November 2, 2009
Presented
by the
Harper College Library
Create a piece of edible art that has something to do with books
Friday, November 20, 2009
Entries are due in the library from 10:30 to 11:30 AM
Judging begins at Noon
Entries will be eaten after the winners are announced
All participants and their entries will be photographed
Please include a sign denoting the title of the book your entry represents.
Everyone is invited to participate!
Awards will be given in the following categories:
- Grand Prize
- Most Literary
- Most Creative
- Most Edible
Entry deadline:
A completed entry form must be received at the Harper College Library no later than Monday, November 16, 2009.
October 23, 2009
Give a child the gift of reading!
16th Annual Children’s Book Drive
For the month of October, Harper College Library is collecting new and gently used children’s books that will be donated to the District 214 Community Education Program and the Elk Grove Village Township. You can help give a child the gift of reading by bringing donations into the Harper College Library, or by putting them in donation boxes we have in L building – Liberal Arts Division Office, X building – Health Careers Division Office, F building – Academic Enrichment and Language Studies Division Office, M building – Wellness and Human Performance Division Office, and W building in the employee lunchroom.
Help us reach our goal of donating 1,600 books for the 16th anniversary of the Children’s Book Drive.
October 14, 2009
Textbooks in the Library
For the first three weeks of every semester the most frequently asked question in the library is “do you have the textbook for my class?” Unfortunately the answer is probably no. Typically libraries do not purchase textbooks for a variety of reasons
- The library’s role is to buy materials that supplement and expand materials presented in the textbooks.
- There would be no way to purchase the multiple copies of a text book that would be required on a campus this size.
- Too many editions; on average a new edition of a textbook is produced every three years. It would be extremely difficult to be purchasing all these new editions.
- MONEY! The average cost of a textbook is $57-$61, students pay close to $900 for textbooks in a year. If we do some admittedly simplistic math we see that there are 793 courses taught this semester at Harper, at $60 per book that would be $47580 (This figure is only for this semester and doesn’t account for different sections of the same course using a different textbook). This figure is 21 percent of the entire book budget.
Issues surrounding the cost of textbooks are a big concern on every college campus. Textbook prices are rising at four times the rate of inflation. New editions are published rapidly, which harms the used textbook market. The same problems that plague students are multiplied many times for libraries.
If you are having trouble getting a textbook from the bookstore or you want to try and save some money, there are a few things that you can try. The first is to check the Library Catalog. We do have a few textbooks and sometimes you can get lucky. We also have access to books and other materials from libraries across the state and nation. It is possible to borrow a textbook from another library using the I-Share catalog or interlibrary loan service. Be aware, however, that this is not a sure thing. If the book is available it may take anywhere from 3-14 days to get it and you will not be able to keep it the entire semester. Ask your teacher to put a copy of your textbook on reserve in the library. Many times an instructor will have a copy of a textbook which can be put on reserve. Usually the book would be available for in-library use only, to make sure that the most people have access to it. Unfortunately there will be many times when you have no option but to purchase the book. You may wish to checkout online booksellers like amazon.com or alibris.com, which has a textbook section on their website, abebooks.com also, has a textbook section.
The future of textbooks looks a little brighter for example, downloadable E-textbooks which could be purchased in smaller units, like chapters. Classes could also be taught using open source materials freely available on the Internet. Some courses now are taught using a “coursepack”, a collection of materials distributed in class rather than using a textbook. Some schools have also developed textbook leasing programs. For now though, issues surrounding textbooks continue to be a big problem for students and the library.
September 21, 2009
Attend a Banned Books Week Lecture
at the Harper College Library
Bldg. F
2nd floor
847-925-6184
Monday, September 28
- 3 pm Communist Manifesto
presented by Sean Noonan and Dave Richmond
Tuesday, September 29
- 11 am “Igniting the Fires of Hate : Origins and Implications of the Nazi Book Burnings”
presented by Kim Jaeger
- 2 pm “Comic Books, Censorship, and the Comics Code Authority”
presented by Brian Cremins
Wednesday, September 30
- 10 am “The Myth of Eva Peron”
presented by Veronica Mormino
- 1 pm “Banning Resistance”
presented by Seema Kurup
Thursday, October 1
- 12 noon “Alison Bechdal–A Dyke to Watch Out For”
presented by JJ Pionke
September 15, 2009
The Library of Congress Classification System Demystified
Some of you may be wondering what this weird system of numbers is and how to use it. I know I was confused when I was a new student here at Harper and I tried to find information in the Library. But it is not just new students who are confused. Many students and staff are used to the Dewey Decimal System (DDS) that is used most public libraries. When I did a survey of five students here at the Library and none of them knew how to use the Library of Congress System. .
Those of you who are used to the Dewey Decimal System might look for a book on Religion in the 200 section of the library or languages in the 400 section. Wikipedia explains that “the Dewey Decimal System attempts to organize all knowledge into ten main classes. The ten main classes are each further subdivided into ten divisions, and each division into ten sections, giving ten main classes, 100 divisions and 1000 sections. Dewey Decimal System’s main advantage in using decimals for its categories allows it to be both purely numerical….”
You may be wondering why Harper’s Library uses the Library of Congress and why it is so important. According to Jim Edstrom, who is a Librarian here at Harper, there are a few reasons why it is used. First, it is used because it narrows down on a more defined audience. For example, almost all of the books in the Harper library are specifically for a certain kind of class or classes that are offered. In a public library, the library has to offer more books for a wider audience. Secondly, the Library of Congress Classification System can add more classes and sub-classes as needed. The Dewey System is not as flexible. Lastly, the Library of Congress is commonly used in academic libraries or school libraries.
So now that we have covered why it is important, you may be asking yourself, how do I use it? Well, firstly, the categories are split into twenty-one lettered categories. Here is a helpful website to help you understand what the categories are and the sub-categories. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/ Then, after they are split into those categories, they are then split further into sub-categories. For example: if you were looking for a book about medicine, but more specifically about Pediatrics and even more specific than that is, premature infants. Okay, so the category for medicine is R and Pediatrics is RJ, then premature infant’s call numbers are RJ250- 250.3. So the call number would look something like this:
RJ
250
So now that you know a little bit about the Library of Congress Classification System, maybe you won’t be that student wandering around the library looking for a book in the wrong section. I hope this was helpful and you will be able to find your books more easily. Good Luck!!
Jennifer Heer
