Winter Break Library Hours

The Library will be closed from December 20-January 2.

If you need to pay a fine, call (651) 779-3263 for assistance. You can return library materials in the book return.

During the week of January 3-7, we will be open from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. We will be closed on Saturday, January 8.

Regular hours will resume on January 10, 2011.

Salem Health and Salem Literature

Salem Press provides online access to their titles that we buy in print, so we have added links in our catalog to Salem titles like Magill's Medical Guide. We've also added Salem Health and Salem Literature to our Databases A-Z list.

New Electronic Reference Books

The following new Gale virtual reference books have been loaded and are available in both our Gale Virtual Reference Library collection and our library catalog:

• Additional volumes of Encyclopedia of World Biography
• Supplements to the New Catholic Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Modern China
• A Student Guide to Climate and Weather
• Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues
• Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania
• Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior
• Student’s Guide to the Presidency
• Encyclopedia of Gender and Society

We have also grouped our Gale Virtual Reference Library books by subject and made a keyword search box in many of our subject guides. See our History Subject Guide for an example.

Library Hours During Winter Break

The Library will be closed from December 20-January 2.

During the week of January 3-7, we will be open from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. We will be closed on Saturday, January 8.

Regular hours will resume on January 10, 2011.

Library Windows in the News

The Business Section of the Star Tribune features the Century College Library and a story about the Minnesota company that created our unique windows.

"The library in White Bear Lake is partly sheathed in "smart glass" with electronically controlled tinting to reduce harmful sun rays and cut energy use.

"If it is a super-bright day, we dim them," said librarian Jane Young. A few minutes after pressing a button, the windows change from clear to tinted blue. "It's really cool."

Read more about it at:

http://www.startribune.com/business/110882379.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUvDEhiaE3miUsZ

Library Closed November 25-27

The Century Library will be closed November 25-27 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Library Closed November 11

The library will be closed on November 11 in honor of Veterans Day.

Veterans Day Display

Veterans Day is November 11. Veterans Day was first established in the United States as Armistice Day to celebrate the end of World War I. In 1954, the national holiday was changed to Veterans Day to recognize the bravery and sacrifices of America’s veterans.

The library display case for November is featuring books to remember veterans and the wars they fought. Featured book topics include battles from World War I and II, Vietnam, the Gulf War through Afghanistan, military leaders, and veterans personal war accounts.

Thank and honor our veterans this November for their service and their role in shaping our history.

Busy Bees Visit the Library

We had some special trick-or-treaters this morning - the children from the Busy Bees daycare! What fun!

Special Library Hours October 20 - 23

There are no classes on October 21-23, so library hours will be:

October 20, 7:30 am – 2 pm

October 21, 7:30 am – 4 pm

October 22, 7:30 am – 4 pm

October 23, CLOSED

Banned Book Winners

The winners of our drawing for a banned book were Kimberly Berry, Matthew Prom, and Joel Reed. Winners were able to choose between Beloved by Toni Morrison, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, or Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Congrats!

Temple Grandin Resources

Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who became a remarkable success story, will speak at Century on October 20 at 7 pm. The HBO film, Temple Grandin, will be shown on October 19 at 2:30 pm in W1006 and at 4:30 pm in the Bruening Room on the East campus.

In addition to a DVD of the HBO film, the library has a number of books in our collection about Temple Grandin as well:

Grandin, Temple. : Animals make us human : creating the best life for animals / Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Century Library General Collection QL785.27 .G73 2009

Grandin, Temple. : Developing talents : careers for individuals with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism / Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy ; foreword by Tony Attwood. Shawnee Mission, KS : Autism Asperger Pub. Co., 2008.
Century Library General Collection RC553.A88 G736 2008

Grandin, Temple. : The way I see it : a personal look at autism and Asperger's / Temple Grandin. Arlington, Tex. : Future Horizons Inc c2008.
Century Library General Collection RC553.A88 G743 2008

Fast food / Tracy Brown Collins, book editor. Detroit : Greenhaven Press, c2005.
Century Library General Collection HD9005 .F37 2005 (Has a chapter by Temple Grandin)

Grandin, Temple. : Emergence : labeled autistic, a true story / Temple Grandin and Margaret M. Scariano. New York : Warner Books, 2005.
Century Library General Collection RC553.A88 G73 2005

Cutler, Eustacia. : A thorn in my pocket : Temple Grandin's mother tells the family story / Eustacia Cutler. Arlington, Tex. : Future Horizons, c2004.
Century Library General Collection RJ506.A9 C88 2004

Grandin, Temple. : Thinking in pictures : and other reports from my life with autism / Temple Grandin. New York : Doubleday, c1995.
Century Library General Collection RC553.A88 G73 1995

Stop by the library and read about Temple Grandin today!

Renewable and Alternative Energy!

What is renewable energy? How does renewable energy work? What are different types of alternative energy sources? The library display case for October is featuring library resources that will answer your questions on this important and timely topic. We have great books on solar, wind, geothermal and other energies and why these power sources are crucial to the planet into the 21st century and beyond.

New Titles Added to Films on Demand

You can view a list of new titles added recently to Films on Demand, our streamed video resource. To get to Films on Demand, go to our Databases A-Z list and choose Films on Demand.

Win a Banned Book! Enter by October 2

Come to the library to enter a drawing for a copy of one of these challenged or banned books: Twilight, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Beloved. Enter before 3 pm on October 2. Winners will be announced next week.

Discussion on Book Banning Sept. 29 at noon

The library will host a brown bag discussion on book banning on Sept. 29 at noon in the CTL Room, E1849. To learn more about challenges and bans, see About Banned & Challenged Books on the American Library Association web site. In 2009, ALA reported 460 challenges. You can see a list of the top ten most frequently challenged titles in 2009.

Banned Books Week Activities, Sept. 25 - Oct. 2

The Century College Library marks Banned Books Week from Sept. 25 through October 2 with a drawing for a copy of one of these challenged or banned books: Twilight, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Beloved. Enter the drawing in the library today!

The books featured in our display case have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Come to the library and check out a banned book.

The library will host a brown bag discussion on book banning on Sept. 29 at noon in the CTL Room, E1849. To learn more about challenges and bans, see About Banned & Challenged Books on the American Library Association web site. In 2009, ALA reported 460 challenges. You can see a list of the top ten most frequently challenged titles in 2009.

Library Cat Connection

A few weeks ago, library patrons and staff noticed an unhappy kitten outside the library. Most of its tail was missing. Librarian Cheryl Langevin and a student finally managed to capture the kitten and bring him to a shelter. The student adopted the kitten and named him Centurion. He is about 5 months old and had to have the rest of his tail surgically removed. He visited the library earlier this week, a much happier and healthier cat.

Banned Books! Freedom to Read!

Celebrate the Freedom to Read and the importance of the First Amendment! Why have Huckleberry Finn and Harry Potter been banned from libraries? Why are books banned? What are the most challenged and banned books? Come to the library for answers to these questions. Check out the display case in the library this month to see a selection of books that have either been banned or have been targets of attempted bannings! Every year, there are hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups in the United States and around the world to have books removed from libraries and from classrooms.

Banned Books Week is September 25−October 2, 2010

Literacy Day

Today is International Literacy Day. It's a day designated by the United Nations, and it was first celebrated in 1966. The point is to make sure that literacy remains a high priority on the agendas of each country — and for the whole world at large. UNESCO points out, "Today one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women." Literacy campaigns are now often linked to women's rights movements.
From: The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor

New Online Arts Databases

The Century Library has added two new databases of articles on arts topics. Topics cover all aspects of the arts, including advertising, archaeology, architecture, art history, computers in art, decorative arts, fashion design, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, motion pictures, music, non-western art, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, television, textiles, and video.

Note that these are not just for the art faculty and students. Music, theater, film, interior design, and even VCT will probably find information of interest in this resource.

Art Full Text includes full text articles from 1997 to present and indexing from 1984 to 1996 of an international array of over 500 peer-selected journals.

Art Index Retrospective is an index to articles on the arts from 1929-1984. It helps users find contemporary criticism of art at the time of its debut, track the body of work of an artist or movement, find artists’ interviews and other commentary, and much more.

You can find these new resources on our Databases A-Z list, http://libdata.century.edu/page.phtml?page_id=17, which is a link on the library’s web page.

A list of the journals included is at http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/Journals/searchAction.jhtml?sortBy=ptf&dbSelected=ARTFT&_requestid=9431.

These resources are available to the Century community both on and off campus.

Regular Library Hours Begin August 23

As of August 23, regular library hours resume:

Monday - Thursday, 7:30 am - 9:00 pm

Friday, 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

Saturday, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Library Opens at 10:30 AM on August 20

Due to meetings that library staff must attend, the library will not open until 10:30 AM on Friday, August 20. The library will close as usual at 4 PM.

Looking for a Fun Sport?

Need to improve your golf game or are you curious about skydiving? The August display case is featuring books on a wide variety of sports. Not only are there books on popular sports such as football, baseball, and soccer but we have a good selection on kayaking, archery and canoeing too. Fitness walking and scuba diving are just waiting to be checked out! Get some pointers and improve your game!

Films on Demand Adds New Titles

Take a look at the new titles added recently to Films on Demand, our streamed video resource. To get to Films on Demand, go to our Databases A-Z list and choose Films on Demand.

Learn a Language!

Student Tech Fee funds have purchased an opportunity for Century students to learn languages not offered at Century and also to keep up skills in languages that are offered. Powerspeak Languages includes language courses in Spanish, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, and English for Spanish Speakers. Courses include a combination of scored online activities, exercises, lessons and games. If you plan to travel or just want to increase your skills, sign up for a free account and start today. This service is available to Century students both on and off campus.

You can find this Gale resource on our Databases A-Z web page under Gale or just go directly to Powerspeak Languages.

Explore Minnesota!

Planning a Minnesota getaway this summer? The library display case for July is featuring great books on Minnesota destinations. Whether you’re heading for the cabin, north shore, or prairie we have a wonderful selection of books that will inspire you to explore our beautiful state. Do you know where the Green Giant, Ole the Viking, and Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are located? Find out with our tour guides and vacation planners. Make some Minnesota memories this summer with help from the library!

Historic Newsreels added to Films on Demand

Our Films on Demand database has added over 250 historic newsreels from United News. Focusing on World War II, these films offer an intriguing glimpse into American life during turbulent times. Useful as a primary source for historical and cultural research, each newsreel is segmented by subject for convenient searching and viewing, and can be integrated into custom playlists.

To get to Films on Demand, go to our Databases A-Z list and choose Films on Demand. To view these newsreels, in the "View By Subject" bar, click on the link "Archival Films & Newsreels" to browse over 1,200 newsreel segments, or use Advanced Search for keyword searches by selecting "Archival Films & Newsreels" in the "Subject" drop-down menu.

Hurray for Hollywood!

Are you a movie buff? The library display case for June is featuring books on movies. We’ve got great titles that will help you answer your questions about films and Hollywood. What are the most popular movies? What are the top 50 classic movies? What movies are considered to be controversial? Find out about your favorite movie genre. We have a wonderful selection on comedy, science fiction, horror, musicals, and more. Movie guides are available to direct you to your favorites as well as movie reviews. The library also has movies for you to check out!

Summer Library Hours Begin May 24

Summer hours begin May 24:

Monday - Thursday, 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Friday, 8:00 a.m. - noon

Library Hours May 15-22

The Century College Library will be closed May 15 and 22. During the week of May 17-21, the Library will be open 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Graduating? Searching for a job?

The library display case for May is featuring books that will help you with your job search. We have a great variety of books to guide you through cover letters and resumes as well as how to handle tough interview questions. We have practical manuals for job hunters including career guides, job almanacs, and where to find employment leads. Web based job search information is also available. Get your job search started at the library!

Treasure Hunt Winners

We're pleased to announce the winners of our National Library Week Treasure Hunt. Congratulations to Sounthorne Moua, Oto Usoro, Teresa Callies, and Kari Bibeau!

Sounthorne, Oto, and Teresa each received a Century Bookstore gift certificate, while Kari won a humongous chocolate Book Bunny.

Downloadable Ebooks and Audiobooks

Many of the ebooks and some of the audiobooks in our catalog are now downloadable. In the library catalog, just search for a topic or title. You can limit on the left side under Collection to Internet Resource. You can further limit by Format to either electronic book or sound recording.

For books, only more recent books are downloadable. Just click on the title that interests you, then click on the link that says "An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web". If it's downloadable, the next screen will tell you. In order to download, you will need to sign up for a free Netlibrary account.

The checkout period for the downloaded ebook is one week. You will be able to print 10 pages per day of text. Once the checkout period ends, the file will stay on your device until you delete it, but you will not be able to read the file unless you renew the book.

The downloadable audio is in MP3, can be used on IPods, and the checkout period is three weeks. Again, once the checkout period ends, the file will stay on your device until you delete it, but you will not be able to read the file unless you renew the audiobook.

We hope these downloadable resources help prepare Century for the ebook revolution!

New Books List for March Available

The March 2010 New Books List is available on the Library's What's New web page, http://www.century.mnscu.edu/library/whatsnew.aspx.

New Titles Added to Films on Demand

Films on Demand, one of our streamed video resources, regularly adds new titles. For a list of their recent additions, go to Films on Demand and click on Recently Added Videos.

Even Geese Want to Visit the Library!

Last week during National Library Week, we had several geese who seemed to want to come into the library. They stood outside the door honking for several hours and returned several days in a row. We can only assume that they wanted to view the staff picks and enter the treasure hunt for National Library Week!

Free Databases for National Library Week

Several of our electronic resource vendors are offering free access to a variety of resources for National Library Week.

Check out the options from ProQuest, which include African American Heritage, CultureGrams, and eLibrary.

Gale offers several resources, including Archives Unbound, Career Transitions, GREENR, and Grzimeks Animal Life. Just use the dropdown menu below:

Visit Us During National Library Week April 11-17!

Come celebrate National Library Week with us. Stop in anytime between April 12-17 to view our display of staff picks. While you're here, try our treasure hunt. It only takes 10-15 minutes, and correct completed entries are eligible for a prize drawing. We'll be giving away three $10 gift certificates for the Century Bookstore, alone with a humungous chocolate bunny. There's no better time to visit the library!

Spring is Here!

The library display case for April is featuring gardening and landscaping books. The display case is filled with a great variety of colorful books with beautiful photographs sure to inspire you. We have many books specific to Minnesota and Midwest gardens that can answer your gardening questions. Find out what is best to plant in Minnesota gardens and when to plant. We have ideas for container and small space gardens too. Come to the library and get some great ideas for your garden!

Writer's Reference Center

The Library has purchased a subscription to Writer’s Reference Center from Facts on File. This resource includes more than 150 essays covering grammar, style, research, and more, presented in an easy-to-use format, allowing users both to learn new concepts and to find answers to specific usage and style questions. Reference sources include almost 100,000 definitions from more than a dozen thematic dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference books.

Click on the link above, or go to the Library’s homepage, click on Databases A-Z and scroll down to Writer’s Reference Center.

Films on Demand Streamed Video

The Century College Library has subscribed to Films on Demand streamed video. Over 6,000 titles are included in the collection, and most titles are divided into useful segments. The topics mirror almost all the programs available at Century. The streamed video is available to students, faculty, and staff 24/7, both on and off campus, so it could be used in online courses. Each title can be used by multiple simultaneous users. The content includes some titles we own on DVD and video, as well as additional content from well respected providers like Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge, BBC, PBS, CNBC, and more.

To access Films on Demand, click on the link above. Or find it from the Library’s web page. Just click on Databases A-Z and look for Films on Demand.

March is Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month! The library display case is featuring books on notable American women. 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project and this years theme is Writing Women Back into History. Be sure to take a look at the collage of famous women and see how many you recognize and if you know why they are famous. Explore women who changed history and the world this month in the library!

Spring Break Library Hours

During spring break, the library will be open March 8 through March 12 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The library will be closed on Saturday March 13.

Library Closed on February 25

The Century College Library will be closed February 25 for the all-college staff development day.

New Books List for January Available

The January 2010 New Books List is available on the Library's What's New web page, http://www.century.mnscu.edu/library/whatsnew.aspx.

Library Closed February 13-15

The Century College Library will be closed February 13-15 for the President's Day holiday.

More eBooks Available

The library just added 399 eBooks to our collection. Many of our eBooks come from NetLibrary, so if you search for the word NetLibrary in our catalog, you can browse the titles.

You can also search for a keyword and then limit in the left column under "Collection" to "Internet Resource". To find newer titles, you can also limit by year range.

To view the eBook, just click on the title that interests you, then on the link in the record. We hope to provide the ability to download these eBooks soon.

If you are taking online classes, you can find eBooks to support almost every Department at Century.

Black History Month

February is Black History Month. The library display case is featuring an excellent collection of books on the African American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968). Learn about the key events and main figures of this movement, and why it is important not only to the history of the United States but to world history as well. Key events of this movement include: Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Desegregating Little Rock, Sit-ins, 1960 (50 year anniversary), Freedom Rides, Integration of Mississippi Universities, The March on Washington, Dr. King Awarded Nobel Peace Prize, The King Assassination, and Race Riots. Come to the library to see the images and events of this important and tumultuous time in recent U.S. history.

Free Online Black History Resources

One of the publishers we work with, Gale, offers free resources like timelines and biographies for Black History Month. You can find these resources at http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/.

New Virtual Reference Books

We recently added new eBooks to our Reference collection. You'll be able to access titles like American Decades Primary Sources, the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, the World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems, and many more. You can find these and other online reference books in our catalog, which is available on our library home page, http://www.century.edu/library/. You may just come across them when searching by topic, but if you want to see a complete list, search for Gale Virtual Reference.

You can also search them through the Gale Virtual Reference Library database on our Databases A-Z list.

Pat Loving Memorial Tapestry

This tapestry in memory of Pat Loving, a former Century librarian, is now hanging in the Library on the wall by the West emergency exit. As you can see from the photo, it is truly beautiful.

Cutting Edge Technology in Prosthetics

The January 2010 edition of National Geographic has a cover story on neural prostheses -- commonly known as bionics. Check it out at the link below or stop in the library and peruse the whole issue!

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/bionics/fischman-text

Library Closed January 16-18

The Century College Library will be closed January 16-18 for the Martin Luther King holiday.

Discover Graphic Novels!

The January display case is featuring the increasingly popular graphic novel. Graphic novels combine text and art usually in a comic strip format bound as a book to tell a story. The graphic novel collection in the library includes newer titles such as Persepolis and Watchmen to standards such as Treasure Island and Call of the Wild. Get acquainted with this popular genre!