How Can I Access the Library from Home?

Students who are currently enrolled in a Southwestern College credit course during the fall 2009 semester can receive off campus access to most of the online resources listed on our Articles and Databases webpage.

Students can request our list of off campus passwords to access the online resources by using our Password Request Form. Currently enrolled students will receive the list of passwords within minutes by email.

Library Hours

The library will be closing at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday November 25 for the Thanksgiving holidays.
We will reopen on Monday November 30 at 8:00 a.m.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

This Week in CQ Researcher

The Value of a College Education

by Thomas J. Billitteri,

November 20, 2009

Is a four-year degree the only path to a secure future?

President Obama’s $12 billion American Graduation Initiative – announced in July – aims to help millions more Americans earn degrees and certificates from community colleges. The president wants the United States to have, once again, the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Along with the administration, economists and many students and parents embrace the notion that higher education offers the most promising ticket to financial security and upward mobility.

However, some argue that many young people are ill-prepared or unmotivated to get a four-year degree and should pursue apprenticeships or job-related technical training instead. The debate is casting a spotlight on trends in high-school career and technical education – long known as vocational education – and raising questions about the ability of the nation’s 1,200 community colleges to meet exploding enrollment demand.

• Is a four-year college degree necessary for financial security?
• Are high-school career and technical-education programs adequately preparing students for upward mobility?
• Can community colleges meet rising demand for their programs?

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

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Check It Out

The Mind of the Terrorist: The Psychology of Terrorism from the IRA to al-Qaeda
by Jerrold M. Post
Call Number: New Book Shelf
HV6431 .P669 2009

Terrorism is a form of psychological warfare, requiring a psychologically sophisticated response based on an understanding of how terrorists think. Jerry Post provides us a road map-not only of the mind of the terrorist-but also how we can use that understanding to dissuade, deter, and destroy terrorist groups.

He reveals the powerful motivations that drive these ordinary people to such extraordinary evil by exploring the different types of terrorists, from national-separatists like the Irish Republican Army to social revolutionary terrorists like the Shining Path, as well as religious extremists like al-Qaeda and Aum Shinrikyo. In The Mind of the Terrorist, Post uses his expertise to explain how the terrorist mind works and how this information can help us to combat terrorism more effectively

Check out The Mind of the Terrorist: The Psychology of Terrorism from the IRA to al-Qaeda today, available on the library's New Book Shelf.

ARTstor: Georgia O’Keeffe Images

Approximately 830 images from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum are now available in ARTstor. This first release of images to the collection includes paintings, drawings, and sculpture dating from 1901 to 1984. The complete collection in ARTstor will include all of the museum's works by O'Keeffe, representing the entire range of O’Keeffe's oeuvre, from her early experiments with abstraction to mature works.

To view the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum collection: go to the ARTstor Digital Library, browse by collection, and click "Georgia O'Keeffe Museum" or enter the keyword search: okeeffemuseum

Southwestern College library has a number of books and other materials about Georgia O'Keeffe. Search the Library Catalog to location these items.

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.

Palestine! a new book and a related lecture

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (DS119.7 P39 2007)tells how nearly one million Palestinians were expelled from their homes at gunpoint, civilians were massacred, and hundreds of villages were destroyed in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence. What makes this a gripping story is that author Ilan Pappe is a renowmed Israeli historian.In his acknowledgement to his family, he says, "This book is another attempt to tell them, as much as anyone else, why our beloved country is devastated, hopeless, and torn by hatred and bloodshed."

And on Thursday, November 19, at 11 a.m. in Cafeteria East, another Israeli-born activist for the Palestinian cause will be speaking. Miko Peled is the son of General Matti Peled, who fought in the Six-Day War of 1967. Miko is described by SWC Professor Alejandro Orozco as the "Jewish Jason Bourne", having fought with the Israeli defense forces and been a frogman. Go to Peled's lecture and then read Pappe's book. There is hope for Israel and Palestine.