Library’s Art Museum Image Gallery Brings A Visual Treasury to the Desktop

A rich digital resource of over 155,000 rights-cleared images gathered from the collections of distinguished museums around the world now is available to the LBCC campus community from any web-enabled workstation. Through the library’s subscription to the Art Museum Image Gallery students and faculty can view, download, and integrate into papers and projects the visual masterpieces of ancient civilizations, American, European, and Medieval history, as well as world religions and music. Full bibliographic records accompany every image, and users can search the gallery by keyword, subject, artist, title of work, type of object, and culture/nationality.

To test drive this extraordinary database just visit the library home page, click on “articles and databases” on the right side of the screen, and select “Art Museum Image Gallery” (When working from an off-campus computer be sure to click the “Off Campus” button to authenticate yourself as a currently enrolled or employed LBCC user.)


For more information contact Nenita Buenaventura, Access Services Librarian nbuenaventura@lbcc.edu

Library Update #50

Pre- and Post- Testing to Assess Library Orientations

What do you know? What did you learn?

Library Department Head, Kim Barclay has announced the introduction of pre- and post-testing for all student orientations conducted by LBCC librarians. Students who come with their instructor for a presentation on library print and electronic information resources and how to use them effectively will be given a short (under 5 minute) test on one aspect of library research, such as the online catalog. The orientation will conclude with a second short test on the same topic to help assess whether students have understood and are able to apply the information presented.

“We want to assure ourselves that our orientations are having the desired impact on student success,” said Barclay; “test results will be a useful indicator, guiding the content and direction of future presentations as well as providing data that can be helpful with future accreditation and program review.”

Faculty perspectives will be sought too

Later this year, LBCC faculty who accompany their classes to an orientation also may be asked to provide feedback to the library about the extent to which the presentation met their needs and expectations. “It’s important to us that the library’s customers have the opportunity to tell us where we have been successful and where the content of the presentation needs to change and improve” Department Head Barclay explained.


For more information contact: Kim Barclay kbarclay@lbcc.edu

Library Update #48

Student-Tested, Professor-Approved Web Resources that Work

Librarian says tapping into the “Hidden Web” helps students make the grade

With the help of general websites such as Google and Ask.com, students have become savvy online searchers. But are they finding the research that’s going to help them make the grade?

Kim Barclay, LBCC Library Department Head says that even the most agile Internet searchers might be spending their time gathering research that their professors find questionable if they’re using general search engines alone. The problem lies in the fact that these popular services just can’t get at the right content, and should only be one part of a student’s research arsenal. She says that general search engines search what’s free on the Web, but often the relevant, most accurate (and professor approved) information resides in what insiders call the “Hidden Web”— expensive password-protected databases typically consulted by professional researchers and, more to the point, faculty.

“Free search engines are great for finding quick answers to simple questions, but when the answers really matter — for a research assignment or team project… when it’s going to impact your grades — we recommend using something more authoritative,” says Barclay. “Professors expect students to use research that’s relevant, reliable information vetted by scholars in the field, and the general Web doesn’t necessarily deliver that. But we do and it’s free to students, just as it’s free to our faculty.”

Barclay says you just need to add the library’s home page to your “Favorites” list. The library has dozens of educators’ most sought-after Internet resources — information sources that would typically cost thousands — available free to students. Whether your academic major is in the natural sciences, social sciences, literature, business, or other discipline, the information professionals at your library have selected databases that support your research. Tapping in through the library’s website means finding information that can help with late-night or 11th-hour research, from anywhere on or off campus.

Once on the library home page, click on the “Articles and Databases” tab on the left side of the screen. Each of the resources will be listed and will have a brief description of what you can do there. If logging in from off campus, click the “off campus access” link to “authenticate” yourself as an LBCC student or faculty member.

While used by faculty and professional researchers, Barclay says these Internet sources are easy to use, but it may take a visit or two to learn the ropes. “It’s like going to a grocery store if you’ve only shopped at the gas station’s food mart. It might take a few minutes to understand the layout, but once you do, you find the selection and quality knock the socks off the gas station’s convenience,” Barclay says.

“And if you really want some personal service, just visit the ‘live’ librarians at LAC in Building E or at PCC in Building GG,” Barclay invites. “They can provide expert advice on the ins and outs of research that can make all your reports and papers that much better in the future.”


For more information contact: Kim Barclay kbarclay@lbcc.edu

Library Update #49

Quiet as a Tomb? Not a chance!

An October 9 article in LBCC’s Viking, “New Library Offers Earful,” reviewed the challenges facing students seeking a quiet place to study on campus. Traditionally, that has been the library. Students who had a home or roommate situation that was distracting or disruptive, making it hard for them to focus on research, have depended upon the library for respite and refuge. As acknowledged in the Viking article, this situation has changed.

Today’s academic library no longer is a place of total quiet. The tomblike atmosphere the prevailed at college and university libraries during most of the last century no longer is the expectation, nor is it practical. Modern library buildings are designed to accommodate a broad range of research activity and a variety of study styles.

• Computer workstations have a prominent role in the research and study, and their numbers and visibility have increased steadily over the years.

• Students need and expect to work together collaboratively, to be able to carry on conversations with one another or in groups as they prepare for a presentation or project while using library information resources.

• Reference librarians need to be able to confer with students at the reference desk or at their workstation to provide advice and assistance, facilitating the research process.

But besides being places where conversation and collaboration are welcome, libraries need to continue to offer spaces that respect and accommodate individual student needs for quiet and concentration. As LBCC builds its new library, and as CSULB completes its building renovation, there has been extensive planning to insure adequate space for both group and individual study.

During construction of the new library building, when the library has been temporarily relocated to building E, with other services housed in trailers, space is very limited. There are 27 seats for those not using computer workstations in the temporary library site. In the foyer and corridor outside this space there are 34 additional seats at tables and cubicles.

In building E there really is no place where absolute quiet can be provided. The library, with its service desks and many computer workstations, is a place where foot traffic, conversation, and noise from keyboards, copiers, and printers will occur. The foyer and corridor area of the building E basement, though still a thoroughfare for students entering and leaving the library, is somewhat shielded from other sources of distraction, and for now offers the best chance of satisfying a student’s desire for quiet study conditions.

We apologize for this temporary period of disruption and inconvenience, the inevitable consequence of embarking upon a major building project. We want to assure the campus community that today’s less than ideal conditions will be displaced by a beautiful and functional library facility in 2009.

For more information contact: Kim Barclay, LBCC Libraries Department Head kbarclay@lbcc.edu

Library Update #47

Need Help with Research… RIGHT NOW ?

The library’s ready when you are.

As they balance work, study, and family responsibilities today’s students often find that there’s no convenient time to go to the library as they prepare for a paper or presentation. An LBCC librarian can provide expert advice about:

• The best sources of information on a research topic
• A plan for conducting a search for information, evaluating the information that’s retrieved, and organizing and synthesizing it
• How to choose and use research databases available through the library website

Great, you say, but my paper’s due Monday, and I don’t get off work Saturday until 5. Not to worry. The library’s got you covered. Just point your browser to the “Ask a Librarian” page. You’ll find five different options there for getting the help you need at any time of the day or night: from e-mail, to live chat, to instant messaging.

Find the answers you need when you need them, thanks to LBCC library.

For more information contact: Monica White, mwhite@lbcc.edu

Library Update #46

New Content and Features for African-American History Online

The Library’s African-American History Online database has just become a richer, more functional tool for scholarly research. Many new records and powerful features were added, including 70 historical videos, more than 60 new images, 70 new or updated maps, graphs, and tables, plus helpful new search and page options. The introduction of video into the database promises to make the study of history more visual and accessible for all learning levels. The African American Video Gallery includes footage of civil rights protests and marches, as well as historic videos of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. In another sequence, Marian Anderson is seen in performance at the Lincoln Memorial.

New graphic enhancements include a Tuskeegee Airman War Bonds Poster (1943) and data on the proportions of white, black, and Hispanic populations that are incarcerated (2006). And now search results can be sorted into two categories: “Biographies” and “Events and Topics” to make it easier to locate desired citations.


For more information contact: Nenita Buenaventura at nbuenaventura@lbcc.edu

Library Update #45

Where are they?

Many people are asking about the current whereabouts of programs and departments formerly located in Building L. A list of current locations follows:

• Career and Job Placement Center - Building E (College Center), First Floor
• Faculty Professional Development - W107 and W104
• Faculty Resource Center - Trailer TV
• Instructional Technology Student Center - Trailer TT
• Learning Assistance Services - Basement of Building E (College Center)
• Library - Basement of Building E (College Center )
• Library Media and Periodicals - Trailer TU
• Multimedia Equipment Services - Building B, Room 103
• Open Access Computer Lab. - Basement of Building E (College Center)
• Reading Classrooms - Building B, Rooms 301A and 301B
• Reading Program - Trailer TS

Note: Trailers TS, TT, TU, and TV are located in the quad in front of (east of) Building L.