Library Hours for December and January
From Monday, December 12, through Wednesday, December 21, the Library will open at 7 a.m. (thirty minutes earlier for your convenience during finals). Closing times will remain the same. The Library will close for winter break at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21.

The Library will be closed from December 22 through January 2.

During winter session, the Library will be open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. on the following days:
Tuesday, January 3, through Thursday, January 5
Monday, January 9, through Thursday, January 12 udcbljaz

The Library will be closed January 13-16 and open 1-4 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17. Spring semester begins and our regular hours resume on January 18.

Friends of the Library essay contest
The Friends of the SWC Library are once again sponsoring an essay contest with up to five prizes of $100 each. Any SWC student registered for spring 2006 is eligible to enter.

This year's College Book is The Kite Runner (by Khaled Hosseini). The essay is to be written on this topic: What does the kite symbolize for Amir and his country at the beginning of the book, how does it change throughout, and what does it mean at the end?

Essays must be the student's original work, typed, double-spaced, at least one page but no more than three pages. There are two ways to submit an essay:

• send it electronically to essaycontest@swccd.edu
• submit it on a disk to Diane Gustafson at the Reference Desk in the Library

The student's name, student ID number, address, telephone number, and an email address (if any) must be included at the end of the essay. This information will be separated from the essay itself so the judges will not be able to identify the author. No identifiers (name, ID number, etc.) are to appear in the essay itself.

Disks and any containers will not be returned.

Prizes will be awarded at the Scholarship Awards Ceremony in May. Winning essays will be displayed in the Library and may be condensed for the scholarship program booklet.

The deadline for submitting the essays is Thursday, February 16, 2006, at 4 p.m. Late entries will not be accepted.

Please call Diane Gustafson (482-6433) if you have questions about the contest.

Note: The Library has ten copies of The Kite Runner on Reserve (call number 2811) for 7-day loans. Students checking out copies before winter break must return them on January 3.