What do you really need to know about information literacy?

When you’ve found a good topic for your paper, you want to look for sources that give you reliable and true information. Your best bet is to look up specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries, or ask the reference librarian.

‘Great,’ you think, ‘I just check Wikipedia.’ Well, first of all the authors of the entries may or may not be experts on the topic. Secondly, anybody can edit the pages, anytime. Wikipedia can be a good source to quickly look up a topic, but always use other sources, as well. It is your job to find dependable and true information. Did I mention that you can ask the reference librarians in your library for help?

But if you insist on doing it yourself, you may want to look at several criteria, such as authority, currency and accuracy of the information, the author(s) point of view, the coverage and value of the information. This link explains it further with examples (2 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnm7GmeG74&feature=related

Now imagine you got an assignment to write a paper about cephalopods, and you came across this great page http://www.zapatopi.net/treeoctopus .

Would you use this website for your research paper?

Getting started with Microsoft Office 2007

Need to write a paper on one of the library computers? Our computers have Microsoft Office 2007 installed on them, and some of the features may be different from what you're used to. Watch this short video to learn about the basic features in Office 2007 and you'll soon be on your way.

What Does Office 2007 Look Like

animatedexplanations.com

e-Reserves lets you read Reserve articles from home

It used to be that you had to come to the library to get Reserve articles—but now the library comes to you! By using e-Reserves, you can read articles and book chapters that your instructor has placed on electronic reserve right from your own home computer. It’s easy to find these through the library catalog on the web both on and off campus.

To learn how to use e-Reserves, here's a handy handout:

Or you can watch this short video

Deals on computer software/hardware

As a Grossmont College student, you can get some great deals on computer hardware and software!

Check it out at: www.collegebuys.org

New library tutorials available!

Here's a new tutorial that helps you manage your library account online:

I-Link My Account Video Clip
I-Link My Account

Textbook Hints

Grossmont College Bookstore is a great place to get textbooks – but what if yours has not yet come in? You have Ross Books of course, but….did you know …..

. Free use of textbooks is possible in your library? Check the Reserve area of the library for your textbook. If we don’t have it, you might want to ask your instructor if he or she can place their copy on reserve in the library.

· You can rent textbooks for much cheaper than buying them? Check out http://www.chegg.com

· You can compare prices of textbooks from online booksellers? There are a number of comparison sites: try http://www.addall.com/ for starters.

A couple of useful additional hints:
ISBN:
The ISBN of the book is not always best to use when searching for a book – you might have the ISBN of the hardcover, but what if there is an ISBN of a soft cover that is cheaper? You won’t find it. Try the title instead.

Correct edition of your text:
There may be quite a few editions of your textbook for rent or sale – check to make sure you are ordering the correct one. That’s an advantage to using our bookstore – they always have the correct edition.

Selling a text:
Our bookstore is, of course, a great place to sell back your text. But if for some reason you can’t sell it there, there are a number of sites that purchase used books – http://www.valorebooks.com is one you might check out.

E-Chat Cafe

This fall, we established a new e-chat cafe on the main floor of the library. In this area, you can chat with your friends or chat on your laptop, while sipping your double latte.

Let us know what you think about this new area! Click on Comments and let us know.