South College Library Blog - Library at South College

Introducing… O'Skullivan!

The winning name was suggested by CBE Doctor of Education student Joshua Anderson. Joshua will receive a $10 Amazon gift card as a reward. Congratulations, Joshua!

Stay tuned for more exciting events and contests sponsored by the South College Library.

Recent Posts

November's Featured Ebooks: Comfort Food

Did you know that the South College Library provides students, faculty, and staff access to over 100,000 ebooks? The changing foliage, cooler temperatures, and fall holidays energize many people to cook, bake, and share their favorite dishes with family and friends. Enjoy this collection of recipe books from cultures around the world and get inspiration for your latest culinary creation!Comfort Food A Domestic Cook Book by Malinda Russell Publication Date: 2025A Domestic Cook Book (1866) by Malinda Russell is the oldest known published cookbook written by an African American woman. This book contains 260 recipes and household tips that draw from Malinda Russell's twenty years of experience cooking in Southern kitchens, her boarding house, and her pastry shop, and showcase her skills as a pastry chef. This new edition includes a foreword by scholar Rafia Zafar as well as an introduction by the late food historian Janice Bluestein Longone that contextualize Russell's cookbook. The Mexican Chile Pepper Cookbook by Dave DeWitt; José C. Marmolejo Publication Date: 2022The Mexican Chile Pepper Cookbook is the first book to explore the glories of Mexican regional cooking by focusing on this single, but endlessly variable, ingredient. Authors Dave DeWitt and José C. Marmolejo feature more than 150 recipes that celebrate the role of chiles across appetizers, soups and stews, tacos, enchiladas, tamales, moles, and vegetarian dishes. Comprehensive glossaries of Mexican chiles, cheeses, and food terminology are also included. Savor the history, culture, and recipes of Mexican regional home cooking highlighted in this unique, full-color cookbook and explore the various chile peppers showcased in this spicy trek south of the border. Sephardi by Hélène Jawhara Piñer Publication Date: 2021In this extraordinary cookbook, chef and scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer combines rich culinary history and Jewish heritage to serve up over 50 culturally significant recipes. Steeped in the history of the Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spain) and their diaspora, these recipes are expertly collected from such diverse sources as medieval cookbooks, Inquisition trials, medical treatises, poems, and literature. Each creation and bite of the dishes herein are guaranteed to transport the reader to the most deeply moving and intriguing aspects of Jewish history. Jawhara-Piñer reminds us that eating is a way to commemorate the past. Eating with the Tudors by Brigitte Webster Publication Date: 2023An extensive collection of authentic Tudor recipes that tell the story of a dramatically changing world in 16th-century England. Eating with the Tudors highlights how religion, reformation and politics influenced what was served on a Tudor's dining table from the very beginning of Henry VII's reign to the final days of Elizabeth I's rule—and features recipes from suckling pigs to pax cakes. Spice up your culinary habits and step back in time to recreate a true Tudor feast by impressing your guests the Tudor way or prepare a New Year's culinary gift fit for a Tudor monarch. Kitchen Arabic by Joseph Geha Publication Date: 2023As much a memoir as a cookbook, Kitchen Arabic illustrates the journey of author Joseph Geha’s early years in America and his family's struggle to learn the language and ways of a new world. A compilation of family recipes and of the stories that came with them, it deftly blends culture with cuisine. With this book, Geha shares how the food of his heritage sustained his family throughout that cultural journey, speaking to them—in a language that needs no translation—of joy and comfort and love. Eating Wild Japan by Winifred Bird; Paul Poynter (Illustrator) Publication Date: 2021A delicious collection of essays, recipes, and practical plant information exploring Japan's thriving culture of foraged foods. From bracken to butterbur to'princess'bamboo, some of Japan's most iconic foods are foraged, not grown, in its forests, fields, and coastal waters—yet most Westerners have never heard of them. In this book, journalist Winifred Bird eats her way from one end of the country to the other in search of the hidden stories of Japan's wild foods, the people who pick them, and the places whose histories they've shaped. You can find these and more through the South College Library’s digital collection on the library website. ...

Announcing the Winner of the Name the Skull Contest

Thank you to everyone who participated in last month's Name the Skull Contest. We had over 450 entries and tons of creative names to choose from. After careful thought and heated debate, the staff of South College Library has selected the winning name: O'Skullivan.Introducing… O'Skullivan!The winning name was suggested by CBE Doctor of Education student Joshua Anderson. Joshua will receive a $10 Amazon gift card as a reward. Congratulations, Joshua!Stay tuned for more exciting events and contests sponsored by the South College Library....

Fake News: Separating Fact from Fiction in a Post-Truth World

What is fake news? Is it malicious—or just lazy? And what can we do to avoid it? Read below to understand this phenomenon and how you can navigate our changing media landscape.The End of Traditional PublishingIn the past, information came to us through only a few established, official channels, such as the evening news, the local newspaper, or a traditional publishing house. Information transfer through these methods was slow, as each news interview, article, or book passed through multiple hands in the selection, editing, and distribution process. By contrast, in today's world of instant communication, information comes to us from an unlimited number of sources. We watch vloggers discuss important topics on TikTok or YouTube, download ebooks directly from the author's webpage, or stream a podcast from our smart phones. Without the traditional publishing process, this information is distributed immediately and often without any oversight. This results in a large amount of misinformation that end users have to sift through on their own.The Rise of Fake NewsWhile a lot of bad information comes from those with good intentions (but poor quality control), there has also been a rise in malicious actors who spread false information on purpose. They may be doing so for a variety of reasons, from getting people to buy their products to convincing people to vote a different way in an election. Fake news can range from covering a news story in a biased manner to completely inventing information with the intent to influence readers.SMART EvaluationAs end users of information, what can we do? One helpful tool is the SMART evaluation. While reading, consider the following:SourceWho is the author or publisher? Are they an expert on the topic? What kind of website does this appear on?MotivationWhat is the purpose of the information? Is this fact, opinion, or propaganda? Does the information have a political or ideological bias?AccuracyIs the information supported by evidence with its sources cited? Has the information been reviewed by experts? Can you verify the same information in another source? Is the information free from errors in spelling or grammar?RelevanceWho is the intended audience of this information? TimelinessWhen was this information published or updated? Are the links functional?Keep these tips in mind when reviewing any new information, especially when researching for your coursework. Check out additional resources below.For more tips and sources, check out the South College Library's Fact-Checking: How to Guide Research Guide.Library ResourcesAfter Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News Publication Date: 2020An HBO documentary on the consequences of disinformation and fake news in the era of social media. Bad News: Why We Fall for Fake News by Rob Brotherton Publication Date: 2020 Rob Brotherton delves into the psychology of news, reviewing how the latest research can help navigate this supposedly post-truth world. Detecting Deception: Tools to Fight Fake News by Amanda Sturgill Publication Date: 2020 Pithy and practical, Amanda Sturgill draws from present day news examples to help students recognize the most common bad arguments people make. Fake News and Alternative Facts by Nicole A. Cooke Publication Date: 2018 Readers will learn more about the rise of fake news, particularly those information behaviors that have perpetuated its spread; discover techniques to identify fake news, especially online; and explore methods to help library patrons of all ages think critically about information, teaching them ways to separate fact from fiction.Useful WebsitesSnopes.comPolitiFactAllSides: Balanced News from the Left, Center and RightFactCheck.org...

October's Featured Ebooks: Spooky Season

Did you know that the South College Library provides students, faculty, and staff access to over 100,000 ebooks? October is officially Spooky Season, so let’s get into the spirit with books about the paranormal, occult, and downright scary. Spooky Season Theorising the Contemporary Zombie by Conor Heffernan (Editor); Scott Eric Hamilton (Editor) Publication Date: 2022Zombies have become an increasingly popular object of research in academic studies and, of course, in popular media. Over the past decade, they have been employed to explain mathematical equations, vortex phenomena in astrophysics, the need for improved laws, issues within higher education, and even the structure of human societies. Theorising the Contemporary Zombie defines zombiism as a means of theorizing and examining various issues of society in any given era by immersing those social issues within the destabilizing context of apocalyptic crisis; and applying this definition, the volume considers issues including gender, sexuality, family, literature, health, popular culture and extinction. A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture by Violet Fenn Publication Date: 2021An exploration of the continuing appeal of vampires in cultural and social history. Our enduring love of vampires—the bad boys (and girls) of paranormal fantasy—has persisted for centuries. Author Violet Fenn takes the reader through the history of vampires in “fact” and fiction, their origins in mythology and literature, and their enduring appeal on TV and film. The book delves into the sexuality—and sexism—of vampire lore, as well as how modern audiences still hunger for a pair of sharp fangs in the middle of the night. Haunted Homes by Dahlia Schweitzer Publication Date: 2021Haunted Homes is a short but groundbreaking study of homes in horror film and television. While haunted houses can be fun and thrilling, Hollywood horror tends to focus on haunted homes, places where the suburban American dream of safety and comfort has turned into a nightmare. From classic movies like The Old Dark House to contemporary works like Hereditary and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, Dahlia Schweitzer explores why haunted homes have become a prime stage for dramatizing anxieties about family, gender, race, and economic collapse. This lively and readable study reveals how and why an increasing number of films imagine that home is where the horror is. Haunted Kansas by Lisa Hefner Heitz Publication Date: 2023Who's that? Is someone there? A whisper of air brushes your cheek. Then all is still. Maybe it was just the wind. Or maybe it wasn't....The evanescent apparitions of these tales have frightened and at times amused Kansans throughout the state's long history. Yet this is the first book to capture for posterity the lively antics of the state's ghostly denizens. Besides preserving a colorful and imaginative, if intangible, side of the state's popular heritage, Heitz supplies ghost-storytellers with ample hair-raising material for, well, eternity. Maybe that person breathing softly behind you has another such story to share. Oh, no one's there? Perhaps it really was just the breeze off the prairie. Witchcraft and Adolescence in American Popular Culture by Miranda Corcoran Publication Date: 2022In the decades since the Second World War, the teenage witch has emerged as a major American cultural trope. Appearing in films, novels, comics and on television, adolescent witches have long reflected shifting societal attitudes towards the teenage demographic. At the same time, teen witches have also served as a means through which adolescent femininity can be conceptualized, interrogated and reimagined. Drawing on a wide theoretical framework—including the works of Deleuze and Foucault as well as recent new materialist philosophies—this book explores how the adolescent witch has evolved over the course of more than seventy years. Vampirology by Kathryn Harkup Publication Date: 2021Our fascination with the vampire myth has scarcely diminished since Bram Stoker's publication of the classic Dracula tale in 1897, but how much of the lore is based in fact and can science explain the origins of horror's most famous fiend? Vampirology charts the murky waters of the vampire myth – from stories found in many cultures across the globe to our sympathetic pop-culture renditions today – to investigate how a scientific interpretation may shed light on the fears and phenomena of the vampire myth. You can find these and more through the South College Library’s digital collection on the library website. ...