Library Blog

The 2020 Census Day is right around the corner! April 1 is the official Census Day, but many people have already received and completed their Census in the mail. Due to current health concerns, door-to-door data collection for non-respondents (yes, if you don't fill it out, they will contact you) has been delayed, but it is expected to resume at some point later in the year. Follow-up by mail will still occur. I'm going to be honest with you-- until very recently, I knew next to nothing about

Have you been using the library's textbook reserves? Do you need some additional study resources for one of your classes (whether you're the teacher or the student)? Check out these [temporarily] free textbook and study resources from various publishers and one from the Internet Archive. The Durham Tech campus bookstore is partnering with Red Shelf for e-access to many of our textbooks. Be sure to create an account using your Durham Tech email address. Cengage is offering extended trial access

Hello, Everyone! As we move classes online, don't forget about our awesome streaming video collection: Films on Demand. Films on Demand has over 43,000 titles with content relevant for all kinds of subjects, from welding instructional videos to PBS documentaries. To access, navigate to it by using the Articles, Journals, and Databases box on the Library website. All databases can be accessed at home by using the same Durham Tech username and password that would be used to log in to Sakai or Self

Do you like coming-of-age stories [a.k.a. bildungsromans] and dragons, but in contemporary settings? Oh, and bad guys and mob guys and the swamp? Don't mind a little drinking and swearing (well, more than just a little)? Want something that isn't super depressing? Have I got the read for you! This book was read by Meredith Lewis, the [mostly] Orange County Campus Librarian. Title: Highfire Author: Eoin Colfer (yes, the Artemis Fowl guy) Genre: contemporary fantasy, dragon and boy stories, swamp

Lots of changes happening, including new [unpaid] staff members helping your current library staff as we work from home. Zak Isaacs, Mail Services (Bippley Campus). Perhaps should look into a position change as he is always trying to chase the mail delivery truck away. This has been noted in his PR&E as an area that needs improvement. Timon Callison, Vice President of Employee Management. A bit of a micromanager, honestly. Always checking to see if you're doing everything right and telling you

Explore the powerful stories of influential women throughout history! This documentary about the trajectory of an African-American girl wonder whose mathematical genius would catapult astronauts into space. Born in 1918, Johnson graduated high school at the age of 14, college at 18, and went on to a career with NASA where she broke race and gender barriers. Johnson not only succeeded in a white, male-dominated field, she excelled. In July of 1920, all eyes were on Nashville, Tennessee as anti-

Have you ever desperately needed the 3-D printed hands of Abraham Lincoln or a mammoth skeleton, but just couldn't find the right file? Good news, everyone-- the Smithsonian has released over 2.8 million images (high resolution, 2- and 3-D) from across its 19 museums and institutions into the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, meaning they are available for anyone to "copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking

Durham Tech's chapter of NCPIRG Students is sponsoring an Open Education Meet & Greet today, on the main campus, in room 2-159. Instructors are invited to stop in and explore Open Textbook options, share best practices, and enjoy light refreshments.

Yesterday I announced that this is Open Education Week and described the characteristics that make a work "open." I mentioned that Open Educational Resources (OER) in their digital form don't cost anything and that print versions of OER textbooks are available at far less cost than commercial textbooks. Why is this important? Let's talk about students' needs. According to The Hope Center, staggering numbers of U.S. college students are food or housing insecure. Students often have to make

Happy Open Education Week 2020! Open Education is a movement that promotes using free educational tools--such as textbooks--that instructors have the right to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. These five permissions are known as "The 5 Rs" of Open Educational Resources (OER). Be on the lookout for more posts about Open Education this week. Today, we will start with an overview of what makes a resource "open." What do the 5 Rs mean? Why are the 5 Rs important? There is no financial