24/7 Reference Assistance

Is the Library closed? No problem -- our 24/7 chat reference service is open. Librarians are standing by to assist you with your question.

E-books, full text articles, statistics, primary sources, and many other resources are also available when the library is closed. Visit the Online Library and request the current passwords to access them from home.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Ethnic Newswatch

"Ethnic NewsWatch™ includes current journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and independent presses. Content covers 1990-present, with specialized coverage of the following ethnic categories: African American/Caribbean/African; Arab/Middle Eastern; Asian/Pacific Islander; European/Eastern European; Hispanic; Jewish; Native People. It is updated daily with new content and contains over 2 million full text articles."

This database uses the new look Proquest platform. It starts you off on a page that allows you to perform a basic keyword search. This page also allows you to navigate the database. Some of the noteworthy options include limiting searches to full text or scholarly journal articles. An advanced search page as well as a list of included publications can also be selected. Further options include search tips, a help page, and the ability to toggle between about twenty different languages. Furthermore, a preferences page can be set up to customize Proquest to your research. One excellent feature on this page near the top right corner of the page is a tab which keeps track of your recent searches. Simply click the tab and a list of performed searches is provided. Finally, on the web page below the search box is an area with a few tabs titled "Search Subject Areas". This section is a little confusing and seems to provide some crossover to other Proquest databases that we subscribe to at SWC such as Proquest Historical Newspapers and access to the San Diego Union Tribune through Proquest.

The advanced search page is pretty typical and allows you to search in a number of different fields such as title, author, subject, etc. You can enter multiple search terms if desired. In addition, it allows you to limit your search by full text, scholarly journal, a date range, a document type, or a particular language. It also lets you sort the results by relevance or publication date. You can change the amount of results allowed all the way up to a hundred per page which is kind of nice.

Once a search is performed a list of results is provided and standard citation information is included. You can choose to view the page by clicking on the title but one nice option is to scroll over a "preview" tab which provides an abstract and the major subjects included in the article. The results can be tagged and saved to a folder for later viewing or you can choose to look at the full text immediately. If you choose to click on an article a standard tool bar at the top allows you to email it to yourself, save it, view citation information, and print.

Ethnic Newswatch is an effective database if you are looking for publications from foreign countries and other nontraditional sources.

SWC students, staff, and faculty may use the library databases from off-campus with the current semester's passwords. Use the online password request form.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Closed March 30 - April 8

All SWC Libraries will be closed Friday, March 30 - Sunday, April 8 in observance of Cesar Chavez Day and Spring Break.

Libraries will resume regular hours on Monday, April 9, 2012.

Have a question? Ask a Librarian!

CQ Researcher

Looking for an in-depth article on a particular topic? Would you like the different sides of the question to be addressed? CQ Researcher is an excellent Library database which fulfills this need.

Look for the database CQ Researcher under the category General Topics on the library's Articles and Databases page. Start by typing a couple keywords into the Quick Search box. The articles which are most relevant to your topic will be listed first.

Don’t be concerned if the first couple of articles are not as current as you’d like them to be because once you pull up the article, it will include an Issue Tracker box on the right side which lists live links to updates. On the left side is a standardized table-of-contents (TOC) to the document itself. You can easily hop around the document using this TOC. You can also print or email individual sections of the document, if you don’t want the entire report.

By using the Cite Now! Tab you can change the way the document will be cited to the MLA, APA, Chicago, or Bluebook styles. Look for the citation at the bottom of your printed or emailed document.

Fill our the password request form to access this database from your home computer.

Have questions? Ask a Librarian!

Britannica Online

Need an encyclopedia? Beginning in 1768, Encyclopedia Britannica has been collaborating with experts and scholars to create an authoritative and accurate encyclopedic source. Information is updated daily, and each entry undergoes a rigorous editorial review.

Free access to this encyclopedia is available for all SWC students, staff, and faculty. Use the current semester's passwords for off-campus access.

Street Painting Festival - today and tomorrow

Women's History Month - 6th Annual Street Painting Festival

The Street Painting Festival is a lively mixture of art and community involvement as dozens of chalk artists create their works in full view of students and visitors. This non-profit event raises money for SWC Women's Resource Center scholarships.

Wednesday, March 21
Street Painting Festival & UCSD Transfer Fair
9 a.m.–3 p.m. (Street Painting Festival)
10 a.m.-1 p.m. (UCSD Transfer Fair)

Thursday, March 22
Street Painting Festival & Job Fair/Career Expo
9 a.m.–3 p.m. (Street Painting Festival)
10 a.m.–1 p.m. (Job Fair/Career Expo)

Street painting viewing will remain open for viewing until dusk on both days!

Where: Main walkway in front of the Cesar E. Chavez Student Services Building
Job Fair location: Southwestern College Cafeteria area

For Street Painting Festival information contact Brenda Mora at: bmora@swccd.edu or (619) 421-6700, ext. 5213.

Free Workshop this Thursday

Find & Cite with EBSCO
Thursday, March 22
11 AM
Room L244

Do you need to find articles from a scholarly journal, magazine, or newspaper? Don't know where to start? Don't worry!

The library is offering the following free, one-hour workshops for SWC students. Attend any workshop that you'd like. There is no need to sign up in advance, just be on time.

All workshops are held in the Library Classroom, L-244

Find & Cite: EBSCO: Thursday, March 22, 11 AM
Newspaper Sources: Thursday, April 12, 11 AM
Books & E-books: Friday, April 20, 11 AM

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

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March is Women's History Month

2012 Theme: Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment

"Although women now outnumber men in American colleges nationwide, the reversal of the gender gap is a very recent phenomenon. The fight to learn was a valiant struggle waged by many tenacious women—across years and across cultures—in our country.

Pioneers of secondary education for young women faced arguments from physicians and other 'experts' who claimed either that females were incapable of intellectual development equal to men, or that they would be harmed by striving for it. Women’s supposed intellectual and moral weakness was also used to argue against coeducation, which would surely be an assault on purity and femininity.

While Harvard, the first college chartered in America, was founded in 1636, it would be almost two centuries before the founding of the first college to admit women—Oberlin, which was chartered in 1833. And even as 'coeducation' grew, women’s courses of study were often different from men’s, and women’s role models were few, as most faculty members were male. Harvard itself opened its 'Annex' (Radcliffe) for women in 1879 rather than admit women to the men’s college—and single-sex education remained the elite norm in the U.S. until the early 1970s.

The equal opportunity to learn, taken for granted by most young women today, owes much to Title IX of the Education Codes of the Higher Education Act Amendments. This legislation, passed in 1972 and enacted in 1977, prohibited gender discrimination by federally funded institutions. It has become the primary tool for women's fuller participation in all aspects of education from scholarships, to facilities, to classes formerly closed to women. Indeed, it transformed the educational landscape of the United States within the span of a generation."
(Source: National Women's History Project, http://www.nwhp.org/whm/index.php)

Visit our Women's History Month display on the 3rd floor of the library. The books in the display are available for four-week check out with your SWC ID card.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Rainy Saturday - Come to the Library

Spend your rainy Saturday with us at the Library! We are open Saturday from 10 AM - 2 PM. Get started on that paper or other homework before Spring Break.

Need some help from home? Ask a librarian!

This Week in CQ Researcher

Immigration Conflict by Kenneth Jost

"Americans are very concerned about illegal immigration but ambivalent about what to do about it — especially the 11 million aliens currently in the United States illegally. Frustrated with the federal government's failure to secure the borders, several states passed laws allowing state and local police to check the immigration status of suspected unlawful aliens. Civil rights organizations warn the laws will result in ethnic profiling of Latinos. The Obama administration is suing to block several of the laws for infringing on federal prerogatives. Advocates of tougher enforcement say undocumented workers are taking jobs from U.S. citizens, but many business and agricultural groups say migrant workers are needed to fill jobs unattractive to U.S. workers. Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law providing stiff penalties for employers that knowingly hire illegal aliens. Now, the justices are preparing to hear arguments on the controversial, new Arizona law that inspired other states to crack down on illegal immigration."

• Is illegal immigration an urgent national problem?
• Should state and local police enforce immigration laws?
• Should Congress make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens?

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.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Database of the Month

EBSCOhost Newspaper Source Plus

Did you know? More than 38 million newspaper articles, nearly 913,000 TV and radio news transcripts and more are at your fingertips?

Faculty, staff and currently enrolled students have access to EBSCOhost Newspaper Source Plus, a database filled with more than 1,000 full-text newspapers and more than 38 million full-text articles! And that's not all; if you create an account, you can set customized alerts for specific titles or publications, receive real time updates (updated every 15 minutes), and download free applications to your iPhone or Android!

This database is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you haven't stopped by the Library to pick up the database passwords for Spring 2012, simply fill out the Password Request form and get started today.

This database includes major national newspapers, as well as nearly 913,000 television and radio transcripts including ABC News, CBS News, CNBC, CNN International, FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and PBS.

Have a question? Ask a Librarian!

Workshops @ SWC Library

Do you need to find a primary source?

How about articles or books?

Don't know where to start? Don't worry!

The library is offering the following free, one-hour workshops for SWC students. Attend any workshop that you'd like. There is no need to sign up in advance, just be on time.

This week's topic: Primary Sources

All workshops are held in the Library Classroom, L-244.

Primary Sources: Thursday, March 15, 11 AM
Newspaper Sources: Thursday, April 12, 11 AM
Find & Cite: EBSCO: Thursday, March 22, 11 AM
Books & E-books: Friday, March 2, 11 AM

Have a question? Ask a Librarian!

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Taking an Online Class?

Join us this week for a Blackboard orientation!

Thursday March 8

5:30 p.m.
Room L-244

Friday March 9
1 p.m.
Room L-244

Saturday March 10
11 a.m.
Room L-244

Orientations are an hour long and they cover the basics of taking an online class, including navigating your class in the Blackboard course management system. No need to sign up, just be on time!

No Classes Thursday, Library is Open

There are no classes on Thursday, March 8, due to a scheduled faculty flex day. The SWC Libraries are open regular hours on Thursday, March 8, 2012.

Have a question? Ask a Librarian!

This Week in CQ Researcher

Space Program by John Felton

"More than 40 years after astronauts first walked on the moon, the U.S. space program is in search of direction. With the end of the space shuttle program last year, the United States must rely on Russian Soyuz rockets to send Americans into space. Private contractors are building spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and beyond, but those won't be ready for years. Meanwhile, budget cutters have pared NASA spending, and President Obama has angered some space enthusiasts by proposing to shift funds from two international Mars missions to a new telescope slated to replace the aging Hubble observatory. Mars remains a tantalizing destination, and a sophisticated rover is scheduled to land there in August to search for signs of life. But a human landing may be decades away. Obama has rejected returning to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars, preferring to send astronauts to an asteroid."

• Is the space program justified?
• Should a human mission to Mars be the next big objective?
• Is the space station worth the cost

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.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!