A 6^th Grade student requested assistance on his research to retrieve resources for his school assignment on the history of Mexico including culture and customs.  He asked for books and articles, including magazines and newspapers.

First, I recommended the library catalog for books and provided a search strategy on "Mexico, Culture, Customs". The customer selected the book: Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans from the General Collections at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Then we changed our approach and limited the search to the "Children’s Collection". The student selected two books: Costume Around the World: Mexico and from the section on "Countries/States" he selected the book Mexico.

Secondly, I recommended using the printed World Book Encyclopedia for his research and looked up Mexico for his topic.  The student selected a 2012 printed edition of The World Book Encyclopedia in order to checkout.

Thirdly, I also recommended and searched the SJPL databases for articles including the History Reference Center and Academic Search Complete.

Using the terms "Mexico, Culture, and Customs" in searching the History Reference Center database, the student selected the article "Mexican Holidays. By: Kalman, Bobbie, Mexico: The Culture, 2002". Also, by using the same terms in the Academic Search Complete database, the article "Extending Current Boundaries Between the Private, Domestic and Public Display of Mourning, Love and Visual Culture in Mexico City" was selected.

Finally, I recommended and searched the SJPL database World Book Student using search the term "Mexico".  A complete article is available on Mexico. Also suggested to use database Masterfile Premiere ("Articles from Magazines, Journals & Newspapers") and did an Advanced Search on "Mexico, Culture, and Customs" and the customer selected two articles by Goldman, Phyllis Barkas: "Mexico's Unique Culture" and "Monkeyshines on Mexico".

The student was amazed having retrieved all information for his school assignment and excited to learn that he can have access to all the SJPL databases from home with his valid SJPL card.

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This month we are looking back at the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in the City of San José. While the greatest casualties in the county were at Agnews State Hospital, the City of San José saw a great deal of destruction and loss of life that has largely been overshadowed by San Francisco's destruction. Overall, the city suffered $3,000,000 in property damage and lost 16 lives on that April 18th morning. How the city came through the disaster however, is this story's true significance.

Like San Francisco’s experience in the 1906 earthquake, San José’s suffering was heightened by fires sparked by the shaking. The area which received the greatest damage by fire was the block on Second Street and San Fernando. The fire began in the three-story Martin building and quickly spread to the Dougherty, Phelan, and Leiber buildings. The photo on the left shows the damage to the Dougherty building and neighboring structures. Thankfully, the San José Fire Department was quick to recover from the damage they suffered. The fire at Second and San Fernando was subdued by nightfall, with little more left than a pile of smoldering rubble. With no shortage of water like in San Francisco, the department saved the rest of downtown from the spreading flames.  While the firestorms in San Francisco consumed whole city blocks, those fires in San José were contained to small areas and single buildings.

Unlike San Francisco, San José regained its footing rather quickly with the establishment of organized relief and a positive outlook. Within a week, the San José Mercury-Herald published headlines like: "An Optimistic View," "The Earthquake Did Comparatively Little Damage," and "What the Earthquake Didn’t Do." City-wide damage was significant, but not irreparable. In many cases the damage was simply cracked and crumbled chimneys and foundations. "Relief committees" were also very active distributing funds and aid to those in need. The committee chaired by R. W. Hearsy , documented in the California Room's clipping files, continued to help those in need months after the quake. Critical to the recovery, the San José Mercury News reported in 1996, was the fact that San José was an agricultural city, not the industrial colossus on the peninsula like San Francisco. Happening in mid April, the quake disrupted little in the city’s growing and canning industry, leaving any damage plenty of time to be repaired before the next harvest season.

For those interested in visiting the sites of the destruction, the San Jose Public Library's Scan Jose program offers a photographic walking tour of Tragedies and Calamities for you to explore. This includes the photographs, like those above, of the damage done by the earthquake in 1906. Log on to Scan Jose with your smartphone or download the printable PDF and "Start the Story."

Further Reading from the San José Public Library, California Room:

• Scan Jose, Tragedies and Calamities, by San Jose Public Library
• San Jose: Earthquake 1906, California Room Clipping File
• San Jose Public Library, Digital Collections search for "Earthquake"
• E-day 1906: Witness to an Earthquake, by F. Ralph Rambo
• Clyde Arbuckle's History of San Jose, by Clyde Arbuckle

See more of our monthly series, Looking Back from the California Room!

Ever wondered what was happening at the time a poem, essay, short story, speech or other literary work was written? Or what inspired the writer to set a story in the past or future?

Literature and Its Times, a 5 volume reference set in the King Library, may help you answer such questions. Each volume profiles a different historical era, and includes a chronology of relevant events. The set covers 300 literary works including poems, essays, biographies, memoirs, fiction (including popular and young adult fiction) speeches and plays. Focus is on works by American authors though works by European and Latin American authors are also discussed.

Each work discussed includes a brief note about the author, followed by details of events in history  which influenced or are dealt with in the work.  Sidebars briefly treat relevant topics related to the book, there is also a summary, discussion of characters and themes, and a bibliography for further reading. 

More King Library reference works which give similar details are the sets Drama for Students, Novels for Students, Poetry for Students and Short Stories for Students.

Limited to online resources? Try looking up the work you're interested in using Literary Reference Center. (you'll need to sign on using your library card.)

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The school year is over and a long summer vacation is coming.  Some high school sophomores want to prepare for their SAT and AP tests during their summer break.

Our library has a rich and diverse print collection for patrons who are preparing for the SAT and AP tests.  We have resources from several major exam book publishers including Kaplan, Princeton Review and Barron's.

It is fairly easy to search our library catalog to find the exam books you want.  If all of the available SAT and AP books are checked out, you can place a hold for the next available title at San Jose Public Library, or you can use the Link + service to borrow the materials from other libraries.

Additionally, there is a great electronic resource that I want to recommend to you.  It is called Shmoop Online Test Prep.  This electronic resource is designed to help students prepare for SAT, ACT and many AP exams.  In addition, there are other engaging materials for ASVAB Prep Exam, CAHSEE Prep as well as GED Test Prep.

New users must create an account to use this resource.  Once you have an account, you can start keeping track of your learning progress.  You can access this online test prep from any computer with an internet connection.

Give it a try if you want to use the long summer break to prepare for exams.