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ARTstor to add more South Asian and Cuban art and architecture

Approximately 14,000 images of works of South Asian and Cuban art and architecture will be added to the Digital Library. Alka Patel, an Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of California, Irvine, is contributing two collections: Art and Architecture of South Asia, and Art and Architecture of Cuba. The collections focus on the Islamic artistic and architectural history of South Asia from the 12th to 18th centuries, as well as Cuban architecture of the 18th through early 20th centuries.

The ARTstor digital image library includes nearly 1 million images art, architecture, archaeology, and other visual culture from around the globe.

For information on how you can register for an ARTstor account visit our ARTstor information website at http://www.swccd.edu/~library/Docs/artstor0507.pdf

Presidential Campaign '08: Barack Obama

Hopes and Dreams: The Story of Barack Obama
by Steve Dougherty
New York : Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, c2007

This biography of Barack Obama is an easy way to get caught up on the Democratic candidate. The 128 page, glossy, magazine-style book is full of pictures and is easy to read. While there are chapters entitled “Young Barry” and “Finding His Way”, most of the book (and the photographs) cover Obama’s adult life and his political career. Hopes and Dreams does discuss some of his struggles with being the child of a white, Kansas-born mother and a Kenyan father who was absent for most of Obama’s life. One caveat – the author was unable to interview Obama or his campaign for this book.

Hopes and Dreams is available for a 4-week check out.

A John McCain biography will be reviewed the week of the Republican Convention - watch this space.

Have you tried LexisNexis Academic?

Looking for news, business, or legal information and not sure where to begin? LexisNexis Academic provides full text access to over 7,000 business, law, tax, news and general interest publications. These publications include magazines and journals, company and organization information, administrative materials and regulations, law reviews and journals, medical and drug information, court cases, tax information and television broadcast transcripts.

To access LexisNexis Academic from the Southwestern College Library’s homepage, click on the Articles & Databases tab . Scroll down until you reach LexisNexis Academic and click on that link.

For information on how you can access LexisNexis Academic from off campus visit our Remote Access information page.

Top Shelf

by Mark Hammond and John Tibbals, SWC Librarians

Top Shelf is a weekly column where librarians share some of the top resources they've discovered -- for school, for fun, or just for curiosity's sake.

Book Selection
Derks, Scott. Working Americans 1880-1999, Millerton: Grey House Publishing, 2000.
Call #: Reference HD 8066 .D47 2000

The introduction to Working Americans 1880-1999 describes it as “the first volume of a multi-volume set that looks, decade-by-decade, into the kind of work they did, the homes they lived in, the food and clothes they bought, and the entertainment they sought, as well as the society and history that shaped the world Americans worked in from 1880 to 1999.” The set consists of three volumes, one each on the working class, the middle class, and the upper class. Within each time period each book provides one or more family profiles, historical snapshots, and economic profiles.

These are books that are useful as research sources, but are also fun to browse. It is particularly interesting to take a particular time period and compare the information provided for the three socioeconomic classes.
-Mark


Website Selection
Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC)
http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/ (can also be accessed via a link on our webpage under Internet Resources/History)

A very comprehensive directory of websites about Latin America in English, Spanish and Portuguese intended "to facilitate access to Internet-based information to, from, on Latin America." Topics cover a wide range including such areas as education, economy, government, humanities, media, science, society and culture, etc. Users can search by subject, by region or by individual country. All periods are covered from pre-history and colonial to contemporary (e.g. Malvinas War and Guatemalan death squads). "Contains over 12,000 unique URLs, one of the largest guides for Latin American content on the Internet."
-John T.

This Week in CQ Researcher

Political Conventions by Tom Price, August 8, 2008


Have they outlived their usefulness?

The Democrats and Republicans share a fundamental goal for their upcoming national conventions: to produce scripted television shows that will boost their candidates’ prospects in the general election without showcasing any intra-party squabbling. If the important decisions are made before the conventions begin, ask some politicians, political scientists and critics in the media, why bother to hold them?

Convention supporters argue that the gatherings are needed in case a nomination isn’t settled beforehand. The conventions also make decisions about party rules that can affect which candidates get nominated. And conventions are the one time every four years when the parties become truly national organizations, with delegates and activists from around the country mingling face-to-face.

Are national political conventions obsolete?

Should superdelegates be abolished?

Should an orderly primary election schedule be established?

To read this article and others visit our Articles and Databases webpage and click on CQ Researcher. Select the Remote Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.

Library Hours for Fall Semester

Main Campus Library
Monday- Thursday: 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed

Higher Education Center at Otay Mesa Library
Monday & Thursday 12:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday & Wednesday: 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Closed: Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Higher Education Center at National City Library
Monday & Thursday: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Tuesday & Wednesday: 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Closed: Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Need help when we're closed? Ask a Librarian, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

FAQ's - Computers in the Library

Q: Does the Library have computers?
A: Yes
Computers are available on both floors of the Library.

• 3rd floor: ITC Lab (100 computers for SWC students with Internet, E-mail, Microsoft Office, and other class software)
• 2nd floor: Reference Area (Internet for research only)
• 2nd floor: Multimedia Area (Internet and Microsoft Office)

To use the Library's computers, you must comply with the SWC District Acceptable Use Policy and Library Computer Use Guidelines.

Q: Is wireless available in the Library?
A: Yes
The Library has a wireless network available on all floors of the library. For more information about wireless, see our Computer Services information page.

Q: Is printing available?
A: Yes
Both black and white printing and color printing are available. You will need to load money to your SWC photo ID card in order to print (10 cents/page for black and white). For more information about printing, see our Computer Services information page.

Welcome to Fall Semester!

The Library is here to help!

• Library Hours: Main Campus, Otay Mesa, & National City
  
• Where is the Library?
  
• Is Your Textbook on Reserve (for in-library use)?
  
• Ask a Librarian

Library hours during intersession

Intersession Hours:

Fri, Aug 8 - Tue, Aug 12: Closed
Wed, Aug 13: Open 1-4 PM
Thu, Aug 14: Open 1-4 PM
Fri, Aug 15: Open 1-4 PM
Sat, Aug 16 - Sun, Aug 17: Closed

Fall Semester begins on Monday, August 18. For complete library hours visit our website.

August ebook of the Month

Competition and Development: The Power of Competitive Markets is the August e-book of the Month. This electronic book is available with unlimited access during the month of August.

The growth of international trade and investment and the spread of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements have resulted in increasing economic integration, affecting almost all nations of the world.

This book demonstrates the importance of true and fair competition to sustainable development and an effective marketplace, touching on issues of globalization, consumer welfare, cartels and monopolies, and trade liberalization. It focuses on the practical problems faced in developing countries and the steps that have been and can be taken to overcome those problems. It is also about anticompetitive practices as they occur in developing countries and the policies that governments and citizens can promote and practice to limit the impact of such practices.

If you have already established a NetLibrary account through Southwestern College Library, visit http://www.netlibrary.com/ and log in to read "Competition and Development" or any of our other 19,000 e-book titles.

If you do not have a NetLibrary account, you can create your own account from any computer on the Southwestern College campuses. Visit our NetLibrary e-book page http://www.swccd.edu/~library/Lvl3/index.asp?L3=9 for more information.

This Week in CQ Researcher

Internet Accuracy
by Marcia Clemmitt,
August, 1, 2008

Is information on the Web reliable?

The Internet has been a huge boon for information-seekers. In addition to sites maintained by newspapers and other traditional news sources, there are untraditional sources ranging from videos, personal Web pages and blogs to postings by interest groups of all kinds – from government agencies to hate groups.

Experts caution that determining the credibility of online data can be tricky, and that critical-reading skills are not being taught in most schools. Anyone can post an article, book or opinion online with no second pair of eyes checking it for accuracy, as in traditional publishing and journalism. Now many readers are turning to user-created sources like Wikipedia, or powerful search engines like Google, which tally how many people previously have accessed online documents and sources – a process that is open to manipulation.

To read this article and others visit our Articles and Databases webpage and click on CQ Researcher. Select the Remote Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.