The History of Veterans Day

Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France, wait for the end of hostilities. This photo was taken at 10:58 a.m., on November 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War I went into effect

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…“

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

(Info from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)

Need information on the military? Military history is shelved by region and period of history in D-F, and military science books are shelved in the U’s on the 4th floor. You can also search our database, Military and Government Collection, which provides news and information from all branches of the U.S. military and government.

On the hunt for information? Safari books are now in the catalog!

Safari Books Online is the premier on-demand digital library providing over 9,800 technology, digital media and business books and videos online. These books are available completely electronically, and can be browsed either through the Safari site, OR, now Safari books will appear in a FSC catalog search along with the print books on our shelves.

Safari’s titles range from desktop publishing and graphics to HCI, IT management and software engineering. Check out some of the current titles in Safari:

Building Social Web Applications, Gavin Bell

 

CSS: The Missing Manual, David Sawyer McFarland

 

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book, Adobe Press

Want better grades? Use the library!

Some recent studies on library use by the Primary Research Group shows that the more students use the library and library resources, the higher their grade point average. Some other interesting facts from the study:

• Nearly 29% of students say that Google, Yahoo and other major search engine searches were the most important information source for their last research assignment.
• More than 9% of information needed for research papers was sourced from Wikipedia or other wikis.
• The higher the grade point average the less information for research papers was obtained from search engines such as Google or Yahoo.
• The higher a student’s grades the more likely was that student to have visited the library within the past month.

AND

• 9.87% of the students in the sample said that asking the reference librarian a question was a little embarrassing and that consequently they tried to figure it out for themselves, and another 10.38% said that the reference librarians seem busy and that is seems that they would be pestering them by asking them for assistance.

We’re never too busy! Come to the desk, email us, meebo us or phone – we can help you get the information you need for your research.

Flu, Pandemics, and H1N1

The college has created a webpage and emailed all students with information about the H1N1 flu, and steps the college is taking to prevent new cases and minimize the impact of any cases that do arise on campus. The library has put together a variety of books and resources on the flu, epidemics, and pandemics throughout history to provide more information – check out the display by the reference desk on the 1st floor of the library.

You can also find out more about H1N1 at the following websites:

CDC (Center for Disease Control) H1N1 Page

WHO (World Health Organization) H1N1 Page

MA Office of Health & Human Services H1N1 Page

EBSCOhost H1N1 – A collection of resources from EBSCO

A Free Seasonal Flu Clinic, for students only, will be held on Thursday, October 22, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at Health Services in the Anthony Building. Given that the college has only received half of our requested shipment, the number of available doses is limited. Those with asthma, diabetes or any chronic condition that impairs the immune system are strongly encouraged to arrive at the clinic when it opens so you will be guaranteed a shot.

Got iTunes? Get FREE videos, content and more at iTunes U!

iTunes U is a part of the iTunes Store featuring free lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, and more, that you can download to your iPod, iPhone, Mac or PC. There are over 200,000 educational audio and video files from top universities, museums and public media organizations from around the world. In fact, the Library of Congress is now partnering with iTunes U to provide content from their archives, including historical video such as original Edison films and videos of author presentations at the National Book Festival, and podcasts with content from the American Folklife Center, including slave narratives and series such as “Music and the Brain”.

Visit Apple’s introductory page about iTunes U to find out more, or access content directly through the iTunes store.

Best of all, ALL iTunes U content is FREE!

Free Lecture for Banned Books Week – TODAY!

Please join Professor Dan Sarefield today at 5:30 PM in the Ellis White Lecture Hall in the Hammond Building for the talk, “The War Against Books in World History”. Professor Sarefield will examine the intentional destruction of books in human history and explain when, how, and why books first came to be banned and burned; and why forms of censorship continue to endanger freedom of thought and expression today.

Celebrate Banned Books Week!

What do To Kill a Mockingbird, The Chocolate War and the Harry Potter series have in common? They are all on the list of the most frequently challenged or banned books from 1990-1999.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the First Amendment.  Banned books have been been targets of attempted bannings.  A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.  A banning is the removal of those materials.  Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.  Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.

This year libraries are celebrating Banned Books Week from September 26 – October 3 to draw attention to the books and empower readers to exercise their First Amendment rights by reading them.  Stop by the Library this week to take a look at some of the banned books in our collection – you may be surprised by some of the titles!

More information can be found on these sites:

• The American Libraries Association’s information gateway on Banned Books Week
• Links to lists of Banned Books by decade, author and year from the American Libraries Association
• Blog on Banned Books, Freedom of Expression and Other Forms of Censorship
• Freedom to Read Foundation
• National Coalition Against Censorship

There and Back Again

On September 21, 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien published a novel titled The Hobbit to wide critical acclaim, and winning a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book led to Tolkien’s three-volume opus, The Lord of the Rings (did you know that Tolkien, a philologist, actually created a number of languages for his books?), which in turn inspired the Oscar-winning films and countless fantasy and science-fiction imitators.

Do you need reviews, summaries, criticism, or articles on literary works like The Hobbit? Try our database The Literary Resource Center. It provides full-text information on thousands of literary works, authors and poets from all genres, time periods and regions of the world. You can read plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies, listen to podcasts, and much more – all from authoritative sources you can use in your research!

(You can also read The Hobbit [call #PR6039.O32H62 1997] and many other current and older books – ask a librarian if we have a title or browse the literature in the Ps on the 4th floor.)

Did you know…?

The library has a group study room?

You can access all of the library’s databases from our website, on or off-campus?

You can print wirelessly from your laptop anywhere in the library?

There are research guides with tons of resources for every course of study at FSC?

Your librarians are always here to help!

How to print at the library

We get a lot of questions the first week on how to print. It’s really pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

1. Click “Print” in whatever application you are using.

2. Choose “Library Printspool 1 on UNIPRINT” or “Library Printspool 2 on UNIPRINT” (You may need to scroll to see these options.)

3. A dialogue box should pop open asking you to enter your Falcon Key and Password.

4. Go to the print-queue computers by the printers. Swipe your OneCard.

5. Find your job in the queue and click on it.

6. Click “Print” and enter your password again. Viola!

You can also print wirelessly in the library. Go to the Mobile Printing page on the IT site to download the correct driver for your computer.

Remember to print wisely! Print only what you need, use print preview, print six powerpoint slides to a page – you help keep our campus green!