Textbooks on Reserve: now easier to find

In the first few weeks of the semester, the library is flooded with students looking for their textbooks. We recently launched a new tool to make finding the call number of those textbooks a little easier.

Students can now fill out a form with any information they have about the class or the book and, we hope, quickly pull up the library catalog record, which will show them whether the book is available and provide them with the call number.

You’ll find a link to this page on the library home page (www.scc.losrios.edu/library), labeled “Find Your Textbooks.”

Take a look; can you find textbooks for your class?

For anyone following these developments: this new tool builds upon a previous change, in which we simplified the method of searching for reserves. In practice, though, we saw that many of the things we considered simple were far from foolproof; for example, searchers needed to know the correct department abbreviation and put a space between the department and the course number, or their searches would fail. This form makes such mistakes a lot harder to make.

Finding Your Textbook on Library Reserve

Does the SCC Library have your textbook on Reserve?

Many of your students have already discovered this quick search:

Calling All Call Numbers ~ Including Yours

Students go through 2 library lines to get their textbook, first to find the call number (not the same as ISBN) in the catalog and second to pick up the textbook at the circulation desk.

Instructors can put the textbook call number in the syllabus to save time.  Find your textbook’s call number in the library catalog with this simple search:

If you don’t find your textbook, take out your last name and try again.  Still not there?  Can you donate a copy?  If not, email Yolanda Escobar and ask the library to put a copy on reserve.  We stretch available dollars to buy as many textbooks as we can.  Sooner is better – best to let us know before the semester starts..

Help! is Available. Ask a Librarian!

Just so you know, you and your students can get all kinds of library help in all kinds of ways.  Hit the Library Help button on the SCC library home page to IM, text, chat, email, or phone us.  Ask questions on the Q&A link or follow the library Twitter feed.  We’re here to help during all library open hours.

Do You Use Open Access Textbooks?

Several instructors at SCC have adopted freely available Internet textbooks that help students afford school.  Do you use open access textbooks or other classroom materials for your courses?  Does your department advocate for their use?  Add a comment with your name, course and the URL of your course material and we will compile a starter list of open access resources used at SCC.  Speak up if you would like to help expand this list @ SCC and in the district.
It’s in the air!

 I hope your favorites are missing from these examples so you will add to the list:

Books and textbooks

• Flat World Knowledge
• Open Book Project
• Open Library

Journals

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOJA)
• BioMed Central Journals
• Directory of Open Access Scholarly Journals in Education

Student Ambassadors Rock the Library

SCC student ambassadors Vivian Bui, Joseph Crenshaw, Angelica Duran, Natalie Medina, Donald Peat, and Shinesh Prasad have made a powerful contribution to the early success of their peers these first 2 weeks, helping the new kids find call numbers for their textbooks, add courses with permission numbers, print from D2L, search for classroom locations, manage cranky copy machines, and change eservices passwords.  Then they brought brownies! It doesn’t get any better.

New students seemed especially happy to get help from their peers.  Brilliant program.

Shinesh fixes the printer with the wave of a hand.

The Library Has Your Textbook!

Does the library have your required text?  Now more than ever, the answer is a resounding , “YES!”  And it’s easier than ever to find your book in LOIS, the library catalog.  Sit back and relax as you enjoy an edutaining video, narrated by librarian Jeff Karlsen, showing just how easy it is to find your textbook in the library reserve collection.  Share the video with your students and post the textbook call number in your syllabus.  We thank you for your support!

Got a question?  Ask a librarian.

Students Get Out of Line ~ With Your Help

Most students must go through 2 library lines to get their textbook, the first one to find the call number (not the same as ISBN) in the catalog and the second line to pick up the textbook at the circulation desk.

If you are able to put the call number for your textbook in your syllabus, your students can go directly to circ.  Here’s how:  Find your textbook in the library catalog by doing a keyword search for author’s last name and a couple of words from the title, e.g. martin gay beginning algebra.

Hit enter.  The call number appears in the center column of the search results, e.g.: QA152.3 .M353 2009.

Here’s a video of the process:  Find textbooks (keyword search)

Textbook Tales

Welcome Back!

The big news in the library is not so new: Students need textbooks. Is your textbook on reserve?  If not, can you donate a copy to the reserve collection?

Are we imagining it or are more faculty choosing textbooks that cost less?  And is there a trend toward adopting open access textbooks and materials?  What are you doing to save your students’ cash?

Hundreds of New Books and DVDs in the LRC

Hit the updated New Books and Media lists for a literal ton of new reading and viewing.  Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions and donated materials.  We are committed to building the collection your students need.  

Many of the newest books are on the New Books shelves on the second floor of the LRC.  Media is shelved in the first floor Instructional Media Center.  Get over here and borrow a book or movie.  Send your students to see what’s new.