Presidential Picks: The Library's Got Them All!

In a news story in the New York Times on January 19, 2009 President Obama talked about the books that inspired and edified him, about his appreciation for "the magic of language" and his "ardent love of reading." Some of the president's favorite
books included:

“Parting the Waters,” Taylor Branch

The Bible

“Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gandhi’s autobiography

“Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin

“The Golden Notebook,” Doris Lessing

Lincoln’s collected writings

“Moby-Dick,” Herman Melville

“Song of Solomon,” Toni Morrison

Works of Reinhold Niebuhr

“Gilead,” Marilynne Robinson

Shakespeare’s tragedies

Check out these and other books that move and inspire at the library http://lib.lbcc.edu/

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

Library Update #61

Presidential Picks: The Library's Got Them All!

In a news story in the New York Times on January 19, 2009 President Obama talked about the books that inspired and edified him, about his appreciation for "the magic of language" and his "ardent love of reading." Some of the president's favorite books included:

Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch
The Bible
Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gandhi’s autobiography
Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
Lincoln’s collected writings
Moby-Dick, Herman Melville
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
Works of Reinhold Niebuhr
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Shakespeare’s tragedies

Check out these and other books that move and inspire at the library http://lib.lbcc.edu/


For more information contact: Monica White

Changes at CSULB Library: Good News for LBCC Users

The University Library at CSU Long Beach begins its spring term on Monday, February 26. For nearly a decade a partnership agreement has enabled LBCC students, staff, and faculty to borrow books, DVD’s, audiobooks, and CD’s at CSULB using their current validated College ID card.

Database Use Requires a Guest Pass
Until now to use any of the more than 160 subscription databases that CSULB Library subscribes to (including PsycInfo, Lexis Nexis Academic, Factiva, MLA Bibliography, and JSTOR) members of the LBCC community (students, staff and faculty) have had to apply at the reception desk for a “computer guest pass” and their library database access was limited to just one hour in each 24 hour period.

Guest Pass Time Limit Extended
Guests now can make better use of their time at CSULB Library because database access time has just increased to 90 minutes. Although CSULB library has more than 200 workstations for public use in the library’s new Spidell Technology Center, there is tremendous demand for access from CSULB students (who are allocated four hours of computing time per session); that’s the reason for the limits on use by visitors. “We know that it takes a student time to become familiar with a new database before he or she can start finding and retrieving needed information, said Roman Kochan, Dean of Library Services at CSULB. “By increasing the guest pass time by 50% we hope to make database use a little less stressful for our visiting scholars.”

The Library’s Open Earlier on Weekdays
Also new at CSULB Library is an increase in building hours. The library now will open at 7 a.m. (instead of 7:45) Monday through Friday. For a complete schedule of hours for the spring term see http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/hours/

For more information contact: Henry DuBois.

Library Update #60

Changes at CSULB Library: Good News for LBCC Users

The University Library at CSU Long Beach begins its spring term on Monday, February 26. For nearly a decade a partnership agreement has enabled LBCC students, staff, and faculty to borrow books, DVD’s, audiobooks, and CD’s at CSULB using their current validated College ID card.

Database Use Requires a Guest Pass
Until now to use any of the more than 160 subscription databases that CSULB Library subscribes to (including PsycInfo, Lexis Nexis Academic, Factiva, MLA Bibliography, and JSTOR) members of the LBCC community (students, staff and faculty) have had to apply at the reception desk for a “computer guest pass” and their library database access was limited to just one hour in each 24 hour period.

Guest Pass Time Limit Extended
Guests now can make better use of their time at CSULB Library because database access time has just increased to 90 minutes. Although CSULB library has more than 200 workstations for public use in the library’s new Spidell Technology Center, there is tremendous demand for access from CSULB students (who are allocated four hours of computing time per session); that’s the reason for the limits on use by visitors. “We know that it takes a student time to become familiar with a new database before he or she can start finding and retrieving needed information, said Roman Kochan, Dean of Library Services at CSULB. “By increasing the guest pass time by 50% we hope to make database use a little less stressful for our visiting scholars.”

The Library’s Open Earlier on Weekdays
Also new at CSULB Library is an increase in building hours. The library now will open at 7 a.m. (instead of 7:45) Monday through Friday. For a complete schedule of hours for the spring term see http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/hours/

For more information contact: Henry DuBois hdubois@lbcc.edu

Library Update #60

Coming Soon: LAC Library Early Closure & Reopening

The long wait is almost over. The extensive renovation and repurposing of the Building L, the LAC campus Library and Learning Resources complex is reaching completion. In anticipation of this welcome event, the library would like to alert the campus community to the following target dates:

• The LAC Library, currently located in the E-Building (Lower Level) will close for the semester after Saturday, December 13; note that this date is before the end of the fall semester

• Library services at the PCC campus will continue to be available to both LAC and PCC customers regular hours through December 19

• Collections and services will be moved to Building L between December 15-January 9; LAC Library will be closed to the public for this period

• The library’s reopening in the remodeled Building L will coincide with the beginning of the Spring, 2009 semester on Monday, January 12

For more information contact: Dena Laney dlaney@lbcc.edu

Library Update #59

New Building, New Era for PCC Students and Faculty

On September 17 a ceremony that heralded the opening of the new Library and Learning Resource Center at the Pacific Coast Campus made front page news in the Long Beach Press Telegram.

President Eloy Oakley characterized the event as representing “a new beginning for this campus and this college and this community.”

As all of us in the LBCC community take pride in the accolades being showered upon this achievement, let’s consider what the creation of “a true gem of a library” will mean for PCC:

* A huge improvement in the library’s “functionality:”
o Areas for quiet study and collaborative group study
o Better, more logical “flow” between service desks, shelved collections, study areas, and computing facilities
o Improved heating and cooling, attractive new furnishings and flooring

* Study rooms equipped for network connectivity

* A tenfold increase in computer workstations available to support student research in a new Research Center

* Helpful, attentive support staff at service desks and providing technical assistance to Research Center users

* Expert librarian help with identifying, selecting, evaluating, and synthesizing information contained in library print and online resources

* A dramatic new “smart classroom” with tiered seating, hands-on pc access at each seat, and wall-size flat panel presentation screens

For more information contact: Dena Laney, Systems Librarian dlaney@lbcc.edu

Library Update #57

Textbooks and the Library: What Can Students Expect?

Textbook Costs Can Be Overwhelming

Tuition has risen over the years, but it's not the costs of enrollment, but the cost of textbooks that's a bigger and more serious challenge for LBCC students. After admission to their classes students go shopping for their books, and required texts can easily cost them $300, $500, or more for a semester. For some, this sticker shock can be a “deal breaker,” the end of their college aspirations.


The Library Wants to Help

The library can’t afford to buy copies of every textbook assigned each semester at LBCC, and keeping pace with the new text adoptions and changing editions of existing textbooks isn’t practical. The library’s book collection is intended to supplement and enhance the information contained in texts and taught in class.

What the library can do, though, is provide house and manage reserve copies of textbooks that instructors have supplied. Students can borrow these books on short-term loan (usually 2 hours) to permit access to as many as possible. They can study and make photocopies from them in the library, but texts are for in-library use only and students need their current college ID to use them.

Calling all LBCC Faculty!

The library’s reserve service depends upon faculty to supply copies of their textbooks and to make them available for reserve checkout. Often this is a student’s only avenue for completing the reading assignments for his/her course. Faculty owned reserve textbooks can be put on reserve by completing a form found at http://lib.lbcc.edu/forms/reserveform.cfm

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

Library Update #56