Category Archives: Our Collections

Earth Day 2017

April 11, 2017Databases, Our Collectionsmmitchel

Earth Day will be celebrated around the world April 22. Join in the celebration by visiting the library and checking out one of our many books or videos on the topic. Here is an online video to get started, Planet Earth: Seven Ways to Help Save the Planet, found in the database, Films on Demand. *

Additionally, Green Planet Films and The Green Interview films have many titles that may be of interest.

Enjoy Earth Day festivities with the Biology Club on April 20th at 11:00 am in the Pecan Campus Courtyard.

* Please note: If you are off campus, you will need to enter your JagNet username and password to access library databases.

Contributed by Librarian, Maureen Mitchell

Who Knew? Finding Bestsellers in the Library

December 6, 2016Book Displays, Our Collectionsmmitchel

Does the end of the semester have you feeling stressed? Relax with a bestseller at the library. To find a listing of these titles, go to the library’s homepage and click on the Library Catalog link. On the next page, in the drop down selection for Location, choose Bestsellers, as shown below, and search. Or, simply come in and browse the bestseller shelving display.

Contributed by Librarian, Maureen Mitchell

Collection at 3201: Number One – Landscape

November 17, 2016Library Art Gallery, Our Collections, Permanent Art Collectiongotvos

Collection at 3201 is a project to promote accessibility and visibility of South Texas College’s Permanent Art Collection to students, faculty, staff and the community. We invite faculty and staff to pick an artwork from the collection and talk about how it has influenced the way they see the world. We hope this intersection of art and ideas inspires learning about art and culture in the Rio Grande Valley.

Sylvia Benitez, Guadalupe, Guadalupe, Oil on canvas, 84 x 72 inch. benitez

Contributed by Jessie Rodriguez, STC Library Art Gallery

When I look at Guadalupe, Guadalupe by Sylvia Benitez I am reminded of a Sigmund Freud quote: “the mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” The analogy works here. Like the tip of the iceberg, what can clearly be seen in Benitez’s Guadalupe, Guadalupe is a view of a natural landscape depicting an inky orange sunrise at the Guadalupe River near her home in Seguin, Texas. Though the work is skillfully painted, I’m most drawn to the part of the painting that draws the subconscious mind. The emotions and feelings lie underneath the surface like the base of the iceberg that stretches far below the ocean. Beyond what we see, landscape painting, the viewer is transported into pockets of distant shadows and allowed to discover and walk into the depths of the painting or the corners of the subconscious mind. The viewer is drawn in, transported, submerged into the memory of the previous dawns and the context of those experiences.

Benitez’s large scale painting alludes to the Romantic era of the 1800s and explores the vastness of the natural world in her landscape paintings. By placing the horizon line lower in the painting, she creates a dreamlike atmosphere of a bright orange morning where we can catch a glimpse into a moment in Benitez’s vision. The dreamlike environment that she paints draws the viewer into this otherworldly realm. What fascinates me about Guadalupe, Guadalupe is how sublime the nature is even with the gestural brushstroke landscape. It becomes a vehicle for expressing a range of psychological and emotional states by the artist. Although I could never know the emotions and feelings going through an artist’s mind, I can only interpret what it means to me and connect in a more spiritual way or remember a feeling that I only experienced at a certain time and place.

Sylvia Benitez trained as an abstract painter in the 1970s at the University of Maryland. She moved to NYC in 1980 and lived there for twenty years until eventually relocating to Seguin, Texas. Her painting was accepted into South Texas College’s Permanent Art Collection in 2016.

Who Knew? Finding a Journal Online

September 29, 2016Databases, Our Collectionsmmitchel

To find a journal or magazine online from the library homepage, click on Journal Locator in the left hand menu as shown below. On the next page, type in the journal to be searched, for example, OT Practice and then click on Full Text Access when it appears. This will bring up the link to the Database that has this journal with the years of coverage included. Follow the link to the Nursing & Allied Health Database which has OT Practice journals from 2006 to present.

Once inside the database, shown below, one can either search the journal for the topic of interest or browse through a particular issue by clicking on year, then month and choosing the issue.

Contributed by Librarian, Maureen Mitchell

New Database: Statista

August 11, 2016Databases, Our Collectionsmmitchel

New Database: Statista

August 11, 2016

The Library has added Statista to its online database collection. Statista provides forecasts, studies, reports, statistics, and infographics from approximately 18,000 sources. Statista includes subject dossiers and industry reports for market and industry research. It also provides domestic and foreign data on social and demographic trends. Searches can be refined by filtering and sorting. Search results can be downloaded in various formats together with citation information for use in presentations. Statista can be accessed from the Library’s Databases page at http://library.southtexascollege.edu/resources/databases/

Contributed by Jesús Campos, Director of Library Technical Services.

Who Knew? Credo Reference Database

June 23, 2016Databases, Our Collectionsmmitchel

Need to find a resource with background information or an overview of a topic? Check out the library’s database, Credo Reference, which has hundreds of subject encyclopedias that can be cited instead of Wikipedia. *

*Please note: If you are off campus, you will need to enter your JagNet username and password to access library databases.

Contributed by Librarian, Maureen Mitchell

New Database: Naxos Music Library

May 5, 2016Databases, Our Collectionsmmitchel

New Database: Naxos Music Library

May 4, 2016

The Library has added Naxos Music Library to its online database collection. Naxos Music Library offers streaming access to more than 124,500 CDs with more than 1,800,000 tracks of fine arts music. Over 800 new CDs are added to the library every month. Naxos Music Library provides several options for searching and browsing the collection.

Use Naxos Music Library to look up and listen to music you read about or hear about in class. Naxos Music Library sound recordings may not be downloaded, copied, or used for commercial purposes. Naxos Music Library can be accessed from the Library’s Online Library page at http://library.southtexascollege.edu/resources/databases/

Contributed by Jesús Campos, Director of Technical Services.

Earth Day – A Video Display

April 15, 2016Databases, Our Collectionsmmitchel

EarthDaypix2016

Earth Day will be celebrated around the world on April 22nd. Join in the celebration by visiting the library and checking out one of our many videos on the topic. Here are a few titles to get started:

#1) Years of living dangerously: the complete series / Cameron, James

Call Number: QC 902.9 .Y437 2014 DVD

Also found online in Films on Demand database.*

#2) Tapped / Soechtig, Stephanie

Call Number: HD 9349 .M542 T36 2010 DVD

Tapped

#3) The 11th hour / Conners, Nadia.

Call Number: GF 75 .A13 2008 DVD

The 11th hour

#4) Plastic paradise : the great Pacific garbage patch / Sun, Angela

Call Number: TD 427 .P62 P53 2014 DVD

#5) Vanishing of the bees [videorecording] / Langworthy, George

Call Number: SF 538.5 .C65 V36 2010 DVD

Vanishing of the bees

#6) Dirt! : the movie [videorecording] / Benenson, Bill

Call Number: S 591 .D57 2009 DVD

dirt! the movie

#7) Gasland : Can you light your water on fire? / Fox, Josh

Call Number: TN 881 .A1 G373 2010 DVD & ( Part II: TD 195 .G3 .G37 2014 DVD)

Gasland Can you light your water on fire?

#8) Food, Inc / Kenner, Robert

Call Number: TP 370.2 .F66 2009 DVD

Food, Inc

#9)Unacceptable levels / Author Brown

Call Number: RA 1226 .U533 2013 DVD

Also found online in Films on Demand. *

#10) GMO trilogy / Smith, Jeffrey M.

Call Number: TP 248.65 .F66 G66 2006 DVD

Additionally, many related titles can be found in the Films on Demand database by searching Earth Day or Environmental Science. Check out the online videos, Blue Gold: World Water Wars or Flow: For Love of Water to get started. The Green Interview films and Green Planet Films also have many related titles of interest.*

* Please note: If you are off campus, you will need to enter your JagNet username and password to access library databases.

Contributed by Librarian, Maureen Mitchell

Earth Day image from www.rinconeducativo.org with changes under creative common: CC BY-NC 2.5

New Database: NewsBank—Access World News

December 1, 2015Databases, Our CollectionsElizabeth Hollenbeck

New Database: NewsBank—Access World News

November 30, 2015

The Library has added NewsBank — Access World News to its collection of online databases. NewsBank — Access World News is a news content database covering news sources from throughout the world, including the United States, Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. Sources include printed and online newspapers, blogs, journals, newswires, broadcast transcripts and videos. Coverage can extend back several years depending on the source. In addition to a standard search box, the database also provides a feature, called Find a Topic, which enables users to browse through news content using general subject categories.

NewsBank — Access World News can be accessed from the Library’s Online Library page at http://library.southtexascollege.edu/resources/databases/?libpage=N#

The database can also be searched from the Discovery Search results page using the NewsBank widget pictured below:

Contributed by Jesús Campos, Director of Technical Services.

Cooking and Food – A Book Display

July 22, 2015Book Displays, Our Collectionsmmitchel

Do you enjoy barbecuing during the summer? … or trying new recipes? Stop by the library and check out one of our many books on barbecuing, grilling, or creating other culinary delights.

If you have ever thought about turning your love of cooking into a career, South Texas College has a Culinary Arts Program that may be of interest.

The best ribs ever! : 100 killer recipes including slaws, baked beans & finger-lickin’ sauces / Raichlen, Steven

Call Number TX 749 .R349 2012