New movies!! We got 'em!!

At some point today we will be putting out the new dvds. They are:

• Juno
• No Country for Old Men
• Sweeney Todd
• Michael Clayton
• La Vie en Rose
• Atonement

I think that's it. I'll add the rest when they get here. Remember, they go out for a week and you can take two at a time! What better way to celebrate the end of finals than to watch a FREE movie!

And, I think the CDs came in too!!!

Finals Week Library Tips

• We're open regular hours for finals week. (See "semester hours" box to the right of this post).
• We have wireless access upstairs and down, including the room on the other side of the computer area, L524.
• We're fully stocked on the MLA and APA booklets, and don't forget about citation machine if you get stuck on your works cited page.
• We buy a lot of those _____ Incredibly Easy! and _____ for Dummies books, so if you need a little clarification on something when you are studying, just search for it as a keyword in the library online catalog.
• If you need a place to study, check out this old post I wrote on different spots in the library.

Good luck!

Going Green?

Everyone seems to be going green... the bookstores are full of books about it, the grocery stores are selling reusable bags, and the Governor is creating websites about things you can do. Today, I attended an online chat about college libraries going green and there were librarians from all across the country writing in about different things libraries can do to help create a sustainable future.

Some of the librarians were from community colleges like ours (I asked) and we talked about reducing the amount of wasteful printing, bike riding to campus (there are bike racks in the front of Founders now!), and recycling. It seems like a lot of colleges, including commuter campuses like Naugatuck Valley, are making an effort to make their college an environmentally friendly place.

For now, we're buying lots of new books on the subject, and asking that you keep your printing down as much as possible. But, if anyone has suggestions on the topic, we'd be thrilled to hear them!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Some of you are graduating in a few weeks, and you may be going on to a four year school, or heading off to work full time. Either way, you're probably thinking about what you want to do next. Since many people who come here are looking for a better job or a new career, the library purchases a lot of career books to help you figure out what you want to be.
Some titles include:
Opportunities in nursing careers /

ECO guide to careers that make a difference.

Real-resumes for aviation & travel jobs : including real resumes used to change careers and transfer skills to other industries /

To look for career books, type in "career" in the catalog search box, leave keyword as your "Search by:" term, and quick limit to the last 5 years. If you are here in the library, the career books are often on display on top of where we keep the magazines. Ask at the circulation or reference desk if you have questions. (And if you're wondering what being a librarian is like, it's great. I love my job.)

So your paper is due in an hour and you need...

A "scholarly," "professional" or "peer-reviewed" journal article- Go to the library homepage, click:
electronic databases
on campus access
a database (start with Academic OneFILE or Opposing Viewpoints, both are easy to use)
type in your keywords eg. "gun control" or "racism" or "dolphins"
check the boxes under the keywords that say "FULL TEXT" and "PEER REVIEWED"
search

A book- library homepage, click:
library catalog
type in your keyword
search

Have a question? Call 575-8244. Email jhammond@nvcc.commnet.edu. IM on the blog. If it's late at night, go to the library homepage and look for Library Online Tutorials, or click HELP on any of the databases. Opposing Viewpoints has a really good "Toolbox" feature that helps you organize a paper. Go to the Electronic Databases, choose Opposing Viewpoints, and click the little yellow wrench icon that says toolbox.

Good luck!

Learn to speak Librarian!

Completely free lessons!

The basics:

Library Online Catalog= Search for books
Electronic Databases= Search for articles
reQuest= all the library books in the whole state all at one time (WOW!)
Serials Solutions= Magazine/Journal Locator
Journals & Newspapers= Nothing. Don't look at that page.

Library Lingo:

Stacks= Bookshelves
Circulation Desk= Big desk on 4th floor where you check things out
Reference Desk= Big desk near computers where you ask questions
Serials= Magazines and Journals
Journals= Academic Magazines
Reserve= on hold

Database Lingo:

Databases= digital (online) collections of journals and magazines
Ebsco= a company that owns several databases
full-text= you can read/print it
citation= can't read/print it
PDF= scanned version of an article
html= digitized version of an article (may not have images/graphs)
download= save

Hope you enjoyed this beginning library lingo session! See you in the library soon!