Library Literacy

"Lean on Pete" Review & Discussion

2012-01-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

Willy Vlautin's newest novel, "Lean on Pete" 2010, is a stark look into the world of teenager Charley Thompson, whose father treats him more like a younger brother than a son. Charley is on his own much of the time, running and dreaming of playing football for his new school in Portland, Oregon. A tragedy at home leaves Charley wondering what to do next and where to go. He befriends Del, a gruff race horse trainer at the local track and becomes a caretaker for his horse, Pete. Hearing that Pete may be soon sent to Mexico gives Charley the impetus to escape to an aunt possibly living in Montana that he hasn't seen or heard from in years. Charley leaves with Pete, stealing Del's beat down truck and horse trailer.

Book discussion questions:
1. One of the main characters of this novel is a horse, how is he developed (or not)?
2. Was Charley's dad, Ray, an abusive father?
3. Some people believe this novel has parallels to Huckleberry Finn, do you agree?
4. Did Pete have a better life with Charley than he would have had in Mexico?
5. Did you find Charley's road adventures believable?
6. Do you see a connection between the books Lean on Pete and Water for Elephants?
7. Should the horse, Pete, have had a larger role in the novel, since he was in the title?
8. Do Pete and Charley have any characteristics that are similar?

Films On Demand

2011-11-21T13:56:00.001-05:00

A new LibGuide is available for the Films On Demand database. This database, available from the Monroe Community College library website, offers access to thousands of online documentary videos 24/7! Watch videos in their entirety or in segments on a computer.

The LibGuide describes how-to search the database, save favorite titles or segments of titles and create playlists to share with classes. You are also able to embed code so the video can be used in an online course. Films On Demand gives students another option for a visual aid when they are doing class presentations.

Tina Rosenberg

2011-11-15T10:25:00.001-05:00

Author Tina Rosenberg, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her book, "The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism", will be speaking at Monroe Community College on December 7 at 7pm. Ms. Rosenberg's newest book is titled, "Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World."

The talk is free with an MCC ID and $10 for the general public. Purchase tickets at the MCC Campus Center Service Desk in building 3, the Damon City Campus bookstore, or online.

Rosenberg is a journalist for the New York Times Magazine. Her works have also appeared in The New Republic, Washington Post, New York Times newspaper (and online) and Harper's.

A display in the MCC Writing Center (building 11) has more information about Ms. Rosenberg.

Criminal Justice Periodical Index LibGuide

2011-10-04T11:12:00.001-04:00

Need to locate articles about criminal justice topics? Monroe Community College staff and students have access to the Criminal Justice Periodical Index. Use our LibGuide to learn about many of the features of this database.

Over 250 scholarly, peer-reviewed journals are available, covering topics such as; law enforcement, corrections administration, family law and industrial security. Articles may be emailed, printed or saved and you have the option to include the citation in MLA, APA or Chicago style.

Having a difficult time deciding on a topic? CJPI has a topic locater. Just enter keywords or scroll through the alphabetical list to get ideas.

This Place is Free?

2011-09-29T15:18:00.001-04:00

A comical look at resources available at the local library, without using the word "library". Really, can you find a store or other government agency that has as many things or as much information?

Google - Inside Search

2011-09-28T14:20:00.001-04:00

Google is continuously tweaking its products and releasing new ones. Discover the latest and greatest from Google at Inside Search.
Learn about all the innovations at Google since its founding in 1997.

Learn how to receive better search results with the basic and advanced techniques such as; search for an exact phrase, choosing descriptive words, choose web-friendly words, search using a mobile camera and much more.

You can check out the Google Playground and see what type of searches have taken place around the world today. Try your hand at Google-a-Day and build your search skills, or browse through Demo Slam for unusual technology demonstrations.

Films on Demand

2011-09-13T10:16:00.003-04:00

Faculty, students and staff at Monroe Community College in Rochester have access, through the library, to thousands of educational videos.

Films On Demand is a state-of-the-art digital video delivery system which offers streaming video. Films on Demand is a great tool for classroom use. Create a user profile and save your favorites. Embed videos in your online lessons. Students can use the videos to enhance a presentation. Visual learners may find the database helpful. Check out the video below (created by me using Animoto) to learn a bit more about Films on Demand, then try the database.

A Google a Day

2011-09-07T10:44:00.007-04:00

A Google a Day is a fun puzzle and method for practicing your research skills. It is a good resource for teaching students how to select keywords when searching.

A Google a Day will also teach researchers to read through an article or website and not grab at the first possible answer (critical thinking skills).

Students may also learn that not all websites are reliable, as you can often find different answers for the question asked.

For more about learning how to use Google, how to search and teaching searching, see SearchReSearch an interesting blog written by Daniel Russell, who works for Google.

The Athlete's Clock - Book Review

2011-06-16T16:33:00.003-04:00

Exercise physiologists, athletic trainers, coaches and athletes who care about the science behind athletic performance will appreciate "The Athlete's Clock" by Thomas Rowland. Is pacing determined by the mind or body? What is the best breathing rhythm for optimal athletic performance? Is stride length or frequency more important? Do circadian rhythms and jet lag have an implication for performance? What can an aging athlete do to stop or slow down the loss of athletic ability? (lift weights is one sure method - by age 80 the typical man has lost 40% of his muscle mass compared with a 40 year old).

Rowland refers to hundreds of journal articles, books, and studies done over many years in attempting to answer these questions. Each chapter ends with a summary box. Many chapter notes give in-depth explanations of topics with sources provided.

Available at Amazon and other booksellers.

The Printed Book is Dead...Not

2011-04-28T13:34:00.006-04:00

Contrary to popular opinion, at least insofar as the general media is concerned, printed books are not dead. As a matter of fact the business is healthier than ever!
Here are some statistics that McSweeney's literary journal compiled in a recent article;

"According to Nielsen's BookScan—a sales-monitoring service widely regarded as representing 70 to 75 percent of trade sales—Americans bought 751,729,000 books in 2010. Excepting 2008 and 2009, when sales reaches 757 million and 777 million, respectively, that's many millions more books sold than in any other year BookScan has recorded."

"In 2008, there were more original book titles published in print than ever before: 289,729 different titles in the U.S. alone."

"Library circulation is at an all-time high: 2.28 billion items."

"Library membership in the U.S. is at an all-time high: 208,904,000 Americans held library cards in 2009. (That's 68 percent of the population)"

E-books, have gained in popularity the last couple of years, yet still only account for 8-10% of the market.

RRLC Academic Library of the Year

2011-04-12T14:08:00.007-04:00

The MCC Library is being recognized as the Rochester Regional Library Council's academic library of the year for 2011.

This is a video of our library, including an interview with our director, Ted Ciambor.

Poetry Month

2011-04-04T14:23:00.005-04:00

April is National Poetry Month. This is a photo of the display I created for the MCC Writing Center.

Poets featured in the display include; ee cummings, Ann Sexton, Andrea Zanzotto, Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, Nikki Giovanni and Sylvia Plath.

Hannah Tinti Display

2011-04-01T10:26:00.009-04:00

Author Hannah Tinti visited Rochester, including a stop at Monroe Community College, in conjunction with "If all of Rochester read the same book" sponsored by Writers & Books.This is the display I created for the MCC Brighton Campus Writing Center to assist in promoting the book, The Good Thief.

"The Good Thief" explores religion, resurrectionists and loneliness through the story of Ren, an orphan boy living in 19th century New England.

Library Instruction

2011-03-31T13:48:00.007-04:00

Interesting how each English class can be so different. It's not only the professor who effects the class, but the age of the students, gender, time of day, if an actual assignment is tied to the library instruction and when during the semester the class is held.

Today I had a class at 11:00am. The first to arrive were five students, all over the age of 35. A few younger men walked in soon after. Five minutes late were six more younger men (under the age of ~22). So, I had one female professor and seventeen male students. It turns out the students were from our Applied Technology center taking their mandatory English class.

One guess which students were the most involved, asked and answered questions, when offered time at the end of class began their research? You are correct, the five older students. Four of the younger men also began research, eight sat there and did nothing, despite encouragement from the professor.

The professor wrote on the board the assignment due for the next class, discussed the assignment with the class, and emphasized this had to be completed. One, just one, under age 22 student wrote the assignment down. All of the older men did.

Who will succeed in their career? Which ones will graduate? Who will need to repeat English or just give up college? Which ones will blame the college or the professor for their lack of a passing grade?

New York Times

2011-03-18T12:33:00.007-04:00

The New York Times has begun charging for monthly subscriptions and access to articles. Readers online can view up to 20 articles, photo galleries and videos a month for free. After that, visitors will be asked to sign up for a subscription plan that starts at $15 for four weeks of access.

Here are directions to get articles from the Times and the Wall Street Journal:

New York Times -20 free articles a month
Access whatever article you want for free through a search engine, after you hit the twenty article limit.
Go to the New York Times front page the way you normally do. Then, if you see a headline you want, highlight it, copy it, and paste it into a Google search window. The headline should be returned as the first search result. Then just click it and read.

For Access to the Wall Street Journal articles:

Step 1: Go to WSJ.com and click until you see a story with a key icon next to the headline. These are stories you have to have a subscription to read. Click on the story headline.
Step 2: On the story page, highlight and then copy the story headline.
Step 3: Paste the story headline into the Google search box at your browser's top right.
Step 4: On the Google search results page, click on the story's headline again.

U.S. Education System

2011-02-17T09:57:00.004-05:00

A recent Stanford University poll asked 1,000 adults about education in the United States.
58% believe our public elementary schools are either good or excellent. 54% believe the same about our high schools. Only 39% believe schools are preparing students for the workforce and 49% think we are preparing students well for college.
70% believe overcrowding is a moderately to severe problem.
66% think the problem of having bad teachers is a moderate to severe issue.
53% believe administrators are a big problem.
65% blame the state education officials.
68% think parents are responsible for the performance of students.

Only 46% think students should accept a lot to a great deal of the responsibility. This is the response that bothers me the most. Students need to be taught that they, indeed, are mainly responsible for their learning. Stop the coddling.

61% believe state-wide tests are a good measure of student success, but 69% think that classroom work and homework are a better measure.

Less than half of people polled think schools should add extra time per day or lengthen the school year. This is another puzzling statistic. How do these people think things will improve?

It seems the people taking this poll are as confused as the rest of us about what is wrong with the U.S. education system and how to fix it.

Chat with a Librarian!

2011-01-31T11:21:00.006-05:00

Need help with a reference question, not sure how to find a book or what your professor means when they state that you need to locate a journal article? Having difficulty with a citation for your research paper?
Chat with a librarian. Someone is always on-call, 24/7 through the library's AskUs service! From the MCC library homepage, simply type in your question and press "send". Within a minute an expert will get back in touch with you. Keep chatting until all your library and research questions are answered.

Google Map Tips

2011-01-04T10:09:00.008-05:00

Google Maps is constantly adding new features. Once you search for a specific city, try adding restaurants as a keyword, or another business you might be interested in locating. If you are traveling this is a great method for researching areas before you go.

Click on "more" and get several choices for modifying the map, including bicycle routes, traffic, webcams, photos of the area and real estate for sale. Select real estate and a menu opens on the left allowing you to narrow down the search by price, square footage, rental properties, foreclosures and more.

Interested in finding a bike route? Type where you are traveling to and from and select the bike symbol. The same is also true when looking for mass transit options.
Google Maps can also be downloaded to a mobile phone.

GoogleMapsMania is a blog that posts on the newest and best maps people around the world have created.

Create your own map with the assistance of this site.Provide local insider information that will help others, preview a destination, take a virtual walking tour, or advertise your business.

Time Magazine

2010-11-05T12:31:00.006-04:00

Time Magazine has made available, for free, access to their archives from 1923 to the present. Users may search by keyword or name, look for covers, narrow by year, browse covers, browse issues and browse years. Using quotes around names or terms will help narrow the search ("Richard Nixon") for example. Initials should include the period if that is how they usually appear in print. USSR gets 15 results, U.S.S.R. gets 3129.

Library School

2010-10-28T09:01:00.002-04:00

Laptop Vending Machines

2010-10-18T10:55:00.004-04:00

A co-worker emailed a link to a video showing how easy it is to rent out PC's using new vending machines. One company is called LapTopsAnytime. The vending machines may be set up to accept credit cards and/or student id's. There can be charges per hour, or costs can be absorbed by the college.
This is a great example of sustainability, a much-used word in the past couple of years. Little labor is involved once the vending machine is set up. The computers are wiped clean internally and externally after each use, so privacy and cleanliness aren't issues. The PC's also get re-charged when placed back in the machine.
Here is a video taken at MSU showing how easy it is to use one of these vending machines.

The vending machines can be placed anywhere on campus, dorms, student union, coffee shops or library.

Google Search Tips

2010-10-07T09:08:00.002-04:00

1. Use quotes (" ") to search for specific terms, phrases or a name. Examples: a search on "juvenile justice" will find web sites with those words adjacent to each other, or phrases such as "speak softly and carry a big stick" from President Roosevelt. Without the quotes Google will search each term separately and as adjacent to each other, greatly increasing the number of results received.

2. Narrow your search to specific domains. Example: site:.edu your keyword(s) will search educational sites. No spaces between site, colon and period. Other common domains to use are .gov (U.S. Government), .com (commercial) and .org (organizations).

3. Describe what you need using as few words as possible. Weather Rochester is a simple way to find the weather and it is likely to give better results than the longer "weather report for Rochester, New York".

4. Subtract terms you don't want to have in the results (-). Example: pets -cats (must have space after first word and no space before second word).

5. Make sure a word appears in all of your search results (+). Remember, don't add a space after the +, you are telling Google to match that word precisely as you typed it. Example: football +Syracuse

6. Google is NOT case sensitive. Washington Post will find the same results as washington post.

7. Google allows you to specify that your search results must come from a particular website. Example: global warming:nytimes.com will return pages about global warming, but only from nytimes.com.

8. Locate definitions by typing: define:word (no spaces). Example: define:posthumously

9. Advanced Search allows you to narrow by date, country, exact phrases, exclude words, or search by format type (pdf, ppt, excel).

Persuasive Essay Research

2010-09-30T14:38:00.016-04:00

Find Books on controversial issues in the MCC Libraries by doing a Series search in our catalog. At Issue, Current Controversies, Opposing Viewpoints, and Taking Sides: Clashing Views are four series of books that are good sources for locating information on controversial topics. In the “Search term(s)” box type the series name (ex. "current controversies") then choose “Series name begins with…” from the “Search type” menu.

Points of View Reference Center and Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center databases are excellent sources of magazine, newspaper and journal articles, expert opinions and web sites. Students may access both of these databases, and more, from the MCC Library website. Click on "Find Articles" then scroll down until you find the correct database. If off-campus, click “Access from Home” and follow directions to log-in.

The “Websites” page in the Information on Social Issues LibGuide, developed by MCC Librarian Pam Czaja, provides links to numerous websites which serve as portals to information on controversial topics.

Please stop in the library if you need assistance with your research.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

2010-09-22T09:47:00.003-04:00

Monroe Community College and the public libraries of Monroe County no longer have access to the archives of the D&C through the web. The costs associated with this access became prohibitive this summer.

The D&C allows users to search through their website, but articles more than a month, or so, old will not be shown in full-text unless you pay for access.

Printing at MCC Libraries

2010-09-01T09:10:00.004-04:00

A new printing policy officially begins with the start of the Fall 2010 semester. Students at MCC will be allotted $15 (included in their tuition payment)to print in the libraries, ELC or any of the other learning centers.

Complete printing instructions are located on the MCC library website, or click on this link.

This policy was introduced as part of the college's sustainability/green movement.

When students log-in to an MCC computer the PaperCut box will pop up showing your account balance. It costs .10cents to print a page and the default is double-sided, which saves more paper and only costs .15cents. Color copying is available in the libraries at .75cents per page.

If students use their entire $15 (150 pages for b&w copies) before the end of the semester they can purchase print cards for $1 or $5.