Viewers of the Winter and Summer Olympics may want to understand why certain countries dominate the medals count. For example, as of February 14, Germany was first in the Winter Olympics in gold medals, followed by Switzerland, Canada and the Netherlands. For the last Summer Olympics, in 2012, the top gold medal winners were the United States, China, Great Britain and Russia.
The library's Culturegrams database is a good source for learning about the recreation pursuits of countries. To reach the database, go to www.slcl.org, then select the Research tab, then select databases a-z on the left side, then C, then Culturegrams. Once in the database, choose the world edition, then type in the name of the country. In the country's profile is a link for recreation. This informative database tells us that the most common sports in Germany are hiking, skiing, swimming, cycling, tennis and soccer. In Switzerland, the popular sports are ice hockey, soccer, skiing, biking, and tennis. For China, the top sports are soccer, table tennis, swimming and badminton. Those who live in the Netherlands enjoy soccer, tennis, hockey, ice skating and cycling.
One of the best features of this database is that it gives users a sense of what it is like to live in a country. At the top of each country's profile is a section called "Did you know?"
For the Netherlands, a fun fact is that Christmas gifts are exchanged on December 6, St. Nicholas Day. Canada stretches across six time zones.
For the curious, as well as students and their teachers, Culturegrams is an invaluable supplement to the Olympics.
--Harry C., Reference
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Movie Time
Do you want to find out more about Oscar-nominated films? Along with library subscription databases, the St. Louis County Library Research page has a curated list of useful websites, such as Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Fans of 2013's top movies can find a wealth of information from the library's home page.
Which Best Picture nominee received the highest rating from users of IMDb? Was it American Hustle, Gravity, Captain Phillips, or Dallas Buyers Club? The highest rated film by viewers was Gravity with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Did you know that the movie is 90 minutes long, the same time that it takes the International Space Station to orbit the Earth?
IMDb also has links to biographical information for actors, directors, producers and others involved with films. An intrepid user can use IMDb to locate similar films to favorite ones ("People who liked this also liked" feature).
For those actors who are deceased, the database American National Biography offers authoritative biographies, along with a bibliography of books about the subject. The listing for Bob Hope features nine book references and the date of his New York Times obituary. The database Biography Reference Bank features both living and deceased celebrities. The Historical New York Times database and the General OneFile and Masterfile Premier magazine databases allow for exhaustive research on a film or celebrity. With the library's tools at hand, the movie buff will impress all at Oscar time.
--Harry C., Reference
Which Best Picture nominee received the highest rating from users of IMDb? Was it American Hustle, Gravity, Captain Phillips, or Dallas Buyers Club? The highest rated film by viewers was Gravity with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Did you know that the movie is 90 minutes long, the same time that it takes the International Space Station to orbit the Earth?
IMDb also has links to biographical information for actors, directors, producers and others involved with films. An intrepid user can use IMDb to locate similar films to favorite ones ("People who liked this also liked" feature).
For those actors who are deceased, the database American National Biography offers authoritative biographies, along with a bibliography of books about the subject. The listing for Bob Hope features nine book references and the date of his New York Times obituary. The database Biography Reference Bank features both living and deceased celebrities. The Historical New York Times database and the General OneFile and Masterfile Premier magazine databases allow for exhaustive research on a film or celebrity. With the library's tools at hand, the movie buff will impress all at Oscar time.
--Harry C., Reference
Monday, February 10, 2014
Personalized Reading List
In August, the Reference Department launched a new Readers’ Advisory service called Personalized Reading List for Adults. This service helps readers find the most suitable and most enjoyable reading materials to match their needs and interests. You can find the form on the left side of the “Books, eMedia, & More” webpage on the SLCL website.
The form lets you indicate genre, format, and page limit preferences, as well as tell us about your author and title likes and dislikes or other personal information that may influence your reading choices. An email address is required, but a library card number is not necessary. You will receive your customized reading list, of three to five titles, via email within a week.
So the next time you are looking for a read-alike for your favorite author, or want to explore a new genre, try our Personalized Reading List service.
--Peggy D. and Sarah S., Reference
The form lets you indicate genre, format, and page limit preferences, as well as tell us about your author and title likes and dislikes or other personal information that may influence your reading choices. An email address is required, but a library card number is not necessary. You will receive your customized reading list, of three to five titles, via email within a week.
So the next time you are looking for a read-alike for your favorite author, or want to explore a new genre, try our Personalized Reading List service.
--Peggy D. and Sarah S., Reference
Monday, February 3, 2014
LearningExpress Library
LearningExpress Library will soon be launching a new platform. The old platform will continue to work until June 30. You will not be able to access any practice tests, resumes, etc. that are saved in the old LearningExpress Library after June 30 date so be sure to save anything that you would like to keep.
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