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!

Thanks to the Associated Student Body (ASB), the Rio Hondo College library has been able to purchase textbooks for limited loan to students. For more than six years, the ASB has voted to set aside $1,500 each semester for the library to buy the most often requested textbooks to be placed in the library's reserve collection. These texts, obtained from the College bookstore, can be checked out for two-hour use within the library only.

Because the library has a policy of purchasing only non-textbook items, the reserve collection consists largely of course materials on loan from several instructors in various disciplines. The ASB grant supplements the reserve collection and allows the library to provide a much-needed service to students particularly at the start of the semester. It is worth noting that the library's reserve collection contains less than half of all the required course texts and is not meant as a substitute for students' purchase of their personal copies.

The ASB funds are currently used to buy those titles that are most asked for at the circulation desk, used by at least two course sections, and cost more than $50.00 each. It comes as no surprise that these textbooks are frequently in the math and sciences areas. This semester the library purchased 18 textbooks for selected courses in Administration of Justice, Anthropoplogy, Chemistry, ESL, PE, Reading and Spanish.

For more information on the reserve collection, contact library@riohondo.edu.

Are Books Obsolete?

Contrary to dire predictions that books (and reading) are dead, a recent report cited in the March 2011 issue of the College & Research Libraries News' "Fast Facts" revealed that U.S. book sales in 2010 reached 751.7 million books, just under the record numbers achieved in 2008 (757 million) and 2009 (777 million). The latest available figure for the number of original book titles published in print was 289,729 different titles in the U.S. alone in 2008. That's good news indeed for readers, book buyers and libraries.

Here in the Rio Hondo College library, our share of book purchases focuses primarily on acquiring books related to academic curricular needs. Librarians regularly evaluate and update the book collection and purchase additional materials as needed to help students in their assignments. With an annual book budget base of $55,000 (augmented by recent grants), we have been able to buy from 1,597 to 2,440 books per year over the last five full school years, including both new titles and replacement volumes.

If you have a specific title that you need for your research paper or want to suggest more books in a particular subject area, please don't hesitate to talk to the librarians at the reference desk. You can also contact us at library@riohondo.edu or (562)908-3484. If the book you need isn't on the shelf, we can help you find alternative materials on your topic and also suggest other libraries' resources.

Now there's a new way to access the library's online databases from outside the Rio Hondo College campus. Use the AccessRio link from the College home page http://www.riohondo.edu/, and follow the Log In Instructions to sign in. You will arrive at your personal AccessRio page. Now locate and select the Library tab, and then look for the box Library Online Databases. Click on the database you wish to use: No more off-campus passwords required!

This new procedure also works if you want to access the online databases from any campus computer - including your WiFi-enabled laptop. And don't forget, you can still enter the online databases the "old" way through the library home page http://library.riohondo.edu when you're on campus!