This Week in CQ Researcher

Managing Nuclear Waste
by Jennifer Weeks, January 28, 2011


Should spent fuel be stored at Yucca Mountain?

Thousands of tons of lethal nuclear waste from civilian power plants and military sites are stored at more than 100 sites around the country. But the federal government doesn’t have a long-term plan today for managing nuclear waste. In the 1980s, Congress decided to build a single underground repository for spent fuel and highly radioactive defense waste in the southern Nevada desert. But work on the Yucca Mountain complex has faced political and technical problems and was canceled by President Obama, who advocates a new storage solution.

Cancellation has created uncertainty for the nuclear power industry and for states where military waste is stored. It also is forcing utilities to pay to store used nuclear fuel at reactors – costs they pass on to customers. Some utilities have won multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the federal government, and more cases are pending. Obama supports expanding nuclear power as a clean energy strategy, but if the waste problem isn’t solved, new reactors may be a hard sell in many states.

• Is transporting radioactive waste dangerous?
  
• Should Congress revive the Yucca Mountain repository?
  
• Should the U.S. recycle plutonium from spent fuel?
  

To read this article and others visit our Articles and Databases webpage and click on CQ Researcher. Select theOff Campus Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.

Got a Question? Need an Answer?

Try our Online Reference Chat Service

Real People - Real Help - Real Fast

24 hours a day, 7 days a week

http://www.swccd.edu/~library/ask.htm

ARTstor: Images from The Barnes Foundation

ARTstor has collaborated with the Barnes Foundation to share more than 400 images of works from the permanent collection in the Digital Library. The current release features 59 works by Henri Matisse, as well as other works in the permanent collection, including European and American paintings, works on paper, and objects.

The Barnes Foundation houses one of the most renowned collections of French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early modern art, including masterworks by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso.

To view ARTstor from off campus locations you need to create an ARTstor account at http://www.artstor.org/ from any computer on the Southwestern College campuses.

You could win $250

Once again the Friends of the SWC Library are sponsoring an essay contest for currently enrolled SWC students. There will be two prizes of $250 each. The essay prompt is based on this year’s College Book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Here is the essay prompt:

Pick a character from The Help about whom you have strong feelings . . . someone you really liked, or hated, or felt sorry for. Write an essay analyzing and explaining your choice. Use quotes and page numbers from the book to help support your explanation. Footnotes and Works Cited are not necessary.

Please note that only original submissions that are the student's own work will be considered. Please do not research or use any sources other than The Help. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in disqualification.

Essays must be no more than three pages and submitted by email to essaycontest@swccd.edu before 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, 2011. Late entries will not be accepted! A separate page (not counted in the three maximum) must give the student’s name, SWC ID #, email address, and telephone number. This page will be separated from the essay and a code will be assigned to the it so the judges will not know the identity of the student. No identifiers (name, ID #, etc.) are to appear in the essay itself.

Prizes will be given at the Student Awards Ceremony in May.

Questions? Contact Diane Gustafson at 482-6433 or dgustafson@swccd.edu

CountryWatch: Ireland

This online resource brings together in a concise and useful form, a key set of political, economic, and business information for 192 countries worldwide. Countrywatch also provides news related articles from 12 international news services on a country by country basis as they occur. Within this resource is a Map Gallery that supplies regional and country maps in a variety of sizes and formats. In addition, thematic maps and indexes cover a variety of cultural and economic subjects.

Each month Countrywatch highlights a Featured Country. Ireland is the featured country for January. The country report provides additional insight to Ireland's significant budget deficit and dangerous economic situation. The country report covers not only economic information but also political, environmental, historical, cultural etiquette, a travel guide and health advisory for all 192 countries.

To use the CountryWatch online database visit our Articles and Databases website http://www.swccd.edu/~library/articles.htm. CountryWatch is listed with our other reference resources. To access this resource from off campus locations you must be a currently enrolled student or staff member at Southwestern College. You can request the username and password for CountryWatch by using our Password Request Form at http://www.swccd.edu/~library/Passwordrequest

Have a Cell Phone? Text a Librarian?

Have a question? Text us!
We now offer free text message reference services.
(standard message rates apply)

Text us at 66746 and start your question with swclib
Example: swclib What are the library hours on Saturdays?

We will respond as soon as possible.

Save us in your contacts and send us questions when your on the go!

Got a Question? Need an Answer?

Try our Online Reference Chat Service

Real People - Real Help - Real Fast

24 hours a day, 7 days a week

http://www.swccd.edu/~library/ask.htm

Check It Out

Too Big to Fail: The inside story of how Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system and themselves
by Andrew Ross Sorkin
New Book Shelf -- HB 3722 S659 2009

What happened in the world of high finance during September 2008 doesn't suit a simple story of heroes and villains, though in Andrew Ross Sorkin's reading of events, it does take on the form of a thriller. Sorkin, a business reporter and columnist for the Times, tells the story of how the financial crisis unfolded from the perspective of some of the giants of finance.

Too Big To Fail introduces the principals in the Wall Street firms at the heart of the risk-management crisis, and the point men and women for the Treasury and the Federal Reserve tasked with preventing the implosion of the entire global financial system. Sorkin was right in the middle of the crisis when Bear Stearns collapsed, Lehman folded, AIG wobbled, the government propped up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs became commercial banks to save their hides.

Check out Too Big to Fail, available now in the library on the New Book Shelf New Book Shelf HB 3722 S659 2009

Current Periodicals On Display

The library provides a display of over 50 current periodical titles in our Current Periodicals display area near the entrance of the library.

You'll find the most recent issues of various magazines like, Business Week, Fitness, Parents, Road and Track, Rolling Stone, Scientific American and many other titles.

To view our complete list of periodicals, use our online Periodicals Holding List

Drop by and browse the information in over 50 magazines next time your in the library.


Library hours during the spring semester are Monday through Thursday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, Friday 8:00 am to 2:00 pm and Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Check It Out

The Brothers Coen: Unique Characters of Violence
by Ryan P. Doom
New Book Shelf -- PN1998.3.C6635 D66 2009.

Despite the prizes and international acclaim, the films of Joel and Ethan Coen continue to divide their viewers. This study of the cinema of Joel and Ethan Coen examines the theme of violence that runs through the brothers' work via chapters that scrutinize the motives, thoughts, and actions of the principal characters in each of the Coens' films. In the world depicted in the films, suggests the author, violence always has devastating, unintended consequences on the characters, both for those who live by violence and those who are just bystanders to the violent acts of others. This book covers the Coens' films through the 2008 release "Burn After Reading". This book will interest both film scholars and cinema fans.

Check out The Brothers Coen: Unique Characters of Violence , available now in the library on the New Book Shelf New Book Shelf PN1998.3.C6635 D66 2009.

This Week in CQ Researcher

Cameras in the Courtroom by Kenneth Jost, January 14, 2011

Should TV be allowed in federal courts?

Television cameras have been allowed in state courts for more than 30 years, but the Supreme Court and federal judiciary have been staunchly opposed to video coverage of trials or appeals. Media groups and others say that video coverage of courts helps educate the public about the legal process while strengthening public accountability over the judicial system.

Some, but not all, criminal defense lawyers worry that televised trials can jeopardize defendants’ rights. The most significant resistance to cameras in the courtroom comes from judges and some private lawyers who discount the claimed benefits and warn that cameras could invite grandstanding by lawyers or risk intimidating jurors and witnesses.

The Supreme Court recently made audio tapes of arguments more readily available, but the justices show no sign of welcoming cameras into their hallowed courtroom in the foreseeable future.

• Has television coverage of state courts been a success?
  
• Should federal courts permit television coverage of trials, including criminal cases?
  
• Should the Supreme Court permit live audio and video coverage?
  

To read this article and others visit our Articles and Databases webpage and click on CQ Researcher. Select the Off Campus Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.

Martin Luther King Jr Day

In honor of Martin Luther King Day here is a list of resources about Dr King.

• The King Center - http://www.thekingcenter.org/
  Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  
  
• Martin Luther King Jr Project Paper - http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/
  A collection of primary and secondary documents pertaining to Martin Luther King , Jr., held at Stanford University.
  
  
• Martin Luther King Jr Speeches - http://www.mlkonline.net/speeches.html
  A collection of some of the most famous, and thought provoking speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King's. This also includes video content of Dr King.
  
  
• Presidential Proclamation--Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday -
  President Obama's written proclamation, of January 17, 2011, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday.
  
  
• Southwestern College Library - This list includes 56 resources about Dr King. It includes print, electronic and media resources in the Southwestern College library .

Got a Question? Need an Answer?

Try our Online Reference Chat Service

Real People - Real Help - Real Fast

24 hours a day, 7 days a week


http://www.swccd.edu/~library/ask.htm

ARTstor: New Collection News

ARTstor has collaborated with The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art to share approximately 1,300 images from the museum's permanent collection in the Digital Library. The museum's holdings comprise more than 15,000 works in six primary areas of interest and acquisition: European art before 1900; Ancient art; decorative arts; modern and contemporary art; Chinese ceramics; and non-western art. The core consists of the personal collection acquired by John Ringling (1866 – 1936), circus promoter and best-known of the five siblings who started the Ringling Bros. Circus in 1884.

In 1925, Ringling engaged architect John H. Phillips to design a museum to house his personal collection of art. Located in Sarasota, Florida, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, was officially opened to the public in 1931.

ARTstor is also sharing nearly 5,000 images of posters and photographs documenting the history of the circus from The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art: Circus Collection.

To view The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art collection: go to the ARTstor Digital Library, browse by collection, and click "The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.


To view ARTstor from off campus locations you need to create an ARTstor account at http://www.artstor.org/ from any computer on the Southwestern College campuses.

America's Historical Newspapers - 1690-2000

This new online resource allows you to search or browse American newspapers published from 1690 to 2000. You can also view the full text newspaper articles using either a timeline or by a topic search. This database of news information provides eyewitness accounts and pro/con articles of events, issues and daily life in the colonies or during the Revolutionary War, westward expansion, the Civil War, Reconstruction, industrialization, the Progressive Era, World War I, the Great Depression, Vietnam War, World War II, Civil Rights Movement, Cold War, globalization and other eras.

Also included are illustrations, advertisements, classifieds, obituaries, stories about historic people and other articles exactly as they appeared in print.

To access this resource from off campus locations you must be a currently enrolled student or staff member at Southwestern College. You can request a username and password for American's Historical Newspapers by using our Password Request Form at http://www.swccd.edu/~library/Passwordrequest

Spring orientations for online students

Enrolled in on online class? Spend 60 minutes with us first.

Attend a one-hour introductory session on campus and learn about SWC’s Blackboard Online Learning System. Find out what is expected of students in an online course, how to login, navigate and use course tools and much much more.

For a complete schedule of orientation sessions, visit the Online Learning Center help site:
http://www.swccd.edu/~olss/OnlineOrientations.htm

Free, no signup necessary join us in room L244 in the Library and Learning Resource Center.