Pollak Library

Now when you need help with reseach, you can simply send a text message to 657.464.3787.  The service is available during our normal reference hours. Text messaging is only one of many ways to get help with your research. We have a variety of online and in-person services. Visit our Ask a Librarian page to learn more.

Safari Tech Books Online has 1,835 e-books. This rotating collection of searchable e-books for IT people and computer programmers offers tech books that can be read in their entirety online.  No need to drive to campus — you can access the full text of these books from your home computer!

We all understand that the prices of textbooks are astronomical.  CSUF estimates that the average student should expect to spend $1,658 a year on books and supplies.  Unfortunately, the Pollak Library, as a rule, does not purchase the latest editions of textbooks.  We might have older editions, donated by faculty or students.  Sometimes, professors will put their own copies of a textbook on two-hour reserve, but for the most part, you will not be able to find the textbooks you need at the library.

Everyone involved, from professors to publishers to bookstores know that the expense of textbooks can be a tremendous financial burden, so, for many textbooks, other options are available besides purchasing a print copy of the book.

Semester Rental: Some textbooks are available for rent through the Titan Bookstore.  Those books that are not available for rent through the bookstore might be available through other textbook rental services.

Electronic Textbooks:  Many textbooks are now available in electronic formats.  These E-books are significantly less expensive that the print editions.  The Titan Bookstore has a number of textbooks available in electronic format.  If your textbook is not available electronically through The Bookstore, try Coursesmart.com, a consortium of leading textbook publishers that make thousands of their books available online in a variety of formats and price structures.

Comparison Shop Online: Many online bookstores sell discounted or used textbooks.  An easy way to comparison shop is to use the Firefox plug-in Book Burro.

On a positive note, although we don’t have textbooks, you should be able to find most assigned course readings, whether they are books, articles, or other materials, in the library.   

Rob Sage
Reference & Instruction Librarian

Students often ask about finding “court cases” when they need to read legal opinions from State and/or Federal courts. Google Scholar now offers a special “Legal opinions and journals” search. Users can limit their searches to a particular State or retrieve only Federal Court opinions. Search results will also display articles from law journals. It is best  to access Google Scholar from the Find Databases link on the home page. Using Google Scholar from the library’s website will give you access to materials that would otherwise be unavailable on the open web. From the results list, select the  “Pollak Library Find It” link to access law journal articles.

Don’t read all about it . . .

The number of daily newspapers in the U.S. declined from 1,480 in 2000 to 1,408 in 2008. (Table 1098)

In 2007, the nation’s 16,604 libraries collectively had an average of 12.5 public-use computers connected to the Internet per library. (Tables 1115 and 1116)

In 2007, the average consumer spent $1,110 on telephone services. (Table 1111)

In 2008, there were more than 270 million cell phone subscribers; they paid an average monthly bill of $50 with the average call lasting 2.5 minutes. (Table 1112)

Staying Healthy . . .

There were more than 20,000 farms in 2007 engaged in organic production on more than 2.5 million acres. (Table 807).

In 2007, the complementary and alternative medicine therapies most commonly used by U.S. adults in the past 12 months were nonvitamin, nonmineral and natural products (17.7 percent), deep breathing exercises (12.7 percent), meditation (9.4 percent), chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation (8.6 percent), massage (8.3 percent) and yoga (6.1 percent). (Table 161)

The above statistics, and a whole lot more, are available in the latest edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the federal government’s best-selling reference book, published since 1878 — before automobiles, airplanes and motion pictures had even been invented. Contained in the 129th edition are more than 1,400 tables of social, political and economic facts which collectively describe the state of our nation and the world. Included are 53 new tables, covering topics such as worldwide space launch events this decade, the use of complementary and alternative medicine, the type of work flexibility provided to employees, employment status of veterans and road fatalities by country.

The Statistical Abstract is freely available online at http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/. And a print copy is kept at the Reference Desk.

The 4th floor service desk in Pollak Library North is closing at the end of this semester. All services formerly performed at this desk are moving to the main circulation desk, 1st floor Library South. This change will centralize circulation services to one major public service desk and result in long-term cost savings.

We want to assure you that services will be maintained even though there will not be individual assistance at the AVCMC service desk. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding during these challenging economic times.

What does the desk closure mean for you, as a faculty member or a student?

1. Some collections will be moved to Circulation (1st floor, Library South):
   • DVD collection
   • Test collection
2. Some collections will remain in AVCMC (4th floor Library North):
   • VHS tapes and laserdiscs
   • Audio collections (CDs, LPs and cassettes)
   • CMC collections (Juvenile, LRDC, Curriculum, Instructional Media)
3. Listening and viewing rooms:
   Some rooms will become first-come, first-serve. Keys to other rooms will be available for check out at the Circulation Desk.

The AVCMC Service Desk transition to closing will begin on January 4 and it will be completely closed on or before January 13, 2010.

Questions?
For questions relating to the circulation of DVD’s or the test collection please contact
Matt Van Norman, Head of Circulation, at (657) 278-2647 or mvannorman@fullerton.edu.

For questions relating to the test collection itself or other AVCMC collection questions, please contact Roberta Valentine at (657) 278-2038 or rvalentine@fullerton.edu

For questions related to policy and planning related to the AVCMC please contact Ron Rodriguez, Head of Access Services, at (657) 278-7544 or rrodriguez@fullerton.edu

You may not have noticed that searches for artists or songs in Google have recently changed. The top results are now links to samples of music that can be streamed for free. Let’s say you had a hankering to listen to Pete Seeger’s version of Oh Freedom, a quick search will get you there. Check it out.

More images added to ARTstor!  Nearly 170 images of modern and contemporary Latin American art and 3,500 images and field photography of African art and culture have been added to ARTstor’s Digital Library.  Also, approximately 1,400 images of architecture and public sculpture in the United States from Ralph Lieberman have also been added to ARTstor.

To use ARTstor, go to the library homepage and click Find Databases.

If you have not had a chance to check out WolframAlfa, now is the time. It is difficult to describe exactly what WolframAlfa does and who knows how it works. Here are just a few examples of what you can do -  solve calculus problems, compare stock prices, calculate payments, calculate air foil performance , do life expectancy comparisons, and much more. This is one of the most amazing web services ever launched. I really can’t even begin to describe the power of this amazing tool. Take a look at the video, try some searches, and let us know if you come up with something interesting.

Google is often coming out with new products and services. A few months back they released a tool that dynamically generates a table of items in a particular category. For example, if you do a search for precious gems, Google Squared will generate a table allowing you to compare them by a number of characteristics. You can also use it to comparison shop for netbooks, digital cameras, or just about anything else. The service allows you to edit the table and download to use in Google Docs, or any other spreadsheet application. Give it a try and if you come up with something really cool, interesting, or bizarre, respond to this post with the link so we can check it out.