Blackwell Synergy online journals have moved to Wiley InterScience database

As of Monday, June 30, 2008, the journal content from the Blackwell-Synergy database has been merged into the new Wiley InterScience database. Access over 3 million articles across 1,400 journal titles as well as 5,000 online books.  The new Wiley InterScience database contains full-text articles for over 850 journals, the majority of which are published by Blackwell on behalf of international scholarly and professional societies. Journals cover a variety of disciplines, including the fields of arts and humanities, business and economics, engineering, law, medicine, social sciences, sciences, and technology.  To read more about this transition, click here.  For more information or assistance in using the Wiley InterScience database, contact the Reference Desk.

New collection of digital audiobooks!

Our new collection of digital audiobooks from OverDrive currently contains over 130 titles. Fiction titles include: drama, historical fiction, literature, mystery & suspense, poetry, science fiction & fantasy. Nonfiction titles include: biographies, current events & politics, and history.

Some quick information about the OverDrive audiobook collection:

• Check outs and holds are made using a valid MyVCCS login, not a library card.
• You may have a maximum of 2 titles checked out from the Digital Library at any one time.
• Downloaded titles are checked out for 14 days and are automatically returned to the library.
• Our Virginia Community College Libraries collection does not currently offer movies or music downloads.
• Audiobooks can be downloaded on your home computer, a compatible portable device, and many titles can also be burned to a CD. 

For more information or assistance in using these audiobooks, contact the Reference Desk.  You can also check out our Getting Started Guide or the help information provided on the OverDrive audiobook web site. 

Need Help Planning your Summer Vacation?

Not sure where to start with planning your summer vacation?  Click here to check out the helpful travel web sites the library has bookmarked on del.icio.us.

Leonard Pitts responds to article:”Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Our 6/11/08 blog post, provides a link to the article, Is Google Making us Stupid?, from the July/August issue of Atlantic Monthly.  The author, Nicholas Carr, addresses the profound neurological changes Internet technology is bringing about in how we process information. Recently, nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts commented on this article. Click here, to read his thoughts.  Do you agree? Please post your comments on our blog!

Where is the truth?

In a recent Washington Post article, Hesse addresses the question – What happens to the concepts of truth and knowledge in a user-generated world of information saturation?  The article examines the interesting ways students go about doing research and, more often than not, select resources based on their beliefs or opinions rather than facts. To review the article, click here.  What are your thoughts on issues addressed in this article?  Feel free to post your comments our our blog. 

New Databases from EBSCOhost

 The JSRCC Library is excited to announce that effective July 1, 2008, a new collection of EBSCOhost databases will be replacing many of our current Gale databases.  This new contract between our statewide library consortium, VIVA (Virtual Library of Virginia) and EBSCO Publishing will provide our library users access to a comprehensive collection of databases that includes millions of online journal, magazine, and newspaper articles as well as books. 

Included in this package are EBSCOhost’s Complete series databases:

• Academic Source Complete
• Business Source Complete
• Communication & Mass Media Complete
• Computers & Applied Science Complete
• Consumer Health Complete
• Education Research Complete
• Environment Complete
• Hospitality & Tourism Complete
• Humanities International Complete

Other databases in this package include:

• Alt Health Watch
• Associates Programs Source
• Economia y Negocios
• Fuente Academica
• Health Source:  Consumer Edition
• Health Source:  Nursing/Academic Edition
• Legal Collection
• MasterFILE Premier
• MedicLatina
• Military & Government Collection
• Newspaper Source Plus
• Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection
• Regional Business News
• Religion & Philosophy Collection
• Salud en Espanol
• Vente et Gestion
• Women’s Studies International

This new collection of databases will provide our library users with:

• Substantially more full text content including more peer-reviewed titles.
• Content covering a wide variety of disciplines and topics with significantly more coverage in business and education.
• A new and improved search interface – EBSCOhost 2.0  – will become available in mid-July.  With these  enhancements, users will find searching for articles easier and intuitive.  For more sophisticated and refined searches, built-in flexibility is also provided.

Our JSRCC community will continue to have access to the databases listed below.  The new contract does not affect these currently available databases:

• Biography Resource Center (Gale)
• CINAHL (EBSCOhost)
• Criminal Justice Collection (Gale)
• ERIC (EBSCOhost)
• History Resource Center: US (Gale)
• Literature Resource Center (Gale)
• MagillOnLiterature Plus (EBSCOhost)
• MEDLINE (EBSCOhost)
• Nursing & Allied Health Collection: Comprehensive (EBSCOhost)
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (Gale)
• PsycARTICLES (EBSCOhost)
• PsycINFO (EBSCOhost)
• Science Resource Center (Gale)
• Teacher Reference Center (EBSCOhost)

The following Gale databases will no longer be  available after June 30, 2008: 

• Academic OneFile
• Associations Unlimited
• Business & Company Resource Center
• Computer Database
• Expanded Academic ASAP
• General Business FILE ASAP
• General OneFile
• General Reference Center Gold
• Health & Wellness Resource Center
• Health Reference Center Academic
• InfoTrac Collection of databases

  Check out the new EBSCOhost databases starting in July and let us know what you think.  For more information or assistance in using any EBSCOhost database, contact the Reference Desk.

 

Credo Reference announces its latest title additions!

 When you next think of looking up information in an encyclopedia, don’t forget the wealth of resources available online through the
Credo Reference database. Topics covered in the latest additions include medicine, philosophy & psychology, social sciences, biography, and language:

• Black’s Veterinary Dictionary, A&C Black in Medicine
• Elsevier’s Dictionary of Psychological Theories in Philosophy & Psychology
• Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, Elsevier in Social Sciences
• Handbook of Forensic Psychology: Resource for Mental Health and Legal Professionals, Elsevier in Philosophy & Psychology
• Handbook of Vegetable Pests, Elsevier in Science
• International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent, Elsevier in Philosophy & Psychology
• Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary: Completing the Twentieth Century, Harvard University Press in Biography
• Word Origins: The Hidden Histories of English Words from A to Z, A&C Black in Language

We’re updating many of our titles to the latest available editions. The following updated titles were recently released. Expect more soon!

• Philip’s World Factbook 2008-2009 in Geography
• The Wisden Archive of Cricketers’ Lives 2008 in Biography

Forthcoming Titles

More titles are coming soon to Credo Reference. See the complete list.

---

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

In a recent Atlantic Monthly article, Carr expresses concern that the Internet is affecting the way we read and think.  In this Internet Age of efficiency and immediacy, Carr believes we have become more easily distracted and are losing our concentration and ability to read any more than a few paragraphs or bytes of information.  What are your thoughts regarding the ideas expressed in this article?  Feel free to post your comments on our blog.

Behind every movie is a great story

It is amazing how many popular movies start out as books.  The display at the downtown campus highlights the books and their cinematic versions that are owned by J. Sargeant Reynolds downtown library.  A list of movies based on books is the background for the display.  Please stop by any of the JSRCC libraries to rent either the book or the movie or maybe even both!  See if you can spot the differences between the original story and the movie.

Recommended Readings & New Titles for June

Check out the library’s Recommended Readings for June as well as our current list of New Titles in the Library.  If you would like to suggest a purchase for the library, please click here to make your suggestions.