Lots of students know that we have the big textbooks to help support your classroom learning, but did you know that we have a wide variety of nonfiction selections to supplement your scientific knowledge outside a textbook?
Click on an image for more details (be sure to scroll down for a description!) and ask a librarian if you’d like to take one of the titles home with you to explore further.
The college experience isn’t just about taking classes. It can be about networking with other students, exploring different careers or industries, finding internships, and getting involved with organizations on campus and in the wider community.
If you are interested in developing your coding skills and networking with others, Girl Develop It is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing, “affordable and accessible programs to women who want to learn web and software development through mentorship and hands-on instruction.” They have a local chapter in the Raleigh-Durham area, which hosts free classes, including an upcoming class on WordPress, and coding events, which can be casual chances to meet with their group and do a bit of coding over coffee. See their Meetup page for more information.
If you’re interested in learning computer coding, we have library resources to help, including the items below. If you need help finding other items, please let us know. We have more than just what is noted here.
If you’re interested in social networking, these books may help:
With a touchscreen as well as textured buttons, the MagniLink Vision TTS assists readers who have visual impairments.
The library installed a modular video magnifier–the MagniLink Vision TTS reader–which enhances or enables reading of printed books for people with a range of visual impairments. Features of the MagniLink Vision TTS include text-to-speech, adjustable zoom and a variety of background and text contrast modes.
To use the reader, simply open the book or magazine to the desired page and place it on the moveable tray. Turn the reader on. By touching the screen, you can have the reader read the text aloud from the page, in one of three American English voices or two Spanish voices. (Note: this is not a translating device, but it can read Spanish- or English-language text.)
It is easy to learn how to use this tool. If you’d like to use it, please visit the circulation/reference desk at the main campus library in the ERC and ask a librarian for assistance.
Announcing our library’s new reference service, Book A Librarian!
Do you need help doing research for an assignment for class? Want to learn more about searching for resources in general? Want someone to walk you through citing a paper in a new-to-you format? Have a busy schedule and want to make sure that a librarian is available to help you when you come into the library?
Now you can make an appointment with one of the Durham Tech librarians for some one-on-one help!
What we can do:
– Give you a library refresher, including a tour and overview of our resources
– Help you with your research, both using books and online resources
– Teach you how to use databases (and when they’re your best bet)
– Help you learn how to use Microsoft Office for formatting assignments
– Help you cite resources both in MLA and APA style
– Plan a collaborative instruction session (for instructors only)
– Go over resources that could be used for a specific course or assignment (instructors and students)
And much more!
We are unable to help proofread or edit the content of assignments or offer subject-area tutoring during these reservations. We are also unable to help you troubleshoot problems on your personal computer.
Appointments will be assigned to available librarians and must be made at least two days in advance. You will be emailed or telephoned back with confirmation of your appointment. If we are unable to help with your specific issue, we will let you know at this time. Please be prompt– while we understand that circumstances may make you late or need to cancel the appointment, if you are more than 15 minutes late, your reservation will be cancelled.
Please note that reservations are for the Main Campus library ONLY. Please contact library@durhamtech.edu if you would like to set up a meeting with a librarian at either the Orange County or Northern Durham campus.
We look forward to hearing from you!
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 was awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their advocacy for children’s rights.
Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai were picked as winners for their struggle against the oppression of children and their right to education. Photograph: Reuters (Source Guardian.com)
Here is background information about Mr. Satyarthi and Miss Yousafzai from the New York Times, “In India, Mr. Satyarthi, a former engineer, has long been associated with the struggle to free bonded laborers, some born into their condition and others lured into servitude. For decades, he has sought to rid India of child slavery and has liberated more than 75,000 bonded and child laborers in the country. Mr. Satyarthi began working for children’s rights in 1980 as the general secretary of the Bonded Labor Liberation Front, an organization dedicated to freeing bonded laborers forced to work to pay off debts, real or imagined. He also founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Children Mission, an organization dedicated to ending bonded labor and saving children from trafficking. ” (http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-defenders-of-childrens-rights/)
“Ms. Yousafzai began campaigning for girls’ education at the age of 11, three years before she was shot by the Taliban. She was so young that some observers questioned how well equipped a child of that age could be to put her own safety on the line and commit to a life of activism. The prize she received on Friday validates what she has taken on, but also underscores the disproportionate expectations that trail her: Can she truly influence the culture of her home country of Pakistan, which she cannot even visit because of threats to her safety, and where many revile her as a tool of the West? Ms. Yousafzai may be an Anne Frank-like figure who defied terror, showed extraordinary courage and inspires hope, but how much can one teenager accomplish?” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/world/asia/malala-yousafzai-youngest-nobel-peace-prize-winner-adds-to-her-achievements-and-expectations.html)
Book Cover photo: www.hachettebookgroup.com
For further reading, photos, and videos:
You’ve certainly been to the library in the ERC to check out some of our 40,000-plus books, but be sure to check out the e-book offerings from NC LIVE as well!
On the Durham Tech Library home page, click on E-books and Digital Audio Books. From there, follow the link to NC LIVE e-books. In the search box on that page, you can type your search term(s) to get started. You can also click on one of the individual collections, such as
You can also visit NC LIVE’s Home Grown eBook Collection, which “offers a wide range of content, including novels by popular North Carolina authors, poetry, short stories, and non-fiction,” according to the August 2014 press release. This collection is on the BiblioBoard platform and is compatible with Safari and Chrome browsers.
New look, new layout, new books!
Congressman and civil rights advocate, John Lewis’ graphic novel March: Book One, has been selected for the 2014 Durham Community Reads program. March: Book One is the first installation of a trilogy, and spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.
Students in HIS 132 courses at Durham Tech are reading the book this semester. The library has several copies available of this book for loan and on reserve. Durham Reads Together, held every two years, is sponsored by the Durham County Library, and encourages residents to read and discuss a single book. Admission to all programs is free. View the link below for information about book related events and activities in October.
If we don’t have something you need, we can probably get it!
As great a collection as we have, Durham Tech Library doesn’t have ALL the books we’d love to have. With the funding we receive, we try to purchase books most needed to support courses being taught at the college, but we can’t buy everything that we want and that our very diverse users would like. Even if a book isn’t in our immediate collection, though, we might still be able to get access to it, so if you don’t see a book you want, ask us! We can usually get books through interlibrary loan, which is when we borrow a book from another library. To request a book, you can:
or request the item directly from the online catalog. To do this, search the collections of all of the community colleges in North Carolina by selecting “All” (see image to the right), and when you find the item you want, click “Place Hold” on the left side (see image below).
It usually takes at least a week for us to get a book from another library, so please don’t wait until the day before something is due to see what resources you might need.
We can also get articles from other libraries if you can’t find them in our online databases. Anytime you need information or materials, please let us know, and we’ll see if we can get those materials for you.
