It’s not hard to find interesting or useful facts when you crack open a book in the library.  Let’s see what fun facts Megan found when she browsed through the reference related materials.

Social media is a pervasive part of modern society. 84% of adults in the age range of 18-29 years use social media and average a daily usage of 2 hours. Social media can influence everything from purchasing behavior to political views, and some of these adults utilize social media as their only source of health information. FROM: Social Media for Public Health: Framework for Social Media–Based Public Health Campaigns, (2022), p. 1, ProQuest.

Researchers are looking into ways to reduce the energy consumption of ceiling fans by at least 20%. By creating innovations in motors and mechanical designs, future ceiling fans may become even more energy efficient and lead to a global reduction carbon dioxide emission. This is important in tropical countries such as India, where over 6% of household energy use is due to electric fans. FROM: Ceiling Fan Drives- Past, Present and Future, (2021), p. 44888-44904, IEEE access: Practical Innovations, Open Solutions.

Black students with emotional disturbance are perpetually treated worse than their non-black counterparts within the school system. The systematic oppression creates an environment that segregates these students from their peers, and ignores their specific hardships. The authors of this paper cite a drastic need for qualitative studies that investigate the voices of students of all backgrounds with emotional disturbances, and make note that there is an extreme lack of literature that has been published on the experiences of black students in particular. FROM: Lifting the Voices of Black Students Labeled With Emotional Disturbance: Calling All Special Education Researchers, (2023), p. 121-133, EBSCOhost.

Approximately 31% of the Cactaceae family is categorized as threatened at this time, with several species of cacti facing extinction. In Brazil there are 261 species of Cactaceae, many of which are extremely important not only environmentally, but economically as well. Cacti are used for food, decoration, and even medicine. They are often highly sensitive to environmental changes, and diversity is lessening as their habitats are threatened from human population growth and invasive bacteria. FROM: Cacti: Ecology, conservation, uses and significance, (2019), ProQuest Ebook Central.

A study of older adults determined that a single week of senior summer camp can have lasting effects on self-confidence and positive attitudes. The physical activity component of camp allowed the participants to do things they may not have previously thought was possible, and the break from everyday life offered a chance to make new friends and helped lessen boredom. Older adults often suffer from loneliness and their attendance at a senior summer camp helped foster new connections and lessened loneliness. FROM: Older Adults’ Experiences of How Participating in a Senior Summer Camp Has Affected Their Lives – A Phenomenographic Study, (2023), p. 321-338, Taylor & Francis Open Access.

Originally posted in the Freeman/Lozier Library’s quarterly newsletter, More Than Books, V. 26 No. 4, Fall 2023.