Two of three Americans frequent a public library at least once a year, and nearly that many are registered borrowers. Although library authorities have argued that the public library functions primarily as a civic institution necessary for maintaining democracy, generations of library patrons tell a different story.In Part of Our Lives, Wayne A. Wiegand delves into the heart of why Americans love their libraries. The book traces the history of the public library, featuring records and testimonies from as early as 1850. Rather than analyzing the words of library founders and managers, Wiegand listens to the voices of everyday patrons who cherished libraries. Drawing on newspaper articles, memoirs, and biographies, Part of Our Lives paints a clear and engaging picture of Americans who value libraries not only as civic institutions, but also as social spaces for promoting and maintaining community.Whether as a public space, a place for accessing information, or a home for reading material that helps patrons make sense of the world around them, the public library has a rich history of meaning for millions of Americans. From colonial times through the recent technological revolution, libraries have continuously adapted to better serve the needs of their communities. Wiegand goes on to demonstrate that, although cultural authorities (including some librarians) have often disparaged reading books considered not "serious" the commonplace reading materials users obtained from public libraries have had a transformative effect for many, including people like Ronald Reagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Oprah Winfrey.A bold challenge to conventional thinking about the American public library, Part of Our Lives is an insightful look into one of America's most beloved cultural institutions

    With such essentials well in hand, the searcher can plunge into almost any database that comes along and master its intricacies (and idiosyncrasies) in relatively short order. Bell's conversational style, coupled with her Searcher's Toolbox, promises increased flexibility and adaptability. This book will prove a handy guide for librarians in every conceivable information environment and across all levels of experience.

    There are more than 130 illustrators represented and 190 literary works over three volumes—many newly commissioned, some hard to find—reinterpreted here for readers and collectors of all ages.Volume 1 takes us on a visual tour from the earliest literature through the end of the 1700s. Along the way, we're treated to eye-popping renditions of the human race's greatest epics: Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey (in watercolors by Gareth Hinds), The Aeneid, Beowulf, and The Arabian Nights, plus later epics The Divine Comedy and The Canterbury Tales (both by legendary illustrator and graphic designer Seymour Chwast), Paradise Lost, and Le Morte D'Arthur. Two of ancient Greece's greatest plays are adapted—the tragedy Medea by Euripides and Tania Schrag’s uninhibited rendering of the very bawdy comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes (the text of which is still censored in many textbooks). Also included is Robert Crumb’s rarely-seen adaptation of James Boswell’s London Journal, filled with philosophical debate and lowbrow debauchery.Religious literature is well-covered and well-illustrated, with the Books of Daniel and Esther from the Old Testament, Rick Geary’s awe-inspiring new rendition of the Book of Revelation from the New Testament, the Tao te Ching, Rumi’s Sufi poetry, Hinduism’s Mahabharata, and the Mayan holy book Popol Vuh, illustrated by Roberta Gregory. The Eastern canon gets its due, with The Tale of Genji (the world’s first novel, done in full-page illustrations reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley), three poems from China’s golden age of literature lovingly drawn by pioneering underground comics artist Sharon Rudahl, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a Japanese Noh play, and other works from Asia.Two of Shakespeare’s greatest plays (King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and two of his sonnets are here, as are Plato’s Symposium, Gulliver’s Travels, Candide, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Renaissance poetry of love and desire, and Don Quixote visualized by the legendary Will Eisner.Some unexpected twists in this volume include a Native American folktale, an Incan play, Sappho’s poetic fragments, bawdy essays by Benjamin Franklin, the love letters of Abelard and Heloise, and the decadent French classic Dangerous Liaisons, as illustrated by MollyCrabapple.   Edited by Russ Kick, The Graphic Canon is an extraordinary collection that will continue with Volume 2: "Kubla Khan" to the Bronte Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray in Summer 2012, and Volume 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest in Fall 2012. A boxed set of all three volumes will also be published in Fall 2012.

    But we did it.In Upturn Tanya Plibersek brings together some of the country's most interesting thinkers who are ready to imagine a better Australia, and to fight for it. It is a compelling vision for a stronger economy, a fairer society and a more environmentally sustainable future.

     Spot inconsistencies and lies, and apply logic to your daily life. If you want to become a critical, effective, and rational thinker instead of an irrational and snap-judging one, this book is for you. Critical thinking skills strengthen your decision making muscle, speed up your analysis and judgment, and help you spot errors easily. The Critical Mind offers a thorough introduction to the rules and principles of critical thinking. You will find widely usable and situation-specific advice on how to critically approach your daily life, business, friendships, opinions, and even social media. Critical thinking not only saves you time but saves you money and helps you prevent misunderstanding and disappointment. • Learn the main elements of critical thinking. • The theories and practices of the best critical thinkers of the world. • Tips to keep your brain in good shape and receptive to analysis. • Solve your problems with critical thinking. • Become a quicker and better decision maker. Cut out the inefficiencies of your life. The Critical Mind is a guideline for everyone who wishes to learn the basics of critical thinking. If you work in business, education, healthcare, or you study, you’ll find the book equally useful. The book takes a deep look at the framework of geniuses like Richard Paul and Linda Elder to give you a well-established foundation on effective thought. • Become a more effective communicator having relevant argument points. • How to apply critical thinking in a group. • Guiding questions that help you think more critically. • Four types of critical thinking exercise to deepen your knowledge each day. The Critical Mind gives you the best theories and practices to become a more successful and better thinker. Know that the people whom you admire for their mind aren’t aliens, they just use their minds differently. In this book, I unveil how and what they do differently. Delete this. Too repetitive. Put something about the author Discover hidden opportunities, gain a solution-oriented mindset, solve difficult tasks, and understand the world more deeply. Critical thinking will enhance your creativity, logic, intelligence, and helps you navigate through everyday life matters more easily. Think faster, argue better, and succeed consistently.

    They discover powerful skills—problem-solving, critical thinking, and imagination—that will help them shape the world’s future … our future. If that’s true, why isn’t creativity a priority in more schools today?Educators John Spencer and A.J. Juliani know firsthand the challenges teachers face every day: School can be busy. Materials can be scarce. The creative process can seem confusing. Curriculum requirements can feel limiting. Those challenges too often bully creativity, pushing it to the side as an “enrichment activity” that gets put off or squeezed into the tiniest time block. We can do better. We must do better if we’re going to prepare students for their future.LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student provides a process that can be incorporated into every class at every grade level ... even if you don’t consider yourself a “creative teacher.” And if you dare to innovate and view creativity as an essential skill, you will empower your students to change the world—starting right now. Look, Listen, and LearnAsk Lots of QuestionsUnderstand the Problem or ProcessNavigate IdeasCreateHighlight What’s Working and FailingAre you ready to LAUNCH?"Required reading for every teacher who cares. A dramatic re-framing and a road map on how to rebuild our schools from the inside." —Seth Godin, author of Stop Stealing Dreams“All kids walk into school curious and creative. This book will help weave a path to ensure that these traits are not only maintained, but accentuated when those same students leave.” —George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset“The LAUNCH framework John Spencer and A.J. Juliani present has the potential to dramatically change classrooms to be more engaging, student centric, and most of all, fun!” —Dr. Jackie Gerstein, online faculty for master’s degree programs in educational technology“This book, crafted by John and A.J., provides educators with a series of actionable steps regarding design thinking, while simultaneously dispelling common myths and dissolving perceived roadblocks to success.” —Sarah Thomas, regional technology coordinator, founder of #EduMatch

    For the fifth edition, Mary Lynn Rampolla -- who is active in the fields of both history and composition -- provides more practical help with basic skills and new coverage of more sophisticated critical-thinking skills such as analyzing an assignment, reading critically, and constructing a strong argument. Organizational changes over several chapters make it even easier for students at all levels to find the information they need to succeed in their course, saving instructors valuable class time.

    This unique budgetary survival guide will enhance your instructional, technical, and managerial skills not only as the school′s leader but also as the school′s visionary, planning coordinator, and budgeting manager.

    THE MULTIPLAYER CLASSROOM: DESIGNING COURSEWORK AS A GAME is your detailed guide to designing any structured learning experience as a game. Written for professional educators or those learning to be educators, here are the tools to engage and excite students by using principles learned in the development of popular video games. Suitable for use in the classroom or the boardroom, the book features a reader-friendly style that introduces game concepts and vocabulary in a logical way. You don't need any experience making games or even playing games to use this book. Yet, you will learn how to create multiplayer games for any age on any subject. Bring your classroom into the 21st century!

    Groundbreaking in every way when first published, this book is a simple, straightforward, direct calculus text. It's popularity is directly due to its broad use of applications, the easy-to-understand writing style, and the wealth of examples and exercises which reinforce conceptualization of the subject matter. The author wrote this text with three objectives in mind. The first was to make the book more student-oriented by expanding discussions and providing more examples and figures to help clarify concepts. To further aid students, guidelines for solving problems were added in many sections of the text. The second objective was to stress the usefulness of calculus by means of modern applications of derivatives and integrals. The third objective, to make the text as accurate and error-free as possible, was accomplished by a careful examination of the exposition, combined with a thorough checking of each example and exercise.

    Written by two authors who have won millions of dollars in grants -- and updated to include vital information and advice accumulated since The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need first appeared -- this new edition provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for grant writers, demystifying the process while offering indispensable advice from funders and grant recipients. It includes the following. Guidance on developing a realistic, cost-effective, collaborative program Concrete suggestions (with practice exercises and examples) for approaching each section of a grant so that the proposal is absolutely clear to the funder A glossary of terms with any word, phrase, or concept a grant writer may need, plus fifty tips for writing a winning proposal Funders roundtables put you inside the minds of the people who award grants

    Who is the most important person in your organization to lead your teams through these changes? Gallup research reveals: It’s your managers.While the world’s workplace has been going through extraordinary historical change, the practice of management has been stuck in time for more than 30 years. The new workforce -- especially younger generations -- wants their work to have deep mission and purpose, and they don’t want old-style command-and-control bosses. They want coaches who inspire them, communicate with them frequently and develop their strengths. Who is the most important person in your organization to lead your teams through these changes? Decades of global Gallup research reveal: It’s your managers. They are the ones who make or break your organization’s success. When you have great managers who can maximize the potential of every team member, you will see organic revenue and profit growth, and you will give every one of your employees what they most want today: a great job and a great life. This is the future of work. It’s the Manager  includes exclusive content from Gallup Access -- Gallup’s new workplace platform, chock full of additional content, tools and solutions for business. Your book comes with a code for the CliftonStrengths assessment, which reveals your top five strengths.

    It is a book that models the types of issues that best suit different approaches and allows students to understand when to use mixed methods. Furthermore, its focus on theory and paradigms is done in a way that helps students decode their meaning." --MARTHA MONTERO-SIEBURTH, University of Massachusetts, BostonNew to the Second Edition:Because mixed methods research has come into its own since the publication of the first edition, every chapter now shows how to implement a mixed methods design in your proposal or plan as well as showing how to implement qualitative and quantitative approaches Ethical issues that may arise in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs have been added to a new section in Chapter 3 Writing tips and considerations have been expanded and moved to the first part of the book to get your research plan started in the right direction The latest developments in qualitative inquiry, including advocacy, participatory, and emancipatory approaches have been added to Chapter 10 Mixed methods procedures (Chapter 11) show readers how to identify types of mixed methods strategy, select data collection and analysis approaches, and plan the overall structure of the study

    The authors explain what giftedness means, how gifted kids are identified, and how we might improve the identification process. Then they take a close-up look at gifted kids from the inside out (their self-image and self-esteem) and the outside in (challenges to their well-being from their family, school, peers, and society in general).

    One day an invitation arrives. Peyton has been selected to attend a luxurious all-expense-paid seminar in Iceland, where participants, billed as some of the greatest thinkers in the world, will be charged with answering one perplexing question. Meeting her diverse teammates--two neuroscientists, a philosopher, a dance teacher, a collage artist, and a farmer--Peyton wonders what she could ever have to contribute. The ensuing journey of discovery will transform the characters' work, their biases, and themselves. This suspenseful novel shows that the answers you seek can be found in the most unlikely places. It can be read for pleasure, is a great choice for book clubs, and can be used as unique and inspiring reading in qualitative research and other courses in education, sociology, social work, psychology, and communication.