Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Scary fun in the library!

What good is Halloween without fun costumes?  Our circulation staff at the Holman Library knows how to celebrate this popular holiday!  Trick -or treat?

Monday, October 22, 2012

“Interlibrary Loan” – Your Secret Weapon


Aaarrghh - Have you ever tried to find a book or article and come across these messages?





Don’t despair: You have the power to get the book or article you need.

You can borrow books and articles from libraries across the U.S. It’s a snap and IT’S FREE!

11. Search WorldCat for books and articles in libraries across the nation
3
33. Books and articles will be sent to the Holman Library for you to pick up

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

What's New?

What's new in the library?

A good place to find out is at the 'New Books' shelf located on the second floor near the Reference Desk.















A quick look today turned up some amazing finds.
Have a look:






New books are added all the time, so check often to uncover the latest gems.

You'll also find new DVDs and CDs too!


So...what is new in the library?

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Essential College Skills collection

  • How can I study for the COMPASS test?
  • I need to study smarter, not harder.
  • How do I find out about scholarships?
  • I can't figure out my TI-83 calculator.
  • I need more practice inverting and multiplying fractions.
You'll find books, workbooks, and videos to help you with all of these questions and more in the Essential Skills Collection located on the second floor of the Holman Library on the wall by the Reference Collection.
Unlike reference books that stay in the library, you can check out Essential Skills books for one week.


The Essential Skills Collection contains resources that help you build the knowledge and skills you need to be a successful college student. There are workbooks to help you study for GED, COMPASS, SAT and ACT exams.
If you need extra practice problems for basic math, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry or calculus, or you're balancing equations in chemistry or taking physics this quarter, this is the place to look. There are videos so you can watch while the instructor solves math problems and explains the steps. And yes--there is a video that shows you how to use your TI-83!!!

If you need to find out about scholarships or figure out a major, there are books for that too. If you want to learn to manage your time better, we've got you covered. Check out the Now Habit or Study Smarter, Not Harder. Look around, ask questions. A librarian can help.



photos by M. MacKenzie

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

What’s With the Printing Points in the Open Computer Labs?


Printing in GRCC’s open computer labs is paid for out of the student Technology Fee, which also pays for the computers, software, network, etc. The tech fee is overseen by a Tech Fee Committee made up of students and staff. The students on the committee are either student government reps or students appointed by student government. The tech fee pays for all the printing in the open labs, and the rest of the money is spent on technology for the students and staffing to support the technology. In 2011-2012, $3.95 of a student’s $60 tech fee went to printing while the rest went towards technology.

Not too many years ago, students had unlimited printing. The amount of waste was incredible—thousands of pages were printed and abandoned at the printers. So the Tech Fee Committee purchased the print release system. The committee wanted to set a maximum amount of printing so that most students would be able to print everything that they needed for school, but there would be a top limit. With the upper limit set at 500 points, most students never come anywhere near to using all their points. That was the committee’s intent—that most students would be able to print whatever they needed to and not worry about running out of printing points.

The tech fee committee thinks of the 500 points as an upper limit, a brake to excessive printing, not an expectation of what students will actually use. If all students actually used 500 points worth of printing, it would break the budget. FYI, last year we spent around $96,000 (7% of the budget) on printing. Four years ago, we spent $38,000 (3.5% of the budget).


200 pages left at the printer (cats with lightsabers; must be a continuing ed class)

The Cap on Printing Points

Students usually think of the 500 points as the amount of printing they are entitled to rather than an upper limit. Sometimes they feel like they are losing value if they don’t use up their all their points, as if they are losing the tech fee money that they paid. In reality, if people print less, then more money is spent on technology (such as more computers or more or better software).

At graduation time the last 2 years, the wasteful printing has been beyond anything we have ever seen before. Thousands and thousands of pages were printed and left at the printers. Students had accumulated several thousand points, and they seemed to feel the need to use them all up before leaving. One student printed 20 posters—2000 points, or $200 worth of printing—and left them at the poster printer. Aside from the inherent waste of resources, they just hurt the GRCC student community. That is $200, wasted by one student in one sitting, that can’t be spent on technology.

To try to address that kind of abuse, at the end of Spring 2012 it was decided to cap the maximum number of points that a student could accumulate. The cap was set at 1000 points, or 2 full quarters of printing. Points still roll over from quarter to quarter, but the total won’t go over 1000 points. For most students this won’t make any difference. If they need to print a lot for school, they don’t roll over enough points to worry about hitting the cap. If they don’t print much, they’ll hit the cap, but still have 2 full quarters worth of printing available to them if they need it.

Jennifer Dysart
jdysart@greenriver.edu
Director of Library and Media Services