In the area of electronic resources, we have added new databases to further meet the academic and research needs of the college community. Some new resources to be aware of on the library’s database page are PQ Central, Project Muse, and CQ Researcher. In the near future we will be adding Opposing Viewpoints as well. We also will have immediate access to Science Directs articles, primarily for faculty research, dating back to 1823. To request an article, please contact our librarians. To access these databases, please use the following link. http://www.spc.edu/pages/1714.asp.
ProQuest Central: Interdisciplinary database with over 12,500 journal titles, with at least 9,700 in full text. It is a central resource for researchers in over 160 subject areas at all levels in Business and Economics, Health and Medical, News and World Affairs, Science, Education, Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences, Psychology, Literature, Law, and Women’s Studies
Project Muse: This interdisciplinary database contains the most reliable source of titles from many of the world’s leading university presses and scholarly societies, journals with critically acclaimed articles by the most respected scholars in their fields. It is collection of high quality, peer reviewed journals with continued growth by new titles added selectively annually.
CQ Researcher: CQ Researcher offers in-depth, non-biased coverage of today’s most important issues; social, economic, political, and environmental. Each report is divided into specific sections to guide research. The researcher can go directly to the section they need or can read the entire report on a single topic.
Opposing Viewpoints: A premier full-text resource covering current and controversial social issues. It provides access to pro and con viewpoint articles, reference materials, magazines, newspapers, primary sources, statistics, and multimedia on various issues, from Terrorism to Stem Cell Research.
Oxford English Dictionary
It is a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million English words, both present and past. In this sense, it is a historical dictionary, in which the various groupings of senses are dealt with in chronological order according to the usage of words through quotation evidence. Therefore, the entry structure is very different from that of a dictionary of current English, in which only present-day senses are covered, and in which the most common meanings or senses are described first.
Kerry A. Falloon, MA, MLIS, Ed.S
Collection Development/ Acquisitions
Saint Peter’s College Libraries
20 Years After the Berlin Wall. A New Wall in the O’Toole Library
November 9th, 2009November 9, 1989 will be remembered in history as the day when Communist East Germany began the transition to democracy by dismantling the Berlin Wall. Fast forward to today, and you find a new wall being erected in the O’Toole library. However, there is a big difference between then and now. While walls serve to keep people apart, and limit communication, access to information and the sharing of ideas, the O’Toole Library’s wall will encourage all of those universal collaborative ideals.
When the O’Toole Library was built in 1967, the idea of groups of students studying together was a foreign concept. There are currently no group study rooms in the library. But today’s SPC students want and need to connect for assignments. Now when students do get together in small groups in the library, they are huddling over small tables, or eking out ad hoc spaces all over the building. This means students don’t have privacy and it also means that the noise level in the library goes up, which can disturb others.
We in the library identified this problem and with the support of the College administration have built two new group study rooms on the first floor of the library. The library is taking a staff room and is remodeling it into two group study rooms. Construction will be completed before finals and each room will have enough space to comfortably seat six to eight people. In addition to the seating, each room will have a large dry-erase board, and a DVD/VHS/TV viewing area.
The group study rooms will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. They are to be booked at the Circulation desk. You and your group can have one of the rooms for up to two hours at a time, but please make sure you have a minimum of four individuals in your group prior to booking.
Should walls need to be built in the future, let’s make sure they’re the kind that bring people together and not keep them apart. While that may seem like an irony, please come and book one of the new study rooms and you’ll know exactly what it means.
If we rethink library space, communication, and how people use modern academic libraries, we can build services, collections and spaces for the future that meet your needs and go beyond your expectations.
Happy Collaboration!
Warmest Regards,
David Orenstein, MLS, MS, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Library and Information Services
Saint Peter’s College
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