Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Closed for Thanksgiving

SWC Libraries at Main Campus, San Ysidro, and Otay Mesa will close early, at 4 pm, on Wednesday, November 26. There will be no evening hours at the National City campus library.

SWC Libraries will be closed Thursday, November 27 - Sunday, November 30 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Regular hours resume on Monday, December 1, 2014.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!


Photo courtesy Lawrence OP, Flickr

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Library closed? We're still here!


Chat with a librarian
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Available for all SWC students

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Libraries close at 4 pm this Wednesday

SWC Libraries at Main Campus, San Ysidro, and Otay Mesa will close early, at 4 pm, on Wednesday, November 26. There will be no evening hours at the National City campus library.

SWC Libraries will be closed Thursday, November 27 - Sunday, November 30 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Regular hours resume on Monday, December 1, 2014.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!


Photo courtesy Lawrence OP, Flickr

Friday, November 21, 2014

We are open Saturday!

Time to catch up on your work before the holidays? Stop by the library this Saturday, 10 am - 2 pm. We have quiet study spaces and free wireless!

Have a question? Ask a librarian!


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Thanksgiving Holiday

SWC Libraries at Main Campus, San Ysidro, and Otay Mesa will close early, at 4 pm, on Wednesday, November 26. There will be no evening hours at the National City campus library.

SWC Libraries will be closed Thursday, November 27 - Sunday, November 30 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Regular hours resume on Monday, December 1, 2014.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!


Photo courtesy Lawrence OP, Flickr

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Website of the Week

Find the Best


  • Trying to decide what SmartPhone to buy?
  • Want to find the best hospital near you?
  • Need to feed your new puppy?
  • Choosing fantasy football players?
  • Going on a trip and need travel tips?
  • Comparing wars and death casualties?
  • Looking for scholarships?
  • Conducting genealogy research? 
This site has something for everybody! The best part is that you are able to compare each item against the rest. This site offers a Smart Rating system (which tells you what is the best, when appropriate), and it’s easy to find out how that Smart Rating system actually determined what is the best.

You can search, or you can browse. And, you are certain to discover something interesting.

FindTheBest is particularly useful when comparing a product or service that isn’t typically available on the same site – take a cell phone plan, for instance. You’ll want to know total cost (including activiation fees, how much data you get, different varieties of plans (e.g. individual, family), and contract types. This site can break it all down for you as if you exhaustively went to each service provider’s site. It allows you to find the service that fits your needs quickly and easily.

http://cell-plans.findthebest.com/


While FindTheBest claims you’ll know everything, you won’t find it all here. There are obvious limits. For instance, I wanted to look at the incomes of individual state employees, but they are limited to certain states. The data is compiled by groups of people, which is why it would be impossible to find it all.

But, when you can find something, you can also create interesting graphs, compare specific products or services of interest side-by-side, and get photos of the items you’re researching. Overall, it’s a research tool that helps visualize the data in a more simplistic and holistic manner.

Review by Lauren McFall, SWC Librarian

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Have a question?


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Monday, November 17, 2014

Native American Heritage Month


Visit the Library's display on the third floor highlighting Native American Heritage Month -- November 2014.

Notable Books Include: 

  • Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature

  • Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison


  • Earth Song, Sky Spirit: Short Stories of the Contemporary Native American Experience
  • Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1974-1994
  • Reservation Blues

  • Native Americans

  • American Indians and the Fight for Equal Voting Rights


  • American Indian Removal and the Trail to Wounded Knee

  • American Indian Nations from Termination to Restoration, 1953-2006

  • The Last Indian War: the Nez Perce Story

Friday, November 14, 2014

Check It Out

Native American Heritage Month is here!

Did you know in the library’s collection there's a great title honoring this theme to check out?

It's called, American Indian removal and the trail to Wounded Knee. It's written by Kevin Hillstrom and published in 2010. It is located in the library’s upper floor glass case display with the call number: E98.R4 H55 2010.



It is available for check out. Stop by the Circulation Desk to ask for assistance checking out books on display.

Books like this one can be found by searching the SWC Library Catalog. Just type in the title in the search box and you can find it in the results list.

This book is an interesting resource that focuses on the early development of the U.S. government policies towards removing Native American tribes, the events at Wounded Knee, and U.S. Calvary’s massacre of American Indians in 1890. American Indian removal and the trail to Wounded Knee offers new insight into the Native American experience.

Come to the library to see more Native American Heritage-related titles on display this month.

Cheers!

Review by Arnold Josafat, SWC Librarian

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Coming in December... Longer Hours

Extended Hours for Finals

 
Extended Library Hours 
December 8 – December 17, 2014

Monday -Thursday: 8 am - 9 pm
Friday: 8 am - 4 pm
Saturday: 10 am - 4 pm

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Website of the Week


Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information that recently became available to the general public. 

A collaboration among the Library of Congress, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office, Congress.gov is a free resource that provides searchable access to information related to Congress. The site takes the place of the legacy site THOMAS which has been around since 1995. Congress.gov is designed to allow access for internet users on mobile devices and support future needs.

Resources include:

  • Bill status, summary, text
  • Member profiles
  • The Congressional Record 
  • Committee reports
  • Direct links from bills to cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office 
  • Legislative process videos
  • Committee profile pages and historic access reaching back to the 103rd Congress
Review by John Stanton, SWC Librarian

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Reference Book of the Week

Francis D.K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek, and Vikramaditya Prakash
2010, 2nd ed.
Reference Section NA 200 C493 2011

I fell in love with this history of architecture.  It analyses structures from a different perspective than most books on this subject, including our other major source on world architecture (International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture).  It’s also set up differently, includes structures as well as buildings (e.g., the Great Wall), and covers all areas of the world rather than primarily the United States and Europe.

This text is organized chronologically by dividing the time between 3,500 BC and 1989 AD into 18 “time-cuts” (segments).  This allows the reader to compare what’s going on in various regions at roughly the same time.   Each “time-cut” begins with a one page description of the forces operating during that period which influenced its architecture.  These forces might be  historical, economic, religious, political, cultural, etc.  Next, there is a world map showing the locations of the structures to be discussed in that chapter, and then a timeline showing when and where the buildings were constructed.  In addition, it gives the major historical events or rulers in that time segment and in the geographical areas covered.  The discussions of the structures are arranged in each time-cut by the subcontinental area in which they are located.  Most are one to two pages in length and usually include from four to seven photos and drawings of floor plans, cross sections, etc.  (There are over 1,500 drawings and 1,000 photographs and maps in the book.)

The authors state that they are not as interested in pointing out the characteristics of architecture of a particular location or time period but in the “broad forces and exigencies of that time and location” which produced a particular building’s architectural style.  This is what fascinates me.

For instance, looking up the Boston Public Library in our traditional architectural source we find pictures of the old library and the annex.  Most of the discussion focuses on the history of building the library (e.g., how the funds were raised, the contributions of notable artists to the interior, and some criticisms of the building).  One paragraph contrasts this library with Labrouste’s Bibliotheque which the architect saw in Paris.  In addition, there is a physical description of the library and the sense it evokes (a classical, “sheltered elegance”, etc.)  and a list of sources.

When the library is looked up in the Global History of Architecture there is a picture of the library, one of Pennsylvania Station, and a sketch of an aerial view of Copley Square which the library abuts on one side.  The discussion of the library is labeled “City Beautiful Movement” rather than “Boston Public Library”.  It briefly discusses how once the US economy started to improve after the 1890s depression the architectural mood changed from dark, “Romanesque inspired motifs” to “the lighter and more ambitious motifs of the French Beaux-Arts”, and how the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 energized this change.  “… its integrated plan of buildings, parks, and walks” (including space for growth) became  a model of a successfully planned city with monumental architecture and inspired mayors across the country to draw up plans for their cities incorporating some of its principles and using the Beaux Arts style.  This became the “City Beautiful Movement. The article briefly describes the architecture of the Pennsylvannia Station and the Boston Public Library as examples of “City Beautiful Buildings”.  It mentions that the primary artist, McKim, was one of the leading champions of the Beaux-Arts style and drew ideas from Henri Labrouste’s Biblioteque in Paris.             


The next page contains a photograph of an architect’s office and is titled, “Rise of Professionalism” [in the architectural field].  It discusses exactly that, stating that the success of the Beaux-Arts movement caused increased attention to architects’ education, as did the World’s Columbian Exposition. The latter, “designed on a monumental scale and integrated into a master plan, served to demonstrate what professional architects could accomplish. “  (McKim, the primary architect of the Boston Public Library, was one of the architects who showed off their skill at the exposition.)

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

SWC Libraries Closed Monday






SWC Libraries are closed Monday, November 10, in observance of Veterans' Day.

Regular hours resume Tuesday, November 11, 2014.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Ask Us Now


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Available for all SWC students