CAC

Looking for a good audio "read?" Some new leased audio books have arrived from Taped Editions. Titles include James Patterson's 5th Horseman, John Saul's Faces of Fear, and Stephen Coonts' The Assassin. For a complete list, click here.

Library orientation sessions will be held on Thursday, September 4, in Muse Norris Conference Center. The schedule is available at http://www.niacc.edu/library/orientation.html. If you are new on campus, this is a great way to get acquainted with the library and its resources and services. You'll get a general overview of the library, including a Power Point presentation and demonstration of the online catalog and some of the electronic resources available at the NIACC Library. You'll also get a chance to meet me, your friendly librarian! I'm here to help you with your research and reference needs.

Can't make it to one of the sessions? An online version of the PowerPoint is also available through the library web page. It's a streaming video with audio, so be sure to plug in your speakers or headphones.

As you are cleaning out your dorm room or apartment and preparing to move on to your next adventure, please remember to return any items you've borrowed from the library before you leave. There are no fines for overdues, but you will receive a bill for those items still checked out to you. Having overdues will also hold up your request for transcripts. Also, not returning items costs the library. For every item we have to replace, one new item doesn't get purchased. Thanks for making it easier for us to serve the next group of NIACC students!

Have you ever wondered if NIACC has an online version of a journal title? Do you have a bibliography and want to find a particular journal article on the list? NIACC's SerialSolutions EJournal Portal can help. There's a link to it from the library web page (Full Text Journals in Library Databases). All you do is enter the name of the journal title in the search box. If the title appears in any of the library's 55 databases, a link shows up to that database. Once you select the database title, you'll see a list of years available; choose one, and you get a list of issues. You are then taken to the appropriate database, and the articles are listed in order by page number. The link also shows up when you are searching many of our databases, so that you can link to articles not included in the database you're using.

Need an audio book for your morning commute or treadmill workout? A new collection of leased audio books from Taped Editions has arrived. Stop in and check one out. Titles include John Grisham's Playing for Pizza and The Appeal.

The library recently added 358 electronic books to the NetLibrary collection. The new collection features high-demand subject areas such as social science, business, medicine, literature, psychology and education and includes content from 2005 to present. All titles in the collection are hand selected by the collection. NetLibrary books can be accessed through the library's Online Catalog (OPAC) or by going directly to NetLibrary. Remote users need to set up a free account on the NetLibrary web site in order to access the ebooks.

All library materials checked out to students are due today. If needed, they can be renewed to next Wednesday. Please return all items before you leave for winter break.

The library will be open Dec. 17-21 and Jan. 2-14: Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. The library will be closed from December 22-January 1. Don't forget that you can still access our databases and online catalog (including online books), even when we are closed. Ask for a copy of the UserNames and Passwords list, if you will be needing them. Wherever you're headed over break, take some time to relax and enjoy life. See you in the new year!

Did you know that you have a library patron account through the library's Online Library Catalog (PAC)? With your account, you can get a list of the items you have checked out, find out if you owe any money to the library, renew items that are due, and place a hold request on items that are out. You can even save searches for later use. To access your account, go to the Online Library Catalog link on the library web page and click on the "Patron Account" link at the top of the screen. Enter your Barcode Number (located on your student ID card or patron borrower card) and your password (ask the library staff for yours, if you don't know it), and click on the appropriate link.

Do you need help with test preparation - Civil Service, NCLEX, Praxis, ASVAB, ACT or SAT? Would you like to improve your math, reading, or writing skills? If so, LearningExpressLibrary can help. It is a comprehensive, interactive online database of practice tests and tutorials designed help users succeed. You get immediate scoring and analysis of your results. Use the link from the library web page to access the database. You will need to create your own account to start.

A list of new resources added to the library is available at http://www.niacc.edu/admin/library/October1607.htm. We've also received a new shipment of leased audio books from Taped Editions. Stop in and see what's available.

Celebrate your freedom to read during the 26th anniversary of Banned Book Week. For more information, check out the American Library Association's web site. As the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, said, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."

Learn about the risks of illegal copying of computer software, music, movies, video games, or any form of intellectual property. Get the facts at http://www.b4ucopy.com/risks.html.

Stop in Café Bean and try a cup of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Coffee capsules are for sale for $1 from the library staff. Purchase a $5.00 coffee card and enter the filled card in a weekly drawing for a free cup of coffee. Drawings will be held on Fridays, starting September 28.

Need help using EBSCOhost? You can now click on the "Ask-A-Librarian" link at the top of the search page to send an e-mail to yours truly. The e-mail includes your search, so I can take a look and offer suggestions. Since this isn't IM, you won't receive an instant response, but I will get back to you as soon as possible. If you want to be alerted to new articles on a subject you're searching, you can set up Search Alerts, to run at times you choose, with new results delivered to your e-mail address. Alert e-mails include a list of new results, along with a persistent link to each of the articles. A third new feature allows you to search several databases, grouped by subject, all at once.

NewsBank has added a new Special Report, Remembering 9/11, to their web site. It is a collection of news articles, images, and web sites gathered to commemorate the events and aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Check it out at http://infoweb.newbank.com.

Library orientation sessions will be held on Thursday, September 13, in Muse Norris Conference Center. (The 5:30 session will be in the library) The schedule is available at http://www.niacc.edu/library/orientation.html. If you are new on campus, this is a great way to get acquainted with the library and its resources and services. You'll get a general overview of the library, including a Power Point presentation and demonstration of the online catalog and some of the electronic resources available at the NIACC Library. You'll also get a chance to meet me, your friendly librarian! I'm here to help you with your research and reference needs.

Can't make it to one of the sessions? An online version of the PowerPoint is also available through the library web page.

Those of you who like do to your own car maintenance, minor repair, and troublseshooting might like to take a look at our new Auto Repair Reference Center. We just added it to our collection of EBSCOhost online databases. It is useful for professional car mechanics (and automotive students), as well as do-it-yourselfers. To use the database, go to the Library Web Page, click on "Online Resources and Databases", and choose "Automotive" from the subject list. If you want to use it from home, you can get the EBSCOhost UserName and Password from the library staff.

Library hours from July 13-August 24, will be 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday-Friday.

To find out what has been added to the library lately, go to the New Resources List. One item of note is Forty Years of Growth and Achievement: a History of Iowa's Community Colleges, by Jeremy Varner. Another addition is the 9th edition of the Career Information Center, a 13-volume set that profiles over 700 jobs, including a job summary chart, job description, and up-to-date salary information. Also, check out the list of new foreign film DVDs that are available.

NetLibrary Electronic Books Available

Did you know that NIACC Library owns over 12,000 electronic books? The collection includes ebooks on a wide variety of subjects. They can be accessed either directly through the library's online catalog or by going to NetLibrary's web site. For off-campus access, you need to set up a personal account from a campus computer or have a library staff member do it for you. Then you can access the books from wherever you are.

Posted by NIACC Library at 1:05 p.m.

Do you need tax forms? The library might have just what you need. Forms and instruction booklets are available for 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, and several forms for tax credits and deductions. Forms are also available from the IRS web site, http://www.irs.gov/.

If you want to know more about what's available in the Library and how to find it, take a "virtual tour". You can learn about the library's resources and services and find out how to search the online library catalog and the library's 50+ online databases.

Do you commute to campus? The Library has a collection of books on tape and CD that can make the trip more fun. The leased collection from Taped Editions is recycled quarterly, so there are always new titles to explore. Check one out today!

Are you looking for an interesting topic for a term paper? If so, Issues and Controversies might be just the ticket. The "Need a Research Topic?" section has a wealth of interesting subjects. Besides timely articles on controversial issues, the database includes interviews with experts, groups to contact, editorial cartoons, photos, and discussion questions. More than 600 controversial issues have been covered in the database since 1995.