Category: General News

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.

If you’ve been looking for better ways to gather information about current world events, the library can help you! Take advantage of the library’s online resources to access news and information about events around the world.
Don’t know where to get started? Try one of the following databases, or ask a librarian to help get you started.
CQ Researcher
In-depth reports on current and often controversial social issues.
Custom Newspapers (Gale)
Full text articles from a wide variety of newspapers.
Ethnic NewsWatch también en español
A full-text collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Provides access to viewpoints often overlooked in the mainstream media. Nearly one quarter of ENW’s articles are presented in Spanish.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (Gale)
Information on social issues including viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.
LexisNexis
News, business, legal, medical, and reference publications (full text).
National Newspaper Index (Gale)
Indexing with abstracts for The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

New York State Newspapers (Gale)
Covers ten major newspapers published in the state of New York, including The New York Times and The New York Post.

Note: To access resources from off campus, users must log in with their activated City Tech library card. Instructions can be found here.

The end of the calendar year tends to be packed with all kinds of tallies and assessments, not the least of which is the gathering of the year’s new words (or new uses of existing words). To that end, the New York Times has just published a list of some of the words and phrases that were part of our conversations this past year. Visit the article to learn more about beliebers, mansplainers and the cuddle class.

Cuddle-class ad via Air New Zealand.

Students!
Do you know that library faculty are available for research appointments? The end of the semester can be tough, but library faculty are here to help you. If you’d like to sign up for a session to discuss a research question or search strategy, learn about the best resources for your project, or get help with citations you can sign up for an individual appointment with a member of the library faculty.
To sign up for an appointment, just fill out the Research Appointments form.