November 2009 Archives

On November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published, changing the way we look at life on our planet.

Our library database Access Science contains a concise biography of Darwin in which the origin of On the Origin of Species is described, beginning with Darwin's scientific work aboard the HMS Beagle, the ship on which he traveled for almost five years:

"Before the voyage of the Beagle Darwin, like everyone else at that time, did not believe in the mutability of species. But in South America he saw fossil remains of giant sloths and other animals now extinct, and on the Galapagos Islands found a colony of finches that he could divide into at least 14 similar species, none of which existed on the mainland. It was obvious to him that one type must have evolved into many others, but how they did so eluded him. Two years after his return he read Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), which proposed that the human population is growing too fast for it to be adequately fed, and that something would have to happen to reduce it, such as war or natural disaster. This work inspired Darwin to see that the same principle could be applied to animal populations and he theorized that variations of a species that survive (while other members of the species do not) pass on the changed characteristic to their offspring. A new species is thereby developed which is fitter to survive in its environment than was the original species from which it evolved."

Here is a passage from The Origin in which Darwin describes the process of natural selection: 

"It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers, at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life."

You can read Darwin's published works, including On the Origin of Species, at darwin-online.org. UMUC library databases contain scholarly and popular articles about him, such as these articles in Academic Search Complete.

Happy birthday, Origin! 

[Photo of Darwin from http://darwin-online.org.uk/]

Feeding America is an online collection of American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th centuries. It was created by the library and the museum at Michigan State University. You can browse the collection or search within it for specific information.

This kind of collection is useful for researchers in many fields: women's studies, history, sociology, etc. Not to mention people who just like to cook!

Image source: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/index.html

Every year, editors at the New Oxford American Dictionary choose a word of the year. For 2009, it's unfriend: what you do to a former friend on Facebook or other social networking site.

Other trending words in 2009 include:

• intexticated - distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle
• netbook - a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
• freemium - a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
• ecotown - a town built and run on eco-friendly principles

For help with words old and new, see our library Guide to Dictionary and Encyclopedia Resources.

For all of you with literary aspirations, this is the month to get started.  If you are thinking of writing the next great American novel, check out the resources and ideas available on the National Novel Writing Web site.

Also, be sure to look at the resources the library provides on our Literature subject guide and Writing subject guide.

Who knows, you could become the next winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Atyourlibrary.org, the American Library Association's public awareness campaign to promote libraries and librarians, is holding a creative essay contest.

Submit your essay before December 7, 2009, for a chance to win $350 and have your essay published on the At Your Library Web site. Essays can be text, multimedia, even music videos. They do not have to be long. The theme is your experience at your local library and the fundamental spirit and importance of American libraries.

Details, including how to submit your essay, are at the contest Web page.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress hosts read.gov, a Web site with resources on books, reading, and literacy for kids, teens, adults, and educators and parents. You'll find classic books to read online, author Webcasts, contests, and more.