Thursday, August 30, 2007

Textbooks, Cheap--Where?!!!

And you may have come to the Library, hoping the textbook is there for you to check out the whole semester?

Well, it doesn't work that way. First of all, your instructor has to put the textbook on Reserve. If they do not do so, we do not have it. The Library does not purchase textbooks on its own--we do not have an annual budget to buy them as is. Second of all, when the textbook is on Reserve, you're asking for a checkout time of 1 hour, most often, because as you can imagine, many students may need it as well. With 1 hour, you will most often need to photocopy many pages, at 10 cents per page, and that adds up.

So most often, you WILL have to purchase your own textbooks.

But maybe you can find them at a cheaper price?

The New York Times recently documented a number of sites in this article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/fashion/30Cyber.html?th&emc=th

It lists a number of sites. And especially encourages comparison shop sites, such as:

Bookfinder: http://www.bookfinder.com/textbooks/

A couple of other comparison sites are:

Direct Textbook: http://www.directtextbook.com/

and AddAll: http://www.addall.com/

Hope you find some TRUE bargains!

Monday, August 27, 2007

Instructor Kleven's English 101A Course

Dear English 101A students:

Feel free to ask us any questions or to comment on the books that you are reading this semester. Interested in finding another author like one you like? Ask here. We'll be more than happy to give you insights.

Questions on how to use "Author by Type" in Literature Resource Center? Want to know how to search the Library Catalog? Request a book from Las Positas? How to get an Alameda County Library Card and use their catalog? Ask here, but if you've misplaced your handout, it's available at this address: http://tinyurl.com/2kka3v

To ask us questions, click on the "Comments" link.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Welcome Everyone to the Fall Semester!

Welcome, students! We hope your summers were great.

For those of you who are new to Chabot, we give a special welcome! From our website to the Library, which is on the second floor of Building 100, we provide all sorts of information resources that can be beneficial for your research. Want to learn how to use library subscription databases to find quality articles, or how to find a book, or find a movie or documentary, or find quality web sites that are much more reliable than Wikipedia? Or if you want to say hi . . .

We have bunches of friendly faces up here. A lot of us are at the main desk of the Library (right in front). So please stop by. Librarians are faculty members who will provide you instruction on how to be able to find materials, and in the process, become better students.

So if you do have any questions, do not hestitate to ask. Librarians are available on the left side of the reference desk.

Library Reserves

Welcome back to all faculty and students!

Faculty: If you have a copy of your textbook and/or special readings that you want your students to access, please place them on reserve in the library. Please come in and ask for Sandy Tran at the Circulation desk, call her at 723-7112, or email her at stran@chabotcollege.edu.

Students: Please come to the library if you want to check if any of your textbooks are on reserve. Please note: NOT ALL TEXTBOOKS ARE PLACED ON RESERVE. The library can only place them on reserve if your instructor gives the library a copy of it.

If you have any issues or concerns, you can contact me, Debbie Soares, at 723-6768 or dsoares@chabotcollege.edu.

Thanks and have a wonderful fall semester.