Category: General News

ALA Privacy Conference: Interview with Cory Doctorow from 20K Films on Vimeo.

To start thinking about protecting one’s privacy it’s important to understand what it means in different contexts. There are some great resources online that can help you get a sense of the kinds of personal information that you have the right to control, such as the Privacy Rights Clearing House. You may also choose to take a look at some of the available resources here at City Tech.
You may also be interested in knowing that while you are a student, your privacy is protected in a few different ways. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) provides strict guidelines for how and when student information may be shared, and in the the library, your borrowing history and research activities are protected by the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights.

Computers in the library are being managed by new software, which means that there will be a few changes in regards to computer access. Some of the most important changes are as follows:

• All computer users must log in to computers using their library bar code. To do this, your library card MUST be activated. To activate your card, please bring your City Tech ID and a copy of this semester’s schedule to the Circulation Desk. If you are not a City Tech ID holder, please speak to a librarian.
• During busy hours, users may reserve computers using the management system, which can be accessed from terminals in the Internet Lab and Reference area.
• Users may now print from any computer in the library, and will use their ID cards to collect their printouts from two printing stations.

We understand that it may take some time to get familiar with the new system. Please ask a librarian if you have any questions about library computer use.

A little late to the game perhaps, but not too late to celebrate National Grammar Day! If your interest is piqued, try taking a look at one of the many style guides we have on hand at the library, download SenDraw, a sentence diagramming tool, or peruse this month’s Q&A over at the Chicago Manual of Style. Enjoy!

Have you activated your library card for this semester? If you have, congrats! You are now able to borrow library materials from libraries throughout CUNY and access our online resources from the comfort of your home.
If you are a library user and you haven’t activated your library card yet, we recommend you do so early, so that you can start taking advantage of library resources (including a wide variety of online resources that are available to you outside of the library) as soon as possible. To activate your card, simply bring your City Tech ID card and a copy of your schedule or bursar receipt to the Circulation Desk; it only takes a minute, and you’ll be able to borrow for the rest of the semester.
On a related note, we know that the library can get crowded and the lines can get long. We recommend visiting the library during slower times throughout the day (mornings are always good) for quickest access to computers and circulation.

Thanks to our good friends at the Brooklyn Public Library, we now have a growing map of literary landmarks in the area. Do you want to know what people have written about the neighborhoods surrounding City Tech? Do you want to recommend places with literary significance in the area? Take a look at the map and help to add to the data here.

Looking for just the right words? Let the poets help you out by visiting the Poetry Foundation’s website, which is featuring a special collection of love poems for Valentine’s Day.

The recently restored Ratzer Map, recently profiled in the New York Times is currently on display at the Brooklyn Historical Society. To find out more about the map, or information about visiting the Brooklyn Historical Society, click here.