NORTH CAMPUS LIBRARY NEWSLETTER
FALL 2004
LIBRARY
RENOVATIONS
As
a result of a renovation project completed in January 2004, the Library now has
new carpeting as well as a new Reference Desk and a new Service Desk. At this Service Desk users check out and
return library books and periodicals, books requested from other campus and
college libraries, and materials on reserve.
Users can also ask for assistance with the microfilm readers here. The Library also got some new tables and chairs,
and the space where the old Circulation Desk was located is now a sitting
area. The “M’ and “N” sections of the
circulating collection were moved from the south side to the north side of the
Library to make room for the new Service Desk.
NEW
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
Earlier
this year ten of the Library’s public computers were replaced by new PC’s and
three software programs for visually impaired users were installed on two of
the other computers. These programs are
ZoomText, Magic, and JAWS. ZoomText and
Magic allow students to magnify the text up to sixteen times the original while
JAWS is a voice-based system that reads the text on the screen.
MYMDC
ACCOUNT
The
Library has been actively involved in helping students with questions and
problems regarding myMDC Account, which was implemented at
NEW
URL
The
URL of the North Campus Library’s Web Page is now slightly different as a
result of the recent change in the name of the College, from
CLASE/PERIODICA
Clase/Periodica
is a Spanish-language database that became available to MDC students at the end
of 2003. It is updated quarterly and
provides more than 400,000 citations of articles published in 2,600 scholarly
journals in
BORROWER
ID AND PIN
The
Borrower ID and PIN needed in the Library’s LINCC system to access MyAccount, request
materials from other libraries, and use the full-text databases have
changed. The Borrower ID is now the
16-digit number on the user’s MDC Card.
The PIN is the last four digits of that same 16-digit number but for
some users it may be a PIN created by them or the last four digits of their
Social Security number.
NEW
REFERENCE BOOKS
The
following are some of the most recent additions to our reference collection: American Men & Women of Science (8
vols., 2003), Encyclopedia of Bioethics (5
vols., 2004), Encyclopedia of Education (8
vols., 2003), Encyclopedia of
Homelessness (2 vols., 2004), Encyclopedia
of Everyday Law (2 vols., 2003), International
Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family (4 vols., 2003), and New Catholic Encyclopedia (15 vols.,
2003).
LIBRARY
STATISTICS
The
Library was a very busy place during the 2003-2004 academic year. For example, over 34,000 questions were
answered at the Reference Desk and over 54,000 students were counted using
library computers. To have an estimate
of the number of students that use library computers, a head count is taken
every hour. The gate count for that
period of time was 893,321.