Online Resource Spotlight

What is the NC LIVE Video Collection?

The NC LIVE Video Collection is a collection of more than 250 high quality documentary and educational video programs produced for the Public Broadcasting Corporation. Chosen by North Carolina librarians for use in supporting education and for general interest, the collection includes programming covering the sciences, US and world history, biography, current events, and the arts, as well as a variety of other subjects. In addition, several educational series for children are included

What titles are included in the video collection?

The video collection is comprised of programming in the sciences, history, biography, the arts, and a variety of other subjects. This includes Ken Burns’ Baseball, The Civil War, and Jazz as well as the selected episodes from series such as American Experience, Frontline, Scientific American Frontiers, and the childrens’ programs Cyberchase and Liberty’s Kids.

For a complete listing of the titles, go here.

Print Reference Resources

In her article for the Daily Vidette Ashley Vasquez probes the question “Why is our society obsessed with serial killers?”

Nick Maroules, a sociology professor who teaches courses in criminology, commented that people have always been interested in these sorts of shocking crimes. “It’s a combination of things. People are driven by fear; they’re afraid of it, they’re shocked and they want to understand it,” Maroules said. “If somebody goes into an office and kills ten people and then kills himself, it seems so out there, so intense, they don’t have any way to explain it, or understand it. It’s somewhat natural for people to be extremely taken by these kinds of things.

 “I think there’s just a general fascination with crime in our society but particularly with serial murderers because their behavior falls so outside the norm,” Jeffrey Walsh, criminal justice professor, said. “It’s easy to be intrigued by these extreme and particularly violent individuals in our society. Fortunately, most of us aren’t used to and can’t relate to them, so it draws our attention.” (Vasquez 2010)

No matter if it is fascination or an education in Criminal Justice that has you delving into the world of crime, there are several resources available to our students and patrons that will help:

The Book of Assassins: A Biographical Dictionary from Ancient Times to the Present By George Fetherling   

HV6245 .F44 2006 REF

The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Michael Newton    

HV6245.N49 2000 REF

Hunting Humans : An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers by Michael  Newton    HV6515.N49 1990 REF

Bloodletters and Badmen : A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals From the Pilgrims to the Present by  Jay Robert Nash  

HV 6785 .N37 1995 REF

The Historical Atlas of American Crime by Fred Rosen

HV 6779 .R67 2004 REF

The Encyclopedia of American Crime by Carl Sifakis      

HV 6789 .S54 REF

Website Spotlight

Solar System Scope

Interactive 3D model of Solar System Planets and Night Sky

SSS will illustrate real-time celestial positions with planets and constellations moving over the night sky. You can actively change parameters for a better understanding of happenings in our Solar System and the Universe.

Did you know?

In 1971 Ray Tomlinson sent the first successful email from one computer, to another sitting right next it – through ARPANET. He used the @ sign to delineate what host the user receiving the message was on, as ARPANET had a number of hosts systems connected to it. His machine was a Digital Equipment Corporation KA10 (PDP-10) with 64K (36-bit) words of (real magnetic) core memory, which is known today as a ‘calculator’. The message received would be printed out on a teletype machine. Tomlinson can’t remember his first message but stated it was “QWERTYUIOP or something similar.”

Web Tool Spotlight

KnightCite Citation Generator

KnightCite is an online citation generator service provided by the Hekman Library of Calvin College. This service simplifies the often tedious task of compiling an accurate bibliography in the appropriate style by formatting the given data on a source into a reliable citation, eliminating the need to memorize minute details of style for multiple kinds of sources. The service is provided free of charge by the college, and is available to members both within and outside of the Calvin community. There is no advertising on the site, and those who choose to register on the site will have the option of saving all of their citations and even multiple bibliographies to their account.