September 2002

Welcome to the first issue of Welcome to the Library, the newsletter of the RCC Library. Welcome to the Library is a way for the library to communicate with the RCC Community about interesting developments that you will want to know about or take advantage of. Please give us feedback about this or any other library program at mlawrence@rcc.mass.edu.

LIBRARY IMPROVEMENTS

Over the past year, there have been major improvements in the RCC library, many accomplished with the assistance of the IT Department. Here are some high points:

• Expansion of the number of computers for students from 3 to 15.
• Replacement of the old-fashioned card catalog with an automated catalog system allowing greater access to the collection from anywhere on campus and from home.
• Much greater access to the library’s Electronic Resources, which includes millions of online journal articles. Before December 2001, these were available only from 3 library computers. Now they are available from 500 computers on campus.
• Initiation of an automated circulation and reserve system resulting in administrative efficiencies and reporting capabilities. This includes completion of a project to attach circulation barcode labels to 23,000 library items and the updating of the catalog records for them.
• Working toward a goal of having every student gain information literacy skills, the teaching of 60 bibliographic instruction sessions reaching 1,000 students.
• In the face of state budget cuts, a letter writing campaign to bring in gift books from publishers resulting in $10,000 worth of new and recent edition books. Half of these were received to support the Nursing Program just before it was up for reaccredidation.
• Campaign to eliminate food and drinks in the library, which have attracted vermin and cost the college thousands of dollars in damage to library property.
• In response to student demands, a campaign to have a quiet library so that students can study more effectively in peace.

Despite this success story, much more needs to be done. The RCC library remains by far the smallest of the Massachusetts public community college libraries as seen on this chart:

Legend: NS=North Shore; NE=Northern Essex; Br=Bristol; Q=Quinsigamond; H=Holyoke; BH=Bunker Hill; S=Springfield; C=Cape Cod; MW=Mt.Wachusett; Ma=Massasoit; Be=Berkshire; Mi=Middlesex; G=Greenfield; MB=Mass Bay; RCC=Roxbury

Source: Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Twelve of the other 14 CC libraries have TWICE as many books. In a period of fiscal constraint, it may be unrealistic to expect to bring the RCC library up to the level of the other smaller CC libraries. Nevertheless, narrowing the gap for the benefit of our students should be a goal. Watch this space for library improvements, already in the pipeline, coming in the immediate future.

LIBRARY RECEIVES PAPERS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS

In 1973, then UMass. Chancellor Randolph W. Bromery was instrumental in obtaining the original papers of W.E.B. Du Bois for the University of Massachusetts Library at Amherst. In 2002, Interim RCC President Bromery supervised the deposit of the microfilm version of Du Bois’ papers in the RCC library. The collection is a generous gift from the RCC Foundation, Thomas Fencil, Executive Director.

An academic and social critic, W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was one of the founders of the NAACP in 1909. In his best-known work, Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois called for black political power and civil rights and was strongly critical of a gradualist approach in race relations advocated by Booker T. Washington.

The Papers document virtually every stage in Du Bois’ long career and show his involvement in many areas of 20^th century racial, literary and social reform movements. In particular, the correspondents files, including over 100,000 items, show Du Bois’ numerous and varied interactions over a period of 86 years. The earliest is an 1877 note to his grandmother. Among the last is a 1963 letter to Soviet and Chinese leaders, appealing to them to heal the breach in the world communist movement. During his life Du Bois conscientiously kept his incoming letters and copies of his outgoing letters, as well as other papers. The file contains only a few items from his early years but become more plentiful for his student years in the 1880s and 1890s and the beginning of his career as a scholar and educator in the 1890s and 1900s. They are at their fullest during his period with the NAACP, as editor of The Crisis, 1910-1934 and they remain nearly as abundant for the last thirty years of his life.

The Papers of W.E.B. Du Bois, on 89 rolls of microfilm, is accessible in the RCC library on a microfilm reader-printer. There is also a printed index. A dedication ceremony for The Papers will be held in the fall.

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

The month between September 15 and October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. With over 400 Hispanic students, plus faculty and staff, RCC has a strong Hispanic presence. To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the library has a display devoted to Hispanic issues organized by the library staff in coordination with Veronica McCormack, faculty advisor of the student group Union Estudiantil Latino Americana. Browse the display of books on Hispanic topics and pick up a bibliography. For a complete list of books on Hispanic subjects in the library, go to the library’s web page http://rcc.mass.edu/lib, select iLink Electronic Library, type in “Hispanic” and hit Search. For more information about Hispanic American Heritage Month visit these web pages:

• Celebrate Your Hispanic Heritage Quiz http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/chh/quiz/quiz.htm
• Hispanic Heritage Month facts from Family Education Network http://www.factmonster.com/spot/hhm1.html
• National Parks Service site http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/feature/hispanic/
• Cyprus College Library site http://www.cypresscollege.edu/library/hispanic.htm

BACK TO SCHOOL

September means an influx of new students to RCC and its library. During September, hundreds of new students visit the library as part of College Survival Seminar sections. Library staff register them for borrowing privileges, orient them to library policies and instruct them on basic informational resources which they will need for their coursework during their college years. Mark Garth, Director of Career and Transfer Services, says, “Students find their orientation to the library to be worthwhile and beneficial.” During the 2001-2002 academic year, students and staff made over 106,000 visits to the library.

: WILSON BIOGRAPHIES PLUS ILLUSTRATED

Need fast, reliable biographical information? The Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated database contains over 95,000 biographies and obituaries and 26,000 photographs of subjects. They are taken from over 100 volumes of biographical reference books published by H. W. Wilson, including all the articles from all volumes of Current Biography, the World Author Series, Nobel Prize Winners, World Artists, World Film Directors, American Reformers, and numerous biographical books on musicians and composers from throughout history. You may search by

· person’s name

· profession

· place of origin

· gender

· ethnic background, or

· a combination of these

Very specific searches are possible. For example, a search of FEMALE, HISPANIC, EDUCATORS results in 46 records. Search Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated and the rest of the library’s databases from any computer on the RCC campus. Just go to the library’s web page http://rcc.mass.edu/lib, select Electronic Resources, and then Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated.

Gabrielle Honeysucker, daughter of library director, Roblyn Honeysucker, born March 1, 2002 at 1 pound, 10 ounces. Gabrielle now weighs 8 pounds, is doing fine and is expected to be shelving books in the library before you know it.

Welcome to the Library, published by Roxbury Community College Library, Roxbury Crossing, MA

Designed and written by Mark Lawrence

Roblyn Walker Honeysucker, Library Director