Become a fan of the CAC Library

The CAC Library is moving up in the social networking world – we now have a Facebook page!  Look for us as Central AZ Library and leave us messages on our wall or even become one of our fans.  (C’mon… you know you want to!)

“Knowledge” searching

Cuil (pronounced as cool) is a fairly new web search engine on the block.  Unlike Google, where you get a simple list of websites that match your search results, Cuil also gives you a couple of ways to limit your search results.  For example, a search on nutrition has over 83 million total results, but there’s a tab to limit your results to sports nutrition and now there are over 2 million results.  Ok, that’s stil a lot of results, but it’s a start!  There are also category suggestions such as nutritional advice pyramids and essential amino acids.  Another great feature is that you can switch safe search on and off, which allows you to decide if you want to filter out potentially objectionable results (to some degree anyway).  Just look for the link in the upper right corner of the page.

Of course, it’s still up to you to evaluate the websites you find to ensure that the information you find is reliable.  So your best bet for research is to use the online resources that the library subscribes to for eBooks and articles!

If you try Cuil, be sure to send us an email and let us know what you think of this new way of searching for websites. 

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge.  So, enjoy your ”knowledge” searching!

Transitioning to college level research

There’s a great website called Transitioning to College that not only explains the differences between high school and college level papers and research, but it also has great tips on how to use library resources effectively and how to use the help that’s available to you (tutoring, faculty, etc.).  So even if you’re not making the transition from high school to college, you might want to check this site out and find some useful tips!

Register to Vote and Be Counted

There’s still time to register to vote for the upcoming election in November!

* If you’re the type who prefers to register in person, you can do so from the Signal Peak Campus in the lobby of the Student Services (M) building today or tomorrow.  The friendly man at the table said he’d be available on Wednesday from 9am to 3pm.

* You can also pick up a registration form in the Signal Peak Campus library and mail it in.

* Or, the easiest way to register is to go online.  Visit http://www.azsos.gov/election/voterregistration.htm and use the EZVoter Registration link.

If you’re already a registered voter but you want to request an early ballot, there’s still time to do so!  Go to https://recorder.maricopa.gov/earlyvoteballotnet/ and fill out a short form.  You’ll have your ballot sent to you in the mail and won’t need to stand in any lines on election day.

Be sure to vote and be counted!

Welcome to Fall 2008!

All of us in the library are excited as CAC is gearing up for the fall semester.  We have great new services that we’ll be introducing to everyone over the next few weeks.  Here’s what we have in the works:

• Topic guides that students can use to get their research started (we’ll even have a guide that helps them find a topic)
• Addition of a new online resource (hint: if you like pop culture, you’ll love this!)
• Speaking of online resources, we’ll be making changes to the library’s webpages to make it even easier to get to our online books and articles (one stop shopping, er, clicking)
• Speaking of easier, we’ll also be implementing a new way to get access to these online resources from off-campus (no more passwords!)
• Research assistance via texting (have a ?)
• Availability of a librarian in the Online Tutor’s discussion board forum in Blackboard (writing and research together at last)
• And, of course, our new Word of Mouth website where you can find out more about these new services as they become available!

Be sure to stop by Word of Mouth frequently, because we’ll also be telling you about other CAC services, events, useful websites and tools, research tips, and a lot more.  We’re even going to be inviting CAC staff and students to join us here once in while for guest reports and interviews.  So don’t miss out!

Adjusted library hours

The Superstition Mountain and Aravaipa campus libraries will be closed on Tuesday, August 5th, for a staff meeting.  The Signal Peak campus library will be open that day.

All three campus libraries will be closed on Tuesday, August 12th, for the college’s In-Service Day.

Looking for new books?

If you’ve ever wanted to know the titles of the new books that we’ve gotten here at the CAC library, you’re in luck because you can now check out a listing of the new books we’ve received over the past year.  We’ll continue updating this list as we purchase books - and we’ll keep you posted here at Word of Mouth whenever we do so!