I’m back from a Book Dirt hiatus, during which I’ve been terribly sick. During my illness, I’ve had to time to contemplate and appreciate the many online resources we have to offer that allowed me to continue my work while lying weakly at home. Let me share a few that I have taken advantage of, all organized and presented to you in one efficient location: YOUR UW Tacoma Library!

All of these sources are available by starting on the homepage of the UW Tacoma Library,

• Reference Tools
  Follow this link from the left hand column on the homepage, and you will find a plethora of amazing stuff; I particularly enjoyed exploring the link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (homepage > Reference Tools > Statistics) which gave me a statistical picture of how many folks in our country have a sick leave benefit. Made me feel lucky to have such a benefit! I also searched Statistical Universe on the same page, and discovered how many people die from pneumonia per state, per year. That didn’t make me feel so good.
  
• New stuff in the Library
  Another absorbing area to explore was the New Books Lists (homepage > Faculty Toolkit > New Books Lists) which highlights all of the newest books purchased by our stalwart librarians. Since our collection is curriculum-driven, it’s fascinating to see the range of subjects. In January 2008 alone, we received titles ranging from  With Vancouver In Inland Washington Waters : Journals Of 12 Crewmen, April-June 1792to Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds : Built Environments Of Vernacular Artists Everything is ordered by subject call number, so it’s easy to find what interests you most. And don’t forget the new videos! Perhaps you need to check a stack out to occupy yourself while you sniffle on the couch: you can explore not only the newest DVDs and videos, but also the entire UW Libraries video holdings by going to our UW Tacoma Library Media page (homepage > Media Collection).
  
• Ebooks
  The UW Libraries has thousands of books available for reading online; endless hours of fun! We have Ebook collections that are general in scope, and also subject-related, from biomedical to antebellum. You can view the Ebooks available by clicking on Resources > Ebooks FAQ.

Tip of the Month

Even sickness or distance can’t prevent you from accessing the amazing resources of your Library! Be sure to contact a Librarian if you’d like to talk about online access to support your information needs. You can find all of our contact information via our Contact Us page (homepage > Contact Us) and don’t forget, we’ve got 24/7 online reference service from the same page, so ask the question whenever it comes to you. We want to serve you where and when you are!

Carole Svensson is the assistant director of the UW Tacoma Library.

Got an idea for a book to feature in Book Dirt? E-mail Carole at svensson@u.washington.edu.