Essay Contest Results!

Thanks to everyone who submitted essays for the Library essay contest! If you will remember, the essay prompt was to write about how the Yuba College Library contributed to your academic success. Well, we have our winners (drum roll, please) …

First Place Winner: Lisa Shepard, with an essay “Cerebral Sanctuary”

Honorable Mention: June Leal, “Success from a Library”

Honorable Mention: Kris Ramirez, “Tips on How You Can Succeed”

 

If you know or see our winners around campus, be sure to congratulate them on a job well done! The essays will be posted in the library for all to see. Thanks again to all our contestants!

Come Join us for World Book Night!

Want something fun and social to do tho month? Come hang out with us during two different events as we celebrate World Book Night. What’s WBN?

World Book Night is an international event where publishers, libraries, and book lovers come together to celebrate and pass on the love of reading. The publishers have printed special event versions of favorite books and your library has some free ones to give out! Join us in two locations to hear readings and presentations of some of our favorite books:

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 12 – 1 pm in the Yuba College Theatre. Featured presenters: Dr. Aya Ueda, Brian Condrey, Susan Ramones, and Walter Masuda. Come and see what they have to say about their favorite books!

The second event will be held at the Eating Well Cafe (part of the Harmony Health Family Resource Center), on April 24, 2012 from 5 – 7:30 pm. The Eating Well Cafe can be found at 1908 N. Beale Rd. Ste. B, Marysville, CA 95901.

Come join us for either or both of these fun events and celebrate and share the joy of a favorite book! It will be a great evening.

Library Service

Did you know that your library offers over a dozen different services? Your Librarians have been specially trained in research and are experts in helping you navigate your research project.

Your librarian can help you:

• Find resources.
• Cite resources.
• Use basic computer software like Word, Excel, and even Blackboard.
• Develop a topic.
• Use a citation management tool.
• Find resources that the library doesn’t have through interlibrary loan.
• Find the answer to copyright questions and help you to use copyrighted items ethically.

Your library offers:

• A computer lab with printing and copying.
• Library databases, including over 20 databases from EBSCO, Credo Reference, Jstor, ProQuest Nursing, Gale Literature Resource Center, and more!
• Textbooks and articles on reserve.
• Regular print books, magazines, & newspapers.
• CDs.
• Videos and tutorials on the research process and databases, available on the MyCampus library webpage.

And there is always more! If you are ever unsure about something, please just ask your Librarian. They are experts at helping you find answers.

Library Research Workshops!

Attention all students! We are hosting a round of library research workshops at the WLDC (Room 1251A) this semester.

They will be held thursdays at 2 pm.

All workshops are approximately 50 minutes in length or less. Please arrive 5 minutes early to register with the WLDC.

DATABASES FOR RESEARCH – Be introduced to the many databases to which the Library subscribes for research and answer all your questions about how to access them and what kinds of information can be found using them. Scheduled for March 1 and repeated April 5. 

MLA FAQ – Learn the basics of citing sources with MLA formatting and the easi-est way to cite your sources properly. Scheduled for March 8 and repeated April 12. 

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM – Learn to identify various forms of plagiarism, the basics of properly citing your sources, common ways that plagiarizers get caught, and the ways to avoid plagiarism. – Scheduled for March 15.

USING GOOGLE FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH – Sharpen your search skills to quickly locate quality resources using Google, Google Scholar, Google Books and more. Scheduled for March 22. 

 

So mark your calendars and set an alarm on your phone – these workshops will be so helpful!

An Essay Contest!

The Yuba College Library presents:

An essay contest! How has the library contributed to your academic career?

Contest Rules:

• Contestants will submit an original essay between 400 – 600 words on how the Yuba College Library has contributed to the success of their academic career.
• Essays will be judged on originality, creativity, and substance.
• There will be one winner and two honorable mentions chosen. The winner will receive $50 and the two honorable mentions will receive $25 each. Each will receive a certificate of recognition, and the winning essay will be posted in the library and on the library website.
• Be sure your essay has your name, phone number, and email address on it.
• Please submit your essay via email to your Yuba College Library at ycref@yccd.edu, or turn them in at the Circulation desk!
• The deadline to turn your essay in is April 27, 2012, by 4L30 pm.
• Winners will be notified on May 4th.

Please see the posters in the library for more information.

 

Intro to Database Searching

As the semester begins, it is usually a good idea to brush up on your search skills because you know that a research paper is headed your way sometime this semester! When you first start a paper, the amount of information that is available can be overwhelming.

Are you drowning in information?

This is called “information overload” and can be very daunting. Well, have no fear, your Yuba College Library has a bunch of specially chosen, highly reliable scholarly information just waiting for you.

Check out our new EBSCO databases (Health Source, Consumer Health, GreenFile, ERIC, Primary Search, Military & Government Collection, and many more!). You can access these from the library website or your MyCampus portal. You can also check out Credo Reference for a ton of encyclopedic material. It’s great for background research and narrowing your paper topic!

Check out these tutorials for search tips and keyword skills that will help you in the coming semester. And remember, you can always come in, call, email, or text! Your research help is only a question away.

 

Here is a tutorial from EBSCO about how to search their databases:

And here is a tutorial from Credo Reference about how to use their visual search, or mind map. It’s great for finding connections between ideas and brainstorming:

 

So check out these tutorials and feel a little bit more secure in jumping into your research. Your library databases have made the information overload a lot less overwhelming.

Welcome Back!

Hello Yuba College students! It’s time to kick off the spring semester with a bang. Is anyone ready for academic success this semester?

Well never fear, your Yuba College Library is ready to help you succeed. We have a lot of news for you this month. First, if you don’t already have a Yuba College ConneX library card, please check out our new video to learn how to sign up for one:

The other exciting news is that Yuba College now has access to over 20 scholarly databases through EBSCO. The databases include EBSCO, the Gale Literature Resource Center, and ProQuest Nursing. These new databases are a treasure trove of highly reliable and citable information. The EBSCO access is a set of over 20 databases and include such specialized subjects as nursing, health & medicine, science & technology, education, history, and many more!

Just go to the Yuba College Library website (http://yc.yccd.edu/academics/library.aspx) and check out the list of online databases, or you can reach them from your MyCampus portal. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of these new scholarly resources in the coming weeks. There is a lot of ground to cover this semester, so I hope you’re ready! Happy studying!

Important Semester-Ending Reminders for Students

The final week of the Fall 2011 semester has arrived, and the Library wishes good luck to all students taking finals and completing final projects this week.  The following are some important reminders of which students should be aware concerning the Library facilities in the last week of this semester:

• The Library will be open this week, December 12-15, 2011, Monday through Thursday, from 7:45am to 8pm.  The Library will close for the Fall 2011 semester on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 8pm.
• All materials must be returned to the Library by 8pm on Thursday, December 15, 2011, the last day of finals.
• If borrowed materials are not returned to the Library by 8pm on  Thursday, December 15, 2011, students will be charged replacement costs.  All fines and fees must be paid before Friday, December 16th, 2011. Failure to return borrowed materials and/or pay fines will result in holds placed on students’ accounts, preventing future registrations, access to transcripts, and so on.
• While the Library will not be open during Winter Break, a staff member will generally be available for students who need to pay fines.  Students may call 741-6755 or 741-8781 in advance to confirm that someone is available.

We wish everyone a relaxing, restful Winter Break and look forward to working with you once again in the Spring 2012 semester.  Yuba College Library will reopen for the Spring 2012 semester on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 7:45am.

Need a Break from Studying? Refresh with a Good Movie!

As you find yourself writing term papers, completing final projects, and studying for finals during the last few weeks of the Fall semester, keep in mind that a restful, entertaining break from the rigors of school work awaits you at the Library.  Should you find the opportunity to take a breather from studying, if only for a couple of hours, check out the feature films available in the Library’s Media Collection.  Selections range from drama to comedy, romance, biographical, historical, musical, and more.

Below are titles, DVD and VHS, available at Yuba College Library that are sure to provide a refreshing break from the stress normally associated with the end of the semester. For more information on any of these films, please consult the Library’s online catalog (Polaris) or a librarian.

Title: All the President’s Men
Description: 2 videodiscs (DVD), 138 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: PG
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0065
Summary:  True story of the Watergate break-in that led to the political scandal of the decade.

Title: Almost Famous
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 124 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: R
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0066
Summary:  It’s the opportunity of a lifetime when teenage reporter William Miller lands an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine. Despite the objections of his protective mother, William hits the road with an up-and-coming rock band and finds there’s a lot more to write home about than the music.

Title: Carousel
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 128 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: N/A
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0004
Summary:  A carny barker falls in love with a sweet millworker, but his wayward ways don’t change enough to prevent his early death.

Title: Erin Brokovich
Description: 1 videocassette (VHS), 132 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: R
Type: Video Material – 1 day
Call Number: VT 2088 CC
Summary:  Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a law case against a giant corporation for water pollution. Erin’s determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin a legal fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.

Title: Gosford Park
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 138 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: R
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0018
Summary:  Drama set at the country estate of Sir William McCordle in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guests and downstairs servants at a hunting party weekend when one of the group is murdered.

Title: The Insider
Description: 1 videocassette (VHS), 158 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: R
Type: Video Material – 1 day
Call Number: VT 2087 CC
Summary:  When former executive Jeffrey Wigand is fired by his employer, one of the largest tobacco companies in America, Wigand agrees to become a paid consultant for a story by veteran 60 minutes producer Lowell Bergman, regarding alleged unethical practices within the tobacco industry. But what begins as a temporary alliance leads to a lengthy battle for both men to save their reputations and more.

Title: The King and I
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 133 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: G
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0008
Summary: An English schoolteacher finds herself at odds with the King when she is the teacher at the royal court in the 1860s.

Title: Oklahoma!
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 145 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: G
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0006
Summary:  A cowboy wins his girl despite the intervention of a sinister hired hand.

Title: Primary Colors
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 144 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: N/A
Type: Video Material – 2 hours; Video Material – 4 hours
Call Number: DVD 0062
Summary:  N/A

Title: Romeo & Juliet
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 120 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: PG-13
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0039
Summary:  Unconventional adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic love story. Set in a futuristic urban backdrop of Verona Beach, this is a contemporary re-telling of the tragic love between youthful star-crossed lovers.

Title: Saving Private Ryan
Description: 2 videocassettes (VHS), 169 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: R
Type: Video Material – 1 day
Call Number: VT 2085 CC
Summary:  Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) must take his men behind enemy lines to find Private Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Faced with impossible odds, the men question their orders. Why are eight men risking their lives to save just one? Surrounded by the brutal realities of war each man searches for his own answer and the strength to triumph over uncertain future with honor, decency and courage.

Title: Shakespeare in Love
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 122 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: R
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0036
Summary:  When Will Shakespeare needs passionate inspiration to break a bad case of writer’s block, a secret romance with the beautiful Lady Viola starts the words flowing like never before!

Title: The Sound of Music
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 175 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: N/A
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0003
Summary:  A young novice, uncertain about becoming a nun, becomes governess to 7 children of an autocratic ex-naval captain. Her charm wins over the rebellious children and the unbending captain.

Title: South Pacific
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 150 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: N/A
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0007
Summary:  Musical about life on a Pacific island during World War II.

Title: State Fair
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 100 min.
Target Audience Note: MPAA rating: N/A
Type: Video Material – 2 hours
Call Number: DVD 0005
Summary:  Musical about the adventures of the Frake family at the Iowa State Fair.

Title: Wag the Dog
Description: 1 videodisc (DVD), 92 min.
Target Audience Note: UK cert 15
Type: Video Material – 2 hours; Video Material – 4 hours
Call Number: DVD 0060
Summary:  When the President is caught in a sex scandal less than 2 weeks before the election, “Mr. Fix-it” decides they need a war to distract the public’s attention and he calls on Hollywood’s top producer to create it.

New Database: Literature Resource Center

Yuba College Library has purchased a subscription to Literature Resource Center database, containing scholarly criticism, reviews, biographies, primary sources, multimedia, and more.  Literature Resource Center will be added to the Library’s database collection in the MyCampus Portal, and access to the database will begin on January 1, 2012.

Here is a description of the database from Gale:

Literature Resource Center is the most current, comprehensive, and reliable online literature resource. It’s materials support interdisciplinary approaches, information literacy, and the development of critical thinking skills. Researchers will find information on authors and their works in all genres and disciplines. Included are:

• Entries on 135,000 authors, from Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Authors New Revisions, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism and other sources
• More than 850,000 full-text articles, essays and reviews from 390 journals and magazines
• More than 75,000 selected full-text critical essays and reviews from Contemporary Literary Criticism, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Literature Criticism from 1400-1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, as well as Drama Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Short Story Criticism and Children’s Literature Review
• More than 11,000 overviews of frequently studied works, from sources including Gale’sFor Students series, Literature and Its Times and Characters in 20th-Century Fiction
• More than 30,000 full-text poems, short stories and plays
• More than 8,500 interviews
• More than 6,000 links to web sites and 4,000 portraits
• The ability to identify authors and works that share characteristics
• Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature

New and updated material is added continuously. Materials from forthcoming volumes of Gale’s literature series are added throughout the year, along with full-text journal articles and web sites.

The Library appreciates the input it received from the English department regarding the usefulness of this database as well as the value that it would add to the department’s curriculum.