Online Newsletter of Roxbury Community College Library

May 2005

PROF. HALPERIN’S NEW BOOK FEATURED

Helena Halperin taught at the Shamoni Secondary School in Western Kabras, Kenya in 1989 and 1990. Her favorite free time activity was sitting with neighborhood women, talking about life. In 1995 and 1996, she returned to Kenya and interviewed and collected the stories of hundreds of women of all ages, ethnic groups and ways of life. The result is I Laugh So I Won’t Cry, Kenya’s Women Tell the Stories of Their Lives. This is the voice of the struggles of contemporary African women, told in their own words. I Laugh So I Won’t Cry is being featured in the library during May. It is also available in the bookstore and from the publisher Africa World Press. Helena Halperin is an Adjunct Professor of English at RCC.

Islamic Awareness Week Success

The library in conjunction with the Muslim Students Association at RCC offered the following displays in the library windows and entrance from April 13 to 22.

· Posters describing the history and culture of Islam

· 4 original pieces of artwork by the master of Arabic calligraphy Haji Noor Deen.

· A large (3’x2’x1’) model of the Islam Society of Boston Cultural Center now under construction next to RCC.

· Selection of books on Islam from the library’s collection.

Many people were drawn to various parts of the display, many books on Islamic topics went out on loan, and the whole enterprise must be judged a big success. The displays in the library were just part of a larger series of events sponsored by the Muslim Students Association throughout the college.

The library has added 3 important new databases to its list of resources. For access, go to the library web page www.rcc.mass.edu/lib and select Database under Electronic Resources:

· Search 2 databases in one — descriptions of the nation's largest 10,000 foundations, plus a file of more than half a million grants. This extensive grants file provides valuable insights into foundation funding patterns. The Trustees, Officers, and Donors search field and its corresponding index allow users to search over 64,000 trustee, officer and donor names. For use in library only.

• Selected topics: affirmative action, Africa, black nationalism, civil rights, emancipation, free blacks, Harlem Renaissance, leaders, migrations, racial violence and hate crimes, religion, slave living conditions, slave liberation strategies, social work and philanthropy, sports, and visual arts. Includes 3,700 biographies, primary sources and documents, over 1,000 historical images, timelines and maps and charts. RCC students are going to love this!

Science Full Text Select

from

• The first good science database at RCC to better support the science curriculum. Contains access to 320 full text science journals covering all fields of science. Science databases can be very expensive. This one is a lower priced alternative designed for community colleges, technical colleges, public libraries and high schools.

WORLD MUSIC CD’S JUST ARRIVED

The library has just received a small selection of Putumayo World Music CD’s. Most feature the music of Africa, Latin countries and the Caribbean. Judging from student interest in the first weeks, they are likely to be very popular. Library users may listen to CD’s in the library or borrow for 3 days. Here are the titles.

African groove	African odyssey	African playground
Afro-Latino	Afro-Portuguese odyssey	American blues
Brasileiro	Brazilian groove	Caribbean party
Dreamland	French Caribbean	Global soul
Jamaica	Latin groove	Latin playground
Latinas	Latino! Latino!	Louisiana gumbo
Mali to Memphis	Mississippi blues	Puerto Rico
República Dominicana	Salsa around the world	Women of Africa

AMERICAN STROKE MONTH DISPLAY

May is American Stroke Month. The library, in coordination with Ruth Hines, Director of Health Services, is presenting a display on stroke facts in the library’s front window and a selection of books on positive health choices at the library entrance. Also, come take a look at four pictures of Cheryl Hervey-Brown, RCC Corporate College Coordinator. Cheryl finished the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in Phoenix, AZ in January 2005 to raise money for the American Stroke Association’s life saving research and education programs.

For flyers on stroke, contact Ruth at the Health Services Office, room 313 in the Student Center.

For more information on the Train to End Stroke program, see www.strokeassociation.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1005.

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, click on “Read the Library’s newsletter” on 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