Category Archives: Technology

New Resource: Films on Demand Streaming Video Collection

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Films on Demand logo

Films On Demand is a streaming video platform that features high quality educational video content.  The collection includes more than 20,000 films and is constantly growing!  The collections include award winning documentaries, instructional and vocational training videos, interviews, archival primary source materials, historical speeches, newsreels, and videos aligned with college curriculum. Subjects include automotive, business, economics, health, medicine, humanities, social sciences, mathematics, natural sciences, and vocational trades. Also included are travel and fitness programming, how-to videos, and popular music and dance performances.

Some of the benefits and key features of the platform include:

  • Films are segmented into easy-to-use clips
  • Powerful browse & search tools
  • Ability to share, save, and organize videos and custom playlists
  • Closed-captioning and transcripts on thousands of titles
  • HTML embed code that allows direct access to videos from Sakai
  • Email alerts can be set up under preferences for a particular subject or discipline when new content is added
  • Citation options
  • iPad friendly

Explore Films on Demand today!  Create a free account to get started.  Let the library staff know if you have any questions.  The helpful user’s guide will orient you to this new resource.

FOD logo

 

 

 

 

 

NC LIVE’s Home Grown eBook Project

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Homegrown ebooks covers image

Sample ebooks from the collection

NC LIVE, North Carolina’s statewide library consortium, is experimenting with a new eBook project that gives North Carolina library patrons unlimited access to more than 1,200 eBook titles from North Carolina-based publishers. This collection offers a wide range of content, including novels by popular North Carolina authors, poetry, short stories, and non-fiction. The eBooks are available for public use on the BiblioBoard platform from

http://nclive.org/ebooks featuring titles like Guests on Earth by Lee Smith and North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery by Beth Tartan, among many others.

NC LIVE Homegrown ebook collection interface image

NC LIVE’s Homegrown ebook collection interface

NC LIVE partnered with eight local publishing houses to purchase the eBooks, including Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (an imprint of Workman Books), Crossroad Press, Gryphon House, Ingalls Publishing Group, John F. Blair Publishing, McFarland, Press 53, and UNC Press. Unlike traditional library eBooks, this collection features always available, unlimited simultaneous user access during the life of the pilot, meaning patrons will not have to place a hold or wait for an eBook to become available. Additionally, the BiblioBoard platform allows users to view the eBooks in a web browser or download them to their tablet devices via the BiblioBoard Library app.

Explore the homegrown ebook collection today!

Coding and Social Networking

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The college experience isn’t just about taking classes. It can be about networking with other students, exploring different careers or industries, finding internships, and getting involved with organizations on campus and in the wider community.

Peach logo says, "Girl Develop It. don't be shy. develop it."If you are interested in developing your coding skills and networking with others, Girl Develop It is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing, “affordable and accessible programs to women who want to learn web and software development through mentorship and hands-on instruction.” They have a local chapter in the Raleigh-Durham area, which hosts free classes, including an upcoming class on WordPress, and coding events, which can be casual chances to meet with their group and do a bit of coding over coffee. See their Meetup page for more information.

If you’re interested in learning computer coding, we have library resources to help, including the items below. If you need help finding other items, please let us know. We have more than just what is noted here.

  • iOS 7 app development essentials (QA 76.8 .I64 S693 2014)
  • Microsoft Visual C# 2013 step by step (QA 76.73 .C154 S53 2013)
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 2013 step by step (QA 76.73 .M53 H358 2013)
  • Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript (QA 76.73 .P224 N593 2009)
  • Learning Python (ebook)
  • Microsoft C# Programming for the Absolute Beginner (ebook)

If you’re interested in social networking, these books may help:

  • New rules for today’s workplace (HM 742 .L56 2011)
  • Job searching with social media for dummies (HF 5382.7 .W35 2011 – In the library collection at Orange County Campus. Books at one campus can be brought to another campus for you to check out.)
  • Get hired in a tough market : insider secrets to find and land the job you need now (HF 5382.7 .D4 2010 – Orange County Campus Library)

Our Library Computer Lab

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Photograph of a librarian teaching a class in the library

In addition to our computers upstairs, our main campus (ERC) library is glad to be able to offer a computer lab that is open to all current Durham Tech students!

In the ERC lab, which is down the stairs inside the library and immediately to the right, our lab monitors offer technical support, a scanner is available, and you can print up to 10 black and white pages for free each day. Subsequent black and white pages are 5 cents each, and all color copies are 25 cents each.

The lab is available to students whenever the library is open, except for times when librarians are teaching library instruction classes. During these times, which are posted on the lab door, the lab is reserved for students in these classes only.

We want the lab to be a quiet area dedicated to academic work, so please keep our policies for using the lab in mind:

  • Only current Durham Tech students may use the lab, and a new or updated Durham Tech ID/proof of current student status is required. No children are allowed (no one may accompany students into the lab).
  • Only academic work is permitted.
  • No food or drink is allowed.
  • Cell phone use is prohibited.
  • Keep it quiet–no loud talking or headphone noise is permitted.
  • Students are expected to comply with Durham Tech’s Appropriate Use of Computing Resources Policy.

Let our library staff know if you have any questions, and thank you for complying with our policies and keeping our lab a great place for students to work! And remember, students must also show their current (new or updated) Durham Tech student IDs to enter both the library and the lab.

Great apps for college students!

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There are excellent free apps available for mobile devices that can help you be successful at Durham Tech!  Check out this great list from Consumer Reports which features apps for time management, studying, voice recording, wellness, and more.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/08/bet-apps-college-students/index.htm

A collage of various devices like phones and tablets.

Image from http://jquerymobile.com/donate-devices/

 

ERC computer lab

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We are happy to say that the ERC library computer lab is now up and running again, as of Wednesday afternoon 1/11.  This lab is open to all current Durham Tech students (current Durham Tech ID required) doing academic work.

 

Technical Difficulties

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We are starting off the New Year with a few technical difficulties. The most important of these is that the computers in the library computer lab have crashed, and so right now our computer lab is closed. Our upstairs public computers are available for use; you can print b/w copies for 5 cents a page or we can help you save your work to print later. Free printing (10 pages a day) for Durham Tech students is available at the Wynn Center computer lab. Our IT department is working hard to resolve this problem, and hopefully it will be fixed very soon. Meanwhile, thank you for your patience.  We will keep you updated.