Happy Thanksgiving!

The SWC Libraries are closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. All libraries resume regular hours on Monday, December 2.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Libraries close early on Wednesday

The SWC Libraries close early on Wednesday, November 27:

• Main Library closes at 4:30 PM.
• San Ysidro Library closes at 4 PM.
• Otay Mesa Library closes at 4 PM.
• National City Library (closed)

All libraries remain closed until Monday, December 2, when regular hours resume.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Virtual Reference Library

Encyclopedia of Race and Racism edited by Patrick L. Mason

Macmillan, 2013 (2nd ed)

4 volumes (e-books)

This authoritative encyclopedia examines the anthropological, sociological, historical, economic, and scientific theories of race and racism in the modem era. It delves into the historic origins of ideas of race and racism and explores their social and scientific consequences. It also includes biographies of significant theorists, as well as political and social leaders and notorious racists.

Available online in the Gale Virtual Reference Library for all SWC students, faculty, and staff.

Ask a Librarian

Are you stuck? Do you have a question about your research? Ask a librarian -- we are available to help 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

Movie Night - Tonight!

Free Movie Night! Sponsored by the SWC Book Club

Join us for "Matilda" the movie. Free food will be provided.

Friday, November 22: 4:30 PM

Student Union East

We're here on Saturday

Need a quiet place to study? Working on your paper? We are open 10 AM - 2 PM on Saturdays.

Check It Out

Two Nations Indivisible : Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead.
by Shannon K. O'Neil.
Oxford University Press, 2013.
New Book Shelf: E183.8.M6 O54 2013.
Available for four-week check out with your SWC photo ID card.

Five freshly decapitated human heads are thrown onto a crowded dance floor in western Mexico. A Mexican drug cartel dismembers the body of a rival and then stitches his face onto a soccer ball. These are the sorts of grisly tales that dominate the media, infiltrate movies and TV shows, and ultimately shape Americans' perception of Mexico as a dangerous and scary place, overrun by brutal drug lords. 

Without a doubt, the drug war is real. In the last six years, over 60,000 people have been murdered in narco-related crimes. But, there is far more to Mexico's story than this gruesome narrative would suggest.

While thugs have been grabbing the headlines, Mexico has undergone an unprecedented and under-publicized political, economic, and social transformation. In her groundbreaking book, Two Nations Indivisible, Shannon K. O'Neil argues that the United States is making a grave mistake by focusing on the politics of antagonism toward Mexico. Rather, we should wake up to the revolution of prosperity now unfolding there.  

The news that isn't being reported is that, over the last decade, Mexico has become a real democracy, providing its citizens a greater voice and opportunities to succeed on their own side of the border. Armed with higher levels of education, upwardly-mobile men and women have been working their way out of poverty, building the largest, most stable middle class in Mexico's history.  

This is the Mexico Americans need to get to know. Now more than ever, the two countries are indivisible. It is past time for the U.S. to forge a new relationship with its southern neighbor. Because in no uncertain terms, our future depends on it.

review from publisher 

Hours for Thanksgiving Weekend

The SWC Libraries close early on Wednesday, November 27:

• Main Library closes at 4:30 PM.
• San Ysidro Library closes at 4 PM.
• Otay Mesa Library closes at 4 PM.
• National City Library (closed)

All libraries remain closed until Monday, December 2, when regular hours resume.

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Website of the Week

Which Search Engine When

Page created by Phil Bradley

http://www.philb.com/whichengine.htm

Everyone loves Google, and it’s easy to forget that other search engines specialize in certain types of searches. Use the drop-down menu at the top of this page to create a list of search engines specializing in the type of data you need.

Interested in news and current events? Children’s search engines? How about the hidden or invisible web? There are search engines and directories unique to your need. My favorite are the country based search engines – there are 85 for Russia!

If you’re curious about how comparable search engines stack up, select “Comparing Results” from the drop-down menu. Among the comparison engines is Blindsearch – the “search engine taste test” where results are given in three columns. Vote for your favorite column and it reveals which search engine you chose as the best.

“Phil Bradley has a background as an information professional and has worked in the field of electronic publishing for the last ten years. He is currently an independent internet consultant and is well known throughout the industry for his talks, training courses, lectures, books and articles on various aspects of electronic publishing and the internet.” (biography from Amazon)

CQ Researcher: Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence: Are federal programs helping to curb abuse?
by Barbara Mantel
November 15, 2013

Incidents of domestic violence have declined by more than half over the past two decades, according to U.S. Department of Justice crime surveys. Some attribute progress to the growth in shelters, more aggressive enforcement and laws such as the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which have poured billions of dollars into shelters, social services and training programs. But some victims' advocates say the Justice Department underestimates the problem and cite a 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, which shows that more than 12 million adults suffer physical violence, rape or stalking each year. The confusion has left advocates, researchers, prosecutors and judges divided over the best ways to reduce intimate partner violence. Meanwhile, new technology such as GPS and social media have made it easier for abusers to track and intimidate their victims.

Read the full report in the library's CQ Researcher database.

Courtesy CQ Researcher

Have a question?

Ask Us Now!

A reference librarian is available to assist you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Check It Out

Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality 
by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
Harper, 2010
New Book Area: HQ12 R93 2010

The authors of this book ask, “What is the essence of human sexuality and how did it get to be that way?” This husband and wife team believe that “…human beings evolved in intimate groups where almost everything was shared – food, shelter, protection, child care, even sexual pleasure.” However, “… seismic cultural shifts that began about ten thousand years ago rendered the true story of human sexuality so subversive and threatening that for centuries it has been silenced by religious authorities, pathologized by physicians, studiously ignored by scientists, and covered up by moralizing therapists….The campaign to obscure the true nature of our species’ sexuality leaves half of our marriages collapsing under an unstoppable tide of swirling sexual frustration, libido-killing boredom, impulsive betrayal, dysfunction, confusion, and shame.” According to the writers they have found “…overwhelming evidence of a decidedly casual, friendly prehistory of human sexuality echoed in our own bodies, in the habits of remaining societies still lingering in relative isolation, and in some surprising corners of contemporary Western Culture.” Therefore, monogamy is not a natural state for humans.

In setting forth the defense for their thesis Ryan and Jetha answer all sorts of interesting questions: Why are human testicles so much larger than those of gorillas but smaller than those of chimps? Can sexual frustration make us sick? How did the lack of orgasms cause one of the most common diseases in history, and how was it treated? To say that this is a fun, interesting, and very controversial read is probably totally unnecessary.

You found the information you need...

... But is it reliable?

Here are five easy steps for evaluating the quality of information before you use it in your paper or speech.

Authority

• Who wrote it? Why do you believe them?
• Is the author a qualified expert in the field? How do you know?
• What is her/his occupation, position, education, experience?
• What are her/his credentials?
• Who published the information?

Objectivity and Bias

• What is the purpose of publication? Is it intended to inform or to persuade?
• Are assumptions and opinions clearly identified?
• Are conclusions supported by cited facts? 
• Is the site supported by advertising or run by a business?
• Is the author affiliated with particular organizations, institutions, or associations?

Accuracy

• What were the author's sources? Are they cited?
• Was the work peer reviewed and/or edited?
• Is the work free of grammatical and typographical errors?
• Do facts and conclusions check out with other reputable sources?

Currency

• When was the work written and published?
• Are the author's sources up-to-date?
• Has the information been updated or revised?

Scope

• Is it clear what topics are covered? Was something left out?
• Are topics covered in sufficient depth?
• What is their relevance to your research?

Have a question? Ask a librarian!

Website of the Week

DeepDyve – a service for finding, browsing and renting journal articles

DeepDyve (http://www.deepdyve.com/) has been around since 2009 as a journal rental service. The service was developed by two bioinformatics scientists who were frustrated by the inconvenience and cost of accessing peer-reviewed journal articles. Their goal is to reduce the cost of buying articles online by up to 90% and provide much greater access to scholarly journal articles.

They recently added a free service to let people who have signed up with them to browse journal articles for free for five minutes. They also developed a browser plug-in that suggests journal articles related to your searches with Google and other sites.

DeepDyve allows any user who signs up to read over 32 million articles from authoritative sources.

Publishers include Wiley, Springer, Elsevier, Nature, IEEE, and a variety of university presses. DeepDyve has also integrated access to over 10 million open access articles from places such as PLOS and PubMed Central. All the latest content is available, with no embargo periods. The articles are full-text .

After signing up for the freemium service a user can go to the DeepDyve website and look at the content of an article for five minutes. The patron can only look at that particular article once per day for free. This allows a user to determine if the article is something they really want. It is possible to rent journal articles for 30 days. It costs $20 to rent 5 articles. Rented articles cannot be printed.

DeepDyve offers a web browser plug-in. For users who have the plug-in a link will show up if DeepDyve holds content related to searches. For example doing a Google search on the phrase “strain theory” brings up several articles on the subject as part of the search results from Google. The DeepDyve Plugin also automatically links searches from PubMed and Google Scholar to articles on DeepDyve.
You can find related information for every article discovered by clicking the “More like this” button on the search results page or any article page. DeepDyve accounts provide features that allow you to create a personalized home page. You choose your favorite journals and all the newest articles are displayed for quick browsing.

DeepDyve is seeing interest from smaller colleges and universities and is willing to discuss allowing institutions access to journals. Institutions only pay for what it actually used by people affiliated with the intuition. Users can be aggregated by IP addresses.

Review by John Stanton, SWC Librarian

SWC Libraries Closed Today

All SWC Libraries are closed today, Monday, November 11, 2013, in observance of Veterans' Day.

Libraries resume regular hours on Tuesday, November 12.

Have a question?

Ask us now! 

Real people, real help

24/7.

Check It Out

It’s National Adoption Month!

Did you know in the New Books collection there's a great title related to this theme to check out?

It's called, Parenting. It's edited by Roman Espejo and published by Greenhaven Press in 2013.

It is located on the library’s New Books collection shelves and its call number is HQ755.8 .O55 2013.

This book is a great resource for students to learn about issues involved in parenting. Issues range from discipline to parental liability for kids drinking at home. It is also an appropriate resource to support the School of Social Sciences, Business and Humanities, the School of Counseling and Personal Development plus the Child Development Center.

Cheers!

Review by Arnold Josafat, SWC Librarian

Website of the Week

LexisNexis Academic –
Get Company Info Widget Box

http://www.swccd.edu/~library
Click "Articles and Databases" and select "Lexis-Nexis: Academic"

LexisNexis Academic online database provides searchable access to full-text information from over 5,600 sources. This database includes national, international and regional newspaper sources, federal and state court opinions, statutes as well as company financial information, industry reports and market news. It is accessible with any computer with internet access. One must be a currently enrolled student to access this database from off-campus using one’s Webadvisor student identification information for username (e.g. ab0123456) and date of birth for password (e.g. 010194).

Doing research for a business class or looking for more information on a company you want to work for? Check out the following featured tool offered by LexisNexis Academic.

Get Company Info Widget Box
The Get Company Info widget box allows a person to get a company profile by entering a Company Name or a Ticker Symbol. Company Profiles include Hoover's Company Records, LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations, Standard & Poors Corporate Descriptions, and Nelson's Analyst Company Coverage to name a few. To do more in-depth Business research, navigate to the "Companies" section on the left-side navigation bar or click on the "Company Dossier" link provided at the bottom of the widget.

If one uses the left-side navigation bar and click on “Companies”, one sees links to the “Company Dossier," “Dossier Create a Company List,” “Dossier Compare Companies,” “Company Profiles,” and “SEC Filings.” If one clicks on the “Company Dossier” link at the bottom of the widget, one gets access to the same tools as listed in the “Companies” left-side navigation link plus an option to find information on a particular company executive (use the Executive Tab) or a specific industry (use the Industry Tab), like finance.

Happy hunting!

Review by Arnold Josafat, SWC Librarian

SWC Libraries Closed for Veterans' Day

All SWC Libraries are closed Monday, November 11, 2013 in observance of Veterans' Day. Libraries resume regular hours on Tuesday, November 12, 2013.

November is National Adoption Month

Stop by the 3rd floor to visit our display highlighting National Adoption Month. Books may be checked out for four weeks with your SWC ID card. The Circulation Desk on the first floor can assist you with checking out books on display.

NOTABLE TITLES INCLUDE: 

 Children and Youth in Adoption, Orphanages, and Foster Care 

 Adoption in America 

 Adoption by Lesbians and Gay Men 

 Babies without Borders 

 The Girls Who Went Away 

 Issues in Adoption 

 Blue-Ribbon Babies and Labors of Love 

 International Adoptions 

 Kinship by Design 

 Interracial Intimacies 

 Every Year on Your Birthday 

 Strangers and Kin 

 Are Adoption Policies Fair? 

 Cultures of Transnational Adoption 

 The Baby Business 

 Making Babies, Making Families 

 Weaving a Family Two Little Girls

Workshops on Primary Sources - This Week

Monday - November 4, 5:30 PM
Tuesday - November 5, 9:00 AM
Wednesday - November 6, 11:00 AM

All workshops are held in the LRC classroom, L-244.

What are primary sources, and how can you find them? Attend one of our free, one-hour workshops. There's no need to sign up -- just be on time. See you there!