Grandin describes how a life of sensory overload – loud noises, sudden changes, and large crowds, for example, can cause an autistic person intense distress.  It’s as if the filter that most people have that prevents us from sensing and responding to more than is necessary in our environments is either not present or damaged in an autistic person.  The movie provides many glimpses into Grandin’s mind as she becomes more and more able to relate how her thinking works.  What is clear to me after watching, is that autism was and still is a completely misunderstood disorder.

As a child, Grandin’s mother was told that they should institutionalize her.  Luckily for her, the animal world, and us, her family did not listen and persisted with her education.  The road was not without great challenges for Temple and her family, but I think her life is  a wonderful example of how not writing one’s intelligence off because they do not function “normally” is imperative.  We are only yet to understand this complicated disorder and, until we do, understanding, love, patience, and kindness seems to have the potential to help unlock the autistic mind.

We have everything you need at the library (and know how to point you to the best of the ‘net!) to learn more about Temple Grandin and her accomplishments as well as autism:

BOOKS

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin

Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism by Temple Grandin & Kate Duffy

Humane Livestock Handling by Temple Grandin & Mark Deesing

Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports From My Life With Autism by Temple Grandin

The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism by Temple Grandin & Sean Barron

WEBSITES

Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence
My nephew is autistic so someone forwarded me this powerful story about Carly. It’s an amazing short piece that really demonstrates how intelligent and capable many people afflicted with this disorder are.

A Conversation with Temple Grandin (NPR)
This is the first I had heard of Dr. Grandin back in 2006 and the interview is fascinating.

Dr. Temple Grandin’s Official Autism Website
This website links to all of Dr. Grandin’s presentations, books, articles, and more on autism. You can also ask Dr. Grandin questions about autism and she’ll respond on the website.

Dr. Temple Grandin’s Web Page
This page links to Dr Grandin’s works about animals and her designs for the humane slaughter of livestock.

In Depth with Temple Grandin
A video interview from C-SPAN BookTV

Temple Grandin: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds
A TED talk by Grandin in which she discusses how her mind works and the world’s need for many different types of minds.

Posted by Bonnie, a second floor librarian

Corvallis has long been on the forefront of environmental and sustainability initiatives and the library is a proud partner in that effort. As such, we are happy to share that we have a new database this year: Global Reference on the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources (GREENR). GREENR offers authoritative, current and expansive content focused on environment and sustainability topics.

GREENR is perfect for researchers, students, professionals and community members who are interested in environmental topics. For example:

• Students will find resources covering science, history and politics.
• Professionals will find data on law, economics, politics, resource management and other issues tied to business success.
• Job seekers will learn about the education required to enter the green-collar marketplace.
• General patrons will find timely information on wide-interest topics like food safety and public transportation.

GREENR is truly a one-stop site, combining a wealth of resources, including news, unique commentary, audio, video, primary source documents, and case study statistics. Navigating GREENR is easy because of its web-like interface, making it intuitive and user-friendly. New information is added daily, making it a great place to research timely information and current hot topics.

One particularly unique feature of GREENR is its country, topic/issue, and organization portals, which cover 160 nations, over 150 different topics and issues (from animal welfare to solar energy), and overviews and links to major environmental international associations (from Greenpeace to the World Wildlife Fund).

Like all of our databases*, GREENR is accessible via an Internet connection, with your library card, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If you would like to give it a try, access it from our A to Z database page.

Books, Videos, and other resources:

In addition to GREENR, we carry a wide variety of resources on sustainability and the environment. Additional searching in our catalog for key words such as solar power, recycling,  green living, environmental protection will retrieve great resources.

Local Resources:

Interested in getting involved in sustainability issues in your local community? Check out the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition and Corvallis Independent Business Alliance for more information.

If you have questions about GREENR or any of our other resources, please feel free to contact a librarian via email or phone at askalibrarian@ci.corvallis.or.us or (541) 766-6793.

* Exception: Ancestry.com is only accessible in the library.

To learn more about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy, check out the suggestions below. (To view additional library resources on Dr. King, view a larger list here).

Books from the Library Collection:

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. / edited by Clayborne Carson

Martin Luther King, Jr. / Marshall Frady.

He had a dream : Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights movement / by Flip Schulke

DVDs from the Library Collection:

Citizen King (PBS documentary)

Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” (documentary of the speech and the 1963 Civil Rights march at the Lincoln Memorial)

Martin Luther King, Jr. “Leading America to the Promised Land” (CBS documentary)

On the web:

MLK Jr. Research and Education Institute: Hosted by Stanford University, this is a very comprehensive site that includes links to his speeches, papers, audio/video/multimedia, an encyclopedia and more.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial: Website dedicated to the National Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The King Center: Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to advancing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Lindy, a second floor librarian.

Photo credit: Library of Congress

If you aren’t familiar with opencourseware (OCW), it is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. MIT is a leader in this area, having opened up many of their courses in 2002 and expanding ever since to include access to syllabi, exams, assignments and solutions. MIT Opencourseware, now in its 10th year, includes nearly 2,100 MIT courses and has been used by more than 100 million people.

Reading the article above made me think about other free, awesome educational websites that are open to anyone, any time. I’d like to share them with you!

Kahn Academy: The Kahn Academy has a library of over 2,700 videos and 268 practice exercises “covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.” Their mission is to help people learn what they want, when they want, at their own pace. The Kahn Academy is a great place for short, informative videos on old-school subjects (geometry, anyone?) to current, timely issues (can someone please break down mortgage-backed securities please?) The Kahn Academy videos work for people of all ages, with videos covering developmental math through organic chemistry. Named one of Time’s Top 50 websites of 2011, I highly recommend them.

Academic Earth: Academic Earth was founded with a goal of extending high-quality online learning opportunities to people around the globe. Academic Earth provides videos of college-level lectures from professors from many top universities in the US (e.g., Yale, Harvard, Stanford, NYU), covering over 30  subjects (from art & architecture to writing). AE was one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 websites in 2009.

OpenCulture: Although not an opencourseware site, they do provide links to many open courses. Dubbing themselves as having “the best free cultural and educational media on the web,” they update daily with informative, educational material and serve as a one-stop-shop for such things. Beyond their comprehensive link to free courses, they also offer links to free audio books, textbooks, movies, and language lessons. (Scroll past the advertisements to get to the good stuff).

Opencourseware Search: The OCW search engine searches for open courses over 10 universities. This can help you shop for courses in one place.

To find more open courses at other universities (beyond what the OCW search engine retrieves), try this little search in the Google machine: “opencourseware site:.edu” (without the quotes), and all sorts of goodies from various universities will be retrieved — Tufts, Notre Dame, the University of Utah, the University of California, Irvine, Harvard, John Hopkins School of Public Health, and many more.

The opencourseware movement is changing the way education is accessed, providing an opportunity to get educated for free, any time, any place, from excellent teachers!

Posted by Lindy, a second floor librarian.

Image credit: ralph and jenny

First on my list is Colleen Morton Busch’s 2011 nonfiction piece, Zen Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire at the Gates of Tassajara. I picked up this read almost entirely because of the cover art: a striking photo of five monks wearing a mish-mash of wildland firefighting gear and traditional robes. What I didn’t expect was Busch’s ability to weave a tactical discussion of wildland firefighting effortlessly within a larger narrative of Zen Buddhism as it exists in the mountains of the Los Padres National Forest.

Coincidentally Tassajara features a few yurts that had to be defended from the flames, which leads me to my next recommendation. Becky Kemery’s Yurts: Living in the Round allows readers to take a walk on the rounder side of living. Kemery offers a detailed and thoroughly researched historical account of yurts as they existed in times gone by. She compliments this with a discussion of more contemporary yurt structures both here and abroad. Adding to her thorough research is a wide array of beautiful photographs and a yurt resource list at the back of the book. Did you know that there are two large yurt manufacturing companies right here in our backyard? Check out yurts.com and yurtworks.com to view contemporary yurt offerings in Eugene and Cottage Grove.

Vegetable basics: 84 Recipes Illustrated Step by Step by Jody Vassallo is my final suggestion for those looking to make some lifestyle changes of the dietary variety. Vassallo’s cookbook can inspire even the pickiest eater to reconsider the world of vegetables. Photographs by Clive Bozzard-Hill jazz up already great recipes and highlight some of the cooking techniques needed to make them a hit in your household. Vegetables make regular appearances in my kitchen, but in 2012 they are coming back around with a whole new attitude.

Posted by Ashley, Extensions Librarian

Watch this video for a good overview on the mission, and then visit the website for more detail.

The Kepler Mission is NASA’s first mission capable of finding earth-like planets orbiting stars in the habitable zone– the area not too close nor too far from the star.  This is the area where liquid water is thought to be, and where there is liquid water, we may find life.

The library has lots of books on astronomy and star gazing shelved in the 520s and 530s.  Let us know if we can help by stopping by the reference desk or calling us at 541-766-6793.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Police Dog, Tess, 29/1/35 / by Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales collection via Flickr

With all of the technical difficulties during the past couple of weeks it has been a strong reminder to me that communication is a big part of our business.

We want to be available in person at the library, but also we want to be where you are, and enable you to contact us in the manner you prefer. We also want to keep you updated on all of our programs, services and the wonderful new stuff we are adding to our collection on a daily basis. Your input, comments and questions are important and we hope you use one or more of the many ways listed below to keep in contact with us.

Phone:
541-766-6793

Email:
askalibrarian@ci.corvallis.or.us

Chat:
http://www.oregonlibraries.net/widget/corvallisbenton_county_library

Text:
Text us a question at 66746 and include the keyword CBCPL

Suggest Titles for our Collection and Request Interlibrary Loans:

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/request-materials-librarylinks-105

Get Suggestions for Good Reads:

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/request-materials-librarylinks-105/901-readers-advisory

Follow Us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/corvallislib

Friend Us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/cbcpl

Get our Bimonthly Library Newsletter:

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/about-your-library-librarylinks-95/110

Keep Updated on New Items in our Collection:

http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/addnluser.html?sid=6680

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

Vote by Theresa Thompson on Flickr

Tonight is the last of the League of Women Voters’ Election Forums. Here at the Corvallis Library Main Meeting Room from 7 pm to 9 pm Benton County Commissioner candidates and ballot measures will be discussed.

Regardless of who (candidates) or what (measures)  you are voting for or against, the library is here to support your right to vote in whatever way you see fit.

Here is some election related information we hope you will find useful.

We are a ballot drop site.  You can drop off your ballots at the Corvallis or Philomath libraries.

Corvallis Public Library
645 NW Monroe Ave – Corvallis
Mon – Thur 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
Fri -Sat 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Philomath Public Library
1050 Applegate St – Philomath
Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Tue, Wed 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

More ballot dropsites

Still trying to decide?  Want to check your registration status?

State Voter’s Pamphlet

County Voter’s Pamphlet

My Vote
This is the website offered by the Oregon Secretary of State that enables you to check your registration and track your vote.

Benton County Elections Office

If you need additional information, please feel free to contact the Second Floor Librarians.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

Candles of Prayer, by Werner Kunz on Flickr

In the news last week were the results of a survey of Americans’ knowledge of religion. The atheists and agnostics scored the highest on a 32-question quiz that tested knowledge from the Bible, understanding of separation of church and state, and familiarity with world religions, religions that have come to be the religions of our friends and neighbors.

I took a shorter 15-question quiz on the Pew Forum web site to see how I would do.

If you want to cram for the quiz, you could go to Religion Facts’ Big Religion Chart. But it’s more fun to just take the quiz untutored and see how you compare.

If you feel like your religion IQ is a bit low, you have resources aplenty at the library. You can browse the books, the DVDs, the books on CD in the 200s call numbers.  You can also find downloadable audiobooks and ebooks on religion through Library2Go. Ask us at the desk, call us 541-766-6486, email us or chat with us online if you want any assistance.

Posted by Amy, a second floor librarian

Enjoy free, unlimited access to interactive skillbuilding courses in math, reading, writing and computer programs like like Excel, Word and Adobe Photoshop. You also have access to a variety of practice tests based on official exams such as the ACT, SAT, GED, ASVAB Core, and EMT Basic, firefighter, police officer, paramedic, Allied Healthcare, U.S. Citizenship and many more.

The LearningExpress Library^TM online learning platform provides over 770 of the most up-to-date test preparation and skill-building resources. In addition, job-skills tutorials are available to assist in creating a great resume, honing interviewing techniques, and improving business communications. Patrons also have the option of selecting from more than 130 e-Book titles to help learners of all ages prepare for success. This innovative platform includes self-paced study, instant scoring, and diagnostic feedback .

LearningExpress, LLC, is a leading provider of print and online educational and professional resources that are used in over 4,000 libraries and 5,000 schools and benefit over one million students, teachers, administrators, and career professionals around the country.

To access learning express go to http://corvallis.libguides.com/education or http://corvallis.libguides.com/atoz.  These are just two of our great research pages located under the Research link at http://www.thebestlibrary.net/

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian