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!

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.

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.

New Lexis-Nexis Now Live

The Library would like to announce that the new Lexis-Nexis Academic is now live. As time goes on, other links on our other pages will be linking to the new Lexis-Nexis. When searching Lexis-Nexis, keep this in mind:

1. Type in the box search terms. Do NOT type in the box as if you are filling a form.

2. When using phrases surround them with quotation marks such as "Chabot college"

3. When looking at your search results, pay attention to the menu on the left--use the pull-down menu to narrow your results.

Tutorials for the new Lexis-Nexis Academic are available at http://tinyurl.com/yozyhn

For any other questions, please contact a librarian or reply to this post (contacting a librarian in person or by phone directly will give a more prompt response).

Update on New Interfaces: Lexis-Nexis and Literature Resource Center

By the end of this summer, two of our databases will have a new makeover--where your searching experience in them should be easier than ever. The new interface to Lexis-Nexis Academic should appear on July 9 or shortly thereafter. The new interface to Literature Resource Center is slated to appear by late August. We will submit a new post when live with further discussion on the new searching features.

Technology Is Fine, But What About Books for the Summer?

Ah yes. Nothing to enrich the mind as reading a good, literary novel. In fact, just behind the main desk are shelves of suggested works of fiction you just may enjoy. Granted, we're closed until June 11-- but do take a look when we're open again.

In the meantime--want a sample of especially what are the "greats"? Well, everyone has an opinion--but renowned literary critic Larry McCaffery, happens to have a list that he calls The 20th Century Greatest Hits: 100 English- Language Books of Fiction. Take a look--then go to a public library to check one of these out. Happy readings!

Make This Summer a Technology Summer!

Students, faculty, staff, and yes, even librarians-- We are supposedly in a Web 2.0 world now, and we probably are not even totally aware as of yet what that means for our teaching and learning.

But in this world where we can simply "type in a box" the opportunities to improve our learning and teaching are here. There's so much to share. So below is a laundry list of what tools are out there, and as the summer and fall progress--some of these tools will be discussed in detail. We've discussed Picnik, already.

For Instructors Who Teach DE or Are Curious About DE
Top 10 Things to Do This Summer

Introductory YouTube Videos to Web 2.0 Technologies
What is all this?
Web 2.0: The Machine is Us/ing Us
RSS in Plain English
Are You Blogging This?

Create Your Own Web 2.0 Site
Host your forum, invite participation
Blogger
PBwiki

Present What You've Found On the Web
Trailfire

Sharing Photos, Editing Them, Tagging Them
. . . and Turn Them Into Discussion Forums (Team Projects, Instructors and Students)
Flickr
Picnik

Sharing Videos
Submit your closed captioned video or also include a transcript, when teaching
YouTube

Sharing Your Bookmarks
View your favorite sites from any computer and learn new ones from your new found online friends.
Del.icio.us
Stumble Upon
Blackboard scholar (not currently available at Chabot or Las Positas)

Sharing Attachments
Without clogging Email boxes
YouSendIt

Make It Come To You: RSS Feeds
Really Simple Syndication
What is RSS?
RSS Readers
How to Create an RSS 2.0 Feed
Bloglines

Send URL's People Can Easily Copy on Paper
TinyURL it
TinyURL

Share Your Word Processing Documents and Spreadsheets
Teams work together from one file. Instructors, provide feedback to revisions
Google Documents

Roll Out Your Own Search Engines
Create subject-oriented search engines that only retrieve the reliable sites you know
Google Custom Search Engine

Find More Music You Like and Share It
Turn your favorite song into a radio station for similar songs, or share what you're listening on ITunes
Pandora Radio
ILike

Social Networks
Librarians using web 2.0 technology use Ning and Facebook
Ning
Facebook

Tag . . . You're It!
Find what you've created, easily. Enter text or search a file to see what keywords will make your photo, web page more easily found.
TagCrowd


Want more insight? Podcasts, PowerPoints and links to tools are available at http://ic.arc.losrios.edu/~ccli/Much thanks goes to the presenters of this year's California Clearinghouse of Library Instruction workshop--librarians and educators David Silver, Anne-Marie Dietering, and Michele Mizejewski. Thanks also to Eileen O'Shea from InfoPeople for the wonderful workshop she gave to California community college librarians back in April.

And in the meantime, share your experiences with these tools. Hit the Comments link--how can these tools enhance your learning or teaching? Part of Web 2.0 is sharing what we have found and learned.

The Computer Lab and the WRAC Center: The Transition Begins

If you are wondering what is going on at the mezzanine--the computer lab is still open--it is now available in the center of the mezzanine near the Audio Visual Center. If you see signs that say closed off, the Computer Lab is not closed--It is open today from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. , tomorrow 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and it will be there open during regular Library hours, as always (June 11 to August 2-- 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

The WRAC Center will move to the Mezzanine of the Library in the coming weeks as the College begins its major renovations as provided by the Facilities Bond that was passed back in 2004. It will be situated on the left side--the computer Lab will be in the center--and the Audio Visual Center will continue to provide services to the right.

Whenever we are open, there will still be computers available on the mezzanine for writing, spreadsheets, Blackboard course work, web browsing, Email, online communities--this will not change. The ten computers around the reference desk will also continue to be available for library research purposes, with a librarian near by who can assist you in finding relevant, quality information from our databases and the Web (and do not forget our own Google Search Engine--it's there on the right menu of this blog. If you do not see it, hit reload. It will show up!)

Please let us know if you have any questions. During this period of transition, keep in mind that for you as a student, you will be able to get assistance on how to improve writing your papers from the staff of the WRAC Center, and just downstairs you can get assistance on how to improve your research for those same papers and projects, from a librarian. Not too bad, huh?

Open Reference Thread

Do you have a research question related to your assignment? Have a question about the Library and its services? Ask them here and we'll be more than happy to help you. Click on the "Comments" link below this post, type in your question, and click on the Publish button below. Responses take at least 24 hours. If you want to ask us more privately, contact information is available at Contact Us.

Amnesty Days In the Library

STUDENTS: Have you been holding onto overdue library books to avoid paying the fines? We've got a deal for you!!

All students that return their overdue library books the week of finals, from Monday, May 21 through Friday, May 25, 2007, will get their records cleared without paying any fines.

This offer EXCLUDES Reserve materials.

Summer Hours

After May 25, the Library will be open:

June 11 to August 2nd
Mondays through Thursdays
9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

We will be closed on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesday, July 4.

Please make a note on your calendar. Do remember that our website and our databases are available 24/7.