the International Space Station (ISS) is worth sitting back and watching in its entirety. After the introduction, visitors can listen to Commander Mike Fincke talk about the various scientific endeavors that are part of the Station's mission. The rest of the materials on the site are divided into three sections: "How the Crew Lives", "How it Works", and "ISS 360 Tour". While all of the sections are equally interesting, the "How the Crew Lives" is quite a treat, as visitors can watch videos demonstrating how the crew eats, sleeps, and exercises. Of course, visitors with a penchant for engineering technology should definitely not miss the "How it Works" area, which contains explanations of how the ISS is operated and supported. Finally, the site also contains a music video which blends together what sounds like early 1990s- techno music with in-flight scenes of space scientists at work and play.
Started in 1974 by the American scholar Frederick Burkhardt, the Darwin Correspondence Project has been scouring the globe to find all of the letters written by (and to) Charles Darwin. So far, they have collected over 14,500 letters and they have placed transcripts of thousands of these letters online on this very fine site. Currently there are about 5000 digitized (and searchable) letters available here. They include all of the surviving letters from his rather momentous voyage on the Beagle and all of the letters from the years around the publication of Origin of Species in 1859. The site also contains thematic collections of letters that deal with Darwin's evolving thoughts on religion, science, ethics, and the very boundaries of science and religion. Without a doubt, this is a site that will warrant several visits and for anyone with a penchant for the history of science this site is one that will be most welcome.
The potential within the human mind and its connection to the rest of the human body is a subject that has consumed many of the world's brightest scientists. The Mind Science Foundation, founded by Thomas Baker Slick, is a place that is intimately concerned with such matters, and their website is a good way to learn about some of the issues surrounding their work and broader notions about how consciousness arises in human beings. It's a tall research order, and the website responds admirably by presenting a number of speeches from experts on the subject, along with links to the results of various research endeavors sponsored with funds from the Foundation. The site also contains an interactive database of researchers who are working in the area of consciousness and a library of books that might be of interest to those looking for additional resources.
Amidst all of his other responsibilities as a lawyer, politician, and father, Abraham Lincoln found time to write. In fact, he wrote quite a bit, and it took scholars decades to assemble the majority of his various published (and unpublished) writings. After working on bringing together his writings, the Abraham Lincoln Association published "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln" in 1953. In total, there were eight volumes, and they included Lincoln's correspondence, speeches, and other writings. Recently, the University of Michigan's Digital Library Production Service digitized all eight volumes and placed them online here for the benefit of historians, rhetoricians, and those who are generally enamored of the 16th President. Visitors can perform simple searches, boolean searches, and proximity searches to their heart's content. Also, they can look over other documents that were digitized for the collection, including Paul M. Angle's "Here I have lived: A History of Lincoln's Springfield".
From Van Cortland Park in the Bronx down to the bucolic stylings of Staten Island in the late 19th century, this very fun online exhibition from the New York Public Library will sate the desires of those persons with a penchant for historical postcards. Recently, the Library placed five hundred postcards depicting views of all five boroughs in the late 19th and early 20th century within the much larger NYPL Digital Gallery. This exhibition offers a brief introduction to these depictions of New York's past, and visitors can get a taste of the images by looking through sections that include "A Record of Time", "A Record of Place", and "A Record of the People".
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Last reviewed in the Scout Report on December 2, 1997)
Since the Scout Report last profiled The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) website, they have added dozens of new reports, created a helpful calendar of events, and they also found time to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Certainly one of the highlights of the site is their annual climate assessment report. Visitors can download the report in its entirety, and also look at previous editions of the report as well. Scientists and policymakers will also want to look at some of their exhaustive scholarly works which include "Safeguarding the Ozone Layer" and "Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage". Visitors will also want to look through the "Activities" area, which brings together all of their technical reports along with information on their National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme.
Spirituality and religion have always played a key role in American society, and there are a number of centers dedicated to exploring the interactions between religion and public life. One such place is The Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, located at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. From the Center's homepage, visitors can learn about the events and conferences they sponsor and also read full-text versions of their publications, which include "Religion on the International News Agenda". One key publication on the site is their in-house magazine, "Religion In The News". Published continuously since 1998, visitors can browse around the archive and read various pieces, or take a look at the most recent issue.
Theodore Roosevelt was a man who preached and lived the strenuous life, and amidst all of his political activities and hunting expeditions, he also found time to write quite a bit. Working from a volume published by Columbia University Press in 2002, Bartleby.com has seen fit to place works from this book online here at this site. Visitors can use the search engine to look for specific items, or they can just browse around at their leisure. Visitors can look over such classic works as "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman", "The Rough Riders", "Through the Brazilian Wilderness", and of course, "The Strenuous Life" from 1900. The site also includes an early biography of Roosevelt by Charles Roscoe Thayer and a bibliography of Roosevelt's writings to 1920.
- Bartleby.com : Nonfiction
The web makes finding reference works rather simple, and Bartleby.com has been kind enough over the past few years to put more than a healthy offering of their publications online at no cost to voracious readers and the generally curious. On this corner of their site they have brought together over one hundred popular nonfiction works. Visitors can meander through "The World's Famous Orations", edited by someone who knew a bit about the topic, one William Jennings Bryan. Other volumes include the collected works of Francis Bacon, John Stuart Mill's "Autobiography", and Thomas à Kempis' devotional work, "The Imitation of Christ". It's quite a nice collection of works, and one that could be recommended to others looking for basic editions of some rather important and valuable pieces of writing.
Developed as a service by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), this very comprehensive site offers up a wide range of vegetarian recipes, products, and even information about worthy vegetarian restaurants around the country. For those seeking a bit of visual stimulation, there is a link to "VegCooking TV" on the homepage. Here, visitors can learn first-hand about how to make items like spinach-asparagus wraps and kale with portobellos and almonds. Additionally, visitors can look over some vegan recipes and read a piece titled "Intro to Veganism".
Maps remain a powerful way to represent the world in all its spatial glory, and this online exhibit from The Field Museum explores the history of maps and their history over the millennia. Designed to complement an ongoing exhibition at the Museum, the site includes a photo gallery, information about the participating institutions, and about researchers at the Museum who use maps and mapping technology in their own work. The interactive feature is definitely worth a look, as visitors can examine two dozen different maps in detail from Chicago to the Marshall Islands. This remarkable site could also be used in classrooms to expose students to the wide variety of maps that have been created by human hands.
Professors Joe Lau and Jonathan Chan at the University of Hong Kong have created this site to help both teachers and students in this endeavor. Working with a grant from the government of Hong Kong's University Grants Committee, the two have created this website to provide access to over 100 free online tutorials on critical thinking, logic, scientific reasoning, and creativity. The homepage includes a brief introduction to critical thinking and access to the main modules, which are divided into thematic areas such as values and morality, strategic thinking, and basic logic. Visitors can also view the Chinese version of this site, download class exercises, and even take on "the hardest logic puzzle in the world."
In the winter of 2008, the Council on Library and Information Services (CLIR) convened a group of 25 leading librarians, publishers, faculty members, and information technology specialists to look into the following question: "How should we be rethinking the research library in a swiftly changing information landscape?" As part of this discussion, the participants discussed "the challenges and opportunities that libraries are likely to face in the next five to ten years." The 81-page report is divided into two sections. The first provides a basic overview of the ways in which research libraries might transform themselves in the near future and the second section contains eight short topical essays from some of the participants.
