InfoTrac OneFile – New Features

Check out some of InfoTrac OneFile’s new features:

• You can now read the full-text of the New York Times, every issue from 1995 to present day.
• Listen to any National Public Radio program, as well as read transcripts, for shows produced by NPR from 1990 to present.  
• Very soon,  Fodor’s travel guide for 2006 and 2007, as well as hundreds of other travel guides from publishers such as Hunter’s will be included in the database.  
• More than 20 reference sources.  When browsing your results list, click on the reference tab to view articles from a variety of reference sources.
• Access to more than 3,000 full-text periodicals.
• Access to Discover Magazine.
• Content can now be translated into 7 different languages.
• InfoTrac OneFile currently includes 11,000 titles.

To access InfoTrac OneFile from the library’s home page, click on Research Databases for an alphabetical list.

For more information or assistance in using InfoTrac OneFile, contact the Reference Desk.

Find Education Resources

Students taking teacher prep courses can find resources quick and easy through the library’s online Education guide.   Find books, articles, and web sites on a wide variety of education-related topics including: career information and jobs, classroom management, curriculum planning, educational assessment and standards, lesson plans and activities, teacher associations, and teaching strategies.  To access the guide from the library’s home page, click on Subject Guides, then Education.  For more information on this guide or assistance in locating educational resources, please contact the Reference Desk.

Off-Campus Access to Library Databases

A reminder to faculty, staff, and students at JSRCC – you can access a wide range of the library’s online resources from home including the full-text of journals, magazines, and newspapers.   Our library databases can be accessed from any off-campus location that has an Internet connection (e.g.,  home or office).  When you are off-campus and click on any database link from the library’s web site, a VCCS login screen will appear.  Simply type in your My JSRCC login (the same username and password you use for Blackboard) to access the databases.  For more information or assistance in using the databases from off-campus, see our Off-Campus Access web page or contact the Reference Desk.

New Databases – Biography Resource Center & Science Resource Center

Check out the library’s two newest databases – Biography Resource Center and Science Resource Center from Thomson Gale!

   Biography Resource Center  provides biographies for over 335,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It contains more than 427,000 biographies from over 960 volumes of more than 135 Gale sources such as Contemporary Authors, Encyclopedia of World Biography, etc. and more than 538,000 full-text articles from nearly 300 magazines including American History and U.S. News & World Report.

  Science Resource Center  provides thousands of topic overviews, experiments, biographies, pictures, illustrations and the latest scientific developments from over 200 magazines, journals and quality web sites. It covers curriculum-related science topics and offers teachers an easy-to-use tool to identify content directly correlated to state and national standards.

For more information or assistance in using these two new databases, contact the Reference Desk.

Create Direct Links to Online Articles from your Blackboard Courses

One convenient option for making reading material available to students through Blackboard is to create persistent or durable links to full-text articles found in the library’s research databases.  Some of the advantages of providing persistent links to articles are:

• Students do not have to come to the library. They can access articles anytime and anywhere.
• It familiarizes students with research databases. Linking provides students the opportunity to see and use the database without having the added responsibility of evaluating and choosing the information from the database.
• The responsibility falls on the database vendor to handle the copyright issues (e.g., to pay the copyright holder when there is a requirement for that to be done). You don’t have to go through the hassle of getting the necessary permissions to: place copyrighted materials in the library’s reserves, photocopy the material, or download the full article on your Bb course site.

 For more information on creating persistent links, check out the online guide, Integrating Library Resources Into Your Blackboard Courses , or contact the Reference Desk.

Browse the library’s journals & magazines by subject

A quick and easy way to search the library’s print & online journals & magazines by subject is to use the Browse e-journals by subject option available from the JSRCC Full-Text Periodical List by Serials Solutions.  To access this tool, click on Journal Locators from the Library’s home page, then click on JSRCC Full-Text Periodical List. For more information on how to use this tool, call the Reference Desk.

Textbooks on Reserve

The library does not purchase current textbooks for the circulating collection, but we do keep some textbooks on reserve behind the circulation desk. We do not have all textbooks, but if a faculty member brings us a copy we will gladly and quickly make it available to students. Most textbooks may be used in the library only for up to two hours. You will need a library card to borrow these books.

Program heads, especially, we encourage you to stop by the library to update the textbooks for your curricula when you can.  Use this form when you are bringing in new materials, please. If you prefer, we can send an inventory of textbooks currently available for your program so you can see what needs to be updated. Contact Lisa Bishop at the Parham Road Campus, Rebekah Goodfellow at the Downtown Campus, or Ophelia Payne at the Western Campus.

Reserves are listed in the VCCSLinc Catalog but are a little tricky to find. Select Course Reserves from the blue menu, then choose J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. I think the easiest search is Course Number, begins with.  Choose that, then put the course code–MTH for math, ENG for English, EGR for engineering, etc.–in the textbox. You’ll see everything we have for that course group.

Find Videos and Pictures for Class

Are you wasting your time trying to find videos, audio clips, or pictures for a class lesson, assignment, or presentation?  Look no further!  The library has developed an online Multimedia Resources guide containing a wealth of links to video clips, audio clips, and pictures on the Internet.  To access the guide from the library’s home page, click on Subject Guides, then Multimedia Resources.   Here is just a sampling of resources available from the guide:

• American Rhetoric
  Includes audio clips of American speeches, sermons, lectures, and interviews.
• Annenberg Media – Video on Demand
  Includes a wide range of instructional video programs in a variety of disciplines.
• FreeFoto.com
  Large collection of free photos available for non-commercial use on the Internet.
• Internet Moving Images Archive
  Contains thousands of videos which range from classic full-length movies, to daily news alternative broadcasts, to user-uploaded videos of every genre.
• NYPL Digital Gallery
  Access to over 520,000 images from the New York Public Library.  Includes manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books and more.
• Vincent Voice Library
  A collection of speeches, performances, lectures, interviews, and broadcasts from over 50,000 people and recorded over the last 100 years.

Before downloading or using any media, check for any copyright and usage restrictions.  For more information on this guide or assistance in locating multimedia resources, please contact the Reference Desk.

It’s Tax Return Time

You can find current tax legislation summaries, tax forms, electronic filing options, tax calculators, and answers to your frequently asked questions at the Virginia Department of Taxation’s web site.

You may also want to check out NetLibrary’s ebook of the month – Lower Taxes in 7 Easy Steps.

New Library Instruction Model & Assessment for ENG 111

Starting this semester, library instruction for English 111 classes will include objectives based on ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.  Several instructional packages will be offered or you can customize your own package based on these competencies.  You can review these packages on the Library Instruction online request forms for each campus:

• Downtown Campus Library
  Contact: Khalil Ahmed,  ext. 5333,  kahmed@reynolds.edu
• Parham Campus Library
  Contact: Denise Woetzel, ext. 5325,  dwoetzel@reynolds.edu
• Western Campus Library
  Contact: Ophelia Payne, ext. 5442,  opayne@reynolds.edu

Library Assessment: 
We highly recommend that English 111 students complete an assessment after instruction.  The assessment is available as a Word file or .zip file that can be loaded into your Blackboard course.  For more information, see the Library Assessment for Eng 111 web page.