ECE Resources at the Library

Check out our Guide to ECE Resources at the Library for links to books, articles, news, statistics, videos and dvds, and websites.

President Obama designates October National Information Literacy Awareness Month

President Obama designated October National Information Literacy Awareness Month, noting that being a citizen in the 21st century requires "the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age." These include the ability to "separate truth from fiction and signal from noise" in the age of information overload.

President Obama called on libraries and universities to teach information literacy as a basic skill: "In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them. The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical."

Come see us in the library for help finding, evaluating, and using information!

Pandemic Flu Education and Prevention Video - Please watch!

This video was posted at the request of Nurse Leslie Sachs.

For more information, please visit the Nurse's Office is located in Building 9. Their phone number is (650) 306-3309.

Research Help Hours

Librarians are available to help with any kind of research project!

Here is our schedule:

Monday-Friday: 10-12 and 4-8

Or make an appointment: pattersond@smccd.edu or (650) 306-3476

Drop in or make an appointment. We'd love to work with you!

Welcome and Welcome Back!

Come visit the library soon! We are on the top floor of Building 9, the big building in the middle of the campus. There are many ways to use the library:

• Study (borrow our headphones if you like!)
• Go online (we can loan you a laptop for use in the library!)
• Study with a partner or a group in our study rooms (You can walk in, or reserve a room)
• Watch a movie (We have many; ask at the front desk)
• Work on a computer (We have Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)
• Check out a book
• Borrow a textbook (We don't have them all, but we have many!)
• Get help with a research project

Remembering Dr. Ronald Takaki, 1939-2009

Dr. Ronald Takaki, 1939-2009

It is with great sadness that we would like to announce that UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Ronald Takaki passed away on May 26 at his home.

Dr. Takaki, best known for his ground-breaking work ‘A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America’ , gave an excellent lecture at Cañada College entitled ‘Can an African American be Elected President of the United States?’ last October.

For those of who were unable to attend his historic lecture, it is available through Canada’s iTunesU page.

Alternatively, DVD copies are available for 2 hour and 1 day checkout.

Here is the press released from UC Berkeley News:

Ronald Takaki, pioneering scholar of race relations, dies at 70

By Yasmin Anwar, Public Affairs 27 May 2009

BERKELEY — Ronald Takaki, a professor emeritus of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and prolific scholar of U.S. race relations who taught UC's first black history course, died at his home in Berkeley on Tuesday (May 26). He was 70.

During his more than four decades at UC Berkeley, Takaki joined the Free Speech Movement, established the nation's first ethnic studies Ph.D. program as well as Berkeley's American Cultures requirement for graduation, and advised President Clinton in 1997 on his major speech on race.

A descendent of Japanese plantation workers in Hawaii, Takaki left the islands in the late 1950s to study at Ohio's College of Wooster, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in American history from UC Berkeley in 1967 and was hired at UCLA, where he taught the campus's first black history course. He joined Berkeley's Ethnic Studies department in 1971 and served as chair from 1975-77.

Among his numerous accolades for scholarship and activism, Takaki received a Pulitzer nomination for his book, "A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America" (Little Brown and Company, 1993); a Distinguished Teaching Award from UC Berkeley and the 2003 Fred Cody Award for lifetime achievement from the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association.

"When I think of Ron, the words that come to mind are: solidarity, justice, easy-going, self-effacing, generous, creative," said Beatriz Manz, chair of UC Berkeley's Department of Ethnic Studies. "He poked fun at himself and had a contagious laughter. He embodied kindness. He was agreeable, conciliatory and non-confrontational."

He is survived by his wife, Carol, his three children and his grandchildren. Plans for a campus memorial service are pending. A complete obituary will be posted on Thursday.

Summer Reading, Summer School, Summertime!

Hey, when it's boiling hot outside, where's the coolest place on campus?

The Library, of course.

Come on in! Hang out, study, go online, or grab some summer reading. We are always air-conditioned and often friendly. The whole building is Wi-Fi, so bring your own laptop or borrow one of ours. To borrow a laptop, just ask at the front desk.

What I love about this library is that you can stay on our computers all day! No time limit. And we offer lots of help. We answer questions, troubleshoot tech problems, and sometimes give out free cookies.

There isn't an office supply that we don't loan out. Glue stick: yes; liquid paper: of course; a few index cards: why not? Do you remember the song "Be Our Guest" from Walt Disney's "Beauty and the Beast?" That song was written about this library!

Put our service to the test this summer!