New APA Manual

The Library now has copies of the new 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style).

APA do advise that there were some typographical errors in the first printing and have provided a list of corrections, which will be corrected in a new print run. The Library will aquire copies of the corrected version when it is available.

Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2008

Macquarie Dictionary is looking for its 2008 Word of the Year. Words are nominated by committee in various categories ranging from entertainment to fashion, environment to technology. You can vote online for your favourite in each category until Jan 31 and the overall winner will be announced in February.

Nominations include:

car crash TV
noun Colloquial a television program that is simultaneously absorbing and repulsive for the viewer.

toxic debt
noun debt which, although initially acquired as a legitimate business transaction, proves subsequently to be financially worthless, as the subprime loans which precipitated the GFC.

dub-a-dub-dub
Colloquial a realisation in speech of the prefix www used in website addresses. Also, dub-dub-dub.

lifestreaming
noun the online recording of one’s daily life, delivered either by means of a webcam, or aggregated from personal blogs, microblogs, etc.

ecocentrism
noun a philosophy based on the idea that the ecosphere (def. 1) is more central to life than any particular organism, and that human activity, whether it is community or individual activity, must base its morality on this recognition.

guerilla gardener
noun a person who plants gardens in areas controlled by councils or other organisations but neglected by them in terms of vegetation, as nature strips, roundabouts, council-maintained gardens, etc. Also, guerrilla gardener.

ear gauging
noun an ear piercing procedure that involves the stretching of the pierced hole with a series of objects, each one larger than the previous one. [from the different gauges of the plugs inserted to widen the piercing]

guerilla dining
noun dining at a restaurant that has been set up temporarily in an unused space such as a car park, beach, rooftop or a private home, etc., customers being alerted by word of mouth to the location. Also, guerrilla dining.

sugging
noun Commerce attempting to sell under the guise of conducting market research, often with incentives attached to lead the potential customer to a purchase. [s(elling) u(nder the) g(uise of market research)]

click-and-mortar
adjective of or relating to a company which has operations both online and offline, as by having both a commercial website and a physical store.

lawfare
noun the use of international law by a country to attack or criticise another country, especially a superior military power, on moral grounds, that is, by accusing it of having violated international law.

climate wars
plural noun international conflict caused by the effects of climate change, such as reduced resources, population shifts, failing economies, etc., theorised as likely to occur in the future if measures are not taken to control global warming.

helicopter parenting
noun a style of child rearing in which parents are excessively attentive to and involved in the lives of their children. [from the notion that the parents are always hovering overhead]

terminator technology
noun a method of restricting the use of genetically modified plants by causing second generation seeds to be sterile.

The Australian National Dictionary

Oxford University Press has been publishing in Australia since 1908 and, in recognition of this milestone and as a symbol of gratitude to the Australian people, The Australian National Dictionary has been made available online, free.

Wish you had an Australian spellchecker?

Macquarie Dictionary is attempting to get the attention of Micrsoft and Apple, asking them to insert the Macquarie wordlist into their systems and applications. They have an online form that allows you to lend your voice to the campaign.

Remember also that we have access to Macquarie Dictionary Online.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Goes — Gasp! — Wiki

One of the questions I ask in the Q&A to staff on this blog is: Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica? Apparently Britannica has itself decided that the answer to this question is … From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Long a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user community” (in the words of the encyclopedia’s blog) to contribute their own articles, which will be clearly marked and run alongside the edited reference pieces.

Children’s literature: The Source

 
We have just gained access to The Source, which is an online reference guide to children’s books, poetry, short stories and literary awards, indexing:

• over 14 000 books from Australia and New Zealand, and also the US and UK.

• more than 15 000 poems from 300 anthologies. Full text of poems is provided where copyright has expired.

• over 1800 short stories including fairytales, myths and legends.

Brief biographical information about authors, illustrators and poets is
also included.