The institution recently licensed a new online resource — ARTstor Digital Library.

ARTstor Digital Library makes accessible nearly 1.4 million images for teaching and research (commercial use is prohibited under the license agreement).

ARTstor offers images of collections from hundreds of museums, artists, artists’ estates, photographers, scholars, special collections, and photo archives. Collections serve the interdisciplinary teaching and research needs of students and teachers and offers visual materials in the arts, humanities, and sciences.

Authorized Calhoun users (current employees and currently enrolled students), can locate ARTstor Digital Library on the Library Web site among the list of ‘Top Databases’, the Databases by Subject Page, and the Databases by Vendor Page.

ARTstor Digital Library is accessible on both campuses from all networked computers. Access ‘off campus’ requires authentication – a Username (Student/Employee Calhoun ID number) and Password (last name).

For an overview of the art collections added to ARTstor in 2011, open this link:
 http://artstor.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/artstor-collections-summary-2011/

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From The Bulletin:

Artwork by Sallie Estes and Jayne Schmidt is on display in
Common Grounds Cafe through February 29th. Stop by the
cafe located in Brewer Library on the Decatur campus to
enjoy a cup of coffee and/or lunch and view the beautiful
artwork created by these talented artists.

Sallie Estes

Living in the South, the vibrant colors of spring, the white
hot summers, the changing leaves and bare branches of
fall and winter are the inspiration for my watercolors. As a
child, I was bedridden for a year which I spent reading and
listening to the radio, using my imagination as I read and
listened. These two influences shape all of my art. I often
use wet on wet with lost and found images rather than a
realistic rendering of the subject. I find it stimulating to
paint with a group of artists. The supervised study group
in the art department at Calhoun offers me an opportunity
to paint with motivated artists who help me judge and critique
my work. This gave me an opportunity to enter a
painting in the Statewide Chancellor’s Show, where I won
second place in Painting. I see colors and shapes in all
things of nature. If I can translate even a part of this beauty
onto my paper, then I feel successful.

Jayne Schmidt

Jayne Schmidt recently retired after a 39 year career in real
estate, and in 2001 Jayne and her husband built a home
on the Tennessee River at Bay Hill Village. What a difference
from living in the busy Huntsville/Madison area. The
quiet life of waterfront living was a perfect retreat and
source of inspiration for continuing her art. Her formal
studies started at Kent State and Akron University many
years ago, and since retiring four years ago Jayne has been
enrolled in art classes at Athens State University and Calhoun
Community College in the Supervised Study Group.
People, animals, and horses are Jayne’s favorite
subjects. She has owned and shown horses most of her life
and knows them for the wonderfully majestic animals they
are. Jayne’s commissioned works have given her the opportunity
to create personalized pieces for her clients. If
you’re interested in a commissioned art piece, please contact
Jayne at jayneschmidt@charter.net or 256-444-0222.

Apple’s New E-Textbook Platform Enters an Already Crowded Field

Apple’s recent offer of free software for publishing iPad-friendly electronic textbooks has met with both praise and condemnation.  Some say it puts publishing in the hands of the users while others contend that since it’s only compatible with expensive Apple hardware it would merely shift profits from print publishers to Apple Inc.

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Campus Reactions to Apple’s Entry Into E-Textbook Market

Wikipedia will be down tomorrow in protest over SOPA and PIPA. Please take this as an opportunity to try Credo Reference if you haven’t already.  Whereas many instructors won’t accept Wikipedia as a source, Credo articles come from a wide variety of vetted and credible sources so it’s safe to cite, but still offers a great depth of information on a subject from multiple sources.  Credo has even been described by one of our librarians as a “scholarly Wikipedia.”  Try it and see for yourself.

We will be closed Monday, January 16th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We will be open 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 7:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Friday, January 20th.

Keeping books shelved in the right place may be harder than you think.

 

As author John Scalzi points out, “This would be difficult to do with eBooks.”

This activity isn’t limited to bookstores, as seen in an earlier animation from the same artist.  Could libraries be next?

Tuesday – Thursday

7:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.

 

Friday

7:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Calhoun Community College’s redesigned website just debuted.  Be sure to follow the Library link in the upper right corner to view the new Calhoun Libraries site as well.

Merriam-Webster picks ‘pragmatic’ as Word of Year

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2011 is a very practical choice.  Utilitarian even.  Yes, it’s quite logical and sensible.  The Word of the Year is “pragmatic.”

Next Monday through Thursday (December 19th-22nd), the libraries will be open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

We will be closed Friday, December 23rd through Monday, January 2nd.  We will reopen Tuesday, January 3, 2012.