Thursday, September 30, 2010

New: Credo Reference

Credo Reference is an online reference service made up of full-text books from some of the world's best publishers. Whether you're working on a research paper, or trying to win a game of trivia, Credo Reference has something for you.

As easy to use as your favorite search site and fully citable in any research paper, Credo is the perfect place to get your research started just visit our website.

Whether you are just starting your project, looking to add some interesting images to your final draft or building a bibliography, Credo Reference has something for you.

Credo Reference offers:

•Tools to quickly map your paper topic
•Citable sources for your bibliography
•Answers to your research questions
•Thousands and thousands of images, charts, graphs, diagrams and more

To access Credo Reference visit are Article and Databases website. Select the Off Campus Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Check it Out

Mariachi
by Patricia Greathouse
New Book Shelf ML 3485 G74 2009

In addition to teaching and writing professionally, New Mexico native Patricia Greathouse spent nearly 10 years as a mariachi violinist. That experience grounds her book, which is part music history — featuring short biographies and interviews with notable figures — and part cultural celebration.

(detailed recipes for classic Mexican-American dishes are also included).

Check out Mariachi by Patricia Greathouse., available now in the library on the New Book Shelf ML 3485 G74 2009

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

This Week in CQ Researcher

Impact of the Internet on Thinking
by Alan Greenblatt, September 24, 2010

Is the Web changing the way we think?

Due to the growing dominance of the Internet as the primary medium for commerce, entertainment and social communications, Americans are using more electronic media than ever. Some worry that the Internet, with its visual stimulation and constant distractions, is altering the way we think–and not for the better. Some studies indicate that it may alter physical mechanics of the brain that lead to long-term memory formation. And China and South Korea have declared “Internet addiction” a primary public health concern. But every new medium that comes on the scene has elicited similar fears about ill effects on popular taste and capacity for reflection and deep thinking. Still, there’s no question that the Internet is having profound effects on our lives–perhaps as great as any technological change since the advent of the printing press.

  • Does the Internet make us smarter?
  • Does the Web shorten attention spans?
  • Are people addicted to the Internet?


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

Monday, September 27, 2010

Have a Cell Phone, Text a Librarian

Have a question? Text us!
We now offer free text message reference services.
(standard message rates apply)

Text us at 66746 and start your question with swclib
Example: swclib What are the library hours on Saturdays?

We will respond as soon as possible.

Save us in your contacts and send us questions when your on the go!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Got a Question? Need an Answer?

Try our Online Reference Chat Service

Real People - Real Help - Real Fast

24 hours a day, 7 days a week


http://www.swccd.edu/~library/ask.htm

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Check It Out

On the Brink Inside the Race to Stop the
Collapse of the Global Financial System.
by Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
New Book Shelf HB3722 .P42 2010


As the U.S. secretary of the treasury from July 2006 to January 2009, Henry Paulson was at the center of the recent financial storm and, along with Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, responsible for preventing it from becoming an economic catastrophe. Mr. Paulson was the point person in the U.S. government's attempts in 2008 to keep the global economy from following Lehman Bros., AIG et al. down the drain.

Paulson goes over the various steps and missteps he and his colleagues took in dealing with the crisis, sharing both his inner thoughts during the crisis and looking back on what was accomplished, thus filling in many of the gaps left by other books on the subject. He offers a rush of minute-by-minute detail, and a personal candour about his thoughts and feelings while he quarterbacked a bailout that he believed was necessary but that ran counter to his core beliefs.

Check out On the Brink Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by Henry M. Paulson, Jr., available now in the library on the New Book Shelf HB3722 .P42 2010

Below is an interview with the former U.S. secretary of the treasury from July 2006 Henry Paulson, discussing his book.


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

New Art Exhibit in Library

The Library is exhibiting original art by Kevin Winger until September 30, 2010.

Kevin is a community college student with ties to the South Bay. He embraces vibrant colors, and some of his work has been called "reminiscent of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. Instead of brushes, he uses palette knives which yield heavily textured panels that push the limits of two-dimensional art.

Kevin welcomes feedback about the exhibition. His business cards are at the Reference Desk and give his website.

Monday, September 20, 2010

This Week in CQ Researcher

Impact of the Internet On Behavior
By Alan Greenblatt


In addition to its mammoth impact on commerce and media, the Internet also has had a profound effect on thinking and social behavior. Has the Internet made people more impatient? Shortened attention spans? It certainly has blurred the line between work time and leisure and family time. Many academic researchers and books are now arguing that the Internet is making us distracted and anxious. But plenty of countering voices say the amount of knowledge and communication facilitated by the Internet makes for a good tradeoff.

Author Nicholas Carr is in the middle of the debates. His new book, The Shallows, explores whether the Internet affects the way we think and process information. He thinks the effect has been negative, but others say the Internet is helping to create a collective intelligence that is adapting rapidly to the massive amounts of information that now come at plugged-in people every day.

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

Thursday, September 16, 2010

ARTstor: African art


ARTstor has collaborated with the University of California, Santa Barbara to share more than 940 images of African art, architecture, and culture from the archives of Herbert Cole. A noted art historian specializing in African art, Cole is Emeritus Professor of Art History in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The collection in ARTstor consists of Cole's field photography, which depicts African art, architecture, sites, and culture from Nigeria, Ghana, the Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Kenya. Also included are photographs taken by Cole of African objects in private collections around the world.

To view Herbert Cole: African Art, Architecture, and Culture (University of California, Santa Barbara): go to the ARTstor Digital Library, browse by collection, and click "Herbert Cole: African Art, Architecture, and Culture (University of California, Santa Barbara);" or, simply follow this link: http://library.artstor.org/library/collection/ucsb_cole.

To view ARTstor from off campus locations you need to create an ARTstor account at http://www.artstor.org/ from any computer on the Southwestern College campuses.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Constitution Day September 17

On Friday September 17, we celebrate Constitution Day, commemorating the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787 and recognizing all who, born in the U.S. or through naturalization, have become United States citizens. The library has prepared a display on the third floor to highlight books in our collection dealing the subject of the United States constitution. Come and check it out!

How Democratic Is the American Constitution?
Robert A. Dahl
KF 4550 D34 2001
Main Stacks

Creating the Constitution: The Convention of 1787 and the First Congress
Thornton Anderson
KF 4541 A88 1993
Main Stacks

A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals to Revitalize our Constitution and Make America a Fairer Country
Larry J. Sabato
KF 4550 S23 2007
Main Stacks

The U.S. Constitution A to Z
Robert L. Maddex
KF 4548 M33 2002
Main Stacks

The Rehnquist Court and the Constitution
Tinsley E. Yarbrough
KF 8742 Y37 2000
Main Stacks

A People’s History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution
Peter Irons
KF 8742 I763 2006
Main Stacks

The Bill of Rights and Beyond, 1791-1991
KF 4557 B548 1991

Amending America: If We Love the Constitution So Much, Why Do We Keep Trying to Change It?Richard B. Bernstein
KF 4555 B47 1993
Main Stacks

The Court and the Constitution
Archibald Cox
KF 4550 C69
Main Stacks

The Creation of the Constitution: Opposing Viewpoints
JK 113 C74 1995
Main Stacks

A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution
Carol Berkin
E 303 B47 2002
Main Stacks

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation
Jonathan Hennessey
3157 Leisure Reading (Main)



Here are some websites about the United States Constitution

  • Facts about the Constitution
    From the National Archives and Records Administration. Includes high resolution images of the constitution, along with transcripts and articles of explanation
    http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html


  • Constitution of the United States
    From the United States Senate. Includes the original text and an explanation of what each section means.
    http://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm
  • The Interactive Constitution
    A nonprofit organization established to increase awareness and understanding of the U.S. Constitution. This Interactive Constitution is based on The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R. Monk
    http://www.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/
  • This Month's CQ Global Researcher

    Crime in Latin America by Eliza Barclay,
    September 2010


    Can violent drug cartels be controlled?


    Fed by the drug trade with the United States, crime and corruption threaten Latin America as never before, reaching from the highest levels of government to the most-impoverished slums. Once largely focused on illegal drugs, crime cartels have now expanded into a complex range of activities from money laundering to human trafficking. The crisis is prompting both U.S. and Latino experts and policy makers to ask how governments and citizens can fight criminal groups, reduce social inequality and create new opportunities for unemployed young people tempted by a life of crime.

    At the same time, the United States, which has long been involved with Colombia's fight against crime and drug trafficking, is increasingly concerned about the lawlessness and horrific violence in Mexico, now threatening to spill over into the U.S. While experts say the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better, there are some bright spots, including criminal justice reforms that have reduced crime and corruption in several Latin American countries.


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

    Tuesday, September 14, 2010

    Check It Out

    Not fit for our society : nativism and immigration
    by Peter Schrag
    New Book Shelf JV6121 .S35 2010

    Author Peter Schrag offers a scholarly history of the political movements that have sought to restrict immigration to the U.S. since its founding--from the 19th-century Know-Nothing Party through the years of American eugenics "research" that vastly influenced the Nazis in the years leading up to WWII. He takes up that question in "Not Fit for Our Society," a especially timely look at the spasms of anti-immigration that have defined our nation from the very beginning. He writes: "The history of American attitudes about immigration and immigration policy has long been a spiral of ambivalence and inconsistency, a sort of double helix, with strands of welcome and rejection wound tightly around one another."


    He points out how the same anti-immigration and anti-immigrant arguments have been recycled across generations. "If this book tells anything about that three-hundred-year narrative," Schrag writes, "it's that almost everything that's being said in the arguments for closing the border and shutting down immigration has been said before, often in literally the same terms and tones."


    Check out Not fit for our society : nativism and immigration by Peter Schrag , available now in the library on the New Book Shelf JV6121 .S35 2010 .

    Monday, September 13, 2010

    New Art Exhibit in Library

    The Library is exhibiting original art by Kevin Winger until September 30, 2010.

    Kevin is a community college student with ties to the South Bay. He embraces vibrant colors, and some of his work has been called "reminiscent of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. Instead of brushes, he uses palette knives which yield heavily textured panels that push the limits of two-dimensional art.

    Kevin welcomes feedback about the exhibition. His business cards are at the Reference Desk and give his website.

    Have a Cell Phone, Text a Librarian

    Have a question? Text us!
    We now offer free text message reference services.
    (standard message rates apply)

    Text us at 66746 and start your question with swclib
    Example: swclib What are the library hours on Saturdays?

    We will respond as soon as possible.

    Save us in your contacts and send us questions when your on the go!

    Saturday, September 11, 2010

    Check It Out

    American Insurgents, American Patriots
    by T.H. Breen
    New Book Shelf E209 .B76 2010


    Northwestern history professor T.H. Breen presents a new light on the origins of the struggle for independence, He presents letters, sermons and diaries to create a lively, account of ordinary farmers' growing resistance to the British government in the two years before the Declaration of Independence.

    Fed up with the British Empire's demands for ever greater loyalty, obedience, and taxes, tens of thousands of rebellious insurgents laid the groundwork for a successful revolution. Their anger was every bit as important to the revolutionary story as the learned debates of the Founding Fathers.


    Check out , American Insurgents, American Patriots
    by T.H. Breen available now in the library on the New Book Shelf E209 .B76 2010.

    Friday, September 10, 2010

    This Week in CQ Researcher

    Abortion Debates by Kenneth Jost,
    September 10, 2010


    Should states enact new restrictions?

    The abortion wars are heating up again. Anti-abortion groups strongly opposed President Obama's health-care overhaul, insisting that the plan's insurance coverage provisions opened the door to public subsidies for abortions. They remain opposed even after Obama issued an executive order that regulations be issued barring use of federal funds for abortion services except in limited circumstances.

    For their part, abortion-rights groups say the restrictions leave reproductive freedoms worse off than before. Anti-abortion groups are now pressing state legislatures to similarly bar coverage for abortion under the insurance exchanges to be established under the new health-care law. In addition, they are pushing new restrictions on abortion procedures, including a requirement that a woman be shown an ultrasound image of her fetus before the procedure.

    Abortion-rights advocates say the proposals amount to political interference with women's constitutionally protected right to make their own medical decisions.


    • Will federal health care reforms result in taxpayer funding of abortion?
    • Should states limit insurance coverage for abortions?
    • Should states pass additional laws regulating abortion procedures?



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

    Wednesday, September 08, 2010

    ARTstor: Subject Guides

    There are now twenty-two updated subject guides available on ARTstor's website, at http://www.artstor.org/subjectguides. In addition to highlighting relevant collections in each subject, these one-page handouts highlight unique interdisciplinary content in ARTstor, search strategies, and search terms that greatly aid discoverability across disciplines in the Digital Library. The latest handout also address the new subject area: Latin American Studies.

    To view ARTstor from off campus locations you need to create an ARTstor account at
    http://www.artstor.org/index.shtml from any computer on the Southwestern College campuses.