February 2004

This year for African American History Month, the library is honoring the Boston Black United Front, an extremely active umbrella organization in Boston’s black community in the 1960s and 70s. Through its member organizations and as a central actor, the United Front was involved in a kaleidoscope of activities using strategies to bring economic and political power to blacks of the region. Community control and development were its twin objectives. Members of the organization included a constellation of influential leaders in the black community, including Chuck Turner, now on the Boston City Council; Mel King, later State representative and Boston mayoral candidate; and Byron Rushing and Doris Bunte, later State representatives.

The Black United Front donated its historic papers to RCC for safe storage in the library several years ago. The library is seeking funding to process these papers and make them available through the library’s online archive.

Come see a display in the library’s windows, entitled “The Black United Front, 1967-1973 that highlights some of the numerous activities that the Front was engaged in.

The library will also sponsor a seminar entitled “How to Create Community Change: Lessons from the Black United Front.” The speaker: Lennie Durant, former chief of staff of the organization. The place: 3^rd floor dance studio, Media Arts Building. When: March 4 at 11:30 a.m.

Also on display in the library this month:

· A “Timeline of African American History.” This 35 foot long, illustrated display was created last year and has been updated through 2003.

· A display of 90 book covers from books on African American topics. These are part of a large gift of books, donated to the library last year by Charles Pinderhughes, Jr. of Dorchester.

“EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE”

Since August, the library has been planning an in-service training on customer service for library staff. The January break was the first time that both day and evening staff members were available at the same time. The training featured the excellent videotape series "How to Give Exceptional Customer Service," on loan from the Boston Public Library.  The staff watched three of the four tapes on two successive mornings and had group discussions after each of the six segments.  A follow-up session using tape 4 is planned for the week of Spring Break in March. Anyone who would like to preview the tapes at that time should contact Mark Lawrence at x5357. Here are just a few of the high points from the series of particular import to the college:

· Organizations spend 5 times more on marketing to get new customers than on customer service training to keep the ones they have. 

· More customers give up on an organization because they are ignored than are lured in by low prices.

· Only one out of ten people complain to organizations that disappoint them.  However, those with complaints tell 9 to 12 other people.  That means that for every one complaint that an organization hears about, 90 to 120 other people are informed.

· Organizations need to go out of their way to encourage complaints in order to know how to improve.

With this last point in mind, the library will shortly conduct a survey to determine library user satisfaction and learn how users think the library should improve. This data will be included in the Self Study report being compiled in preparation for college reaccreditation.

LIBRARY STATISTICS WAY UP IN MOST CATEGORIES

Annual 2003 library statistics are way up in most categories compared to 2002.

The positives:

• Library instruction. Up 16%. (Up 344% compared to 2001).
• Library database searches. Up 50%. (Up 533% since October 2001).
• Circulation. Up 29%.
• Registration of new library users. Up 23%.
• Interlibrary loan requests filled. Up 170%.

The negatives:

• Cataloging. Down 14%.
• Gate count. Down 7%.

Comments on the figures:

• The reason that the number of students getting library instruction is up (and way up compared to 2001) is because the library hired a full-time librarian in October 2001. This position had been vacant for a year.
• The increase in the number of books circulated, and especially the number of database articles accessed, is a direct result of increased library instruction. Students are doing much better at accessing the information they need.
• More students have been registered to be library users because doing so is part of the “Library Treasure Hunt” instruction program, a new service developed last year. This is now required of all College Survival Seminar students and set up in cooperation with Mark Garth of Career Services who coordinates the Seminar.
• The dramatic increase in interlibrary loans processed is entirely due to Bill Hoag, the new evening and Saturday librarian, who is filling these requests religiously.
• The number of books cataloged is down because of lack of funds to buy new books.
• The number of people coming though the front gate is down slightly but college registration is also down. There is no question that 7% fewer people coming into the library to take out 29% MORE books and search for 50% MORE online articles (533% MORE in two years) all mean a much, much better utilization of the library by students.

NEW BOOKS—POPULAR AND BEST SELLERS

	FICTION		NON-FICTION
	Bleachers John Grisham		Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right Al Franken
	Blood Canticle Anne Rice		Dude, Where’s My Country? Michael Moore
	The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown		Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Walter Isaacson
	The Big Bad Wolf James Patterson		Who’s Looking out For You? Bill O’Reilly
	Pompeii Robert Harris		Flyboys James Bradley
	The Murder Room P.D. James		A Royal Duty Paul Burrell
	Shepherds Abiding Jan Karon		The Funny Thing Is… Ellen Degeneres
	Trojan Odyssey Clive Cussler		Kate Remembered A. Scott Berg
	The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Albom		After Life: Answers from the Other Side John Edward

NEW BOOKS—TO SUPPORT THE CURRICULUM

--organized by call number category

B--PHILOSOPHY, PSCHOLOGY, RELIGION

BC199 .P7 Z36 2000. Zander, Rosamund Stone. The art of possibility.

BF637 .C45 S78 1999. Stone, Douglas. Difficult conversations : how to discuss what matters most.

BF637 .N4 U79 199. Ury, William. Getting past no : negotiating your way from confrontation to cooperation.

BF637 .S8 R63 1991. Robinson, Mary. You are a success : 61 proven strategies for developing success.

BT82.7 .H66 1989. Hopkins, Dwight N. Black theology USA and South Africa : politics, culture, and liberation.

BX6455 .W47 A3 1969. White, C. C. No quittin' sense.

BX8946 .A35 W54 1983. Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black and Presbyterian : the heritage and the hope.

D, E. F--HISTORY

D808 .J3 B73 2003. Bradley, James. Flyboys.

DP22 .M6 1988. Monumental cities of Spain [videorecording]

DT30 .M46 1984B. Meredith, Martin. The first dance of freedom : black Africa in the postwar era.

DT156.6 .L49 1987. Lewis, David L. The race to Fashoda : European colonialism and African resistance in the scramble for Africa.

DT352.4 .A66 1992. Appiah, Anthony. In my father's house : Africa in the philosophy of culture.

DT380.4 .G85 G33 1991. Gabreyesus Hailemariam. The Guragu*e and their culture.

DT476 .D32 1980. Davidson, Basil. The African slave trade.

DT779.95 .N34 A37 1983. Naidoo, Indres. Robben Island : ten years as a political prisoner in South Africa's most notorious penitentiary.

E185.G75 1991. Black protest : history, documents, and analyses : 1619 to the present.

E185 .H29 1983. Harding, Vincent. There is a river : the Black struggle for freedom in America.

E185 .L5 1990. X, Malcolm. Malcolm X on Afro-American history.

E185 .M4 1976. Meier, August. From plantation to ghetto.

E185.61 .H224 1990. Voices of freedom : an oral history of the civil rights movement from the 1950s through the 1980.

E185.86 .A375 1991. Aldridge, Delores P. Focusing : black male-female relationships.

E840.8 .K35 C59 1999. Clymer, Adam. Edward M. Kennedy : a biography.

E840.8 .R445 A3 1998. Reich, Robert B. Locked in the cabinet.

G--GEOGRAPHY, ANTHOPOLOGY, RECREATION

GV1786 .B245 F65 1990. Folkloric dances of Mexico [videorecording]

H--SOCIAL SCIENCES

HB615 .K64 2001. Koehn, Nancy F. Brand new : how entrepreneurs earned consumers' trust from Wedgwood to Dell.

HC79 .H53 M66 1995. Moore, Geoffrey A. Inside the tornado : marketing strategies from Silicon Valley's cutting edge.

HC79 .I55 E93 2000. Evans, Philip. Blown to bits : how the new economics of information transforms strategy.

HD20.7 .S591. Smith, Jerald R. Manager II : a simulation.

HD30.2 .H376 1999. Harvard business review on the business value of IT.

HD30.28 .Y63 2001. Yoffie, David B. Judo strategy : turning your competitors' strength to your advantage.

HD31 .C76 2002. Crossan, Mary M. Strategic analysis and action.

HD41 .G48 1991. Ghemawat, Pankaj. Commitment : the dynamic of strategy.

HD41 .P67 1998. Porter, Michael E. Competitive strategy : techniques for analyzing industries and competitors.

HD50 .G47 1997. Ghoshal, Sumantra. The individualized corporation : a fundamentally new approach to management : great companies are defined by purpose, process, and people.

HD53 .C49 2003. Christensen, Clayton M. The innovator's dilemma : the revolutionary book that will change the way you do business.

HD57.7 .C467 2000. Champy, James. The arc of ambition : defining the leadership journey.

HD57.7 .M537 2001. Miller, Paddy. Mission critical leadership : getting you and your business up to speed in the new economy.

HD57.7 .N39 1998. Navigating change : how CEOs, top teams, and boards steer transformation.

HD58.8 .G555 2001. Gilson, Stuart C. Creating value through corporate restructuring : case studies in bankruptcies, buyouts, and breakups.

HD58.8 .T885 2002. Tushman, Michael. Winning through innovation : a practical guide to leading organizational change and renewal.

HD61 .M63 2002. Moss, David A. When all else fails : government as the ultimate risk manager.

HD62.6 .L47 1999. Letts, Christine. High performance nonprofit organizations : managing upstream for greater impact.

HD62.7 .K367 1995. Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. World class : thriving locally in the global economy.

HD69 .G6 1997. Gomes-Casseres, Benjamin. The alliance revolution : the new shape of business rivalry.

HD69 .S8 A94 2000. Austin, James E. The collaboration challenge : how nonprofits and businesses succeed through strategic alliances.

HD87 .Y47 1999X. Yergin, Daniel. The commanding heights : the battle between government and the marketplace that is remaking the modern world.

HD2741 .H289 2000. Harvard business review on corporate governance.

HD2785 .B78 1995. Business policy : managing strategic processes / Joseph L. Bower ... [et al.].

HE8689.8 .H43 2001. Head, Sydney W. Broadcasting in America : a survey of electronic media.

HF5386 .J79 2003. Joyce, William F. What really works : the 4+2 formula for sustained business success.

HF5387 .P35 2003. Paine, Lynn Sharp. Value shift : why companies must merge social and financial imperatives to achieve superior performance.

HF5415.13 .K64 2000. Kotler, Philip. Marketing management.

HF5415.13 .R268 1995. Rangan, V. Kasturi. Business marketing strategy : cases, concepts, and applications.

HF5415.153 .W44 1992. Wheelwright, Steven C. Revolutionizing product development : quantum leaps in speed, efficiency, and quality.

HF5548.32 .A666 2002. Applegate, Lynda M. Creating business advantage in the information age.

HF5635 .D228 2003. Stickney, Clyde P. Financial accounting : an introduction to concepts, methods, and uses.

HF5657.4 .S527 2000. Simons, Robert. Performance measurement & control systems for implementing strategy.

HF5686 .C8 K266 1998. Kaplan, Robert S. Cost & effect : using integrated cost systems to drive profitability and performance.

HF6146.T42 C65 1992. Comerciales Mexicanos [videorecording]

HG4026 .B667 2000. Brealey, Richard A. Principles of corporate finance.

HG4028.B2 V35 2001. The value reporting revolution : moving beyond the earnings game.

HG4028 .M4 B335 1998. Baker, George P. The new financial capitalists : Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the creation of corporate value.

HG4963 .G66 1999 Gompers, Paul A. The venture capital cycle.

HM251 .S3 2000. Schriver, Joe M. Human behaviour and the social environment : shifting paradigms in essential knowledge for social work practice.

HQ536 .F3784 1995. Family, the first imperative : a symposium in search of root causes of family strength and family disintegration / edited by William J. O'Neill, Jr.

HQ728 .A72 1995. Anderson, Stephen A. Family interaction : a multigenerational developmental perspective.

HV10.5 .R42 1990. Reamer, Frederic G. Ethical dilemmas in social service .

HV5801 .L49 1999. Levinthal, Charles F. Drugs, behavior, and modern society.

L--EDUCATION

LB2343.32 .C39 2002. Casady, Mona J. Getting the college edge.

P--LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

PE1439 .W66 2002. Wong, Linda. Paragraph essentials : a writing guide /

PS508 .N3 C53 1996. New Black voices : an anthology of contemporary Afro-American literature / edited, with an introd. and

biographical notes, by Abraham Chapman.

Q--SCIENCE

QE26.2 .S63 1999. Spaulding, Nancy E. Earth science.

QH308.2 .K76 2000. Krogh, David. Biology : a guide to the natural world.

R--MEDICINE

RT82 .A59 2003. American Nurses Association. Nursing's social policy statement.

To build a better college library and provide superior customer service, we need your comments. Send both praises and gripes to mlawrence@rcc.mass.edu.

If you missed earlier issues of Welcome to the Library, you can find them in the “What’s New” section of the library website http://www.rcc.mass.edu/lib.

Welcome to the Library, published by Roxbury Community College Library, Roxbury Crossing, MA

Mark Lawrence, Acting Library Director