Online Newsletter of
February 2012
AFRICAN
AMERICAN QUILTS
This is the 6th year
that the library has displayed a new selection of quilts created by Michelle Howard Harrell of the Early Childhood Education program and her
friends. Those participating this
year are Brenda Jones, Jonetta
Jones, Olga King, Mildred Maines and Celeste Jainey. The quilts are on display for
African American History Month and will be up until March 15. Be sure to take time to come to the library
and see them in person. Pictures of them
are also online right HERE. To see pictures of most of the 130 quilts
that have been displayed over the last six years, see HERE. Quilting is an important part of African
American craft heritage. Take a look at
some books on this subject in the RCC library:
Hidden in plain view : the secret story of quilts and the underground
railroad call number E450.T63 2000
Journey of hope : quilts inspired by President Barack Obama call
number NK9112 .M368 2010
Massachusetts quilts : our common wealth call number
Oversize NK9112.M365 2009
A piece of my soul : quilts by black Arkansans call number NK9112 .B457 2000
Signs & symbols : African images in African American quilts call number NK9112 .W33 2001x
Stitched from the soul : slave quilts from the Antebellum South call number NK9112 .F79 2002
The Union quilters call number
New Books PS3553.H473 U65 2011. From the
Elm Creek Quilt series.
BLACK UNITED FRONT VIDEO ONLINE
In
2006, Leonard (Lenny) Durant, past Chief of Staff and
Office Manager of the Boston Black United Front sat down with then RCC
Archivist Cat Holbrook and talked about the
turbulent late sixties and early seventies.
This two hour oral history was recorded in the RCC television studio
under the direction of Prof. Justin Petty. After considerable delay, including technical
difficulties, that video conversation is now available online on the Internet Archive through the expertise of the present RCC Librarian Archivist Autumn Haag. African American History
Month is an appropriate time to hear Lenny talk about the struggle for
community control in Boston in the difficult period before and after the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Go to the Archives
and Special Collections link and look for the links of the two-part Lenny
Durant video.
DIGITIZING DU BOIS
For the
last nine years, the RCC library has been an excellent place to do research on
W.E.B. Du Bois. The reason is that the
library has a microfilm collection of the complete works of Du Bois. The originals are housed in the Du Bois
Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Former RCC interim president Randolph Bromery
was instrumental in bringing the Du Bois microfilm here.
The significance of that microfilm collection, however, is coming to an end. Over the past two years UMass has been digitizing its Du Bois Collection to make it available everywhere. Currently, 40,000 digital objects have been added to UMass’ Credo online repository. By next year, 60,000 more will follow. Researchers on Du Bois should go to the Credo repository at http://credo.library.umass.edu. For example, a basic search in Credo for the Niagara Movement reveals hundreds of items that can be sorted by date, creator, or title. These documents help illuminate the organization founded by Du Bois in 1905 and named for the “mighty current” of change he wished to unleash in opposition to racial injustice. The Niagara Movement was a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which Du Bois helped found in 1909. Credo, the name of the online repository, is in homage to Du Bois’ statement of faith in racial equality which he first formulated in 1904.
Read the De Bois’ “Credo” statement HERE,
part of the
collection..
GREENER
LIBRARY
The RCC library is greener, in the conventional
sense of having more living green things.
The number of plants has increased by two-thirds in the last year, from
about 60 to about 100. Much of the
increase is the result of several gifts from the greenhouse facilitated by math
professor Eric Entemann. The others are because library staff member Rosa Morales divided plants which had grown
too big and created more. There have
been plants in the library for decades. Many
of the present ones are descendents and clippings of plants donated in the
1980s. Aside from being beautiful,
plants in the library have a calming effect for students with an exam or paper
due tomorrow. Click HERE for an article on the
soothing effects of plants in the workplace.
EXPANSION OF SILENT ZONE
In the fall of 2010, the library installed new
carrels and signage on the first floor to make this area quiet for those doing
silent individual study. This plan worked
even better than expected. Students find
this environment conducive to serious study.
Staff find that many fewer reminders to keep
the area silent are needed. To build on
this success, the no talking area has been expanded by adding three more carrels
for 12 more students. Students began
using them the first day they were available.
THE POPULATION MAP
Where do people live in the world and where will
they increasingly live in the future?
The library’s new large 36” x 48” Population Map depicts the size of
countries according to their populations.
It is an essential reference tool for colleges, like RCC, with a
significant international student body. The Population Map is on the library’s
first floor. Here's a small 7” x 15” online preview.
SELECTED
LIBRARY STATISTICS 2011
Many parts
of library services and resources expanded in 2011. This is a sample of the most aggressive
moves.
·
Library Instruction Up 19 percent.
In
2011, the library had its best year in teaching students how to use library
resources to enhance success in their courses.
Student-attendees, numbering 2,897, came to 159 instruction
sessions. In the fall semester, for the
first time, 100 percent of the sections in the introductory ACS 102, College
Experience course participated, with the coordination of Mark Garth, Dean of Student
Success. This is a 42 percent
improvement over last year. Over 80
percent of sections of English 101 and 102 came to the library for library
instruction with the coordination of Mark Kjellman, Department Chair of
English. This was the highest rate ever
for English course participation.
The
library also formalized its instruction structure with three levels:
o
introductory sessions for ACS;
o
intermediate sessions for English
courses that require a research paper;
o
advanced
sessions for courses that where specialized information resources are taught.
Since
more is not necessarily better, the library also initiated evaluations of each
instruction session starting in the fall.
About 305 students gave online feedback in the last two minutes of each
session. This rich data was analyzed to
make improvements and is being shared with instructors to foster collaboration.
·
2011:
159 classes, 2,897 students.
·
2010:
143 classes, 2,431 students.
·
2009:
136 classes, 2,306 students.
·
2008: 175 classes, 2,583 students.
·
2007: 128 classes, 2,089 students.
·
2006: 113 classes, 2,026 students.
·
2005: 91 classes, 1,691 students.
·
2004: 89 classes, 1,764 students.
·
2003: 75 classes, 1,664 students.
·
2002: 61
classes, 1,438 students.
·
2001: 25
classes, 375 students.
·
Library Database Searches Continue Up.
One of
the main resources taught at library instruction sessions is how to use
databases to find quality articles and reference sources for research
projects. When instruction goes up,
database searching usually goes up as it has done eight out of the last ten
years, almost 7 percent in the last year alone.
·
2011:
68,586
·
2010:
64,195
·
2009:
59,451
·
2008: 41,877
·
2007: 29,972
·
2006: 30,950
·
2005: 15,931
·
2004: 18,332
·
2003: 14,699
·
2002: 9,828
·
2001: 3,490
·
Video Use
Doubled
Films on Demand streaming academic videos was initiated in 2009, greatly expanding use of video at RCC. The increased use of Films on Demand both in the classroom and for academic viewing at home almost doubled video use in 2011 over 2010.
o 2011: 300 regular video/DVD + 3,629 Films on Demand = 3,927
o 2010: 296 regular video/DVD + 1,707 Films on Demand = 2,003
·
Explosive Increase in Use of Online
Research Guides Continues into 5th Year
The
increase in the use by students of online research guides since their inception
at RCC library five years ago is truly remarkable—from 2,466 searches in 2007
to 86,557 searches in 2011. These guides
are created by library staff and tailored to RCC student needs and interests to
assist them in finding quality information.
o
Class Guides. These supplement library instruction sessions
for specific courses. Those viewed most
times in 2011 were for these courses:
§
HUM
320: Honors Colloquium--6,814
§
ENG
101: English Composition I (honors)-Greene—3,581
§ ASC 102: College Experience—3,109
§
SSI 221: Macroeconomics- Fusi--2,503
§
ENG 101: English Composition I- King--1,065
o
Subject
Guides direct students to quality information on specific subjects. These subjects drew the most interest:
§
Teen Violence—4,992
§
Hispanic Heritage—4,598
§
Gay Rights—4,561
§
Gun Control—4,519
§
Death Penalty—3,333
§
Abortion—3,301
§
Diabetes—1,645
o
2011: 86,557
o
2010: 67,352
o
2009: 35,141
o
2008: 16,209
o
2007: 2,466
·
Facebook Use Up
The library added a Facebook
page on the library website in September 2009 as another way of appealing to
students. Student accessing has more
than tripled during the past year.
o
2011: 4,011
o
2010: 1,197
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