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The Overflowing Brain : Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory, by Torkel Klingberg. Oxford University Press, 2009.
New Books BF444 .K5513 2009. Also accessible as an e-book.

As the pace of technological change accelerates, we are increasingly experiencing a state of information overload. Statistics show that we are interrupted every three minutes during the course of the work day. Multitasking between email, cell-phone, text messages, and four or five websites while listening to an iPod forces the brain to process more and more information at greater and greater speeds. And yet the human brain has hardly changed in the last 40,000 years.

Are all these high-tech advances overtaxing our Stone Age brains or is the constant flood of information good for us, giving our brains the daily exercise they seem to crave? In The Overflowing Brain, cognitive scientist Torkel Klingberg takes us on a journey into the limits and possibilities of the brain. He suggests that we should acknowledge and embrace our desire for information and mental challenges, but try to find a balance between demand and capacity. Klingberg explores the cognitive demands, or "complexity," of everyday life and how the brain tries to meet them. He identifies different types of attention, such as stimulus-driven and controlled attention, but focuses chiefly on "working memory," our capacity to keep information in mind for short periods of time. Dr Klingberg asserts that working memory capacity, long thought to be static and hardwired in the brain, can be improved by training, and that the increasing demands on working memory may actually have a constructive effect: as demands on the human brain increase, so does its capacity.

The book ends with a discussion of the future of brain development and how we can best handle information overload in our everyday lives. Klingberg suggests how we might find a balance between demand and capacity and move from feeling overwhelmed to deeply engaged.

(Description from publisher)

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Current Periodicals On Display

The library provides a display of over 50 current periodical titles in our Current Periodicals display area near the entrance of the library.

You'll find the most recent issues of various magazines like, Business Week, Fitness, Parents, Road and Track, Rolling Stone, Scientific American and many other titles.

To view our complete list of periodicals, use our online Periodicals Holding List

Drop by and browse the information in over 50 magazines next time your in the library.


Library hours during the spring semester are Monday through Thursday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, Friday 8:00 am to 2:00 pm and Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

CountryWatch - Nigeria

This online resource brings together in a concise and useful form, a key set of political, economic, and business information for 192 countries worldwide. Countrywatch also provides news related articles from 12 international news services on a country by country basis as they occur. Within this resource is a Map Gallery that supplies regional and country maps in a variety of sizes and formats. In addition, thematic maps and indexes cover a variety of cultural and economic subjects.

Each month Countrywatch highlights a Featured Country. Nigeria is the featured country for April. The country report provides additional insight to Nigeria's significant budget deficit and dangerous economic situation. The country report covers not only economic information but also political, environmental, historical, cultural etiquette, a travel guide and health advisory for all 192 countries.

To use the CountryWatch online database visit our Articles and Databases website http://www.swccd.edu/~library/articles.htm. CountryWatch is listed with our other reference resources.

To access this resource from off campus locations you must be a currently enrolled student or staff member at Southwestern College. You can request the username and password for CountryWatch by using our Password Request Form at http://www.swccd.edu/~library/Passwordrequest

The Library is Closed, but the Online Library is Open

The Library is closed for Spring Break. SWC Campus Libraries at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and National City are also closed. SWC Libraries will resume regular hours on Monday, April 25.

Need to work on your upcoming assignments? The online library is always open! Read e-books, search for full-text articles, and chat 24/7 with a librarian.

Off Campus Access to the Library

For off campus access to resources on our Articles and Databases website complete our Password Request Form at www.swccd.edu/~library/PasswordRequest/.

You can also view the online tutorial on how to request the off campus passwords and how to access the online databases from off campus locations.

Currently enrolled students will receive a list of usernames and passwords within minutes, that can be used to access library resources.

Enjoy access to the library 24 hours a day and 7 days a week from home and other off campus locations. For more information visit the library's website www.swccd.edu/~library

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

Spring Break (April 18 - April 24)

The Library will be closed for Spring Break (April 18 - April 24). SWC Campus Libraries at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and National City will also be closed. All SWC Libraries will resume regular hours on Monday, April 25.

Need to work on your upcoming assignments? The online library is always open! Read e-books, search for full-text articles, and chat 24/7 with a helpful academic librarian.

Hands Across California for Community Colleges

DATE: Sunday, April 17, 2011 TIME: 2 PM

This Sunday, April 17, supporters of California's community colleges aim to form a human chain from Sacramento to San Diego. Find out more -- and how to link up -- http://www.handsacrosscalifornia.org/

Facts On File - Database Content Update

Spring greetings to all! Here are highlights of the new content recently added to the Facts On File News Service Databases for the month of April available through the library on our Articles and Database website http://www.swccd.edu/~library/articles.htm.

The Facts.com Issues and Controversies database covers Labor Unions in the 21st Century: Are public employees' unions reponsible for the financial crises facing many states, and should they continue to have collective bargaining rights?

This month's feature article in the Issues and Controversies in American History is School Busing: Forty years ago this month, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, a unanimous Supreme Court ruling upheld the constitutionality of school busing to effect racial desegregation in the South. Was busing a necessary means to integration, or an infringement on personal liberty?

In the Today's Science database,the March 17 earthquake and tsunami in Japan is covered in the articles Wall of Water: Japan Quake Triggers Tsunami and Japan's Nuclear Crisis.


To research and read this information visit the library's Articles and Databases website at http://www.swccd.edu/~library/articles.htm.

Select the Off Campus Access link for information or view the online tutorial on how to access these resources from off campus locations.

National Library Week

Love your library? National Library Week began 53 years ago, in 1958, as a way to celebrate the contributions of libraries and librarians across the country, in all types of libraries. Think of all of the changes that have taken place in libraries since then. What is your favorite thing about using the library?

National Library Week twaiku contest
Tweet a twaiku (Twitter haiku) about your love of libraries for the American Library Association's National Library Week twaiku contest. You could win a $50 Amazon gift certificate. Today is the last day to enter.

SWC Literary Festival

Join us this week as SWC celebrates literature! The SWC Literary Festival begins today and continues through Thursday. All events are in Room L238.

Tuesday, Apr. 12, 3-4 pm: Student Reading and Open Mic

Wednesday, Apr. 13, 12-1 (English) and 1-2 pm (Spanish): Christian Ramirez, Daniel Watman and Pedro Rios

Thursday, Apr. 14, 4-5 pm: Faculty and SWC Alumni Reading featuring Jane Tassi and Ana Carrete

Spring Break

The Library will be closed for Spring Break (April 18 - April 24). SWC Campus Libraries at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and National City will also be closed. All SWC Libraries will resume regular hours on Monday, April 25.

Need to work on your upcoming assignments? The online library is always open! Read e-books, search for full-text articles, and chat 24/7 with a helpful academic librarian.

Latest e-Book Additions from Credo Reference

Credo's General Reference e-Book collection continues to grow each month and now has over 535 titles. The following well-regarded titles were added in March.

• Encyclopedia of American Studies, The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Encyclopedia of Cremation, Ashgate Publishing
• Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece, Ashgate Publishing
• The New Encyclopedia of the American West, Harper Collins
• OECD Factbook 2010: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics, OECD

Select the Off Campus Access link to request a user name and password to access the Credo Reference e-Book collection from off campus locations.

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

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Nursing, the Finest Art : an Illustrated History (3rd ed.) by M. Patricia Donahue.

The history of nursing is beautifully portrayed through works of art in this unique volume. Donahue, an authority on the history of nursing, intersperses hundreds of full-color images throughout the text to underscore the social, political, and historical influences on nursing. While the roles and functions of nurses may have evolved since ancient times, the quest for effective patient care remains a common thread.

Nursing, the Finest Art: an Illustrated History is currently available for 4-week check out. You can find it in the New Books Area (call number RT31.D66 2011).

What's New in Access Science

JoAnne Stubb of MIT, is the winner of the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, and has earned this recognition for her work in uncovering the intricate processes by which cells safely use free radicals, for developing new cancer treatments, and for improving the production of environmentally friendly biodegradable polymers. But in what significant, if symbolic, way has Dr. Stubb's work imitated life?

The answer to that question is available in a video biography in the online database Access Science. To view the video Click Here. Select this Off Campus Access link for information on how you can connect to the Access Science database from off campus locations.

This Week in CQ Researcher

Wind Power by David Hosanky, April 1, 2011

Is wind energy good for the environment?

Wind has emerged as the nation’s fastest-growing energy source, with thousands of towering turbines dotting the countryside from California to New England. Generating capacity has risen as much as 50 percent annually, encouraged by tax incentives and state laws mandating growth in renewable energy. Already, wind provides about 2 percent of electricity nationwide, and the Department of Energy says a 20 percent share by 2030 is possible with improvements in turbine technology, large-scale investment and better planning of the electrical grid.

Opponents argue that wind turbines kill tens of thousands of birds and bats each year, mar pristine scenery and require far more land than traditional methods of power generation. The battle over wind is playing out in states such as Wisconsin, where the proximity of turbines to homes is an issue, and Vermont, where environmentalists are divided over two goals: protecting scenic vistas and reducing fossil fuel use.

• Can the United States derive a significant amount of its energy from wind?
  
• Is wind energy good for the environment?
  
• Should the U.S. government do more to support wind energy?
  

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

The Library Catalog is another good source for locating information on this issue.

April is National Poetry Month

Celebrate National Poetry Month by taking home a book of poems -- old favorites like sonnets and haiku, or modern poetry of the last century. Discover poetry in Spanish, California poetry, poems by women, or Latin American poetry.

You can even find books about how to write your own poems.

Books in the Stacks may be checked out for four weeks with your SWC photo ID.

Explore your poetic side at the Library!
(photo courtesy Dayton Metro Library)