National Cookbook Month & Interlibrary Loan

 by Mary Ellen Valverde (mvalverd@stevens.edu)

Note to reader: although I wrote this blog post in October, I soon realized my post would not be up until November...so hopefully you don’t mind I’m still going to talk about cookbooks especially seeing as Thanksgiving is coming up and the holiday is all about food.  

While I was deciding on my next blog topic, my co-workers informed me that October was National Cookbook Month and I got really excited. Who doesn’t love cookbooks? Okay maybe not all college students do - I don’t think I did much cooking either now that I think about it as I only had enough money to make ramen noodles every night in college. But I’m hoping maybe you’d want to check out some cookbooks and maybe try a few recipes at home for Thanksgiving when your parents are buying the groceries or when you get great jobs and make tons of money.

There’s just something about cooking from scratch that gives me a sense of accomplishment once the meal is finished. Plus, cooking for yourself insures you have the quality of ingredients that you want as well as any substitutions that you may need. Being vegan, sometimes finding a cookbook I can use can be a bit more difficult. I don’t eat any animal products (including dairy and eggs) so I like to find cookbooks that use only the products I do eat. While searching our catalog, I found that our library only owned one vegan cookbook - which wasn’t surprising to me as mine is a very specific topic.

The good thing about our library’s catalog is that besides those from Stevens, it also shows books from other libraries around the country which you can request through Interlibrary Loan. I found a few books that looked interesting and decided to do an Interlibrary Loan to check them out before committing to buy one. One book that I found and heard great things about is Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz -

it’s supposed to be one of the staple cookbooks for vegans. I also am thinking of checking out Vegan Cooking for Carnivores by Roberto Martin to make a few things over the holidays that some of my meat eating family members might enjoy as well.

Finally, don't forget that now is the time to get a book or article from Interlibrary Loan or your final papers. We stop taking new requests by the second week of December in order to ensure delivery, so the sooner you get your request in, the better! Have any questions about ILL? Feel free to contact me!

Librarian's Favorite Books: Young Adult Action Series by Mary Ellen Valverde (mvalverd@stevens.edu)

As a librarian, one of the questions I get asked often is, “Do you get to read books all day?” Unfortunately, the answer is no, but after receiving the question a number of times, I thought I would write a post on what my favorite type of books are when I do get a chance to read during my personal time.

It may sound weird to some people but some of my favorite books are usually YA (young adult) action fiction - specifically any that have sequels, trilogies, or more. I can really get into these because I feel like I get to know the characters and stories if there are a number of books in the series.

Although nothing can surpass my undying love for Harry Potter, over the past few years I’ve been reading more action or adventure based teen fiction. My first foray into this type of book was The Hunger Games (which I’m sure many of you have read, seen the movies, or at least heard about). After reading The Hunger Games, I was surprised by how much I liked them and wanted to find more books like that series.

I know classes just started but if you find the time and enjoyed The Hunger Games, I thought you might like a few other recommendations for book series in the same genre. Here are some of my favorites:

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Divergent - You may have heard of this series that is set in post-apocalyptic Chicago because they started making movies based on them but I really recommend reading the books. I actually love reading books and then going to see the movie… then complaining about the movie because the book was so much better. This series is my second favorite after The Hunger Games. For more info check out this summary.

Maze Runner - The first book in the series was especially good. I think I probably read it in one or two sittings because the premise was so different. A bunch of teen boys wake up with no memories and are trapped in a field surrounded by a maze from which they cannot escape.

The Testing - This series is about a post-war society that selects the best new graduates to become possible leaders of its slowly revitalizing civilization. All students want to be able to pass the test but they do not know the horrors in store for them if they are chosen.

The Looking Glass Wars -  The basic premise of the stories is that the books written by Lewis Carroll are a distortion of the “real story” of Alice (or in these books “Alyss”). It was very interesting especially because I read Lewis Carroll’s books as a child and was fascinated by all the characters. I think the author, Frank Beddor, does a good job re-imagining these characters.

When looking for books that could be in the same genre of books I have enjoyed in the past, I check out GoodReads for recommendations. On Amazon, I also use the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” for other suggestions.

Two other YA series that I have heard good things about are The Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Legend if you’d like to check them out as well.

Have you read any of these series? Have any other recommendations for me?

Book Sale!

Stop by the Library for our used books sale. The books range from old textbooks to manuals to reports and proceedings covering all areas of engineering, business and technology, with even a few novels thrown in!

Prices are $2 for all hard-bound books and $1 for any softcover book. There may even be some free books hanging around if you ask nicely ;)

Faculty reception/author celebration

On Wednesday, October 7 from 4 to 6 p.m., the library will host its inaugural fall reception to welcome faculty to the library and celebrate Stevens authors. Books by Stevens authors as well as 900 journal papers from the last few years will be highlighted.

Wine and cheese will be served and it will be a great opportunity for faculty to socialize with colleagues and the library staff.

For planning purposes, faculty members & department heads are encouraged to let us know they're planning to attend by September 25. RSVP here if you would like to attend.

We look forward to seeing the faculty here at the library on Wednesday, October 7!

Final Thoughts from Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

IEEE Spectrum Online recently featured the last interview with the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who passed away last week in a Sri Lankan hospital. The interview, conducted in January, reveals the famed author as "still entranced with terraforming planets, space elevators, and the search for extraterrestrials." Read more...>>

The Library owns several copies of Clarke's works; look for them out in our online catalog!

Stevens Library Catalog Upgrade/Downtime

The Library Catalog (WebCat) will not be available from Thursday, October 18 to Sunday, October 21, 2007, while it undergoes a software update and server migration. During this time, users will not be able to search for or renew books online.

Books can still be checked in and checked out manually at the circulation desk.

Electronic books are still available online through the databases, such as
* knovel Engineering & Scientific Online References
* Engineering Handbooks Online (EngNetBase)
* Referex Engineering e-Books
* Safari Tech Books Online

Users may also check WorldCat to see if the library owns an item; however, this database will not indicate the availability or location of the item (e.g., checked-out, stacks, new books, reference), and it will not give the exact call number. If WorldCat indicates the library owns an item, one way to find the call number would be to check the Library of Congress catalog, since many of our call numbers match the records in this catalog.

We apologize for the inconvenience as we work to improve our library catalog.

Please contact the Library circulation desk at 201-216-5200, or email us at library@stevens.edu if you have any questions.