Online Newsletter of
October 2008
HISPANIC
HERITAGE MONTH
The library group study room has been the site of an art
exhibit celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October. The display has featured works of area
artists Pablo Chao (Jamaica Plain), Silvina Mizrahi (
Thanks to Marshall Hughes of Media Arts for arranging the installation of an art railing for the exhibit. This has permitted a professional looking hanging of the art pieces.
……………………….
Do you use The Latino American Experience database? It should be your first stop for research on all things Hispanic.
Wide-ranging
and easy to use, the Latino American Experience (LAE) is the first-ever
full-text database focusing on the history and culture of Latinos living in the
With
contents from 150 online reference books, LAE is divided into 13 major category
areas like education, history, music, religion, sports, and women. It also contains resources like: timeline, image index, primary source
material, landmark documents and Spanish content.
How
to access:
·
Go to RCC
library webpage www.rcc.mass.edu/lib.
·
Under Electronic
Resources, choose Databases, then Alphabetical list.
·
At Latino
Experience database, choose either On Campus or Off Campus. (Use your RCC library barcode number when Off
Campus.)
WANT TO BORROW A LAPTOP?
A laptop computer borrowing program began in the library in September. Students immediately started borrowing the 10 HP530 laptops for use inside the library. Business is brisk. The loan period is 1½ hours with renewals possible. Aside from expanding the number of computers in the library from 16 to 26, laptop borrowing permits students to relax in an easy chair with one or go to the group study room to create a computer project with classmates.
The laptops in the library program is part of a wider
arrangement with Bentley College, Hewlett Packard (HP), Free-Fi Networks and Microsoft arranged
by Alane Shanks, Vice President of Administration
and Finance, and
NEW LIBRARIAN ARCHIVIST
The library professional staff has
been expanded in the summer by the addition of Gena Pliakas, in the position of Librarian Archivist. Gena holds a masters degree in Library and
Information Science from
NEW REFERENCE DESK
An 11-foot long reference desk has
been moved to a prominent place near the library entrance. It replaces a regular 5-foot desk. The result is a cleaner look at the library
entrance, which directs students to the reference desk where they can obtain
help on finding information connected with their course work. Reference desk staffing has been beefed up,
not only by the addition of the new Librarian Archivist, but by more volunteer
graduate students, now numbering three, from the Simmons College graduate
program in Library and Information Science.
The purpose of this move is to provide a better designed and better staffed
location, so that students know where they can get help finding information.
76 BPL DATABASES NOW AVAILABLE FROM RCC
The Boston Public Library (BPL) now has 76 databases,
which can be accessed remotely. For the
convenience of the RCC community, these databases can now also be found on the
RCC library website (www.rcc.mass.edu/lib,
select Databases). Because of an
agreement with the BPL’s database vendors, RCC library is prohibited from
listing the databases in the Alphabetical list on the website. However, they can be accessed from the
Subject list. For example, RCC does not
subscribe to any art databases.
Nevertheless, if you now go to RCC library’s Subject list of databases,
you will find an Art section with a link saying: “Click here for Art databases from the Boston
Public Library. You can use your RCC
library barcode for access.” (The RCC
library barcode is accepted for access because RCC is a member of the Metro
Boston Library Network, of which the BPL is a member.) The BPL databases are a welcomed addition to
the existing RCC databases arranged by category. For example, in the Newspaper section of the
database list you find several RCC newspaper databases and also a link that directs
you to the BPL newspaper databases. One
of these BPL databases is Historical New York Times
(complete from the 1850s). You can read
Civil War dispatches just as they originally appeared.
As recently as 2002, RCC provided only 35 databases in its library. Now the total is 61. With the addition of links to the BPL remote
access databases, the grand total is 137.
Ninety-three of these are provided free to the college with state
funding; 32 are purchased at steep discounts by cooperative arrangements with
the other state college and university libraries and EBSCO
Information Services.
LIBRARY MINI WORKSHOPS FOR
FACULTY & STAFF
The library has started a monthly series of half hour workshops for faculty. The aim of the workshops is to better acquaint faculty with the amazing wealth of resources the library has to offer, as well as information literacy techniques. Time: 4th Tuesday of the month at 12 noon and 5 pm in the library classroom.
Fall
Workshops
September
23. Credo Reference Database
Credo contains 350 online reference books, the equivalent of 15
library shelves with 3 million
articles—dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, handbooks, etc. in dozens of
subject areas. Learn to search all at
once and get back not just text but images, sound files, animation, video for
classroom or the Moodle course management system.
October
28. Primary Sources for the Classroom
A gateway to locating primary sources to incorporate into the
classroom or Moodle. Learn where to go
to find online primary sources for the social sciences and humanities from the
library’s databases and free web locations.
November
25. Library Without Walls
You want it; we’ll show you how to get it: Get books from anywhere in
Each Workshop is supplemented
by an online study guide for review later.
ODDS & ENDS
More
Students
September may have been one of the busiest months in the history of the RCC library. The gate counter ticked off 15,115, a 10 percent increase from September 2007. And 2007 was the busiest year since 1996. A busy library is just a microcosm of a busy college with enrollment up an estimated 5.6 percent so far this fall according to Mike Walker from Research & Planning.
Book
Return Bin
For the first time, the library has a book return bin, located in the hall near the library entrance. The bin gives students another way to return books and videos when there is a line at the circulation desk or when the library is closed. Thanks to several faculty members and students for suggesting this improvement, especially Prof. Patrick Seyon.
Photographic
Travel Prints
A small but interesting collection of photographic prints has been displayed in the windows near the library entrance this fall. They are by Roxbury resident and RCC neighbor Bobbie Stevens and depict various foreign scenes that the artist has visited. Two are accompanied by special lighting which draws the attention of those passing in the hall.
Vote,
Vote
A display of books on issues related to the November election has been featured near the circulation desk for the last two months. It seems impossible to keep books about the presidential candidates on display, however. Students keep taking them out!
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,
Mark
Lawrence, Library Director