Category: General News

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What’s New in the Library Fall 2024

Welcome to a new semester! We have a lot of great new things happening at the library and wanted to share some updates.

The library is open and all of our in person services are up and running. Come visit us on the 4th floor of the Library Building 9:00am-9:00pm Monday-Thursday, 9:00am-7:00pm Friday, 10:00am-5:00pm Saturday. We also have virtual reference support available 24×7 through our chat service: Ask us!

Ask-A-Librarian
Ask-A–Librarian is an online chat reference service staffed by professional librarians. They are available 24/7 to assist users with utilizing library resources and conducting research. Librarians are here to help with all your research needs. The chat is great for getting help with databases, finding peer reviewed articles, providing assistance with citation styles, and learning more about library resources.

Books and More
As of January 18th, 2024, books can be borrowed from any CUNY library for 16 weeks plus 2 renewals (totaling 48 weeks each). The new loan time reflects the CUNY – SUNY borrowing and lending partnership. You can search SUNY’s library collection in OneSearch and borrow books like you borrow CUNY books using CLICS.

Faculty can place textbooks, required readings, and films for courses in the Library’s Reserve Collection for your students to use in the library. Please place your requests as soon as possible as we purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. Request materials to be placed on reserve using this form. Email us questions or your department textbook list of required textbooks: NYCCTCirculation@citytech.cuny.edu

Need Something We Don’t Have?
Need something we don’t have? Interlibrary Loan (ILL) has expanded its services! Faculty, staff, and students can all request books not available at CUNY or SUNY through ILL—this includes textbooks. We also fill article and individual book chapter requests and deliver them electronically. ILL is great for scholarly research and course assignments. You can also request media items, microfilm and more!

Podcasting, vinyl and more in the library
#CityTechSoundsGood #CityTechSuenaBien is here! The library is lending portable turntables, new and vintage vinyl records, and podcasting kits in the Multimedia Resources Center. Check the LibGuide to learn more.

New Electronic Resources
City Tech has access to several new databases this fall. Learn more and start exploring Pederson’s Test & Career Prep, Gale Legal Forms, Gale Business: Entrepreneurship, and Gale Books and Authors.

City Tech Library also has trial access this fall to a number of databases; we would love faculty feedback on how these could support your teaching and research. Please explore the Bloomsbury Visual Arts’ Design Studies Collection, Art History resources from Oxford University Press, the LGBT Magazine Archive, and the Films on Demand Archival Films and Newsreel Collection, and share your feedback through this form.

Don’t forget to use your City Tech email to sign up for (or renew) your free access to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Access expires after a period of time for both students and faculty, but you can always renew it by heading back to the links shared here for free access to the CUNY community.

Library Instruction Offerings
Are you assigning papers or projects that require library research? You can request a library instruction session for your in-person or online synchronous class.

Are you teaching asynchronously or want your students to learn research skills at their own pace? Share the library’s tutorials and research guides with your students and add library widgets to your OpenLab site. Contact your library subject specialist to find out more about subject-specific resources and support for your asynchronous class. For general questions about library instruction, contact Prof Anne Leonard, library instruction coordinator.

Workshops and Events
The Library offers workshops for faculty, students, and other members of the City Tech community. Our workshops cover a wide range of topics, including basic research skills, finding articles in databases, using other libraries, open access journals, and evaluating websites.
Check our website for upcoming workshops.

Open Educational Resources
Identify open and free resources to support teaching, browse your colleagues’ contributions, and much more via the OER at City Tech site. Follow our blog for New & Noteworthy OER available in your discipline. We’re offering four workshops this semester, Introductions to: OER, Social Annotation, and Manifold, as well as a session on peer review for OERs. 

Questions about assigning OER and other zero-cost resources, creating, and sharing your OER with a wider audience? Contact Anne Leonard at aleonard@citytech.cuny.edu. 

Support for Scholarly Publishing
The library can support your research and scholarship—we regularly offer a publishing workshop series–stay tuned for details. In addition to our Scholarly Publishing Clinic, a monthly office hour for virtual consultations on the first Tuesday of the month at 3 PM, consultations are available on demand. Contact Monica Berger. Learn more about how the library supports scholarly publishing.

Don’t Be a Stranger
Have questions about library resources and services but not sure how to reach us? Want to make sure you get the latest updates about changing policies, new resources, and digital tools available through the library?

Subscribe to the Library Buzz blog to get the latest in your inbox or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @citytechlibrary.

Love,
the City Tech Library

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New Database Trial: Archival Films & Newsreels from Films On Demand

City Tech Library has trial access to Archival Films & Newsreels, a database from Films on Demand, for 30 days. This streaming video collection contains over 1000 films released from the late 19th century through the 21st century. Each film contains a transcript as well as a link to related films. Browse by subject or search for your favorite film!

Getting started: head to https://cityte.ch/arcfilms and use your CUNY login if prompted in order to access the database. From the landing page, click “Archival Films & Newsreels Collection”.

Note: You may be taken directly to a Health & Medicine sub-collection of only 6 films. If that happens, click the “Films on Demand” logo at the top of your browser to go back to the homepage.

Browse the collection: An expandable menu at the top left of your screen will allow you to browse by time period or by subject.

Let us know what you think: We would love faculty feedback on how this database could support your teaching and research. Please share your thoughts through this form.

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Internet Archive loses its appeal–what does this mean?

Internet Archive, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMany of us love using the Internet Archive for its Wayback Machine and music files. During and after the pandemic, the Internet Archive made books available to many simultaneous users short-term loan. Commercial publishers were very unhappy, arguing that the Internet Archive violated copyright, and they sued the Internet Archive.

The 2023 lawsuit, Hachette v. Internet Archive ruled in favor of the publisher Hachette. The Internet Archive appealed but unfortunately, as we learned today, they lost their case. The lawsuit was tied into how we interpret fair use and the courts considered the Internet Archive’s digitization project as derivative and not transformative, meaning that all they did was create copies but not new content. This ruling will likely result in the removal of many books in the Internet Archive, inconveniencing researchers and students. A similar lawsuit related to music in the Internet Archive is pending.

A relatively plain language explanation of the ruling is available in Wired.

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New Database Alert! Gale Books and Authors

City Tech Library now provides access to Gale Books and Authors, a reader’s advisory database that makes finding your next great read much less challenging. With fun ways to browse, an intuitive design, read-alikes, reviews, award winners and themed book lists, and more this resource answers the age-old question, “What do I read next?”
To access the database, City Tech faculty, staff, and students can click on https://cityte.ch/booksauthors. If you are off campus or off campus wifi networks, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNY login before proceeding to the database website.
Questions? Need a hand getting started? Don’t be shy to Ask a Librarian.
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Welcome back students!

Welcome back, City Tech students to the new 2024 fall semester!

The Ursula C. Schwerin library and library faculty are here to support YOU in your academic pursuits. If you are trying to find a quiet place to study, getting together for a group project, or utilizing our numerous resources or books, our dedicated library staff and faculty are here to help.

New fall offerings

We have a new podcasting kits available for loan, and includes everything you need to create your own podcast, including a Mac Airbook, a microphone, and headphones.

The library now offers portable turntables as well as a selection of newer vinyl LPs focusing specifically on Hispanic and LatinX artists.

The library also has plans to schedule workshops to help you learn outside of the classroom. Check back regularly on this blog for those events and other library news.

– Junior Tidal
Chief Librarian & Department Chair

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New Database Alert! Gale Business: Entrepreneurship

New in City Tech Library’s database collection, check out Gale Business: Entrepreneurship, a comprehensive database that covers all aspects of starting and operating a business, including accounting, finance, human resources, management, marketing, tax, and more. It combines authoritative periodical and reference content to support prospective and current entrepreneurs as well as business students. Experience an easy-to-browse interface mapped to four key stages—plan, fund, start, and manage—to fit your research needs at any point in your business’s development.
To access the database, City Tech faculty, staff, and students can click on https://cityte.ch/entrepreneur. If you are off campus or off campus wifi networks, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNY login before proceeding to the database website.
Gale Business: Entrepreneurship is a good compliment to Gale OneFile: Entrepreneurship, which provides access to 500 subject-appropriate, active, full-text periodicals, including: Beverage Industry, Black Enterprise, Economist, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, HR Magazine, Real Estate Weekly, Restaurant Business, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, and more.
Questions? Need a hand getting started? Don’t be shy to Ask a Librarian.
Image of a woman typing on a laptop beside the words, "Writing a business plan?"
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Faculty and Students: are your textbooks at the library?

City Tech Library is a great place for students to borrow textbooks. Faculty are welcome to request that their course textbooks be placed on Reserve, for students to easily access.

What does it mean when a textbook is on Reserve?

Reserve loans are for two hours, to be used within the library only. Students can check out Reserve loans with their City Tech ID at the Borrow & Return desk near the library entrance.

Two-hour reserve loans make it possible for more students to use a textbook.

Faculty: Request copies of your textbooks to be on Reserve

Get started by searching the library collection through our website, to check if we already have copies of the books you’ve assigned on your syllabus.

If the library doesn’t have a book — or hasn’t placed it on Reserve — please use our Course Reserve Request Form to request that the Library place a copy for reserve. We’ll respond to your request as soon as possible.

Please place requests as soon as possible; we purchase textbooks on a first-come, first-served basis and orders for new books may take a few weeks to be delivered.

Students: Check the library for your textbooks

Begin by searching the library collection through our website. 

You may find copies of your textbooks on Reserve at City Tech. You can also change your search results to look for books at other CUNY Libraries, or across SUNY Libraries; see an example in the screenshot below.

You can request books from other CUNY and SUNY Libraries, to be delivered for you at City Tech Library. You’ll receive an email when they’re ready for you to pick up at the library.

Can’t find your textbook this way? Faculty and students are also welcome to request books through Interlibrary Loan. Read more about Interlibrary Loan on our website.

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New Database Alert! Gale Legal Forms

City Tech Library now has access to Gale Legal Forms, a database providing a wide selection of essential state-specific (and multi-state) legal forms that can be customized for the most common legal procedures. These forms are used by attorneys and law firms. They include real estate contracts, wills, premarital agreements, bankruptcy, divorce, landlord tenant, and many others.
Additional tools in the database include legal definitions, a law digest, and legal Q&A to build your understanding of key areas of law.
To access the database, City Tech faculty, staff, and students can click on https://cityte.ch/legalforms. If you are off campus or off campus wifi networks, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNY login before proceeding to the database website.
Questions? Need a hand getting started? Don’t be shy to Ask a Librarian.
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New Database Alert! Pederson’s Test & Career Prep

Get free access to Pederson’s Test & Career Prep through City Tech Library.
This database provides test prep materials for a wide range of learning including:
High School:
Advanced Placement (AP), High School Equivalency, STEM
College Entrance:
Undergraduate: ACT, CLEP, DSST, SAT
Graduate School: GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT
Vocational:
find materials to prepare for certification, credentialing, and licensing exams from more than 15 career categories:
Accountant/Auditor
ACT WorkKeys
American Foreign Service Officer
Aviation and Transportation
Clerical
Cosmetology
Firefighter
Hospitality
Information Technology
Journeyman Exam Prep
Law Enforcement Careers
Medical/Nursing, including the EMT exam and NCLEX-PN and NCLEX-RN practice tests
Military
Postal
Real Estate
Social Work
Teaching
International:
U.S. Citizenship
English as a Foreign Language: TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS
How to access: City Tech faculty, staff, and students can click on https://cityte.ch/testprep. If you are off campus or off campus wifi networks, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNY login before proceeding to the database website.
Browse a menu of testing materials by clicking “browse menu” on the main page. Sign up for your own individual account to get started with online courses and test prep tools.
Questions? Need a hand getting started? Don’t be shy to Ask a Librarian.
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City Tech Library has trial access to Art History resources from Oxford University Press

City Tech faculty, staff, and students have free access from August 5 through September 5, 2024 to a set of exciting Art History resources from Oxford University Press.

These online databases include the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, and Oxford Bibliographies for Art History and for Architecture, Preservation & Planning.

The Benezit Dictionary of Artists, one of the most comprehensive and definitive resources of artists biographies available. Revered for its global scope and its excellent coverage of European artists, Benezit is distinguished by its coverage of lesser-known artists, images of artists’ signatures, historical auction records, and lists of museum holdings.

Start using the Benezit Dictionary of Artists: Go to https://cityte.ch/benezit. If you are off campus, you will be prompted to log in with your CUNY login first.

Oxford Bibliographies for Art History and Architecture, Preservation & Planning

This series of guides—resembling an annotated bibliography or high-level encyclopedia—provides a path to the best available scholarship across a wide range of humanities subjects. Annotations from top scholars help you identify the most relevant issues for research in any field.

Read about the Art History collection and the Architecture, Planning, & Preservation collection.

Start using these bibliographies: Go to https://cityte.ch/oxbib. If you are off campus, you will be prompted to log in with your CUNY login first.

Questions about these databases? Please do not hesitate to Ask a Librarian.

Let us know what you think: We would love faculty feedback on how this database could support your teaching and research. Please share your thoughts through this form.

The OpenLab at City Tech:A place to learn, work, and share

The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.

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Our goal is to make the OpenLab accessible for all users.

Learn more about accessibility on the OpenLab

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