E-Book of the Week: Irrational Security : The Politics of Defense from Reagan to Obama

Wirls, Daniel. Irrational Security : The Politics of Defense from Reagan to Obama.
Baltimore, MD, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

Daniel Wirls describes Irrational Security as “a purposefully compact critical history of the relationship between military policy and national politics from 1989 to 2009.” In this survey of the modern military-industrial complex, Daniel Wirls demonstrates that when it comes to national security, America is beholden to the results of hawkish policies and commitments to excessive military spending, regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans control Congress or the White house. National security policy, in Wirls’ critique, has derived largely from efforts to satisfy various domestic interests rather than genuine security concerns.
Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.

E-Book of the Week: Management Across Cultures

Steers, Richard M., Sanchez-Runde, Carlos J., Nardon, Luciara. Management Across Cultures: Challenges and Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

According to the authors, in a survey among US college students, only 7 percent could identify the national origins of many of their favorite brands, including Adidas, Samsung, Nokia, Lego, and Ericsson. In particular, quality ratings of Nokia cell phones soared when students believed (incorrectly) that they were made in Japan. This book addresses how management works in different parts of the world and, equally important, why these differences occur. With chapters such as "Communication Across Cultures," "Culture, Work and Motivation," "Inside the Managerial Mind," "Developing Global Management Skills," and "Leadership and Global Teams," this work digs deeper into the underlying reasons for global differences, and this information can help managers be more effective in their work or students become more familiar with global issues in the field of management. Two appendices, the first on models of national cultures and the second on OECD guidelines for global managers, offer more insight into expanding communication literacy amongst cultures.

Previewed by Joanne Helouvry, Head of Research and Instruction. Click here to read this book.

E-Book of the Week: Counseling Practicum and Internship Manual

Hodges, Shannon. Counseling Practicum and Internship Manual: A Resource for Graduate Counseling Students. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2010.

This book is an excellent tool for graduate counseling students as they apply for and complete internships and practica. It provides helpful advice on how to select and apply for internships/practica. It also walks students through some of the issues they will probably face while completing their internships/practica, including ethical issues, multicultural issues, how to manage stress, crisis intervention, and how to terminate the counseling relationships at the end of the practicum/internship. The book also addresses practical matters such as clinical writing skills and what students can expect during the classroom component of their internship/practicum and their site supervision.

Previewed by Danielle Whren Johnson, Digital Access Librarian. Click here to read this book.

E-Book of the Week: Children's Nature

Paris, Leslie. Children's Nature: The Rise of the American Summer Camp. New York: NYU Press, 2008.

Drawing upon camp archives as well as the writings of children (diaries, letters home), Paris presents a history of the American summer residential camp, the aspirations of the adults who created them (physical and moral invigoration for their children, temporary liberation from parental duties for themselves) and the experiences of the children who attended them from the late 19th century through the 1930s. As the nation became increasingly industrialized, many adults began to see summer camps as a way of recapturing a simpler time when contact with nature was more common. Early camps catered to the Christian elite, but as the movement flourished during the Progressive era, camps for Jewish and other working-class urban children grew in number. In the first part of the book Paris discusses the “ideological, economic, physical, and social landscape of summer camps” in the early years, while the second part focuses on the interwar years when ideals and expectations began to change. While some children, like Charlie Brown, did not enjoy being shipped off to camp, Paris concludes that for the great majority of children this was an enjoyable, even transforming, experience.

Previewed by Jack Ray, Associate Director. Click here to read this book.

E-Book of the Week: Chic Ironic Bitterness

Magill, R. Jay. Chic Ironic Bitterness. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009.

In Chic Ironic Bitterness, author Jay Magill takes a rambling stroll through Western popular and intellectual traditions to discern the origins, purposes, and perception of irony in current culture and individual consciousness. His focus and anchor is recent (post-9/11) American culture, and he is trying to locate both what irony is and what it does. He champions the validity of comedic/political discourse in American popular culture such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Simpsons, and The Onion, and makes compelling arguments that satire speaks most effectively to people who have turned ironically ‘inward’ in an effort to hold themselves above the inauthentic mainstream of American culture.

Magill’s prose lurches between the drily academic and the snarkily adolescent, in ways that are sometimes charming and sometimes clumsy, but the overall effect is entertaining, informative, and even thought-provoking. This shelf-life of this sort of cultural argument is brief (it’s only two years old, and some of its references already seem slightly dated), so read it today! Then you can be, like, all ironic and stuff, or whatever.*

*This closing sentence is a self-aware device meant to ironically distance the writer from any earnest conclusions he appears to have reached in the course of the review.**

**This second footnote, like the first, is meant to evoke the multilayered consciousness necessary to maintain an ironic viewpoint – a technique popularized by such popular postmodern authors as David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers, both of whom are quoted by Magill in his book.Ψ


Ψ Magill likes footnotes. A third footnote on a page, like this one, is a common occurrence in the text.

Previewed by John Breitmeyer, Research and Instruction Librarian/Web Support Specialist. Click here to read this book.

E-Book of the Week: The Motivated Student

Sullo, Bob. The Motivated Student: Unlocking the Enthusiasm for Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2009.

The Motivated Student provides strategies to engage and internally motivate students in order to create a meaningful learning environment. Chapters offer firsthand accounts of classroom management techniques to integrate into the classroom as well as those to avoid. Sullo’s book presents an approach that educators can incorporate into their teaching in order to minimize classroom disruptions and inspire achievement.

Previewed by Julie Nanavati, Research and Instruction Librarian. Click here to read this book.

New Interface for RefWorks Staring May 25

On May 25th we will be moving from the current Refworks platform to Refworks 2.0. You can access Refworks 2.0 right now by logging in and clicking on "Refworks 2.0" at the top right. To change back prior to May 25th, click on Refworks Classic.

To help with this transition, the library will be offering a session on Thursday, June 2, from 2-3pm. Come enjoy cookies and tea and get a demo on the new Refworks platform. Please RSVP to Joanne  Helouvry at jhelouvry@loyola.edu / jhelouvry@ndm.edu or 410-617-6834.

The new platform has a clean design and has many features that will make it easier for you to organize your research. Some of these features include rollovers to allow you to view a reference without clicking on it, a new right hand navigation bar that allows you to quickly access the things you need, and RefShare, which will allow you to share folders with students and classmates. The familiar toolbars at the top of the page are still there and our search for full-text button is still with each reference.

RefWorks has created a multi-part tutorial for the new platform. Click here to access the tutorial - you have the option of watching screencasts or downloading PDFs.