Taylor's Library Quiz

Please try out our Taylor's Library Quiz for our Orientation and Information Skills classes for new pre-university and degree students.

A Very Warm Welcome to Rajender Singh

The library would like to give a very warm welcome to our latest member, Rajender Singh A/L Chanan Singh. He joined us as Library Assistant at Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong Library II, Subang Square on June 1st, 2009.

Prior to joining Taylor’s, Rajender was working in Unity College and Sunway University College. He also has experienced in customer service.

We hope Rajender will enjoy working with us and contribute to the growth of the library.

McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine and AccessPharmacy now Available as Trial Databases

McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine is an innovative online resource that provides students, residents, clinicians, researchers, and all health professionals with access to more than 50 medical titles from the best minds in medicine, updated content, thousands of images and illustrations, interactive self-assessment, case files, diagnostic tools, a comprehensive search platform, and the ability to download content to a mobile device.

Updated frequently and expanded continuously by world-renowned physicians, AccessMedicine provides fast, direct access to the information necessary for completing evaluations, diagnoses, and case management decisions, as well as for pursuing research, medical education, or self-assessment and board review.

McGraw-Hill's AccessPharmacy is an online curricular resource designed to meet the changing demands of pharmacy education. A flexible resource, AccessPharmacy allows students to select a core curriculum topic, browse by organ system, review textbooks, or search across leading pharmacy online references.

These two trial databases will be available until 17 July 2009. Your feedback on the databases is greatly appreciated. Please use the online surveys given as links in the trial databases page

To access McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine or McGraw-Hill's AccessPharmacy

1. Go to Taylor’s Libraries: http://library.taylors.edu.my/.
2. Go to Library Resources section and click on the "More" link.
3. Click on Trial Database link at the left hand side of the screen
4. Click on McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine or McGraw-Hill's AccessPharmacy

As I was Passing by Adibah Amin

As I was Passing I and II are books which I would recommend everyone to read. Put in an amusing anecdotes format, readers will be enthralled by the way the author, Adibah Amin has crafted her book with so much warmth, love and understanding. She used her family, friends and neighbors as subjects for her books to sum up the heart and soul of Malaysian lifestyle and idiosyncrasies. As I Was Passing I and II are compilations of Adibah’s column of the same name published in The New Straits Times in the 1970s and 1980s under her pen name, Sri Delima. Relevant today as it was then, Adibah prose and writings makes an interesting read. She analyzed the Malaysian culture with a humorous angle, always adding a light twist to her musings. The reader will thus realize that she is affectionately appreciative of the events and experiences that shape Malaysian life.

With such books, there is usually a moral behind the stories and here, we can find that characteristic. The reader may not quite realize it until they came to the end of the story. At this point, most will laugh heartily over it. She crafted the stories to encompass the emotions and beliefs of her subject never in a heavy-handed manner but always in a light touch, not to offend the reader.

We can look at ourselves and laugh at all of our Malaysia idiosyncrasies. In fact, laughter and at times, tears are never far away when I read the many stories presented in these books.

One of the stories that really touched me in this book is ‘Memories and songs in the night’ where she described the magic of Christmas and how Malaysians of all races celebrate this festival in their own way. She looked back at the memories of Christmas that she had when she was young, singing Christmas songs with an Eurasian family next door on Christmas night. This reminds me of how Malaysian of all races share the joy of any festival. Malaysia with it wide myriad of cultures brings us all together in peace and harmony.

Another story which reminds me of my dad and his loves for birds is ‘The day Pak Mat Merbuk met Ujang the Untameable’. My father used to tell me stories about his children days when he reared birds after trapping them. In this story, Pat Mat Merbuk, a person who trained birds, heard the sweet whistling of Ujang, a wild merbuk and caught him to be reared to become a champion singer. How he doted on the bird! He gave Ujang a special powder to make its singing more spectacular. He refused to sell the bird to anyone for any amount of money. However Pat Mat Merbuk started to realized that nothing could beat the singing of Ujang when he was free in the wilds. Finally, he set Ujang free. When asked what made him do what he did, Pat Mat Merbuk smiled and quoted this old pantun:

Indah bunga bakawali,
Diusik dipetik jangan;
Hati loba merangkuli,
Hati kasih melepaskan.

(Beautiful is the bakawali flower,
Do not touch, do not pluck;
The covetous heart clutches,
The loving heart lets go.)

Below are my favorites stories in the book:
Malaysian Time
Tourist Notions
Getting up for sahur
The mystery of Thaipusam
Dear Monster revisited
Memories and songs in the night
The day Pak Mat Merbuk met Ujang the Untameable
Marital fighting, Malaysian Style

This interesting and funny read is available at Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong Library, Main Campus. The call number is 959.5 ADI.

About the Author
Adibah Amin, born in 1936 is an academician, a linguist and a writer in both Bahasa Melayu and English. She also has acted in a few Malay films in the 80s. She has written three Malay novels, Bangsawan Tulen, Seroja Masih di Kolam and Tempat Jatuh Lagi Dikenang. Seroja Masih di Kolam was translated to Japanese in 1986 with the title Suroyja No Hana Wa Mada Ike Ni. She also has written nearly 200 radio dramas, numerous short stories and an English novel, The End of the Rainbow.

Reviewed by Librarian, Belinda Sta Maria, Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong Library, Main Campus.

Research Starters - Sociology now Available as an Online Database

Research Starters™ - Sociology provides students with a solid foundation for their research and assignments, as well as overview information on topics relevant to their studies. Comprehensive summaries of discipline-specific topics help students to grasp the broad outlines of a subject, realize its real world applications, critically engage it, and locate sources for advanced research. Articles average 3,000 words, providing concise yet more in-depth content than most textbook or encyclopedia entries. This online database is on trial until June 2010.

To access Research Starters - Sociology

• Go to Taylor’s Libraries: http://library.taylors.edu.my/.
• Go to Library Resources > Online Databases.
• Click on Research Starters - Sociology

'Chat with the Librarian' - New Reference Service

The latest feature in the Library Website is ‘Chat with the Librarian’. We are using Meebo, an instant messaging software. With Meebo, staff and students can interact at real time with a librarian. Get immediate answers to your questions, obtain clarifications and receive explanations on any matters related to the library.

‘Chat with the Librarian’ is available from Monday to Friday, 8.00 am to 4.00 pm. To access it, please go to the Library Website and select ‘Chat with the Librarian’ under Ask & Tell Us or just click at ‘Chat with the Librarian’ under Favorites.