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My Reading History - Catching Up on Favorite Authors

As vacation time approaches, I look up some of my favorite authors to see if they have published anything new. I do this by logging into 'My CamCat' at http://iii.camden.lib.nj.us/search~S7 with my name and library card number. I've saved searches by these authors' names, so I just run them again to see what's new.

Ooh, there's a new one! Did I already read that one from 2006? I have opted to turn on my Reading History, so I look to see if I checked it out to read during last year's vacation! No? OK, I'll check it out now!

Not available here? I request books from other CamCat locations to be delivered to my nearest location for pick-up before I leave on my trip.

Enjoy your summer!

Get/Update library cards for summer sessions beginning April 28

Library staff will begin to issue and update library cards for students enrolled in summer 2008 sessions on April 28, both in person at Blackwood and Rohrer, and online at http://library.camdencc.edu. Summer sessions are short and so are library hours, so if you're picking up some credits this summer, be sure your card is updated so you can use our online resources from off-campus.

Looking back at the past year

At the end of each academic year, the library staff sit down and make two lists: what worked and what didn't. We pat ourselves on the back for those things that worked, that resulted in good service. During the coming year, we seek solutions to those things that didn't work, in order to improve service.

What do you think we should place on those two lists this year? We welcome your comments at any time, and particularly now. Thanks!

To Read or Not To Read - NEA study reports decline in reading ability

From the Preface of this 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts:

Find the full report at http://www.nea.gov/research/ToRead.pdf

[In this study] "...The story the data tell is simple, consistent and alarming. Although there has been measurable progress in recent years in reading ability at the elementary school level, all progress appears to halt as children enter their teenage years. There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans. Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates. These negative trends have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural and civic implications.

"How does one summarize this disturbing story? As American, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (The shameful fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.) With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.

"Strictly understood, the data in this report do not necessarily show cause and effect. The statistics merely indicate correlations..."

Please look at the report and decide for yourself how strong those correlations are. Post a comment with your reaction. What does this mean for curricula at Camden County College? the College's relationship with the high schools in the area? implications for programming at our new Center for Civic Leadership and Responsibility?

Finding articles on management

Ask-the-librarian recently responded to a question about finding articles on management by outling two approaches. Camden County College students will be prompted to enter their library card number to enter the databases mentioned.

1. If you are looking for "management" journals and magazines then do the following:

a)  Go to the library web site [ http://library/camdenc.edu ] click on Browse Periodical List halfway down the right side.

b)  This takes you to another screen. At this screen go to Browse by Subject and click on Business and Economics.

c)  Another screen opens up. Scroll down to the category Management. You will see three subcategories.  Click on a subcategory such as Management Theory. 

d)  This takes you to a list of full text journals, magazines and newspapers for this category. You will see that many are listed in the article database Business Sources Premier, and some are in LexisNexis and ScienceDirect.

e) Click on the database so that you can browse or search within the specific journal or magazine.

2.  If you are looking for articles on a 'management topic' then do the following:

a)  Go the library web site [ http://library.camdencc.edu ] and find the Popular Article Databases in the upper right hand corner.

b)  Open the pull down menu and click on Business Source Premier.

c)  You will be brought to a search screen where you enter the search terms of your topic.

     If you wish to search for a multi-word phrase such as risk management, put quotation marks around the phrase: "risk management". 

d)  In the second search box, add another key word to narrow down the results.  For example, I did a search on "risk management" and "health care".  Notice I used quotation marks for both phrases because I want to make sure the database searched the words as a phrase.

This should get you started in the right direction. Please make a comment to this post to let us know if you found it helpful or not.  :-)

NJ Knowledge Initiative Suspended

When you click on any of eight article databases, or ReferenceUSA, from the Camden County College Libraries website, you now see a screen that says statewide contracts for certain databases have ended due to lack of funding for the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI). Fortunately, the CCC library budget will cover Business Source Premier (BSP) and CINAHL for the next 4 months, through June 30, for our community.

On July 1, the State Library hopes to have new statewide contracts in place for the new budget year. We will encourage the NJKI Advisory Committee to include BSP and CINAHL in its negotiations of these contracts. As BSP is one of the more heavily used of our suite of databases, we will make every effort to continue it. However, if its $10,000+ price tag has to come from college funds, it will strain the library budget and jeopardize our continuation of other resources.

If these two, and the other eight resources that have disappeared are important to your work or study, the NJ State Library asks that you contact the Governor's office to tell him what it means to you -

by mail: PO Box 0001, Trenton NJ 08625

by phone: 609-292-6000

by email: from http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail/html, select "Commerce" as your topic, then "Small Business" as your subtopic.

Your local legislators should also know ohat NJKI's resources are valuable to you. Find their contact information at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp

Be positive as you urge the Governor and local legislators to resume their support for this statewide shared service that had 15 million uses over the two years of its existence, while saving $68.5 million over retail prices to each institution separately.

The eight products that have been suspended for CCC users are:

Biomedical Reference Collection

MEDLINE

Nature Journals Online

Nursing and Allied Health Collection

Pre-CINAHL

ReferenceUSA

Regional Business News

Wiley InterScience Journals

Your Journals @ OVID

Notes from Student Library Advisory Group meeting

Six students - ranging from those in their first semester to those in their last semester at the College -gave us their thoughts on library services at last week's meeting. We asked them to rate the value of the college library to them in their studies on a scale of 1 to 10, and the ratings ranged from 1 to 10! In general, the low ratings were from the newer students, but some advanced students reported that their classes and professors had not brought library resources and services to their attention.

Among the comments made were these:

The new explanatory podcasts were found to be very useful to those who have low or no vision.

Some had used the 'request' feature in CamCat to have books and other materials delivered to a pick-up location convenient to them

The ability to use online resources from off-campus was also viewed positively.

It was suggested that the library blog be made more prominent on the library website to encourage more feedback from library users. We'll work on that!

Meanwhile, don't hesitate to use blog comments, or Ask-a-Librarian via email, or talk to us in person, to let us know what you think.

New Podcasts: NoodleBib and Intro to Databases

Two new podcasts, or audio files, have been added to the library website at http://library.camdencc.edu. You'll see the podcast icon next to the resource it describes.

One explains how to use NoodleBib to format references to information sources that you used in your research. NoodleBib is extremely popular with students - we also have posted a written guide to getting started with it.

The other summarizes how article databases may be used to find information in magazine and journals. Many assignments require the use of articles from both types of publications. For further information on this, the podcast refers to the written course guides and 'help' guides on the website. A call or email to Ask-the-Librarian is also recommended.

Take a listen, and let us know if these podcasts were helpful to you. If so, what other topics would you like us to address in future podcasts? Post a comment and let us know.

Become a librarian - life after CCC

This question came in recently to Ask-a-Librarian:I am trying to find out what program of study one would have to take in order to become a librarian.  Does CCC offer a program?

We responded: One may choose librarianship as a profession after majoring in any subject for one's bachelor's degree. The degree required for employment as a librarian is a Master's in Library Science (MLS), preferably from a program accredited by the American Library Association, or (for school librarians) a Master of Arts in Library Science (MALS), accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Since CCC does not offer Master's degrees, we do not specifically prepare librarians. However, after completing your studies at CCC, and your bachelor's degree, there are several good programs in the general area that offer degrees in librarianship: Rutgers and Drexel offer the MLS, and Rowan offers the MALS. Also, there are several online degree options.

Please visit the website www.becomealibrarian.org  where you will find a great variety of information, including testimonials of people in the field. If you would like to talk with any of the librarians at CCC about their preparation for and satisfaction with their career choice, please do not hesitate to visit us in person.

Project MUSE® Now Available

Easy access to online scholarly journals in arts, humanities, and social sciences

Project MUSE^®, an online resource providing over 250 scholarly journals from 40 publishers, is now available at Camden County College Library.  Students and faculty now have access 24 hours a day to one of the most important academic resources in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In addition, Project MUSE provides timely access by releasing journal articles online before libraries receive them in print.

Find Project MUSE at http://library.camdencc.edu in the ‘Databases by Title’ list. All of the databases listed are accessible from any computer on campus, and  - with a current library card - from off-campus.

Project MUSE is a valuable addition to the library’s resources in which users may enjoy the following features:

·        Find full-text articles, offered in HTML and PDF formats, in a variety of subject areas including economics, education, film, history, literature, philosophy, politics, religion, women’s studies, and many more.

·        Sign up for “Journal Alerts” to be notified when new issues come out in your favorite journals. Follow links in the e-mail right to the tables of contents of new issues.

·        View the complete content of journals including full-text articles, reviews (books, performance, art, music, etc.), fiction and poetry, editorial or submission information, plus enlargeable illustrations and photographs.

·        Search for articles the way you want to:

o       Use either a simple “Basic” screen or “Advanced” screen with multiple options.

o       Search the whole database or within selected subject areas, date ranges, or specific journals.

o       Search the full text of articles or just in specific fields such as subject, author, or title.

·       Manage your search results in several ways:

o       E-mail article citations with a link to the full-text.

o       Download or print in text-only (or “printer-friendly”) format.

o       Export to citation management software such as EndNote and RefWorks.

·        View your Search History to return to your previous searches, and use the “modify” and “refine” functions to change your search terms and limit options.

·        Use the subject headings in the tables of contents and in the search results to help you quickly identify an article’s topic, or to give you ideas for additional search terms.

·        Navigate within the full-text articles using the links to footnotes, author biographies, and illustrations.

Project MUSE is an ideal research tool, providing quick and easy access to scholarly, full-text articles in many subject areas. Questions? Make a comment to this blog, or email us using the Ask the Librarian link on the website.