Events

Free Film Screening — “Garbage Dreams” — January 27th

Garbage DreamsSee it here first! PBS film preview of “Garbage Dreams” Wednesday, January 27th, 10:30am-12pm, Tate Hall on Central Campus. Sponsored by the CPCC Libraries, the Diversity Committee, and Mobilize.org. The 1-hr film will be followed by a 30-minute discussion.  Stewart Espey, Senior Environmental Specialist for Mecklenburg County, will be the speaker at this event.

Cairo, Egypt’s Zabaleen population provides garbage collection cheaply or for free, making a living by sorting through the trash they collect, and selling it to recyclers. About 80 percent of the solid waste collected is recycled. Follow three teenage boys born into the business who are forced to make choices that will impact the survival of their community.

This film has won 17 awards, see http://www.garbagedreams.com for more information about the film. Students – check with your instructor to get extra credit for your attendance. Faculty/staff – get professional development credit hours.

Popcorn and drinks will be provided.

Online Resources

Plunkett Research Online — Free Trial

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CPCC Library is reviewing Plunkett Research Online. The free trial is available to students, faculty, and staff through November 7th.

From their website:

“Only Plunkett Research Online takes you directly to industry-specific research portals for the most important business sectors, from energy to e-commerce and retailing to banking. Within each Industry Center, you will find exceptional tools to help you with business and industry research, including:

  • Market research & trends analysis
  • Glossaries of industry terms
  • Industry statistics & charts
  • Profiles of thousands of industry-leading companies, including public and privately held firms.
  • Company contact export features
  • Industry associations and organizations
  • Complete key word searches”
Online Resources

Associates Programs Source Plus — Free Trial

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In order to better serve the information needs of the college CPCC Library is reviewing a database from EBSCOhost called Associates Programs Source Plus. Using this database students, faculty and staff can view full-text articles from over 1,700 magazines and journals through November 20th, 2009.

According to EBSCOhost, Associates Programs Source Plus “…is designed specifically for the research needs of two-year colleges, and provides comprehensive coverage of the most relevant associates program level content. The database covers subjects as wide-ranging as: alcohol & drug abuse counseling, audiology, biotechnology, computer & data processing, CAD, cosmetology, electrical technology, fashion design, forensics, graphic arts, health information technology, interior design, law enforcement & criminal justice, paralegal studies, robotics, travel & tourism, veterinary assisting, and dozens more equally varied areas of study.”

Delicious

Delicious Update: National Archives, Designing and Connections

This week’s Delicious links: National Archives, Designing and Connections

Check out the National Archives YouTube channel. “The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the nation’s record keeper “, is set to showcase popular archived films and inform the public about upcoming events around the country. The National Archives plans to add a new film on one or more of its YouTube channel playlists each week. Find this link in the Videos tag, or History.

And continuing to add to the Interior_Design tag- take a look at the link to BlueStar- manufacturer of high-powered commercial ranges now marketed exclusively to the residential market. The ranges are available in 190 different colors. WOW- seriously you can in fact get a pink double door oven… The site offers photos and videos of the BlueStar ranges. And a very cool feature is the “Build your BlueStar” allowing you to create a completely customized range. This link is also in the CUL tag for our culinary folks.

And finally, check out the Disaboom page. This website offers “lifestyle articles, blogs, forums, and health information about SCI, cerebral palsy, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and other disabilities.” Topics such as adaptive sports and accessible travel…Be sure to take a look at the Resources section- it provides a list of disability specific organizations as well as organizations focused by context. A jobs section has a job search feature as well as a place to post resumes. Also many fantastic videos are available on the site. Some of the categories in the videos section: adaptive sports, performing arts, assistive technology, words of wisdom, and just for fun. This site provides a wealth of information and resources.

Delicious, Online Resources

Delicious Update: Math, Tech, and Design

This week’s Delicious links offer some Math, Computer Courses from Harvard Extension, tech talks from Google and a little design thrown in for good measure.

The Wolfram Mathworld site offers encyclopedic entries on different math terms and functions. Each entry provides information on the selected topic as well as a list of linked references. Another helpful feature in each entry is the ‘cite this as’ area which provides a citation of the page. Search alphabetically or by subject area.

Find this and other math resources in the Math tag.

In the Computers tag and also in the Tutorials tag, watch a series of video lectures on computers and the internet from instructor David Malan at Harvard Extension. The course “Understanding Computers and the Internet” arms students with a new vocabulary and readies them for further exploration of computers and the Internet. Topics include hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, website development, programming, and dotcoms. This course is designed both for those with little, if any, computer experience and for those who use a computer every day. The videos of the lectures are available in QuickTime or flash formats. Oh, and did I mention- they are FREE.

Take a look at the two new links in the Videos tag. The first is from Google; “Tech talks at Google”. *There are a large number of technical talks at Google. Many of these are videotaped, and some are made available for external viewing.* Topics of the talks range from “What is the Mind?” to “So you want to be a programming rock star.” Fun!

Too much Tech? Check out the second video site added. It is from WGBH Forum Network. “The WGBH Forum Network is an audio and video streaming Website dedicated to curating and serving live and on-demand lectures given by some of the world’s foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policy makers and community leaders. These events are hosted by world-class cultural and educational organizations in Boston and beyond.” A lecture from artist Nathalie Miebach, offers a look into her art practice of gathering meteorological data that she uses to create sculptural weavings.  Or listen to a lecture from Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz as they discuss the previously un-reported American epidemic of living in social isolation in their new book, The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the 21st Century.

And finally, some great new links to websites for our Interior Designers and other design fanciers. A link for a custom modern furniture designer in Boston, MA, as well as a site for modern and contemporary lighting fixtures supplier, and last but not least; Karim Rashid’s website showcasing his world renowned designs. These are additions to the growing collection of Interior Design websites in the Interior_Design tag.

Delicious

Delicious Update: Job Skills and Job Search

Finding jobs and improving job skills continues to be a theme on our Delicious site, where we save bookmarks to websites which we think would be useful for the CPCC community.

A link to Microsoft Office Online was added. It offers Free self-paced training courses for Office programs; a great way to keep up to date and in the know about all things Office. It can be found in the Tutorials or Microsoft tag. Don’t forget the keyboarding tutorial links there as well that will allow people to test, practice and improve their typing skills.

There are some great resources for locating jobs under the jobs tag. Two new ones this week are elance.com, this site offers opportunities for designers, programmers, engineers, just to mention a few.

Also listed is indeed.com a job search engine– search by job title and city and the results page displays job listings from thousands of company career sites and job boards. Find these two new listings as well as several others under the jobs tag.

Books, New Materials, Online Resources

Resources for Planning your Summer

Whether you are traveling, getting outdoors, reading, tending your new garden, heading to the beach or looking forward to your ‘staycation’; CPCC Librarians have some helpful information to help you make the most of your summer plans.

Check out these and many other books from your CPCC Libraries:

50 hikes in the mountains of North Carolina : walks and hikes from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Great Smokies by Williams, Robert Leonard
Harris Campus Library GV 199.42 N66 W55 2001

The hiker’s companion : 12,000 miles of trail-tested wisdom by Ross, Cindy.
Levine Campus Library GV 199.4 R67 1993

Go there now! : a boomer’s guide to budget travel by Stewart, Don
Levine Campus Library HQ1062 .S74 2007

Best garden plants for North Carolina by Beck Pam
Cato Campus Library SB453.2.N8 B42 2006

The cook’s garden : growing and using the best-tasting vegetable varieties by Ogden, Shepherd.
Central Campus Library SB 321 O35 1989

If you are planning on doing some reading for pleasure this summer, use Novelist to find that perfect fiction book. It provides recommended reading, author profiles, as well as “author read-alikes” suggestions. Novelist is available through CPCC Library’s homepage. Click Find an article and select browse databases by name to find Novelist.

Also take a look at the websites we have selected on our Delicious Account list. Explore these and other pages on the list under headings such as travel, outdoor_recreation, gardening- and many more. Here are a few interesting sites from our list:

Travel:
http://www.frommers.com/
Planning on travelling? Use Frommer’s online to find articles written by ” Frommers.com experts”, read hotel and restaurant reviews for travel destinations, as well as gather valuable travel tips under the ‘planning a trip’ section for each city destination, also provided are excerpts from Frommer’s Guidebooks.

Outdoor Recreation:
http://www.webwalking.com/
Use Web Walking.com to find resources for walking, hiking, and trail mapping. It also provides information on gear, trails, and more.

http://gorp.away.com/index.html
GORP (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages) offers backpacking, hiking, camping, fishing, caving and biking information. Plan your adventure by destination or activity- use the packing guides for help in what to bring or read the gear reviews to find the best accompaniment for your activity. The City Guides feature suggests nearby outdoor locales “for turning your weekends into outdoor adventures”

Gardening:
http://www.garden.org/home
This website for the National Gardening Association. Provides “gardening content for consumers and educators, ranging from general information and publications to lessons and grants.” Search the term organic to find articles on organic gardening. Provides tips for city gardens, ‘edible gardens’, videos, and message boards.

Currency Exchange:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Traveling to other locales? Use the Universal Currency Converter website- It offers currency and foreign exchange rates based on “up-to-the-minute mid-market currency rates”

Have a great summer!

Books, New Materials

Library Receives Collection Enhancement Grant

CPCC librarians were hard at work during the fall semester selecting new titles to enhance the library’s math and science collections.

In June 2008, the CPCC Library was awarded a $10,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Strengthening Library Collections grant by the State Library of North Carolina. An additional $2,500 in matching funds was received for a total of $12,500.

The CPCC Library was one of six libraries to receive a Strengthening Library Collections grant. The grants were announced in June 2008 for the July 2008-June 2009 fiscal year. These awards were made possible by LSTA grant funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant making agency.

Approximately 362 items have been added to the collection in the subject areas of General Science, General Math, Algebra, Statistics, Mathematical Analysis, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Human Anatomy. Items purchased will be distributed to each campus library.

Selections of new titles received are on display at the Central campus library. Stop by to check them out….literally!

Events

National Library Workers Day — April 14

In conjunction with National Library Week, April 12-19, TODAY is designated as National Library Workers Day (NLWD)! National Library Worker’s Day was first implemented in 2003 to honor library employees service and contributions.

Many people are unaware of the work and team effort it takes behind the scene to select, purchase, and get a library resource on the shelf. ALL CPCC library employees work hard every day, all year long to ensure that we provide the best possible resources, services and customer service with a spirit and attitude of EXCELLENCE!

Throughout the month to show your appreciation, we encourage you to take a moment to stop by the library (or send an email, drop off a small token of appreciation, take them to lunch, etc.) to let a library employee know that they are appreciated. In addition, you can check out the display at Central campus, which includes a selection of “staff picks”, employee photos, interesting library facts and trivia. A thank you note card can be picked up at the circulation and reference desks on Central campus.

The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association is also accepting nominations for “star” library employees. Nominations for CPCC library staff can be submitted online. All entries will be featured until June 30, 2009.

We appreciate your support! “Libraries Work Because We Do!”

Events

Darren “Jaz” Vincent to Speak in Honor of National Library Week

In recognition and celebration of National Library Week, motivational speaker Darren “Jaz” Vincent, will share how one book-as a “twenty-something” year old adult- inspired his quest for knowledge and literacy and ultimately connected him to a world different from the one to which he was accustomed. Darren is the owner of RealEyes Book-store, located in the NoDA district and founder of the Charlotte Literary Festival. This program is being sponsored by the CPCC Libraries in partnership with Student Life. For more information, contact Retha Hall (x6113) or Amy Burns (x6106).

When: Monday, April 13, 2009 — 11:30am

Where: Central Campus — Overcash Building in Tate Hall (2nd floor)

Darren Jaz Vincent