History of the Library Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History of the Library - Essay Example Though the papyrus scrolls and clay tablets of Alexandria have been replaced by optical disks and flash cards, the library has remained at the center of academic endeavors. The modern school library media center remains critical to our need to have a central repository for knowledge that is available to everyone. When John Harvard gave his collection of books to the fledgling university, it was called a school library. Over the coming centuries the library would experience an evolution of the ways that information is stored and retrieved. During the 1920s, the National Education Association (NEA) enacted school library standards which paved the way for the storage of non-print media and libraries became known as instructional media centers (Wiegand, 2007, p.58) Today artifacts, digital media, and printed material of all types are networked together with the aid of massive databases. Digital electronics has made the storage and retrieval process faster, more compact, and less costly than ever before. Today the school library is more aptly known as the school library media center. Much of the evolution and restructuring of the school library media center has come as a result made by the demands to store and retrieve information in an environment of rapid technological change. After World War II film strips began to be added as they came to be viewed as items worthy of legitimate academic study. The invention of microfiche (a system of greatly reducing photo copies of documents) in 1961 started a major revolution in the media centers' long-term storage strategy (Raider, 2006). The 1969 Standards for School Media Programs published by the NEA united librarians and audio-visual specialists under the terminology of "library media program and library media specialist" (School libraries, 2008). The 1969 standards made recommendations regarding the new media of "8mm films, 16mm films, tapes and discs, slides, graphic materials, globes, maps, microforms, and transparencies (Mariea, 1998, p.182). The standards additionally defined storage space and environmental requi rements. The age of the Internet has added additional information available as digital media sources are catalogued in massive databases. The ability to digitize magazines, newspapers, books, and journals has made the information available at any school library media center almost unlimited. This has required another tier of media management as databases are responsible for cataloguing and maintaining archival issues of periodicals. Companies such as EBSCO, Thomson-Gale, and JSTOR store past issues of periodicals that are available as a subscription service. These databases, that can be accessed via the Internet, have made almost all recent periodicals, and many books, available to library patrons in digital format. Today's post-modern school library media center is a virtual library that makes vast amounts of information available almost anywhere in the world. The ability to store information in a compressed form has been accomplished by using a wide variety of media formats. Information can be stored on paper, film, plastic, and solid state electronics. This has presented the challenge of creating an environment

Great Lakes Directional Drilling :: essays research papers

Around the mitten shaped state of Michigan, five gigantic lakes encompass the coast. Providing a spot for vacationers, fisherman, and much wildlife, the Great Lakes are the pride and joy of Michigan. The history of the lakes stretches back thousands of years, where glaciers carved the lakes out of bedrock. These lakes provided a surplus of food and access to easy travel for settlers hundreds of years ago. People around the Great Lakes area appreciate the diversity of wildlife, scenery, and rarity of such landmarks. When the question of whether to drill in these lakes for oil and natural gas came up, it ignited many debates. Is our wildlife more important than oil to us? Or does the presence of oil and natural gas mean we can corrupt our environment and endanger many different types of species, along with ourselves? We find ourselves in unique situation. A debate of whether it is right to dig up oil in the Great Lakes. The lakes are known to contain oil and natural gas, but what risk does that play to our environment? The two sides in this debate both have their valid points. It is right to preserve wildlife, but oil is also a highly valuable commodity in today’s market. People often stress that we must take care of our planet because it is the only one we have. Why then do we destroy thousands of square miles of rainforest for wood? Why is there so much emphasis on industrialization, and not enough on the preservation of our Earth? Why do we need to use so much, nevertheless waste so much? Our environment and world is declining at a rate at which we cannot afford. It will be sad to see our planet in another few hundred years. We need to start preserving our environment, and not drilling our Great Lakes for oil is a great place to start. If we drill for oil, we will lose much wildlife, de stroy habitats, have possible oil spills, and in fact endanger ourselves in the long run. To extract such oil from under the Great Lakes, we would need to use directional drilling. To do this, the well is first drilled vertically, and then it is angled under the lakes at about four thousand feet to in fact reach the oil. This is a complicated process that had improved due to technology over the past twenty years.

Mexico’s Economical Crisis, Facts and Remedies

Mexico is the most advanced and developed nation in the Latin America, with a population over 96 million and per capita income about $3970 USD, it’s income ranges to the upper middle class in the Latin America. During the 60s and 70s the GDP grew by 3.5% annually, but then the crisis of 80s completely reversed the process and the whole Mexican economy went upside down followed by the 90s crisis which pushed back the GNP of the country to the 50’s level. In this paper we will discus the GDP increase and decrease of the Mexican economy facts of the crisis of 80s and 90s and GNP exchange crisis and inflation, debating about the factors involving in the crisis and discussion the ways the problem could be solved and presenting some suggestions about it.Sudden Collapse in GDP Growth; Why?As discussed in the introduction the data shows that during the seventh and eighth decade of the last century the GDP growth of Mexico showed a mean 3.5% annually growth, but after the 84 cri sis the GDP growth shrank to 0.5%. This sudden collapse has aroused suspicions about the credibility of the Mexican claim of 3.5% GDP growth annually. GDP does not measure output reliably because it includes not only the final output produced by an economy’s market, but also transactional activities, which are intermediate to production. (Wallis and North 1986; North 1987) Governments spend a large amount of money on National Defense, Justice, Social Reforms and enforcing regulations.The transactional activities regarding these issues are intermediary in nature but are included in the standard computation of GDP. During the last three decades preceding the 84 crisis transactional activities have varied. Due the change in the structure of the nation’s economy i.e. the traditional agriculture trends declined and the share of manufacturing and services in the economy increased, as well as the economic interdependence.Government’s change in policies effected the tra nsactional cost while the decreased in oil prices enhanced the process resulting the indebtedness of the government which compelled her later to take high interest loans, thus increasing inflation and the currency exchange rate became unstable . These all circumstances blew every thing out and Mexican economy was completely crushed resulting in sudden downfall of GDP.GNP Downfall in the 90s:In 1994 the GNP of the country fell down to its historical low as a result per capita income fell to the level of 50s and the plague of poverty spread all over the country leaving no one undisturbed. The main causes of this turbulence as analyzed by the economists were the demographic, environmental changes as well as the changing in the global scenario and also the emergence of NAFTA as most of the foreign investment was invested in the stock market and short term bond but all these devalued thus crushing down the peso.The increasing poverty and the deteriorating environment as well as the incre asing inflation pressurized the already decomposed economy thus the weak currency faced a sudden downfall and the rate of exchange become intolerably unstable. The monetary market was panicked by the falling currency and soon every investor threw away the Mexican currency. The GNP fell rapidly and Mexico again fell in the darkness of high interest debts, inflation and poverty.What are the Rectifications?What Mexico needed after these sudden shocks complete is overhauling of the economy by making it free from old and conservative rules and regulations. The government should continue the process of the privatization of state owned enterprises, especially the ejido (Community Land Owned by the Government). The Federal Labor Law also needs some thorough reforms. While the most important thing to do is the clear and of the Assets of Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) what ever it is deemed by the Mexican Government as a Mexican Sovereignty or not.A Promotion and Reconstruction bank should be cr eated with the initial capital as $150 billion dollars, and also the board of directors should be select among the professional and honest persons. Businesses should issue bonds of their debt for 30 years. Income tax should be reduced immediately to 20%. The government should negotiate with the United States and Canada to obliterate the taxes and tariff between the three governments thus creating a free trade market. (Valenzuela, 1999)Conclusion:To recover from the shocks of the turbulences and achieve a sustainable growth process the Mexican Government have to make radical changes in the economy and has to redesign it in a more appropriate way that the economy becomes adaptable to the modern economic circumstances.Reference:Marco Espinosa, Steven Russell, The Mexican economic crisis: alternative views, http://www.frbatlanta.org/frbatlanta/filelegacydocs/Espin811.pdfRicardo Valenzuela, 1999. A Prescription for Dealing with Mexico's Economic Crisis,   http://www.westga.edu/~bquest/ 1999/prescrip.htmlRobert A. Blecker, NAFTA, the Peso Crisis, and the Contradictions of the Mexican Economic Growth Strategy,http://www.newschool.edu/cepa/papers/archive/cepa0103.pdfWallis, J. J, D.C. North. 1986. Measuring the transaction sector in the American economy, 1870-1970. In Long-term factors in American economic growth, edited by S.L. Engerman and R. E. Gallman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 95-161.Deirdre Griswold, 1995 Oil, debt and Mexico's national sovereignty, In Workers World. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/46/026.html

How to Define Value in Relation to Art

As an element of art, value refers to the visible lightness or darkness of a color. Value is synonymous with luminosity in this context and can be measured in various units designating electromagnetic radiation. Indeed, the science of optics  is a fascinating branch of physics, albeit one to which visual artists typically devote little to no thought. Value is relevant to the lightness or darkness of any color, but its importance is easiest to visualize in a work with no colors other than black, white, and a grayscale. For a great example of value in action, think of a black and white photograph. You can easily visualize how the infinite variations of gray suggest planes and textures. The Subjective Value of Art While value can be a technical term related to color, it can be a more subjective term related to either the importance of a work or its monetary worth. Value can also refer to the sentimental, cultural, ritualistic, or aesthetic importance of work. Unlike luminosity, this type of value cannot be measured. It is entirely subjective and open to, literally, billions of interpretations.   For instance, anyone can admire a sand mandala, but its creation and destruction hold specific ceremonial values in Tibetan Buddhism. Leonardos ​Last Supper ​mural was a technical disaster, but its depiction of a defining moment in Christianity has made it a religious treasure worthy of conservation. Egypt, Greece, Peru, and other countries have sought the return of significant cultural works of art taken from their lands and sold abroad in earlier centuries. Many a mother has carefully preserved many pieces of refrigerator art, for their emotional value is incalculable.   The Monetary Value of Art Value may additionally refer to the monetary worth attached to any given work of art. In this context, value is pertinent to resale prices  or  insurance premiums. Fiscal value is primarily objective, assigned by acknowledged art history specialists who eat, breathe and sleep fine art market values.  To a smaller extent, this definition of value is subjective in that certain collectors are willing to pay any amount of money to own a particular work of art. To illustrate this seeming dichotomy, refer to the  May 16, 2007, Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Christies New York City showroom. One of original Marilyn silkscreen paintings by Andy Warhol had an estimated (objective) pre-sale value of more than  $18,000,000. $18,000,001 would have been accurate, but the actual gavel price plus buyers premium was a whopping (subjective)  $28,040,000. Someone, somewhere obviously felt that hanging in his or her underground lair was worth an additional $10,000,000. Quotations About Value In preparing a study or a picture, it seems to me very important to begin by an indication of the darkest values... and to continue in order to the lightest value. From the darkest to the lightest I would establish twenty shades.(Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot) Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.(Albert Einstein) Its impossible to make a picture without values. Values are the basis. If they are not, tell me what is the basis.(William Morris Hunt) Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.(Oscar Wilde) Color is an inborn gift, but appreciation of value is merely training of the eye, which everyone ought to be able to acquire.(John Singer Sargent) There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.(Henry David Thoreau)