Lost, and Now Found!

It’s that time of the semester for the library to take stock of its Lost and Found collection, a good number of which consist of flash drives left in the workstations in the Computer Commons. Very often a flash drive may contain files of important school work or personal documents.  If you’ve lost one recently, come to the circulation desk at the front of the library and the staff will help you identify and reclaim it.

Please note that the library forwards lost-and-found items to the Security office in A-117 once or twice a year.

Pictured is a portion of the total number of flash drives found over the current school year.

Welcome back to another semester in Rio Hondo College!

If you've ever questioned who would still need libraries and librarians in this day and age (and why), here's an answer from librarian Ned Potter of the University of York in the UK. Watch it and let your Rio librarian know if you agree!

Rio Hondo College librarians:

Always here to help you!



Now that finals week is winding down, you can finally get into the Christmas spirit! If you're just beginning your shopping and don't know where to start, how about giving books this year?

Fortunately, there is no lack of sources to help you decide which book titles to give as presents. Discover the American Library Association's 2012 notable books list for "25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader." The corresponding 2012 list of children's books - those "of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways" - is also available.

The Los Angeles Times has just published a special Holiday Books Guide section, and the New York Times its lists of 100 Notable Books of 2012, 10 Best Books of 2012, and Notable Children's Books of 2012.

Browse Amazon  for their editors' selections of the best books of the year (don't forget the Kindle version too) as well as Barnes & Noble for their holiday books suggestions (both print and Nook versions).

For more suggestions, consult the librarians at your nearest public library.

Happy shopping, and a safe and joyous holiday season to all.  See you back in school when the spring semester starts on Jan. 26, 2013!

Where is the ATM machine? Is there a place to buy stamps on campus? Is there a fax machine students can use? How can I get a temporary parking permit? Is there a pay phone somewhere?

Find the answers to all these questions and much more on the Campus FAQ LibGuide, newly updated for the spring semester by adjunct librarian Carolyn Oldham. Carolyn has also compiled a guide to AccessRio, Registration, and Financial Aid, pulling together information we use at the library reference desk to help students.

Plugged In at Rio, the library’s guide to campus computer labs (services, locations, and hours) has also been newly updated for spring by adjunct librarian Karen Bourgaize. Copies are available in the library and have been distributed to several campus locations. Click here to see the online version.

If you have any other questions about the campus that you think should be added to our FAQs, let us know!

The library is the place to be ... especially during power outages!

For the second time this semester, the power went out all over campus on Monday and once again more students streamed into the library than exited the library gates.

It may have been the fact that it's the last week of instruction for the fall semester ... or the fact that natural light in the library allows students to continue browsing the book stacks, working in groups, writing up their research, or reading.

While library staff at the circulation desk switched to manual mode to continue checking books in and out, the wireless network stayed strong during the outage. Students continued to use their laptops in the library as well as throughout the campus. Librarians used their smartphones to access the library catalog to answer "Where can I find books on..." questions. Meanwhile, our laptops were working on (limited) battery power and some hardy students braved the dark to use the Web or type up their assignments (see blurry photo below).

And, when the power came back on after a little over two hours, the library was humming once again within minutes with a packed Computer Commons, fully occupied group study rooms, and lines at both the circulation desk and the copy center.

We're past the halfway point in the semester and you've begun the first steps of the research assignment for your class. Are you stuck with a topic that's either too broad or too narrow? Found too many (or too few) results from the library's online catalog and databases? Unsure of what to do or where to go from here?

Help is available! Drop by the reference desk to schedule a 30-minute personalized research consultation with a librarian, or call us at (562)908-3484. You can also e-mail us at library@riohondo.edu. A librarian will meet with you or your group to help you clarify and define your research topic, suggest keywords to use in database or Web searches, recommend appropriate databases, and help you develop a research strategy.

Book your consultation as soon as you can, then bring your topic and whatever research work you've already done to your appointment. Librarians can't do the research for you, but we'll always be here to guide you in the right direction.

To all of Rio's new and returning students, welcome to the 2011-2012 school year! More than 17,000 of you have already found your way to the library during the first two weeks of the Fall semester, and we are delighted that you took the time to walk over to the Learning Resource Center despite the construction in the upper and middle quad.

Those of you who have already visited us in the 2nd floor of the LRC know that we have computers which you can use for school-related work, whether it's registering for courses, looking up your textbooks and class readings or e-mailing instructors. More than 30 PCs are available by reservation for 90-minutes at a time in the library's Computer Commons. In addition, during these first weeks we have made an overflow area available in LR-224 for your use during the busiest times of the day.

Best of all, librarians and staff are available to answer your questions, help you find your way around campus and tell you about all the library services we offer to help you succeed in college!

A big welcome too to new and returning faculty! As always, we invite you to bring in your students for a library instruction session that will acquaint them with the library resources and services that they will soon be using for class assignments. In the first two weeks alone, we had already received close to 40 requests for instruction sessions. If you haven't scheduled one yet, please fill out a library instruction request form. We look forward to meeting you and your students here in the library!

As we sail on to the 4th week of classes, here's a reminder of who our first-year student is. Have a successful Fall semester!