Library Blog - Focus on a Topic

Today is Constitution Day and to celebrate we wanted to highlight a couple of videos about the US Constitution from our Films on Demand database. Films on Demand has streaming video that is free to watch and easily embedded into Sakai. This first video is The Almost Painless Guide to the US Constitution and is a short summary of how the Constitution was created with fun narration and a quick quiz at the end. (If you're off campus you will need to log in with your Durham Tech username and

The semester has started! That means assignments, deadlines, work, school, family, friends, pandemic, economy, politics, and more, are all stressors as we move into pumpkin spice season fall. Find resources below to help manage that stress and take care of your mental health. Are you a Durham Tech employee who wants to speak to a counselor? Remember that you have access to the Employee Assistance Program. It's free and confidential. Are you a Durham Tech student who wants to speak to someone

**This post is in collaboration with Durham Tech Counseling Services.** July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, and while the month is almost over, many of these resources are available all year round both through Durham Tech and through outside agencies. Are you a Durham Tech student looking for a safe space to discuss anxiety and other issues due to Covid-19? Have your heard about Let's Cope? The Let's Cope group, hosted by LaKe'a Teel and Letoria Brown, is a support group for Durham

Recent protests have reignited larger discussions of race, African American history, and the unfinished work in America towards equality. To learn more about this important conversation, the Library has collected some predominantly audio resources to help you continue to educate yourself. NPR's Code Switch podcast features conversations about race and how it impacts all aspects of society and life, all led by journalists of color. Episodes focus on history, books, music, and current events

It's been an unconventional [see: literary term-- understatement] few months. May is always Mental Health Month, but due to the stresses and uncertainties a lot of us are facing, it seems particularly important this year. There are lots of ways to attend to your own mental health needs and for many, meditation and yoga or other mindfulness practices may be beneficial. Check out some of the free (or temporarily free) apps that you can use to practice these skills. Note: Some of these apps offer

We asked Durham Tech to share the baking and cooking they've been doing at home, and, well, we're making various quick and slow breads, embracing box mixes, getting a little fancy, and not forgetting to eat our vegetables. Click through for food pics and recipes (for most). Links to recipes are in picture captions. We've been making some bread: "sourdough" (not really successful yet), soda bread, and sandwich white bread. Creating some fancier breads, too: Parmesan and cheese herb bread, hot

It's still April, which means it's still Poetry Month. (Yay for that!) There's something powerful about hearing an author reading their own work, especially with poetry. Where do they stop and start? What words do they emphasize? It adds something extra (at least for that particular moment). If you like to listen, the Library of Congress has a comprehensive list of audio recordings of poets reading their own poems. They contain both external and internal audio resources, including the Library of

We’re all looking to succeed and make it to the next level, right? Step up your career prep and achieve success with PrepSTEP. Need to study for the NCLEX, TEAS, Nurse Aide, Culinary Arts, Cosmetology, or other career certifications, including additional allied health exams? Need to study for a placement test, boost your math, science, or writing skills, or even work on your basic computer skills? PrepSTEP provides interactive tutorials, practice tests for entrance exams and occupational exams

Have an assignment in one of the sciences? Try out ScienceDirect! ScienceDirect offers access to scholarly science journal content, including life, medical, technical, social, and physical sciences. You can search using your own keywords, search specific journals by title, or browse by science type or journal title. Additionally, over 1.2 million articles on ScienceDirect are Open Access, meaning they are peer-reviewed and made freely available for everyone to read, download, and reuse

Working on a research project and want a little help using our integrated search, also known as Summon, so that you can find the best options for your assignments that aren't going to be behind a paywall? Librarians Stephen Brooks and Courtney Bippley have put together a video tutorial to get you started. You can reach Summon by clicking on the Search Library box on the Durham Tech Library homepage. Login to view articles by using your Durham Tech username and password, the same ones you'd use