Our Online Databases for Students

School is most definitely back in session, which means lots of homework. Never fear! We have some great resources to share with you.

East Baton Rouge Parish Library databases offer resources for students of any age, and any curriculum. From outside the library, you just need your library card number to log in. Check it out! Don’t forget our recommended sites for students, featured on the Children’s and Teen webpages and in our InfoGuides. Below are some of the key databases we would recommend, but see our databases page for complete listings.

Homework Help:
Homework Louisiana (Tutor.com + Skills Builder): Live homework help Sunday through Thursday from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Learning Express: Includes test prep, including the ACT, and video instruction for math.

General Resources for Students:
Student Research Center
Searchasaurus
Kids Search
Literati
World Book Online Encyclopedia

Literature:
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Gale Literature Criticism Online
Gale Literature Resource Center
Gale Litfinder
Literary Reference Center

Special Resources:
Mango Languages
Access Science
Career Cruising
Careers Internet
Gale Virtual Reference Library

Book Notes August Quiz

Book Notes is a monthly email newsletter written by Gerald Lively. If you would like to sign up for his newsletter please email him at geraldlively@cox.net

Here is the August Book Quiz, see how many you can get right!

The answer to each question below contains a word (but not necessarily the first word) that begins with the letter “G”.  Can you guess the answers?

  1. The most popular novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  It is still on some best seller lists.
  2. Character in one play by Shakespeare and another by Tom Stoppard.
  3. Popular children’s book by Margaret Wise Brown.
  4. A popular series of books by Suzanne Collins.
  5. Author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
  6. Wizard in JRR Tolkien’s books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
  7. Protagonist in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
  8. Antagonist in Beowulf.
  9. Character in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
  10. The first in a popular trilogy of books by author E. L. James.
  11. Villain in a James Bond novel.
  12. Creator of the valet Reginald Jeeves.
  13. Novel by Zora Neale Hurston.
  14. Main character in John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
  15. Novel by French writer Colette.
  16. Character in Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
  17. Author of The Clearing and Welding with Children.
  18. Pen name of Eric Arthur Blair.
  19. Author of Riders of the Purple Sage.
  20. Novel by Robert A. Heinlein.
  21. Poem (then a 1939 movie with Cary Grant and Sam Jaffe) by Rudyard Kipling.
  22. Author, educator, business man, and partner of Oprah Winfrey.
  23. Son of Lancelot and Elaine.
  24. Long suffering father (and title character) in Balzac’s best known novel.
  25. Author of Lord of the Flies.

Want to see how you did? We’ve got the answers posted on our Find a Good Book InfoGuide (no cheating!)

Business Person of the Month: Robert Broussard

Robert Broussard Insurance Agency, LLC
5917 Jones Creek Ste. 200F
Baton Rouge, La. 70817
Baton Rouge: 225-771-8751
New Orleans: 504-314-9251
“Where The Service After The Sale Matters”

Robert Broussard Jr. has been in the insurance business all his life.  He grew up in an insurance family where he witnessed his father become a successful agent, serving his clients’ needs for over thirty years. Robert even volunteered in the office his father still runs today. Robert saw his father go to work in a coat and tie every day and he admired that as a child.  As Robert grew older he came to respect the insurance business for the living it provided for his parents and himself.

Today, as the owner of Robert Broussard Insurance Agency, Robert brings his knowledge and experience in the industry to clients who seek property and casualty, life, renters, and other types of insurance. Robert not only attends to the immediate insurance needs of his clients, his agency also provides “Service after the sale.”

Robert Broussard Insurance Agency is very customer focused; Robert is available 24/7 for claims and service.  As an agent, he is aware that it is because of his customers that he earns a living.

As an independent agent who represents multiple insurance companies, Robert can provide advice and personalized service to meet one’s insurance needs – both now and as their needs change.  Unlike captive agents who are tied to one company, independent agents can offer products from a variety of different insurance companies.  Independent agents can better serve their customers because they can review multiple policies and pricing options, and then recommend the best combination for each situation. That’s the real value in choosing independent agents – they offer knowledgeable advice and personalized service.  Robert has contracts with nine insurance companies; five of these companies he uses for automotive insurance, three for commercial businesses and one company for life insurance.

An independent agent has to be appointed by a company to represent them and sell their policies.  You complete an application, talk to their marketing reps, and then are issued a contract to represent the company.  It can be a difficult process.  You may not know why others are accepted as agents but not you; or the market is extremely competitive (some companies have enough agents or don’t want too many).

Robert is experienced and has the ability to write good policies that address all types of client needs.  His Dad often refers people to Robert when he is unable to write the policy on items he does not cover.

Robert decided after earning his bachelor’s degree in Communications from Dillard University in New Orleans to see what life was like outside Louisiana and moved to Philadelphia in 2006. Robert spent the next two years working for AIG in their banking mortgage division.  This was during the peak of the real estate crisis when the housing market was bad and it was difficult to close on a loan or get good rates due to credit issues.  People owed more on their mortgage than their house was worth.  While it was a good time to buy, house prices had fallen and no one could get credit. Soon Robert decided that he wanted to build his career in the insurance business and became a licensed sales producer and agent. Robert’s family was displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and chose Baton Rouge as their “go to home”. Robert moved back to Baton Rouge to work for his dad and then opened his own agency in July of 2011.

Robert did not have to jump hurdles to open an agency here in Baton Rouge.  Since he was already licensed, it was only a matter of renting space and attracting clients.  He opened his agency on Jones Creek in July 2011.  Robert sees Baton Rouge as a growing entity.  The expanding infrastructure of the interstate from two lanes to four and six shows room for potential growth.  This will affect the business climate as it will expand and grow with Baton Rouge.  He wants to be a part of this, and to be able to grow his business and give back to the community.

Robert’s philosophy is, “Insurance is something you can’t live with and can’t live without; you need it, but you hope you never have to use it.”  For example, life insurance can build cash value and keep dreams and goals alive in times of death and tragedy.  No one wants to use it but when you have to, you are glad you have it.

No one wants an accident or disaster to strike, but you need to be ready when it does.  People have negative perceptions of insurance companies when they hear a company did not pay on a claim.  Agents and agencies have to guard against scams and false claims.  These are the ones that make the news and create higher premiums.

Robert recently started a book club with several of his high school friends from New Orleans. They chose Rich Dad, Poor Dad for their first book and met in June to discuss it.  Each member will take turns selecting future books to read.  His favorite book is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  He enjoys reading and wants to learn something when he reads.  He finds it stimulating mentally to read and discuss, to be challenged and dig deep into the book.  Robert believes discussion helps you see things you may have missed by reading the book on your own.  Robert is a people person and likes to understand how people think.  He is always finding ways to learn about dealing with different types of people.

Robert is a member of the Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) organization.  Their monthly magazine keeps him abreast of the direction insurance is taking in Louisiana and nationwide.  It covers trends in the insurance industry as well as national insurance issues. The magazine also includes local PIA events (such as crawfish boils) where Robert can network with other agents.

His advice to other small business owners is to do your research before you open a business: what will be the start-up cost; do you have capital to carry you through until you show a profit or at least break even; do you have all the permits and licenses you need; do you enjoy what you do?  When he was deciding on his particular career path, his mother told him, “You need to like what you are doing so much you would do it for free and the money will soon come”.

Book Notes, Talking About Books

Book Notes is a monthly email newsletter written by Gerald Lively. If you would like to sign up for his newsletter, please email him at geraldlively@cox.net We are going to be publishing excerpts from his newsletter in InfoBlog, thanks Gerald!

Here are interesting stories about books from the Talking About Books section of the newsletter:

Talking about Books . . .
The August 2012 issue of inRegister has a very nice article about Danny Plaisance, the owner of Cottonwood Books on Perkins Road.  Cottonwood Books may be the only remaining independent book store in Baton Rouge.  The article is on page 45.  Note: in order to read the article on the internet, you may have to install a special program called RealRead, but the images you get from the magazine as a result are stunning.
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Three boys – first cousins – were born within a 12 month period in Ferriday, Louisiana.  One would become a pioneer in rock and roll, another would become a popular evangelist, and the third would become a recording artist with 17 number one hits and part owner of the largest honky-tonk in the world.   They are the subjects of Unconquered: The Saga of Cousins Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Swaggart, and Mickey Gilley by J. D. Davis.  You can read a review of the book here.  There are three copies in the EBR Parish Library (BR Room 927.82 D262u).
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WQXR Public Radio in New York City has an article in which opera singers and conductors list the books they are reading this summer.  What may make this interesting to you is that two of the highlighted singers are Lisette Oropesa (born in New Orleans, raised in Baton Rouge), and Elizabeth Futral (born in North Carolina, raised in Covington).  Read the article here.
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Kathryn Erskine, the author of Mockingbird, lists her top 10 first person narratives in an article for The Guardian. Also from The Guardian we have Will Eaves’ top 10 sibling stories.  Eaves’ most recent book is This Is Paradise.
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In the early 1950s Edward R. Murrow encouraged people, both famous and ordinary, to write short essays on their core values, and then to read them on a five minute long CBS radio program called This I BelieveThis I Believe was revived on National Public Radio (NPR) from 2005 to 2009.  It is now a feature of Bob Edwards Weekend on Public Radio International (PRI).  Some of the original broadcasts from the 1950s series can be heard hereThis I Believe has its own website at http://thisibelieve.org/.  There you can find the programs plus a list of books that are made up of the essays.  Some of the books are available through the EBR Parish Library. Some of the original Murrow programs are collected in a book entitled Edward R. Murrow’s This I Believe: Selections from the 1950s Radio Series.
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One of the fun things about reading fiction is that we have to use our imaginations to visualize what the story’s characters look like.  What does Emma Bovary look like in your imagination?  How about Dr. Moriarty or Humbert Humbert?  The Atlantic Magazine ran an article in which a police sketch program was used to draw composites of the above mentioned literary characters and many more.  In all cases, descriptions from the books in which they “appear” were used to create the images.  You can read the Atlantic article and see the sketches here.  Go to the official Composites site to see more images.
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Author and gadfly Gore Vidal recently died at the age of 86.  His books include Myra Breckenridge, Burr and Lincoln.  He was also known for his sharp tongue, and for his spats with luminaries such as William F. Buckley, Norman Mailer and Truman Capote.  You can read more about Vidal at the following sites: Washington Post Obituary. Daily Telegraph Obituary. Time Obituary.
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During the Christmas season of 2010 Justin Rowe, senior bookseller at the Cambridge University Press Bookshop in Cambridge, England decided to try an original window display.  Though he had never done book sculpture before, he decided to give it a try.  His creations, which drew big crowds and resulted in exhibits of his work, are shown at Arts in the Right Place and Days Fall Like Leaves.

The above reminds me of some spectacular book sculpture that I featured in this newsletter many months ago.  It seems that there is someone in Edinburgh, Scotland who has mysteriously created some VERY intricate book sculptures and placed them in different places throughout the city – places where they were sure to be found.  No one knows if the sculptor is a man or a woman, but one certainty is that he/she has a fantastic imagination. Below are two links to photos of these magnificent artworks.  First, go to NPR for The Library Phantom Returns and then (even better) try Mysterious Paper Sculptures.
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Ralph Fiennes as Charles Dickens?  Yes, Fiennes will portray Dickens in a film (which he will also direct) based on Claire Tomalin’s 1991 book The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens.  At age 45 Dickens began a 13 year affair with actress Nelly Ternan who was 18 at the time.  Nelly will be portrayed by Felicity Jones.  For more on the story, go to this Smithsonian.com article.  Click here to see Fiennes as Dickens and Jones as Ternan.  The release date for the movie has not been finalized yet.

Reworked Classics…and Vampire Hunters

‘Mash-up’ novels are becoming increasingly popular. Mash-ups take the text of a classic novel and combine it with new material, usually from horror or sci-fi genres to create a new work.  It can also involve taking characters from fiction or history and putting them into a new context.

These books make for interesting reads, and as you can see they have great covers! Do you have a favorite that you’ve read? Please post in the comments below and let us know. Here is a selection available at the library:

Homeschool Resources @ The Library

Is your family a homeschooling family? If so, please join us at one of our programs this month where we’ll show you what the public library has to offer parents who homeschool their children. We’ll introduce you to our collections, databases, websites, and more!

River Center Branch, Saturday, August 11, at 10:00 a.m.

Scotlandville Branch (presented with Delmont Gardens staff), Thursday, August 16, at 10:30 a.m.

Main Library, Saturday, August 18, at 10:00 a.m.

For more information, call (225) 231-3760.

Can’t make it? Check out the online course for homeschooling parents on Ed2Go, our newest online learning resource!

Catch Up With Your Favorite T.V. Shows

It can be tricky to keep up with your favorite shows week in, week out. I know I always end up missing episodes. We have the solution! Settle down for a marathon with DVDs and Blu-rays of your favorite TV series from the library.

To see what we have, give us a call at 231-3750 or search the library catalog. To find out more about DVDs at the library and to see the latest arrivals visit our Sights & Sounds InfoGuide. Here is a brief selection:

Breaking Bad

Burn Notice

Eastbound and Down

Falling Skies

Dexter

Doctor Who

Game of Thrones

Mad Men

Missing

Nurse Jackie

Treme

True Blood

Weeds

The Price of Freedom: Americans at War

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a very interesting online exhibition we would like to share with you, The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Major conflicts are presented on a timeline, from the War of Independence to the early 2000s. Selecting a conflict from the timeline will open up a page featuring a video and statistical information. From there you can enter an exhibition of artifacts held by the Smithsonian from each conflict/time period. These include uniforms, weapons, art and other interesting items. The crisp pictures of these artifacts and the details of the history behind them are the highlights of the exhibition. There is a large amount of content to look at on this site, and it’s not just for history buffs!

The Price of Freedom has a number of accompanying  educational resources available. This includes a teachers manual, lesson plans, videos and handouts. These are found in the Learning Resources section.

Construction InfoGuides

It is so exciting to see the progress being made with the construction of the new Main Library and the Fairwood Branch Library! Keep up with developments on our Construction InfoGuides. You’ll find weekly construction reports, photographs, renderings, along with facts and figures.

New Main Library Construction InfoGuide

Fairwood Branch Library Construction InfoGuide