Online Newsletter of Roxbury Community College Library

February 2008

LIBRARY OFFERINGS FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH

· AFRICAN AMERICAN QUILT EXHIBIT. For the second year, Prof. Michelle Howard Harrell of the Early Childhood Education program and her “quilting sisters” have loaned the library a collection of African American quilts. These 25 exquisite quilts will be hanging above the stairwell at the library entrance until March 15. They have been the occasion of numerous positive comments. Be sure to come and see them. In addition to Michelle, the “quilting sisters” are Celeste Janey, Jonetta R. Jones, Millie Maines, Cheryl Purnell and Hattie Talley.

· NEW BOOKS. Over a hundred new books on African American topics are on display throughout the library. They include a wide range of topics from history, the arts, social issues, literature and popular fiction. These books are just a small selection of some 700 new books and videos purchased during the last year on the African American experience. Most were purchased with a generous grant from the Roxbury Trust Fund of Roxbury. (For more information on the Roxbury Trust Fund and their work to improve the lives of the people of Roxbury, go to http://roxburytrust.org/.)

Secret Daughter, A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away.	Hottentot Venus	Black Art, A Cultural History.	Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly, the Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave.
African American Dance, An Illustrated History	Blues Dancing	The Best of Emerge Magazine	Open Mike

· TIMELINE. For the 4^th year, the library-created Timeline of African American History is on display in the front windows. This 34 foot long display with 182 pictures and captions has been updated for 2007. Viewing it can be a handy ten-minute introduction or summary to the majestic sweep of this subject.

2007
	Sen. Barack Obama, (D, Ill) began the first well-funded, national campaign of an African American for the U.S. Presidency.

· WEBSITE. Again this year, reference librarian Bill Hoag has created a new website and portal to materials on subjects related to African American History. It is posted on the library main web page at www.rcc.mass.edu/lib.

· DATABASE. The library started providing access to the African American Experience database in 2006. In that year, students made 300 searches against it. In 2007, searches exploded to 3,000. This database is a treasure trove. If you haven’t tried it out, go to the main library page: www.rcc.mass.edu/lib, select Databases, select Subject List, select Multicultural, next to the name of the database, select either On Campus or Off Campus. From Off Campus you need a RCC library barcode number. Ask for yours at the Circulation Desk.

· PARADE ON HAMMOND STREET by ALLAN ROHAN CRITE. African American artist Allan Rohan Crite lived in the South End of Boston until his death last year. In his honor, a print of one of his works now hangs next to the Circulation Desk where everyone entering the library can see it. Hammond Street is five minutes from RCC. In 1935, Crite painted this parade, watched by Hammond St. neighbors dressed in their Sunday best.

2007—BUSIEST YEAR SINCE 1996

The electronic laser gate counter at the library entrance recorded 122,799 library visits for 2007. This is more than in any year since 1996. The cause of this increase is a matter of speculation but probably resulted from a combination of continuing increases in college enrollment and increased library outreach. Other statistics also show increased library usage for 2007 over 2006.

Library instruction attendance is up 3%.

Reference questions are up 16 %.

Circulation of library materials is up 21%.

Interlibrary loan requests are up 44%.

Students accessed the library’s new online research guides an amazing 2,466 times in the twelve weeks from mid September to mid December. This is a brand new service. Librarians Bill Hoag and Ted Intarabumrung, created 21 online guides, assisted by Cindy Fisher, volunteer student from Simmons College masters program in Library and Information Science. The online guides are keyed to the needs of individual classes and faculty members are encouraged to request them.

STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHS

A collection of the best student photographs from Prof. Angel Amy Moreno’s fall Photography I course went on display in December. Come to the library’s first floor to see them before they come down next month. Featured photographs are by Suaada Abdiaziz, Ivan Classen, Frank Dillon, Daphney Excellent, Sahro Jama, Tatiana Lott-Toussaint, Rhonda Martin, Miguel Martinez, Keitha Nicholas, Imansuen Norenegbev and Myetia Vaughn. To support this course, the library obtained ten digital cameras which were loaned, on a rotating basis, to students, who did not own their own.

“Mi Estrella” by Ivan Classen

OTHER FALL DISPLAYS

SCIENCE POSTERS

During November and December, eight science posters were exhibited in the library second floor windows. These are professional quality posters exhibiting the work of RCC students at summer 2007 science internships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts Boston. One poster won a special notice at a national conference in Texas. This display stimulated much interest among student. Twice as many expressed interest in the 2008 intern program, as did so in 2007 according to program coordinator Prof. Frederic Bertley.

RCC students participating in the 2007 science intern program were: Jannine Austrie (MIT), Candy Batista (MIT), Georges Chick (UMB), Jessica Maloney (MIT), Darlene Morris (BU), Tanya Nixon (UMB), Natasha Oliveira (BU), Iesha Rue (UMB), Mitzi Sweeney (UMB), and Brandon Trench (MIT).

Poster based on the scientific work of RCC student Candy Batista.

MALI MUD CLOTH EXHIBIT

Roxbury artist Dianne Zimbabwe exhibited some of her work above the library’s stairwell during November and December. Dianne is a practitioner in Bogalan mud painting, a technique she acquired working with a master artist in Mali during an artist residency. Included in the exhibit was a hanging created by Dianne’s students at the Hawthorne Youth and Community Center in Roxbury which had previously been displayed at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum’s 2007 annual Community Creations Exhibit.

Dianne Zimbabwe’s representation of Songho, a village of the Dogon people in Mali

WORKSTUDY STUDENTS

It would be hard for the library to run without the assistance of work-study student. Here are the students helping out this academic year:

· Lelena Dagna is in the Nursing program and plans to graduate in Spring 2008 and transfer to Northeastern University. Lelena works at the Circulation desk.

· Milciades C. Dume is in the Broadcast Media program and plans to graduate in Spring 2009 and transfer to the University of Miami, FL. Milciades works at the Circulation with special projects involving computers.

· Jhonnathan Guerrero is in Business Administration, expects to graduate next semester and is exploring transferring to Boston College or UMass Boston. (No picture.)

· Kay Tyson has a double major in Business and Biology. She works at Circulation and also reshelves books.

Lelena Dagna	Milciades C. Dume	Kay Tyson

To build a better college library and provide superior customer service, we need your comments. Send both praises and gripes to mlawrence@rcc.mass.edu.

If you missed earlier issues of Welcome to the Library, click on “Read the Library’s newsletter” on the library website http://www.rcc.mass.edu/lib.

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

Mark Lawrence, Library Director