The Mystery of Celtic and Irish Symbols

have a look

Two Wheels and a Cloud of Dust

Have you thought about biking to campus? Are you hesitant because you aren't sure what the best route might be?

Google may have an answer for you. They recently became more "bike-friendly" in their Google Maps application, offering turn-by-turn directions for cyclists as well as visible bike trails on their maps. You can also add biking directions to your business or location on your web page.

And, if you're on Twitter, send a tweet with the hashtag #bikewithgoogle before March 19th and you'll be entered into a contest to win a $2,500 voucher toward a new bicycle.

For more information, go to http://maps.google.com/biking.

Spring Break Library Hours
Monday - Thursday
8:00 - 4:00
Friday
10:00 - 4:00

Foraging for Fun Fiction?

Lamenting the completion of a favorite novel? Not sure what to move on to next?

Well, don't despair! - NoveList to the rescue!

Simply search your favorite author or title in the NoveList database and you will be referred to readings of a similar flavor. Or, if you want more variety, simply click on the "Recommended Reads" link on the NoveList homepage; choices from such categories as "Fantasy", "Romance" and "Westerns" will appear!

To reach the database, simply go to the library homepage (http://library.stcc.edu/) and access NoveList via the Databases link.

In Our Display Case... in celebration of
National Women's History Month

March is National Women's History Month, and March 2010 marks the 30th anniversary that this month has been celebrated. The case in the library entrance hallway is set up with Professor Susan Wyzik's display on women's history, with books, posters, pictures and a list of prominent women in an array of fields (think Florence Nightingale to Ella Fitzgerald to Betty Friedan to Michelle Obama). The library has books about many of these women. Take a look at Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz, or Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Reformer. If you'd rather look at a sampling of articles on issues and events in women's history that were "previously unpublished, misplaced, or forgotten" we have the Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History, which gathers together four hundred articles on a variety of topics. Come on in (or call or email us) if you want more suggestions!

Is this STCC? Well, not really. When you graduate from STCC, where will you go? Imagine going to a college with a campus that looks like this...you could find it through Ferguson's Career Guidance Center.

What if you want to write a resume, or find out about the responsibilities of a particular job? Ferguson's Career Guidance Center is there to help you again!

Curious about business etiquette? Not sure what to wear or, if you go to a business meal, whether or not to order that drink? Ferguson's Career Guidance Center offers useful advice about how to behave.

Ferguson's is our newest database.Use it for Job and Industry Profiles, Job Hunting and Workplace Skills, College Planning and Financial Aid, and for Career and Industry Resources. You can search for a skill, find out about a possible career, or get tips and hints on skills to make your workday easier.

Take a look by going through our database links. If you are off campus, you'll need your library bar code for access to Fergusons.

Two New Search tools...

One is LEAPFISH: Which says about itself that: "...information today that is real-time and social – recommended by people who know, and people you know. We call this new place The Living Web, and we’ve designed an evolved engine to help you get the most from it – a service to help you live the new web. By providing a single, connected, multi-media experience for both searching and sharing traditional and real-time content, we’re hoping to make the new web easier, more integrated and efficient. " It allows you to customize a homepage, drag and drop widgets, connect to your Facebook account, your twitter account, etc., and it lets you discover what is happening '"Right Now" across the Traditional Web and the Social Web regarding any topic using LeapFish Real Time Search. LeapFish searches Twitter, User Generated News Authorities, Videos, Imagery and more providing a multimedia Real-Time Search experience.'

The other is Chatroulette: (For which you need a webcam...and, some adventuresomeness...if that's a word!) You have to be 16 years old and you get to go face to face with random strangers. It was created by a 17-year-old high school student, Andrey Ternovskiy from Moscow. It's described as Russian Roulette for Webcams. You click a button and it sets you up in a video chat room with a random person.

Out of the Doldrums

What makes a library book very very sad? It's not the subject matter - that's up to the author.

Library books get sad when no one wants them. Zero checkouts = a very depressed book.

So with spring just around the corner, we've decided to try to cheer up some of our lonely books with a March reference display. Wouldn't you like to be the first one to take one of these poor creatures home with you for a few weeks?

The titles are pretty good. Here's a sampling:

The Wilderness Warrior : Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
by Douglas Brinkley, a New York Times Notable Book of 2009.

Detective Story by Nobel Prize-winning author Imre Kertész.

Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion and Style by Susan Swimmer.

Hold Tight by Edgar Award-winning author Harlan Coben.

Hubert's freaks : the Rare-book dDealer, the Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus by Gregory Gibson.

Daily Excursions into American History

If you are an American history enthusiast, check out "Today in History" at the Library of Congress website (The URL http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html will take you directly to the page).

"Today in History,” as described by the Library of Congress, “mines the American Memory historical collections to discover what happened in American history today…and every day.”

While you are at the Library of Congress site, also check out pictures of Springfield from the early 1900s! (Click on "Home" (top of screen), then click "Cities, Towns". Enter "Springfield, Mass" in the search box and then click the "Search" button.)

New Fiction at STCC

A couple of weeks ago I highlighted some of the new non-fiction books that the STCC library has acquired recently. We have also have a number of new novels, with varied settings to fit an assortment of different moods. Ten Days in the Hills is set in the Hollywood hills, on the morning after the 2003 Academy Awards. The book Every Man Dies Alone has a very different setting: it takes place in Berlin during World War II, and tells the story of one couple's decision to take a stand against the Nazis. Yet another world is explored in One Amazing Thing, which tells of nine people trapped together after an earthquake in a Indian visa and passport office, who take turns sharing "one amazing thing" from his or her own life.

Be the first on your campus to check one of these books out.

"A place where all things are possible"

In case you missed it (I did) here's Brian McGrory's plea to save Boston's library branches, from Friday's Globe. An excerpt:

People’s lives can be pure chaos, but the library, with its impeccable stacks, provides soothing structure. The economy is tough, but the library is free. This city, any city, can beat down ambition, but the library, with all that literature, creates endless potential.

...

(L)ibraries, the physical spaces, are the great equalizer. You don’t need a home computer. You don’t need broadband. You don’t need an e-reader.

All that’s required is personal desire, and whether you’re 8 or 80, when you walk through the doors to the neighborhood library, problems give way to possibilities.

Census Jobs...Testing 1,2,3

On Thursday nights from 4:45 - 7, the United States Census Bureau of the U. S. Department of Commerce is testing potential employees for short term, temporary, part-time jobs.

Come to room 246 in the library in order to take the test. Pamphlets describing requirements are available at the library's reference desk. Click here for additional information. Call 413 272-1700 for more information.

The library is simply a location for these tests. Nobody on the library staff is involved in the testing activities.