Happy Holidays!

While the choir doesn’t sound quite as gleeful as it might, here’s a link to one of the cheeriest carols around, Walt Kelley’s ‘Deck Us All With Boston Charlie’ from Pogo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL0lPcNwRqQ

The Reference News Blog will return in early January.

The Consortium Library Prize lauds an exemplary undergraduate research project from any discipline which demonstrates evidence of significant scholarly investigation and utilization of library resources, print and archival as well as electronic. The selected student will be officially recognized university-wide and will be honored with a $500 award.

Deadline: The fall 2016 deadline is December 9th at 5:00pm.

To Apply: To apply, complete this cover sheet and submit, with your project, following instructions from the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Eligibility: Applicants must meet the following criteria:

Research projects can be submitted by either December 9, 2016 or March 21, 2017. Projects must have been completed in the Spring 2016, Summer 2016, or Fall 2016 semester. Research projects completed in Spring 2017 are eligible for the award as long as the final project can be submitted by the spring deadline.

To learn more about this prize, you can visit the Consortium Library Prize guide.

If don’t already have coverage for 2017, you may be eligible to sign up for health insurance through ACA’s Health Care Marketplace.  Open enrollment runs from November 1 – December 15, 2016 for coverage starting January 1.

If you miss the open enrollment deadline, January 31, 2017 is the last day to sign up to receive coverage for 2017.

There are many types of plans, so to help you decide, check out this helpful guide on the Affordable Care Act and Insurance Exchanges, kindly compiled by Sigrid Brudie, Alaska Medical Library.  Alaska-specific information is included there as well.

Despite election promises to end ACA, experts say to go ahead and sign up since laws prevent your policy from being cancelled during 2017.  If Congress ends the subsidies before the year is out, you can drop the coverage without penalty.

A great series of books we have in the Reference Collection is the magnificent Handbook of the Mammals of the World from Lynx Edicions. ‘Handbook’ is a bit of a misnomer, as you’d need Hagrid’s hands to hold one comfortably; they’re closer to coffee table books in size, but the content is scientific in scope and presentation rather than general interest. The books are beautifully and profusely illustrated with wonderful color photographs, drawings, and range maps, and filled with scientific descriptions of each mammal. The articles are good starting points for further research on a given animal; there is also an extensive bibliography at the end of each volume. Six out of a projected nine volumes have been published since 2009:

Volume 1: Carnivores
Volume 2: Hoofed Mammals
Volume 3: Primates
Volume 4: Sea Mammals
Volume 5: Monotremes and Marsupials
Volume 6: Lagomorphs and Rodents I

We will soon have Volume 6, while the remaining volumes to be published are:

Volume 7: Rodents II
Volume 8: Insectivores
Volume 9: Bats

And did I mention the amazing photographs? Hunting, eating, resting, mating, raising young, and even spy hopping, where whales in a vertical posture raise their heads above the surface of the water so that they can see what’s going on – the photographs are stunningly good and a great complement to the articles. You can find the first five volumes in the Reference Collection at this call number:

REF QL701.2 .H36 2009

They’re well worth taking a few minutes to get acquainted with. Enjoy!

Where can you find reliable information about your local community and the United States? Discover this and more at the Population and Economic Data Workshop taking place at the library tomorrow, October 18, 2016 from 9 AM to 4 PM. The event features presenters from the Alaska Department of Labor, the United States Census Bureau, and the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs. We will have a full day of workshop sessions, and you can attend just one or all of them. Spots are still available; view the schedule and sign up here: register to reserve seats.

Can’t attend? Try exploring the data and statistics sources listed on the Government Information research guide: http://libguides.consortiumlibrary.org/government_information.