Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Leap Day - Did you know?

Why do we have an extra day this year?

"The earth actually takes longer than 365 days to complete its trip around the sun—five hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds longer, to be precise. To accommodate this discrepancy, an extra day is added to the calendar at the end of February every four years (but not in “century” years unless evenly divisible by 400, e.g., 1600 and 2000, but not 1700).

There’s an old tradition that women could propose marriage to men during Leap Year. The men had to pay a forfeit if they refused. It is for this reason that February 29 is sometimes referred to as Ladies’ Day or Bachelors’ Day."

It's difficult to say how many marriages resulted from this tradition, but it was a approach taken to heart by some. A handbook published in 1880 titled, How to Get a Husband! : Leap Year Manual claims to contain, "A veritable list of some of the best looking, wealthiest, and most reliable single and marriageable men of the Country, with their Post Office addresses." The author reminds his readers, "We give you many fish in our list to angle for, you only want one to bite; the law won't allow you any more." The full text of this book is available to read online at the Library of Congress.

Leap Year Day. (2010). In Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/hfcwd/leap_year_day

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

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Monday, February 27, 2012

Last chance to win an iPad!

Essay Contest Deadline - Feb 29, 2012, 5 pm
Late entries will not be accepted!
The essay contest is sponsored by the Friends of the SWC Library and is for currently enrolled SWC students. The prize for the winner is an iPad.

The essay prompt is based on this year’s College Book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Copies of the College Book are available for check out at the SWC Library.

Here is the essay prompt:

Should Henrietta’s family be financially compensated for the HeLa cells? Why or why not? If yes, who do you believe the money should come from?

Please note that only original submissions that are the student’s own work will be considered.

Essays must be in English, no more than three pages, and submitted by email to essaycontest@swccd.edu before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Late entries will not be accepted!

A separate page (not counted in the three maximum) must give the student’s name, SWC ID number, email address, and telephone number. This page will be separated from the essay and a code will be assigned to it so the judges will not know the identity of the student. No identifiers (name, ID number, etc.) are to appear in the essay itself.

Questions? Contact Diane Gustafson in the Library at (619) 482-6433 or dgustafson@swccd.edu.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Drop In Workshops @ the Library

Do any of your classes require the use of primary sources, e-books, newspapers, or articles? Don't know what they are or where to start? Don't worry! The library is offering the following workshops for SWC students. Attend any workshop that you'd like. There is no need to sign up in advance, just be on time.

The following 50-minute workshops will take place in L-244 at 11 AM.

Books & E-books: Friday, March 2 and Friday, April 20
Primary Sources: Thursday, March 15
Newspaper Sources: Thursday, April 12
Find & Cite: EBSCO: Thursday, March 22

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Stop by the Online Library

Articles, e-books, and help with your research -- you'll find it all at SWC's Online Library.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

African American History Month

Celebrating African American History Month
2012 Theme: Black Women in American Culture and History

African American History Month
Official site with information and events related to African American History Month, February 2012.

Find out more -- SWC Library Resources
Reading lists, websites, further research, and other links

Photo courtesy Library of Congress

Monday, February 20, 2012

Internet Resource - The Vault

Did you ever want to read the FBI files on ( Albert Einstein, Al Capone, John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, POW/MIAs, PETA, SNCC, ESP,Roswell, and much more? Now you can go to The Vault, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's electronic reading room, containing more than 3,000 documents that have been scanned from paper into digital copies.

This public access site was developed in response to the Freedom of Information Act. It does include a search mechanism and category browsing You can search the Vault by keyword and topic from Anti-War to Hot topics to Violent Crime. The site does provide some interesting insights into FBI case files but many of the PDF files of declassified records have been heavily scrubbed by blacking out names or phrases that might refer to classified information.

This website offer a unique opportunity to the public to view records that were previously closed



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

E-books

Did you know that the Southwestern Library has access to over 30,000 e-books? Did you know you can email yourself a portion of an e-book as a PDF? If that sounds interesting continue reading...

E-books can be located by using our library catalog or by going directly to a webpage where you can search for just e-books. To locate an e-book: go to the Articles and Databases webpage and click on "EBSCOhost e-books at Southwestern". You will be prompted for the password to EBSCOhost if you are not on campus. The password may be obtained by filling out the Password Request Form.

After entering the password you will have access to the e-book. Click on the Table of Contents for the book or search for a particular word or phrase, select a page of interest (perhaps the first page of a chapter), and then click on the button labeled "email". Depending on the book you have selected you can email yourself 15-60 pages of the e-book per hour. The pages will arrive in your email inbox as a PDF attachment. You can repeat this process with other e-books immediately, but you will have to wait for an hour to pass before you can send more pages of the first e-book.

Just as you can have copies of magazine and journal articles available to you in your email or downloaded to your computer, you can have entire sections of e-books available to you in the same way. And it comes with MLA (or APA) citation information!

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Closed Friday - Monday

SWC Libraries are closed Friday, February 17 - Monday, February 20 in observance of Presidents' Day. Libraries resume regular hours on Tuesday, February 21, 2012.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Essay Contest - Deadline Approaching

Win an iPad! Essays are due by Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 5 pm. Late entries will not be accepted!

The essay contest is sponsored by the Friends of the SWC Library and is for currently enrolled SWC students. The prize for the winner is an iPad.

The essay prompt is based on this year’s College Book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Copies of the College Book are available for check out at the SWC Library.

Here is the essay prompt:
Should Henrietta’s family be financially compensated for the HeLa cells? Why or why not? If yes, who do you believe the money should come from?

Please note that only original submissions that are the student’s own work will be considered.

Essays must be in English, no more than three pages, and submitted by email to essaycontest@swccd.edu before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Late entries will not be accepted! A separate page (not counted in the three maximum) must give the student’s name, SWC ID number, email address, and telephone number. This page will be separated from the essay and a code will be assigned to it so the judges will not know the identity of the student. No identifiers (name, ID number, etc.) are to appear in the essay itself.

Questions? Contact Diane Gustafson in the Library at (619) 482-6433 or dgustafson@swccd.edu.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

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Thursday, February 09, 2012

ARTstor Is… Black History

Black History Month is observed every February in the United States and there are many excellent resources in the ARTstor Digital Library.



Black history:


Image of the Black in Western Art A systematic investigation of how people of African descent have been perceived and represented in Western art spanning nearly 5,000 years.


Magnum Photos: Contemporary Photojournalism Some of the most celebrated and recognizable photographs of the 20th century and contemporary life, documenting an astounding range of subjects, including hundreds of major figures and events in contemporary black history.


Eugene James Martin Vibrant abstract works by African American artist Eugene James Martin, including paintings on canvas, mixed media collages, and pencil and pen and ink drawings.


The Schlesinger History of Women in America Collection Professional and amateur photographs documenting the full spectrum of activities and experiences of American women in the 19th and 20th centuries, including a significant amount of portraits of African American women.


Smithsonian American Art Museum Works of art spanning over 300 years of American art history, including selections from a collection of more than 2,000 works by African American artists.




African art and culture:


Richard F. Brush Art Gallery (St. Lawrence University) West African textiles from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, and Cape Verde.


Herbert Cole: African Art, Architecture, and Culture (University of California, Santa Barbara) Field photography of African art, architecture, sites, and culture from Nigeria, Ghana, the Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Kenya, as well as photographs of African objects in private collections around the world.


James Conlon: Mali and Yemen Sites and Architecture Images of sites and architecture in Djenné, Mopti, Bamako, Segou, and the Dogon Region in Mali.


Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University Images of African art, such as textiles, costumes, basket and bead work, weapons, tools, and ritual objects.


Christopher Roy: African Art and Field Photography Images of West African art and culture, including ceremonial objects and documentation of their social context, use, and manufacture from the rural villages and towns of the Bobo, Bwa, Fulani, Lobi, Mossi, and Nuna peoples in West Africa—primarily in Burkina Faso, but also in Ghana, Nigeria, and Niger.


Thomas K. Seligman: Photographs of Liberia, New Guinea, Melanesia, and the Tuareg people Images of the Tuareg people, a nomadic people of the Sahara who live in countries such as Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, as well as photographs of sites and people in Liberia, New Guinea, and Melanesia.




Also, visit ARTstor’s Subject Guides page to download the African and African-American Studies Subject Guide.







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. Next time your on campus drop by the library and create your ARTstor account.


Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Check It Out

Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt
Robert Bauval and Thomas Brophy
Rochester, Vt. : Bear & Co., c2011.
New Books DT61 B38 2011

“Black Genesis offers astounding new insights as Bauval and Brophy forcefully support, with hard data, the radical idea that Egyptian civilization was the outgrowth of a sophisticated Black African culture that existed thousands of years prior to the earliest known pharaohs. Their book is a must read for anyone interested in genuinely understanding the true origins of ancient Egypt…” The above is a quote from author, Robert M. Schoch, and Psychology Professor Stanley Krippner agrees with him. The professor states that, 'The authors trace the series of errors and misjudgments that have obscured the origins of this remarkable civilization [Egypt]….This is an authoritative, excellent, well-written book.'”

In this book an Egyptologist and astrophysicist put forth their archaeoastronomical research, hieroglyphic and genetic research, and more to prove that Egypt originated from an advanced black civilization in the Sahara. The work includes their solution to the puzzle of the megalith circle in Egypt and Bauval’s conclusion that the Giza pyramids and their airshafts were aligned with the stars in Orion’s belt. They also discuss some of the resistance to the idea that the Egyptian pyramids and temples have an astronomical alignment.

If correct, this book “…completely rewrites the history of world civilization, placing Black Africa back in its rightful place at the center of mankind’s origins”. However, most traditional Egyptologists and archeologists are disdainful of the book’s theories. Whose side are you on?

This book may be checked out for four weeks with your SWC photo ID card.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

SWC Library @ National City campus

Visit the HEC, National City Library!

We offer a large open study area, two smaller group study rooms, two computers for student use, a reserve collection that includes many of the textbooks required for classes here at National City. We also have a reference section, as well as a small circulating collection, which includes an emphasis on Dental Hygiene books. The National City Library also has access to all of the databases that are available at the main library and from off campus. Did we mention the most friendly, helpful librarians you will ever meet! So, come on in and get to know us.


Higher Education Center at National City

January 9 through May 17, 2012
Monday: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. & 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Thursday: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.